Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-3293219-20140629105040/@comment-3293219-20140629171509

Jaryl slowly drifted off to sleep, smiling as he held Isis’ hand in his as his dreams took him back to days gone by…

--

“Well?”

Jaryl looked at the wooden door of the cave, feeling incredibly uneasy. The Ten year old nervously folded his arms and shook his head, disapprovingly as he tried to cover up his fear.

“I…” He looked around, glancing to Set, looking somewhat worried.

“I don’t know about this…”

“Well I do, we’re goin’ in this shit hole and we’re gonna get us a rabbit.” Set snapped, pushing past him and approaching the front door, pressing his ear against it and listening out.

“I can hear the little bastard… Scurryin’ around in there…” The Bosmer muttered, slowly opening the front door.

“Set, this place… It’s givin’ me a bad feelin,’ I think we should…”

“No! We wouldn’t fuckin’ be here if you hadn’t fucked up and let it get away! So now, you’re gonna help me get it back…”

The Bosmer grumbled, looking away, he knew that Set was right but he didn’t have to be such an asshole about it. And it wasn’t his fault that the Rabbit got away, he had hold of it but he had hold of it by its hind legs and it easily wriggled out of his grip. It scampered through the wilderness and jumped inside some cave and the two brothers had spent the last fifteen minutes arguing and trying to coax each other to go in and get it.

“F-Fine… Let’s just be quick about, this place gives me the creeps…” Jaryl grumbled as Set stepped inside and began to look around. As brave as Set was, he wasn’t stupid enough to step into an abandoned cave, which stank of death alone. He’d always take someone in with him, so that he could outrun them if things ‘turned to shit.’

The cave had a large hallway-like room, which greeted them as soon as they entered, it had three rooms, one in front of them and two either side of them. According to Set, a crazed mad man used to live here, who used to kidnap people and eat them. Jaryl refused to believe it at first but Set managed to make him doubt himself. It was true of course, the Cannibal of County Cheydinhal. An old piece of local folk lore, that elder siblings used to tell their younger siblings, to get them to wet the bed.

They say that a cannibal lived in one of these caves, he used to capture people, drag them back to his lair, kicking and screaming before he devoured them, alive. They say that his spirit still haunts the woods, taking people foolish enough to wander them at night. Sometimes Jaryl would find himself lay awake at night, wondering if the ghost would find their camp as he once had a dream where he awoke, to see a terrifying spectre, leaning over him and reaching for him, with its bony hands…

He loathed Set for that, even as a ten year old he sometimes found himself terrified of the Cannibal of County Cheydinhal and Set loved it, the sick bastard.

Jaryl slowly shuffled in behind him, timidly holding up his iron knife, like he was intending to chop vegetables with it. Jaryl was never really as violent as Set, well, not until he lost Isis, he’d never thought of hitting anyone before that. Now he can’t stop…

<p class="MsoNormal">“Alright, you look for the little fucker in that room over there, I’ll check this one, we’ll meet up in a few minutes.” Set instructed, stepping into the room on the left as Jaryl split up, going to his right and looking inside.

<p class="MsoNormal">Jaryl stepped inside, seeing that the room was all but bare, the layout of this cave made it a jackpot for anyone who would be crazy enough to move in here. It had three rooms and internally, it was bigger than some houses. So long as you didn’t mind the fact that it was dank, murky and terrifying, you’d feel right at home.

<p class="MsoNormal">As he stepped inside, he began to wonder if there might have been someone living here, he got that feeling and it wasn’t a farfetched theory… He felt, cold, like he was being watched…

<p class="MsoNormal">It made him feel uneasy and as he saw that there wasn’t a rabbit inside, he turned around and left, running out into the hallway and immediately bumping into Set.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Find it?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“No…”

<p class="MsoNormal">Then they both paused and turned to the room at the far end of the hallway, the one room that they hadn’t checked…

<p class="MsoNormal">“Well… There’s one room that we ain’t checked…” Jaryl noted, reluctantly, getting a quick nod from his brother as he turned to face it, approaching it.

<p class="MsoNormal">“C’mon, let’s go find that rabbit, wring its fuckin’ little neck out and head back home for some rabbit stew.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Urgh… Man, don’t talk about Dad’s rabbit stew… I think I’d rather live in this shithole than sample some of that.”

<p class="MsoNormal">Set chuckled, shaking his head and looking back, smiling at him, which was a rare occasion, back then.

<p class="MsoNormal">“That makes two of us… I’d rather eat a cow pat.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“I’d rather have the cow dump that pat directly into my mouth.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“I’d rather have it dump it in my ear and then hold my mouth open, so that the liquid shit could run down my face and into my mouth…” Set grumbled, making Jaryl fall into silence as he didn’t think that he could beat that.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Well, at least I can say that I definitely ain’t hungry now…” The Bosmer sighed, almost heaving at the image… Set just laughed as he always did, when Jaryl was feeling uncomfortable.

<p class="MsoNormal">The two of them stepped inside the room, immediately surprised to see that it contained a very large cage, which got them to freeze on the spot, not noticing that there was a rabbit hopping about, just beside them.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Fuckin’ hell…” Set muttered, under his breath as he began to approach it, no longer caring about the rabbit.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Wh-Was this a prison?” Jaryl asked, not knowing what else it could be.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Could be… But it ain’t no Imperial Prison, looks like a… dungeon or something.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“A dungeon?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah, maybe someone kept animals in here or captured people…” He turned and shrugged, the iron bars were pretty much corroded at this point, it was obvious that they hadn’t been used for a while.

<p class="MsoNormal">“P-people?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Maybe… You never know with wild folk…” Set commented, knocking the bars with his knuckles.

<p class="MsoNormal">“That’s… messed up, why’d they keep people in there?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“How would I know!? Maybe they were slaves or food or somethin’…” Set just sighed and shook his head, seeing the rabbit hopping about the floor in the corner, prompting him to sigh and pick it up.

<p class="MsoNormal">“This place is freakin’ me out, can we go?” Jaryl looked back, over his shoulder, hearing the crunching sound of the rabbit’s neck as his older brother snapped it, he let its head hang limp in his hands before he let go of it altogether.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I guess… Though I was just startin’ to like this place…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Set! Please…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Fine… Fuckin’ pussy…” The Bosmer grumbled, turning to face the door behind him and stepping out, almost angrily as he stormed out of the cave, somewhat disappointed with Jaryl’s lack of nerve. His younger brother lingered behind, placing his hand on the bars and letting it run down as he stroked its rustic surface, gazing longingly and fearfully at the gaps in between.

<p class="MsoNormal">He was real…

<p class="MsoNormal">Jaryl let go and stepped back, stumbling as he began to shudder, curling up into a ball and pressing his head against his knees.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Jaryl!?” Set called back, wandering what was going on and why it was taking so long for him to come out and join him, he’d only left, because Set had asked him to.

<p class="MsoNormal">“The Bosmer stepped inside, seeing Jaryl huddled up, he glanced over to the iron gate, trying to guess what had scared him but he couldn’t find anything of any significance. The Bosmer shook his head and stepped in front of his brother.

<p class="MsoNormal">“What’s the hold up?” He asked, ignoring the fact that he was scared for the time being.

<p class="MsoNormal">Jaryl looked up, his eyes glistening with tears, he saw that Set was now stood over him, holding the dead rabbit in his hand, looking somewhat disgusted at him for falling on his ass and crying like a helpless child.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I…” He sighed and wrapped his arms around his knees, bringing them to his chest as he looked over to the cage.

<p class="MsoNormal">“He’s real… Isn’t he?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Who?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“The Cannibal of County Cheydinhal… He’s real…”

<p class="MsoNormal">Set glanced over to the cage, he hadn’t considered that to be a possibility but… This whole cave, did feel like some sort of… lair…

<p class="MsoNormal">“Er… Nah, that’s just some bullshit fairy tale…” Set mumbled, he’d usually try to intimidate Jaryl further, with the gory details but he could see how terrified he was and decided to come clean.

<p class="MsoNormal">“If there was a cannibal? He’s… Gone, dead and buried and he ain’t comin’ back…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Uh hu…” Jaryl mumbled, unconvinced.

<p class="MsoNormal">“B-But he still existed… Th-That’s his cage! How can you not be afraid of that?”

<p class="MsoNormal">Set shrugged, looking back over his shoulder, he reached inside and swung his arm around before pulling it out.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Looks pretty empty to me and old to, old and empty…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“But it wasn’t old once, there were… people in there once… don’t that bother you? What if there’s someone else like that, who comes for us?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Then Dad’ll fuck ‘im up, if I don’t get there first…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“I… I guess… But what if he…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Jaryl, stop… He ain’t gonna do shit, ‘cause he’s not real and even if he was, he wouldn’t fuck with us, we’re too big of a group.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“R-Right…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“I don’t think this was… Now that I look at it…”

<p class="MsoNormal">Jaryl’s head shot up, frowning and narrowing his eyes as he began to wonder if Set was lying to make him feel better.

<p class="MsoNormal">“What d’you mean?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Cage like that? It’s obvious, werewolf used to live in here, probably used this place to keep himself away from other people.” The Bosmer turned around, grabbing hold of the iron bars and shaking them before stepping back and smiling.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Ain’t nobody getting’ in or out of that… not even a werewolf could. He could transform, howl at the moon and tear shit up and not have to worry about hurtin’ anyone or breakin’ anythin’ ‘till morning.” Set pointed out, stepping back and putting his hands on his hips, looking up to the top of the cage. He sounded incredibly sure and confident of that, somewhat putting Jaryl to ease…

<p class="MsoNormal">“S-So… It’s a werewolf?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah… Don’t know why he’d wanna do that though, I’d love to just let myself go crazy, tearin’ everythin’ up, then I’d wake up, the next mornin’ naked, forgettin’ that it ever happened.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Heh… Wouldn’t be much different to you, when you’re ‘normal’ would it?” Jaryl smirked, getting Set to laugh and shrug as he looked down on him.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Probably not, now that I think about it… Now c’mon, we need to get back home before this rabbit starts to smell…”

<p class="MsoNormal">Set stepped out the room as Jaryl got up, shakily to his feet and looked over to the cage, he smiled at it, feeling at ease in its presence before he turned away and followed his brother outside.

<p class="MsoNormal">--

<p class="MsoNormal">Jaryl slowly awoke, seeing that Isis was still asleep and leaning on him, she seemed happy as she dozed, using his shoulder as a pillow, he watched her face as she began to murmur something before settling down again, prompting Jaryl to relax and look forward into the distance.