Timestamp: Early Summer
The argument took place in the quiet of the night in the streets of Riverfall long past the time the Kuvay'Nas had last patrolled that particular street. It wasn't a verbal one, but rather one of magic and intent. The Blue Bull had expelled its bloated patrons to go staggering home long after the last bard had raised his voice in song. The last game of suvka had been played and tips had been collected by tired waitresses who also cleaned up as they went hoping for an early night. It was never early though, not where the Blue Bull was concerned and not when it involved trying to get the whole thing closed on time. The managed, of course, but just barely. A final patron had spilled out onto the street, a passed out drunk in tow. The kelvic lion was doing the barmaids a favor by hauling a drunken human out onto the porch to sleep away the rest of the night before he could be sick. The girls hadn't wanted vomit on the newly cleaned floor anyhow.
Skyard had had his liquor. He’d even taken measures to drown out one particularly obnoxious bard by stuffing a bit of cotton into his ears to drown out the man’s bellowing. Perhaps because of the drink or perhaps because he liked the quiet more than he liked the crowd, he forgot about the cotton.
And the Gods knew the Kelvic Lion would do whatever he could to please the women. One might offer him a warm bed for the night. That hadn’t happened though. And so he’d quietly set off to find other amusement.
And when that deed was done and the passed out patron was sleeping on the porch bench of shame, Skyard was on his own in the street where just a turn or two would find him alone. Wandering - he often wandered - restless and half nocturnal as his Kelvic form tended to make him. Lions in the wild were equally at home day or night being awake. And around Riverfall, the Night Lions had made the conversion to nocturnal without a blink. So if Skyard wanted to run with his own kind at times, he had to seek them out in the black of night as well. There would be no runs this evening though. There would be no blessed furred body to cover if he managed to find a wild lioness close to her cycle and willing. There weren’t even any wandering prostitutes. All Riverfall’s body trade took place behind closed doors in posh surroundings. The Akalak were decadent in their pursuit of lust. And usually at this time of night there were a few around.
Not tonight though. The streets were strangely deserted and eerily so. Something seemed not quite right and Skyard couldn’t put his finger on it. The scents in the city were strange. Akalak mingled with fresher human odor, though nothing offensive. And then he saw something strange.
Standing alongside the street was a strolling couple, arm in arm, completely frozen in place. They were breathing, each having a leg partially extended as if to take a step, but they weren’t moving. They stared straight ahead with a dull glaze in their eyes, and did nothing else. A little further away was another person, a courier, frozen as well. He was breathing, but also drooling, with the same vacant stare. He had a package tucked under his arm.
A bend in the street passed the three frozen figures cast a streetlight from the turn. In it he could see two shapes moving and two shapes frozen. Skyard felt a pull, a strong pull, in the form of an urge to move closer, to hear what they were saying… and he did so, moving past the frozen people and crouching by the corner to peer around it. The human scent was strong here, but so too was Akalak. From the dim light on his street, illuminated under the bright light on theirs, he could see two humans and two Akalak. The Akalak were frozen, a pair of big bruiser types, wearing the tabard of the Kuvay’Nas. It was a night patrol, the one in fact that was overdue to pass by The Blue Bull. The humans were moving though, unaffected by whatever it was that was holding the other people frozen.
One was a beautiful woman, older, and one was a man, younger. They both together held a large frame drum about thirty inches in diameter that seemed to have a glowing metal frame and a strange translucent cover where most had hide. The cover glowed with odd symbols that seemed to scramble across its surface as the couple each struck it with leather and fur covered beaters. Sky still had the cotton in his ears so he could not hear the tones, but he could feel the vibrations. Their drumming in the middle of Riverfall in the heart of the night was about as out of place as a monkey in the desert or a whale beached in the center of the Sea of Grass. The woman struck it with a glowing rod that had a beater topped with leather. The man struck it with a similar glowing rod but his beater was topped with a shimmering fur.
The Drum radiated power. But the power washed over Skyard hitting him not with true sound he could hear but with radiant waves. The waves grew more and more powerful as the couple increased their drumming, carrying it to a crescendo.
The drum flared with light and engluphed the two frozen guards, the drummers, and even Sky himself with a flare of light. Sky felt himself pulled, twisted, and violently tossed around, tumbling, twisting, like he was suddenly dough and a pretzel maker was tossing him into the air and twisting him about ready to shelve him and throw him in a hot oven.
He landed hard, sprawling on a combination of stone and sand near the crash of waves. The others were there too… a bit further away. The two Kuvay’Nas were down, collapsed and panting. Their strange staring gaze still in effect.
The couple stood on their feet and smiled. “Two more… “ The young man said. The woman glanced over towards Sky then, as if spotting him, and shook her head. “Not two. Three. Look…” She said gesturing to the Kelvic. She lifted the drum and struck it again with her beater. The music hit Sky full force as the man joined in. He’d lost the cotton in his ears somehow when they’d tumbled. And he felt his limbs freeze as the music washed over him. “He’s a strong one too.” She smiled, and walked over, her companion soon joining her. The woman’s cold eyes scanned him like a potential buyer would scan a horse.
Skyard still couldn’t move.
“Bonus… I like bonus. He’ll do nicely along with the other two.” She said softly, turned to grin at her companion, and then helped him. Together they reached out and grabbed Sky by the clothes he wore and began dragging him. It was only then that he could look around. The sky was utterly stunning, filled with stars on the clearest night he’d ever seen. Palm trees wafted in the heavens, Sky’s head angled so he could only see up. He could hear the waves crashing and smell the salt of the ocean. But the world had a different quality to it. It was hot, still, even with the sun down, and the humidity was high. The place smelled different than Riverfall’s cool stone and temperate climate. This place smelled tropical. Something bright fluttered overhead – a colorful bird the size of a hawk – whereas in the distance there was a chorus of insects as if a forest lay in that direction.
They didn’t drag him far.
It seemed they just pushed and pulled and got him up off the stony and sandy waterline, out of the way, and then fastened a huge chain around his neck. He still couldn’t move, couldn’t blink, and by now his eyes were watering. He listened as they dragged the two Akalak up the beach as well. Then, one by one, he heard the woman stop and do something to each man. Finally she was at his side. A large iron collar was fastened on him that glowed in the same way the drum had. Sky didn’t know where the drum was. He couldn’t see it. As soon as the collar was in place, however, the younger man issued an order to him. “Sleep”. And despite anything he was feeling, doing, or seeing, the kelvics eyelids obeyed, dropped closed, and he lost himself to darkness and slumber there on the sand.
When he awoke in the morning, he definitely wasn’t in Riverfall anymore. No one was around. There was no camp, no signs of inhabitants, and no real evidence that anything that had happened to him the night before was real. There were two drag marks up the sand and a small path leading into what appeared to be tropical jungle. There were no signs of the man, woman, or the two Kuvay’Nas guards.
