Ven was exhausted himself, so the blue liquid didn't seem like a bad idea.
"Hmm, don't mind if I do."
He grabbed the bottle with a nod and took a swig. Immediately he began coughing.
"*COUGH* Wow... *COUGH* Pretty strong stuff..."
He hit his chest once with a fist, trying to recompose himself.
By then the two made it the outer gates of the castle.
"New friend, Sir Ven?"
Ven pointed to Aaron with his thumb over his shoulder.
"This is Aaron. His army helped us fend off the Dark Empire."
The guards bowed slightly.
"A pleasure, sir."
Ven turned back to Aaron.
"I must speak with King Henri now, so we must part ways. I'm sure he'll want to speak with you soon though, so don't wander far. You and your men are welcome to explore the lower levels of the castle, as well as the town. When his majesty is ready to receive you, we will send for you via messenger."
Another guard came over and whispered something in Ven's ear, and the two began conversing in low tones as Ven walked off into the open halls of the white stone castle.
----
"What was that?"
"I don't know, looked like some rustling bushes to me."
"Do you think we should, like, check it out?"
"Dude, it's just some rustling bushes. What makes you think rustling bushes are suspicious? I mean, there are a number of perfectly natural things that could move bushes like that."
"*Sigh* ... Fine, I'll do it myself."
The Tjedian guard stepped out from his post near the outer walls of Tjedon, peering into the thick underbrush. All of the men from Ven's army seemed to have made it in, but he wondered if it could have been a straggler, or perhaps some villager who had responded to the evacuation call late. The bush seemed empty enough when he arrived, so he called out.
"Anyone out there?"
More rustling farther out. He caught a glimpse of someone running away, disappearing into the thick growth..
He turned back and glanced at the other guard, who didn't seem to be paying attention, so he turned back to the woods and stepped in, pushing away the foliage with his spear. After a minute he saw a glimpse of the figure again. A lost child?
"Hey kid, relax. I'm not gonna hurt ya."
What.
Do.
You.
FEAR?
The guard jumped back with a yelp, brushing the spider off of his arm. Blast it, he hated spiders. Good thing no one saw him flinch like that. He continued on after the kid.
After a few moments he realized he lost him, whoever the child was. He turned around abruptly.
And screamed.
A seven foot tall spider stood before him, his panicked reflection cast in its multitude of eyes. He instinctively slashed at its face with his spear, but dropped the weapon in response to the spiders crawling on his hands. He fell backwards, trying to brush them off, but there were far too many upon him. His armor dematerialized piece by piece, changing into more and more crawling spiders. Everywhere. He screamed as he rolled upon the ground violently, the arachnids crawling into his mouth.
----
Mmmm... delicious.
He loved it when they screamed. It made their souls taste oh so much better...
