It’s still Monday, I’m not late yet. (Editor’s Note: by the time this posted, I was in fact late.)
So I realized as I was writing the other day that I don’t add character descriptions very well either. And then I realized that I never described the two in this story at all. So. Descriptions ahoy! Let’s make it so chock full of descriptions the story bogs down! Or at least starts to?
Before I begin, I’ll remind: These are rough drafts, pretty much straight flow of consciousness. Don’t expect full consistency. Or for that matter, sense…
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Albrecht had taken the moment of Tenebrae altering his eyesight to move around behind him. His teaching had hammered into him time and again, the magicians come prepared. You must be more so. Contingency upon contingency hung from his belt or hid in his sleeves or down soft leather of the knee-length boots he wore or any place he could strap a pouch or pocket. He drew one out and threw the powder in the air just as Tenebrae turned around. And in the flash of light as the powder exploded and the glow from Tenebrae’s ring, they saw each other for the first time in nearly thirty years.
To Tenebrae’s eyes, Albrecht’s silhouette was shrouded by layers of soft material, waving and confusing where his body was. His face was hidden away by a swath of cloth over his nose and mouth, leaving only his eyes exposed. The eyes were unsettling, piercing, brown as polished chestnut wood, and startlingly familiar. The light and the stare from those eyes that should have been either less or more like something he saw every time he looked in the mirror threw him off for a breath- two breaths- and then he began his next spell.
Albrecht saw Tenebrae as a dark reflection of himself. He’d known they were twins, identical, as the treaty that had separated them had decreed. And yet to see it now was harder than he had expected. His own brown hair curled short and close to his head. Tenebrae’s was long and the ends seemed dipped in ink. His eyes looked back at him, no longer brown but golden and with a strange shape to the pupils as if they were starting to point like a dragon’s or a cat’s. His own darkly tanned skin was so different from Tenebrae’s, paled past the point of nature, his veins standing out starkly near his fingers and eyes.
Both of them absorbed the sight of each other in an instant before the fight renewed again. The flash of powder had released smoke, obscuring the cave. With that and the wall of sound from the rain outside, Albrecht was pretty sure he was invisible to natural senses. But he was also pretty sure Tenebrae had more than natural senses. With a crouch and a low somersault he removed himself from the area he’d been and hopefully to an unlikely area for a spell to target.
Tenebrae cursed. The glasses augmented his vision to ignore sudden changes in light level but that didn’t help when vision was obscured with dust and smoke. But the wizards had prepared him for tricks like this. An elemental spell should remove the obstruction. But he was already building energy for the fire spell he’d been intending to cast on the shadowy figure of Albrecht. He had to change the spell to allow for more heat. And when the wind released from his hands, it bore with it the parching heat of the desert. The floor in front of the cave entrance dried in an instant, the smell of steam and hot rocks rising into the air, but the dust and steam were gone. But so was Albrecht.
This was the moment. He watched the wind gust outward from Tenebrae, whipping his robes and his long inky hair. There was a second’s pause before the wizard would look around and locate him. In that breath, he released three attacks. The gourd on his waist popped open to release the wasp. The dart shot out towards Tenebrae’s neck. And he lunged forward, dagger flying into his hand, side edged with ichor of Velex. Surely something would land.
Tenebrae’s circlet of silver, set with turquoise and topaz, screamed as something flew towards him. He whirled and ducked, but that was mostly instinct. The circlet did the important work, slowing the incoming projectile like a fly trapped in syrup. The feathers on the back went from mad fluttering to a slow undulating wave. But the dodge did get him out of the direct line of Albrecht’s lunge, which was good as the edge of the knife that grazed past his ankle caused his phantasmal armor to sizzle and spit ethereal sparks. He must have some ichor of Velex to bypass and break a magical protective spell like that. There was no telling how potent or with what preparations he’d brewed the ichor; still, with the nature of the battle before them, it wasn’t difficult to guess he didn’t want that touching his blood or it would be a painful, final mistake, given the potency of magic he’d been using of late. But Albrecht was on the ground, recovering from his lunge, and Tenebrae had something for that. He seized the wooden circle carved in a spiral from his belt and broke it, extending it towards his foe, and began the chant as Albrecht stood and started to turn. The turn grew slower and slower as the spell took effect, golden lines weaving out of the broken charm and around Albrecht, until he was frozen in place. Tenebrae let out a deep breath of satisfaction and relieved tension. This would be simple now.
Wait. The expression in Albrecht’s eyes looked like… a small smile?
There was a slight tickle then a sharp pain on Tenebrae’s neck and his world fuzzed to black.
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Well it’s getting late and I want to post this while it’s still Monday. I, uh, don’t know that the description got much more potent but hopefully it’s an improvement. I’m going to have to try again to make it thoroughly clunky I think. (Is it good that I’m actively trying for bad writing? Ah well.) We might see Albrecht and Tenebrae here again.
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