#caeris blacksun

"Ah, yes. Get your summoning advice from an intoxicated buffoon who can’t even manage two legs properly, much less the proper spells to bind a demon." Caeris had been watching from the darkness beneath the stairs for half an hour as the warlock and his avid young pupil…well, Caeris supposed it was an attempt at teaching, but the thick smoke in the room was clearly having an effect on everyone. Except for him, of course. "Have you even thought about what you’re going to do with one once you have it? It certainly won’t be impressed with your…choice of venues." He waved a hand at the smoke.

The young blood elf, reeling from the smoke in the air, just scoffed. “He’s going to teach me everything.”

The warlock puffed up in what Caeris supposed was self-righteous fury. “Unlike you, I am an accomplished summoner. The boy is a marvelous study. He will do well, I know it.” He stumbled closer to Caeris and poked at him, laughing. “A shopkeeper, presuming to tell me my business. I know my student. He’ll summon the fiercest demon out there.”

"And I know he somehow managed to teleport his betrothed’s lover to his mother’s sitting room, less than fully clothed, while the woman his mother intended for him to marry led them all on a merry chase through the garden as a rather ill-tempered snapping turtle. All in all, actually fairly impressive spellwork, but completely different from the spell he was attempting to cast. Which was, actually, just a simple spell to teleport him to the Bazaar for a bit of pre-wedding shopping. I supposed he did manage to get out of that." Caeris took a deep breath and wrinkled his nose. "Bloodthistle? Really though. You intend for him to summon…what exactly, while completely out of his mind?"

The warlock closed his grimoire as Caeris leaned over his shoulder. “A felhunter. It’s perfectly within his abilities. He assures me, he understands it perfectly.”

Caeris clapped him on the shoulder, setting him off balance and into a pile of books. “I’m sure he does, but how about a small test? You know his mother would be…well, rather peeved if her son turned up with less extremities than he started out with. I think she still hopes he might give her halfway intelligent grandchildren, after all.” The warlock sputtered and attempted to stand, but Caeris swept a foot out, tripping him and sending him crashing into his hookah. “For a test, I propose this. I’ll summon a demon, he’ll banish it. And if he manages that properly, he can move on to imps.”

Thaolan scowled and swayed. “I can do more than that!”

Caeris grinned at him and began to cast his spell. “Then prove it, boy. Banish my demon.” The familiar summoning circle appeared below him as he cast, and the boy clumsily readied himself. But the demon that appeared wasn’t anything he was expecting to see.

The shivarra gave a throaty laugh as the boy gaped at her. She, of course, was unaffected by the smoke in the room, much as her master remained unaffected. She swayed her hips temptingly and murmured softly in Eredun…and the warlock nearby fell noisily to the ground again, lost to her spell.

The young blood elf showed no effort at all to so much as protest the shivarra, and Caeris gave a heavy sigh. “Right, no summoning just yet, I think. Your mother will be wondering where you are. Up you go.” And with that, he grabbed the boy by one of his ears and led him, protesting, up to the street. As they passed into Murder Row, the shivarra downstairs faded away, back into the Nether.

"Darling, Caeris, thank you so much for helping poor Thaolan. I worry about him." Magistrix Dawnseeker cupped his cheek as if he were a dear friend. "All he needs is some help in focusing. He has talent." The act was flawless, her dress, her makeup, her expressions all calculated to elicit his aid.

Caeris smiled indulgently and leaned in close to her, so that he could whisper in her ear. “To tell the truth, Magistrix, I continue playing your game because I’m curious how far you’ll take it. Did you think I wouldn’t recognize the runes you chose for him. Runes of binding, all of them. Binding your stepson that close…maybe you want to avoid another public scene…but then, that benefited you, didn’t it? The girl’s mother had eyes on your stepson’s fortune, didn’t she?” He nipped at her ear with teeth that had gone just a tad too sharp and felt her stiffen. “So I wonder, why bind him? To keep him from the warlocks and magic he’s actually…well I won’t say decent at, because his form is terrible, but I’m sure he’d learn. Or is it something more sinister? Because the way I’m reading these runes, he’d have a difficult time disagreeing with you at all. Even over his own legal matters.”

She gave him a furious look. “How dare you! I love my son! You’re not reading it right, that tattoo is clearly to…”

Caeris held a hand to her lips to silence her. “That wasn’t an accusation, just idle curiosity. I’m not very inclined to speak of my suspicions. Of course, I’m also not very inclined to reproduce your design to the letter. What would happen, I wonder, if I substituted an Eredar rune of chaos here?” He stroked a point just under the pulse in her throat. “Or a death rune here?” His hand brushed against her breast. “Would it upset your plans?”

Her face darkened. “You bastard. I’ll see you ruined…”

He straightened and shook his head, wagging a finger mockingly. “I wouldn’t. You see…you’re not my only…friend. And if it’s easy for me to slip and upset your plans, how easy, do you think, it would be for some of my higher placed friends to ruin your day?”

She gave him a look of helpless fury. “What do you want?”

Returning to his shop from the herbalist’s stall, Caeris paused, staring into Rosefica’s shop. She was there, working on some medicine or elixir as always, and he took a minute to just watch. As he often did when he thought she wasn’t looking. For a mortal, she was beautiful. Frail, but with an underlying power that one would regret overlooking. Her neck, so pale and smooth. The compounder’s uniform was modest, but he could almost see what she looked like under it. It was an image to set his teeth on edge and set his mind to fluttering.

He could imagine…so many things. His teeth and her blood. She would fight him. It would be an inferno and they’d both burn. It would be terrible and glorious, to fight this intoxicating mortal. Deep inside, a voice whispered, Do it.

He shook his head and moved on, back to his shop. His order should have been delivered by now, and he had inks to make.

"Did you hear? The commander saw a black dragon in Gorgrond." A nearby paladin leaned across his table to his companion and said softly, "A fully grown black dragon. Battle scarred, she said."

Caeris stopped cold with his coffee halfway to his lips. The only clue that he was even still living was the puff of his breath in the chilly Frostfire air. Seen. He’d been seen! He felt a stab of fear. What if they tracked him here? What if they knew? What would he do? Where would he go? He reached for his staff. The ebony staff’s dragon head stared at him tauntingly.

There was a derisive snort from the paladin’s death knight companion. “I heard she claimed it disappeared right in front of her. Probably drunk on duty and saw a rylak. Those things get freakishly huge. I’m more interested in the Alliance. Someone reported they’ve been sniffing about the ogre fortresses to the north…”

He’d been staring at the photo for hours. It glared at him from the corner of his shop, taunting him with its writhing tentacles and far too many eyes. Caeris, the blood elf shop owner, would start to work and invariably Ramerian, the black dragon, would find himself pulled back to stare into the lidless eyes and gelatinous mass of the old god in the photograph.

Kill, it whispered to him. Kill them all. Burn them and listen to their screams. Cherish their suffering.

He screamed, pulling ridiculously long blood elf ears down and holding them painfully to his head.”NO! Get out of my head!”

Caeris's hands ran over a feather and bone amulet. He smiled softly at the feeling of power that emanated from it. He held it up to the light and inspected the dark feathers critically, then handed it back to its owner, a mage in Sin'dorei finery. "It's definitely Arakkoa in nature. Their own breed of raven used in the construction of it, I'm sure. As to the magic around it, I couldn't tell you from this brief inspection, other than it is Shadow in nature and it's less a spell and more of an effect of something that the bone was dipped into. The feathers and sinews serve to amplify the effects, and if you want it to serve its original function, then the feathers will have to be replaced, they're looking ragged. In this condition, I'd say....twenty-five gold for it."

"Twenty-five? That's robbery! The saberon I faced for this thing nearly took my head off!"

Caeris gave him an annoyed look. "It will cost me to source the feathers to replace the damaged portions of the amulet, and it will also cost me labor and research in order to do it properly. And I also have to make a profit, and this is not the optimal market for bone and feather trinkets. At best, I could sell it to some passing orc or troll at a discounted price. Twenty-five is my best offer. If you think you can sell it for more, be my guest." Caeris picked up a smooth, brightly colored gem and held it tightly in his hand. Wisps of steam escaped from his clenched fist, and his tattoos flared orange.

The display of temper had the desired effect. The mage shook his head and set the amulet down on the cluttered counter. "Fine! Just give it to me. I have other places I need to be."

Caeris reached into a drawer and pulled out a bag of gold. He counted out the coins and pushed them across the counter. "Pleasure doing business with you, apprentice. Do give my regards to your master."