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Vale of the White Horse
Topic Started: 5 Jan 2010, 13:03 (19,286 Views)
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'We'll save money to buy some dyes,' he promised her, 'and we'll go to the market on my free day.' Morcant looked at her fingers again, finding their movements entrancing. Not so long ago, those fingers had been against his cheek. He liked that feeling. '..I like your stories,' said he then, with some difficulty pulling his mind from the thoughts it had been preoccupied with.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She paused. ‘Like my stories? Did I tell you stories…?’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Yes, well, once. About the girl and the Faerie prince. What would you weave into this if you had dyes?'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
Now she remembered. It was when the night after the hill. She hadn’t thought he had liked it back then; he’d been locked up in himself, guilty, in pain. Why had she told him that tale? Because she had wanted to tell him that she did not want to be his plaything, just because she had these powers? Funny how she impressed her desire to choose on him. It was exactly what Udd Wyll had said. ‘Hm. Do you know the tale of Blodeuwedd? She was a maid created from flowers by a man who possessed a bit of the Faerie crafts himself. She was made for his cousin, who was a bachelor. But one day, there passed a man by the gardens. He was not a prince of a noble; he was just a good man. And he fell in love with the delicate girl…It took him a while, but by being gentle and strong, he eventually won her over. They met in secret, until the cousin of her husband found out, and he lay out a trap for her. As a punishment, she was turned into an owl, so that she was forced to dwell alone in the night. I would weave that now, if I had the colours.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Morcant wasn't the man to lose himself in fantasies, but for a brief moment he imagined that he could, one day, win Essylt over for him like Blodeuwedd's lover had done. 'I'm sure it would be absolutely wonderful,' he said quickly when he realized he had been staring at her.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Yes,’ she mumbled. Would this be her fate also? To fly away like an owl into the cold darkness of the forest? Perhaps Udd Wyll would be with her, but it could never be the same. She was not one of his kind, no matter her kin line. ‘It’s a sad story,’ she said. ‘But I have enough of princes for the moment.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Princes aren't all they're cracked up to be,' Morcant agreed, shifting on his chair. Essylt sounded distraught. It made him want to take her in his arms, like he'd done when she was plagued by nightmares.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘I haven’t actually met a prince,’ she said, bringing her smile back. ‘But enough chieftains and their sons.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'That's what I mean. Princes are just never around when you need them.' Neither were most chieftains and their sons he added in silence, thinking of the lord of the Vale who had made it so easy for the Romans to take control over the lands. 'I'm keeping you from your work,' he said then. 'I took some wood with me, is there something you need? Plates, spoons...?'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She wove a thread in and out the framework. 'No, nothing. Make whatever you feel like.' She paused for a bit '...I like talking to you. It doesn't distract me.'
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
He wanted to make her something in return for the plait, but he didn't yet know what. He couldn't turn metal into something, so jewellery was probably out of the question. Morcant looked at the wood, thinking he'd just see what it would be. 'Oh, I'm glad,' he said then. 'What did you want to talk about?'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She laughed softly. ‘Nothing in particular. Unless there’s something you need to tell me.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
She already knew just about everything he wanted her to know, Morcant thought. 'Not unless you're interested in what the brotherhood's doing,' he said after thinking for a bit. Perhaps it was better that she knew as little as possible, but he didn't want to withhold anything from her either.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She thought about it, falling silent as she wove through the framework, thread upon thread. She did want to know. But then, the more she knew, the more vulnerable she was for Rufus’ inquiries. If he’d get a hunch that she knew more, he’d use all his powers against her to find out. And she didn’t like lying. It was simply not something she felt comfortable with… But he hardly deserved to know the truth. She looked at Morcant. ‘Yes. Tell me.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'I don't know the latest news yet, I think Cuhelyn will tell me on my day off. They changed sentries last week, but he stayed. Anyway, they're keeping a close eye on Rufus. When he starts to make really overt moves to get his hands on the power here, they want to go offensive.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Attack him?’ She wasn’t sure how she felt about it. The man was unsettling, but she disliked the idea of killing someone. For a while, she was silent again, finishing the first part of the cloth.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Not the man personally. But if the brotherhood were to occupy the caer, I don't suppose he'd attempt to get a hold of the chieftain any longer. To be honest, I don't know much about their latest plans. Been a bit too busy with making money.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Would you rather be out there with them?’ She laid her hands in her lap and looked at him. ‘Tell me honestly.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
He stopped cutting the wood for a moment. 'Sometimes,' he answered. 'But I'm picking up as much useful information inside the caer as they are scouring the forest and settlement, and I have got a decent roof over my head.' Not to mention Essylt herself, though she wasn't exactly his. Not by a long shot.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘I always expected that you would leave me sooner or later,’ she said, trying to sound calm. ‘When I ran to you, I didn’t think you’d be….with me all along.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
It wasn't something he'd expected either, if he was honest. 'I did promise that I'd stick around for as long as you needed me,' Morcant said, looking at his woodcut again. It was starting to take the shape of an owl. It was a bit crude; he figured his hands weren't supposed to do subtle work.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
But if she was capable of managing herself, would she stop needing him? Essylt wasn’t sure. She worked on until the light of the oil burner no longer kept the darkness away.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
He shook his head at the piece of wood. It didn't really look like any owl he'd ever seen. Morcant would have to practice a little more before he could make something good enough for Essylt, he thought and put his things away again. It was probably time for bed, now.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
When she dreamt again, Essylt thought that she was back in the dwelling with Rufus holding on to her. She was staring in the water and saw the face of a baby. But it wasn’t a vision in the water; no, she was standing on the hillside, the forest in her back. The caer emitted plumes of smoke, as though it had contracted a disease and was coughing it out. She smelled it too. It was a burning, nauseating scent. Worst was the silence. No one screamed. No one came running. Perhaps everyone was asleep. She couldn’t tell if it was night or day; the sky was ambiguously hovering over the landscape.
She watched a man. He was the only thing that did move; circling around the caer like a bird of prey. His face was terrifying, like he did not belong to the human race but to something much older. It was he who carried the torch that lit the place, making flames surge up around the walls.
The image shifted. She was inside now, running through the hallways that were smoking. She didn’t see flames. It was like the caer had died and was smoldering in aftermath. Left she went, right, up to her mother’s chambers, where her body was rotting away. She coughed, pressing a sleeve against her nose as she looked down the lonely cradle. Oh, poor Carwyn. No one to hold him. Nobody to rock him and tell him it was all over now. He had ash on his cheeks, on his brow. As if someone had marked him with symbols she did not understand. Essylt woke up with a snap, feeling as though she might be sick. ‘Oh, gods, I must save him!’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
He awoke with a start, first thinking that he might have had a bad dream. But when he turned his head and saw Essylt half-risen from the bed, he realized she must have. 'Wha's wrong?' he mumbled, not yet quite awake. 'Essylt?' Morcant pushed himself up.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘My brother,’ she breathed, feeling confused. Was she in the dwelling or still in the caer? She turned, seeing the outline of Morcant. ‘Fire. He was all alone…’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
He wrapped his arms around her and gently rocked her back and forth. 'Shh,' he said. 'Was it a dream? Tell me about it.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She wasn’t crying. Something inside of her felt like it was stirring; water maybe, a whirlpool that twisted in her belly. But she was too worried to make room for tears. ‘A real dream…There was a man with a face like he was burned…to one side. Like he was two men in the same body…He crept around my home and everything was on fire. I saw this before, my brother all alone while flames were outside his room…And he was all alone. I don’t think the fire got to him. But nobody was taking care of him. I…It was like everyone in the caer had left him alone!’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
A man with a face half burnt? Morcant was suddenly completely awake. What was Rhywallon doing in Two Lakes, of all places? He knew the man had left the Vale quite some time ago, but he'd simply assumed that Rhywallon had gone after the Romans he'd wanted to kill. And creeping around the caer of Two Lakes, no less. Gwyddien's orders? Morcant shook his head. He wanted to be able to tell her it could be just a nightmare induced by worrying, but she'd never seen Rhywallon before , had she? Then how could she dream about him? He brushed some hair from her face. Her skin felt clammy. 'Do you think it's one of those dreams?' he asked quietly.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Yes. I know so.’ Essylt allowed herself a deep breath. ‘That’s why I said I had…seen it before. In the water. That’s why I must go to Two Lakes and…’ What? If nobody was around anymore, her brother would have starved by the time she’d arrive.
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