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Vale of the White Horse
Topic Started: 5 Jan 2010, 13:03 (19,281 Views)
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Consorted, even,' Rufus laughed. 'Don't mention it. I live but to serve - most of the time, anyway.' He gave her a little wink and briefly touched her arm. 'Discuss it with your fierce protector,' he suggested then. 'Maybe he sees the merits.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Oh, I…didn’t say it to criticize my father. I love him.’ She made sure she didn’t move away, though he had touched her. ‘Maybe. I think he’ll like to know your merits in it, though. Can I speak openly?’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Of course.' Open was good. Just as long as she didn't expect him to be open in return.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘I believe your biggest motive to send an escort with me is to keep an eye on Morcant. It doesn’t seem sensible to me to deny this.’ She looked at him, keeping her voice down, not wanting to attract attention of the few servants who walked about.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Rufus licked his lips. 'From my point of view, Morcant is a potential threat. I've been around long enough to recognize the glint of murder in a man's eye,' he said dryly. 'I really like to stay on top of this sort of thing. But I haven't forgotten my promise to you, either.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘But…’ She swallowed the words. He was right, of course. Morcant was a threat to him, no matter how how she’d try to talk it right. He wanted the Romans gone – dead, if he could not have it any other way. He was prepared to refer to kidnap for that sake. ‘Good. I’m glad. I don’t like this at all, this battle.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Not many would,' he shrugged. Gods knew he actually enjoyed it at times, though that enthusiasm had dampened a little when he'd witnessed his own death - or near-death, as it may be. 'I'm trying to avoid as much trouble as I can.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Do you mean me?’ She raised her hands in example. ‘What I could do to you?’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'I mean many things. As for you - there are a couple of things I know you could do to me,' he said, though he was smiling.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
Essylt said nothing. She hardly stirred, only slowly lowered her hands.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Rufus remained silent too for a while, wondering if she'd done asking questions and whether or not she'd gotten the information she wanted. He doubted both, not in the least because he knew he'd said very little that'd be of use to her. 'So if you leave, it will be tomorrow?'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Or the day after tomorrow. Um…I was wondering – when you said there had been murders….Were you speaking the truth, of was that just something to pressure me?’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'I'm rather against outright lies,' he answered. 'There have been two murders, in fact. It's a rather vexing situation, since my men have not found any useful clues as of yet.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Right here in the settlement?’ She clasped her hands together in her lap. ‘Because that is unsettling. Who…what kind of people…?’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'One inside, the other just outside the walls,' Rufus nodded. 'It's curious. The first death was that of the man who was in charge here before I arrived; the other was the chieftain of Cavern Hill. Political murders, one would say, but the execution was too much akin to a criminal liquidiation for comfort,' he mused.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘The chieftain of Cavern Hill?’ For a moment, she forgot with whom she was sitting. Essylt pressed a hand against her mouth. Cavern Hill was far from Two Lakes, but her father had known him. He had been present at some of her father’s councils. ‘But that could never be one of the br – ah. I’m sorry, this shocks me greatly.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Br-? Finally, a slip of the tongue. He wondered if dropping little bits of information like this could provide him with more of hers. Now if he could just figure out what followed br-... 'Oh, it was very unsettling indeed. The man came to find his missing wife, and then to meet an end like that...'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Disturbing,’ Essylt said. She had thought this settlement was safe. Well, except for Rufus himself. The Vale of the White Horse was not so big as Two Lakes and the people of the Dobunni were not like the Silures. Who would murder one of their own chieftains? ‘This should be brought to the High King,’ she said then. ‘Two such murders, one of his own chieftains…that is grave beyond local politics.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'I've already sent the appropriate messages,' Rufus answered. He was definitely not going to bring this to the High King. As far as he was concerned, the man was of little more importance than the chieftains. 'It's a sordid affair. I thank the gods that everything has been quiet ever since.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She nodded. ‘I must go, I think.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Ah, must you? I was enjoying our little chat.' And he still needed to know what br- stood for. Rufus smiled. 'But I shan't keep you if you really want to go.' He reached for her hand, with every intention of grabbing it and pressing his lips against the skin.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘We – no, I musn’t, but…’ Essylt hesitated. It would be nice to present Morcant with a little more about this man than they had initially known. But what had she learned? That he was a bastard who did not know his own father. And that he cared nothing about it. And that he could be worse than he had shown them. That was worth something, but it wasn’t enough. Softly, she finished: ‘Perhaps it’s better all the same.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
He'd always found stammering women adorable. He smiled slickly after brushing his lips against the back of her hand. 'Perhaps. Do let me know soon whether you want an escort to Two Lakes or not, Essylt.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘That is also…probably not the best idea. I believe.’ She shrugged, though he was still holding her hand. ‘But thank you again. If we perish through snowfall, you can rest assured it was not of your lack of concern or generosity.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'How can I rest assured with that thought to keep me from my sleep?' Rufus asked, his voice just a little plaintive as he raised his free hand. 'Do be careful, my dearest,' he said and stroked her cheek with his fingers.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She had been smiling over her own joke, but his words were like water, washing it off her face. My dearest – unsettled, she moved back, pulling her hand from his fingers. Did he have to say it exactly as Udd Wyll had done? Though, no; it wasn’t quite the same, the words held an entirely different colour. Yet she thought he could not have made her feel more odd. ‘Oh-Of course. I’ll be. Perfectly safe.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Where her smile disappeared like the dye washing from a cheap bale of fabric, his didn't move an inch. This really was a perfect sort of situation, he thought. She'd be too baffled to do anything should he decide to kiss her. Rufus moved towards her, a little more than she had moved away from him. 'I'll pray for your safe and speedy return,' he murmured close to her ear.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She could not look at his face anymore. Essylt stared down to the small space of bench between them, though there was not much left of that. ‘Do your gods usually answer prayers?’ she mumbled, lost for something more sensible to say.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'There are prayers I've seen answered, yes.' Not that gods had anything to do with that, Rufus thought as he put his fingers underneath her chin and lifted her face. Then he brushed her lips with his, gently so. DIdn't want her shying away like a deer.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
He had said waking up with the feeling of falling. It was like that now; her belly turned into a dark, open pool full of gravity. It didn’t feel nice. It didn’t feel right. It was frightening but exciting and Essylt couldn’t grab how the two things were mixed. There were two things she knew: Morcant was there, working for her, loving her. And she was here, wanting to make up her mind about him. If she’d compare both of them, would she finally understand her own desires? Her eyes fluttered shut, open, shut, half-shut, peering through the lashes. She wanted Rufus to talk to her. I said I would protect Morcant even if I have to give in to everything Rufus wants of me.
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