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Vale of the White Horse
Topic Started: 5 Jan 2010, 13:03 (19,352 Views)
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'First of all you could tell me exactly what you do when you freeze things,' he said, bending over to pluck a few twigs of grass. He held them out to Essylt.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She looked from the grass in his hand to his face. ‘I can’t tell you. I’m not sure at all.’ This was not exactly true; though she had no idea how all of this had happened to her, she had managed to excersice some control over it back in the camp. Essylt’s eyes searched the glade. ‘I call the owl,’ she finally admitted unwillingly.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Morcant licked his lips and tried to figure out the best way to go about this. If he was honest, he didn't really have a clue. But he didn't want to toss Essylt out there all by herself, either. Fear was a powerful emotion, but powerful enough to get rid of a whole legion? First he needed to know exactly what she could do. 'I still haven't seen him,' he said in the most neutral tone of voice he could manage. 'I suppose you wouldn't want to call him to find out if I can, now?' If he could share her dreams, perhaps he could share her visions (if that's what they were) of the owl, too.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
Again, she hesitated. But there was little harm in calling the owl. It would either work, or it would not and in either case there was nothing to fear. And what if he wanted to see it too? She had no real objections to that. Essylt had to admit that it would even relief her when someone else’s eyes would take in the soft feathers and the moonlike eyes of the fowl. ‘Alright,’ she said, taking a deep breath before murmuring: ‘Come now. Come to me again.’
For a moment, all remained as still as it had been before. Then she heard the beat of wings. Essylt stretched out her arm and on it landed, with perfect grace, the owl. There was hardly a weight to him. She bowed elbow and the creature stayed still, balancing on her lower arm. Her eyes went from him to Morcant, who had barely moved at all. ‘You don’t see it,’ she said.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
He shook his head, squinting at her outstretched arm. He could see nothing at all, except for Essylt moving as though there really was something there. An involuntary shiver ran down his spine. 'No, I don't. You're able to freeze things now, though?' That was what he was really interested in.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
'Well, I think...' She looked to the animal on her arm. 'But you said you wanted to see yourself. If you cannot see, maybe you could touch.' She held out an uncertain hand. 'I can guide you to it.'
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'All right,' he said, a little surprised that she had actually suggested something herself, and reached out with his left hand.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
Her heart was beating oddly calm now she took his hand and brought it to the bird on her other arm. The owl was following their movements with his moonlit lakes for eyes, but made no move to fly away. He would be able to feel it, she knew it so clearly that her hands weren’t even shaking now. For a moment, none of this felt strange and alien to her. These things she could do, the powers the owl had brought her – all felt like they belonged to her, like breathing. She put the tips of his fingers against the feathers. ‘Do you?’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
He nearly pulled his hand away when they met resistance into what seemed like thin air, but with an effort, he stayed put. The feathers underneath his fingertips were soft and reminded him of the skin of Essylt's cheeks. 'I do,' he breathed. 'Uncanny...'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Yes,’ she agreed softly. Her fingers slid off his hand. ‘But also undeniably real.’ Essylt looked up to see his face. He looked tight, but he had not withdrawn. His hand had hardly twitched. 'Does it scare you?'
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'...' He was going to say no, but stopped before the first letter had left his mouth. 'A bit. Well. Rather more than a bit. It's...so strange.' Morcant narrowed his eyes. He still couldn't discern anything, not even when she'd touched him. Marvelling, he stroked the soft feathers with his rough fingers.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She nodded and watched as he stroked the owl. The bird looked his way, taking the man in. He wouldn’t see any of this, she thought, marveling at the strange idea. Eventually she had to lower her arm. The creature flew up, but perched on her shoulder instead of a branch. Would it maybe need time to trust her as much as she needed time to trust him? Essylt brushed a hand over her mouth. ‘So you want me to try and make frost appear?’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Morcant pulled his hand away quickly. It hung in mid-air for a moment, then he slowly lowered it, staring fixedly at the spot where the owl was supposed to have been before. 'Yes,' he answered then, 'please.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
There was a part of her that didn’t want to. The owl was a friendly creature, despite being so clearly from the Otherworld. But the other things – the visions, the dreams, the ice….all of that scared her. And even now, with the light burden of the fowl upon her shoulder, it felt like something she shouldn’t allow herself to do. But there was home, her family…a mother who needed her. Perhaps a baby brother, who’d be in need of her care far too much. She thought of all that as she reached down to the patch of grass. She spread her fingers wide, and the silvery tendrils spread from them like small, shimmering snakes.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
He knelt down beside her as she froze the grass, looking with interest at the rivulets of frost that leaked from her fingers. They were frail als glassy splinters, but shimmered with an unearthly light. It reminded him of her eyes, and for a moment he looked at her face instead of the ice. Then he clenched his jaws together. He mustn't be distracted, not even by her. 'Can you reach further?' he asked after getting his composure back.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She opened her mouth to reply, but thought better of it. Instead she pushed her lips together hard in focus, willing the cold to spread over the earth, along that tree, taking those bellflowers as it went…Like winter, the soil died under her touch. Essylt let go, breathing out hard.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
It was perhaps the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen and it smelled like victory. The only question was if it could be possible to kill a man with those rays of frost. 'How about if you try to freeze that group of trees over there?' he asked, getting increasingly enthusiastic.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She halted, getting back to her feet and rubbing her hands to her skirt to warm them. 'Do you honestly want me to keep destroying things?'
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
For a moment, he didn't know what to say. 'It could save your life if you found yourself in trouble,' he said after a silence.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
'Or it could kill a man if I mistook his intentions,' she replied, taking a step back unstil she stood near an ash tree. 'You haven't...told me anything yet. And you keep pushing me to do all of this for your...your plan, whatever it is. If you want me to help you, you must tell me what it is.'
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Morcant narrowed his eyes at her. He wanted to tell her to trust him, but knew that if he did she'd throw him the whole kidnapping-thing in his teeth. Why couldn't she just do as she was told? It would save them both so much trouble. But then he looked into her eyes and realized that she wasn't going to do anything until he told her. 'You've asked for it,' he said curtly, taking a step towards her. 'It can kill, yes, Romans just as well as trees and grass and leaves.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She imagined that her whole body had drawn up a layer of frost now, creeping up from her feet to her face. But the cold she felt was nothing like that. ‘You.’ She took a step back, then found that she couldn’t back away further for bewilderment. ‘You want me to touch the Romans and kill them with my hands.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'You don't have to put your hand on them if you do it like you just did,' he said and took a step towards her as she backed away.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
'I've frozen leaves and flowers. A patch of forest ground!' The owl on her shoulder fluttered up, as if he felt her rising anger and continuing shock. He rose in the air with a rustle of feathers, but perched again, back on her other shoulder. 'What makes you think I can...There's a difference between a man and some grass...and you! You just want to use me, yet you told me I wasn't a killer!' She slammed her open hand against the ash. It hurt briefly but the pain that shot through her was like bright fire. Essylt faltered in her breath.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Morcant had opened his mouth, but no words came out. Instead, he looked at the tree Essylt had slammed her hand against. It was solid ice. He didn't know what to say or do for long moments, could only stare at what she had accomplished. Then, suddenly, he reached out and grabbed her wrist, even though logic dictated that the last thing he should do was touch her. He pulled her against him, grabbing her shoulder and turning her to look at the crystal tree. 'Look,' he said in her ear. 'Look! That is what you can do. You can set our people free, Essylt.' Not even the coolness of her skin could dim the fire that burned in his veins, now.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
It didn’t matter that he grabbed her hard and turned her about as if she were a puppet. Essylt felt wilting like the bellflowers she had touched, in spite of all that power that had coursed through her body into the tree. The hand that had crashed into the bark was bleeding. The owl had left her; it made her feel terribly alone. Somewhere near, she felt his warm breath. It brushed over one side of her face, leaving words in her hear. He said things she didn’t want to hear. ‘No. Oh – no.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
She didn't see, didn't want to see. It left a bitter taste in his mouth, knowing that he would have to force her. But at the same time there was a sense of elation: his plan wasn't all folly. It could work. And he'd make Essylt understand, that was for sure. He looked down to see that her hand was bleeding. He folded his arms around her, taking her injured hand in his and rubbing the blood away.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
How long would it remain up, this beautiful ash tree? Not long. Soon it would crumble, either because it could no longer bear the weight of itself as a giant pillar of ice, or else because the sun would press its rays on the crystal, melting it slowly. It was in that way that she felt pressed against Morcant. He was warm where her arms were icy, and he would hold her like this until she had no choice but to surrender. There was already no choice left. Essylt kept her eyes on the ash, how it looked magnificent and tall, but knowing that she had summoned a death spell upon it. He rubbed her hand. It hurt vaguely. It was no use telling him she didn’t want to do this. He would not listen, would not let her go. ‘I’m scared.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Don't be,' he said hoarsely. 'You won't be killing men; they're animals. Defiling our lands, raping girls like yourself, cutting the throats of honest young men and taking our lands unlawfully, by sword and fire. We'll be justice, Essylt. You and me. It'll be all right.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She shook her head. She could easily lean back and rest it against him if she wanted to. Animals. What did that make him? What would that make her, if she went along? Quietly, hoarsly, she whispered: 'You're hurting me.'
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