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Vale of the White Horse
Topic Started: 5 Jan 2010, 13:03 (19,349 Views)
Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'Enough to know this much,' Morcant shrugged. 'You have parents, don't you? I thought your old man was such a good man, not the type to spread your mother's legs whenever he wanted something of her.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She leaned back more, a look of aversion spreading over her face. 'Both my parents are good, but I don't think they married for love.'
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Sonja
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'Just because marriages aren't for love doesn't mean they'll stay loveless marriages, even if you are a chieftain's daughter, married off for some political reason or the other.' He remembered his own parents, and suddenly wondered if they were alive still. 'Of course, if you marry a Roman, it's different,' he added, scratching his beard.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
Essylt said nothing but wondered if what he said was true. Surely Romans were human, like her own people. Would it be impossible to love one of them? She thought of her betroothed and her shoulders went up in an unintentional defensive posture.
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Sonja
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Hadn't the girl ever talked to her mother about these matters? It's what mothers and daughters were supposed to do, he figured, though he didn't really know. He was an only child; no sisters or brothers to hear this sort of thing from. He shook his head and handed a plate of food to Essylt in silence.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
'Thank you,' she said, for lack of anything better. Marriage, and anything related to that, was the last thing on her mind now. She glimpsed at his hands. The frost had already disappeared, melted within the heat of the fire. Sheh ad been deliberately gentle, but not so gentle he wouldn't have felt it, close to his heart. 'I want you to agree with me on something.'
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Sonja
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'And that is?'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She wondered how to say this right. 'If we find one good man among the Romans - one man at all - I'll let him live.'
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Sonja
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He mulled it over for a moment, thinking it wasn't very likely she'd find a good man among an army of brutish pigs. 'If you wish,' he said then.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She scrambled up, not touching the food he had handed her. 'I need to...think. Alone.'
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Morcant studied her face for a moment. 'Okay,' he answered slowly. 'I won't disturb you until you call me.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
I will not call for you. 'Good.' She left the cave. The forest was rustling all around her. The owl fluttered on her shoulder. Essylt thought he seemed eager to move away from the fire. She wandered off, not paying much attention though she still recognized enough of the landmarks to find her way back. He'd let her walk away just like that. Did he trust her that much? Or wouldn't he mind, really, if she disappeared from him now? Essylt found a flat boulder, like a plateau against a rocky wall covered with mosses. It was there she sat down. She heard a stream nearby. Perhaps she'd take a wash later.
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
Tudwrig leaned against the windowsill, completely exhausted. That night had been one of the worst to date: he hadn't destroyed anything, but he had been plagued by violent dreams and terrible nightmares every waking moment while prowling around his room restlessly. He was in control again though. Human. He looked at his fingernails for long moments, afraid they might grow into claws again the moment he took his eyes off them. He should be downstairs, helping Briallen. Together, he had said. Why couldn't he keep himself to that promise? Tudwrig bit down on his lip hard. Why did the Romans have to settle in? Why did that slick Tribune have to come to his chieftaincy? What had he done wrong to deserve all of this?
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She took a breath, finding her composure. It wasn’t right to suspect him before he had a chance to say anything at all. Briallen raised her hand, knocking on the bolted door. ‘Tudwrig? Can I enter?’
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Sonja
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'Yes,' he said after a moment's hesitation wherein he wondered if he'd be able to hold on for much longer. He thought so. 'Please do...'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
She unbolted the door and felt like a prisoner’s keeper. Slipping inside his chamber, she noticed once again how it smelled too much of inside. The shutters were closed. It was dark. ‘Tudwig, the Tribune lord Lentulus was just here.’ She did not have the quiet to bring the message more gently. ‘He said Marcus Iulius has been murdered down in the settlement. Monstrously.’
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Sonja
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Monstrously? For a moment he thought - but no. His door was bolted. Tudwrig sat down on the edge of his bed. 'Murdered,' he repeated. There had been a tremor in Briallen's voice that made him wish he'd told her in advance. He looked at her and patted on the spot next to him. 'Please sit..?'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
A shock went through her. With ice-cold legs, she did as he told her. ‘Did you do it?’ She didn’t think she could have said it with so little passion, but fear made her numb. ‘Did you kill?’
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Sonja
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'No, it wasn't me.' He hesitated for a moment, 'not...directly anyway. I'm sorry Briallen, I should have told you.' Tudwrig took a hold of her hand. She felt cold and was trembling.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Not directly.’ She stared into his face, making sure that her expression was closed. ‘You had better tell me now. I was faced with Lentulus’ questions.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
He bit on his lip and looked away. 'You remember the day I had changed my mind about Gwenllian's stay? Her bodyguard came to seek me out that day, and expressed an interest in Marcus Iulius. He told me he had unfinished business with the man, and that this business would likely prove fatal to the Roman. I gave my consent, because I knew that if Rhywallon didn't kill Iulius, I would soon enough.' Either way, Iulius' blood was on his hands, he was well aware of that. He was just glad that it was his own decision, not an urge of the curse. 'All he wanted in return was that Gwenllian might stay here.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
Briallen was silent for a long while, staring down on her hands curled up in her lap. So the Roman was assassinated. She thought of Gwenllian’s hired guard. They had seemed – not exactly close, but with a strange sort of connection hanging between them. She stood up, opening the shutters of the window. Dusky light spilled over her like the sun over a lake with dark clouds. The white horse seemed eerie and pale in the evening. Perhaps they’d get a thunder storm. ‘I won’t grieve for the man.’ The settlement reached nearly up to the hill. The Blowing Stone stood lonely in the strange light. ‘It’s good that Rhywallon left. If lord Lentulus asks, I’ll tell him he left even before the murder took place; that he was only here to help settle Gwenllian in. However.’ She turned around, seeing how pale he really was. His dark hair looked almost black. ‘It was stupid of you. You didn’t think clearly. You’ve been extremely dangerous. To order an assassination in this state we’re in….We’re not in a position to risk those things.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
'I didn't order anything, I gave my consent. Rhywallon would have killed the man whether I liked it or not.' Tudwrig sighed. 'Nevertheless, you are right. I'm sorry, Briallen...' He got up and walked towards her, putting his hands on her shoulders. 'I should have told you, but I didn't want to burden you with yet another issue I should be dealing with myself.'
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
Briallen put her head against his chest, leaning heavily. Now, she couldn’t see anything. If she just hid like this, would no one be able to find her? ‘Sometimes, I think of leaving.’
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Sonja
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And sometimes he wondered if it would not be best to let her go. His arms tightened around her, as if he could protect her from everything that way. 'I...I said I would not keep you if you wanted to,' he answered, though the words cut through his very being.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
'Ask me why I'm still here,' she said with a tight voice, still clinging to him without looking up. 'Despite your curse. Despite every lack of wealth. Despite the Romans. Ask me that, instead of telling me I can go.'
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
There was a lump in his throat that made it difficult to speak. 'Why are you still here, Briallen?' he whispered, pressing his nose into her hair.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
‘Because I can’t bear the thought of you all alone again,’ she whispered. ‘Because this was an arranged marriage but I found that I like you – and I want you.’ She made a fist and pressed it against his chest. ‘I want to be with you, I want to sleep with you. I keep waking up each day hoping that the night will be a good one at last. I keep working through the day hoping that sometime I can find a cure for you.’ She shuddered. ‘But I keep wondering if you desire me, or that you’re only fond of me for all that I try to do for you.’
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Sonja
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
He took a deep, shuddering breath. Her words had a peculiar effect; suddenly it was as if the sun was rising instead of setting, bathing them in warm light. 'I do, Briallen,' he said, barely audible. Gods, that he did, like nothing else in this world. 'But I thought - I didn't -' The words didn't want to come out right and he felt like screaming in frustration because of it. To hell with words, then. He gently pushed her back to look at her, then bent forward to kiss her.
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Marieke
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
You thought I didn't want you for what you are. She couldn't tell him that he shouldn't have made such a mistake, but he had her mouth now. Briallen pressed closer to him, taking one of his hands to guide him over her body. There was no need to speak out what he could know for himself.
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