| Welcome to Kuwa- ...thingy! This site is purely here for our own enjoyment, which means it's not open to the public. Well, I guess you can read our ramblings if you want... Beware, though. They are known to cause severe mental damage when we've been nightsick. |
| Vale of the White Horse | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: 5 Jan 2010, 13:03 (19,325 Views) | |
| Sonja | 8 May 2010, 21:23 Post #2371 |
|
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
|
The white chalk-horse on the hill seemed to be glowing in the dim, afternoon sun. It reminded him of the dream Essylt had had, the one he had shared; there was certainly something very familiar about its lines. As he watched, two mounted figures rode across the top of the hill to the castle. Women, he thought - at least he interpreted the tresses streaming out from behind them as long hair. His eyes travelled to the base of the hill. Nestled snugly against the caer was a settlement. It was only partially finished and looked like a fresh wound in the landscape: very Roman. Morcant moistened his lips and looked at the girl next to him. 'Caer or settlement?' |
![]() |
|
| Marieke | 8 May 2010, 21:27 Post #2372 |
|
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
|
But Essylt had to suspend her answer to that simple question, her mind lurching in all directions as she stared down from their hill unto the other. The figure was formidable, a white horse like nothing she had seen before. ‘Morcant, this is it.’ |
![]() |
|
| Sonja | 8 May 2010, 21:31 Post #2373 |
|
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
|
He didn't really have to guess what she meant. 'You're sure?' Morcant didn't even need to ask to know that she was, in fact, sure, but he poised the question nonetheless. |
![]() |
|
| Marieke | 8 May 2010, 21:35 Post #2374 |
|
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
|
She was out of breath as if she had run up the hill in blind panic. ‘Beyond doubt; this is exactly…’ She couldn’t finish the words, searching her chest for a fresh gulp of air. Her eyes darted over the landscape, past the horse and the two riders who had no idea what kind of being had arrived on their soil. ‘I don’t know what to do.’ |
![]() |
|
| Sonja | 8 May 2010, 21:41 Post #2375 |
|
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
|
He scratched his beard. 'We could go on to the next settlement, but I don't know how far that will be. On the other hand, if this is what you saw in your dream, perhaps you're supposed to be here.' |
![]() |
|
| Marieke | 8 May 2010, 21:45 Post #2376 |
|
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
|
‘I – that’s what I was thinking.’ She looked back to see him next to her. There was no river here, not even a stream. She found she was breathing heavily. ‘Tell me what I must do, Morcant. I’ll listen to you.’ |
![]() |
|
| Sonja | 8 May 2010, 21:47 Post #2377 |
|
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
|
'Great minds think alike,' he muttered with a faint smile, though he was a little surprised that she was complying to him. 'Well, if we're both thinking it I don't think there's a reason we shouldn't. Do you?' |
![]() |
|
| Marieke | 8 May 2010, 21:49 Post #2378 |
|
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
|
‘Even if my coming here might cause destruction?’ she whispered. When she held up her hands, the sunlight illuminated the tips of her fingers and the skin on the edges like a glowing crown. ‘These are dark things.’ |
![]() |
|
| Sonja | 8 May 2010, 21:56 Post #2379 |
|
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
|
Frowning, Morcant put his hands over hers, closing the fingers over her palms. 'They're not,' he said. 'What I made you do was dark, but the power in itself isn't, I believe.' |
![]() |
|
| Marieke | 8 May 2010, 22:01 Post #2380 |
|
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
|
‘What you made me do.’ Essylt thought about all the things he had not made her do. Her mother, he had not ordered her to put her hands to her. That tree, when they were still together in the forest; he had not made her freeze it to the core. Rufus. She was sure he would have loved to force into another kill at that time, had he been there to observe the event. But these hands had also held Carwyn, pulled hum from the womb of their mother and cherished him against her breast when that same mother had passed to leave but a dead body in her wake. ‘I suppose we came this far. The settlement. I don’t want the lord of the caer to recognize my face, if he can.’ |
![]() |
|
| Sonja | 8 May 2010, 22:08 Post #2381 |
|
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
|
'All right, the settlement it is.' He let go of her hands and tried reassuringly at her. He couldn't say he was looking forward to mingling with Romans. |
![]() |
|
| Marieke | 8 May 2010, 22:10 Post #2382 |
|
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
|
But this village must have risen from the ground within the last few weeks, Essylt thought as they descened the hill. She tried not to look at the figure of the horse. ‘I don’t want to be in an inn again,’ she confessed timidly, not knowing when Morcant’s limit would be reached. |
![]() |
|
| Sonja | 8 May 2010, 22:19 Post #2383 |
|
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
|
Morcant thought about her words as they descended the hill. 'It shouldn't be too hard to get us a place with some privacy,' he said after a look around. Most of the houses were still unoccupied. How difficult could it be to just claim one of them for their use? It was a fairly substantial sort of settlement, and it'd take a while, if not forever, for a Roman to realize they weren't supposed to be there. |
![]() |
|
| Marieke | 8 May 2010, 22:23 Post #2384 |
|
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
|
‘That one, right at the edge.’ She pulled the new scarf from her own small bundle, wrapping it to conceal her hair from anyone walking by. Father, forgive me, she thought. I have become a refugee. The house was standing in small solitude. The door was low, the roof reached almost to the ground. She smelled from the air inside that no one had yet made a living here. She looked at it, looking from the door that shed a little light inside, and to the hole in the roof where smoke was supposed to come out. There were two windows; small round ones. Nobody would be able to climb through those to enter her sleeping form unguarded. ‘It…it will do. Just fine.’ |
![]() |
|
| Sonja | 8 May 2010, 22:31 Post #2385 |
|
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
|
Morcant let the bag slip off his shoulders with a groan. After days of travelling, even his shoulders welcomed the rest. It was a good thing he'd bought that bigger bag at the settlement after the river, so that he could carry both their possessions and all the provisions. Essylt hadn't complained much during the trip, but he didn't like the thought of her being in pain if he could help it. And that had nothing to do with guilt. 'I'll get us new blankets tomorrow,' he said after unpacking, 'ours are getting rather threadbare.' Furniture would be nice, too, but they didn't have the money. |
![]() |
|
| Marieke | 8 May 2010, 22:35 Post #2386 |
|
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
|
‘But we have a real hearth place,’ she tried, smiling bleakly. The shock of the white horse had not yet left her; it was tingling somewhere in her body along with all those other feelings she had tried to put away during their days of sojourning. She looked around again, imagining this dwelling to be the place where she’d spend the years to come. With or without Morcant to steady her. His debt should nearly be paid off by now, even in his terms. There was a sinking feeling in her belly. It felt a little like the roaring river she knew was hiding there too, but this time it was a sad, slow-going stream, flowing almost against her will to the back of her eyes. It wanted to be let out. She bit her lip. |
![]() |
|
| Sonja | 8 May 2010, 22:37 Post #2387 |
|
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
|
'I'm going to check the houses around this one,' Morcant muttered, more to himself. 'See if it's safe, and all. I won't be long.' He flashed a quick smile her way and made his way out of the room. |
![]() |
|
| Marieke | 8 May 2010, 22:42 Post #2388 |
|
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
|
What could not be safe about this place? It hardly even existed yet. Essylt sunk down to the floor. The side of her head found the rough wall to rest against. So this was to be her home, now. This small room with the low roof. It was the house for a commoner, nothing she was used to. Well, complaining would make things worse and she hardly felt she deserved anything more. It was, in fact, a good place to hide, like a mole inside his earthly dome. But I have left Carwyn. I have left father. In a way, she had even left her mother before her mother could leave them. The memory of that tired, cold body ran over her, hammering against her senses like a smith hits his anvil. Her weary head suddenly hurt and she wasn’t even sure if that was a real pain or simply everything she had not dared to feel before. Fleeing had not been a brave thing – not even noble; it was, she thought, nothing but a desperate and fearful attempt to keep ahead of her sorrow, the bitter mourning, the dread of her life so shaken up that she barely recognized it. Essylt slumped more into herself, her hand pressed to her mouth. It was to stifle the sobs, but instead she bit on it. And tasted salt. |
![]() |
|
| Sonja | 9 May 2010, 21:07 Post #2389 |
|
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
|
In one of the houses he found a small stool. It seemed rather odd that it had just been left there, but he took it nonetheless. They were going to need furniture anyway, and though he was quite skillful with his hands, being able to obtain these things like this was much easier. The other houses were all deserted; some of them not even completely finished. Good enough. He walked back to what was now his and Essylt's house, pushed the door open and walked inside. 'I found us a -' he started, but fell silent when he saw her sitting on the floor, biting on her knuckles and with tears streaming down her cheeks. The stool dropped to the floor with a wooden clang and he rushed over to her, kneeling down and putting his hands on her upperarms. 'Hey, what's wrong?' he asked quietly. |
![]() |
|
| Marieke | 9 May 2010, 21:14 Post #2390 |
|
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
|
Her whole body shook as he touched her. Essylt wanted to hide her face behind her hands, so that she could pretend there were no tears on her cheeks. She didn’t know how to explain what was wrong – nothing was wrong, not more wrong than it had been in the days before. It was just that her whole life was amiss and it was only now that she truly felt it. She tried to say something, but couldn’t utter a word. Some sounds left her mouth; she sounded like a drowning baby. |
![]() |
|
| Sonja | 9 May 2010, 21:21 Post #2391 |
|
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
|
He gathered her in his arms and gently rocked her back and forth. It was probably the tension and the grief that fought its way out now that their journey had ended, and he didn't know what to say to take her mind off of it. She probably just needed to cry, get it all out of her system. |
![]() |
|
| Marieke | 9 May 2010, 21:27 Post #2392 |
|
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
|
This seemed to become a habit. She felt a wave of dislike for her own weakness and it tasted bitter in her mouth, but it was still impossible to stop this crying. Her body had simply taken over, pushing all the tears and all the grief out of her until she’d been washed clean inside. ‘So sorry –’ she managed, her voice not sounding like her own at all, ‘this place – my life – I simply don’t understand it anymore…’ Her voice broke like a twig and it felt useless to explain in any case. Essylt dug her face into his shoulder, trying to ease her body so it would stop trembling. |
![]() |
|
| Sonja | 9 May 2010, 21:39 Post #2393 |
|
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
|
'You'll figure it out,' Morcant said quietly as he held her, 'it just takes time.' |
![]() |
|
| Marieke | 10 May 2010, 09:41 Post #2394 |
|
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
|
She would, Essylt thought, and the thought cleared her head a little. Because she had to, after all. There was no one to take care of her but herself, and Morcant. She pulled up the hem of her sleeve and wiped her eyes with it, leaning back to see his face. ‘How long will you stay?’ |
![]() |
|
| Sonja | 10 May 2010, 09:51 Post #2395 |
|
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
|
'For as long as you need me,' he said and smiled. There was a Roman here that needed killing, and after that... well, he didn't have many other obligations anyway. |
![]() |
|
| Marieke | 10 May 2010, 09:53 Post #2396 |
|
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
|
‘What about Gwyddien, then?’ she asked quietly. |
![]() |
|
| Sonja | 10 May 2010, 09:56 Post #2397 |
|
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
|
'I needed to go here anyway,' he said with a shrug. 'I just took a little detour, so to say.' |
![]() |
|
| Marieke | 10 May 2010, 10:01 Post #2398 |
|
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
|
Her face was beginning to feel oddly tight from the drying tears. She rubbed it again. ‘You are more selfless than I am.’ |
![]() |
|
| Sonja | 10 May 2010, 10:03 Post #2399 |
|
Red & dangerous! Rawr!
|
He pressed his lips together and thought for a moment. 'Not really,' he admitted then. 'Some people are selfless because it makes them feel better. I think I'm one of those people, which would make me pretty selfish.' |
![]() |
|
| Marieke | 10 May 2010, 10:07 Post #2400 |
|
Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
|
Essylt searched his face for a moment. If he meant that taking care of her made him feel better, why was that? Because he wanted her, like Rufus? But he had promised her he wouldn’t touch her. She thought about the last dream, where she and Carwyn had sat by the lake. He had done it there – but that was just a dream after all, nothing he had really done. She opened her mouth; she wanted to tell him that he had made up for his kidnapping of her – but what if he’d then decide she no longer needed him, if all he really wanted was her forgiveness? Essylt hesitated. |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| Go to Next Page | |
| « Previous Topic · Vale of the White Horse · Next Topic » |
| Track Topic · E-mail Topic |
3:20 PM Jul 11
|






3:20 PM Jul 11