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| Vale of the White Horse | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: 5 Jan 2010, 13:03 (19,312 Views) | |
| Sonja | 19 May 2010, 19:13 Post #2761 |
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Red & dangerous! Rawr!
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'Oh, by all means, be my guest. But you were the one who mentioned you wouldn't like getting recognized here,' Rufus said, leaning against the stone and watching Essylt's movements. |
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| Marieke | 19 May 2010, 19:18 Post #2762 |
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Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
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‘That’s true…’ She hesitated. Though it was unlikely that the lady of the house would recognize her face, it would be altogether possible that her father had send some message to the chieftain of the Vale of the White Horse. She did rather stand out, Essylt supposed. It was the thought that Rufus had submitted her to this kind of dependency that made her feel wrong. Instead she just concentrated on the stone; how it stood there in the grass like nothing would ever be able to move it. It wasn’t such a large thing – she had seen standing stones twice the height of a full grown man, alone or in monumental circles. But this was the one where the girl in her dreams and visions had sought solace from…If it was that. She didn’t quite understand what she had seen. ‘Do people often come here?’ |
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| Sonja | 19 May 2010, 19:21 Post #2763 |
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Red & dangerous! Rawr!
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'I wouldn't know,' he answered truthfully. 'I've only arrived here when the summer was at an end, and it is not really the season for travelling. Besides, I've been too busy to pay attention to any nomads that might come here. There are some disconcerting stories circulating about this stone, though. I don't think I'd feel much at ease blowing through it.' |
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| Marieke | 19 May 2010, 19:23 Post #2764 |
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Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
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‘Blowing, you say?’ Essylt stood still. The girl had put her hands on both sides, bringing her face close to the stone; yes, she might have been blowing, or singing through the holes, not kissing or praying. |
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| Sonja | 19 May 2010, 19:25 Post #2765 |
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Red & dangerous! Rawr!
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'Yes, I do suppose it's not called the Blowing Stone for nothing,' he shrugged, wondering why she was so interested in the stone. Perhaps it was a religious thing, he didn't know. Didn't really care, either. |
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| Marieke | 19 May 2010, 19:30 Post #2766 |
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Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
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She smiled slowly. He’d actually done her a favour, though she doubted he realized. There must be many stories about such a stone, then. Perhaps she could find out who the girl was, and what would happen if someone put his mouth to the holes. ‘I see.’ The obvious next question would be about the horse. It was truly a magnificent figure; she could see the lines from here. But he was a Roman after all. What would he know of such things? |
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| Sonja | 19 May 2010, 19:45 Post #2767 |
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Red & dangerous! Rawr!
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Rufus ran a hand through his hair. Essylt seemed a bit distraught and he wondered what she was thinking about. He didn't think she'd tell him, anyway. 'I'd offer you a copper for your thoughts, but that would be terribly underpriced I suppose,' he said then, his most charming smile firmly in place. |
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| Marieke | 19 May 2010, 19:49 Post #2768 |
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Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
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'A man such as yourself has much more to offer, I'm sure,' she replied, inhaling the scent of wood. It wasn't the same as home. Without waiting for him she turned, leaving the stone behind to have a clear view on the horse itself. The lines ran deep over the hill, clearing broad pathways, white as the moonshine that had surrounded Udd Wyll. The earth seemed to tremor under her feet. Without knowing exactly why, Essylt knelt down on her knees, pressing her two hands against the chalk; a pose she had adopted when Morcant had forced her to kill the Romans on the hill. This place. It must be holy. |
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| Sonja | 19 May 2010, 20:01 Post #2769 |
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Red & dangerous! Rawr!
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'Oh, quite some more,' he said and followed her, watching as she knelt down and pressed her fingers against the earth. If he hadn't seen the chalky lines of the hillfigure before, he'd have thought she'd made them with the ice that could leak from her fingers. Rufus knelt down and put his hand to the earth next to hers. It was cold and rough. He really preferred touching a woman's skin. 'It has a certain attraction, doesn't it?' he said quietly. |
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| Marieke | 19 May 2010, 20:10 Post #2770 |
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Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
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Attraction? She glanced at him. To her, it felt more like someone had bound two stones to her wrists, pulling her to the horse with the force of gravity. This was more than a simple natural law, she realized at the same time – undoubtedly, this was something that belonged solely to the fey creatures such as Udd Wyll. She also knew that not all of them were so benign as he, a creature of feathers and moonlight. ‘Her name is Epona,’ she told him, not quite sure if he cared to know at all. ‘What if she’s cal –’ Suddenly, the owl flew up from her shoulder. She watched as it soared into the sky, but not far, and remained floating, hovering above the horse. What if she was calling? Essylt’s heart fluttered. Morcant had said something like that, hadn’t he? That she was right were she ought to be? |
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| Sonja | 19 May 2010, 20:21 Post #2771 |
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Red & dangerous! Rawr!
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'Yes, Epona Augusta, I know of her,' Rufus said. There were a couple of shrines in Rome dedicated to the Horse goddess, and seeing the chalkfigure on these hills had been accompanied by a curious sort of recognition. When Essylt stopped in mid-sentence and looked up to the sky, he followed her gaze. There was nothing he could discern that would account for the sudden distraction. It wasn't hard to reconstruct what she'd started saying, though. 'It's often that a god or goddess calls to a person,' he said slowly, deep in thought. He wasn't an unbeliever, but Rufus was slightly more sober than most of his superstitious fellow humans. 'Whether or not to obey, that's where most people cannot decide.' |
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| Marieke | 19 May 2010, 20:27 Post #2772 |
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Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
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If it meant healing the lands Morcant’s way, she thought she knew her own feelings. ‘Indeed not….But the Good Folk is not easily ignored.’ Though Udd Wyll had been very modest, very gentle. ‘Sometimes, they do let you make your own decisions. It’s just…I don’t know how…’ She glanced at him again. This is not Morcant I’m talking to! ‘Never mind.’ She withdrew her hands with a snap. |
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| Sonja | 19 May 2010, 20:28 Post #2773 |
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Red & dangerous! Rawr!
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'Oh, please continue,' he smiled. 'I do love to listen to you talk. You sound like you have a lot of experience in dealing with this Good Folk.' Rufus glanced down at her hands. Yes, quite a lot, indeed. |
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| Marieke | 19 May 2010, 20:34 Post #2774 |
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Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
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Was he mocking her? Trapping her? Smooth talking again? She couldn’t decide, no matter how much she searched his face. ‘That isn’t something my people would boast with,’ she said quietly. ‘And you exaggerate.’ Or so she liked to believe. But the Lord Owl had shown her just how deeply her kin-line was involved with him. It was such an unsettling perspective that she daren’t talk about it, not even to Morcant. Perhaps in time she would. Now wasn’t that time. |
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| Sonja | 19 May 2010, 20:44 Post #2775 |
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Red & dangerous! Rawr!
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'Personally, I find it all very fascinating. It is somewhat alike to our genii, though what I know from your Good Folk they can assume human forms - or to a degree, anyway. A genius can't.' Rufus dusted his hands and leaned his arms on his knees. 'And I never exaggerate.' |
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| Marieke | 19 May 2010, 20:48 Post #2776 |
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Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
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‘Oh yes. Human. It would shock you.’ She had no doubt that it would, if she told in full what Udd Wyll had told her. 'And I don't think they would take so kindly to someone like you.' |
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| Sonja | 19 May 2010, 20:49 Post #2777 |
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Red & dangerous! Rawr!
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'Someone like me?' He raised his eyebrows. 'In what way, exactly?' |
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| Marieke | 19 May 2010, 20:50 Post #2778 |
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Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
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She gave him a stare. ‘You’re a Roman.’ |
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| Sonja | 19 May 2010, 20:51 Post #2779 |
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Red & dangerous! Rawr!
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Rufus laughed. 'Well, I can't refute that. But are your Good Folk so violently opposed to outlanders, then? I do try my hardest to fit in.' |
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| Marieke | 19 May 2010, 20:54 Post #2780 |
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Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
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‘I do not know,’ she admitted. ‘Stay on their lands long enough and maybe you will find out.’ The thought made her shiver. |
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| Sonja | 19 May 2010, 20:57 Post #2781 |
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Red & dangerous! Rawr!
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'I will be looking forward to seeing one of them,' he said, yet at the same time he wondered if he hadn't already with meeting this girl. Her skin was quite as pale as the chalklines of the horse; her hair a cloud of white gold and her eyes brighter than any he had seen before. All in all, she looked more otherworldy than anything or anyone he'd ever seen before, not including the horse itself. Just then, Essylt shivered. 'You must be cold. Take my cloak,' he said and took his off. |
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| Marieke | 19 May 2010, 21:01 Post #2782 |
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Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
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Then he was foolish. Essylt shook her head. ‘I’d rather not. Is the chieftain’s wife a kind person?’ |
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| Sonja | 19 May 2010, 21:02 Post #2783 |
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Red & dangerous! Rawr!
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He shrugged and put his cloak back on. 'The lady Briallen is very busy, what with her husband's illness.' |
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| Marieke | 19 May 2010, 21:04 Post #2784 |
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Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
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Again, at the mention of this illness, her heart beat harder. The land is sick. It's like some infection has spread through it. 'She could be busy and kind.' |
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| Sonja | 19 May 2010, 21:07 Post #2785 |
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Red & dangerous! Rawr!
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'Am I not kind enough to you?' he asked with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. |
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| Marieke | 19 May 2010, 21:12 Post #2786 |
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Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
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‘I – you seem to.’ Essylt wasn’t sure what that had to do with her question, or how he expected her to respond. ‘Though I haven’t asked you to.’ Disturbed, she tried to look beyond him. The hill supplied a pretty view over the rest of the environment; the woods where she and Morcant had staggered from where in her back, left of her was the lonely caer. Beyond the settlement, she thought that the trees expanded once again. There were some flowing meadows and fields which now lay barren but in summer would be golden from barley. ‘You don’t know me.’ |
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| Sonja | 19 May 2010, 21:17 Post #2787 |
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Red & dangerous! Rawr!
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'If I was unkind to everyone I didn't know and all who did not ask me to be, I'd probably have made a lot of enemies,' he said, his voice a little bit more serious - but not much. 'You needn't be afraid to accept my help. I ask for nothing in return, just the pleasure of your conversation.' |
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| Marieke | 19 May 2010, 21:18 Post #2788 |
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Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
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'Forgive me. You've made that hard to believe.' |
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| Sonja | 19 May 2010, 21:21 Post #2789 |
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Red & dangerous! Rawr!
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'Ah, cultural differences, no doubt. Well,' Rufus said, sitting down in the grass, 'why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself so that I may get to know you better?' |
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| Marieke | 19 May 2010, 21:25 Post #2790 |
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Lief! <3 (and powerful!)
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She leaned back, her hands clutched in her lap. ‘I’m Essylt, I’m nearly seventeen and I fled from my home because I’ve committed a crime against my father and my brother,’ she said flatly. ‘As a result I never ended up married to the chosen man, which I suppose is another fault against my father. What else is there that you’d care to know?’ |
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