Elgaboth the Kidnapping: Chapter 7

Lianna stared at the bodies. She had killed them without thinking, without even trying. She did not know or care why they had come to take her from the cage but as soon as he opened the bars and grabbed her wrists she had killed him. She could do it again. They had only to touch her and she could descend into the maze again. She knew the way now and she could not forget the tantalizing gleam of her power. The darkness inside her had stirred at the sight of blood and had come fully awake at the taste and smell of death, and the part of her that usually fought the darkness was so numbed that before she knew it the darkness had her. She let out a high pitched laugh and kicked his body from her contemptuously. By then two other guards where there, but they did not come to close. If they had she would have killed both of them. Elwin was crying and babbling questions. The prince in the other cage stared at her like she was some monster of legend. It was then that he came. He stood alone in the grass taking in the dead bodies, and the convulsively sobbing Elwin.

"Lianna. Come here."

His voice held much more intense power than the other commands she had resisted before and she found herself shuffling toward him and she fought the command desperately.

"I will not hurt you."

When she reached him he took firm hold of her wrists. She tried to kill him but this time it did nothing. He tied her wrists with a silver cord and suddenly she was out of the maze, or at least the maze disappeared.

He turned to the men. “You are witnesses that he was told not to approach until I arrived. His blood is on his own head. Get someone to bury him.”

The two men bowed and backed away.

"Follow me," He motioned to Lianna.

She found she could no longer even begin to resist so in a few moments she was in what appeared to be his personal tent.  He turned to regard her with his mismatched eyes.

"Has anyone told you what you are child?"

She just looked at him with her broken blue eyes.

"Do you know why you can do what you just did?"

She continued to stare but this time slowly shook her head.

"Do you know anything about demonspawn?"

Her head came up and she finally spoke "I am not..."

"Yes you are. So am I thanks to my dear mother. You're not first generation. I would say second or third. Do you know any of your grandparents?"

She gave no response, anger making her fierce.

"Well as most of your half siblings are not twins I would venture a guess that it was your father. He died before you were born right?"

She continued in sullen silence.

"And I would venture to guess he was not exactly a kind man."

"What is your point sir?" Her voice was sharp.

"Only that one of your grandparents or perhaps great Grandparents was a demon. You're from Pinkland I suppose. Their demons are quite notorious for interbreeding even if they're bound to the mountains. I take it you're fey. Your sister seems almost normal."

"Leave her out of it."

"As you wish, do you know what fey means?"

"No."

"Well demonspawn are always twins, right up to the fourth generation and one of the twins is always fey. The fey twin is much more affected by the demon heritage. Both the twins will usually have powers but the fey will be much the stronger. Sometimes the fey goes mad, sometimes he or she is born an imbecile. Both twins are usually morally lacking, particularly the fey. It is rare to meet a first generation with any kind of moral conscience. Would you like to hear more?"

"I think you have told me quite enough."

"Very well, I will take you back to the cages and see that you have no other chances of using your new talents on any one, especially your sister."

She whirled to face him, eyes blazing. "You think I would kill my sister?"

"As I said demon spawn are lacking something morally. I know of more cases than I like to think where the fey killed the other."

She turned icy. "Sir, I have no intention of injuring Elwin in anyway. That is the one thing I could never do."

He looked at her quizzically. "Tell me you were never jealous of your parent's preference for her. Tell me you never looked at her and hated her because she had what you didn't."

She was angry again. "You, sir, cannot know anything..."

He cut her off "I can know everything. You are fey she is not your parents, being human will naturally prefer the other just as mine, being demons, will prefer my sister." His eyes soften just a bit and his voice was almost a whisper. "I would not trust myself alone with her had I just discovered I had the power to kill. So I will not trust you alone with your sister. I do not mean this as an insult my lady." He bowed to her and offered her his arm.

Lianna stared at him. "You play the gentleman now?"

He looked her in the eyes with infuriating coolness. "I am attempting to run this operation with as little discomfort to all concerned."

Lianna stared incredulous.

"My lady, consider that no one, excepting the fighting men, has been killed. None of the ladies have been menaced, injuries or defiled. Yes I have burned your school and essentially kidnapped all of you but I ask you: Would you prefer I had refused this command of my mother's? She would have sent someone else. And trust me if she had not of your little friends would have been returned with their lives. And their deaths would not have been easy.” His eyes again softened. "I am well aware my lady that I am no paragon of virtue but I have been so placed that there are few roads left open to me. I have not the benefit of your moral philosophers or your holy orders. I have only my conscience, a sorry thing but one that most first generation demonspawn cannot be said to own.”

She ignored him and he led her back to the cage. This time he placed her not with Elwin but with Jon, the Blueland prince. Neither spoke.

Elgaboth, the Kidnapping: Chapter 6

If they had but known it the procession of prisoners passed with a mile of where Anna and Kurt slept, but by the time either woke their friends were many leagues beyond. Anna woke suddenly to find huge green eyes staring at her. She sat up with a start. About three feet to her left was a girl, very beautiful in an extremely youthful way. Her dark hair cascaded down her back and contrasted with her tan and creamy skin. The large green stared out at Anna. Anna would have guessed was thirteen or fourteen if she had not been very obviously in the latter stages of pregnancy. Anna did not know all the customs of Greyland but she did not believe they gave girls in marriage that young.

“Hello,” she faltered, quailing under the bright green eyes.

 “Hello,” said the girl. “Are you in need of anything?” The mesmerizing green eyes seemed to fill with concern.

Anna sat up slowly. “Yes, I suppose we are. You see…” she stopped, this girl seemed friendly but at the same time Greyland was not on the best of terms with Mixupland and Kurt could be held for quite a ransom if someone took it into their heads to hold him for one. “We lost our way in the dark. Where are we?”

“Greyland, the Quinila province, we are not particularly near any towns or even villages since we are so close to the border. Is there some way I can help you find your way?”

“Well,” said Anna carefully, weighing their need for help against the fact that she knew nothing of this girl. “My brother,” she indicated Kurt, sleeping a few feet away, “hurt his ankle rather badly. I don’t think he can walk for long. Do you know of a place where we can rest for a few days until he can walk?”

“Well,” said the girl. “There are always inns and the like in the towns but the closest one is about half a day’s walk at a good pace.” The girl seemed to ponder something. “If you come with me I will show you a place you can rest not far from here.”

“Thank you.” Anna a slight lessening of the pressure that had followed through her veins since the sound of screams had disturbed her sleep. “My name is Anna, what’s yours?”

“Angela,” Said the girl.

Anna put her palms out in a gesture of friendship. “I am glad to know you Angela.”

She knelt down and gently woke Kurt. He woke to pain and tried to push her away but eventually Anna had him sitting up. She introduced him to Angela as her brother. His first name was so common that she did not think it would hurt to use his real name. Kurt’s mood seemed to lighten with Angela’s acquaintance. Between them they helped Kurt to get up. Then he leaned heavily on Anna as Angela led him through the forest. They came to a small hut covered over in ivy. Angela opened the door to reveal a dark room with several pots and pans, a heap of blankets and a small fireplace. Herbs hung from the ceiling in profusion. Anna helped Kurt over to the blankets where he gingerly lowered himself to the ground.

“Can I see your ankle?” asked Angela kneeling beside him.

Kurt nodded wearily; the walk had taken a lot out of him. She carefully rolled up his pant leg.   

“We are going to have to get your boot off.” She said looking at it hard.

The idea seemed to sap Kurt’s remaining strength. He lay down with an arm over his eyes. Angela gave the boot a few experimental tugs, then, suddenly, yanked it off his foot. Kurt sat up and released several choice words which belied Lady Falcona’s careful upbringing. Angela jumped back looking a bit scared. Anna had no such scruples.

“Oh lie back Kurt. That was the only way to get it off.”

Kurt snorted but lay back obediently.

“Do you think it’s broken?” asked Anna as Angela knelt to examine the ankle more closely.

“How long ago did this happen?”  She looked from Anna to Kurt.

“Last night,” Said Kurt. “I jumped out of a window and landed on it wrong.”

“How did it feel then? Could you move or walk it at all?”

“Oh I could walk, even sort-of run, at first.”

“Then it’s not broken. The bone might be chipped but the immobility is caused by the swelling, not the other way round.”

“Great news.” Said Kurt, there was a hard edge to his voice. “Maybe I won’t be utterly useless.”

“Can we do anything?” Said Anna wishing she had paid more attention to her grandmother’s vast medical knowledge. It was odd to realized how much she and Lucy relied on each other. Never having a strong interest in anything medical she had always had Lucy to remind her of the name of that obscure plant that relived headaches or the way to correctly treat a broken bone. She forcefully pushed back thoughts of Lucy and the ways Lucy had relied on her.

Angela picked an herb from the ceiling. “This will ease the pain if he chews it. This,” she said pointing to another white colored leaf, “will make him sleep if the pain is too bad. But do not use it often.”

“Thank you,” said Anna. “Do you live near here? I don’t mean to force you to help us, but if you could check in on him or something. I just have no idea what I’m doing.”

Angela blinked her huge eyes. “I will be here.”

“What do you mean?” Asked Anna, confused.

“This is where I have been living. I was with the gypsies but they had to go to their gathering and outsiders aren’t allowed. They took me there because it’s so far from everyone they said I’d be safe.”

“You’re all alone?”

Angela nodded.

“But what if… “ Anna was in the awkward positon of not want to assume that her new friend was with child and wanting to know how she planned to deliver alone.

Angela seemed to understand. “In gypsy culture babies are birthed alone. They told me what to do if the pains start but they wouldn’t have helped even if I was with them.”

“Forgive me if this seems impertinent, but do you have no family?”

“I lived with my Mother and step-father, but I couldn’t stay there. It… it wasn’t working.”

“Angela, how old are you?”

“Almost fourteen.”

Something shifted in Anna’s brain. Up til now she had been thinking of Angela as an adult helping Kurt and herself who were still nearly children. She realized now that Angela was almost two years younger than her, essentially homeless, with no one to care for her. She determined then and there that, at the very least, she would see that Angela had someone with her when the baby came. “Do you know when?”

“I would expect in a week or two it was eight and a half months ago.” The last sentence was hesitating.

Kurt interrupted them from the corner. “So are we going to do anything about what happened?”

Anna turned to look at him. “I don’t see what we can do. Even if we could get back to Mixupland the authorities must know now and what would we do beside alert them.”

“I see.” The hard edge was back in his voice.

Anna didn’t feel that further talk would help him any. She reminded herself again that he was simply afraid for Lucy and Cassie, but that just brought back her own fears about her friends. Angela looked back and forth between them.

“Angela, why don’t you show me where we can get water.”

The pair went outside and began walking toward the sound of running water. 

“You have to forgive Kurt.” Said Anna, “Several friends of ours are in danger and he wishes there was something he could do.”

“That’s alright,” said Angela looking at the ground.

“So is there no where you can go to have the baby? It will be dangerous for both you and the child if you have it out here.

Angela shook her head. “Nowhere…” she hesitated. “There is one place, but I don’t know where it is or I don’t know where they are. Now, there’s nowhere I can get to.”

“Alright, we’ll do our best.”

When they returned Kurt was in the same position as when they left. His eyes were closed but Anna could tell by the way he held his head that he was awake.

“Kurt, put your foot up.” For a second Anna had needed to see him move, to be sure he wasn’t leaving her there alone.

Kurt made a no-too-friendly grunt and moved his foot onto the small stool.

Anna spent the rest of the day learning about how and where to find food. When she finally allowed herself to rest her mind was weighed down by the responsibility she now felt for Angela and Kurt. Whenever she was able to forget this for a time, her own fears would creep in upon her and she would wonder if Lucy needed her to care during one of her attacks or if her friends were even still alive. After being woken several times by Kurt crying out she finally fell into a fitful slumber.

Purpleland: Chapter 3

Those times, as good as they were could not last. In the fall of my sixteenth year I received word that my father was ill and needed me. I persuaded Lord Stephan that Marcus must come with me and the two of us set off on what seemed to us at the time as a grand adventure. I had not been back since I was eight and the large capital city, not to mention the palace, seemed to me irresistible romantic. Marcus, though glad to go with me, was, as in everything, more restrained in his excitement.

The Palace was a disappointment. It was bigger than Lord Stephan’s home and there were more servants and it did have a ball room that was often used by many sparkling people. But I could see no real improvement to Lord Stephan’s tidy keep and the sparkling people gave me no real pleasure for Lord Stephan had warned me before I left that all of them would want something from me and I found that to be only too true.

The City on the other hand did not disappoint. Many days Marcus and I would but on the clothes of the sons of wealthy merchants and wander the streets. It seemed to me that every tale I had ever heard came alive there and anything could be bought for the right price, spices, tea, drink, women. The last Marcus would not touch but I am ashamed to say I had my share, they were all around and I was curious lad in my sixteenth year with all the passions of a hot blooded family.

 Of course Marcus was not completely free of dalliance. We had not been there a year when he began to court a young girl of our age. She was a noble woman from the south and he found her pretty and lively and I had to admit than she did not lack beauty. Her auburn hair was cut fairly short and her green eyes held youth and vigor. Her father was not particularly wealthy or particularly powerful but he was secure in his holdings and hoped to become more secure by marrying his two daughters above their station. Her family encouraged Marcus as his father was no minor lord and as she was a noble woman Marcus felt no apprehension that she would be ill received by his father.

But I had not come to court girls or to wander the market place. I had come because my father had called. He had grown older, had shrunk with a disease that was eating him from the inside out, but I only vaguely realized this as before I left my father was essentially a stranger to me. The years had only widened that gap. I had left a spoiled child, I returned a high spirited youth. He seemed to repent of his earlier neglect of me but it came too late. I would visit him daily and speak to him on whatever subject he chose but my mind was all the time looking forward to the moment when he would dismiss me with a wave of his liver spotted hand. I regret not knowing him, and though the fault was for the most part his, I wish that then I had really learned to love him. I missed out on knowing both my father and my son and that I regret with everything in me.

Taken By the Wind: Chapter 2

                Jehu awoke with a start. Looking around, he saw he was in a clearing surrounded by luscious orange trees. He noticed his friends Emily, Charles, David, and Wallace were already awake and helping themselves to a breakfast of stale bread and oranges. He wondered what they were all doing, then it struck him: He was kidnapped.

            Wallace, noticing Jehu was awake, handed him an orange and a piece of bread. The look on Wallace's face was as somber as he'd ever seen the jocular fellow. Wallace was a good-natured lad from the highlands of Greenland. Wallace was massively built with arms that were like tree trunks. His broad shoulders and sturdy legs were complemented by a mop of flaming red hair atop his brow and a slight beard across his chin.

            "Eat up" said Wallace, "You are going to need it"

       

Once Jehu devoured his breakfast he took stock of his surroundings. He noticed eight hooded men on the outskirts of the clearing. A scouting party had returned and the eight men were joined by two more. They ran into the clearing and gruffly got everyone moving. They were joined by five more men, the men totaled at fifteen. They marched for days, keeping a quick pace, the hooded men were getting anxious. Jehu knew they were headed for Velquins Bridge that spans Bortroses rift. The only passage into Talmesh from this forest for three hundred leagues. Bortroses rift was a natural border between Talmesh and Orange land. Once they get past that bridge there was no hope of ever returning safely.

Jehu saw the bridge and his heart sank. There was nothing that could be done. They were lost to the Talmeshese.

Thwack!

Three orange feathered arrows sprung into three of the warrior’s chests as they crumpled to the forest floor. Jehu acted quickly, he grabbed a knife from the nearest fallen warrior and began to cut away at his restraints. The other warriors were soon in combat with a border patrol of Orangelandese infantry. Jehu hastily cut away his restraints and set to work on Wallace's. The Patrol soon became overwhelmed, although they outnumbered the warriors these hooded figures were incredible warriors. Soon of the 18 Orangelandese soldiers only 2 remained. Jehu and Wallace now free from their restraints, ran. They didn't make it far before they were chased down by the hooded figures on horseback. The warriors retied their restraints and added the other two soldiers, five of the warriors had died and they threw their bodies into the abyss. They left the rest of the Patrol to be fed on by Carrion.

Jehu began his forced march across the small bridge and into captivity. They had passed into Talmesh.

Elgaboth, the Kidnapping: Chapter 5

The procession of prisoners stopped in the late afternoon. They had crossed the Greyland border during the night and driven the prisoners west all day. Lucy’s legs ached and her knee was agony. She could ride, and ride well, for an hour or even more but she was not nearly strong enough for this.

When the man called a halt she felt near fainting. She nearly did faint when the man chivalrous helped her down from her horse and her foot hit the ground. The pain that snaked its way up her leg and agonized her knee. The man, without comment, without so much as looking at her picked up Lucy, and carried her like a child to the base of a large tree. After a few sharp commands she was brought water which she drank gladly. She could see the other girls drinking as well. Most were crying, some were almost asleep already but none seemed to be suffering from more than the long day of forced marching. The place they had stopped would have been pleasant had it not been for the lack of any color on the long barren plains land. Tree sprung up every few feet and would have been inviting if they had not been so exactly spaced. The whole country had the feel of something not quite right.

        “Tell me about your attacks.” The man’s voice broke into Lucy’s reverie.

“What?”

“Your attacks of pain, how often they occur, when you last had one, what you do to ease the pain.”

          She continued to stare at him blankly.

          “I need to have this information in case you fall ill on the road.”

          Finally she seemed to understand. “They come about twenty times a year, though not evenly, usually clustered with a few spaced out. They can last anywhere from a few hours to two days. They used to be longer. Sometimes applying heat and cold alternatively can relive some of the pain.” She stopped.

          “And your last one?”

          “Two weeks ago and it lasted six hours.”

          He nodded. “Can you tell when they are coming?”

          “No,” Her pale blue eyes were hard.

          “Why were you there?”

          Lucy took a breath. “I would prefer not to speak of it.” She had no idea where Judy had been that May morning when the cursed sickness first took shape, but more lies would only trap her later.

          He laughed in a distant hollow way. “Sleep then and dream of kinder days.” He walked off toward the cages where some tall men with grey hair and stiff uniforms had appeared. Lucy guessed that they were Greyland troops and her heart leapt. Greyland was, at least in theory, allied with Mixupland. But it sunk again when she saw the greeting was cordial. The guards inspected the prisoners and left with three boys and two girls. They kept pointing at other of the female prisoners but the man shook his head. Lucy knew one of the girls vaguely as a Greyland Earl’s daughter and surmised that they were handing over the Greylandese prisoners in exchange for safe passage. By then she was asleep; dreaming of color and of cold.