<div style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 22px"><b>Not Going Back<br/>
<br/>
( <span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(184, 49, 47)">Chartreux</span> &amp; <a class="username" data-user-id="1406" data-username="Shiny" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" href="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/members/1406/">Shiny</a> )</b></span>​</div><br/><br/><span style="font-size: 18px">'<i>Sard the Faerie Queen! Sard the King! Sard their whole sarding Royal Court!!!</i>' thought Ragweed as he ran, naked, through the Faerie Realm's perpetual twilight and ran for his life through the Royal Game Park. He was not a deer to be hunted for meat or sport. A deer might have had better odds of escape, as Ragweed was a simple dweller in the citadel and quite unfamiliar with the ways of the woods. Sard it, deer were more protected by laws, exorbitant fees and more exorbitant fines than Ragweed was. The sad truth was, that when his mentor was charged with high treason, Ragweed had no friends in any position to plead on his behalf.<br/>
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That wasn't to say that Ragweed was as unsullied as the driven snow. He was merely a newly independent citizen, a performer, just one level higher than a serf. Like any Fae of the underclasses, he survived on wits and trickery, still he kept all of his bargains and never told a direct falsehood. He ought not to have been arrested, except his sarding mentor, either by some device or inference, implicated Ragweed as one of his co-conspirators in his treason! Ragweed's name had likely been given up by the betrayer in pursuit of a favorable sentence. Royalty and government love to ravage potential threats to their rule, even more if they can turn it into a glorious spectacle to dissuade further threats to their rule from sprouting. It was likely certain that Ragweed's head would be displayed on a pike as a warning to all other Fae to be careful about who their friends were.<br/>
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As he'd been judged guilty and sentenced to death, in a sham of a trial, Ragweed had been given the choice of a dignified public execution or to be shamefully hunted in an exercise by members of the nobility. Sard a dignified public execution!<br/>
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'<i>This lowborn will make them work to take his head'</i>, Ragweed silently promised himself. It wasn't much, but Ragweed had one trick up his arse. With it, his head start of an hour would get him much farther from his horse mounted pursuers and their hounds than they might have expected or thought possible. Ragweed just needed to be careful that he didn't trip or fall and injure himself….<br/>
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A hunting horn sounded in the far distance when the sands had run out on his hour. Ragweed had put a considerable distance between himself and the starting point. He'd gotten so far ahead that the hunters might have thought that they had overtaken him some time back and missed him, but even a citadel dweller knew that their dogs were not likely to be so fooled. It was also too bad that the hunters would likely see through any illusion or glamour that he crafted in an attempt to misdirect them from his true location. What good is glamour if everyone in the world has it?<br/>
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While it had taken some time, sooner than Ragweed had hoped, he began to hear the cries of the hunting hounds in the distance. Sard! He had taken only a little time to catch his breath! Yet, as he was about to once again begin his pace, he began to detect the feeling of magic not too far away. Was it his hunters? That was possible, but likely not as cheating each other in a competition to catch him would be quite unsporting. Or so the rumors about how the nobility lived might say. Ragweed moved to investigate.<br/>
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In the span of a few minutes, the fugitive spied a circle of pale green light between two trees at the end of a clearing. When he was a child, Ragweed had heard the stories of passages between Faerie and the world of men. These stories were from long, long ago. The legends said that the men had chased the Fae from the human lands of Earth and that the Fae had succeeded in sealing the gate ways to Faerie from the men bearing iron and steel. Every Fae knew that it was a crime just as bad as treason to be caught planning to escape to the human lands…. <br/>
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'<i>Sard it! The Fae plan to kill me anyway!</i>' thought Ragweed. 'I think I'd rather take my chances in the world of men!' And with no hesitation thought he sprinted with all of his might toward the magical passage. <br/>
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The sound of the hounds grew closer as Ragweed reached the green glowing portal. They might now be nearing the field that he had just traveled. Whist he might die in the world of men, he would certainly die if he stayed in Faerie. Therefore, Ragweed stepped through the light.<br/>
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In nearly an instant, he emerged, naked, into a world of the dark of night. He'd never known night, but the descriptions he'd heard in stories told him that it was the time of night in the human world. Strange bright glowing torches burned and illuminated this land and lawn without flickering like a fire would. Nearer and more immediate, small torches did burn and illuminate what appeared to be an altar set with bread, milk, honey, wine, fruit, flowers and… a human child?!? On the other side of the altar were adult humans, perhaps a dozen or so, dressed in robes. One held a black handled dagger! <br/>
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Potential rich offerings of appeasement aside, Ragweed felt that he could not trust the people that had unwittingly provided him with a means of escape. He also noted that he sensed very little magic from the humans. Sensing about, he spied a slender silverish rod upon the ground. This was the source of the portal and these humans had somehow activated it. That meant that maybe they might not see through his spells of glamour!<br/>
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As desperate as the situation was, Ragweed smiled. In an instant, he conjured a phantom in the form of a flaming bull of fire. He poured enough mana into the phantom to give it real tangibility and strength. The humans scattered and fled in panic! <br/>
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Having given himself some space and time, Ragweed picked up the magic rod from the ground. The portal vanished as he took the rod into his hands. If the humans could repeat whatever they had done and open the way to Faerie again, the Fae might come through, find him and catch him. A great bridge spanned the nearby river. Perhaps if he dropped the rod there it might not be found? Or at least not found for some time. <br/>
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The human child on the altar began to cry. Now what should he do? If he took it with him and were caught by humans, they would call him kidnapper and perhaps kill him. If he stayed to aid the child, the robed humans might not stay frightened and return. If no one stayed to aid the child, it might catch cold and die….</span>