<div class="floatleft">(http://haircutshairstyles.us/wp-content/uploads/short-wavy-hairstyles-2013-2.jpg)</div><strong>Character:</strong>Valarian Renfold<br/><strong>Location:</strong>On the docks near the ship<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Open<br/><hr/><br/><strong>Crack!</strong><br/><br/>She gasped as her body slumped against the table as she crumbled to the floor. Her fear combined with rage that would take over her one day. She should be used to this type of behaviour but somehow that never seemed to be the case. Every time he hit her she was surprised and even more surprised that she let him. There was a moment when she thought he would stop, but that came after. After he drew blood and she was crying. She realised though that she couldn’t remember the last time she had cried after a night like this. The tears had stopped; replaced with indignation and acceptance.<br/><br/>That seemed to be the pattern of their relationship. Her husband that she had loved and adored treated her to his blatant display of testosterone fuelled anger and power. She felt powerless and betrayed as it was as if he had changed overnight. The man she had loved had become a mean drunk that beat his wife and left their farm to ruin. Slowly over the past months the resentment had been building and she was caught in the vicious circle of mistrust and fear. She was tired and needed him to be the way he used to be, but all she got when she walked through the streets of the town were sad looks and curious stares. After one of those days things had finally come to a head. She was faced with the reality of her life. She was faced with the debt collectors at her door demanding the deed of the farm as her husband had lost it in a card game, the like of which was never been seen before. She was furious the night he walked in, drunk and dithering about having to tell her something important and that she would have to pack.<br/><br/>She frowned at him and was rewarded with a drunken scowl, which should have been the trigger but she was too angry that night. When she posed the question she was rewarded with a backhand to the face, followed soon after by another. She stood her ground and glared at him, having had enough of his behaviour. He saw the change and grinned like a loon, hitting her hard enough to send her flying backwards her body hitting the stone fireplace that used to be the hearth of their home. The soup was bubbling in a pot and as he reached for her she reacted on instinct, grabbing the handle, scalding her hands and throwing it at him. He screamed with rage and moved backwards covering his face and eyes as she had aimed pretty well. She knew that she was dead and looked blindly around for something to defend herself with, seeing the kitchen knife, she picked it up. He recovered enough to lunge at her again and she held the knife in front of her at her waist; as he lunged he was impaled on the knife. She cried out as he slumped forward, his full weight sending them both to the floor, covering her in his warm sticky blood.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>She was on death row. The town were expecting a hanging and Val was ready to die. She has resigned herself to the fact that her husband was dead and she was destined to die for him as well. He hadn’t beaten her to death but his death had beaten her. So as the dawn rose she was ready to face the hangman. She sat in her cell as her breakfast arrived, bread and a sweet hot drink, which she wasn’t sure of but she wasn’t hungry so she didn’t bother to investigate. She had spent the last month in the cell. Stone walls surrounding her and the only light came in from the street above her through iron bars. Opposite her was a wooden door, made of solid oak and immovable. She had nowhere to go anyway. The debt collectors had confiscated the farm and death seemed a fate better than what she had lived in the last few months.<br/><br/>So when the key scraped in the lock she stood up, her chains rattling. Leg and hand irons bound her as if she had the strength to escape? She waited patiently as the hooded figure entered the cell, she squinted as she realised that it wasn’t the guard as she was expecting him. He was dressed in dark robes and carried another one. Not that her plain peasant outfit would have stood out anymore so she just watched confused. He indicated for her to be silent as he unlocked her chains and as she rubbed her chafed wrists he handed her the cloak. She slipped it on, putting the hood over her blonde hair. She looked at him, brown eyes searching but too terrified in case they were caught. He took her arm and led her out through the dungeons, knowing that if they were caught they would both be dead. Finally arriving at the tunnels that would lead out to the docks; it was from the rancid smell, the entrance to the sewer system that ran under the city.<br/><br/><strong>“Follow this to the end; don’t turn off course until you get to the end where you will see an iron ladder leading upwards. Take that and it will bring you out near the docks. Follow the docks and you will find a ship there. Your best chance is to seek passage with it and never return. I can’t buy you any time so you will have to hurry.” </strong>He instructed curtly, speaking for the first time and surprising her.<strong>“Be safe, Milady and remember is you are caught then it was not I that helped you?”</strong><br/><br/>The 'Milady' was her undoing, no one had called her that for a long time. She looked at him wanting to ask why he was helping her but she knew that there was no time so instead she reached up and pressed a kiss to his cheek, an impulse and nothing more.<br/><br/><strong>“Thank you. I will be always grateful.” </strong>She said before disappearing into the tunnels, she hugged the wall tight, making her way as quickly as she could in the darkness, praying that the rats were the only thing she would encounter.<br/><br/>After what seemed like hours she saw the end of the tunnel; the light catching her off guard as the iron ladder came into view. She pulled herself up, pushing at the circular covering above her head, with a grunt as it required all the strength she had to get it open and haul herself up and over onto the hard stone ground. To her right she saw it; the ship that he had mentioned at the end of the docks and possibly ready to leave. She covered her head and moved quickly through the morning crowd that was gathering, noting that there were soldiers there, she avoided them as best she could, weaving through the crowd; deliberately slowing herself down so that she didn’t appear conspicuous until she reached the pier. There was activity on board the ship and she was unsure if she would even be noticed as she edged closer. The timid mouse of a girl needed to survive and as her teeth worried her bottom lip, she made her decision. She would have to brave the lion’s den in order to live.<br/><br/>What sealed her fate was the commotion that she heard behind her. She knew instinctively that they were looking for her. She headed brazenly up the gangway as there was nothing left for her in Esum City and if she lost her life aboard this ship then so be it. They were all focused on another stranger and with that in mind she raised her hands in the air and scrambled onboard, knowing that she had already breached the ship’s protocol without asking permission first.<br/><br/><strong>“Permission to come aboard? I was told that I could seek safe passage on this here ship? I have nothing to offer but my labour. In case you are wondering the soldiers back there are searching for me…”</strong>