Prey (Lilias & Verse)
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		<h2 id="linktree">Play-By-Post: Bondage, D/s, S&amp;M =&gt; Bondage: Human Solos =&gt; Topic started by: Verse on 11-04-2011, 20:09:17</h2>
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				Title: <strong>Prey (Lilias &amp; Verse)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Verse</strong> on <strong>11-04-2011, 20:09:17</strong>
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				The mid-fall season for Northain was the roughest on their economy. The various harvesters were still scrambling to collect the last of the herbs and plants from their forest gardens or otherwise secure the riches before they were covered in snow and slush, while the mountain mines were now far colder and the looming threat of snow mingled with ice and melted water drowning tunnels or workers, the mines were soon to be limited to the safer ones. Yet it was also not quite cold and dangerous enough elsewhere to justify trade and commerce with the kingdoms around. So they were left in the precarious position of being reliant on their stores to keep them going until winter and trade came to them.<br><br>On this particular year however, their vulnerability was exploited harshly.<br><br>They had marched in from the southern lands, rumors of a conquering army proceeding them in whispers and rumors of refugees fleeing to Northain. And they were there. A large army, well organized and armed. It was but a third of the massive force sweeping other nations aside like rags and weeds but it still outnumbered the Northain army two to one and their military strategy and prowess was far more honed and trained than the mercantile-based Northain. The Merchant's Guild had hired mercenaries from the West at first and the combination of the wild fighting men and the inexperienced Northain army had held the invaders successfully for a few days. But a cunning pincer attack had routed much of the defensive force and now all that stood between the invaders and the Northain Capital were two small garrisons, numbering less than a quarter of the invaders, as well as the Royal forces in the capital.<br><br>Towns were gutted and captured in the path of this army, the border towns cut off from the supplies needed to make an effective militia. The remnants of the mercenary army were garrisoned at the Merchant's Guild near the crossroads town of Dullath and the negotiations with neighboring kingdoms for aid was at least a week away from bearing any fruit. The invading army was, without divine intervention or a freak natural miracle, three days from the capital at best.<br><br>Galles, the capital town, was a somewhat well fortified castle town with the main city well defended behind thick walls and two large gates, but it wouldn't hold against the army of this size. The Castle stood in the center of the town and it's spires rose at least seven stories high, though it was no massive and grand fortress. A simple wall protected all but it's central level and it's spires from attack and it's highest point was only enough to see for a few miles around.<br><br>The city was in panic and desperate for something to save them. They looked to their ruler to save them as they did any time a crisis landed upon the lap of their fragile and young nation. Only a hundred years old at best, the kingdom had not yet endured enough to know how to handle such things without commands. The council of merchants, lords and landowners were beside themselves and many had fled to the West, save a handful of the Queen's more trusted, close or the more foolishly bold. The castle was tense and harsh as the cold fall winds gusted through the windows and the cracks in mortar and stone. There were servants bustling about with rumors and fears on their lips, scouts and soldiers rushing in and out of the General's war room at all hours of the night and priests praying in front of the castle night and day.<br><br>And of course the elders whispered amongst themselves of the oldest legend in Northain. That when the first Ruler had tamed this land, he had taken a powerful creature as his servant and left it buried inside the castle somewhere, alive and waiting to be summoned for the defense of Northain.
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				Title: <strong>Re: Prey (Lilias &amp; Verse)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Lilias</strong> on <strong>12-04-2011, 23:23:55</strong>
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				Halyna stood at the battlements and gazed out towards the west, towards the sea that she guessed in the distance, even if she couldn't see it. The sun, setting in a blaze of crimson, warmed her face, that no longer looked so ghostly white against her black gown. She could also blame it for the tears that were stinging her eyes.<br><br><em>Ah, father, it is good that you're gone and won't see the day your daughter lost all that you fought for.</em><br><br>The city had been quiet, subdued, a much-needed breather in the middle of its grief. But the three days of mourning truce were almost up, and the fighting would resume at dawn. And this time, the castle would fall. Halyna knew that with cold, desperate certainty.<br><br>She had always known she would rule Northain one day. Her great-grandfather was the kingdom's founder, after all. But she had never been expected to defend it alone against invasion. That would have been her husband's task. Dust in the wind, all those plans. She would be the one who lost Northain, the one to end up in the gilded cage of a Southron harem, instead of either dying on the battlefield or winning the day and occupying the Bronzewood Throne for the prosperity of her people.<br><br>Unless she did whatever it took...<br><br>'Highness? Majesty, I meant, forgive me, please...' Old Sir Kavan, one of the chief members of the royal council, shook her out of her thoughts. 'Supper is about to be served in the council room. Will you join us? The General has been thinking of possible plans...'<br><br>'Of course, Sir Kavan.' Halyna rubbed her eyes and composed her face. 'I lost track of time here. Please lead the way.' And she turned her back decisively to the gathering shadows without, steeling herself to face the shadows within the castle.
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				Title: <strong>Re: Prey (Lilias &amp; Verse)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Verse</strong> on <strong>13-04-2011, 00:25:37</strong>
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				The dark shadows of the castle seemed to line it's walls like serpents, latched to their perches and the walls as Halyna and Kavan stepped deeper and deeper into the castle. The lines of shadow got darker as the castle winded deeper and deeper until soon, the lines of shadow met within the belly of the castle. Age old dust lined passageways unused since the founder had taken his last breath and ordered them sealed. Magic forgotten by even it's practitioners echoed beneath the foundations of the castle.<br><br>The passageways were narrow and slick from years of proximity to the castle waterway and as one traveled through them, ice began to form. The tight tunnel got colder and patches of moss were frozen against the ceiling and floor. The door at the end of the passageway was metallic and tight, so cold that touching it would have just brittled the skin of anyone not welcome here. Only those warmed by the blood of the first, the one who sealed this place, would be welcome in it's walls.<br><br>The prayers of the priests outside seemed to echo into the frozen tomb, or was he merely imagining things? Bitter frost caked limbs too weak to move for so long he wondered if he was even alive anymore. He could feel his heart beat slow under his skin and he could hear the sound slapping back at him off the ice. The cell had no light, no windows to show what was going on even if he was capable of moving to it. The seal kept him alive but only the one to awaken him could give him the strength and energy he knew coursed through it.<br><br>He was trying. Every prayer made him groan out and he tried to move to answer it. It was torture to listen to the damned laments of those too weak to protect themselves and beg those above, both on this plan and on others, for help. And to receive no answer. Because the Gods were fickle, because the Royals were unable to provide them and because their last hope was unable to even lift a finger in aid without another's help.<br><br>Instead of lamenting his weakness, he tried yet again to find some way to awaken himself fully. Yet nothing stuck, nothing took, no hand-hold was strong enough and no muscle was able to break the bindings...<br><br>For a time, hatred would have produced only a bitter scoff at the please of these humans. But after so long in a frozen hell of his own making, he'd stopped hating them. Now, he only wanted out. And if by helping them he could be so free, he would...<br><br>Desperation overtook him and he rasped into the cold air, his voice practically forming icicles from the chill; "Let me out..."<br><hr>The word seemed to ring out of the dark and frozen passageway like an arrow and the pained speech seemed to lift over the stone steps that led down into the passageway. They pierced the wood of the bookcase in front of the door, thick and heavy with tomes of knowledge and lore, before it finally escaped the room that served as guest quarters. And once it was into the castle proper, the words seemed to echo like the chilling whisper of a ghost in the ears of those inside...
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				Title: <strong>Re: Prey (Lilias &amp; Verse)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Lilias</strong> on <strong>25-04-2011, 23:36:13</strong>
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				Sir Kavan felt the change as soon as he opened the door to the council room, before even seeing the other councillors' faces, as he had stepped aside to let Halyna enter first. Something had happened in his absence. There was a mixed feeling of hope and dread hanging in the air. Some faces looked even vaguely guilty at the sight of their young, grieving queen.<br><br>Halyna felt it too. She sat at the head of the table, observing the frugal meal laid out in a few platters in front of the gathering. They wouldn't live to starve, she thought dully.<br><br>It was the high priest who broke the silence, an ancient man who had been her guide in the castle library for years, whose mind had remained as sharp as ever during her lifetime. 'There is a messenger from the Emperor waiting in the back room, Majesty.' He passed Halyna a rolled-up scroll, the seal broken, without another word.<br><br>She couldn't fault him, or anyone else, for reading the message. It was not just for her - it had to do with the entire country's survival. Then why did her cheeks have to flare up with indignation, as if the words had insulted her personally?<br><br>'You know what we are offered, then,' she said, tossing the scroll down in front of her. 'The hand of the Emperor's nephew, and long years of peace as an imperial annex. Is this what you wish for, my lords? Is this what my father and so many of his people have died for?' She looked around the table; even old, hard-bitten warriors and politicians avoided her bloodshot gaze.<br><br>'I would do it, if it made a difference,' Halyna continued, more softly. 'But the yoke for my people will be the same, whether I live in luxury or not. I will not be the one who sold them. Tell the messenger so, Reverend.' The high priest bowed and hobbled out of the room, and Halyna sat back, watching dejection reassert itself on her advisors' faces. There was no going back now.<br><br>'We only have one hope, my lords,' she said softly, 'and this I <em>will</em> do for the people's sake. I will call up the Old One from his prison.' She raised one hand to cut off anyone trying to interrupt her. 'The Old Ones were bound to the land - the same land the Southron are seeking to defile with their barbarous customs. It is our very last chance, and whatever fate awaits me for it, it cannot be worse than marriage into the Southron!'<br><br>***<br><br>Halyna remembered those words later, shortly past midnight, when she stood before the sealed passage, her breath misting with cold. Her courage threatened to abandon her before the unknown. Her father had taken her that far, explained to her what that prison held, but she had never dreamed she would have to unleash it.<br><br>The seal was cold iron, wrought in the shape of the Northain lammergeier crest. Halyna fitted her royal signet ring into the bird's eye, expecting something to slide or swing open. Instead, with a sigh, the seal and wall melted away to nothingness before her. It had all been an illusion, but bound with so much magic that it had held as good as reality, on both sides of the barrier.<br><br>Halyna stepped into the passageway. There was no light there, only a faint luminescence coming right off the walls. Her footsteps echoed softly around her, the crypt seemingly going on forever. Then, without warning, it opened up into a small vaulted chamber with even less light. She could make out the outlines of the iron chains, but not what exactly was held chained there - only that it was alive, breathing slowly, raggedly, but regularly.<br><br>'I am Halyna of House Tyryk, Warden of Northain,' she said, with as much courage as she could muster, trying not to stammer with cold. 'Who are you?'
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Prey (Lilias &amp; Verse)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Verse</strong> on <strong>27-04-2011, 17:15:51</strong>
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				Time passed in a way that made seconds feel like hours to the man, not even born of any magical binding or strange twisting to his senses. The cold made his blood run slower, or so it felt. The cold made every sense, small or large, ache for some sort of release from this binding or at least to grant him a swift death. He was getting weary of listening to the panic and the anger, the sorrow and the remorse from the world outside. Darkness was washed over his frozen prison and it seemed as if he would drift to sleep without any sort of easing of this burden.<br><br>The change in his prison, however, immediately told him today would not be an ordinary day of sitting and waiting for something to transpire. The cold iron sent a pulse through the prison that was unmatched by any magical tremor or simple rattle of battle, one that had it's prisoner's eyes opening even before the footsteps sounded through the walls of the prison.<br><br>The chamber looked as if, at one time, it was a treasure vault of sorts. The only window in the place was pointed firmly into the night air to provide the barest flickers of moonlight and the window would have been the victim of perhaps a rat, if it were not so cold in here that even as the lady would step inside, she'd see small patches of ice seeming to spiral out of her mouth. She was literally breathing snowflakes, it seemed. Staying in the room long was not an option. The light of the moon also seemed to sink into the ice and illuminated it softly, though only the front of the place. The ice was thick, the floor seemed as if it would have sunken into the ground a few feet more with what the woman standing on being stairs that would have led down. But no longer, it seemed. Perhaps the ice had formed after years of rain and snow melting into this place? How long had the prisoner sat helpless as his body and soul were frozen over?<br><br>The shape in the ice was impossible to see, especially in the dim light, because it had no real definable shape to it...Laying in the back of the room, underneath more ice and frozen solid, was a shifting patch of ice that was almost mirror-like in it's reflective quality. It was the source of the voice that responded to the hopeful queen.<br><br>"...Cold. Cold and imprisoned, Warden." came the voice. It was a weak tone, a faint echo in the room and yet it took so much to speak that the pauses were long and drawn between each word and even between syllabes themselves. Underneath the ice, he had to focus his mind after every word he spoke to her.<br><br>It had been so long since someone had visited him that the figure found himself wanting to drag the conversation on more than it would already but the sinking cold and time worn nerves wore at his own internal patience. He finally answered the question properly. "But in a time I the frost has taken from me, I used to insist upon the name Alnithar of the descent Siltida." the voice spoke at last, the ice seeming to shift under her feet a moment.<br><br>"...Is it really so dire, so unforgiving outside that your kind would even remember what you've locked away? Am I your last resort?"
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Prey (Lilias &amp; Verse)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Lilias</strong> on <strong>11-05-2011, 22:24:03</strong>
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				Whatever Halyna expected from this visit, this was not it. She wasn't sure if she expected to turn around railing fury or cold disdain... but the detached despair in that voice chilled her to the bone, in a way not even the ice around could. One part of herself wanted to flee, another could not face living on perpetuating the injustice that was still breathing there, just beyond arm's reach from her.<br><br>'It is truly dire, Lord Alnithar,' she said slowly. 'Blood seeps into the earth and blights the crops. People die for the quarrels of those who care nothing for them. The foreigners are gathering closer, and without a miracle, this time tomorrow the north as you or I know it will have breathed its last, and the land will be in the hands of those who know nothing of it or those it has bred.'<br><br>She paused to catch her breath, doing her best to drive away despair, and put down the covered lantern she had brought along, opening it just a crack. The shaft of light was almost blinding in the gloom of the icy cell.<br><br>'I cannot make amends or ask forgiveness for what my ancestors have done to you and yours, Lord Alnithar,' she continued, raising her eyes slowly to allow them to adjust to the new light. 'I'm not here to command, but to plead. Northain is your land as much as mine. Help us save it.'
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