Leafblade & Freelight: The Barracks

[Deiter Leafblade]

Rehan was startled when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He remained silent as Esaha tried to comfort him, only to break down in front of him from her own painful memories. The sight of his blood on her cheeks was too much for him, causing him to lean in and wipe away the blood and tears with his sleeve. He gave her shoulder an awkward pat, unsure of what to say.

Night approached as they made it back to the city. Rehan watched Lord Gerald's daughter with slight amusement as heads quickly turned in the other direction at her glances. She was certainly nothing like any noblewoman he had ever met before which intrigued him. He took note that she still kept her name to herself as they reached the manor, and then was gone after commanding Esaha and himself to be taken care of.

A middle-aged man greeted them with a neutral expression. Rehan noticed the servant paled when he saw the younger man's torn and bloody shirt. "Thi... This way please." Quickly composing himself, the servant ushered the two down a hallway. "Here is your room, miss." Opening the door for Esaha, he was about to tell her to go in when he looked at Rehan in horror. "Sir! Your wounds are bleeding!" Pain flared across Rehan's chest drawing his gaze downward. The slashes were beginning to reopen, and with it a steady steam of warm blood. Damnit... No wonder the Captain doesn't like magic... He started to sway and had to put a hand against the wall for support. "Hurry sir, I must take you to the infirmary quickly." Gripping Rehan's arm, the servant looked at Esaha and offered an apology for leaving her there as he rushed the younger man down the hallway.

An elderly man sat behind a desk flipping through a stack of papers. He looked up startled as the door burst opened, revealing a panic stricken servant and a wounded young man. "Hurry! Help him over to that cot over there." Rehan winced as he slowly sat down, the pain and blood loss weakening him. "What happened to you boy?" Keeping the remains of his shirt pressed against wounds, he watched the old man make his way to a cabinet which he began to rummage through. "A large black bear." The older man chuckled softly as he laid his equipment down on a small wooden table. "That must have been one angry bear. Here, bite down on this." Rehan looked at the small piece of wood. Cloth was wrapped around it, and he didn't want to entertain the thought of why he would need it.

Grabbing a white cloth, the healer started to saturate it with the liquid from a small bottle. "This is going to burn, so I suggest you make good use of that wood." Rehan's teeth sunk into it as he grimaced at the pain. "You should be thankful of whoever used that spell on you. If they hadn't you would have died from blood loss before making it back here." He continued to dab the cloth against the wounds until he was satisfied with the sterilizing. "Keep biting on that, I need to stitch up your wounds and I'm afraid this is going to hurt more than the alcohol." Rehan eyed the needle and thread warily, gripping onto the edge of the cot.

By the time the healer had finished, Rehan was very pale and had almost split the wooden piece inside his mouth into two. "There now, that wasn't so bad was it?" The young man glared at the healer, receiving another chuckle in return. "You'll sleep here tonight, and try not to move too much. Those wounds need to seal up properly and I don't want the bandages falling off. The soldier wondered how he was supposed to sleep like this, but in spite of himself soon started to doze off, worn out from all that had happened.

[ 07-25-2006, 11:16 PM: Message edited by: Deiter Leafblade ]

[dplax]

The servant had left hurriedly, not explaining anything about how things happened in the house. Unsure of what she was supposed to do, Esaha cautiously stepped inside the room which had been said to be hers.

Esaha hadn't seen such a richly furnished room since she was four years old and her mother had taken her to a dinner organised by a rich friend of her father's. Like always, her father had been absorbed by his experiments and had not gone along.

It had all changed the day her mother had fallen ill. It was the day which had changed her father. He had spent each day with his wife until she peacefully passed away, and afterwards devoted his life to his daughter.

Esaha lied down on the soft bed, grief threatening to overwhelm her yet again. As the exhaustion of the last few days finally caught up with her, the tears came again, and despite the early hour, Esaha softly cried herself to sleep.

[Deiter Leafblade]

Rehan woke up groggily, forgetting for a moment where he was. Sitting up gingerly, he looked around the room to see he was alone, and that it was early in the morning. Everyone must be asleep still. Swinging his legs over the edge of the cot, he stared at the floor for several minutes, his breathing labored from the sharp pain. After a while he felt well enough to stand up and noticed a simple white shirt folded on the table next to him. Assuming it was meant for him, he slowly put it on, careful to not disturb the bandages wrapped around him. Rehan knew it was better for him to stay in bed, but he was fully awake now and had no intention of staying cooped up.

Leaving the infirmary, he tried to remember where the bedrooms were located. He was concerned about Esaha. She had saved him, and he could vividly remember his blood across her cheeks as she tried to wipe away her tears.

The manor was quiet except for an occasional servant passing him by. Rehan had to stop one of them to ask about the guest bedrooms, and was directed down another hallway. He stood of in front of Easha's door a few minutes later. I wonder if I should wake her so early? She's probably sleeping and I'm sure she needs the rest. Unsure of what to do, he continued to stand there debating on a course of action. Giving into his concern, Rehan knocked on her door.

[ 07-25-2006, 11:15 PM: Message edited by: Deiter Leafblade ]

[dplax]

Luckily for Esaha, her sleep was without dreams, for in her current state, dreams would have more likely been nightmares. When the knocking on the door woke her up, for a moment she was still under the impression that she was waking up after a short nap inside the cabin in the forest and the knocking was her father chopping wood, but as she slowly woke up harsh reality intruded.

Esaha tried smoothing the creases in her shirt, as she made her way to the door in the lowly lit room. Some of the dawn sunlight was filtering through the thick curtains, but it wasn't enough to light the room to more than the semi-darkness it was in.

She gently opened the door, peering out into the brightly lit corridor, her still sleepy eyes blinking in the sudden light. Once she recognised the figure standing outside she asked in a somewhat sleepy voice, "How's your chest?"

[Deiter Leafblade]

He felt bad when he saw that he did indeed wake her up. "I'm doing ok now. Their healer stitched me up last night." He looked somewhat embarrassed at mentioning his injuries. No one had ever cared enough to ask before.

"Sorry for waking you. I wanted to check on you since I was rushed off last night." Rehan needed to do something with his hands, and he opted to clasp them behind his back, causing him to wince at the small strain.

[dplax]

"I actually fell asleep quite fast after that." Esaha left out the part of her crying herself to sleep. She didn't want to give the impression of being someone who cried all the time. And I'm not! It's just father's passing which has put me into this state.

"I guess if I find something to keep my mind from thinking too much about my father then I should be all right." She forced a small smile, which she hoped didn't look too fake.

"I know we didn't really have the time to get properly acquainted and besides your name I don't really know much about you, so if you like we could have a short walk and talk at the same time, I noticed some nice gardens while looking out of my window last night."

[Deiter Leafblade]

Rehan nodded in agreement as the pair made their way down the corridor. "I'm from a mercenary company a good distance away from here. The Captain would be furious if he knew what I had been up to on this mission so far." He grinned a little at the thought, and then further explained at her questioning glance. "As you're probably aware of now, the forest is filled with beasts that kill on command of their mistress. Lord Gerald asked me to help rid them of their problem, but as you can see I have yet to complete that." Unknown to the young man was that her father was linked to the forest, and his attempts to keep her mind away from her father thus failed miserably.

He fell silent as they made their way outside into the gardens. The sky was painted in shades of orange and red, casting a soft glow onto everything it touched. They walked past a small pool of water, which appeared to contain liquid bronze from the morning reflection. He stopped then to look at her. The gentle sunlight brought out small highlights in her dark hair, and the soft morning glow appeared to warm her face, yet she now looked troubled. "I apologize if I said anything that upset you." Various possibilities made themselves present as Rehan thought on what he had said wrong.

[dplax]

"I think I owe you an explanation, Rehan." Esaha sat down on a bench next to the fountain.

"My father, in his glory days was a mage reknowned for his expertise in crafting enchanted items. He spent most of his time holed up in his laboratory, leaving it rarely even to eat. But when my mother fell ill and subsequently died, it change him. He abandoned his experiments and spent as much time as he could with her, until her last breath. I myself do not remember much of my mother, for I was but four years old when she left us."

"After my mother died, my father devoted most of his attention to my upbringing, but some long standing problems caught up to him, and when I was eight years old, we had to leave the family home. A few months later, just as I reached my ninth birthday, we settled down in a small cabin in the middle of the forest you just mentioned. At that time the mistress of the woods was not so unwelcoming to outsiders, and after my father saved one of her beasts, allowed us to stay in the forest until the end of my father's days."

She paused, the memories threatening to well up again, but she managed to push them back.

"My father, sensing his end last morning, performed one last bit of magic and with that sensed you in the forest. Given the changes in the behaviour of the mistress in the years since we settled down, he thought it best that I leave the forest, and sent me to find you, thinking that you were my best chance at getting out alive."

She didn't voice the thought she just had that the irony of the situation was that in the end it was her who saved Rehan, and not the other way round.

"So that, in a nutshell is how you found me where you did."

She glanced at Rehan, wondering what he thought about her, now that he knew much more.

[mistral4543]

So... they reside in the safety of this foolish lord. The thought snatched a smile from her curled lips as she turned around and cast a disdainful look at the fatigued warrior sprawled upon the ground.

"Your offspring has returned home." If pity welled in her heart for him, it was completely absent in the tone of her voice. "So has your so-called champion..." Halting, she smirked as he weakly lifted his head, helplessness evident in his wretched eyes. "It seems that age has not taught you wisdom."

She was so wrong. He gritted his teeth, wincing slightly as the wounds born from the numerous attacks a couple of hours ago continued to sting him, as did her taunts. He had stayed away all this while, for this single reason - he knew her power, knew that it was unnecessary folly to venture into her territory. But for Robyn, he would never have stepped into this forest.

Robyn was safe. The thought gave him feeble hope, however. She was safe, for the moment. There was no guarantee that his precious daughter would remain unharmed, as long this menacing creature - for he could not tell from her motions whether she was fully human - survived.

"What... do you want?" The words came out in a croak, from his parched throat and trembling heart. How could he save her and his wife from senseless murder?

"You have sent enough pests to hound and waylay all that live in this forest, for long enough." The guttural tone was grating on his nerves. "As you value that chit of a girl of yours, I treasure this realm and my friends who dwell in it." She bent down so that their eyes met at a level stare. "It is only fair that she suffers the extent of humiliation and torment that we have had to endure, with your interference."

He shuddered, remembering the occasions she alluded to. True, a number of the mercenaries he had hired to assasinate this terror had been slain in their attempts to take her life. But several of the beasts had been slaughtered in return and if one matched life for life... he could not bear to think further. Almost grovelling, he prostrated before her. "Please... anything but my family. They... they know nothing of this."

What pathetic lies men could tell, when they cared for their loved ones. She felt a shaft plunge into her guts as she witnessed this display of concern. "It cannot be done..." It was a compensation, watching his dismay. "... except..."

"Except what?" He cried, tears openly welling in his eyes. "I beg you... please, have a heart! I pray!"

Beg? Pray? Such concepts had been alien to her since that fateful day, and the wave of anger that plummeted hard against her back nearly choked her. "I have no heart." The ice in her voice countered the heat gathering within her breast."It died many decades ago."

Be that as it may, another thought struck her as she took in his wild-eyed pleas. I wonder how much he will take, to save her puny life... Yes, it would be interesting. Better still, he had to be taught a lesson in humility, and death was... too good for him.

Crossing over to Tatyana, she whispered into her ears: "Cripple him." Then, seating herself upon the bench, she watched the torture scene before, a look of detachment on her wrinkled face...

[mistral4543]

The hours of this night crept mercilessly as she struggled to stay awake, her eyelids almost blotting out the sight of her mother's restless sleep. Oh, Father... please come back safe. It wrenched her heart even at this exhausted state that somewhere out there, out in the forest, he was risking his life trying to rescue her. Returning her attention to her mother, she could only emit a regretful sigh, her tear-stained cheeks already dry from the passing of these agonising hours.

Had it not been for her mother's hysterical pleas, she would have flown to find her hero, her beloved father whom she had taken for granted all these years. This hero was now in real danger of being mauled to death by the hostile beings that roamed the forest so ferociously, and the memory of Rehan's injuries could only add fuel to the burning shame that swept across her body. Please Father... hear me, hear my prayer. I am safe... come back... She continued to clasp her fingers fervently, her head bowed even as it occasionally threatened to nod into slumberland.

"My lady." It was a hushed whisper, but it rang clearly against her eardrums and she glanced up to catch the steward's ashen face. "His Lordship is back..." But his faltering voice gave no comfort, and the hue of his face was ugly to behold. Where? She mouthed the words, motioning that on no accounts was her mother to be awakened. In return, he gestured for her to come towards the opened door and follow him quickly to where Lord Gerald now lay...

As she brisk-walked along the corridors, she hissed her instructions that the two guests for the night should not be drawn into this family affair on any account. This was almost all that she could do when both head and heart were pounding desperately, and when the delay in seeing him only added to her grievance.

It was then that she heard his muffled groans and knowing how he usually laughed off his injuries, she could guess at the severity of his wounds. Another swing round the corner and she was into the room, her dear father was back at last! He was...

Gasping, she half-swooned at the grotesque sight before her and had to be held for support. Where was the paragon of virtue and masculinity? Where were the chiselled features that had so distinguished him from the other Lords and whom even her suitors were no match against? Where was the pillar of strength that all had come to depend upon?

Biting her lips, she could barely stifle the shrieks that hammered against her blood-stained teeth. She closed her eyes, but the damage had been done; this picture of her father was forever imprinted in her memory, and the knowledge that she was responsible for his plight tore her insides out. Crumbling to her feet, she clenched her fists; she fought against the battering screams; she felt the guilt-laden blades driving themselves into her heart till it seemed as if the blood she tasted was due to this injury solely. Blinded by tears, she brushed them away with the back of her fists, refusing to face him until she was in a better state to do so.

But he must not know... must not know her grief. He loved her too much, and her sorrow would deteriorate his health. He had to recover quickly, with happy spirits. How could he do so, without seeing the horror and misery of his wife and daughter?

In those minutes that ticked by, Robyn experienced a different sensation from any that she had ever undergone since her childhood. It was a volatile cocktail of weariness, self-directed fury, compassion, worry, remorse, helplessness and the desire to be useful. As she knelt on the floor momentarily, realisation hit her.

She had finally grown up.

And growing up meant taking constructive steps to remedy the situation, rather than moping over past blunders and waiting for others to clean up the messes she had created.

Hurriedly then, she got up, wiped her eyes again and issued her firm orders for his lordship to be cared for by the best physicians in this western wing of the castle, where nobody had lived for the past two generations. And if her mother ever asked about her husband, she was to be told that he had returned safely home but had immediately taken off thereafter to settle an urgent business.

When these instructions had finally been dealt with and were out of the way, she walked over to the ruins of the man before her, willing herself to smile.

"Welcome back, Father." Was her attempt at a sheepish grin successful? It would be a miracle, when she could taste salt and moisture. "We're both safe at last." Behind the bandages, she thought she could see a slight nod of his neck. "You're be well in no time, Father. You'll see." Sniffing, she continued hurriedly. "Now all you need to do is lie down and rest. Don't move, and don't talk." Another nod, which brought another stubborn tear running down her cheek. "Let me serve you for once, Father."

Then, as if both of them had reached the limits of endurance, they closed their eyes and drifted off into a dreamless sleep, Robyn's golden hair spraying against Lord Gerald's heaving chest.