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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2013 21:54:08 GMT -6
"Wildgard's Prisoner" By Destael and Lady Kirsten The demon awoke slowly to darkness and pain. Any power that had been given to her by the wraith had slipped away at the moment her life had, leaving only her wing as a reminder. Memories of the events of the day crashed back. Thoror....Thoror who she had trusted. One of the only people in her entire life that she might have eventually called a friend had betrayed her....had....killed her... Upon cracking her eyes open to view an unfamiliar room Des was suddenly wide awake. A feeling of dread washed over her as a couple revelations dawned on her simultaneously. First, that she was immobilized, the cold and unforgiving bite of shackles firmly holding her limbs down. Two, that she seemed to be in some kind of cell lit by the dim flicker of candle light. Something about the room was also sapping her strength, despite having her channel hanging from a belt around her waist. Heart jumping into her throat, it was hard not to panic. This was all to familiar to Des...it was something she had believed she would never have to live through again... After a couple minutes of intense struggle against the chains, which only resulted in the metal cutting bloody grooves into her wrists, the demon closed her eyes in defeat. Fear flickered through her mind as she tried to calm her breathing and racing mind. They had her....maybe this was going to be the end....Either way she was at the mercy of her captors....All she could do was wait.  |
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2013 21:56:58 GMT -6
A rustle of cloth, a whisper of leather on stone heralded the entry of the Lady Kirsten. She approached the demon on the slab of stone, sadness and pain in her sea-blue eyes, the tumble of dark hair drawn back from her forehead and bound loosely at her nape, and a simple white candle gleaming in her hand. "Hello Destael. I"m glad you have awakened. Perhaps now we can talk." She sat carefully on a stool that had been placed nearby.
The lady drew a deep breath, "You have struck me down thrice now. Once via Thoror's hand and twice by your own. But I have no wish to strike back. I spent months in penitence this past winter, atoning for my part in harming you last summer. You have no reason to believe me, but its true." she lifted her gaze to the demon's, "And now, here you are once more. The holy light of my Lady Goddess surrounds this space, but it will not harm you. I was very very careful laying down the boundary. I do not wish you ill, Destael. I only wish you to stop hurting others."
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2013 21:57:21 GMT -6
The only movement that the demon made when she heard the woman enter the room was to open her eyes. She should have known that this was the white lady's doing. Not many things on this plane could drain her energy like the white light could. Silently she listened to the lady of the temple speak.
Hiding a slight flinch at the mention of Thoror, Des set her jaw, defiant gaze boring into the ceiling. "You should know by now that it's in my nature to cause harm to others. You'd be a fool to think that that will change." She scoffed, clenching her hands into fists. She wasn't making any friends here, she knew that, but she couldn't bring herself to be friendly. That same trait was what got her in so much trouble the last time she landed herself in a dungeon. That defiance....
"You would do well killing me now. I don't take to captivity." Her voice was bitter as she finally turned her golden eyes to the white lady.
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2013 21:57:46 GMT -6
Sad eyes gazed back into the golden ones. "I know you don't. Most living, sentient beings don't. But Destael, you wandering this land, causes chaos, destruction and harm. Your influence on others wreaks havoc upon all who live here. We, who have fled our homelands to find a fresh start in the wilderness, have come here. We've built here and we won't leave. You would have to destroy us all AGAIN. Just like you and Halizar did a century ago. But little trick also devastated the land, didn't it? It destroyed EVERYTHING." She paused and took a breath.
Kirsten rose and stepped closer, looking down into the ravaged face of her prisoner. "I can't allow that to happen again. My CHILDREN are here. I won't allow you to harm them, like my people did before I rescued them. I won't allow you to harm the people of this place. This region has become home, and I"ll be damned if anyone will destroy it." Her eyes had blazed with anger, but she fought it down. Losing her temper would solve nothing. And Destael wasn't responsible for what happened to her sons and daughter.
"Forgive me, please. You are not to blame for what happened to my children." She swallowed her pride and reached out to smooth away the rich locks of hair from Des's face. "You are very beautiful, Destael. You are powerful, influential. But tell me, are you happy?"
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2013 21:58:03 GMT -6
The demon jerked away from the woman's touch instinctively. Being in this room; being chained down....it brought back way to many memories that she wished to forget.
"Don't...touch me..." Her words came out in a hiss on anger...except there was a something else...an underlying emotion. Fear.
Swallowing, Des glanced back at her captor, brow furrowed. "I must admit that the devastation that his spell caused was more extensive than I had thought it would be. It's regrettable. I hadn't wished any harm on the land itself." This was true. Her only intentions had been to wipe out the fields of soldiers that had been waging war....Halizar had failed to mention that the magic would do so much more than that.
"And as for your children. Your son is still alive, is he not?" She narrowed her eyes at the white lady. "He followed me after I struck you down, wanting to avenge you. But you see....I don't kill kids. You think me worse than I actually am."
Pausing, Des turned her head away to stare at the dark ceiling once more. "To answer your question, no, I am not happy. I would be much happier if you let me go." To emphasize her words she tugged at the shackles, an action immediately regretted as pain shot down her arms.
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2013 21:58:21 GMT -6
Withdrawing her hand at the request, she noted the trace of fear and regretted her actions. She reached higher and with a delicate touch on the shackles, they opened, releasing the demon from her confines.
"I'm sorry I restrained you, Destael. I wanted to ensure we could talk before you struck at me again." She stepped back and sat on the stool once more. "Thank you for restraining yourself in regards to my son. He is precious to me, as I doubt I shall ever have children of my own. My daughter wanders the forests, searching for something I don't understand. My elder son, Panther, I pray for his safe return from his first wandering quest. They mean so very much to me." The fear for her children evident in her own voice as her voice cracks on that final sentence.
She looks down at her hands, then up at the prisoner. "Destael, I don't want to continue this enmity between us. Please, can't we find some way to coexist? If you can't go home, or don't wish to, then fine. But stop trying to destroy those of us who just wanted to have a fresh start where we found a small measure of peace."
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2013 21:59:24 GMT -6
Silently, Des sat up, drawing her sore arms to her chest and rubbing her bloody wrists before hugging her knees. Considering her options, the demon glanced over at the white lady. With her arms free she could easily lash out, but from past experience that never seemed to work well.....  Eyes narrowed, she stared at the other woman. "You wanted to ensure we could talk before I struck out at you?" She snorted, a sarcastic smile spread across her face. "Not a very smart move freeing my hands if you already knew that I would." Sighing, Des fell silent, the humor leaving her as she looked away. "Peace? You think that by somehow getting rid of me....you'll have peace? That's only wishful thinking. Your land will always be torn with death and strife and pain. It was at it worst a century ago and I ended it. When I returned again, it was just as bad." She shook her head. "You're tearing up this place even worse than I am. And if you think that I will stop and listen to your pitiful ideals you're very wrong. You would feel the same if you've seen what I've seen." |
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2013 22:00:16 GMT -6
*nods* "Human nature is combative and argumenative. That is truth. But there is good amongst us as well. There are those who just want to live as good a life as we can build for ourselves. For our future. Are you any different? I don't know what it was like here, a hundred years ago. I'm sure there was strife. There always is when more than 5 or so people gather."
She stood again and stepped closer, her hands moving to ease the ache in the demon's arms and shoulders...without power. Only through the touch and knowledge of how to help. She massaged the muscles in the nearest arm and shoulder gently. "I'm sorry I hurt you again. Lady forgive me." She shakes her head.
"Destael, humanity, elves, dwarves, kintu....we have enough conflict within each of us to cause trouble. Your presence magnifies this and makes things worse. I'm thinking its just part of the nature of your race. That you can't really help it. But you can choose to stop manipulating people. You can choose to withdraw, and leave us to our own devices. I know you like this land. I like it too. Many of us do. We are trying to make homes. Can't you just leave us to do so?"
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2013 22:00:34 GMT -6
Even at the woman's kind touch the demon tensed considerably, enduring it with a clenched jaw. No one had ever desired to lay a hand on her for any reason but to inflict pain. It was almost as if she was waiting for it, expecting it to come any moment. But she knew enough of prisoner etiquette not to strike at her captor, even if she feared torture.
Clenching her hands into fists she spoke, her voice so quite it was almost a whisper. "You know nothing of my race. Not of me....and not of my plane." She didn't want to return there....she may be a massive power and a landholder....but....Even if staying on the human plane would sentence her to prison she would choose to stay. "You say that human nature is combative..." She wanted to laugh but couldn't bring herself to. No...the anger and want to fight in the human race was dwarfed by that in her own. "You haven't seen violence like I have."
She paused organizing her thoughts."Your little squabbles are really no concern to me. It's what it does to your land that is. I refuse to let this plane become something that even resembles mine in the slightest."
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2013 22:01:00 GMT -6
Lady Kirsten blinked at the words she was hearing...the heartfelt commentary then gently released the woman's arm. Yes, woman. Destael was fast becoming less a demon to her, and more a person.
"I confess, I know little about your race or your plane. I would be happy to listen, if you need to talk it out, Destael. And if your home is as bad as you suggest, I can see why you would try to stop humanity from turning this peaceful place into any semblance of it."
She walked around the slab and took the other arm into her soft, skilled hands and continued to minister to the harm she had caused. "From your words, I'd hazard a guess that it was quite....harsh and unforgiving?" She winced as she noticed the damage to the remaining wing, knowing that the pain this woman had suffered at the loss of the other was horrid. Her heart ached for the girl that Destael had been and wished she could aid her.
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2013 22:01:16 GMT -6
The demon had to admit that she was genuinely confused as to why this person, who had in the past seemed to hate her with a burning passion, seemed to care now. "Why is any of this any concern to you? The reasons behind why I do what I do won't change my actions. I can tell you my entire life story and that won't change the fact that if you let me loose I would continue on the way I was."
Des swallowed, resting her chin on her arm. The human contact was still making her uncomfortable, unnerving her to a certain degree. "What has changed that has made you so caring towards me now? The fact that I can't hurt you?"
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2013 22:02:08 GMT -6
Smiling sadly, "You can still hurt me. Oh not physically, perhaps, but you can. Words hurt more than strikes. And they linger far far longer. Wounds to the flesh and bone heal. Words strike far deeper and wound more deeply than most know."
Finishing up her ministrations, Lady Kirsten moved to a small alcove and took out a small bundle. She carried it to the woman and handed it to her. "I don't know if you like nut bread, but I thought you'd be hungry after returning from the very brink of death." She sat on the stool.
"As for caring, I always cared, Destael. I just didn't understand you at all before. Now I"m beginning to. Besides, I caused the harm, its fitting that I heal it."
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2013 22:02:26 GMT -6
The demon snorted. "I wouldn't be so sure about that. Words weren't what took my wing, crippled me permanently. Words didn't leave these scars."
She then looked away, thoughts of Thoror flashing through her head. ...Never before in her life had she been betrayed like that....mostly because she had never let anyone in before. No one other than Halizar has been close enough TO hurt her like that. As the revelation dawned on her it was almost as if she had forgotten she wasn't the only one in the room. Maybe...there was something to the other woman's words.
Distracted by her own thoughts, Des accepted the bread before speaking as if to herself. "I've been tortured on more occasions than I care to admit....I've been injured and beaten countless times...." But never before had someone hurt her so deeply on an emotional level.
Snapping back from the revelation, her golden eyes glanced up to the white lady's before quickly looking away.
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2013 22:02:49 GMT -6
Accepting the confessional words as truth, wrung from extremely painful memories, Kirsten sat quietly. "I can see that. If I could heal them, I would, you know. But we both know that me aiding you in such a manner would be no aid. It would be more painful than ever."
She looked at the remaining shackles, and moved to remove them. Tossing them with a rattle to the floor. "There. You can move about freely in this chamber." She frowned at the damage about Destael's wrists and ankles. But then she considered thoughtfully.
She moved back to the alcove and brought forth a basin of water, with simple, unblessed herbs floating in it, giving their healing balm to the water, without the power of a goddess to boost things. Taking a cloth from the back of her belt, she soaked one end in the water, then began to wash the wounds about Destael's ankles. "I'd heal these too, if I could. But water and herbs will have to suffice."
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2013 22:03:21 GMT -6
Wide eyed, Des' mind kicked into overdrive as soon as the remaining shackles came off. Weighing all of her options, she seriously considered attacking and trying for escape. Unfortunately, she wasn't sure she would make it over the blessed threshold of the room without falling unconscious. And Surely if the lady of the white temple did not return, reinforcements would arrive and find the both of them, leaving her in more trouble than she was in now.
Letting out a long sigh of defeat, the demon watched the other woman work with a furrowed brow. "I doubt even if you had a means to heal these scars, it wouldn't take. It's been over four hundred years...." The fact of the matter is that she had stopped missing the use of her wing. She had adapted.
"Actually, I would say don't even bother with those. I've taken worse wounds without having them tended."
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