A Darkening Kingdom. (Paper Satellite x Acolyte Offerus)

[Acolyte Offerus]

Profiles:

Name: Zachary Faust
User: Acolyte Offerus
Age: 22
Picture:
Bio: Born as Prince of Niodern, he was raised and trained in the art of warfare and tactics. Prince of a vast region he was home taught and schooled with only a handful of friends, generally those of the maids and servants. Although magic flowed throughout the youth's body King Sigmund rejected such magic as nothing more than fearsome witchcraft. His father the King was not a good man, he was a tyrannical ruler who forced many peasants to the guillotine for denial of tribute as was Sigmund's decree. One day rioters, led by an ex-knight, Florian DeBuke, raided the castle and brought both the King and Queen to the chopping block and instated himself as King-Regent of the land. Zachary, as prince was supposed to be held captive till he came of age and then exiled from the region, however Florian decided not to risk such an idea and decided to execute the child alongside his parents. However, Zachary, even as a boy of 11 challenged his fate. Signing a pact with the demon: Nocturne he was spared his death, and fled the country. Now a man of 22, with years of sell-sword company leader experience under his belt he has returned to Niodern in search of his rightful claim.
(Boom.)

Name: Eleina Sienna of Benthe
User: Paper Satellite
Age: 22

Bio: The Benthe nobility, in their prime, were considered the dogs of the crown. They ruled a number of fiefdoms that were charged with protecting the kingdom from outside invasion. The late king was ruthless, though, and while he stirred up turmoil in the kingdom, Lord Elmer of Benthe was stretched thin between his guard's duty on the borders, and his loyalty to stand by the king and assist with the riots that preceded his usurp.
The young Lady Eleina and her brother, the young lord Emmett, were often brought to court and appointed as the kings's son, Zachery Faust's playmates. And under the watchful eye of the king, the Benthe nobility could not nurture the magical talents in their children that they wished to use against the forced tearing apart the country. The king banned it, going as far as to execute uneducated peasants with talent in case they became a threat.
Finally, the balance of the crown and rioters was weighed too strongly, and Florian Debuke, and ex-knight, lead the rioters straight into the castle. Eleina, playing with the young prince and her brother at the time, tried to escape with the boys, slow in her skirts. A peasant killed her brother, and fearing for her own life in the new government, Sienna's maid had assisted in capturing Eleina. Eleina's last memory of seeing the prince was when she was kicking and screaming, and a guard was leaping past to catch up to the boy, and Eleina threw her feet out, tripping the man in her skirts. She'd been in such high emotional state that her magic burst out, and her skirt came alive, as did the tapestries on the walls, wrapping around the makeshift soldiers pursuing the prince. The young prince disappeared from sight, presumably using one of the secret passages in the castle.
What saved Eleina from the new King regent, Debuke's wrath was the maid's petty greed for some extra coin and name in the new establishment of rule. The swine-woman knew that Eleina had unlearned talent in witchcraft, having seen how Eleina's power in letting the prince run. Debuke, planning to kill the girl for treason, instead leashed Eleina to his rule, making her the first mage to spearhead his rule, which attracted many more mages, wizards and witches, supressed under the old king, to come out of hiding and pledge a wide allegiance to Debuke. In name, Eleina still remains a noble, but all her land has been given to Debuke's new nobility, and she remains caged in the capital. She is credited for being the most powerful mage in the kingdom, kept under Debuke's foot by a ruby made of the mixed blood of Debuke and Eleina piercing her ear. It was made by an older court mage of Debuke's, and if he suspects her of treason, he can use the binding of it to kill her. Eleina's sure she could break the spell, or turn it on Debuke, if only she weren't watched 24-7, and had some time to pick apart and study the spell.
(Bang)  

[Acolyte Offerus]

►►►►Zachary Faust◄◄◄◄

Nocturne...Shadow of my Soul...

Niodern...Kingdom of my Family...

The dawn was just rising above the hills of Niodern, his home. Zachary, clad in his boiled leather and chain mail with a sword hanging loosely from his back and a dirk from his waist. Anyone who might have seen the adventurer would see no more than a simple mercenary or sell-sword off to make his claim and some coin. However anyone who dared to look closely would see darkness. His shadow in the bright early morning sun was constantly shifting. Nocturne... the demon of shade and deception. One of the 13 'demons of doom' as Zachary named them. Zachary had learned much about his shadowy skulker in his 10 years with him. He learned of his pact, of the demon's past, of his own powers now. No...Anyone who crossed this man would face more than mere mortal. Zachary was human in flesh alone now. Living by himself for a decade, fighting in wars and minor skirmishes in the neighboring countries had hardened the boy. What left Niodern was a scared little child, being haunted by ghosts and demons. What had now returned to Niodern was a leader, a mercenary, and a fighter.

"It's good to be back...Isn't it Nocturne?" he said quietly to himself. Staring down into the valleys and hills that should have been him, Zachary was faced with two different emotions, joy and anger. All this land, it should have been mine... But here I am again, ready to take it back. He started down the hill, he remember a nearby village close to the border, a small trifle village with nothing more than pigs and whores. But Zachary hadn't had a good woman since he departed his Company of Sell-swords, about 4 months ago. Smiling devilishly he moved, lithe as a tiger down the rugged farm terrain into the small unaware village...  

[Cement Cake]

Warm wisps of sunlight, from the with iron designs of thorny vines, bounced over the soft river of pale gold. It streamed over the desk, and down the young woman's thin back, trailing down in gorgeous braids, and sparkling with iridescent pearl work of His Majesty's finest craftsman. On her lively desk, reports, papers, texts, tomes and instruments cluttered the desk. Her ink pots were open and dried out, with the quill still in her limp fingers, and her latest sentence scratched into an awry scribble. She slept, not for the first time, on her desk over her work, so that when she woke she would be able to set back to her research without any pretense of flipping off covers and crawling out of the bedroom to the large, well lit study.

With no sense of decency, a middle aged, balding man with a tuft of grey hair for a beard, slammed into the entrance hall of her palace rooms. "Elaina," he called in a shrill, irritating voice which the girl loathed to be woke by. She jumped up, a document stuck to her face by dry ink, and she peeled it off as quick as she could and wiped the dark smudge away. "Elaina!"

"I'm here, Lord Claude," she sighed back, lifting herself out of the chair creakily. How old was she getting, to have to creak in her bones when she stood. She moaned and stretched her back, which faced Lord Claude as he entered briskly into her study. She whipped around, before he could say a word. "Did his majesty consent to my request?"

The old man huffed, a thin sound, and straightened his impeccably groomed little beard. Oh, how vain and petty he was. He jealously sought after handsome youth, refusing to accept the dim years coming after him. He eyed Elaina like a beautiful cut of beef. "You look quite fine this morning," he complimented.

'I only just got up," she retorted vainly. A divider had been set up in this room, and maids had been sent for last night in anticipation of another sleepless night. She stole behind it, finding a Tuscan brown gown left there. She yanked off her rumpled lavender dress and white shift and began dressing herself anew. "My request, Lord Claude?" she inquired haughtily.

On the other side of the screen, the old wizard sighed reluctantly. It left a good, rebellious feeling of control in Elaina's gut. "His Majesty, King Florian Debuke of Niodern, tells me to permit you to leave for the village, Castevan, with I, Co-Court Wizard Lord Claude of Eslinore as your escort." Did he just spit on my floor, Elaina pondered. It sounded as if he did. Well, even I cannot blame him or that. Castevan was once a village belonging to the fief of Benthe, before Florian Debuke had usurped the former king. He had then sold it to one his merchants, after the man's family had been titled one of the new nobles. It had always been a trull of a village, even when the Benthes had been in possession of it, but now rumours told the sheltered lady that it's crops had been mostly taken for taxes, and the land ravaged by crop-sickness last year. The merchant was not a man, taught about farming, only taught of how to buy and sell and make more profit than he could handle. She'd heard whispers that it was the new lord there that had supplied the funds behind Debuke's take over, in return for a title. So had Elaina's once-maid, Selma, sold Elaina to the new king in return for riches and an underserving position at court. Selma had not been present for three years, and after how little Selma had proved valuable, Eleina had stopped wondering where she'd ended up. Elaina stepped out, gowned in the earthy silk dress the maids had brought last night. "His Majesty has sent ahead a runner as of yesterday, telling the civilians to prepare for our guest hood." Elaina bit the inside of her cheek, smiling docile to fool him. How dare he, Debuke. He knew that the village could not afford grand gestures for the nobles. Only a man asking for usurping or rule by fear could overthrow a king of such sorts, Elaina thought bitterly. "And while there, we are only to gather the research herbs of that area, as you requested, for the project. His Majesty has ordered, 'no funny business'."

Elaina nodded and tuned back to her desk. "I suppose there will be a coach ready soon? How long will it take? It has been so long since I travelled."

"It is ready for whenever you deem fit to depart, Lady Elaina. If we leave in the hour, we shall arrive late in the night, if there is to be no bandits." Oh and I would love to see you smited by bandits, you cruel old cook, Elaina's mind thundered. She could not imagine what kind of welcome the disgraced lady of Old Benthe would receive in the impoverished town of dirt and scum and whores.

(Countered by long intro post SHABAM! Since she's still in the capital, you might want to simulate the town's reaction to the runner's news and maybe a time skip to the wagon?)  

[Acolyte Offerus]

►►►►Zachary Faust◄◄◄◄

Nocturne...Shadow of my Soul...

Niodern...Kingdom of my Family...

Zachary reached the village right as it began to awaken. Like a hornet's nest coming awake, people began to flock from their small abodes into the neighboring fields and into the town center where woman began to shop and men performed their craft. The town smelled alive, something he hadn't felt in a long time. Normally, whenever Zachary passed through a small village like this, it was to raze it to the ground. His short white hair whipped around in the wind, his dark leather boots sinking easily into the soft soil he realized how much he missed this land. If he remember correctly, this village was once named Castevan, a village famed for its herbs and alchemists. Approaching the town square he heard the hum of life. People gossiping and children playing, as if there wasn't a care in the world. Zachary walked through the town easily, nobody here would ever recognize the young prince, any men here that might have known him would have been charged with treason and murdered years ago. Passing along the town he heard all sorts of talk, most of it passing right through his ear, but he did hear some discussion that stopped him. "Didja hear? King's little wench is comin' here. Guess we's finally been deemed 'important' enough for his majesty." Briefly the young King wondered if that's why the village seemed so busy today, he wondered who this wench was, and if she was important enough for him to visit her. Shrugging it off, he knew he had time till nightfall and the wench's arrival.

However Zachary did have a mission all the same, scouring the town for some young virgin girl who would be easily seduced by his charming smile and Nocturne's demonic grasp. As he strolled through the town, memories began to creep back into him. Memories of the day his family and his land were ripped away from him. Once, his father took him to a village near here, to meet some regional lord, Benthe, Emmett's father. One of Zachary's only friends. Ripped away by Florian...Right as the darkness began to consume him, he chanced upon a small dainty looking alchemist. She was huddled over a mortar and pestle, however she had proportions in all the right places. Moving towards her with a wicked smile on his face he knew she would be the one.

******Skip****

Waking up alongside the young alchemist, her hair sprayed across his chest, her face buried in his arm he smiled a bit, she had been sweet and innocent and had satisfied him and Nocturne immensely. The room was dark and the shadows played across the wall. "Come along young prince...Something is coming." Nocturne's voice howled like the wind but cut like a blade deep in his mind. Pulling himself from the girl and dressing himself he moved outside, it was now dusk. The sun was beginning to fall beneath the hills and the village began to glow with light from stoves and torches. He had a good view, up here at the Alchemist's house above the village he could see a large table with food stretched across it in the town center. "Is that for the girl I wonder?" Smiling, Zachary took one last look at the naked girl still in bed and departed from her house. Pulling his white cloak above his head as he moved towards the feast.

((Jesus! Way to make me feel like less of a man. Gotta try harder now! biggrin ))  

[Cement Cake]

The moment Lord Claude left Elaina's rooms, the young lady started to bustle. She fluttered in her skirts to the bedroom and rung the strings that tinkled bells in the maid's halls below. Waiting for a girl or two to arrive, Elaina paced back into her study and workshop, fastening her palm to the stubborn chin, wrinkled like a walnut as she formed an itinerary. First she would need a traveller's writing desk to record her research. After finding and setting a folding specimen that would into a trunk, she set out a light wooden box, made with thin sheets of expensive glossy wood, covering the cheap kind inside, and a safe looking lock. In went three pairs of stone mortars and pestles, 5 crystals for scrying and stored magic, cards in a small silk bag, sticks of chalk, shallow bowls, basic glass vials with sealed corks (empty or filled with salt, herbs, water or oil), a handful of talismans for spell work, ink sticks in various rich colours, charcoal, brushes, and reed pens. It was all part of a basic mage kit that she might need in Castevan for her quest.

Two maids came and helped her press and pack several outfits for a short stay in Castevan. Most were appropriate for her image, but underneath, Elaina stuffed down a pair of breeches and tunics. She might be carrying the dreaded name of the king, but she would be in Castevan for work. The idea of trudging around in hills and mud for herbs in skirts made the maids wince in sympathy. They were loaded into the coach, and eager to leave the capital city of Niodern, she sat shifting about in the seat, waiting for Lord Claude to finish and set his many trunks into the mix.

The new day was long and harshly sunny. The coach was stifling. A maid had consulted with a fortune teller and had handed Elaina a small fan. For no other reason than stubbornness to hold the fan that a peasant had touched, Lord Claude held out on the offer, and later that day stunk up the coach with his putrid sweat. Giving up on her own hatred of the man for a little relief of the smell, Elaina let him have her fan and sweat in her own skirts, her face through the window to capture the breeze. She watched wistfully as the landscapes went by. She could look forward to romping around in the wild grass of her homelands. She was sick and tired of tip toeing delicately in the palace gardens short, stubby blades, smelling too much of flowery perfumes. She breathed the earthy essence of nature zealously.

When Castevan was in sight, the sky was dark. Elaina had grown increasingly cynical about the feast the villagers would be forced to make in hers and Lord Claude's honor. She had hooked an oil lamp up in the rocking coach and unloaded her traveller's desk and ink stick, melting a bit in the flame and dripping it into her reed pen. She had started to scrawl, in a professional text, a prescription for the front horse's ear infection that one of the men at arms had told her about. When the same man told her, she smiled kindly at him, an act she could get away with since Lord Claude was snoring, and handed him the slip of parchment. "For the horse, my friend."

Another man bellowed their arrival, waking Lord Claude with a nasty start that made him slip off the bench. A polite giggle escaped Elaina, which the old man grumbled at and sat back on the cushioned bench, stroking his beard straight.

All the village's folk were waiting for the coach, like dormant wolves. Lady Elaina put on a smooth, serene face of calm, expecting the majority of hostile gazes under the warm demeanour and merry sound of the prepared feast, but Lord Claude foolishly showed how nervous they made him. When he unstocked himself from the coach, he grabbed a man at arms before the leader of the village himself and hissed offensively, "Watch that our belongings do not get touched by these filthy savages of the border, lest they steal and sell them across to our enemies on the black market."

Still in the coach, Elaina saw the leader scowl from her window and sighed, shaking her own head in disgust. Lord Claude eased his achy, chubby self down the little steps onto the ground and was announced by their herald, "Lord Claude of Eslinore."

Welcome home, Elaina thought pessimistically to herself. She gently lowered her maidenly veil over her head, shielding her face. She had assured Lord Claude that she didn't not want the dirty peasants to see and know her beauty, but the truth was that she was ashamed of meeting the disappointed gazes of the people that had served her father. She heaved in a deep breath and stepped out of the coach, possessing all the grace of an earth walking goddess in her dark gown and the light veil. "And Lady Elaina of Benthe," the herald shrieked to the villagers. There was a ripple of acknowledgment, and most of it was negative like Elaina had wisely predicted. She could hope for nothing more than that. She took the sting of bitter glances and let herself be lead to the feast.


((Bwahaha, sorry, I'm an aspiring novelist. It's just in my nature to be descriptive.))  

[Acolyte Offerus]

►►►►Zachary Faust◄◄◄◄

Nocturne...Shadow of my Soul...

Niodern...Kingdom of my Family...

As Zachary made his way down to the feast, the torches set around the area sent shadows across the ground and buildings nearby. Zachary's shadow was not his own tonight. His fury and rage towards Florian built with every step he took towards this wench of his. His shadow rippled with fury and splashed with red. Nocturne was aching for violence. He pulled against the King's skin. The sword seemed to grow heavy across his back, threatening to pull him down. This was his curse, although he was 'blessed' with demonic strength and charm he was forced to endure the hardship of sharing his body with the manifestation of darkness. The lord of the Abyss.

The feast was extravagant, although the town was poor, it's obvious that they put themselves out by doing this. Briefly he wondered if that was because they wanted to get on the good graces of Florian or because they feared his wrath. One would force him to slaughter them all, the other would make them rally to his side. The making of his own army...The next major priority on his list. He may be powerful, but he was by no means invincible, even less so in the daytime. Hearing the names of the two people called he briefly recalled the girl. "Elaina?" he thought to himself... "Emmett's sister? Impossible. Wasn't she killed as well...?" He saw them heading this way and he turned and faded into the shadows. His body warped into a cocoon of darkness. Nocturne once told him that it was called Shade-Walk. He didn't care, he only knew it allowed him invisibility in the darkness.

Zachary watched her with morbid curiosity. "So this is the King's wench hmmm...? She'd make a tasty treat. Probably still a ripe virgin..." Zachary heard Nocturne's voice like nails on a chalkboard in his mind, deep and painful through his consciousness. The Demon was right however, if she served the traitor King she must die. But...If that was in fact Emmett's little sister, then it would be a problem. The fat man however... As the shadow's embraced him, Zachary's white teeth shown through the darkness. A wicked vicious smile. "I can kill him...Tonight." He chuckled with Nocturne, still invisible to the night.

((You should warn a person! razz I hope my 2-3 paragraphs is enough. I'd kill myself trying to write like you do I'm afraid. sad ))  

[Cement Cake]

The beggarly village was more dexterous than Elaina had imagined from the court rumours. The small precession, lead by prominent villagers such as elders, the leader, and vital contributors to the lifeblood of the area, traipsed through the dirt road into the square. It was a mangy sight. Although the village square was cobbled, it was a common hazard to trip over jutting stones, as Lord Claude, a few men at arms, and even the elegant Lady Elaina demonstrated. They had a fountain and sculpture of a leaping lady, but the water had been drained, and the statue coated with grime too old to tell it's original features. Under the welcome aroma of feast-hood, there was an odour of daily life. Herds of livestock, chickens, goats and cows, and carts loaded with bedraggled crops had come through this lively place until just this morning, when the runner had undoubtedly arrived, bearing the abrupt news of Elaina and Claude, the king's two most prominent court mages, visiting. The honesty of the situation was that the man most strict in this show of respect for the nobility hated it most. Looking at his face under her modest veil, Elaina almost expected the old man to whine. His grim pout and upturned nose was a signal of clear disdain. She leaned to his ear. "Lord Claude, perhaps it would be wise to disguise your distaste. You do not have the luxury of wearing a veil," she whispered to him, her voice amused, her eyes sour.

"For these clods? I think not, Lady Elaina. You forget, because you have not travelled here since long ago, but these...rats are as uncivilized as can be. They can no more tell my face apart from the rest of the scowls they wear." He harrumphed in a classical and Elaina stayed silent or a moment.

Then, she uttered indifferently, "Perhaps if I travelled more." Lord Claude sniffed his dismissal on that subject. Without a mournful sigh, as Lord Claude would have dramatically exposed, Elaina laid her argument to rest and sat at the grand table in the square. The men at arms went to eat with lesser folk in the taverns. Between her and Lord Claude, on her left, sat the village leader, a brawny, tanned man. On her right, an elder woman. Lord Claude stood up to make a toast, while Elaina watched the old woman mournfully glance over the extravagantly set supper, flickering in the dull torchlight.

When Lord Claude finished his long, generic speech attributing to the new king, the village meekly applauded and started to chatter. Elaina took the chance to interrupt the village leader before he put a regretful bite into his mouth. "Pardon my rudeness, but I've heard court rumours of this place. I didn't come here ready to see such a luxurious meal put before Lord Claude and I. How was Castevan spared from the summer drought this year?"

The village leader smiled grimly, not fond of talking to the veiled young gossiping noble lady, much less a magic one. "Oh, Lady Elaina, we do our part. Nothing is too good for our king." He thought she was testing him. Admittedly, she was, but not for what he might think. "I am simply touched that you know the name of our humble town."

"Why would I not?" Elaina bleated in surprise.

"You would be surprised by the nobles who do come to tour the borders without a clue of where they're at," the village elder woman interjected.

Elaina turned her head to the woman, refusing to laugh like the fluttery goof they expected. "Castevan is a treasure trove in my opinion. Decades ago it was a center of trade for herbs. The alchemists, I do hope, still honour the forgotten name. It would be a shame to have such promising herb lands and blood talents to go to waste here. If His Majesty secures this area from invaders it has potential to arise and become a hub of trade again, particularly now, when mage work is a publicized profession." The old woman's quick eyes locked on Elaina's, hidden behind the light veil. "Of course, I'm merely speculating. I'm not as worldly as I try to seem." The village leader, listening, harrumphed indifferently. Elaina managed politely through the rest of the night, inquiring about the droughts, crop estimates and herbal growing crops where she might go hunting the next day.

The dinner came to a close, with Claude positively indulged with the local wine. He breathily explained that it tasted like woman's crotch rot, and without any tenderness, Lady Elaina asked how he might be so sure as she lead him up to the village leader's best rooms. He had been forced to consent them tonight, and he and his wife slept across the way in the meagre inn, pushed out by the men at arms staying downstairs. Lord Claude hit the cot bouncily and began to snore in moments. Lady Elaina was fairly exhausted herself, from the insufferably hot ride, and the straining dodging conversations she'd had with the people of her homeland. She crept behind the changing screen, in case Lord Claude was just playing, and removed her hot veil. In a little mirror, a treasure to the village leader and his wife, she peered into the glassy image and combed out her thick golden spun hair. She sat on a little stool and started to twist it into a long night braid again so it would be easily brushed the next morning. First, though, she had to untwine the pearls and clip from her hair, a gift from His Majesty to make her look happy. She frowned at it as she did so. It would offend him, but she wanted to donate the petty thing to the village. It was worth their annual profit, or most likely more with the drought.

((DUNDUNDUN! And so the plot thickens. Anyways, sorry about making you feel horribly outclassed, but I can confidently tell you that this takes time and research on my part, and it only happens when I get really REALLY REALLY into a character. You've got me at my best. whee ...Y'know this would be a good time to try and jump in and assassinate Claude, but fail when Elaina shows her magic stuff, cuz she's looking all pretty in the mirror and can totally see you trying crap, and they have their little realization moment...Just sayin', cuz the veils off now.))  

[Acolyte Offerus]

►►►►Zachary Faust◄◄◄◄

Nocturne...Shadow of my Soul...

Niodern...Kingdom of my Family...

Zachary stood in the shadows the entire feast, an invisible specter, un-moving and unseen. By the time the two traitors finally left he unbound himself from the cocoon and breathed for the first time in what seemed like ages. He watched them fade away into the darkness away from the town square before he finally moved back into the light and brought out his charm. Moving towards one of the lovely cleaning girls he helped her with the plates, and as soon as they were out of ear shot of the others, he began to grill her, all in good nature. Zachary was less of an assassin, Nocturne however was a borne assassin. He knew from consultation in the cocoon that the best bet would be to slip into the Inn they were staying in and slay them one by one and begone from this dreadful village before the corpses were found in the morning. From his interrogation he learned of not only the inn they were staying in, but the rooms they were staying in. Unguarded, he was also informed.

Standing outside the Inn he watched the windows of the various rooms and saw only one light on now, a faint one, presumably a candle. That would be his window in. Darkness is absolute, shadows are not however. He checked his blade as well as the small dirk on his belt, a much more subtle and ideal weapon for assassinations. He leaned back into the shadow and whispered. "Umbra Brigore." Let the Shadows begin. The young man felt his body vanish beneath him. His consciousness gone, he saw the actions of his body, through a sleep like haze. Nocturne was in control now. He could give himself fully to the shadows, melding and fusing them into wicked shapes.

The man known as Zachary appeared from the shadows behind the awoken girl. Still hidden, Nocturne returned his body back to his rightful owner. Zachary awoke with a cold shiver and focused on his surroundings, one girl in behind the vanity. Someone in the bed? Did she take a bed-warmer? Or was that the other one? Moving as silently as he could he peeked around the vanity and saw the girl in the mirror. She was...beautiful. Such a shame she has to die... Nocturne's presence was still floating around, his words echoing in Zachary's mind. He moved forward into full view. "I didn't expect you to share a room. However..." He stopped and drew his dirk and stared at her directly. "That will not save you from my justice." His voice was nothing more than a wisp on the wind as he moved forward towards her and made himself as large as possible, the dirk poised and ready to strike.
((Well good, at least that means you're into the plot, that's always a wonderful thing. smile ))  

[Cement Cake]

The night was still hot, of course, and unbearable. Elaina wondered if she ought to have made Lord Claude undress to prevent heat stroke in his bed. Well, she wasn't going to do it now, she was no maid. The man would just have to wake, or not wake, with clothes grimily stuck to him like fly paper. Well, I'm sure no one will mourn to dearly for such a stubborn mule, she revised, her mind flashing to the disgusting display of humiliating a maid earlier that day over the matter of a borrowed fan.

Elaina unwound the last of the large, beautiful pearls and was about to set the splendorous clip onto the desk, when the candle's flame feinted. Her eyes bolted to it, and her weary mind suddenly livened. Candles were a wonderful thing for telling when you were not alone. Although there may not be a breath of natural wind, the presence of something always pushed the air aside. Whomever had come, they were in this room. The only business someone would have, sneaking soundlessly into their room, would be dirty.

Channeling the clip in her hand like an amulet with ease, Elaina broke into the pearls by the strings. Wound tightly, condensed into the thread, Elaina soaked the string with power, and leaked her power into the clam-rocks. She closed her fist around them before they started to glow. She stared in her mirror, looking for any sign of movement. Finally it happened. A dark form faded to light, seemingly out of thin air from behind her screen, looking at her in full view. Elaina had a moment to absorb his looks. Ashen hair, so blond it looked white, though it may have been the moonlight. His eyes were dark and hot with passion, and they were lethally tied on her. Other than that, Elaina thought that she'd seen him before.

"I didn't expect you to share a room. However..." He raised his knife, a prickly glinting thorn of steel. Something that could kill her in ease if Elaina was not careful. "That will not save you from my justice."

When he moved, Elaina jumped off of her stool and whipped around, throwing the clip of pearls at him. The pearls glowed white hot with power. "Adligo!" She hissed, just in time. The clip struck him in the chest, just as his blade meant to touch her throat, and it struck him with the weight of a hefty man. He was forced to stumble back, and the pearls came alive. It was just like that night when Elaina had used the tapestries and her skirts and Salma's skirts to trip and gag the guards. The sole reason for Prince Zachary Faust's escape ten years ago. No one had heard of him since.

The white hot pearls, which grew more beads than reality with magic, lashed across the man's limbs, tightening like snakes and dragging him to the ground, where the worn shoe-scraping carpet slid across the ground under him to muffle his fall. Elaina did not want the guards hearing this conversation. The pearls chained the intruder's arms and legs, and where it touched his skin, they burned. The burning was all of the mind, and would leave no traces, but a little pain did well to muddle someone's defences. Debuke had taught her that. The binding was real though. Elaina towered over him now, staring down at him with the flashing, cool eyes her brother had used to intimidate the other noble children when they tried to scare little Elaina off from playing. It worked just as well now, that strong stare adopted from her older brother Emmett.

Before she spoke, she waved a hand across the room, and a thin gauzy layer of magic filled the cracks in the walls, windows and doors. It even cocooned the sleeping Lord Claude. "Try anything silly and those pearls will crack your ribs," Elaina threatened. The lady ducked to set the stool aright again and placed herself on it, at ease, and stared at him a moment. Something about his face was certainly familiar, but she was so caught up being careful with the pearls, she could not recall it. "Well, what have you got to say for yourself? What justice would be brought be assassinating the King's court mages in the night. Asides from, perhaps, drawing a troop of soldiers ordered to kill the villagers as repentance." She glowered mercilessly at him. "Debuke will torch Castevan like a bonfire if he suspects it of such a crime, and I wish for these folk to live. Quietly, now, so my lord does not hear through the barrier and wake and fuss, if you know what's good for you. How have I wronged you?"  

[Acolyte Offerus]

►►►►Zachary Faust◄◄◄◄

Nocturne...Shadow of my Soul...

Niodern...Kingdom of my Family...

As the young Prince moved forward with his knife poised to strike he was woefully unprepared for her assault. As he stalked forward his attention was fixed on her face, a face that held some memory...Yet he couldn't grasp it. He heard her words without recognition, and then felt the clip of pearls hit his chest, pain exploded like a bomb on his chest. Never before had he experienced such powerful magic. While recovering from the initial shock, his mind raced as he tried to move forward to grab her before the fat man awoke. Only then did he realize that it was becoming harder to move. Finally the pearls touched his bare wrist and scorched the skin. The Prince let out a cry of pain as he dropped his blade. He felt himself being constricted, as if a thousand snakes were coiling and burning him. He roared with pain and tried in vain to move towards her all the same before he collapsed in a heap on the dirty floor.

The carpet came alive underneath him. Pain flashed through his mind as he forced his body to remain still and his mind to keep his consciousness. "Do something damnit!" He roared at his other companion."What would you have me do? Take you over and destroy the whole town? I cannot...Clean up your own mess....dear prince...." Finally with a heave of defeat, Zachary sat and stared at the girl who bested him. He was no assassin. As she sat down her examined her. She was pretty, something Debuke would especially like. Her voice fluttered like wings of a moth as she spoke. With force, but also with hesitation.

Turning the full force of his eyes upon her. Dark wisps floated throughout his iris. "Allow me..." he started as he adjusted slightly to a more dignified position, only to feel the red hot sear again. With a grunt her resumed his position. "To ask you a question...How...does it feel, when Debuke ******** you, like the little whore you are?" he roared with laughter. "I will answer no questions of some Mage wench who serves the Traitorous king. You want to know how you've wronged me? You continue to live. Far past your expiration date. You, fatty, Debuke. I will murder you all, have no doubt of that. My lady. he said with venom leaking into his words. Disdain flooded his voice and his face pinched into disgust. Nocturne fluttered inside of him, as the lord of Darkness worked his own magic, barricading the Prince's mind against magic. He may be imprisoned by this witch, but he would not give her the satisfaction of defeating him. However, he still could not shake the feeling of knowing her.  

[Cement Cake]

Blindly, the young man writhed for freedom. It was a wonder how Elaina put up the magical barrier against eavesdropping around the room and cocooning Lord Claude. He had recovered his wind quicker than any normal man she'd ever hit before, besides a mage, but they had magic by their side. She stared spitefully down her nose at him as he yelled and growled, roaring in vain at his bindings. The glow of the pears flashed around the room as he struggled, sending aurora's onto the ceiling. Elaina's attention divided to watch them streak across the room's surfaces until he was breathless from trying to escape. It was no use anyways. In all his struggling, he did manage to worm half a foot closer. He lay crumpled on the rug, gasping in what must've been intense imagined pain and strain.

Defeat came at last, and he sat quietly, except for his haggard breathing. Elaina fixed her undivided attention graciously on him, crossing her arms, expecting trouble.

He eyed her back. She blinked, slowly realizing something strange. His irises seemed to reach out to her, compelling her, and pitch darkness wandered forward through their gaze, like smoke. Elaina suspected it was some sort of trick. It was better to be safe than sorry, and to expect that he knew some magic of his own. Even the best mage in the world could be defeated by simple tricks. Lord Claude did not believe that, and he now slept soundly in his bed while Elaina pinned down an attempted assassin. Elaina took hardly took anything for granted. She turned her sharp gaze calmly away from his eyes, her mouth twitching to show him she knew and respected his last ditch effort.

"Allow me..." he began. He grunted when he shifted, and resumed an easier position where the burning pearls of magic didn't scorch his skin. "To ask you a question...How...does it feel, when Debuke ******** you, like the little whore you are?" He roared, apparently thinking that was funny. Elaina's heart went cold and she brushed off of her stool as he went on. "I will answer no questions of some Mage wench who serves the Traitorous king. You want to know how you've wronged me? You continue to live. Far past your expiration date. You, fatty, Debuke. I will murder you all, have no doubt of that. My lady."

Elaina knelt down to peer levelly at him, her eyes full of anger. She rose her hand towards him, curled into a half-fist, and she squeezed an imaginary shape. The pearls slithered tighter in a painful rush, one that would make him short of breath. They dug into him, and slid across the revealed skin it could find, scorching hotter with her anger, like vines of fire. "You know nothing," she hissed, shaking with anger. He had provoked her on the rawest subject. Her forced loyalty to Debuke. Ten years had not been enough to cow her immense animosity to the man. Nor would ten more years. "I am willingly loyal to only one man, the true descendant of the throne. I fought to let him escape in the siege to the palace. My brother was slain in his defense in front of my eyes by Debuke's murderous members of the new court." Her face boiled red, flushed with shame and anger at this man for insulting her. Elaina knew she should have taken the slander. It always came from the nobles and people of the capital. She could handle it there, but here, in her lands, some small part, buried inside her, had hoped to be welcome. She had yearned for some relief, some reunion of memory. Now she had been caught off guard by this foolish assassin, and for the first time in years, her wall had collapsed.

After some minutes of the intense tightening of the pearls, Elaina calmed herself. She eased her grip back to the slack hug she'd had him in earlier and sat back down. She wiped aside a drip of sweat and pulled her hair over her shoulder, revealing a blood red ruby drop in her ear. The candlelight flickering on her left caught no sparkle in the gem. It was as dull as the solid blood it was made of. She took a moment to compose herself, resting her wrinkled walnut-like chin once more in her palm. It had been a habit she retained since childhood, whenever she thought deeply. She stared at Lord Claude as she regained some sense of control. Slowly, the blood sank out of her face while she took deep breaths. Elaina's turn to talk had been passed to the young man on the floor.


 

[Acolyte Offerus]

►►►►Zachary Faust◄◄◄◄

Nocturne...Shadow of my Soul...

Niodern...Kingdom of my Family...

The pain was intense, real or otherwise. He stared at her, the pain flooding his chest and the control he felt he had regained vanished once more. "Nocturne...Give me strength.." Darkness flooded his eyes as he turned back to his captor. Zachary looked at her curiously. "The true descendant you say?" he laughed, a laugh of pure joy. "You foolish girl...I am the true descendant. That throne...is mine." he said, his eyes darkening every second, Nocturne's grip over the boy was getting tighter and tighter, in a means to repel the magic that ensnared him.

Finally the Prince had regained enough strength. He stood up, the pearls burying themselves into his flesh, burning with the fire of a thousand coals. But he felt nothing. The shadows engulfed the Prince, he was surrounded by darkness. He glowered over her, and finally recalled who she was. Emmett's little sister, the girl with magic potential. Betrayed to Debuke, after saving his life? Standing over her now he could remember the moments they shared as children, she was always a pretty little thing, trying to play with swords with him and the other young lords. Then her maids would appear and scold her...She was so cute back then. Looking at her now, he spoke in a tone that was neither totally human or demonic. Like a sword through the air his voice crashed like thunder with every word he spoke. "I am Zachary Faust, King of Niodern and the surrounding realms, now unhand me Elaina of Benthe and swear your allegiance and I might just...forgive....Gods be damned..." the darkness in the room became complete as the candle's light vanished, as did all of Nocturne's power. Zachary collapsed onto the floor, unconscious, his last thought was that of the pretty young girl that Elaina used to be when she hadn't turned traitor... The days he missed.  

[Cement Cake]

Over her snuffling breath, hot and rapid in fury, Elaina barely heard what the assassin said next. She didn't want to hear anything until she was sure she had calmed down, but she had no way of deafening herself without plugging her ears like a child. Her nostrils flared, trying to drown him out with the sound of her own breath and the mad pounding in her ears, but she still heard what he said. "The true descendant you say?" She hadn't even processed it yet, whirling to glare at him like a bull seeing red. He laughed, and Elaina was tempted to close her fist fully and break his spine. "You foolish girl...I am the true descendant. That throne...is mine."

Against intention, her eyes slipped in outrage to his. His eyes were black, the pupil stretched across the whole of his eye. Elaina's mouth opened to gasp, but no sound came out. The air suddenly felt thick, and Elaina had trouble dragging it into her lungs. Dimly she heard Lord Claude choke for his own air. The dark, heavy power in the air was suffocating. She touched her chest, forcing air into her lungs, almost inclined to use magical aid. The lady stared, spellbound, into the darkness of his eyes as he stood. The darkness was opaque, solid around him and stretched. His voice growled out like thunder, inhuman in it's terrifying power that shook Elaina's magical spell on him, and the beads were stretched to their limit to hold the force. "I am Zachary Faust, King of Niodern and the surrounding realms, now unhand me Elaina of Benthe and swear your allegiance and I might just...forgive....Gods be damned..." His voice faded, and the candle was gutted in a whoosh of cold, dark air. The air became light, and she could hear the proclaimed prince thump against the floor and the rolling of pearls, broken from the clip's threads across the floor.

"Wha...Lady Elaina, are you there?" Lord Claude's groggy voice moaned through the pitch black room.

"Y-yes..." Elaina said carefully, holding her voice as steady as she could manage it. She slowly sank blindly to the floor and felt forward, reaching out and stroking the floor until she found Zachary's body.

"Hmmm...I believe I had a night terror..." Lord Claude sighed and rustled in his sheets. "The nights sure cool quickly here in this trull of a town, don't they?"

"They do," Elaina answered, faking a yawn, gripping the prince's unconscious arm tightly. "Would you mind? I hope to wake early tomorrow to gather herbs. They are freshest when covered in dew."

"I know that," snapped the older wizard, and he tossed his sheets over his body. Elaina held very still until he began to snore. She breathed a shaky sigh of relief and summoned a ball of silvery fire n her palm. The prince's unconscious face was illuminated, and she caught her breath. There was no mistake, this was why she had felt she recognized him. This was the prince. She didn't understand why she had not placed the boyish face and shocking white hair before. This was Zachary Faust, true king of Niodern now. Overwhelmed, tears welled in Elaina's softened blue eyes and she bent over, clutching her brother's old play mate's hand, touching her brow to the man's chest. "I swear on my life, and on the name of Benthe, that I will serve you until the end of my days, Your Majesty," she whispered, kissing his knuckles. He was live. A well of tears overcame her and she blocked the pathetic hiccups that bubbled up her throat with the back of her hand.

Elaina unlocked the second story window and gulped in the fresh air as she slung one booted foot out the window. She dragged herself out, then carefully did so with the cloaked prince. Her first duty was to carry him out of her rooms. Surely, Lord Claude of Eslinore would recognise the true descendant as well, given the chance to find him in their rooms. That, or he'd execute him on the very spot for sneaking into their rooms, a death for a common thief. Elaina slid down the thatched roof, carefully dragging the prince with his arm slung over her shoulder. She summoned a quick thust of wind to soften her leap from the roof, and from there she heaved her monarch across the road, like a friend assisting a drunken comrade. She arrived in the neighbouring inn, which still romped with celebration and underlying hisses about her and Lord Claude. Luckily, she had disguised herself in one the man-at-arm's commoner outfit and hood.

"Oi, innkeeper," she hollered in her authentic imitation of the peasants. She hauled Zachary up against her shoulder with a loopy grin. "He drunk himself to death, this un. Take him up to a room, on me." She flipped a coin at the innkeeper. "Oh, 'n' give this to 'im, too. Says he'll...says he'll meet me at the grove to the west to check the fox traps." The innkeeper grinned at her imitation of a pretty drunken peasant, and tucked the slip of paper telling Zachary of the grove to the west into the young man's front pocket.

"I'll do just that, Miss. How 'bout you have a drink yourself?"

"No, sir, I'm clear without, and my pockets is empty as it is." She waved him goodbye and returned to her room up through the window, pushed by the wind, and returned the outfit stealthily for the night. She managed to dress herself for bed and flop onto the cot before sleep hit her like a wall.
 

[Acolyte Offerus]

►►►►Zachary Faust◄◄◄◄

Nocturne...Shadow of my Soul...

Niodern...Kingdom of my Family...

In his dreams, he saw fire. Burning. Followed by complete darkness. Out of the darkness appeared appeared two small red eyes. No larger than rubies in the dark. In the darkness shapes appeared and vanished. His parents, Emmett, his castle, Debuke...Elaina. Suddenly the darkness was gone, replaced by her face looking at her. "She swore to you...Princeee.. She swore to serve you...to the end of her days...Hahaha...." Nocturne's voice faded from his mind and he awoke. "I live?" was the first though to cross his mind as he noticed himself in a bed, in an Inn? Sitting up in bed he looked around, it was just beginning to dawn. Pulling himself from the bed he realized how god awful weary he was. Nocturne drained too much of his power last night he realized sadly. Yawning and stretching out his muscles he noticed a note on the beside table. Folding it open he read the scrawled words. "From Elaina?" he thought as he read through it for a second time. "When?" he thought. Grabbing his cloak he moved outside, through the window. Dropping lightly into the soft soil beneath him.

He moved west, unsure of where he was going, or what awaited him. Her? Or a band of her soldiers, ready to attack him. Dawn was not his friend, especially now with his power so low. Moving swiftly but surely he crossed the town and made his way up the hill, back towards the Alchemist girl's house...Maybe he should pay her a visit, Nocturne pushed into his thoughts. He finally reached an area, protected with magic. A grove he smiled. Glancing around he saw no one. He wondered as he moved towards one of the many trees and tried to become invisible, to no avail. "Are we really that powerless now, old friend?" he asked to his shadowy protector. His shadow in the sunlight reflected a near perfect image of himself. Showing that even Nocturne was drained. "You're impossible." he said with a sigh of defeat as he sat on a rock, hoping that the next person he saw would be Elaina, and not one of Debuke's lackeys.  

[Cement Cake]

A dull thump and row of unholy curses woke Elaina that morning. Lord Claude had slipped and fell just across from her near his own bunk. The fat old wizard crawled back up, shrewdly mumbling his comments about the morning's start. It reinded the waking young lady that not all in life could be as hopeful as dreams. She had dreamt that Prince Zachary of Faust had returned to the country in their rooms to kill both her and Lord Claude, and that she had entwined him in her pearl clip. As frightfully silly as it had been, to dream about ironically capturing the prince she'd decoyed for 10 years ago as the castle siege ran rampant round them, it had given her a light of hope in her sleep. Lord Claude had indelicately knocked it away like a skittish pigeon when he woke her. Slowly, drawing out of the warm summer sheets, Elaina stretched her arms out to the ceiling, eyes shut in mirth of a new day. At least she was in Castevan. She could go herb hunting this morning, with a woven basket, like a girl again, rushing through wild grass in bare feet like she were wild. Maybe she would stay out and howl at the moon?

"Wha-? Who in the King's name scattered these clam rocks about to trip an old man!?" Lord Claude shouted angrily.

Elaina's eyes snapped open. "Pearls?" she asked. Lord Claude gestured to the floor. The scattered pearls and discarded clip she'd used in her dream to bind Prince Zachary littered the floor...Then it couldn't have been a dream!

"Thieves, that's what this is! Someone's been in our room. Trying to make off with treasures, just as I thought. Really, they are the dirtiest! Guards!"

"No, no, please don't call the guards, Lord Claude," Lady Elaina pleaded, her hands clasped, and a wide, bashful grin on her face. "It was me. I broke my clip last night and was so tired, and I had already blown out the candle." Lord Claude gaped at her. "I would hate to have the guards march up here over my clumsiness," she admitted. "I apologize for not picking them up. I was just so weary." She whined the last to appeal to his tastes. He harrumphed breathily and ordered her to pick them up. She did, as he got changed, and planned to set out her plan of donating them today if she could. Oh, that's not of importance now! Zachary is alive and returned. He aits at the grove for me! Giddy, but calm in voice, she asked, "Lord Claude, would you like to come to the hills with me today for foraging?"

The man scoffed. "Oh, no, not me. Did you not say last night that the villagers sell herbs in the market still?"

"The elder woman did, M'lord."

"Then I will go there instead."


-_Timeskip_-

As promised, Elaina came to the grove. She was alone, and dressed in tan men's breeches and a light, violet died tunic with graceful white embroidery. She wore a draped white silk shoulder scarf, meant to keep from the morning chill. A light veil masked her face once more, and although she dressed immodestly in men's wear, she did still hike like a cat. Hanging a woven basket from her arm, Elaina wandered into the grove and felt the smooth pass of magic over her skin. The small cluster of trees was charmed to promote growth and health. She would have spent the morning picking herbs alone, if not for the familiar man sitting on a rock, facing her as she entered the charmed grove. She dropped the basket hastily and curtsied in breeches. "Zachary," she whispered, her voice a choked warble. Behind the veil, tears were welling. She blinked them away and lifted it to look at him directly. "You're alive. All this time had passed, and I tried to have faith...and you're really alive. You've returned." Remembering the days of childhood with him, she chuckled. He had always acted like many boys, teasing her a little when she tried to lift a sword with them, telling her to leave him and her brother be and go to play with dolls like a proper lady, but even then, she'd spied a reluctance to shoo her off. There had been a sort of fond acceptance, if she recalled, from him.



((Error: Seeing as how you said "the only tree there" and a grove is by definition a "cluster of trees"............derp............))