A Darkening Kingdom. (Paper Satellite x Acolyte Offerus)

[Acolyte Offerus]

►►►►Zachary Faust◄◄◄◄

Nocturne...Shadow of my Soul...

Niodern...Kingdom of my Family...

It felt like hours he had been sitting here at this tree, peaceful and still as a stone. He felt her presence long before he ever saw her approach. She was beautiful, even in her boyish clothes. "Oh pardon your highness." he said as he pretended to courtesy. "I wouldn't wish to forget my manners in front of her highness the Royal mage." he said, his dark eyes glaring at her all the while. "While I appreciate that you didn't kill me, you'll have to understand if I don't trust you with my life. You did swear fealty to the murderer of my parents if you do recall." he said as he took one hasty step towards her. Referring to her comments. "Yes my dear, I am alive and well, have been ever since the night. As I do recall I have you to thank for my escape." he smiled fondly, although it wasn't the whole truth, it was the truth as she knew it. How could he explain his escape was only possible because of the incredible power of a demon lord.

He sat down on the soft ground again with his back to the tree. "Now...Why did you call me here? To beg for your life? I might consider it...However, the fat man. I'm afraid he's non-negotiable." he smiled wickedly, his shadow flickered in the sunlight as Nocturne chuckled in agreement. The demon lord had to be sated in other ways besides the flesh of young virgins. "Ah but now that I think about it, I haven't had a good look at you in...well over a decade. Come here." he said as he moved forward with the speed of a jaguar, his hands delicately removing the veil on her face. He and Nocturne both agreed, she may be a traitorous wench, but she was undoubtedly beautiful. His hand slowly traced the outline of her jaw, feeling the delicate soft feel of her skin. "Simply astounding, I remember you as this flat chested little tomboy." he said with a small chuckle as he let his hand fall from her face.  

[Cement Cake]

"Oh pardon your highness." Elaina's bro fell into a furrow under her veil as Zachary returned her greetings with the bitterest of tones. His mimicked curtsy, screaming of satire, bobbed with confounding offense in it. "I wouldn't wish to forget my manners in front of her highness the Royal mage." Elaina visibly winced. Now she understood. In her excitement of seeing Zachary again after a whole decade of lonely hopelessness, she had forgotten about her servitude. Elaina had imagined, for a moment, that she was once again the real Lady Elaina Sienna of Benthe, and the grown version of what that little boyish girl should have become if the siege hadn't occurred. To Elaina's mind, the years of being Debuke's weapon had been blotted out the moment she saw Zachary's identity come to light. She envisioned, too, the prince marching into the kingdom and rallying for his rightful crown, a glorious gold image, with her at his side. She hadn't seen herself as the prince might. A traitor. A sellout to the new king-regent. A bystander abiding the rules of the man who heartlessly had killed Zachary's parents. The sudden realization of what Zachary saw illuminated the truth for her again. She was helplessly driving the force of the king and had done nothing, nothing to stay loyal to Zachary but pray.

"Yes my dear, I am alive and well, have been ever since the night. As I do recall I have you to thank for my escape." Shamefaced under her veil, she gave a humbled shrug.

Comfortably he sat himself down on the grass. "Now...Why did you call me here? To beg for your life? I might consider it...However, the fat man. I'm afraid he's non-negotiable." No, she thought immediately, defensively. I do wish you'd kill him. I do. If not for him...If not for him I would have escaped and shown true loyalty to you. She didn't say anything, though. A spark of noble pride prevented her from falling to her knees before the exiled prince of Niodern, but she did lower her head.

"Ah but now that I think about it, I haven't had a good look at you in...well over a decade. Come here." He lunged his way back up, and before Elaina could do a thing to shield herself, he pounced towards her. His face was so close through the gauzy veil that she could feel his warm breath press against it. Her breath held, in something like fear and awe combined. He had moved so fast and like a cat. This was her prince, she figured, letting him peel up the veil between their faces. Her breath slowly shook out of her lungs when he slid his light hands along her jaw. His rough, calloused hands traced her face, feeling as though they appraised the softness of her skin as shallowly as any noble. She forced herself to think otherwise, decisively convincing herself of his honourable intentions. As his hand left a tingling trail across her skin, her head heated, slowly turning her cheeks as red as cherries. "Simply astounding," he murmured to her face. Her eyelashes fluttered in his breath. "I remember you as this flat chested little tomboy."

Elaina gasped as he dropped his hand with a chuckle. Unable to take anymore of this fickleness, first seeing a bitter side that resented her, then finding him a gentle cat against her cheeks, and now resembling the funny young prince he'd one been, Elaina's hand moved before she could stop it. It whapped against his cheek, not firm enough to scold him too badly, but enough to show him her embarrassment. As if her red hot cheeks did not show him that already. "Your highness...I apologize...but this really is not the time to be teasing me," she told him in a haggard voice. She rubbed her hand, growing shamefaced again as she looked down. She realized that she had just slapped the heir of the Niodern throne, and there was nothing she could do about that. Her emotions were flying rampant at his return. She tried to reserve herself again, taking on a more somber tone. "After you escaped, Debuke sentenced me to death in your place, but Selma, my maid, told him about my magic. Did you ever see the chaos I caused for you in the hall? Well, Debuke cheated me of my honor. Instead of killing me for aiding you, he and Lord Claude, the fat one as you call him, mixed an amulet made of Debuke's blood and mine." Hesitantly, she combed her hair back and showed him the dull ruby drop in her ear. "I rebelled against my studies, and I did try to escape, but they beat me until I obeyed, and I was young. I learned to be patient. My only power was to become stronger, and wait, and try to be of some influence in court. Anything more than that, despite how powerful I may become, and Debuke kills me for betrayal using the link." She let her hair fall, solemn eyed.

 

[Acolyte Offerus]

►►►►Zachary Faust◄◄◄◄

Nocturne...Shadow of my Soul...

Niodern...Kingdom of my Family...

He saw her hand coming at his face long before he felt the pain spread through his face. Rage boiled inside of him as his face was turned down and away. His eyes flashed dark as Nocturne raged within. "She dares to hit me? She really has betrayed me." he thought to himself. As the dear girl began to speak he was forced to hear her words, with no particular attention paid. The pain in his cheek subsided as did his rage slowly but surely. He turned to look at her, right as she moved her hair out of the way. A small gem ruby no bigger than a tear drop. He looked at her dubiously. If not for Nocturne's presence, the Prince, like his father before him distrusted magic at best, at worst he thought that the use of it was strictly for weak men as a way to challenge stronger men. Much like the case of Debuke, he brought mages into the castle with his siege, as Magic and it's users were explicitly forbidden in the castle the guards his father had posted were woefully un-prepared for the assault by fire and ice.

He looked at her, the darkness in his eyes wisping around. While his rage had subsided from her attack, he had not quite forgiven her for her insolence. "So you say..." he started after she finished. Sitting back on the ground near the tree. "That you are unable to openly oppose him, or plan his downfall, and that I'm just supposed to take your word for that and keep you at my side, and of course... You don't want me to kill the fat man...right?" he said, tilting his head very cat like as he smiled at her. "You want my trust? Let me kill him. I'm not asking you to assist me, girl. Just don't be in the room, have an alibi." he smiled at her, like a cat playing with his food.  

[Cement Cake]

"So you say..." Zachary said slowly in response. It fell quietly on her, and for all of her, Elaina couldn't summon the courage to look up at him. She didn't know what was in his eyes, but she could guarantee to herself that it wasn't what Zachary from the past had showed. Those dark, warm eyes from the past flitted in and out of her memory, having faded over the years, and were now smothered by this new character. She could feel his glare boring into her head, and it ached like heartbreak.

He sat himself back down leisurely against the tree he'd been waiting against when she had entered. "That you are unable to openly oppose him, or plan his downfall, and that I'm just supposed to take your word for that and keep you at my side, and of course... You don't want me to kill the fat man...right?" Elaina twitched. "You want my trust? Let me kill him. I'm not asking you to assist me, girl. Just don't be in the room, have an alibi."

Wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong. He's- "You're wrong!" Her head flashed back up to look at him, her eyes sparking. "Y...you're wrong..." she told him breathlessly. Her thoughts spilled out with her control. "Pease...Zachary, think about this. I'd do anything for you, I've sworn it. But you can't kill Lord Cluade." Her lips curled, as if sucking something sour. "Not yet. It's too suspicious, here on the outskirts...In my own lands..." She sighed and touched her chin. It wrinkled in thought. Her thoughts raced, under pressure before her prince. "Zachary... Your Majesty, the only witness Debuke would trust in these parts is Lord Claude. It would be unwise..." She trailed off. Besides, now that she was older, more cunning, and in contact with the true prince, she could feel the vigour to unravel his spells, which had only been glowing embers, blaze. Her thoughts branched off, thinking of the unrest they might find in this town under the surface, with supplies so meager, scarce enough to show on the citizen's face as they feasted. "I believe Debuke is ignorant, or ignoring, the unrest he's stirred with the rebellion. Ten years is not enough to stifle old ties..." She smiled determinedly at him, trying to convey she was one such spark. "He hasn't visited many of the new and old fiefs, and assumes that people fear him because he has the support of mages. Though I must admit, it is intimidating." Elaina remembered the incident last night. Zachary had succumbed easily to her binding, It hadn't even made her sweat. Granted, she was the best Debuke currently had, but there were still far more he could rely on in large numbers. However, even with the mages coming out of hiding, many were not trained, and Debuke did not have the funds to supply the demand of teachers, which had to be pulled from foreign borders.

"He's as overconfident as the last-" she cut herself off sharply. Without supplying any more hints about what she'd about to say, she trudged on, with a strategy. "If you want to reclaim your throne, you must attack subtly from the inside before he realizes there's something rotting his new ruling. And you're in the perfect place to start. Stirring up rebellion in this village is very possible..." She raised her hands. "Subtly." For a moment she wondered if she'd overstepped her boundaries in talking to the prince. She quickly advised herself that she was doing the right thing. Zachary had fled the country at a very young age. His training had been cut in politics. Granted, she was not born in the castle among kings and the rampant conferences of the court, actually it had been in the countryside, but after the siege she'd been rapidly cramming all she could about the county into her head.