Amanita Vernia
All Seeing Eye
Desire her, despise her... but do not love. Love only destroys.
Posts: 91
|
Post by Amanita Vernia on May 24, 2005 10:58:25 GMT -5
The chamber of Venor Silenti
"Have you gone mad woman?" The voice grabbed her in the dark hallway of the house, as did a hand around her wrist cutting off circulation it was so tight. Both belonged to Arculeius, the usually soft spoken man, who flared an anger that was so rare to be seen that the merchant was shocked into silence. "He's a killer, an assassin for all we know, and you keeping him like one of your pets is more than foolish. Put an end to it or I will." The hand unlatched from her wrist and rather than let the woman try to talk her way out of his decision, he left her in the dark. Amanita could have followed, explained who the man really was to her most trusted guard, but she was still too shaken to say it out loud herself. Turning towards the room that was only two away from her own she stood outside the door letting her palm rest against it's course wood. "Where have you been?" She asked in whisper, but she kept herself composed. None could walk into the den of a larl with emotions bleeding like an open wound, the animal would smell blood and rip them to shreds. Amanita's blood was in that room and he didn't even know it. How did you forget me... I've not forgotten any of you, even the dead. Her thoughts entered the room before she even opened the door, but it wasn't a hollowed eyed forgotten man that stood there, but a boy. He carried a wooden sword at his side and looked to be nothing more than six. His smile made him seem joyful when he looked up at her and his laugh brought her own lips to share with his. Pinned under him was another child, a girl, who tilted her brown eyes back to see who'd entered, her smile flashed, but it was the mischief in her eyes that Ama caught. In no more than three Ihns she had pushed up against her younger brother and rolled around to take the advantage ontop. Looks like we'll be having brother for supper. Jas teased.... and then she was gone. They were both gone. Amanita was alone in the hallway feeling the cold chill of night wishing she too had lost her memory, perhaps then it would not hurt so much to be forgotten. Unlocking the door she turned the handle and entered the room of her older brother.
Sparse; he had always been sparing when it came to the comforts of life. The couch was stone, with a rense-reed mat and two larl-pelts of dappled white. The walls, save for the rows of blades, were bare. The solitary hearth cold with the tropical heat, it rested easily in a corner with the tea-set. The screened-off corner opposite with it's trunk of clothing...Overall, it was unremarkable save for it's lack of things to find remarkable. Though, there was the case of scrolls, fourteen in all and for the greater-part, poetry. One of which, he was reading for both the first and thousandth time at once, while he sat in that high-kneel, hard-browed and occasionally rolling the parchment to move onto the next stanza. This one, apparently, revolved around horniculture; the Flowers of Gor, by some Arian ninny who used to sing of them long before he was born. And it was soothing in a strange way. In truth, the surrounding's entirely were a comfort, though he did wonder at the reason the woman may have had behind putting him in what could have constituted an armory. Strewn about were the temwood dummies and devices with their iron bands and copper spring-span innards, pads long-dusted from disuse...As tempting as it had been to handle one of those bone-and-wire hilts, he resisted the urge, opting for something that already he could read, and already he was half-remembering to use. Though the singer, again, must have been a pervert as-well. Most of the flowers were involved with a particular slave. And the man had...quite the imagination, when it came to that. With the creak of the door, his head half-turned before his eyes left the parchment, and he stared at her calmly, if curiously, before turning his attention to the word once-more. "You're either very stupid, or very trusting, Woman, to put me in a room so hungry."
The inventory of the room did not surprise her, though it had been fourteen years since she'd set foot in it. Arculeius, had he been there, would of agreed with the man, at least on the first account. He knew better by now than to think the woman trusted anyone. He had been a witness many times to the extent of information she would collect on someone before doing business with them. It wasn't a common practice for a merchant to be so intrusive towards their clients, but not many sold the things she did. Trinkets were what most believed her to be the seller of, but those that sought more than just a splash of color to wear on a finger could get their order filled if they knew how to ask. She had done little business since arriving in Schendi, more money was poured out in fixing the house than ever came in, but there were rewards to be had in this city or nearby. Once inside the room she let her dark eyes trace the walls, not seeing that much had changed from her memories painting, but the man..... he had grown into something. Was he a monster like Arculeius believed, capable of killing and nothing more, or was there still apart of her blood in him. She looked to the parchment before meeting up with his own lifted gaze letting something sly curl over her lips. "A bit mad... but all my family is, that is how some of us stay alive even when we are stupid or trusting." She glanced again towards a tray of food that had been left for him by a slave. "You've been given plenty to nourish yourself with... but if you're hungry, perhaps I can give you something that will quench it?" She moved slowly into the room, but no closer to him. The long robes brushed against the floor and when she turned from her waist, back towards him, the tip of her toe revealed itself showing she wore no slippers, but was bare in feet. "We discuss your memory first though... tell me, has anything else come back to you or are you still seeing darkness?"
Flicking his eye aside to her at that question...well...it perused a bit afterwards, but soon came back on-high before he merely shook his head, turning his attention back down to the scroll, which he fingered back on it's roll, to pull along the scroll-board, nestling the bolt of it back in the carved niché. "I remember much, Woman. I remember the feel of cold winds and the warmth of a sleen's pelt against my cheek in the snow. I recall rocks that grew into the sky, and how atop one, you could hardly breathe by the view. Oceans, boats, caravans with pretty young girls who would run from the sight of me, men of impressive sta-..." He knit his brow somewhat. "Stat'--...stature?" He sounded it somewhat, and nodded, pushing his palms firmer to his thighs to straighten up. "And I remember fear when I dreamed. That is all."
She watched him carefully, but remained at the other end of the room along with most of his deadly wall hangings. The guards had been told to move nothing even if they thought he might be able to use it to escape. This was precisely why most men believed her to be irrational. To allow a killer to sleep two doors down from her own room was suicidal, perhaps the woman was hoping he'd come her in the night, put and end to all the memories that polluted her mind. "I see you've also improved your speaking... that almost sounded, poetic." She might of been able to guess which scroll he had been reading through when she entered the room, maybe hoping that it would ignite some spark of recollection and with it all the rest of his remembrances would flood in. Moving her hand against the wall as she slowly stepped giving him time to diguest her words. "My father used to say that fear could cripple any man, no matter how strong, if he allowed it to seep into his mind. Could that be what happened to your memory? Do you even know how long it has been lost?"
This time, he didn't even bother looking up; the words before him were more interesting, strangely. "Fear is the shun of a lover, love is the turn of a well-turned thigh; passion is the flush of a healthy cheek, and hate is another man..." He turned his eye off to her, smirking somewhat. "I have no fear, Woman. Or I would not have survived as I have." And a brow rose somewhat, as he turned to settle on a hip, wrapping his arm 'round a knee to lace his fingers, thumbs together, as if he were examining her. "You said you would tell me my name. You know me, do you not?"
The prose brought her again to him, though physically she remained as far as one could inside that room, carefully not to place herself in the grasp of a man spouting sonnets. He was no longer stumbling with his words and she had to wonder how much longer before he could tell her his name himself. Just what would Venor do when he discovered his own sister had done nothing to save him from being a slave. A slave to her no less. Again she started to move her hand along the wall tracing whatever object was close enough to reach, keeping to the outside edge of the room, though her eyes studied him just as much as he was not looking her way. She continued her words as if ignoring his. "I believe a man needs fear or he will forget his reason for living. Could that be what has happened to you, Venor, you've forgotten your life because you have no reason to keep it? No fears?"
|
|
Amanita Vernia
All Seeing Eye
Desire her, despise her... but do not love. Love only destroys.
Posts: 91
|
Post by Amanita Vernia on May 24, 2005 11:00:28 GMT -5
Tipping his chin down some as she spoke, his head perked aside, tapping his thumbs yet-again. "Breath is enough reason for living, Woman. Fear only makes one less willing to live free." And he grunted, shaking his head shortly at that as he glanced down, and loosed a hand to bat the backs of his fingers lightly against the edge of a manacle. "If 'free' is what you can call it...No, I think my lack of memory is not from a lack of fear. If I could realize the reason, it would be much easier to understand. As it stands, I could tell you I know how to use each blade along these walls. I can tell you from where I sit, that none have been used for several years, and that the person who owned them, cared for them semi-regularly. Four have seen excessive use, and while all are oiled well, the oil's turned to a tarnish and the grit along the blade-faces won't come off without a thorough heating and sa-tarna oil rub." And he looked to her. "So if I'm Venor. Why do I know you? Or, you know I."
"Perhaps you are wrong..." She no longer touched the wall or any of the object upon it and looked to him objectively. She might of been responding to his assessment of those things hung there and she let him think that for a moment, but once her feet started to bring her closer to him she opened her mouth again. "Perhaps there is something you fear, because from where I stand, you wear a slave's shackles. You are not free and I have now named you as I said I would. If we knew of each other before it is now forgotten by us both." Her words came from a tart tongue, but for all purposes there seemed to be little emotion surrounding them. The woman, as many free women must, was well versed in showing indifference. She was no longer the weakest child of three always trying to catch up to the older pair. She was the last born, and in her mind, the last living. "If you think of killing me I suggest the third sword from the left, it was my brother's favorite."
Nodding slightly, he held still a moment as he thought...and simply tipped his head, finger's giving a rise-and-fall, before he rocked over, bending to take to his feet...And stretch back his shoulders in the loose confines of those robes, turning to face he with that shortened step making it's way. "You seem to enjoy your games quite a-lot, Woman. But chained as I may be, do you believe you have me on my knees?" And he frowned somewhat as he fell into a short-foot'd sprint, moving sharply on his toes...He was trying to back her into a wall.
It was quite the deadly game of larl and urt, but in the thirty years the charmer had lived she had escaped the claws of many beasts before him and didn't plan on backing into a hole to hide. When he rushed forwards she what any human would, and lifted her hands to block him. In a room as confined as her brother's small quarters, she didn't have a chance at running, nor would she. Her bare foot came forward like she was about to try and kick him between the legs, but she merely set it back down on the chain that kept his legs from moving too far apart. "No, not your knees, but I do have you on a chain.... at least until break free. I would suggest you leave through the slave's entrance, there is no guard posted there at night." How helpful was she, giving him the opportunity to escape and the means to do so.
He came to a stop, teetering-so, on the ball of one foot as the other held itself aloft by the tight pull of it's manacle, leaving him with a choice...Fall over, or not. Apparently, someone had been smart-enough to set the chain-length about the entirety of the room with a cross-bracing bar to catch on a ring...when someone wasn't standing on it, anyway...But, glowering...he rocked back from his near-fall, yanking his foot so-viciously, the chain jumped from 'neath her foot to slide towards the wall behind her, leaving him room-enough anyway to take more-careful paces towards her...Just till she could get within a fingers reach. "You call me slave, and put me in your own siblings chambers. You say I am property, yet tell me how to leave. You come here alone, and when I run at you, rather than scream, you only hinder me enough to speak..." And he dropped his chin....He could try the reach now...yet...he tried for those last few, closing steps, glowering at her. "If I thought you knew nothing more, Woman, I'd open you now."
He could have easily killed her, this she knew. Even with the shackles attached to said chain, with restraints and no weapon other than his hands, he could of opened her and watched her bleed. "I know," she said with a voice of certainty. "but you won't.... just like you won't leave this house until you know what was calling to you... even if you must die here." She watched his expression knowing she was about to see the darker side of him, knowing that once his hands decided struck she wouldn't be fast enough to get out of his grasps, but she did not move. Amanita was not the kind of woman who would cower with fear when she was faced with an animal stronger, she was not so stupid as to think she could out weigh him or his strength either. Already feeling that tug against the chain at her foot she knew that he had enough force to knock the wind out of her. "I will not scream for my guards no matter what you do.... they did not come to this house to die." But I did... she did not say so, but that was the sentiment, that was what appeared in her dark eyes as she stared at her lost brother.
That last step, in his wait to see if she'd move...ended him close enough as to almost breathe into eachother, toes just shy of one-another as he stared down at her with that unforgiving rock in his eyes, the cerulean blue depths drinking her in as his lips compressed in a tight line...Glancing down her, he sneered, turning his head a hair aside before her lurched over, taking his time in that rock on the balls of his feet to settle his nose down by her jaw, a hand slipping between them to take-hold of that wrapping belt of her robes, as he sniffed her...She wasn't sweating enough for anything to really come of it, but she did have a scent about her, likely faked, that was intruiging."You assume much, Woman, in thinking that I wou ld die to figure out the mundane urges a man has. It is...interesting, that I came to be in the House of someone who apparently knows me..." And his fisted bit of her belt, twisted, cinching that cloth about the span of his knuckles, compressing about her hips as he yanked her in tighter, and...simply held to, as he let ease another low-stomached growl through his teeth. "But...you don't fear me, either. You instead tempt me, through ignorance or intent, I almost do not know...Do you think your title will keep you from a man's advances, your own rape, Woman? Or is that your unsaid reason for keeping me here, or being here without your shadow..." And he lifted up on that grip, working his wrist tighter 'round as he leant back his head, to eye her curiously, the flex of that arm bringing her heels off the stone while his own touched down yet again, steadying him.
Was it a familiar scent, that air about her that charmed as it did, her distinct scent that had been planted on so many things including that lost memory of his. She was not unfamiliar with a man coming in so closely, perhaps it wasn't prudent to act so boldly as a free woman, but women were often one thing in public and another in chambers. Though the merchant had grown comfortable having a man so close to her even outside her own bedroom over the years with a blind slave tracking her by scent. Maybe Arculeius was right that she was trying to find someone to fill that void, perhaps even more true Naga had come to fill the void of another and now he stood before her again, by her word, as a slave. Whatever it was, she was clearly wicked for allowing it to proceed so far, immoral for allowing him to get so close to her that he could latch onto the belt at her waist and pull her further into him. "I don't assume.... slave... I know as a fact that the guards will come for you in the morning no matter what you do here and now, I know what has been decided and I am defenseless to stop it." Now that, that was a lie... Amanita was never defenseless, even without the shadow behind her she had her own ways of stopping a man from doing something she would not allow them. She did peddle poison afterall. And he didn't know this. Her brother would have known exactly what points to avoid, she had no veils on or be pinned, but that was typical for her. She didn't push away when he pulled her closer, up on her tip toes and against him, she may not of shown fear, but he could now feel her heart thumping in her chest. It was not as calm as she. "Do you think I would tell if I came here to be raped? It would not be so if that was my intent, but you are searching for answers to things I have no reason to reveal to you. If I wanted you to know, I would of simply told you."
|
|
Amanita Vernia
All Seeing Eye
Desire her, despise her... but do not love. Love only destroys.
Posts: 91
|
Post by Amanita Vernia on May 24, 2005 11:01:47 GMT -5
She still smelled familiar, with that faint tang that made him salivate...but willpower alone wasn't necessary as she began to paint a painfully pretty picture for him in that listening ear, of the hirelings and their own little plans. Pursing his lips faintly, he turned that eye in a roll up to her, taking a moment to contemplate it all...digest it. On the one hand, he could run. Something her was good at, but at the cost of...those brows knit down somewhat as he hefted her entirely off her toes then, eyeing her slight carriage with a deep-cut frown. "Just what precisely is it you're offering me, anyway? You've given me free reign to leave...But you would've simply cast me out if that was your intention." He tipped back his head, glowering at her. "And as you say, they will come, like it or not, in the morning. So even now, I could couch you and begone before the dawns. What's your...motive."
Had that scent purged anything from his memory? Could he of known how close they had been or was there too much distance between? She didn't act like a frightened woman even when he lifted her off the ground. Her chin did tilt down and she felt the top row of her teeth with her tongue. It did seem the Ost Charmer had a few tricks up her sleeve, perhaps she wasn't such a defenseless urt in the larl's claws, perhaps she was the ost just waiting to get close enough to him to execute her attack. Her dark eyes veered upward as he questioned her motives, but it was a smile curling at the outer edges of her lips that came and set for a time before she would say a word. "Venor...." It was faint, sounded out slowly with it's two syllables, calling his memory to come forward. "I couldn't cast you out.... you would only return at the expense of more lives." There were other reasons of course, but Amanita did not need to explain those to him. "As for me... or what you intend to do. If you were such a brute you would have done it by now instead of asking questions. Your only motive is to use it as a threat.... because you think a lady should be frightened by the prospect of a man raping her... but I assure you, slave, your mind is the only thing we shall rape tonight. And that is my motive... for keeping you alive."
Flinching shortly...he just set her down with a drop of his arm, shoving her away lightly while he turned to kick out a foot, and send that length of chain whipping ahead of him as he strode for the half-read parchment of poems yet-again. "More damned questions...Predictable, woman. but go ahead; ask what you like." And with a turn, sharp on the ball of his foot, he plucked at the skirting of those robes as he lowered down, rocking his knees into the stone before he settled back on his heels, frowning down on the words for the meantime as he bent forward on the perch of his palms against his thighs. "But then you leave....I don't take well to tauntings. Or being called less than a brute."
His fit reminded her so much of a brother, though it had once been him taunting her.. the youngling of the three. Little Ama always trying to catch up with the older pair. Even with his strength able to crush her, she knew it took more restraint for him to shove her lightly. If he really knew who she was he might of struck her harder, might of even killed her for this game that was anything but childish -- vindictive, malicious and cruel better describe what she was doing to him. Stepping back to make sure she had her footing after he released and pushed her away, stomping off like a four year old not getting his way, she laughed.. no, cackled, at him. She was still trying to control that intentional outburst of sound when his second retort came sounding much like an order. "You may ask my permission to leave, but I do not need or take orders." She still had an amused look on her face, nearly a smile, as a hand moved down to those rope belts securing her robes, adjusting them before she stepped on what had to be the perimeter of his chain's reach. Her side to him, but her head turned so she could watch his behaviors. She might of been predictable in asking more questions, but they weren't the same as before.... that motive had evaporated when she realized who he was. Why he had come to Silenti was less a mystery to her now and it seemed much less likely the worked for Krakatoa.... that was now a worry left for another time. Still... she would pick at his brain with other questions. "Which is more irritating... that I call you a slave, or that I am intent on forcing you to remember on your own when you know I have answers that could help you."
"What truly gets my ire is that you have secrets concerning me. I could care less what you call me; call an Urt a Kaiila all you like, you'll never be able to ride it." And he turned his eye aside to her, twisting those lips into a tight smirk before that gaze returned to the scroll, reaching idly to finger the length down, and brush the tips back along the receiving-bar, rolling it away. "And now one for me. What were we, before? That has me very curious at the moment."
Again that laughter fell off dry lips. There was something intoxicating about taunting him the way she was, it brought emotions to the front that had gone stale, it made her pulse quicken and even color come to her cheeks. She was alive. It had been months of brooding, of nightmares from this house, of plans that did not seem to be working as she hoped. Life had become a disappointment after she survived the Tahari. The man with two names had been her greatest nemesis and with his swallowed death all the gloryious feelings had left her empty. Amanita thrived on danger... and calling one's brother a slave then poking at his memory in hopes that he would realize what she had done.. it was either stupid or brilliant. Bare feet paused briefly as she turned back his way, the invisible tightrope she was balanced upon swayed, but she remained still. "I've no intention or time to break you, slave, nor do I call you any other animal than what you are. You may be free again soon, but you will always know what you were even if you did not submit willingly." Those dark eyes turned to the wall letting his last question echo inside her ear as she decided which title to give him, if she would even give him one. She didn't bother facing him again. "We were many things... once... even lovers."
Throwing up a brow archly, he returned that eye in an idle examination of the woman's back, pursing his lips thoughtfully as he digested that fact too...With the tally mounting, he was beginning to really get confused about it all. Still...He turned his eye back to the scrolls, once-again. "Then that would explain why I enjoy your scent so much. Though, I must have been quite the unsavory sort, to warrant such treatments as thus..." Knitting his brow down, he rocked back slightly, looking towards her...but not at her..."Is that your reason to call me Slave? Why you aren't afraid of me?" It was enjoyable watching him sort out what small clues she allowed him, it was also cruel of her to forget that other title he held which made the fact that they were once lover all the more painful. She turned her head back his way sending the twine of braids along her back into a sway. A proper woman would not admit to having lovers, would not of been in a man's room alone and would ever be so bold as to taunt a murderer the way she had. "I treat you no worse than you would of done to me if I was the slave... perhaps I am even better to you simply because I am a woman and we are such fragile creatures." There was a mocking tone to her voice, maybe giving him some insight as to why she acted as she did... rebellion against society, was it? Or just him. "Why do you want me to be afraid of you, Venor.... do you think that will stop me from calling you slave?" She didn't answer his, but asked her own, it was her turn.
Rocking his jaw aside, he tapped a thumb against the rough material of those robes on his thigh...It really was the most inexpensive stuff really, even if moderately-well cut. Perhaps he'd go digging through trunks later, if this was in-fact his chambers. "A man, likes to be feared, because fear is a form of control. As much as your Mercenaries hate me, they fear me as well. If I were unbound, I would worry very little of their coming in the dawns. As such? I convey little fear...Which makes me vulnerable to them. Towards you, I am vulnerable, because you do not fear me outwardly. You still fear, I think, something about me...But not that I'll kill you. And not that I'll rape you." He turned his head aside towards her. "Perhaps that last is only absolved because we were lovers. Or you simply care very little about the abuses that you could suffer. But you fear something about me, that is nothing physical whatsoever, or you would not have called me what you have. If I'd left, you would have put out a bounty on me as a slave, I think." Those brows rose somewhat. "I want you to fear me, so I can control the situation, woman. But your fear is that I will leave again, isn't it?"
|
|
Amanita Vernia
All Seeing Eye
Desire her, despise her... but do not love. Love only destroys.
Posts: 91
|
Post by Amanita Vernia on May 26, 2005 10:04:31 GMT -5
That was it, wasn't it.... fear. That was what he could smell from memory, that she feared being left behind. Little Ama always being left by the older pair, running to catch up, never quite able to. She used her own arm to hug her waist as she listened to him, as he dug through his analytical mind and sorted this mystery... but it wasn't memory that came to him, he was still working on instinct, maybe even his own desire. He needed her to fear him so he could undo the chains she placed him in. He needed her to admit the truth, admit that she feared his going, but at the same time she had allowed him to leave if he asked. "Your mind is still much attune... it is just too bad your memory hasn't caught up with it yet. As for my fears... you cannot do anything do anything that has not already been done to me, except kill me and I find it a waste of time to fear such. Maybe I have the disillusion that I am indestructible.... isn't that something else we share? Maybe it is in our blood.. keeps us from fearing one another." She started to move towards him leaving that invisible barrier that he could not cross with the chains attached, she moved until she was standing right in front of him and looking down. "If you think I have put you in a chains to keep you from leaving... you are wrong. That chain is the only thing that has kept you alive."
Peering up at her rather calmly from that kneel on the floor, he grunted to himself. "And how do you come to that conclusion, woman? This chain holds me down to one room, armed though it may be. What if your men come, now? What if your gold is not control enough for them to hold their hand till morning. Even their worst with a crossbow and patience can kill me here." And he smiled a tad, eyeing her. "Or do you mean to say, you and your lone Guard do not trust me enough to keep waiting for their move...Or that I won't slip into your chambers to watch you sleep." That smile curved into something a little more playful then. "I suppose you could always just, take to the couch and leave me the floor, if you think your men would not dare come for fear of your retribution."
At standing level he was only a few inches taller than her which made looking down at him feel so unfamiliar. She had spent her life looking up to this man who was knelt before her. The dynamics of their relationship was enough to confuse any soul, and especially a lost one like his. She had given him one term to define it, the other he would have to come up with on his own... her hints, the room itself, should of helped, but she would not feed him by hand. Her intention wasn't to make him a love slave for her chambers. She reached into her robes where a hidden pocket was sewn into the seem and fished out an object to dangle before his eyes. It was a key that matched the locks on his shackles. "If you ask, I will unlock you... but it would not be so you can enter my chambers." She let the tip of the keep touch his cheek and scrape against the grain of his recently shaven face. "You have been told the way out if you wish it. Just keep in mind what I have warned... that I might just be sending you into a trap. If you remembered me at all, you would know I love play mind games."
Reaching up idly he stopped his hand just shy...And sighed, dropping his hand back to his knee as he rocked to a hip, and brought his legs around before him, leaning back onto his elbows with a wave of the hands to the shackles. "I don't have to remember that, when you show it so obviously in the here-and-now. The warning is taken, woman; but I'm not planning to leave anytime soon." And he nodded her way. "Since you seem to know me, you can tell me about myself...odd as that may sound. Besides which, I still happen to enjoy your smell. I'm quite intrigued by it, and by what other smells I may be able to get off you...As for your chambers, I have warned you as well."
It was also obviously shown how much she enjoyed manipulating him, that intense look in her eyes when he reached up to take the key, but fell just shy of taking it when the warning sank in. Out of the chains it would be an honor to kill him, but trapped inside of them and any man in the house would feel her wrath for killing the slave. It was known by most how attached she was to the blind kajirus. Arculeius felt his own place as confidant being threatened by the boy and another taken in by her meant the same. But there was a great difference between a bred slave and one taken captive. Venor wanted his freedom, but he did not want to leave, it was probably a foolish choice. "You are right.... I could tell you many things, but what would be the point. I prefer you this way, it allows me to control you and it keeps you from using the past to try and overturn my power. Surely you can see why I hold the key and you are the slave." She was still holding it, daring him one last time to take it before it would vanish back into that hidden slit.
He narrowed his eyes at her with that chill leaving that hard smile, showing only the mask of it's mockery as the chill moved higher, into those cold blue eyes. "I, am simply not ready to leave yet is all. When I have gotten what I wish, you can be quite sure I will leave..." He he glanced down, shrugging as he shifted a knee around beneath himself, to push up with a palm against the floor. "And you are quite right in one thing...You do have the key. And you have what it is I want in your skull..." and almost casually, those hands darted off the floor, and forward to grip her skirts alongside either foot, and yank as he rocked back, pushing to those chained feet to snap taut that fabric behind her ankles, felling her as he lunged in, following her down in that fall with those hands moving, those cold eyes bits of sapphire as he reached for her throat...
She scoffed, not because she didn't believe he would leave when he wanted, but over the amount of arrogance he held. She had the upper hand, mentally, and he didn't react well to that knowledge. With all his strength he could not take from her what he wanted. He could not force her to fear him... not as a slave. She was still looking down at him when she both saw and felt his hands moving, so quickly she couldn't back away fast enough to escape them and then so strong that she was forced to bend at the knees and fall down herself. Not to a knee, but backwards. Her hands could either go forward to push him away, or back to help take away some of the impact from her fall. They went back. Giving him the clear reach to take her throat. That grab is what saved her head from banging against the floor, but with his added weight on top of her she groaned in pain. There were no screams for the guards, but she didn't lay still under him. Once she recovered from the pain in her back she started pushing at him, pulling at his arms as she struggled.
There was something about using a blade all your life, that made it abundantly clear; your hands, grew strong. From the firm of the grip, the reactionary tingles to the bouncing clangs of recoils, or just the sheer weight of steel; your hands grew strong. And his was no exception as they held her throat, the thumbs lined up along either side of her windpipe as the tips dug on either side of her spine, that calm face hovering over hers as he pushed the thumbs in and down to cut off that air. "Listen to--...Listen to me!" He convulsively squeezed tighter, cutting off what little wheeze of air he allowed, those shooting pains over the nerve-bundles more than adequate to grab her attention as he glared down on her...And it kept till she stopped. And till he could growl at her his piece. "You know me...You know me very well, woman. You should know, I am very good at killing things, if your hirelings wasn't example enough. I want it very clear between us that, as much as I want to know what you do, I will kill you if you keep this taunting charade...I may regret it. I may occasionally wonder how you'd feel under me, or the smell of you in my nostrils...But I'd still sleep at night. So, to keep me from breaking your neck today, you will unbind me, and put a watch on my person instead. And from here forth, you will tell me one thing I would wish to know...One. No more, no less. You'll have my attention, and your power. I'll get what I want, and I'll stay to hear it. Call me what title you will, I allowed. Treat me like some silk-boy, and I'll break you in half. Am I understood, woman?" He eased his thumbs slightly, slowly..."Whisper. Or you'll hurt your throat."
|
|
Amanita Vernia
All Seeing Eye
Desire her, despise her... but do not love. Love only destroys.
Posts: 91
|
Post by Amanita Vernia on May 26, 2005 10:05:56 GMT -5
Listening... she had no choice but to hear him as the air was cut off from her by his hands. She felt the weight of him over her, the power in his hands and her own life in danger of being taken. Her heart was beating so hard it felt as if it might burst. Her own hands had put up a fight to push him away, but in a battle of strength a man always won, especially when it was upper body strength. Venor was a well conditioned man and Amanita only a merchant, she was no match for a larl. The pressure of her own arms lightened as he yelled at her, demanding her attention. She focused on his face, eyes wider and the swells of tears starting to build up. Could he now see fear in those dark gems.. was it still fear that he might leave? That he would kill her? Her chest started to heave as it fought to take in air that wasn't coming, the he had stopped. Her body trembled and the tears started to fall from the corner of eyes, not crying or pleading, it was an uncontrolled act. She felt something inside her dropping, in the pit of her stomach, it might of been fear or just the burning of something deeper, but she was too stubborn to admit she felt anything. Her own rage was even silent, but that was often what kept her from revealing too much of herself. When his thumbs let up she closed her eyes during a deep inhale, coughing and feeling it's burn inside her throat, when her eyes came back to him she shook her head and whispered as she was told... "no... do what you must... but I will not take demands for you."
There was a long, drawn out silence...for what seemed interminable, to him...Before he growled low in his throat and rocked back, simply bringing back a hand to smack her flushly across the cheek, with no little bit of force. "You hard-nosed bitch!" And he glowered, simply grabbing at her skirts, to give them a tearing yank till that pocket'd seam was found, and the key filched out, shoving himself off of her legs to step aside, and lean over, fitting the key to the lock as he muttered and rambled..."Couldn't take anything halfway...had to play your little games, woman...'" And with a twist of the lock, he brought one leg free, then the other, gathering them up to toss the whole bundle aside her with a sharp clang of iron on stone. "I'm no bloody game!"
She wasn't afraid of dying... had he not already told her this himself? All that fear he was used to using over another human was wasted in his action as well as his threat. She could see the anger building in his eyes, the growl, and then the force of it as he smacked her. It was hard enough to cause her teeth to cut the inside of her mouth and draw blood. She would be bruised by morning if she ever saw it, but she didn't lay unconscious or still. She struggled to pull herself away as he yanked on her layers of robes, the heavy cloth concealing the pocket to those who had no idea it existed, but he had seen her hand go in and eventually his own found the spot. His delay had given her at least one chance to scratch at his face, hooking nails into the flesh and getting her own bloody revenge for the slap her head was now reaming from. By the time he finished unshackling himself she was no longer on the floor laying like a broken doll, she had found her feet, but the barrier that the chain had kept him from crossing no longer mattered, he could reach her anywhere in the room. She could of made a run for the door, screamed for the guards and hoped they could arrive in time to pull him off her, but she knew he already had the chance to kill her and let it slip away. Another hidden pocket was reached into what shreds of robes remained and a small dagger was held. It would only leave a scratch on a man, but that's all she needed to kill him. "Ask your question, Venor... ask and once you have been given the answer ... leave."
He barely paid attention to the three welting lines and their trickling mini-tears along his cheek; he was too...angry at the woman to really bother with the minor pains she inflicted. Rather, he cut her a half-glare as she made that demand on him, holding that pretty little pricker tight in her fist. "One question, hm? Just the one, and then I go?" He snorted, turning away from her to walk for the door...and turn on his heel sharply, stepping after her... and one he was just within her striking range, he turned yet-again, falling into a leggy pacing step as he frowned down in thought, brows tight with it all as he fisted his hands behind him...One question...There were innumerable questions! What one was foremost? Which one would...hm...He paused by the door, half-turning this time as he peered to her...And straightening up, he eyed her, frowning somewhat further. "If you want me to stay, which I believe you do, what would you have of me?"
Her own cheeks were dry again, with only faint streaks of salt from those choked tears he forced out of her. Her expression appeared calm even though she delivered what could of been the last straw to break the kailla's back. She was pushing it. Giving him a single question and expecting it to be one that would solve the mystery of who he was. She watched him nearly walk out the door without asking anything, dagger still clutched in her hand and her fame held in a defensive pose. If he did not remember her, then he wouldn't realize that the blade was tainted... He changed directions coming to her again, striking range for his hand to hit her across the cheek again or for her blade swipe at him, but neither took blows. Distance placed back as he threatened to go again, restraining himself from the woman that clearly brought out a fire in him. Anger as well as passion. She had not forgotten what the two looked like in his eyes. His question came and her eyes dropped for the first time having to search for that answer herself. It didn't come easily to her.. not like the others. His name, who he was, why he left... she could answer those and hardly take a breath, but this one, it caught her by surprise. Dark eyes lifted towards the door he was near, to him. "I'm not certain I have that answer... anything from the past I can tell you, but the future... that's unseen. I do know the only way I would have you now is in those chains, where I have control over you... outside of them you are too much of a danger."
He stepped at her, baring his teeth in a glower. "I'm more of a danger in them, Woman. A cornered animal strikes the deadliest, if you didn't know..." And he threw up a hand, turning from her yet again as he reached up, pushing back his hair. "How in the blazes did we end up lovers, eh? How the blazes did we end up like this anyway? You're insisting, insisting!,"he yelled, turning, to point viciously at those chains. "That I hobble myself for what reason. Personal confidence? Trust? What?" And he frowned, lacing his hands over his nape as a bare foot fell into a tap, watching her.
It was almost like a dance, his back and forth, she almost thought he would be leaving as he turned once again for the door throwing his hands up. There was so much tension in the room and all over chains that she had offered him key to, he declined, only to take it from her by force. Her jaw still ached and her heart was still pounding in her chest, but even backed into her own corner and feeling defensive she did something that did not make sense. She put the dagger away and narrowed the distance between them. She had given him one question to ask and now he was throwing more and more at her. "We've always fought one another, we are too much alike in that aspect, both wanting our way.... We should of never been lovers, it was wrong, you are better off not remembering." Her voice was soft now, in a taming way, as she approached him. "Trust... show that you trust me and I will stop making a game of this. I came into this room to kill you, Venor, because that is what I've been told must be done.... but I couldn't, nor could you."
With that admission, he paused, staring hard at her. And then his eye drifted to the newly sheathed dagger with a slight frown, before turning half-away, leaving his arms behind his back as his chin touched to his chest in thought. It was left to be as-such, for quite some moments before his head rocked back on the hinge of his neck, and he stared, long and hard at the ceiling while he pieced that particular puzzle out. "You, came in here to kill me, you say. We should not have been lovers, you say. Conveniences abound, when you have only one side of a half-told story to go by, Woman." Shaking his head slowly, he looked down to her afterward, frowning slightly. "What do you suggest, then?" He nodded past her to the mass of iron. "Play as if I belong in those bonds? It's obvious you cared for me once upon a time, woman, but you ask much."
|
|
Amanita Vernia
All Seeing Eye
Desire her, despise her... but do not love. Love only destroys.
Posts: 91
|
Post by Amanita Vernia on Jun 2, 2005 19:11:49 GMT -5
The open admission to her reason for coming to him was even a surprise to her. Amanita was not the sort to give away her game plan, especially when she considered the other to be of danger to her. She watched him react to this news and nearly expected him to laugh at the notion... but he did not. Perhaps he understood what a woman scorned was capable of more than she gave him credit for. Perhaps Venor had grown, though he had also forgotten much. "It is not my fault there is only one side... but I trust you would agree with me on the matter if you knew yourself." She no longer had the dagger pointed on him, no longer felt the need to defend herself, though she could not be sure if he would take this new information and turn it against her. "You are a threat, with or without the bonds... and I am not foolish enough to think you will remain in them once you have remembered what you need, but those are my conditions on you staying here. I did know you once, but caring for you will not make me change my mind. I have told you how to leave if it is asking too much."
The muscleture along his jaw simply writhed with the anger that welled up with that...One way, or no way. Taking a slow, steadying breath....he simply nodded, looking to her under the fell of dark brows. "And you will treat me as a slave. And keep me as a slave. And make me walk and talk and dance and everything else. And at your own leisure, will tell me what I wish to know. For how long?" He stepped off from her, to the rows upon the walls of steel and oiled temwood, to pull down a plain scimitar, turning to shake the implement in the air uselessly. "How long do you keep me from these? Will you hold me by the same ethics of the Slavehood? If I should warrant it, I'm free to be killed without prejudice?" Shaking his head sagely, he set the blade-face along the back of his skull, holding it's blunt with his fingers. "I...need something. Anything to make me feel comfortable about this, woman."
While he stewed with anger, she showed an indifference... but either choice he made it would allow the control she needed. There was no third option for him to pick, only the two... stay as a slave, or go free and forgotten. There was a part of her that took great pleasure in this leverage she had over him, this manipulation she was a mistress of and while he was no snake to be tamed, she appreciate having someone as deadly as he under her spell. "There is no comfort to give you, Venor. Yes... you will be a slave and no I will not give you a guarantee that your freedom will be given back to you before your death." It was at this point she moved closer to him, in all his shuffling back and forth between her and the door, now had not space between. She looked into his blue eyes with her own dark shade and sought some kind of understanding. "When I can trust you, I will allow you another choice, until then I require an act on your part... your submission."
He cut her a glare...He cut her a glare that said in no unclear terms, that if he could have, even had the spine for it, he'd have struck her...But, instead, he sucked down a breath and turned, lowering that blade from the lever of his shoulder for a turn of his wrist, and a light tap of her shoulder with the bladeface. "I'll swear by my blade here and now, Woman. If you try cowing me, I will hit you. And it will hurt." And he frowned, glancing to the blade with a pang of...mourning, as he lifted it a bit, and rolled it aside to lay across his hand, turning to step to the wall, and carefully hang it back on the twin-pegs. "I'll regret this sooner than later, so get the ko'lar and put it on me before I lose my nerve and decide you aren't worth staying for."
His glare may of cut, but the blade he held did not threaten her. If he could of killed her he would have already done so. She still had marks on her throat from where his hands had been, but standing there listening to him make threats of what he would do... hit her... hurt her.. she did not show any emotion to either comment. He moved to put the blade back only to come back at her with an order. She continued to stand as she was and stare back at him. One long breath leaving her body as her head shook. "Let that be the last time you make threats to harm me and perhaps you will earn a collar. Either way I expect you to act like the slave you are or you'll find yourself in the same place you were taken when you arrived here." She tightened the space between then still having to look up at him. "Now, lower to your knees or leave, I will have no more swaying back and forth from you."
Could a man crack a tooth by gritting his teeth that way? He had...Tch, shutting his eyes, he shook his head sharply at it all, simply lowering down to first one knee, before both, and settled back down on his heels with a tight-lipped silence as he stared augers into her kneecaps...For now, he'd be silent. Because Kings save the woman if he had the itch to even speak a word.
Had he an itch, it would be scratched.... but not by a kind hand from the woman. She wore on her finger a ring made to cure itches along with any other tick he might develope if he so much as stood against her with a blade or any other weapon again. "Good," she said as he came to both knees before her. A finger reached out to touch under his chin and make sure she had his eyes and attention. "....behave and I will reward you with answers, perhaps even enough that you can solve this puzzle your mind has created. Do not and it will be my pleasure to deny you as I see fit." Her hand moved again to clasp with it's twin, her lips rubbing together a moment in pause before she established the other rules. "We are renovating the house, so there is plenty of work to be done by a slave... I expect you not to cause any trouble and prove that I have not made a mistake by letting you live. Every man in this house will be watching you and waiting for you to make a mistake. For now... I will allow you one question per night as long as you have done as expected. We will start tomorrow.... Do you understand, slave?
"Yes. I understand," he ground out between his teeth as he dropped his eyes to her stomach, fingers curling into fists at his thighs. Think of it as a hunt, Venor.
"I understand, Mistress...." she corrected him. "If any are to believe you are my slave you will need to get used to adding that title. I am not looking for a male serving slave either, so you won't have to worry about dressing clad or learning positions. You will kneel among the free and you may rape whichever sluts you can pin down, but touch me and I will scar you." Her voice did not raise and there seemed to be an overriding calm to her now with him knelt before her. It did not make a difference to her if the man wore steel around his throat or not, those inside the house would be made aware of his position and out of respect not kill or maim her beast unless it was absolutely necessary. He would be given the clothes common to most worker slaves and be able to blend in with a peasant or most men of low caste outside the house, but inside there would be no question to his status. He was a slave.
FIN!
|
|