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8:24pm Jul 29 2012
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Normal User
Posts: 3,828
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She wore bloodstained peasant's robes. Strapped leather boots touched silently down on the bleeding granite. The stream of red trickled down the stairs and Lyle's gaze traced the dark liquid. Hands that had once been tense again the golden arms of the queen's throne were now lax, though the fingers were still white as the body's lifeblood drained away. It touched Lyle's strapped leather boots, flowed past her feet and continued its way down the marble steps up to the throne. A stiff hand, no hide nor hair of a single tremble of fright, reached out to touch the body's arm. It was cold. As cold as the marble beneath her feet, colder even because the blood was warming the ground beneath her.
"On eagle's wings, may you find eternal life." The words fell from her lips, a hushed murmur the echoed in the cavernous room from which she stood in. Pointer and middle fingers touched the body's eye lids. Those milky gray eyes were glazed over, the remnants of pain not yet faded away. When she withdrew her hand, the body appeared to be sleeping. Crooked nose pointed upward toward the ceiling, a feral grimace, the bubble of saliva in the corner of a mouth, all of it gave way that this person was gone. He was gone.
It had to have been done. The queen's brother was not fit for the throne.
Shouts behind her. Lyle's first instinct was to whirl around and face the approaching footsteps but she resisted at the last moment, right before her chin touched her shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye, she had managed to spot a good dozen or so of guards coming at her, their spears' deadly points thrust toward her. Swords had been drawn and words had assaulted her.
"Stay where you are!" "--Halt!" "--Stay I say. Stay!" "Get her! She's escaping!"
She tripped on her way down the marble steps; her boots were slick against the ground with fresh blood. A curse tumbled from her mouth but she sprang back up again using her momentum and put her head down. Her arms pumped at her sides, her ragged breath tore from her mouth. She twisted through the queen's castle, already having mapped out her escape route countless times before. She had already tethered a rope outside the window to the prince's quarters. Said prince was away on the queen's business and wouldn't return until that night. By then, Lyle would be long gone.
She grimaced but shoved her emotions aside. All the needed to rely on now was her adrenaline and her wit. There was no time for petty and distracting thoughts. Her hand slapped against a slab of stone as she threw open an oak door. She had to ram her shoulder into the wood to get it to open, it was so thick and heavy. It swung closed on its own and Lyle took the spiral stairs three at a time. The muscles in her legs ached, sweat ran down the back of her neck, and her robes fluttered around her knees. She tripped once more and cracked her knee hard on the stone staircase. Biting down hard into the flesh of her arm to silence her yelp, Lyle slowly rose again and limped the rest of the way up the stairs.
She pushed open the wooden door above her and climbed up into the room above. Searching for anything that would be of use, anything at all, Lyle's eyes rested on a dresser drawer at the opposite side of the room. The girl grunted as she shouldered the wood, knuckled turning white as she pushed it over the floor door. When she was sure she had blocked off the guards, Lyle made her way over to the window. Starlight touched only her cheek as she stole a glance down at the ground. A horse waited for her below.
No guards were in sight. Without hesitancy, Lyle swung one leg over the edge of the window and grasped her rope. She tested it once, found it to be secure, and started her descent. The blood had dried and caked to her boots, so her walk down wasn't as hard as she thought it would be. Still, exertion had turned her face red. Her brown, almost red hair was plastered to her forehead and against her neck. Heavy pants had made her throat raw and her legs were trembling.
Lyle released her rope when she touched the earth once again. Her horse snorted and backed up from her appearance, but she approached quickly and touched his slender snout and whispered sweet words into his ear. Once the stallion had calmed, Lyle grabbed his mane and hoisted herself up into his saddle. With two clicks of her tongue and a swift jab into the horse's side, the stallion set off at a canter, and then a gallop out through the courtyard of the queen's castle. The guards were still scrambling around inside though Lyle knew any moment that they would come looking for her.
If she could make it out past the gates, she would be home free.
Too bad her heart refused to let her go just yet. There was one more place Lyle needed to go before leaving, before running away from her necessary, horrendous act. Before the life she led in this town ended and she became the most wanted person in the queen's kingdom.
Home.
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Should I continue? c:
hello my name is elder price
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8:31pm Jul 29 2012
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Normal User
Posts: 5,310
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Nothing can stop the US Air Force except lightning within five nautical miles.
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12:41pm Jul 30 2012
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Normal User
Posts: 3,828
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A mess of curly black hair sifted through Lyle's fingertips. She knelt down beside her brother's bedside and let herself drink in her last few moments with him. His cheeks were round with baby fat, but it seemed his features were hardening every day. His round-tipped nose twitched once and he let out a soft sigh. Lyle smiled but the emotion failed to reach her eyes. She leaned forward and brushed her lips against his forehead.
His arms were wrapped around his younger sister. Lyle touched her other sibling's cheek and took in a sharp breath. Eyes fluttering open, Lilly started to wriggle in her brother's arms. Lyle caught her sister's chin and forced Lilly's blue eyes onto her own. "Shh," she said and placed a finger to Lilly's lips. Lilly blinked once and looked at her big sister's clothes. The dark stain against the white robes made her scared; she had no reason to believe it were blood though.
"You'll come back, sissy?" she said, her big blue eyes going round.
"Yes," Lyle lied. "I'll be back before you know it. Get some sleep, Lilly-lou."
The seven year old blinked sleepy eyes again, her exhaustion coming back to her after hearing her sister's soothing words. She drifted off to sleep and Lyle took a step back from the bedside. She licked her fingers and put out the candle light on their rickety nightstand. "Take care of her, Taron. She's all you got now," Lyle said to her sleeping brother.
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Every clop of Axhes' hooves against the ground marked another step away from the life Lyle once had. It was strange, she thought, how it is not only death that can kill someone. Tears had dried on her cheeks and she felt herself flushed and tired. Getting out of the castle town had been a challenge, what with guards stationed at every exit. Except for one.
The river Styx, named after the river in the underworld, was supposedly cursed. Dead bodies had been fished out of the river more than a handful of times and most villagers thought it because of the said curse. Lyle knew better, for she'd witnessed the monster that had wielded such a horror as killing innocents. That man was dead and gone now and no matter the price Lyle had paid, she knew it was the right one.
The water seemed almost red as Axhes splashed through it. The clay sediment at the bottom was the cause of it, seeing as the mineral clung to the hair on Axhes' lower knee. She kept him at a trot beside the river for a while before a well-worn road veered off onto dry land to their ride. She tugged on the reins and urged him that way, dismounting only to retrieve the pack she'd shoved underneath the rotting roots of a tree.
While on the horse, Lyle pulled a black cloak over herself. It did a fair job of covering up the bloodstained robes, which would save her time. She didn't want to have to stop to change just yet. Only when she felt the distance between her and the castle was relatively okay did she promise herself she would stop.
Ten or so miles out and Axhes' breaths were getting too labored for her liking. Lyle took him off to the side of the road and dismounted. She didn't remove the saddle, only loosened it so he could breath a bit better. His hair was wet with sweat but other than that, he seemed alright. "I should have let you drink by the river," Lyle said as she patted his large cheek. He snorted and jerked his head back but Lyle caught his reins and stopped him from backpedaling.
His ears were backward, a sheer sign of irritation. "Lazy ass," Lyle muttered and released his reins. Axhes chewed on his bit while Lyle dug through her back. She pulled out a gray tunic and trousers. Pulling her robes off by the collar, she dumped those on the ground and threw on her fresh clothes. Next, after folding up the robes, she withdrew a pair of shears. She grasped her long, scraggly hair into a pony tail and sliced through the locks in one chop. Her poorly cut hair fell against her neck, an inch or so above her shoulders.
She dug a hole and placed her hair in the earth. It felt like burying a body.
hello my name is elder price
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5:07pm Sep 16 2012 (last edited on 5:07pm Sep 16 2012)
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Normal User
Posts: 3,828
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Sounds of raucous laughter jarred Lyle awake. Axhes snorted as she jerked upright from her slumped position and tightened the reigns. The horse danced over to the right and swung his large head when Lyle made the mistake of loosening up on the reigns a bit too much. His hooves smacked down against the grass when Lyle finally got him under control but by that time the laughter had stopped. Lyle swallowed and held her breath.
Axhes' nostrils flared and he glanced over to his right when a twig snapped. Lyle twisted on the saddle, eyes widening when she spotted the three riders atop their respectable horses. One raised a hand and jeered at her. Lyle's heels kicked into Axhes' side and the horse took off underneath her. Calves tightening up against the horse's side, his mane whipping at her face as she ducked lower, and the sound of the men yelling behind her made adrenaline pump through Lyle's veins.
Axhes was a good horse. He was strong, and he was fast. But he'd been walking into most of the night and he was tired. Every time he went to slow down, Lyle would jab into his side and keep him going but eventually he stopped listening and fell into a trot. Someone pulled up beside Lyle and grasped her arm. He nimbly swung his legs over his mount and dragged Lyle down with him.
Her buttocks hid the ground with a painful thud, but before she could focus on the pain she was forced back up on her feet. Indigo eyes, almost black in the night, bore into hers. Before she could raise her hands to claw at her attacker, someone else grabbed her wrists. Her eyes narrowed at the smugness playing in the indigo eyes. So Lyle made that disgusting sound in the back of her throat that comes with hocking up a loogie. Those eyes before her widened as she pursed her lips, then opened her mouth and spit the nasty white saliva and green booger combo in his face.
A collective gasp came from what must have been five other men, though from the tone she figured they were boys. One did a poor job of hiding a laugh within a barking cough. The grip on her wrists tightened and although it hurt like a witch, Lyle forced herself not to flinch. When the others got over the shock of her actions, they stood quietly, almost awaiting commands from the boy she'd just humiliated.
He raised his hand and wiped the scum out of his right eye. The green part hung off of his lower lip and he wiped that away too. Surprisingly enough, he looked only annoyed, not angered. The man holding Lyle's wrists cuffed her on the back of the head and she grunted from the sharp pain of his knuckles against her scalp. "Enough."
Lyle looked back up at the boy. His gooey fingers grabbed her chin and forced her to look him straight in the eyes again. "What's your name?" he said. He didn't need to warn her not to spit at him again. His eyes said enough. Remaining unanswered, he shook her head and repeated his question in a lower tone.
"Row, short for Sparrow. And who the hell are you?'" she said. The press of his fingers on her chin went away. He nodded his head and her wrists were released. One of the other boys had Axhes secured; there was no way she could escape now. "Well?" she said and crossed her arms over her chest.
The boy cleared his throat, turned and started to walk away. The man behind her pushed Lyle between her shoulder blades and ordered her to walk. So now she was a prisoner. Wasn't this just peachy?
hello my name is elder price
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6:03pm Jan 3 2013 (last edited on 6:32pm Feb 24 2013)
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Normal User
Posts: 3,828
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After ten minutes with these boys (ruffians may have been a better word), Lyle decided she would never find any interest in a man. They hooted and yelled, making lewd jokes and often glancing at Lyle with more than just interest. More than once had a few of them tried to stroke her face. With each caress, their fingers were nearly bitten off. A laugh came from them after every failed attempt, leaving Lyle to lean back against her tree trunk she was tied against and brood. There was a good chance her captors were planning on doing not-so-nice things to her, or bringing her back to castle town.
She forced herself not to shiver. The boys eventually grew disinterested in her however, and Lyle was left to watch them huddle around the fire they'd thrown together. They were one moving entity, these boys, but the more time she had to look at them, the more she noticed individual ties. The loudest one irritated the comical one, and Sir Funny had the quiet one under his wing. There was the contemplator who liked everyone about the same, except for the angry one.
The leader was the most intriguing of the bunch. His indigo eyes were sharp no matter when she looked at him, as if he were hanging onto every word that was spoken around the fire. However his face looked disinterested, if a bit crestfallen. He had a strange habit of running his thumb over his lower lip as if he were thinking and every so often, he'd hang his head and shake out his hair. It was like he was troubled.
Lyle wasn't so sure when she'd dozed off. A tickling sensation on the back of her shoulder startled her. bl[injection]inking bleary eyes, she craned her neck to the left and peered down at her right shoulder. A squeak came out of her at the sight of the spider, its long thin legs holding it steady on her skin. She recognized the spider. A black morrow, as it was called, once known as a black tomorrow to express the hours of agonizing pain that would lead up to death if bitten.
She didn't dare move and she was getting lightheaded from holding her breath. "Don't move." The calm voice next to her almost made her jump because of how tense she was, but miraculously only her fingers twitched. 'As if I'd move anyway,' she thought spitefully. Whoever spoke shifted a bit. A hand came into her peripheral view, the tip of the middle finger strained against the thumb. His palm rested against her throat and with a fwip, the finger launched the spider into the air where it landed a few feet away onto the grass.
Her savior jumped to his feet and ran to squash the thing before it could pose anymore threat. "Let me untie you," he said when he made his way back. Lyle bl[injection]inked at him when he went behind the tree to undo her binds. They fell slack and Lyle stood up, staring at her captor.
"Aren't you afraid I'll run?"
"You won't make it far. Your horse is exhausted and almost dead on his feet." He stopped and tilted his head as he stood up. "What were you running from?"
She felt her palms start to sweat, but Lyle didn't get this far without having a bit of skill in deceit and trickery. "Who's to say I was running? My horse is my own business. What do you care if I ride him to his death?" The boy's indigo eyes glittered, first with shock, then amusement.
"You don't have it in you to intentionally harm an animal."
Lyle's brows furrowed. "You don't know me," she said gruffly and crossed her arms over her chest. With this remark, she got a laugh out of him. He did that thing again, from earlier, thumb running down against his lower lip. Lyle watched his finger slide over the pale pink skin, then her gaze flickered up to catch him staring down at her as if in thought. "Why did you tie me up in the first place?"
"You didn't stop when I told you to. I thought maybe you'd have been running away from a crime." This didn't make sense to Lyle. Why should she have to stop for some strange man and his traveling gang of boys? She voiced her question and instead of amusement, the boy's eyes widened a bit. It was clear he didn't like to be shocked because as soon as his surprise touched his face, it left. She could have imagined it. Lyle, however, did not deem things part of her imagination anymore. Not after what she'd seen.
"Silas," he said and then slowly, "Prince Silas."
Well, damn me.
----So this has been dead for way too long. Even if I don't appear to have any readers, I'll continue writing this.-----
hello my name is elder price
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