kintire wrote:Caitlin begins to tremble in terror, jerkily brushing back her hair, as it sticks to her forehead. One from her family: her Uncle. his own beloved wife, his own dear son, and her. She stares ahead not daring to look at her uncle, trying to delay the moment when he chooses her, trying to pretend it won't happen...
She stares at the looming figure of the new mayor, leans a little forwards, slips her low cut serving girl's dress a little further down her shoulders and bust and stares at him appealingly, eyes silently begging for mercy
Otto steps toward the girl. He inclines his cowled head down toward her face. The black executioner's hood he wears under his cloak hides any expression he might wear; but staring up at the eye slits Caitlin sees blank slate orbs staring back at her.
"You offer yourself.”
He raises the axe.
“Kneel. It’s easier that way.”
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.
Caitlin stares up into his eyes in terror, legs shaking so much she almost falls to her knees as he approaches, then she gasps out a plea, her voice rich and beautiful, but weakened by terror so that it travels to his ears alone.
"Please, my Lord, don't kill me... I've always been a dutiful girl, I can serve you! I have skills you might find useful... I can heal! I can restore you if you are injured, and without calling on any foreign gods! and I'm an orphan dependent, no one really cares about me, my death wouldn't send a message to anyone...please..."
Otto points his axe at the maimed elf woman, who clutches her bloody stump.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.
He nudges the frightened girl with his gigantic headsman's axe.
If the villagers have not yet sent forward some of their number to kneel in the dust facing the Legate, there is going to be a problem...
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.
Boiros is standing few feet away speechless, he has never seen such cruelty and at the same time such obbedience to kill people without second thoughts like Otto did. Otto's strength doesn't pass unnoticed either... The cleric's eyes go wide when the Legate slices Ammanas' throat as if slicing a piece of meat. When Caitling kneels beyong Otto and he was ready to decapitate her Boiros' has opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. He is frozen and terrified even if same time wants to do something for the poor girl but is afraid that this will compromise his life as well. However, when he sees her healing the woman with the hood Boiros notices that Otto said something to the Legate and lowers his axe. So the cleric decides to try that card even if he knows how risky will be reveal he is a foreigner cleric, but this seems to be his only shot to remain alive.
Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself and praying to Ezra to protect him Boiros speaks up trying to make his voice more steady possible.
"Excuse me, hope you understand me. I'm a cleric from Dementlieu, Port a Lucine. If you need another healed my Lord, I can be that man. I can enchant your weapons so they can hit even better, I can bless you or your men or doom your enemies. I can make you able to resist attacks that will imprison your mind or more agile that you can avoid arrows or spells, I even can make you more resist at the poison or other diseases. I can cause fear so your enemies will fleed. Can make you endure elements or create an force shield that will deflect the enemies attacks. I can make you able to see through magic darkness, be able to act faster in the combat and I can also forsee how dangerous the immediate future is likely to be and many other things my Lord. Just let me live and I can prove my loyalty to you and Darkon."
- The first 2 Feats a wizard should take are "point blank shot" and "Precise shot"!
- W H A T ! ? !
- Or they should NEVER memorize rays!
kintire wrote:Caitlin pauses and begins to gasp out a translation of Boiros' words, sucking in deep breaths between each phrase as if she thinks it will be her last
Otto turns his head towards Boiros, his eyes hidden in the shadows under his cowl.
"You, come with me. Kneel before the Legate."
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.
Boiros looks desperate Otto and then the Legate, pleading with his eyes for mercy. Having witnessed what happened when someone disobbeys decides to not risk doing anything stupid and just get his life at Ezra's and the Legate's hands. So he does as Otto said, he kneels before the Legate hoping the man orders Otto to let him live.
- The first 2 Feats a wizard should take are "point blank shot" and "Precise shot"!
- W H A T ! ? !
- Or they should NEVER memorize rays!
Caitlin shudders with relief, her terror subsiding somewhat, sucking in deep breaths as if to enjoy the feeing of breathing for at least a few hours longer. As her blind panic recedes slightly, she catches at the faint glimmer of hope extended by the Legate's final sentence and her attention turns to the the new Mayor, to see what he proposes for the village!
Standing behind the frightened girl and the foreign cleric, Otto declares in a loud voice, so that the villagers can hear him-
"Our king needs soldiers, so that is what I will do with the ones I take from the families of Ottery- I will make them soldiers. Die now, die later-- they will all die anyway. Their lives belong to the state now."
He pauses briefly to let this sink in, then goes on. ''This person---"
He gestures to Caitlin, who kneels alongside Boiros in the dusty ground between Otto and the Legate, facing away from Otto.
"Will assist me as is necessary."
Then, without further comment, he raises the axe to strike down Boiros...
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.
Leaving everybody with... A deep sense of relief, actually.
Surely, it was the stranger - how many strangers do you see in Darkon, after all? - that killed all those people.
Surely, it was the stranger who tricked us into calling for the Legate... So he would assassinate him... When we were not looking.
Certainly, that's what strangers do when you're not looking!
So they whisper.
The Legate seems - more or less - pleased by Otto's actions, and by the villagers' general demeanor.
He will appoint Otto as the village of Ottery's marshal , a rank higher than that of a common mayor,
comparable perhaps to that of a bailiff.
Over the course of the next day, many villagers will come forth, affirming what the Legate and Otto already believe to know:
It was that false priest, Ammanas.
It was that stranger, Boiros.
They killed those people.
How?! - Something... Something... Magic!
The villagers mourn those who were lost. But they are happy to see peace restored.
Restored - apparently.
In the evening, after the dead are buried, a feast is given for the village's saviors: The Legate, and new Marshal Otto.
The night passes uneventfully, if perhaps interrupted by a scene that we leave under the veil - when Otoo claims his prize from his new slave Caitlin.
A prize that might not be given willfully.
The morning after, the Legate and his entourage leave.
You will never see them again. Nor will anybody else. They ride out into the mists, and there, somewhere, their trail gets lost.
Three years, Otto will rule unrivaled as the marshal of Ottery. - Otto of Ottery; how fitting, indeed.
Then one day in autumn, on a quiet day, a light day, when the wind is soft and the water of the creek is warm...
