Hunted (Open - please PM before joining)

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

The hand was on her back.
Gentle touches, as she murmured, her face buried into his neck, her eyes pressed shut, childishly wanting it all to go away.

It was the stroking of her hair that finally soothed her.
It was the way her parents had always comforted her.
When the others had teased her, teased her for being solitary.
When they had thought her strange when she shunned their company.
They had spread stories that grew and grew.
Childish nonsense had grown to suspicion and dangerous superstition.
She had done nothing more sinister than gather herbs to ease ailment, fever, calm sickness, but it had been enough to contribute to the rumours.

And each time she had run home.
Every time she had cried at being thus rejected, scorned, she was the outsider in her own village.
She had laid across her bed, sobbing, until the gentle words and strokes of her hair had calmed her.
It was a harmless, childish predilection that would cease in age, they had assured her.
But it was too late now. It was no longer harmless.

Now there was no parent to make it all right, to care, to guide, to help Alexia keep her emotions in check…

That was her main weakness.
She reacted emotionally without a thought for the consequences…
As she had when she took that knife and…

"You don't have to tell me.
I know you've seen horror, and believe me when I say that I've seen it too in my time. For now, I think it best if we get off the road, build a good fire and try to pass the night as pleasantly as we can.
You're in no state to continue today, and perhaps, over some of that AppleBrandy, you can decide whether you need to talk or not."

Only now did she realise that she had calmed.
She felt him pull her to him momentarily before releasing her.
She looked up as he dropped a kiss on her head…

"Whichever you decide, you can relax tonight - I'll be here to keep watch."

Alexia nodded and rubbed ineffectually at her eyes.
She was exhausted and eager to rest.
Even though she had decided that she didn’t care what happened to her, the idea of him keeping watch was strangely reassuring.

She walked woodenly beside him, following his lead.
She moved unquestioningly beyond the road and into the depths of the woods, allowing him to choose a place where they would not be visible from the road.
Not once did it occur to her that she would be in danger camped out with this stranger.
She realised with a start that they had not even introduced themselves properly.

Despite his protests, she insisted in gathering firewood with him, though in truth her meagre contribution was greatly dwarfed by the pile her companion gathered so speedily.
It had kept her occupied, though.
It had stopped her brooding on her past, worrying about her present or fearing her future.

She sat wordlessly watching him prepare the fire.
Trying not to flinch as she saw the flames leap.
Rather than focus on the blaze, she looked away into the dark woods and tried to ignore the cheerful crackle as the greedy flames devoured the twigs.

Again she forgot about her companion’s presence.
Her mind was mercifully blank as she studied the darkness.

 

[cgraven]

The Dark Rider

Several days had past the relentless search continued. It was dark as the rider approached the lonely Inn, He wearily swung down from the back of the Back daemon that was his mount.

A lackey came out to take the reins from him there was fire in his mount’s eyes, the Rider calms the steed his hands soft and reassuring.

“Lad Take good cares, rubs him down, feed and water him and stable him in a dry clean area of that hovel that this Inn calls a stable”

The Riders voice stren, yet not unkind.

“ Do as I say and there will be a farthing in it for you. “

His cloak drawn tight about him he enters takes a seat by the fire and listens. The old monk had taught him well often you learned more by listening than by asking questions.

The inn keeper was a jolly fellow and talkative. The words that flew around the Inn came to him in bits in pieces.

” A slip of a girl…………sad and haunted……..kept to herself………..eyes always on the move…….traveling alone.”

Slowly a picture emerges of her. The rider ate his meal in silence and was left to his own thoughts and devices. Later he was shown to a lonely room under the eves.

The Rider spent a lonely restless night the sent of his prey growing stronger in his nostrials.

 

[Steiner]

Brinn sat close by his companion as the sky deepened from blue to black. The fire crackled cheerily, the wet wood alternately popping and steaming as it caught properly. Usually such a sound and sight was a balm to a weary soul, but in her case he saw there was also some reason to fear the flames - she jumped with almost every pop and crackle.

True to his word, he gave her space and silence. To think, or maybe just to avoid thought for awhile.

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

Alexia shivered, but was reluctant to draw nearer to the fire.

She sat rapt in numbness.
Occasionally she would push a stray lock of hair from her eyes giving an impatient sigh.
Her eyes were wide and unseeing.
A hollow expression hung there.

Finally, her voice a mere whisper...

"May I ... take a draught of your brandy, Sir... for... I feel the need of it... "

She turned her eyes shyly to his.
The flames reflecting upon her hair, her pale face luminous in the fire light, she whispered...

".. if you please... "

 

[Steiner]

"Thank the light for that! I've only been keeping it in my bag because I didn't want you to think I was a sot, or trying to push the stuff on you!"

Brinn unshipped the bottle from his knapsack and walked across the clearing to her. He knew from experience that sometimes a little brandy was just what you needed after a shock. Taking a knee next to her, he uncorked it and passed it to her - courtesy demanding she have the first swig from the bottle.

His fingers brushed hers as he passed the bottle over to her, her eyes were liquid and soft and her glorious shock of hair made her look a strange combination of demure and wild that he found affected him greatly. He would have to watch himself with this woman, he thought, or pretty soon she'd be leading him around by the nose.

"Here lady, and if thou'rt in the mood for talk as well, I'll be more than happy to oblige thee."

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

"Thank the light for that! I've only been keeping it in my bag because I didn't want you to think I was a sot, or trying to push the stuff on you!"

Alexia could not repress a sudden and rare giggle as she looked up at his words.
She watched him pull out the bottle and cross the clearing towards her.
Her eyes remained on his as he knelt before her.
She watched him unstop the bottle and reached out to take it from him with a smile of thanks.

Her hand remained hovering as she held his gaze wonderingly.
She wondered just what he would think of her if he knew.. if he knew it all…

"Here lady, and if thou'rt in the mood for talk as well, I'll be more than happy to oblige thee."

Alexia raised the bottle to her lips.
Although prepared for the fire, she still gasped slightly as the liquid hit her throat.
Her eyes watering slightly, she smiled self-consciously at her provider.
Again she took a swig.
This time, she swallowed more deftly and managed to control the fiery feeling, which now seemed to hit the cold pit of her stomach, warming it in a very satisfying way.

Holding out the bottle once more, she felt his fingers brush hers as he took the bottle, and drunk deeply from the lip.

”I … don’t even remember your name… “

She ventured shyly…

”I… I’m.. Alexia…. “

 

[Steiner]

Brinn smiled at her as she shyly introduced herself. Taking a pull at the bottle himself, he handed it back to her as he spoke.

"And I'm Brinn, Alexia, they call me the Ceonhoelm - on account of a battle away West. I took a blow to the head that must have robbed me of what little sense I was born with, and fought the rest of the day as a Berserk. The blood from the wound knocked off my helm and stained my hair bright red with blood, so hence Ceonhoelm (Red Helm)."

He caught himself almost babbling, and with an effort of will stopped.

"One of the things you'll learn about a sellsword, Alexia, is that they're far too keen to brag of battles gone by and once you start them talking it'd be as simple a matter to stop a river as stop their chatter!"

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

Alexia automatically took the bottle he returned to her.
She looked down at him as he smiled up at her.

"And I'm Brinn, Alexia, they call me the Ceonhoelm - on account of a battle away West.
I took a blow to the head that must have robbed me of what little sense I was born with, and fought the rest of the day as a Berserk.
The blood from the wound knocked off my helm and stained my hair bright red with blood, so hence Ceonhoelm (Red Helm)."

Alexia tried not to shudder at the mention of the blood.. that image too had danced before her eyes enough times.
She drank a deep draught from the bottle in her hands, finding the fire a distraction if not quite a comfort.

"One of the things you'll learn about a sellsword, Alexia, is that they're far too keen to brag of battles gone by and once you start them talking it'd be as simple a matter to stop a river as stop their chatter!"

She handed the bottle to him again.
Her cheeks were already slightly pinked and her body felt warmer than it had.
She spoke softly, in an effort to reassure him:

”Why not brag of what you do well… do not mind me if you wish to chatter …
I … would welcome the diversion… “

She responded carefully, taking care neither to offend or question.
Her eyes widened fearfully as a twig cracked loudly on the fire…
With effort, she drew her gaze back to Brinn once more.

 

[Steiner]

"I sometimes wonder, Lady, if 'tis a thing to brag OF. Part of me loves the life I lead - I spend more money in a single month on carousing than a peasant labourer sees all year to keep his whole family. My sword and armour here could easily fetch enough cash for a small townhouse if I got the going rate, and I've seen more of the world before I'm 30 than even most priests do in their whole lives. The rest of me, though, looks like at the honest farmer or merchant, with his life sunk into the roots of the land, and envies him. I must admit, sometimes I get to thinking on a small plot of land, a good wife, church every Sunday and weeknights down the Tavern with my mates."

He looked a little grimmer.

"Why if I died tomorrow, as I've seen mates of mine die, the moss would cover my bones and nobody would ever know or care what became of Brinn Ceonhoelm."

With a start he dragged his eyes back from the fire. "See now why we brag and boast - it's a damn sight more attractive than moaning and wailing! You wanted a story milady? Let me tell you my pride and joy - let me tell you about the day I met King Henry!"

He leaned back against the same log that Alexia leant against and began his story - dressing it up with flourishes and letting his voice fall into the variations in pace and cadence that were the mark of a good story teller. The story itself was a good one and, unlike some of his best, completely true. He wove it full of descriptive passages and paced the narrative such that he could see Alexia getting interested almost against her will.

He told her of the messy battle on the side of Baden hill - a local lord repelling an attack by a numerically superior warband led by his ancestral rival from across the border. The rain had lashed the hillside, and the wind buffetted, until bows were useless and cavalry bogged down in the mud - it turned into a grim day, a hard day, an infantryman's day. Blood and mud, mud and blood - the battle raged as the ring of the loyalist troops had shrunk higher and higher up the hill. At the last moment another Loyalist Lord had come by with a warband of reinforcements and turned the tide of battle.

Brinn had been relieved to know that he wasn't going to earn his money with a supreme sacrifice that day, but he was horrified to see a small band of enemies who had been playing dead in the mud, surprise the newcomer Lord and knock him from his horse. They were making to drag him away when Brinn and a small group of his friends had arrived - this man had led the warband that saved their lives, after all, and they fought hard to repay the service in kind.

At the end of the fight only five men were standing, Brinn and three of his friends, and the nobleman. A bodyguard unit turned up and took the nobleman away, and the survivors of the mercenary unit trudged back to the small keep where they were stationed. The next day the visiting nobleman had summoned them to the main banquetting hall and they were shocked to recognise him as King Henry himself!

Brinn paused to let Alexia gasp in amazement, at just the right part of the story.

"So we were all rewarded with money and with these fine blades - some sold theirs on, but I kept mine, and it's the finest sword I've seen in all the battles I've been in since. But the money is all long ago spent."

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

Alexia listened as Brinn told her about his life, about more money than she had ever dreamed existed.
More money that had ever been within her grasp.

” … I must admit, sometimes I get to thinking on a small plot of land, a good wife, church every Sunday and weeknights down the Tavern with my mates."

Alexia listened to his words and allowed herself to imagine that she would never be a wife, a mother, might never grow to full womanhood.
It was a chilling thought.

Brinn’s tone seemed to match her thoughts.

"Why if I died tomorrow, as I've seen mates of mine die, the moss would cover my bones and nobody would ever know or care what became of Brinn Ceonhoelm."

And who would care about her?
She had no one. No one would mourn her.
Her death would be a relief.

Sensing that the mood now hung heavily, Brinn made an effort to raise their spirits.

"See now why we brag and boast - it's a damn sight more attractive than moaning and wailing!
You wanted a story milady?
Let me tell you my pride and joy - let me tell you about the day I met King Henry!"

Alexia eyed him with interest, expecting the story to be a fabrication, an exaggeration. She watched as he leaned against the log upon which she sat. She listened to his voice, the variation of pace and timbre and allowed him to draw her into the events as they unfolded before her wrapt imagination.

She too felt as if she were at that battle.
She felt the rain, the wind, the agonies of the toil, the calamitous circumstances of that battle.

She was amazed that he was but one of five men left standing and gasped as he finally revealed that at the victory banquet he had indeed met King Henry himself!

"So we were all rewarded with money and with these fine blades - some sold theirs on, but I kept mine, and it's the finest sword I've seen in all the battles I've been in since. But the money is all long ago spent."

She eyed his sword as he drew it once more.
She had seen what that blade could do.
She could only imagine what damage it could wreak upon an enemy.

She gazed at the fire then.
Not seeing the flames.
She was far away in that banqueting hall.
She had never seen a place as fine, nor heard much apart from rumour of what the court and such a life was like.
A soft smile painted her face as she allowed her thoughts to drift into the imaginary land he had conjured up by his evocative words…

 

[Steiner]

Brinn put his sword back with an indulgent pat, like a doting grandfather with his favourite grandchild. He looked up to see Alexia was drifiting away, thinking about somewhere else, somewhere with marble floors and wooden tables, and silver cutlery. Somewhere a pretty lady would never have to bother her head with more important things than whether she could get away with wearing Teal at tomorrow's banquet, and whether her crosspoint blackwork was up to scratch.

He could also see a sense of mortality in her, as if she could see her life counting down at a dizzying rate towards some dimly seen but all too close terminus. He only knew one cure for that, and so he leaned forward, placed his hand in her mass of golden hair and kissed her gently on her lips.

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

If only things had been different.
Not only if she had been born a lady, but if she been born into another place.
She would not wish not to have been given to her parents, yet...
Perhaps they could all have been happy, lived contented lives.
Lived full lives and not been brought to untimely ends...
If she had been.... she imagined such unheard of luxuries, days of indulgence... she could imagine...

Alexia did not start when she felt his hand on her head.
She turned dazedly as he drew her towards him.
His lips pressed gently down on hers.
The intimacy of the touch took her breath away.
Her eyes fluttered shut, savouring what was her first kiss...

Drawing back with a sigh, she blushed rosily...
Her eyes never drew away from his.
She wondered what had just passed between them and why...

 

[Steiner]

Brinn smiled at her, brushing locks of tangled gold from her eyes. As always, the feel of another life so close to him had driven the darkness away from him. He could see, however, that it had not been like that with her. What he had done... ...well, it had obviously had an impact on her, but he didn't see that same headlong desire to embrace sensation in her that he felt on nights like this. In fact she seemed a little confused, although she did not pull away.

"You see, Alexia, when life seems cold and hard and unfair, sometimes there is great comfort to be found - even in the arms of a stranger. When the cares press too heavily on me, I often try and lose myself in the moment - as I did then."

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

"You see, Alexia, when life seems cold and hard and unfair, sometimes there is great comfort to be found - even in the arms of a stranger. "

Alexia blushed hotly.

"I have never... never known any arms.. or.. any.... kiss... "

She lowered her head shyly.

"When the cares press too heavily on me, I often try and lose myself in the moment - as I did then."

She lifted her eyes to meet his.

"If I could lose my cares, if only for a while.. but.. they are too great, too... grave... I will never more know any peace... "

She whispered hoarsely...

 

[Steiner]

"Peace is where you find it, Alexia. There is no care so great that it cannot be banished for the turn of an hour glass. Mankind is more adept at the temporary banishment of care than any two other arts combined!"

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in, until her cheek was resting on his chest, her head resting in the joint of his shoulder.

"See? Even so plain a thing as an embrace can help..."

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

"Peace is where you find it, Alexia. There is no care so great that it cannot be banished for the turn of an hour glass. Mankind is more adept at the temporary banishment of care than any two other arts combined!"

Even as she shook her head in disagreement, she found his arm about her shoulder as he drew her towards him.
Her head was fitted against his chest, then at his shoulder...

"See? Even so plain a thing as an embrace can help..."

Alexia sighed heavily and pulled away from his embrace.
She raised her eyes to him.

"'Tis all good, yet... you would have little inclination to offer comfort, to .. hold me.. if you knew... if you knew what I was.. what I have become..."

She whispered hoarsely, knowing that a girl such as her had no right to any comfort ...

 

[cgraven]

The Dark Rider

Dawn breaks I stir, the restless night passed. I am near the prey is close at hand I feel it in my bones. The sun holds no warmth for me. Its golden rays do not warm my heart, for again this day I am the hunter.

Boy my horse

I call form the window. He stirs from his bed in the hay mow, scurries to do as he is bid. I grid on my trappings Shirt, thews, shirt of mail, then leather padded corset.

A cheerless repass . I swing into the saddle the black daemon, anxious to be on the road again.

Here Boy for your services.

I toss him a crown. A new day and the pursuit starts anew

 

[Steiner]

Brinn gimaced at the failure of his attempt to put the girl at ease. "Sooth, Alexia, I do not know what you are supposed to have done that puts you beyond MY reckoning and understanding. "

He reached out to take her hand.

"One thing I DO know, is that if you don't find some way to forgive yourself for it, then it will kill you. Either through broken heart or through some other agency."

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

"Sooth, Alexia, I do not know what you are supposed to have done that puts you beyond MY reckoning and understanding. "

Alexia shook her head numbly.
She felt his hand on hers as he drew it to her.
She would not meet his eye.

"One thing I DO know, is that if you don't find some way to forgive yourself for it, then it will kill you."

She heard his quiet, earnest voice as he attempted to convince her.

"Either through broken heart or through some other agency."

Finally she raised her eyes to him.
Eyes that were indeed broken and tragic.
Her voice was a hoarse, whisper, barely audible.

"I killed a man... how can there be forgiveness for that...?"

 

[Steiner]

Brinn blinked a few times... His nose twitched slightly and his lips compressed down into a thin line. Alexia could tell, by watching him, that he was stuggling for control. She couldn't tell, was he furious or disgusted?

Finally his control snapped and he doubled over, the breath whooshing from his lungs in the loudest bellow she'd heard. His chest heaved as he fought for breath, great convulsions of laughter pulling at the muscles of his ribs and chest, until he was reduced to wagging a finger at her for forgiveness.

"Ohh... Al.... Alexia... I'm sorry, girl, really I am...." he said as he fought for control, tears standing out in the corners of his eyes.

"It's just that you'd ask ME if there could be forgiveness for killing a man"

Once the laughter had subsided, he took her plight a little more seriously. "In truth, girl, it depends very much on who he was and what circumstances there were."

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

Alexia held her breath watching Brinn's expression.
It was unreadable and she braced herself for his response.
She prepared herself for his anger, his disgust.

She stared in amazement as he doubled up in laughter.
His whole body seemed to shake with uncontrollable mirth.
In his hilarity he failed to see her hurt and bewildered expression.

"Ohh... Al.... Alexia... I'm sorry, girl, really I am...."

She kept her eyes on him, not understanding his reaction at all!

"It's just that you'd ask ME if there could be forgiveness for killing a man"

She had told him her most shameful secret, admitted to her most evil deed and he had merely laughed in her face.
She could not bare for him to ridicule her so...

"In truth, girl, it depends very much on who he was and what circumstances there were."

She wanted to make a harsh retort, to tell him that she was so pleased she had amused him, to....

But she was hurt beyond belief.

She stood, her stunned eyes finally pulling away from his.
She turned and walked away steadily.
Walked away into the dark woods.
Away from the fire, away from him, away from his echoing laughter...

 

[Steiner]

Brinn watched her storm off, cursing his rough and ready sense of humour. Then he remembered a boy of sixteen, throwing up at the sight of his own first kill, that day after the first battle.

"Oh aye, and it doesn't matter what other people think, it matters what you think of yourself. She's probably distraught, and if she's out here that means she's on the run too..."

Brinn debated waiting for her, surely she'd come back to the fire when she got cold or hungry or tired.

"No, lad. She'll WANT to come back to the fire, but what if she gets lost in the dark?"

Brinn stood with a grumble, stretching his cramped limbs and marched to the treeline. Pausing awhile to let his nightvision return, he set off into the trees.

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

Alexia merely walked away from the fire.
She left him and his mirth behind.
She had been laughed at all her life.
It should not surprise her that now in her hour of greatest agony, her greatest confession, she should once more be ridiculed.
The only difference was that she did not have a mother or father to soothe her or to help her reign in her emotions.

Her pace was steady.
Numbly she put one foot before the other.
She walked blindly, not seeing, nor caring where it was she was headed.
The dangers, the cold, the foolishness did not enter her head.
She just wanted to get away, yet no matter where she ran to, where she hid, she could never get away from herself!

 

[cgraven]

The Dark Rider

On he rode through the morning he followed the great trade road, as it lead on through the shier. On towards the Kings Cross, A bit of mead a crust of bread, yet no word of his prey, nothing.

Again astride the black demon he retraced his steps. So it was to be the footpaths. Mid afternoon the rider took the turning that led north towards the Welsh boarder. Afternoon wore on into evening and evening into night..

His steed tended to the rider sat, his back to the tree his sword drawn, his cloak warped about him to fend off the chill of night.

Tracks of two one the steady stride of a man at arms,………the other, light that of a lass…..yes in his mind eye he knew now his prey was a lass………..a second scrape of wool found on a Hawthorne bush….. the same as the first.

He was close now very close he could almost smell her.

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Alexia Kenton

On and on she walked.
On until the cold and the fear finally seeped into her body.
The darkness was heavy about her.
When she finally drew her eyes from within herself.
She looked upwards as if in shock.

Where was she?
What was she doing?

Her body was as ice.
Her heart was still more glacial.
She looked about her.
Her body shook.
Exhausted, physically and emotionally, she fell forward pressing her face into the bark of the tree before her.
Hugging herself to it's rough protection she sought safety in its shelter.

Sobs occasionally escaped her; sobs more of fear and grief.
The frightened sounds of a child who was lost and alone...