The Curse and the Traveler's

[only_more_so]

Max walked through the fog and was uncertain where he was. The ground looked the same in all directions, and although he thought he was on a slope, he couldn't tell which way it tilted. He walked this way and that, always trying to head downhill, but at times exerting the effort it would take to walk uphill instead.

He was also surprised that no fog creatures were menacing him. Occasionally he thought he could see one, a slight darkening in the all surrounding gray, but they never approached, or became more than mere impressions.

It occured to him to reach out and tell Skye that he still lived. But he had trouble remembering quite how to do that. He shouted, but the sound was eerily silent, as if the fog absorbed the sound as it was leaving his mouth. He could sense, more than hear Skye trying to reach him. It was as if he were in a giant fish tank and someone were tapping on the glass. It seemed to come from everywhere at once, impossible for him to follow.

He tried to use his magic to reach out to his parents, but he was unable to reach them, and unlike Skye they weren't trying to find him. He kept walking, always trying to go downhill, and toward where he hoped Skye waited in the castle.

 

[RedHairedandFriendly]

Serena stared in shock as Max went over the tower wall, she tried to scramble up, but only stumbled as she watched Skye move away and run down the steep stairway. She felt the grip of David’s hand on her and she stood up on shaky legs. She stared at him, fear reflected in her eyes. Her mother helped her father and the two pulled Serena away.

She wanted to see if Max was okay, but her father was at her side before she could leave the tower room. Fear of his death loomed over her, but something in both her father's behavior and David's suggested Max was not dead. She didn't know... she was confused now more than ever.

“She’s fine, no thanks to you,” her father glared and pulled her with them. “Come on girl, your betrothed awaits your presence. You are marrying him aren’t you?” he asked staring down on his only child.

Serena swallowed and looked back at David. He wanted another and she wanted love. She closed her eyes and her shoulders fell. Her head fell and then lifted as she heard herself sighing, “Yes, Father.”

She felt the trail of a tear course down her cheek and she followed her father down the stairs. Suddenly she stopped and yanked her arm from her father’s grip. She ran back up the stairs and over to David.

Her arms wrapped around his neck and she pulled him down to her. Her lips crushed his as the tears fell and then she pulled away and returned to her father. “Let’s get this over with,” she muttered and left the tower steps.

 

[caela]

Eyes. She felt the eyes of those in the palace watching her as she streaked through the halls. She wove through them if they didn't move out of her way fast enough until she reached and flung open the front doors where she skidded to a stop.

All she could see out the opened doors was fog. Even looking up she couldn't see the tower any longer through the grey cloud cover on the ground. She knew if she stepped out into it she could easily pass within inches of Max and never see him, never find him and the thought was intolerable.

Not even realizing she was doing it she screamed for Max, screamed his name over and over again and listened as the fog absorbed her voice like a wet blanket, knowing if he was more than a few feet away he'd never hear her.

She wouldn't let it end this way. She'd planned to goout with him and hadn't been able, now she was faced with trying to find him in the roiling mass before her and she was terrified. She fel the stone at her throat burning and could see the glow of it shimmering off the fog before her. Reaching up she unclasped it but kept a tight grip on the chain, holding it up she let the light of it shine out and saw the fog around her rescind a bit, as if the light from the stone hurt it in some way.

Drawing a breath to screw down her courage she heard the people behind her calling her name even as she stepped out and was swallowed from sight by the fog. She would find Max. If she had to search an eternity she would find him.

 

[poohlive]

"Serena, I..."

As flippity as always. He had to smile at her, with that she had looked like the old Serena once more, the young naive girl who was eager to see new worlds, thinking there could be nothing wrong with them. No evil people to hurt her, no one wanting to take advantage, just friends she hasn't met yet.

Serena was getting married though. The look on her face as she obliged with her father seemed certain. They had picked a betrothed, and she apparently approved. It was good for her, she deserved someone to love her and take care of her.

At the bottom of the tower he just caught the last shimmers of red hair as Skye went off into the fog, chasing after his brother.

He realized at that moment he had no one. The tower had been emptied, cleaned of its residents, and here he stood, waiting, watching. Everyone else had their lives to live, and their dreams to chase, loved ones to save.

After all this time, he was still that silly boy who stood just beyond the beach, watching Skye with wild amazement.

He had fallen in love with a feeling, a notion rather than her. He could admit it, but still it hurt to see her go. If he were ever going to move on, he had to.

Not that it mattered, in a few hours they would all be dead. The curse would crush everyone because he could not marry the chosen one.

He could not marry anyone, really. Max and him all along thought the true key to breaking the curse was love. And he'd only loved one person in his entire life.

"Get the guards," He said, looking out, "I want groups of three men. Platoons to go out and search the fog. We need Max and Skye back here as soon as possible. Find them."

The guards nodded, running back down the stairs, and gathering more men. David just stared after them, in the seeming grayness of swirls that forever coated the worlds...

David did what he did best; he waited.

 

[RedHairedandFriendly]

Serena followed her father and mother into the study and her eyes moved around the room until they settled on a man’s back. She waited patiently to be introduced.

“Sir, our daughter is here. She has agreed to be your wife,” her father said. His voice seemed to be full of pride.

“Agreed?” the man said as he turned. “I wasn’t aware she had a choice in the matter.”

Serena’s face paled and she stumbled back against her mother. “I... you... I,” her words were gone as she stared into the face that she had managed to forget about. She looked to her father and shook her head no and her mother held her.

“Serena what is wrong?” her mother asked. “Don’t you recognize Derek. He is from our world dear, surely you remember the High Chancellor’s son.”

Her father glared at her. “Stand up you silly wench. You look a fool.” He wasn’t sure what was wrong with his daughter, but he suddenly realized she had been spoiled and he was sure this was the way to get her back to being the submissive wife one was supposed to have.

“Yes, Serena. Don’t you recognize me?” Derek walked toward her. “Don’t you remember the last time we saw each other? At the dance, where the Chosen One was presented.”

“I won’t marry you! I don’t know how you did this. How you tricked them, but...” She was cut off by the wave of her father’s hand.

“He didn’t trick us. He came to us and spoke of your beauty, how you had entranced him and taken him to the gardens where you furthered your romance. You shouldn’t have done that, but since you did you decided your own fate. I am glad we returned home. If you were allowed much more freedom than who knows what kind of trouble you would be in.”

“Lured him? He tried to rape me!” she screamed.

“Serena... you are mistaken. I will admit I was overly eager to love you and was rougher thinking that you, a common serving wench had serviced the kingdom, but I am thrilled to learn I will be the one that makes you a woman. I’ll take my time with you and make sure you experience everything,” he told her.

“Serena,” her mother whispered. “We signed the agreement for him to be your husband. You must. . .love . . . we will lose everything if you refuse him. It was part of the agreement. If you do not wed him then he will take possession of what little we own to recoup face. My dearest daughter, being married isn’t a bad thing...”
“I want the wedding to take place as soon as possible. As soon as it is safe to travel again Serena and I will be leaving. I think she has been pampered to much in this palace and we will make our home somewhere else,” Derek said. “But the wedding and the marriage must copulate before this night is over. I know the Princes do not care for me and may try to stop this from happening.”

“They’ll sentence you to prison if they see you,” Serena glared. “It was your fault Max almost died.”

“Your King and Queen are to distracted with the fog, Max and the Chosen one are tangling in the fog and the other imp... from what I have heard from the servants that were gossiping around here, has gone insane... who will stop our union?”

Serena stood there in silence listening to her father agreeing and when he left to find the Priest her body started to tremble in fear.

“Come now Serena,” Derek said. He stepped closer waving his Mother-in-Law to be away. His finger cupped her chin and he leaned in close so only she could hear him. “You have much to learn from me.” He kissed her neck and stepped back before she could react.

 

[only_more_so]

Max stopped walking when he realized he was going in circles. Well, he thought they were circles, it was impossible to tell in the fog. He collapsed onto the ground, sitting cross legged.

That was when he went a change in the air. The fog seemed to be growing more restless, and it was a very sudden change. One moment the shadows were gliding by almost indiscernable, and the next they were rushing frantically, leaving swirls of mist in their wake. They also seemed to be moving in a more regular fashion, heading in one direction predominantly.

Max stood, brushed his pants off and started in the directions the creatures were heading. Perhaps it would be wiser to head away from them, but they hadn't harmed him so far, but they seemed intent to harm someone else.

* * *

When King Charles son Quint ran into the room, he found Charles and Beatrix napping and not having sex as he feared. Although the smell of it hung in the air, even if Quint didn't know quite what the smell was.

"King Charles, Queen Beatrix, Max and David are fighting on top of the tower. Skye told me to fetch you!" The boy blurted with little preamble. When they were fully awake he had to repeat himself, but Charles acted quickly once he did. Grabbing a dressing robe and sandles he ran out of the room. Beatrix was a little slower, and Quint was surprised to see her without her belly button cover. He had seen as naked as she was now, everywhere else, but seeing her fully nude caused him to blush down to his toes.

She grabbed a robe as well, and wrapped it about herself before coming up to Quint and ruffling his hair. She also took a moment to lift his jaw shut. "It is good to know an old lady like me can still make a young boy blush. But you are too young for that sort of thing."

Rather than simply rush off as Charles had done, Beatrix reached out with magic to locate her boys. That was when she saw Max hurtling from the tower, out into the fog. She collapsed back onto the bed in shock. Max couldn't die like that! He just couldn't. But she couldn't find him with magic, so either he was dead, or the fog had him.

That was when she noticed Skye running from the tower and through the corridors of the castle, running out into the fog herself. The magic amulet was glowing fiercely, so perhaps Max hadn't died. "She will find him, she has to, they must break the curse."

* * *

Charles arrived at the base of the tower moments after Skye had departed. He heard his son issuing orders to the guards, and thought he saw Serena's parents leading her down another corridor. What was going on in his own castle?

He sent a mental order to the guard captain calling him to the base of the tower, and rescinding David's order. He reached out to all the guards then and announced that no one was to leave the castle. All of the doors would be guarded and bolted to be opened only by the authority of the King or Queen.

"David! What is going on? What is this about a fight with Max? And where are Max and Skye? How did that girl Serena get out from under arrest?"

 

[poohlive]

"Max and Skye are in love, father," He said, looking out at the fog. He tried to add more to this sentence, as if it needed something more to articulate. It didn't though, two brothers fighting over the heart of a woman. If one sentence could sum up the majority of what happened here tonight, then let it be.

"They went behind my back and lied to me and made this secret romance. And I... I don't know what I did. I just..."

He looked at the guards, not going out as he asked, "The guards were supposed to go searching for them. They are both out in the fog right now."

They should be found, at least. He didn't know why, and felt in a moment it would be stupid to have them back, only to feel helpless and useless once more.

"The curse can not be broken, father. Skye loves another. I tried my best, but she and Max are adament. I did everything I could and failed you. I failed everyone."

He didn't even know of Serena, it seemed a mute point as things were hurling fast towards the end, "She's getting married father. Her parents found a suitor, I believe. She's happy. I am not about to hand down a sentence to her the first time she is actually happy in her life."

 

[caela]

Skye looked around lost in the fog. Even three steps from the castle and she could no longer see it. All she could see was the fog a few inches in front of her. The light from the jewel she held seemed to keep it at bay but she would have sworn she could have seen shadows moving just beyond the haze of fog that hid their true shapes from view.

"Max!" she called out both vocally and with her mind only to hear her voice absorbed as if it were running into wet cotton. She wasn't sure if her mental call went much further. She thought for a brief moment that she felt Max's mind but the touch slipped away and was gone as quickly as it had been there.

Wandering with no idea where she was going she at last stopped and growled softly, stamping her foot in annoyance. She had to find Max! She had to! As she thought it the gem she held glowed brighter as if responding to her thoughts and drawing more magic into it to do her will.

 

[only_more_so]

Max started running to keep up with the shadowy creatures that lived in the fog. He could feel a savage, primordial feeling come over him as he ran through the fog. Some part of him realize that at the speed he was running he could hit a tree or building before he could stop. But that was part of the thrill that seemed to be growing inside of him.

Ahead he could see a... well something that wasn't fog or creature. It was still too indisctint to tell what it was, but it was both attracting and repelling the creatures. Like moths that have learned the lesson about being burned, but can't overcome their instinctive attraction.

Max stopped and realized whatever he thought he saw was coming toward him. The creatures were still ignoring him, but they were becoming ever thicker as It came closer. He started hearing music, or at least a primal rhythm in the air. He felt his blood pulsing in his veins, hear it throbbing in his ears with the strange beat. The fog seemed to pulse and thicken, taking on taste and smell as well. Raw scents that spoke to man's wilder ancestor. Whatever was approaching through the fog, Max was going to... Well, he didn't know, but he wasn't positive he would be in complete control.

* * *

The King listened to his son, with a mixture of pity and incredulousness. Max in love with Skye? If so it could only have been the past few days, certainly not before Max had been stabbed.

"If Max and Skye are out in the fog then they are gone. I will not see the guards disappear as well. You know no one comes back from the fog, we don't even get their bodies back. Why did Max go into the fog so early? I thought he would at least say goodbye."

The king switched gears for a moment, "As for that Serena girl. You don't have to worry about passing sentance, that would only have been your burden if I had perished in the fog."

Just then the captain of the guards arrived and the king said to him, "Make the castle fast. All the doors are to be closed and bolted with at least two guards at every entrance." Looking at David a bit severely he added, "and the watch tower is to be closed and guarded. Lastly have your men find Serena and have her taken to her room. She may have no visitors save her mother, father or David, and then only one at a time."

The captain saluted and left, handing out orders as he went. The king turned to David and put a hand on his shoulder. "You might want to say goodbye to Serena. If the curse isn't lifted tonight, and we are still here, I have little choice in what sentance will be handed down."

 

[caela]

The jewel was leading her to...well to something now. When she tried to turn it would dim but if she turned back it would brighten once more as if lighting her way. Trusting the magic of the gem she went the way it dictated and tried not to shudder as the dark shapes in the fog seemed to multiply. It was as if they were drawn to the light and seeing them made her pray the light held and continued to keep them at bay.

She continued to call for Max both verbally and within her mind and now and then she would have sworn she felt his mind brush hers but it was indistinct and it was often gone as soon as it came leaving her feeling agonizingly alone and even more determined to find him.

"Max, where the hell are you," she muttered to herself, "Stay where you are please, I'll find you," she promised emphatically.

 

[poohlive]

"No, soldiers halt," He was the one rescinding orders now, "You can't pass another sentence down on Serena father. I already promised her her freedom. You said the choice was mine in what to do with her. I chose to let her go, what point is keeping her confined to her room if we're all about to disappear in the fog anyway."

What was his father doing, it didn't make any sense.

"She's about to get married. Let her be father, we have enough concerns than spending our time making sure some servant stays in her room. What about the seers? We used the seers to find Skye. She obviously isn't the chosen one. Can we use them to find another? Time is short, but there must be something we can do besides wait for death."

He paused, looking back out at the fog. They were all about to be swallowed up, just like Skye and MAx out there. It hurt, knowing he would never see them again, even though his anger still flared at their actions.

"There must be something, Father. You can't tell me in all the books and theories, we're now resigned to just sit here? Skye said something about another part of the curse, another way to lift it. She read some weird book. I pushed her away at the time, thinking she was just finding an excuse not to marry me, but maybe she had something. Is there something I don't know?"

David didn't want to come right out and say if there is something his father hadn't told him. Even if it was his father, this was also the King of the land, and accusations were not to be taken lightly.

 

[only_more_so]

The driving rhythm that coursed through Max's body, seemed to intensify as he got closer to the mysterious attraction. He became hot, and felt flushed and sweaty. He tore off his shirt and proceeded forward more cautiously. What was the thing that scared and attracted the creatures?

A voice whispered in his ear that it was the old enemy, taken form at last. He must strike it down with furious vengence. But to do that he needed a weapon. A knife! And there on the ground in front of him was a knife. The knife he had once killed a fog creature with and believed lost forever. He picked up the warm steel weapon and proceeded forward, trying to circle around behind.

The throbbing in his ears grew louder, he couldn't hear his own breathing or the sounds of his footsteps. He grew closer and could sense a form ahead of him. The Devil! He wore an illusion to make him look like Skye! Perhaps that is why no one could lift the curse, the forgotten, cast off twin thought his brother's lover had come out for him. No prince would kill a chosen one, and they all loved the chosen one, even those who tried not to.

As Max got close enough to launch an attack, he saw the hand grasping the jewel he had given Skye. Could it really be Skye out here? "Skye? Is that really you?"

* * *

"Guards, do as I said." Charles said firmly. He turned his gaze to David and said, "Have you been taking other liberties claiming Kingly powers expecting my demise? I told you, that you would have to pass judgement if you brother didn't return and I had to fight the fog."

Charles' gaze grew distant for a moment as Beatrix sent him images of the fight between David and Maximillian. "You attacked your own brother? Tried to throw him from the tower? Perhaps it is you who I should have the guards escort to house arrest."

"There was a book. Maximillian found it in the private library but wasn't able to read it. In fact the only person who could even seem to remember seeing the book is Skye, because it was so heavily magicked. Both Maximillian and Skye seemed to have been visited by the fairy princess as well, but I have no idea if that is even true."

Charles began losing some of his anger, and spoke more calmly. "I will have Quint take the book to your room for you to see if you can read it. The boy became Skye's squire and if anyone knows where Skye left it, it would be him."

"I will also consult with the seers, that is the first sensible thing you have said since you returned. Now I would suggest you go to your rooms and get a hold of yourself. Get cleaned up and wait for Quint to deliver the book."

 

[poohlive]

David felt like arguing, he felt like a lot of things, that hot blood still pouring inside of him, but he could do nothing. It was as his father said, and he was merely a pawn after all.

The once great story involving a prince, a princess, and a pure evil that only love could overcome, had turned into a sick and twisted tale of playing catch up. Here he was, being pushed further and further back, watching as the real heros stepped forward.

He was, at best, a side note in the pages of their history.

"Yes, father," He resigned back to his room. No one spoke to him, no one cared. Rumors were spreading fast of what he had done on the Watch Tower, what he had been forced to do. Hate didn't register into it.

Perhaps father was right, he did deserve to be put under arrest. Maybe beheaded. He did attempt to murder a prince, after all. That crime had no other punishment than death.

Inside his room, he sat, looking out at the fog still circling. He would get the book, eventually, but what of it? No one could read the book except Skye. To him it would be a series of unintelligent symbols and mysterious sayings.

The fairy princess had come and spoken to the chosen one and his brother?

Who was he? Who could David possibly be? Why had he been forced to love Skye all his life if she were meant to be with Max? What sort of sick and cruel joke would have a man's whole point in life be so horribly uplifted inthe course of a few hours, where he had to question everything.

There were no answers, not for the side point in a hero's story.

He looked outside at the fog, wondering just what the heros were doing.

 

[caela]

"Skye? Is that really you?"

Whirling at the sound of Max's voice a bright smile lit Skye's face at the sight of him, "Max! Of course it's me. I told you I wouldn't leave you out here alone, that if you came out here into this mess I was coming with you. I just thought at the time that we'd be coming out together, not that I'd have to search for you. Apparently this little gem has a few uses other than letting us touch each other's minds."

Still holding the jewel high she moved toward Max without even noticing the knife he held. All she saw was his beloved face and her own joy in finding him. With her free hand she reached out and laced her fingers through his while rising up to kiss him softly.

"I love you Maximillian, I'd nevet have left you out here alone."

 

[RedHairedandFriendly]

Serena shivered at the closeness of her betrothed and she stepped back. The sound of the doors opening made her jump and she stepped back. Her eyes flew to those of the guards and her heart sunk, she’d hoped it would be David, but again she was disappointed, funny how that seemed to shock her, but it was always happening.

She listened to them explain that she was to go back to her rooms, under the King’s command and she didn’t argue. If she could stay away from Derek, then by all means she would welcome that freedom.

Derek moved to go with her explaining she was to be his wife and he would protect her as it was his right by decree. He showed them the contract, with the exception of words being spoken by a Priest, legally Serena was his. He owned her and it was a technicality that they had not yet married. The incident concerning Derek and Serena was a rumor, but the guard now assumed it was not true, for why would sweet Serena marry a man that had supposedly raped her. He felt somewhat angered at the girl for the troubles she’d caused, but he still liked the chit.

The guard read the parchment and spoke with Serena’s mother and then with her father when he returned with the Priest. The guard made a quick decision and stepped back. If the fog was going to kill them all, shouldn’t the lovely Serena be happy even if for a brief moment in time?

He stood witness as the wedding proceed and Serena’s fate was sealed. “Come my wife, you have been sentenced to your rooms and to your rooms we will go.”

Serene shuddered in disgust, but in the back of her mind there was a place for her. She could see it. A place where Derek wouldn’t hurt her, it was dark and silent. She searched for that place now.

 

[only_more_so]

Max clung to the knife stubbornly. He could feel a voice urging him to use it, and quickly. But a part of him deep down knew it was Skye, really Skye. But he had to be sure.

"Is it really you? Or some trick of the fog? What are you doing out here?"

* * *

Queen Beatrix relayed the request for the book to Quint. "But David will be mad at me. I saw how mad he was at Max, and Max is his brother. Also... I kind of knew about Skye and Max. He'll yell at me for sure."

"Quint, did you find out about Max and Skye before or after David left with Serena?" Beatrix said in a calming manner.

"Nothing happened before, they didn't even know. But David won't believe that."

"Quint, if you are afraid, I could have a guard escort you, but I think you'll be fine. The fog used David's hurt to confuse him, but he is free from its hold now. He'll still be upset, but you should be fine."

Quint nodded his head said goodbye and hurried to Skye's room. Not as fast as he normally would, but still in good time. The book was right where he thought, but it was slippery in his hands. He knew it wasn't meant for him. He hurried the book to David's rooms.

He knocked and announced, "Prince David, it's Quint, I have the book for you."

 

[caela]

"Is it really you? Or some trick of the fog? What are you doing out here?"

Squeezing his hand once more she laughed softly at his question, "Of course it's me you silly goose. How many times did I tell you I wasn't letting you come out here alone?"

Holding the jewel she carried high to shine it's light around them she reached for Max's mind once more and this time she could feel the fog there, feel it trying to tell him she wasn't Skye, that she was just a trick sent to decieve him. She'd watch the stone push the fog back away from her and so she lowered it slowly, brought it more in line with Max's head and felt some of the grip of the fog loosen. Just enough for her to slip past it and caress his mind tenderly.

We've walked each others deams love...reach for my mind if you doubt it's me. I'm out here because I love you.

 

[poohlive]

"Thank you," He said, taking the book in his own hands. The weight of it seemed terrible, like some unmistakable lock set upon the world. He went to his desk, sitting down with the book before him.

AS he opened the pages he could understand why this never became part of the curse lore. The words unrecognizable, simple scribblings that seemed set down by a mad man. A book filled with the nonsense of the damned.

And Skye had found something in here? Maybe... or maybe she realized she loved Max more than him, and pretended to find something to get her out of it. Some loophole that let her do what she wanted.

He closed the book, his fingers playing over the top symbol for a moment.

It didn't matter much anymore. The book, even if he could read it was uselees. As was the curse, and the chosen one, and himself for that matter.

He didn't know how or why, but he had become useless.

 

[RedHairedandFriendly]

Derek kept her pressed against him as he made his way toward her rooms. He said nothing to her, just kept dragging her stiffly beside him. Serena closed off any parts of her that he would hurt. Her emotions were locked and frozen. He was just another Wellington and she would deal with him as she had the other. The cocoon was slowly easing itself around her. When they reached the door to her room, she baulked, but was swiftly pulled back to him. Pleading glances were tossed to passing servants, but they didn’t catch her gaze, too lost in the fear of the unknown to care about the young Serena.

The door was opened and she was pushed through. Derek laughed as she tripped over her feet and tumbled to the ground. “It all comes back to this room, doesn’t it. Like a circle. There was never an end for you was there Serena. It just keeps rolling this little life you lead. You grew up higher in your station than was deemed didn’t you. Now you are married to a Chancellor’s son... a Duke, isn’t that a great leap up the social later.”

Serena said nothing and Derek’s anger rose another notch. He kicked her in the stomach and she gasped for air, rolled to her bed and pulled herself up. She glared at him, still refusing to acknowledge his words.

He sneered, closing the distance between them. He pulled her hair and yanked her to her feet. She was dragged to her mirror and allowed to see herself. “Look at you. You are nothing. Just a woman that I am going to use over and over. You’ll bear my children and then I will fuck you again. You will be the dog that sits on the floor of my table. You are nothing to me. You will eat scraps that fall to the ground. You will walk on your knees, crawl to me and clean my body with that mouth you like to use so much. You’ll not speak unless I allow it.”

She shivered in fear over his promises and felt it rolling in her stomach. She closed her eyes and felt a quick jerk back against her scalp and then her head was propelled forward. Her forehead smashed into the mirror, breaking the age old glass into shards of disjointed figures of a woman and man.

“Look at me as I fuck you. You watch or I’ll give you a good reason not to by removing one of those precious orbs. I don’t need you to see to fuck you... I just want you to see. A blind wife fucks as good as a seeing one. . .”

He lifted her dress and released his sex. She struggled as the realization that she was going to lose the only thing left that was hers. Derek laughed then. “That’s right,” he growled low and grabbed one of her hands, bending it behind her back. The other was wedged between her and the desk. Blood poured from a gash on her forehead, the broken mirror leaving its own gift behind. “Fight wife... fight me with everything you have. I want to break you and break you often.”

She screamed and he told her to do it louder. He wanted everyone to know how she liked being fucked, how her body begged him to make her accept his rod.

He pushed her further against the desk and forced a leg between her thighs. He pulled at the linen cloth of her underclothes and tore them from her small ass. “I’ll take you there eventually, my dog, but for now your blood will flow for me.”

Serena felt the draft and then she felt the sting of something else. At first her mind was to clouded with fear for her to realize what it was she was feeling. She shook herself from the darkness for a moment and saw the distorted image of her face lying beside her, the tip of broken mirror had run across her cheek, nicking her skin. She felt a new sense of urgency assail her and she fought her husband again. She twisted herself to the right and then the left receiving another cuff across her head, but she welcomed it this time. Serena’s hand that had been pressed between her and the desk was now free and it reached for the mixed up image of her face.

Derek’s blood pumped through his cock and when she began fighting him again, he felt his balls tighten. “She’ll be a blessing to break,” he thought to himself as he felt the fight leave her again. He lined his cock up against her sex and leaned low over her back to growl that she was to scream as loud as she could.

Her voice was filled with hate as she gripped the sharp fragment of broken mirror and growled her own words. “So must you,” she said as she brought the point of her tool down into his thigh at the same moment he rammed his cock into her. She twisted her weapon and felt his slacken; too lost in the rush of gaining freedom to think of what had happened she spun around and with her other hand, now free, she grabbed another piece of glass, and as Derek stared in shock at the blood spurting from his leg, she forced the second piece into his neck.

Crimson liquid spilled and sprayed all over her and she shook in fear and terror as she watched her husband fall to the ground. Her fingers shook as she wiped at the blood on her face and looked down at her dress, it too was covered. Her dress fell back down, covering her used sex and she started to shake. Who would help her now? She knew who and so in a state of confused shock, she opened her bedroom door and silently made her way to the one man that had swore to always take care of her.

Her fingers lifted and she knocked on David’s door. Her hand fell away leaving a smear of blood. She stared at her bloody fingers and was lost in the lines that trailed down her fingers.

 

[only_more_so]

We've walked each others deams love...reach for my mind if you doubt it's me. I'm out here because I love you.

Max reached out for the jewel which seemed to be burning away the fog. Not just the fog in the air, but the fog that had invaded his mind. The light filled his eyes and his mind. He could hear the fog hissing as it seeped out of his mind.

He suddenly realized he had almost attacked Skye, and threw the knife to the ground where it quivered point downward. Hopefully he wouldn't need it, but he wasn't going to chance it.

As quickly as he dropped the knife he grabbed Skye in an embrace. He lifted her off the ground and spun her around. "I'm so glad it's really you. It feels like I haven't seen you in days!"

He let her back to the ground and said in all seriousness, "You know that no one has ever made it out of the fog before? We're trapped unless the curse is lifted."

 

[caela]

"I'm so glad it's really you. It feels like I haven't seen you in days!"

Skye laughed in delight and clung to him as he swung her through the air. She'd seen the knife he'd thrown away and understood that the fog had tried to make him attack her. It hadn't worked of course and she was glad for it. She wasn't ready to die and she especially wouldn't have wanted to see the look on his face if he'd harmed her.

"Well I'm here and I'm not going anyway," she answered and pressed a tender kiss to his lips. When at last he put her down once more she laced the fingers of her free hand through his and held the stone that connected them up once more. It's light glowed bright and true now no matter which way she turned.

"Hmph! Apparently it's only good at giving directions to you not to a way out."

"You know that no one has ever made it out of the fog before? We're trapped unless the curse is lifted."

"The curse, the curse, the curse, " Skye muttered under her breath lost in thought for a long moment before her eyes snapped up to Max's as a thought suddenly occured to her. "Max, what exactly does the curse say. Not the generalization that I was told about a Chosen One and all that but the exact wording of it?

I mean obviously your people have interpreted it wrong. The Princess herself told us that so maybe if you recite it for me exactly we can figure it out together.

And if we can't let's pray David and Serena can."

 

[poohlive]

When he opened the door, the last thing he expected was to have a bloody crazy Serena on the other side. It took him but a moment to see her in the state she was as he pulled her inside.

"Hey," he quickly yelled at one of the passing servants, "Go get the doctor, quick."

Where had all the blood come from? He didn't know, he couldn't see a clean mark on her. There were bruises, and some scrapes, but nothing that would allow for that.

"Lay down," He took her to his bed, helping her relax, "What in the world, Serena? Are you all right? I thought you were supposed to stay in your room. Why did you leave?"

She had left her room broken and bloody, against direct orders just to come see him? What could he do?

 

[RedHairedandFriendly]

She lay there and tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come. Several minutes of silence filled the room before she found the words to speak. “He told them he’d been in love with me and that was why he did it. He told them that he’d wanted to make amends and he wanted to marry me. He said that if I didn’t they’d lose everything. They signed it all to him. What would a Duke want with a small hovel of a seamstress, David?” she asked, blinking a half dozen times.

“The guard came and said I was supposed to go to my room, but he’d go with me, then father came with the Priest and they married us... right there in the study. I couldn’t fight David. I said I wouldn’t be a bother. I promised you I’d grow up and I’d be a good woman and I’d not bother you or anyone else again.”

Tears fell in steady streams as she spoke, the blood pooled with the salty liquid and rivers of pink speckled her face. She wiped at them, only adding to the grotesque colors that were on her face, spearing the crimson. “I couldn’t though David. I thought back to that night of the dance and how he was going to force me and I knew it wasn’t my fault. I had just danced with him. Then I remembered Wellington and how he was going to do terrible things to me. I couldn’t let it happen David...”

Her lower lip trembled. “But it did. He pushed my head into the mirror and slammed me on the desk. There was a shard that lay beside me and I stared at myself for a while, while he tore off my clothes. I was going to let him. I was going to stop fighting and be good... not trouble you... I tried David. I tried very hard to be strong. But I felt this prick on my cheek and it was that shard of glass staring back at me and David there I was staring at myself again...I couldn’t let him win.”

She took a deep breath and looked away. “I struggled and was able to get the broken piece. I curled it around my hand and when he...,” she gasped, “when he pushed into me...” She sobbed and then took several more breaths. “I jabbed his thigh with the end of the glass and then he screamed. He released me and he...” she shuddered, “he fell out of me and I spun around. I picked up another piece of glass and rammed it into his neck.”

Her eyes glassed over and she swayed slightly. “There was so much blood David. He just stared at me for a moment and then dropped. Blood everywhere. In my room... on me... there is so much blood on me David.... get it off....please...please get it off.”

She started to rock back and forth. “David I’m sorry. I tried David. I tried so very hard for you. Oh David... what have I done. I killed my husband, the High Chancellor’s son... Derek Worthing, Duke of Salistein...” a chuckle came from her, “a Duke... look David... I’m a Duchess after all...David, the blood there was so much...” her words faded, just as her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she slipped into the sweet darkness that had threatened to consume her.

 

[poohlive]

He let her finally fall into the warm water. Inside his private bath, steam rolled over the tub like some calm lake. He let her naked form slide inside, wrapping her in its warmth and comfort.

"God, Serena... My god," He grabbed the washrag, washing the blood and tears from her body. He head to hold her unconscious body to keep her from falling into the water.

"This never should have happened to you. I was going to protect you. Why can't I keep doing that? Every time there's someone or something in the way."

This time it was his father. His father had made this happen, had given Derek another opportunity for poor Serena to have what little she had left taken away.

"I can still make it all go away," He spoke to her, kind and soothing words, "I can make it all go away, remember, like last time? It won't even be a bad dream. I can help you forget, Serena."

 

[RedHairedandFriendly]

She heard his words coming to her through a thick fog in her mind. The water stirred at her subconscious and in time she woke up. The thought of him seeing her naked did not faze her or him and as he washed away the blood of her crime his haunting words came to her. “Take it away?” she asked herself.

“No, David. . .if you take it all away then you don’t help. Would it help my thoughts? Yes, but would I still be a used woman?... Yes.”

She pushed him away and climbed out of the bath. A towel was there and she wrapped herself in it. Her hair hung down her back and she looked back at him. “David, I love you. You are my friend. You mean well...”

Serena took a deep breath. “You have given me a chance to erase my memories twice. These memories are no good erased. Everyone else still has them. Your mother and father still know I broke the laws. Your brother and Skye still know as does your mother know what happened to me in Vegas...and you know the King knows now too. You know also. Now you and the Kingdom will know I killed my husband... so you take away all my pain and then when I am punished or put to death I know not why? Is that justice? No... You can not replace my innocense? Can you?”

She looked at him carefully. “I have to face your father. I have to face mine. When you are done feeling sorry for yourself, why don’t you use your precious magic and turn it upon yourself and remove your memories. Do that for me. You can remove all the things about me and our experience in Vegas. Use your gift on yourself, take the easy way out.”