To Thwart Corruption (Closed for shexay_xx)

[Bluemage]

Hiro was pacing silently in his throne room. Things had not been going well for him or his nobles since those mysterious deaths during one of the campaigns that they had gone on. He narrowed his eyes. Of course things hadn't been going well. People were becoming uneasy because rumor was spreading that the reason why people had died during that incident was because they were viewed as traitors. Hiro placed both of his hands on the table and stared down at it, a few strands of his long silver hair falling down almost as if to taunt him because they refused to conform with the rest of his hair, reminding him how there were a few peasants spreading rumors like this and slowly tearing his kingdom down beneath him. He took a deep breath and brought a gloved hand up to adjust the large glasses sitting on his nose. He now had no choice but to continue down the path that he had started walking. He slowly pushed himself up again and took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment.

King, Hiro...having some trouble?

Hiro growled softly and turned around to stare at a full length mirror that was taking up a portion of wall. He raised his finger, "Silence. I have had enough of your help." He stared at the mirror, and had an eerie feeling. It was a feeling that caused his body to chill, his legs to tremble, and the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up. It was a very cold feeling, almost to the point where Hiro expected to see the fog from the condensation of his breath in front of him. It was the undeniable feeling that as he looked at the mirror, that the mirror was looking right back at him.

The voice that only Hiro could here returned again, Why so testy, my king? the voice chuckled with a douns that had the same impact as dumping a jar full of rusty nails into a metal bucket, Is something not going the way that you had planned?

Hiro clenched his gloved fingers into fists, partly as a show of defiance, and partly to stop his hands from shaking so much, "I don't need your help anymore, demon." He said it, his voice cracking slightly with a bit of fear.

The voice spoke, this time with no humor in it at all, Oh, but my dear Hiro...I think you do. There was a moment of silence before it spoke again, Currently fate has you falling a rather vicious fall at the hands of the people you are supposed to serve. Alone you will never be able to stop them in time.

Hiro growled softly, he was done taking insults from a mirror, "This situation would never have come to pass if it weren't for-"

You are quite right my king. You would still be living in blissful ignorance of what was being done to you. Without me you would never have had the power to destroy any of the people who were pulling your strings. The voice was calm and collected even with everything that it was having to put up with, A puppet such as yourself hung itself on its own strings. Be cautious of what you say, my prince, or you might find yourself back in the situation that I freed you from.

Hiro took an angry step forward, "I am king!"

The voice erupted in laughter, Well then, my King. Enjoy your throne....well it lasts.

Hiro was once again left in silence, his long black cape, and black robes weighing heavily on his shoulders. It seemed that his fate was already decided. He turned his head and narrowed his eyes for a moment. The only things that he could do now was try to find these people who knew too much and silence them, or make it so that no one would believe their stories. He sighed softly and brought his hand up to the side of his face, sweeping the stray strands of silver hair over his ear. It was time that he took his destiny into his own hands.


----------

Name: Hiro
Gender: Male
Hair: Reaches to his elbows, silver.
Eyes: Emerald Green
Clothing: Almost always all black
Age: 25
Skin tone: Pale
Weapons: Short sword (sheathed at left side), the Lazarus staff (summoned)
Magic: Necromancy, Various Dark Magics and Binding Spells, Barriers, Lightning.
Bio: After his father was assassinated and his assent to the throne, Hiro became paranoid that the people who were the closest to him were plotting his death so that they could have his position and his power. After searching through the seemingly endless libraries of magical knowledge Hiro came in contact with a spell that advertised to allow him to commune with the dead. Hoping to speak to his father once more, Hiro blindly followed through with the spell, and instead of speaking with his father came in contact with a hellish demon. The demon played on Hiro's fears and has been manipulating him like a puppet on strings for unknown reasons.
During one of the 'crusades' Hiro slaughtered the elders and his close friend and fellow mage under the belief that they were all traitors and out to kill him. His memories of the incident are fuzzy however, leading Hiro to believe that the demon had possessed his body, which is very possibly the case.

 

[shexay_xx]

Sarah

Sarah's eyes flashed with anger as she preached to the crowd of people, and their eyes stared back. Her voice was steady and full of emotion and it rang out clearly across the crowd, her blue eyes scanned the faces as if seeing into their soul.

" Many of you have lost husbands or sons recently after the kings men visited our humble homes. Do you not think it odd that they have disappeared after the so called King's men came and visited them? The king set out his men to MURDER them! The simple fact is he can't stand people going against him and so he plans to kill everyone of us until there is noone left to oppose him. What good has he done for our people? Does he care about us mere peasants? NO he would rather us be dead than rome his streets! We must stop his reign! I know what kind of man he is...because...of what he did"

Tears sprang to her eyes and she swallowed painfully,
" He killed my husband , and his closest friend in cold blood! There was no man who supported the king so strongly, who advised him so wisely! Who DEFENDED him! And now that great man is dead for no other reason but cruelty. I know that it's dangerous but I need everyone's support ! We need to stop this man's reign , before he destroys everything we love."

And with that their was cheers from the crowds, they broke up into clusters and talked amongst themselves some wandering off back to where they came.

Sarah took a deep breath, hapy with the reaction from the crowd. Anything to stop that bastard from ruling.

She had liked him once , she had thought of him as a kind and trustworthy man, but when she woke from the fateful cries of her husband that night, as he lay in her arms she had begged him over and over again to tell her who had hurt him she had not been ready for the answer, Milo.

She stayed with him as he slipped away, it din't take that long 10 minutes on the most, but every minute she promised to him that she would get revenge whatever it took.

She felt that night and still felt to this day as if someone had cut up her heart, she made it her mission to stop Milo from ruling , forever .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Name : Sarah
Gender: female
Hair: Reaches her shoulders, brown and wavy.
Eyes: Dark Blue
Clothing: Ratty blue dress and shoes that are too small for her, wears the same thing every day, can't afford anything else.
Age: 21
Skin tone: Pale
Weapons: Dagger that belonged to her husband, his initals are carved into the handle . T.D - Thomas Drake
Magic: None
Bio: Orphaned at a young age, grew up on the street. Met and fell in love with Thomas a talented mage who was known for his powers. He was a close friend to Hiro and spoke of him often . They lived comftarbly in a 1 room house until one cold night her husband staggered into their house close to death, as he lay in Sarah's arms she made a vow to destroy Hiro. She was forced to go back to living as a peasant but she works hard at spreading rumour of Hiro's treachourous acts and is trying to secure his downfall.

 

[Bluemage]

Hiro - The Streets

After his contact with the demon, Hiro had needed to get out to get some fresh air. Things had been a bit to stuffy in the castle with the heat of the demon there. He had needed to get out to where he actually felt free, so he had decided to walk the streets. It hadn't taken him long before he had run into the protest. It was a simple woman standing on her soapbox and rallying the crowd around her to protest his rule. He sighed softly and leaned back against a shop to watch as she went on about how he would rather kill all of them than have them under his rule. That was just foolishness. He looked at the crowd and noticed a few of these people nodding and accepting the things that this woman was saying. That was the way of the world though. People always seemed to need a shepherd of some sort or another. The fact that they were turning against him was a bit unsettling though, and spoke volumes about what he had been fearing all along. The people didn't care for him. They were simply tolerating him until they had the chance to remove him from power forcefully. He sighed softly and listened as the crowd cheered for this poor woman's story. It seemed that they were all ready to start a civil war. He was frankly shocked. He never would have pegged these peasants as being so brave.

He brought his hands up and smiled, clapping softly. The sound reverberated through some sort of magical means and reached the ear of every peasant, including the woman who was trying to rally these people against him. He smiled softly and pushed off of the shop as his claps slowly drew to a close, "Bravo. Bravo." He looked around for a moment, "What is this, some sort of play?" He brought his hands down to his hips and looked around at the shocked looks that he was getting from the peasants with mild amusement, "I do say, I can't wait until the next act." He smiled before looking up at the woman who was standing where everyone could see. Something about her seemed mildly familiar, but then all of the peasants seemed to look alike these days, "I wonder if the madwoman manages to rally the people behind her to attack their king." Suddenly a mock expression of shock came over his face, "What? Are you to tell me that this is not a play?" He looked around at the crowd, "Well, I thought for certain that it must be. I mean, after all, a king as corrupt and drunk with power as the one she is describing wouldn't dare harm the peasants, unless he was truly mad. Without his subjects what use would all of that power be?" He looked at the woman and let a soft smile cross his lips before bringing his hand up to adjust the classes on his nose.

This was very possibly the woman that the demon had been trying to warn him about. If incidents like this were starting up now though, there was no telling what he would have to deal with in a weeks time. Unfortunately killing her would probably make a martyr of her, and that was the last thing that he really needed. Throwing her into prison would simply fuel her claims and someone else would pick up the torch. Soon after that he would be out of prison space and would need a new solution. He needed to refute her claims and then maybe once everyone had calmed down a little bit he could have her disappear from the public eye forever.

He raised his hand for a moment and spoke up once more, "I deeply regret that some of the men who accompanied me on the last journey that I took did not return. It seems that there are strange and foul beasts living just beyond our borders." He closed his eyes and lowered his head slightly, "I was powerless to do anything to stop them, and for that I am truly sorry." He slowly looked up, "I lost my own closest friend to these monsters. You must believe that it was not my intent for anyone to die." He looked around for a moment and raised his arms, "Please my people. More violence and death will not bring you happiness." He looked up to the woman, "This will not bring your husbands back." He then looked back to the crowd, "I implore you please. We must put a stop to the violence. There is no need to take these kinds of actions."

He knew that his speech was going to have a calming effect on the crowd. He also knew that the people that it didn't calm down weren't going to be sticking around to discuss rebellion now that he was there. He looked up to the woman as the crowd began to disperse again. He wasn't quite sure what her next move was going to be.

 

[shexay_xx]

Sarah

Sarah was shocked as the king stepped out and made his little speech. But shockly quickly led to anger, her eyes burned into his and his smile had no effect but to anger her further she watched the faces of the people in the crowd and she saw them taking everything he said in. It made her sick to see them accept what he said so easily. She sees him look up and she directs as much hate as she can back at him her chin raised slightly to show that she was not convinced.

"I deeply regret that some of the men who accompanied me on the last journey that I took did not return. It seems that there are strange and foul beasts living just beyond our borders." He closed his eyes and lowered his head slightly, "I was powerless to do anything to stop them, and for that I am truly sorry." He slowly looked up, "I lost my own closest friend to these monsters. You must believe that it was not my intent for anyone to die." He looked around for a moment and raised his arms, "Please my people. More violence and death will not bring you happiness." He looked up to the woman, "This will not bring your husbands back." He then looked back to the crowd, "I implore you please. We must put a stop to the violence. There is no need to take these kinds of actions."


She couldn't believe that he had the nerve to stand there and lie in front of so many who had lost someone! Monsters? She had seen her husband die and it was from his own lips that he had told her who his murderer was.
She watched in disbelief as the crowd seemed to accept it and slowly disperse, she shook her head and stepped off the soapbox she'd been using.

She walked towards him her fists clenched , her jaw tight her eyes boring into his, she stepped a few feet away from him and mock curtsied.

"Ahh so the king has graced us peasants with his presense! You speak of putting on plays.Well, I think it is you who is putting on a play. You may have fooled the others with your fairytales but I sir know that what you say is all lies. And I won't be taken in by them for one second SIR! And if you must throw me in prison for standing up to you then do so, or wich I'm sure you'd prefer your highness - you could always kill me as you've killed my husband"

Her body shook with the effort of staying calm and her eyes burned with anger and pain , what was worse is she saw no recognition at all in his face, after all the years he'd know her and her husband he did not even remember her face.

 

[Bluemage]

Hrio

He looked at her for a few moments before speaking in a soft and calm voice, "As I said earlier, I regret what happened to your husband but there was nothing that I could do to save him." Suddenly the reason why this woman had seemed familiar to him hit him like a boulder from a catapult. He stared at the woman for a moment before continuing, "Sarah, I am not asking for your forgiveness. You're husband was my closest friend. Surely you don't think that I would have killed him." He continued to stare at her, "And surely you can't truly believe that I would kill the grieving widow of my best friend." He shook his head, "I feel your pain, but we both know that your husband was a powerful mage, probably even more powerful than I." He looked at her for a moment and sighed softly, It was evident in her face that she was not going to give up on this, "Sarah, think for a moment. Your husband and all of those other men. How would I, a lone man, have killed all of them without suffering any personal injury to speak of? I suppose I could understand your point of view if I had died as well, or if only a few had fallen, but..." He closed his eyes and let out another sigh before looking up at her, "Well, you seem to be the one with the whole story here. How is it that I managed to do it, do you think?"

The crowd had gone back to their every day lives. It seemed perfectly normal that the king would be having a word with someone who was trying to rally a mob to destroy him after all. Actually, it made more sense to them that someone such as that would be killed or thrown into a dungeon from where they would never see the light of day again, but perhaps they had pegged Hiro all wrong. Maybe he was really kind hearted and understanding. Perhaps there really were monsters outside their borders that were just waiting for unsuspecting travelers to try and leave before they would jump out and end them. Anything seemed possible.

Hiro had the thought to place his hand on Sarah's shoulder, but had quickly wiped it from his mind. If he did that she would push away or would find a sharp object and stab him or something. It was probably better that he just avoid contact until he had either stopped her movements or calmed her down considerably. He thought about other things that he could do to ease the tension of this situation. If he invited her to share dinner with him or somehow got her off the streets under the guise of continuing this discussion he wouldn't have to worry about witnesses, which was currently the largest problem. Once he had done that he would be able to think of a way of dealing with the woman, without making her a ghost that the townspeople could rally around in a few months. He thought about it for a few more moments. The demon might have something that could deal with a problem like this, but convincing the demon to talk to him was going to take some time, and if her gave Sarah enough time, she would make sure that he didn't have any time left.

He understood the plan here perfectly. The first stage seemed to be something along the lines of what she had done earlier. Rally the people. Get them all of the same mind set, and make herself into an icon that people would recognize. After that was the step that they had just arrived at, which was waiting for his move. Unfortunately in this political game of chess, Hiro knew better than to rush into things without first thinking about his next few moves, especially when he was dealing with a dangerous situation such as this one. There a few ways that he could stop her from telling her stories. Throwing her into a dungeon would work. Because he hadn't shown any recognition of her up to this point he could even frame her for her husband's death, putting all of the towns people at ease over that topic, and also over why he had thrown her in prison. Killing her was far more risky, since she was now someone that people would identify was missing. Other than that, the only real way that he could get her out of the public eye and somewhere that she wouldn't be able to speak to the peasants would be to somehow make her royalty, but that would just make the situation more dangerous in the end. It seemed that convincing her that she was crazy was the best idea. He'd have to commune with the demon about this though, since this was a risky move to be making.

He looked at her for a moment and spoke softly, "Sarah. I understand your situation. I would like to invite you to my castle. I will give you a warm meal and we can discuss this matter further. Would that be acceptable?"

 

[shexay_xx]

Sarah

Her mind spun as he looked at her his eyes searching hers. She felt so overwhelmed with emotion and she couldn't believe that he had the cheek to stand in front of her and lie, to say that he did not kill her husband !

The look on his face as he recognized her , obviously not believing what she had become...all at the hands of him. He still denied it. She was confused, and her mind was in turmoil over believing him.
What was she thinking? Her husband had layed dying in her arms, she had ASKED him who his killer was and he had replied Hiro.

Who was she to believe a murderer or her dead Love? She did not know howhe did it, perhaps he had used magic against him until he weakened and then made his move?

Why should she believe this man?

The next question threw her and she gazed in disbelief at him,
"Sarah. I understand your situation. I would like to invite you to my castle. I will give you a warm meal and we can discuss this matter further. Would that be acceptable?"

" You understand NOTHING of my 'situation' as you call it. You MURDERED my husband Hiro! Don't you dare deny it because I heard it from his mouth as he lay dying in my arms! Do you think for one mintute THINK about entering your castle? "

Her voice shook and tears cascaded down her face.
"You were his friend Hiro! You were OUR friend! My husband trusted you and did so much for his king for his FRIEND! You took my heart away from me, and you come here and smile at me, and speak to me as if we are still friends, I can tell you now Hiro you are NO friend of mine."

 

[Bluemage]

Hiro

Hiro sighed softly as once again Sarah went out in an outburst of rage and pain. He closed his eyes for a moment. This was a rather interesting situation. He was going to need to quiet her down or she was going to attract a bit too much attention. He knew that there were plenty of ways that he could deal with her, but killing her at this point wasn't going to make him happy, in either short term, or long term plans. He was going to have to solve this problem another way, but still remove her until she had some time to calm down and realize the situation that she was in. That meant that he needed to get her out of the streets. He could do it by having her arrested, but that would take entirely too much time. He knew that if he could get her to another place they could discuss all of this and he could make it go away. He could convince her that her husband wouldn't want her to act with all of this anger.

What he needed at the moment was a spell that would allow him to take her away from this place. There were a few more flashy ones, but they would be harder to explain and wouldn't give Sarah any time to calm down and relax. He knew a few good spells that would work though. He opened his eyes, which seemed to flash with a yellow light for a moment and he spoke in an enchanting voice, "Sarah. I need you to sleep." He was quite sure that the spell would work. In all of the years that he had known both Thomas, and Sarah, she had never shown any magical potential. He doubted that any barriers that Thomas had put up would have survived once he had died, and he was fairly sure that even under his teachings the girl wouldn't have been able to develop something to stop skills. He caught her as her body went limp and her eyes closed to comply with his magical command.

He sighed for a moment before picking up the sleeping woman's limp form and heading back to his castle. Once she was inside he'd find her a nice room that would be comfortable but would still be something that he could secure to stop her escape. He was sure he'd be able to find something like that, and quite possibly would even find a room where there was something more comfortable that she could change into. With new clothes she'd loose the support of the people quickly, he was sure. At the moment she was someone that they could relate to. Once she looked like a noble, that would come to an end.

He nodded to the guards as he passed them, hearing whispers such as 'wow, he's got a real beauty there'. A pair of guards had even gone so far as to take bets on whether or not they would be able to hear the sounds of lovemaking from outside of whatever room he was headed to by nightfall. Hiro payed little attention to the chatter though. These were people who either didn't enjoy their jobs because it seemed boring, or enjoyed their jobs but only because they had the opportunity to slack off. Not much of what they said ever reached Hiro's ears, and they knew it, otherwise they wouldn't have said the things that they had.

Hiro sighed when he finally came to the room that he had decided on and walked in slowly. Inside there was a large walk in closet, that he was told had nice clothing in it for both women and men. He couldn't remember having even been in the room himself so he had no idea. The bed was a simple fourposter bed, which had blue satin sheets on it. It looked rather comfortable. He placed the girl down on the bed, taking special care to make sure that the window was not going to open, even going to far as to enchant it, and then walked out and closed the door, locking it. He knew that it probably wouldn't be all that long until Sarah woke up, and he was rather sure that he didn't want to be there when she did. After that it was a simple job of posting two guards at her door and going about his other business while deciding what he was going to do with the woman.

 

[shexay_xx]

Sarah

Sarah's eyes fluttered open and waited for her blurred vision to fade, she felt as if she'd been sleeping for years. Suddenly everything came flooding back to her, the protest, talking to Hiro, refusing to come with him and then his voice ... "Sarah. I need you to sleep."

Her eyes opened wide and she sat up and looked about panic rising in her throat, she was in quite a rich looking room, Hiro must have cast some sort of spell. She rose quickly from the bed her eyes darting about in panic , she went to the window and pushed and pulled with all her might but it wqould not budge. She ran to the door her hair swinging behind her, she grasped the doorknob knowing what would happen, she twisted and pulled but the door didn't budge, she'd been locked in!

She pounded her fists against the door in anger her voice screaming
" You can't do this Hiro let me out! I'll kill you ! I'll murder you like you did my husband! Do you hear me?! Let me out right now!"

She kept screaming until her voice got corse and she slid down the door, and as she sat there she sobbed, her emotions overwhelmed her and she feared for her life. She couldn't believe how much Hiro had changed! She was sure he had cast a spell on her , how else would she have gotten here?

She ran her hand through her long hair and waited to hear her fate.

 

[Bluemage]

Hiro

Hiro walked through the halls of the castle rather quickly. Upon visiting the mirror again he had received nothing. The demon had not chosen to talk to him, and as a result he had no idea what he was supposed to do at this point. He looked around for a few more moments hoping that he would find some sort of phantasm or something that would point him in the right direction, but he found nothing. As he got closer to the room that he had left Sarah in he started to wonder if this was the direction that he was meant to go in. It was quite possible that what he was being told now was that the girl was awake and ready for whatever it was that he had planned. He sighed softly. This was going to be more difficult than he had initially planned. He was rather sure of that. He slowly put his hand against the door, wondering if perhaps this really was the best idea. He knew that with his magic there really wasn't all that much damage that he could receive from the little girl, but still, there was no way that she was going to be happy to see him.

He swallowed hard before pushing the door, stepping in, and quickly closing the door behind him. He looked at Sarah who was crying and sighed again before looking down to her, "There is no need for tears. I have no intention of hurting anyone." He then looked back to the window for a moment, being glad that she hadn't broken through his enchantment. That could have hurt her, with all of the broken glass, and the quick fall down. He then looked back to the girl for a moment and held his hand out to her, "Sarah. I've come to discuss these claims that you are making, that I am some sort of sadistic killer." He looked at her for a few more moments before speaking again, "Are you ready to talk about this?"

 

[shexay_xx]

Sarah

Sarah heard the door open behind her and instantly her body stiffened and she forced herself to stop crying,

"There is no need for tears. I have no intention of hurting anyone."

She listened to him her hair hiding her face, she didn't believe him for one second and why should she? After all the things he'd done, why did he carry on with this facade?

"Sarah. I've come to discuss these claims that you are making, that I am some sort of sadistic killer." "Are you ready to talk about this?"

She sprung up quickly her eyes flashing with anger
" Am I READY? Did you wander if I was ready when you cast your spell and brought me here?!" She stepped towards him her hand reaching behimd her, towards the stiching at the back of her dress that concealed her husband's knife.

And then she asked her voice an accusing whisper

" Was my husband ready to die?"

She ripped the seams and pulled out the dagger, she pulled it out in front of her , the metal glinting in the light , her hand shook. She did not want to talk to this man, she wanted him dead .

She took a step towards Hiro, her eyes burning into his. She knew that she could not kill him, he was too powerful but she had to try, she had made an oath!

 

[Bluemage]

Hiro

Hiro looked at her and sighed softly, "Sarah...this is the exact reason that I decided it was necessary to cast that spell on you. I couldn't have you making a scene in the middle of the street like that. It hurt me to see you so angry, but it hurt me even more to see what your anger was doing to our people." He had so far been ignoring the knife and the threatening way in which Sarah was holding it, pointed at him. Even though her hand was shaking, there was little question as to what she intended to do. He brought his hands up to hold the hand that she was holding the knife in, "If you intend to kill me there are a few things that you should know first." He looked into her eyes for a few moments and then shook his head as he scanned her up and down, "First your shaking hand makes it easy to disarm you. Knocking the blade with simply my gloved hand would add more shock to it, probably enough to knock away the blade." He looked back into her eyes, "Secondly, your stance is wrong. Standing the way you are now it wouldn't be all that difficult to unbalance or overbalance you. Try for a lower stance, bend your knees." He took a step away from her letting his hands fall to his sides, "I'd continue telling you that I didn't kill your husband but it seems no matter what I say you aren't going to listen to me anyway."

He knew there was no way that this woman was going to be able to kill him. Chances were that she would make some sort of lunge at him, bringing her arm far out in front of her. In a sword battle it made sense because you wanted to keep distance between you and your opponent. With a knife you wanted to get close though, because you didn't have all that much knife to fight with. It also gave your opponent plenty of time to push the blade away and save themselves. This whole thing was really starting to wear on Hiro's patience, but he knew that the girl was going to throw herself at him. He was eventually going to get bored of all of this, but at the moment he didn't have much choice other than to put up with her. She did look oddly attractive in this stance that she had taken though, holding the knife at him with the angry look in her eye. Even with the frightened look that was created by her shaking limbs she still had that defiant look about her that could make a man decide that he wanted her to submit to him. He was beginning to understand why Drake had taken such an interest in her, and had begun to wonder what she might be like in bed. It was a pity that he was sure he was never going to find out without having to force himself on her.

 

[shexay_xx]

Sarah

Sarah's anger grew as he talked. How dare he give her tips?
Thomas had never taught her the correct fighting stances or any fighting skills, he had always been to busy with Hiro , it angered her that Hiro acted so calmly towards her, it infuriated her that her words had no effect and that he chose to mock her moves!

The repeated denial that he did not kill her husband made her mad
" Why do you deny it again and again?! You KILLED my husband! You took him away from me! He was my world and you took him away from me! Do you not know how it feels to lose someone close to you? You were his friend! You were MY friend! "
Her body sprung into action, although she lacked skill she was fast and she lunged towards him with hope that she could at least cause him some harm.

 

[Bluemage]

Hiro

Hiro's hand jumped up quickly and he wrapped his fingers tightly around Sarah's wrist. His face had become an angry glare as he looked at her, keeping a firm hold of the hand that held her knife, "Don't." He stared angrily into her eyes, "I watched my father as he was killed." He narrowed his eyes further in hate and anger, "I watched helpless to do anything. I was pulled away from him, and told later that one of the guards had ended the assassin's life." He pushed her back, seething with anger, "You got to hear your loved one's last words, so you are right, I have never felt how you felt. At least you had a last moment to tell your husband that you loved him. You are lucky compared to me." He dropped his arms to his sides, his fingers curling into fists of anger. This woman had no idea what it was like to have a loved one torn away right in front of you and even be powerless to say a last word. She had no idea what it felt to have that distance wedged between you and that lost loved one and knowing that you would never be able to close the gap, and weren't even given a last chance to try.

He looked at her for a few more moments and then spoke softly, "This farce has gone on long enough." He slowly moved towards the woman, "I could have you killed, and no one would even ask why. I could have you thrown into the dungeons." He glared at her, "I could have you publicly executed as a traitor and an assassin, tell her that the lies you were spreading were part of your plan to sneak in and execute me. Do you know what they would say if I did that? They would say, 'my king, you are wise.' I could tell them that you were plotting to destroy our kingdom, and those people that you were preaching to would believe me. The most amazing part of it is that it doesn't even take magic." He leaned back against the door, "It wouldn't take much at all at this point. You raised all of that doubt in the people, but once they hear that you were nothing but an extremist who wanted to hurt this country they will all tell me what a good king I am for defending them from horrible villains like you. They will even push me to start a war with your country. I can't say that is a road I want to go down, but it seems that you aren't content with just your husband's death. You want all of the people to die in a meaningless war." He took a deep breath and spoke softly again, "You are getting dangerously close to an unhappy future...one which you won't be in. If you deny that I have lost anyone close to me again, we'll just see what happens." He turned and put his hand on the door getting ready to leave, "I'll come back later once you've had some time to calm down."

 

[shexay_xx]

Sarah

Hiro's hand jumped up quickly and he wrapped his fingers tightly around Sarah's wrist. His face had become an angry glare as he looked at her, keeping a firm hold of the hand that held her knife, "Don't." He stared angrily into her eyes, "I watched my father as he was killed." He narrowed his eyes further in hate and anger, "I watched helpless to do anything. I was pulled away from him, and told later that one of the guards had ended the assassin's life." He pushed her back, seething with anger, "You got to hear your loved one's last words, so you are right, I have never felt how you felt. At least you had a last moment to tell your husband that you loved him. You are lucky compared to me."

Sarah gasped in shock, she had never seen Hiro so angry and so hateful, she'd never thought he had it in him but I'm sure the death of his father had made him carry that hate and anger deep inside him for years. Killed? She had no idea that his father had died in such a way, she felt a tendril of shame creep through her body and the hand that she was holding the dagger with fell to her side.


"This farce has gone on long enough." He slowly moved towards the woman, and she moved back in fear "I could have you killed, and no one would even ask why. I could have you thrown into the dungeons."
Her eyes widened and she stared back at him finally listening to what he had to say
"I could have you publicly executed as a traitor and an assassin, tell her that the lies you were spreading were part of your plan to sneak in and execute me. Do you know what they would say if I did that? They would say, 'my king, you are wise.' I could tell them that you were plotting to destroy our kingdom, and those people that you were preaching to would believe me. The most amazing part of it is that it doesn't even take magic." He leaned back against the door, "It wouldn't take much at all at this point. You raised all of that doubt in the people, but once they hear that you were nothing but an extremist who wanted to hurt this country they will all tell me what a good king I am for defending them from horrible villains like you. They will even push me to start a war with your country. I can't say that is a road I want to go down, but it seems that you aren't content with just your husband's death. You want all of the people to die in a meaningless war." He took a deep breath and spoke softly again, "You are getting dangerously close to an unhappy future...one which you won't be in. If you deny that I have lost anyone close to me again, we'll just see what happens."
He turned and put his hand on the door getting ready to leave, "I'll come back later once you've had some time to calm down."

Her voice shouted in panic " NO! Don't leave me here please!" Her head she felt heavy with shame and her eyes dropped to the floor but she forced herself to raise them and stare at the back of his head, "I...I'm sorry....it was not my intention to start a meaningless war as you call it..you must understand how greatly it confuses me that you say you did not kill my husband" Her voice trembled and she swallowed hard " You say that I was lucky to hear his last words, they still haunt me to this day! Do you know what he said when I asked who had harmed him in such a way as he lay bleeidng in my arms? The name that left his lips was yours Hiro. My Husband who loved you as a friend and would never say a bad word about you said your name! Do you think that I would doubt my husband for one second? I don't know maybe it was an accident - you thought he was an assasin or-or" Her voice broke and sobs overcame her, "I - I just want to know what happened!"

 

[Bluemage]

Hiro

Hrio kept his hand on the doorknob as the woman burst into hysterics behind him. He wasn't sure what he could say that would help her. Part of him wasn't even sure that he wanted to help her. This incident had happened but he had no recollection of the actual event. As far as he knew he was the one who had killed all of them, but that just didn't feel right. He wouldn't have been able to kill all of them without a scratch. He wouldn't have been able to do so much damage, and if he did, he definitely wouldn't be able to remember it. He took a deep breath and slowly turned to look at the girl, "I don't know what you want to hear." He slowly let his hand slip off of the doorknob and he turned to look at Sarah, "I could tell you that I didn't kill your husband. I could tell you how it is impossible, how there is no way that I had the power to do something like that." He looked at her for a few moments, "Nothing that happened that night makes any sense. Why everyone was killed except for me, makes no sense. Maybe your husband died trying to save me. That sounds like something that he might do." He brought his hand up to his forehead for a few moments, "The fact is that I don't remember anything from that night. I...can't help you." He looked up at her and shook his head, "But there is no way that it would have even have been possible for me to kill your husband, let alone all of those other people. If I turned against them the others would have immediately turned against me and struck me down."

He sighed softly, leaning back against the door. Suddenly he felt drained in every way. He had no idea what had happened at all. He had defended himself because it had seemed like the truth at the time. It had seemed undeniable that he hadn't been the one to do all of this. Now he had confessed to someone that he really had absolutely no idea what had happened. It made him feel weak and exposed. He spoke again softly, "I'm sorry." He looked up at her, "I wish there was something that I could say..." He closed his eyes. He knew this wasn't the answer that Sarah was really looking for, but he also knew that there was nothing that could be done about that. She had asked him to tell her what had really happened, and that was the one question that he couldn't actually answer. He had no idea what had actually happened. He could only guess, and really that would help no one. He almost wanted Sarah to be angry enough to lunge at him with her knife again. It would end his torment of not knowing what had happened if she killed him. The question of guilt would be gone once she had exacted her revenge. It would be like lifting a weight that was as heavy as life itself off of his shoulders. He didn't expect it though. Such things didn't happen for men like him. Demons were always watching, and waiting to take away chances like that.

He wondered if perhaps his limited memory was another curse bestowed upon him by the demon of the mirror. Perhaps this was all some sort of plan leading to his grave self destruction. At this rate all the demon had to do now was sit back and watch as the events that had been set in motion undid the king, Hiro. He didn't need to come back, because he no longer needed to say anything. The demon's work was done. Hiro silently cursed himself. It seemed that now the only way he would be able to survive in this world would be to become a monster himself. He couldn't just shrug off his duties and die either. His people needed him or they would slip into chaos and the streets would be covered in blood. The demon had made sure of that. Now that there was doubt in the peasant's minds, and the thought of revolution churning in their heads if the king was removed they would destroy themselves trying to fill the gap. Staying in his position meant becoming a harsh ruler who would be viewed forever as a monster, but stepping down would lead to something far worse. What he needed was an heir of some kind, someone who would rule better than him after he was gone, but the chance of finding someone who would fill the role of his queen was slim now. He wouldn't be able to trust any of the women in his country not to kill him in his sleep to earn their revolution. He looked up at Sarah for a moment and then thought to himself. Maybe there was one woman who he could trust.

He shook his head and looked down at the ground again. There was no way that Sarah would warm his bed unless it was against his will. He was not ready to go there yet. He closed his eyes again and spoke softly, "I'm sorry for your loss, lady Drake. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for not being there when your husband needed me."

 

[shexay_xx]

Sarah

After all that and he couldn't remember what happened that night! She wandered for a second if he was lying but she could see the truth in his eyes and actually saw that he looked confused as he explained. Perhaps he was right, perhaps her hsband had died saving him it was the kind of hounarable thing you'd expect him to do especially for hia oldest friend. It still left one question un-anwered, what killed them all? And why did it not kill Hiro? Or even hurt him?

She watched him lean against the door, she looked into his eyes but still saw no untruths all she saw was eyes heavy with exhaustion. "I'm sorry." He looked up at her, "I wish there was something that I could say..." She shook her head and turned away from him there was nothing he could say that would make the pain go away, she went to the window, looking out over a valley it was so peacful out there but yet her mind was in turmoil. She now felt awful for making Hiro suffer, she had preached to him that he was meant to be her friend and her husband's, but she had completley forgotten that that applied to both sides and she hadn't been a friend to him. But it was hard , she'd lost herself in grief and revenge and she hadn't thought that perhaps there was another reason her husband was killed.

Even if this man was a murderer , she was just as bad as him in one sense, she had rallied hundreds of people that could kill eachother! What was the meaning of that! It did no good, it simply encouraged hate and distrust. shame swept through her body and she sighed

She ran her fingers through her long hair, if fell back perfectly back into place, "I'm sorry for your loss, lady Drake. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for not being there when your husband needed me."
She swallowed hard, to forgive? Did she really trust this man enough to forgive him? She thought of her husband , she knew what his answer would be, he'd forgive the man relieve him of his guilt. She nodded to herself and turned around slowly , she leant on the window her back arched slightly ,
She swallowed hard " Although it's hard for me to do so...I forgive you"
She ran a hand through her hair, she wasn't sure if she felt better or worse for forgiving him... I guess she was being a bettre person accepting his sincere apology and Thomas would be proud of her , She smiled sadly.

 

[Bluemage]

((I seem to be suffering from Writer's block, so I apologize for the very short post))

Hiro stared at the ground for a few moments. It seemed that while she said she forgave him, she wasn't doing it for herself, like she didn't actually want to forgive him but something told her that was what her husband would have wanted. He could understand of course. It didn't take that much effort to think of more than just the one reason as to why she didn't want to be around him and didn't want to forgive him. It seemed that he had been the one to kill her husband and on top of that he couldn't even remember doing it. He was some sort of inhuman monster. He brought his hand up to his head and took a deep breath before speaking again, "I am offering you this room. You should have a place to stay and this can be a way that I can try to apologize." He looked up at her after a moment, bringing his hand down to his chest, "This place should be more comfortable than where you were residing before. I can understand if you'd rather not stay here though. I'm not going to force the issue."

 

[shexay_xx]

Sarah

Occ: Don't worry I'm suffering from it myself as I have been very busy looking after my niece at the weekend so I find myself knackered.

"I am offering you this room. You should have a place to stay and this can be a way that I can try to apologize." Her eybrows raised in suprise and she bit her lip unsure, did she really trust this man? She gazed into his eyes as if looking for something to prove that she could trust him but saw nothing but great sadness and a tirdness that she felt herself.
"This place should be more comfortable than where you were residing before. I can understand if you'd rather not stay here though. I'm not going to force the issue."
She looked around her , she would be called a fool for passing up such an offer, and how did she know that he would not lock her in? Or send his guards to have their way her eyes opened wide in fear at the thought and she turned quickly woards him " Do you guarantee my safety if I stay here? How do I know that there is no ulterior motive to you keeping me here? You could kill me easily as I lay sleeping, give me reason to trust you"

 

[shexay_xx]

Bump for mage

 

[Bluemage]

((I suppose I should make a post since I probably won't be on much until Monday. I've had a lot of chaos. I apologize for not being on more.))

Hiro looked at her for a few moments. She was asking him to assure her that she would be safe here. He brought his hand up to his forehead and smiled softly, "Yes, I assure you that you will be safe here. I don't make a habit of letting my guests get hurt." He gently reached out to her with his hand, "I swear to you that you have nothing to fear from me or my men." He smiled softly, "No one will lay a hand on you, I swear."

He wasn't entirely sure that it was a promise that he could keep, but it was one that he was sure he could definitely try to keep. He also didn't want Sarah to feel frightened of this place. It was his home, and he was going to do his best to make sure that no harm came to her. His plans at the moment involved seducing the broken widow and making her his queen. That wasn't likely to happen if she was in danger, or if she felt that she was in danger when she was in his home. He had to make her feel safe and comfortable here, and the best way that he could do that at the moment was by promising her that no harm would come to her. He could make a public display of saving her from an 'assassin' or something later, but at the moment the mission was just to convince her to stay. One step at a time.

 

[shexay_xx]

Sarah

He brought his hand up to his forehead and smiled softly, "Yes, I assure you that you will be safe here. I don't make a habit of letting my guests get hurt." He gently reached out to her with his hand, "I swear to you that you have nothing to fear from me or my men." He smiled softly, "No one will lay a hand on you, I swear."

She thought about it, she heard the kindness and trust in his voice but she did not know wether it was just one big scam, trying to decieve her into staying and then murdering her as sson as he got the chance. She looked at him again and sighed, she would have to trust him, she'd had enough of living on the streets it was a harsh life and she missed her old one of a comftarble house and a hus- well there was no point dwelling on that, she realised now that nothing she could do would bring him back. She nodded at hiro and ighed " Then if you swear your word...I guess I will stay, but remember you promised me!" She suddenly felt exhausted and she swayed slightly on her feet. Finally almost nicely she said " thank you for letting me stay here".

 

[Bluemage]

Hiro

Hiro nodded softly to the girl's words. The problem was that she was still a very real problem. Even with the lull in their combat of words and propaganda at the moment, there was no way that it was going to last forever. As soon as a new clue came up about the events that had lead up to her husband's death it would of course point to him as the murderer because that was the end solution that Sarah had come to expect. Any finding could be twisted to send any message or prove any fact. They could find a shard of glass somewhere that might not have anything to do with the death of Sarah's husband at all, and suddenly it could become the murder weapon that he, the diabolical, and power hungry king had used to pierce her poor husband's flesh and steal away his life. He very much disliked the thought of them finding anything, but even more disliked the thought of them finding absolutely nothing.

It was obvious to him even before he had started his latest little conversation with Sarah that she wasn't likely to let this topic drop and she was going to go looking for clues to find out what had actually happened to her husband. Up until this point it had just been her word and a few stabs at the dark to sway the people, but an actual piece of evidence, something material, would give her all the ammunition she needed to take him down. The problem with giving her nothing was that then she would go back to making her assumptions and stabs into the dark saying that he had a crew of men rush out to eliminate any evidence. This really wasn't all that bad of an idea from his point of view, but it would raise Sarah's suspicions, and that would lead to her going on the rampage again.

This left him with a few choices. If he killed her silently in her sleep she would no longer be a problem, at least for a while. With her out of the way she wouldn't be finding any evidence, or not finding evidence and become more suspicious. The problem with that solution was that she would come back to haunt him. Most likely not actually in a spirit form, but the fact that she had vanished after making a public display like that would raise suspicion from the people, and then it would only be a few weeks, maybe a month at the most before a new Sarah came up with a husband who had mysteriously vanished, and the cycle would start all over again. He would only be able to eliminate them for so long before it became dreadfully obvious what was going on, but that solution would give him a bit more time to think of something better.

Another option was to assign someone to go with her. That was a good solution if any clues were found because someone with her would be able to dispell any suspicions that would fall upon Hiro. The problem would arise however in both scenarios, especially if they found nothing. If they found nothing then Sarah would become suspicious of the person that he had assigned to 'guard' her and would go off on her own. This would push her even more to link any evidence that she found, regardless of whether or not it had anything to do with anything, straight to her husband's death, and straight to him. If they did find something and it was immediately cast aside as nothing by the person who had been assigned to her, that would cast suspicion on the reason that he had been assigned to her and push her to place the evidence on him even more. This option quickly became more trouble than it was worth, and would only give him a very short period of time to come up with something better.

The last option that he had come up with was to seduce her. She was a broken woman, so she would probably open her heart to a dashing and charming male who was sympathetic to her feelings. The first problem with this plan was that he could not be the one who seduced her. Doing so would make him appear sleazy, but more importantly it would give Sarah a motive to her husband's murder. Jealousy could motivate a good many things, and she might be of the mind to say that he had killed her husband in order to steal her, though frankly that would have been much easier to do if her husband had still been alive. That left the next option within this option. He would have to find someone who could seduce her. Enlist their aid. There was certain to be a bard or something in a city as large as this one, and if there wasn't, one of his nobles would work. All he needed was someone who was charming and had a way with words, then he could get them to win over the fair lady's heart. That would keep her mind off of searching for clues and would give her something more positive to think about than her husband's murder. All Hiro had to do now was put the wheels of his plan into motion.

 

[shexay_xx]

Sarah

* sorry I thought you'd given up on the thread and so I gave up , I came back to check just in case and I see you have posted , I'm sorry to have kept you waiting and hope we can carry on*


Sarah sat down tiredly on her bed , wandering if Hiro would ever leave, she ran a hand through her long mane of hair, her head felt heavy on her shoulders and her eyes were dying to close she could feel sleep so near waiting to enlope her. She watched Hiro's face through heavy lids, she still was not sure if she could trust him there was something dark about him...of course it hadn't always been there at least when they were friends.

She bit her lip a habit she had whenever she was thinking wich made it obvious to others that she was doing so. Should she stay here? Sure it was comftarble but was it safe? But the thought of returning to the streets after experiencing such comfort that she had been deprived of ever since her husband's death... the streets held many bad memories for her , it was dangerous enough as a man but as a woman she had been hassled many a time by strange men and had many close calls, she smiled as she recalled the reaction's of those horrid men as she brandished her husband's knife. They hadn't dared come near her when they'd seen it shine in the moonlight.

Would Thomas be proud of her? She'd tried her best to slowly destroy the man that stood in front of her, to make the people see who he really was ...a murderer. But now she wasn't so sure...he said that he hadn't killed her husband and she wasn't sure weather to believe him, he had been a friend once but that was before Thomas died. She swiped angrily at a hot tear that had made a path down her cheek, she couldn't stand to let Hiro see her cry, she had done so already and she would not give him the satisfaction of doing it again.

She felt tiredness overcome her and she struggled against it, but her head dropped down onto a soft pillow and slowly she felt herself slipping away until she was finally asleep.

 

[Bluemage]

Hiro

He looked at Sarah for a few moments as her head became heavy, her eyes closing and her body slumping to the mattress behind her, finally succumbing to exhaustion. Perhaps this was the time to take action on his plans. He could swoop in and remind her what it was to be with a man. He could fill the castle with her moans as he drove her over the edge to pleasure over and over again. He could almost hear her crying out his name in the throes of passion now, begging him to keep going. He could almost smell the scent of their mutual arousal, could almost taste the salt of her sweat. He closed his eyes tightly, purging the thoughts from his brain. These were not his thoughts. It was the demon, using him as a puppet again. His plan had merit, and it would work. He could find someone who would at first seem neutral, bend them to his cause, and convince them to seduce the girl. While the thought of taking her now himself would pay off for the moment it would become bittersweet later on, and would give her the motive that she would need in order for her to continue to spread this anti-Hiro-sentiment to people. He couldn't let that happen.

He turned and left the room quickly, closing the door behind him and leaning back against it, his breath coming in ragged huffs and puffs. What had just happened there? Had that really been the demon? He had been ready to climb atop the sleeping woman who had been his best friend's wife and defile her in every way that he could think of. He took a deep breath trying to get his nerves under control, and brought a shaking gloved hand up to brush a few strands of his straight platinum hair behind his ear. He then carefully took off his glasses and brought his hand up, pressing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. If that was the demon's doing, then it had been very well done. The imagery had been quite effective, and something deep inside of him had started to doubt his plan. He started to walk down the hall trying to get himself to think straight once more. His mind was so severely clouded over at the moment with his thoughts of lust that he feared it was going to take him more than a little bit of a walk to get his head straightened out.

Something that had happened in there had made him question his plan, and not because something had come up that had made him think that it wouldn't work. Something had slipped inside of him that made him wonder if he was really willing to let someone else stand up and enjoy those sensations with Sarah rather than him. He wasn't sure if it was his pride, or just his lust, but something deep inside of him had woken up and was pushing him to go back and enjoy the woman's flesh himself. Something was clawing at his mind and telling him that he was the one that would have to take her in the end, that he was the one who deserved to be between her thighs and make her scream bloody murder to the heavens. Something had started work inside of him that wanted to hear her moan his name. Whatever it was deeply frightened him. It wasn't because he was afraid that he might give in to this desire to take the woman and enjoy her. The reason that he was frightened by this new feeling was because he couldn't be sure that it was the demon's doing. He had a sneaking suspicion that whatever this was had been there all along, and it absolutely terrified him.

He took another deep breath as he thought about his current position for a moment. If he talked to the demon about this, there would either be no answer, or with a shocked face that monster would say that he had nothing to do with something like that. So far nothing he had heard from the sickening creature had rung true though, It seemed that everything it was doing was to get its own ends. If this was something that it wanted, then it would be best not to talk to it about what was going on. That would only invite it to try and push him to take the sleeping woman, or to drug her food or something. He took another deep breath. He would just have to find someone who would be suitable for the job of wooing her, perhaps if he found someone who came on a bit too strong he could save her or something. That might change her view of him. He turned his head and looked back down the hallway again.

He wanted to go to his room and go to sleep, but at the same time the twisting feeling in his stomach implored him to go back. He closed his eyes for a few moments and then turned leaning back against a wall. It would probably be better if he slept on it and came at all of this when he awoke with a clear head.

((I suppose this really doesn't help you much. I was considering introducing another character, maybe someone who is spying on Hiro and would be sympathetic to Sarah's cause...but yeah, I didn't know if you wanted to do a dream sequence or something, so yeah. You can introduce spy guy through hearing a noise in the room and I'll start playing him if you want.))

 

[shexay_xx]

Sarah...and the spy

Sara's body twisted and turned on the matress as her dream became deeper. She was in thomas' arms again, she felt his lips nibble her ear and sighed as he whispered a gentle "I love you Sarah and always will" she felt his slender fingers trace a path down her body, and shuddered as his kind green eyes stared into hers twinkling with lust. But before her eyes she saw blood seep from his mouth and his eyes roll back into his head, she tried to move but she found that she could not , her mouth opened in a silent scream, she was forced to watch as her husband's life slowly ebbed away and the image flickered again to the memory of her holding her husband in her arms as he lay dying, his mouth opened mouthing something that she could not hear, she leaned closer her hair brushing against his skin " Hiro...Beware ".

Sara's eyes flew open and she sat up quickly, panting . Still half asleep she looked around the room, someting was wrong... she couldn't put her finger on it. She got up slowly , lowering her bare feet onto the plush carpet, her eyes darting around the room. Her voice came out shakily and loud in the quiet room " Who's there?...come out this instant!"

James watched her with a faint smile on his lips from where he stood in the shadows, as a spy he was very good at hiding but it also helped that he knew some magic...not much of course he wasn't as gifted as most mage's but he knew masking spells they were simple enough if you had magic in your veins, he stepped out of the shadow, and smiled as she faced him still unaware of where he was ...although she knew someone was there of course, he was here to spy on Hiro not her...but he had found this room whilst searching the castle, he had been suprised at first that the girl ws still alive. Of course he'd heard from the people on the street that one of their own had dissappeared, and when James heard her name well he knew where she'd be . He'd heard one of her little speeches about Hiro and had been impressed that she had tried so hard to bring the man that James had been hunting for years now down. He had no idea why she should want him destroyed but it made no difference to him.

His faher had gone "missing" a while back on one of the Lord's little expeditions. And had not returned since. James hadn't been bought with lies of beasts and other excuses he knew there was more to it than that and he was here to find out. James sighed forgetting that Sarah would hear any noise he made, and that masking spells were for the eyes only.

Sarah's head whipped around quickly as she heard a noise, and said with a voice laced with fear " I said who's the-" her wors were cut short as a hand wrapped around her mouth, she struggled screaming into the hand that had come from nowhere and her eyes widened as a soft voice whispered next to her ear.

"shhh little one, I'll do you no harm"