Hello, so this is a DxC story, because I kind of liked the relationship during season one. Characters may be OOC, but I'm trying, but it comes and goes. I rewrote this first part several times and just decided the best way was to just jump right into the story. The rest will be explained later, details, details.
The festival had begun at eight that morning and was still going on without signs of stopping. The young girl, hardly seventeen, had read a clock in the window some time ago. It had read 11:47. The summer air was still warm even after the sun's disappearance in the sky and candles lit the street that was filled with costumed people. The Prince of the kingdom had recently been engaged, and engagement festivals were cropping up from the wet south beaches to the dry mining towns of the north, like this one.
The girl gazed out from her window down at the festival below. Everything was happening at once. Drinks were being poured, songs were being sung, girls were dancing and boys were wrestling. A bow and arrow contest, the third one of the night, could be seen on the edges of town while the second round of feasting was being prepared in the heart. Several vendors were competing in prices for costumes and semi-precious gems mined from the town's expansive mines. Music and dancing, drinking and socializing, everything was in full twirl. The girl had never seen anything like it before.
The noise of a door opening pulled her from the window. She turned to the elderly woman entering the room. She was being escorted by two guardsmen.
"Your Highness," she murmured. She bowed then moved forward. "I've brought a costume made especially for you. It's made from the town's finest silk and most valuable gems as a gift from us to you." The girl ran a light brown hand over the cream material. It was smooth and soft with gems sewn into the material in a swirl pattern. When she raised the dress up to full length, she admired the full flair with it. Matching the dress was a mask covered by the same cream silk. Gems rimmed the eye holes.
"Thank you," the girl murmured. She smiled warmly at the woman. "I approve of the dress. It is very lovely." The girl turned around and waited expectantly. The old woman moved quickly to unlace the back of the dress currently being worn. It was an elegant dress of purple material. She had worn it all that day as she spent the company with the governor of the town. It had been a boring affair. Normally the girl loved to speak about politics and economics, but today was her first day away from the castle in years, and she had never been allowed to attend a party before. Well, a commoner's festival party. She had attended many dinner parties, but nothing as wild as what was occurring in the streets below.
The woman had fully unlaced the bodice and the rest of the dress dropped to the girl's ankles. She stepped gingerly out of it. The whole while she was behind a screen, out of sight from the guardsmen, but she still couldn't shake the feeling of exposure. The woman helped her into her costume. The dress had many strings and buttons, but the girl waited patiently. Lastly, the woman guided the mask over her ebony eyes. A cream string was tied behind her head, underneath her brown locks, securing the mask in place. The girl stood in front of an ornate mirror across the room. She hoped no one would recognize her, even though the mask only covered her eyes. She had a curiosity to walk amongst people without being swarmed by equally curious by standers of flanked by brutish guardsman.
"One last gift, your Highness." The woman retrieved a box being held under the arms of a guard, and presented it to the girl. She stared cautiously at the small black box, and proceeded to carefully open it. Inside was a large black gem strung on a line of matching cream sick. Tiny diamonds surrounded the black orb which glittered mysteriously.
"What kind of gem is this?" she asked breathlessly. The woman smiled.
"It is a black pearl, your Highness." The girl brought the necklace up her neck and tied it on herself. She knew without looking that the pearl matched the color of her eyes. She moved gracefully across the room towards her guardsmen. She locked eyes onto the oldest guard, a man in his fifties she had known for years.
"Stefan, a word?" she pleaded. The man glanced over at his partner. He nodded uncertainly. They stepped outside the room into the empty hallway.
"Would it be possible for me to have an hour to myself during the festival?" she asked sweetly.
"As you wish, your Highness. As long as both me and my partner and the other guardsman accompany you," he replied. The girl huffed.
"How can I enjoy my first festival if you are following me everywhere? Everybody will know who I am with you all following me," she complained. The guard shrugged.
"I'm following orders from your father, your Highness."
"Stefan, please," she begged. She opened her eyes wide and willed them to be as adorable as possible. "Please? This is my last chance to see what a real festival is like. I want to be just an average girl for an hour. A mere sixty minutes. Please?" she could see the guard start to shift nervously on his feet. She knew from her many lessons on debating and speech that he was considering her idea.
"If your father found out-"
"He won't find out. Nothing will happen. You can follow me as close as you want outside; I just want a little space." The guard sighed.
"Me and my men will follow you. Will stay back far enough that we wouldn't be associated with you, but close enough that we can extract you should anything happen. We can acquire costume so that royal emblem won't stick out." The girl shrieked gleefully and hugged the old man.
"Thank you Stefan!"
Outside of the city two men on horseback approached the outskirts.
"This is the last stop before we cross the border," one commented. They were both adorned in black outfits that blended in with the night.
"There's a lot of people here," the another murmured. He grinned at his partner. "Sure would be easy for a couple people to get…misplaced. Rally the men." He turned to gaze at the street festival. "We're going to raid."
"Are you sure? The man in the bar at the town over said that this place is crawling with national soldiers. He said the princess herself was making an appearance." The man snorted.
"Even if the princess was here, she wouldn't be wandering on the edge of town, which is where we are going to hit. And if you see a girl walking around with a dozen national guardsmen wearing a crown, don't attack her. That's unnecessary trouble. We need to get in and get out. Now alert the men."
The princess didn't know where to start. She looked over her shoulder, but even she couldn't pick out the guards through the thick crowd of costumed partiers. Someone bumped into her and she stumbled backwards. The person was shaking a bottle of something, probably alcohol, and yelling at someone across the street. The princess stared as the person kept walking without turning around to apologize or drop to their feet, pleading for forgiveness. The princess didn't know how to react, except be amazed. She turned and moved with the flow of people. She passed costume shops, food vendors, flower stands, and gem stores.
The princess stepped into a food shop where the odor of chocolate and cinnamon was strong. She purchased whatever it was the shop was featuring in honor of the festival and continued to walk through the streets. After twenty minutes of walking though, the charm of the festival began to decrease. It seemed the music was getting louder, the men were getting rowdier, and the scent of alcohol more overwhelming. Perhaps she was entering a less civilized portion of the city. Someone reeking of alcohol dressed as a mock priest stumbled past and knocked into the princess. She shrieked in protest.
"Watch where you are walking, peasant," she barked. The man laughed and patted her on the cheek with his dirty hands.
"I…I'd take you *hiccup*…back to m…my place, sweetheart….but *hiccup*…I'm celibate." The man laughed cacophonously and continued stumbling down the street. The princess had had enough. She'd entertained herself, but she wanted the comfort of her room back. She'd trade the smell of books over the smell of alcohol any day.
Something ignited close by, and a fireball exploded into the sky. The ground shook. Pieces of burning wood fell from above. People were shouting and moving. The street began to heat up. The princess looked over the heads of the crowd and saw a large warehouse on fire. Drunk and sober people were moving away from the fire in her direction. Stefan appeared suddenly at her side. He gripped her forearm.
"Time to go," he said. Immediately, very close, another explosion occurred. This one was only a few buildings away. The explosion knocked many people forward that were running away and creating a consequential effect. The princess and Stefan were knocked to the ground. She was dazed from the reeking alcohol and heat from the city fire. Stefan forcibly picked her up.
"Let's go!" he shouted. He pulled her along with the crowd away from the fire. Another explosion happened as the crowd passed another warehouse. The princess cried out as people pushed harder against them, urging everything forward like a wave of fear. The gates to the city came into view as the crowd hurried through them. Everybody slowed down once outside city limits, and watched the fire spread throughout the lower end of the city. Stefan turned to her.
"Are you-?" Another explosion happened on the wall. Screams erupted as the crowd continued running away from the fire in one direction: straight into the woods bordering the city. The princess tried to keep hold of Stefan's hand, but someone pushed between them carrying a young child. Everything happened in slow motion. The child was screaming; the princess saw its face covered in blood. She found Stefan with her eyes and tried to reach for him. Someone tripped and landed into him, pulling him down. She stopped and pushed people to the side and shouted for him, but someone caught her by the shoulders and they surged forward. Everything returned to regular speed.
"I have to go back! Let go!" she screamed. A middle aged woman was holding her and moving her forward.
"I lost my nephew! Please help me find him! We got separated! Please, help me!" the woman was hysterical. The princess shoved her to the ground and looked up, but Stefan and the man that had pulled him down were gone. She hesitantly turned, but moved forward to hustle with the crowd. The paths in the woods couldn't support the hundreds of people overpopulating them. The group she was with split several times as the path split. She tried to follow people who knew where they were going, and after ten minutes she and a group of a dozen others ended up in a clearing in the woods. In the distance she could still see the light of the blaze engulfing part of the city.
Everybody was sitting down on the ground exhausted from the events. The princess frowned as she reflected. She studied military theory diligently (it went hand in hand with politics) and the explosions seemed a little off. They happened not close enough to be caused by accident, but they didn't seem quite intended to kill. The explosions occurred in what seemed to be old warehouses, not in the street where a majority of people were. The weird thing was that the later explosions happened behind the crowd, as if it was herding…
She gasped with alarm and turned to the nearest person.
"We have to keep moving. It's a trap! They were herding us into the woods!" The person just stared bewildered at her. Branches snapped and the clearing erupted in noise. Men ran from the shadowed undergrowth into the clearing. They tackled the surprised people to the ground and began to tie their hands together. The drunken men were shouting with objection while the women screamed in fear. The princess backed up towards the woods, then turned and sprinted as fast as she could in her dress. She gathered her skirts as she ran and pumped her legs.
"One's escaping! Get her!" the princess ran faster, but a hand grabbed her hair and yanked. She screamed and reached back. She tiny hands scratched at the wrist restraining her.
"Let me go! I'll have you arrested!" she shouted. The body picked her up and slung her over their shoulder. She was carried back to the clearing screaming and scratching. As she was deposited onto the ground rough hands tied her hands behind her back.
"My father will hear about this and have all of you hanged!" she hissed. One of the men laughed. He began speaking fast in a foreign language. He must have said something funny because the rest laughed. The man that had picked her up pulled out his bag and fished his hand around in it. When he pulled it out, he had a scrap of cloth. He leaned forward and said something to the princess in his harsh language. She glared at him. He muttered something before gripping the side of her face between his thumb and forefinger. She screamed indignantly as he shoved the cloth into her mouth. Her screams became muffled.
The man pointed and said a few words and the whole camp exploded with laughter. The princess scowled. She rolled onto her back and kicked the man in between his legs. He roared with pain as the camp began to laugh harder. The man shouted angrily and the band of men began to gather up the other prisoners. They were all tied together and led through the underbrush. The men flanked them on all sides, but being tied together prevented any escape. It seemed like they walked for hours, but the princess had no concept of how long they really walked.
They emerged from the woods into a meadow. The princess's eyes widen with awe. Dozens of carriages were stationed in the clearing with more dressed like the ones leading her and her group. In the dim lighting she could see people sitting in some of the carriages. There were cage toppings on them, so they couldn't run. They were all dressed differently, but looked like they were captured prisoners too. But why?
She could see more prisoners emerging from the woods being guided on ropes just like her. They were all being led to a large makeshift tent in the middle of the meadow. A large black stallion was tied outside. As they waited in line outside the tent behind other groups of prisoners, she began to understand what had happened. The explosions were to milk people from the city to the woods. From there, the people were separated and made for easier capturing. Judging from the amount of prisoners, not everybody that escaped the fire ended up being caught.
The line moved forward and her group was ushered inside. Everybody was roughly untied and shoved forward. A young man sat in a chair and quietly watched the separation process. The women were ushered towards the right outside the tent and the men the left. She was the last person in line. As she was guided right, the man she had kicked uttered something loudly. The man in the chair perked up, interested, and commanded something. She was pulled back from the exit and brought to the man on the chair. She glared at him through her mask.
He was a little bit older than her, but had the arrogance of a man twice her age. Her smirked down at her and chuckled something in his harsh tongue. Everybody laughed, again, and the princess felt irritated. As the man finished laughing he took in her appearance more closely. His eyes stopped on her necklace. He raised a hand outward and barked something. The princess's whole body was lifted upward from the ground and pushed roughly towards the man in the chair. The man grabbed her shoulder and yanked her to the ground. He leaned over and fingered her pearl necklace. He reached at his side and presented a knife, never taking his eyes off the necklace. The princess saw looked at him carefully. He had dark hair, the same color as nightfall and had eyes the color of the ocean. A blue green color. He had a handsome face, for a thug. Strangely, his face was covered with barbaric piercings. Several in his ears, and some in his nose, his eyebrows, his lips.
He cut the silk necklace from her neck and held the black pearl in his hand. He grinned like a child. He reached towards her mouth and pulled out the gag. He asked her something, waved the necklace a bit. She continued to glare at him. He rolled his eyes and returned to looking at the necklace. The princess's eyes wandered over the male's body. Her attention was drawn towards his shoulder. On the man's left shoulder was a word tattooed in black ink on his shoulder. Her eyes looked at it curiously. She had seen the word somewhere before, but she didn't know where.
The princess not only diligently studied politics, but music and language as well. She could play several instruments and knew no less than four languages. But this word was somewhat unfamiliar. As he examined the necklace gleefully, she hurriedly ran the word through her mind. Most likely the word was in the language he was speaking, which was unknown to her. Even the languages she didn't know fully, she still knew basic words like "Hello" and "Thank you." She went through the few nearby languages she didn't know.
There was one language that nobody spoke that she only saw in written form. It was the language of the Northern people. Beyond the mountains bordering her kingdom to the north was rumored to be a whole civilization of thieves and bandits. Barbarians. Out of curiosity (and pride) the princess spent a whole summer looking over the language a few years ago, but had never looked at it since. The north was off limits. All information was off limits to people, even her almost. She had to sneak into the historical room of the library in order to gain a peek at the language book.
The man was beginning to finish looking at the necklace. This was her one shot to communicate with them, maybe even negotiate a release. What were the phonetics? The man barked something and a pair of hands gripped her forearms.
The princess blurted out the closest thing to "hello" she could pronounce. Everybody stopped. The man on the chair leaned forward and grinned.
"Hello to you too sweetheart," he smirked. She gasped with surprise. He smirked even more.
"Now dollface, you're going to tell me three things. What's your name, how did you come across a necklace this valuable, and how do you know our language?" The girl glowered at him.
"Let me go, and I'll consider not having you hanged the next day," she spat. He chuckled humorously.
"You're a feisty one, I'll give you that."
"I mean it. When my father finds out what has happened to me, you'll be in serious trouble." She threatened.
"Oh yeah? Who's your father?" The princess paused. She didn't know who these foreign northern men were. She didn't even know they could travel into her country without being noticed. If they discovered she was the princess, she didn't know what their filthy minds would come up with. She took a chance in lying.
"An important guy. Now give me my necklace back." She demanded. He waved it out in front of her, teasing.
"Answer my question. Most the people we have are lower end commoners. If someone owned a black pearl surrounded by diamonds like this, they wouldn't be wearing it to a silly costume festival."
Before she could respond, someone burst into the tent shouting something. Everybody began to move with a new purpose. The man in the chair looked at her carefully. The princess's breath hitched. She could read his eyes. His teal eyes widened, and then he grinned maliciously. He barked brief orders and pulled her to her feet. They exited the tent and he brought her to the large black stallion. He began untying the beast as men dismantled the tent they had been in. More men were gathering the prisoners into the caged carriages and moving out. The man began to speak.
"Odd thing. A lookout spotted dozens of national guardsmen searching the woods close to here. Why would you think that would be?" he asked quietly. The princess shrugged, but half-heartily. She knew that he knew. He knew that she knew.
"I don't know how you got mixed up with all this or how you weren't surrounded by guards, but you, Princess, have just become more valuable to me than your necklace." The man cut her hands free with his long knife, but held it threatening up to her throat.
"If you even think about jumping off this horse and running away, I don't care who you are, I will break both of your legs and leave you to the wolves. Understand?" he growled. She nodded her head. The man lifted her up and placed her on the back of his horse. He climbed on next, sitting in front of her.
"Comfortable Princess," he asked sarcastically. She thumped him on his back as hard as she could.
"You do not get to address me in that manner, you brute."
"You're my property now. I'll address you however I damn well please, woman."
"I have a name."
"I know. It's Courtney," he murmured. They were moving now, quickly. The horse trotted towards the front of the caravan of carriages. The girl angrily wrapped her arms around the waist of the vile man to avoid falling off. He laughed and turned around to look at her.
"Wanna move those nice hands a little further down? It's a long ride back home, and I could use some enjoyment." Courtney's face reddened, and she glared at him.
"You're disgusting and uncivilized."
"Thanks," he replied sarcastically. Courtney stopped talking. She looked over her shoulder and a longing for home pricked her heart. She turned back towards the man she was riding with.
"You know my name, but I don't know yours." She stated. He didn't respond. She huffed.
"I demand to know your name." He muttered something in his native tongue. She awkwardly repeated it. He groaned, very annoyed.
"You're butchering it. In your language, it's Duncan. Now shut up already."
I have some more chapters planned, but honestly this is a story being written for the hell of it. Um, no harsh critiques please, if any. I don't really want them. This story is purely for fun, not really for improvement.