-Severed Locks-
Chapter One
-Sires a Single Fawn-
This is my disclaimer, naturally it is very boring, and since I don't think I am very witty. So, legal stuff, you know the drill. Lawyers, be disappointed as I follow the law. Story by xXWolf-SongXx, everything else is attributed to their owners, in this case, the Brothers Grimm, for their story Rapunzel.
Now we have the boring over, let's begin the story.
Pronunciations: Baroqueheat (Ba – row – ke – heat), Rahzel (Rah – zel), Alzied (Al – zee – d)
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A girl with fine features and pale skin sat in the centre of the ornate room, her long black hair glinting blue like the feathers of ravens in sunlight. Wordlessly, a slightly smaller, fair-headed girl was attending to the intricate style of hair that was expected of royalty.
The hairstyles consisted of a thin braiding wrapped around the back of her head, joining together and splitting into two long braids with fringed ends, From under this double braid tail, were long wisps of hair that flowed endlessly on, resting just before the ground, hanging above by about a half houou feather.
Additionally, there was also slits of hair that went to waist length and were curled at the tips by heat and by twisting the hair round one's finger, the only one to know this trick that worked on the deep black hair was the thin blonde haired girl.
"Lissa, how much longer till this tiresome hairstyle is finished?" Rahzel asked quietly, opening her eyes to reveal the startling colour of gold ochre.
"Not much longer my Lady" replied Lissa, pausing in her complex task to bow respectfully.
Rahzel shifted, hoping that Sir Baroqueheat would enter and announce that it was time for lessons. In the boring life that Rahzel had been brought up in, learning had always been a delight, and an escape from the dreary rules and regulations of being a princess.
Lissa skilfully twisted her wrist and finished up the hairstyle, mildly disappointed about having finished Rahzel's long, beautiful hair. The two girls sat still, the silence thick in the air. Suddenly, a knock on the door shattered the silent thoughts.
"Enter" intoned Rahzel, sounding more serious then she had intended.
A small, peculiar man scuttled through the opening of the doorway, his hair and braids swinging wildly, and his assortment of oddities that were strung all over his coat following suit in the jolting movement forward, at his entrance, Lissa had shrank back behind Rahzel.
"Lissa, you may go, otherwise you will be nuisance, hiding behind me," Rahzel announced curtly, while Lissa warily watched the man as he rummaged in his pocket and pulled out some creepy object or other. "And thank you for doing my hair," she added in a softer tone, her lips almost forming a smile.
Lissa nodded, stood up, and retreated from the room, walking backwards to keep an eye on her lady's tutor. Slightly unbalanced, she turned and closed the door after her departure of the room. Rahzel instantly stood up, and a knowing slit of a smile crept over her face.
"We will begin with sparring. I would like to see if you have been practicing since the last session." While speaking, Rahzel's tutor had straightened himself out, and by the end of his words a completely different man was standing, twirling a simple wooden sword that had a lead inlay in his hands.
Bowing respectfully, Rahzel pulled out a similar wooden sword from her robe, and then unfastened the strip of material that held the billowing lengths of material of her black and white dress robe together. In moments she had discarded this and was left standing in sleek black training clothes.
'Boof,'sound reverberated in the room, and the two wooden blades made contact, Rahzel anticipated her trainer's position, behind her back with the wooden sword pointing at the white nape of her neck; they had clashed together as tutor's blade was stopped by her initiative.
Unhurried, the girl twisted on the balls of her feet and faced her tutor, her mouth set in a tough smile as her wooden blade flashed towards her teacher and met air as tutor skipped back a step and avoided her lunge.
'Bam,'Rahzel's next lunge had made contact with teacher's blade. They were locked in a struggle of power, the girl subconsciously using her magick to reinforce her blade, and the boy using his size and strength. Friction suddenly released and the two jumped apart, lungs half empty of air.
"Y-you have," he paused, taking a deep breath and controlling his speech, "been practicing." A smile spread along his tanned face, a hand raised to swat aside dark hair that was spilling into his eyes.
"What made you think I wouldn't practice, Baroqueheat? Do you doubt me that much?" An answering smile was forming as she regulated her breathing pattern and straightened her hairstyle so that it wouldn't fall out after all of Lissa's hard work.
With a laugh, Baroqueheat advanced, using quick, light steps, his wooden sword out front and pointed towards Rahzel's flat stomach. Just as he reached where she was standing, the air shifted. Rahzel had jumped and had managed to position her self above Baroqueheat.
A flick of the wrist, and Baroqueheat's sword went flying and clattered against the wall at the other side of the room, and Rahzel carefully placed her hand and weight on Baroqueheat's shoulder to orchestrate her landing more clearly.
"Have I improved?" she asked, most of their fights ended like this, her asking this question, and him standing silently.
Baroqueheat was looking at the ground, his hair masking his clear blue eyes. "It . isn't . over . yet . " One of his hands strayed close to Rahzel's sword hand, and a small wooden dagger jutted upwards, nudging Rahzel's skin.
"Eeeh…"Rahzel exhaled, before exclaiming, "You used one of your tricks again!" She pulled her right hand away from the wooden dagger and watched as a purple-blue mark began to cloud the clear skin.
"Remember, the enemy would be fighting to win by any means possible, including tricks like this one." Of course, the enemy isn't as skilled as her, she hasn't realised how much these fights take out of me. The only reason I win is because I find flaws in her logic.
"I will not forget that. Thank you Tutor," she bowed, and then sat down, waiting to analyse the sparring they had just done. Running a hand through his hair, Baroqueheat sat down next to her and gave a strained smile.
"You must deliberate your actions more, and plan your logic well, because the flaws of your logic are your weaknesses. That is why I win every time." The tutor finished his brief lecture with a yawn, before sprawling on the woven mattise stem carpet.
Slightly frustrated, Rahzel flung her wooden sword harder to the floor then she had intended to. Usually she managed to dodge all of Baroqueheat's attacks, but today's simple thrust of his hand had put her off. To have been tricked into thinking she had won!
She slumped on the floor, her robe hanging off her shoulders, a deject look on her face. "What next? Are you going to teach magic theory? Or are we going to discuss the history of my country?"
Baroqueheat's eyes opened, and gave a crooked smile, "Today we are going to do some real magic theory. Watch carefully, princess, and learn." As he reminded her of her royalty, she pouted, mouthing the words, I told you not to call me that.
A smooth hologram appeared in front of Rahzel, and she let out a small gasp of astonishment as a 3D hologram of a genderless human body appeared. Small lights appeared on the hologram, tracing lines on the body.
"See these lines? This is spirit energy; some people have large quantities of it. Normal people call this 'Magick', in reality, it was something all humans possessed but only three great clans have retained these skills since the beginning days.
These three clans have grouped together since most humans have lost these skills, and became known as the Tribe. There is a range of 'Magick' that the Tribe can use, and also a range of use that the Tribe agrees to.
Each of these clans have their only special traits and abilities, the most gifted clan being the noble Theroni, and in rare cases have the powers of the other two clans as well. The master of the Theroni Clan usually supervises the two other clan families as well as the Theroni Clan.
The minor clan is named Pasroe, and usually are sent on the lowest commissions such as retrieving money from people who owe the tribe money, the Pasroe are also widely recognised as the Tribe's slaves.
Lastly, there is the Numai. They are an essential to the Tribe because the Theroni usually inter-marries spouses with this clan to keep powers within the Tribe. They are also well known for their three unique powers that only come to those born with Numai blood."
Baroqueheat waved his hand, and the illusion changed to a picture of three silhouettes, a small one in the middle with the cursive symbol of Pasroe, the one on the left had a small block symbol that meant Numai, and the silhouette on the right was an arching sun that represented the Theroni.
An idle waver of his middle finger revealed the faces of the three men. Each one looked slightly imposing, but they all somehow possessed a frailty that blended with there stern faces. Rahzel studied their faces closely, wanting to know everything and nothing about them. Something repulsed her yet enticed her.
"Their names, going from left to right, are Terencee Numai, Romario Pasroe, and Milone Theroni."
She nodded and peered closely at the Numai Master, he had thick dusty brown hair that curled, like a wave, onto itself and then straightened out in to funny little tufts of duck tails. Terencee had milky brown orbs fringed with small eyelashes; he had smooth slightly golden brown skin.
The next, the Pasroe Master, had white hair that hung limply and then exploded into many loose ringlets, his hair was tied back, and his forehead was smooth, but showed slight creases. His eyes were a sparkling blood red that drew you in, even though you tried to avoid his gaze.
The last man in the illusion was the Theroni Master. This man was more feminine looking then the others, he had long dark hair, the same colour as Rahzel's, and ran into one long braid with a small gold band gathering the fronds of black hair together.
His eyes were an amazing gold colour, and had two dark rings set closely together, close to the pupils. The smooth china skin was contrasting to the other darker-skinned men, and also stood out against the dark colours of his robe.
A slight intake of breath, and Rahzel watched as the picture of the three handsome men disappeared, and her reality rushed into her, waking her from her thoughts about the recent knowledge her teacher had explained to her.
"These men are part of an extremely influential power. They will most likely have all the royalty under surveillance, so be careful about who you trust, princess."
"I don't want to be called princess!" Despite her anger at this nickname, Rahzel was smiling widely, enjoying the relaxed atmosphere that followed Baroqueheat.
It was a precious moment, one of the times that the raven-haired girl wasn't guarded; instead she was allowing a proper smile. But, in this moment, the young man was uneasy; he could hear footsteps rushing towards the direction of the room.
"QUIET! Have you forgotten all I taught you? Someone is coming, fast." Baroqueheat pulled out a thick book from his traveller's bag, and opened to a page about political hostages.
Shocked, Rahzel turned towards Baroqueheat, pulling her robe on properly from it's slouched from on her body. Fixing the wad of material that kept it in proper condition; she settled herself on the floor near the low table Baroqueheat was sitting by.
He had already taken care of all evidence of the fight, and was now explaining in a calm voice about political hostages, the reasons why it would be necessary, the pros, and the cons.
Mid-sentence, there was a knock on the door. After given permission, Lissa's nervous face peeped round, her eyes narrowing upon viewing Baroqueheat, who looked like a strange small man again.
"Is there any particular reason why you are here, Lissa?" Rahzel demanded, pretending that the book was far more interesting then her servant.
Struggling against the weight of the door, Lissa pushed it back and managed to lug a heavy silver trolley into the centre of the room. The trolley had an array of silver domes, and beneath each one lay warm food.
"Thank you very much," Rahzel inclined her head in Lissa's direction, and Lissa curtsied before walking through the door way.
Steam erupted, as Baroqueheat lifted one of the domes and looked at the seasoned fish, licking his lips in anticipation of the sweet and sour spices; on another of the platters was a mound of rice noodles, with sizzling oyster sauce and beef, at this food he looked at even more greedily.
"Zing," the silver spoon stung Baroqueheat's hand, and he drew away from Rahzel's favourite dish, hand and pride smarting as the princess began to heap the noodles onto her plate, which was already full with fish and rampion salad.
He poked out his tongue, and she laughed, pulling the skin away from the bottom of her eyeball and adding her tongue to this gesture, which he laughed back at. There was a pause of contentment, and there was no division of the different castes they came from.
Two piled up plates of food were placed gently, for fear of toppling, on the low table; teacher and student sat, ready to begin the meal. In the centre of the table rested a simple jug containing ice cold water.
Bowed over, they murmured the words of thanks, before straightening up again, Baroqueheat in his proper form, and Rahzel without her guarded demeanour. During this respectful ritual, Baroqueheat had split himself into the second self and swapped the water jugs, letting a pellet dissolve in the replacement jug.
Forks, spoons and knives at their elbows, but these utensils were ignored as the young man poured the drinks.
The princess picked up her cup, sculling half the contents before coughing slightly. Darkness was beginning to descend on her vision, and she struggled to gain control as the drug that Baroqueheat had slipped in began to work.
Her thoughts muddle, and the will to stay awake lessened, quietly, Rahzel managed to force out two words, slurring them as the made their way through the barrier of exhaustion, "Why…are…" eyes closing as the last of the princess's strength ebbed away.
She slumped on the table, narrowly avoided her dinner, her hair spilling around her and down her back.
The regret Baroqueheat felt was loud on the unseen mountain wind.
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This is my first story on FF…
Please review and help me to become a better writer!
If you approve, then I am in you care, so please do a good job.
Pairing Polls and any other Polls will be added in later chapters once we have met everyone.
Thank you very much!
I hope we all become good friends
May the road rise up to meet you,
And the sun always be on your back,
And until we meet again,
May you be blessed.
Away laughing on a camel, Tam