Please note for the purpose of this story some details of the original story have been altered to meet the purposes of this fanfiction. No rights reserved, Copywrite Lion Head Studios.
Simpering Banshee Bitch (SBB)
Chapter 1:
Fluffykins waited at the top of the hill looking out over the docks and to the ocean where far beyond reasonable swimming distance stood the Tattered Spire, which in the ten years that had passed since his mistress went willing into its clutches had become rather less tattered and more like a really tall tree whose branches reached high into the sky and beyond the clouds. Fluffykins looked over at the old woman Theresa as she walked up to stand next to him, strange that she had not come with Fluffykins before but she did now. Fluffykins knew though, he knew his mistress would return soon. He knew that his waiting would finally be over, and perhaps just perhaps she would throw his ball for him.
Fluffykins gave a small whine as he thought back to the happy times when he would follow his Mistress on her adventures. He would find her treasure and each time he did she would play with him, scratching his belly and tossing that wonderful red ball. The same ball that Fluffykins now guarded as it sat on the ground between his two front paws.
Yes the tall strong woman Hammer tried to play with Fluffykins, even the old woman Theresa tossed the ball for him occasionally, but it was not the same. They were not her; they were not the girl who saved him from hateful children. They were not the girl who reached out to him when her body was broken and her soul consumed by grief. They were not his Mistress.
Fluffykins' ears perked up as a familiar sound of an opening portal and before the light began to shine on the docks he had picked up his ball and was racing down towards the docks with extreme joy, she was back! She was finally back! She would hug him and then throw that ball for him.
When the light cleared there was a dark skinned man who had will marks all over his body, much like his Mistress. Fluffykins nosed around the man and whined searching for his Mistress. He could smell her, the strange man had her scent on him. But his Mistress was nowhere to be found. Theresa reached the dock and spoke.
"Garth where is Sparrow?" The man Garth was injured blood running down his arm which hung limply at his side.
"The Hero, she didn't make it." Garth said with a groan as he stumbled slightly.
"Come with me, I will take you somewhere safe." Theresa said offering Garth her hand. The man grudgingly took her hand and they disappeared in a portal. Fluffykins dropped his red ball with a wailing howl of sorrow. The red ball rolled from the dock and into the ocean bobbing lightly in the dark waters lost to Fluffykins as was his Mistress.
The Banshee was old, even by the standards that Banshee's counted time. She floated in her tattered red robes. Robes that were red with the grief of loss that she had died with. Banshee's summoned their wraith children with the wrath they held of the child they lost in life. In truth they were spirits of wrath and sorrow. Each were left wandering unable to rest with the injustice life had dealt them. That was why they killed the living as some sort of vengeance. This one did not know why she still lingered in the marsh. She had been a woman of Oakvale and the ruins of the village that was once her home brought only memory and sorrow. She wandered the furthest reaches of the marshes avoiding the village but not straying beyond the boundaries of the land, its landscape suited her like no other. The fog followed her as she drifted and her gaze wandered until it paused on a form. It was a dirty body, not a hollow man. The Banshee wandered over to the form preparing to summon the wraiths and slaughter the person. First she would take the time to torment the person, take their fears and torment them with them. The banshee focused on the form of the girl lying in the mud and searched her mind for her fears and her regrets and found…nothing. The banshee was confused for a moment and searched the girls mind again. There was nothing, no memories no regrets.
Cautiously the banshee reached out and turned the girl over to look at her face this caused the banshee to pause. The girl was young very young to be wandering the marshes, she very close cropped hair that was choppy as if it had been done in a hurry. What the banshee could tell her hair would have been blond had it not been covered in mud. The girl was half starved and she looked like she had been beaten an inch from death. Yet the girls face was familiar, the girl looked like her Briga, the daughter who was taken by the shadow court when the town was sacrificed.
"My daughter, you have been returned to me, my Briga." The Banshee took the girl in her arms and took her off into the fog. It would be half a year before anyone saw Briga again.
~O~
Briga ran through the marsh and leapt over a broken fence stretching one leg before her as the other rose up behind to avoid clipping on the fence. Her short uneven hair flying behind her as she went making her feel like she was almost flying then her feet touched down splashing in the swampy water. She wore no shoes but had tattered pants and a patched shirt. A thick belt held the hem of the shirt down and the pants up. Both articles of clothing were too large for her slight frame the belt was the only real thing keeping the clothing on her. It hid her form in the mass of old cloth that was stained.
This was of no consequence to her at the moment for it was the hollow men that followed her she had hoped that she would have lost them by now but it seemed that they were more focused today than they were most days. It didn't matter to Briga she only had to keep her distance from them, and in this task she was talented. She was a fast girl and had always been able to run and dodge faster than anything in the marsh had been able to attack. Though while she was a fast person she had no hope in fighting and if she was caught she was sure that she would not be able to survive. Briga jumped and putting her hand back behind her she Pushed with the strange power she commanded and was thrown over the wreckage of a broken cart landing in the center of Oakvale. Here she stopped turning to face the hollow men her break quick. The slowed slightly seeing she was no longer running and began to circle around her. Just before they began to attack a thick fog came swiftly down upon the group and Briga. There was a wail from a banshee and then the groaning cries of the hollow men dying. Several of the knife wielding wraiths ran through the fog and past Briga returning to their banshee mother. Briga turned around to face the old robes of the banshee who summoned the wraiths.
"Mother." Briga said acknowledging the banshee who drifted forward.
"Briga you know better than to provoke the hollow men." She said her voice rasping and weary.
"Mother I didn't mean to provoke them. Honestly I was only trying to find some rope for fixing the roof." The fog thickened even more so and Mother looked to her side where another banshee appeared.
"Stop stalling, the time has come." Briga looked between Mother and the other banshee. Mother tilted her head slightly in agreement with the other banshee and looking back to Briga said.
"Briga, we have decided that you must learn to defend yourself. We are not eternal and can be killed; you must be able to protect yourself when we can no longer do so." Briga frowned at this, they had never spoken like this to her before and the fact that they were doing so now was concerning.
"Why are you saying this?" Briga asked and Mother looked to the other banshee for a moment then back to Briga.
"Two of us were slain yesterday when someone was passing through the marsh. We do not know who they are or where they have gone now but we were not strong enough to stop them and if the living can kill us then they can kill you. You must be able to defend yourself."
"Ok so you can teach me to summon the wraiths like you do." Briga said trying to not think so much on the fact that two of her family had been murdered just yesterday and she did not know about it until now.
"It does not work that way my daughter. Only a banshee can summon the wraiths. You still live and must fight as the living do. This we cannot teach you." The other banshee moved forward and Briga noticed that she held something in her hands.
"So what must we do?" Briga asked confused, since as long as she could remember she had lived in the marsh with the banshee's that lived there as her family. Not every banshee had a name that Briga knew but there were a few Mother, Auntie, and Elizabeth. Many of the banshee's did not wish to go by the names that they had when they lived and so they would not give Briga any name to call them by. The three she knew by name were the three that had nursed her back to health when she was ill. They had said she was their daughter that the gods had returned to them and that was why she could not remember anything before she came to the marsh.
"We cannot help you with this. You must go to the town Bloodstone from there you must find someone to teach you to fight." The banshee said handing a wrapped bundle that she held to Mother. Mother held the bundle out to Briga and said.
"This is what we can provide you with." Briga took the bundle and unwrapped it to reveal a pistol and a necklace of uneven creamy white beads that was wrapped around the pistol.
"The pistol is from before this place was a marsh and before we were banshee, the necklace is our gift to you, keep it always with you and know that we are with you when you wear it." Mother said the sorrow in her voice clear as she watched Briga put the necklace on and turn the pistol over in her hands.
"Who would teach me to use this though?" Briga asked looking up at the banshees. They did not say anything to answer her question but Mother said.
"You should go to the town now, if you wish to return to us please do so. We are not banishing you. Our oaths will last until the end of time." Though they said that she was welcome to return to the marsh with them Briga could not help but feel as if this was good bye. She looked down at the gun and nodded slightly realizing something that they had known since they found her. She would not be able to stay with them forever and the time had come for Briga to leave the marsh.
"I will come back when I have learned to fight." Briga said to the banshee and started towards the rout that would take her to Bloodstone. Mother and the banshee followed Briga as she went the fog that surrounded them grew increasingly thick as more of the banshee that lived in the marsh joined the procession. As Briga neared the last bridge that led out of the marsh the fog was so thick that she was unable to see anything around her. The banshees formed a line to lead her through the thick fog and marsh upon reaching the other side of the bridge she turned back to look upon her family who were all gathered in the thick fog watching her with an air of sorrow. She was the child they lost that turned them into banshees and now she was leaving them again. Briga held up her hand to them for a moment before she turned and disappeared into the fog. When Briga made it to the cliff road that the marsh let out to a fog hung over the lower reached of the town and clung to the surface of the ocean. Regardless of the fact that it was late afternoon the fog was increasing as it rolled in from the sea. Briga suspected that the fog that hung over the town currently was aided by the banshees that had followed her to the edge of the town.
She walked down into the town and was nearly overwhelmed by the number of people who moved about and how many of them offered her sex for a 'small price'. Briga rejected them and eventually found her way into the bar and sat on the stool with a sigh. She was still overwhelmed by how hectic the town seemed.
"You look stressed out; I could help you relax if you want." A prostitute said with a smile as she slid seductively into the stool next to Briga. Briga looked over at the woman she was busty and had dark hair that was pulled up into a bun; her clothing was revealing and strappy.
"Sorry I am not interested in sex. But could you tell me who is a good shot in town?"
"I might be able to tell you but I have to eat too dear." The prostitute said, Briga sighed and slid three coins to the woman who tucked them into her corset and said.
"The best shot in town is Reaver no doubt, why do you need a good marksman?"
"I want to uh…hire him for a task." Briga said. This caused the prostitute to laugh and say.
"Dear, Reaver doesn't work for anyone but himself. At best a cute lad like yourself might get a quick roll in the hay with him but that is it."
"I am a woman." Briga said the prostitutes eyes widened slightly with shock and laughed.
"Then I don't think you would even get that roll in the hay. He is a lover of beauty, and dear I don't know if you are aware of this but you look and dress like a boy." Briga frowned looking down at her shirt and pants.
"You might want to do something about your looks if you are going to talk to Reaver. He might shoot you for going to him like that. Did they not have any decent clothing where you are from?" The prostitute said.
"There is nothing like what you are wearing if that is what you mean."
"If you want I can take you back to my place and lend you some clothing. You can even stay for a night or two if you want." The prostitute said in an overly friendly way. Something about her tone set off a mental alarm to Briga and she said.
"No, I have a place to stay already. I need to get going though, I'd like to talk to Reaver before it gets too late. Where does he live?" The prostitute held out her hand waiting for more coin.
"Reaver lives in the mansion at the top of the hill. Everyone knows that you don't need to pay the whore for that girly." The bartender said getting a glare from the prostitute. Briga put her coins back in her belt pocket and thanked the bartender before leaving.
Once on the street again she started making her way towards the road that lead up the hill and paused as she saw a clothing shop. She looked down at her clothing again and sighed heavily and went into the shop. The man that ran the shop was crude and dressed much like a prostitute himself.
"Hello hello hello, what can I do for you today?" He asked looking Briga over as she walked in.
"I need something… better to wear." Briga said. The man walked out from behind the counter and looking at her clothing said.
"I would say so, my dear you look dreadful, where did you come from?"
"Wraiths Marsh." Briga said as she walked to a mannequin looking at a common looking shirt and pants.
"The Marsh! My my my that would explain how you look. Hmm you must have been on the road for a long time. Here lets find you a lovely dress to wear."
"Uh no I don't want a dress, I would rather wear trousers and a shirt." Briga said turning to see the man giving her an 'are you kidding me' look.
"You look like a lad in trousers, you need a dress. Here this is a very popular piece at the moment. You would turn heads even with how choppy that hair of yours is." The dress that the man held was hot pink with a corset and the skirt was short in the front and long in the back. It was made to prevent people from enjoying the view from behind but hid very little from the front. Briga made a face and said.
"Can I just try this here on?" Briga said gesturing to the shirt and trousers. The man sighed and said.
"Fine but don't blame me when everyone mistakes you for a lad, that there is going to hide more of your feminine form than what you are wearing now is."
"I don't really care if people think I am a boy I didn't come here to turn people's heads." Briga took the outfit behind a dressing screen and quickly changed. As she was tying the front of the pants and fixing the buttons the shop owner held a pair of boots over the screen.
"But these on too, it's not a good idea to go around without shoes." Taking the boots Briga pulled them on and came out from behind the changing screen. The shop owner looked her over and said.
"If I didn't know better I would say you were a boy. That's what you were trying for though isn't it?" He asked with a sour tone. Briga looked at herself in a tall mirror and agreed with the man as she did look like a man, a rather feminine man, for her face was too soft in feature, but with how short her hair was she simply looked boyish.
"I'll take this." Briga said putting her pistol in the belt holster and tied her coin bag onto the belt next to her pistol.
"I spend my entire life designing beautiful clothing for women and now I am dressing ladies like men! What is the world coming to?" He said as he took Briga's coin. Briga turned to leave and was stopped by the shop owner.
"Here I can't let you leave without something a lady would wear." It was a simple necklace with nothing terribly fancy but the metal chain and the small pendent was more elegant than anything Briga had seen before.
"How much?" Briga asked suspicious of the apparent gift.
"It is for free under the condition that you come back here at some point and let me put you in a dress." Briga laughed at the comment and said taking the necklace and putting it on next to the banshee beads.
"Sure if I ever find myself in need of a dress I will come to you."
"Ah thank you. I will finally get one of my dresses in the damn mansion." He said to himself as Briga left the shop. She made her way up towards the top of the hill still dodging the advances of prostitutes and then some beggars. Finally she reached the mansion at the top of the hill and indeed it was a mansion. Briga was a bit awestruck at the sheer size of the mansion, from its great windows to its manicured gardens and fountain. At the door stood a man who just stood there as if waiting for someone to come as if it was his only job. Briga walked up the stairs to the door way and the man who was waiting.
"Here to see Reaver I suppose? Go on in, he is straight through to the back." The man said with a heavy accent as he gestured over his shoulder to the hallway beyond the door.
"Thanks." Briga said in passing she walked into the mansion and was shocked by how elegant everything was, it made the outside of the mansion look drab by comparison. The carpet she walked on was plush and muffled any sound she made by walking in the new boots. Music echoed through the halls as if there was someone playing an instrument the sound echoing through the halls filling the entire house with its light tune. Briga walked forward down the hall to the door that was closed. Grabbing the embellished brass handle she opened the door. Beyond was a painter standing by their easel working on a portrait of the man who stood in a heroic pose holding his gun up in the air before him. His hair was dark and brushed it shone with the use of some foreign oil. His skin was light and unblemished by wrinkle or sun damage as others around the town were. His features were strong and his eyes gleamed with a devious sparkle in their green color. He wore a fine suit with gold trim and a red cape.
"Well Hello there. What brings you here to see me? Because lets be honest if you are looking for someone in Bloodstone you are looking for me." Reaver said in a smooth voice as he looked over at her from where he was posing.
"Well I-"
"I just forgot! I don't talk to nobodies and that is what you are, a nobody. So run along and make a name for yourself. Help some people, kill some monsters, or kill some people the details aren't important to me." Briga stood there for a moment confused beyond belief at the situation.
"Well run along, scat, vamoose!" Reaver said waving his gun around. Briga still a bit confused left without saying anything and closed the door behind her and stood for a moment trying to figure out what just happened.
"Are you dare implying that my cheek bones are anywhere that low?" Briga heard Reaver through the door shortly after a gunshot sounded off causing Briga to jump in surprise. Briga made her way quickly to the front door for fear of what Reaver had just done in the study. She did not want to be blamed for the murder of the painter.
Ten minutes later Briga found herself sitting at the bar with a pint of disgusting beer that was flat and had been watered down to make the foul drink last longer.
"Reaver turn you down?" The same prostitute from earlier said leaning back against the bar as she looked out over the men meandering around the bar. Briga looked at the woman who looked slightly more disheveled than she did earlier in the day.
"What is your name?"
"I'm Lily, so are you going to answer?"
"I'm Briga. Reaver wouldn't even hear me out. He looked at me and turned me away saying I was a nobody. He wants me to make a name for myself before he will talk to me."
"I told you so, I am glad to see that you got rid of those beggers clothes, a dress would have been better for you. Might have held Reaver's attention longer if you were in a dress." Briga snorted slightly at the comment.
"Somehow I don't think that I being in a dress would matter much. He seems rather wrapped up in himself."
"Sweet heart you won't find yourself a better lover in all of Albion. That man knows women better than they know themselves. In a dress you might have caught his attention and he might have given you some time in a bed." Lily said with a smile across her face as she thought back to her time with Reaver. Briga grimaced and said.
"I don't think I would want his attention like that, he isn't that attractive. Besides I don't need some man whore giving me his diseases." Lily gasped in horror at Briga's words and said.
"You are either blind or a lesbian to not find him magnificent! Why would you not want his attention in any way you can get it?"
"Because I don't need a lover, or a one night stand. Anyway how do I get him to think I am important enough to talk to?"
"I am not sure about being important enough but there are other ways to catch his eye. Maybe attend one of his parties, you know dressed as a woman?"
"I don't want him to think of me as a thing he wants to have sex with or as a woman. If he agrees to what I am wanting then I am going to be spending a rather lot of time with him and it will be easier if he isn't trying to get me into a bed."
"Then I cant help you dear. You know lots of people would like a girl that Reaver hasn't had. Gives them a bit of an ego boost."
"I am not working as a prostitute." Briga said pushing away from the bar and walked away. Before she had even taken two steps Lily had swiped the pint before the bartender could take it away.
Once on the street again Briga turned her attention to the mansion at the top of the hill, she was going to get him to talk to her. Upon reaching the door she found the doorman gone and the house closed up. Briga knocked on the door and after a moment of waiting the door opened and it was the doorman who gave a displeased look at Briga.
"Reaver isn't seeing anyone else tonight." With that he shut the door in Briga's face. Briga debated on knocking again but it then occurred to her that perhaps Reaver had already retired for the night. It was after all long past sunset. Though, perhaps not. Briga could see light from the upper windows.
"You are going to have to talk to me." Briga said as she glared at the upper windows which were lit.
~O~
Reaver had been sleeping soundly with two beautiful people after one of his private parties. Only his beautiful night was disturbed when a sound came at the window. He gave an irritated sigh hoping that it was just some strong wind that had woken him, but he was in no such luck and the sound came again. Then the window was pulled open from the outside. Reaver's Dragonstomper was in his hand in a moment and he waited for the fool who dared to break into his home to show their face. Then he would put a bullet in it.
A face appeared in the window, and in the dark Reaver couldn't tell who it was. Regardless he shot. And the form was gone from the window. The two women in his bed woke with a fright and in cries of alarm fled the room their clothing picked up and clutched to their chests as they ran.
"Don't shoot me!" A voice yelled as the form pulled themselves into the room and dived again when Reaver shot. Reaver frowned, he had missed. Twice. This was not right, Reaver did not miss.
He got up and aimed his pistol at the person while at the same time quite ignoring his nakedness. From the light that filtered in through the hallway from the open door Reaver could make out the short form of the person who was crouched ready to dodge again should he shoot once more.
"I just want to talk." The person said, Reaver frowned there was something familiar about the persons voice. Then he remembered the rather unremarkable person who had come to see him earlier that day. "Just point that somewhere else and we can just talk." Reaver glared at the person but lowered his pistol, the person slowly stood up but was still uneasy. At least that was good, Reaver couldn't have people not fearing him when he was pissed.
"Master Reaver is everything alright?" The doorman said entering the room the candelabra he held illuminating the uninvited guest. Reavers suspicions were correct it was the nobody that had come to see him before.
"Leave the light and go." Reaver said, the doorman looked quickly between Briga and Reaver and then set the candelabra on a table and left.
"So why should I not just shoot you?" Reaver asked in a dangerous tone.
"Uhm…Well I came from Wraith's Marsh and…uhm can you please put something on? You are completely naked." Reaver had at first look thought the person before him to be a very youthful lad, now however he understood what this person was. An innocent woman, dressed as a man with her hair cut far too short to be attractive for a woman. Reaver took slow steps towards the woman a smug smile spread across his face as he watched her panic and back away.
"From Wraith's Marsh. Not everyone can survive Wraith's Marsh, so who are you?" Briga backed away from Reaver's nude form as he stalked towards her. He reminded her of some predator stalking its prey.
"I I'm Briga…" Briga said as the back of her legs hit the sill of the open window. She looked quickly behind her to realize she had nowhere but out the window now to go.
"So you came all of this way for me…" Reaver purred as he stood right before Briga he turned her head to look at him with the barrel of his pistol. Briga blushed deeply at how close he was to her, his green eyes focused on hers intently. The cool metal of the gun rested against her neck just below her jaw. She knew that she would not be able to avoid the bullet if he decided to kill her now. "You should have worn a dress if you wanted my…special attention." He started to lean in towards her his eyes locked with hers.
Before he could place the seduction finally of a kiss on the girl she bolted. Or more accurately fell out the window as she fled. Reaver looked out the window after her; she was already on the ground and sprinting away from his mansion. He had to give it to the girl, she was fast.
~O~
Briga didn't stop running until she reached the docks when she did she leaned against a building trying to catch her breath. The running hadn't taken her breath away but the few moments she had spent talking to Reaver had made her more flustered than anything she could remember. It was a strange feeling that she could not place, a fluttering in her stomach. She had never seen a man naked before, though this was only part of what made her blush. He had been so physically fit, his muscles were well defined and he stood at least a full head and a half taller than her. Thinking back to him illuminated by the candle light caused her to shiver.
"Oh Mother, I am in trouble." Briga whispered out her breath fogging in the cool night.
( Here is the first chapter of SBB, the first of my Fable fanfictions this is fable 2 and involves Reaver so clearly this is rated M from the get go, because I don't think you can have a proper Reaver fic without it being M. I don't know how long this story will be but I intend to have my chapters be somewhere around 5k each.)
.