This chapter could have been so much better if the game designers/developers/writers would have given us a beautiful ball scene. We could have done a little dance, made a little love, and got all our squeal-y fangirl and fanboy jollies, but no! I could so see Reaver going, "Oh, you dance divinely, my pet. Now, let's see if you're as graceful while trying to keep yourself from being torn to shreds." Then he would twirl you right into some kind of trap door that dropped you into the Wheel of Misfortune! Boom! That's how you do it, Lionhead! j/j, I loves you Peter! :D But, instead we end up with something like this. I hope you still enjoy it.
When Lyra finally made it to the gate of Reaver's manor, Page almost didn't recognize her. The princess chuckled at the look of surprise on the rebel's face and shrugged. "I guess I clean up pretty nice, eh? And you're not so bad yourself." The woman seemed almost shy for a moment and then nodded. "Hmm. That really does suit you. Brings out the color in your eyes," she said, obviously not used to receiving a compliment, or giving one. "It's all Jasper's doing. I wouldn't know fashionable if it bit me on the arse," Lyra laughed, surprised when Page actually cracked a smile as well. But just as suddenly as it appeared, the smile vanished behind a mask of stony determination. "Shall we?" The princess nodded and fell in line behind the resistance leader as she moved towards the brightly lit mansion.
They were greeted inside the door by a lecherously grinning butler who stared shamelessly at their ample cleavages after introducing himself as Barry Hatch. While Lyra seemed quite receptive to the servant's roaming eyes, her companion wasn't as thrilled about being ogled. "Bit late, aren't you? You've missed half the rituals and all of the drinking. All we've got left is fizzy pop," he said, tearing his eyes away from their bosoms just long enough to scold them for being tardy. "Um," Page said, resisting the urge to cross her arms over her chest, "We apologize." "Oh yeah? Well, just give me the password and we'll forget all about it, alright?" The pair stiffened and exchanged a worried look. "Err… The password…"
Barry chuckled and waved a dismissive hand through the air. "Nah, I'm just pulling your leg. Come on in," he said, turning to lead them up the grand staircase, "Master Reaver'll be happy to have a few more conscious people around for the final ceremony. I wasn't kidding about the fizzy pop, though. These lightweights drank the lot." Lyra just barely avoided having the contents of one drunken partygoer's stomach spewed on her as she followed closely behind Page and their perverted guide. Reaver's intoxicated guests lay on nearly every flat surface and those still standing were busy ravaging one another mercilessly in the corners. More than once, the rebel leader had to tug upon the princess' sleeve in order to keep her moving.
"There's probably some cooking sherry left in the kitchen if you're desperate," Barry continued, leading them through the dining room, "No? Don't blame you. Never touch the stuff myself. Except in the mornings. I can sort you out a nice orgy later on should the mood take you. What do you say?" Page, utterly disgusted by the offer, promptly turned him down. Seeing the intrigued look in Lyra's eyes, she didn't want to give her time to accept. "Just keep walking, you strange little man." The butler snickered and shrugged as he responded, "Of course, of course. You'll have to pardon me, miss. I do have the habit of spouting the odd vulgarity. Master Reaver has often brought out his whip to rectify that very flaw in my character."
Upon reaching the door at the back of the dining room, Barry gestured towards it and went back to staring at the women's chests. "It's just this way. Oh, you'll have such fun. Not 'drinks and orgies' fun, you know, but it'll be a real laugh. I'm sure. Now, there are some ground rules. Master Reaver insists that nobody carries weapons into the ballroom. There have been some accidents," he said. Lyra placed a hand on the pistol secured on her hip, having no intentions of giving it or the sword on her back up. Page seemed to agree and said, "I'm afraid I need to keep mine. I'm here to find some friends."
Barry looked surprised and delighted upon realizing who the two women were and threw his arms out grandly. "Oh, you're the brave, noble rebels. Why didn't you say so? I'm an oppressed proletarian myself, you know. We're practically comrades," he smirked, bowing to the pair, "If you just go through those doors, you can sneak past the party and rescue your fellow revolutionaries." Both Lyra and Page had their doubts about the sincerity of Barry's words, but they really had no choice but to continue forward. There just wasn't any turning back at this point. So, they pushed through the door into a nearly vacant room.
The door shut and locked behind them, thanks to Barry Hatch, but they were more interested in the cage at the center of the room to notice. "There's one of my men. Kidd! Are you alright?" As Page dashed over to her confined comrade, Lyra studied the interior carefully. Several barred doors lined the walls, giving the princess an odd sense of foreboding. This was anything but a ballroom. Kidd's order confirmed her fears. "Get out! Now!" "Where are the others," Page asked, refusing to budge. Lyra joined her at the cage and began work on the lock with trembling hands. There was a sense of urgency in the air that even she didn't fully understand, but she knew without a doubt that they needed to get out of that room. "All dead," the trapped man said, "Reaver knew you'd come. He's been waiting for you!"
Page gasped as the cage began to lift into the air, taking Lyra with it. "I'll get him out," the princess said, continuing her efforts to pick the lock as she dangled. "My, my, my," came Reaver's easily recognizable voice from the balcony surrounding the upper portion of the room. Lyra immediately dropped down from the cage, forgetting the task at hand to instead gaze upon the masked business tycoon and his leering guests. "More busy little bees here to steal Reaver's honey. So industrious. So committed. So bloody annoying. When will you people learn to enjoy life?" "I'll enjoy killing you," Page growled, "Does that count?" At least the resistance leader could speak. Lyra was a bit too starstruck to form words.
"Oh, you're just full of spunk, aren't you? A true heroine. You must be lightening under the bed sheets," Reaver smirked down at the pair before turning towards his guests, "And now, as promised, the evening's piece de la resistance. Hehe, another piece of the resistance." He then wrapped his gloved digits around a nearby lever and cheered, "Viola!" The cage containing Kidd came to a stop high above his rescuers and Reaver waved at the man mockingly before turning his attention back upon Page and Lyra. "Do try to put on a good show for my guests, won't you?" "Show? You expect us to entertain you?" "But of course. It's just a game, my little sweet. The Wheel of Misfortune. It's rather simple. I spin, you die, we watch. Really, it's… it's a riot," he chuckled, tapping his cane against the floor.
The princess' eyes finally tore away from Reaver when the aforementioned wheel suddenly burst into motion, gears at the center spinning a hand in a clockwork fashion. Around the outer ring were several different symbols, many of which Lyra recognized, but two remained a perfect mystery. While her heart was fluttering around inside her chest like a caged bird, she knew there was a time and place for fawning after her idol and this was definitely not it. He did seem rather intent on killing them, after all, and what would Page think if she saw the potential future queen being so enthralled by Reaver? Perhaps it was time to get one's priorities in order. First and foremost, survival.
When the hand landed on the symbol Lyra assumed to be Hobbes, Reaver confirmed her suspicions. "Why, no less than the most unsightly, most obnoxious creatures ever to contaminate this world. Super," he smirked as the corresponding door opened on the right side of the room. The aristocrat and his snickering companions then disappeared through a doorway on the upper level while Page glared after them. "Looks like that's the only way. Page, let's go," Lyra said, drawing her sword and entering the opened door. Reluctantly, the rebel followed her companion. While fighting a horde of angry little goblins was nothing new to the princess, Page worried how they were going to fair.
Once the pair had reached the center of the room, Reaver pranced through the balcony door above and addressed his captives cheerfully. "You will laugh, you will cry, you will have your sinews gnawed upon. Bring out the Hobbes!" Immediately the room was swarmed by the wretched little abominations. Page and Lyra were outnumbered by several dozen of the beasts, but it took roughly five or so Hobbes to equal the fighting ability of the two females. The only thing they found difficult to deal with was the sinister commentary of Barry Hatch and the wild laughter of Reaver's guests. But even as they battled through the Hobbes with relative ease, both women were contemplating their next move. They hadn't failed to keep in mind that there were seven symbols on the Wheel of Misfortune and their gracious host wasn't likely to give up just because they dispatched a single group of slimy Hobbes.
When Lyra pulled her blade from the carcass of the last Hobbe to fall, Reaver sighed and shook his head. "One almost feels sorry for those repugnant beasts. Then one shrugs and waits for the next piece of carnage." He and his guests then took their leave as the barred door was opened, permitting the princess and Page to return to the main room. "Reaver's worse than I thought. What kind of mind dreams up something like this?" Lyra was beginning to wonder that herself. Would she call it 'sick', 'ingenious', or 'twisted'? In the end, she decided on all three, but kept the discovery to herself. It was highly unlikely that the rebel leader would agree with her on the subject. Page was probably thinking more along the lines of 'demented'.
They were forced to battle through three more rooms similar to the first. Hollow men, mercenaries, and then an incredibly wily enemy Reaver and Barry had referred to as Sand Furies. By the third room, Page's exhaustion had reared its ugly head and Lyra had no choice but to take up the slack despite her own injuries. The bullet wound on her shoulder and the slash on her side from the fight with Ferret's men had reopened, but those were the least of her worries. There was another bullet lodged somewhere in her left thigh, compliments of a now decapitated mercenary, and several more deep cuts now seeping her Heroic blood all over Reaver's marble floor. Page wasn't much better off with a Sand Fury sword having been gouged over an inch into her side. She was going to be lucky if nothing vital was hit.
"You holier-than-thou idealists, always thinking in the simplest, most binary of ways," Reaver said as they limped their way back into the main room. Behind him, Barry had set his sights on a rather annoyed-looking female in an emerald gown. "But I quite agree. This game grows tiresome. And my guests, they grow… restless." "No need to get restless, sweetheart. Barry Hatch is here to take care of you. Fancy a quick jig," the butler grinned, slinking up against the woman and patting her on her backside. She gasped and twirled out of his embrace as the Wheel of Misfortune began to spin one final time. When it landed on the symbol Lyra had been dreading, she and Page glared up at the balcony in time to see that the woman Barry was hitting on was no longer a woman at all.
"You're a rough one, ain't ya? I like that in a woman. You're just…" The man turned towards her when her grip on his hand tightened and nearly choked upon seeing the clawed paw wrapped around his squashed fingers. "What! Reaver! Reaver! Help! Aaaaggh!" Poor Barry had tried to pull away from the beast, but it leapt upon him as he reached out for his boss' aid and mauled him viciously while Reaver watched the scene indifferently. "Oh, dear. Do you brutes have any idea how hard it is to find good staff? Still, one might as well enjoy the show. What's the use of a secret society without a little secret, after all?" The creature seemed to give a sort of guttural snicker before bounding over the edge of the balcony. Grinning smugly, the aristocrat peered after it to watch as his other hungry guests joined their pack member on the lower floor.
Page and Lyra backed away slowly as the balverines approached, snapping their jaws ferociously at the women. "This can't be happening… What are they?" The princess drew her pistol and fired as one of the bolder monsters lunged towards them, answering her companion only after it fell dead and was sniffed by its still living kin. "Don't tell me you've never heard of balverines," she laughed, abandoning her pistol in favor of charging a woven spell of fire and vortex, "My mother fought dozens of these things in her day. Told me all about them once. Fascinating creatures, really." "Maybe so, but I'd much rather be hearing about them second hand than personally fighting them," Page said, forcing her sword into the muscular chest of a pouncing balverine. "Agreed," Lyra grinned, unleashing her spell.
Three of the canids were caught up and incinerated by the princess' Will, but three more took their place. It was by far the most difficult battle the pair had faced yet, but somehow they managed to hold their own. "You do handle yourself rather well," Reaver said, seeming to speak to Lyra specifically, "My suspicions about your true nature seem to be correct!" The princess was nearly too distracted by his statement to avoid an incoming swipe from the balverine she was currently fighting. Did he recognize her after all? No, with everything he's done since the day they met, she was certain he didn't even remember meeting the princess of Albion. He obviously knew a Hero when he saw one, however, and that was likely what he was referring to when he mentioned her 'true nature'.
"This is the last party I take you to," Lyra joked once all the balverines were assumed dead. Page turned to grin in return, but instead saw something that made all the color drain from her face. "Look out," she cried, spotting one of the monsters preparing to pounce upon the unsuspecting princess. Lyra whirled around in time to see the balverine's head explode from the impact with the bullet that struck it between the eyes. Their mouths hanging open in disbelief, both women's eyes turned towards the balcony where a smirking Reaver stood with his smoking gun. "Dear me, I missed," he chuckled, sliding the pistol back into his holster, "Well, I must say, you've made me out to be somewhat of a poor host. Rather rude of you to dispose of all my guests."
Page then completely forgot the fact that he had just saved Lyra from a potentially life-threatening attack and aimed her own gun at the man. "Now it's your turn, Reaver," she growled, firing a single bullet. The princess had stepped forward to stop her companion, curious about Reaver's 'miss' and hoping he would explain since she had heard that he never missed, but wasn't fast enough. Luckily, the business tycoon was not so easily taken down and he deflected the projectile with a mere flick of his cane. The bullet tumbled through the air and landed harmlessly at the shocked rebel's feet. "Oh, my dear girl, why not stop all this bickering? The three of us could go up to my quarters and have a private party."
Outraged, Page scowled and gestured towards the woman beside her. "Do you have any idea who this is?" Lyra gulped, shaking her head at the resistance leader and grabbing her shoulder. Unfortunately, she was ignored and the proverbial cat was let out of the bag. "It's Logan's sister. The princess!" If looks could kill, Page would have dropped dead from the glare her companion was aiming in her direction. Reaver, however, appeared to be thoroughly intrigued by the news. His dark eyes twinkled behind the mask as he stroked his chin in thought. "The king's sister a bone fide Hero… Well," he said, all interest in the matter seeming to fade, "I wouldn't dream of coming between siblings. Well, that's not strictly true… There was that time…"
He appeared to be lost in thought for a moment before turning to go with a shrug. "Anyway, best of luck with this whole revolution lark. Perhaps we'll meet again one day. Tatty-bye." Page did her best to stop Reaver from leaving, but he disappeared behind the door regardless of her efforts. "Bloody coward," she mumbled, turning to Lyra who was still glaring at her. The woman quirked a brow and was about to ask the princess what her problem was when they were both distracted by the rattling of cage bars. "Would someone mind getting us out of here now?" Laughing lightly, the pair finally released Kidd from his cage and then tended to their wounds as best they could before leaving Reaver's manor. Outside, Page swore her resistance's loyalties to Lyra so long as she promised to change things when she took the throne and just as she had done several times before, the princess made yet another empty promise.
I apologize for the lack of a more detailed description of the arena battle in Reaver's Manor. My excuse for not doing it justice is good ol' fashioned laziness (just like the people behind the game, huh? hehe) and my desire to keep each chapter between 2000 and 3000 words. But while I would have loved to add in a bit of Reaver and Page reacting to Lyra's bloodlust, I felt that with so many things on her mind, Lyra wasn't her usual bloodlust-y self. Keep in mind that she still needs Page's support and so she's going to try and be on her best behavior in front of her for as long as she can. Of course, she clearly wasn't pleased when Page spilled the beans about her identity. That was something she wanted Reaver to find out on her own terms.
Anyway, next chapter, Lyra finally confronts Walter with that Elliot business. Look for it later today, tonight, or tomorrow. It's finished and I've already began work on chapters 12 and 13 (two that I believe will be my favorites), but I like to wait a little bit between uploads to give you lovelies time to read and review. Not so subtle - HINT HINT. :)