7 . 6 . 08
Okay, even after a disheartening number of reviews (5?) I'm deciding to post anyway. I hope the lack of reviews didn't have to do with the general view of the chapter? --gnaws on lip--
WARNING: Slightly graphic. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Disclaimer: Cordelia Albany is not mine. Thank Clar the Pirate for her refreshing spunk.
"The sun is peeking through the hills and shining into my eyes. Look, I appreciate the fact that poets seem to enthuse over the 'brilliant colours of the sunset' … but I? I really don't get it. I mean, think about it. The sun rises. Good. Yes. We're all happy. The sun sets. That's great… why go into endless rhapsodies about it?
Yes.
Moving on now..."
Two Kingdoms --slam-a-revolving-door
"Oh, look: three for the price of one."
The dark voice drew Jody out of sleep so quickly that he was rolling out of bed with dagger in hand before the intruder had finished his sentence. Despite being at least a foot and a half shorter than Jody, without much brawn to speak of, the man didn't flinch as he held a razor-sharp blade to Roderic's throat.
"I suggest we talk this through," the man said calmly.
Roderic looked mostly scared, but Jody saw the shade of disgruntled in his grey eyes. Jody hadn't heard the man either. How did he get in? I always sleep lightly, and Roderic sleeps lighter than I do.
"Sit down," the man continued. Jody stood. "It has come to our attention that you have been misleading us."
Jody remained silent. So did Roderic, but that might have had something to do with the dagger at his Adam's apple.
"Katharine is on her way to the capital, as I'm sure you know," the man said levelly returning Jody's hard stare. "While you may pride yourself in keeping her out of our reach, you really have not done very much for your country or hers. Another coalition lies in wait for her along her path. Meanwhile, some of my comrades want to kill you for your wiles, but I respect your wits. I am not interested in killing you. There are very few people that I really wish to kill. I only want these two royals. You are free to go, and I will give you enough money to take your wife and daughter and be a noble in Ellespeth, if you wish."
The offer almost tempted Jody, thinking of the safety of Ellespeth when compared to the Philettin raids of late. The cowardice of it, though, was unbearable to think about.
"I don't wish, thank you," Jody said firmly, ignoring Roderic's surely heroic save-yourself type looks. "What do you want with them?"
"Your mortal mind could not comprehend the enormity," the man said, and Jody noticed again his strange accent.
"I'm not going to let you have them," Jody said flatly.
"We already have one, and I as good as have the other," the man chuckled coolly. "Your only choice is to leave the country or die."
Jody stood firm, and the man let out a short breath of air, as if in dark frustration. It suddenly struck Jody that it wasn't as bright as it should be, judging by the position of the sun outside.
"Very well. I pity you. I hope you don't think anyone is going to save you; dashed hopes make death worse. Come. Oh, yes, your dagger?"
Jody clutched it.
"One motion and you can watch your prince bleed to death," the man said, eyes glinting.
"How do I know that isn't what you're going to do anyway?" Jody challenged.
"You don't know," the man replied, holding out a hand for the dagger.
Jody slammed it into the man's hand, hoping the man would flinch. He didn't. The dagger seemed to dull before his eyes, but as Jody blinked in confusion, the man slipped it into his pocket.
"Come," he repeated, and led the two out of the room, dagger at Roderic's back. "We have some preparations to take care of."
Roderic's heart pounded in his ears as they walked down the street.
Preparations? This is the same man that—
He didn't see where she came from, but suddenly Meriwether and another man were at his elbow. She caught his eye. Her wide eyes pleaded for an encouraging smile, one that told her there was a plan, and that everything would be okay. Roderic couldn't muster the fake confidence to give her more than a sickly grin. Her eyes dropped immediately.
They walked for over twenty minutes, and even in the cooling air the prisoners were starting to get sweaty, before they reached the abandoned house. It was beat up, but still looked sturdy enough to stay upright. The once-faultless wooden walls had gaps between the shrunken boards, and the door only looked like it opened because someone had wrenched it back into place recently, as evidenced by the rust scraped off the hinges.
They led the three into the house, then promptly let go of their arms.
"Leaving is not an option," the man said shortly. "We'll be back at dark for your preparations." And they left.
Jody immediately tried the door, but found it fastened too tightly than was plausible for such a worn doorframe and door. He tried again, shoving his shoulder against it, with all his formidable bulk.
Roderic, who had been watching him and was about to offer his assistance, was then distracted by Meriwether, who gripped his arm. He jumped, having totally forgotten she was there.
"Are you alright?" Roderic asked, taking her hand and looking at her worriedly. "What did they do to you?"
She started trembling.
"What happened?" Roderic asked, gripping her shoulders, almost frantic. He was vaguely aware that Jody had moved on to rattling the impossibly intact windows.
"I'm scared," she whispered falteringly. "I – I don't know what they're going to do to us, but – Roderic, they're vampires."
Roderic's head whirled, and he thought he might be sick. Suddenly, his grip on her shoulders was more to steady himself.
"How…?" he asked faintly.
"I saw them," she said in a low voice. "Twice." Her body shuddered, then she started crying.
"Ssh, ssh," Roderic said, taking her in his arms and rubbing her back.
"I won't die like a princess – if they – do that," Meriwether said.
Coming from anyone else, that might have sounded trivial, but from Meriwether it was serious. She wanted to bring honor to her country, even if no one alive would ever know.
She has grown up, Roderic thought, with a stab of realization. This is not the way I would have chosen for her.
"I tried all the windows and doors," Jody said, walking up to them.
One look and Roderic knew he had been listening to their conversation.
"Can you not break them down?" Roderic asked. "Can you splinter a weak section of the wall?"
Jody shook his head grimly.
"Something is holding this house in place. I know what makes a sturdy house well enough, and this is a house that I should be able to tear apart if I put enough concentration into it. It's not budging."
Roderic walked over to the door, still holding Meriwether's hand comfortingly. He touched the knob and tried it, pushing. A strangle feeling, like tiny threads running under his fingers, though there were no threads on the knob, startled him into an idea.
"It is magic," he breathed, recognizing the feeling from the gifts at the ball.
Neither of them questioned him.
Even though they knew it was hopeless, they pushed and yanked at the doors and windows, tried scraping at larger holes in the wall, and did everything they could think of to escape before the vampires returned. With every degree of the sun's descent, their actions grew more frantic and concentrated. None of them wanted to think about the fate that lay clearly before them.
Cordelia rode hard along the road, not looking behind her at the vanishing city. She dodged carts and people with agility, gaining a few shouts of alarm, but losing no ground to her pursuers. She smirked, knowing she had the faster horse, no matter what these demons who looked like men thought they could do unhorsed. She was no expert on horsemanship, but she knew several people who were, and she was confident that she would lose those vampires who were trying to keep her from warning the others.
Besides, she had a fresh racehorse waiting for her in the next town, and the others weren't that far away now.
With a derisive laugh, she tossed her head and rode, hooves pounding the dry dirt.
The last sliver of sun disappeared below the horizon, taking with it all the yellows and oranges that had wreathed the waning orb. Grim greys and bruised purples settled into their reigning positions in the sky, banishing even the palest of yellows from their domain.
Then, the three vampires returned, and the room darkened further. Jody was sure of it. If he squinted, he could see a dark aura around them.
They bring darkness wherever they go, he thought with an internal shudder.
"Katharine should be here before we've totally finished," the leader said. "Their intended path almost intersects with this little town, and they're due to ride through in a few hours."
Meriwether had her arm through Roderic's, and Jody was standing protectively half in front of them. The leader looked between the three of them.
"Let's start with Roderic," he said, with cheeriness that was grossly out of place in the tense room.
"Stop, don't kill him," Meriwether said weakly, clinging to his arm as the vampires approached Roderic.
Jody moved quickly, knocking the blade from the hand of the one nearest him and shoving him into the vampire next to him. The leader ran up behind him, but Roderic jumped on him, prising the dagger from his hand and wrenching his arm behind his back while Jody kneed his stomach. Meriwether kicked one in the face as it started to get off the ground.
Instantaneously, they all disappeared. Roderic found himself clutching empty air, and Jody, who had pinned one to the ground, fell hard onto his knees. Meriwether gasped. Before any of them had time to readjust, the vampires had reappeared – all behind them with knives at their backs.
"You really shouldn't have done that," the leader, who was behind Jody, said.
"Did you expect us all to walk quietly to our doom?" Jody asked through clenched teeth.
"Most people do," he observed, prodding Jody to start walking toward the shadowy stairs leading down. "But, then again, most people are terrified out of their minds."
"I'm not easily frightened."
"Bully for you."
They stepped down the rickety wooden stairs without a light to guide them. Jody, who was in front, had good enough balance to make it down with only minimal difficulty, but Meriwether kept tripping and almost knocking the whole procession of them down.
The vampires don't seem to need light. Little wonder, Jody thought with a grimace. The pitch darkness of the basement was intensified by the vampires' darkness until it seemed to be a palpable living being of its own. Jody heard, through the dizzying static of the blackness, a shuffling of feet, and assumed that the leader had traded off with another vampire. His assumption proved correct when the lighting of a small lamp revealed Roderic struggling against the leader as he forced him into a wooden chair. The lighter of the lamp, the vampire behind Meriwether, looked like he disapproved of the flame, but held it high, as he was obviously instructed.
"I don't think I need to tell you that protests will only make his fate worse," the leader said, closing the last shackle on Roderic's shin to the leg of the chair.
In the flickering lamplight, Jody could see that the chair was discolored, whether from age, or from—
Can't they just kill him quickly? Jody thought, frustrated at his own helplessness. Meriwether's small arm twisted around his and she drew flush to his side, her breath syncopated and harsh. The leader ran a finger down Roderic's arm, secured palm-up to the arm of the chair, and the Prince didn't even shudder, following the leader's movements with his quick eyes.
"Fear makes you taste so sweet," the man murmured, testing the blade on his thumb. "Your fear is easy to accomplish. Being alone. That's easy. It's already happening. No one can save you. No one will save you. You're going to die, utterly alone, in the pitch blackness where no one will ever find you."
Jody had to shake himself to rid his mind of the growing dread that the vampire's words were nailing into his heart. Something about the vampire's voice made everything he said seem so real. Meriwether cringed further into him, her heart racing against Jody's side.
He could see Roderic struggling not to fall into the pitiless depths of the vampire's words. His fists clenched and unclenched, and his eyes were screwed shut.
"Katharine will die alone, too; alone, and in the dark. Alone… with no one to hear her cry out and beg for someone to help her. Totally helpless. You are so alone."
Roderic fought harder against the visions struggling for footholds in his mind.
"No, no, no. That's not true," he muttered.
"Oh, but it is," the vampire whispered. "That's the real horror of it; it is true."
Roderic clenched his fists again, the tendons visible and shaking.
"Alone," the vampire breathed, floating the knife closer to Roderic's underarm and running his tongue along his teeth.
The knife dipped down and cut his arm, twisting a perfect square outline that pooled and ran with blood. Meriwether whimpered, grabbing fistfuls of Jody's shirt and burying her face in it. Roderic screamed and writhed, and the knife came up for air, dripping once, twice, onto the unscathed flesh.
A door slammed open and a figure dashed through the clutches of the darkness until she stopped, chest heaving, between Roderic and the knife. Bandages covered her arms, and a give-no-quarter look covered her face.
"Take me," she said to the vampire, who looked surprised.
Jody glanced at the door to be sure that there were, truly, no vampires following her. All was silent. A drop of Roderic's blood dripped onto her hand from the bloody knife.
"Let him go," she said, staring at the vampire with her dark eyes.
"Heroic, Katharine, but not prudential," he said smugly, wiping the blood from her hand and smearing it onto her cheek, like lopsided war paint. "I was planning on finishing you up after Roderic, but you'll just have to wait your turn."
Roderic's eyes, swimming with pain, focused on the hazy form that was so familiar.
"Katharine?" he said in disbelief.
She smiled halfheartedly at him, and traced her finger along his jaw. Shivers ran with it, blotting out the throbbing pain for a moment.
"He doesn't deserve this. Let him go," Katharine said, drawing her hand back to her side.
"This was never a matter of 'deserving' anything," the vampire said, his face catching and reflecting the dim shadows. "It just is, like predator and prey. I win, I feed."
"He doesn't deserve this," she repeated emphatically. "Leave him alone. Let him go. Take me."
"And you do deserve it?" he laughed.
Katharine glanced back at Roderic with a cryptic look that Jody didn't understand.
"I suppose I do," she said. "At least more than he does."
"You're getting more virtue," the vampire said, sliding the knife down her arm, not hard enough to cut through the bandages, but hard enough to make her wince. "Perhaps I should slit your throat and drain you first, while your beloved watches, hm?"
He balanced the tip of the knife on her heart and her eyes went wide.
"No—" she said, then the door slammed open again.
She wrenched the knife from his temporarily loosened grasp. Joseph, leading what looked like the entire town's worth of men, flooded into the basement. Each of the hard-faced men was carrying something potentially lethal, from weighted rolling pins, to butcher knives, to pitchforks, to an actual sword or two.
The vampires, seeing that they were cleanly outnumbered, vanished.
The resident doctor (a roly-poly man who looked like he'd be more at home in the bakery) pocketed his scalpel with relief and pulled a bandage from his coat pocket. He began wrapping Roderic's arm tightly, ignoring the Prince's sporadic shouts of pain.
"I can't stitch it up," he said apologetically, "or it'd pull apart. Well, keep it clean and wrapped. What happened to you, little lady?" he asked Katharine.
Roderic looked sharply at her and saw a slowly growing spot of crimson on her chest.
"It's just a scratch," she said imperiously.
He stared at her, as if contemplating the best course of action. She grimaced again.
"Perhaps you had better look at it," she relented. "But, not here."
Roderic refused to leave her side, Meriwether – after she and Jody had fought through the crowd – refused to leave either Roderic or Katharine, and Jody refused to be alone with Joseph, who was enjoying his unmetered speech to a much greater extent than anyone wished. As a result, all five of them followed the doctor to his house, while the butcher organized the clean up of the house and the notification of the royal family.
They all agreed that she was a wonderful woman.
Roderic, shaken, but otherwise doing surprisingly well for someone in his situation, escorted Katharine by the elbow without a second thought. She smiled at him, looking unsure, then rolled her eyes at the ceaseless blue streak running from Joseph's mouth.
"—brilliant woman, our future queen. After Cordelia told us what was going on and we got here, she came up with the idea that Whatsiswretch's magic would let her in since he'd marked her. Walked in there of her own accord to distract the vampire until his magic defenses wore down enough for us to break in! Absolutely brilliant. And it's amazing how much easier it is to get people to take you seriously when you're not singing! They all followed me right away with weapons! It was a sight to behold. Me, leading a whole battalion! Wait 'til the boys in the army hear that. That butcher woman is someone else. Can you believe—"
Katharine stumbled, blinking rapidly, and Roderic, who had been staring at Katharine without seeing her, jerked his attention back to her.
"What's—" he started, then she fainted.
His moment of indecision cost him his balance, so they both ended up on the ground, though he cushioned her fall. He bit his lip to replace a cry of pain when his wounded arm was banged between her head and the ground, but he made no other complaint.
"Oh, dear, dear, dear," the doctor murmured, examining her pale face while Roderic unobtrusively moved his wounded arm from behind her head, pillowing her head with his hands instead. "I'll need to look at her quickly, very quickly."
He looked up at Jody.
"Could—?"
Jody stooped and slid his arms under her shoulders and knees, standing easily. Her lolling head came to rest on his well-muscled chest, and Roderic felt a surge of unfounded jealousy.
As usual, her actions were confusing him. She offered to save his life, but only as a distraction, and she was not acting self-confident, yet she was as assertive as ever.
What is she thinking? he wondered, over and over, whenever other worried thoughts faded through the long night as he waited for the doctor to proclaim her well.
By nine o'clock, Meriwether was fast asleep. By eleven, Jody had joined her, dominating most of the cozy couch, except the bit at the end that Meriwether was draped over. Joseph fell asleep in the middle of a sentence at five-'til-midnight, and Roderic nodded off unintentionally moments later.
"Sylvia! Dishes, now!" a woman shouted, sweeping the floor with a battered broom.
Sylvia flounced in with a huff and plunged her arms into the dishwater, scrubbing angrily at the pan. A cat wound itself between her legs, and she petted it with her toe.
"Prince Roderic?"
Roderic woke, standing up in his haste.
"Yes?" he slurred, wiping his eyes hurriedly. "How is she?"
"She will be fine," the doctor said reassuringly. "She was dehydrated—"
That would be what Joseph was talking about when he said they forgotten water.
"—suffering from an infection in her arms, and the loss of blood put her over the edge. The chest wound was minor – a deep scratch – but there was a lot of blood. She was lucky the bandaging over her old wound protected her from a deeper cut. The old wound was beyond repair. It should have had stitches, but now she'll just have an ugly scar. From the placement of the wound, however, it looked like whoever was behind that knife barely missed her heart."
The doctor paused, letting that sink in to Roderic's sluggish mind.
"And for that, she can be thankful. I cleaned out her arms and spread an anti-infection cream on them before re-wrapping. Her chest is just wrapped. That should last you back to the palace. Let me see your arm again."
Roderic let him unwrap the tender wound, gritting his teeth. The strange jagged square was puffy, and oozing clearish-white liquid. The doctor clucked his tongue.
"Infected blade, must have been. Let's wash that out and put some medicine on it," he said, taking Roderic to the back room, where Katharine was sleeping.
The doctor talked as he cleaned out the nasty wound and spread a brown cream on it before wrapping it up again, but Roderic wasn't paying attention. His eyes were taking in Katharine.
Her face was troubled, her forehead wrinkled, and her mouth tight. The doctor had left minutes ago, but Roderic didn't notice. Overtaken by a superseding sense of peace, mingled with happiness at seeing his wife again, alive, and not in a dream, he curled his fingers on hers, almost cradling them.
He then noticed the smear of blood still on her face and reluctantly pulled his fingers from hers to find a rag. He dipped it in water and carefully wiped the scarlet streak away. He brushed his thumb on her cheek to remove the residue of moisture and couldn't bring himself to remove his hand. She was so serene then; the troubled look on her face was gone.
"I love you," he whispered to her, pressing a sweet kiss onto her forehead.
Her next breath was deeper; then, in an act that almost made Roderic jump out of his skin, she slowly opened her eyes. It took a moment to focus on him, but when she did, she grinned.
"You should be asleep, foolish one," she whispered to him.
"I was about to sleep," Roderic protested, gesturing at the cot shoved up against the wall.
They both looked at each other for a moment, then Roderic smiled rapturously.
"I'm so glad you are here."
"I owe you an apology," she said abruptly.
"You have, as always, picked the most advantageous time," Roderic said. Now that he had started smiling, he wasn't sure he could stop.
"About Johnathon."
That cleared his head and slicked the smile right off his face.
"Yes?" he said, and he knew Katharine recognized the change of tone, but her expression hardened to match.
"I did not care for him, and even if I had, it was wrong. Believe it or not, I've actually figured some things out from these peasants."
"I told you they had a lot to teach us," Roderic said, surprised at the hint of smugness that crept into his statement.
"And I never denied it," she pointed out.
"You surely did everything except deny it."
"And that's why I'm the clever one," she said with a grin, then continued talking before he could come up with anything witty to say in return. "But you know what?"
"What?" Roderic said, then kicked himself for surely falling into a trap that would make him look idiotic. So many weeks without Katharine had made him rusty on conversing with her.
"I love you," she said.
Roderic blinked at the unexpected statement. He couldn't tell for sure whether she was joking or serious, but he didn't expect it any other way from Katharine.
"I love you too," he said, in a tone measured carefully so that she would take his response in whatever way she meant hers.
"Someone has to," she said, then yawned and closed her eyes, finishing the conversation.
Roderic shook his head and smiled.
I missed her.
Final word count: 4027
The climax! What do you think? Characters? Plot? Opinions? Hate it?
silliana: Oh, yes. You know I never do things the easy way. Hm, interesting observation. To be honest, I'm not sure they're quite right in the head. They've got strange morals, and they do their best to help the kingdom, but they are a bit wacky. No, you never did. He escaped the others, that's why he's not with them.
Ellsbetta: Haha! There is a very cute little scene between Barb and Suzie about Joseph that got cut out. --sigh!-- It'll be in the Blooper Reel, though, so watch for it. Um, dunno where you got that idea either. They're definitely cousins.
daring2dream: Sure, you can have both. Yeah, both pairs are finally getting along. Took 'em long enough. --whacks Jody and Katharine upside the head for being difficult-- Interesting theory on Joseph. Thanks!
Crayola Color Sky: Well, I did say I would only be gone for two weeks and that turned in to three, so. --face-- But eh, I'm back! Another chapter? Soon, yes? Joseph's luck is topsy-turvy. One moment he gets wrangled into a band of miscreants, the next he's on a rescue mission, then he got separated from the group, and now he actually found the Princess and is off with another group of wackos! --laugh!-- I just realized how much that poor guy's been through. --pats him on the back--
SIMBA: I'm glad you loved it.
I HAVE SEVERAL QUESTIONS that I'm very curious about. Please pick one (or more!) to answer in your review, if you don't mind terribly. Of course, if you have no answer, don't feel pressured. I just hope to get a few responses to these questions:
What do you all think of Katharine's little show of bravado in there?
Was it purely to distract the vampire?
Do you think she would have sacrificed her life for Roderic if it came down to it?
Does this make you think any differently of her character?
What was your initial reaction to Katharine's rescue?
GENERAL NOTE: The story's almost over! Don't forget to look out for the Blooper Reel to see some ridiculous outtakes and special features.
Reviewers get a bag of candied nuts. Whichever nuts you like. If you don't like nuts, you can have some candied fruits instead.