Devil's Gamble
Oliverara bit through her lower lip, puncturing the scabs from days earlier when she'd done the same thing. The vials perched on the table next to her were slowly filling with warm red blood from the tubes running into her skin. It hurt; a fuckton. She absolutely refused to cry in front of the healers, but it would have been easier had Maven's smug scowl been there for her to banter with. Due to him being a cold-hearted bastard her anger towards him got her through most of the pain his minions dealt out. She'd swatted his hand away the day before when it had slithered into her cell, begging for her help. Of course she refused his offer! She'd gladly watch him be drowned alive by the Lakelanders before she'd be his bodyguard. And become Silver?! The idea was absurd! Her reputation was already tarnished, her family dishonored, and her life in shambles; what good would changing her blood do?
On the entirely other hand, being Silver was something Oliverara had dreamed of for years. It had been her only calming thought as a child in the damp cell under Rift House. Waking up one day to find her fleshy skin coated in grey overtones. Seeing her bright veins run white underneath. Having the feeling of no longer being a monster, a freak. Now it was different though. She was no longer a child vying for mommy and daddy's attention. She wa-had been-a general in the Nortan army. She had won awards for her valor, her courage, her strength. She'd been given the Silver Stripe for her extraordinary kill count. Her name had been put on the Honor Wall for crying out loud! She had done all of that without a drop of Silver in her veins. She didn't need it then, and she didn't need it now!
If you're so sure then why have you been trying to convince yourself ever since Maven asked? Elara drawled her words like a cat lounging in the sunlight. She even had a gentle purr thrown in.
I'm not trying to convince myself, Oliverara bit back. The voice receded without another jab, which was unusual.
The three vials were removed and another set of three was brought up. "Seriously, more?" Oliverara blurted. "You're gonna kill me!"
"You'll have ample recovery time General," the sweet Skonos whispered. She was the only one of them who referred to Oliverara directly and by her title. Most of the others ignored her. "This is just for some early testing of our Red To Silver blood experiment."
"I'm not becoming Silver!" Oliverara snapped at the poor girl. "I was born a Red, I've lived as a Red, and I'll stay a Red thank you very much!"
The Skonos stared at her for a few seconds before nodding. "Yes, but look where being a Red got you. His Highness is offering you a job, honor, and freedom. How much of that did you have as a Red?"
Oliverara tried to get up in the girl's face, but her restraints held her down as firmly as always. "I am a General! I have been honored by countless nobles! What Maven is offering is horseshit compared to what he took!"
The Skonos gently set her hand on Oliverara's heaving chest to still her. "Do not work yourself up; it's bad for your health." The girl let her hand linger over Oliverara's rapid heart for an awkward amount of seconds before thankfully backing away. "His Highness did not intend to take those things from you I'm sure. Your unveiling of your blood to the whole nation might have had something to do with that."
Oliverara paused. She'd completely forgotten that Norta believed Evangeline had been her. All the things her sister had done with the guard fell on Oliverara's shoulders. So while she'd been a good girl and hid in the palace following orders to survive, her sister's willynilly running with the Scarlet Guard was going to bite her in the ass! Just another way Evangeline gets off scott free and I take the fall. As always.
Satisfied with Oliverara's silence, the Skonos started pumping her blood into the vials again. "That wasn't me." The words left her mouth before Oliverara could think twice about them. "That wasn't me with the guard. They took Evangeline by mistake so she played along. I was here in the palace." That was all she meant to say, but the words weren't done pouring from her mouth like a broken faucet. "She's still missing you know? They can't find her. Don't know if the guard has her or if she's dead or what. What's Maven telling the country? That she's in mourning or something?"
The Skonos stood staring at Oliverara with her mouth agape and a vial precariously dangling from her fingers. Her face had flushed to a deep grey while her eyes bugged out of her brain. "You're lying," was all she said.
"What possible reason would I have for lying about something like this?"
The Skonos set the vial down and tripped over herself running out of the room. She didn't come back, but a different healer appeared to finish the blood withdraw. Oliverara didn't ask what happened to the girl; it wasn't like she cared.
It's too bad you didn't have this demeanor when I was alive. You and I could have been great partners, Elara huffed.
Demeanor or not, I'd never have helped you commit murder and overthrow Cal from the throne.
Elara huffed again like Oliverara was a slow child. Tiberius is not the rightful Calore to be on the throne! You'd see that if you weren't so hung up on the murder part.
Oh I'm sorry, Oliverara growled, which part am I supposed to get hung up on?!
The part where Maven is the rightful king and will restore Norta to its glory! Oliverara rolled her eyes and went back to ignoring Elara. The voice hissed at the action and a headache roared up behind Oliverara's eyes. Do not ignore me! Listen to me you Rat! Listen to me you pathetic Red! Too stupid to see that my son is your Savior, listen to me!
The round of blood extraction mercifully knocked Oliverara out.
She was in a grassy meadow. Or perhaps it was a field. Either way, Oliverara knew the place. She knew what the beautiful plains before her held, but her body started moving anyway. She checked under rocks and bushes with the patience of a predator hunting its prey. After a thorough inspection of the path before her, Oliverara turned to the brigade of men behind her. They stood silently, waiting.
"It's clear," she called. In reality, the field was far from clear. Oliverara knew that now, but the girl in her memories did not. The group of soldiers marched across it, tramping down the soft grass. Oliverara led the way with two soldiers right behind her. They were her seconds: Bree and Tramy Barrow. It was unusual for a General to pick Reds as their seconds, but no one questioned Oliverara Samos.
As they marched along, Oliverara's arms moved and gave silent orders. Branches of soldiers went out in differing directions to their marks. A Lakelander encampment was below in the valley before the mountains, and Oliverara was in charge of the group who was going to take it. It was just her, a healer named April, and the Barrow boys when they stopped at the edge of the drop. Below, smoke curled from fire pits, bringing with it the scent of fish. They'd lit the flames during the day to hide the smoke, but no Lakelander could hide from Oliverara's army.
"We wait until they gather for the meal," she said coldly as the trio behind her watched the camp. "Then I'll give the signal and we'll take them. Boys, fire aimlessly. I'll carry your bullets where they need to go." The Barrows nodded even though that was the way they'd worked since Oliverara was a child.
The explosion from their left almost knocked Tramy off the cliff, but Oliverara pulled him back by the metal buckles on his jacket. They all hit the ground and covered their heads as leaves and bark rained from the forest. The two squads in the woods were dead. "They know we're here," Oliverara cursed. The group took off back across the field as shouts from the right alerted the other squads to move their asses out. Oliverara's eyes swiveled, waiting for another detonation from the side, and she missed the one under her feet.
The landmine Oliverara Samos stepped on hadn't been planted by the Lakelanders in the valley. It had been left over from a battle years before, and just so happened to be ready to blow at the slightest touch. Oliverara's body was thrown into the air and fell back to the ground with a wet SPLAT. Bright red blood sprayed over the boys and healer that had been trailing her, as well as soaking into the emerald grass beneath. Everything ran a ruby red color from the gaping holes where Oliverara's legs used to be.
She was screaming. Oliverara didn't remember screaming but that was an appropriate reaction. April Skonos dropped next to her body and started desperately trying to close the wounds. Her hands trembled violently as the skin shakily reformed. Her eyes couldn't stop looking at the red.
"W-what, h-how, this-this can't be. General, what, I mean how- is this a, a trick?"
Oliverara shook her head slowly as the sky darkened above her head. Someone was shaking her but she couldn't tell who. "Stay," the voice called from down a long empty tunnel. "Stay with me!" It faded from her mind and Oliverara lapsed into a gentle sleep.
When she jolted awake Oliverara was back in the dungeon of Whitefire. Her clothes were stuck to her body with sweat and body odor. Oliverara gagged at the smell and made a note to ask for a shower later. Her legs were convulsing too much to stand so she just stayed sprawled on the floor where someone had unkindly dumped her. The horrifying images were fading from her immediate memory, but they were on constant replay in the back of her mind. Not the explosion and loss of her legs, but the aftermath.
Didn't you slaughter the three Skonos's who saved your life? And wasn't one of them your lover at the time? They carried you out of sight of your army and treated you despite your blood, and in return they died. Is that right? Elara didn't need to ask the questions, she already knew the answers.
"I-I had to kill them," Oliverara whispered. "They had seen. They had to die."
April had promised she wouldn't tell. She told you she understood; she still loved you. That was the first time she had used that word wasn't it? First time anyone had said that word to you, right? Elara cooed at the pain Oliverara felt at the memory. Yet you still killed her. You let her come up to hug you, and then you put a knife through her chest. What happened to that Oliverara? She would have been so useful to me.
"She never would have kept my secret," Oliverara kept up the lie through gritted teeth. "I knew she couldn't be trusted."
Elara laughed her cold laugh that sent frozen spikes into Oliverara's chest. Of course she wouldn't have kept it! Especially after she found out she wasn't your first choice.
Oliverara broke into a sobbing mess. The hot tears stung her eyes as they ran down her skin and dripped to the floor. "I-dammit I had to!" Her scream echoed off the empty walls of her cell and down the halls of the prison. "E-ellyn and I, we had, we had fought before I left! So what, why was it wrong to-to seek comfort in April? She, I mean it wasn't like she knew about Ellyn! But April n-never would have kept my secret if she, or once she knew I loved someone else. I had to kill her! I-I couldn't lose everything just, just because of one mistake!"
Oliverara hugged her knees to her chest and rocked gently on the floor as she cried. She had many regrets about her actions in the army. Killing April was not one of them. April would have toppled her whole life once she found out Oliverara was going back to Ellyn. April was a Silver, and Silvers were malicious.
Yes they are. Elara sounded like she was relaxing on a beach somewhere while watching a movie titled 'The Worst Moments of Oliverara Samos!' You say that often. Silvers are malicious, evil, monsters, cruel; they do whatever it takes to get what they want and they have no regard for the damage they leave behind. Doesn't that remind you of anyone?
Oliverara shook her head even though Elara couldn't see her. "Don't say it. Don't go there."
But you already did. You killed innocent Silvers and, dare I care, Reds in those tunnels under Whitefire. You stabbed the woman you had been sleeping with because you wanted to go back to someone else. You slaughtered your entire brigade of soldiers when you got promoted because they knew your blood. You killed that boy under Summerton after he saw you and Ellyn together. Whenever you are met with opposition, you kill. You get rid of the problem with no care for the aftermath. Isn't that what Silvers do?
"Silvers do it because they want to! I did it to survive! What's the point of everything I did if I just become Silver? All those people died for nothing!"
Didn't they also die for nothing if you rot in a cell for the rest of your life?
Oliverara's instant reaction was to punch someone. But there was nobody else around so she cracked her fist against the stone walls of the cell. Feel better? The voice taunted.
"Shut up!" Oliverara roared to the empty rooms. "I can't be like you! I can't be a Silver! I spent my whole life hoping one day people would look beyond my blood! I did everything I could to stay alive! You cannot make me feel guilty about that!" The voice said nothing. "Answer me!' Still nothing. Elara had retreated from her consciousness. It was just Oliverara and her thoughts. Her memories of all she'd done.
"I can't be a Silver," she said again, just in case Elara was listening somewhere. "I refuse to be a Silver." She couldn't shake the point Elara had made though. She was like the Silvers. Doing whatever suited her needs at the time. Not caring about the impacts of her actions. Only thinking of herself. At least Silvers sometimes thought of their families, but Oliverara hadn't even had that for most of her life.
"You're right Elara." Oliverara couldn't believe the words she was saying. "I have acted like a Silver. I killed so many people, just to end up in a cell with a collar and nothing to my name. And the last thing I ever wanted to do was die as a Red." She went to the bars of the door and knocked on the metal until a guard came timidly down the hall towards her. He stopped a few feet away and eyed the Arvens who were silently poised next to her. As if he was asking, 'is it safe?'
"Don't look at them," Oliverara snapped. "Go find His Highness and tell him I've changed my mind. Oliverara Samos will serve as his bodyguard, and as a Silver."