Chained
Part Seven
by Kimra
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She was crouched by the window, eyes peering over the sill, watching with fascination activities she had only before been able to hear.
Instincts said something was wrong, something would happen, she didn't really care as long as no one saw her. There where men in uniform moving about the barren ground, some of them looked unsettled.
The Raven Lady was watching them from a large doorway, face stoic, body curled and waiting for something. Daine tilted her head and focused her attention on a lady she had rarely seen so clearly. There was defiantly something dangerous about the woman, something powerful and overwhelming that was pulled in tightly and controlled. She had never liked this woman, now she really didn't.
She pulled back into the shadowed room a little when the Raven Lady looked up to the windows. Daine wasn't sure what she was looking at but she didn't think she could be seen. The day outside was too bright compared to the contrasting darkness of her room. The Raven Lady looked back to the gathering of humans the same stoic expression.
Something was coming. Daine could smell it, inexplicably taste the hints in the air that spoke of foreboding. Her kindred had moved on, only humans failed to feel what caused her body to tense and prepare. If blood was spilled she would not care, human blood was worthless blood, but when the scent of death touched the air people stopped caring who they killed and she was well aware of being a victim.
It wouldn't have mattered, none of it was of her concern, until she saw him walk into it all. Her body froze, breath stopped as she stared down at him. He shouldn't have been there, in the centre of something that felt like it was going to break and destroy at any moment.
Daine panicked, her mind racing for something, anything to calm herself down with. Fear pushed through her, fear of losing the one link of sanity she could remember, of letting the first thing of value in her life become endangered.
Breathing broke back into a jaded rhythm, her alert body aware of every move made by the humans below. She couldn't look away, couldn't think beyond the possibility that he was in danger and that she would lose something that had become so oddly important to her. A low growl came to her throat, even hunting instincts unable to suppress it.
She kept a grip on herself. Telling herself he would be fine, nothing was going to happen. So long as he left the field of tension that was building before it swallowed them all he would be fine. But a part of her knew nothing was that easy, and that maybe the reason for it all was because of him. Someone so out of place, so disjointed with the world as she knew it, could easily cause ripples she didn't understand.
The Raven Lady moved, walked up to him.
And every muscle in Daine's body tensed.
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"Good sir, my husband tells me you are leaving."
Numair paused in his steps and turned to look to the female voice. Jesika Debec had a smile on her lips he didn't want to interpret because like the rest of her it seemed repulsive.
"My wife has sent for me. I was just going to pack." He replied making himself turn to face her, settling his weight so he looked at ease.
"You move so quickly to your wife's call?"
"She implied it was important." He rolled his eyes, trying to display impatience. "Perhaps the whores pregnant at last."
"She hasn't given you an heir yet?" Her interest was irksome and he made no attempt to hide it.
"No." He watched her frown, watched the way she shifted her weight to look a little more seductive and wondered what he had missed. She was trying to be disarming.
"You will stay the night of course? Free of charge." She walked up to him unconsciously, hand settling against his chest. He removed all disinterest from his expression and began to study her knowing it was what she expected and curious of what brought out the subtle attack.
"My men will appreciate that." He gave her a lazy smile the same time wishing she hadn't made the offer, another night would hurt little but his resolves however so he did not fight it.
"It's the least we can do for such good patrons." Her smile wasn't real, was as fake as his and he saw it. A warning shifted through him.
"You've made a fortune from us, of course." He looked from her and about the court yard quickly. The six guards who had stayed with him where there ready to get their things and leave on his command, and a collection of men he didn't know where also littered about the large area.
"We've made fortunes before." She replied with a tone that brought his attention back to her. She was amused, amused and toying. She shifted a little closer to him. One of the men in the background made a noise of amusement at the display, Numair frowned.
"I'm sure you have." He was preparing to send the emergency summons spell to Alanna but prudence kept the spell un-cast. Something wasn't right and he could feel it now that he was paying attention but he couldn't be certain of it and didn't want to compromise himself just in case.
"Yes that's right. You've been in the little girls room. She's quite a catch isn't she?"
He kept the multitude of responses he wanted to voice to himself and instead settled for something vague and non-explicit. "A very interesting room mate."
The black haired woman laughed and took a step away. "They pay the highest for her, you know."
He felt magic in the air. "Are you trying to distract me?" He was incredulous as he stared at her, and at his words the frozen emotions around him broke. The soldiers who had come with him where alert and aware at the tone of his voice, the other men, he realised where just as attuned to it.
Jesika Debec's smile became real as she stepped further away and he was no more comforted by that then he would have been had she drawn a knife. He sent the spell out to Alanna automatically, knowing a trap when it showed itself. "Good mage, your paying attention." The woman taunted but he knew she hadn't noticed the spell because she would have stopped it had she known it was there.
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It was a mess. Everything and everywhere was a mess. Alanna stared in near shock at what was left of the Debec family. She had come across battle scenes before, when all was done and the dying was all that was left but there was something very disturbing about what she could see now.
No matter how fast she responded to the spell Numair had pushed her way she doubted she would have been there in time to prevent what ever had happened.
Five of the six soldiers who had remained wth Numair where only slightly injured, the sixth was dead. Jesika Debec and Grevin Debec where both dead and she could see neither had experienced a painless death. The injuries probably hadn't been enough to kill, but since the injuries had been made they had bleed their lives away.
The guards behind her moved out past her and across the courtyard, checking to see if anyone on the ground was still alive but she didn't think there was a chance.
"Seal the area off, arrest anyone inside. Whore or Patron we're going to question them." The men looking over the corpses moved from the job at her orders quickly obeying. She had no doubt anyone inside had heard the ruckus of this little battle but the people who had been smart enough to run would be hunted down. Numair's draw back and let them feel comfortable plan had backfired in a serious way.
She looked up ready to tell him and she realised something that had for some reason failed to register in her disgusted thoughts. He wasn't there. "Where's Numair?" Alanna demanded of one of his remaining guards. The man was pale, battle trained men looking pale in this day and age was usually a bad sign but she had known things hadn't gone like they should have from the injuries some of the deceased where wearing.
"He went." The guard replied, eyes skipping across the court yard a little shake in his movement.
"Where?" She demanded, Numair had the power to throw a battle to anyone's advantage, probably enough power to level the entire building, but drastic measures weren't often taken by the mage unless something was wrong. That there where at least twenty men dead on the ground, excluding the Debec couple meant they had been outnumbered, but she still found it odd that he would have resorted to something so drasticly.
"Into the forest." Another of the guards called, he looked a little less unnerved then the first. "He went after it."
Impatience set in. "He went after what?"
"The girl."
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She couldn't breath, couldn't move. There was blood in her mouth, too much blood, not her blood. She could taste it, but it didn't taste good. She was trying to breath through it, trying to move. She wasn't sure if she had killed before, couldn't remember doing it. At least, not for anything but food.
Her body shook, there was water in her eyes and she didn't understand what was happening. All she knew was she had to get away, she had to leave there then. And she had.
There was adrenaline in her body, trying to push her on but she couldn't get herself to move, couldn't run any further on the emotionally strained mind she was making no attempt at controlling.
They had drawn weapons, there had been blood and she hadn't been able to think it through. Too many instincts had demanded she join the fray, and she had.
She crunched the muscles in her hand together digging elongated nails into her flesh. More pain pushed through her, but this was real, more real then anything else but she couldn't get herself to move, didn't really want to move. All she wanted to do was understand.
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Numair kept moving, following the blood trail she had left behind. He'd thought she was a cat, called her that even. But the savagery of what she had just done made him reconsider the name, even a trapped cat didn't respond like that.
He'd followed her though, forced the battle to an end with magic he would usually preserve for important moments but then again one of the soldiers had already fallen, and it was selfish of him not to mention futile to horde the magic 'just in case'. But he had followed her, was still following her, using magic once more he would usually set aside for latter.
He'd seen the look in her eyes, too human to be ignored. If she where animal maybe putting her down would be the right decision but she wasn't and he had seen a flash of horror in her eyes that was like nothing he had seen in them before. For one brief moment he had seen the human trapped in the nightmare and no matter how many times he had realised it before, that moment he had known he had to help her.
He came across her unexpectedly. Heard the sound of his feet falling as she spun around, an alert expression on her face. He froze mid step at the sudden panic he saw in her expression. There was blood on her hands, trails of it from her mouth, a deep gash across her left arm. He tried not to think about it trying to keep his expression which she scrutinised calm.
"Cat." He began calmly but her body tensed at the sound of his voice. A curse ran through his mind but he didn't voice it, lowering his hands to his side, trying to look as relaxed as possible. "Calm down." He told her carefully and took a step towards her.
Her growl was instant, and she shifted away from him on all fours.
He didn't respond to her growl or retreat, didn't look away from the eyes that flicked quickly about him, waiting for what ever attack he may launch. "It's okay." He continued, trying to pacify her. He could see tear tracks streaked through the blood on her face, her eyes red and glazed but still so alert he knew no movement he made would be unnoticed.
A spell came to mind, one that could knock her out until she was in a controlled environment but conscience stopped him from using it. If he forced her to do anything now, there was no saying the kind of damage it would do.
He took another step forwards, ignoring the growl that resonated against the tree's surrounding them. "I'm trying to help you." She wasn't backing away but that didn't mean much. "I want to help you." He could see she was listening, understanding he couldn't guarantee but on a limb of hope, with the knowledge that he could, if necessary, protect himself he pushed on. A step close enough to reach her, but unwilling to be the person who breached the distance Numair brought himself to the ground eye level with her. She was on all fours still, the growl diminished only slightly and he knelt down waiting.
He kept her blue-grey eyes locked with his, watched as her breathing began to calm, could see her body was shaking ever so slightly. "You can trust me. I won't hurt you."
She must have understood something, the tone or the words he didn't know but she stilled, her expression changed from savage animal to uncertain and human and the growl in her throat fell into silence. He didn't breath as she watched him, waiting for what could be the final judgement to pass.
Then without warning she breached the distance between them, curling her body in against his own, hands twining in against his shirt and clinging. He was surprised by the speed of her response, scared that already so much trust had been placed in him. He didn't like people depending on him, but he realised he had just offered that very thing to this girl. He had offered her the right to depend on him, and as he picked her up, listened to and ignored her sound of protest, he realised he didn't mind as much as he had expected he would.
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