Shackles of Empathy
You know that life doesn't give you much choices: most of what you do are forced. Yet, sometimes when you know you should do something, deep down in your heart you find this little creature named empathy tugging at your heartstrings, reminding you that you were once in the same predicament, urging you to show a little mercy instead of justice.
Empathy, it is that milk of human goodness that differentiates humans from beasts. We learn, we compare, we feel for, we empathise, and through all of this, we show compassion and mercy.
Empathy, indeed, is a powerful emotion...She awoke groggily to the sun shining warmly on her face through the window. A few birds sang an early song, possibly perched on the branch of the tree outside the window.
It was her best sleep ever since she had arrived in the palace, and she was thankful for it. The bed was strangely warm and cozy. While she used to delight in getting out of bed and being active, today she wanted nothing more than to snuggle more, sleep more and enjoy the warmth more.
Wait…Snuggle? Marisa knew she had strange sleeping habits, such as hugging her pillow and wrapping the blankets around her like a cocoon, but she never did snuggle. Snuggling was a word that had never surfaced in her vocabulary.
Blinking, she opened her eyes to find herself looking into the bright crimson eyes of her husband, Joshua.
"Well, good morning Marisa," Joshua smirked. He appeared to be in an exceptionally good mood today. Drat. "It's nice to see you so early in the morning."
She blushed, panicked, resisted the urge to scream, resisted the urge to smack him repeatedly on his head and struggled to remove his arm from her waist. She knew he was going to tease her mercilessly about sharing the same bed as him last night. "Last night was an accident, we were both drunk." She said this was as much dignity as her current situatio would allow her. Fortunately, they were too drunk to do anything, if that was the one thing she was relieved for.
"Yeah, unfortunately," Joshua smirked wider, pulling her towards him. "You know, I slept really well last night, in spite of the alcohol, and I am certain you did too. So I was thinking, why not make a permanent move here into my room and then we can both guarantee ourselves a lifetime of quality sleep."
"I said it was an accident," she huffed crossly, brushing a hand through her tousled hair. "I can assure you it will never happen again, so dream on."
"You sure?" He laughed, grinning at her. "Well, last night I extended no invitation, and yet I woke up today to find my delectable wife in my arms, snuggling against my chest and wearing a rare smile."
"I. Do. Not. Snuggle." She said furiously as she treaded across the carpeted floor, heading for the door.
"Oh you do alright, right here with your head resting against my chest, your arms around my neck," Joshua laughed again at her outraged expression. "By the way, do you know that you snore too?"
"I. Do. Not. Snuggle. Or. Snore." Furious and embarrassed, she slammed the door so hard that the frame rattled.
Marisa was bored. Queen Ismaire was away visiting some of the developing villages, gaining public support, and Joshua was away doing paperwork such the approval of the upcoming dinner held at the Renais Castle.
Although she was more often than not annoyed and embarrassed by his relentless teasing (he still teased her about sharing a bed with him for one night, 12 hours after the incident), but he was a good swordmaster, and she could hone her skills by sparring with him.
Now, she was reduced to sparring against her shadow in the yard, which was pretty boring, since she could predict exactly where her shadow would move next.
As such, in her sheer boredom, she noticed instantly as something big and brown flew from the red tiles of the palace roof smoothly into the bosom of the cherry tree and was instantly covered by the thick foliage.
Gripping her shamshir tightly, she narrowed her eyes and followed him into the tree, pushing past the thick branches that sprang towards her.
The intruder was nimble and agile, and moved with surprising speed, demonstrating an obvious skill and experience in running above ground. Through sea of the leaves and branches that separated him from her, she could see that he wore an old robe of varying shades of brown and black, with brown riding boots. His medium brown hair was tied in a loose ponytail, which bounced as he fled swiftly. His left hand reached out and grabbed hold of branches to aid him in his stability and balance, but his right hand was tightly clenched around something small and shining. From the distance, she could not yet discern what the object was, but if her intuition (and experience) served her well, that man was a common thief who had no doubt just stolen a valuable bauble from the palace, just as she had done in the past.
Too bad he was not as careful as I was. She thought grimly as she closed the distance between them, leaping smoothly over the palace wall and landed soundlessly on the grass outside of the palace, less then 5 feet away from the intruder.
She snatched at his billowing robes, and succeeded in halting his escape.
She caught a quick glance of a tanned face with a roguish grin and small brown eyes. Then she heard the sound of tearing and saw the thief continue his escape, his torn dress-shirt flying behind him.
Throwing away the torn piece of cloth in her fist, she took flight after him, hot on his tail. There was no way she was going to let him escape from her clutches. Whatever the thing was, he was going to give it back.
Through gardens, across bridges, over people's heads, on roof tops, amidst tree branches and leaves…he tripped over a terracotta tile, which had jutting out from its position on a roof top. He managed to catch himself just in time, and he ended up balancing precariously at the edge of the roof
When he looked up, the tip of her shamshir was pointed at the hollow of his throat. Any sudden movement on his part to draw his weapon or raise a foot and she would drive her sword through him without any hesitation.
Momentarily, he looked stunned. When he looked from the shamshir to the hand holding the shamshir, he visibly relaxed. When he continued his peruse from the hand to her face, he laughed out loud, in spite of his dangerous situation.
"I was wondering who it was behind me," he laughed mockingly. "To imagine, all along my pursuer was a woman! I applaud your skills. They are excellent even for men, and amongst women you must be incomparable."
"Open your right hand," she commanded monotonously. She was not in the mood to be complimented. She was hot and tired after chasing him for miles on foot and was highly irritated. Her hand twitched violently from the temptation to just kill him and take the stolen object back.
He looked at the tip of the sword, which had edged closer to his throat and was now grazing his skin, then at face of utter seriousness, then back at the sword. Swallowing nervously, he jerked his head back so that the sword was not touching his vulnerable neck and reluctantly opened his right hand.
In a flash, she grabbed the item from his hand, shamshir still placed against his throat in case he had any tricks up his sleeve.
The object was a bracelet. Inlaid with colourful pieces of jewels, the enamel bracelet glimmered under the sun. It was still warm from being clenched in his hand. "You stole my bracelet." She narrowed her eyes at the thief.
"I did? But I went into the royal princess' room…" His eyes widened as he made the connection mentally. "You? You are the princess?" He began laughing, doubling over with mirth.
She was annoyed with this strange thief before her. He stole her bracelet, complimented her while his life was hanging by a thread and laughed at her position of princess?
"Let me greet you, your royal highness." He prostrated himself at her feet, head, hands and knees on the terracotta tiles. "O your royal highness, I apologise for my blunder, you majesty! Please spare my miserable life!"
Each of his words was punctuated by a short bark of controlled laughter.
Her fists clenched. You utter worm…She thought furiously as her hands trembled from rage. By bowing before her, he had revealed a clean expense of the tanned skin of his neck, and she had to resist the strong urge to swing her shamshir and give him a nice, clean, fast and easy death.
It'll probably break my shamshir. She calmed herself down with the thought. I'll only desecrate my shamshir by using it on a foul worm such as him.
Turning around sharply, she was going to depart when his voice stopped her. "Hey, princess! You aren't going to kill me?"
"Do you want me to?" She said with clenched teeth. The thief was very successfully driving her to the edge of her patience.
"Certainly not," he said easily, chucking his hands into his pockets. "Thank you for sparing my life, your highness." He paused, then pointed at her hand. "Since you are feeling generous today, could you spare me that trinket too? I'm a little, ehh, short of money today, and that trinket would do nicely to provide me with some coins that I badly require."
"No." It was hers, and it would be hers. He should be grateful that she had spared his life for touching her things.
"Aww…come on princess!" He blocked her path with outstretched arms. "You live in sheer luxury. You can afford to give away some things to a poor penniless soul like me, who lives from hand to mouth everyday!"
She nearly gagged at the thought of him as a 'poor penniless soul'. Slowly, she considered her options. He was definitely skilled in the arts of stealth. And if she were not mistaken, the blade hanging on his belt would prove that he was skilled in the arts of the sword as well. She had not had a good challenge for a long time…
"If you spar with me," she enunciated slowly. "And you win, I'll spare your life and give you the bracelet. If you lose, get lost. Deal?"
He grinned and unsheathed his sword. Compared to Joshua's and hers, which were long, sleek and sharp at slicing, his was short and stocky, with a thick blade tapered to a sharp point. She had never seen such types of swords before, but she could feel that its short length would prove to be advantageous during espionage and assassinations.
He dashed for her in a whirl, the tiles crackling at his feet. She parried his stroke, and the sheer strength of his attack surprised her, causing to step back to regain a good balance. Retaliating, she lashed out a stroke of her own, which he dodged.
Dodge? She nearly lost her balance just by seeing him dodge. No one dodged during sparring. Everyone lifted their sword and parried the others' attack. This guy was strange…and intriguing.
His short swords useless in his hands, he dodged her blows, stroke after stroke, looking as though he had little intention to even lift his weapon to defend himself. However, give credit where it was due, and she was very impressed with his abilities of evasion.
Finally, she cornered him at the edge of the rooftop, sword pointing against his chest. "I win," she said softly.
He looked slightly dejected at his defeat and shrugged his shoulders, but she had the suspicion that it was only because of the loss of the bracelet. "Okay, so you won," he said irritably. "Now leave me alone princess, I won't bother you."
"…" She was curious about this surprising intruder. He was proficient in the arts of stealth, but suffered great disadvantages at close combat. He was cheerful one minute, and solemn and grumpy the next. He valued a piece of trinket more than his skill and abilities.
His dusty clothes reminded of her robes in the past, where the cloths were slightly faded from use, and threads had begun unraveling at the seams. His slightly messy hair and careless attitude reminded her of herself, when she pilfered for a living from the royal palace.
"Hey!" She called out to him as he turned to leave, hands in his pockets. "Take it." She threw the bracelet into his hand.
He caught it deftly, a look of surprise and glee flashing across his face. "But I thought you were all about how I was a thief and I should not be doing unlawful things like stealing your jewellery?"
You remind me of myself in the past. No, she was not going to say what was in her mind. Maybe he needed the money badly. Maybe he was poor and lived by stealing from rich people for his next meal. Maybe he had an irresponsible parent who gambled away his family fortune. Maybe the bracelet could mean a world of difference to him. As compared to letting it sit idly on her dressing table, giving the bracelet to him sounded like a more meaningful way to treat that piece of trinket.
"Just take it as my token for a good spar." She turned to leave. The sparring had been good, just that she suspected he had gone easy on her. Now, if she could get back to the palace quickly, no one may have even discovered her disappearance.
"Hey!" She turned back to see him standing at the rooftop, waving his hand at her. "Thanks! I'm Rennac, by the way." He too leapt onto another roof and left for the other direction. "See you around, princess!"
She had a premonition that she would see him again in the near future, and that he would play a big role to her life.
Author's Note:
Hey everybody! Okay, I personally admit that this chapter was a bit on the dry side, like no suspense whatsoever, but alas, everything is needed to move a story, and as much as i disliked writing this chapter due to the sheer dryness of the technicality of fighting Rennac, Rennac's appearance was a must. SIGH. Sorry, Rennac isn't particularly a favourite of mine since I find him really hard to characterise. My bad actually. Anyone has any tips on writing Rennac?
Oh well, next chapter would be pretty...hmmm...interesting...*wags finger* *raises eyebrows* Lol, so stay tuned! I'll try and work harder. Only Saint Elimine knows how much I have been slacking off this hols. I really need to work harder.
Alright, review please and thanks for reading.
Cheerios, snowylavendermist (10.58 am, Monday, sunny with slight breeze, cheery)