Capture
When she woke, the first thing she noticed was the pain. The ache in her head was the worst, a deep throbbing that sat behind her right ear and spread until she thought her skull might split open. Nothing seemed broken, even though the rest of her felt like she'd been hit by a cart. Her stomach riled in time with the pulsing in her head, and her arms and shoulders felt stiff and sore – something she put down as a symptom of the head trauma. At least, until she tried to move, to press a hand to her skull and relieve some of the pressure. Her arms jerked, then stayed still, held firmly in place by something that bound her wrists to the sides of the bed.
Weiss risked opening her eyes, and winced as the light brought another wave of pain crashing through her skull. Fighting a groan, she waited for the pain to dull before opening her eyes into narrowed slits. Her eyes adjusted after a moment and, staring out from beneath lowered lashes, she managed to duck her head far enough down to look at her hands. Short lengths of rope wrapped around her wrists, digging into her skin as she tried to wriggle free. The bonds were tight, not enough to cause her pain, but enough to make escape unlikely.
Jaune, she cursed, briefly indulging in the image of herself braining the blonde idiot with his own stupid, bloody rock. Why couldn't he have listened to her, have just left her alone?
She thought about turning her head to look about the room, to figure out exactly where she was, before deciding against it. The pounding in her skull got worse every time she moved her head. Right now, the last thing she needed was to pass out again. She settled for relaxing back on the pillow and staring up at what little she could see. Not that it helped. A rough, white-painted ceiling hung above her, brightly lit by the sun that streamed in from some unseen window off to the side. It looked just like so many other rooms, so many other buildings, built to absorb as little heat as possible during the day. She smelled flowers – someone must have picked fresh ones and placed them just out of her sight. Or my head is much worse off than I thought.
She was just about to force herself to turn, to make sure the smell wasn't some sign of permanent damage, when she saw the small mark etched into the wall, right at the height of the bed. It was a peculiar little mark, some misshapen bird carved by a child's unsteady hand. Cursing under her breath, she ignored the jolt of pain and rolled her head to the side, already knowing what she would find.
The room was hardly small, but the sparse décor made it seem even larger. A long couch sat beneath the window, wooden shutters left open to the breeze. The opening looked out over the gardens below, the view only slightly ruined by a statue someone had decided to place right below the sill. A light breeze trickled in, stirring the air and the incense winding up from the clay burner in the corner, filling the room with its sweet, woody scent. The flowers she'd smelled sat by her bedside, next to a small amphora of what she hoped was water. A wooden loom sat in the corner, the piece hanging on it left half-finished, next to a small chest that Weiss knew held wool and thread and the odd spare spindle.
The princess knew the room like the back of her hand. She should, considering that she'd spent the better part of her life in these rooms and the halls beyond. She was home, in her chambers at the royal palace. A shiver ran up her spine at the thought. Her already uneasy stomach rolled, and Weiss doubted it had anything to do with her head.
Using the rope ties for support, she hauled herself upright. Her head throbbed, and she closed her eyes tight against the pain as she tried to keep her stomach from heaving. She was still waiting for the worst to fade when the sound of voices slipped beneath the crack of the door. It was faint, indistinct, growing clearer as the speakers neared. For a second, she thought about slumping back on the bed, feigning unconsciousness or sleep until they left. Then she could try to slip the knots – maybe even clamber down the statue if she had to. So long as she didn't pass out on the way down, she'd have at least something of a head start before the guards realized she was missing.
Weiss shook her head, sitting as straight as her pounding head allowed and flicking her hair back behind her shoulders. If she was going to deal them, it would be on her terms, not theirs. Readying herself as best she could, she watched the door, listening to the snippets of conversation that made it through the door.
"… as the … ock … ead tru … ssary?"
"Sir, she wa … strangely. I don't kno … dragon did to her, but she … with it, wanted to stay with it."
" … tay with it?"
"Yes, ... ord. I think … magic. Some sor … thrall."
"Unfortunate. Still, … have you to thank … she's here now, and safe."
'Safe.' Weiss thought with a mocking snort, immediately regretting it as her head swam. Right. Never been 'safer' than inside a house with the people who tried to kill me.
The door opened with a creak and three figures stepped into the room. The first was a small woman Weiss recognized as a local healer, a nurse who sometimes worked for her father. Her back was bent with age, her wizened face doing nothing to hide the strength still left in her shriveled fingers. She moved briskly through the room, wet washcloth already in-hand, fussing over the princess and fixing the bandage tied around her head.
All of this went unnoticed as the second newcomer entered the room, robes billowing around his shoulders. Her father, resplendent in his robes of office, loomed over the slumped blond soldier at his side. Stormy eyes sat beneath equally dark brows, his dark hair cut close to his head and going gray at the temples. His stern face was even sharper next to Jaune's sheepish expression. Every other step Jaune took favored the leg she'd injured, giving him a noticeable limp that filled her with vindictive pleasure.
Good to know I got some retribution, at least, she thought, schooling her features and twitching away from the fussing nurse.
"I'm so sorry I had to do that," Jaune spoke first, eyes flicking up to the bandage around her head, face twisted with guilt. "Does it hurt?"
Weiss met his eyes with a glare that could split stone. "Untie me. I will be glad to show you."
"One might expect you to be more grateful," her father said, one hand coming down to clasp Jaune on the shoulder. "This young man probably saved your life when he carried you back to town."
"He endangered my life when he decided to brain me with a rock. Clearly his decision-making skills need some adjustment." Turning away from the injured guardsman, Weiss looked up at her father. "How long was I out?"
"Almost a day." Waving the nurse away, Schnee pulled a chair from its place by the wall and settled it by her bedside. Looking displeased at being taken from her charge, the old woman retreated back to the door, out of the way, but within reach should she be needed. "Arc said you were … confused. Disoriented. According to him, you attacked when he tried to bring you home."
"Arc says many things," Weiss said through her teeth. "I vaguely remember 'I don't want to hurt you,' and we all see how that turned out."
"You didn't give me a choice." Jaune slumped awkwardly onto the cushions of the lounge, right leg held out before him.
"I gave you every choice," she snarled. "You were the one who decided to attack me from behind like a coward."
"That's enough," Schnee said, his eyes cold, and Jaune's retort died in his throat. "I am not here to listen to you bicker. Weiss, none of us expected to see you alive. When the dragon took you-"
"When you chained me on a rock to die, you mean."
"Be quiet," he said, his voice low and soft.
Weiss swallowed, and for an instant she felt like a child again, small and helpless before the looming figure of her father. There was a brief flash of guilt – the feeling that she'd done something wrong, even though she hadn't. Then the anger flooded back in, strengthened by the ache in her head and the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Still, she held her tongue. It took effort, but she managed it. Antagonizing him wouldn't help her situation. Not yet, anyway.
Satisfied that she was cowed enough to prevent another outburst, he continued. "When the dragon took you, we all expected the worst. Arc was the only one who insisted we look for you, to at least find the dragon's cave, keep it from attacking anyone else."
"She's not going to attack anyone else." Weiss sighed, one hand pulling absently at the ropes. "She doesn't mean you any harm. All she's done is harass some pirates. She never went after innocent people."
"You forget the attack on our city," Lord Schnee said, his measured tone reminding Weiss of an adult speaking to a particularly slow child. "It was a miracle our people made it behind the wall when it took you."
"No, they're alive because she didn't want to hurt them. The only person who was in any danger was me, from the mob that you let carry me off."
He shook his head. "Weiss, our people feared for their lives. They believed your sacrifice was the only way to appease whichever god had sent the creature."
"Wonderful. They're stupid as well as homicidal," Weiss said, putting as much sarcasm as she could into every word. "That's a great comfort, really. But it doesn't change the fact that she's not a threat to you."
"You would really trust a monster over your own people?" her father asked, his voice low. "Your family?"
"We keep coming back to this. My 'family' tried to have me killed. That tends to put some things in perspective."
"Weiss!" Jaune spoke up, glancing back and forth between the two nobles. "You know he only-"
A sideways glance from Lord Schnee brought Jaune stuttering to a halt, his objections dying in his throat. The guardsman's teeth clicked as his jaw snapped shut, glancing down as the Lord of Atlas leaned towards his daughter. His voice hadn't changed, but there was a hardness in his eyes that hadn't been there before.
"Weiss, I gave up my child to save our people. Do not suggest that I made that sacrifice lightly."
"Some sacrifice. Last I checked, you weren't the one tied to the rock."
Pain burst in the side of her head, her father's backhanded slab catching her off-guard and twisting her face to the side. Her head throbbed violently, her injuries set off by the sudden blow. She tasted blood. Turning back to her father, her tongue played over her split lip, trying to let the different source of pain ground her as she struggled to focus.
"If I'm not there when Y … when the dragon gets back, she'll be worried," Weiss said, managing to keep her voice low and calm. "I doubt the 'genius' over there covered his tracks particularly well, which means that in about a day or so, you're going to have a dragon at your gates wondering what you did with her princess."
Turning, she met her father's eyes, ice-blue shards of rage glaring into stormy gray. "If you really care about your people, much less about me, you'll let me go."
Her father's gaze was steady as he looked down at her, his face unreadable.
"Arc," he said finally, not bothering to look at the injured soldier. "You were saying you wanted to go back?"
Weiss saw Jaune nod out of the corner of her eye, his face ashen. "Your daughter's right. When it realizes she's gone, there's a good chance it'll attack. Since I did actually cover our tracks, it might think that Weiss just wandered off. If we can catch it while its guard is down-"
"Do it," Schnee said, rising from his chair and dusting his hands. "Bring as many men as we can spare. Collapse the cave. Not even a dragon can survive several tonnes of rock dropped on them."
"You're making a mistake!" Weiss snapped, yanking on the ropes in vain. "She's not dangerous. She didn't do anything to you!"
She might as well have not said anything. Her father didn't even bother to look at her as he waved the nurse into the room.
"In the meantime, give her something to help her sleep," he said, turning back to Jaune. "When you return, we will discuss your reward. By then, hopefully whatever spell it cast over her will wear off."
Before he even left the room, the nurse was already pressing a cup against Weiss' mouth, one hand pushing the princess back onto the bed to try and stop her struggling. Weiss fought and twisted, but with her hands tied, there was little she could do but writhe, knocking her head this way and that and generally making the woman's job as hard as possible. Finally, a hand covered her nose, clamping down until Weiss ran out of breath. Gasping for air, she spluttered as the sickly-sweet liquid was poured past her lips, leaving her coughing and choking.
She wretched, trying to spit it out, only for the woman to clamp her hand down over her mouth, holding it shut until finally she'd swallowed enough of the potion. Within seconds she could feel the foul-tasting drink affecting her. Everything went soft and fuzzy, like a blanket had been pulled down between her and the world. She couldn't muster enough strength to struggle, much less fight the nurse off as she poured more of the sleeping potion down her throat. Then her eyes slid shut and everything went black.
Writer's Note: So, a couple of things. One, this now has cover art! Done by the awesome Todd Crevan / Skiretehfox. Go check out their other stuff on tumblr. It's awesome.
Two, I'm thinking about moving the post date to Fridays (Freezerburn Fridays and all that). It's easier for me to post earlier on that day and hopefully it'll make posting easier for me.
Either way, hope you enjoyed, and please leave a review if you can. Anything's welcome: questions, comments, derogatory remarks – mostly the last one since it'll make me laugh.