Once more, thank you all so very much for your support, including my dear guest reviewers that I can't thank by PM. It means the world when trying to find that extra 30 minutes of real life to do what I want to do... so the chapters may not always be as long as I'd like them to be, but I will see this trough. The Yamatai empire wasn't built in a day after all.
In the near future, the story will even move out of that little room we still find ourselves in. Given time, of course. *smiles softly*
Stained Glass
She woke with a pained cough, gradually transitioning to quiet moaning interspersed with frustrated growls when trying to move and – this time – finding herself completely unable to; additional restraints holding her midriff and thighs in place.
A cool draught in the dark room caressed her face and tightly bandaged chest, taking with it the excess heat of her body and clearing her glazed over eyes. Shuddering for a moment she blinked quickly a few times; and after inhaling as deeply as the bandage and pain would allow, she slowly turned her head towards the window.
A watery crescent moon hung in the thinly overcast sky, its rays creating a pale, rainbow coloured halo in the hazy clouds. Motionless, apart from a lonely sigh, she gazed at the silvery light while listening to the call of a single bird somewhere in the ancient pines outlined against the midnight blue horizon. She shut her eyes tightly when a single glittering tear fell to the floor.
'A bird does not sing because it has an answer… it sings because it has a song.'
The softly spoken words startled her, the resulting sudden pull on her restraints causing a pained gasp. Straining her neck she could make out a familiar figure in white robes facing the window at the far end of the room, arms across her chest and missing the proud bearing displayed in the light of day. Yet her voice betrayed nothing but a lingering tiredness.
'I have dreamt dark and furious dreams for far too long; and now that I have what I craved in my dreams of the past, the dreams of the present will not let me rest.
So I seek out the life that would have ended my existence and yet helped in bringing me back into this world; yet I know not clearly why I do so.
Should I not hate you for being real and for the flesh and blood that is your own?
For wishing with all your heart you had obliterated me?'
From somewhere below the window came the patter of mortar pieces, falling from the crumbling palace foundations and bouncing off the smooth rock surfaces, shortly after followed by the heavy clunk of a dislodged chunk of masonry that disintegrated into a shower of gravel while caroming of the cliff face.
The bird song stopped in alarm, the unseen fluttering of wings disappearing into the darkness.
'Please…water.'
With a barely audible sigh, the robed figure straightened up and moved to Lara's side where she knelt down once more and helped her drink. The moonlight caught Sam's delicate features, the cold glow making the dark smudges under her distant eyes stand out over the slightly sunken cheeks. Lara averted her eyes as soon as she had finished drinking, her voice little more than a hoarse whisper.
'How do I address you?'
The sound of a glass being carefully placed on the wooden floor was followed by the soft whispering of silken garments as the queen sat back, folding her hands in her lap, her lecturing words carrying a trace of irritation.
'For a simple commoner like you, Your Majesty is appropriate. As of this moment in time and place, as well as in future instances of privacy, the name you know me by will suffice. How do you feel?'
'Feel? Like having been skinned, turned inside out and strung out to dry, Your Majesty.'
Her breath rattling in her chest she closed her eyes tightly, pulling at the bounds around her wrists with a pained little whine.
The queen watched her without a trace of emotion while the room filled with the sound of one of the shutters creaking on corroding hinges as a breeze sprung up in the otherwise still night.
'I'm starving. And damn it, I need to pee.'
'I shall ask you not to attempt an attack when I release you as it would result in us having to go through yesterday's procedure again. Your ribs rest in their right position yet again, but you are far from healed.
I have little interest in inflicting such strain on the both of us again.'
'I know I'm a wreck, just get that fucking rope off!'
Himiko loosened and opened the bonds one by one with deft and graceful movements, not looking at the complicated knotwork but keeping eye contact until Lara turned her face away; slowly moving the stiff muscles in her arms, bringing her hands across her chest and carefully rubbing her wrists, wincing as she touched the gashes her escape attempt had left. With the last restraint giving free her right ankle she rolled onto the side, breathing rapidly and covering her face with her hands as she muttered a curse that ended in a quiet moan.
Leaving her struggling to get onto her feet alone and finally stagger towards the chamber pot in the corner, Himiko unbarred the door and, stepping out beside the lone guard, called an order in the old tongue of Yamatai into the silent hall. She waited outside until the sounds of Lara clumsily dragging herself to her unsteady feet had changed into soft, hesitating footsteps.
Lara stood and stared into the night sky, short of breath and leaning heavily on the windowsill, her unruly hair falling over her scarred shoulders in random strains. As she slowly and painfully pulled herself further upright by gripping the window grating, she turned her head to address the queen just as the grating's wall anchoring that had looked so solid the day before gave way under her weight in a shower of dust and crumbling woodwork.
She yelped in surprise, flailing in the dim light while fighting to stay upright as she swayed towards the empty opening; crying out when Himiko forcefully pushed her away from the window and caught her with both arms around the midriff, pressing her up against the wooden wall for keeping her from falling.
They froze in the sudden embrace, Lara gasping at the pressure on her cracked ribs but not moving at all, her cheek just about touching the queen's while there was nothing between them but her bandages and a robe of finely woven silk, smooth and cool on her exposed skin. Himiko's hands that gripped her lower back were trembling slightly.
Shrill, ringing noises rose up from the cliff side as the bronze grating bounced off the rocks before disappearing in the undergrowth of a small pinewood clinging to an outcrop on the mountain side.
When the stillness returned, Himiko took a hasty step back, touching her own cheek with the fingertips of her left hand, her eyes wide and her lips slightly parted. Lara, bereft of the bodily support and grappling to gain purchase on the wall behind her back, raspingly let out the breath she had been holding for the entire duration of the touch and slowly sank to her knees. Closing her eyes she let her head sink back and let out a strained whisper.
'Oh God... I'm going mad. I just know it.'
The long silence between the motionless figures was finally broken by a hollow eyed servant carrying a small tray and a flickering oil lamp, the unsteady light making the two women break their stance.
'Place the meal over here and help her up, but be careful, she needs support.'
He bowed deeply after setting down the steaming tray, turning towards the queen's prisoner and hesitating for a second as he beheld her. Carefully he made his way towards her, frightfully averting his eyes from the naked form before him.
His hands were cold and leathery to the touch, his smell slightly metallic and dry as she leaned upon him to be guided to the small table. After helping her kneel down at the table with disproportionate care and once more bowing deeply to his queen he all but fled the room.
There was a selection of fruit she already had encountered on the island, so freshly plucked there were still droplets of sap forming where the stem had been severed; a large amount of square cut meat filled the plate's other half. It was bland and simultaneously had a distinct sweetish tang; the texture soft and almost squishy as if whatever it was had been overcooked for a very long time.
She wolfed it down.
'When you have finished at your trough return to your place of rest and let me bind you, lest you foolishly dislodge your ribs anew, injure yourself again in any other way or fall out of the window for that matter.
I will also overlook your lack of manners for the time being.'
Lara's head snapped around as she opened her mouth and shut it quickly again as her eyes met Himiko's. She swallowed heavily and lowered her gaze slightly before speaking.
'Can I at least ask for something to cover myself?'
'No. Your gashes, cuts and bruises will heal more quickly when exposed to the air as long as you don't rub dirt into them again. Will you now heed my order or will I have to have my guards tie you down?'
After unsteadily making her way over to the bedroll, avoiding eye contact, she lowered herself laboriously down onto the bedding, already out of breath as she finally stretched out. Himiko watched her with an unreadable expression and a slow nod before kneeling down beside her head as Lara brought her wrists up to the metal rings with gritted teeth. As the first rope touched her skin she tightly shut her eyes and clenched her fists hard, the knuckles whitening and her nails digging into the palms of her hands; despite her trembling muscles holding perfectly still while Himiko worked.
She turned her head away, gazing at the spot where the moon had been, now replaced by stars as the sky had cleared, when Himiko resumed the position at her left flank and once more spent long minutes taking in the sight of the body before her. Lara closed her eyes with a shallow breath, then suddenly blinked.
'Himiko?'
The queen slowly looked up from her musings, an ever so slight smile returning to her lips before vanishing into a glint in her eyes.
'How can you speak English all of a sudden?'
'Disturbing dreams that will not let you find the rest you crave may yet teach you things in their realm between sleep and lying awake. Do not trouble your mind with this. You will come to understand.'
She slowly got up, walking over some creaking floorboards that hadn't made their presence known before, picking up the oil lamp and turning around a last time as she reached the door. Her voice was soft.
'Rest well. I shall return tomorrow.'
A bird began to sing its lonely song again in the cooling darkness blanketing the landscape.
There was a whisper, accompanied by the quiet sound of metal rings moving over wood.
'Himiko…? What… what does an immortal fear?'
The queen stopped, her face an emotionless golden mask in the yellow light of the small flame before she extinguished it with a wrought silver cap showing a setting sun. The faint smell of smoke and cooling oil quickly disappeared into the night.
'Losing you.'