Hello, I see the assasins have failed.

[ashara]

The bed seemed harder than usual.

 

Nona had told her that she should go to bed early- early starts needed early nighters. They had agreed on it quite peacefully, like they usually did, with a nod and a smile and a few last words before one toodled off. Except, this night was just a little different. They had both known of course, that the agreement was complete and utter rubbish. She was not going to sleep and Nona was certainly not going to trust her to be safely cuddled in bed either. Suspicion had been let loose like any of Nona’s poisons in Adela’s veins, keeping her awake, keeping her distracted. It was not like her to get so consumed by one thing and one thing alone- if there was something she half heartedly prided herself in, it was her willingness to forget. And yet, there was something about the man that made her believe he was a ticking bomb. Kane Trahil had been at the Ranch for about a week now, and she simply could not bring herself to like him. Perhaps it was because of the way they had met- an eerie dusk, the sudden appearance and all that usual stuff they mentioned in stories when bringing in the villain. Ha. Now that was quite a laugh, the villain and the villain?

 

Nona of course was just as suspicious, but she was Nona. She was surefooted. She had experience. And she also believed that meddling did no good. She was right of course, but Nona was also the chef and poison maker of Rashad Ranch and that did not allow her to sit and mull over just what it was about Master Kane that was so very…not that Nona ever sat and mulled much.

 

She sat up abruptly and turned to look at the window. Dusk had just touched the sky, for outside she could still see people wandering in and out, busy with their last chores of the day. Kadel was out there too, she noticed, a little amazed by just how much her little window could show her when she decided to use it. Quietly she got off the bed, slipping on a cotton dress as she creeped out of the little house. For a moment or two, she just stood outside the doorway, camouflaged in the shade as she watched the people around. There was Nathan, Akasha and a couple of others whose names she didn’t know. What did catch her attention though, was that Kane was there as well, sitting there with the others, talking easily, laughing even.

 

This was her chance. This was her moment. And she would grab it. Except that she had skipped one crucial detail. She had no clue where he stayed. The Ranch was huge after all. Stupid of her. Stupid stupid stupid. Now she would have to wait…

 

Stealthily she moved past the house onto the next one, clinging to the shadow and dark as she did so. She would follow him through the night if she had to.

 

~Adela Llafynne

Barbie has some high heels on that kick ass. :D

[Wayfarer]

Telling the others he would meet up with them for dinner, Reynold smiled as he waved them off, walking to his hut. How easy it was to play the role of the sellsword turning farmer while he waited for a friend. Not that he was certain that the man Nathan wholeheartedly believed it, but the man didn't seem to care as long as he didn't cause trouble, and that suited him... for the moment.

 

There was a vague sense of disquiet as he walked. Something compounded by the prickling at the nape of his neck, something wasn't right. One of the gifts of having been hunted for years, a sense for when he was being watched was one of them. It wasn't a feeling he liked, but there was little he could do about it but continue on to his hut. The things he could do from there, he would have to pick one.

 

The hut was humble thing. No windows, just a bed to the right as one entered and a table directly across from the table, all within the space of a dozen feet. On the table he kept his bags, as well as a candlestick that was unlit. With the light fading, his shadow if there was one couldn't be surprised at him going to have it lit.

 

Leaving the hut, shutting the door behind him, he made his way by a few houses before ducking around one as if to take a short cut. Waiting a good twenty seconds, he went around the back of the house and towards his hut. By the time he reached the back wall, he could hear someone rooting through his things hurriedly from the otherside of the wall.

 

Creeping around the front, he peered through the doorway, froze, then smirked. Adela, he could easily have some fun here... But he couldn't, he didn't need the attention... But she was right there, the bed was only a couple of feet away from her, no one would know... He'd have to leave quickly...

 

Stepping inside, there was an ugly grin on his face as he slammed the door behind him, throwing the hut into darkness. Tossing the candlestick at her torso, he was already running forward as he heard her grunt as it struck her. Barreling her backwards over the table, he threw a blind punch at her torso. Feeling her hunch over his blow to her gut, a clatter told him he'd managed to hurt her enough to drop whatever weapon she'd drawn, probably a dagger.

 

He'd already grabbed a hold of her jaw quite forcefully to keep it closed. Turning her about, he easily drove her to the bed, pushing her down onto it. Using his free hand to secure one arm, he used his other arm's elbow to secure her only other means of fending him off. Her legs splayed either side of him, it was possibly the most vulnerable a woman could be.

 

What is she doing here?

 

Pausing, Reynold made his decision. Leaning forward so he could whisper in one ear, there was an eagerness to him that could be heard as he spoke. "Well, this is an unexpected pleasure." Emphasising the last word with moving against her roughly, he continued. "But sometimes we must forego our pleasures for curiosities. I'm curious as to why you would go through my things. Satisfy my curiosity and maybe I won't satisfy my other desires. One chance, you try to scream and I'll leave you broken and sightless." Loosening his hold, he was nevertheless ready to clamp back down again if he had to.

 

 

Reynold Quaestero

Dangerous

[ashara]

A crash. And then pain. Something was hitting her. With a lot of force. Kane Trahil….the words came to her mind like a feeble call from the wild, a message only just loud enough to be heard. Dear lord, she was stuck. Helpless. She felt herself losing consciousness, with all the world turning blurry and her vision a kaleidoscope of undefined colour....No! A fierce anger burst from within her, whitehot, like the anger so often displayed by one on his or her last stand. Wildly she writhed underneath his grasp, only to find herself dropped onto the bed. And suddenly, the pain came back again.

 

It wasn't much, but it was there. Desperately, she tried to calm herself. She was going to get through this. Almost as if they were trying to challenge her thoughts, Kane's words came out harsh and hurtful, stinging her, scaring her.

 

It was then that Adela for the first time after a long time understood what it was that made her different from a lightfool. Offering him a weak smile, she said in a voice as calm as she could muster: "Maybe I was simply curious too, Master Trahil."

"Hmm..." Almost sounding as if he were considering her question, he moved her right arm over her throat and used his own right hand to pin it down, effectively ending any further talk from her. "If I can't satisfy my curiosity, I can always have something else I suppose." Reaching down to her skirt, she was already fighting as he tore off a long strip from it which bespoke a vile familiarity.

 

Chuckling as she fought, as she gasped as best she could, he forced the strip over her mouth before rolling her over, tying it off as viciously as he could. While she was on her stomach, a second rip echoed in the darkness. Pulling her hands away from the gag she was trying to free, he held them behind her near her waist and tightened them up between humming and laughing at her struggling. For him, it was about their helplessness, leaving them with nothing else, taking everything including control from them. No one said no to him.

 

Rolling her on her back again as he let a hand wander, it was then that it struck him. She had said no, he wanted that answer still. Grabbing her by the throat, he lifted her up and loosened her gag, he would give her another chance to talk. "Lets say I'm still curious, have you got something better to offer? Or I will I just take what I can? You have something to whisper to me? Don't you?" Leaning over her, he held an ear close to her mouth, just as he held her jaw to make sure she didn't scream, or try and bite him in a last act of defiance.

 

If only she could've screamed just then. But no, it was worse than even that. She had to keep everything in, bottled inside and wait. This was about her pride. Escape had been a pale light but now, she was subject to mercy. Did he even know the word, she wondered, looking upon him with a hate she didn't know she had in her. She wanted to cry. Oh, how she wanted to cry. Except now, all she had left was to choose between what was safe and what was right. What was right though? For a few moments she just stared at him, with that helpless, burning hate, for that's what she had become. She couldn't give up. She would stand, she would fight till her last- "Yes, yes I do." choking back a sob, she continued, "Could you release me please?" A silly hope, a childish one, but then, she was not much more than a child was she?

 

Plucky little thing, he was going to... He wanted that answer. A smirk came to him as the idea did, why choose? Running his free hand down to her leg, it began working its way up ever so slowly with a deceptive gentleness as he spoke. "You know, every man, every woman, they all have a point they break. I have your measure, if I wanted to, if I had the time I wanted, I would take things ever so slowly, chip away at you, a bite here and there, till there was nothing left. But I don't have the time, so I think I will just have what I can. But I will listen, and when you do pour out your little secret to me, I probably won't care. But you'll still spill it, because there is that sliver of hope that it might make me stop." His hand wandered even as he chuckled.

 

If there was ever such a day that someone needed the definition of horror, the look on Adela's just then would be more than ample explanation. No, surely not. Surely not. Shivering as she felt his touch, she listened to him soundlessly as she felt her eyes burning up. This wasn't happening. She was going to wake up. It was all a bad dream. Yes, that made perfect sense. It was so easy to tell herself that. So easy to believe this in her last moments as Adela and only Adela. Not Adela the scarred. Not Adela the fool. They were different people, who were still alien to her. "There is nothing to tell when there is nothing to hide,†she breathed finally. "It is no secret Master Kane, that I do not like you. It is no secret that you make me nervous. People would not be surprise were they to hear I followed you around because instinct told me something was not right about you."

"Really?" Snickering, he let his hand wander up to her chest where it amused himself while he spoke. "So, do you follow people often? You've been awfully casual about this, and it took me longer than it should have to notice some farmgirl following me about." Something which was increasingly interesting him, he'd had to leave and come back to catch her out, she hadn't been obvious.

 

With that one line, all the anger, all the hurt melted. For a moment only, but oh, what a moment it was: "And that, is because I am better than any farmgirl." A smirk lifted up her lips and her eyes although still flashing with the same hate gained something new. "I only follow those who should be followed." she finished simply. Was this it? Was this her last...were these her last...

 

Laughing darkly, he was quite amused at her defiance. Her defiance satisfied his curiosity more than a simple answer ever could have. "Better than any farmgirl? Maybe you're not just a farmgirl then? Don't you? Maybe you have a story to tell me my little bird. Or maybe you have nothing else to offer?" Grinding himself against her, he chuckled. The darkness hid it, and maybe the girl was still capable of hiding it, but she had let something slip.â€

 

"Story, Master Kane?" she said, gasping for air as she felt thin even tears roll down her cheeks. Why couldn't he just end it? "I'm not a farm girl no, but then, almost none of the others on this little turf are either. Everyone has a past." she said coldly. "Not everyone can be as proud of his or hers as the next person. I am not just Nona's apprentice. But then, you are not just Kane Trahil. Are you, Master Kane?â€

 

"Everyone? This little hamlet grows more interesting, maybe there was more to me waiting here than I thought..." Still amusing himself as he spoke, he felt a tear touch one of his fingers, something that brightened his mood considerably as he began toying with her smallclothes. "You know, I wonder whose apprentice you are then if you are not just Nona's. But it matters little, they didn't teach you well enough, did they?"

 

It was amazing how many things could be done with a hand, in particular how many ways one could use touch to intimidate a person, to hurt them. For Reynold, this was fun as his fingers traced a path that made her shrink back. All the while he considered what she had said. Curiosity was a dangerous thing, but it was his curiosity which fascinated him more now. That and a different kind of pain he could inflict on the girl underneath him.

 

"Something delightful has occurred to me. I have little to doing beyond doing the boring and pathetic jobs to found about this place. Your little attempt has amused me, and for that I am going to amuse myself further, by showing you what you do wrong. I'm going to let you go, and let you go with the knowledge that had I chosen to, I could have broken you and your pathetic pride which betrayed you just now. I'll undo your bonds, you can walk away and curl up in a ball and cry your little heart out over what has just happened. Then when you've done that, you can come to me and we'll show you how to do it properly. How does that sound my little bird?"

It was nothing more than a slight widening of her eyes, but it was there. Every word that had slipped out of his mouth had been true. What on...shocked did not cut it- she had not expected to live through the night. "That sounds... that sounds bet-good." A loss for words at the worst of times, but for once, maybe it was not her fault that she was stammering and inarticulate.

 

Pausing for a moment as he considered his decision one last time... Stepping off the bed, he rolled her onto her stomach and undid her bonds before dragging her up on her feet. "Go open the door so we have some light." With a not so gentle shove, Reynold propelled Adela toward the door.

 

Without a question, without another word, without pausing to breathe, she moved towards the light, towards the freedom. It was so close now. Opening the door soundlessly, she looked towards him, wondering when she would be allowed to leave. There was still fear in her that he would change his mind, that it was a cruel 'joke' to him during which he would close the door in front of her, making her fall the more bitter.

 

With the light came what he was looking for. Wandering over, Reynold bent over and took up the knife Adela had tried to pull on him. The blade scrapped against stone as he dragged it off the ground. Studying it as he turned to Adela, he slowly walked over standing before her, fingering the handle as he considered her. Flipping it about so he held it by the blade, he held it out for her. "You dropped this."

 

With every growing second, more and more suprises were zooming their way to her vision, every newer shock making it harder for her to control her emotions, this last one had her. She stopped dead, staring at the knife for a long time as if she had never seen it before or had suddenly lost all her memory. Everything slowed down and it was with a dazed, empty look that she took the knife from him, her eyes not leaving the blade as she held it, for suddenly, she didn't trust herself with it. If only he knew the danger that dagger contained...or did he?

 

Smirking, Reynold turned his back on her and went to his things as he spoke. "Get out of here. We meet tomorrow after lunch here." There was no need to add a threat to it, Adela could imagine her own consequences. He'd left his imprint on her, he would always have this over her. That was enough for now, he could always take more later if whim struck him. By the time he had what he wanted and turned about, she was gone.

 

She left with a straight back and a calm, steady step, quite unlike the rush she felt inside of her, the need to get out of the room. For a long time she continued walking, as if she was unable to stop, as if it was only her feet that kept her alive. What had just happened? What had she agreed to? As she sat down on the grass, her eyes captivated by the moon, for just that moment, she didn't want to remember.

 

Reynold Quastero

Adela Llafynne