Aims

REBELLION {Aims&Sunflower}

I'll have to reply later today. I have to go to work now. :/

REBELLION {Aims&Sunflower}

Okay. I'm excited!

REBELLION {Aims&Sunflower}

That sounds fantastic!!

XD I can see Daelyn being like "don't hit the flesh eating dogs, Daryn, they have feelings!"

REBELLION {Aims&Sunflower}

Or just rain. Running in the rain or snow sucks. Lol

REBELLION {Aims&Sunflower}

You read my mind, too!

And maybe some weather complications.

REBELLION {Aims&Sunflower}

So, I wasn't sure what exactly the mages were capable of, but I didn't want them both to go through the same thing. So I hope that's okay, but I thought that the magic could affect people physically or mentally, by making them hear or see things that weren't there.

REBELLION {Aims&Sunflower}

Daryn looked around the room, taking in each and every face. The mages lined up behind the king and his son, faces covered by the black cloaks they wore. Seeing them sent a chill up her spine. Daryn didn't like magic. When her father's business had begun to fail, he had went to a local mage and asked him to help us. For more money than they had to spare, the mage did, but all the fish they caught, though plenty, were spoiled. Daelyn said that the mage was a fake, improperly trained. But when she looked at the mages, Daryn still felt a little sick to her stomach. Their mother used to read them stories of the mages parts in the war; both knew what they could do. As curious as she was to their part here, she felt mostly fear.

Daelyn wanted the first man go up, stepping just a few feet above the crowd. The way they were lined up, Daryn would be next. He could see her face twisting, worry lines between her brows. He understood her fear. He listened to the words of the man, lost in the story he read. Then, the man started screaming. He dropped the book- mistake number one- and held his head in his hands. He fell to the floor, and Daelyn moved to help him stand. Daryn caught his arm, her eyes wide. It hurt him to see the man in pain, lying in a broken pile in the floor. When he stopped screaming, the room was silent. No one moved, and Daelyn shook violently. Daryn released his arm, and he moved forward, picking the shaking, unconscious man up off the floor. He was covered in his own urine; his face was whiter than a sheet. Daelyn carried the man to the door and leaned him against the wall, only to return to the scene.

One down. Nine to go.

Daryn stared at the book now in her hands. The knight in charge told her to turn to a certain page. She didn't shake, didn't falter. Her words were clear, her voice nice. Their mother had taught them to read a long time ago; the lessons hadn't faded. The image of the man raced through her head, a fault of the mages. It couldn't be proved, but she knew. When she was almost finished, the pain began at the back of her head. It was like someone held a torch up to the nape of her neck, a fire spreading through her skull. She closed her eyes, but she didn't scream. An anger built up in her, towards everyone in the room, and it fueled her resistance. Nothing could stop the pain, though, and she was blinded by it. Unable to stand, she fell to her knees, felt hands on her shoulders, but she didn't scream. Clutching the book tight against her chest, she spoke to her brother behind her,

"Get back in line, I'm okay."

He did, and the pain stopped. It went as quickly as it came. Daryn opened her eyes and let out a long breath. She was dizzy, but she stood, finishing her part and then answering her riddle. It gave her pride to know she passed, even though she felt like fainting. Daelyn touched her cheek, and she couldn't even smile at him. Instead, she stood behind the line, waiting for this whole ordeal to be over.

Daelyn stepped up, holding the book. He flipped the page and read, just like his sister. He didn't know what was coming, and his hands shook violently. His voice remained steady, but his eyes kept darting up to the mages. Wondering what he would need to endure for their sick pleasure. Or was it the king's pleasure? Either way, Daelyn didn't like the group of people on stage. He made it through the entire piece and was given his riddle. That's when the voices came. They were loud, echoing voices. It didn't hurt, no, it was just distracting. He couldn't think, found himself searching around the room violently for lips to read, to figure out what was going on. In his haste, he turned towards Daryn, who had her brows furrowed in that way that she did, but she was repeating his riddle over and over again. He couldn't hear her, and the headache was building from the white noise. Finally, he screamed out the answer, clutching both ears and then handed the book to the knight and went to stand by Daryn. The voices left him, and he could hear clearly again.

He found Daryn's hand, and they stood like that, both of them panting, both feeling extremely proud of the other one. In the time that passed, they lost two more people, leaving a group of eight, seven boys and one girl. But every face was already exhausted, mentally strained from the first trial.

REBELLION {Aims&Sunflower}

They ate and got dressed, throwing on the same gray tunics and pants they wore the day before. The rebellion had diminishing funds, and since they had no jobs, the outfits were patched and holey, covered in dirt. Daelyn brushed Daryn off with a wet piece of cloth, dusting the thin layer of brown off. There wasn't much they could do about the clothes, but he brushed it over her face, too. She did the same for him, and then took the community razor to his face to trim the beard.

"Are you sure you don't want me to just shave it off? The weather is beginning to warm up." she asked, rubbing his cheeks.

"I won't be mistaken as a girl," he said, "Not again." They shared a dry laugh, and she continued to shave his face. The people who crowded the house began to empty out, leaving them alone. When she finished with his face, she checked her own reflection in the window.

"Are you nervous?" He asked, wrapping his belt around his waist. His head cocked a little to the side, and his eyes were wide. She reminded him of a puppy. Not turnng to face him, she answered,

"No. Are you?" Daelyn wasn't a fighter. He had dropped out of knight training some time ago, and it had been a great loss. Daelyn was an exceptional knight, but he was too gentle. Things had changed since then. He was stronger. She could see the muscles in his arms, his chest was well defined. He was capable physically, but she still worried about him.

"A little," he replied, "I'm out of practice." He turned to face her, doing her a favor by picking the knots out of her hair. He curled each curl with his finger, calming the mess. She thanked him, squeezing his hand. When he looked at her, for a moment he wasn't so nervous. His stomach stopped trying to run away.

They left then, hurrying up to the castle, which lay in the middle of the Village. By the time they arrived at the stone gate, there was a small crowd, some bystanders and some shaking young men with ashen faces. The gate began to open, and Daryn inspected the security. Guards surrounded each side, top and the bottom. A few guards rode horses, but most stood still, holding their sword in front of their chest. They kept their eyes forward, making her doubt their humanity. Maybe they were stone. A man on a horse told the people who were going through the trials to follow him. Daelyn led the way, Daryn trailing behind him.

"The trials have 3 stages," the man announced, standing now in front of about ten young men and Daryn. "First, there's a test of intelligence. You must read aloud and solve a riddle. It seems easy enough, but I warn you. Do not let your guard down. Next, there is a test of endurance. You will run. We will run until only six are left standing. The last stage is the fights, where you will fight individually, until only two are left. These two are the new knights for the king." He paused to breathe. "As always, the king will be present through all trials, so you will also be informally tested on etiquette.

REBELLION {Aims&Sunflower}

I understand!

Thank you.

REBELLION {Aims&Sunflower}

Somewhere, in the mess of houses and shacks that huddled around the palace, a woman cooked breakfast. She hummed to herself as she stirred the cauldron slowly. The brown slush bubbled inside the rim. The woman stopped suddenly, holding a finger to her head. A thought hit her, and she turned to weave her way through the bodies that littered the floor, heaving breaths and releasing snores. She walked over them on her tiptoes, dodging fingers and toes. She looked up, seeing the rooster through the holes in the ceiling. It reared back and let out a call to wake up, wake up, wake up.

Yet no one in the shack moved. Seviral bodies groaned and rolled over, only to fall asleep again. Most ignored the sound of the bird. The woman went back to her bowl, singing a little louder now that she knew they were already semi-awake.

In the corner, two bodies lay curled up under the same blanket. They faced one another, foreheads touching. The man moved and rubbed his eyes. He moved just enough to wake up the girl, who promptly rolled over and closed her eyes tight.

"Daryn, wake up," the man said to his sister, "Today's the day we go apply for the knight positions." Two days prior, their boss had asked them to become spies for the rebellion. They were more than happy to serve, but this task was different. By become knights, they would be the inside source the rebellion. Daelyn didn't doubt the two of them would be selected, but it was still itching in his mind.

"We will get in. Why get up with the rooster?" The girl asked, wiping at her own eyes.

"We won't be the only people wanting this job," he reminded her, and that got her up. They both took a bowl of brown mush from the cook, she smiled with no teeth left in her mouth.