"I'm honoured that you wanted to. The truth is that I let him do it for the same reason everyone else does: He's a very powerful and very dangerous man and he doesn't take lightly to insolence as you have found. He doesn't want to be part of a family of Unalims, he wants an entire house of Nastakis and none of us live up to his oh so perfect standards. It is far more advantageous to at least retain what little favour, if you can call it that, one can with him for it might take you far. You certainly don't want him as an enemy, regardless of your station in life; As my father learnt, falling out of favour with Nastaki can have dire consequences. Few mortals, even among the Drakken, are cold enough to trade their first born son for a mere possibility of getting a chunk of land, but the Muthseran has a shard of ice for a heart." Zakroti replied with a dark look, turning to face her before realising that she wasn't dressed and turning his head away again "Are you fine to attend this feast? I understand your pride must be bruised after Nastaki's- punishment. If you would rather not attend it can be arranged."
Zakroti turned to face Miry as she dressed herself, glancing her up and down quickly glancing down to the flute in her hands. It was a well crafted thing, worth a counts ransom certainly. He took note of her clothing before glancing to the implement in her grasp, which she appeared to be inspecting. It appeared to be a flute or other such instrument, the lighting was not the best but even from here he could tell that it was a well crafted thing, worth a counts ransom certainly.
He feigned looking away against until she approached before turning to her and listening. She was right, it was not flashy at all. Of course it wasn't; the poor girl was hardly expecting to have her clothes turn from her back and torched by hotheaded knights- at least not in plain view of the entire hall.
"The outfit is perfectly acceptable- What is the saying?- The lady makes the clothing, not the clothing the lady." Zakroti said with a weak smile, cocking a brow as she spoke about the instrument. So it was a flute then and apparently it was of particular note to her. Perhaps it was simply a reminder of home then but in that case he was certain there were far more convenient things in that box of hers. He had overheard details of Mory and Ayltam's conversation earlier and there was certainly no way that someone of her station would have been able to afford that, there was something else to this. "Indeed. If I might inquire as to why it is so special to you? I dis catch a glimpse of it as you examined it and it is certainly valuable but I assume there is something more to it than that. And I will leave Gaikus to guard your other belongings and your pet, lest one of the watchmen decide it would make a tasty treat. If you wish to bring the flute regardless, of course you may."
Zakroti pivoted slightly as he looked her up and down rapidly, tilting his head to the left "If you choose to come to the banquet, I need your word that you aren't going to provoke my grandfather again. We are now treading on thin ice with him this evening, and I would not like to fall through it; Believe it or not from how he has acted towards me, the pair of us are actually on somewhat agreeable terms at the moment, or at least we were before the day began. Now I am not so sure. As I said before if you would rather not attend, Vain can escort you to my room and you can remain there, safe from any further harm, be it to your pride or body." @RomanAria
I'm sorry its so badly written, especially the combat part; I had already written it all out... Then I managed to lose it all by closing the wrong tab like a total idiot. As a result, you got the lazy, unfocused, not proofread and rushed version. Sorry guys.
Kzaar nodded and reached up to his helmet, lowering the visor over his face before turning in place and storming off towards the two guards. He tool his warhammer from his belt and held his shield tightly in the other hand.
The first of the guards, the shorter of the two, noticed Kzaars approach when he was some 8 meters away and jabbed the other, motioning to him. The guard turned to view the hulking Blackguard and took an involuntary step backwards.
"Is something the matter?" The guardsmen asked, glancing to the warhammer in the Blackguard's hand cautiously, sliding his own hand to his sword.
"On behalf of my Lord Zakroti and his Lady Kasari, I have been sent to speak with you about your mishandling of Lady Kasari." Kzaar replied in a tone that made it quite clear that it would be an extremely unpleasant conversation. The two guards, having regained their wits, were not to be so easily frightened however.
"She was resisting." He commented simply as his friend placed his own hand onto his sword, both ready to draw.
"Runs in her family, her brother tried to stop us too." The second commented as he glanced over to Kasari "She's the one you should be having conversations with."
"Are you calling her a liar? Do you think my lord would be so easily taken in?" Kzaar questioned, his grip tightening around the hilt of his hammer. The two guards caught the motion and went to draw their swords; Kzaar was quicker however and launched forwards his hammer, catching the first Drakken in the stomach and causing him to double over before smacking him on the back of the head with the hilt of the weapon, sending him sprawling onto the floor.
The second guard had drawn his blade and lunged forwards towards Kzaar, bringing the blade down in a chopping motion. Kzaar dashed to the side to avoid it, ascending several of the steps; The warrior advanced up them towards the Blackguard, bringing his sword in for a slash. Kzaar moved his shield quickly, knocking the blade away before smashing the shield against the guard's face, sending him stumbling backwards against the banister of the stairs. Kzaar seized the opportunity and advanced quickly, flipping the warhammer around and using the hook on the back of the head to smash through the warriors armour and pin his arm against the railing. He brought his hand under the Drakken's groin swiftly and tossed him over the banister, causing his arm to contort at an unnatural angle as the weight of his own body and armour pulled down on it.
"I yield, I yield!" The warrior yelled between cries of agony. Kzaar lifted the hammer away and slid it back onto his belt, causing the warrior to collapse onto the floor below with a clatter, cradling his broken arm. His comrade had managed to clamour to his feet and after taking one look at the Blackguard and his injured ally turned and stumbled away as fast as he could. Kzaar growled and charged down the staircase but was too slow to stop the fleeing Drakken. Instead he turned to the downed guard who was slowly bringing himself to his feet and seized him by the throat, dragging the wounded Drakken back towards Zakroti and his family, coming to a halt in front of them with his arm still clamped around the warriors neck.
"I have brought one of them my liege, the other has given flight." Kzaar said as he forced the warrior to his knees, the man still clutching his arm and moaning in pain whenever he could catch his breath to do so "What would you have me do?"
"I'm sorry! Please, have mercy my lord! My family relies on my wage, I didn't mean to harm your bride!" The warrior begged in between gasps for breath. Zakroti glanced down to him with a cocked brow before looking back towards Kzaar. Zakroti certainly wasn't going to kill the man for making a bruise but he certainly wasn't against dragging out the mans fear for a little longer and giving him a lasting embarrassment that he would have to carry for the rest of his time stationed at the Wroth. Perhaps if he made him beg for forgiveness from Kasari; He'd become a joke in the eyes of his colleagues, thats for certain.
"I don't believe I am the one you should be begging forgiveness of." He said as he turned away again. The guardsmen looked up towards Kasari with begging eyes
"Please have mercy." He choked from within Kzaar's armoured grasp, terror filling his eyes as he looked up towards Kasari. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry... just let me go! I'll never lay a hand on one of the brides again, I swear, just please don't kill me!"
Ayltam was apparently too interested in what Aymiria was saying to take note of what was occurring only few meters away from her.
"I would love to hear you play sometime, if I may. I can't play anything, I used to have lessons in playing a lute but I was just hopeless at it. My tutor was no Liiren, I honestly don't think he really wanted to teach anyone anything unless it involved downing ale and pocketing their money."
Her face lit up when Miry had mentioned that she had heard of a Jaelyn Simmerson, only for it to quickly drop when she noted the young girls expression
"What is it? What do you know of Jaelyn?" She asked with a concerned look. Miry proceeded onto another topic and for the time being Ayltam let the issue drop
"My elements? Water and air; Its what my name means to, I was named after my elements. I was strong with them when I was born, the drapes had been badly fitted and I blew them up into the air and drew water from the nearby vase across the room, splashing it across the floor. The midwife had never seen anything like it with any of the other children, most of the time it doesn't even become apparent for the first few years. There are exceptions of course and I was one of them. It made no end of trouble for my nanny, she used to joke that it was a good thing I wasn't fire, lest I set fire to the manger." Ayltam replied with a small smile before continuing into something of a ramble "Of course, its very rare you'll find someone named after their elements today; 'Bal' is still used because its usually easier to tell whether a child has fire as one of its elements because the air may get hotter once its born but even then, more often than not, it is not related to the element at all and is just used for traditions sake. Everyone got tired of being wrong I suppose and nobody really wanted to wait four or five years to name their child but it was really when Kastaki adopted the more Kalderan naming system but in our language and it became far more common to use names like Silnor and Sancrete. Practically every name is set up on this manner now; Two words joined together are used as a name and so almost every name has meaning to it, usually lets you know what their parents ambitions for them were. It poses other problems too of course, how do you decide which way around to put the elements? If I was born fifteen hundred years ago I would probably be Tamayl and not Ayltam."
"My families estate? Well, I assume you mean specifically my uncles. Its rather nice; There are four major holdings in it, two of which are large towns or cities; Sancreayl and Laloriayl. The former is very beautiful in spring when all the trees blossom. It's Lord is Oiste Paslim; He's always too busy inspecting the new new blades or trying to raise the mining quote but his family is nice. Lady Paslim bakes the best pies this side of the spine. You'll probably spend most of your time with us in Mu'Jupostat; The gardens are beautiful, there are even plants from your lands in there and one of the statues was taken back when the first Reaping happened. There is a library in the keep and the castles archives are hold there as well, save for those entries which were lost or destroyed. I'm afraid I don't know what an orchestra is so I cant tell you. As for your pet I think it will be alright. There have been rabbits there before, I remember when I was about ten we had been eating rabbit for days and I wondered why. Apparently there had been a dramatic increase in their numbers and many had to be culled to stop them from eating all the county crops. So I assume your Bunny will be alright; Just don't let her loose near any of the farms or let her stray into the hounds and she should be fine."
"But really, I want to hear some more about Jaelyn Simmerson; what do you know about her? Did you ever meet her? Is she still alive? Ayltam asked in a serious tone. Then she watched bewildered as the young girl decided that insulting her grandfather was a good way to go. From the look on her face it was obvious that Ayltam wanted to pull Aymiria away and apologise for her behavior but remained rooted to the spot despite her best efforts. Zakroti paused and opened his mouth slightly in shock; What was Miry thinking? This couldn't end well...
"Aymiria, you're talking to a very dangerous man." Zakroti whispered quietly as she turned to face him. She appeared to be- happy that she had said that, as if she was expecting something good to come of it. Zakroti swallowed and glanced over to his grandfather; Nastaki gave a glare that could melt ice to the short Gem before him. He remained completely silent for several seconds before raising his voice to speak in his powerful voice that seemed to fill the air around him with electricity; Zakroti knew it all to well. It was the kind of voice that commanded your attention, the voice that belonged to a leader whose desires were inexorable and whose words could fill men with inspiration- or with dread.
"Zuth Tyrlal; sep geheiz vefia." Nastaki ordered. One of the knights stepped forwards behind the ground girl ans drew his dagger from its sheath. Two other knights stepped forwards and seized her to prevent her from running. Tyrlal placed the blade against Miry's back and slashed down through the fabric of her dress before tearing the cloth from her. "Zuth Norka e Zuth Varlaste, kros geh. Zuth Tyrlal, jusla geh postat." The knights backed away from her save for Tyrlal who turned her to face Nastaki before forcing her to kneel
"She doesn't know what she's saying." Ayltam piped up at last in the young girls defence, but her protests were being promptly ignored by Nastaki. "She's had a long rode and is tired, scared and famished."
"I want you to treat this as a learning experience; You will afford people the respect of their station." Nastaki nodded to Tyrlal who released his grasp on her and seized the ruins of her dress before burning it to a cinder in his hand. The spectacle had drawn the attention of a number of nearby Drakken nobles and guardsmen who were now sniggering at the girls predicament; A few of them had begun making rude comments towards her, some of which ran along the lines of how it was good to see that at least 'some parts of her were reasonably sized', which inevitably drew the counter cries that even those parts were too small.
Zakroti bit his bottom lip as he watched the scene unfold; He daren't intervene as it would likely only incite his grandfather to do something more severe. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor girl; He doubted she had expected to be stripped and placed on display before a room full of Drakken for making one somewhat insulting remark towards his grandfather. Bit then what had she expected, exactly? Surely there was no way she could have possibly expected this to end well! And here he had thought he might have more trouble with Kasari, at least she wasn't trying to make an enemy of his grandfather.
Nastaki turned away again, this time heading off with his small group of knights and leaving the poor girl to be laughed at and humiliated. Zakroti waited until his grandfather was out of an earshot before speaking
"Ayltam, give her your cloak." He said, causing the young Drakken girl to nod and take the wolfskin travelling cloak from her shoulders, offering it to Aymiria. "I believe the guards will have your belongings in the storeroom by now. I am afraid we must spend more time among the folk of quality later, let us not drag this on too long. Miry, I will escort you up to the room where they keep the brides belongings and we you will meet the others in the banquet hall." Zakroti said as he for Aymiria to follow before heading into the hallway off the side of the claiming chamber; Vain and Gaikus followed after them. Ayltam and the rest of the blackguard turned their attention back towards Kzaar and Kasari to watch the scene unfold.
He knew that a few doors down the corridor was a staircase that led up to the floor where the Drakken kept the Gems belongings before moving them to their husband's room. The Lord began to climb it, leading the young bride into a dark room. A single figure was inside, leaning over the luggage and going through it for any valuables. The moment he noticed the pair in the doorway, he stood up and stuffed the necklace he was carrying into his pocket before approaching the door and trying to pass.
A looter; Of course. The guards of the Wroth could usually be certain that anything they took wouldn't be noticed until far later, by which point it would be unlikely that they would be caught. It made sense that they would occasionally lift valuables from the luggage of unfortunate Gem Brides. He imagined plenty of young girls found almost all their belongings had been taken once they had arrived back at their husbands holdings.
It became apparent as he approached that while he was armed with a sword, he wasn't armoured in any manner. Zakroti blocked his path, confident that he could intimidate the Drakken.
"Put all you have taken back." He commanded; At first the Drakken appeared inclined to disobey but after a few seconds in which he had likely registered his disadvantage or sighted the two armour clad figures in the hallway behind Zakroti, grudgingly complied with the order and tossed a set of jewels back into the bag he had through rummaging through, muttering as he left. "See if you can find your belongings and get something to wear from them; I'm sorry for my grandfather, I should have warned you that he doesn't take insults lightly. I'm surprised he let you off so easily. What in the world possessed you to say that?" Zakroti asked, leaning against the doorframe and waiting patiently "I'll look away while you change, don't worry." He turned his head to face the wall across from him, able to see the doorway out of the corner of his eye.
Kzaar beats up two of the Drakken guardsmen, giving one of them a very nasty broken arm before dragging him back to Zakroti. Zakroti makes the guard beg Kasari for mercy. Ayltam inquires about Jaelyn Simmerson and talks about home. She also rambles about names. Nastaki is really pissed and decides to humiliate Aymiria by stripping her naked. Zakroti takes her to get another set of clothes, lest she attend the banquet naked...
Good grief some roleplays on this site have been around for ages and have like 500 IC posts or more. Hey roleplay gods! Sprinkle some of that luck over here!
Yes please! Lots and lots of that luck, if they please! :D
"No, Kasari, I certainly can't blame you for that. It rather does make sense and besides you're potentially going to your death at the hands of some brute, might as well do it wearing what you are comfortable in." Zakroti replied with a nod, watching her carefully as her gaze grew colder. He traced her look over towards the two guardsmen and then looked back to her with a frown. Well, she certainly was not a pushover. That was good.
"You're certainly made of sturdier stuff than most the other brides, much to your credit. Still, if you would like to repay them for their kindness, Kzaar would be happy to oblige." Zakroti motioned to the massive brute of a Drakken by his left side, towering nearly seven feet into the air. The Blackguard nodded in response and took a step forwards, raising his visor to reveal a face that was very rough, his nose seemed to end abruptly and his brows were drawn into a permanent frown. He opened his mouth for a moment to speak, revealing a set of jagged teeth.
"Say the word, Lady Kasari, and I'll go throw the fear of gods into them. They'd think twice the next time." He grunted in a disinterested manner; he was the go to man for whenever Zakroti needed some beaten up and beating guardsmen evidently held no lustre for him. He was Zakroti's Berserker (a sort of champion who could be appointed to fight duels in the place of their master) and, being massive even for a Drakken, the sight of the plate armoured beast and his warhammer was enough to make most back down quick enough.
"And if you would please, call me Zakroti." Zakroti said, glancing back towards Aymiria as she spoke, but said nothing on the matter himself.
It was a matter that did perplex him somewhat. What was the position of a bride? Certainly not the position held by an actual wife. More of a concubine he supposed; property. They were given the name of Unalim but they were never really part of the family. They were just expected to create babies.
So in a way they were no higher than the slave girls, certainly at best they were hostages. Legally the distinction was quite clear; Brides (a distinct legal entity from a true marital partner) were the property of their 'husbands' and as such he could do whatever he wanted with them, he could leave them chained to a bed.
He had sold slave girls as concubines to lords who would have done no better before but he had never owned one (honestly he found the idea appalling) so this was an entirely new experience. Neither of them seemed to be particularly dangerous and he doubted he would have to send them around with armed guard, at worst they might try to escape or attack him with a kitchen knife; They could be recaptured and he doubted they would have much success with the latter so long as he kept his bodyguards around when he was with them. So he supposed he'd have them treated as though they were actually ladies of the house. Not that it would matter much to them of course; They'd been torn from their homes for his 'benefit' eeither way, no amount of charity was going to stop them hating his guts.
Ayltam grinned as Miry spoke, laughing lightly "Elenath sounds beautiful, I would love to see a painting of it, if it isn't too much of an inconvenience for you or course. So your mother knew the Royal Family then? Were they nice? I don't like our royal family much, they all seem to be a little- ungrounded. And yes, I suppose you're technically my Aunt now. Welcome to the family; House Unalim, it's not a bad family to belong to really. It's powerful, rich and respected and has a proud history, as my grandfather will never let you forget 'Our ancestors were kings! Before the King of Drakka forced us to bend the knee, we wore crowns of gold and carried blades of Paslim silver! We're House Unalim, one of the greatest houses in history and we will act like it!' He'll go on for hours if you set him off, I wouldn't recommend it." Ayltam said, glancing towards her grandfather before looking back to Miry and sighing "I shouldn't speak ill of him but he is a hard man to please at the best of times, no matter what you do it will be the wrong thing to do. Did you know anyone like that back home? And-" The girl paused for a moment in consideration, glancing to the floor before looking back up to her "If its not too much yo ask, did you ever meet anyone called Jaelyn Simmerson?"
Ayltam listened in as Aymiria spoke to Kasari, smiling widely when she said a Daughter of Naia; She knew enough about the Gems to know what she meant by that. Zakroti glanced over his shoulder to her as he moved off to rejoin his family, his growing entourage in tow.
Qeynate glanced over to him, eyeing up Zakroti's two brides before turning his attention away again. One of the Blackguard, Gaikus, approached Zakroti quickly and leaned in, whispering something into his ear before backing off again. Zakroti grunted and then stood by his Grandfather, who did not even acknowledge the arrival of his kinsman but instead gave each bride a stone cold glared, scrutinising every aspect of them as if they had been chosen for himself.
"Zakroti, wre xarxze wel." He muttered before turning away again. The lord did not respond to the insult, turning his attention back towards his brides with a heavy sigh.
Of course Nastaki was displeased with his choice. He could have brought all the daughters of the Gemminite Royal Family before him and Nastaki would have found some error in his choice.
When the pods landed, they were greeted by two large Obselisks that rose at least 50 meters into the air, sitting in a small clearing in the massive jungle. It was made of a dull dark red metal and had a strange series of symbols etched into the outside side of each one. On the south side of each Obselisk the was an rectangular alcove; Within each of these stood a tall, 6 foot skeletal metal construct, strange metal contraptions with transparent tubes clutched tightly in their left hand, hanging down. Empty metallic eye socks stared at the world. The two skeletons stood sentinel and far off in the bowels of the planet, the Starchilds far distant eyes stared out through theirs.
A short, yellow alien creature with a large compound eye slinked from the undergrowth to investigate. The two warriors powered up and stomped out of the alcove, taking their weapons in both hands; the creature yelped in fear of these strange metal monstrosities and bolted off again. The warriors watched the drop pods intently, their weapons at a resting position as they waited for the commonwealth representatives to disembark. There were a number of lifeforms on this vessel; obviously they had brought a protective detail, as expected.
The Starchild processed the information rapidly, storing it in her memory banks. It was basic information but it was a start. She transmitted back the equivalent in the language of her creators; It was cold and clinical, the elements were named simply Element One. Element Two. Element Three and so on. The numbers were in base 12. Their alphabet was filled with strange symbols, a number of which appeared to be very similar except formal line or two in a different location. Using the psionic relay the Starchild sent back a similar series of messages in a similar clinical fashion "Awaiting, holding, no combat"
Meanwhile, Propylaeum 003 and 004 powered up, producing a white vortex in between them. Two metallic warriors marched out of it, moving to each Obelisk before taking up position in the small alcolve on each Obelisk, like soldiers entering guardboxes. They powered themselves down and the portal closed down again. The Starchild transmitted coordinates for Propylaeum 003 and 004, not that anyone could have missed that spike in energy anyway. Divide and conquer.
Arnor
Tras approached the holographic command terminal and tapped a series of commands into it, transmitting their location and their activities back to their commanding officers. They received permission to disembark as few moments later and the shipmaster tapped in another series of commands, as per protocol for abandoning a vessel, even if for a short time.
The Lorca Ship it's shields and awaited the approaching vessels, the crew collecting their equipment quickly; Life support and power systems were rapidly failing, it was unlikely they would recover anything they left behind any time soon.
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shylarah
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