Bugman
Queen Arya
yobo
CleverFox
ThatLostDude
Vampiretwilight
Scar and Esmeralda ~ Present Day ~ Pride Rock
Esmeralda woke to a searing pain in her back as hands grabbeb her arms as tore her from the bed. She was groggy and still half asleep as they dragged her from the room, her feet trailing behind them. It wasn't until they were half way down the hall when she managed to get her feet under herself and walk. She didn't fight as the pain in her back was worse when she did. She looked around herself as they walked, she remembered none of this but she supposed that she was out cold the last time she had walked down these halls. She looked down at herself to see her torso covered in white wrapping to cover her back. The bra like top from before had yet to be returned though she did not mind, finding the wrappings managed to cover more of her than anything else.
"Where are you taking me?" She managed to finally ask the guards quietly. They didn't answer, merely laughing at her attempt to get answers from them. A sigh escaped her lips as she slumped slightly into their hands, allowing them to drag her more again as she grew tired.
However, the moment they reached the main hall that she had been in before, she stood tall as her hairs stood on end. Her eyes caught a glimpse of the pole that she had been trapped against when she recieved her first lashing. It had seen been cleaned, looking as though nothing had happened. Taking her eyes off the pole they drifted to Scar, who sat on his throne with a smug smile. Her eyebrows knitted together as she continued to look at him confused until her eyes fell upon the mother and child that were in chains in front of him.
It was clear from here, without even seeing their faces, that they were gypsies. She wasn't sure how Scar had managed to catch the mother and very young son. He couldn't be more than four years old, and most of all she didn't understand why she was here... She struggled a little against the guards, ignoring the pain as she walked her forward. She didn't get any good feelings from this. They walked her around them and stood her in front of the two of them and allowed her to see their face for the first time. The mother was clearly frightened but was trying to keep a brave face for her son. Her son though was in tears, not understanding what was happening. Esmeralda didn't understand either she looked between the two of them before her eyes turned back to Scar. As she looked at him, worry began to fill her eyes, what was he going to do to them?
--
Pulling his attention from the two Gypsies in the room to the third Gypsy that had just entered, Scar sat up a bit straighter on his throne and flashed the Gypsy a welcoming smile.
"Ah, wonderful, you're awake again. Good thing, can't have my favorite dancer sleeping the day away." He stood up from his throne, taking a few long, powerful strides over to the woman and child, making sure to keep an eye on the other Gypsy girl as he did so. "You Gypsy's are hard to come by. Took down twelve of my men before we managed to get these two..." He said softly, using the back of his hand to caress down the side of the mother Gypsy's face. "Such a shame; a dying breed Gypsies are in this land, and even more so in others. But oh, so graceful, beautiful, elegant..."
Keeping the back of his hand against the mother Gypsy's face, Scar finally turned his thick neck to look over at the dancer Gypsy, his once brown eyes darkening to a near black as his mood seemed to alter slightly.
"Have you decided? Will you teach my other dancers, Gypsy?" He asked, keeping his tone light and plesant, a stark contrast to the cold glare he was issuing her.
---
Esmeralda's eyes followed Scar as he walked from his throne to the Gypsies infront of her. Their eye contact seemed to hold, both of them keeping a close eye on the other until Scar's attention turned to the Gypsy mother as he carassed her cheek. The mother flinched away from his hand but couldn't get far enough away from him to do much about it. A flash of anger reared up in both the mother and Esmeralda as the two women's eyes meet. Both of them seeming to silently bond on much more than their upbringing.
Esmeralda shook her shoulders a little attepmting to get out of the hold that Scar's men had on her. She wanted to add more men to the count that Scar lost in trying to capture these two Gypsies... She looked at the little boy and slowed her fighting... She was scaring him, even though she wasn't even close to the scariest thing in the room. She didn't understand it but she could see in his big wet eyes the fear in them when she fought. Maybe even that young, he knew why she was wrapped up in bandages. Maybe that young... he knew that his life and that of his mother's may very well rest in her hands.
She turned her attention back to Scar as his eyes fell back on her. A chill ran down her spine as her eyes met his. When he asked if she had decided, she hesitated as she opened her mouth to answer the usual. There had to be a reason he went to the trouble of catching these people... She looked at him, "What are you going to do to them?"
---
Scar parted his lips slightly and pushed them out a bit, exhaling out a slight 'oohhh' hidden underneath a light chuckle; a clear indication that the Gypsy had given the wrong answer. Choosing to not answer her, Scar removed his hand from the mother Gypsy's face and began to walk around her slowly, his black eyes never leaving her, watching her shudder as she was forced to stay put and hear the makings of her child's hushed whimpers. Circling the Gypsy mother once more, Scar stopped behind her, standing nearly a head over the woman and looking over her shoulder, meeting the eyes of the dancer Gypsy. An eerie silence followed as their eyes met, time seemed to slow around everything except the two of them. Then, moving his hands up to the mother Gypsy's neck, with the blink of an eye his one arm wrapped around her neck from the front and jerked his arm in the opposite direction. There was a sickening snap that filled the otherwise silent air around them and the Gypsy collapsed into a heap at Scar's feet.
Stepping over the still warm corpse of the Gypsy mother, Scar began to head over to the little boy who had just began to wrap his head around what had just happened. The boy opened his mouth and began to scream out in fear, tears streaming down his face for his mother and pulling at the chains so that he could run to her side, but Scar put a hand on his shoulder, keeping him in place. Without even so much as blinking, showing no remorse for the act he just committed, Scar squatted down onto his haunches to be on the same level as the boy running his fingers through the child's hair and putting a finger to his lips.
"None of that. We wouldn't want to end up as your dear mother did now do we?" Scar asked after the boy had quieted down some. Turning his neck a bit so that he was facing the dancer Gypsy once more, Scar met her gaze, a wide smile spreading across his face as if he were actually enjoying this. "Now I'll ask you again Gypsy, will you teach my dancers?" Without waiting for a reply he turned his attention back to the boy. "What do you think? Hmm? Tell her you do not wish to die. Beg. Her. For. Your. Life!"
------
Esmeralda's heart stopped beating in her chest as she meet his darkened gaze. She barely even saw the blow happen as she watched his eyes, unchanging, as he snapped the woman's neck. She flinched as the sound filled the room and looked away not wanting to see the body that she heard slump to the floor. She closed her eyes as she heard the little boy crying for his mother... She could have prevented this... There was so many things she could have done to stop this. She could have left the city, she could have not gotten captured, she could have done what Scar wanted in the first place.
She felt a hand in her hair pulling her head, forcing her turn and look at the boy, who Scar was now crouched down next to telling him to quiet down. She looked at the little boy, his eyes filled with tears and fear and felt her resolve melt away from her. Any fight or resistance or fire disipated as she looked at him and saw what she had done. She shook a little in the men's arms as Scar told the boy to beg her not to let Scar kill him. Her eyes started to fill with tears as the boy's pleas began. The words might have been lost on the people in the room who didn't speak their language but the terror was there in every syllable and the meaning was not lost to Esmeralda. She looked up at Scar with a pained expression as if she was silently asking to go to the crying boy who was yelling to her in her native tongue. With a small nod from the King, she felt the hands melt away from her arms and she quickly went to the boy, falling to her knees in front of him. She pulled him into her arms, placing his head onto her shoulder as she shushed him quietly her words rolling of her tongue in a quiet calming tone as she desperately tried not to cry. When the boy seemed to calm slightly and relaxed against her, she closed her eyes and spoke to Scar "I'll teach them," She managed to get out in more of a croak than she would have liked, "I'll do anything you want... No hesitation... No resistance," She opened her eyes again and looked up at him from her kneeling position, "Please..... just... don't hurt him."
---
Looking down at the Gypsy girl at his feet as he stood tall once more, he watched her hold the small child to her like that of a mother, though his face remained unchanged, his heart and consciousness unaffected that it was because of him that all of this was happening, because of him that the small boy had just witnessed his own mother's murder. Meeting the Gypsy girl's gaze at long last as she agreed to his terms, looking back up at him in a pleading manner, Scar began to move his hand, running his fingers through the thick blonde mess of curls on top of the small child's head.
"Your word Gypsy. Swear to me that no matter what, you will do as I say, when I say it." He demanded, lowering his voice so that only the three of them could hear, his voice gravelly despite the whisper causing goosebumps to crawl over the child's body as he hugged onto Esmeralda even tighter, trying to shake away The King's hand from his head of hair.
---
Esmeralda held Scar's gaze as he looked down at her with his dark eyes. She felt Scar's fingers brush passed her own in the boy's hair and flinched slightly before she moved her hand to the child's back. Fear radiated off the boy as he pulled himself in closer to her as though it would make Scar move away. She licked her dry lips as Scar spoke in a gravelly voice and nodded her head. She sniffled, tears threatening to spill over and down her cheek as she spoke, "You have my word... I'll do anything... No... no matter what."
Slowly, she moved her hand back to the boy's hair but did not flinch away from Scar's hand. Instead, she allowed for her hand to rest on top of the King's, her fingers resting in between his, "But please.... your majesty... have mercy... he's just a boy.... Please, spare him..."
---
Looking up for a moment to nod to the scribe standing off to the side, ensuring that he had written down the Gypsy girl's words so that if there were ever a problem, he could ammend it easily. His attention was immediately snapped back to her, however, when he felt the soft skin of her hand ontop of his.Scar's dark eyes narrowed on her threateningly, and without even so much as thinking, he took hold of the boy's hair in his hand and bracing his other hand on the boys shoulder, twisted the child's neck with a quick jerk, filling the air around them with a second sound of bone snapping. Releasing his hold on the boy then as he started to turn his back to the Gypsy, the child's lifeless body fell into the Gypsy girl's, still warm with a single tear continuing to roll down his cheek.
"YOU!" Scar shouted to one of the soldiers standing by. "Get this place cleaned up, and escort the Gypsy girl back with the others."
Nodding, the guard motioned to two of the servants in the room and directed them towards the Gypsy mother's corpse. Turning his attention back to the Gypsy girl after taking a few steps, his dark eyes bore into her with a scowl.
"You will teach them, and tonight, you and the others will perform for me."
---
Muscles tightened under Esmeralda's hands and before she had a chance to breathe a word, the sound of snapping filled the space around her. When Scar released the child's head, he slumped fully against her, "No..." she whispered as she squeezed him tightly against her, "No, no, no..."
The tears that had been threatening to escape through the whole ordeal finally fell down her cheeks as she sobbed, holding the boy in her arms. She did not listen as Scar spoke to his guards nor did she notice the guards clearing away the mother of the dead boy in her arms. She was completely absorbed in her own world until a soldier tore the lifeless body from her arms and left her crying and kneeling at the feet of the King. She looked up at him as he informed her what was going to happen. She slowly nodded her head, "Y-yes... your highness."
She wiped away her tears with one hand as she was pulled to her feet. She looked over her shoulder at the soldiers who were carrying away the bodies. They would not get a funeral, their loved ones would only know of their death through their absence and it was all her fault. She had gotten them killed. Her only saving grace was that she might have made the boy's last moments not as scary as she held them in her arms.
If she had to obey a madman to avoid getting people killed... She was going to do whatever it was that he asked her, even if it was against everything she stood for. She would not be the reason that another person faced an early death.
