*Okay, I'm confused as to what to post. I read through the posts of the against the new court people, but I'm afraid I'll get something wrong. Also, should you guys pick me up as new against-person, or pretend I've been here the whole time?*
Last edited by Elinor on Tue May 04, 2010 2:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
All our dreams can come true — if we have the courage to pursue them. -- Walt Disney
I hadn't been out of the city for months. It was nice to leave the familiar streets behind us. Ravenburg was a two hour's ride away. We rode most of the way in companionable silence. It was almost like the old days, when I'd gone out on jobs with the old Loyals. Almost, but not quite. Because Lorraine was dead, Kayla had gone off the deep end, and The Traitor... well, he was a traitor. And things would never be the same again.
I sighed, suddenly depressed.
Maria looked at me curiously. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," I said. I pointed at something in the distance. "Is that the city walls?"
We slowed the horses as Ravenburg came into view. It was smaller than our city, but still formidable. The walls that surrounded it were sheer and made out of some shiny black stone that gleamed in the sun.
Two men were standing in front of the city gate, watching us approach. There was something familiar about the man on the right. He had thinning blond hair and a crooked nose that looked like it had been broken before - surely I'd seen that nose somewhere before...
"Shit!" I yanked Jade to a halt. The mare pranced, picking up on my sudden tension. "Shit, shit, shit! That's Alec, the Ravenburg Rogue, isn't it? Why the hell is he waiting for us?"
"You know him?" Daniel asked, giving me some unreadable look.
"Who do you think broke his nose?" the Traitor said, grinning at me. He squinted at Alec, who was still watching us. The smile faded from his face. "Shit, this is bad. How did he know we were coming?"
“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” Anton Chekhov
The tavern Alec led us to was small and filthy. Even the door was smudged with dried mud and what looked a lot like vomit. We tied our horses to the hitching post outside.
"If these horses are gone when we come out," I announced, "someone is going to die."
The Ravenburg Rogue rolled his eyes and waved at us to follow him inside. The place was filled with a loud, rowdy crowd. I recognized some of the men from his Court. Everyone looked drunk, including the one eyed bartender.
"Classy," I said, eying the dirty, chipped glasses and the dusty floor with distaste.
"Charming as ever, Jas," Alec said, glaring at me. He rubbed his crooked nose angrily. I smirked.
He ushered us into a back room. Two of his thugs closed the door behind us. They both had knives in their belts. I was getting a really bad feeling about this.
"Sit down," Alec said generously, gesturing at the long wooden table in the center of the room. He plopped down in the nearest chair. Krissy sat down across from him, Maria and Daniel next to her. The Traitor and I leaned against the wall by the door, ready to react if things got messy.
"So, you wanted to talk?" Krissy said almost lazily. She was trying to act relaxed and doing a damn good job at it. My respect for her rose a little more.
Alec leaned forward. "Yes. I want to make a deal." Maria and Krissy raised their eyebrows, and he rushed on. "I know you're looking for that Kayla girl. She's been hanging around town for a while, causing trouble. I can help you find her. But in exchange..."
“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” Anton Chekhov
Daniel sat next to Krissy with his eyes wide opened in case something rose up and he had to act. From deep withing he felt something not to good was going to happen, but he hoped that his assumptions were wrong.He observed every movement from Alec and the girls, mostly from Alec since he was not liking him that much.
"How about 100 gold pieces, and I don't cut your fingers off one by one for insulting my Loyals?" Krissy said, sounding sure of himself, grining at him gleefully. But Alec, coming up with an inappropriate reaction, broke into a sarcastic laughter that was getting to Daniel's nerves. The mocking laughter was disturbing to Daniel's ears so he cluthed the edge of the table with all his strength.
"So, is a hundred gold coins or your fingers, you decide," Krissy continued, her gleeful grin still placed on her face. Alec laughed again but this time throwing a burning glare at each and everyone of the loyals. Daniel glared back at him and if his eyes would have had knives, he would have killed Alec in that instant.
Les sanglots longs Des violons De l'autonne Blessent mon coeur D'une langueur Monotone. Verlaine
Things were going downhill fast. Alec no longer looked amused and Daniel was holding the edge of the table so hard his knuckles were turning white.
"Don't threaten me," Alec said, eyes narrowed angrily. His hand crept towards his pocket, probably reaching for a knife. "Half your profits for Kayla, or I run you out of town."
I took a step forward. "How about 100 gold pieces for a quick look around town? We don't want your help catching her, we just want to ask some questions. It'll take an hour at the most, and then we'll leave."
Alec raised an eyebrow, considering that. "For a 100 gold pieces?" He licked his lips. "Deal."
"Good," Krissy said quickly, throwing me a look. She shook hands with Alec and everyone stood.
"I'll go get you a map of the city," Alec said cheerfully. He walked out of the room, whistling.
Krissy spun around to look at me the second the door closed behind him. "What the hell was that?" she demanded. "I had everything under control!"
"He was pulling a knife!" I said, a little taken aback. What was her problem? "Anyways, it didn't look like you had it under control. You can't threaten people like Alec. It's called compromising."
“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” Anton Chekhov
I glared at Jas, "Do we even have that kind of money on us? And you're not going to tell me, just because he's the Rogue of this town it means he can insult me and both of you."
"You're overreacting, it's compromise." she said, still looking slightly surprised.
"That guy would of happily settled for 50 gold coins." I frowned, pulling out my coin bag out from my belt. "Remind me to teach you how to barter."
Jas huffed and turned away, Daniel cleared his throat and stood up.
"And you, no need to leave claw marks in the table." I grinned.
He chuckled quietly, watching the blood return to his hands. Alec strolled back in whistling, maps in his hands, he looked quite proud of himself. Resisting the urge to punch him in the face, I thanked him before walking out of the tavern.
"Can we cut his fingers off in his sleep?" Maria muttered.
"Yea, maybe his toes too."
Grayson took the maps from my hands, looking it over before pointing out the places Kayla had been spotted.
"Well it looks like we've got some work to do. Leave the horses, but tie them up well." I sighed.
"Nothing is permanent in this wicked world - not even our troubles." ~ Charles Chaplin
They finally walked out of that god forsaken tavern and he slowly felt how the blood returned to his hands as he silently laughed his way out with the maps of the town already in their hands. Apparently they were going to look around the town walking for they left the horses tied up.
"So where are we going first?" Daniel asked, flexing the fingers in his right hand.
"I know the places where she has been spotted but is a little bit harder to know where to start" Grayson said, stretching the map he had in his had against a black brick wall.
"What if we start here?" Maria said pointing out a place in the map that seemed to be closer to the place they already were.
"Yes, that's a good place to start" Krissy said, examining the map carefully.
"Let's get going then" Daniel said, eager to start looking for Kayla but everytime he thought of Kayla, the image of that terrible fight came to his head, disturbing him greatly.
Les sanglots longs Des violons De l'autonne Blessent mon coeur D'une langueur Monotone. Verlaine
He wad eager to find Kayla. He missed her. He did like his new life with Maria but...he couldn't help but want some of his old life back. Some things just changed too quickly.
He looked over at Jas. She was the only old loyal left. One of the originals. Lorraine was dead and he could never have her back. Jas hated him, but he was trying to get back on her good side again.
And Kayla. He only hoped he could talk some sense into the girl. She couldn't help that she was in love with the old Rogue.
Grayson stared at Maria, the ghost of a smile forming on his lips. After all, he had fallen in love with the enemy not too long ago. Love was crazy and it did crazy things to a person.
He just wanted his friends back. That was all.
KAYLA
"Lucky for us all, I know these people," Kayla sighed. "They will come to me. Or at least, Krissy will sensing a threat. Grayson will see his old friend and Jas...well I have plans for her."
"Jas?" Parker asks. "Grayson...Krissy, she's the new Rogue. Her and her husband Daniel rule the court, right? So Jas, Maria and Grayson are the loyals?"
"She's no Rogue," Kayla spat. "Never. And yes, Grayson and Jas were old friends of mine. Grayson, the filthy traitor, will die very slowly and painfully like Krissy. Maria, his current 'love' will be killed in front of him like my true love was killed in front of me. As will Daniel in front of Krissy. And Jas...well, I have the feeling she's not quite ready to turn her loyalty all to Krissy yet. I'll talk to her. She may provide great information. If not, she dies too."
Parker gazed at Kayla with an odd expression. "And how do you plan to reach these people again?"
Kayla laughed. "Haven't I already said? They are going to come to me. If things go well, there will be bloodshed and a new Rogue. If you are willing to help me, you will be greatly rewarded. Show me what you've got."
Hermione, shut your ungodly, lopsided mouth and quit interrupting! 20 points from Gryffindor. You know, for the brightest witch of your age you can sure be a dumba** sometimes. *smiles* 10 points to Dumbledore!
Karine was lying against the wall, vaguely listening to the conversation between Kayla and Parker. She hadn't been a member of the group for very long, but yet she somehow felt safe. The others in the group seemed to have connections with the supporters of the new court, and Karine wasn't anxious to question that at all.
Bloodshed, Kayla had mentioned. Who were Krissy and Daniel and Grayson? Karine turned over on her side and took her deck of cards out of her pocket. She had to remind herself that the group had wanted her for a reason. She had gambling skills. Maybe she could help Kayla by challenging some of the others to poker. For now she decided to keep quiet and wait for her time to come.
*This is a mess of a post, I know, but I'm just hoping that It will get me into the scheme of things with the storybook xD*
Last edited by Elinor on Thu May 06, 2010 3:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
All our dreams can come true — if we have the courage to pursue them. -- Walt Disney
"This is getting really annoying," I muttered, glancing over my shoulder. One of Alec's men quickly ducked behind a building. The idiot had been trailing us all over Ravenburg for the past two hours. "Could he be anymore obvious?"
Krissy sighed. "Let's just go get the horses. We'll try again another day."
We turned around and headed back in the direction of the tavern, tired and frustrated. We'd been wandering around town for hours, questioning random people and trying to find a lead. There had been no sign of Kayla anywhere. Alec probably knew exactly where she was hiding, but no way were we asking for his help.
We turned onto another street. (I "accidentally" tripped The Traitor and he almost fell flat on his face.) The tavern was just up ahead. A lean woman wearing all leather was standing by our horses, absentmindedly twirling a knife between her fingers.
"You have the Rogue's money?" the woman called as we got closer.
Krissy reached for her purse, but I already had a handful of coins out. I passed them to the woman silently. She counted them, then nodded and walked away without another word.
"I was going to pay," Krissy said, sounding almost annoyed.
I just shrugged and swung up into Jade's saddle. "We'd better hurry if we're going to get back to the city before dark."
“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” Anton Chekhov
The las few hours of the day had gone faster than the rest of the day had. It had been quite disappointing for they found no trace of Kayla at all, she was there though, of that they were sure.
They looked around the city and after about two hours they went back to where they had left the horses. It was important for them to get to the city before it go too dark, for it would have been impossible to go through the woods later at night. So they hurried back to the city before it was too late.
"Let's move or it'll be too dark" Daniel said, calmly, trying to hide his angst.
"Let's move then" Maria said, urging her horse to go faster, Grayson following close behind.
As he rode his mere, from the corner of his eye, he saw Krissy riding in the back with Jas by her side. He thought of two things, the first one: he missed her; the second one: would Grayson and Jas ever turn their backs on them again?
Les sanglots longs Des violons De l'autonne Blessent mon coeur D'une langueur Monotone. Verlaine
**
