Lament of Innocence

TARRION

I watched the steps nervously, afraid that somebody not on our side would come bounding down them at any moment. The guard unlocked my cell and helped my to my feet, walking me to Selene.

I wrapped my arms around Selene and kissed her fully on the lips. "I still can't believe I'm going to be a father," I whispered when I pulled away. I began to get dizzy and realized that standing wasn't such a good idea, but I hardly gave it much thought. The pain in my body seemed inferior for the time's being. "But now what? We have to get past Taeryn and the guards still."

The guard bit his lip. If he was found helping us, they would probably hang him. Either that or torture him. Our eyes met, his were pleading. Pleading for what I didn't know for sure.

There were footsteps on the stairs and we all froze. I whispered a quick prayer and braced myself for what was going to happen.

"What the--" Taeryn's voice croaked.

"Dammit," I muttered under my breath.

~Taeryn~

I wandered down the stairs to the cells quietly. Apparently Arlene had gone straight there after I let her on break, and whilst I admired her spunk there was something way suspicious with her fixation with the prisoners.

Shouts came from below, and I paused, seeing what I could catch from them. Well, they were sure happy about something.
"I'll see what I - get you guys out -"
"-let me out-"
"-congrats-"
What the hell was going on down there? I took one step further, angling my head to hear them better.
"-still can't believe I'm going to be a father-"
After that snippet, I froze, trying to digest the situation. My favourite guard. Helping prisoners. Assistant somehow involved. Pregnant prisoner. Damn.

I swallowed, then continued to the cells, noting the silence at my footsteps. "What the-" I started, then stopped as I saw the entire scene. Prisoners jumping up and down, guard in the middle, some extra people I didn't recognise. I took a breath.

"I-" the guard began, and I cut him off with a swift glare. "If you even attempt to make excuses I will kill you," I uttered softly. "You are to restrain and place each person in an individual cell. If you co-operate," I paused, barely able to believe what I was about to say, "then this incident remains unknown. If not, I'm certain you will enjoy your place behind bars."

He hesitated, then started doing so reluctantly. I watched for a moment, then shouted for more guards.

TARRION

Wow, how the hell had I ever been so dumb? I had to undo this. Now we were all trapped and I couldn't help but feel it was my fault. "Taeryn, please, she's pregnant! Isn't there anything you could do to make her even a bit more comfortable?" I was pleading as the guard put me back into my cell, gently lowering me to a sitting position.

"Sorry lad," he murmered.

I offered a weak smile. "As long as you don't end up in the gallows, everything's fine."

I glared at Taeryn. "You know you don't want to do this to us. It won't matter how much you do, what you accomplish, your mother's approval will be a long ways away. Havn't you learned by now that she cares for nobody but herself?" I had no clue whether Talen cared about her daughter or not, but what did it matter? As long as I could plant that seed...

"Taeryn you know it's true. I see it in your eyes." She looked shocked so I kept going on. "Honey listen to your heart it's telling you not to trust her but you want her to love and except and respect you so you ignore it. Honey she does't care for you and you know it." I bite my lip praying my words have the desired effect.

Aris

I waited anxiously. What would Taeryn say?

~Taeryn~

I paused, staring into space as the words began to sink in. "No," I whispered, barely audibly, and I swallowed. Oh god, I could feel myself welling up. It's not true, it's not true, I thought silently. Don't cry in front of the prisoners, that's just embarassing.

I sniffed, running a hand over my face before attempting to regain my calmness. "You have absolutely no right to comment on that," I said quietly. "Do not make that mistake again."
Ugh, welling up again. Better make this quick.

"Keep them under constant supervision." I instructed to one of the newer guards. "Four guards minimum at all times."

With that, I left as quickly as I could, finally collapsing in my quarters at the brink of tears. It's not true. She loves me, right?


*Am I allowed to kill Rajun? There is a plot reason, I promise *

TARRION

Unsuccesful attempt. I sighed and put my head in my hands. "Sel, I swear it on my life that you will not be having our baby in here," I growled. I wasn't growling at her. I was growling at the guards, at Taeryn.

"Tar, please just get some rest okay?" Selene begged.

I sighed. Maybe if I slept I would be able to dream a way out of this hellhole. I stumbled over to the small cot in the corner and pulled myself onto it. I stared at my stomach. I was more thread than flesh at the moment. Disgusting. Weak. Feable.

I sighed and rested my head and let my eyes close. I found that I was smiling despite myself. Probably the prospect of being a father, but I couldn't say for sure. It was a miracle that child was still alive, considering what Selene had been through. The more I thought about it, the more bizarre I found it. We had a strong one. I thought of this rather than what was happening and before I knew it, I had fallen fast asleep.

*Yep! KILL HIM! *

Aris

So this is what it had come down too. Instead of being the ones rescuing them, I was the one needing rescuing.

I could see Tarrion growling something and Selene looking petrified but putting on a brave face.

Would we ever convince Taeryn to set us free?

TARRION

I didn't know how long I had been asleep, but I was woken by something crawling up my leg. I jolted up and pain screamed through my body. I was sure I had ripped apart a couple of stitches. On my leg sat a big furry rat, chewing at my pants.

"Get lost! These are practically the only clothes I have left on my body!" I hissed, knocking it off. Being naked in prison wasn't exactly something I wanted. I eyed a guard who was standing outside of my cell, his back to me. His sword was sheathed. If I could just reach and grab it, I could kill him.

Great idea, Tar. Next we'll go alert the whole army by killing the general. I scolded myself silently. Of course there were only four of them, and I had the protection of the cell. Unless they came into the cell... So nix that plan.

I put my hand to my back. It was warm and sticky. I pulled my hand away and held it infront of my face. Little bits of thread smothered in blood. So I had ripped my stitches. "I ripped my stitches," I announced loudly.

The guard grunted. "Good for you then."

Sweety. I was touched by his good will. I stared at my hand, wondering if I would die of blood loss now. Well at least I had taken those pain killers. On second thought they'd be wearing off rather quickly.

"The lad needs new stitches. I say we get him the doctor," that same accented voice called out. I grinned, that guard was definately my favorite; and he was still down here. There was still hope.

"Fine then, you go tell Taeryn. I aint doin' it!"

"Coward," I muttered under my breath.

The guard wheeled around, glaring at me. I hadn't thought he'd be able to hear that. "What did you say boy?" he hissed.

I shrugged.

"Fine, I'll go get Taeryn. I aint gunna be a wuss 'bout it." The guard walked past me, winking. I grinned and mouthed a thankyou before he disapeared up the stairs.

Aris

I watched as the guard went to get Taeryn. I leaned and looked through the bars towards Kale, where he was watching the guards. I could tell he was planning to escape.

"Kale-" I said warningly, but he put a finger to his lips and turned to his left, where Tarrion was. The two started whispering. I sighed. I wondered what they were up to.

~Taeryn~

I remained like that, in my room, for god knows how long, sitting in silence with tearstained eyes. Finally there came a knock on the door, and I looked up with a trace of hope. Talen...?

Brushing what was left of my tears away from my face, I walked to the doors, pausing before opening one. Oh. Of course. Just a guard. He shuffled nervously, and I could only hope he hadn't noticed the tearstreaks on my face. "Well?" I snapped irritably, and he flinched.

"One of the prisoners requires medical attention," he mumbled. I narrowed my eyes.

"Fine then. Give them treatment. I don't really care what you do with them at this moment in time."

I sniffed, then looked away. "I have other things to attend to right now. Please leave." Once he was gone, I spent a few moments cleaning myself up after my despicable moment of selfpity, then left in search of my mother. News of newly captured prisoners would raise me in her eyes, there was no doubt about that.

I made my way to the throne room, where my mother sat, surrounded by advisors. She looked up wearily as I entered. "Yes?"
I bowed once, then knelt on the floor before her. "More prisoners have been captured." - I noted with satisfaction that she sat up with interest after I uttered this sentence - "They had been posing as castle staff, but were found and detained earlier today. They are now ready to be questioned, Your Majesty."

After this, I looked up and saw to my dismay the expression of disappointment and anger in my mother's eyes. "They had infiltrated the castle?" she asked sharply, and I replied with a quick, bewildered nod, sensing something was wrong. "How did they get in?" she demanded. "There could be any number of them currently spying within our ranks! Can you be sure you caught all of them?"

I stared back, speechless. How could my actions not have been enough? Closing my eyes, I returned my gaze to the floor. "I am not certain," I replied hollowly, and there was an irritated sigh from Talen.

"Leave now." she ordered. "I must make plans to ensure the rest of the castle is safe from rebel spies." With that, she returned to speaking to her advisors. Snubbed and humiliated, I left in silence.


*Sorry for length, but it didn't involve any other characters so it was hard to break up. (Hurrah increasing doubts ) Please could someone involve Rajun soon, cause I wanna kill him *

Aris

The guard came back with the antibiotics for Tarrion, and I breathed a sigh of relief in unison with Selene. Tarrion himself looked very happy.

I turned towards Selene's cage and whispered, "How are you both feeling?"

"Both?" she asked for a moment, then understanding hit her and she smiled. "Fine, I think. Although I wish that we somehow could have gotten someone to look at him."

"Or her," I said quickly.

"Or her," Selene agreed.

TARRION

I smiled at the guard. "The doctor wasn't in yet, but we have some medicine. He's coming in the morning to re-do your stitches and check up on Selene." He fumbled with the lid of the tiny canister and plopped two tiny pills into his hand.

I took the pills and shoved them into my mouth, not bothering to chew. It would probably taste horrible anyways. "Thanks," I muttered, yawning.

"About earlier, I'm sorry I didn't help you more. It's ju--"

I cut him off. "Not your fault. I just hope Sel and the baby will be alright..." I trailed off, thinking about what could have happened. Yes, we had a very strong little child indeed.

Kale cleared his throat. He had been talking to me about how lucky I was that Selene was having my baby, the guard had interupted. I sighed. "Kale, shut it." I demanded.

Aris

I turned towards Tarrion once he and the guard were done talking and, in as low a voice as possible, I said, "Tarrion, are you SURE you're alright?"

"Of course," he said. "I'll be fine."

"He will be," Kale said assuredly. Their stupid fight was pretty much forgotten in this mess.

"Yeah... but we need to escape. If, for nothing else, the baby."

Selene
I glared at one of the guards and hissed between my teeth "If he does not survive I will personally beat the crap out of you." He chuckled and elbowed the other guard and they walked towards my cage staying out of my reach and I smirked smart move. "And how are you going to do that?" One of them asked. "Have you ever seen a pissed off pregnant woman?" I asked sweetly. "Um no." He answered smirking. I lunged at him and he backed off. "Good." I replied. I sat with my back against the wall.