Lament of Innocence

TARRION

I chuckled after hearing Selene's little outburst. "That poor guard has no idea what he's in for," I muttered. Sel could be quite the feisty little thing...

"He had it coming, I assure you lad. Good luck." With that he turned and closed my cell door.

I stared after him, sighing heavily. "Sel, the poor man has no idea what you're capable of. Maybe you should let him alone for a while?" I asked loudly in a taunting tone.

She snorted. "He's lucky you're alive Tar."

I smiled to myself. That woman...

I grinned at the guard and he walked towards me. He reached through the bars and grabbed my face roughly. " I like them fiesty." He said smirking at me. I was about to jerk away my face but then he tightened his grip. "Ah ah ah honey if you struggle I'll just say that you aren't cooperating and get your hubbys stitches over there will get ripped out." I froze and my eyes narrowed into a glare.

TARRION

I knew something was wrong with Selene. Rage welled inside of me and I threw my legs over the side of the cot, stumbling towards my cell door. I grasped the bars for support and stuck my head out as far as it would go. I could just barely make out a guard holding Selene's cheeks.

"Let. Her. Go!" I hissed through gritted teeth. Every guard in the whole damned place started laughing their butts off.

"Not like you can do anything to stop me," the one holding Selene muttered. He opened her cell a crack and disapeared inside. Selene was struggling.

"Sel!" I hollered.

Before I knew what was happening the guard-gone-soft was at Selene's cell door, sword extended through the bars. There was a grunt and a loud thud.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Garrion?!" One of the other guards yelled.

So that was his name... "I doubt Taeryn would approve of an assault on the prisoners," Softy-guard, now called Garrion retorted.

"Is she okay?!" I demanded.

"Aye lad. Get back to restin'."

I sighed and stumbled back to my cot. Thank God above for Garrion.

Selene
I kept my glare until the guard opened up the cell and walked in. I jumped up and desperately tried to back up but there was nowhere else to go. He walked up to me and grabbed my wrists and pinned them on the wall above me. "I'm going to show you the time off your life." He said grinning at me. I whimpered and started to struggle. I brought my knee up and slammed it into his groin. He grunted in pain but kept his grip. "Sel!" Tar called. I heard the cell door open again and thought 'Why me?' I closed my eyes and tried to detach myself. There was a grunt and a loud thud. I opened my eyes and saw the guard that had tried to I wasn't even going to voice that to myself was dead. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Garrion?!" One of the other guards yelled. "I doubt Taeryn would approve of an assault on the prisoners," Garrion retorted. I pressed my back against the wall again and started to cry shaking with the horror of what could have been.

~Taeryn~

I paced my room restlessly, still trying to wrap my head around the earlier encounter with my mother. The look in her eyes.... It was still preying on my mind. And to make things even better, I needed a new assistant. My hopes for Arlene, no, Aris, had fallen flat... she'd lasted no longer than any of her predecessors. Though for a different reason, of course. If only she wasn't a rebel I'd have kept her on longer. Huh.

After what seemed like a lifetime of impatient wandering, I sighed and left for the cells. It seemed I had nothing better to do than check up on the increasing incompetency of the guard force.

I walked down the hallway, stopping briefly as I caught a flash of someone running across the corridor ahead. It had looked like... No. It wasn't, it couldn't be possible. I jogged towards where the figure had sped to, staring down another deserted hallway. The person was gone. Maybe it had just been a figment of my imagination, but, for just a second, I could have sworn it was Rajun I'd seen running.

Shaking this annoying thought away, I made my way to the cells, pausing to listen for more traitorous activity. There was none, yet when I came down Garrion and another guard, Rane?, were glaring at each other fiercely. I sighed, ignoring them, before going to Tarrion's cell. "Painkillers working?" I asked briefly. There was a nod, and he immediately returned to staring into Selene's cell. I turned to cast a brief glance over my shoulder at her. She seemed okay, if angrier than usual. Nothing special.

"A doctor will see to her tomorrow," I informed him, attempting to put some kind of reassurance in his mind. He shoook his head irritably. "It's not that," he growled. "Some of your guards seem to enjoy taking advantage of their position over a defenceless woman. She's pregnant, for god's sake."

I raised an eyebrow silently. Well, that explained the glaring. I narrowed my eyes at Rane, who scowled. "Wasn't like that." he muttered, looking away.

I sat up with as much dignity as I could maintain. "His friend tried to rape me." I said my voice shaking slightly but I kept my chin up. I felt a few tears escape but I wiped them away.

TARRION

"Wasn't like that," the guard muttered.

I shot up, glaring at him. "He tried something all right! On my wife!" I shouted.

He snorted. "Wife? You havn't gotten married yet!"

I glared at him. How could we get married? We were rotting in a hellhole for crying out loud! I clutched the bars tightly, ignoring my pain. I was beginning to get good at that.

Taeryn shushed us. "I don't want to hear rantings. I want to know what happened." She strode towards Selene's cell and her eyes went wide. "You killed him Garrion?!"

Garrion shifted uneasily on his feet. "Aye, what else was I supposed to do? Like the lad said, she's pregnant and bound to Tar."

The guy had guts, I'd give him that. I strengthened my grip on the bars of the cell. "He could have killed her..." I trailed off, listening to Selene's sobbing. I had never felt more angry in my entire life. Tears were already forming in my eyes and I saw no need to hold them back. Perhaps seeing them would soften Taeryn a bit. I let them run down my cheeks.

I wrapped my arms around myself and I glared at Rane. He shifted under my glare so I kept my gaze steady and cold. "I am as far as I am concerned pretty much married to Tar. Got it?" I hissed getting up and approaching him. He backed away and nodded.

~Taeryn~

I inhaled deeply at the sight of the dead guard. Great. Two down in a week. At this rate we wouldn't even need a rebel army to take down the kingdom...

"Get rid of this," I murmured to Rane, "And then get another guard to replace him." I glanced at Selene, who seemed to have recovered slightly, glaring at the corpse as it was removed from her cell. Behind me, Tarrion was snuffling something about marriage and wives or some similar nonsense.

Once Rane had left, I grabbed Garrion, dragging him onto the stairs. "I do not care what action you felt necessary to take, you do not take disciplinary matters into your own hands. Kion was a good soldier-"

"He was trying to-"

"I don't care. You inform a senior officer." I paused, slightly torn between maintaining control of Garrion and ensuring the prisoners' continued co-operation. "From now on, if someone steps out of line you are to immediately inform me. My quarters will be moved to a closer place." He nodded in mute understanding. "But if you abuse my trust, you will be killed. I can't afford more disobedience from you."

Aris

Honestly, the guard had to be stupid. Raping a pregnant woman? Oh, yes, obviously he had smarts there.

Garrion had helped her, at least, but Taeryn looked pissed. Huh. Well, she could just... well... I didn't know.

Taeryn turned back towards us. She looked straight at me and said quietly, "I'm going to need to question you, 'Arlene'."

I could hear Kale's breath quicken.

"And if you don't work with me," she said pleasantly, "I'm going to have to hurt you."

*While you're torturing Aris for answers, Rajun helps Kale get out, they come to save me, Taeryn panics and kills Rajun.

Therefore, Rajun shall die. *

*Okiedokie but I'll post tomorrow. If anyone would like to take up Garrion that'd be great!!*

TARRION

I sighed and lowered myself to the floor carefully. I was going to stay beside the bars, just in case something else happened. "Selene?" I said, my voice barely above a whisper. I needed to know she was all right.

"Hmmm?" she sounded scared. Oh what I would give to go back to the forest...

"I just needed to make sure you were okay." I stared at the wall, unblinking. The forest was all I wanted. I would live there for my whole life with the others if all else failed.

"I'm okay Tar. Please, get some rest."

I sighed. The guards were all giving me dirty looks, staring at me like it was only lust that filled me rather than love. What did they know? There was no way I could rest...not now.

~Taeryn~

Aris followed me silently, staring at the floor as I led her into another room. She sat in the chair I gestured to, eyes closed and breathing deeply.

I watched her for a moment, considering the best way to get information out of her. She seemed as strong-willed as Selene and Tarrion, so torture wasn't an option. Plus, I was too tired to waste yet more time bleeding lies out of an unco-operative prisoner. Perhaps a mixture of sweet-talking and emotional blackmail would work best. But for now, just blunt questioning to test her.

"What do you know of Rajun?" I asked, staring into her eyes with a calculated expression.


Someone be Garrion....you know you want to...

(((Since I created Garrion, I'll be Garrion. He doesn't need a profile does he? Considering you can't really tell what he looks like since he's in helmets and such. He's got and Irish accent and he's a softy )))))

GARRION

I leaned on the wall, debating on what to do next. Taeryn obviously wasn't extatic with my existance, but I couldn't let myself die. Who knows what would happen to the prisoners if I let that happen? That and the fact that somewhere out there I had a wife who was waiting for me to come home to her.

The other guards seemed to take thrill in giving me dirty looks. Or scornful looks. Whichever seemed appropriate at the time. I didn't return them, I just stared straight ahead, into Tarrion's cell. He reminded me so much of my son....He had disapeared three years ago without a trace.

"I'm going to go get the prisoners some food. It's around that time," I grumbled, starting for the stairs. Nobody stopped me from leaving.

TARRION

I stared after Garrion. One more wrong move and Taeryn had assured his death. The other guards were getting bored, chatting about the inane. A little whiskey in each of them, okay, a lot of whiskey in each of them and they'd be out like lights. I'd have to suggest this to Garrion when he got back.

"Kale," I murmered, eyeing the guards carefully. None seemed to notice. They were making enough of their own noise anyways.

"What?" he hissed. He was obviously panicked about Aris.

I sighed. "I've got an idea." When he didn't answer I continued. "We need to get the guards drunk and sleeping. Gar and Rajun would actually have a chance a breaking us out then."

"Gar? You've taken to calling him nicknames have you?"

I frowned. "Look, that's besides the point. We need to get Garrion" I emphasized his full name for Kale's sake, "to get them some whiskey. If he talks to me it will automatically register as suspicious. You tell him."

Selene
I heard Tarrions plan and I hissed quietly. It was brilliant but risky. I wrapped my arms around my self again and closed my eyes. "Oh Isis Goddess of Life carry the plan out may it be blessed by Athena Goddess of Wisdom." I whispered just loud enough for everyone except for Taeryn and the guards to hear.