![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Lji Wk 6 S12 Found at last!!
Nov. 9th, 2018 06:36 pmPrincess Ilyana's Fae were losing the war. Shadow Fae and their wargs had broken through her mother's ranks, and were beginning to rampage through her people's forest. All around, Fae were screaming, trying to escape the carnage.
Snatching a basket, and infusing it with her magic, Ilyana fled to the river with her infant daughter. Hugging her child tightly, and whispering to her to never forget how fiercely she was loved, Ilyana tucked her babe into the makeshift vessel and set it afloat. Invisible, except to her loving eyes, she watched it drift into the river's swift current. There it would remain until landing in a place of safety - where people would care for her child.
Tears coursing down her cheeks, Ilyana wiped them away, watching until she lost sight of her child. Standing to return to her people, she gasped as a sword pierced her from behind. Falling to her knees, Ilyana died knowing her daughter would be safe.
***
Scouts, trying to locate the princesses and present them to their great- grandmother, the Queen Els'yan, had been searching for nigh on six years now; But time and time again, the girls eluded them, slipping from their grasp.
The elder girl's gift of concealment was the strongest they'd encountered; Her complex weaving of it proof she knew how to manipulate and wield it. The younger child's gifts were fainter, softer, and still developing. They'd yet to learn of any other gifts the girls had, and probably wouldn't until catching up with them.
Although the elder Fae, Pe'yan, could easily recognize the girl's magic's signature, problem was it didn't mark the aether until her releasing of the spell sent the backlash rushing across the ley-lines. She did not let go often, leading Pe' to think she knew someone or something was tracking her.
Lady luck, however, was shining upon them today. She knotted her drawing. Never careless, Pe'yan knew it meant no one taught her that tying magic off was akin to lighting a beacon.
***
"Maddi, please, we can't keep this pace up! We'll kill the horses. We have to find somewhere in that town up ahead to wait out this storm. It's going to get worse, and we've gone as far as we can for now." Trina said, pleading with her older sister. Silence greeted her entreaties, so Trina petulantly reined in her horse.
"I'm not going an inch further until you tell me what is going on? You never push them this hard, so why are you doing so now?" Trina, her golden eye's flashing daggers at her older sister's back, demanded.
Exasperated, with nerves rubbed raw, Maddi turning her horse around, faced her sister. "Because for the past fortnight I've been sensing other magic. I made a mistake somewhere, and now someone is sniffing at our heels, and Trina, they're close. I'm beginning to feel like a cornered wolf." Maddi exclaimed, and continuing on, she barked, "Is that a good enough reason for you?"
"Before reaching the town, after working to change our appearance, I'm going to tie off and release my tap into the Ley-lines, before it backlashes. Hopefully that will confuse whomever is tracking us." She paused a moment before continuing.
"These other magic wielders... I don't know why, but they have me frightened." Maddi finished with a shiver.
Heart sinking, Trina now felt afraid herself. Stoicism was her sister's usual disposition, and if she was worried... "Well, killing the horses won't solve the problem." Trina muttered, hoping her voice didn't tremble.
"Neither will your acting the brat. Now come along, we need to be quit of this road." Maddi, having very little patience left, said, turning her horse back around.
Trina scrunching her face, stuck her tongue out at her sister's back.
"I saw that!" Maddi chided, and began chuckling when Trina marveled, "HOW do you DO that?"
***
Remounting his horse, Pe'yan signaled to his cousin Ba'jin, letting him know they were close. Rounding a bend in the road, they could smell the town's human stench ahead. Pe'yan sincerely hoped the sisters were stopping to find shelter and food. Winter's snows had started, and Fae or not, the girls were as susceptible to the weather as humans.
***
Snowflakes began falling in earnest by the time they reached an inn on the southern outskirts of the town. Maddi headed inside to secure a bed and supper for them, while Trina waited with the horses.
Speaking with the innkeeper, Maddi offered to wait tables, and Trina, she volunteered for the kitchens. This way she knew her little sister would stay warm and fed. Cooks always took a liking to her sister.
Hesitating to answer, and looking skeptical, the innkeeper began to say no, but a slight 'push' from Maddi and the the bargain was struck.
Negotiations finished, and safe from the storm, the sisters led their horses into the stables. Rather than handing them over to any of the hands, they led their mounts to adjacent stalls at the rear of the stables and did the grooming themselves.
Feeding their mounts fresh hay and a handful of oats, the girls went about the removal of bridles, saddles, bags and blankets. Hooves lifted to check for stones and brushing them down came next, and lastly, Trina giving them both a precious sugar cube.
The chore of caring for the horses always reminded Maddi of her father, Petra, and how he had liked horses better than most people. This thought bringing a slight smile and ... her maundering was suddenly cut short as the hair on her neck rose. Grabbing Trina, she squatted, gesturing for her sister to be quiet.
Using her horse as a shield, she peered above the stall.
Entering the stables were two male Fae in well worn riding leathers. Both were carrying willow longbows and their quivers, full of arrows fletched with turkey feathers. Their horses showed signs of being hard ridden, but well kept.
Every nerve ending firing, Maddi knew they were the ones she had been sensing on their trail. What was she to do?
***
"This is the last inn in this town Pe' you don't believe they passed through, do you?" Queried Ba'jin, sliding off his saddle with a sigh of relief. "Unescorted Female Fae aren't a usual sight and no one seems to have caught a glimpse of them." Ba'jin remarked winking.
"Now think Ba'jin what is the first thing you would do, if you were Fae and didn't want anyone remembering you or noticing you're not human?" Pe' teased.
"Oh, I don't know, turn myself invisible and kiss whatever wench I wanted?" Ba'jin- always the clownish foil to his serious cousin- replied, waggling his eyes.
Pe'yan, stifling a laugh, slid off his horse, telling his cousin, "Ba'jin please, not the time for you to be joking. Try again."
"I'd disguise myself, same as they did." Ba'jin lazily answered.
"That's right, maybe there's hope for you yet, Ba'jin." And it was his cousin's turn to chuckle. Pe'yan raising his voice to fill the stable, sang out.
"They're hiding in plain sight. - Aren't you girls?"
Silently, mouthing for Trina to burrow under the hay, Maddi quickly covered her sister with a concealment spell. Slowly releasing her glamour, and gathering whatever courage she could summon Maddi stood up, and walking out of the stall she faced her fellow Fae, readying a push if need be.
Stunned speechless by how much she resembled his niece, Ilyana, it took Pe'yan a moment to recover before genuflecting; and with a voiced roughened by emotion declaring, "Your Majesty. I am forever in your service."
Wh...at?" feeling overwhelmed and not understanding, Maddi asked. Confused and not in control, she did what any girl would do.
Pe'yan caught her in his arms as she gracefully fainted.
***Link to previous story of Maddi and Trina.
https://dmousey.livejournal.com/tag/violence
Snatching a basket, and infusing it with her magic, Ilyana fled to the river with her infant daughter. Hugging her child tightly, and whispering to her to never forget how fiercely she was loved, Ilyana tucked her babe into the makeshift vessel and set it afloat. Invisible, except to her loving eyes, she watched it drift into the river's swift current. There it would remain until landing in a place of safety - where people would care for her child.
Tears coursing down her cheeks, Ilyana wiped them away, watching until she lost sight of her child. Standing to return to her people, she gasped as a sword pierced her from behind. Falling to her knees, Ilyana died knowing her daughter would be safe.
***
Scouts, trying to locate the princesses and present them to their great- grandmother, the Queen Els'yan, had been searching for nigh on six years now; But time and time again, the girls eluded them, slipping from their grasp.
The elder girl's gift of concealment was the strongest they'd encountered; Her complex weaving of it proof she knew how to manipulate and wield it. The younger child's gifts were fainter, softer, and still developing. They'd yet to learn of any other gifts the girls had, and probably wouldn't until catching up with them.
Although the elder Fae, Pe'yan, could easily recognize the girl's magic's signature, problem was it didn't mark the aether until her releasing of the spell sent the backlash rushing across the ley-lines. She did not let go often, leading Pe' to think she knew someone or something was tracking her.
Lady luck, however, was shining upon them today. She knotted her drawing. Never careless, Pe'yan knew it meant no one taught her that tying magic off was akin to lighting a beacon.
***
"Maddi, please, we can't keep this pace up! We'll kill the horses. We have to find somewhere in that town up ahead to wait out this storm. It's going to get worse, and we've gone as far as we can for now." Trina said, pleading with her older sister. Silence greeted her entreaties, so Trina petulantly reined in her horse.
"I'm not going an inch further until you tell me what is going on? You never push them this hard, so why are you doing so now?" Trina, her golden eye's flashing daggers at her older sister's back, demanded.
Exasperated, with nerves rubbed raw, Maddi turning her horse around, faced her sister. "Because for the past fortnight I've been sensing other magic. I made a mistake somewhere, and now someone is sniffing at our heels, and Trina, they're close. I'm beginning to feel like a cornered wolf." Maddi exclaimed, and continuing on, she barked, "Is that a good enough reason for you?"
"Before reaching the town, after working to change our appearance, I'm going to tie off and release my tap into the Ley-lines, before it backlashes. Hopefully that will confuse whomever is tracking us." She paused a moment before continuing.
"These other magic wielders... I don't know why, but they have me frightened." Maddi finished with a shiver.
Heart sinking, Trina now felt afraid herself. Stoicism was her sister's usual disposition, and if she was worried... "Well, killing the horses won't solve the problem." Trina muttered, hoping her voice didn't tremble.
"Neither will your acting the brat. Now come along, we need to be quit of this road." Maddi, having very little patience left, said, turning her horse back around.
Trina scrunching her face, stuck her tongue out at her sister's back.
"I saw that!" Maddi chided, and began chuckling when Trina marveled, "HOW do you DO that?"
***
Remounting his horse, Pe'yan signaled to his cousin Ba'jin, letting him know they were close. Rounding a bend in the road, they could smell the town's human stench ahead. Pe'yan sincerely hoped the sisters were stopping to find shelter and food. Winter's snows had started, and Fae or not, the girls were as susceptible to the weather as humans.
***
Snowflakes began falling in earnest by the time they reached an inn on the southern outskirts of the town. Maddi headed inside to secure a bed and supper for them, while Trina waited with the horses.
Speaking with the innkeeper, Maddi offered to wait tables, and Trina, she volunteered for the kitchens. This way she knew her little sister would stay warm and fed. Cooks always took a liking to her sister.
Hesitating to answer, and looking skeptical, the innkeeper began to say no, but a slight 'push' from Maddi and the the bargain was struck.
Negotiations finished, and safe from the storm, the sisters led their horses into the stables. Rather than handing them over to any of the hands, they led their mounts to adjacent stalls at the rear of the stables and did the grooming themselves.
Feeding their mounts fresh hay and a handful of oats, the girls went about the removal of bridles, saddles, bags and blankets. Hooves lifted to check for stones and brushing them down came next, and lastly, Trina giving them both a precious sugar cube.
The chore of caring for the horses always reminded Maddi of her father, Petra, and how he had liked horses better than most people. This thought bringing a slight smile and ... her maundering was suddenly cut short as the hair on her neck rose. Grabbing Trina, she squatted, gesturing for her sister to be quiet.
Using her horse as a shield, she peered above the stall.
Entering the stables were two male Fae in well worn riding leathers. Both were carrying willow longbows and their quivers, full of arrows fletched with turkey feathers. Their horses showed signs of being hard ridden, but well kept.
Every nerve ending firing, Maddi knew they were the ones she had been sensing on their trail. What was she to do?
***
"This is the last inn in this town Pe' you don't believe they passed through, do you?" Queried Ba'jin, sliding off his saddle with a sigh of relief. "Unescorted Female Fae aren't a usual sight and no one seems to have caught a glimpse of them." Ba'jin remarked winking.
"Now think Ba'jin what is the first thing you would do, if you were Fae and didn't want anyone remembering you or noticing you're not human?" Pe' teased.
"Oh, I don't know, turn myself invisible and kiss whatever wench I wanted?" Ba'jin- always the clownish foil to his serious cousin- replied, waggling his eyes.
Pe'yan, stifling a laugh, slid off his horse, telling his cousin, "Ba'jin please, not the time for you to be joking. Try again."
"I'd disguise myself, same as they did." Ba'jin lazily answered.
"That's right, maybe there's hope for you yet, Ba'jin." And it was his cousin's turn to chuckle. Pe'yan raising his voice to fill the stable, sang out.
"They're hiding in plain sight. - Aren't you girls?"
Silently, mouthing for Trina to burrow under the hay, Maddi quickly covered her sister with a concealment spell. Slowly releasing her glamour, and gathering whatever courage she could summon Maddi stood up, and walking out of the stall she faced her fellow Fae, readying a push if need be.
Stunned speechless by how much she resembled his niece, Ilyana, it took Pe'yan a moment to recover before genuflecting; and with a voiced roughened by emotion declaring, "Your Majesty. I am forever in your service."
Wh...at?" feeling overwhelmed and not understanding, Maddi asked. Confused and not in control, she did what any girl would do.
Pe'yan caught her in his arms as she gracefully fainted.
***Link to previous story of Maddi and Trina.
https://dmousey.livejournal.com/tag/violence
