Irony Strikes.

Stories of the those from House Dragoon Talanador, the Company of the Dragon and the Tavern itself.

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CaediaThrn
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Irony Strikes.

Post by CaediaThrn »

The air was crisp with a nice scent of meat wafting across the market place.  Iain was bundled up in his new clothes Caedia had him dressed up in and traveling close to her.  She was bundled up in her own hoody but had forgone a coat as she was naturally hot blooded and the moving around was enough to keep her warm.

She had dropped off her mother's Thorn ring and her engagement ring with Annette to get cleaned and refitted (Caedia was getting a little chubbier apparently and the rings were getting tight.) and then had breakfast with them before leaving with her son.

Both the Thorn's now were in a good mood and Iain kept tugging Caedia over to look at things here and there back in the Rhydin market.  Caedia couldn't help but snicker at the boys enthusiasm and even bought him an evil looking dagger that he had been drooling over.

"It's awesome!  I can slay dragons and be a knight in shining armor!!"  Caedia laughed at that and put his arm down.

"It's a dagger, not a sword, little man.  And we don't slay dragons.  They rock.  Well.. some of them."  She grinned and ruffled his hair.  She'd gotten close to him in the time she spent with him thus far and while she didn't necessarily feel like his mother per se she was still fiercely protective of him and found her heart growing warmer.

She tugged on his shoulder in a one armed hug as he playfully grumped at her.

"It's not the size that matters, isn't that what you always say?"  She laughed again at his teasing and he grinned proudly.

"Mm, you're definitely a Thorn.  Got the sass for it."

He grinned even more.  "I'm just doing what Kheldar told me." 

His silver eyes met hers as she glanced sidelong at him.  "What's that?"

"When in doubt, make her laugh.  Less people die that way."  He said in a deep voice as if imitating the big man.  Caedia laughed even more.

"Hey!!"  Her protest was half hearted though, she knew it was a joke.. well.. sorta.

"So, let's hit the food portion of this market like we were supposed to and then if you want later we'll go out to lunch.  How's that sound?"

She still shivered a bit as he threw his arms around her stomach, she wasn't used to his  display of emotions or the need for doing it in public.  But her heart had warmed up to the prospect with him a bit and she found herself wrapping her arms around his shoulder and one around the top of his head.

Before they could get into the shopping though they strode through the center square and found another distraction.

Iain had been absolutely delighted with the puppet show that was being conducted in the middle of the square and even the blonde had to admit she was slightly intrigued by the intricacy of the puppets themselves and the show was slightly amusing.

He had since stopped leaning against her and slid forward a little another little kid had gotten in his way and blocked his view.  Caedia could see him well enough so she let him go.

The crowd laughed and Iain turned with a brilliant grin, his silver eyes sparkling as he turned to see if Caedia had gotten the joke.  She had and was grinning brightly back at him.  He turned back around to watch the puppet show some more as she was leaning against a wall and seemed content to let him finish out the show.

It was the second and biggest laugh the crowd had gone through since they'd gotten there that Iain peeked backwards and froze.  Caedia was gone.

For a brief moment he simply looked around, she might have just gone off a moment to get them a drink.  No, he managed to keep his cool until he saw a kender where Caedia had been and in his hand was a familiar two toned necklace.  Iain paled.

"Hey!  Give that back you thief!  That's my mother's!!!"  The kender looked up startled, his brown eyes meeting the silver of the Thorn in front of him.

"I am -not- a thief!"  He responded haughtily, looking rather indignant at that accusation.  "I wath merely picking thith up to thave it for the rightful owner ath it wath.  I'll have you know that I am Euchalyptuth Griffonmane, a thquire to a knight of Tholomnia and he gave me thith dagger when he inducted me!"  He pulled out the butter knife the knight had given him to back up his cause.

Iain just quirked a brow at him and then held his hand out flicking his fingers towards his palm a little impatiently.  There was no way Caedia would have taken that off.  Something had gone wrong.

"Can I have the necklace back please?"  He was looking around for Caedia still.

The kender hesitated.  "How do I know you're the true ownerth thon?  Hmm, oh, what'th on the end of thith chain?"  He was grinning madly with his cleverness, he'd out smart the silver eyed boy and get to keep his new found treasure.

"My mother'th.."  Iain blinked as he picked up the kender's lisp habit and shook his head, "my mother's diamond."  He said correcting himself and couldn't help but feel a little bad at the kender's defeated look.

"Oh.  Well, of courth I would never keep thomething that ithn't mine."  He watched forlornly as the blonde boy in front of him plucked Kheldar's necklace from his tiny hand and sighed.  That necklace would have gotten him a prettier shiny in another market!

The kender wandered off searching the ground for more shinies, his hoopak used as a walking stick as he disappeared into the crowd.  Iain went back to looking for Caedia.


--

Caedia had been off in a day dream about the ceremony that was happening the following night.  She and Kheldar would be appearing before a judge to seal the deal.

She'd gotten her dress, simple but elegant picked out and that was as girly as she was going to get.  She'd brought Iain to the market so that they could pick up a few things for the house.

The other extravagant thing she was doing was having Sylvia prepare a lovely dinner at her cabin so that when they got done and went home there would be a lovely feast with her family.  She'd invited Koy and Matt, Tareth and Charlie, Sylvia and Drew (for Iain) and Annette, Tony and Tayner and was getting excited at the prospect of the laughter, happiness and something good in her life.  Things were finally looking up.

Caedia Drasinia.

She was actually even excited about that.  She thought about the hoody again, the one she'd purposefully written her name between his first and last name and mostly over his last name.

She found herself grinning wildly with the enthusiasm bubbling over in her.  There was a fairy tale ending for even people like her.

Iain had looked back in time to catch her excited grin and seemed happy that she appeared to be enjoying what she hadn't been focusing on so she let him continue thinking that.

She was about to go hug him and drag him to the shopping aspect when she felt the first change and her only thought was one thing.

Perfect. After all, when could anything go right for Caedia Thorn? Let's not fool ourselves.

A hand had been shoved to the small of her back and she felt the electrical zap that took out the usage of her legs.  This was one of the reasons she hated magic users.  She'd been so wrapped up in her excited thoughts of a normal life that she hadn't noticed the five men that had carefully come to surround her.

The hand that had been at the small of her back immediately wrapped around her waist to keep her from falling.  They weren't idiots and apparently knew how dangerous she was and just what to take out first.  Her legs useless, she moved to bring her arms up but a hand had already clasped around her nose and mouth and while she tried not to breathe the fumes that she knew would knock her out, her lungs were burning for air.

She did the only logical thing she could think of.  Five big men surrounding her and her legs useless, there was no point in struggling.  She could only warn of her danger.  Her hand slipped up as if she were struggling but was deftly pulling on Kheldar's two toned necklace to jerk it off her neck and while the men were looking around to ensure they didn't attract attention, she flung it towards Iain.

A few desperate breaths later and the ex-blonde was passed out and being carted away from the scene easily.
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CaediaThrn
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Post by CaediaThrn »

When the silvers finally blinked back into awareness she was doing a quick check.  Her muscles seemed hers again only they were tied tightly to the chair she was sitting in.

She was also vapidly aware that her body was extremely sore, apparently they had seen fit to beating her up before tying her to the chair.  Caedia couldn't help but grin at how serious they took her as the soreness was proof that she was feared.

"Where's Aylith?"  There was a sharp kick given to her leg at that as her watcher noted her grin and the fact that she was awake.

Her mind shifted from her tired and sore body to the danger at hand and quickly accessed her memory.  Aylith?  Aylith?  Oh, Aylith!  The wizard she had pulled a job for, what, months ago?

"I swear, I didn't know she was underaged!"  Yeah, that had been an embarrassment for Caedia then, she had thought that this wizard Aylith was a woman, so when he had appeared before her she'd sarcastically commented about 'sending a man to do a woman's job' until she found out -he- was Aylith.  Oops.

The man before her that she could finally raggedly focus on, snorted unkindly and delivered another swift kick to her that nearly knocked her chair over.  She kept her stoic mask on to hide the helplessness and the sheer pain of him kicking what felt like an already broken leg.  If she fell over it would be painful as there was no way to catch herself and she didn't think her captors were the type that cared.

"Where is he?  Spit it out and make this easier on yourself."

She feigned surprise and embarrassment.  "Oh, -he-, my bad.  Did you check the local brothels?  You know how magic users are, they can't get it up so they can't keep a real woman."

She was "rewarded" with an electrical bolt to the side of her face and this time she couldn't hide the grimace.  At least she drew out who had been the one she needed to worry about most.

"Oh, I'm sorry, didn't mean to offend your past time.  After all, brothel girls need to eat too."  She panted from the pain as it eased and tried to recover.  The stubborn, defiant, crack jokes at your death or time of extreme danger had to be a Thorn thing.  Who else would be so stupid?  Caedia sighed a bit as she kept her eyes down trying to regain some energy.

"Where's Aylith?"  He repeated patiently and she had no doubt that he could go on like this all night.

"You know, she's not your normal uppity higher class chick even though she's hot.  You should see her scars."  There was a gruff voice behind her that had spoken up and she was grateful for the momentary reprieve.

The man behind her pulled her shirt up and the electrical one briefly gazed at the scarred up skin.

"Oh, so you're going to be one of those stubborn, special cases."

Caedia snorted at him and closed her eyes trying to sense the rest of the room.

"You're wasting your time, I don't know where he is." 

He wasn't buying her words though and leaned forward to put his foot between her open legs so he could lean in real close.

"We have plenty of ways of extracting information.  You might not tell us today .. or even tomorrow."  He looked down at her hungrily, "but that's fine with us, that's more we can have you."  His eyes flickered back up to her stoic gaze.  "You'll talk, and you'll beg, and you'll tell us what we need to know.  Don't you worry your hot little self about it."

She'd been worried about her ability to hide her emotions since the whole thing with Riddick and him noting her emotions, but here she felt back in her element.  She felt like the Stone Cold Caedia that she used to be and was satisfied when he couldn't glean her feelings or the hatred she felt for him and her situation.

"So.  My dear.."  He'd been patting her cheek and then backhanded her sharply and caused her to spit out some blood.

"Where's Aylith?"

Her eyes closed as she breathed a bit heavily and spit more blood.

"Go to hell."  That retorted ended her with his hands moving to clasp both legs and he unleashed an electrical fury on her body that caused her to cry out slightly with the pain.  Caedia had a strong threshold for pain generally, but they'd already done a number on her earlier.

The questioning went on for a couple more hours like that with neither side relenting, mostly Caedia's stubbornness had nothing to do with loyalty so much as she made a point of having the wizards never meet her anywhere but public or teleport her in and out of their domains. 

She didn't -want- to know where they lived.  She didn't want -any- information about them that she didn't need to know.  Her captors obviously thought that was all lies so no one got anywhere.

Finally they untied her and took her to a cell.  She couldn't walk and couldn't even struggle so they had merely carried and transplanted her to the bed and tied her hands down so just in case she got her body functions back she wouldn't be able to escape.

The night left Caedia with nothing to do but think and wish she wasn't so lonely.  There were things she wished she had said and done to and for a few people.  There were wrongs she wanted to correct, and other such endings she'd left loose.

She'd never get to get ahold of Docksides again and work out the plan with the Solins. Never get to find out why Charlie had been avoiding her ever since she got Iain back. She'd never get to tell Iain she loved him and how badly she'd hurt when she lost him the first time. She'd never get to tell Koy she adored her. Never get to tell Annette and Tony she loved them.

She'd never get to sit down and tell Bane exactly what she wanted to.  She'd never get to make sure that Kheldar wouldn't run off with Jaycy when she was dead.  She'd never get to meditate with Omi-san again or thank him for the thought of staying outside her cabin when she'd received the threat from Cletus.  She'd never get to tell her brother again how much she loved him and looked up to him.

Never get to tell G'nort she hated his stupid no slashing rule, but loved him for teaching her how to use a rapier.  She'd never get to tell Anubis that she really hated him.  She'd never get a chance to shoot Jaycy several times (though in honor of Bane she'd make sure it wasn't deadly, just a couple or ten times in various places on non-vital spots..) She'd never get to tell Wrecking Crew that she loved them for giving the autographs to the boys and how much it really meant to Iain. 

She made off a mental checklist as the night ticked on of things that she wouldn't get to do or say and regrets she had.

Caedia however had no false hope that she would get out of this alive.  Even if she could provide them with information, they would kill her once they were done with her.  She spent the rest of her time alone preparing herself for death.  There would be no Caedia Drasinia, she was destined to live and die as Caedia Thorn.

~We chase misprinted lies
We face the path of time
And yet I fight
And yet I fight
This battle all alone
No one to cry to
No place to call home~
Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies - Nutshell


The next day pretty much went the same with the beatings and questionings and electric torture that rendered Caedia's body all but useless.  Halfway through the day she did get a break.

Instead of more bruises and blood spit from her mouth she was stripped and carried to an interesting room where she was tied to a bar hanging from the ceiling by four chains that connected to the sides of the tower and then merged into one chain that lead down to her.  She was standing of her own accord still and had enough slack that she could have even sat down with her arms completely above her, the rest of the room though is what prevented the latter from happening.

The room was an old round tower that had been fitted with swords evenly spaced about four inches apart both vertically and horizontally apart.  The whole tower must have been comprised of almost a thousand blades pointing inward towards her.

There was about six inches between her and the blades so if she tried to bend her knees and relax a bit she was met with the tips of the blades piercing her skin.  She'd just gotten used to the surroundings when the top opened up.  She blinked upwards trying to make sense of what was going on and then swiftly looked down and closed her eyes.

The room was very cold in the first place, probably as it was stone and it was still freezing in Rhydin.  Add to that her nudity and lack of protection she was already chattering her teeth with the coldness and now.. from the top they had dumped water down.  It took a few seconds and then it slammed against her, cold river water that made her jolt and sting herself in a few places with the tips of the swords.  She knew it was from the river because of the fishy way it smelled and made her gag.

The water torture was a new thing to her, she was used to the whole being beat up thing but being frozen and then doused in water was not something she expected, especially since the temperatures were so that her body was just barely able to stave off hypothermia.  It wasn't able to keep her misery abated, however.

She kept her eyes closed as her body shook from the cold and tried to calm her body down.  Shaking when cold was a body's natural defense but in times like these it would do nothing but wear her down even more.  They hadn't fed her at all the whole three days she was there and she didn't have much "energy" to spare.

Once her body became placid again she focused on soothing her breathing back to normal.  Her body felt like a big block of ice and wouldn't respond very willingly or, more to say, she would watch as her fingers bent slowly but wouldn't remember trying to make them do that and could only see them move, not feel them.

She was pretty sure her legs were beneath her but couldn't feel them either, the only thing she was aware of was the myriad of silver steel tips pointed at her and the etched sides of the stone tower.  Such a pretty and interesting prison to say the least.

Her knees gave out slightly as she let her mind dwindle to idleness and was rewarded with several sharp bits in her bare back.  She sucked in a breath and straightened back up.

The freezing cold water came methodically every thirty minutes to ensure she stayed doused and miserable.  At first she tried to keep track of how many times the water came but lost track after the count of sixty something, a day and a half worth of being frozen and then redoused with cold river water.  She really had tried keeping count so she could measure the time but with her wandering mind and desperate need for food, she was losing coherency quickly.

You'd think with all the time she spent with the monks that the Thorn woman would have gone into a meditative state but with the lack of sleep and food there was no discipline left in her mind.  Instead she lost the ability to focus on the happy memories she had in life and delved into madness.  The killings, the survivals, the hatred in her life and other myriad of thoughts that kept her as occupied as she could.

"So."  She jolted from her mad like thoughts as the wall behind her was dragged opened.  She twisted carefully to look at the one she had dubbed Shocker.

Silver eyes just as ice cold as her body looked up to his defiantly.  She might have been losing a grip on her sanity, might have been desperate for human interaction and starving for contact other than violence but there was no way she'd show any of her emotional weaknesses to the men before her.

"Where's Aylith?"  Shocker spoke but was looking around at the room instead, it was the one she'd dubbed Dagger boy behind him that was watching her animalistically and she stared back at him.

"I'd say.."  her voice sounded alien and cracked to her and she finally allowed a shudder, "Go to hell.."  she was having trouble speaking cause she was so weak from hunger and tired from lack of sleep, the nightly visits of the five men kept her from really resting much at all.

"But if I looked like him, I'd say you're already there."  She finally managed to finish as she glared at Dagger boy.  He blinked at her surprised and immediately leapt forward and back handed her... with the twin bladed dagger.

It was tremendously lucky for her that she was so freezing and couldn't feel anything more than the initial sting and tear and then the pain was over.  Shocker however, was freezing and tossing Dagger boy back hard.  She found out why when her jaw went slack.

There was air on her teeth and tongue, more air than should have ever been in her mouth at one time.  He had completely cut through her cheek on the right side from her ear to her lip.  The freezing conditions luckily had prevented her from bleeding as much as a cut like that normally would have.

Shocker was jerking Dagger up from the ground and slamming him back against the wall outside.

"What were you thinking?  If Tremmel can't extract the information from her when he gets here, he's killing you, my hands are clear."

Caedia was laughing now which looked rather freaky with as bluish as she had come and the blood on her chin and neck now.  Shocker wouldn't look at her.  Her mind was clicking somewhat into coherency, so -that's- why they'd left her alive so far, they were waiting for this other guy.

Dagger looked just as freaked out as Shocker as his pride settled down and he realized what he'd almost done.

"I'll get Jerek."  Shocker finally let him go roughly and shut her wall again effectively surrounding her with swords once more.

With the pain dully throbbing now in her cheek her mind set it's gears to creaking slowly.  There were waiting for someone.  Someone to "get information" that she didn't have.  An idea was slowly dawning on the ex-blonde.

They wanted something from her but didn't believe her when she said she didn't have it.  The best way to get back at them and piss them off like they had her?  That was easy, make them think they lost the information and beat them at their game.  She started eyeing the sword points with even more curiosity as she calculated. 

It was a little bit later that she figured out how to balance a bare foot on the flat of one of the blades carefully and pulled herself up with the chains on her wrists, the bar was barely long enough to keep her wrists apart much less hinder her.  She hadn't realized how long she'd taken to figure out how to accomplish what she wanted, time was not something she could calculate any longer in this place or even guesstimate with the lack of food and brain functions.

Successfully suspended in the air she used some of the lasting dregs of her energy to pull herself inch by painstaking inch up the main middle chain until she felt she was high enough and then pulled her feet back from the blades, ignoring the fact that they were cut up.

Hanging mid air, she said her last words silently to those she loved and then let loose.  The momentum was just what she needed and was rewarded with the sword points in her back again as she hit the ground.  She gasped at the pain as that could still be felt through her ice cold body as the eighteen or so sword points lodged their way home and waited for the death she'd worked so hard for.

~I get so lost and don't know how, yeah
And it hurts to care, I'm going down

Forgot my woman, lost my friends
Things I'd done and where I've been
Sleep in sweat the mirrors cold
See my face it's growin' old
Scared to death no reason why
Do whatever to get me by
Think about the things I said
Read the page it's cold and dead

Take me home

Say goodbye Don't follow~

Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies - Don't Follow
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CaediaThrn
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Irony Strikes 3

Post by CaediaThrn »

She had tried valiantly to execute her suicide plan but the flaw was that she took too long and just as she felt her consciousness failing the wall was opened again.

"Oh for the love of the Gods!!"  Shocker was cursing again, she faintly grinned knowing that she was the cause of his agony.  Point for the Thorn.

Jerek, whom was apparently one of the original five that had come to get her, came in immediately to help pry her off the swords.  They unchained her and laid her down on her front with her left cheek on the frozen stone ground so he could get to her sliced right one.  Jerek knelt and began casting his healing spells on the wounds in her back and on her cut up and bruised right cheek.

He, of course, was only healing enough to keep her alive he didn't much care about anything else.  She now had several sword scars on her back and her cheek had an ugly gash from the twin bladed dagger.  It slanted up into a forked path along her cheek spiking up towards her cheekbone and then Dagger must have twisted as he went because the paths converged leaving her with a straight line to the corner of her mouth once more.

"She has too much spirit."  Shocker mumbled annoyed at the woman's attempt at foiling them as Jerek worked.

"You think Aylith would hire a louse?"  Shocker apparently had conceded, but Caedia was quickly fading out of consciousness again thanks to the warmth of the healing.  A side effect that she was sure they weren't too pleased about.

How long she slept she wouldn't know but she was waking up to find herself tied back to  her bed in her cell and a blanket over her head.  Confused she realized finally what was going on.  Her midnight visitors were back and didn't want to see her scarred cheek.  She momentarily flared at the fact that she hadn't been successful enough to kill herself and deny them the pleasure of having her yet again.  Finally she just sighed and diverted her attention elsewhere trying to mentally escape the cell and the compound.

She kept sliding in and out of consciousness until finally she heard the squeak of the cell door again and tensed trying to find her spot away from what was going on.  It'd been so long she was sure they were back for more but to her surprise she found the blanket ripped from her face.

Cold green eyes were staring back at her from a face she didn't know.  He didn't waste time on pleasantries either.

His hands cupped the sides of her head and he closed his eyes concentrating.  She tried to move her legs to kick him and found that Shocker had come in behind him and was holding her down.

This must be Tremmel and she cried out with the shock of the pain as he started trifling through her memories.  Yup, it was him.  It went on like that for a bit until finally he tossed her head down with a grunt.  Her head was now rocked with a horrible headache.

"Get rid of her.  She doesn't know."  He said gruffly as he stood then and headed towards the door.  Shocker nodded and sent an electric jolt up her body with no sort of gentleness or care to keep her alive this time.

He then stepped forward to untie her wrists and plucked her limp form out of the bed and carried her through the place.  She cringed and kept her eyes closed, whatever Tremmel had done had made her sight extra sensitive and everything moving made her reel and wretch but she had nothing to spit up.

It was a couple of turns and nauseating movements later that she found herself sailing through the air and tossed out into the cold air.  She landed with a thunk on other things that she didn't even want to guess about and heard the closing of a door.  Apparently she was to be left for dead. 

She tried moving but nothing would work except her eyes and all she could see at the moment was the gray sky as the snow piled down around her and on her form.  She resigned herself to the darkness once more.

It had to have been hours later when she finally came to again because the gray sky had gotten even darker and she was warm and covered with snow.  She almost just stayed laying there resigned to her fate when something caught her eye.  A movement of a guard who was laughing and talking with another guard.  They were nodding and pointing over to the woods and they walked off.

Caedia didn't think anything of it, until she noticed that she had reached up to clear off some snow from her nose so she wouldn't sneeze.  Her hand moved!  She tested the rest of her body and while it was weary and stiff beyond belief from the cold and torture she'd gone through, it was moving.  She ground her teeth together as she pushed up a little depressed at how little her body wanted to respond and how weak she was.

She didn't want to die here, not on this pile of bodies as it appeared she was laying on.  If she was going to die, she wanted to die in freedom out from this place just to defy them.  She had no delusions of grandeur with how little her body was reacting to her, she wasn't long for the world and a full blown escape wasn't possible.  There was no fooling herself it was even a goal. 

She stumbled off zombie like heading away from the house as fast as she would go.  She was sure with as slow as she was moving that the guards would be back and track her down and kill her but at this point she didn't even care she was moving and that was all the ex-blonde wanted.

If they did get back and did notice nothing and no one came darting after her in the snow regardless of the trail she left.  The night got darker and darker and she was staggering more and more as the time went on.  She finally saw it looming in the darkness and part of her heart leapt and she fell to the ground.  It took her the better part of an hour to get herself standing again and then she began the painstakingly slow movements towards the wrought iron gate.

She wasn't leaving footsteps, she was leaving sled like trails as she moved.  Her body was so numb and frozen she couldn't feel anything even her breath entering her body.  It took her another hour and a half before she was finally near enough to see that the gate had no opening anywhere in her vicinity and wasn't something she could climb in her condition as the vertical iron made sure it wasn't easily scaled.  Caedia's heart sunk and she let out a mirthless laugh that was filled with more venom than anything.  So that's why if they'd noticed they just let her go.  There was no where for her to escape to to get out not with the way she went.  Her heart and body were done now, the gate and the compound had finally defeated her.

She finally touched the freezing iron and felt her legs go limp and she dropped to her knees.  There was no way she had the strength to get up again, she just wanted to lay down and sleep in the warm snow.  She finally let go of the iron and let herself fall over.

She still had her satisfaction as she stuck her hand outside of the gate.  There, she was free and out of their place.  They couldn't take all of her.  She smirked with that dark humor and her triumph and let herself drift off into the welcoming warmth.  This snow stuff wasn't so bad after all. 
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Irony Strikes, part 4.

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--

Iain had a link with Caedia, one that the two never spoke of around strangers. Caedia had been his portal into the world, birthing an already old soul into the tiny form she'd brought forth. Since then he'd had a connection with her that allowed him to sense her when she was within range. The last few days ever since she had been stolen from behind him, he'd lost that signal and only recently had picked it up. The link also had another drawback, it linked her health with his and the fact that it was diminishing was what was giving the boy so much trouble.

The carriage driver had come with carrying a few extra blankets himself since the boy was too little and he was using what strength he had left to find and sense the weak signal. Plus honestly the driver hated this neighborhood (for good reason) and didn't want to be left alone, and if you had a choice of staying in the creepy mist with a lonely carriage or following the big man known as Kheldar, you'd pick the latter as well.

The three trudged through the thick fog with both men looking anxiously at the ever growing fear in the little nine year old ahead of them.

"Iain?" Kheldar said very softly trying to calm him down.

"I can't.. it's so weak. The signal is just.. she's fading Kheldar.. she'-" He had blustered out the line quickly with his frustration but he never got to finish the sentence cause he was suddenly falling flat on his face. Indignant and frustrated by the whole thing as he'd been pacing this portion of the fence for a bit he got up and went to kick what had tripped him. That was, until his silver eyes alighted on that problem and froze but Kheldar was already down on his knees and picking the hand up.

There was an ivory arm sticking out from between the wrought iron slats and Kheldar was holding it a minute before cussing about the iron and the lack of ease in getting through it.

"She's so cold." Her body had been dusted with the snow that had fallen over the day and Kheldar was really afraid of how she was going to look when he got her cleared off. He knew her hand though, this was his girl.

Immediately he stood up and searched the fence and then hefted himself up anyway. The vertical slats made it a more than difficult climb but luckily had balls placed sporadically in the decoration that the big man used to help him get over. The adrenaline streaming through his veins also aided his attempt and soon he was landing after maneuvering himself very carefully over the iron spikes at the top.

He moved over to brush the snow off of her and paled. She wasn't dressed.. at all and was an eerie shade of blue. He struggled a moment with a breath in his throat as he did a precursory check of the limp form in front of him, she was still breathing even if shallowly.

Not too long ago the beaten up woman had been running around full of life and laughter as she played tag and fetch with his dog. The cut up and bruised cheek had had full lips that were bursting with a brilliant smile but now hung in a listless manner and Kheldar could see at least four broken bones. He shuddered.

Iain reached down to take the hand Kheldar had left behind wanting to offer some warmth to the woman but a few seconds later was reeling back as if burned and promptly expunged the contents of his stomach a few times.

"Iain?" The driver asked as he was pushing the blankets through the iron slats for Kheldar to wrap the nude, frost bitten woman up in.

"Sorry.." he said weakly after the heaving eased, "but.. but I can see her thoughts when I do that." He was shuddering violently and was extremely pale. Kheldar was worried about him too as this whole time while searching he too had grown weaker and weaker and was all but wobbling around as they had searched.

Kheldar's face darkened, he was already highly pissed off at the cut on her cheek and looked around back at the place to commit it to memory. "And?"

Iain just stared back at him horrified and blanched a little. "You don't want to know." Deathly quiet came the answer and right then Kheldar did not want to know.

"We have to get her to a healer, she's fading, and quickly." Iain continued quietly trying to change the subject.

Kheldar hesitated as he tried to figure out how to get her over the gate. He couldn't carry her over the way he came he might accidentally drop her and she was already beaten up enough, that much he could tell. He had darkened even more when he found the new scars on her back from where she'd landed against the swords.

"There's some excellent healers right up the rode a little, I took my little girl to them and they saved her." The driver said earnestly, he'd been the only one Kheldar could find that would just drag them around fruitlessly all day long until Iain could pick up a signal and had been with them a few days now. He was almost like a friend it would seem with the familiarity.

Kheldar was struggling as he knew that Caedia hated magic and the likes but he was nodding regardless, Iain would know how bad off Caedia was and the boy wasn't doing well himself thanks to their link, his girl needed help and needed it quickly, her beliefs be damned at this point.

He had found a stump somewhat near the gate and had grimaced as he picked her up to hold her to his chest, he didn't like how light she felt.

Over to the stump and up he went and then he was hefting her up and over the spikes very carefully and was grateful for his height. The driver had followed and was waiting as Kheldar slowly lowered her using the blankets he had wrapped around her and then held her to his chest as he awaited the big man to climb back up and over.

Iain had staggered over close to them again and once Kheldar made it over again they immediately moved back to the carriage and the driver turned them to head to the healers. A short ride later they were coming to a quick halt.

The hut was small and ragged looking but Iain looked up hopefully as he stepped out from the carriage and the driver was already down reaching in to help Kheldar down more out of courtesy and caring than the big man's actual need.

The wrapped woman was carried quickly into the door where a red haired woman looked up at them entering a bit haggard looking.

"River?" The driver asked with immediate concern, the pretty woman waved her hand with a sweet but sad smile.

"Just did a rez, I'll be fine. Heal?" She looked at the limp woman in Kheldar's arms but before she could inquire more a tiny Asian woman no more than four feet tall came out of the back room looking stressed and immediately headed towards Caedia.

Kheldar quirked his brow.

"Xuena?" River asked, all the healers were amazing in this shop however they were all jealous of the Asian woman. She was the only one with strong empathetic feelings so she could actually feel what the person in front of her was feeling. The rest went by judgment.

"Get Mini, we're losing her fast." River nodded immediately and spun around to go find the other healer. Xuena had been working all day and was worn out herself.

Xuena's fingers tucked her white hair behind an ear, it seemed more a product of her job more than her age as the woman looked no more than twenty-four at most. She flicked her eyes towards Iain.

"River??" The red head woman was coming out with a black haired woman who had immediately come to where Kheldar had lain Caedia out, obviously trusting now that the Asian woman had said exactly what Iain had told him.

"Yes, Xue?"

"The boy.. can you heal him?" Xuena had already knelt down and begun the silent prayer of healing over the beaten up brunette.

River shook her head. "I have no energy, I ressurected Badge again earlier, my energy is gone, it took it all out, I'm so sorry."

Iain had been watching Xuena with a fascination and adoration that Kheldar hadn't missed but the boy had dropped to his knees shortly after.

"They're connected." Xuena said quickly and began the silent chanting again as she touched near Caedia's heart and her head.

"Connected?" River asked, but Xuena's head was shaking rapidly.

"I'm losing her, can't exp- NO!" The tiny Asian woman panicked and closed her eyes and Mini, River and Xuena all shuddered collectively. They might not all have been as empathetic as the Asian, but a real healer could feel a death, and they were all very real.

The door slammed open a few moments later and a man with white fur and black spots came in panting as if he had just sprinted.

"By the Gods, I felt that all the way down the street, who died??" He followed River's horrified gaze towards the woman on the ground and Mini and Xuena who were soundlessly chanting in unison with their hands on her.

His gaze switched to the boy who had dropped with a thunk to the ground and was being picked up by Kheldar now.

"Spotts! Heal the boy! Please, I'm .. I'm out of energy." The red head was crying now, horrified that she was so helpless but the man was instantly moving to take the boy from Kheldar and began his own chanting.

The driver was wringing his cap in his hands as he watched and Kheldar had his eyes closed after handing Iain over, trying to ignore the fact that they said she was dead. River had said she'd just done a resurrection, there was no reason they couldn't bring Caedia back. He wouldn't believe otherwise no matter how worn out Xuena and Mini looked.
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CaediaThrn
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A release. (Irony Strikes 5)

Post by CaediaThrn »

Stormy gray eyes watched as the women working on his fiance lifted their hands up at the same time, palms towards the ceiling a long time later. It was then that his breath sucked in as he waited and watched. The driver had explained to him the situation while they were waiting and Kheldar had been pacing.

Finally he saw Caedia's chest expand on it's own again and he let the captive breath release explosively as he slid down the wall to sit on the floor. The driver had been almost as nervous and quietly sat down next to him.

The women placed their hands back on their charge after River had cradled Caedia's head on her legs and smoothed the woman's hair back. They continued their silent chanting for a near hour until Mini finally wavered and pulled off.

Spotts had finished with the boy and placed him near Kheldar before moving to scoop Mini up and take her towards the back. Xuena stayed with her eyes closed and chanting a bit longer before she opened them and then placed her hand on the woman's cheek.

"Sleep?" River asked quietly and Xuena nodded soundlessly as her lips kept up the chanting this time slower. Kheldar never took his eyes off of them even as he petted Iain's blonde hair restlessly.

Spotts came back out and sat down next to Iain again lightly laying his hand on the child's arm again and resuming his chanting. Iain had his silver eyes focused on Caedia as well and didn't even react to Spotts' touch.

Xuena finally removed her hand and looked to Kheldar very wearily.

"They're all fine now." He nodded gratefully at her. Being the empath she was, she felt the concern radiating from him towards her. He obviously realized she had because he finally gave in and asked.

"Are you..?"

Xuena nodded with a soft smile. "Yes sir, thank you for asking it's just been a long hard day. She's going to need some sleep so I put her under. The spell should last four days, it's very important that she stay asleep so try not to let anything disturb her. The first ten hours nothing will be able to disturb her however after that anything loud or sudden might." She stressed the importance of the woman sleeping.

"I'll make sure she's kept in a quiet place."

Xuena nodded. "It's excruciatingly important she get at least four days of sleep, so guard her well. If she wakes get her back under as quickly as possible by any means. Her body -must- have a chance to fully heal. I'm going to have to make a few visits as her muscles were extremely damaged and she may have some trouble using them at first."

Kheldar nodded wearily now, Caedia wasn't going to like that.

"A couple of times with me healing should have the muscles back in working order." She placed a hand on his arm to reassure him. "It's not something we can do all at once, but don't give up, and don't let her either. Please, please make sure she sleeps, it's very important."

River finally perked up. "We have some sleeping herbs that should help." She was desperate to be of any help she could, Kheldar didn't bother arguing with her.

Xuena nodded and moved aside after Kheldar has disentangled himself from Iain to pick his girl back up and cradle her to his chest.

"How's the boy doing?" The Asian woman had quietly and wearily gotten to her feet to stagger over and pet Iain's cheek as he looked up at her.

"I'm fine." Iain said very quietly before Spotts, whom the question had been directed at, could answer. "Thank you for saving my mother." Xuena hugged him back tightly.

"She should be fine." Iain nodded knowingly.

"It wasn't her time." Xuena looked down at him as he spoke and cocked her head to the side at that.

"Indeed little man." Honestly the Asian woman was a little off kilter as her energy seemed to be returning just a bit. She finally let the blonde boy go.

"I'm going to go lay down." River nodded at Xuena for that and Kheldar looked up at her.

"Thank you, and tell the black haired lady I said that as well. She means so much to me and I will be forever grateful to both of you."

Xuena touched his shoulder on the way by and nodded quietly. "May the Gods be with you always."

After the payment arrangements had been made and met with a little extra from the big man, they were headed back out to the coach.

"The monks can cleanse her, and she can sleep peacefully there." Kheldar's hooded gaze swung to Iain sharply at that.

"I suppose your right. She needs sleep then they can cleanse her." He remembered Caedia's relief when they had done that before for her with the Massino.

Iain shook his head lightly. "She needs to be cleansed first so that her soul can rest."

"She cannot be disturbed." Kheldar said a little sharper than he meant to in his stubbornness. There was no way he could afford to lose her again right now.

"Kheldar, they said she cannot be woken the first ten hours." He said carefully pushing his point across. "Caedia would want it, you know that and if she does wake up for some reason then she can ease back into sleep peacefully."

Kheldar's eyes closed as they settled into the seats and the driver began to take them home. Honestly the big man was really tired of feeling pushed around with no release and way to push back but at the same time he knew Iain had a valid and true point.

"We gather clothes up at the cabin and a few personal affects and then head immediately for the monastery then." He said conceding as much as he could and found Iain nodding.

Kheldar had emptied the rest of his pockets to the driver which was more than the driver had been hired for but Kheldar was more than relieved to be home -with- his woman rather than returning to wearily rest before they could resume the search.

After good byes were said him and the boy headed into the cabin and Kheldar set her gently on the couch.

"Don't leave her side." Iain nodded quietly and waited as Kheldar moved through gathering things up.

A little bit later they were bowing before the old monk that Kheldar recognized before.

"Xien.." Kheldar started but he had no idea how to finish.

"Our daughter has once again found trouble." Xien smiled a sad smile as he looked her over. "You need a place to stay?"

Kheldar nodded gratefully as Iain came up behind him slightly late as he had paused to light a candle for Caedia.

"She needs to be cleansed." Iain said as he bowed to Xien who looked at him. Xien bowed back to the little one with no small amount of surprise at the Caedia look alike.

"Her son." Kheldar explained as he watched the exchange. Xien's brows raised but for a moment and he nodded with a soft smile.

"I will prepare the room. Can she get ready?" He asked.

Kheldar shook his head. "She cannot be awakened for several days but her soul needs to be eased."

Xien nodded once more and bowed shortly. "Then we will prepare a bath she might lay in so that we do not stress her body."

This time Kheldar did not bother to hide the gratefulness behind the usual stoic mask he kept here. The pains of the familiarity the place normally brought on were pushed aside at the moment as he headed to the room Caedia had taken him in before and gently unwrapped her.

"Iain, could you get the robe from the shelves please?" Iain skittered over nervously trying not to look at Caedia's prone form.

The robe was found and he handed it to Kheldar quietly.

"Can you lift her-"

"No." Kheldar looked up in shock at the forceful and sudden outburst.

"Kheldar, please." The youths eyes closed and his fully body was wracked with a shudder. "Don't make me touch her again just yet."

Kheldar looked down at that fighting with the turmoil of slight jealousy. The power the boy had to see her thoughts and whatnot was something Kheldar would love to have but at the same time knew the boy had been shaken by what he'd seen. Would -he- really want that power? Would -he- want to see all the darkness in her past? Maybe not actually it would only give him anger he couldn't abate. He contemplatively finished wrapping her up and tugged her back to his chest.

Carefully he chose his words after resting his back on one of the supporting beams. "Would you.. be able to .. to tell me about it later?" Slowly speaking as he chose his words carefully.

Iain sighed wearily and slid down to sit across from him as they waited. "I have not yet even seen all of it. I pulled away after the first few images." He was pale as he said that and Kheldar felt his anger flare up again.

"I'm sorry." Iain's quiet voice snapped his gaze back to him and Kheldar immediately put his mask of indifference on and sighed.

"It's not you, Iain." He only now realized he'd allowed his anger to appear on his face. "It's not you at all, but if your reaction was as such with just a bit of what happened.." He growled not wanting to complete that phrase.

Iain nodded gratefully when he realized he was not the source of the anger. "She's back with us again." He said very gently trying to ease the man's anger.

Kheldar looked over the boy who looked so much like his fiance and tried to focus. He'd always seen Iain as just your normal little boy and could easily forget the burdens that had been placed upon the young body.

Caedia had explained to him about Iain's battle and the fact that the boys soul was older than any of them combined. Caedia wasn't much of one to believe in angels, but she said Iain had existed on another plane in a peaceful place others might dub as heaven.

He was so much more than the little form he embodied now but then again still trapped with the limitations of that body. More than ever Caedia had said that Iain just wanted to exist and enjoy life and yet the boy had been greeted with so many burdens already. Kheldar couldn't help but note how ironic that whomever had deemed him ready to exist in this world gave him one of the most challenging "portals" or "mothers" ever.

"I don't know who you pissed off, little Angel, but if you were hoping for an easy life, Caedia Thorn was not the person to be born to." He had no idea why he said that other than the bitterness and hatred burning inside him had no where to be directed to at the moment and he was growing antsy with sitting idly by.

Iain looked up at him and smiled so very softly and so like Caedia that Kheldar immediately looked away and was grateful when the dojo door slid open quietly.

"We are ready." Xien said softly and the boys stood and followed.

--

After the cleansing had finished and Kheldar had dried, dressed and brushed his girl's hair they had settled her into a fluffy set up the monks had provided. Her mother's ring, engagement ring and the two toned necklace with his diamond from the duel of fists had been put back on her and Kheldar felt himself relax a bit.

The big man draped himself across some of the pillows at her side and held her hand with one hand as he pet it with the other. Iain had her other hand and had his eyes closed and a grimace on his face. His eyes were moving as if in the REM stage of dreaming and Kheldar waited patiently and quietly.

A couple hours later after Iain had expunged all the information Kheldar had requested the boy lay next to Caedia and was out like a light.

Kheldar meanwhile had filed all the information away and had begun his own plans.
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