Fable - Ask The daughter of Soleiman..

[Nym]

She put up whatever fight she could as they dragged her away, but her legs were useless and she writhed as she was bound and screamed in protest to the attention of her wounds. The shadow on the floor made the woman's blood run cold, and she supressed a small shudder and closed her eyes, focusing on her breathing and trying to push her pain to the back of her mind.

Her eyes opened on him before falling to the roll of tools. Her fists tightened.

The fear travelled in Nym's veins but never made it to her face. Her jaw was clenched and her eyes remained steady on the man as she tried to hide her pain. He hadn't looked at all what she'd expected from the helm that he wore. The immortals' armour all looked so ghoulish and frightening she assumed they were horrible demons underneath too.. It didn't make her any less afraid.

She continued to stare with an air of defiance and her chin lifted slightly as he spoke her name.. "Were you supposed to be protecting him?" her head tilted at the man, a small pout on her lips.. "You were, weren't you. Why should all of the blame land on me? Is it not natural for a caged tiger to fight for it's freedom?" her brow lifted, and her voice shook slightly as her mind fell back to the pain.

 

[Halul]

Perhaps if it were any other man, they would have risen to the woman’s provocation. She was fierce. Brave. This would not do.

“Tigers have no place amongst the sands,” he turned his attention to the tools and pulled a pair of long pliers from the belt. He studied it for a moment, and looked to the princess. Following a short, contemplative hum, he put the pliers back. His fingers brushed over cold metal and finally stopped over a flat piece of iron. Both ends of the strip were forked, and the strip itself was attached to a thin belt.

She was prideful, and no doubt once enjoyed being the daughter of a powerful man. Her raised chin- defiant glare...

He fastened the metal over her throat, one forked end pressing into the skin under her jaw and the other in the flesh between her clavicles. It forced her to hold her “defiant” pose.

“Tigers can be broken, too.”

Uvogin returned to the belt, and whistled a tune to himself as he deliberated. Seconds passed. A minute. The captain returned to the princess, pinchers in one hand and jagged shears in the other.

“Which hand?” He politely asked.

 

[Nym]

Already her heart rate was accelerating further as he took his time picking the best tools to hurt her with. Her glassy eyes following the movements of his hands and she felt her palms grow clammy. Every muscle was tight, sprung for action and screaming at her to run despite her inability to move.

Her breathing picked up pace as he attached something to her throat. It was instantly uncomfortable, and unless she closed her eyes, she had no choice now but to look at him.... she couldn’t close her eyes.

She blinked at his words about with a tired look and let out a sharp huff, the terrifying wave of inevitability engulfing her. Even the fucking whistling was torture, but he knew that... she knew men like him.

Nym ignored the question for a second time, what did it matter which hand it was? She supposed he intended on treating it worse than the other. Either way, it was going to hurt, and her mind was too busy accepting that fact to conjure any such answers.

 

[Halul]

The captain shrugged and knelt next to the princess. He expected silence, but it did not anger him. Tucking the pinchers away, he seized her wrist and tested the shears.

Snip. Right in her ear, the sound of metal quickly sliding against metal.

"A hairpin," he remarked, "even an accessory can be a sufficient weapon. The Emperor is large, his muscles greater and tougher than that of normal men."

His hand slowly slid up hers to hold her pinky, and like a master craftsman, carefully watched as he brought the shears to the finger's middle knuckle.

"My point is that you should have aimed for his neck." Snip. There was blood, and half of her pinky fell to the floor. "Reaching his neck, though, was not plausible, so you had to hope for the best."

He stood, stepped back, and looked down at the young woman with a winsome smile.

 

[Nym]

Every muscle in her body tensed as he knelt next to her, her brow knitting as he gripped her wrist, unable to pull it away. A touch as painless as this against her would have been death in her father’s eyes, let alone what the captain had intended for her. How quickly things had changed..

Nym flinched at the sound of the shears so close to her ear and her eyes moved to his face, a sharp exhale as she tried to force herself to keep calm. Her defiance was wavering. Her eyes closed at his words, her expression betraying the disappointment and the fear she felt as she realised that her attempt on Gerra’s life had failed... they were going to make this slow.

She couldn’t see, but the feeling of cold metal clamping around her pinky was enough to know. Her eyes closed tightly and her breathing quickened, but all the mental preparation in the world couldn’t have prevented the scream that threw itself violently from her lungs as the finger was cut from her hand.

“Fuck!!!!” . Her chest heaved and her teeth clenched tightly, a pained moan sneaking out with every panicked breath. There was little point in pleading, so she wouldn’t. She wasn’t here for information she was here for punishment, and tears flooded onto her cheeks as she realised this was only the beginning.

She fixed a venomous, green glare on him. That smile. “Yes..” she growled out “I fucking wish I had. His heart was too small a target.”

 

[Gerra]

“ENOUGH!”

Gerra stood in the doorway to the dungeon. He leaned heavily on the stone doorframe. His loose robe hung open, revealing a swathe of white bandages covering his chest.

The effort of speaking so loudly seemed to have cost him. His features looked like a worn stone in the midst of the sea, weathered by rain and wind for eons. Even so, he pushed himself upright and strode toward the bound princess until he stood before her.

“Leave us, Captain.”

 

[Halul]

The smile quickly dropped from the captain’s face as Gerra’s thunderous voice shook the walls. He composed himself and as the Emperor approached, gathered his tools.

With only a respectful bow of his head, Uvogin exited the cell, but not before he cast a sly, provocative glance at the princess.

We are not done.

He left and waited in the hall outside the dungeon.

 

[Nym]

Nym was trying her best not to look as shattered as she felt, trying not to shake but the tremors wouldn't stop as her adrenaline flooded her body. She'd lost a fair bit of blood as it was, the bolts had done their work on her legs and a small pool was forming as more of it flowed freely from her hand.

Her muscles tensed again as she jumped at the booming sound of Gerra's order. If she'd been asked to choose, more torture, or Gerra's wrath, it would've been a difficult choice. She wanted to quell the hammering in her chest, but it only picked up a beat or two more as she looked up at the giant, her gaze falling to the bandages rather than keep eye contact.

The woman's jaw clenched as she caught Uvogin's look, hatred pouring out of her as her eyes moved, watching him leave.

"Loyal pet you have.." Nym rasped through gritted teeth.

 

[Gerra]

“The most loyal,” Gerra said quietly. He looked at the ground, at the pool of blood, and knelt. He picked up the severed finger and examined it, the flash of white bone showing in the mess of red.

“You tried to kill me, but more importantly, you hurt one of his men.”

He stood and reached for her injured hand, large fingers steadying the trembles, holding it still.

“Mehmed will never recover use of that eye. Perhaps if the Archlector had been here... But the same is not true for your hand.” One of the rings on the emperor’s hand began to glow and smoke hissed and writhed as he pressed her finger back onto the stump.

As quickly as it began, it vanished. Gerra let go of her hand.

“There. It may not be the same as it once was, I am sorry I did not arrive in time. The paralytic on your hairpin did quite the number on me.”

He met her gaze, then seemed to realize she was incapable of looking away due to the contraption on her neck.

“Ah.”

He removed it.

“Uvogin is indeed zealous.”

Red-gold eyes met her own again.

“If I remove the chains, will you try to kill me again?”

 

[Nym]

Nym had assumed that Gerra had wanted the pleasure of cutting off the rest of her fingers on his own, and the confusion on her face was plain.. Her eyes followed him as he knelt and picked up her severed appendage and she was rigid at his touch, her breathing once again erratic, deep, then shallow. The sensation was odd, and she clenched and unclenched her hand, feeling all four fingertips against her palm. Her brow creased.

She stretched either side of her neck as the strap was removed from her and she stared at him through a narrowed gaze of distrust and paranoia, sneering at him in response to his question. "With what?.." She doubted she'd get the chance again any time soon.

"Why deprive your Captain of his enjoyment? I am as good as dead in this palace anyway.." her head tilted now that it could. Her skin was paling and clammy, her eyes drifting heavily but she refused to allow them to close. "What is it that you want, Gerra?" she asked plainly, her voice broken and raw from her screaming.

 

[Gerra]

The emperor only looked at her with sadness in his infernal gaze. He reached out with both hands and grasped the chains binding her in place. His hands seemed to glow red-hot for a moment and with a clatter the chains fell apart, melted in half. With his bare fingers he prised off the bands around her limbs. Metal squealed, but it could not resist the might of a half-giant. They broke like copper wire beneath his efforts and he tossed them aside one by one.

“I want a unified Amol-Kalit, where a merchant can travel from the Baal-Duru to the trident coast without fear of bandits or greedy, lawless kings. I want an end to the fighting. And I don’t want to see you hurt anymore.”

 

[Nym]

The moment her bindings felt loose around her, she pulled her knees in close and held the recently mutilated hand against her chest with the other, her sceptical gaze not leaving him for a second. She didn't understand him. Her father would've delighted in having someone tortured for weeks on end for crimes far less than attempted assassination, and yet he was putting her back together and unbinding her. There was more to it. There had to be.

Nym's lips twisted at his words and her head shook.. "Even you can't achieve that. As long as there is land and wealth and gods there will always be fighting. What you want is for your power to grow. You've already got one king out of the way.." her jaw clenched.. "I will not stay here in this place like some slave or caged animal." she told him with as much conviction as she could manage in her drowsy state.

 

[Gerra]

“Perhaps you are right.”

He knelt down so they were at eye level.

“The way you moved in the Golden Pond... the paralytic on your hairpin... you are not just a princess, are you? You have training.”

He studied her face.

“Did Soleiman train his own daughter to be an assassin?”

The unspoken subtext seemed plain. How could any man turn his daughter into a tool of the state?

 

[Nym]

Nym leaned back slightly as he knelt in front of her and she drew her eyes away at his words, laughing quietly under her breath. "Your men should have noticed the spike.." she muttered dryly.

"My father didn't trust many people. But he could trust me. I was loyal.." she answered with a sneer, her rage flaring as she considered that his end had been met because he'd trusted the wrong people. It was all for nothing, she couldn't help him.

After a quiet moment, she turned her tired glare back to him and her lips curled at the corner "Now what?"

 

[Gerra]

Gerra ignored the last question.

“You were, weren’t you. And he used you. Like a weapon. Were you the one he sent to slaughter rebel leader Farid in his home? Mehmed told me the story. Showed me the rug soaked in the blood of his children and wives. Was it you?”

 

[Nym]

Nym rolled her eyes as he ignored her question and insisted on pushing her for answers of her own. She pulled in a deep breath and let it out a sigh as she stared at him, her head tilting slightly as she listened to his words.

"Would that impress you?" her brow lifted and the slightest of smirks tugged at the corner of her lips. Still, he enjoyed ignoring her questions and so she wouldn't offer an answer of her own. She'd killed many in her father's name, plenty of them had been innocent but the king's mind had been a paranoid one and who was Nym to question his rule? She'd learned at an early age to be as cold as he was.

"I'd like to sleep." she told him dryly, her body and mind fighting to shut down.

 

[Gerra]

Gerra stood up, something like anger blending with the sadness in his eyes. The hiss of steam as water quenches heated steel.

“Uvogin,” he knew the Captain was waiting just outside. “See to it that she is taken care of. And keep an eye on her personally, I don’t want any more of your men injured.”

He turned to leave, paused, “It would not impress me, Princess. It would make me feel sorry for you. I know something of fathers and the paths they can force upon their children.”

Then he was gone.

 

[Halul]

He should worry about the hole in his chest, the immortal thought. Though, in front of the Princess, he did not dare utter those words.

Once again, the captain stood in front of the Princess, silent as a corpse. Only the sound of the Emperor's footfalls filled the silence between them. Once the soft echoes receded to nothingness, Uvogin spoke.

"Did you kill Farid?" he beckoned for her to stand and, without waiting for an answer, continued, "that complicated our plans for Salitra. Mehmed told me about it. He said it was sloppy work. Like an amateur's. Butchered Farid and his wife and his children like pigs. Come."

He exited the cell and waited for the Princess. "To your room."

 

[Nym]

Her eyes followed the emperor as he rose, her head tilting back. She'd never felt so comparably tiny in her life. Dread replaced her tired expression as the captain was called for, tremors starting up again in her clammy hands and she pulled them back against her chest for safe keeping.

She stared through Gerra as he spoke and dropped her gaze to the floor as he left, her brow creasing as his words wormed her way into her mind, unsettling it as she listened to his footsteps grow fainter.

Standing was difficult, though not as difficult as walking and any weight borne to either of her legs shocked her body with another dose of pain and she tried not to let them buckle underneath her. She failed. "It had nothing to do with me." she snapped and glared up at him, attempting to pull herself to her feet a second time.

"I'm unsure, Captain, if you've ever been shot in the legs - but it does make walking somewhat difficult."

 

[Halul]

A smug expression spread across the captain's face as he watched the Princess struggle. From outside the cell, he extended a hand through the door and offered it to the young woman.

"Then let me help."

And he waited for the Princess to muster the strength to take his helping hand.

 

[Nym]

Nym shot the smug little bastard a venomous glare as he seemed to be enjoying himself quite a bit on her behalf. The only thing she wanted to do even less than taking his hand right now, was crawl and drag herself to her room like a beaten animal. And she had little other choice.

She used the door to pull herself up, a look of sheer exhaustion and pain etched on her face. She took the hand begrudgingly, her other hand gripping his shoulder as she fell against him, unable to bear much weight on her own.

“You’re too kind.” she growled through gritted teeth, allowing him to walk her the long path to her room.

 

[Halul]

"There you go," he said, no small amount of entertainment in his tone. In a fluid motion, Uvogin bent down to let his head slip under her arm. As they exited the dungeon, Uvogin paused for only a moment next to one of the guards.

"Have a healer be sent to the Princess' room."

"Yes, Captain."

The captain half-drug, half-walked the young woman through the hall, and once they arrived at her room, Uvogin dropped the Princess and looked down at her.

"The healer will arrive soon," he cast an exaggerated glance to her injured legs, "don't go anywhere."

 

[Nym]

Nym glanced down at the dark puddles of blood her wounds had spilled onto the cell floor, it only made her feel more tired. Her complexion was ashen, it's natural golden colour sunken in tone to something more lifeless. Her eyes closed and she pulled her mind into a deeper place to cope, her heart rate slowing despite her struggling. The woman tried her best to keep up, but whenever she slipped she was dragged along regardless, attempt made to mask the pain on her face but the feat was an impossible one.

She had nothing left to hold herself up with, so when he dropped her she landed hard and grimaced, her eyes raising to look at him with a huff.. "Hilarious." she muttered quietly, and lay down exactly where she'd been dropped without an ounce of energy left to summon. Cold, hard floor be damned, she'd sleep.

 

[Halul]

Uvogin frowned and found a place in the room to sit. When the Princess woke up, she would have found herself in the bed without any arrows in her leg, only a lingering soreness and light scarring. The healer had done exceptionally well. The sun fell hours ago, and only candles lit the room. Off to the side, the captain sat, dutifully watching over the Princess. He ate food from a silver tray. A similar one was places near Nymeasha’s bed.

He watched and continued to eat in silence as she stirred and her senses returned to her.

 

[Nym]

Nym groaned quietly. Her head was pounding. She moved her legs and felt them tightly cocooned in bandages and the pain was far less intense. Her eyes opened and quickly adjusted to the dim light, she knew he was still here, she could feel his eyes on her and she sighed and rubbed at her face. “Seems you’ve been demoted to nursemaid, Captain..” she mumbled sleepily, pulling herself up to sit and fixing the silk sheets around her, wrapping them close.

She watched him for a moment and glanced to the tray of food, realising how hungry she was, she’d been throwing food at the help for days, and with her recent blood loss she really couldn’t afford to refuse another morsel.

“Thank you. For having the healers see to me.” she sighed out as she reached for the tray to set it into her lap.