Private Tales The Death of Innocence

[Houri]

Houri was too innocent and naïve to even dream of what the real Weiroon meaning of fit for camping was.

"It would have turned into a competition. My fathers sticks against your fathers clay no doubt," she giggled at the childish mental image of two fathers racing to build the best makeshift shelter for children to play in. There was no way either head of these powerful houses would have done such a thing but Houri had never met either as a grown woman. They would always be fathers in her memory until her return to Vel Anir.

"I suppose you are too busy for sneaking off to go camping in the gardens anymore. You mentioned your sister and father had you working a lot," her eyes flickered to his sword then over her shoulder to the two knights trailing behind them.

"What is it you do?"

 

[Olvir]

He smiled for a moment at the image, but didn't try to clarify what he had meant for Houri. A small part of him, no, a larger part of him liked her way of looking at their world.

The part that didn't know.

"Me?" He mused for a moment, as if he actually had to think about.

An easier question might be what they didn't have him doing. It seemed Aisling and his father both depended on him for so much now. His sister because she knew he could be trusted. Sebastian? Well, because his brothers refused to do anything with the Republic. "Anything, and everything."

He told her.

"Two months ago I was in Cortos meeting with Bankers." Ollie said, a loud sigh escaping him. "Last week I was meeting with some miners from the westfold."

Ollie shook his head. "I'm like...I'm like the face of my House."

He said, as though he had only just realized it himself.

 

[Houri]

"That's... Well that's amazing Ollie!" Houri leant half out of her saddle to clap him on the arm and give it a friendly squeeze. Before the accident all she had wanted to do was represent her House and to make them proud. She had watched as Ash had been disgraced for being able to do nothing but heal - a gift she had secretly thought wonderous - and there had been a weight on her shoulders entering the Academy to wipe the stain clear.

Ollie was doing exactly that.

"I suppose if you're the face, they'll be trying to marry you off soon," she scrunched up her nose at the thought.

 

[Olvir]

A flicker of a smile touched Olvir's lips.

A echo of fact. Something that made his throat tighten, his tongue feel dry. He still had absolutely no idea how to explain the Revolution to Houri. How he was supposed to tell her about the Republic or any of the truths that surrounded it.

"Well..." He said trailing.

"They sort of already tried." That was not a lie he would tell her. "I was supposed to marry Elspeth."

It was a name that Houri would recognize. The daughter of House Sirl. A figure of power, one that might have granted House Weiroon a place in the ruling alliance. "But things sort of fell through."

Which of course meant he had absolutely no fucking idea what would come next.

 

[Houri]

Elspeth... Houri could just about recall a face but it was blurred with age and the fact the pair had not interacted all that much. A good, sound match for the poster boy of Weiroon no doubt. She cast him a curious eye when he confessed they had fallen through and wondered if he were not a bit too pleased about such a thing. She couldn't say she blamed him.

"Marriage is dull and boring anyway, you couldn't have the adventures you are with a wife - or children!" somehow that thought was even more disgusting to Houri than marriage was. She was rather glad she was a Dreadlord first and foremost. The Academy did not stand for such nonsense unless they arranged it and she thought, with her mental history, she was rather safe from them ever wanting her to give them more dreadlords.

"I wonder if they've managed to marry my sister and brothers off yet."

 

[Olvir]

A wide smirk spread over Ollie's lips and Trik broke out Into a laugh beside him. The great ogre of a man chuckled as he took in Houri's words and nodded quickly in agreement.

"Oh aye lass, you got that right. My wife nearly strings me up everytime I go."

Ollie looked at the man with surprise. ”You have a wide?"

He asked in clear shock.

The Guard nodded his head almost immediately. The wide smile on his face denoting the clear pride he felt in telling the other three. As he spoke he beamed.

"Love of my life she is. Hates my job though, thought I'd be a baker after I left the Guard but…Weiroon pays better."

”Huh." Ollie remarked thoughtfully, then glanced over towards Houri on her horse. ”Not sure about your siblings."

He told her truthfully. ”But I heard rumors the Prince is getting married."

 

[Houri]

Houri was less surprised of course to hear a total stranger had a wife but she nodded in agreement with this woman she didn't know; of course she wouldn't want her husband to be off for weeks or months at a time. There was a reason they called a spouse a ball and chain. She gave a little sigh of relief when Ollie said he didn't know about her siblings; surely any marriage of a Luana would have been big news amongst the houses and whilst Weiroon was not one of the ruling alliance, her father would not have snubbed the family by not inviting them to the occasion.

"Which one?" she tilted her head. She remembered playing with one a few years older than her when younger but she also recalled a stern, scowling man older than her brothers. "Doesn't matter," she waved it off. Everyone knew the royals were just a bit of ponce and flair to wheel out. The Proctors had sneered as much.

She tried to think of any other friends but no names rose to mind that Ollie would know. The initiates she had counted as friends would be close to graduating now if they had survived. Her smile suddenly vanished at the realisation she wouldn't be beside them.

"I suppose you don't know much about this years graduates..."

 

[Olvir]

Ollie frowned for a moment, considering. "No..."

The Academy more often than not played things close to their chest. A fact that remained true even after the Republic had taken power.

Dreadlords, even in this new age, were a resource. Every single one of them was a weapon of war, a soldier that were to be used against enemies of the state. Their powers, who they were, all of it was better kept away from the eyes of the Public.

Which of course included people like Ollie.

He probably could have figured it out, if he wanted to. A few bribes, some kind words, but...well he'd never much had reason to. "There's Eli of course."

A face that Houri would recognize. Ollie's best friend, before the Academy at least.

"But other than that..." He shrugged. "They don't really let much slip."

A bitter thought followed the words. A lashing remark in his head about the Proctors and how they treated their students. A part of him couldn't wait to expose what had happened to Houri, what they'd done to her. The taste of disgust still strong on his tongue from having seen her in that cell.

 

[Houri]

"I don't suppose they would..." Houri's voice trailed off and her eyes fixed unseeing on the road ahead. Faces floated to the forefront of her mind of the others in her class. Edric, Trix, Ralene, Delayne. How many were still alive? There had been nearly 70 in her year and the odds were only 30 had made it this far. They probably counted her among the dead. Initiates learnt that "on a far away mission" was often code for something much darker. It was a small comfort to hear Eli was among those who had made it through; he had always been Ollie's friend more than hers. But it was something. A small hope that others she had classed as what passed for friends might also be alive.

The town was barely a speck on the horizon now and Houri sighed, shifted her shoulders, as they entered the awakening trees. Tiny buds of spring and blossoms hung over their heads.

"Are your men going to let the others out, Ollie?" she asked softly, her face turned up towards the sun that every now and then filtered through the canopy.

 

[Olvir]

The question sent a chill up her spine.

Not because the answer was one that Houri wouldn't like, but because Ollie realized that he hadn't even really thought about it. He had been so wrapped up in saving his old friend, so all consumed with making sure Houri was okay that he had never even considered anyone else.

A frown touched his face. "I..."

Lips thinned.

"That's not really up to them..." Olvir admitted quietly. "That's...I...Well that's what I should be deciding."

He said, glancing over towards her. "But I didn't.."

Teeth bit into his lower lip. "I couldn't..."

He couldn't leave his friend there. Not even for another day. Not even for another minute.

 

[Houri]

Houri sensed the change in tone and her dark eyes met his across the narrow space that separated them. She gave him a sad, if sympathetic, smile then shook her head. The Castle - that cell - it was all she had known for five years and the dark and grimy edges had long ago lost their shock. She could recall, however, the first time she had woken up there and how disgusted she had been.

"I understand," she said softly the leaves rustled in a gentle, mild breeze. Houri watched as it lifted at strands of her hair and smoothed them back when they tickled her face. "It's a... bit of a shock," an understatement perhaps. "When I first woke up there I was convinced it was a horrible dream, or another test, that the Proctors would let me go..." those chocolate eyes glazed over once more as if seeing something other than the road in front. Oh how she had pleaded to go home.

"But nobody deserves to be in a place like that Ollie..." she glanced back to him. "It would have been - it is - kinder to put us all down."

 

[Olvir]

A pang of pain spiked into his heart.

Perhaps a feeling of guilt. Perhaps a wound struck through his chest as he thought about the idea of Houri being put down. Lips thinned almost immediately, fingers tightening on the reins of his horse as he took in a sharp breath.

"I..." Tongue flickered over his lips, head shaking.

"No one is going to be put down." His voice was firm, strong. "I'm...I'm going to make sure every one in that place gets a fair look."

Olvir looked over to Houri. "None of them may...they aren't you, Houri, but that doesn't matter. I'm going to make sure they all get their chance."

That was what he had been sent for. It was his authority, his word.

"But I'm going to make sure they don't waste away in a cell if they don't deserve to." None of them. No one.

He looked at her. "After I bring you home."

That was the most important thing. The first thing on his mind. "I promise."

Because it was the right thing to do.

 

[Houri]

Houri brought her horse to a sudden stop causing the guards behind them to pull up sharply lest they crash straight into the back of her mare. The palomino's ears flattened and she cast a look over her shoulder as if to say exactly what would happen if one of them were to. The young girl's eyes, however, remained locked on Ollie.

"The girl you knew... Ollie I'm not..." her face struggled not to fall. "I'm not her anymore. Something... bad happened in the Academy and my magic... What you saw this morning was the least of what could happen. I'm just as dangerous as everyone else in that place and if I get too dangerous..."

She took a deep breath.

"Will you judge me just the same as them?"

 

[Olvir]

Ollie felt a chill run up his spine and a pit form in his stomach. Lips thinned for brief moment, he looked at her and for a moment found that his tongue had turned rather dry. Fingers furled, and he slowly shook his head. "No..."

He said quietly, looking at the two Knights. A hand raised, and the two of them nodded as they slowly lead their mounts just a bit away. There was no sense of privacy out here of course, but it was close enough.

"I...I can't really." Olvir said softly. "I...maybe I should, but I know I can't."

Olvir's frown deepened. "You...you might be dangerous but, to me you're still just Houri."

His father would call him weak for that, and perhaps he was, but he knew himself strong enough to admit it.

"You're my friend." He reiterated.

 

[Houri]

Would he say that still if he could hear Ahdvi whispering how easy it would be to kill him with the knights removed now? That she could strike them all down before they knew more than the clap of thunder?

"Ollie..." her tone took on a slightly pleading edge. "It's because you're my friend I'm asking you," she needed him to - wanted him - to see what she was capable of and why that was so scary. Yet she selfishly still wanted him to see her. The girl that had followed him no matter what silly game he had suggested. Perhaps she just needed to trust that he would be able to do both.

Beneath her the mare pawed the ground impatiently and with a sigh she nudged her on into a walk.

"If you ever think I am a danger to our home Ollie, I'm asking you to give me the same mercy you would give a beloved pet."

 

[Olvir]

Olvir balked at the statement.

A flicker of a memory reached through his mind. Elias accusing him of being weak, half a man. The words had stung then, and they stung now.

He didn't doubt that Houri was being honest, that she thought herself a danger. That she...that she considered what might happen if things go wrong, but...the truth was Olvir had no idea if he could do something like that if he needed.

Killing someone trying to kill him?

That was one thing. It was self defense, it came easy. Taking down one of his friends? One of the few whom he'd ever trusted?

Ollie knew he wasn't strung enough for that. "I'll..."

Teeth sank into his lower lip, chewing. "I'll try."

It was all that he could offer. All that he could say, but he could make no promise. Ollie knew that much about himself, knew that at the end of the day...he would only ever do what was right. What was right to him.

 

[Houri]

He won't, you know. He's too weak, Ahdvi sneered as Houri glanced at him out the corner of her eye. He looked as though he wanted to be sick and guilt curdled her stomach.

He cares about me, that's all, she thought and the other voice laughed causing her to grimace.

"I'm sorry this... happened to you Ollie," happened to him?! We're the one who was locked in a cage! "You must have... questions," she continued, ignoring the raging storm battering at the walls of her mind. "I'll try and answer any you have but... I am not sure how much easier that will make your task," in deciding what to do with the others and the information itself.

 

[Olvir]

For more than a few seconds silenced seem to reign between them.

It was a piercing, almost hurtful sort of quiet. The one that someone would expect to hear before an execution. The king that most would try to avoid. Awkward, painful, and utterly crawling within it's nature. The sort that no one wanted to deal with.

"No." Olvir's voice was firm, total.

"I don't need to know, Houri." In the back of his mind his father screamed at him, shouted. Sebastian would have been furious, but Ollie didn't care. He knew that Aisling would tell him to do then right thing, would lead him the right way. That was all that mattered, "Whatever they did to you, Houri."

He said softly. "It doesn't matter to me."

Lips thinned.

"But..." Slowly he looked at her. "But I need you to tell others."

His face was suddenly serious. "I need you to show what has been done to you in that place. What has been done to others."

It was the only way anyone would believe.

 

[Houri]

Confusion contorted Houri's expression.

"What they did to me?" She glanced across to her friend shaking her head. She had been only thirteen when they had taken her from the Academy and placed her instead in the care of the Wardens and Proctors who managed the Castle. Her indoctrination into the Dreadlord way of life had already done years of damage to her mind and core beliefs. Her carers had only continued that work. So it was with full conviction she continued.

"They didn't do anything to me, Ollie. I was broken. They could have easily just have killed me but they didn't, they saw I still had potential," there was a tinge of pride in her voice and she seemed to sit taller in her saddle.

"The only thing they did wrong was leaving us there to rot. Forgetting us."

 

[Olvir]

It was almost impossible for Ollie to wrap his head around that logic. They had stuck her away, put her into a prison, let her starve. It was a crime. It was illegal.

Even before the Republic there had been laws.

As much as the Houses enjoyed skirting, as much as they liked ignoring them, they had still been there. Something that even peasants could call on. That place had gone against every statute. Everything that had been written.

Houri should have had a trial, an examination. Fuck, everyone in that place deserved it. "Houri..."

Olvir began with a frown.

"It...you...that place is..." His head shook. "That place shouldn't exist."

He said firmly. "Of course you have potential, of course you're strong."

There was no doubt in his mind. Houri had always been smart, and even though he knew next to nothing of her magic he was sure it only added to who she was. "But what they did isn't right, and it's was certainly not within the bounds of Anirian law."

 

[Houri]

Houri patted Olivr's shoulder as though he were the one who had been through a great trauma and not her. Even her expression was one of sympathy.

"What else do you do with Dreadlords who can rip the Earth apart but can't put on their own shoes?" she replied with such calm conviction. Of course, she had no idea how much or little her friend knew about the reasons behind why each of them had been placed within those cells. She sought a way to explain it to him as gentle as a mother might try to tell her child his favourite dog had died.

"I didn't like being in there, of course, no more than I liked when I would have my fingernails torn out at the Academy," she grimaced slightly. "But what they did was for Vel Anir's good and that's my purpose as a Dreadlord. To serve."

 

[Olvir]

It was not an answer that Olvir could readily accept.

"I don't believe in that." He said firmly. "Not the least because you didn't even get a trial, you didn't commit a crime."

The youngest son of House Weiroon was simply too ultiristic to talk him into anything less. He did not believe that Houri had gotten what she deserved. He did not think even for a second that she should have been there. "At the very least that place should have...should have been nicer."

He knew he sounded childish, maybe even petulant, but there was a point.

"Vel Anir is one the wealthiest, most powerful cities in all Arethil." He said. "We're supposed to be...be better."

Especially now. "And I'm going to make sure we are."

 

[Houri]

Houri lapsed into silence and the only sounds that filled the tree-covered lane was the sound of their horses hooves on the packed dirt road.

He will never agree with you, Houri. He cares too much about you, Mithrine said softly and she nodded her head jerkily in agreement.

"I think you're right," she murmured beneath her breath then turned her eyes back towards the sun that was beginning to gain strength after the grey start. Maybe he would agree with her if she told him the truth, about the real extent of her injuries and her fractured mind. Maybe then he would turn around and put her back in that cell, where she was safe and so was the rest of Vel Anir. But a selfish part of her didn't want that. She wanted to be the girl he remembered.

 

[Olvir]

Despite Houri's agreement, Olvir didn't really feel like he had won the argument.

Not the least because of the quiet turn in her tone. For a brief moment the young Noble sat there, frowning, and then slowly he shook his head. "Come on."

Olvir said softly.

"We have a ways to Vel Anir, yet." Though he still had no idea what in the hell he was even going to do when they got there. Deliver Houri straight to house Luana? Go fetch Aisling? Parade directly into Parliament? Nothing seemed like a good option. "We don't have to have this debate the whole way back."

He said with a slight smile. "There's better things to talk about."

A thousand better things, but none were as important. Olvir knew that, even if he didn't want to admit it.

 

[Houri]

Houri blinked as though surprised to see Ollvir next to her at all. The conversation in her mind had already moved on to other things like how pretty the blossoms on the trees were, or how pleasant the cool wind was that brushed against her face. Tiny, insignificant things that meant the world to someone who could not go outside whenever she wished to experience them. An expression of confusion followed the look of surprise and then realisation and the typical Dreadlord smoothness soon after, though not quite as practised as those in her year should - probably were - by now.

"Ollie I've been on my own for five years, I don't have anything to talk about," she pointed out softly. She didn't want to make her friend feel bad but conversation... conversation was difficult.

"And you don't seem to want to talk much about home..." there was a subtle change to Houri's voice when she spoke those words and beneath them ran a current of suspicion. For a second, also, there was a look that seemed far older... far more...

And then it was gone.

"... for some reason. So unless you want to tell me more about your upcoming wedding..." she raised a brow and a curve of a smile lifted the corner of her lips. "Why don't we have fun instead?" it was the only hint she gave before booting her horse in the sides and taking off at a gallop down the forest road.