Private Tales The Fall

[Raziel]

She moved quickly. He was in genuine peril given her determination. There was fear in his eyes, but his lips were curled into a grin. Raziel laughed. Between those two conflicting extremes was the tip of the blade. It danced just above his cheek bone, drawing a mite of blood as she put her weight behind it.

His tail slipped from her throat, levering her jaw back. He tried to slowly tilt her head back and force some space between them. With a little more he could lift a knee and shove her back. Her wrists would be bruised from how tightly he held them.

"Nearly," he taunted, glancing down at the blade. It was just inches from his eye.

 

[Feyre]

Her entire body shook with the effort. Gods, she hated him. Even more so considering she needed him, and yet she'd started this fight in the midst of her panic and now she had little option but to try and finish it. She doubted he'd let her live if she failed.. She was already failing, growing weaker by the second, her face a grimace of determination and pain as she tried so desperately to drive the blade down.

Distraction came when she was allowed to drag a frantic breath in, but the tail succeeded in tilting her back, and his knee forced her back with a growl in defeat.

 

[Raziel]

Raziel twisted from his core and rolled them. Over the twisting root they went. He ended up straddling her waist, forcing her wrist back towards the ground. As her strength wanted he slammed her hand down over and over until she relinquished the blade.

He laughed. A sharp sound still tinged with fear. His heart was pounding, adrenaline coursing through his veins. His tail slithered away, relinquishing its grip on her head.

"That was not a bad attempt," he admitted, turning his head to let her see the cuts to his cheek and neck.

"What was it you said of my tail? Beastly thing?"

 

[Feyre]

Feyre was far too preoccupied with re-filling her lungs to bother wasting any more energy fighting him. She grimaced as he slammed her wrist into the ground. Everything hurt. Her muscles ached from her struggle, her throat and wrists from his grip, her chest and head from lack of air. She let go of the blade and coughed as the air flooded her lungs too quickly, each breath a desperate gasp

She grit her teeth at the mocking sound of his laughter and her back arched as a loud growl in frustration was ripped from her chest. “I fucking hate you!!” She screamed at him, her feet pounding into the dirt like a child throwing a tantrum.

 

[Raziel]

Raziel would have taken the knife and walked away. With her insisting on struggling, he remained exactly where he was.

The fog of sleep was still clearing. His body, his blood was still recovering. Raziel wasn't planning beyond this moment. There was no planning on how to keep her safe, how to keep her from trying to kill him. More importantly, no thoughts on how to stop himself from killing her before they got there.

"I know, it is going to be very difficult to shave tomorrow and you were very rude about my tail."

It flicked out to the side, coiling up behind her and slowly curling from wide to side across the tops of her struggling legs.

"Now are you going to apologise?"

 

[Feyre]

His words only succeeded in riling her further, and she snarled as he asked for an apology.

"The only thing that I'm sorry for is not putting an end to your miserable life and saving everyone yet to meet you the displeasure in doing so." she huffed, and kicked out again at his tail, lifting her foot and attempting to stamp it into the ground. Otherwise, she stopped writhing, it was pointless, and tiring. Her chest heaved with every frantic breath and she stared up at him under a furrowed brow as though awaiting her fate.

 

[Raziel]

"Oh come now," he purred. "You can manage a little apology for trying to murder me in my sleep?"

His tail snaked away from her stamping boots. Much, much higher up her legs away from her kicking feet.

"I would have expected someone so well bred to have shown a beast like me what true manners were."

Her best defence would have been to simply shut down. If Raziel was bored of her plight then he would simply get on with the day.

 

[Feyre]

She was learning, but the sickening sensation of his tail sliding over her legs made her skin crawl and it was difficult not to writhe and squirm in repulsion. Her teeth clenched and she growled through them. "Get off of me!" she sneered, and finally stilled, her head falling back to the ground with a huff.

"Please." she spat, minding her 'manners' but still refusing to offer up any sort of apology. A quick death would have been far more than he deserved.

 

[Raziel]

Her squirming amused him for a few more seconds. One of his greatest talents was the ability to pluck the very worst fears from someone's mind and make them appear with illusions. They could be played out over and over and over.

She would just break. He remembered his decision from the night before. There was no fun in grinding a shattered vase into dust.

"Seeing as you have manners, and even though I am a beast..."

Raziel stood up. His tail didn't leave without a distinctly immoral final swipe. It flicked away before she could retaliate.

"Now we need to get moving." He gave a firm tug on his lapels, straightening his coat.

 

[Feyre]

Feyre flinched at the last flick of his tail and her jaw clenched as she bit back the urge to attack him again. It wasn't worth the energy. She took a moment to breathe, her eyes following him as he stepped away and fixed his coat so casually, as though he'd just finished a meal. Feyre had been entirely prepared to murder him in his sleep, to end his life by her hand, a woman who'd never set a toe out of line in her entire life. It rattled her. It brought every fibre of her being to the brink of shock and her mind reeled with how close she had come to taking a second life in a matter of hours. And yet he hardly seemed to bother...

Had she really been so sheltered? She had never even dreamed that a creature like him existed beyond ghost stories or nightmares, but she had seen what monsters human men had been reduced to also. She was utterly alone, and utterly out of her depth in this world, and she realised that all of the books, all of the lessons on etiquette and horse riding and sewing.. Nothing could have prepared her for the real world. But it was a world she'd never been intended for; Feyre was born to marry whatever Lord deemed important enough, she'd spent her life being taught how to be a good, quiet and well mannered wife. The thought angered her.

She huffed and sat herself up, brushing a few fiery tresses back from her face to look up at him in warily as she rubbed at her wrists, and then her throat.. She'd expected much worse in her failure to kill him, but she wasn't about to question him and push her luck. Fey pulled herself to her feet, giving him a wide berth as she made her way back to Epione..

 

[Raziel]

In one way he was thinking along a very similar line as Feyre. After everything she had been through was there anything that could possibly be worse?

Only for him it was not a thought of despair, but a tantalising challenge. Raziel was no run-of-the-mill torturer, he was a cranfsman. There had to be a way to build her back up to the point that she could be broken again. He needed a fight, not someone who would lay down and die.

The logical part of his mind had to put forward a reminder that she was also proof that he had done his job.

"I'm afraid I have no breakfast to offer. The next town could well have trouble waiting for us by now. I suggest we find a farmstead and pursuade them to take some coin for a good meal."

 

[Feyre]

Food.

The mere mention of it had her stomach painfully remind her of how long it'd been since she'd eaten. Feyre had been lucky enough never to have experienced hunger, and after emptying her stomach already she felt hollow and realised how she'd taken her three cooked meals per day for granted. Complaint on the matter would only give him more fuel for his fire that raged against her so called 'idle opulence'.

'Please' would have been the last word she'd said to him for some time and she wondered if she might never speak another word to him again. What use was her voice now? How long would it take her to forget how to speak at all if she remained mute?

The lands were vast and empty for miles, and despite the scenic awe of snow-tipped mountains and rivers and blankets of forest, she couldn't see the beauty in it. But the few small pillars of smoke in the valley gave her heart and stomach both reason to flip and she glanced at him before tugging at Epione's reins and leading her down toward the farmstead.

She hoped the people there would offer hospitality, hoped they'd feed her..hoped they'd help her.

 

[Raziel]

He sensed that in her. The slight glimmer of hope for a modicum of kindness. Raziel was now hopping that the slight wisp of smoke was from a pleasant hearth fire. If the farmstead had been raided, fallout from the breakdown of law and order, then it would certainly break her.

At the very least a little venom from the girl in higher spirits would pass the time. Better than riding alongside her as she suffered a silent mental breakdown.

There was no sign of anyone as they rode towards the collection of wooden buildings. There was also no sign of damage and the animals looked well tended to.

Raziel drew a small purse of coin from inside his coat. A slight tug of the reins drew him closer to Feyre.

"You should go first: hay for the horses, a meal for us and some dried meat for the roads for the coin."

 

[Feyre]

Feyre glanced toward him as he pulled in closer to her, a sharp huff escaping her nose as she reached for the coin purse and slipped down from her saddle, her boots splashing in the muddy ground. She passed the purse idly between her hands as she wandered up to the door, casting Raziel another glance before she drew in a breath and rapped her knuckles against the splintered door and waited for a few anxious moments.

An older couple opened the door cautiously, clearly not accustomed to receiving visitors. Feyre watched their expressions shift from scrutiny, to surprise, to concern as they looked over her. What a mess she must have been. She hadn't even considered the mud and blood-soaked clothes. They hadn't realised that she wasn't alone until Kaval nickered and the pair lapsed into a startled silence as they set their eyes upon the tiefling. They seemed about ready to slam the door shut when Feyre lifted her hands, holding the coin purse in her palm.

"Wait, please.. I, hoped you might have some food to spare.." she started, and they paused..

"Are.. are you alright, dear?.." the old woman asked her, looking between her and the devil behind her.

Was she alright?... No. Not nearly. Some part of her had foolishly hoped that some able bodied people might live here. A silly notion, she knew, for now that she looked back at the couple she prayed that Raziel wouldn't cause them any trouble so long as she didn't.

"I will be, if you can offer us a meal, some food for our horses and perhaps some scraps for a long journey ahead. Please, I can pay you." she asked softly and gestured again to the purse in her dirty hand. The woman seemed sympathetic and worried for her wellbeing as she looked over her state, but as she looked to her husband, his concern gave way to caution and he shook his head and reached for the door once more.

"Sorry. We can't help you."

 

[Raziel]

He could have waited. He could have let her try again. However, his patience had been pushed to breaking point by these trying times. In Raziel's mind he had suffered a turn of fate even worse than Fey.

He was very accustomed to getting what he wanted.

"This is Feyre INSERT SURNAME HERE," his voice rang out. Cold and clean, not loud but cutting through the air like a knife. She was attacked on the road and needs some food. The daughter of your liege even offers coin."

Raziel had been looking off to the middle distance as he spoke. His head turned sharply, yellow eyes fixing the farmer's gaze.

"I suggest you take it."

 

[Feyre]

Fey flinched as he spoke, and the jolt was not lost on the couple. Their eyes lit up in recognition of the name, but Fey wouldn't have blamed them for not believing it. They looked up at the tiefling, and the farmer's gaze narrowed in scrutiny but he slowly nodded. "Keep your coin, My Lady. You are welcome to come inside and get cleaned up and get somethin' warm to eat.. But I won't let no devil cross my door." his bushy brow furrowed and his chest puffed a little. "The beasts are welcome to the barn..."

She tensed and chewed on her lip, glancing to Raziel.. "I.. That is kind of you.. But I don't want to be of any trouble, the barn is fine..." her throat cleared.

 

[Raziel]

"By all means go inside and get yourself a meal, my lady," Raziel called out. "I won't be far if you need me. Remember that. I'd be grateful for something to eat on the road of course."

He smiled ever so sweetly. Once again, his eyes carried a very different story. Raziel was on the edge of giving up on this plan. He could take whatever he needed and leave the place burning to the ground.

Then he suspected he would have to throw a catatonic noble girl over the back of his horse. He would prefer the easy option this time.

 

[Feyre]

Fey's brow rose at Raziel's response. It was far more placid than she'd expected given how he'd reacted to her calling him a beast. She hadn't expected him to leave her alone with these people, she could ask them for help, arm herself, but then she realised how pointless any of that would have been. She'd seen him kill enough people by now to know how easily it came to him. She couldn't help but feel nervous, and she didn't want to endanger these people.

"Thank you.." she nodded, and the man stepped aside to let her inside. The second she was inside the door was closed and latched behind her and the man peered out of the window to watch Raziel as the woman started fussing over her. "Are you alright dear? Are you hurt?.." she asked, her gaze wandering over her.. The woman was withered like a blossom in winter, her skin too loose for her bones, but her eyes were worried and kind.

"I'm fine, there's no need to worry yourself.." she assured as she looked around the cosy little home, breathing in the welcoming smell of simmering stew and baking bread. Her eyes teared up as she thought of her own home, far more grand than this little place but it had the same sort of warmth she suddenly and painfully realised she would never see again.

The woman poured her a basin of hot water, gave her fresh towels, looked her out some clean leggings and a shirt, filled her a large bowl of rabbit stew and sliced some warm bread to accompany it. Feyre graciously accepted each little gesture.

"He hurt you, girl?.." the man asked as he came back into the room, a loaded crossbow in his hands. Fey paled and her head shook too quickly, too defensively.

"No, no he's helping me." she assured, but the man looked at her in scrutiny and shook his head, heading toward the door. For a moment, Fey watched, chewing on her lip as she wondered if such a thing could kill the tiefling, if the old man's aim would hit home, if Raziel would be caught unawares. The thought of the demon meeting his end was a satisfying one, but if the gamble failed she'd only have the guilt to pile on top of the rest of her misery.

"Yer stayin' here til yer people find yeh. An' I won' hear no argument.."

 

[Raziel]

He had rested in worse places. Raziel had turned many places into a close resemblance of man's worst depictions of hell, but that did not spot him from requiring sleep.

The barn was at least quite comfortable compared to the open road. Little wind got through the slats, the hay was a suitable chair.

Raziel heard the footsteps. Slightly irregular in rhythm. Heavier than Feyre's. Someone with an injury. Someone trying and failing to move carefully. Raziel didn't look up as the barn door creaked.

He let out an exasperated sigh.

He did not want this. Another time he might have gathered the family in the barn and taken his time in playing with them. He wanted a calm and complement Fey. A strong willed Fey so that he could entertain himself on the road figuring out how to break her.

"Do you see the smoke lingering over the city?" Raziel asked softly. It was a strange question to ask when faced with the business end of a crossbow.

 

[Feyre]

The old man grunted irritably at the tiefling's question and his moustache bristled. "Aye, and what of it?" he rumbled as he swung a foot out to kick against Raziel's boot. "It's time you were gone. The girl will be stayin' here for the time bein', she ent got anymore need of yeh, now away with yeh." he huffed, his index finger and thumb on the trigger of his crossbow, ready to squeeze should the demon make any sudden movements.

Fey's fingertips drummed on the table as she watched the door, and she bit so hard on her lip that she winced as blood was drawn.

No. She couldn't just sit there and wait. The old man didn't stand a chance, she knew that. Fey glanced to the woman across from her and she pushed herself from the table to rush to the door, ignoring the woman's insistence that she stay inside.

She rushed toward the barn.

"Wait!"

 

[Raziel]

It was a roll of the dice if he fired that crossbow. Perhaps a one in two chance between his shaking old hands pulling it wide and the bolt going right through him. He didn't have magic that would stop that heavy bolt skewering his chest.

"That smoke is..."

"Wait!"

Raziel slowly raised his hands out to his sides. He gave a subtle bow of the head.

"My saviour," he crooned. This, he would be most interested to see play out.

 

[Feyre]

She scowled at Raziel's mock worship. If she thought for a moment that the old man's success in ridding her of the demon was certain, she'd have stayed sat at the table and let the old woman coddle her more. But she couldn't, and if he failed she knew that Raziel would be less than merciful.

The old man kept his aim firmly set upon the tiefling's chest with a grunt in response to Feyre.. "Yeh stay back there, girl!" he barked. Instead, she stood in front of him with apology written on her face and her hands raised to placate him.

"Please, he's helping me get to where I need to go.." she reasoned with him, but the man's aim didn't lower and instead remained fixed on her.

"Girl, I've seen his sort, yeh ent safe. Get back in the house." he demanded, his crystal blue gaze narrowing at her.

Feyre stood her ground, but she considered for a moment longer before shaking her head. "I can't let you do that." But she could, she would love nothing more than to see the beast dead. It was too much of a risk, and she wanted even less to be the cause of the old man's death. "We're leaving." she nodded and glanced over her shoulder at Raziel.

"Let's go."

 

[Raziel]

Raziel lowered his gaze. He appeared to have no interest in the crossbow. The opposite was true. Nothing had held his attention for months as much as the tip of that bolt.

A few slow and careful strides and he had the reigns of their mounts. The tip of that bolt kept with him.

"We are leaving," he agreed, starting to walk towards the barn door.

"But you have never seen my like," he added, unable to hell himself.

 

[Feyre]

The old man’s weapon lifted a little higher, aimed a little steadier as Raziel moved. “I’ll let yeh leave. But the girl stays with us, an’ I’ll get her home safe.” he told the tiefling and reached to grab hold of Fey’s wrist.

She tensed and eased back gently on his surprisingly strong grip, though she doubted any sudden movements right now would be a wise decision. The man pulled her to his side and stepped in front of her, but his fingers didn’t unfurl from her arm.

“Please, I appreciate your concern but..” she glanced to Raziel in mute plea.. “I don’t wish you or your wife to come to harm for my sake.. I will leave with him. I am sorry to have troubled you.” she pulled a little harder, her other hand working to pry his fingers from her arm which only dug harder and she winced.

 

[Raziel]

"Let her go," Raziel called out, his voice loud and clear. He let go of the horse's reins. They were well bred and trained, staying in place behind him.

Raziel took a step forwards. He kept his arms out to his sides, trying to appear as unthreatening as possible.

It also made him look like a large target.

The farmer let go of Feyre without warning, letting her fall to the ground. He needed both hands to be certain.

"No..." Raziel started to protest. Both hands were thrown up in front of himself, palms forward.

He didn't hear the crossbow trigger. He didn't hear the string. All he heard was the bone jarring impact of the bolt striking him in the chest.

The world span and he was looking at the rafted from the flat of his back. The pain was like a flower blossoming inside his own chest. If that flower had been on fire. He cursed in fifteen different languages, wrapping his fingers around the shaft of the bolt. It was was already slippery with his own blood.

"You absolute cunt," he declared as he tried to sit up.