Private Tales The Legend's Heir

[Solgrin]

Solgrin slowly squatted down besides Serafina, his hand reaching down to grasp the back of her neck and gently pulled her up.

It was the softest touch that he had offered her, his hand drawing her forward so that she was sitting up in front of him. The expression on his face was solemn, almost tired. Blood still splattered his face, his hands, and most of his clothes. "I want this to be an example."

His voice was a low rasp.

"They might be coming for you, for her." He cast a glance over towards Violet, towards Ari. He held the girl. There were bruises on her face, small lines of where his knife had drawn over her ruined clothes. The Scarred man had not taken her, not yet, but a threat had been uttered in her ear, a hand had slipped low. Next time it would not stop. "But it's not enough."

His fingers tightened in her hair. "It will never be enough. You are here. With me. With us. Understand?"

 

[Serafina]

The tears pooled in her eyes but she didn't let them spill as he held her there. It was the most human she had seen him over the past few days and somehow... somehow that made his words even worse. It was like he didn't want to commit the carnage he had just now, like it was her fault he had to keep doing this and the guilt lay heavy on her heart. The men who had come for them both were men she had known her whole life - boys she had played tag with in the courtyard, older men who had shared a smoke with her father and watched over her. Friends. Loved ones. People who would not be going home because of her.

Her eyes flickered to Violet briefly before returning to Sol with a mute nod. With the gag in her mouth she could say nothing else but there was something in her eyes a little more broken than there had been before the attack.

 

[Solgrin]

"Good." Solgrin said as he reached out and gently grasped her chin.

Thumb traced over her cheek for just a brief moment, fingers tightening for just a brief moment as he kept the Gem away from her.

"Take care of your friend." He looked over to Ari and Violet. "She will need it."

His hand left hers, and slowly he stood up.

There was an edge to the way he walked, a tension. It was almost like any second he could still explode into the violent man that had just slaughtered half a dozen people.

 

[Serafina]

Sera let out a muffled sigh of relief as Solgrin released her without hurting her further. Perhaps he thought she had suffered enough or was worried that one more strike might see her never wake up again; as far as she was aware she was the last of the bloodline after all. Her eyes closed and for a moment she swayed where she had been left as if her body were deciding whether to collapse again. Violet was dumped beside her a moment later and she wrenched her mind back from the brink to look down at her sobbing friend. If someone had thought Sera looked a mess violet looked far worse.

Her nightgown was nothing more than scraps and what did remain was covered in mud and blood. Her thigh had been bandaged like Sera's head wound had been but the way she screamed into her gag when she landed with her weight on it betrayed how much it still hurt. The other woman couldn't even look at her friend and curled up into a ball to cry into her gag.

Quietly Sera lay down beside her and just pressed her form as tight to her as possible. She hoped that the heat and warmth was enough to send her into a sleep.

 

[Solgrin]

This time it was dawn when the two girls were awoken.

There was a solemnness to the camp in the morning. The four bandits who had been killed were buried in unmarked graves, and the others seemed to be a bit more slowly than usual. Solgrin stood near the Warg's, petting the largest of the creatures.

"We'll reach the Maw today." Solgrin said quietly as one of the bandits approached him from behind.

"A bed, nights rest." He frowned. "And the Militia won't follow, not into the town at least."

Not unless they wanted to get their throats slit. "Get the girls ready."

One of the bandits nodded and then wandered over towards Sera and Violet.

 

[Serafina]

Sera had barely slept due to the pounding in her head and she was laying looking up at the pink tinged sky as the Bandit approached. He gave a start to see her already conscious but recovered himself and used the binds about her wrists to hurl her to her feet. Her face turned ashen grey and she gave a muffled plea to remove the gag. The Bandit yanked it down to ask rudely what she wanted when she turned and threw up. The man flinched back with a curse as she leaned up against the tree panting, body shuddering from the trauma over the last few days.

Violet was not much better off when the man pulled her to her feet. Her injured leg gave way under her weight instantly and she let out a crying sob.

"She's not going to be able to ride," Sera said hoarsely. "Not lashed down like last time."

 

[Solgrin]

"Then make sure her leg stays back." Solgrin said with a simple shrug.

The bindings were there for two reasons. One to keep the rider from falling off his perch, and the other to ensure that the beast did not reach back and bite the rider.

Some Wargs could be trained not to do so, some could even be taught to do more than a Horse ever could. They were wild things, deadly things, required a hard hand to guide them well. Solgrin stood besides them as though they were no more than a pack of docile kittens.

"I suggest having her on the back." Solgrin said with a shrug. "Or perhaps just cut off her leg now."

There were a few chuckles and the bandit chief shrugged, clearly unbothered.

 

[Serafina]

Sera's cheeks flushed with anger at the grotesque suggestion and the look she gave would have made lesser men bite their tongue.

"As you wish."

She gave a mocking curtsey and then before the Bandit could grab Violet to her feet again Sera bent and helped her friend instead. The two were then shoved towards the same Warg that had borne them across the plains the previous day. It seemed so long ago after everything that had happened; her first brush with magic, Sol's threats, and the ambush in the middle of the night.

Violet managed to keep her sobs hushed as she was practically thrown onto the creatures back once more but before the same could be done to Sera she pulled herself up and settled her cloak about her. Her friend slumped against her as soon as she was done.

"Put your arms over me Violet," she spoke quietly and helped her friend loop her bound arms over her head and down around her slender waist. It would lessen the chance of her falling with no strap on her leg. Sera had no choice with her own legs which the Bandit roughly did up.

 

[Solgrin]

Solgrin did not speak a further word, instead he simply motioned with his left hand, shifting his weight and pulling himself on top of the Warg in one smooth motion.

The rest of the bandits silently followed their Chief, moving along the beasts and finding their mounts. All of them except for Ari who simply stood by some of the others. His hand shifted and he motioned for Solgrin with a question on his face.

"Set them loose." There were four extra now.

"No point in keeping them around." Solgrin said with a shrug. "Maybe they'll cause some trouble for those who follow."

Solgrin said with a chuckle, then set off into the forest.

 

[Serafina]

The journey seemed to go a little slower than the day before. Perhaps it was the general mood that hung over the smaller group that made it feel more time consuming or perhaps it was because they were tired from the nights battle and thus were genuinely going slower than before. There was no banter, in fact no chatter at all, as the wargs loped through the forest after the Bandit Chief. In a way Sera was grateful for it. Their words had been almost as bad as their hands on many occasions.

Violet passed out early on into their journey and so Sera was left in her own thoughts. Images of what had happened the night before passed through her mind. She had thought she had seen Benny the Butchers Boy and Carlo the Stablehand. Carlo had been unhorsed when she had last seen him but their eyes had met briefly and there had been nothing but fear as a warg approached him. It had almost been a kindness she had not seen his certain end.

Her dark thoughts were only broken when a call went up about something ahead.

 

[Solgrin]

The Maw, as it was titled by it's residents, was a city nestled in the middle of two vicious cliff-sides that took on a teeth like appearance.

It had been built in such a manner that it could not be approached from either the north or the south, it's natural defenses making it impossible to approach from anything but east or west. The city itself was not organized, had no government, and was defended only by those who sought their own freedom.

Most would have called it a bandit town.

Those who survived within had styled themselves as criminals, murderers, and ensured that anyone inside would be the same.

The innocent did not survive for long within the maw.

Solgrin and his bandit's came to a stop atop a hill just a few hundred yards from the west side of the City, his eyes settling upon the bare lamplight that cast all over the night.

 

[Serafina]

Sera's eyes widened little by little as she took in the sight before her. It seemed to ooze a sense of dread and repelled the weary traveller from bothering to enter. There was nothing welcoming - no flowers, no hubbub of noise that drifted up from the city filled with laughter and usual chatter. In fact there was no noise at all. It reminded the young girl of a ghost town like in the stories and she tried to make herself smaller in the saddle. Was this her new home? Would this be where he kept her? Would she ever feel the cool air or sun on her face again? Violet seemed to be having the same thoughts over her shoulder because she pressed her face into Sera's back and soaked her cloak with silent tears.

"What is this place?" she whispered, more to herself than anyone in particular. The warg beneath her shifted restlessly and cast its large head from side to side as though trying to scent the air.

 

[Solgrin]

"The Maw."​

One of the bandits who was riding along the two girls answered as they slowly descended into the city. The 'Gates' if one could even call them that, was a simple set of doors that seemed to hang on their hinges and appeared on the verge of falling down.

Yet as one drew closer and between them things became far more clear of what sort of town this was. Heavily armed men wandered around the entirety of the city. Swords, bows, crossbows, and all manner of weapons were openly worn.

Most had on some kind of armor, though it was patchy and hardly all encompassing. There was a sense of danger here, clinging to every corner. "The City of Bandits."

Solgrin said with a shrug.

"Every man and woman here has either stolen, killed, or done some other crime that made him unable to walk anywhere else." The Bandit Chief took in a long breath, letting the scents of cooking meat, stale ale, and tabacc fill his lungs.

It was almost like coming home.

 

[Serafina]

Sera's eyes flickered to the woman who had spoken. She vaguely placed her as being the one from the night of her brush with magic but since her performance she had kept a more respectable distance between herself and the two captives. It gave Sera a small amount of pleasure that she at least unnerved them considering how much they all scared her half to death. She had been about to ask a follow up question but Sol answered it before the words were out of her mouth.

Not a place for people like her and Violet, she thought quietly. Though as they made their way through the town she noticed it was not just Bandits that wandered the streets. Men and women with heads cowed and often metal chains hobbling their feet or binding their wrists, darted out of their way like nervous sparrows. As they passed what Sera presumed was a tavern of sorts there was screaming as a man dragged a young looking girl by the hair outside and roughly shoved up her skirts whilst she was bent roughly over a barrel.

Violet shuddered and looked away as Sera grimly looked down at her bound wrists. There were two types of people who lived here, and she had an uncomfortable feeling she knew which category she fell into.

They came to a stop after a while and soon the Bandits began to dismount. The woman who had been riding by their side came and released them from their binds before dragging them off and inside the looming building.

 

[Solgrin]

The building, if such a description could even be applied to it, was a looming, falling, odd shamble of wood that barely seemed to be standing.

Above the doorway there was a large sign of a Hyena devouring a man of some sort, though there was no lettering to denote a name. The inside of the building was as any tavern would be, though somehow with an air much more filled with danger and death.

Only half a dozen patrons made their home within the tavern now, and as the Bandits entered that number doubled.

A few glances were tossed their way, but it was clear no one in particular cared about those who had stepped into the Tavern. Solgrin looked around for a moment, and then motioned towards one of the empty tables in the corner of the room. "Throw them in the corner."

He said with a motion towards the girl as he headed towards the bar.

 

[Serafina]

The Bandits took the word throw literally of course, like they had done the entire trip. As soon as they were dumped like baggage on the rough wooden bench most of them moved off to the bar chatting. One sat opposite the girls and produced a nasty looking knife which he used to dig dirt out of his finger nails, barely sparing the two girls a second look. Sera took the time to examine the tavern they had found themselves in; her father would have probably not even called it an inn. It looked as though it had been constructed from different buildings then smashed together into something that didn't look altogether stable. Tables and chairs had clearly been repaired several times and some times not at all, she noted looking down at the bench they had been dumped on and the missing chunk of splintered wood.

Violet's fingers found hers under the table.

"Are you okay?" Sera murmured as low as she could, looking over her friends various bruises and then down to the wad of blood soaked bandages about her thigh. She nodded grimly.

"I think it's stopped bleeding for now but it requires stitches."

 

[Solgrin]

Negotiations were short.

There was never really a chance for a long discussion with Solgrin, not even if you owned the building he was standing in. There was a threatening word, a flash of steel, and then the sound of coins clanking together. That was all it really took.

The only thing that ended the discussion.

A few minutes after Serafina and Violet were tossed into the corner Solgrin and the other Bandits congregated around their table. Voices were quiet, hushed, loud enough for the two girls to hear but not enough for anyone else in the tavern to listen in on.

"Two days." Solgrin said. "We stay here and patch up, then move on."

There were a few nods.

"Don't think they'll come looking?"​

"Might look, but they won't attack, not here." Not in the Maw.

 

[Serafina]

Violet didn't seem at all interested in the conversation and from the pained hitch in her breathing Sera didn't need to imagine hard as to why that was. Her head leaned back against the wall and she thought her friend might doze, so she did the listening for them both. Perhaps if they knew where they were being taken then she could... do what? The tiny flicker of rebellion dimmed at her own question and doubt set in. What could she do? She had seen what they had done to a good portion of their towns guard; they had never really required a military, their boys were not trained in the finesse of war. Even if they came again and tried she feared they would suffer the same fate as before.

Sera suppressed a small shudder and passed it off as a shiver of cold. Yet... yet perhaps knowing would help her figure out how she could do something.

"Where are we going?" did he already know where more of the gemstone was hidden? That was almost as stomach churning as the idea of another battle.

 

[Solgrin]

"A room." It was of course not the answer she was looking for.

Truth be told, Solgrin did know the next destination already. There was a reason that he had chosen to head west and through the Maw. Once they finished here they would head towards the south and into the mountains, where they would meet up with the rest of the Band.

He had not wanted the Militia to follow him in that direction, if only to make sure they couldn't guess his true purpose.

Likely those in the girls home still assumed that they had come for Violet, not for Serafina. It wasn't a foolish explanation really, it was the obvious thing and many would not have guessed it otherwise. Yet all among them knew the truth. He had to make sure no one in the bandit town found out. These people would sell their own mother's for some coin. "Get up."

He said as he grabbed the girls arm and pulled her from the seat.

 

[Serafina]

Serafina stiffened as he grabbed a hold of her upper arm, his fingers sliding into the bruises he had already left with his grip over the past few days. Despite her resistance he dragged her from the bench as though she had put up no fight at all and she stumbled a few steps as she tried to keep up with his long legged stride. Violet's eyes opened when she felt her friend leave her and went to stand up too before Ari slid into Sera's vacated seat. The two girls shared a scared look before Sera lost sight of her as they started up the rickety stairs.

The young girls heart was in her mouth as they walked in silence. She daren't ask another question or make any noise of pain or complaint. He had already made it clear what any form of disobedience would get her or her friend. So instead she kept her eyes lowered and tried to make herself as invisible as possible. Perhaps he just wanted to make sure she was out of the way; if others knew about what she and the gem meant she doubted it would be a peaceful stay here. The girls might have been beaten and bruised but the Bandits weren't without their own injuries.

At the top of the stairs was a landing with several doors and then another set of stairs leading up to another landing. When she looked up she thought there might have been quite a few levels. It looked as though single story dwellings had just been dumped on top of one another. Sol seemed to pick one at random to Sera before opening it and yanking her inside.

Once the door was shut the noises from downstairs became muffled and Sera cast her eyes about the room. It wasn't a luxurious thing; a double bed with a sad looking mattress stood in one corner with its sheets rumpled, probably unchanged from the last occupant. There was a small rusting basin for washing and a dusty fireplace with a pathetic fire burning in its middle. It made her aware of just how cold she was. They might have given her a thick warm fur cloak but her feet were still bare and her nightdress was torn and flimsy.

It was instinctive to take a step towards it and the logs nearby to try and build it up.

 

[Solgrin]

There were no windows in the 'Inn', if it could even be called that, so Solgrin simply motioned for one of his men to stand outside the door.

"Make sure they don't get out." There was a quick nod, and then Solgrin shifted his shoulders and moved away from the door. His hand reached up and slowly threaded through his hair, untying the knot it had been kept in as he wandered towards his own room.

He doubted the girls would try to escape again. They had tried before and been promised punishment.

That wasn't even to mention the fact that escaping into the Maw was no escape at all. There were few places in the world that were less safe for someone like them. Cerak was perhaps one, maybe Molthal, but two little girls running around The Maw would be snapped up in a heartbeat.

Part of why they had come here in the first place.

There would be no escape.

"Might have to kill the other one soon." Solgrin murmured to himself as he stepped into the room.

 

[Serafina]

Violet flopped onto the bed with a groan, her eyes closing and her hands running over her injured thigh.

"You're going to have to stitch it," she said quietly to her friend through the pain. Sera glanced up from where she was knelt by the fire. The Bandit who was on the door had cut them both free before shutting the door in their face but Sera didn't mind. This was the most privacy she had had in days and she was grateful for the small mercy. She had been half expecting to be separated and put into a room with one of the rogues so this was infinitely better. She glanced to where Violets hand was rubbing at her thigh and grimaced.

She had always been squeamish over blood.

There was a small sewing kit in one of the draws she discovered after a search whilst water boiled over the fire. Once it was done she brought it to her friend and set about cleaning the wound. It already looked infected but there was nothing she could do but hope her body fixed that. Once sorted she set about stitching the nasty wound shut.

Violet passed out before the first wound was closed and Sera worked diligently to finish both cuts where the knife had entered and exited her thigh, before cleaning the grime off her friend. With that done she filled the basin of water and luxuriated in a bath of warm water. It highlighted every bruise and cut, sore muscles and the ringing in her head, yet it also made her feel more human.

Before she could fall asleep she washed her night dress, hanging it by the fire to dry, then crawled under the covers to sleep. Tomorrow.. she would plan. Tomorrow...

 

[Solgrin]

The sun came early, and with it the rest of his men.

Unlike those who had been with him, they had not been pursued by the Watch. It seemed that the men following Serafina and Violet had somehow managed to track the correct party, that or they had just been luck.

"Did you see anyone coming?" Solgrin asked one of the men, standing in the tavern of the Inn as he spoke with the commander of one of the two parties.

With all of them returned their numbers were once again in the dozens, a small army by all accounts really. Most people now steered clear of the Inn, well aware of who Solgrin was and what he would be capable of if crossed.

"I don't think so, but...they wouldn't come near the Maw."​

He nodded. "Wake the girls, we're leaving."

Another nodded, and then the loud clonk of boots on wooden steps.

 

[Serafina]

The Bandit didn't bother to knock but nor did he bother to be quiet either. The door slammed open and sent both girls scrambling from the bed in a tired daze, clutching at the bed sheets. The man sneered but it seemed even he knew they at least needed to be semi dressed in order to move out. It didn't take them long to yank on their nightgowns and then they were being shoved from the room with the usual threats.

Violets limp was getting worse and there was a sheen on her skin which signalled a fever. Her cheeks were flushed red yet her skin was a deathly pale. Sera was thankful they weren't bound just so she could help her down the stairs, though everyone caused her friend pain.

"Please... she needs medicine," Sera begged quietly when they were prodded outside back towards the wargs. Her eyes were on Sol when she spoke though they lowered quickly when he turned his gaze to her.

 

[Solgrin]

Solgrin looked over towards the girl when she spoke, his eyes casting towards the other one for a brief moment and looking over her.

There was a slight sheen of sweat, and her eyes seemed sunken. He had seen the signs before, infection from the wound most likely. He frowned for a brief moment, casting a glance towards Ari who had dug his knife into the girl's thigh.

The man just shrugged.

Typical of him of course, something that Solgrin had expected. His hand reached up for a moment as he ran his fingers through his beard. The Maw was not exactly known for it's apothecaries, but plenty of medical supplies were stolen and brought here. "Ari."

Solgrin barked.

"Find something for infections. You have fifteen minutes." The Man looked at him, then let his eyes set on Violet for a moment before he nodded and walked away.