Ambition 15: Safety (long) (452 hits)
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Submitted by stardamage (View user info) at 2005-01-23 15:19:53 EST
continued from:
Ambition 1: Awakening - http://www.ubersite.com/m/53093
Ambition 2: Meeting - http://www.ubersite.com/m/53208
Ambition 3: History - http://www.ubersite.com/m/53560
Ambition 4: Flight - http://www.ubersite.com/m/53643
Ambition 5: Sacrifice - http://www.ubersite.com/m/53729
Ambition 6: Heat - http://www.ubersite.com/m/53877
Ambition 7: Departure - http://www.ubersite.com/m/53998
Ambition 8: Warning - http://www.ubersite.com/m/54214
Ambition 9: Capture - http://www.ubersite.com/m/54287
Ambition 10: Hope - http://www.ubersite.com/m/54397
Ambition 11: Alliance - http://www.ubersite.com/m/54509
Ambition 12: Haste - http://www.ubersite.com/m/54565
Ambition 13: Darkness - http://www.ubersite.com/m/55178
Ambition 14: Weakness - http://www.ubersite.com/m/57081
* * *
Kailestis awoke in the huge ballroom of a mansion in Vonbrigdum, in a soft bed. Other beds were scattered around the room with recovering vampires in them, he could feel them. His vision had still not returned to him fully but he could make out blurry shapes. Sitting up he felt the room spin but stayed upright until it slowed and stopped, his vision clearing as he held his head still and concentrated on focusing on one thing at a time.
The first thing he saw was the vampire Kjartan Sveinsson, who was sitting up in bed, across from him. He had known Kjartan only through other people in the time of Davoren's reign and had not heard anything about him in decades, but he remembered the face well enough. Kailestis noticed another vampire, this one a complete stranger, making his way over to sit between Kjartan and the bed holding the pale form of Lenska Thorsdottir, who wasn't moving.
Another familiar form was in Mordekai Samnos, who was walking unsteadily across the room, heading back to an empty bed. He stumbled and fell, waving away the stranger's offer to help. "Don't get up, I can make it myself," sighed Mordekai in exasperation.
"You sure?" asked the stranger in a low tone, sounding slightly irritated that he wasn't being allowed to help.
"I told you, don't worry." There was more of an edge there now, and Kai didn't understand it but didn't say anything. The stranger leaned back in his chair, making an expansive motion as if to say, "Go ahead and do it on your own, then, but don't come to me if you need help."
Mordekai stood slowly and leaned on an armchair for support, and then managed to get himself over to the empty bed and back into it. The stranger's face was unreadable.
Davoren was in a bed across the room, motionless. Kai struggled out of bed and wavered across the room to collapse in the armchair next to Davoren's bed. The strange vampire watched with warm, black eyes and Kai realized that this must be Kieran Suileabhan. But what's he doing here? Kieran met Kai's eyes and nodded, and then turned his attention back to Kjartan, smiling wryly and saying something that Kai didn't catch.
Davoren was asleep and Kai settled down to wait until he woke up. Leaning back in the chair, he winced. The Red Queen had been a powerful torturer. Still, his skin was now flawless. He supposed he had a strong healing gift.
Davoren stirred and Kai sat up. Davoren looked almost human with all the blood in him, that made the scar above his eyebrow more noticeable. His hand moved and Kai grabbed it and squeezed it tightly.
"Good morning," said Davoren, smiling a little.
"More like good evening," replied Kai.
"How are you doing?"
"I'm okay," Kai said. "I'm getting better." He eased himself back into the chair. "I'll be fine in a few days. Rest and blood are healing me."
Davoren looked like he wanted to say something but Kai changed the subject. (What is Kieran doing here?)
(How did you...?)
(Suileabhan, remember?)
(Dammit, Kai, you remember too much.)
(Well, what's he doing here with Kjartan?)
(He's just- here taking care of him for a while...Wait. How did you know Kjartan's name?)
(I've met him before. Is he the...)
(Yes. Now stop asking questions. I've sworn not to tell anyone what I know. Please, Kai. If I could tell you, you know I would.)
(I know.) A soft sigh cut short. Davoren smiled. Kai realized he was still holding Davoren's hand, squeezed it, let go.
(Kai. Who is she?)
(She always masked herself.)
(What did she do to you? I felt it. It made me sick.)
(It's not important. But she hates you, whoever she is. She wants you not only dead but tortured to death. Not only dead but...destroyed. And under all that is fear of you because she knows you want the same for her, now that she's done this to me. She's afraid of you because she...saw what I was like, and knows that you're even more powerful.) Kai shrugged uncomfortably - he didn't like talking about himself that way. (But I'm sure she wants to finish what she started.)
(She won't get that chance again.) Davoren was trembling with the force of his anger, trying to hold it in. Then he sighed explosively, letting his tension go as he had trained himself to do.
(Look, I'm sorry. I'm so glad you're back. I didn't mean to get angry-)
(It's all right. Your chance will come. Just don't go trying to force anything.) He leaned back in his chair as Davoren shifted to prepare to stand.
"What are you doing?" asked Kjartan's ringing voice from across the room, his voice weak but clear.
"Going for a walk," said Davoren. "Moonlight will do me good." He threw off the sheet and stood, still dressed in his traveling clothes. Kai struggled to his feet also, gripping the back of the chair for support. Kjartan nodded. "I guess I don't need to tell you to be careful."
"No, you don't," Davoren agreed, grinning. He turned to Kai, who was still leaning on the chair. He offered a shoulder and Kai leaned on it and started walking. Turning his head, Davoren got Kieran's attention. (Thank you for all of your help. If you hadn't...)
(Aye, well. I helped myself just as much as you.)
(And...the others? Vorlesung, Felsarinn, Frulingar?)
(Upstairs in the red-draped room. They'll recover, but they'll need a while to do it. No lasting damage though. That wouldn't be true for Frulingar if Felsarinn hadn't helped her, though. Good man.) Davoren felt a sigh. (We lost another good man in Falinsen. Does Kai know?)
(Not yet.)
Another sigh with currents of sadness under it. (They were close, right? It'll be tough to tell him. Maybe it's better to wait a few days.)
(Yeah..I'll wait.) A short pause. (We won't be too long. We'll stay close.)
Kieran watched the pair walk unsteadily out of the room. Kai had been on the point of death when Kieran had found him. As soon as the group had left for the ruins, Kieran had gone ahead, contacting Kai, helping him to break down those walls, lending his strength to him to help him drag himself out of the ruins, to get to where Davoren could find him and carry him out. Kai's psychic strength had still been full, of course, but physically he had been near death. Kai himself didn't know this, and Kieran didn't plan on telling either Kai or Davoren any time soon. It had drained Kieran considerably to give him that much of himself but he didn't mind if it would save the younger vampire's life.
When Kai had arrived he had been in only slightly better shape. Paralyzed, blind and drifting in and out of consciousness, and he hadn't drunk blood in who knows how long. Sleep-deprived for a few weeks as well, and his arms and legs had been skinned, branded and burned. The hood and scarf had hidden the dents in Kai's skull from where they had hit him in the same place over and over - repetition over a period of weeks, for hours a day, would have lasting effects on even the strongest of vampires, because the body grew weary of repairing itself when there was a lack of blood and rest. Judging from Davoren's fierce protectiveness of Kai, his willingness to throw himself and others into a dangerous situation to get Kai out, Kieran had no intention of revealing the extent of Kai's injuries to him; rage was a dangerous emotion. But Kai had recovered remarkably fast - Kieran had heard the story about Kai's sunsickness. His skin was flawless, his skull completely healed and back to normal after a week of constant blood and sleep.
That night had been terrible for all involved. Kieran supposed that none of the ten who had been there first knew how close they had come to being killed. Kjartan had recklessly gone in while Kieran hung back, not wanting to challenge the Queen without knowing the extent of her power. But when Kjartan had been put into danger...well. Kieran didn't know where that energy had come from, to fight her back so effectively. Rage, yes.
He wondered what it was that had made her so powerful - he had seen glimpses of her energy before and there was never anything like that overwhelming darkness. Davoren and Kailestis alone should have been able to at least protect the others against her while they made their escape, and she certainly shouldn't have been able to kill Falinsen with such ease. Maybe it was something about the ruins - he'd have to ask Kai if there was anything unusual about the location.
He realized that Kjartan was listening in on his thought process.
(Was it really that close?)
(Yes. It was...horrible. Seeing you being crushed like that...) Kieran paused, uncertain of how the next part of his thought would be received, but continued anyway, (It just kind of hit me that you might be killed and I can't spare you...so I helped out. That's all. You're going to be quite irreplaceable in the next few decades if this turns to war.)
(Thanks.) Kjartan looked like there was something more that he wanted to say, but changed his mind.
(Get some sleep. I'm just going to check on Mordekai and the three upstairs, and then I'll be back.)
"Good morning." Kjartan smiled a little, his grey eyes still steely despite his weakness. His storm colored gaze met Kieran's black one and Kieran noted the redoubled determination, the strengthened resolve despite all that had happened. Would that there were more vampires in the world like Kjartan and less like Mordekai, Kieran thought.
In the forest behind the house, Kailestis and Davoren walked until they found a place to sit in the snow. Davoren sat with his back to a tree and closed his eyes, feeling the snow around him, the moonlight falling on him and Kai close by. Exhaustion still battered at his mind but for now he could hold it back and enjoy the present. Kai spent a while psychically checking himself for wounds and damage while Davoren scanned the surrounding area to make sure that there were no enemies about.
Kai breathed in the night air and exhaled audibly. "It's good to be back. Here, in Hatskland yes, but also back...well, back with you. You know? It feels good. Things have changed since I started traveling with you. I'm not in hiding anymore, it seems. Hiding with people is different than hiding alone."
Davoren didn't reply but opened his eyes to stare at Kai, and then pushed the snow down around him, making a nest. There was a long pause as he made himself comfortable in the snow and stared up at the stars, clear in the cold night.
"Kai?"
"Mm?"
"What happened that morning? How did they take you?"
"..." There was a short pause. Davoren added quickly, "It's okay if you don't want to tell me."
"No, I'm just trying to remember it all. Some parts of it are kind of blurry, a little. I know I remembered it all at some point right afterward but now I can't think of it so much. It's just kind of a blur there. But I do remember being outside, and walking around in the snow and being really upset and not really thinking about where I was going. And then I was surrounded...I don't know how many there were. But there were too many. And one hit me in the back of the head so I fell down, and then in the top of the head so I couldn't move so well. And then I blacked out and woke up in her throne room, and I couldn't move, couldn't barely think. And they let me lie there for a few weeks, three at most, but they didn't let me sleep. That whole time I never got to sleep all that much. And then they started hitting me. She'd stand there in a mist and order them to keep hitting me with a metal bar in the same place, right here. And here. And here."
Kai's voice had risen a little and he cleared his throat. Davoren shook his head, guilt washing over him. Not only had his recklessness killed Falinsen and critically injured Frulingar, but he hadn't even been able to help Kailestis in time to save him from serious hurt.
"I'm sorry I couldn't help you sooner."
"You couldn't have helped me any sooner. I wasn't expecting to be found at all. I thought she'd kill me before she'd let you reach me, but I guess you were too fast." He paused, then, "Thanks. For all of it."
"You're welcome, Kai."
He heard Kai struggling to his feet. "I'm heading inside."
"All right. I'll be in in a while." Davoren closed his eyes, sighing.
"Good night, Davoren...." Kai hesitated, then added quietly, so quietly that Davoren wasn't sure he'd heard it, "...meine varsigensen, mei answarodai." There was a rush of red wool near his head and Kai knelt, put a bare hand to Davoren's shoulder. Then he rose clumsily and stumbled for the house. Davoren watched him go, knew that following would almost be a mistake and so chose to stay in the cold a bit longer. Kailestis' words made a lump rise in his throat and he fought it back. He had called Davoren a true friend, a general one would die protecting. But what kind of general led his troops so carelessly as to lead them into an unknown situation that had nearly killed them all?
* * *
This may be the last one for a while. I've gotten really stuck trying to write more and so I think I'm going to go back and rework what I've got and see if that helps. As soon as I get new material written I'll throw it up here and see what happens.
Thank you all for reading and I'm sorry to have to do this but keep in mind that it's only a temporary freeze and there WILL be more eventually. I just don't know when.
User Reviews
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-02-01 13:53:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Vomit (user info) at 2005-01-28 14:58:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
college guy (a very boring writer) had absolutely no business giving this a minus rating. It needs some work, yeah, but excellent overall.
Submitted by AshK (user info) at 2005-01-25 12:01:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I look forward to reading more.
Submitted by Chronicles_of_College_Guy (user info) at 2005-01-23 17:08:17 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
Many of your sentences run on and need work.
"Other beds were scattered around the room with recovering vampires in them, he could feel them."
"Sitting up he felt the room spin but stayed upright until it slowed and stopped, his vision clearing as he held his head still and concentrated on focusing on one thing at a time."
The thoughts aren't communicated as well as they could be.
Furthermore, you consistantly show throughout this piece that you have a limited comprehension about the use of commas in puctuation. I would read up on it if you do take your writing seriously (and I imagine you would if you wrote something of this length).
It was okay, I suppose, just very "First Draft".