The Kindgom of Heaven and Hell

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Faline all but cowered at the back of the great hall. She hated meetings. They were often times full of loud angry men who had a tendency to throw things. This night was no different. The entire village had shown up, despite the raging storm outside. Every man from every family was there, shouting to be heard over the next.
Her father, the Jarl, was seated at the head of it all, one long leg draped over his ornate throne. For a while he remained silent, his eyes not one the villagers, but going from the young woman hiding under one of the tables near the door to her sister who sat on top of it, holding onto a rather heavy broad sword. He shook his head at both of them. 
Oalf sighed heavily and held up a hand to silence the crowd. "I am fully aware of the danger we now face from the outlanders. And I am aware that those who cross our borders are far from human. However, I am not sure if we warrant help from out bordering villages. If we decide to seek help, we will need to go to the king. But...he is a bartering man. I am not sure we have anything he will find worthy enough..."

Faline laughed at that. "My ideas of romantic gestures are much more grand than apple pies for a man who secretly hates me." She said softly, picking up the pie. "But them again, he and Cessily both said I was rather feather brained." 

Braun nodded at this. It was the best kind of greeting he could have received from her. "It's all right, kitten, you can't help being so weak." He teased her.

"Maybe they were simply carrying too much with them?" Lucian suggested gently. "You certainly do have a lightness of heart that few can truly appreciate."

Had Cessily's hands been unbound, this was the pint where they would have clashed swords. "And you can't help being so slow!" She shot back.
Sandman was watching the exchange between the two of them and instantly saw the secret way they felt about each other. "Enough!" He barked. "You have seen she lives."

Olaf was still howling when Faline returned to the castle. As before she found herself blocked from the darkness beyond the doors, however. "I'm afraid you'll have to take it up with your king." The guard said firmly, shaking his head at her. 
"That's why I am here." She said softly, cringing when her father began using a string of words that made her delicate ears burn. "The king has asked that he be brought to the dinner table to give him a chance to try and redeem himself. I was sent to get him." 
The guard looked over his shoulder at the darkness, listening to something she couldn't hear. "Stay here, your majesty." He said after a moment. "What is below is not for you. The master requests that I get him for you." 

"That may be so, Sandy boy, but I have not seen that she is well." Braun said simply. "And besides, how do I know this is not another trick. The last time I saw a Cessily it turned out to be a nymph. She tried to seduce me. Maybe this is the same nymph who is trying a different approach. One can never be too trustful these days. Especially not with so many outlanders cropping up all over the countryside like terrible weeds. You understand."

Lucian hadn't wanted to allow Faline down there at all, but he of all people knew that hold something too tightly, and you only end up crushing it. From what he had seen, Faline had denied any freedoms all her life, he wanted to give a few of them back to her.

"You don't know the difference between the one you claim to care for, and a common nymph?" Sandman snorted. "No wonder you have yet to climb betweent nose creamy thighs."

Olaf sat at the table, glare at the king. His hair had gone whiter than before. "Trying to poison me now?" He hissed. "I'll not eat this slop! My daughter and I are going home. You and your monsters can stay here and rot!"

"He's jealous." Braun mused, giving Cessily a wink. He taunting the Sandman was going to end badly for him but he could help himself. "He's so old he probably can't even reach his own thighs anymore."
 Gr

"Slop, you say?" Lucian asked calmly as he glanced at warm apple pie that sat in the centre of the table they were all sat at.

Cessily wasn't sharing in Braun's teasing. Unfortunately, she had witnessed first hand how sandman could punish people. Even the thought of sleep terrified her now, evident by the dark circles beneath her green eyes.

"Don't try to play games with me. I know what you are now! She is too stupid to see it! She's too stupid to see anything but goodness in people. There is nothing in you..." 
Though it was obvious the words hurt her, Faline got up and begsn serving the pie. "The but her's wife made this." She said softly. "You'll..."
"Give that poison to Lord Death! I want none of it!" Olaf howled. "I should have dumped you in the river as your mother begged me when he came to her then. I don't know why I didn't listen!"

"We will be safe." Braun promised her softly, his warm eyes sparkling with promise. Before sandman could stop him he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. It had been so long since they had shared a kiss. He couldn't stop himself. The nymph had only made matters worse.

Lucian kept his calm demeanor, eating his pie and smiling thankfully at Faline as she moved around the table. "Olaf, you were not born a Jarl. You were not in immediate succession to take the title, and yet mysteriously all other male members of your family found themselves rather dead, isn't that true?"

Though her bound wrists prevented Cessily from sliding her fingers against Braun's taut flesh as she wished to, it didn't stop her from eagerly returning his kiss. Sandman would punish both of them for it, but that moment seemed a world away so long as she had the taste of Braun's upon her lips.
"Enough!" Sandman barked, unseen fingers jerking Braun away from his would be lover.

Olaf stopped speaking then, his aging eyes wide. No one had known about that. Not even the wife that had been meant for his elder brother. "It was a sickness that swept over the household." He said after a moment. "That hardly my fault if that's what you're getting at." He hissed finally.

Braun smiled though he was wise enough to keep that to himself. He said nothing as he stood where he was, waiting for the outlander god to decide a punishment.

"If such an illness existed, how did you, and you alone, become immune to it?" Lucian pressed, though it sounded very much like he already knew the answer to this.

Sandman marched over to Cessily and grabbed her chin between his fingers, looking down into those green eyes he had always assumed were meant to look only upon him. "Do you love that filth?" He demanded, though his only reply was a defiant glare from Cessily. This angered Sandman more than an ything and his fingers suddenly gripped her temples sending the young woman into a deep sleep filled with her worst nightmares.

"Being the youngest and least likely to obtain the Jarl's throne I was outside, working the fields. Lord Death was unable to find me." Olaf lied. Faline was standing near her father, frowning down at him. She was noticing that his dark hair was peppered with even more strands of silver than it had been when he'd arrived the night before. 

Braun was the next one to lose his temper. He shoved the Sandman away from Cessily and yanked out his sword. Even though he was fully aware it wouldn't help, he needed to defend her. "I've had enough of you." He hissed. "You claim something that doesn't belong to you, expect her to love you, and then punish her when she doesn't!"

"Hmm, and you never once prayed to said lord for just such an event?" Lucian asked calmly before lifting his water glass to his lips, though his golden eyes remained fixed on Olaf.

Sandman laughed, not worried by the sword pointed at him. "Love has nothing to do with it. I want only what I am owed."

"The gods do not listen to us." Olaf snorted. "Least of all those who dwell below." He shoved the plate away from him and turned to grab his daughter's wrist. "Sit down, girl. The king has servants to do that. He wants to be poisoned then let them do it. Those without faces can kill him if they wish. Not you." Faline gave a squeak of surprise as she was forced to sit in the chair next to her father, her wide eyes betraying her fear of him. "I did wish for that. What boy in my position wouldn't? I promised Lord Death many things. He took none of them and they died. Hence...he did not hear me." 

"Uh-huh. I do too. But you don't see me forcing nightmares on people and turning kingdoms into ice lands to get it." Braun snorted. "What the hell do you think you're owed, Sandy? You're a second rate god, created to live in the dark and feed off dreams. Sounds like a fair trade to me."

"Or perhaps he heard you perfectly, but at that time you had nothing he wished to take." Lucian replied coolly. "You were a boy, what would death wish for from such a worthless creature? Now..." He paused and smiled at Faline, his eyes seeming to come alive like liquid gold. "The most beautiful daughter of a jarl... That is something any man would desire, god or no."

"You think it is only dreams, my boy?" Sandman purred. "Dreams are an appetiser. They open a creature up and leave their most valuable asset free for the taking... Their soul. My brother thinks they belong to him, he always was a little dense."

"I offered him my first born!" Olaf shouted, leaping to his feet and slamming his hand down on the table so hard that Faline jumped. "The gods are deaf and stupid. He took nothing! He is nothing! Do not try to play games with me you stupid worthless king!" 
"Father...calm down..." Faline reached for the elder man, her hands shaking. She'd never seen him act this way. Lucian wasn't exactly acting normal either. 

"Pretty words, sir. But they mean nothing to me." Braun said, shaking his head. "You've figured out by now that she doesn't want you. So, we'll be taking a dragon's egg and heading out of here. You'll be stepping aside and letting us do that."

"Forgive me, but is your first born not sitting next to you this very second?" Lucian asked, pausing again to eat more of his pie. It was as though they were merely discussing the weather.

"You really think you can carry her all the way to the veil?" Sandman challenged with a sneer. "Or that I would be fool enough to keep a dragon egg here in the castle?"

"Father...sit..." Faline was trying to get her father to calm down but he was having none of it. He raised his hand to her and by the way she flinched it wasn't the first time he'd done it. This time he didn't stop himself, striking her hard enough to leave an angry red mark across her tender cheek. 
"I have had enough from you, girl! You are not my wife! You are a worthless feather brain who is a whore for Lord Death!" Olaf roared. 

"Yes and yes." Braun said, crossing his muscular arms over his chest. "You're not scaring me, Sandy. I don't know how many times I need to say that. I can start a song if it would help? Maybe a dirty lymric?"

That one action finally broke Lucian. He was on his feet and holding Olaf off the ground by his throat before any of them could even take a breath. "I gave you everything you asked for, even a wife far too kind and beautiful for a retch like you!" He snarled, his grip so tight that Olaf would not be able to even swallow. "If you think I would just sit here and allow you to bring harm to my queen..." His golden eyes were blazing now and the entire room seemed to suddenly drain of light.

"Go ahead... If you can." Sandman replied with a wave of his fingers. "I can have her any time I choose." He added with a wicked grin. "You cannot keep her safe in her dreams."

"Lucian..." Vines dark were sliding out from the shadows, grabbing at everything except her. Faline was terrified, she couldn't help herself. "Please...father is just afraid. I'm begging you. He didn't hurt me."

Braun laughed and shook his head. "Dreams are one thing but the waking world is another. When she is awake is her true feelings. You have no power over that."

"That handprint on your cheek says otherwise!" Lucian snarled, unable to control his anger any longer. The vines were creeping along the walls, seeming to pull apart the very bricks they were moving along. It felt like a living breathing entity was right there with them.

Sandman smiled and again gestured for Braun to take Cessily. It pleased him greatly to hear that this brute of a man didn't believe in hype power of dreams.

"Lucian, you're killing him!" Faline cried, placing her hands on his forearm. "Please! You have to stop!" 
Olaf was trying as hard as he could to make Lucian stop, even hitting at faline's hands in his desperation. 


"Have a nice life, Sandy." Braun growled, taking the chains and snapping them one at a time in his bare hands. He didn't seem to notice that this should be impossible.

"After everything he had done, you would want this filth to breathe the same air as you?" Lucian asked Faline, his grip loosening only slightly.

Cessily was still asleep, though she did curl against Braun as he lifted her into his arms. It was further proof which man truly had any right to call her his own.

"We can send him home, Lucian." Faline breathed, all but sobbing as the dark tendrils began to encircle them both. "But please. He is not a bad man. He didn't mean it." 
"Like...hell...whore..." Olaf gasped. "I hate...you...let Death...have you!"

Braun smoothed her hair down, his head held high as he passed by the god of dreams. The dragon egg would have to wait. Right now he needed to get what he treasured most far away from the icy palace in hell.

"You see? Released eom life is better than even he deserves! Perhaps I should let one of the outlanders have him!" Lucian hissed, though he was beginning to regain control of his temper, the vines and darkness receding somewhat.

It was as Braun was making their escape that sandman entered Cessily's dream. In it he forced himself upon her, taking his pleasure as she screamed and sobbed for him to stop. Even in her dream she was begging him, crying that Braun was to be the first man to have her.

"What would that solve?" Faline asked softly. She ducked under Lucian's arm and placed both hands on his face pulling him into a gentle kiss. "He is not worth this anger, sire." She whispered, against his lips. "Please...don't hurt him..." 

Braun believed they had escaped unharmed. He'd even managed to take the nymph with him. He didn't even seem to notice that she was struggling and arguing with him the entire way. He was having a hell of a day and he was ready to get somewhere safe and sleep.

Lucian loosened his grip a little more and was looking into Faline's face now. "He stuck you, said such awful things about you..." One of his hands reached between them and stroked Faline's bruising cheek gently. "You would still have me spare him?"

"Isn't she perfect?" A dark haired woman with soft grey eyes was peering down into the tiny bundle in her arms, tickling the tiny girl until she gurgled and cooed with delight.
"You had any doubt she would be?" A tall man with golden hair and moss colored eyes chuckled as he slid his arm around the woman who was his wife and joined her in simply watching their daughter. "After tonight, everyone will share in our joy, maybe then her sisters won't be quite so jealous either." He added his voice growing heavy for a moment. "I don't understand it... Lilah won't inherit the throne, she isn't any threat to Cordelia, and yet that girl won't even come and see her new baby sister. Her jealousy has already begun to turn Cora against the poor child too."
"Hush... They are teenagers, my love, very little about them makes sense right now." The Queen assured her husband gently. "Cordelia will come around, especially when she sees the latest suitor you have invited to meet with her. This could be a celebration of her future wedding, as much as for Lilah's birth."
"We can only hope." The king breathed, kissing his wife's temple lightly before turning away. "For now, I think maybe I should introduce you to the man who wishes to take Cordelia as his queen, for some reason he likes to call himself 'sandman'."
"Sandman?" The queen echoed with an amused grin. "Hear that, Lilah? He thinks himself a god of dreams." She giggled, again tickling the tiny bundle in her arms.

The king and queen of the largest, though most peaceful, kingdom in the north entered the throne room to meet the man they had spoken of. He seemed pleasant, and was handsome enough even for the vain Cordelia. The problem came when he asked to hold the newest princess. The second the tiny girl was in his arms he simply stared down at her, as though seeing something her parents didn't. "This one..." He breathed. "I wish to marry your youngest child, not the spoiled girl no other man has dared take on."
The king and queen each looked at each other in confusion. "I am very sorry, but that is not something we can allow." That was the moment the kingdom was cut off from all borders, a very strong spell cast upon every last inhabitant. The Queen was the last mortal to manage to cross the border before magic sealed it completely. She gave her life to get her youngest daughter far away.

Cessily woke with a sudden shriek, her eyes wide as she glanced around, for a brief moment she still thought she was within the walls of that castle. Serah closed her eyes when Cessily screamed, knowing that she was beginning to see memories still trapped here on this side of the veil.

"He didn't mean them." Faline whispered, almost as if she were trying to covince herself of this. "He's...not himself. I'm worried this fight with the outlanders is finally beginning to addle his mind." She confessed. 
"Nothing wrong with me, girl." Olaf gasped out. "Except for agreeing to keep that fool girl and rutting your whore of a mother...you are turning out just like her. Kissing a man that says words he does not mean. You'll see."

Braun's head shot up, nearly cracking into the tree behind him when Cessily screamed. He grabbed for his sword, turning it on the nymph he'd tied to the tree beside him, thinking she might be the reason for it. "What? What is it?" He grumbled, feeling as if he hadn't slept for even a moments time.

Lucian renewed his grip on Olaf's throat as a warning he should watch what he says. "But lovely, he cannot be trusted. He will only hurt you again, given the chance. He is not deserving to be a father, never mind a jarl!"

Serah snorted with laughter when Braun hit his head. Looks like the princess is awake." She sneered, nodding her head to where Cessily was still shaking somewhat.

"He has been a fine jarl so far." Faline reminded him. "And besides, we had a deal. Remember? What if my sister brings back the egg like you asked and there is no reason for her to have done so?" 
Though he was gasping for air, Olaf snorted at this. "Feather...head..." He wheezed. 

"Kitten..." Braun's features softened immediately. He moved closer to her, though knew better than to just reach out and touch her. "I can't believe you actually thought you'd try and get a dragon's egg without me." He clucked his tonge. "Admit it, you needed me to rescue you."

Lucian finally let go of Olaf, though tossed him hard onto the table. "If I hear so much a whisper of a rumour that he has caused you any lain, no matter now indirect... I will have his head." He warned Faline.

Cessily said nothing for a long moment, instead she simply stared into Braun's face, her green eyes seeming to carry much more burden than they had before. "There is a different between need, and want, brute." She whispered, though her slender fingers touched his cheek lightly.