The Kindgom of Heaven and Hell

First topic message reminder :

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 nodded, her eyes watering and her chin quivering. "Thank you, sire." She whispered. "If you'll excuse me, I need to lay down for a while." She was out of the room before he could even nod his head. 
Olaf rolled over on the table, gasping. "Bastard. Monster. Not the king..."

Braun couldn't help but smile at her. "Cessily..." He breathed her name, returning the gesture and resting his hand on her face. "You crazy, idiot girl."

Lucian was all too aware that Faline was simply, being brave. He saw in her eyes how much pain she was in, both of the physical and emotional kind. "Accidents happen all the time, especially fora man who came here on horseback." He warned Olaf icily.

"Don't be like that, we both know you onto came because you want the glory of finding the dragon egg for yourself." Cessily breathed.
"Oh please..." Serah snorted, clearly rather uncomfortsnle by this display off affection.

"You of all people know that, Lord Death." Olaf said as he drunkenly pushed to his feet and stumbled toward the door. "You can't have her. I won't let you. Do you hear me? It doesn't matter if I want her. You ignored me until I had something you wanted. It's too late now. I win."

"They'll be so impressed that a man did it, they'll make me king." Braun said, pretending to be proud of himself. "I can just see the line of women now. All of them lined up and waiting. I won't sleep for weeks, you." He chuckled.

"You say I ignored you, and yet you have been Jarl since you were a young man. How is it my fault you now find yourself too weak to protect your pathetic village?" Lucian snarled.

Cessily knew Braun was only teasing, and yet she still felt her chest grow tight at the thought of him with anyone else. "You don't need to be king for that." She breathed as her hand slipped away from his cheek and back into her lap.

"You shut up." Olaf hissed over his shoulder. "A promise was made to me. I am not going to die. Why do you think that I was that worried when you were trying so hard. I am immortal. Just like you." 

"So you want to talk about the nymph?" Braun asked, knowing they needed to change the subject. "How does she figure into all this? She's not exactly a bundle of joy or anything."

"No one is 'just like me', not even my own brother." Lucian warned darkly. "Tread carefully, Jarl. Not everything is as you think."

Cessily glanced over to the creature tired to the tree. "Why did you bring her? Is she to add to your line of women?" She snapped, suddenly putting her walls back in place.

"I can't die. Nothing else matters." Olaf bragged, heading for the door. "You don't scare me, outlander. When the true king returns, he'll punish you. I won't leave what's mine here to see that."

"Actually..." Braun scratched his head. "I'm not really sure. It seemed to me like Sandy was keeping her around for a reason. I was not only trying to piss him off but do it royally."

"You think wisdom comes with immortality?" ,jack an smiled thinly and seated himself at the table once more. "Go ahead, do what you think you can."

"Maybe he's like you, and likes to have someone around in case he gets an itch." Cessily snorted.

"I'm not leaving her here." Olaf said firmly. "Not if that means you get her. I would rather take her as a wife myself than give her to the bastard who did not hear my prayers. I gave you offerings and you ignored them. You can't take something now after twenty something years." 

Serah gave a bitter snort. "Sandman wants nothing to do with me. It was never about me. He never even saw me. I'd be willing to bet he never has. You two love birds don't know anything." She snapped, trying to free herself from the ropes.

"You honestly think even Faline would go along with a disgusting plan like that?" Lician asked without turning around. "Immortal or not, your head is little use to you if I sever it from your body!"

Cessily had pulled Braun's dagger from his belt and jabbed it under Serah's chin before either of the could react. "Tell me, then. What is it all about then?"

"Faline will go home if she believes I am dying and we both know it." Olaf chuckled as if he were truly thinking himself a genius. "She is loyal to her father. She will beg you to wait. You might as well be thinking of the answer to that, Lord Death."

"I'm not telling you anything." Serah purred. She didn't seem worried by the the knife. "Besides, what are you going to do about it? You can't even remember who you are."

"Why play make believe?" Lucian purred quietly, a strange cloud following Olaf before disappearing into his very skin.

"I do not need to remember something I have not forgotten." Cessily told the other woman with a frown.

It was later that evening when Faline joined Lucian in the library. She sat down at his feet and rested her hands in her lap. "My father says that he is dying. He wants me to go home with him to care for him." She didn't say anything else, getting right to the point.

"Seeing as you know everything I don't know why we are bothering to speak." Serah snorted, turning head to the side. "Go away, little girl. You are bothering me. I am tired of your face. Even wearing it has become a bore."

"Your father says a lot of things." Lucian replied calmly as he took a moment to finish reading the passage in the book he was holding. "You don't find coincidence in his sudden illness, and my wish to marry you?"

"Then take... It... Off..." Cessily breathed, slicing the dagger slowly against Serah's smooth cheek.

"I was wondering what you thought." Faline said. "Seeing as I am feather brained and all I was hoping someone would tell me what to do." She asked, frowning when she saw the book that was still hiding beneath his chair. 

"Make me." Serah said darkly, poking out her tongue in a way that Cessily believed belonged exclusively to her. "You are just a broken little girl with bad dreams."

Lucian shook his head and held out his hand to Faline, gesturing she come sit in his lap. "You know I would never presume to tell you what to do, child."

Cessily stumbled back a step, not liking the familiarity that Serah seemed to show her. She was also not accustomed to being thought of as 'little girl', having looked after Faline for most of her life. "What do you know my dreams, creature?"

Faline laughed softly as she settled herself in Lucian's lap. "You sound like this old man who used to tell stories to us during the winter. I used to crawl in his lap too. I have to be honest, he was my first love." 

"I am no more of a creature than you are." Serah said darkly, her chin jutted out in defiance. "And I know about your dreams because he thinks I need to know. He thinks I care about everything you do."

"Then he must have been a rather dashing old man." Lucian teased, no jealousy in his voice as there usually would have been. "Did he collect the hearts of beautiful little girls?"

"You see?!" Cessily demanded as she turned her face to Braun. "He let you bring her because he wants her to spy on us!" She insisted. "I should just kill her now and save us the trouble later!" She had completely missed the meaning behind Serah's words.

"Only mine." Faline blushed. "Cessily would always say his stories were boring but I couldn't get enoug. I would always beg for just one more. My favorite was Hades and Persephone. He'd have to tell that one every time he came. Normally entertainers would ask for coin when them left but he would ask for nothing but a treasure. Something that meant something to me. I would give him a sunflower or bread I'd helped to bake. I'm sure he thought I was a feather head just like my father." 

"What are you waiting for, little one?" Serah asked her, glancing toward Braun. "Or are you afraid you big strong hero over there will forget who is who and bed me instead? I'll bet he could make it last more than an hour or two."

"That was because Cessily isn't a dreamer, not like you." Lucian breathed as he gently stroked her cheek, despite knowing dreamer was probably the best word to describe the other girl. "He must have seen something extra special in you, so,etching you never seem to see yourself."

"I do not dictate who Braun may or may not bed." Cessily told Serah firmly. "If you are the one he desires, then he will have you." She added, annoyed that suddenly all she could think of was the breathy female moans that had come from the inn the night she had left him to do as he wished.

"I don't know that I have anything to dream about Lucian." Faline sighed. "I worry that my father is right about me. I am not smart or brave like my sister. It is entirely possible that the old man thought the same and humored me." 

"Good, then I have your permission to take him for myself." Serah purred, shifting her long legs suggestively. "He tastes like ginger beer. Like ale but much too playful to cause regrets later. I can see why so many can think of nothing else."

"Or maybe the old a n saw that you were already smarter and braver than your sister. It's takes true bravery to come here and agree to be sold to a man you do not know by the people you trust the most." Lucian replied.

"You have my permission to try." Cessily whispered, wondering what Braun thought about this exchange. Did he really want her, or would he rather have this creature who looked like her?

"I should not have been so lucky." Faline whispered, brushing her lips against his jaw. "I'm so glad you were the king he sold me to." She laughed softly. "If it makes you feel any better it was my sister's suggestion. The rest of the hall seemed to take to it like they were being offered gold." 

"Do I not get a say in this?" Braun grumbled. "I have already kissed her when she tried to trick me into believing she was you. She did not taste the same and it was not worth the bother. Cold, dead lips."
"My lips are not dead. Just bored." Serah snorted for a moment her true form shimmering from beneath the glamour.

"More proof that your sister had a withered soul inside of her. It is rotting her to the core with jealousy." Lucian breathed as he brushed his lips lightly against Faline's.

Cessily didn't even realise she was smiling as she watched Braun. Those words, though most likely not intended to be beautiful, meant a great deal to her. "Of course you have a say, just as I told her you are free to do what you wish with whom you wish."

Faline gasped softly, surprised by the wintry taste of his lips. It reminded her of the peppermints the old man had given her. She'd truly loved the taste. Unable to resist she deepened their kiss, gingerly sliding her arms around his neck. 

"I didn't bed the innkeeper's wife." Braun said, not sure why he was confessing this. He felt more than a little silly for doing it. "I gave the man a love potion to put in her ale. The heavy moaning and what not that you heard...it was them. It was husband and wife. I was asleep in the loft in the barn. I was there when you left me. But I didn't wake up until it was too late to stop you."

It was taking ever piece of control that Lucian had not to take Faline right there in the library floor. Instead he kept his fingers against her slender hips, the feel of her silken hair enough right then. He had waited a very long time for her to find her way to him.

Cessily felt her cheeks burn as she turned her gaze from Braun. She had been so certain of what she had heard, it hadn't been an option at the time to wait and ask him. "Everything you said to me that night... You said you wanted that woman."

"You're a whore. Just like your mother." Olaf said from the doorway, breaking off the kiss before it could truly get started. "I come here to beg you to tend your father while he dies and here you are with your thighs open for the king."

"I said I wanted a woman. I didn't say I wanted that one." Braun whispered, reaching out to slide his fingers through her hair. "I wanted you to think it was me because I was mad at you."

"I would hardly call them open." Lucian purred, not letting go of Faline. "But then... She is not her mother, and i am not you." He added.

"You were mad because I was scared." Cessily breathed, something she would never admit to anyone else.

"We are leaving." Olaf said firmly. "You have accosted my family enough and I am a very sick man. You are an understanding king. You can live without her until I die. Can't you?" The old man purred back. 

"I was mad because I should never have pushed you so far." Braun whispered, hanging his head. "I was trying so hard not to Change things between us, kitten. But I ruined it." 
"Oh for the love of the gods!" Serah shouted. "Just go behind a tree and get it over with!"

"I think the bigger question is, can you life with me until you die?" Lucian asked with an almost wicked smile. "If my future queen must return home with you, then it is only right I accompany her."

Cessily's hard green eyes narrowed at Serah and once again her walls were back in place. "Just because you may rut like a cat in heat does not mean the rest of us do!" She hissed, muttering something about needing to find wood for the fire.