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..."

"A king is not permitted to leave his castle grounds for long periods. You of all people should know this." Olaf shot back, watching his daughter as she removed herself from Lucian's lap and smooth down her dress. Her cheeks were a brilliant pink. She didn't seem to notice the battle of wills happening right over her head. "I miss my homeland, my lord. I wish to die among my family and loved ones. My wife is calling to me." He added darkly. 

"Kitten...wait..." Braun made a grab for her arm but was seconds too late. An angry cry sounded over head, deafening in it's intensity. 
"She's here!" Serah cried, clearly pleased by the sound. She began bouncing up and down as best she could against her ropes. "You're going to get it now, you stupid oaf of a man!" 
"She who?" Braun ground out again reaching for Cessily as a heavy shadow swept over the camp. "gods preserve us that's a dragon!" He shouted.

"Your wife had no love for you, you fool." Lucian sneered. "She enjoyed fine dresses and good food, it was never about loving you." He added, wanting Olaf to hurt. "You really think she had any love for a man who would bed the chambermaid on their own bed?"

Cessily had tilted her head back to watch the vast shadow as it passed over the camp, leading her to take a slight step back and into Braun's grasp. The noise that creature was making was so loud it made her want to cover her ears. Bbt at the same time... She found the dragon utterly breathtaking.

Faline was watching Lucian closely know, wondering how he could sound as if he knew these things so well. It was almost as if he had been there amongst their family...
"I don't care how she felt for me. I kept her so that..." Olaf suddenly closed his mouth, realizing that the king had goaded him into those hateful words and he'd very nearly fallen for it. "Come along, Faline. You can return to being the king's whore when I have died." He said, making his voice sound weak and pitiful.

"Stay down." Braun hissed, grabbing for his sword and running for the tallest tree. "All right, Sandy. I can play this game. Sending a dragon too. I can fight it. You're not getting her back!" He roared as he began to climb.

"I could out you out of your misery right now, and Faline wouldn't have to go anywhere." Lucian replied cheerfully.

Cessily was scowling at Braun's broad back, obviously not doing at her had instructed her. The young woman was digging through the forest floor until she saw the hew tree not to far away. She didn't tell anyone what she was doing, though she was quickly crafting a makeshift bow. Yew was strong, but Cessily was well aware that one tiny splinter from it would poison her.

"I'm not going." Faline said softly, glancing back at Lucian. She was hoping he was proud of her and worried he wasn't. 
"You what?" Olaf barred his teeth, glaring at the king instead of his daughter. "That is cheating. You can't  make her do something she doesn't want to." 

Braun was watching the dragon as it turned back around to fly over the camp again. He gripped his sword and prepared to jump on it it's back. He'd take it down and take the head along with an egg back to the magician.

"I would never make Faline do something she does not want." Lucian told Olaf firmly. "Her mind is, and always will be, her own."

Dragon swooped past again, though it suddenly seemed to disappear into the trees like it wasn't there at all. Cessily was hastily winding fine strips of bark together to make the string her bow when she realised the entire forest was bathed in an eerie silence.

"Is that so, Lord Death?" Olaf hissed, shaking his head. "You do not let anyone have what should belong to them. You can't be guaranteed we will use it as is pleasing to you." 
"Father, stop. Why do you keep calling him that?" Faline interjected, finding herself distracted as the book that once revealed itself to her began to flip through pages beneath Lucian's chair. 
"You see it, girl. It is obeying him. He is looking for a spell without even seeing it. He doesn't have to use his eyes to read with. Not as we do..." Olaf snarled. 

Braun was irritated by the sound of Serah's giggles. "You are all going to get it." The nymph said in a sing song voice. "The dragon is going to make you pay. It's what she's good at." 
"You said the same about Sandy and yet where is he?" The man in the tree snorted. "Neither of them scare me, creature."

Lucian was neither confirming nor denying what Olaf had just said. He had remained calm and gently held his hand out to Faline. "Lovely, after everything your father, and I use the term loosely, has done to you... Do you really feel you owe him anything? He claims to care so much for his village... Yet fled here when outlanders invaded."

"You should be scared." It was Cessily who spoke this time as a whittled arrow flew from her make shift bow to slam into the tree just beside Serah's head. "He doesn't need to be fearsome... Sandman need only look into your own dreams to fill you with fear."

"Did he tell you he did actually send soldiers as he promised?" Olaf countered. "No one came. After a few days I began to wonder what had happened to my daughters. And then we were overrun. There was nothing I could do but come here." 
"The village is..." Faline turned to Lucian, her eyes searching his face for the truth. "All those families. You told me you sent someone. Tell me you did..." 

"He has to care about you first." Serah said, not even flinching at the arrow. "Are you done with that? Should have known you'd be all special and warrior like too. Good for you, little one." She added bitterly.

"You had no care for your children, little man." Lucian replied, a crack appearing in his calm exterior. "You sold Faline, and told Cessily not to bother returning." He sneered. "I sent men, I am not accountable if they were not strong enough to make it there alive."

Cessily was quickly losing what little cool she had. The youngest of the three princesses was marching over to Serah and grabbing a handful of her hair and jerking her head backwards. "How anyone gets anything done wearing something like this is beyond me!" She hissed, gesturing to the ornate dress she had been forced to wear.

"Lies. You are the father of them." Olaf hissed. "Tell her the truth. Or...is something permitting you from it..." He glanced again toward the book. "Faline...that book under his chair. Go and bring it to your father. I would like to read it for myself." 
Faline had forgotten the headache that had come with trying to read the book. But all at once it was coming back full force. She gave a soft moan and grabbed for her head, missing the large monster that rose from the shadows behind the throne. 

"I'm sure you could do it with your hands tied behind your back if you so chose." Serah said bitterly, rolling her eyes as she gritted her teeth. "Don't take this out on me, runt. All of this is your fault. All of it!"

Lucian could feel the dark force, and rubbed at his own head. "I believe you should leave now, Olaf. Lest you be given the fate you deserve!" The presence in the room would overwhelm him, and he could no longer guarantee Faline's safety. "And take your daughter!"

"You don't even know me!" Cessily hissed, trying to shake away the remnants of the dream that had women her.

Olaf smiled to himself as he grabbed for Faline's wrist and yanked her out of the great hall. He'd won. He'd overwhelmed Lord Death at just the right moment. His witch mother had taught him that. What was more, he'd managed to get the book and Death's chosen bride. He couldn't have done better if he'd paid a magician to do it for him. 
"Lucian..." Faline called, terror in her voice as she was forced to leave him. She tried as hard as she could to get away and return but as always, someone else had complete power over her fate. 

"You don't know your self." Serah said bitterly, trying to scratch at the wrist that controlled the fingers that were tightly wound around her hair. "I swear to the gods I will snatch you bald for this, you horrid little girl! I hate you! Do you hear me?!"

Lucian couldn't help Faline right then. The darkness he spent so much energy keeping in check, keeping from ravaging everything around it, was breaking free. He fell forward onto his hands and knees once he was alone, able to hear nothing but the mournful wails of the dead.

Cessily's expression was sad as she looked down at Serah. "You aided sandman inn keeping me captive... What right do you have to hate?"

Once again Faline was stuffed inside a carriage like a cooking Christmas goose. And once again she was taken further away from people she knew and had come accustom with. The only thing she had was the crystal that once connected her to her sister.

"I didn't help him do anything." Serah whispered as Braun jumped down from the tree. "Can't you see my strings, little sister? I am a puppet in this just like everyone else. We all move and speak right now because he believes it will help in getting closer to you." She gave the younger woman's hand one last vicious slap. "I don't know how many times I must tell you he doesn't even know what I look like."

A howl would be heard coming from the castle before a large creature burst up into the sky. It seemed that the imposter king had more secrets that he had let on.

"I don't see why he would go to all this trouble!" Cessily huffed as she let go of Serah's hair. "I just wanted to keep my sister safe!"

Faline recognized the creature from the book. She stared at it from the window as her father shouted orders to a company of soldiers that were surrounding the carriage. Her fingers shook as she pulled the very book out from under the seat and began flipping through the pages to explain what it was she was seeing.

"You don't care about us!" Serah spat back, finally wrenching her hair away Cessily. "I do not know who you are trying to fool! I am not stupid!"

The shape was following their carriage, though it seemed to be made of nothing but shadow. The screech it madew as deafening, though it didn't attack just yet.

"Everything I do is for my sister Faline!" Cessily shouted. "I don't know why you think I am your sister! I do not even know what you are!"

"Show me." Faline demanded of the book. "I saw it the other day. You opened right to that page the other day. That thing was there..."
"Get your swords!" Olaf was shouting. "It's coming! Be ready!"

"You are such a feather head!" Serah shouted. "Don't talk to me anymore. I'm leaving!" 
"Oh no you don't." Braun growled, making sure she couldn't get away. "At least not until you tell me how to cross the veil."

The pages flew about as though caught In a gust of wind, and then stopped quite suddenly. The image on the page was that of a creature that looked much like a dragon, though that wasn't what it was. It was a skin crawler, able to take any shape it choose. This creature fed on souls, and who better to keep it from going hungry, than the reaper of them?

"We don't need her." Cessily insisted, though it was out of stubborn pride more than actual knowledge. "We came through the veil, we can find our way back without that... Thing!"

"Thank you." Faline said, patting the book as if it were a kitten and not an item. "Now...please tell me how to get ahold of his handler. I'm sure Lord Death would be grateful to know that his pet has gone missing..."

Serah was already shaking her head. "I let you through." She told the youngest of them. "Both of you. But you know what? I'm not going to let you out. You may think I look stupid but I'm not. I've practically died for you once already. That was enough."

At that point the book slammed itself shut and would not be coaxed open again. The skin crawler screeched again and several bodies slammed against the side of the carriage.

Cessily was watching Serah closely now. "How can I believe anything you say? You tried to trick Braun into thinking you were me... You work for that vile creature that tried to trap me like a rat."

Faline didn't scream no matter how much she wanted to. She held the book close to her as the carriage rocked and echoed with the screams and moans of those that were being ripped apart. More than one terrified tear tumbled onto the book's tightly closed pages. "Please...someone help them..." She whispered, praying but no longer sure that anyone was listening. 

"I've told you before I am a puppet of the sandman just as everyone else is." Serah said, shaking her head. "But even if I wasn't...I hate you. The reason I'm not letting you out of here has nothing to do with how he pulls my strings."
Braun snarled, slapping her across the face. "I'm sick of this puppet bullshit. You're going to start talking nymph. Don't and I'll make you regret it."

The creature howled again, though now it was through its own pain. It slammed against the side if the carriage with the force of whatever had struck it, causing the horses to bolt free and the carriage itself to tumble down the grass along the edge of the road.

Cessily couldn't understand how someone she didn't even know could hate her. "What did I ever do to you?" She breathed, resting her fingers lightly on Braun's arm to keep him from striking Serah again.

Faline tumbled over and over inside the carriage. It wasn't until it came to its final turn over that she struck her head on the wood piece at the top of the roof and blacked out. 

"You were born!" Serah shouted, her chested rising and falling as she fought to keep from sobbing.

It would be dark before strong hands gently lifted Faline from the carriage, holding her gently as the book oddly floated along behind them. "Forgive me, little one." Lucian breathed, walking down the dark road in the direction of a secluded cabin he kept out in the woods. It was a modest building, clearly well lived until only a generation ago. There Lucian laid Faline down gently on the bed while he looked for clean blankets.

Cessily stared at Serah like she had just lost her mind. "I am from the other side of the veil, how does that affect you, whatever you are?" In the back of her mind she knew what Serah meant, she simply, didn't want to admit it.

"Lucian..." Faline's head was swimming and yet all SH wanted to do was get up and throw her arms around him. One attempt to sit up had her thinking better of it however. "What happened? Where were you? Were is my father?"

Serah turned her head, tired of talking about it. The single tear she'd allowed to get past her lashes froze on her cheek. "You see what you let me do?" She snapped. "I've just given him more power. Even a single tear amps his power ten fold. I wish he had killed us as he did mother and father. At least...he showed them mercy..."

"Don't move, you took quite a bump to the head." Lucian told Faline, his voice far softer than it had been in the castle. "I believe I last saw your father screaming for someone to help him. The old foot is still alive, for now."

Cessily sighed heavily and rubbed at her temples. "Let us say I believe you, that we are related... Why is he doing this?"

Faline relaxed somewhat and laid back on the pillow, watching Lucian as he moved around the room. There was a confidence about him that hadn't been there before. It almost worried her. "The book said that thing was a skinwalker...do you know where it came from?" She asked softly. 

Braun groaned loudly when Serah turned her head and refused to say anything else. "I think she's just trying to keep us here. I say we leave we where she is and make for the border. Screw the egg and that damned magician." He muttered, shoving his fingers through his hair.

"That isn't something we need to talk about right now." Lucian breathed. Though the house hadn't been lived in for some time, it was oddly free of dust and dirt. Lucian was approaching Faline's bedside now with a teapot and two ornate cups. "When you have rested we can fill in any blanks you may have."

"No." Cessily told Braun firmly. "I have to have that egg. I made a promise, and I intend to keep it so long as I breathe." She insisted proving that her stubborn nature was something she shared with Serah.