Border Crossing

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"You're late." Baralai Fairchild despised the rain, almost as much as he despised mages. He was waiting at one of the bridges that crossed the river that in turn divided the two largest kingdoms in their land. It was the same bridge where he had waited countless times. Templar or no, gold was gold, and this gold also got rid of troublesome mages.
"You want the gold or not?" A black clad man snarled as he jumped down gracefully from his equally black steed.
Baralai muttered something rather unbecoming of a Templar, then held a gloved hand out. "Gold first, then the cargo. Try anything..." He words were cut off as the mage he was transporting broke free of his restraints. It all happened so quickly that he didn't see the flash of lightning and the proud Templar was crashing into the raging river below.
Six months. It had been six months and the fallen Templar still woke in a cold sweat after dreaming of that night. The mage had rendered him immobile, though wide awake when he had plunged into the river, his heavy armour weighing him down until a pig farmer had dragged him from the river several miles away. It had taken months to get back to health and pay back the farmer for his kindness. In that time word had gotten out that Fairchild the Templar was a deserter.

Alice Gormanghast was scowling into the mirror. She hated this world she had been born into, even now as her maid pulled tightly on the laces of her dress she thought of nothing but a way to escape. Her brother's were all war heroes, famous to everyone in the kingdom for their brave deeds and triumph in defeating several of the dragons. But Alice... All she was known for was to be the prize her father handed over to the man he deemed brave enough to end the war altogether. She was the proverbial Princess in the tower, useful only for luring in prospective suitors. The young brunette didn't even realise her rose coloured lips were quirked into a slight smile 'if only they knew'. Indeed, her father would have a literal heart attack if he knew his prized daughter had secretly been learning how to shoot a bow and handle a sword. She lost herself for hours at an end in books that told of the thieves guild, and their mysterious leader who was sometimes known to have a higher moral code than the knights of their kingdom.

Baralai paused and turned to look at the tree that now lay behind them. "And what was that then, my guardian faerie?" He snorted.

Alice continued to scowl. The young woman tore the tiara from her head and stormed to the exit. It seemed everyone was treating her like an idiot and she had quite simply had enough.

"Those are just stories." Yena said, unable to stifle a yawn. "You know...you left your pigs to sell behind. What will the farmer say? Or are you planning to abandon him in your desperation to sell a mage?" She was asking the question but her head was nodding. She'd be asleep before he even got out the first word. 

"Leaving your husband already?" Another of her brothers was waiting in the stablesfor her. He leaned against that stall that contained her horse and gave a wicked grin. "Alexis told me what that elf did to you."

"I can make enough from selling you to keep the old man comfortable for his remaining years." Baralai replied rather bluntly.

Alice simply narrowed her gaze at her brother. "What's the matter, no stable boy for you to take your pleasure from today?" She sneered.

Yena snored loudly. She slept for a good while, her head resting on his shoulder, her face pressed in his neck. 

"You sound jealous." The eldest of her brothers pointed out coldly. "Don't change the subject. Where are you going?"

Baralai carried Yena for some hours before they reach a small village. He rented them a room and laid her in the bed while he sat by the window. He was somehow going to have to find the Dark Brotherhood if he wanted to hand the mage over any time soon.

Alice smiled thinly and shook her head. "As you pointed out, I'm married now. To me that means we are no longer family, and you can no longer demand anything of me!"

If the Templar were to check his pack for food, he would find both the bread and cheese long gone. At some point the little elf had eaten it all. 

"Oh we are still family." Her brother purred. "I can demand anything of you. Just like in the old days, dear heart."

Of course, Baralai would pretend he was outraged, when in truth he was glad it at least meant he wouldn't be handing over a starving creature.

"Don't call me that." Alice warned, wise enough not to take her gaze from her eldest brother for even a second. Alexis was an annoyance, but Kane... He was dangerous.

The inn keeper came knocking on his door a few hours later, a plate of food in her hands. "Your wife looks hungry. I've cooked something up and I've drawn her up a bath. Shall I have the water brought in?"

"Why? You don't like it anymore? Such a shame." Kane dropped dark heavy lashes to his high cheek bones, for a moment covering scarlet eyes. "You were always so sweet. So innocent. And now you're being ruined by...him."

Baralai was about to splutter and sneer at the thought of him being married to a mage, but his better judgement saved him. "Thank you. I'm sure she would appreciate your kindness." He told the inn keeper with a rather forced smile; clearly he wasn't used to being nice.

"If you hate it so much, you could have prevented it." Alice pointed out thinly. "But no, why would any of you lift a finger when it doesn't benefit you?" She added, trying to ignore the all but hungry way her eldest sibling had just looked her over.

Before Yena knew it she was sitting in a tub of hot water, trying to cover herself from the Templar who stood on the other side of the room. The inn keeper's wife scrubbed at her hair, muttering things about her living in the mud like a pig. 

"It is making father happy. If a snake like Anaris can do that, it takes the pressure off us for a while. Wouldn't you say?" Kane asked her.

Baralai was every inch the Templar as he stood with his back to the scene, arms clasped behind him. He wasn't going to look... not at all. At least that was what he continuously repeated in his head.

"You would know a great deal about being a snake, Kane." Alice replied thinly. "If you were any kind of useful, he wouldn't have needed to sell me to keep his kingdom safe!"

"I can clean myself!" Yena protested finally. She launched herself out of the water, grabbing for the first thing she could find. It didn't help that it was Baralai's tunic. 

"Don't think he wasn't planning on it anyway.and do not for a moment think I did not offer him a handsome price." Kane said with a purr. "Just because your husband controls mages...he wins..."

"What the..." Baralai was caught by surprised when he felt something jerk on his tunic. A second later he was tumbling into the water with Yena, though the whole scene ended up looking like a dog who didn't wish to take a bath.

Alice had tried to stop herself, but she backed up anyway, only until her back came into contact with the stable door. "Why?" She breathed, having never understood her half sibling's fascination with her.

Yeah cursed in her native tongue. She'd been nearly drowned by the mountain of a man and she was not at all happy with this fact. Not that it all hadn't been entirely her fault. 

"I think you know why." Kane breathed, following her until she hit the door. "Forget your husband. He has what he wanted. Now give me what's mine."

Baralai was spluttering as he picked himself up, his honey coloured hair plastered down over his eyes and his clothing now clinging to him like a second skin. "Woman!" He managed to growl, just catching himself in time to keep from calling her 'mage'.

"I-I don't have anything of yours." Alice whispered, suddenly finding it very hard to breathe within the tight confines of the wedding gown she still wore.

For a long moment Yena stood where she was, now on the outside of the tub of water. Then her lips began to twitch and she the back her head and laughed. "You're turn for the water." She giggled.

"Oh yes you do." Kane grabbed Alice and threw her hard against the wall. "Is this how he started it?" He purred, yanking her dress up to her slender thighs as he lifted her legs up to wrap them around his waist.

Baralai was smirking also, well aware that Yena was oblivious to the fact she was stood there naked while laughing at him for being wet, though fully clothed.

Alice whimpered, a rogue nail sticking out of the wood behind her and cutting into her back, staining the ivory gown with a patch of crimson. "Kane, stop this!" The panic in the young woman's voice was real, as the heir to their father's throne wasn't to know she was as pure as he was lamenting having never gotten a taste of.

Yena didn't seem to care. She allowed the inn keepers wife to bundle her up and steer her away. The elder woman began talking about her famous stew, even as she gave Baralai hateful glares over her shoulder. 

"Not until I get what I deserve" Kane hissed, reaching down with his free handto begin unlacing his breeches.

Baralai met Yena's gaze and was still grinning, it seemed even a Templar wasn't at all sorry for having a free glance of bare breasts.

"You deserve less than nothing!" Alice spat, her nails raking his cheek in a bit to free herself from his assault.

Yena was fairly certain she was going to burst. She stared down at her bowl and groaned loudly. The old woman just kept filling it up, loudly announcing that she'd been able to feel her ribs while helping her bathe. 

Kane grabbed a handful of her hair and went to jerk her head back when a powerful fist closed over his wrist. "You are touching something that belongs to me. I would advise against it." Amari hissed.

Baralai was grinning the whole while, knowing it would irritate Yena further. "What's that, you could fit another five bowls in you love it so much? And cake too?" He asked rather loudly.

Alice was ashamed that a tear was streaking down her cheek. The princess hated to admit to anyone that she was weak. Even though Anaris was thankfully there to stop Kane, she still didn't understand what he was getting from their sham marriage.

The old woman was barely giving Baralai anything to eat but it didn't seem to the little elf that he minded it that much. She glowered at him as the old woman cheerfully exclaimed she would make Yena an amazing cake and make her eat it almost immediately.

Kane would find himself stripped to his underclothes and dumped in the center of the party. Once that was done, Anaris made sure that his people had gotten Alice out of the humiliating situation and into a carriage headed toward his home.

"I told you I was going to fatten you up." Baralai mused once the older woman had shuffled off to begin work on the cake.

There was no denying that Kane had deserved what was done to him, but unfortunately it would only put Alice in more danger from him in the long run.
The young woman still wore her bloodied and torn wedding gown as she sat int he carriage, her knees hugged up to her chest as she stared out the window.

Yena pretended not to hear him as she gathered the plates and stacked them in the center of the table. When they began to wobble a wave of her hand put a stop to that and the dishes seemed to move all on their own. She thought nothing of the display or the startled staresults it was earning her. 

The house Alice was brought to was enormous. The people inside and around were a bustle of activity. She was bundled inside like the most precious of cargo and practically everything came to a screeching halt while she was. They all wanted to see her.

Baralai suddenly clamped a hand over Yena's and was nose to nose with her in an instant. "Are you insane, girl?" He breathed. "Magic, here? Where anyone can see?"

Alice couldn't look at any of them. She couldn't even fake a smile, knowing it was required of her. Though he hadn't been able to go through with what he had planned, Kane had still managed to severely shake the young princess.

Yena blinked at him in confusion,  her crimson eyes wide. Behind her the dishes clattered to the floor loudly. "What? What did I do?"

"Are you all right?" The young elf who helped her change into her dress was waiting to help her change yet again. "Anaris told me what happened. I'm so sorry."

Baralai heard the smash and closed his eyes before sighing heavily. "Magic isn't exactly looked upon kindly round these parts, if you know what I mean?" He breathed. "Ever hear the term 'witch'?"

Alice simply nodded mutely, her gaze fixed on the wall in front of her for an impossibly long moment before she actually spoke. "Not that it shouldn't have been expected."

"No." Yena told him with a frown. "Is it someone who takes care of another? A musician maybe? Because...I can't sing..." she added sheepishly. 

"He thinks highly of you. He called you brave." the young woman said. "I'm thinking he was right to choose you."

Baralai couldn't help byt laugh at her reply. "Yena... A witch a a magic user that people fear. They blame her for the deaths of their livestock, missing children, wayward husbands. Anything they can."

"I wasn't brave." Alice corrected. "If I had been brave, I wouldn't have needed rescuing. "And he didn't choose me... I was handed over because my family think me worthless."

"So she's an elf?" Yena asked. "Then I am definitely a witch." she gave him a firm nod, certain she now knew what she was. Oddly, she looked happy about it. 

"Don't be silly. He paid a high price for you. Didn't you know that? Where do you think those marks on his back came from?" the young woman asked her.