Adult-FanFiction.org : Games

Treason	By : Dagian Category: +G through L > Lineage 2 Views: 832 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I own nothing, NCSoft regrettably does, I make no profit off of this story that is based on Lineage2.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
**Installment 10**

Nathavin watched as Kattath and Caellia walked back inside the castle. Sometime during his search for her he had come to respect the young silver rangers’ courage. He’d only seen her once before in Giran up close, but he had watched her from afar. He’d seen the incident when she’d held a dark elf caster against the arch of a doorway with the backside of her bow. He’d seen her have arguments with the temple knight on their way through the Death Pass region when they had been tailing the convoy. She always held her ground and refused to back off. Then there was that incident on the strider, why had he taken such care not to wake her up? He didn’t understand himself anymore.

Sighing, he turned back to the scrolls on his desk. The library here was useless. He needed to know what had prompted his true parents and hers to do this. There were only two other libraries that might have the information he sought, the royal library in Aden and the library hidden deep within his homelands. Aden was out of the question, he’d never get near it now seeing as his spies had told him that Goryn was there requesting Asadar’s help with his plans to siege Goddard. Einao had been right. Goryn was going to come after Caellia.

He had purposefully avoided Caellia since they had arrived at the castle. The only contact with her had been with Kattath as he instructed her that Caellia was to go nowhere without Kattath with her. Deciding that he would need to go to his homeland to retrieve the scrolls he set off to the dining hall.

*****

At the dining table Nathavin announced his plans to leave for a few days to go to the library in their homelands. He intended to leave the next day. There was no argument. He looked over to the two empty spaces at the table. It seemed that Caellia had yet again declined to sit with him. This was becoming annoying, she was going to have to get used to him if she was to be his queen. Deciding he’d have a talk with her later that night he thought no more of it the rest of the meal.

*****

Caellia had finished her bath and had eaten dinner some hours ago, but she could not sleep. She paced her room agitatedly for several minutes. She needed to release some energy, but how and where. Kattath was not here, likely she was asleep with everyone else. Caellia looked out her window and onto the moonlit archery range. It was just within sight of her room. She looked on it a little while longer before making up her mind. She remembered the way down there and knew where the bow was kept. She would have a late night practice alone. Everyone was asleep and there were no guards in that area. She frowned slightly, it was a bit odd that there were no guards down there, but perhaps since her borrowed bow was the only weapon there, and there was another range somewhere they didn’t think the range needed to be guarded. Whatever the reason was, it was to her advantage tonight. Pulling her repaired armor on, she set off on her mission to release some pent up energy.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she walked onto the range with the bow and arrows. Sneaking through the castle had been nerve wracking. She took aim and released the first arrow, concentrating to see the target in the dark. It was slightly off the mark but still acceptable. She continued to rapidly fire her arrows happily, and even giggled at some of her own clumsiness in the darkened range and soon lost track of time.

Nathavin stood still in the shadows and watched her. He’d come to practice himself but had found her already on the range. The moon shone brightly casting the range into near daylight conditions for his eyesight, but apparently her sight was not as sharp as his in the dark as she missed the target several times in a row. She made a sound of annoyance and stared at the target for several long seconds before she knocked the arrow with an expression of fierce determination. She drew the dark elven bowstring back with considerable care before releasing it with a sharp wrist movement. A split second later came the unmistakable sound of the arrow finding its mark. He listened as she quietly made a comment about her lack of practice. He decided that now would be the time to make his presence known to her. Although he had intended to talk to her regarding her absence at mealtimes, he decided to force her to become accustomed to his presence, as well as humiliate her a bit at the same time.

He stepped away from the wall and raised his spiked bow to firing level and released his arrow. The arrow flew past her left ear and struck her target dead center. He watched as she whipped around to face him, her own bow brought up and ready to fire.

“Who’s there? Show yourself, now.” Caellia growled out, she was disgusted she’d let someone sneak up on her. She knew that holding a weapon against any of Nathavin’s men was asking, no, begging, for trouble. But she was not going to be defenseless in this situation either, not to mention this was a practice range after all.

He stepped into the moonlight and stared at her as she gripped the bow tighter and drew the string further back. “Caellia put the bow down.”

“You! Why can’t you leave me alone?! I will not put this bow down!”

“Put it down so I can explain how you missed that target three times in a row.”

That did it for Caellia. She was not going to have him lecture her on how to fire a bow. She pulled the string back as far as she could and let the arrow go. She watched in stunned amazement as he nimbly dodged the arrow and fired one of his own. His first arrow whizzed past her to her right as he fired a second one to her left. The third one was a special arrow. It had a blunted tip and was only used to knock the fight out of the target without injuring them. He summoned the necessary magic to enable the arrow to fly correctly with its blunted tip and fired.

Caellia couldn’t move, she couldn’t do anything but watch as Nathavin approached her and took her bow from her hands. “Now, let’s show you what you did wrong, little one,” he sarcastically droned in a bored tone. The second the shock to her muscles wore off, he flipped her around so that her back was to his chest. He gripped her left hand and placed his personal bow in her hand, he then covered her left hand with his own so that the two of them were holding the bow. “First, your grip is wrong. You hold the bow like this. Now pick up an arrow.”

Caellia couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t do much of anything. She’d never been held by anyone in such a manner and was ill prepared for it. Her arm quivered as she was forced to hold the bow with him. She jumped when he repeated his earlier request and his warm breath tickled her right ear. “Pick up an arrow Caellia.”

She complied with his request and picked up the appropriate arrow for the bow. She shuddered as his right hand wrapped around hers and guided her through the motions of knocking the arrow on the bowstring and pulling it back. “Relax and concentrate on the target. Do not snatch the string back before you release the arrow, it will only cause it to veer off course.” He smoothly pulled her hand back then removed his fingers from hers while still allowing his hand to hover over her own. “Release the arrow now.”

She did so and watched it hit the target square in the center. She quickly attempted to pull away but he wouldn’t let her. They did this for quite some time in relative silent companionship. Neither seemed to want to fight the other, and they calmly discussed her strengths and weaknesses regarding fighting at night. However this all came to an end when he abruptly pulled away from her. “Go inside Caellia, leave the bow here.”

“I want to stay out here a bit longer.” She pleaded, reluctant to go inside just yet.

“I said go inside Caellia.” He sent her a glare that had sent many of his trusted men scurrying for cover. “I will not repeat myself. I have need of the range tonight.”

Caellia huffed, “There is another range isn’t there? Perhaps one of us could go there. I only came down here to this one because I know where it is and there are no guards nearby to disturb me.”

“There is no one here because this is my personal range. That bow,” he nodded to the long bow she’d been using, “is mine and I’ve let you borrow it.” He advanced on her and picked a strand of her hair up and watched it shimmer in the moonlight before releasing it and saying harshly, “Go inside now!”

Caellia knew she had pushed to far and bolted back to her room. Once there she fell on the bed more confused than ever. He’d been nice to her and then suddenly had reverted back to being angry with her. She hadn’t done anything to anger him. By Eva, he had intruded on her and forced her to allow him to show her how to fire an arrow! She stood up and went to her window and looked down at the range and saw him rapidly firing his arrows into a target non-stop. Sighing she padded back over to the bed and laid down and fell into fitful sleep.

Nathavin viciously attacked the target. What had come over him? He’d only set out to humiliate her on her lack of ability to properly aim at night and it had turned into a full blown teaching session. He pulled the string back and watched the arrow sail across the range and slam into its intended target. Scowling at his behavior he strung the next arrow with unnecessary force and cursed when the string snapped under the pressure. Cursing in his native tongue and some of the orcish language he carefully restrung the bow and headed back to his rooms. The sooner he got away from Caellia the better. Perhaps he’d be able to think more clearly and develop a way to prevent his recent actions from repeating themselves.

Kattath watched from her concealed location as Nathavin left the target range. She had known the moment Caellia had left for the range and had followed her to keep an eye on her to prevent her from trying to escape like she had in the forest. She had remained hidden when Nathavin had entered the range, she couldn’t very well tell him to leave his own range anyhow. She smiled to herself as she remembered the way Nathavin had taught Caellia how to aim in the dark. She hoped beyond hope that whatever he found in the scrolls in the homelands would be enough to convince him to reunite the two races rather than destroy them.

*****

Goryn watched as his troops prepared for the march to Goddard. It would take two days to get there as quickly as they could. He gave the order and they began their solemn trek towards Goddard. He glanced at the arrowhead he kept with him at all times. It was the arrowhead that had been on the arrow Caellia had shot at him back when they first met. He didn’t understand why everyone had seen it and he hadn’t, but he admitted now to himself. He loved her and would do anything for her. He would slay both Antharas the land dragon and Valakas the dragon of fire for her if he had to.

Goryn’s troops left the following day and had traveled all that day and had pushed into the night for as long as possible before they stopped. They had stopped just north of the blazing swamplands on the road before they would cross between the mountain ranges. Once they passed through the valley between the mountains they would be on Nathavin’s territory and subject to attacks.

Goryn busied himself with checking on the dwarven war smiths he’d hired for the battle. They assured him that they had all they would need to build their monstrous machines should the need arise. He then next went to the archery units to check on them and then on to the next unit on his list, all the while thinking only of Caellia.

*****

Asadar walked into his war room, “Where is Goryn’s' troops now?” he demanded. He didn’t have to wait long for his answer.

“They are just on the outskirts of Goddard territory.” Hontas quickly answered.

“Good. Prepare our men to leave. We will intercept him on his way back to Oren at the crossroads between the forest of evil spirits and the ancient battlegrounds. We will destroy the remainder of his forces and take Caellia there.”

“But sire, it might take him a week to successfully siege Goddard.” Hontas replied uncertainly.

“No, it shouldn’t take that long. I’ve heard that Nathavin is away right now. Goddard is a castle with no Lord to oversee its defense. This won’t be easy for Goryn, but it won’t take him that long to bring Goddard to its’ knees.”
- 9
- 10
- 11
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Treason