Coitus Interruptus | By : Dagian Category: +G through L > Lineage 2 Views: 1218 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: I do not own Lineage2 nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story. |
The next morning, Starr awoke tired and sore. She’d slept awkwardly against the wall. Low voices gained her attention, and she spotted the dark elves talking quietly near the cave entrance. Moving slowly, she sat up gingerly, trying not to draw their notice. As she listened to them conversing in their own language, she stretched quietly and wondered what they were discussing. As the sounds of their rough and uneven language filled the cavern, she cursed the Elders of her village that forbade learning their language. That knowledge would’ve come in quite useful right about now.
“It could work.” Nathavin spoke lowly, conscious of the fact that the elf was still sleeping behind them. “But you will need to convince her first. She has to go along with this willingly if you are to get the Obsidian Council to agree to it. Magister Harant will look for any excuse to be rid of her, his hatred toward our light cousins knows no bounds.”
“Faeronar is wise. He will see the benefits of keeping her alive despite Harant’s attempts to sway the others towards the execution.” Shin countered.
“Only if she convinces him that she has turned her back on her own.” Nathavin reminded Shin. “Are you certain that you can convince her to do such a thing? Right now you can’t even risk untying her without running the extreme risk of her killing you immediately.”
Shin grinned slightly. “I’m sure I can convince her of plenty.” And he was going to enjoy every minute of that process…
Becoming serious again, he continued. “She and I will start small. I’m sure that there are things about our kind that she is at least curious about.” He ignored Nathavin’s skeptical scoff. “I’m going to take her to the hideaway near the waterfall.” Although it was a remote little cottage, the hideaway offered a nice cozy bed and a large, naturally flowing warm spring for bathing. The surrounding forest provided plenty and varied game to eat and the river that fed into the waterfall provided an abundant source of fish. They could stay there for quite some time if necessary and Nathavin was the only other person who knew of its existence, so it was perfectly safe place to hide her away from everyone.
“Shin, the only curiosity she has about our kind right now is when we’ll finally die off and her kind can be rid of us forever.” Nathavin remarked with bitterness.
Shin looked at his friend sharply, surprised by his sentiment. “I understand your frustration with the light elves, I even share it sometimes, but we can’t let ourselves be ruled by blind hatred for all of them for the actions of some, or most. Remember what happened and what we discussed when we were still at the academy?”
Nathavin scowled at the dirt. He remembered. It wasn’t his proudest moment. “Yeah, I remember.” He groused. A light elven healer had provided him healing on one of his first missions outside of their homelands. Being arrogant and believing the lies he’d been fed of their superiority to the light elves, Nathavin had attacked the healer as repayment for the man’s kindness. He’d considered that kindness a weakness.
The priest had damn near killed him for the attack. He could still feel the sizzle of the holy energies surging through him. Shin witnessed the incident and saved his life by convincing the healer to let him live.
It was only after the healer had left that Nathavin realized that Shin had actually gained the light elven mystic’s respect and trust by doing small favors for him previously. That incident had led to the two of them becoming fast friends and nearly always teaming up to go on missions together. It was also the reason Nathavin believed Shin might actually stand a chance at convincing the light elf behind them to actually cooperate. Over the years Shin had managed to gain friendships, or at the very least, a measure of some respect, from various light elves. Granted none of them ever admitted to such, but the fact that he'd managed even that much was impressive.
As the two continued their conversation, Starr glanced around the cavern, searching for the container of ale. She frowned as she spied it sitting on the far side of the fire from her. Reaching it meant getting up, which would most certainly gain their attention.
Shin turned to observe her, Nathavin following suit. “No doubt she will prove to be a challenge, but I’m sure I can manage.” Following her gaze, Shin stood and grabbed the bottle of ale, bringing it to her. “Drink up, we’ll eat and then we are going to a little place I know.” As she took several gulps, he considered how he should start gaining her trust.
Nathavin stood and grabbed his bow and daggers. “I’ll go scout the area ahead of you. Make sure no one has found the place.” He left without waiting for a response.
Starr watched the archer go with interest. That last bit had been spoken in the common language, which she could understand. “What’s he talking about?”
Shin smiled as he began fixing a light breakfast for her. “He’s just checking up on another small hideaway of mine.”
Eyeing the meat he was fixing, Starr felt her stomach churn. “I don’t eat meat for breakfast.”
Pausing, Shin glanced at her. “There’s not much else to eat, hrea.”
“I spotted some trees near the entrance to this lovely little dirt pile you call shelter, the fruit they bear is edible.” She snarked at him.
“I’m aware that this little ‘dirt pile’ is not to your liking, but insults are not going to change your situation.” Staring at her, he realized that he needed to correct this attitude of hers and fast. “I never once insulted your kind when you had me chained and held captive. While it is true that I always had the ability to escape, I never besmirched the efforts that were taken to hold me. Nor did I express my disdain for the shelter the brig provided. Although I most certainly found both the effort and the brig to be lacking.” He paused before continuing.
“I advise you to start looking toward this captivity of yours as an opportunity to prove yourself useful to our kind if you want to continue living. Right now, the moment I turn you in, they will schedule a very public, and painful, execution. I’m giving you the opportunity to save your own life. But you will need to work with me.”
Kneeling down in front of her, he placed his hand on the wall behind her and leaned forward. “Work with me. Help me prove to those cowards in your military that you are still a dangerous adversary. That they made a mistake in dismissing you from service.” He had no idea if what he was doing would work, he hadn’t planned on making this particular pitch to her. However, he somehow felt like this was the correct tact to take with her. And his instincts had not been proven wrong yet when it came to the light elves. “They turned their back on you. Not even we are so callous.”
As he spoke, he remembered Nathavin becoming badly injured after a particularly brutal mission to attack an orc regiment. That injury had prompted him to take up archery instead as he could no longer withstand the steady onslaught of blows to a shield. “I know that we are regarded as cruel and vicious. It is an image that we not only accept but help to cultivate. It raises fear in our enemies. Encourages them to keep their distance. But we are not as cruel as most believe.”
As he watched her, he thought he saw a glimmer of curiosity flash in her eyes. He’d been right, she was very curious of their kind. “If you’ll allow it, we can help you be so much more. I can help you not only regain what you’ve lost, but you will achieve so much more.” Leaning forward, his mouth next to her ear, he breathed softly. “Let me help you, Starr.”
Drawing back slowly, he pressed a light kiss to her lips and then stood, leaving to retrieve the fruit she’d indicated that she’d prefer. He took his time so that she could think over his words. As with most of his dealings with the light elves he’d befriended, he’d allowed his instincts to guide him in his speech. Now it was time to simply wait and see what the results were.
While he was out looking for the fruit, Starr sat quietly, contemplating his words. On the one hand she knew he was not to be trusted. On the other, he’d struck a nerve, one that resonated with her. Her kind had turned on her. They deemed her so useless that they’d dismissed her without giving her adequate time to heal and retrain.
Could this dark elf truly help her? Why would he even want to? Did it even matter anymore why, she thought bitterly. She’d been witness to enough dismissals of her own to know that they weren’t going to waste time and resources looking for her. She was alone. Einao might’ve continued to look for her if he’d been alive, but eventually even he would’ve been ordered to stop.
She struggled to remember the dark elf’s name. It was similar to a body part, part of the lower leg… Calafyn, for the calf…? No. Wrong part of the leg. Shin… That was it. Nothing else made sense.
Re-entering the cavern, Shin placed several sliced pieces of fruit in front of her. “So, do we repeat last night’s meal where I feed you? Or will you believe me and let me help you? In which case, I free your hands and you can feed yourself.”
The two eyed one another in silence for long seconds before Starr finally broke it. “Untie me, Shin.”
Upon hearing his name, he grinned. Progress, he thought with satisfaction. She wouldn’t have said it if she hadn’t chosen to believe him and let him help her. Taking her hands in his, he swiftly untied the rope. He was prepared to jump quickly if she tried casting a spell at him but found it wasn’t necessary as all she did was reach for the fruit pieces.
As she daintily nibbled on the fruit, he munched on a piece of meat from the previous night that he and Nathavin had prepared. After a few minutes, when she was finished, he stood and motioned for her to follow him outside. He didn’t speak, not wanting to risk breaking the fragile peace between them. Best to let silence drop between them and wait for her to speak first.
Starr followed him in silence as he led them away from the cavern. She had mixed feelings regarding her actions. Shame, rage, bitterness, sadness, all warred within her. What she didn’t feel though was fear. Something she thought she should’ve felt.
Her inward ruminations ceased when they came to a stop and in front of her stood a rather majestic, white, fenrir. The animal clearly recognized Shin as it gave a small and happy whine, the tail slowly wagging back and forth, displaying its affection. Turning its attention to her, the large wolf stretched it’s nose out cautiously, sniffing her first and then taking a step in her direction. Once close enough, she stretched her hand out toward it and received a curious lick in return. “It’s white…” She mused softly to herself.
Overhearing her, Shin explained. “Not their normal coloring I know. However, he was born differently.”
“You chose it?” She questioned, still examining the animal, stroking her hand lightly through the somewhat rough coat.
“No. He, chose me.” Shin replied with light emphasis.
Looking toward Shin, she nodded her head once, acknowledging the slight correction. “Why not use a horse?”
“Horses, while capable of great speeds, are not ideal for my line of work. I need something that is capable of traveling silently and for long periods of time without the need to return to a town to purchase food. Horses are loud and require proper grain. They are also prey animals and as such are flighty, prone to running off in fear. The fenrir has none of those undesirable qualities. It is capable of being quiet, can live off of the same diet I can, can hunt for its own food, and can also fight by my side when necessary.”
“But horses are quite a bit faster.” Starr pointed out.
“Speed isn’t everything. With his nose, I can track down anyone at a pace of my own choosing. Horses tire as quickly as they run.” Shin answered with a shrug. “While humans have managed to use them to great effect, nothing will beat out the fenrir when it comes to battle. Tibmag here will fight with me if I ask him to, a horse will run away and save itself. The two are not the same.” Daring to be a bit playful, Shin stepped close to her and quickly picked her up and set her on the saddle on the wolf’s back. No sooner had he set her down, he lunged up onto the saddle behind her.
Starr felt somewhat lightheaded at the sudden movement and simply gripped the pommel of the saddle until her equilibrium returned. “You could’ve warned me!” She hissed.
“I could’ve. But it wouldn’t have been as much fun.” He conceded. Speaking in dark elvish, he commanded the wolf to take them to the cottage.
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