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Royal Blood (JamieXButterfly)

Jamie_the_Brown

Jamie_the_Brown

Supernova
Joined
Mar 9, 2009
Drip, drip, drip...

Such a sound would greet Princess Calista, when at last she awoke.

Drip, drip, drip...

The water that naturally came with such a dank and dark cave would bead on the end of a stalagtite, before it would fall to the ground, mostly dampening Calista's cheek. When at last she awoke from her drugged daze, memories might come... Of a lookalike woman, and the wicked, grinning face of the head of the Crowe line. Grand Duke of Rexalia, Reynard Crowe, an aged gentleman, a noble warrior, and someone who wasn't quite right in the head.

Drip, drip, drip...

It was a nearly maddening sound, and to a royal used to being pampered, so might the surroundings. It was a carved cave, with a heavy oaken door (padlocked from the outside) on one end of the chamber. It contained a wash basin, a few straw mats, and a bowl of gruel left on a dresser. A large man, Reynard's personal bodyguard, could be heard outside the door, paciing, and coughing from time to time on his acrid cigar. Calista herself had been deposited on old burlap sacking, filled to the brim with straw, and her sheer, lacy garments were torn here and there from the mild struggle she’d put up. That was until she’d been hit across the face, and a drugged cloth pressed to her mouth. Even now, she may feel a dull throb in her jaw.

Drip, drip, drip…..
 
Slowly, Calista started to slip her way back into the land of the conscious. It was not an easy road back through. She had been so well taken care of at that at first all she did was lay on the sack bed her captures had made for her and just groaned. After that she started to stir, rolling from her huddled position curled up on her side to her back, it caused the dripping from above to fall upon her forehead rather that her cheek. The water slipped it's way down into her eyes, helping to wake her more until she rolled away again in irritation.

Her mind started to wake before her body did fully. Where was she? What had happened to her? This place was no her bedroom for her bedroom was warm and cozy. In this place she shivered with the cold and the air was stale to breath in. And why was she in such pain? Reaching for her blanket, but finding none, she finally opened her eyes and looked around.

Dear God! What was going on?! Sitting up to suddenly, her head started to spin and throb. Calista held her eyes shut a moment, giving herself the time to find her way through the pain. It was in that time that flashes of what had happened came to her.

Going to her chamber. The maids helping her dress. Laying herself down in her bed and just about to drift to sleep when a noise alerted her. She had just sat up when she saw herself looking into her own face. A mirror? No. Another woman. A woman that somehow looked just like her. Before she could cry out... the rest was fuzzy after that but somehow in that fuzzy piece of her memory she had ended up here. And once again she had to ask herself, where WAS here?
 
Despite the questions that stampeded through the young princess's mind, no answers would be readily supplied. All that greeted her was the silence of the cave... and the occasional hacking cough outside of her cavern. However, soon another sound would pervade the air, the sound of armored boots on the stone outside. Hushed, masculine voices could be heard outside the door, and a rusted iron latch slid across so that light poured into the room.

One intelligent eye could be seen on the other side of the opening, before the pad lock on the door would be unlocked, and the bar was thrown off to the side. One could never be too careful. The door was pushed open, revealing torchlight, a wall of black muscle, broken by a white grin, before this wall moved out of the way. Behind him was Reynard, dressed in his military finery, consisting of steel half-plate armor. He brushed a few strands of greying hair from his face, and he made his way into the cavern. "Princess Calista!" he called in a booming voice. "My humblest apologies for the accomodations, but should I have you anywhere near one of the cities, dear old daddy would find out, and that would make things quite... problematic for me," he said, starting to approach her, a wicked grin on his face. "How many years have I waited? How many years have I whiled away my time, waiting for the day I would pierce the lovely princess's maiden's flesh," he mused aloud. "And now that day has come."
 
Calista's face grew to be filled with anger as she saw Reynard. Glaring at him, she spoke to him from between clenched teeth, making it sound almost like she was hissing at him, "Reynard!" Somehow, she found the sudden strength to rise swiftly to her feet, not even paying attention to the fact she was barely dressed in her night clothing. "I should have known some snake like you would be behind a foul plot such as this! I always knew you were up to no good!" And that was the truth. She had often warned her father about the bad feeling just looking at the Duke gave her. The piece were falling together. Calista was not just some brainless little twit of a princess.

Suddenly, she noticed how he was looking at him and his last words processed in her mind. The slime! "You will take me to your bed over YOUR dead body Reynard! I will claw your eyes out the moment you attempt to so much as touch my hand!" She was not even paying attention to the other whom had entered into the cave cell with Reynard. No she was focused entirely on he whom she considered her greatest threat. "Release me at ONCE Reynard and perhaps I will talk my father into being lenient with you!"
 
Her defiance merely earned a smile from the Grand Duke. "You will, will you? In a world where I could crush you with one hand, in -this- world, princess, I think not," he said, starting to make his way toward her, large fingers pulling at the straps of his breastplate, a wicked smile highlighting his face. "You will be mine, princess. The kingdom shall be mine, and my seed... that shall be your reward," he continued on, as his bodyguard moved forward. "Er... Boss," he started, though Reynard was too far gone to hear him. The breastplate fell to the ground, revealing a crimson tunic.

"Come now, princess. It shall not be all bad.. You shall be a queen yet, lest I throw you to my men for that defiant ton-" he continued, until his bodyguard wrapped one beefy hand around his shoulder. "Boss... Ye can't, now. Ye've that appearance to be makin'. They'd come looking," he advised.

Reynard's eye began to twitch gently, before he turned on his heel, raising a hand to strike at his guard... before he seemed to think better of it. "So be it. Guard the door until I get back, Golari. I shall be back as time permits... And you princess... this isn't over," he said, glancing over to her. He picked up his armor, and huffing, he made his way out, adjusting himself as armored trousers became terribly uncomfortable. Golari sighed softly to himself, and he picked up Reynard's breastplate, before he lookeed down to the princess. With a wide grin, he started his own approach. "Boss shoul'n't miss me fer long," he said, eyes roving over the pretty young princess in her nightly lace.
 
Calista took a step back, trying still to look strong on the outside as she faced Reynard down. She looked strong, defiant, but she was ready to scream and faint in the inside. She was not really well enough yet from their kidnapping to fight now. She needed time. She needed a plan, but it looked like she was not going to get it.

At first, she was thanking the lord above for the bodyguard as he stopped the duke's approach and his vile intentions. He had bought her time, but not as much as she thought. She was just about to lower her guard when the body guard made his true intentions clear to her. Instantly she went back into her defense mode. "Ruin what HE wants and it will be your head!" she said quickly as she took another step back, ready to fight him but knowing full well she would stand no chance against this one.

((If you really want... you and have Reynard force himself on her, but I would prefer at this time not to play it out. Just a before and and after.))
 
The guard continued toward her, a bright grin on his otherwise dark face. "Least I'm dyin' happy," he said with a low, rumbling chuckle.. He reached out, able to latch onto her breast for but the briefest moment, before glinting silver blossomed from his chest. He gripped the blade for several moments, before he fell to the ground, Reynard behind him, eye gently twitching. He jerked the blade out, and hacked down into the man for a moment. "She is -mine-," he growled to a body that had been dead for almost a minute, his eye continuing to twitch. Clearly, not all was right with the lord.

"You will be mine," he snarled, pointiung the bloodied sword toward the princess, before he stalked out of the room with forgotten breastplate in hand, leaving the corpse of his bodyguard to rot in there. He slammed the door, and put the bar and lock back in place, trapping her with the man who had nearly forced himself upon her.
 
Calista's face was solid as stone as she stared the guard coming for her. It stayed strong even when the guard reached for her and even long after his face had changed to that of a dying man. It took her a moment to notice but finally looking down, Calista gasped at the sight of the blade right through the guards gut. A look of sudden realization took over her face. It was all suddenly so real. She had to back all the way to the wall as her face went pale, watching the guard fall dead before her. Her eyes fell to the ground with him as he did but then rose once again to look to Reynard.

"You're mad..." was all she said in a meek, trembling voice as he departed, locking her inside to slowly slip her own way into madness, in the dark with the rotting body.
 
Drip... drip... drip...

Time, as it always did, passed slowly. Reynard did not return, and the body of his former bodyguard was lost to decay, and the rats who had claimed a corner in the cave. The dribbly candle that had been left to light the cavern had burned out within hours, and the princess's only company was the sound of rats chewing at the body, and the smell of it's decay. And, of course, the steady dripping of water upon the surface of the cave. The only source of water, of life, within her own little cavern of horrors.

-----------

Crowe pushed himself close to the wall of one of the many tunnels that formed his father's little bunker. Crowe had been there several times when he was younger, typically when the fighting in the war a decade or so ago got too intense. Reynard had been careful to protect his (then) only heir... Now that his two younger brothers had been born, Crowe had mostly been left to his own devices, and only in the recesses of his memory did he remember this place. And given the "princess's" odd behavior, and his father's obvious favoring of Calista... Well, it was obvious to someone like Crowe.

He slowly moved along the carved corridor, the sword named Legretta held in hand. He stopped at the edge of her door, and he slowly hefted the thick oak board that acted as a bar from the door.

This done, he smashed the padlock, weak with rust, with his sword's pommel, before he pushed his way into Calista's rancid chamber...
 
As the light entered in to the chamber from the hall, the first thing Crowe say was the rats as they scattered from the body on the floor. The guard's body smelled putrid and the way he had landed, his rotting eyes were still open.

The only sound was the drip, drip... whimper? The light was illuminated the room just enough that Crowe would be able to make out something in the corner. More rats? No it was too big for that, even if it was small. It was curled into a little ball and shivered. At first it didn't notice Crowe, just stayed in it's little ball, but then it rose it's head up.

Calista. Her eyes filled with fear and skin pale white. A crazed look upon her face. She had no idea how long she had been in this room, but every second sent her closer and closer to a madness. She had not eaten in days and while the water had been fine at first, eventually she had moved in fear to this corner and had not left it since. Somewhere between alive and death, she was freezing. Had she cried? Had she screamed? She couldn't remember but looking up at Crowe all she did was whimper out a weak, "Help me..." before she burst into tears for what felt like the hundredth time since Reynard had left her.
 
Crowe took several steps into the room, shaky hands holding tight to the hilt of the familial blade. Despite the armor he currently wore (splint mail interwoven into a thick, apron-like garment), and the blade he bore, he was no warrior. Such was evident by the scared look in his eyes, and the hesitation before each and every step. As the light fell across the guard's rotting, rat-eaten corpse, he did everything he could to keep from losing his breakfast all over the floor. "Oh gods," he muttered as he presed a hand to his stomach, trying to steady himself.

When a figure moved in the corner, he raised his sword suddenly, almost yelping in terror. He was about as ready for this scenario as she was. "Oh gods.. Calista," he said softly, when he realized it was the fair princess herself. He dropped his sword, sprinting across the room to her. He slid off his armor, before he pulled off his thick black sweater, which he offerred to her.

"Calista, it's me, Rexalian. You're going to be alright, everything's okay," he said softly. They didn't know each other very well... He'd always admired her for far more than her beauty, whilst he'd mostly been kept out of his public eye for his preference of the quill over the sword. What surprised him was how strongly he felt about her current state...

He'd kill Reynard himself for this.
 
Calista was looking right at him, but she never really looked at him. Her eyes were drifting off to some other place beyond him. Did she even hear his words? Feel his concern? He offered the sweater, but she made no move to take it. She had been in this one spot for so long in the dark, it hurt to move a single muscle. She just continued to stare right through him and she whispered, "It's cold..." She flinched suddenly and made a move like she was trying to get something off her hands, "They're on me! Get them off me!" There was nothing there, but marks of where it looked like the rats had taken nips at her skin. She could still feel them.
 
Crowe looked down to her with a worried gaze, and he slowly stood up. It looked like she was so far gone that there was almost nothing he could do for her.. But without food, without water, without light... That alone would drive someone crazy, much less the dripping water, the rancid corpse and the myriad of rats that rested within the cave. First thing first, though... She had to be helped. He reached over to her, awkwardly draping his sweater over her before h made his wa back toward the door. He picked up the oaken beam before making his way back inside.

He pulled off his tunic, which left him half naked, and he wrapped it around the end of the board, before he reached down to the leather pack that had come off with his armor. He pulled out the medicinal alcohol, and poured it over his shirt. He lit one of the few matches he had left on him, and he set it to the beam.. And after a moment, his tunic caught aflame, providing her with some amount of light and warmth. He looked to her, worried, as she still fussed over the feeling of the rats.

Finally, he pulled out the last of his provisions (hard bread and cured meat) and he passed them over to her, along with his waterskin. "Calista," he cajoled softly. "It's time to eat," he murmured, voice gentle.
 
The extra light illuminated her enough for Crowe to see her tattered clothing which at this point basically hung off her body. If not for the very sweater he had just placed on her, she's be more naked then he was at this time.

The promise of food was the first thing that seemed to get her attention. The sight of it made something light up in Calista's eyes. With an unsteady hand she reached out to take the bread from him first. Placing it near her lips, she took a deep breath, took a bite... and stopped with the food still almost whole in her mouth, "It's rotten..." she whispered. "Everything in here is rotten." The smell of the body had overtaken her senses by now. The bread smelled rotten to her and tasted so as well.
 
When at last he had looked back to her from the tasks of lighting a fire and giving her food, he would gasp at the sight of her.. Her lacy nightgown, by this time in tatters, hung loosely around a body that was pale with fright and the start of madness. "Calista, eat... If you don't, you'll die," he murmured softly, before he stood up. He looked to the half-eaten body with no small amount of distaste... He had to get it out of here. He made his way toward the corpse, and nearly vomiting from the wall of smell that surrounded it, he began to drag it out of the room. When at last it lay outside the cell, he made his way back into the room.

It still smelled like hell, but at least it lacked the actual body. He made his way back toward her, sitting down across from her. "Calista, all is alright now.. Eat, rest. I'll take you from here when you are strong enough," he said, reaching out to place a hand on her knee.
 
By the time he returned to her from disposing of the body, the bread was done. It's true taste seeping into her taste buds at last. She was taking a long sip of the water and had just taken a bit into the beef when he spoke of taking her from here... at another time. She dropped the beef and suddenly was frantic, "He'll find me if I stay here! I have to get out! He knows I am here! He's coming back for me!" Tears were rolling down her face and she started to sway a little, "He... he's going... to..." Calista fell forward then, right into his lap, out cold it seemed in an unnatural slumber.
 
Crowe reached out, trying to calm her down from her excited state.. Anything strenuous, even that, wasn't exactly good for her at the moment... And it was an expected reaction, her fainting. His arms closed around her shoulders as she fell toward him, and he sighed softly. "Don't worry, I'll get you out of here," he murmured softly, before he lay her down on the cavern floor. He extinguished the flames, and picked up his armor, which he pulled over his half-naked frame. He lifted her carefully and pulled the sweater over her starved and dehydrated frame. He pulled on his pack, sheathed his sword, and finally picked her up.

He stepped over the rotting guard as he left the room, her frame cradled in his arms, and he kicked the body back into the room before he closed the door. It was better than nothing. He quickly made his way down the hall he'd came down, heart pounding in his chest... Once they were out of the cavern, they'd be in the forest. Then they just had to make it to a city, and they'd be home free...
 
((Note that he doesn't have to turn her in yet. He can keep her locked up in his house if you like and before he can get her home, dad shows up again and makes off with her?))

Calista was so limp in his arms, it was almost as if she was dead. In fact, if it was not for the groaning every now and then and the shallow breathing, one might mistake her for a corpse. Her situation was grave. Her life was now in Crowe's hands. Her life and her virture for he might not have realized it but he had just made himself the only defense Calista had against Reynard. Would he defend he when it counted in the end?
 
(Nah. They're gonna live off the land for a little while. He needs to get her strength back up and all that. No one'll believe a disgraced son and a half insane woman who claims to be the princess. << I has ideas.)

After their escape from the Grand Duke's secret bunker, Crowe would walk almost aimlessly for hours, plodding ever forward in his search of civilization... Not that he minded the outdoors, though. He could comfortably live off the land for as long as it took, without even hunting. One advantage to being a natural historian such as he was that he had plenty of knowledge on such things.

Currently, he had made camp. With a lean-to created of fallen branches, or broken branches when he couldn't be bothered to find a regular one, along with leaves and the like. Calista lay currently on a bed of leaves, constructed by Crowe's hands, and a smokeless fire lay before her. It was barely a source of light or heat, but Crowe daren't stoke it into a blaze. The odds were stacked in everyone else's favor but theirs right now.

A large leaf held a number of berries, roots, leaves, and a bit of meat smoked right off of a local rabbit, and said leaf lay right beside where she lay. Crowe himself sat on the other side of the fire, trying to keep himself awake with blade held in hand.

He was determined to protect her.
 
He was rewarded before he feel to sleep when Calista started to stir once more. Groaning in almost pain, her hand went to her stomach. The lack of food was taking a toll, making her body ache. But soon the sweet smell of the cool, clean air and fresh fruits penetrated her fog and her pain. She turned to the side and opened her eyes to see the leaf with a little array of food. Real food! Sweet berries! Reaching her hand out she went for them, only hesitated a moment when her eyes focused on a form across the fire from her. He seemed familiar and yet he did not all at the same time. She didn't know if she should still go for the food before her or try and run for her life in her weak state.
 
It was through blurry eyes that Crowe was focused on the smokeless fire. He had his head somewhat bowed, wild, dark hair obscuring most of his face... Though when he caught sight of movement beyond the flickering fire, he looked up with gunmetal grey eyes.

"Calista," he breathed, and he gently slid his sword from his grip and onto the ground. He raised his hands in surrender. "It's me, Rexalian... You're safe, you see. Eat, now... You need food," he said, before he picked up his half-empty water skin, used to quench his own thirst during his dinner, which consisted of the rest of the meat on the rabbit. He tossed the water skin over the flames, a faint sloshing sound emanating from the worn leather as it hit the ground beside her weakened frame.
 
She flinched a little from his tossing of the water skin towards her. "Rexalian?" she questioned a moment before she sat up very slowly and looked around. She had heard the name before, where from? She reached for the food as she played the name over in her head. She had downed a number of the berries, a few bites of meat and was in the middle of a drink of the water when the name finally clicked in her head. She somehow found the strength to crawl to her feet. He was HIS son. "No! You won't take me to Reynard!" she cried out as she tried to make a run for it, tripping and struggling to just move a few feet before she feel weakly to her knees only a few feet away. "Stay away from me!"
 
Crowe chewed idly on one of the edible roots he'd collected for them, his grey eyes focused on the slender form of Calista. When she jumped up, he started and grasped his throat, choking on the root. Pounding himself on the chest, he managed to down it, breathing heavily as he slowly pushed himself to his feet.

"I'm not taking you back to that bastard; I rescued you from him in the first place," he said, holding his hands up in a statement of surrender as he took a couple steps toward her.

"Conserve your strength, Calista. You are not quite ready to be moving around... You nearly died because of my bastard of a father," he said softly, trying to get her to realize he wasn't her enemy.
 
Things all started to return to her slowly. Her abduction, the awakening, and then... "He left me there..." she said in shock. "He abducted me and LEFT me there to die!" Had he been toying with her? Was is all a plot to worry about him returning only to let her slowly die? "Where is he?" she asked looking up at Crowe. "Where is the bastard? He is going to pay!"
 
Crowe reached out with a leather-gloved hand, cupping her cheek gently. "I know... And he will. He's in Karthas right now," he said, speaking of the country's neighboring island nation. "He will be back very soon... And we can not face him head on, Calista. As much as you'd like to hurt him... As much as I would, we can't. You have to recover out here. We're far from the capital... You can't make the trip as you are right now. Once we can, though, we'll reveal my fath-... Reynard's treachery," he said softly.

"However, and I can assure you of this... You'll have your revenge on him," he said with a small smile. Normally a pacifistic man, he wished for nothing less than the brutal murder of his father. Calista's state back in the cave would be an image that would haunt him for some time to come.
 
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