The Cavern (LunarWolf @ GuardianAngel)

LunarWolf

LunarWolf

Cluster
Joined
Mar 29, 2018
Location
North America
A well-known city cannot simply drop off the face of the earth...can it?
A well known, and popular trade capital has had a very sudden decline, all due to a new king. Or so the people thought. The first few months of this man's rule went well, with a flourishing city, becoming richer by the hour due to the trading of its people and their goods with outsiders. This city was a safe-haven for most, full of peace and life, then things began to change. Slowly, almost un-noticeable, The people saw more of the King's guards roaming the streets, the city's rules being enforced more strictly and the punishments for simple crimes becoming extreme what would once result in a fine now resulted in the person being taken away never to be seen again. Then...people were starting to disappear even those who had committed no crime what so ever. One by one the population of this once grand city vanished. The townspeople had been forcibly located underground, into a system of caverns, forced to become the king's slaves. Forced to mine deep into the earth for valuable resources, that had no use to the people who had once lived above ground in prosperity. These once-happy people have been isolated from everything and everyone, they haven't seen sunlight in ten years. But all of a sudden there have been rumors of a rebellion among the younger workers, but will it be successful? will they be able to overthrow the king? Or will they forever be left underground?

While no one is allowed to leave the caverns one small group of people are allowed they are the females who are able to dance this small group is very special as they have to pass a surprising number of tests just to be accepted into the group let alone allowed to dance for the king and his people. the day before a performance the women are pulled from the mines and take to shower and prepare for the command performance while under extreme guard so that no one can escape. these females all dread going above ground as not everyone returns right away occasionally one or two of the females will be called away to do a 'private performance' for the king and his head general. Sometimes it is simply overnight they are gone, or it is one or two days but sometimes the girls never return and no one ever hears from them again




Deep beneath the city near the very back of one of the twisting mine tunnels was a large room filled with women of all ages who were sitting and chipping away at the precious stones on their tables that they were to have cut and polished by the nights' end. one of these ladies was one of the king's dancers. Bailey groaned when two guards walked into her workspace as she knew what it meant, there was another command performance the next day and all of the king's dance troop was being called top side. Bailey knew better than to fight with them as the first time she had she had been beaten rather badly and hadn't been able to dance like she had been called to do. Bailey finished her work and then stood up and followed them to the landing where they would be gathered before being taken top side. Bailey looked at the others there and they were all scared and she could see it in there face. Out of all of them, Bailey had the most unique coloring as she had tanned skin as if she spent every day in the sun but her hair was pale platinum in color with the tips of her hair being blue in color. Bailey was the last of her kind he mother had been a wood elf while her father had been a dark elf, this combination made it so she could liver below grounds without getting sick as her mother had. Bailey remembered when the guards had first come for her family. she and her mother had been tending to her mothers garden when they had shown up and ordered them to go to the caverns as the king wanted all able bodies to work the mines

Up in the castle stood the head general Lo-Wen he was waiting with his king as the commanders were coming to give their reports on the most recent snuffing out of rebels. While they hadn't been able to find the leader they all felt as if they were getting close to finding out who the leader was if not actually being able to catch them. Lo-Wen looked over at his king and nodded alerting him know without speaking that those who didn't do their fair amount of work would be punished and severely at that once the meeting was over. Lo-Wen was the most brutal of the generals but also the most loyal to the king so he had complete access and no one worried about him betraying the king.
 
Another performance was happening that night it seemed, and that had all of the dancers that were down below quite afraid of what was going to happen. One couldn't blame them at all, typically those that came rarely went back down to the safety of the caverns. This was all super dependent on the kind of mood that the king and his brutal general were in. And this was dependent on if anybody else happened to piss either of them off prior to the dancers getting up there. And if anybody was up there during the meeting, they would definitely know that the king was quite annoyed at that point in time. His soldiers hadn't discovered anything at all, and it was bothering him. "How difficult is it to discover information on one person?" the king questioned as he leaned back in his seat, a slightly annoyed scowl on his lips. This had a number of the commanders just seeming to step back. The dancers knew who the soldiers were, they knew to be quiet around them. Or at least try to anyways. Half the time the slaves would rather be killed than reveal anything to the guards.

Mikael was looking up as the door opened up and a young woman glided into the room, with a guard at her side. She was wearing a white dress that just barely touched the floor, and she was wearing a veil over her head, keeping her features hidden from sight. The king's precious and innocent daughter, in all terms of the word. When she was around, that was when everybody seemed to see a different side of the king. He would do anything to prevent her from seeing the violence. "What brings you here, my dear?" Mikael inquired as she walked up to him, the young woman picking up the hem of her dress. "A little birdy told me that you aren't having luck finding the rebels. Why not send in a servant, or somebody they aren't familiar with to find out information." she suggested. Yeah she knew about the rebellion, although the rebels were made out to be the bad people in her eyes.
 
Lo-wen looked at her "if you don't mind me speaking out princess but those in the mines are suspicious of those who come from the surface but we are working on finding the leader, this person however seems to know the mines better then we do which is odd." Lo-Wen was more then a little peeved that one person was able to evade them, but he was making sure that they would find this person and soon so that they could be delt with.

Bailey listened to them speak but she kept her mouth shut since she now knew they were looking for her. while Bailey danced she also lead the rebellion as she felt that the king needed to be taken down rather then allowed to keep ruling and killing more and more of them every day
 
Mikael just listened for a moment in time before he spoke, "Well we do have a couple of those that know the mines just as well, he could enlist their help." Former dancers that they had broken, and those dancers were now in service to the king and his generals. Although he wasn't going to say that out loud, not while his daughter was there. It wasn't long before his attention was turning towards the dancers that were coming into the room. This also had his daughter looking over her shoulder for a moment in time before she was accepting her father's hand as he rose up from his own throne and guided her to her seat.
 
Baiely looked at the girls and spoke softly giving the order that htey would dance in, as the only veteran dancer left she would go last and have the longest routine out of the group. Bailey watched the guards out of the corner of her eyes and then once they were all settled in their seats she nodded to the musicians and sent the first girl to the floor after instructing her not to look him in the eye at all
 
Mikael just watched them for a moment as he took back to sitting in his throne once again, and was then waving his hand towards a couple of the servants that were in the room. He was shooing them out of the room and looking towards one of his generals to go and get himself and the princess some wine. No with her there, he wasn't going to take any chances. And only his generals did he trust, especially Lo-wen, after all that was the man that Mikael typically left at his daughter's side when he had to leave.
 
Lo-Wen stood next to the princess's chair and watched as the girls started to dance his eyes going over every move they made to make sure that they didn't try something. Lo-wen watched one of them, particularly as she seemed to be the one directing all of them. he had seen her time and time again when the dancers had been summoned but she was the only one whoes name he didn't know.
 
Akiza just sat on her seat and was just watching the dancers, merely tilting her head ever so slightly as she studied their movements. How her father and the other guests never got bored was a mystery. The dancers always seemed to do the same dances, although in a slightly different order. Perhaps none of them had truly realized that though. So if that was the case then she wasn't going to say anything at all. Nope not her place. Things did get a little hectic when a highly intoxicated soldier was getting to his feet rather suddenly, which had the table that he was sitting at toppling over. Glass was clattering on the ground and he was going over to one of the dancers, and grabbing at her.
 
Bailey reacted with speed that betrayed her heritage and got between the soldier and her dancer. Bailey moved with a grace that came from years of dancing. Bailey nearly yelped as the male slapped her for getting in his way but she didn't she did however react in a way she had been warned to never react. Bailey used her powers over plants and caused the vines in the room to lash out and grab the man dragging him away from her and then other dancers
 
Mikael was just watching for a moment although it wasn't long before he was getting to his feet, and looking towards one of his magicians, who was soon casting magic around the room, cancelling out magic that was currently being used. He was striding towards the dancer before he spoke in a harsh voice, "You do not touch my men. It has already been okayed that then men are allowed to touch you ladies. You are nothing but servants in the eyes of those within this kingdom." Nope his voice was low so that Akiza didn't hear him, not like she was really paying attention, she was speaking with Lo-wen quietly.
 
"you have no proof that it was me and if you want any dancers left yo entertain you then you will leave these girls be we are the last no one else can dance" Bailey looked him right in the eyes no fear at all, besides it wouldn't do for the leader of the rebellion to be afraid of the man she was determined to see the end of. Bailey felt the magician's powers but they barely affected her
 
"And I will just find other girls to dance. There are plenty of them that are still above ground. Your dances have gotten quite boring, and haven't changed up at all. Same routines day in and day out, just in a different order." Mikael spoke before he was waving his hand and ordering the guards to take them away. Although there were a couple of his commanders that were commenting that they wanted to keep a couple of the dancers for the night.

Akiza was looking over towards what was happening as she played with her necklace that was around her neck a bit. Currently she was studying the female that was standing up to her father. With that said she was rising up to her feet to leave the room, not that she was worried about anything happening. Either Lo-wen would end up escorting her or one of the other guards. There was a dancer that was leaning towards one of the others and was inquiring who the young woman was. After all it was pretty rare to see a woman being able to walk around so freely.
 
Lo-Wen followed her out of the room knowing full well what was coming her way once they were both gone. Lo-Wen looked at her once they were clear of her father “ that dancer has some balls I will say that so few people openly challenge him”

this had Bailey laughing “ shows how little you know of the city. With no instructors talents can’t be cultivated and since we are all forced to work fromsun up to down how can we have a chance to change dance routines and execute them perfectly”.Bailey was the only one with a new routine as she practiced when she woke up and before bed
 
Mikael just looked at the woman for a moment in time before he spoke, "Don't think that I don't know about my city. There are plenty of instructors and I can get a number of them here in no time at all." After all since Akiza had first seen the dancers perform she had wanted to take up dancing as well, so he had found a number of instructors for her. She was a very fluent dancer as well, and would occasionally join in on the dancing, depend on who was all there.

Akiza just looked towards Lo-Wen for a brief moment in time before she spoke, "Yes that is very true. But I doubt that father will do much of anything to her, he isn't that cruel." Nope she didn't know the truth and even if she had ever seen the cruel streak of her father, usually one of the magicians was erasing that memory and replacing it with something less cruel. Thankfully that didn't happen often, considering most of the time she never left her chambers. "Lo-Wen, will Father need you for anything? If not, would you accompany me for a walk through the garden?"
 
“Your father is perfectly capable of handling the female back there and my work for the day is done” Lo-Wen smiled at her and walked with her in silence.

“then if you have all these new dancers we will be leaving”. Bailey then turned and walked off guiding the others out of the building and back to the mines where the rest of the people were
 
Akiza was giving a soft smile underneath the veil before she was placing one of her hands on his arm, a rather normal thing for her to do with any guard that she was with. A comfort thing for herself, and probably a reassurance for them that she was still there. However her attention was turning towards the doors opening once again, and there were a few soldiers that were coming up in a huffy attitude.

"You aren't going anywhere." Mikael spoke in a dark tone of voice before his own magic was rippling out. Very dark magic, which had many people going to the ground under the weight of it. Those that had some magic were somewhat able to withstand it, although what he hadn't factored in was that his child was still somewhat close. She was magicless and felt the full wait of that magic. A suffocating feeling for her really.
 
Lo-Wen picked her up and quickly carried her out of there and away from the kings power so that she wasn’t hurt by it.

Bailey turned and looked at him. Yes she could fell his power and for some it might be suffocating but for her it was annoying. Bailey met his unspoken threat with his power with her own and all the plants near by reacted when she letgo of her control “you have others to dance for you so I am leaving as I have work to do”
 
Akiza was a bit startled about being picked up but for the time being she wasn't going to say anything about it, merely wrapped her arms around his neck. This was one of Akiza's flaws. From a family of magic users, she was born magicless. But being born without magic, she was able to sense magic far easier than those around her. A good thing and a bad thing at time.

Mikael just looked towards her before he spoke, "None of you shall be going anywhere." Already a number of his men were going off with some of the dancers, who had decided that it was just going to be smarter to follow after the men, and do as they are told.
 
Before Bailey could react to his word she felt a sharp pain in her neck and soon found herself falling to the floor. Once she was out a much older woman walked up and spoke “ calm my king she is out now and for the next day or two she should t be able to use her powers which means you can punish her as much as you wish and she won’t be able to fight back”
 
Mikael looked towards the woman for a moment before he was waving his hand, some of the guards coming forward to haul her unconscious body up so that she could be taken down to the dungeons. After that he was just looking towards the woman and was thanking her. Not that this was an uncommon thing, the woman acted as his advisor quite often, somebody that he also trusted. When he was actually trusting of people.
 
"if I may make a suggestion my king I would be careful where you lock her up" the female knew she would need to do some research as the girls coloring was strange and not somethign she had seen before
 
"And where would you suggest that I lock her up then? Obviously she has some kind of connection to the plants around us." Mikael mused for a moment in time, before just thinking it over. Well if she wasn't going to have her powers for the next few days then he wasn't going to worry about it soon enough.

Once they were a distance away from the palace and her father's magic had disappeared, Akiza was getting Lo-Wen to place her on the ground once again. She was holding onto the hem of her dress once again before she was gliding off into the garden, her personal garden nonetheless.
 
"I am unsure at this moment I am unsure of her race her coloring is very strange while he skin reminds me of a wood elf her hair is something different that doesn't go with that race" the female frowned as well and then grumbled a little
 
"Hey Lo-Wen. What is it like outside of the palace grounds?" Akiza questioned as she looked back towards the man, just standing near the fountain that was within the garden. How she wanted to go outside of the palace grounds, especially since there was a festival coming up, which had a faint smirk forming on her lips. "If I get my father's permission.... Will you accompany me to the festival? I'm sure he is more likely to say yes if he knows that you'll be with me."
 
"if you can get his royal majesties permission I will go with you but I doubt he will simply because of the threat we are facing currently" Lo-Wen didn't think it would be safe for her to go to the festival but he wasn't going to discourage her from trying.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom