Start of Alice's story
Jun. 27th, 2007 08:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maderrSince I try to offer stuffs when I whine, and this might not be as awful as I'd feared (though I do not get my hopes up).
"Welcome to Fortress Delmay."
The man who greeted him, Ren thought, was best described as odious. Not least of all because he smelled like a cross between a chamber pot and a tavern.
Struggling not to grimace, because he had precious few options left to him right now, Ren sketched a low bow.
"You are Rendell McNab?"
"Ren, please," Ren said. "You have need of a scribe, I believe. It is an honor to be here to serve your Lordship in that capacity." That capacity and no other, because if he had to tell one more person to take themselves to the five hells for trying to make him a whore…well, he'd already been shunted around four times for it.
Lord Chamber Pot looked as though he'd just as soon forcer the matter or kill him. Maybe both.
"Yes," Lord Chamber Pot said with a startling fervor Ren generally only heard from those of a religious persuasion. "It's been such a bother since monsters ate the last one. And the one before that… It's so bothersome, always needing scribes. I don't see the need for so much writing anyway.
Ren barely kept from rolling his eyes. "I'm happy to be of service, my lord."
Lovely. His integrity was intact but his life was a pile of horseshit. Perhaps he should reconsider his stance on taking the moral highground.
Then he remembered his last offer, from Prince Horseface, and barely repressed a shudder. No, he did not want those sausage fingers and those rotting teeth even remotely close to any part of his person, let alone his more private parts. Horseshit life it was.
He would endure.
"You'll be needing a dragon," Lord Chamber Pot rambled on. "Around here, everyone needs a dragon. Unfortunately, all mine are paired up. No spares around, not until I get a few more from the capital in three weeks." He fell into muttering and cursing the capital.
Ren made no move to stop him, still rather struck by his words.
A dragon? Those were for soldiers or anyone who spent a great deal of time traveling the wild lands. He'd traveled here under escort of a soldier and dragon; they'd promptly deposited him in front of Lord Chamber Pot – he really should bother to recall the man's proper name – and rejoined the rest of the soldiers here.
But a dragon of his own? What the devil was he supposed to do with one? And why had the previous scribe been killed by monsters? Scribes had no reason to go into the wild lands.
A soldier who had been working nearby suddenly piped up. "Beggin' pardon, milord, but I believe Beast is unpaired."
Chamber Pot blinked, then grinned. Ren decided he didn't like the grin one bit. "Who or what is Beast?"
"The most unique dragon in the world. But don’t worry – he only looks like he'll bite. And we'll set you up with a proper dragon when the new ones arrive." He flashed another unsettling grin. "If you live that long."
Ren eyed him warily, wondering when in the hells writing letters and managing records had gotten to be so dangerous. "Where might I find this Beast?"
"He's not here," said the helpful soldier Ren decided could go on his 'do not like and will never help' list. "I think he went hunting today, he'll be back tonight."
"Then until then perhaps you would like to give me a tour of the fortress and show me to my rooms?" he asked with careful politeness.
The soldier seemed to catch his unvoiced displeasure. "Certainly, good sir. Right this way. Is that your trunk? Let me take it, your room is just off the library, actually…"
He was living in a nightmare, Ren decided. A wretched nightmare that was only bearable because if he dared to show his face in the capital again the prince would have him beheaded. Well, if he was in a good mood. If he was still in a foul mood…Ren preferred not to think about it.
Sighing, he bent back over his trunk and pulled out a winter cloak, moving to the rickety wardrobe in the far right corner to hand it up in the back. His spring cloak went next, and he was just bending to sort out his tunics when the door slammed open.
Jumping, dropping his clean tunics to the floor, Ren whirled around – and gawked. He could not help it. In all his life he'd never seen anything like the man before him.
Not man – dragon. Not even among dragons, though, had he seen something like this.
For starters, the dragon wore only loose pants. Like something peasants would wear. Not even a tunic! Just left his chest entirely bare for the world to see. His skin was a deep gold-brown, the color again reminding Ren of peasants who spent all day working in the sun. The scales that ran along his back and sides were the deep blue-black of ink, gleaming where the lamplight caught him. A thick, heavy tail just barely touched the floor, and his ears were too pointed to be mistaken for human. His short, black hair, dusted slightly with gray, was jaggedly cut and looked as though it killed any comb that came near it.
But scattered the length of that body was more scars than Ren could count, though it seemed roughly to be more than anyone should be able to survive. A long one down his chest from right shoulder to left hip, a cut across his abdomen bisecting it. More still criss-crossed his arms, still another curving from his throat down his left shoulder. It was dizzying. He wonder if the dragon's legs and back were just as bad.
His face…the left cheek was nothing but a knot of scar tissue and Ren thought it would be a miracle if he could properly speak. Another long-healed gash divided his throat almost perfectly in half. More shocking still was his right eyes – a nasty gash cut right through it, and the eye itself was a pale, cloudy blue. By stark contrast his left eye was sharp and piercing, and the deepest, richest blue Ren had ever seen.
Once, the dragon might have been handsome. He looked rather as though he'd fought an entire war by himself – whether he won or lost, Rend could not determine.
A lone silver hoop with a small bead pierce his left ear close to the top, flashing as the lamp caught it when the dragon strolled into the room, face twisting in what Ren belatedly realized was a smile. If this was a tame dragon…
"You must be Beast," Ren said.
The smile died, and the…cheer, Ren supposed, with which he'd walked into the room vanished. "That's not my name," the dragon said. His voice was rough, and he spoke slowly, as if every word was an effort. Which was very likely to judge by all those scars.
"My apologies," Ren replied. "That was the only name given to me. What should I call you?"
"Jekka," the dragon said. "They said I was finally to be paired…but you are not a soldier. No one told me I was going to the new scribe…" He looked positively crestfallen, to judge by the way the shoulders drooped and that one clear eye dimmed.
Ren frowned and knelt to gather up his dropped tunics. "I apologize. Again. If it's any consolation, no one has told me much of anything either."
Jekka shrugged. "Lord Maxis never tells anyone anything if he can help it." He said it matter-of-factly, without heat. So very like dragons.
"If you do not want to be paired with me, I shall take no offense if you depart. I am a scribe; I hardly have need of a dragon."
"Scribe and messenger," Jekka said as he began to wander around the room, poking and prodding and playing with things. Ren scowled at him, but if Jekka noticed he gave no sign.
"What do you mean 'and messenger'?" he demanded. "That was not stated in my duties."
Jekka shrugged, speaking again in that careless stating-of-facts tone that only dragons seemed to manage. No human ever sounded quite the same. "Scribes are also messengers, as they must often write out things at their destinations and Lord Maxis never learned his letters. Almost no one here has, and those who can do not tell him because then they would have to be scribe and messenger."
Ren wondered if he could run away. Probably not. Heaving a sigh, he went back to unpacking. "I see."
He forced himself to ignore the way the dragon continued to prowl the room, knowing Jekka meant no harm. To a dragon mind, they were paired so it was perfectly all right to examine his room and belongings. Paired meant shared.
But when the dragon resumed playing with his music crystals for the eighth time, he finally lost his temper. "Enough," he snapped, striding across the room and closing the lid of the box holding the crystals shut. "They are not toys. Music crystals are expensive and these did not survive all my journeying to be broken by you."
Jekka frowned. "I was trying to learn my new partner. You seemed uninterested in talking." He looked down at the closed box, Ren's hand splayed across the top. "The third crystal was 'Ballad of the Dragon War' wasn't it?"
"Yes," Ren said, softening slightly. "It's a very impressive piece. Do you like music?"
Lifting a hand as badly scared as the rest of him, Jekka touched it to his throat. "I used to sing," he said. "Not anymore." He looked up at Ren, good eye brighter than it had been. "Do you know anything about the Dragon War?"
"Only what the song says, perhaps a little bit more." Ren shrugged and went back to his packing. "Why is someone as clearly warrior-like as you unpaired?"
"Warrior-like?" Jekka asked, sounding oddly surprised.
Ren turned, and found himself struck rather dumb by the bright smile Jekka gave him. It looked strange in that badly scarred face, but not awful. "Unless you got all those fighting tress I cannot see what else you could logically be.
"I am ugly and old-fashioned," Jekka said with that implacable stating of facts. "My scars mean I either lose often or fight poorly. Neither is true, but people trust their eyes more."
"That is certainly true," Ren said, and smiled briefly in resigned amusement. "Well, I am sorry you are stuck with me, dragon. I feel you will be wasted."
Jekka shook his head. "You will need protection in your travels. I can offer it. Never leave the fortress alone. Despite our presence, monsters are thick. They hide in the nearby caves."
"As you command," Ren said. "One moment, if you please." Dragons liked bright metals and jewels and the like, and if he and Jekka were stuck with each other he may as well put a good face on it. He was not so foul-tempered as to blame his situation on a dragon who had clearly taken enough beatings. Fumbling in his trunk, he pulled out his heavy jewel case.
Once upon a time there had been myriad court functions and banquets and the like to attend. He had once had a proper place in the world, and had required every last thing in this box. Since refusing to play the role of Prince's Latest Whore, he had found himself suddenly thrust into being Lord Chamber Pot's – Maxis, he supposed he must call him – scribe and messenger. Near as he could tell, that post came with a high death rate.
So he wouldn't be needing his fancy gold and jewels anymore. Rifling through the contents, he glanced briefly at the curiously watching Jekka, then finally settled on a short, thick silver chain through which were strung moonstone and onyx. "Here," he said, holding it out as he crossed the room. "As a show of gratitude for pairing with me."
Jekka stared at the necklace – though now that he was closer Ren realized it was probably too small for him. "Thank you," he said, smiling, good eye bright. "I will be an excellent dragon, I promise."
"I have no doubt," Ren said briskly. "Shall we take a tour of the area tomorrow?"
"Yes," Jekka said, and looped the necklace twice around his left wrist, making it a bracelet. "Sun up?"
Ren tried to remember the last time he'd been up early enough to see the sunrise. New life, he reminded himself. New rules. "Come and wake me, and we will go then," he said. "For now, I would like to be left to my unpacking."
"As you wish," Jekka said, as cheerful as he'd been when first entering. "Farewell and good night, then."
"The same to you," Ren replied absently as he began to sort through the few books he'd managed to bring.
"Welcome to Fortress Delmay."
The man who greeted him, Ren thought, was best described as odious. Not least of all because he smelled like a cross between a chamber pot and a tavern.
Struggling not to grimace, because he had precious few options left to him right now, Ren sketched a low bow.
"You are Rendell McNab?"
"Ren, please," Ren said. "You have need of a scribe, I believe. It is an honor to be here to serve your Lordship in that capacity." That capacity and no other, because if he had to tell one more person to take themselves to the five hells for trying to make him a whore…well, he'd already been shunted around four times for it.
Lord Chamber Pot looked as though he'd just as soon forcer the matter or kill him. Maybe both.
"Yes," Lord Chamber Pot said with a startling fervor Ren generally only heard from those of a religious persuasion. "It's been such a bother since monsters ate the last one. And the one before that… It's so bothersome, always needing scribes. I don't see the need for so much writing anyway.
Ren barely kept from rolling his eyes. "I'm happy to be of service, my lord."
Lovely. His integrity was intact but his life was a pile of horseshit. Perhaps he should reconsider his stance on taking the moral highground.
Then he remembered his last offer, from Prince Horseface, and barely repressed a shudder. No, he did not want those sausage fingers and those rotting teeth even remotely close to any part of his person, let alone his more private parts. Horseshit life it was.
He would endure.
"You'll be needing a dragon," Lord Chamber Pot rambled on. "Around here, everyone needs a dragon. Unfortunately, all mine are paired up. No spares around, not until I get a few more from the capital in three weeks." He fell into muttering and cursing the capital.
Ren made no move to stop him, still rather struck by his words.
A dragon? Those were for soldiers or anyone who spent a great deal of time traveling the wild lands. He'd traveled here under escort of a soldier and dragon; they'd promptly deposited him in front of Lord Chamber Pot – he really should bother to recall the man's proper name – and rejoined the rest of the soldiers here.
But a dragon of his own? What the devil was he supposed to do with one? And why had the previous scribe been killed by monsters? Scribes had no reason to go into the wild lands.
A soldier who had been working nearby suddenly piped up. "Beggin' pardon, milord, but I believe Beast is unpaired."
Chamber Pot blinked, then grinned. Ren decided he didn't like the grin one bit. "Who or what is Beast?"
"The most unique dragon in the world. But don’t worry – he only looks like he'll bite. And we'll set you up with a proper dragon when the new ones arrive." He flashed another unsettling grin. "If you live that long."
Ren eyed him warily, wondering when in the hells writing letters and managing records had gotten to be so dangerous. "Where might I find this Beast?"
"He's not here," said the helpful soldier Ren decided could go on his 'do not like and will never help' list. "I think he went hunting today, he'll be back tonight."
"Then until then perhaps you would like to give me a tour of the fortress and show me to my rooms?" he asked with careful politeness.
The soldier seemed to catch his unvoiced displeasure. "Certainly, good sir. Right this way. Is that your trunk? Let me take it, your room is just off the library, actually…"
He was living in a nightmare, Ren decided. A wretched nightmare that was only bearable because if he dared to show his face in the capital again the prince would have him beheaded. Well, if he was in a good mood. If he was still in a foul mood…Ren preferred not to think about it.
Sighing, he bent back over his trunk and pulled out a winter cloak, moving to the rickety wardrobe in the far right corner to hand it up in the back. His spring cloak went next, and he was just bending to sort out his tunics when the door slammed open.
Jumping, dropping his clean tunics to the floor, Ren whirled around – and gawked. He could not help it. In all his life he'd never seen anything like the man before him.
Not man – dragon. Not even among dragons, though, had he seen something like this.
For starters, the dragon wore only loose pants. Like something peasants would wear. Not even a tunic! Just left his chest entirely bare for the world to see. His skin was a deep gold-brown, the color again reminding Ren of peasants who spent all day working in the sun. The scales that ran along his back and sides were the deep blue-black of ink, gleaming where the lamplight caught him. A thick, heavy tail just barely touched the floor, and his ears were too pointed to be mistaken for human. His short, black hair, dusted slightly with gray, was jaggedly cut and looked as though it killed any comb that came near it.
But scattered the length of that body was more scars than Ren could count, though it seemed roughly to be more than anyone should be able to survive. A long one down his chest from right shoulder to left hip, a cut across his abdomen bisecting it. More still criss-crossed his arms, still another curving from his throat down his left shoulder. It was dizzying. He wonder if the dragon's legs and back were just as bad.
His face…the left cheek was nothing but a knot of scar tissue and Ren thought it would be a miracle if he could properly speak. Another long-healed gash divided his throat almost perfectly in half. More shocking still was his right eyes – a nasty gash cut right through it, and the eye itself was a pale, cloudy blue. By stark contrast his left eye was sharp and piercing, and the deepest, richest blue Ren had ever seen.
Once, the dragon might have been handsome. He looked rather as though he'd fought an entire war by himself – whether he won or lost, Rend could not determine.
A lone silver hoop with a small bead pierce his left ear close to the top, flashing as the lamp caught it when the dragon strolled into the room, face twisting in what Ren belatedly realized was a smile. If this was a tame dragon…
"You must be Beast," Ren said.
The smile died, and the…cheer, Ren supposed, with which he'd walked into the room vanished. "That's not my name," the dragon said. His voice was rough, and he spoke slowly, as if every word was an effort. Which was very likely to judge by all those scars.
"My apologies," Ren replied. "That was the only name given to me. What should I call you?"
"Jekka," the dragon said. "They said I was finally to be paired…but you are not a soldier. No one told me I was going to the new scribe…" He looked positively crestfallen, to judge by the way the shoulders drooped and that one clear eye dimmed.
Ren frowned and knelt to gather up his dropped tunics. "I apologize. Again. If it's any consolation, no one has told me much of anything either."
Jekka shrugged. "Lord Maxis never tells anyone anything if he can help it." He said it matter-of-factly, without heat. So very like dragons.
"If you do not want to be paired with me, I shall take no offense if you depart. I am a scribe; I hardly have need of a dragon."
"Scribe and messenger," Jekka said as he began to wander around the room, poking and prodding and playing with things. Ren scowled at him, but if Jekka noticed he gave no sign.
"What do you mean 'and messenger'?" he demanded. "That was not stated in my duties."
Jekka shrugged, speaking again in that careless stating-of-facts tone that only dragons seemed to manage. No human ever sounded quite the same. "Scribes are also messengers, as they must often write out things at their destinations and Lord Maxis never learned his letters. Almost no one here has, and those who can do not tell him because then they would have to be scribe and messenger."
Ren wondered if he could run away. Probably not. Heaving a sigh, he went back to unpacking. "I see."
He forced himself to ignore the way the dragon continued to prowl the room, knowing Jekka meant no harm. To a dragon mind, they were paired so it was perfectly all right to examine his room and belongings. Paired meant shared.
But when the dragon resumed playing with his music crystals for the eighth time, he finally lost his temper. "Enough," he snapped, striding across the room and closing the lid of the box holding the crystals shut. "They are not toys. Music crystals are expensive and these did not survive all my journeying to be broken by you."
Jekka frowned. "I was trying to learn my new partner. You seemed uninterested in talking." He looked down at the closed box, Ren's hand splayed across the top. "The third crystal was 'Ballad of the Dragon War' wasn't it?"
"Yes," Ren said, softening slightly. "It's a very impressive piece. Do you like music?"
Lifting a hand as badly scared as the rest of him, Jekka touched it to his throat. "I used to sing," he said. "Not anymore." He looked up at Ren, good eye brighter than it had been. "Do you know anything about the Dragon War?"
"Only what the song says, perhaps a little bit more." Ren shrugged and went back to his packing. "Why is someone as clearly warrior-like as you unpaired?"
"Warrior-like?" Jekka asked, sounding oddly surprised.
Ren turned, and found himself struck rather dumb by the bright smile Jekka gave him. It looked strange in that badly scarred face, but not awful. "Unless you got all those fighting tress I cannot see what else you could logically be.
"I am ugly and old-fashioned," Jekka said with that implacable stating of facts. "My scars mean I either lose often or fight poorly. Neither is true, but people trust their eyes more."
"That is certainly true," Ren said, and smiled briefly in resigned amusement. "Well, I am sorry you are stuck with me, dragon. I feel you will be wasted."
Jekka shook his head. "You will need protection in your travels. I can offer it. Never leave the fortress alone. Despite our presence, monsters are thick. They hide in the nearby caves."
"As you command," Ren said. "One moment, if you please." Dragons liked bright metals and jewels and the like, and if he and Jekka were stuck with each other he may as well put a good face on it. He was not so foul-tempered as to blame his situation on a dragon who had clearly taken enough beatings. Fumbling in his trunk, he pulled out his heavy jewel case.
Once upon a time there had been myriad court functions and banquets and the like to attend. He had once had a proper place in the world, and had required every last thing in this box. Since refusing to play the role of Prince's Latest Whore, he had found himself suddenly thrust into being Lord Chamber Pot's – Maxis, he supposed he must call him – scribe and messenger. Near as he could tell, that post came with a high death rate.
So he wouldn't be needing his fancy gold and jewels anymore. Rifling through the contents, he glanced briefly at the curiously watching Jekka, then finally settled on a short, thick silver chain through which were strung moonstone and onyx. "Here," he said, holding it out as he crossed the room. "As a show of gratitude for pairing with me."
Jekka stared at the necklace – though now that he was closer Ren realized it was probably too small for him. "Thank you," he said, smiling, good eye bright. "I will be an excellent dragon, I promise."
"I have no doubt," Ren said briskly. "Shall we take a tour of the area tomorrow?"
"Yes," Jekka said, and looped the necklace twice around his left wrist, making it a bracelet. "Sun up?"
Ren tried to remember the last time he'd been up early enough to see the sunrise. New life, he reminded himself. New rules. "Come and wake me, and we will go then," he said. "For now, I would like to be left to my unpacking."
"As you wish," Jekka said, as cheerful as he'd been when first entering. "Farewell and good night, then."
"The same to you," Ren replied absently as he began to sort through the few books he'd managed to bring.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-28 12:48 am (UTC)....Chamber Pot? He's really that bad?
no subject
Date: 2007-06-28 12:56 am (UTC)I started typing this at 5:30 AM. There'd been a blank in my handwritten chunks, and at that hour it seemed a good idea. When I came home and looked at it with a conscious brain, it was ridiculous but I had not the heart to change it. Amuses me too much .
no subject
Date: 2007-06-28 01:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-28 01:02 am (UTC)two typos maybe: 'silver hoop pierce his'...pierced?
and a rogue '' after 'logically be'
and just how did jekka get all those scars?
and what the heck are musical crystals?
Dragon War?
and where did the phrase 'five hells' come from besides a jayne castle book?
thankee!
no subject
Date: 2007-06-28 01:10 am (UTC)Dude, it's hard to make a char describe himself. And I hate describing chars b/c I can do it 'til my fingers are numb and people will still see them how they choose.
Ah, thanks. I seldom bother to beta snippets. I shall fix those ^__^
Jayne castle book? Uh, I think I read one of hers like twenty million years ago. I tend to make a lot of shit up as I go, esp. when it doesn't really matter.
The rest of those get answered in time, obviously ^^;;
no subject
Date: 2007-06-28 01:11 am (UTC)Cant wait to see it finished.
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Date: 2007-06-28 01:29 am (UTC)Poor Ren. *kicks Prince Horseface* But I suspect that, with the help of a certain dragon, Ren will come to like his new life. ^_^
Looking forward to more!
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Date: 2007-06-28 01:33 am (UTC)Keep writing!
no subject
Date: 2007-06-28 01:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-28 02:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-28 03:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-28 05:32 am (UTC)MORE! <3
no subject
Date: 2007-06-28 06:14 am (UTC)http://www.faramirfiction.com/Fiction/captain-of-mordor
It's so sad that he can't sing any more though... ;_; Maybe he can sing, it's just that his voice is rough now so he doesn't think anyone would want to listen? *huggles him*
no subject
Date: 2007-06-28 06:33 am (UTC)Can anyone say "Alice is easily pleased" for me? Kthnks.
Loves dragons too much.
Date: 2007-06-28 07:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-28 07:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-28 12:28 pm (UTC)I love your dragons...and this one is intriguing...
*fangirling shamelessly*
I think I'll have to go back and read about the cranky dragon again...and then maybe reread Treasure. It's time for a good wallow in the Lost Gods.
*slips your plot bunnies high octane chocolate small>laced with Viagra and points them at X and Trick*
no subject
Date: 2007-06-29 09:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-02 09:56 am (UTC)Much love.