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A HIGH LIFE.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Gang up on Lycoris, who can't fight back against so many. Well, can't fight back, period.
Tahmores passionately pressed his lips to Lycoris' mouth. The young king struggled furiously, but he was no warrior. His lips trembled violently as they were kissed.
Tahmores slipped his enormous hand between Lycoris' thighs and closed his fingers around Lycoris' genitals in warning. Blazing pain flared out from his loins, and Lycoris screamed hoarsely.
Aradia ran to them, horror writ large on her beautiful face. "Tahmores, no! I never--" A hand came to her mouth as she stifled a sob. "He will die! Is that not enough?"
"Little whore, what you want or think makes no difference to me." Tahmores leaned down and kissed him again, threading his thick fingers through Lycoris' hair and tilting his head back.
She gaped at his words, then his voice.
"You can have no conception of how long I have waited for this, whore. I have watched Lycoris since he was a child." Lycoris managed to tear himself away for a moment, but Tahmores immediately hailed him back and struck him across the face.
"You disgusting peversion of a man--I trusted you--" She rushed forward, as though to slap him, but he backhanded her first into the lovely rosewood wardrobe Lycoris had given her as a wedding gift. She slid to the ground, blood dribbling down her neck.
"Never put faith in a traitor," Tahmores chuckled. He motioned for his companions to force Lycoris down on the ground. "Aradia--" Lycoris gasped.
He knelt himself, and contemplated Lycoris in his coerced submission. Then Tahmores pulled up the youth's hips, positioned himself, and ground forward in one savage stroke. Lycoris cried out, his fingers scrabbling for purchase at the thick, luxurious carpet. "Please...please..." he moaned, body jerking with the harsh movement.
Another guard came in front of him. Lycoris convulsed as Tahmores pounded into his body, choking blood as a thick shaft was shoved down his throat. Tahmores reached out, found a pink nub on Lycoris' chest, and pinched viciously.
"Wait," said the man, pulling tight on Lycoris' hair to examine his face. Blood leaked from his lips, bruised and swollen as they were from rough, abrading kisses and blows.
"What is it?" Tahmores demanded curtly, pausing reluctantly in his strokes and placing a firm hand on Lycoris' hip as he made small, aborted attempts toward freedom.
"How much time is ours?"
"All night, lads. Nearly every servant in the palace has gone to celebrate the New Year. A shame, eh, Lycoris, that you condone public festivities, unlike your father?"
"What do you hope to accomplish with this?" Lycoris panted, his breath coming in a pained whisper.
"A short period of pleasure, your majesty," Tahmores laughed. "Then we get rid of the body--and the evidence. The blame is placed on the sleeping whore over there."
"In all honesty, I had little ambition other than to bed you. But now..." he did not continue, caught in what he was doing.
"And of yourselves?" Lycoris gritted out.
Tahmores laughed again. "I suppose telling a dead man the truth will do no harm."
SOMETHING
Janus kills giant
Janus swears to pledge his life in the service of goddess if she will save Lycoris's life (feels responsible)
Fulfill destiny, rather have discarded
Just beyond the man was Lycoris, in a sprawl of pale bloodied limbs on the ground. Janus' eyes widened, then narrowed as tears threatened to spill, and his attacks increased in strength.
Thiery, it must have been for this moment that you taught me the ways of a warrior.
SOMETHING
Janus perceived his opportunity and took it, bringing his sword down on the man's head. Blood spurted and poured from Tahmore's body. The skull split and the essence of his being spilled forth. SOMETHING
I betrayed Lycoris. I am so sorry, Thiery. I have failed you.
SOMETHING He had almost cut the man's body in half, Janus noted absently. His arms and back ached with the strain. But now ... he hurried into the room.
SOMETHING
"Lycoris!" Janus pulled him into his arms. The young king's head lolled weakly against Janus' shoulder, and he did not respond. "Lycoris!" Janus called again, holding his friend's cold, cold hands. Poisoned blood trickled from his mouth.
SOMETHING
"Goddess, should you answer my plea, I swear to devote my life and its after to your service. Only save him. It would take so little for you to hold his spirit in this world." His face wet with tears, lips trembling as he prayed the litany again and again, Janus held Lycoris, rocking back and forth in anguish.
All was very still.
A red slash suddenly spread like an open wound against the night sky. The comet's tail bled heavily as it crossed over the mountain peaks in the distance.
Below, the sea sucked gently at the rocks that stood stoically in their midst, unyielding to temptation.
There was another presence in the room.
Michele's scarlet lips curved, and the gleaming white snake twined about her neck hissed. "Are you aware, Janus, that if you break this oath, there is no reparation but death in its vilest form?" Her divinely lovely face seemed to glow, her hair bedangled in silver thread and crystal dew.
"I know it, and I stand by my vow."
"Very well, Janus. I shall preserve Lycoris' life -- for however long that may be." She laughed, and as the moon came to full fruition, vanished within its light.
Not daring to breathe, Janus stared down at Lycoris' white face. The blood from his mouth had ceased to flow and, it seemed, so had his breath. Trying to gird himself for the final blow, Janus pressed his ear to to the still chest.
"Is he dead?" Aradia whispered, crawling to them, blood dripping from her lips and hair. Janus ignored her as he sought the answer himself.
The heart beat was there, slow, faltering, then gaining in strength. "Thank the Goddess!" Janus breathed.
Lycoris coughed and opened his eyes, in a daze. "Janus?" he murmured.
Janus pressed the gold bracelet into his palm, holding it there with his own hand. "I am here."
Lycoris smiled faintly at the remembered weight of the jewelry, and then his head drooped against Janus' arm.
Janus hastily examined Lycoris again but found him alive and growing stronger. He let out a relieved breath and cautiously loosened his death-grip on his friend.
"Lycoris?" Aradia whispered again.
Janus closed his eyes. "If murdering you did not mean I would have to leave this place, I would do so now."
Aradia flinched back, her face dark with fear. She began to weep, the shadows in the room casting fantastic shapes on her red silk-sheathed body. "I am so sorry," she moaned. "I did not know--"
"You will tell me everything," Janus told her coldly, "after I ensure that the king is taken care of." Firmly wrapping the sheet around his friend's body, Janus lifted Lycoris into his arms as he would a child. "There. Walk ahead of me. Let us go."
Witch (pregnant w/ Merle) in love w/ Lycoris, who despises her and has her banished
"I will have your child!" she cried, clutching her hands to her breast.
She sensed his emtions flutter briefly toward a greener, sweeter tang of surprise. He then recovered himself. As he spoke, his pale blue eyes were a tempestuous sea, and a ghastly paleness accented the tight line of his mouth..
"If you do not leave, immediately, I will have your head." He turned away, closing his eyes as he fought to stifle the cold and heat that filled his body. Spots of light danced before his vision. His movements were slow and cautious as he surreptitiously gripped the edge of his desk.
Vanished anticipation washed over her. She did not feel afraid, but was on the verge of fear. Aradia swallowed convulsively, then spoke, her sincerity prominent in the quiet of the room. Her voice was clear and carried far. "Lycoris--I love you."
He was momentarily silenced by her passion, and stared at her in some perplexity, as though he knew not what she meant by the words. "That is neither to your gain or mine. I suggest you rid yourself of such weaknesses as affection. The advice I give to you will be the only kindess you shall receive from me."
Her feelings had always been like the waves far away, too fluid and unpredicable, Aradia mused brokenly. Now, it stood as a rock among those very waves, and its strength was neither needed nor desired.
Time fractured. It would never be whole again for her, Aradia realized, if she could not be by Lycoris' side. The cold veined marble around and beneath her gave her no comfort. In the distance, the sun's face bloomed in a red smile as the heaviness of slumber faded from his countenance. The clouds moved from such glory, fretful expressions on their pillowy faces.
Chittering bird calls lifted the hand of sleep. Dreams were gone. It was time to wake.
Her scarlet lips parted. and her voice seemed far away, as if from a mountain's crest or a well's bottom. "Very well," she said bitterly, to hide her grief and remorse. "After you, my lord."
"I will not turn my back on you, even if it is to leave," he said coldly. "Go."
She left the door ajar, her dress a whirl of color; yet it seemed a dark vapor followed her from the room.
Behind her, Lycoris let out a soft breath of release and shut his eyes in some contemplation before resuming his work.
The servants fluttered about, thrown into a panic by even the expected sight of the young king.
Lycoris assessed Bianca coolly, fleetingly, and spoke to Janus. “Take her to her rooms, and then find your place in the stables. Servants will care for her thereafter.”
“What should I expect from my new master and husband?” she inquired angrily, but softened her tone as she was, as always, disarmed by his golden beauty.
“Nothing.”
"Does he think to shut me away in a cupboard?"
Janus grinned half-heartedly. "In a wardrobe, perhaps. An ornate one, should you wish it so."
"I do not want to be confined! If I am to be queen, I should fully complete my role."
He sighed. "You are about to poke a hornet's nest, I warn you."
"Why? I desire only my rightful place as his wife. Should I not assist him in his duties?"
"The difficulty with that very generous offer is that he despises all mention of aid."
She scowled. "Is he always to be like this? Can I not approach my spouse? Was he always so?"
Janus' face darkened as though clouds had drawn themselves as a thick veil over the sun's face. "No."
Bianca, uneasy, did not ask more.
When Janus goes, Lycoris' and Bianca's relationship have a chance to develop
"The thought of you never crossed my mind.” He smiled gently to reassure her. “I was fortunate, for any expectations I may have dared to harbor would only have been easily met and surpassed.”
Bianca murmured against her king's mouth, her lips just brushing his. "Lycoris?"
Lycoris drew in a quick breath as he realized he could not answer without pressing his lips more firmly against hers. He tilted his head back in alarm. "What do you think to do?" he whispered.
Bianca sighed as she followed him. "I wish to seduce you," she informed him, quite seriously. "And I do so want for you to take the reins, for I tire of riding."
His fairness was too gentle to be vivid, and eclipsed as it was by the other's beauty, she had not seen it.
She would remedy the mistake now.
Lycoris could not find the words to respond and squirmed away uncomfortably.
She too pulled back, hurt filling her. "Do you not find me desirable?"
"Bianca, you are so very lovely, I could not express your beauty. But I do not--I cannot do as you wish."
"Why do you persist in denying yourself?" She rose in frustration, then sat beside him on the bed. "If you want me, take me. I am yours."
He closed his eyes as though to shut her out. "Bianca," he said with finality, "the truths of which I speak, the reasons for my refusal...shall not be communicated to you."
"Why?" she demanded.
"Not this day, nor tomorrow, not ever. The memory shames me, and I would do better not to remember it."
"Tell me! What could possibly be so horrific that you would turn from me, that you would be afraid I would turn from you? Lycoris--I love you."
He shuddered, though gold sunlight gilded the soft brown hair falling into his eyes. "Please, do not say such things. Love is a terrible, terrible affliction I would not wish upon anyone, even--" he paused.
"Who?"
"No one."
"Janus? Why do you hate him so?"
"He is beneath abhorrence," Lycoris said, his voice empty of emotion.
"He is a good--no--a great man."
He smiled faintly. "If you see him as such, I will not contradict you."
"Lycoris. Confide in me, please, if not as your wife, then as your friend. I want only to aid you in your distress."
He shook his head. "Let us leave this matter."
Bianca gazed at him longingly. "I wish to be with you."
"You are with me, always. As I shall be with you." He smiled at her, offering his hand as he stood. She hesitated, then took it, her fingers closing around his.
“Did you rest well?”
He nodded slowly. “As I slept, I dreamed…and I dreamed that I would not die.”
She bit back a hysterical sob as struggled to sit. "Then your dreams are reality, Lycoris. I could not ask an augur of a surer future. We will live happy, you and I, for many, many years to come."
He lay back, breathing harshly from the strain of rising. "You speak of a life with another," he said. The name of the man was unspoken.
Tears sprang to her eyes. "No," she said steadily. "None other has claim upon my heart but you. I will share my happiness with no one else."
He smiled slightly. "Bianca, let us not delude ourselves. I wish to speak to you, soberly and truthfully. You must live, and if anything is within my power, exist joyously. I have decided upon my heir. If you so desired, you could retire to a quiet life with your beloved or embark on a journey, such as you could never do with me. You will be happier so."
"Never!"
"What they could not bring themselves to say was that I will die."
"Lycoris, cease," she commanded. "I will not hear of this."
"Why the sad faces, grey garments? Mourning does not suit you, Claudia," he said lightly. "It goes terribly with your hair."
She sniffed, shaking her blond head. "Do you not know, Janus? The king is dead."
The king is dead. For a moment time was a pliant thing, and he thought she was referring to the hated Bandele.
The king is dead. No. No! Lycoris should have come back to him, apologizing for his errors, perhaps crawling a little, not--
My friend, though you may not call me so any longer,
I entrust Bianca to you. She is ...Here the ink marks shook a little...very beautiful and most enchanting, as you know.
I would have you both find your happiness, and if it is to be in each other, I may bestow only blessings on the union.
Fare you well, my brother in heart, and if it should chance that I shall not see you again--Labels: story, writing
-------------------LIVE HIGH!LIVE WILD!--------------- ; {9:45 AM}
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