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[2Roads 2014] Are You Innocent?

d(^_^)(^_^)d · 2014-08-17T05:49:59+00:00

An entry for the Two Roads contest, Are You Innocent? is the tale of a necromancer and a once-mortal man entrapped by more than just her spell. Words: 2000 Why no arrows shall be used Spoiler:Jason Dauntis wrapped a deathly cold hand around the shaft of the arrow and pulled. It snapped clean off, the head still embedded in the carcass. “Well shit.” Karne knows best Spoiler:Karne’s drinking buddies all said it was a fool who traveled the Travestine Road at dark, but they didn’t know the path like he did. He’d been a merchant making trips by cart some thirty years. It was no exaggeration to say he knew every bump and pit. Besides, the moon was full, and there were plenty of stars out to boot. Another hour or two wouldn’t hurt. “Just a little longer,” he said to the horses over the rumble of the cart. They were a young, hardy pair, but Karne didn’t want to risk overtaxing them too much. He rounded the bend and came to the other side of the thicket. That’s when he saw her running from the trees as fast as her dress would let her. Karne’s first instinct screamed bandits, but he suppressed it. It was clear to anyone with a brain that this woman was a victim if anything. He slowed the horses to a halt, and the woman stopped at the side of the wagon, breathing hard. Her long blonde hair was a right tangled mess. Her exposed skin drank up the moonlight like a hungry beast. “Thank the gods! You have to help me!” Karne climbed down from the wagon and ran to her side. “Calm down. Tell me what happened.” “I--it’s . . .” She heaved another deep breath and feinted. Karne tried to grab her, but she slipped through his arms and fell to the dirt. He cursed his clumsiness and bent over to scoop the lady up. He hadn’t slightest idea what trouble she was in, but he wasn’t about to wait around and find out. That’s when the blade entered his back and came out through his stomach. Blood blossomed across his tunic. He convulsed as the blade was ripped free. “What the fuck?” he choked out. He landed in the dirt beside the woman. The last thing he saw was a brilliant smile spread across her lips. Rose's after-battle ritual Spoiler:Innocent Rose didn’t bother brushing the dirt from her dress when she got up. She ripped the whole thing off instead, revealing leather armor beneath. Jason was already going through the back of the wagon. He whistled. “You sure know how to pick †˜em.” Rose ignored him. She pressed herself to the man he had dispatched. Blood mingled with her hair, but she paid it no mind. She waited a minute, giving it her all. Nothing. “Fuck!” She pounded a fist on the useless hunk of meat he was. If not for the fire . . . Spoiler:Rose groped the coin purse again, listening to the alluring clinking from inside. She pulled two coins out and let them glisten in the light of the campfire. It felt good to have cold metal in her hand again. Jason sat next to her, the scar from the wound that killed him plain as day. “I heard they multiply if you stare at them long enough,” he grunted. Rose smiled. “If only. It’s a damn shame about the rest of the loot.” The wagon had been laden with plunder, but there was only so much the two of them could carry. Besides, they were strangers in a strange land. She daren’t risk fencing the goods off to the wrong person and draw unwanted attention. “It’s a nice start. If we saved up more we could--“ “Not happening.” Jason was a fool. To settle down would be their death. There was no rest for people like them. Well, people like her and whatever the hell Jason was now. She supposed he was zombie, but she was reluctant to label him as such. He acted nothing like the undead monsters in the stories designed to scare children. He held a hand out toward her. “Innocent . . .” She slapped it away. “Don’t even think about it.” “What?” “You can’t disarm me with you soft words. They haven’t worked in . . .” She was going to say years, but had it really been that long? Jason cracked a grin that twisted his scar up and played havoc with his face in the firelight. “You know me too well.” He swooped in and kissed her. It no longer melted her heart away for his lips were ice cold, but she found herself in his arms by the time he pulled away, with only the heat of the fire to warm her. This trip to town Spoiler:Rose wasn’t even sure how she had brought Jason back from the dead. When the sword cleaved his head open, the world came to a standstill. She threw herself at his side, and the next thing she knew, he was asking her if his face looked alright. She didn’t know whether to cry or laugh, so she gave a mangled half-breed sob. Moral of the story, Rose hated herself. Not just because she hadn’t even asked Jason if he wanted to come back to life, but because it seemed a damn useful thing to have at her call. If only she could figure out how she did it. Jason nudged her. “Look alive. We’re next.” Rose snapped her eyes open. “You look alive.” She prodded her horse forward. The guard at the gate took one look at Jason and cringed. “State your business.” “Just passing through. You’ll get no trouble from us,” Rose said. The guard eyed her. “See to it that we don’t.” “Are there any inns you’d recommend?” “The Royalty Inn, if you can afford it.” “Shouldn’t be a problem.” “It’s just down the main road, big sign out front. You can’t miss it.” “A good day to you, guardsman.” “Enjoy your stay, m’lady.” Then he leaned to whisper. “I suggest you keep an eye on that companion of yours. He . . . might scare the more decent folk.” “Worry about yourself and leave that to me, eh?” Jason shook his head as they rode through the gates. “I don’t like this place. If we need to get out in a hurry, we’re screwed.” He was right, but damned if she were going to spend another night on the ground again. One night with a real bed wouldn’t hurt. “You always were a stickler for detail. We’ve got more than enough coin to spare for once, and that bastard Zarkazon’s got to be a hundred miles back.” One mile back Spoiler:As the sun set over the city, twenty-two men approached the gates. The guards watched them wearily. “State your business,” one of them said. One of the horsemen came forward. “Inquisitor Zarkazon of the Malteer Empire.” The guard licked his lips. “You’re a long way from home, Inquisitor.” Zarkazon frowned. “You think I enjoy wasting my time talking to a boy who remembered to put his pants on this morning?” The guard glanced down at his feet. “No, Sir. But I can’t just let you in without--“ “Now, now, what do you mean †˜can’t?’ You think the duke’s gonna get his pretty silk smallclothes in a bunch every time someone takes a shit without his go-ahead? Huh?” “I . . . I suppose not.” “That’s what I thought. My boys and I are looking for enemies of his Majesty. A girl with blonde hair, and a big guy with a nasty old scar down his face. You see anyone like that around here?” No tighter situation Spoiler:Rose took her meal in the privacy of their room. She never did like the rowdiness of a crowded common room, and the Royalty Inn’s was the very definition of one that night. Jason, who had yet to eat a bite since being revived, wrote the day’s entry of his journal at the room’s desk. There was a knock at the door. “Who’s there?” Rose asked cautiously. “It is I,” the innkeeper said. “There’s a matter I must discuss with you.” Rose didn’t like this one bit. Something was off. She could hear it in his voice. Jason had set his quill down. He looked over at her and shook his head. “Just a moment,” Rose called. Rose reached for her dagger, made sure it would be in easy reach. Before she could get up, Jason strode to the door, ripped it open, and pulled the innkeeper in. Jason put a hand over his mouth so he couldn’t scream. “I’m going to remove my hand, and you’re going to answer our questions,” Jason said. “Else . . .” He made a slitting motion across his throat. The innkeeper nodded. “We have visitors, don’t we?” “Y-yes.” He looked about ready to piss himself. “How many?” “A lot. Ten at least.” When no fist or knife came, he went on. “They said they have the building surrounded. I don’t know what you’ve done, but violence isn’t the--“ Jason wrapped his hands around his neck and squeezed. He choked and sputtered and then went still. He threw his body in the corner. “Shit,” was all Rose had to say. “100 miles behind?” “Ha ha. Laugh it up when we get out of here alive.” “You mean if, not when.” “He could have been lying,” Rose said optimistically. That didn’t stop her from strapping on her throwing knives. Jason grabbed his sword. “I wouldn’t bet on it. Out the back?” “Out the back.” It would undoubtedly be watched like all the other exits, but their numbers would count for a whole lot less in the confines of the alley behind the inn. They turned the corner and stopped at the stairs. A man waited at the bottom. Rose didn’t hesitate. She sent one of her knives thudding into his head. The common room had been all but emptied out. Only a few people remained, and most of them wore Inquisition uniforms. Jason and Rose headed toward the back but were greeted by several more. Others rushed at them from behind. Jason roared as he charged the ones in front. Rose turned on the ones coming from behind and took the first two out with knives. One fell over the limp body of his comrade, but more were there to take his place. Jason grabbed her. “Come on!” She followed him past the corpses he made. They emerged into the alley. Three men were on each end. Making progress, Rose thought. More Inquisitors poured out the back entrance of the inn. She tried and failed to think of a tighter situation they had been in. “Jason Dauntis and Innocent Rose,” one of the Inquisitors called. Rose cursed the halfwit excuses for parents the gods had graced her with. Could they have come up with a dumber name? “We have you surrounded.” “No shit,” Jason growled. “You’ve put up quite the chase, but no one escapes the Inquisition forever. Thought you could pull one over on me, didn’t you?” “Zarkazon,” Rose said. “Beautiful night, isn’t it, Innocent?” Rose pulled out two more knives and held them fast. “Don’t tell me we have to do this the hard way.” Rose exchanged looks with Jason. He had never seemed so tired in all his life and in the days after it. Despite that weariness, he managed to give one more smile. Rose returned it though she couldn’t say it had much heart in it. “Don’t you know?” Rose asked Zarkazon. “Desperate men don’t give up. They go down taking bastards with them!” Zarkazon dodged the first knife, but the second one found its mark. Rose pulled her dagger out, but she didn’t get it up in time to block the blow. She watched in a daze as Jason attacked them with white hot fury. In the end, it took five of them at once to kill him for the second time.

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RoyalElite

10 years ago

d(^_^)(^_^)d wrote...

RoyalElite wrote...

I had to read it over 4 times to understand it, but can you explain what it means in details. I want to make sure I got if I got it correct.

Rose feels that her parents were idiots for naming her Innocent. ". . . the gods had graced her with" indicates that she's from a polytheistic culture, and she's kind of blaming her gods for making her be born to parents who would come up with such a stupid name for a kid.

Thanks ^_^

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