Thelize followed Alaren to the stables, swinging off of Kaspar only when they had arrived and the ceiling of the structure prevented her riding. She entered the stable after Alaren, loosing holding her horse's reins only out of habit. Kaspar would follow her anywhere, as it was.
The stables were nice enough. Usually Kaspar was stuck in the run-down barns of whichever inn she had chosen to stay in for the night, though more often than not they had to make camp along the roads they traveled under nothing but the endless expanse of sky.
Thelize immediately calmed at the horsey smell of the stable, a scent which others despised but she herself found as a comfort. She led Kaspar into an empty stall, denying the grooms' offers of help. After all, she had only to take off his bridle, his saddle still at the inn with her possessions. Sliding the stall door shut, she walked out into the spacious aisle, swept clean of debris.
"You seem to treat Manetheren's horses better than mine, at least," she remarked, seeing Alaren several paces away.
Re: The Hat and the Mannequin, Round One
After Curlan left, Alaren led her mare back into her stall in silence. Thelize still seemed upset at Alaren's use of... well... more agressive pursuasion, and Alaren did not see any need to provoke the woman any further. So she busied herself with settling her little horse, slipping off it's bridle and removing the saddle. The horse nudged her amiably, and Alaren gave it an absent-minded kiss on the nose.
"You seem to treat Manetheren's horses better than mine, at least," she heard Thelize say. She looked up to see the woman walking towards her in the aisle. Alaren gave a shrug and hoisted the saddle, strolling out into the aisle, closing the door, and carrying the saddle into the tack room.
"Manetheren's horses are some of the finest in the country," she said as she reappeared, wiping her hands on the coat. She scratched the nose of a bulky bay who had stopped chomping on the stall door long enough to give a nudge of greeting to Alaren. For some reason, horses always seemed to like her. She could never get along well with people, it seemed, but horses seemed to understand her. She turned back to Thelize. "They deserve the best. Of course, these few are a bit shy in battle, so they don't get as much attention as the seasoned war horses. Fine little horses none the less. I figured I might as well ride them everyone once and awhile to let them stretch their legs."
She walked down the aisle towards Kaspar's stall, where he stood staring out at Alaren and Thelize with a contemptuous look on his face. Alaren sighed. "As for your horse, I suppose I should apologize. Perhaps I was unfair to him. He is a lovely creature; I merely did not wish to see him at the wrong end of an arrow." She looked back at Thelize. "You did not seem the type who would have followed otherwise."
Re: The Hat and the Mannequin, Round One"He is a lovely creature; I merely did not wish to see him at the wrong end of an arrow. You did not seem the type who would have followed otherwise."
Thelize fought the temptation to roll her eyes. She did not need more enemies, though this woman was walking thin ice with her actions so far. "Kaspar and I have seen battle more times than I can recall. I grew up in the Borderlands, as did he." It was not so much a lie as an understatement of the truth. They had seen battle alongside the Forsaken, and the occasional Trolloc skirmishes in the Blight, but Alaren did not need to know that yet.
"Kaspar and I do not abandon each other. The way you Aes Sedai have Gaidin, I have Kaspar." She looked to the horse, now making light of the half-bale of hay in his stall.
"I have been travelling in the east until now, so you must forgive me for not knowing current affairs here." Again, another understatement. She had been in the Aiel Waste, and again, Alaren did not need to know that yet. "What is it that troubles Manetheren?"
Re: The Hat and the Mannequin, Round One
Curlan was frustrated at the lack of responce and kicked open the door. A quick look of the office showed no sign of the King and no idea of where he might be. Grabbing a blank piece of paper and a quill, he scribbled a quick note to explain the situation and tried to shimmy the door shut.
Hurrying down the hall, he found one of his scouts meandering about the castle grounds. It was exactly what he needed.
"Brents," Curlan yelled, and the man snapped his head around in attention. "Take this note and stand guard outside of Lord Mandell's office. He will be along soon, I'll make sure of it. Just make sure no one goes in."
"Yes sir," the young man said, taking the note and heading up the stairs. Curlan took a moment to smile before hurrying back towards the stables. The scouts always had horses saddled and ready to go on a moments notice, so he took the first one he could find and rode towards the gates like the Dark One himself was following.
"Brothers," he thought, oppening himself to the wolves. "I am in search of a hunter. He is close and very dangerous. I need your help."
"Hurry Greenleaf," Weathered Stone answered back, "He is nearby. We will hunt with you."
Curlan couldn't help but smile. Weathered Stone was perhaps the oldest wolf in the region, and definitly the most stubborn. It would be a good hunt.
Raekal RP Admin Band OL King of Manetheren
Posts: 213
(7/8/06 5:30 pm) Reply
Re: The Hat and the Mannequin, Round One
Saker sat atop his horse, the three men forming a small triangle to his back so that the four were in a diamond formation. They were all silent--sitting perfectly still in the hot breeze, their cloaks waving a bit, their faces set. Saker had known something was amiss all day--the air had not felt right, and more than one servant had whispered to him in passing that they had thought someone was after Alaren. He had just got her back, and was not about to lose her once more. He turned his head to the side slightly, his steel eyes sliding over the field laid open before him.
He had laid a slight muffle over the bond--not enough for Alaren to truely notice unless she was concentrating on it enough, but enough for him to move about without her really detecting where he was. He had followed her out of the city with the men behind him now, and watched the entire event. He had sat here, calm, composed. Balanced. Anger swirled under the surface that someone would be foolish enough to attack his Sedai--and anger at his Sedai, for being foolish enough to once more the security and protection that he offered her. He rose one hand, leather armor creaking slightly, and held up two stiffened fingers. The men on each side of him kicked their horses forward in a flurry of motion, racing away, lances bobbing as they rode.
"Wolves, milord," the third said, his horse coming up alongside Saker's. "I can hear them."
Saker could as well--they were coming closer. Undoubtedly called by Curlan, Saker guessed, though he knew the others wouldn't know that particular fact and attempt to kill them. "We'll let the wolves be."
"But the farmers will be in a panic, milord!"
"Then the farmers can panic." Saker turned to look at him. His dark eyes were emotionless steel. "I will not turn aside from this assassin to deal with dogs."
"Apologies, milord."
Saker turned back, watching the two he had sent vanish into the distant treeline. Far off, the city gates hung open, a trail of wagons and horses and men afoot pouring into and out of the city. The supply trains from Baerlon were arriving again, and the merchants were off to Caemlyn and Tar Valon, Tear and Cairhein to bring back their loads of goods . . . and gold. Everyone, it seemed, wanted Manetheren memorbilia from the old city, and it's going rate was through the roof. Saker didn't mind--it was filling the coffers well enough, just when the money Enlan had once made them was beginning to run low.
"Now we go."
Saker turned and rode back down the other side of the hill, his horse moving easily and quickly underneath him. He stiffened his legs and bent his knees to reduce bouncing as he quickened the pace, racing between trees, letting the void consume him as his ears picked out the faint shouts of pursuit. His trackers were the best in the land--only Curlan himself could possibly surpass them, and that was only because he had trained them himself. He leaned forward, urging his stallion to race faster, sensing his escort fall behind and not caring as his hand drifted to his waist and pulled up the familiar axe to be found there. Gripping it in one hand, he leaned to one side, racing after the shouts, and the horse responded, leaping over a fallen log and sliding between two trees, splashing through a crick . . .
He burst into a clearing and saw his two men--now afoot--running towards him, a third figure a tad bit closer, a bow in his hand, an arrow nocked and aimed back behind him as he rode hard--towards Saker. At the last instant, he turned, seeing Saker, swung the bow around and loosed as Saker let the axe fly from his hand. They went speeding past one another, hooves thundering.
Saker pulled to a stop as the assassin, or whatever he had hoped to be, slid from his saddle and landed on the ground on his back, the axe buried to the handle in his face. Saker glanced down at the bloody shaft sticking through his forearm and winced. Feathers on one side, head on the other. He flexed his fingers to make sure no damage was done and swung out of the saddle, snapping the shaft in two and pulling it out, tossing the bloody bits to the side as he walked over to the fresh corpse. Crouching next to it, his three men caught up, looking even more nervous. Wolves could be heard getting closer and closer--Saker had no fear. Curlan had done an extraordinary job at keeping the wolves from attacking the villagers, farmers, or the cattle.
Yanking his axe free, he cleaned it quickly on the man's coat before searching for papers, documents, anything at all to give him some clue as to who this man was. He rose, looking around at the others. There wasn't anything on the man at all. "Search the area. I'm going to Alaren."
He swung back up in his saddle and was gone before they could object.
(Raekal Dunshain) -- First Stormleader Asha'man Bonded to Brenna Selanos (Saker Mandell) -- King of Manetheren (Seia Vron) -- Asha'man (Tristan Du'saa) -- Gaidin in Training (Kerin Lizaile) -- Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah
Re: The Hat and the Mannequin, Round One
Curlan rode hard, the busted door barely in the back of his mind, mostly the thought of the hunt really getting him going. His fingers longed for his claw....blade....he had to keep himself from losing it.
"Eagle two feets on four feet," Weathered Stone said, showing Curlan a field where a man stuck a horn....an axe, into another rider.
"Where are the other two feet?"
"Half the pack is following, find Ground Hawk."
Curlan found him soon enough, in time to find a poor man surrounded by wolves. They had left him for Green Leaf to kill. This pack had a rule about not killing humans.
"Draw your blade," Curlan growled, striding towards the sniveling man. The man saw Curlan and immediately drew, only for one parry and a thrust to leave his guts in a pile on the forest floor.
"Dispers brothers, before the Eagle two feet pursue. And many thanks.
Re: The Hat and the Mannequin, Round One"I have been traveling in the east until now, so you must forgive me for not knowing current affairs here. What is it that troubles Manetheren?"
Alaren frowned thoughtfully. Saker had filled her in on some of the details about Manetheren’s current affairs, but after such a long absence, she felt nearly as out of the loop as Thelize must. But by the peculiar events of the evening and the howls of wolves in the distance, she had the vague inclination that more troubled Manetheren than even Saker knew.
She heard the sound of hooves in the distance, and instinctively faced the stable entrance, grasping the Source. A man on a tall black stallion was approaching; he came into the light, and she immediately recognized him as Saker.
Saker? She could have sworn he was in his office. How in the Light had he snuck here without her noticing? She felt for the bond, and realized with irritation that it was muddled, giving a vague indication of Saker’s presence but suggesting mostly his previous location inside the palace. Light, the man knew how to play with her mind! After three years, Alaren was still amazed at the number of ways he found (and she found, she supposed) to alter the bond.
She abandoned Thelize temporarily and sashayed towards where Saker was dismounting, more amused than angry and fully prepared to deliver a playful scolding; but as she drew near, she noticed blood dripping liberally from his sleeve. Her stomach lurched automatically- the bond was still blurry and she could not tell the extent of his injury- and she ran the rest of the way towards him, gently but quickly grabbing his arm and folding his sleeve up to his elbow. She found underneath a clean wound, straight through, where clearly an arrow had struck him.
“The assassin,” she whispered thoughtfully, delving. The arrow wound was not too bad, and it appeared to be his only injury. She breathed a sigh of relief; after Tear, she had a tendency to be a bit jumpy when it came to Saker’s safety. “You gave me a fright, you know,” she said as she carefully mended his arm. It healed easily, so she drew Saker towards one of the bales of hay, sitting him down and motioning for Thelize to join them.
“What happened?” she asked him seriously, absentmindedly cleaning the blood from his arm on her new riding skirt. “I thought you were in counsel with your officers. Did Curlan tell you about our attack?”
Re: The Hat and the Mannequin, Round One
"No answer. Why am I not surprised?" Thelize mumbled to herself, straightening her skirts for lack of anything else to do with her hands. She liked to be occupied, to be doing something. That was why she was constantly travelling. Well, until now, that was.
She took a seat on a hay bale a few feet away from Alaren and her bonded one. "Assassins, two; honorable nobility, zero," she remarked of the Warder's wounds. Kaspar snorted from somewhere in the stable. "Excuse the interruption. And nice horse. Looks like Kaspar. Except Kaspar's prettier."
Raekal RP Admin Band OL King of Manetheren
Posts: 219
(7/12/06 7:27 pm) Reply
Re: The Hat and the Mannequin, Round One
Saker smiled slyly at Alaren, noting the way she swayed her hips as she moved towards him. He noted a lot of new things about her recently . . . he let her tend the minor wound on his arm without comment as he listened to her, a small smile playing on his face. "You're not the only one who can play tricks," he said, a mischevious light in his eyes . . .
And then SHE came over. Saker shot her a harsh glare at her words. He remembered her immediately--the woman from the seamstress' place. "I'll have you note in your calculations that the man who did this recieved my axe in his face for his trouble. If you doubt that, his body was left for the crows where it lay. You're welcome to go scavenge and become your lesser self." He ignored her about the horses. Who under the Light argued about horses? Woman was stark raving mad. Saker didn't like her. Not one bit. "Now. Any information on who you are, what you're doing here, and why you're hanging around my queen and Sedai will be most welcome before I string you up with the common criminals. You are in my land here." And as if on cue, two Asha'man ducked into the stables, one still mounted. The other was afoot and slightly behind, both dressed immaculately in their black uniforms.
"Sir. A third was spotted crossing the river to the far north--well out of range of pursuit." Saker didn't bother asking how they had seen him thing. Their "saidin" did some things that Saker never wanted to know about. "Requesting orders to continue, sir." Both were staring pointedly at the new woman. Everyone Saker had alerted new she was suspect--and if the Asha'man were right, she could channel. They had felt channeling before from the women . . . it was amazing sometimes, what Saker could still sneak past even Curlan. He was sorry to have left his friend out of the loop in this one, but the man had taken to following Alaren like a lost puppy. He only hoped their bond grew no stronger than that . . .
(Raekal Dunshain) -- First Stormleader Asha'man Bonded to Brenna Selanos (Saker Mandell) -- King of Manetheren (Seia Vron) -- Asha'man (Tristan Du'saa) -- Gaidin in Training (Kerin Lizaile) -- Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah
Re: The Hat and the Mannequin, Round One
Alaren glanced from Saker to Thelize irritatedly. The woman was quite artful when it came to confrontation, she had to give her that much. Under any other circumstances she would have given the woman the sharper side of her tongue, but as it was, there was no time for arguements. She rested a hand on Saker's shoulder, clearly a request for him to postpone his threats until after the matter at hand was settled.
"Let's not 'string' anyone up just yet, please," she said easily. "Let's not forget that the first shot was directed at Thelize, and we do not know why."
She was interrupted by the arrival of the Asha'man, who distracted Saker momentarily with their news of the search. Alaren took the opportunity to study Saker's horse thoughtfully, and lean over towards Thelize.
"You're quite right," she said with a nod. "Kaspar IS much prettier."
Kaspar made a sound that Alaren took to be smug concurrence.
Once the Asha'men had been sent back on their search for the third assassin, Alaren redirected her questions to Saker.
"You have failed to answer my original questions, Gaidin. What do you know of these men? Apparantly you've been searching, with the bond covered no less. You killed one, you said? What have you found?"
Curlan rode back into town, dropping his horse with the stable boy and heading back towards Lord Saker's office. He wanted to be there personally to explain the door. Besides that, his men were scouts, not guards.
Walking slowly up the stairs, he smiled to him self as he idlely wiped the blood from his leathers, covering his hands. He likely should change, but he didn't think much of it.
His scout guarding Lord Mandell's door gave his a startled, wide-eyed look as he rounded into the hall. Curlan held up his hand, staying any words.
"I'm quite alright lad," Curlan offered, holding out his hands away from his body. "And you can go back to whatever you were doing. There is no reason you should pay for my mistakes."
The scout nodded and left, still glancing back at Curlan. With all the blood, he must look crazy.
Re: The Hat and the Mannequin, Round One
"Excuse me, but you did not just threaten me, did you? Become my lesser self? What if this is my lesser self?" Thelize indicated her current being with a wave of both hands.
"Yes, I am in your land, as a guest, a visitor, a traveler. And if this is how you treat such people..."Thelize trailed off. She was arguing not only for the sake of arguing, but also for Kaspar. Because, had Kaspar been anywhere near the Warder, the stallion would be attempting to stomp him to death. Or something like that.
She had ignored the looks the Asha'man had given her. Reborn in another life, Alaren might remember Thelize's connection to a certain channeling male by the name of Danraed...
"Alaren attacks my horse, you, myself. I feel so welcome, thank you," she said sarcastically. "But pay me no mind. Perhaps I shall take my lesser self, find said corpse, turn my horse in the direction of Chachin, and leave you to deal with your assassins all by your lonesome, instead of being of assistance, as no doubt I could.Hmm?"
Re: The Hat and the Mannequin, Round One
((Oh ho... poor Danraed...))
Alaren rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore that the woman had neglected to use any proper titles, and was currently self-importantly chattering away at the King of Manetheren.
"Miss Shwinn," she said with dangerous serenity. "I can assure you that arguing endlessly with my Warder is much more hiderance than assistance. If you hadn't noticed, while you two are arguing about horses and corpses there is at least one man out there plotting to have our necks, so as amusing as I find your bickering, I'm afraid it will have to wait. Now if you will both stop berating eachother temporarily until we have the matter at hand settled?"
Alaren waited for a moment, and nodded with approval at the silence that followed (though it seemed probable that one or the other might at some point stick out their tongue, from the way Saker and Thelize glared at one another.) Alaren was just about to once again ask Saker what he knew when a stable hand walked through with another horse. She immediately recognized the horse as Curlan's.
"Let's go inside," Alaren advised diplomatically. "I believe Curlan is waiting for us. We may talk privately in Saker's office."
Email This To a Friend
Topic Commands
Click to receive email notification of replies 
Click to stop receiving email notification of replies