February 19, 1171
"Searle?"Eilyssa hadn't said anything in a good few minutes, so at the sound of his name, Searle indulged her and turned around. She'd been good so far, hadn't she? Besides, the girl had less than an hour left to live; the least he could do was answer her damn question. "Yes?"
"Aren't we a little far out?" She pulled her hands into the depths of her sleeves and shivered. "I didn't think we'd be so long; my parents are probably awake and wondering where I am."
They probably were--not that it mattered much. Oh well, that wasn't Searle's problem; the king had said he'd send a messenger to break the news to them. As far as Searle was concerned, this would all be over and done with in a few minutes, and then he'd be free to head back to Dovia--a pity those lords were so soft, really, or he might have left this to one of them and set off days prior. "Just a little further, all right? I promise it won't be much longer now."His cousin frowned. She was probably beginning to suspect something--again, not that it meant anything at this point. "You sound like you want to show me something specific."
Poor girl. The baron suspected that the king had rigged the draw, and having not witnessed the steward's preparation of the names, Searle could admit to the possibility. Eilyssa's very existence served to prove Roderick's status as a cuckold, and it seemed he hadn't let go even after all these years. Under ideal circumstances, he probably wouldn't have had her killed, but seeing as a noblewoman needed to die anyway...Ah, but perhaps it was pointless to feel sorry for her. At least she would die nobly, for a cause--unlike him. He would grow weaker and weaker each day until he lacked the strength to pull himself from bed. He would wither away, dry and skeletal and frail, wishing someone would have mercy on him and slip him a dose of poison along with those useless herbal mixtures. People would remember Eilyssa as a hero, a selfless maiden who had bravely given herself for the sake of her homeland; Searle would die quietly, obscurely, perhaps mourned for a fortnight before slipping into the far corners of forgotten history. Had Deian's requirements not demanded a female, he might have volunteered himself if only to avoid the fate that awaited him otherwise.
But such thoughts were surely a waste of precious seconds. He would have plenty of time for angst on his deathbed. "We're almost there."He continued to head in the direction of the designated meeting place, Eilyssa at his heels. Her step was light and graceful, her petite frame evident in spite of the bulk of her cloak. She would leave a beautiful corpse, he mused; nobody would ever say the same of him.
At last, they drew toward the middle of the clearing--Deian, however, was nowhere to be seen. Searle felt his lip curl inward; were they early, perhaps? He was sure it was the right place. "Odd..."
Eilyssa shuffled after him and stopped at his side. "Searle, what... oh my God!"
She'd seen it before he could; trembling, she gaped at the sight before burying herself in his arm. Searle didn't like being touched as a rule, but as he squinted forward, her proximity became the least of his concerns. He'd been told what to expect, and he must have gone over it in his head a hundred times. Needless to say, this wasn't it. "What the hell...?"
He thought he knew what he was seeing, but his vision had never been quite right; he would have to get a closer look. "Stay back," he ordered his cousin as he shook free of her grasp. Whatever this was, he didn't want her to have to see any more of it.Slowly, he approached the ring of rosebushes in the clearing's origin and peered to the ground. The shapes were still blurred, but there was a distinct gold mass amidst the sea of green, and a strange, creamy shade near the far end of that. When one struggled to define figures, one became highly attuned to colors, and Searle had seen that exact hue only once before.
Mere days ago. The roses Deian had been so careful to point out--the sign of the fulfilled pact.
Searle turned around and backtracked, taking Eilyssa by the hand and briskly leading her away; it would have been best for all involved if their arrival at her father's house proceeded that of the king's messenger.NEXT CHAPTER:
17 comments:
I probably could've done a better job on this post. Sorry all :S
I'm going to miss having Geneva around. Flaws and all, I always did like her--she was who she was and made no apologies for it. At least she died a noble death, but still :(
OMG you mean I was right? Even when I was typing that up yesterday I didn't really believe it. A final grand gesture by Geneva.
That is so like spineless Roderick. Couldn't just come out and say that he nominated Eilyssa, had to make it look like she was chosen from a fair draw; everyone could suspect but no one could prove.
I wasn't surprised to hear Searle voice the opinion that he would have volunteered himself if noblemen were eligible. He would definitely be of the sort that would prefer a quick and noble death to watching his strength drain away day by day. Actually, I was almost wondering if the little half-breed that cured Florian was going to pop up somewhere and perform the same service for Searle.
That "Mama loves you" just became a hell of a lot more poignant ... *sniffle* I'm going to miss her too.
Eilyssa might never actually know that Geneva died for her, would she? Hell, at this point she might not even know it was Geneva who died -- she hasn't seen Geneva since she was a baby, after all. And if Roderick is a smart man and doesn't want Aldhein coming after him, he won't mention that he had the lottery rigged to pick Lyssie.
... Lyssie will probably know the whole story by lunchtime, won't she?
And Illandrya, that's a great idea -- Tavrin comes out and heals Searle, then, after a period of suitable romance and making-up on Searle's part, he and Eilyssa ride off into the sunset and leave Roderick and Laralita twitching in shock and shame.
Jaw dropping gob-smacked.
To be honest, I didn't think Geneva would be selfless enough to do it.
But I did like Geneva, she was a warts and all girl. Very Real.
Personally - I wish it was Roderick that they took for their sacrifice.
I knew it. Geneva couldn't let her daughter do what she knew she could do and do with understanding instead of simply being led out into the woods and turned over to the monster. Horrifyingly sad.
Searle makes me want to yank his hair out by the roots. Here he is walking an innocent girl out to her death and he's posing himself in his own mind. Narcissistic or what? If he's so worried about looking bad as a corpse, there must be plenty of ways to put himself in danger before he gets old.
Wonderful WONDERFUL writing and plotting! Loving this sequence!
Thanks all.
Illandrya: Heheh... I was worried when you seemed to be onto me :P
That is very much a Roderick thing to do, coupled with sending his estranged stepson to do the dirty work :S
As for Searle... yeah, he would have rather died for a cause, gone out with a bang. He probably thinks about death a lot at this point, so he probably has self-glorified thoughts about the sort of deaths he'd prefer.
Alas, word of Searle's illness hasn't spread to Tavrin. Since he's so keen on keeping it hush-hush, the only person in Naroni who knows about it is Lyssie :(
Morgaine: At this point, no, she wouldn't recognize Geneva, especially since her face is obscured by those flowers. Searle didn't recognize her either, partly because he hasn't seen her since he was little and partly because his eyesight sucks.
What I'm thinking will happen is that Searle will fill in Lyssie once they get back to her house, and then he'll go and alert the noblemen and they'll retrieve the body and identify her as Geneva. After that, Lyssie will probably hear who it was from Lorn, if Aldhein's too angry to figure it out himself.
Speaking of Aldhein, he'll be gunning for Roderick anyway, but obviously not with the same rage we would have seen if Lyssie had actually died.
Heh... Searle's already married. I won't rule out the possibility of him ever being healed, though ;)
Kiri: I think a lot of people wouldn't have minded seeing Roderick go :P
It was certainly a selfless gesture on her part--not what she's known for, but telling nonetheless. Roderick will probably be furious to know that she gets to go down in history as a hero :P
Beth: Yeah, she couldn't let Lyssie just be led to her doom like that, not with her whole life ahead of her. Geneva probably saw herself as a more suitable candidate on the basis that she wouldn't be missed and had pretty much accomplished what she wanted in life :(
Given Searle's maternity, I'd be surprised if he wasn't a bit narcissistic :P He does seem to be concerned with the idea of a noble death, though, and perhaps rotting away does beat a random, fear-driven suicide in his mind.
"Roderick will probably be furious to know that she gets to go down in history as a hero"
I almost choked on my bagel when I read that *LOL* it's sooooooo true!!!
Oh, he'll be throwing a fit for sure :P
Oh Geneva! I'm sad to see her go too. She's been a very interesting character.
I did worry that Geneva wouldn't do it. That last entry was quite ambiguous, so it made me worry that she'd let it happen. I'm glad she didn't.
She was certainly an interesting woman. I'll be missing her too :(
The last entry was ambiguous on purpose because I figured a few people were onto me :P But yeah, I don't think she would have left her child to die.
I'm glad it seems like she had a quick and (relatively) painless death. I was already imagining scenes of carnage with blood everywhere. That seemed like the way Deian would take. I didn't think he would be so .... humane.
Speaking of Deian: Are we ever gonna know the "Why"s and "How"s of his plan? I mean, why did it have to be a woman, and one of noble blood too? And how does that enable him to get where he's wanting to go, wherever that is? Basically I'm exceedingly interested in the whole supernatural background.
If Tavrin's still around, he might be able to fill in some of the blanks ;)
She did have a quick, painless death--like going to sleep, pretty much. Maybe Deian is like Searle and sees some sort of beauty in this kind of death? I guess we'll never know.
I wonder if this will make Roderick stop and think at all about his selfish, narcissistic, vengeful ways. Probably not.
I felt in my gut this would happen but it was so sad anyway. I'll miss the idea of Geneva appearing from time to time but I am not surprised at all that she did this. I honestly wonder if Deian will pause to think about what just went down.
And I thought Searle was making up the "I'm dying" bit. Did I miss something?
Really well done Van...
Roderick's getting older and set in his ways. Actually, I take that back--he was born set in his ways :S
Searle is actually dying, but he doesn't want to make a big deal of it, so he only told Lyssie to convince her to go with him. When Laralita asked about his health, he lied and told her he was fine.
Thanks Gayl.
Man... I knew it was going to happen but that didn't make it any less sad!
And oh! Searle really is dying. I thought that he had made up all of that garbage to get her to walk with him. Honestly, I think it's pretty horrible what those in the know were planning to do to Aldhein. Imagine waking up, discovering your very young daughter missing and then having someone show up at your door like, "Ooo, uhhhh, yeah... Sorry about that one. We had to send your kid off to be ritualistically slain and didn't want to get the family involved in case there were hostilities. No worries though right? You and the nobles of Naroni are still cool de la, right???" Horrifying.
I always rather liked Geneva but I could never quite reconcile her leaving her kids behind. But she was mother when it really mattered. She had a good heart and I'm going to miss her :(. It always seemed like she was just born in the wrong time period.
Grrr... Roderick. I bet he did rig the vote.
I have to worry a little that we haven't seen the last of the sacrifices. Somehow I don't think Deian will be satisfied with just one (ugh... I just wrote satisFED by accident.. that somehow seems a bit more appropriate).
Pen: Sorry :(
Aldhein would have exploded. And then he would have imploded. It would not have been a pretty sight :S
Cruel, for sure, but Searle doesn't seem to have much in the empathy department :S
Verity: I liked her too, even if she did make some pretty selfish choices. She was there when it counted, though.
I wouldn't be surprised if Roderick rigged the vote. Not sure if we'll ever know for sure, though :S
As for the further activities of Deian, we'll probably get some insight whenever we see Tavrin next.
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