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Post by Sonja on Apr 12, 2013 3:31:21 GMT -5
Back in, I don't know, 2002, 2003? We started our oldest story, "Secrets". This is the first draft of the very beginning, once written by Bryn and I:
Chapter 1 The Beginning
Waringham entered the large audience room of Westminster castle and bowed deeply. When he raised his head, he saw that his king was short from exploding.
‘You called for me, sire?’ He asked carefully. The room was lit with torches, and in the flickering light he could make out the small silhouette of Queen Mathilda. She, too, looked deeply upset and pale. She was sitting on a chair, and one of her maids was pressing her hand. What had happened?
‘It seems that my daughters have fled.’ William said, barely concealing his fury. ‘We found a letter saying they wanted to have some fun and see the world.’ He spat the last words, and beckoned Samuel to come closer. Samuel took the letter, read it, then shook his head in bewilderment. ‘But how...?’ he started.
‘They stole some horses, apparently. Some of the stable lads are missing too, and one of their handmaidens, Jessica.’ The king walked up and down. ‘You’ll find them, stewart’ He said. ‘You’ll bring them back, all of them. And I want the boys alive. Take whatever you need. You may go.’
Samuel bowed. ‘As you wish, sire’ he said. Then Mathilda stepped forth. Sir Samuel of Waringham had been a knight of her household for the last 25 years. Her eyes were dark with sorrow, and her lips were even paler than usual. Samuel went over to her. ‘Please, Sir Samuel, bring my babies home’ she said softly. Samuel kissed her hand. ‘You have my word, mylady’ he said. Then he bowed and left.
When he’d chosen the men who were to come with him, he went down to the stables. He wanted to have some words with the stable lads and find out of they knew anything, or, more likely, what they were willing to tell him. Most of the boys respected him, all of them feared him, and he was sure he could find out some things.
When he came closer, he felt that something was wrong. He smelled a fire! He started to run, and just when he reached the huge gate that led to the boxes, the gate burst open and a rider shot out at high speed. The rider was hooded with a black cloak and rode a huge charger. Samuel managed to jump out of the way, then it was gone. He could hear screams behind, people were running towards the tract calling for water. Samuel entered the stable. Smoke wavered here and there, but he could not see any flames. He followed the smell and ended up in front of the box of Princess Violet’s box. He opened it – and stared at a ragged creature rummaging in the straw. There was the fire – and it was growing rapidly. Samuel quickly undid his cloak and threw it at the ground, suffocating the flames. Then he grabbed the arm of the creature – it was a girl.
‘What were you doing here, eh?’ He asked harshly, dragging her out of the box. ‘Why did you set fire to the stall?’
‘But I-‘ the girl started. Samuel did not let her continue, dragging her outside. ‘You could have killed all that live in there!’ He raged. ‘Are you mad?’
He tossed her to the ground outside. ‘I smelled the smoke, sir, and wanted to stop the fire!’ The girl cried out. Sam stared down at her. ‘I don’t believe you one word!’
The girl tried to scrabble away, but Sam caught her. ‘You’ll have to answer the king for this!’ HE said. And there he was already, walking towards them, followed by his personal guard. Samuel let go of the girl again, and bowed.
‘What’s this turmoil, Waringham?’ The king asked angrily. ‘I thought I gave you an order?’
‘I beg your pardon, mylord’ Samuel replied. ‘I...’
He caught the look of the girl. She did not look like a firestarter, really. She had huge eyes, and all they expressed now was fear. And then he realized he’d seen her before, now and again. She sometimes fought with the stable lads or the kitchen maids, and seemed to live up on the hay attic.
‘Someone set fire to the stable, my lord. I saw a cloaked rider emerge shortly before I found the burning straw. All is well now, my lord.’
The king gave him a hard look, and then stared down at the girl. ‘And this one?’
He asked.
‘This one is called Torran, my lord’ the girl said. The king raised his eyebrows. ‘Did I give you leave to speak? No? Well, then!’
Sam intervened. ‘She’s friends with the stable lads. I want to take her with me. She might know where they are heading.’ Samuel replied. ‘And I think that man that set fire to the stable has something to do with the escape of the princesses, too.’
The king hesitated. At length, he turned to leave. ‘Well, what are you waiting for then, Sir Samuel?’ He said over his shoulder. ‘Leave now!’
Samuel bowed, and grabbed the girl. ‘Get your horses!’ he called at his men. ‘Crispin, get Goliath and another mount for this girl. She’ll come with us.’
A slender boy nodded and ran off. It was Crispin of Chester, Sir Samuel’s youngest squire. He was curious about the girl, but knew better than to disobey the steward’s orders.
Shortly afterwards, they were riding through the gate. ‘Torran’ Samuel said, ‘What do you know about the princesses and the boys?’
‘Nothing, sir!’ Torran replied stubbornly. ‘Don’t give me this rubbish! I am sure you saw them leave!’ Samuel replied. He stopped and rode closer to her. ‘Speak up!’
But Torran had no intention to. Whether she wanted to protect Aravic and Phillipe, or simply didn’t know, she gave no answer. Samuel took off his glove and slapped her.
‘You can have it the easy way or the hard one, girl!’ He threatened. Torran’s cheek grew red from the blow, and she drew in a sharp breath. Before she could answer, however, one of the sentinels returned. ‘Sir, we found traces of their horses!’ He said. Samuel smiled, and ordered his men to follow.
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Post by Sonja on Apr 12, 2013 3:31:51 GMT -5
The Clearing
The clearing was swarmed with men clad in the colours of King Henry – but Sam did not recognize a single one of them. They spoke French, not English. One of them pointed his sword at Samuel. ‘Drop your weapons!’ He said in broken English. Samuel and Crispin did not stand a chance against so many, and dropped their swords immediately. The men freed Astar and her company from their bonds, and William went over to Torran, grabbing her arm.
‘Just to make sure you don’t try something desperate’ he said to Samuel. ‘Don’t move, sir.’
Samuel knew better than to try anything, and when two of the French bound Sam’s and Crispin’s hands, he did not struggle. They were pushed to the ground and remained there waiting, while Astar talked to the grey haired man who seemed to be their leader. Sam tried to hear what they said, but though he knew some French, they were too far away to understand anything.
‘Giles, why are you here?’ Astar asked the grey-haired leader. He was tall and slender, and about Samuel’s age. His black eyes rested on Astar’s face, and he smiled sadly.
‘Mylady, I bear a message from your father. He… he is very ill. He needs you back in Rouen.’
Astar paled, and pressed her hand against her mouth. She turned away for a moment, then shook her head. ‘I can’t go back now, Giles. He knows we had a deal, and I’m so close to finding them!’
‘My men found them already, lady’ Giles replied. ‘My men freed them, and captured those that had held them captives’
Astar gave him an astonished look, then smiled. ‘I want them with us, if I have to return to Rouen now.’ She said. Giles hadn’t expected anything else, and nodded.
Astar left the man, who turned and gave orders to some of his soldiers, and came over to Will and Eragon. She threw a short look at Torran, then turned to Will. ‘Are you alright?’ She asked. Will nodded, and Eragon shrugged.
‘Bind the girl then. I don’t want to stay here too long.’ She said, and walked over to Samuel. Samuel got to his feet and spat out. ‘Next time I get the chance, I won’t hesitate to kill you , Astar!’ he hissed in a low voice. He couldn’t believe she’s brought a French army into his land. And he could not believe she’d escape him just again.
Crispin said nothing, everything had happened so fast that he still had not caught up with the events. He tried not to think of what Henry would do to punish Sir Samuel for this repeated failure. The king might be called many things, but not forgiving.
Astar just smiled at this, nodded mockingly, and walked over to where a horse was held ready for her. She mounted it.
‘We take the prisoners with us!’ She shouted. ‘Get ready!’
Samuel, Crispin and Torran were pushed into the centre of the troop.
‘You can’t hope to get away with us!’ Samuel exclaimed. ‘I’ll use the first chance I get to kill you when you sleep!’
One of the soldiers bound a long rope around his wrists, then mounted his horse. The same happened to Torran and Crispin. Samuel took a step back.
‘You can’t risk this!’ He shouted again. ‘The king will be looking for us soon!’
Astar shot a swift glance down at him. ‘Maybe you haven’t noticed, but your king has basically said that you’re nothing to him anymore, hasn’t he? You failed him too often. You’re not stewart anymore, are you? And why should he be looking for stat stealing rugrat or your squire? Enlighten me, Samuel, why?’
Samuel instinctively tried to reach for his sword, but that was gone of course. He stared at the ground. She was right, wasn’t she? Henry surely did not care what happened with him, or Crispin or Torran. He replied nothing.
Renny rode over to Astar. ‘I must find out what happened with Jess and Esse!’ He said. Astar nodded. ‘Ride, then’ she said. ‘We’ll meet up in Dover.’ Renny nodded and left.
Astar returned to the middle of the clearing. Giles took Samuel’s rope, while Torran and Crispin were herded to some other mounted guards, who dragged them after their horses when they left the clearing. Astar rode close to Giles.
She threw a look at Samuel, who stared at the ground as he walked, then turned to Giles, smiling.
‘Congratulations, that’s the former Steward of England you’re dragging after you.’ She said. She paused, and when she went on, her voice was cold. ‘He’s also Damian’s murderer. I am sure that father will want to have a talk with him.’
Giles threw a look back, and tugged at the rope. Samuel almost fell. ‘He’ll regret that’ He said. They rode on in silence, until Giles spoke again. ‘Your father is very ill, mylady’ he said. ‘His physicians say he might die.’
Astar said nothing. She stared straight ahead. Giles regarded her in silence, and then spotted her raw wrists and the cuts on her arms. ‘Who did this to you?’ He asked in shock.
Astar looked at her wrists, then shrugged. ‘I fear I did this to myself, Giles.’ She said calmly. ‘At least the wrists. I pushed Sir Samuel too hard, and provoked him. It’s as much my fault as it is his.’ She sighed. ‘I fear I’ll be wearing gloves for a while. And I’ve had enough of being a prisoner for the rest of my life!’
Giles still stared at her arms. He felt anger rise in him. Who’d cut her like this? He wished he could kill the one who did it. ‘That wound is infected.’ He stated. ‘Who did that?’
‘I don’t want to tell you right now, Giles.’ Astar replied, shaking her head. ‘Let’s say that the English did not treat me like a lady. But…I don’t want these captives o pay for it. The former steward has a temper just like me, and let us just say that sometimes…we did not get a long that well.’ She laughed. ‘Giles, you should hear them talk about me! They seriously believe that I am a witch!’
Giles looked her up and down. Besides the numerous wounds and scratches, Astar was rather dirty, she wore leather trousers, and a torn shirt. Her hair was a tangled mess with leaves here and there. He could see how the English could have reached that conclusion. He chuckled. ‘Maybe you are no witch – but you sure look like one!’ He said.
They both laughed, and for a while, all they heard was the sound of the horses walking through the forest, the noise of their riders, and here and there the stumbling footsteps of their prisoners.
‘Since when have you been here?’ Astar asked after a while.
‘We’ve been looking for you for quite a while’ Giles replied. ‘It was not easy to find you. Finally we thought you’d gotten yourself into trouble – and I guess we were right.’
Samuel had no trouble to keep up with the horse infront of him. Neither had Crispin – at least not yet. But whenever he chanced to see Torran, he could see that she stumbled a lot, and looked very exhausted. Now and again, she fell. IT made him furious. Even more than he already was. He couldn’t believe it! Norman soldiers, apparently, in the heart of the kingdom! The king had to be informed, he knew. But how? He cursed under his breath while he was dragged down the path. These people spoke a weird accent, and it was hard to understand anything they said in the noise the horses made. His ears prickled from the effort to understand what Giles and Astar talked about. Once or twice, he was sure they were talking about him- they even turned to look at him. And the way they reacted towards Astar. She really seemed to be a princess! And who was that Damian he was supposed to have killed?
He stumbled on. They had left the mountains, and had arrived in a deep valley that broadened in the far east. He knew this area – they were heading towards the coast. He looked ahead and almost fell when he spotted Torran. She’d hit the ground again, and was coughing from the dust. Blood was running down one of her cheeks. He felt anger boil up again, and stopped, struggling against the rope. He was so mad at her! And at the same time, his heart cramped. What if they decided she was no use, and killed her? She meant something to him…well, Crispin did, too, but…this was different. Had he ever had a daughter, he would have been proud if she had been like Torran. That girl was a fighter! She never gave up! The elderly knight that held his rope gave a rough tug, and Sam stumbled on. Torran disappeared from his vision.
Astar had seen this little fight, and sighed. ‘I think we should call a stop and give the prisoners and horses some water and rest.’ She said. Giles nodded, and they stopped in another small clearing. They had been riding for about five hours, but they still had a long way to go. The prisoners fell to the ground as soon as they realized they did not have to walk anymore. They were utterly exhausted.
Torran sat down where she was put and leaned against a tree. She was broken, physically and mentally. Why hadn’t she thought of the consequences of going away? Sam had so much to explain to his king now, if he’d ever be able to return to him. He’d almost succeeded! And…what if they died? What if they were killed? Then it was her fault, because she had been selfish, she’d only thought of herself.
She clenched her fists and looked up at the sky. She’d always hated the world, but it was herself she hated even more now.
Around them, men were rubbing off the horses, and checking their feet. They took off their saddles, and watered them. No one had given any water to the prisoners so far. They were separated so they would be easier to guard.
Samuel stared at Torran. She sat at the other end of the clearing, leaning against a tree. She looked miserable. Why should she not, anyway? They were in a miserable situation after all. He got to his feet and walked over to her. The men were busy with checking their horses, and no one noticed what he did in that moment. He walked very slowly so no one would think he was trying to escape. When he reached the girl, he sat down next to her, but didn’t look at her face. His hands were still bound, but his fingers played idly with the yellowish, dry grass infront of him. When Torran did not react either, he finally lifted his head and looked straight at her face. He could see that she was very upset, that she was tormenting herself with feelings of guilt and regret. Somehow, that even made him angrier at her. Her condition forced him to feel pity for her, and that was the last thing he wanted.
‘Do you have any idea what you’ve done to us, Torran?’ He hissed angrily.
‘I do’ Torran replied softly, without looking up. Her shoulders trembled. Samuel took a deep breath, trying to control his rage.
‘Why? Why did you run away, girl? What have I ever done to you? Look-‘ He hissed, finally aware of the noise he was making, and the guards around them, ‘I can’t possibly see a chance to get out of this mess now! And if we’re brought to Rouen…and these are Normans, so I am sure that’s their plan…If we’re brought there, we won’t ever be able to return to England. There is no return. Not for me. How dare you! I trusted you!’
Torran raised her head, and looked at Samuel. Her eyes were dark with exhaustion – and with fear. ‘Yes…I know. I shouldn’t have done it. I’m so sorry…Can we please leave it at that? I don’t want to talk about it anymore…’ Her voice sounded far off and weak.
Samuel exploded. This was incredible!
‘Leave it at that? Leave it at that?!’ He exclaimed, forgetting the guards once again. ‘You…you silly girl! How could I leave it?! And you don’t want to talk about it, eh? Hah! Neither do I! In fact, I would be most happy if there wasn’t a thing we’d ever have to talk about again! But there is! The king will-‘
One of the guards frowned at them, and Samuel reconsidered the volume and continued in a whisper. ‘the king will go spare! He’ll buy us back, just so that he can execute us personally!’
‘I said I’m sorry,’ whispered Torran, looking away again. She paused, then went on, ‘at least I’ll die, too.’
‘Don’t think I’ll let you get off that easily!’ Sam replied coldly. ‘You’ll live, I’ll make sure you will. Just so that you can pay for this, girl!’ He was raging again now, and tore like mad at the rope around his wrists. He felt the urge to slap her, to hurt her for what she’d done.
The girl sighed. ‘I didn’t leave because I didn’t feel like staying… but you wouldn’t understand. It was a selfish action, I admit, but believe me – it was also hard for me, you must know this!’
‘Ah, well, maybe you’d better try to explain it to me now!’ Samuel snapped angrily. He was so mad! But at the same time, he felt pity creep up behind that anger, waiting for a chance to take over. He fought against the growing compassion. He couldn’t afford pity now. He had to stay angry! Otherwise there was only black despair…
But Torran could not explain. She looked away from him, and heaved a sigh. She remembered that she’d tried to explain her feeling to Crispin a few days ago, and that had been hard enough. She felt cold and tired, and miserable. It had grown darker, and looked as if it would start to rain soon.
In the meantime, Crispin watched them from further off. Though he was guarded at the other side of the clearing, and though his vision was barred by soldiers walking around, he could still see the expressions on their faces, and once he heard Samuel shout. He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling dizzy. He was covered in sweat, which had mixed up with the dirt and dust of the street, and his whole body hurt and itched. His tongue was dried up and felt swollen. Samuel’s face was red with anger, but Torran’s was tiny, cold and pale. He knew that his master had a right to be angry at the girl, but at the same time he wished he wouldn’t make it any harder for her. If he’d been in her position, he doubted he could have acted otherwise.
He felt exhaustion over roll him, and closed his eyes, leaning against his tree.
Just then, Samuel closed his eyes, too, and deliberately calmed himself down. ‘You are right,’ he said, opening them, turning towards Torran once more. ‘We don’t have time to quarrel now, or to discuss your wrongs. But don’t think you’re forgiven! We have more pressing matters to discuss, that’s all. We must send news to the king. And to Sir Richard! They are in danger… I hope that he managed to find Violet at least, and bring her back to her father. And…he must be informed about those Norman soldiers strolling through our kingdom, unnoticed!’
Now Torran looked at him for the first time. She leaned a bit closer. ‘My hands are free’ she whispered. Their guards had bound them rather hastily, and as she was a girl they might also have thought they could neglect her. Because of this the thick rope around her thin wrists could easily be pushed off. Samuel stared at her, then at her wrists. He hesitated, but then he shook his head.
‘We’re too far away. You would never reach anyone in time, Torran. They’d catch you before you reach the end of this clearing!’ The place was crowded with Astar’s army, and though many of them were resting, and most were ignoring their captives for the moment, there were still enough who were vigilant and ready to catch them should they try to escape.
‘Torran…Torran, why did you have to go and run away?’ Samuel finally burst out. ‘We’d almost ended this whole affair! We’d almost brought them to the Keep, damn it!’ Their hopeless situation made him so angry!
‘I’ll try everything I can to get you out of this mess!’ said Torran. ‘I know it will not be enough, but…what else could I do, I ask you?’ She looked around. ‘I could try to run and they’d probably kill me, and that’s that. But I’d rather they did than that you to be angrier at me.’
‘And how should your death prevent me from being angry? What use would your death have to me? Do I seem to be a monster? Is that why you ran away? You know we really had a chance yesterday.’ He added bitterly, ‘We’d almost won! And now there is nothing we can do. Even if you ran, girl, you’d never make it. Neither would I. No, we can just sit here and wait.’
‘I can bide my time.’ Replied Torran. A tear came to her eye –this was so unfair! Samuel stared at it as the tear ran down her face. His face was unmoved while he imagined to wipe that tear off her face. ‘You cry because you think the world is so unfair to you, don’t you?’ he whispered coldly. ‘I’ll tell you what’s unfair: Without you, those bastards would be rotting in the king’s dungeons now! Without them, I’d probably be redeemed and regain my rank! Without you…without you, we could have revenged my dead men. That is unfair!’
His whisper had turned into a shout. Shocked, he was silent for a long while. Their guard had given them a sharp look, but apparently thought that they had some personal quarrel, and had returned to his chat with one of the other knights. Samuel breathed deeply, deliberately, to calm himself down. Finally he stretched out his wrists. ‘Untie my hands!’ He said. ‘Now! I have to get a message to the king, whatever the costs. He must know what’s happening!’
But Torran shook her head. ‘You don’t understand!’ She replied. ‘If I’d known all this would happen I’d never have left!’
‘Cut me loose!’ Samuel insisted again, threateningly. ‘Cut me loose, or you’ll damn well regret having cut me loose, you hear me? I must get a message to my king! Now!’
Intimidated, Torran looked around. The guards, against all expectations, weren’t looking. They were eating and chatting. Apparently, they weren’t interested in their prisoner’s conversation. She looked back at Samuel, then removed the bonds from her hands and untied his as quickly as she could.
Samuel knew they might be decovered any moment, but his impatience just hindered Torran and made it more difficult to untie the knots.
Crispin had watched them for a while, and when he realized what Torran was doing, he leapt up desperately, trying to buy them some time. He punched the guard that sat closest to him, and continued to hit the puzzled knight as hard as he could, which was, admittedly, not very hard with his hands bound. Soon more guards closed in on them, and pulled him off his victim, then started to kick and hit him with joined strength. The last thing he saw was Samuel leaping up, running to a horse.
Samuel mounted the first horse he reached and galloped off. Torran looked around to find out what the noise was all about, and saw Crispin’s lifeless body being beaten and kicked. ‘Oh no’ She whispered. She knew she could not help him – and suddenly fear overmanned her. Once they found out Sam had escaped, they’d know who helped him. She quickly got up, took another horse, and rode after Samuel.
When Samuel heard the sound of hooves behind, and kicked his horse even harder. When he finally threw a look behind, he realized it was Torran, he was relieved, but did not slow down. They had no time to waste. Certainly the distraction wouldn’t work forever. A village came into sight, and he stopped infront of the tiny inn, dismounted and ran into the room. The
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