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 Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 7:47 pm
"Make yer talk, girl." Alloran said, ducking into the room. He glanced around the room, noting the guards and any escape routes. There weren't many.
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 7:57 pm
Eliath's dark face smiled. He was a mahradi panther at heart no matter what titles he claimed. "Little Siri, come home again, for what purpose? And you bring yet more guests. You know how I feel about guests."
Sahira's eyes moved to Ruby and she raised an eye at the second bracelet on the girl's wrist. "We're here to take a guest home, no need to trouble you further."
"And lose such a pretty gem? Sahira, a treasure falls into your lap and you do not leave it in the dust."
"Or give it back?" Sahira asked.
"Giving back is honorable, so long as it a man can prove he is the proper owner." Eliath grinned. He was going to give her trouble. "Now who are these guests? One I recognize, but the other two?"
"The tall ma--"
"No, Sahira," Eliath interrupted. "I don't want your silken tongue, I want to hear from the foreigners. Now tell me." He looked to Alloran and Laurel in turn. "Who are you, and why have you come to my kingdom?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:01 pm
Ruby smiled as she saw who had come into the room. She paid no attention to what Eliath and Sahira were discussing. Instead she stood up and ran over to greet Alloran and Laurel.
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:13 pm
"I'm here for the girl." Alloran stated simply, locking eyes with the man. "But I understand the workings of kings. How 'bout a barter? We get the girl, you get this."
The air in the room dropped significantly, save the air around Alloran himself. It was now roughly 60 degrees F in the room, and was maintained.
"This room will remain cold if you give up the girl."
Alloran knew all about handling these kings. It was why he didn't deal with them with anything but a sword, but he wanted to get out of here, and this was easy.
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:27 pm
The entertainers in the room stopped dancing and began to shiver, fear running through them at the new sensation. Sahira also started to shiver, her arms going around herself as she gave Alloran a rather sharp look.
Eliath started to laugh. "The young ones here have never been to the mountains, they don't know the feeling of cold." He casually took a honeyed date from a plate. "And you tell me this cold will remain? Even after you have gone?" He gave a considered nod. "For this, you may have the girl, if she chooses to leave." His smile widened a bit more.
Sahira looked to Alloran "Don--" She was cut off as a spear pressed to her throat, a quick command from the king.
"Silence, Sahira, let the man think on his own."
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:33 pm
"For this, I will have the girl, and all those I came here with, whether they please it or not." Alloran's eyes narrowed angrily. "I do not like being toyed with. This deal goes at face value. I get the girl, you get the cold. It stays that way, and we all leave happily. I have given you my word, will you give me yours."
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:38 pm
Eliath held his grin. "Agreed, you may have the girl, and all those you came with. You have my word."
Eliath stood up, pleased. "The deal is set, off you go." He turned to a servant and made a small gesture with his hand. "You, escort them to the gates. And then show the boy to his new quarters."
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:46 pm
This was why he didn't like royalty.
Alloran's hand went to his sword, pausing as it gripped the hilt tightly
"The boy belongs to the girl. You recognized that earlier. Don't push your luck."
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:55 pm
"It was your deal, your terms. You never specified the boy. In truth, it's a bad deal for the both of them. If you were to increase your end of the bargain, perhaps I might consider it." He paused thinking, "make a room colder than this, a room as frigid as the highest mountains, a room that will make water into ice within one night."
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:00 pm
Alloran would have glared had he not already been, but he released his sword, lowering his hand. Play by their rules until they break them.
"A cold room, colder than this, cold as ice."
Aaron, Ruby, Sahira, and Laurel ((and Anc, if he shows up ever)) felt themselves warm, but they gave off no heat beyond their persons.
"Accepted."
The room's temperature began to drop quickly, passing below freezing in moments, and continued to drop.
This was how he dealt with royalty.
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:07 pm
Eliath chuckled, as the temperature dropped, and grabbed a cloak from an awaiting slave. "There are a hundred guards outside this door and they will kill you if you drop the temperature further than requested." He hid his shivering well, having a good amount of experience in the cold mountains before. But the slaves and servants were dropping, some of them dying just from the shock.
"Stop, please." Sahira gave Alloran a pleading look.
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:14 pm
The temperature ceased it's dropping. While it did not raise, the air around everyone but Eliath did, slowly warming, so as not to generate any more temp shock.
"Listen to me and listen good, little man. I'm leaving with whatever the hell I want to leave with. Iffn' you ******** with me anymore, by someone else's god I will leave you out under your sun, just cool enough to live, just warm enough to burn. You ain't got much time to respond, the cold'll kill you damn quick if you don't hurry."
Alloran's hand had returned to his sword, the blood pumping through him. His body stood taught, filled with rage at this arrogant man. His knuckles turned white around the hilt.
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:20 pm
Eliath was freezing, but he made a quick hand gesture. The warmed guards moved in. Ruby, Sahira, Aaron, and Laurel were all grabbed, blades put to their throats. Another guard just leveled his spear at Anc, being as there was no real way to grab him. "If...I...die....so....do...they." He was barely able to push out the words from the cold.
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:24 pm
Eliath warmed enough to just keep him alive as Alloran moved closer to him, crouching down.
"Yeah, but if you die, then you've lost, and that ain't what yer playin' for. This happens one of two ways. You give me the boy, and the girl, and everything else I've made blatantly obvious, and we leave. I might even leave you a cold room. The other way is you get yer a** frozen, an' you don't see what happens next. Hell, you might e'en kill one of us, but figure on the fact that I froze this room cold 'nough, I can freeze you an' yer guards jus' as quick." Alloran held his fingers up, a flame rising in them. It gave off a little warmth, just enough to reach Eliath's face.
"What's it gonna be."
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Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:30 pm
"Then go." Eliath spat out the words as if they were poison on his tongue. The guards stood down immediately, taking several steps back.
He narrowed his eyes at Sahira, promising a later punishment for this outrage.
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