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 Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2013 11:07 pm
The fair bustled with noise and people and smells. Everywhere, crowds jostled at one another and over the dull roar of a thousand people speaking at once floated the shrieks of laughter and merriment. Hastily erected stalls stood in rowed clusters, forming narrow paths for spectators to move through while horses stood awaiting purchase. Some where fortunate enough to have their own stalls while others stood crammed together, four or five or six to a box. Already, the smell of urine laced the air, but the people went unbothered.
It was an sale really, more so than a fair, but the row of street food vendors and the small cluster of games to the side warranted a better name than a simple auction. Men wandered through the stalls haggling for horses - none of them particularly well-bred; not in a place like this, anyway - while the youngsters threw balls at stacked cans or tried their hand at a bow and arrows for prizes. Every so often, someone hit a target and enthusiastic cries rang out.
In the midst of the crowd with a tall, proud buck by his side stood Edgar Ashworth. He had donned plain clothes, all the better to hide his high birth (since inconspicuousness was not something he could ask for with Dardanos beside him), and was considering the purchase of a horse. The stables at Rosehill lacked good, honest working horses and when he did need to bring a pack horse out with him, his choice lay between several fiery and nobly bred hunters. What he needed was a plainer horse, one that could stable at any inn and not raise suspicions.
"That one, perhaps?" He said to Dardanos, gesturing toward one of the pens. In it stood a sturdy cob with thick, strong legs and a wedged head. "He's not all pretty, but that's what we want." Dardanos considered it. He watched as the gelding swished his tail and stamped at the ground, and the emotion he responded with was simply neutral.
"We can keep looking then," Edgar agreed, pushing forward into the throng of people once again. "You just let me know when you've found something."
As with many things, Edgar let Dardanos take the reins on this matter. He had long since discovered that the buck was wiser in most things than he, and his Guardian had a habit of drawing to him the creatures that needed him the most. It was all about discovery with Dardanos, discovery and discussions, and in the end somehow, the things that mattered would all fall into place.
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Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 7:13 am
"What is she doing?" "That fool is going to get herself killed!" "Watch out!" The clamour of the crowd grew by the instant as people began swelling around a hastily erected paddock meant to separate some of the animals ready to go up on the block for auction. It was hard to see through the mass of people, but when the crowd shifted, it revealed a particularly harrowing scene. A woman, her white blonde hair cut short, circled an impressive, snorting stallion that stood out so fiercely from the other horses, it could only be a courser or destrier. Such an animal was trained for fighting, a warhorse, and not typically found in Sunderland at all, let alone a modest auction set such as this. Which was exactly why Soibhan circled a respectable distance away from the animal in her attempt to catch the trailing, broken rope that had been poorly accepted as being strong enough to hold him to the block. The creature, a beautiful blue roan with a rich black mane and tail, eyed her with a fury in his eyes, but she wasn't convinced it was aimed at her. The beast had been trained as a warhorse, something of which she was keenly familiar. She had been eyeballing the beast all morning, as her former mount had spooked and disappeared into the Wardwood when she had visited it with Faelan months ago. When the high strung beast had broken his lead and kicked the announcer before dashing madly around the small paddock, she'd jumped the fence to try and wrangle him. He eyed her, fire in his gaze, and pawed his anger into the ground with those dangerous hooves. The auction caller still hadn't regained consciousness. "C'mere, beastie. I won't be hurtin' ye. Shhh, doona think ye can scare me." She crept closer, never taking her eyes from him, though she avoided true eye contact. Her body language was as relaxed as can be as she slowly approached, hand outstretched before her. Whenever he snorted in renewed anger, she would stop. MoonRazor I have never owned a horse, so I hope this seems appropriate if someone were dumb enough to jump into an enclosed space with an angry stallion, haha!
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Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 8:50 am
Ashtiel Arykosa XDD It's the kind of dumb that Soibhan would get up to
"There must be something wrong with that one," Edgar said aloud as he studied the stallion with a critical eye. "To end up in a place like this. Nobody here has got the coin to pay half of what that horse is worth." Which meant there was a reason, likely a very serious reason, that it was here. Beside him, the gathered men murmured their agreement, most of them shaking their heads as the announcer began to cue up the auction. A few of them turned away knowing full well that they had neither the money nor the use for screaming stallion.
Then it happened, all in a flurry of motion. The horse lashed out with his hooves and shook loose from its handler with a violent jerk, mowing down the announcer before bolting around the paddock. The gathered patrons scattered from the fence and stood several feet away while the angrily pawed the ground and moved on, still screaming at the mares and running with its tail flagged and every muscle taut.
"And there it is," Edgar muttered. He watched as the horse ripped at the ground with his pawing hooves and sent clods of dirt flying. "You couldn't pay me to get on that, and I bet you couldn't pay his owner either." Dardanos stood and snorted without passion even as the stallion came to a temporary stop near them at the fence and screamed. The buck shook his head and the horse moved on.
Then the startled cries broke out and Edgar turned back to see a woman leap over the fence and circle the stallion. The way she moved to counter his actions bespoke a certain familiarity with horses, but this one didn't seem keen to give in to her advances. She was inching closer, but Edgar could tell that she would soon inch too far and set the stallion off again - this time perhaps even straight toward her. With one person already unconscious in the paddock, there didn't seem much need for a second. "Don, will you take care of this? I would hate to see more people hurt."
He felt the buck agree in his mind. Then the Guardian took a step and vaulted the fence almost from a standstill. With the slow and practice ease of a being who saw no fear, only business, the buck strode into the center of the paddock to place himself between the stallion and the woman, offering the physical protection of his body, which radiated a comforting warmth that she like many before her might find inexplicably alluring. Just in time. A second later, the stallion bolted forward angrily, only to slide to a stop, pivot and spring sideways when Dardanos snorted and ducked his antlers at the horse. The tines atop Dardanos' head drove the roan back every time he tried to charge, shaking with tension and angry at all and sundry as warhorses are wont to be.
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Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 9:42 am
She was more surprised by the buck's intervention than she was by the stallion's charge. The latter she had been anticipating. Her surprise, however, quickly turned to indignation and she bristled, though her eyes never left the four-legged standoff. "Just what do ye think yer doin'?" Soibhan barked, her annoyance plain. Here was another man that assumed she needed rescuing. She'd been lucky so far in this country as far as the men went, but as of late, that luck seemed to have changed. Desmond had been merely the start. "I have things under control!" she said, eyeing the buck, though speaking to the Chosen she had yet to look at. The buck was a strapping thing, his hide giving him the look of warm, well-worn wood. He had a calm, almost aloof air about him that seemed to suggest he didn't care overly much about his surroundings. The stallion half-reared, his anger renewed at the upstart that dared stand before him. Even through his anger, however, he knew the danger the rack of sharp points presented and stayed well away from them, though his fury grew in being so corralled.
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Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2013 3:48 am
"Whoever buys him ought to geld the damned thing," Edgar said with an unamused frown. He had no tolerance for horses that refused to be controlled and firmly believed that a stallion did not deserve to remain intact if its hormones became a problem. It was a shame, truly, for the horse was a good-looking animal that would have served its owner well if the man had only had the sense to geld it.
And she thought she had it under control. That was where she was wrong but he could tell by the look of her that she was one of those fierce women who took care themselves. If she wanted to insist that she was as capable as any man, Edgar wouldn't argue. Perhaps she was and he wouldn't bother judging, but foolishness like the sort she displayed here needed rectification.
"He would have hurt himself when he charged you," he said finally, motioning toward the horse's lead rope even though she was looking at Dardanos. The trailing rope was dangerously close to tangling around the stallion's legs, and would have if he hadn't reduced his movements to prancing, jigging crabsteps. Anything more sudden and more explosive would likely have snagged the rope around his legs.
"Relax, would you? Nobody's trying to steal your glory. It's just your kindly neighbors pitching in to help." Although neighbors, plural, was certainly not true. The other patrons still stood several feet away from the fence lest the stallion decided to bolt again.
He's not a very social thing, is he? Edgar said mentally to Dardanos. He could feel the stallion's rage channeling through his Guardian and into him, white-hot and indignant that other beings were so very close to him. In return, the buck ducked his antlers again and drove the stallion away, keeping the horse tight against the rail and excluding him from the "herd" formed by he and Soibhan in the middle. It was punishment, the way animals did it, putting the horse in time-out until he realized the error of his ways and calmed down.
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Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2013 7:15 am
Although she could appreciate the way the buck corralled the stallion, her irritation still flared. Satisfied that she wouldn't be charged by flailing hooves anymore, she swept her gaze over the wary crowd until she spotted the only man that could have been Chosen to this buck. He was handsome, in a less striking way than Nortier or Rob, though that might have been due to his current expression. If he'd smiled, his appearance no doubt would improve greatly. Something about him seemed familiar, but she knew for a fact that she'd never met him before. Of course, she had known about the danger the trailing lead rope presented; it had been her goal to snag it as soon as the stallion began his charge. She was quick around volatile horses, and had left a snappy, ill-tempered made back home in Gaels that had acted much the same as this fellow until Soibhan had earned the mare's trust. Unwilling to let his comment of her glory irk her too much, she began edging around the paddock. The stallion was thoroughly distracted by the buck, giving her the chance to climb the fence without his notice. She perched on the wood like a cat; for all its haste in building, the fence was surprisingly solid. "You'll not be gelding this one," she said, scowling at the mab before she ran light-footed and sure balanced along the fence top. With a soft grunt, she vaulted onto the stallion's back before anyone could protest. She grabbed fistfuls of black mane before the horse reared in rage, the stallion's scream echoing loudly in her ears. The momentum of his rear was enough to send the lead rope soaring upward and she hooked it with her foot to keep it from tangling in his legs. The beast dropped back to all tours and promptly turned his side into the fence, painfully trapping her leg, but her tenacity was a powerful thing. She wanted this horse. "I've no doubt ridden more horses then ye ever have, pretty boy." The stallion was dancing wildly beneath her, but still she held on, letting her body meld to his and moving with his angered movements.
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Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2013 7:37 am
Edgar sensed Dardanos' bewilderment coming his way as the woman vaulted onto the stallion's back and sent him into a rage again. But he was almost calm, he seemed to say, watching with mild interest as the stallion bucked under his rider. That was the extent of his involvement, though. She would come to him when she needed help, and he had no desire to involve himself in the tomfoolery of humans.
"Well this ought to be good," Edgar grumbled in response to his Guardian. Curse these women and their inane desire to prove themselves. He hadn't the time or the patience to argue with her, but he leaned on his forearms against the rail anyway to watch the spectacle unfold. People in this market never turned down the potential for entertainment.
Her snide comment had him on edge, and he was about to point out that he had no use for horses when he could ride his Guardian, but there was a certain superiority in that comment that reminded him too much of the noblemen he had grown up around. He bit his tongue to hold back his response, though no doubt Dardanos sensed his growing frustration. The buck turned to look at his Chosen over his shoulder, fixing Edgar with a sobering look. Hush, the look seemed to say. You are above that. You were this way once.
So instead Edgar forced himself to say, "Well. If you say it, I'm sure you have." He knew Dardanos was right. Once, not overly long ago, he would have done the same as if he could prove his worth and legitimize his claim over the Ashworth estate in doing so. He wasn't sure what she was trying to prove, whether she was indeed trying to prove something, or whether she was plain foolish.
"Lest you forget, you will still have to pay a hefty sum for this creature, even if you can ride it. The auctioneer can't give it to you for free, and the owner won't. Not if he's sent the horse here. I promise you, he'll get an outrageous amount of money for it or he'll not get anything and put a dagger through its head." Edgar knew the sort that would send any horse to this sale. Greedy and selfish the lot of them, they would rather not be paid than let anyone else benefit from their goods. They were a miserly and disagreeable lot, swayed only by money and neither by words nor by lust. No doubt this owner would want much more than this horse was worth, no matter how eager he was to be rid of it.
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Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2013 10:00 am
"Money ain't a problem, lad." She pressed her knees firmly to the horse's flanks; he was still trying stubbornly to get her off his back, but unlike her mare, he didn't seem keen on rolling. For that she was grateful. And money truly hadn't been a problem as of late. She'd become so popular in the common taverns and alehouses around Palisade that she had a near constant stream of coin. Whenever Rajani joined her, the two of them raked in so much coin that it was almost laughable. In all that, she had been lucky. It was hard not to morbidly wonder when that luck would run out. The stallion's ears flicked backwards and his pretty eyes rolled. She braced herself as he bucked, throwing his entire body straight up into the air. Upon landing, he immediately flung his hindquarters up to try and catch her off guard. She didn't brace well enough for that and her chin slammed against the ridge of his neck, causing her teeth to click painfully shut. When she still didn't relent, the horse snorted his annoyance As he stood on quivering legs, flanks heaving. His tail swished like a flag fluttering in strong breeze. "He was given up ta the general stock this mornin'. After this spectacle, no one'll want 'im." Many in the crowd murmured agreeance at this statement. She finally turned her gaze back to the man, blowing an errant strand of sweaty hair out of her eyes. "Ye wantin' ta buy him yerself? Most high born gents want a fine horse as this ta parade around on, after all." Her own want of the horse was partially selfish: the creature was young enough to be trained as a proper courser, a fighter but not so filthy tempered as a destrier. He would never compete with a Guardian, but he would be a suitable companion in her lack of one of the magical deer. The buck in the paddock only served as an irritating reminder that she didn't fit in with the people she wanted to lead; at least the stallion would put her on a near even visual level when started training recruits on combat maneuvers.
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Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2013 6:32 pm
Edgar bit back a scoff. Here was one highborn gent who wanted no part of that horse. But of course, that was not something he could say. Not while he was dressed the way he was, and certainly not in a place like this.
Dardanos turned to look at him again, all calm and unbreakable patience. Stop, Edgar knew he was trying to say. Collect yourself.
Edgar returned the gaze with a deadpan stare of his own. If I am not calm, it is because she is crazy, and irritating in her stupidity.
The buck simply stared, and Edgar read in his eyes: Stop. She is not you. Take no credit for this foolishness and it will not irk you.
Edgar relented. "You're right, it's none of my business," he said aloud, and the Guardian left the center of the paddock to join him beside the rail. The Chosen reached for the buck, leaning his forehead briefly against the other's. He could feel Dardanos' unusual warmth even then and the feeling soothed him like little else could. The irritation left him in a hurry and when he felt unbothered by the woman's antics, he lifted his head and gently rubbed Dardanos' face.
"Thank you, Don," he murmured, grateful for the connection that existed between them. That was a sort of bond that he had never formed with any horse or dog or even human.
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Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2013 7:05 pm
The stallion snorted and began backstepping, a thing most horses could not do. He tossed his head as he did it, still irritated by the creature on his back though he seemed to have given up most of his fight. For now. Still tightly gripping the horse's mane, she watched as Chosen and Guardian had a private moment. The man seemed irritated and she knew that she was the source, but didn't particularly care. Even though he reminded her of someone, she had almost immediately felt a distaste for him. Her head tilted to the side as she realized, of all the Chosen she'd met since coming to this land, she had never disliked any of their Guardians even if she didn't particularly get along with their human counterparts. Using her knees, she put more pressure on the stallion's left flank to see if he would turn. He seemed reluctant about it, but she persisted until he flicked an irritated ear and began turning left, displaying that he had at least some training. When Guardian and Chosen touched foreheads, she felt a small sense of emptiness. "What's yer Guardian's name? He's a fine creature," she said as the crowd began to disperse without anything harrowing to keep them at the paddock fence. She wasn't trying to make friends, but all Guardians were precious and there was no harm in complimenting one of them.
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Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2013 7:19 pm
What was that, a truce of some sort? Edgar eyed her warily, but he couldn't keep the pride off his face at the compliment. Yes, Dardanos was a fine creature, and perhaps a finer Guardian than he deserved. The buck was what he had absolutely needed though and still needed, and not a day passed when Edgar didn't feel awash with gratitude that Dardanos had known that when choosing him.
"Thank you," he said grudgingly, not one to turn down a compliment directed at Dardanos. The buck deserved every one. "His name is Dardanos. He, too, offers his thanks."
Dardanos turned to face the stallion now that the horse was calm. His ears flicked forward to catch the horse's ragged breathing. This more controllable creature was welcome to approach, to join the "herd" and be close again. But there was something about the deer that made it clear that violence and rage had no place in the circle.
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Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2013 8:51 pm
The horse eye-balled the deer and blew out an exasperated breath, chewing at the halter in his mouth. Though the two humans may not have really come to a truce, it seemed the four-legged creatures had. Soibhan patted the horse's neck, feeling the grime of sweat stick to her palm as she did so. A man was warily approaching with the air of an officiator about him. No doubt come to collect the coin for the beast beneath her. She felt confident that she could undermine any attempts at raising the horse's price, especially when the stallion slammed a hoof angrily into the dirt upon seeing the man walk up. "Dardanos," she repeated, enjoying the name. Her people firmly believed that names offered strength of character, and his name fit the buck perfectly in her eyes. The gaelic woman respectfully bowed her head at the Guardian, then spoke to the man. "Were ye at the Masque?" It may have seemed a random question, but she had asked it of any Chosen she'd met since deciding to start the Fellowship, though she doubted this man would join even if she had wanted to ask him. MoonRazor Wouldn't it be hilarious if Raj asked Edgar to join? XD
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Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 12:36 am
When he was younger, Edgar had always been alarmed by how sentient his Guardian seemed. There was an almost human-like intelligence to Dardanos that he had come to embrace, and the buck turned to fix his gaze upon Soibhan at the mention of his name. He stared at her, eye to eye, as if by staring he could read the very stuff of her soul, understand her and her very identity. Who was she? Dardanos thought he knew.
She was fire and she was strength where Edgar was dispassion and contention, reckless where he engaged in more calculated stupidity (of which Dardanos rarely approved). But both, somehow, were out to prove themselves, she of her worth and he too of his, but in very different senses of the word. There was a yearning in her for something more, more than a horse to ride, perhaps, and more than a random stranger by her side at night. He could feel it. He could see it.
The moment seemed to last a deal longer than a mere moment but when the buck finally looked away, he said nothing to his Chosen, kept all that he had learned or deduced to himself. It was no great trick of his to read humans, but it was a skill that Dardanos thought his Chosen sorely lacked and ought to practice. Anything Edgar was to discover about the woman, he would have to discover it on his own terms.
"I suppose you were," Edgar said by way of answer to her question. He shook his head, no. Nothing about the invitation had appealed to him. Spending a night dressed to the nines and pretending to be flattered that he was attending the Queen's ball (not that he would likely have bothered pretending) hardly seemed worth the journey to Oldcastle, and no doubt the plan had been to use some deceitful trickery to bind them all to her cause. He had heard about the declaration of war after the event and had considered himself right about the trickery. "I have little enough business with the Queen. I prefer to keep it that way."
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Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 9:46 am
She barked out a laugh. "Aye, I'm of a similar mind. Alas, I'm tangled in this mess, and so're you whether ya want ta be or not." She nodded her head at Dardanos. "That'un righ' there assures that." The tossed a small leather pouch at the officiator before he could even open his mouth and dismissed him from her thoughts; the coin would be enough. "You and I, we're not alone in our thinkin'. A good number o' Wardens doona trust the Queen and her fae lacky." It was all she said, willing to let him make his own inferences on that. Even if they agreed on this one thing, she still felt a sour taste in her mouth of him as a person. One thing did click in her however, something she'd subliminally noticed. "The way ya talk. I've only ever heard noblemen sound like that." She eyed him. "Why ya dressed like a commoner?" MoonRazor I'll go back and change the fact that she calls him high born
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Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 5:26 pm
"In that case, I can be involved on my own terms and not the Queen's," he said, grimacing. Something about the idea that he was supposed to simply accept this woman as his ruler, for no reason other than that she had been born in the right place at the right time, irked him. What right had she, and what made her so much better than any other man or woman in Sunderland? She hadn't proven anything.
Edgar gave Soibhan a sideways glance, partly amused and partly intrigued by the idea of a handful of Wardens going against the Queen. But to say so would have come near to treason so he only said, "Do they now?" He knew several of the guests at the masque had had the chance to converse with this spirit, this Llyr whose appearance seemed so timely it could hardly be a coincidence. There was plenty not to trust about spirits, but Ed knew enough to know that they were not to be trifled with either. "What a shame, that," he added, though his voice made it clear that he thought it anything but.
Her last comment would have made him stiffen if he hadn't heard something similar before. He lifted his gaze and saw that she was eyeing him carefully, suspicions arisen. It was a delicate situation. He certainly didn't trust her enough to tell her the truth, but little other than the truth would have sounded right. "But aren't you a clever one. Saw right through me, didn't you? I killed my lord father in Oldcastle. Can't let the guards know who I am now. Don't tell the Queen." Edgar shrugged. "Or, more simply, I was an apprentice footman in a minor lordling's estate. Take your pick. You learn how to speak like them when you've grown up around them."
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