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~*~ TDT2: The Blood Debt ~*~

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01-Sep-2007 00:55:28

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02-Sep-2007 00:41:47

Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Bond was awake when the door opened again. Rivera entered in a small half-circle of light – he could see the glimmer of her red-tinted hair - and there was a clatter as she set something down near the door. Then the door closed again, and all hints of light disappeared. “Hey!” he tried to call out. “Don’t leave me alone!” but his voice was just a feeble croak. He could barely hear himself, there was no chance Rivera could. There was no response from the other side of the door. After a moment, Bond tried to get up to see what she had set down. Just lifting his head sent waves of dizziness and red spots flashing before his eyes. Sobbing in frustration, he collapsed back against sweat-soaked sheets. He hated being helpless.
Then, miraculously, the door opened again, and Rivera slid inside with a torch in hand. Bond watched silently as she circled the room to light the lamps, but his heart soared with relief. Spending the night alone in the pitch black, unable to move, unable to sleep, had been torture for him. All night he had debated his options, and reached no conclusion. If he confessed just that he had friends, they might ransom him to them – but he had no idea where they were now, and besides, they didn’t have anything much of valuable to trade. But how far could he trust these outlaws? Could he tell her everything?
Rivera paid him no heed. She blew out the torch, now that the room was lit, and picked up the tray she had deposited on the floor. She approached the bed and sat down, setting the platter across his stomach. There was a pitcher of water, a goblet, a plate with bread and cheese, and a pile of white rags.
Finally she addressed him. “How’d you sleep?*

03-Sep-2007 01:51:45

Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
He’d been delirious, dreaming of Krystal, the ship, Issavan, Emmaris, and Corynn. His back had screamed with pain so that he slept in fits and starts, never more than a few minutes at a time so that the night felt endless. His forehead burned, fever made him shiver so violently the bed shook, he sweated buckets, and constantly felt like he was going to vomit. All over himself, considering the fact that he couldn’t move. But Bond smiled weakly and replied, “Like a baby.”
“Does your back hurt?”
“What do you think?”
Rivera scowled and a hand against his forehead. “You’re burning up. Eat, then I’ll change the bandages. Hopefully the fever will break.”
“You a doctor?”
“I know enough,” she replied curtly. “Eat. Then we’ll see if you feel like talking.”
“I won’t talk until you talk. How do I know I can trust you?” Bond coughed, then groaned as a knife of pain twisted in his chest.
“Likewise, prisoner.”
He laughed feebly. “You rescued me from the guards, you know I was in Issavan’s ‘tournament’. You see what they did to me. You can trust me, Rivera.” He coughed again after this short speech; the effort of talking was almost more than he could bear.
“Shut up and eat, prisoner,” she snapped coldly. He stared at the bread and cheese, willing the nausea to go away. Rivera glared some more. “I’m sorry it’s not very glamorous, I’m sure you’re used to more in all the fancy inns you must have sung at. But we can’t get much more, comes with being outlaws and all.*
*You know I’m a bard?”
“We do our homework.” He raised an eyebrow. “Your name is Bond Cornerstone, you used to travel around a lot until you settled in Al Kharid and fought occasionally in the Duel Arena, while entertaining spectators at night. Then you decided to join the tournament. You’d have to fill in the blanks from there. You gonna eat or what?”

03-Sep-2007 01:52:10

Crystal Smee

Crystal Smee

Posts: 7,994 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
“I feel like I’m gonna vomit. Comes with being beaten and sick and all.”
“Oh.” For a moment she was silent, then she lifted the tray and set it on the nightstand by his cot. “Roll over then. I’ll take care of your back, then maybe you’ll feel up to some food.”
“You’re so kind.” He clenched his teeth and shifted onto his side, then his stomach. Rivera peeled back the sheets, and Bond was suddenly aware that he wore nothing beneath. He twisted his head to look at her, and she must have seen the flush in his cheeks that was not from his fever, for she laughed softly.
“I’ve seen it all, minstrel, so deal with it. You want me to change the bandages or not?”
He hissed through gritted teeth as she ripped off the strips of cloth from his whip cuts, with no care for the pain it caused. “Your bedside manners are awful,” he gasped. “D***it, that hurts!” He howled as she wrenched mercilessly. Finally she stopped, and the pain settled to a dull burning, as though his back was too close to a blazing hearth.
He could see the bandages as she dropped them on the floor, and gulped to see how blood-stained they were. Lifting his head, he could see the sheets he lay in had their own share of red patches. “Lay still,” she ordered, and shoved his head back into the pillow. He could feel cool relief shudder through his cuts as she rubbed on some ointment from a jar uncovered on the platter, and then pressed on fresh strips of cloth.
“So you outlaws…” he began, finally able to speak. “Why are you on the run? I mean, what’d you do? Are you just escaped criminals, or revolutionaries or something?”
Rivera paused momentarily. “I guess you could call us revolutionaries,” she said finally. “We hate Issavan. We’re escaped criminals too, though…Beyond attacking bands of their guards, well, we did something they don’t like.”

03-Sep-2007 01:52:30

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