Three Hundred Days: Prologue
Title: Three Hundred Days
Author: Zayne/Annmarie Aspasia
Fandom: Tamora Pierce (oh, the days of my youth XD)
Genre: Romance, AU
Pairing: Dom/Kel (eventually)
Rating: T
Warnings: none
Word Count: 596
Summary: Rewrite of Forgetting the Past. Kel is quite literally dragged into hiding after King Jonathan sentences her to a death on Traitor's Hill for pursuing her refugees. She must create a life she's never known anything about, in a land she's never even seen. AU.
Three Hundred Days
Annmarie Aspasia
Prologue
Dim light shone through the tiny space between the door and the dirt floor of the private room. Inside, the heavy breathing of a male could be heard under the noise of furniture being rearranged.
“Dom, Neal,” a voice, feminine, began, “What I did was right, and I will accept the consequences.”
“Kel, do you know what they do to people bound for Traitor’s Hill?” This from a man.
“I am well aware,” the woman replied, a hint of amusement in her voice, “of everything that goes on in prison. You think I spent four years as a squire without hearing anything? It doesn’t matter.” The amusement in her voice faded, replaced by finality. “I wasn’t wrong to save my people, even against orders, and if I run off with the two of you just to avoid the law, I’m as good as saying that the law is right, and commoners aren’t worth dirt.”
“Then we’ll die with you!” the man said bluntly. The woman sighed heavily.
“You were never very good at bluffing, Neal.”
“Well, it’s my head on a platter too,” the man darkly rejoined. “I was the ringleader of the merry band of knights that followed you, after all.”
A third person, also male, sighed heavily.
“I don’t think she’s going to change her mind,” he said. “Kel, you should come with us. We can’t leave you here to die.”
A shuffling sound broke out in the room, and after a moment something smashed against the door. Shadows from the broken object block some of the light seeping out of the room.
“I am not going, and you are not going to change my mind no matter how many of my belongings you break, Domitan,” the woman said, ice in her tone.
“I’ve heard enough,” the man said, in the voice of someone on the verge of swearing. “Neal.”
The light changed-perhaps there was a green tinge to it, it was difficult to make out-within the room. The woman gasped, and a slight thumping sound could be heard.
“Go saddle our horses,” the man named Neal ordered amid the muffled sounds of someone dragging something heavy. “I’m going to tie her up-it’ll take both of us to carry her out, so perhaps you should bring the horses here.”
“Someone will notice,” the second man said, his footsteps sounding softly on the dirt floor. “I’ll help you tie her up and then we’ll both carry her to the stables. No-leave the light on. They’ll think she’s staying up late, finishing reports.”
More muffled footsteps could be heard as the man walked to the door, and it began to creep open.
Dom peered over his shoulder as the horses, nervous in the quiet, cold night hair, shifted restlessly. He sighed and shook his head, banishing thoughts of the friends, family and life he was leaving behind.
Neal determinedly refused to look to the south as he prodded his horse into a trot, Peachblossom’s lead in hand. They didn’t have time to fetch Yukimi in Corus. It would mean all of their lives. Neal shook his head and refused to think about leaving his love behind. Something would be managed. There had to be a way that she could follow him, there had to.
Kel, groggy and confused as she began to wake, tried in vain to feel fury at being stolen away from the life she had worked so hard to create. Slowly, the drug Neal had forced her to inhale-enhanced with magic, no less-dragged her back into oblivion.
A/N: Finished rewriting chapter 1 (which is now a prologue. Since I'm still not sure i really want to embark on an epic rewrite, I am only posting this here. For now. And I should mention that the title is tentative at best. Also, this is in super-rough-draft form. Will be cleaned up before posting. Am considering changing it to present tense, as a matter of fact... I think it would capture the tone of the original prologue better that way.
Disclaimer: Characters/world/etc owned by Tamora Pierce. I am making precisely no money at all off of this.
Author: Zayne/Annmarie Aspasia
Fandom: Tamora Pierce (oh, the days of my youth XD)
Genre: Romance, AU
Pairing: Dom/Kel (eventually)
Rating: T
Warnings: none
Word Count: 596
Summary: Rewrite of Forgetting the Past. Kel is quite literally dragged into hiding after King Jonathan sentences her to a death on Traitor's Hill for pursuing her refugees. She must create a life she's never known anything about, in a land she's never even seen. AU.
Three Hundred Days
Annmarie Aspasia
Prologue
Dim light shone through the tiny space between the door and the dirt floor of the private room. Inside, the heavy breathing of a male could be heard under the noise of furniture being rearranged.
“Dom, Neal,” a voice, feminine, began, “What I did was right, and I will accept the consequences.”
“Kel, do you know what they do to people bound for Traitor’s Hill?” This from a man.
“I am well aware,” the woman replied, a hint of amusement in her voice, “of everything that goes on in prison. You think I spent four years as a squire without hearing anything? It doesn’t matter.” The amusement in her voice faded, replaced by finality. “I wasn’t wrong to save my people, even against orders, and if I run off with the two of you just to avoid the law, I’m as good as saying that the law is right, and commoners aren’t worth dirt.”
“Then we’ll die with you!” the man said bluntly. The woman sighed heavily.
“You were never very good at bluffing, Neal.”
“Well, it’s my head on a platter too,” the man darkly rejoined. “I was the ringleader of the merry band of knights that followed you, after all.”
A third person, also male, sighed heavily.
“I don’t think she’s going to change her mind,” he said. “Kel, you should come with us. We can’t leave you here to die.”
A shuffling sound broke out in the room, and after a moment something smashed against the door. Shadows from the broken object block some of the light seeping out of the room.
“I am not going, and you are not going to change my mind no matter how many of my belongings you break, Domitan,” the woman said, ice in her tone.
“I’ve heard enough,” the man said, in the voice of someone on the verge of swearing. “Neal.”
The light changed-perhaps there was a green tinge to it, it was difficult to make out-within the room. The woman gasped, and a slight thumping sound could be heard.
“Go saddle our horses,” the man named Neal ordered amid the muffled sounds of someone dragging something heavy. “I’m going to tie her up-it’ll take both of us to carry her out, so perhaps you should bring the horses here.”
“Someone will notice,” the second man said, his footsteps sounding softly on the dirt floor. “I’ll help you tie her up and then we’ll both carry her to the stables. No-leave the light on. They’ll think she’s staying up late, finishing reports.”
More muffled footsteps could be heard as the man walked to the door, and it began to creep open.
Dom peered over his shoulder as the horses, nervous in the quiet, cold night hair, shifted restlessly. He sighed and shook his head, banishing thoughts of the friends, family and life he was leaving behind.
Neal determinedly refused to look to the south as he prodded his horse into a trot, Peachblossom’s lead in hand. They didn’t have time to fetch Yukimi in Corus. It would mean all of their lives. Neal shook his head and refused to think about leaving his love behind. Something would be managed. There had to be a way that she could follow him, there had to.
Kel, groggy and confused as she began to wake, tried in vain to feel fury at being stolen away from the life she had worked so hard to create. Slowly, the drug Neal had forced her to inhale-enhanced with magic, no less-dragged her back into oblivion.
A/N: Finished rewriting chapter 1 (which is now a prologue. Since I'm still not sure i really want to embark on an epic rewrite, I am only posting this here. For now. And I should mention that the title is tentative at best. Also, this is in super-rough-draft form. Will be cleaned up before posting. Am considering changing it to present tense, as a matter of fact... I think it would capture the tone of the original prologue better that way.
Disclaimer: Characters/world/etc owned by Tamora Pierce. I am making precisely no money at all off of this.