The People You Want to See / Bug : Pumpkin Pieeeee
Title: The People You Want to See
Main Story: Cryptomancy
Flavors: Pumpkin Pie #9: cobwebs
Word Count: 448
Rating: PG
Summary: In which Chaill wonders about Lady Elspeth and goes looking for Bug.
Notes: I'm going to finish pumpkin pie this month if it kills me. And it just might. I went literal with this, kind of cheap but it was where I needed to take things, anyway.
The only two people in the castle whose faces I wanted to see were in the dungeons.
Albion terrified me. He spoke so coolly to Lady Bloodrose, and anyone who wasn’t afraid of her was clearly someone I needed to be afraid of. Still, he’d come looking for me, and that alone made me want to meet him. I wondered if, for all everyone’s talk of the Red Lady being a cruel woman, she could really be as horrible as Lady Bloodrose. She was Avialle’s sister, yes, but wasn’t Raitha the evil one? Elspeth hadn’t killed their father, and it was Anaïs that had imprisoned Avialle in the mortal world. Maybe Elspeth wasn’t so bad. Maybe I should be leaving with Albion.
So I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to see if I could smell his thoughts, the way Bug had taught me. I wouldn’t be using it to hurt anyone, I would just try to keep myself safe.
Of course, I didn’t care at all about Albion compared to how I thought about Bug. It had only been one night, but I’d heard her screams throughout. I didn’t know if the Lady was whipping her, or if she had one of her men doing it, or if something even more awful was happening; but I couldn’t go another night without seeing her.
Sneaking into the dungeons was not much different from sneaking into the cellars at the laboratories back in London. It helped that most of the castle was still in a bit of a confusion. I had slipped past the guard at the entry without much problem, and found myself on a narrow stone stair.
Everything that the Rookery was, the dungeon was not. Instead of polished copper surfaces, I was surrounded by damp grey stone. Each corner and crevice was lined with cobwebs, and I found myself walking through more than a few of them, emerging on the other side spitting and sputtering. I came to the base of the stairs, and realized I had no idea where I was going, but I caught the pungent tangy scent of fear in the air and followed it. I knew that Albion was not afraid, wherever he was, but it could be Bug.
I heard her long before I saw her, ragged breathing punctuated by muffled sobs. I followed the sound until I came to a barred cell, in the center of which sat a frail-looking girl with hair the color of bleached wheat and a strip of dingy cloth tied around her eyes. I hurried over and took the bars in my hands, pushing my face in between them as far as my cheekbones.
Title: Bug
Main Story: Cryptomancy
Flavors: Pumpkin Pie #10: torture
Word Count: 481
Rating: PG-13 (some mild gore. No "live" torture, though)
Summary: "It's not your fault," Bug said.
Notes: Sorry about the slightly abrupt ending. I've been running long lately and I honestly could have run this scene into the next prompt but I HAVE TO STOP BECAUSE TOO MANY POSTS IN ONE DAY...lol
“You shouldn’t have come,” she said softly, knowing it was me, as always.
I didn’t say anything, but slumped to the floor. We sat together for a few long moments. The only sounds were the faint dripping of water somewhere in the dungeon and Bug’s pained breath.
“I don’t want to talk to you, you know,” she said softly.
“I know,” I said, and I suppose that I did. If I were her, I wouldn’t have wanted to talk to me. “But I couldn’t sit up there wondering if you were alright.”
“So you came down, and I’m not,” she whispered bitterly. “I don’t want you to see me like this.”
I reached through the bars, holding my hand out as far as I could toward her. I hoped she would take it, but she gave no sign of even knowing it was there. I finally relaxed my arm, letting it drop over the bottom crossbar, my hand dangling. “I’m sorry,” I sighed.
Very slowly, Bug got to her feet. It seemed to take all her strength, and her knees shook worse than I would have believed possible without her toppling over, but she made it. She reached out and held on to the bars just above my head to keep her balance. She was back in the shapeless shift she’d been wearing when I’d met her, and between that and her dingy blindfold she looked half the girl she’d been only days earlier, when she’d caressed Thorne’s face and sent him home. God, did she know he was dead? I couldn’t be the one to tell her.
“It’s not your fault,” Bug said. Using the bars as support, she turned until she was facing away from me, and I could see the mess that had been made of her back. Her shift had been torn from the back of her neck to her waist, and the loose fabric fluttered to the backs of her knees. There was so much blood, I couldn’t make much sense of the pattern of the wounds. I could just tell there were a lot of them. I gasped, and the bird fluttered its wings again in my stomach. Again, Bug collapsed to the floor.
“You’re going to have to kill that bird,” she finally said, once she caught her breath again.
I didn’t bother to ask how she knew about the bird. I often wondered if there was anything Bug didn’t know. “How?” I asked.
“That man,” she said. “The one they brought in today.”
“Albion.”
“Yes, him. He might be able to help you.”
I frowned. “But he’s locked up. How is he going to help?”
Bug lowered herself to lie on her side, grimacing. “I don’t know,” she said, “but the enemy of your enemy could be ally enough.
“And if he wants you out of here, he’ll have to find a way.”
Main Story: Cryptomancy
Flavors: Pumpkin Pie #9: cobwebs
Word Count: 448
Rating: PG
Summary: In which Chaill wonders about Lady Elspeth and goes looking for Bug.
Notes: I'm going to finish pumpkin pie this month if it kills me. And it just might. I went literal with this, kind of cheap but it was where I needed to take things, anyway.
The only two people in the castle whose faces I wanted to see were in the dungeons.
Albion terrified me. He spoke so coolly to Lady Bloodrose, and anyone who wasn’t afraid of her was clearly someone I needed to be afraid of. Still, he’d come looking for me, and that alone made me want to meet him. I wondered if, for all everyone’s talk of the Red Lady being a cruel woman, she could really be as horrible as Lady Bloodrose. She was Avialle’s sister, yes, but wasn’t Raitha the evil one? Elspeth hadn’t killed their father, and it was Anaïs that had imprisoned Avialle in the mortal world. Maybe Elspeth wasn’t so bad. Maybe I should be leaving with Albion.
So I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to see if I could smell his thoughts, the way Bug had taught me. I wouldn’t be using it to hurt anyone, I would just try to keep myself safe.
Of course, I didn’t care at all about Albion compared to how I thought about Bug. It had only been one night, but I’d heard her screams throughout. I didn’t know if the Lady was whipping her, or if she had one of her men doing it, or if something even more awful was happening; but I couldn’t go another night without seeing her.
Sneaking into the dungeons was not much different from sneaking into the cellars at the laboratories back in London. It helped that most of the castle was still in a bit of a confusion. I had slipped past the guard at the entry without much problem, and found myself on a narrow stone stair.
Everything that the Rookery was, the dungeon was not. Instead of polished copper surfaces, I was surrounded by damp grey stone. Each corner and crevice was lined with cobwebs, and I found myself walking through more than a few of them, emerging on the other side spitting and sputtering. I came to the base of the stairs, and realized I had no idea where I was going, but I caught the pungent tangy scent of fear in the air and followed it. I knew that Albion was not afraid, wherever he was, but it could be Bug.
I heard her long before I saw her, ragged breathing punctuated by muffled sobs. I followed the sound until I came to a barred cell, in the center of which sat a frail-looking girl with hair the color of bleached wheat and a strip of dingy cloth tied around her eyes. I hurried over and took the bars in my hands, pushing my face in between them as far as my cheekbones.
Title: Bug
Main Story: Cryptomancy
Flavors: Pumpkin Pie #10: torture
Word Count: 481
Rating: PG-13 (some mild gore. No "live" torture, though)
Summary: "It's not your fault," Bug said.
Notes: Sorry about the slightly abrupt ending. I've been running long lately and I honestly could have run this scene into the next prompt but I HAVE TO STOP BECAUSE TOO MANY POSTS IN ONE DAY...lol
“You shouldn’t have come,” she said softly, knowing it was me, as always.
I didn’t say anything, but slumped to the floor. We sat together for a few long moments. The only sounds were the faint dripping of water somewhere in the dungeon and Bug’s pained breath.
“I don’t want to talk to you, you know,” she said softly.
“I know,” I said, and I suppose that I did. If I were her, I wouldn’t have wanted to talk to me. “But I couldn’t sit up there wondering if you were alright.”
“So you came down, and I’m not,” she whispered bitterly. “I don’t want you to see me like this.”
I reached through the bars, holding my hand out as far as I could toward her. I hoped she would take it, but she gave no sign of even knowing it was there. I finally relaxed my arm, letting it drop over the bottom crossbar, my hand dangling. “I’m sorry,” I sighed.
Very slowly, Bug got to her feet. It seemed to take all her strength, and her knees shook worse than I would have believed possible without her toppling over, but she made it. She reached out and held on to the bars just above my head to keep her balance. She was back in the shapeless shift she’d been wearing when I’d met her, and between that and her dingy blindfold she looked half the girl she’d been only days earlier, when she’d caressed Thorne’s face and sent him home. God, did she know he was dead? I couldn’t be the one to tell her.
“It’s not your fault,” Bug said. Using the bars as support, she turned until she was facing away from me, and I could see the mess that had been made of her back. Her shift had been torn from the back of her neck to her waist, and the loose fabric fluttered to the backs of her knees. There was so much blood, I couldn’t make much sense of the pattern of the wounds. I could just tell there were a lot of them. I gasped, and the bird fluttered its wings again in my stomach. Again, Bug collapsed to the floor.
“You’re going to have to kill that bird,” she finally said, once she caught her breath again.
I didn’t bother to ask how she knew about the bird. I often wondered if there was anything Bug didn’t know. “How?” I asked.
“That man,” she said. “The one they brought in today.”
“Albion.”
“Yes, him. He might be able to help you.”
I frowned. “But he’s locked up. How is he going to help?”
Bug lowered herself to lie on her side, grimacing. “I don’t know,” she said, “but the enemy of your enemy could be ally enough.
“And if he wants you out of here, he’ll have to find a way.”