Masters of our own fate

For timeline sake, Set some time after the threads with SS and DG. A good few months after the drama with Rosencrantz. 

 

The peace and quiet was lovely.

The influx of new faces and forging alliances had been a welcome distraction for Sorina. She threw herself tirelessly into her work, with little to no respite between politics and patrols of boarders. It was tiring work, but she preferred it that way. It kept the demons from the door and the cloak of grief off her back. Karma, if it were ever a thing, had truly bitten her in the rear more times than she could count. Her head was plagued by tired dreams-good and bad. But that was the mantle she had to wear, as Queen... it was her burden. Hers alone. She had done this-his death was her doing. She would not blame Eldritch, she wholly, truly blamed herself. Perhaps... all this had it changed her? Subtly, she felt herself turn more professional, than political. Her words cut colder. Her glare deeper. He willingness to be kind and welcoming faded with each passing day. Be it exhaustion, burnout or something more something felt off. 

She had decided to take some time for herself, in the rare moments before the hard Winter would hit, she would find solstice in the quiet. It had been a long time since she had spent time alone-truly alone. Here, she was in the wilderness, with only the trickle of water to aid her rattled mind. Sleep had been a luxury long forgotten and when she grabbed what precious moments she could, she awoke to an empty, cold bed and a sinking feeling within her heart.

So, her aim today would be to climb the top of the Velis; to simply lay and hope the trickling waters would help ease her mind into whatever peace she could grasp. It was hard. Truly, hard. Her body grew weary easily due to lack of sleep. Her muscles groaned at the use and her breath was more ragged. But through sheer stubborn determination-and the need to be alone- pushed her forwards. Each step she put all that pain, that aggression, that sadness into the snow. Perhaps doing this would rid the demons in her head once and for all.

@Rosencrantz

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They had circled back around to the North over time. The frozen falls could be heard where he trekked although he moved quickly enough to avoid this place. Hoping he wouldn't leave too much of a trail for others to suspect he was still alive after his fall. He and @Blackfoot would be better off if they all kept to the rumours he had perished after Eldritch's push.

The lingering memories, fresh wounds that stained his mind replayed as he listened to the falls as they cascaded down the frozen trail they carved in the ice and stone. How his words pierced the young queen of Haldis, perhaps they were harsh... and yet he couldn't help but blame her as well for himself to try and play with his emotions at the time. Accusing him of being afraid with a mightier than thou look in her icy violet eyes.

How his strained loyalty perhaps pushed them both to snap in opposite directions.

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Sorina thought herself agile, sure footed. A seasoned wanderer turned Queen. Dark paws were sleek, nimble as she climbed. It grew rocky, rather than snow crusted earth. Rain, snow, ice and the disperse from the trickling Waterfall left the rocks damp and dangerously slippy.

One paw in front of the other.

At this point her chest was heaving, drawing in fridgid breath. But that did not stop her. His face. Another step. His broken body. Another. His lifeless eye. Another. Dark jaws clenched as pearly fangs ground together. She would not surrender. She would make it out of the constricting dark. She had not got far-she would make it, though.

Then, she could rest. Perhaps sleep the rest of the day away. Haldis would not falter- crack.

As she began her step, she miss-placed her front paw, it caught the side and nails scraped over slippy stone close to the edge. The rock was small, miss placed by the pressure and it fell chinking down below and landing upon the slightly frozen river with an oh so satisfying crack, before plunging into the murky depths below. As she moved to the left to try and secure her place further, more rocks buckled.

And Sorina fell with them.

@Rosencrantz
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Wanting nothing to do with this accursed place, the paladin began on his journey away to find Blackfoot again wherever the wind might tell him of her location. This was one of those rare occasions where he would watch his footing. Letting as little sound escape from his footing as possible, no twigs or branches to give away his position and break the illusion his death to those who neighboured the falls.

Despite his efforts, a crack did sound the siren through the woods. Sending black birds into a panic as they flew from the branches they perched upon. Alarmed, he turned to watch as a figure fell from the top of the falls and into the frigid waters at the base of its heights. The figure was dark, was that Blackfoot? He panicked, approaching the side of the broken ice where he wasn't met with his companion's scent... but a fresh trail left by Sorina.

Frost tipped ears twisted while his face contorted with mild disgust. He should let her drown. Freeze in the depths where she belonged for her bratty behaviour, he was a ghost after all. Dead, thanks to her. As the woman's black fur rose from the waters, just within his reach he began to turn his back on the broken ice to return to his journey again - and yet, annoyingly, he plunged his head down into the freezing waters to drag the woman up and out of the water. Straining his still healing leg as it twisted unnaturally with the extra weight as he dragged her out of the water.

There he'd stand, ice crystals already forming on her body and his face and nape from the biting air.

Maybe he didn't let her drown, but he could meet his thoughts half way and let the bitch freeze instead...

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The world fell from view. In a blaze of white and grey, rushing past. Falling. It seemed to happen so slowly in her mind, yet her body fell quickly. It took mere moments to gasp before she was plummeted into deep, dark waters.

The cold took her breath away, surrounding her in inky blackness. The mere shock and adrenaline fuelled her, she felt no pain only bitter cold. She lost track of all thoughts, all woes. In a flurry of panic her body tried to scream, to kick its way free. To survive.

And yet-just as she felt the darkness swallow her, crash, she was moving again. But at that point, the shock and rendered her unconscious.

Fading deeper, down into sleep.

@Rosencrantz
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She didn't move or respond - nothing but the shallow breaths raising with every breath on her abdomen as glittering crystals of ice began to form on her soaked pelt. It would be a beautiful casket for her, decorated in glistening silver waiting to be found by her blind followers. Frozen to the ground on which she cursed him on that fateful day. It would be fitting. Poetic really should he leave now and leave her to the fate that the elements would bring down upon her - and yet, he turned.

A frown tugged on his lips as wrinkles formed on his maw. Irritated by his own movements as he neared her, lips curling as he thought perhaps a swift death was more appropriate. Maybe she wasn't deserving of the torture that came from freezing to death... And as he neared the thought grew louder, deafening in his ears as he reached for her dark figure, now glittering like the twilight in the dim afternoon light.

Instead of swiftly ending Sorina, instead, he surprised himself. Wrapping his body around hers to share warmth and begin grooming the dark furs to try and dry her as much as possible. All the while frowning and snarling at himself for his continued stupidity toward the female sex.

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The cold was like fire.

It burned, singed, scorching hot over her entire body. There was a different kind of numbness that came with the cold, rolling over her. But she wasn’t quite conscious. She was enveloped in darkness… echoes. Whispers, voices flooded her mind as she slipped in and out of consciousness.

Suddenly, she was not freezing to death, alone. Away from Haldis, from everything that she had built…no. Suddenly she could hear gentle whispers and giggles. Faint echoes of the past.

And Iarna’s voice.

Her ivory pelt and deep purple eyes.

not yet,

Muffled and hard to hear.

But then sudden warmth.

As if Iarna had spoken to her directly, encouraging her to wake up. Now was not her time. No.

Her Reign had only just begun.

The numbness came back. The cold was bitter. But she drew to that warmth, that heat that enveloped her. How ironic it would be; the self proclaimed Queen of ice defeated by icy waters.


But the warmth came across her spine, sparks of warm slowly bringing her back to consciousness.

And after a moment, she coughed. Spluttered and wheezed, taking in one large, life-giving breath.

@Rosencrantz
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Stupid

He called out to himself.

Chiding the actions he was taking toward preserving the life of a woman who had so gladly tried to end his.

Did this make him the bigger individual?

Certainly not.

He had to be doing so in the desire to end her life in a more noble way, no?

Right?

With a stroke of his tongue along her wet, chilled coat he snarled with the skin that remained on his features. Lips curling in disdain despite the gentle gesture. Feeling the hairs on his neck prickling.

Annoyed with himself he dug ivory claws into the snow, feeling the coiling of his muscles. As though she would spring back to life and take a chunk out of his throat... he was cautious still, and yet unmoving to leave. She coughed, taking a vital breath and he kept angrily licking away the water from her blackened pelt.

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She latched onto that life-giving warmth. With every passing moment that burning icy fire quelled to be bearable. Despite the quivering of her limbs. A chill that set deep within her bones.

Wake now.


Slowly, the light strained against her hooded eyes. Blinding at first that made her wince, yet with a deep intake of breath; she forced them open with a groan. She felt hazy, everything was blurry for a good few moments before she could focus. Everything burned, everything ached. Her head thrummed in the beat of her rapid heart. The warm sensation still remained; she could feel it upon her spine. Encouragement, yet as she looked down, a large paw lay beside her. White, digging into the ground with such tension.

Another groan and she lifted her head up to glean who was next to her.

And a ghost of her past glared right back at her.

You… you’re Oh, her voice was hoarse. She took another deep breath, forcing some composure despite the pain, the confusion. Alive.

Perhaps, she was dead.

Perhaps, this was just.. a figure of imagination. For her broken mind.
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Sputtering and wheezing, the lowly Queen of Haldis' consciousness faded back into reality - barely. In a daze, she speaks. As though still in a dream with glazed over eyes he could barely tear himself away from.

@Blackfoot would be so disappointed in him should she find them like this. With every right to be as well.

For so long he had called her womanly ties to children a nuisance, nothing but slavery to her womanly needs to be a mother and yet here he was, tangled once again with a woman who had sought his death. Perhaps he was also nothing but a servant to his own base instincts. A pathetic excuse of a barbarian who should only dispose of women as soon as they fulfilled their duties to a man.

“No thanks to you.” Barely conscious, and he shoots her a sharp accusation of her attempt at murder.

Peeling himself away from her, he stood. Ready to depart and find his companion once more... after trying to get rid of Sorina's scent on his pelt before her guards came to finish the job. “Make sure they find a corpse next time before reporting back.” Bitter words flowed unforgivingly.

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Now that she was conscious, her body groaned and complained with every slight movement. She blinked. Once. Twice. Craving the warmth he provided. So much anger. His twisted face twisted into a contortion that curled his maw.
No thanks to you.

A scowl darkened her hazy expression. Those glazed eyes. She hissed at her own body, so vaulnerable and frail. She had no strength to stand. No strength to challenge him. What? Forgoing all airs of graces and decorum; she snapped. I did not send Eldritch out to kill you. That was her decision. I ordered for you to be killed on sight, should you be seen in Haldis again. A wince and puff of breath.

She was at his mercy, how the tables had turned.

Her lips curled up into a sneer. Why did you save me? You could have just left Like you did in the first place! She willed her body to stand, yet her legs trembled and collapsed underneath her. Swearing under her breath, she remained laying down. Quaking. Well? She awaited more pathetic insults.

@Rosencrantz
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She scowled, argued once more about her word being sent to kill the "traitor" Rosencrantz of Haldis and yet she had no foot to stand on. She was ultimately at his mercy. In seconds he could snuff out that breath of hers, it would truly take but little effort on his part. She was half dead just moments ago.

“It is still your word that spurred her on.” He growled back. In his eye, Sorina was to blame for his wounds. The mending bones and scrapes from the fall. The agony that Blackfoot must have gone through caring for the man while he was incapable of hunting.

“Do you wish for death? I can rectify that.” He growled, stepping forward again to close the gap between them. Eye focussed on her, his posture rigid despite leaning on his good foot.

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A frustrated growl peeled back dry lips to expose opalescent fangs. Her dark muzzle quivered as her dry tongue flicked out of her jaws to lash over her lips. She has a will of her own, like every member of Haldis I cannot control. They are not my minions! In his absence she had forgotten how stubborn, how annoyingly stubborn he was.

Get up!

Her body groaned, every muscle ached as her chest heaved. Her body screamed for rest. To sleep and recover. But she would not lay there defenceless as he spat pointless slander at her.

Try it. She hissed. You could not. Would not. Just like I couldn’t. She rose and with step by step, she did not waver her gaze. Her bright candy gaze did not falter from his own. Challenging him by sheer determination. By will alone. She growled once more. Close enough to feel his hot breath upon her muzzle. A warmth she craved. A warmth she missed.

A warmth she needed, without saying.

@Rosencrantz
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Words roared with a growl that tore through his torn face. “If you cannot control your members then a leader you are not.” Hairs rose upon his back while his hot breath stained the frigid air white. Teeth snapping shit inches away from her face as he retorted almost immediately after.

Her challenge would not be ignored. As she dared him to follow through, he obeyed. Lunging with jaws spread wide hungry to grab a mouth full of her ebony fur. He had shown mercy one too many times. He would show he was more than just words, but that his threats would be followed through if pushed.

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Of course he would throw more insults. She would not expect anything less, or more. Yet that anger, it rippled from that blazing eye of his, frothing at the mouth. And oh, she rose all the same. Still weak under the legs but that fighting spirit roared. Just like I am a harlot Queen? As he snapped near her face a wicked grin pulled at her lips.What other recycled garbage will you throw at me!

Ah yes, they had been here before.


And then came that fury, that dangerous darkness unleashed. In this weakened state, Sorina had no chance, she rolled and crashed to the ground with a yelp; entire body screaming with pain. She did not fight back, only squirm under his grip. She would let blood pour from wounds, if it meant she could wrangle herself free.

@Rosencrantz
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He had no other words for her. After all, he wasn't one to speak very much and lately he felt as though he had done enough of such a futile thing that garnered nothing but trouble.

Foolish.

Sorina certainly had a death wish to continue to poke the brutish Northerner believing perhaps he would simply treat her differently because they shared a night.

Perhaps action was all she would understand at this point.

That lashing her tongue disregarding who she may be talking to would be the end of her one day. That today could very well be that day.

There was little she could have done despite of whether Sorina was trying or not. His healing arm burned with pain as he strained it against her, pressing the woman into the snow while he gripped her skin mercilessly. A queen she may be, but he would humble here and now.

And she will either die learning this lesson or learn fast enough to keep the breath within her lungs to rule another day.

Regardless of the scene that unfolded, her fate was still within her own paws...

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This was different.

Last time, they had clashed but it had been rivalled power. An intoxicating, chaos ridden clash of egos. Yet there was more than just pride hurt here, history and feelings wrapped in a merciless game of life and death. Two stubborn, prideful beings that would not relent. Would not admit that either was wrong. I mourned your death! She spat against his onslaught.

And he was a fool to think Sorina would admit defeat and submit. He did not take her lashing back as a sign to stop, no. He was out for blood. This time, she would give it him.

As he pinned her down, with that bloodied leg, Sorina turned the best she could and aimed to bite, wherever her teeth could land; she aimed for that arm and with a furious snarl, bit as hard as she could.

Fuck him.

Fuck him.

All that pain, that grief. That loss. The numbing hole he had left in her soul. All of that anger fuelled with adrenaline, the need for survival.

If she were to die, then she would fighting for herself and not a crying, mewling pup.

@Rosencrantz
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Snow flew from their tangled bodies as he fought to make the princess realize the mistakes she had made. That she was only digging her own grave with his haughty air of might she blew up her own ass.

Pulling against her wherever he could - biting - tearing, hammering down onto her with his weight and claws and yet still she fought against him. His arm throbbed yet his determination to make a point once and for all was stronger than his desire to rest.

She called out, only pouring gasoline on the fire that had already started. Exploding into a ball of barbaric fury. “LIES!” The single, guttural word rolled from lips peeled back in absolute hatred, echoing out into the frosted woods that sent resting birds into fright filled flight.

She was simply trying to play the same game as before. Trying to weaken him with what could have been, empty promises he had seen before.

And he would not be fooled. Not again.

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The virgin snow became saturated with deep crimson. The numbing cold burning away by his own furious heat and her riteous anger. It must have been a disturbing sight to see both tare into eachother, with no remorse.

Whore

Sorina aimed for that leg again. Then his neck or throat.

Harlot

Anything she could get her jaws on. She would clasp with as much strength as she could muster. But it was not enough. He was stronger. He had not just been pulled from a frozen lake.

FINE.



I. Am. Not. Her! [/b]She bellowed with the same pain . The same anger. She stopped. Still. Deathly still. Yet her eyes bore into his skull. As if she could burn a hole right through him. She wanted to.

But didn’t.

Her chest heaved. Blood pooled. I came to see if you were ok after you left that night and all you did was try and chase me away. I wanted to take that pain away. How ironic.

@Rosencrantz
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Pure white stained red spread across the alabaster canvas, crawling as reddish hues splattered with their movements as both struggled with the other. It was likely they could both die here. As she aimed for his wounded leg, face and neck he was getting lost in the fury that blinded him with only one goal that kept growing more putrid the more furious he became.

Why was she so damn stubborn?

Why couldn't she just listen to what others said?

To grow.

To plant her feet firmly on the ground and be the leader Haldis needed - and instead, she was stuck in the clouds. Not a single humble bone in her body.

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ɹǝɥ ǝʞᴉl ʇsnſ

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I. Am. Not. Her!

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Pause.

Their bodies tangled in a violent dance, teeth holding onto body parts and covered in blood and fur not belonging to a single one of them. The static faded as he struggled to listen to her words through the beating of his own frantic heart and huffing breath. “By sleeping with me?” His fury still bubbled through gritted teeth, only taking a moment to hear her out a little longer.

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Ragged was the breath that drew in from the bitter cold air. Pain became cold and numb, merged with the fatigue that clung to her. Everything ached. Everything hurt, but it did not stop her, only spite. Sorina was a simple woman, deep down. Simply wanting to rise a Kingdom for her own, of her own. Without the shadow of her Father's stain upon her back. Everything she had rose Haldis for-was to create something better. And yet at every turn, every male she encountered wished to tare her down. Call her a whore for enjoying the simple pleasures. Seeing her for an ambitious fool, rather than an ambitious Queen. Not once did one try to help-to guide. At every turn they had chipped away at her ego, to the point where she became numb. Even the Tiger had shared the Brother's sentiment.

She would no longer stand for it.

Why was he so furious? He had done this to himself-it it was submission he was after, then he truly did not know her at all. Sorina would bow to no one.

And yet-the onslaught stopped. For a moment she had quelled the furious storm, doused the raging fire, but it was still there. Within his torn expression she saw the frothing, furious beast that roared beneath the surface. Oh, she was stepping on very thin ice. One wrong move and it could perhaps, be over.

She took a steeled breath. "That is what you wanted." She whispered, voice hoarse from the strain. "A broken heart is best fixed by another." A blink, a rasp of her tongue over dry lips. "What we both needed after fighting for our lives." Or had he forgotten their seemingly impossible victory? "You have me wrong." A frown danced upon her expression. "Every male seems to." A scoff, paired with a wince; oh those wounds torn open complained.

@Rosencrantz
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“An action with no heart behind it.” He retorts.

Sex was menial. A means to an end. For pleasure, to reproduce. “I could have gotten it from anyone if all I needed was that.” And he had. Freya, Annika, and many others he didn't remember from a lifetime ago. Faded faces blended with the smog left in the wake of his arrival to these strange lands on a bed of roses with Guildenstern.

“If you keep offering yourself to any man, they will see you as nothing but a hole to stick their dick into. There is no grace or respect from being fucked.” His words were cold. Yet he believed there were truths behind them. To be given something so easily without work, there was nothing special or precious when either one of them could be replaced by another in no time.

And apparently, that was all he was to her too. Just something to fill some space for a while and be replaced not long after. “Go home Sorina.”

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A weakened snarl rippled from her bloody maw. She could taste the copper upon her tongue, a mixture of his blood and her own. It was as bitter as her wounded pride that feel with the thud of her heart.

You are as blind then as you are now. She shook her dark crown, spitting, seething and spiteful. And a hypocrite. Tell me, how many times have you fallen for the company of a woman to forget!

This was useless.

Round and around they went in circles. Angry and intent of taring each other apart. Gladly. She spat. She could barely move, let alone travel back. Run back to your precious Blackfoot. Dark ears remained pinned to her skull as she tried to rise onto her paws, yet once more she found herself weak. Pitiful.

Alone.

@Rosencrantz
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Poised to leave he had no real reason to stay. She was alive, and though bloody and beaten, there was still breath to fuel her lungs and push on another day. After all, he was no saint. No knight in shining armour to play hero. He was a fallen angel. A crippled, lost soul, uncertain where his place was in this world and living each day one beat at time.

“I'm not a queen.” Which to him, was what differed them.

“Who would judge a faceless beast to lay with whom would allow them.” A pause as he steps away, watching as she struggled to stand. He, leaning on his good feet while the injured throbbed - perhaps the fracture torn once again prolonging its healing.

“You forget the preciousness that comes with a womb, who is a donor to the one who grows the seed?” He could assist in creating hundreds of lives in a year, while she, only a few. “Be more cautious who you risk growing within you.”

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Am I? Oh, she was oh so sorry for herself now. Bloodied and beaten. Wounded. No. In this moment she was not the Queen she tried to be. She was no one here, in the bloodied snow. Just like how she had started. Was this how she would end? Tragic. Ironic… right?

Yet, words would not entirely pull over deaf ears. No. Deep down, somewhere-he was half right. Despite the scoff that came from her wrinkled maw. Once again, she tried to stand. Yet fell. An anguished, frustrated cry rippled from her maw. Yes, she had to be careful. Yes, she had to chose the right way.

Her words intended to cut sharp, deep. I am all that is left of my family. You know nothing of what it is to have the need to further on a legacy. Iarna was gone. Her Mother lost. Yes, there was Reign and her brood, but they were not close kin. Not her blood. What kind of ruler would she be, if she could not continue on her legacy.

Surely then, Haldis would die with her.

@Rosencrantz
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