Sorrow of Memory
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Fantasy & Science Fiction › General
Rating:
Adult +
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2
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Category:
Fantasy & Science Fiction › General
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
2
Views:
1,052
Reviews:
1
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.
Shock
\"So, where are we going?\" asked Man\'essin, after a days travel on the horses. Phantom looked at him, measuredly. he thought, managing to keep his thoughts on the inside for once.
\"We\'re going to the ruins of my hom-.....to the ruins of Men\'anai. There, a friend of mine will keep you until I am sure that your people have \'paid the ransom\'.\"
\"Why did you kidnap me in the first place?\" She sighed, a sound that to Man\'essin sounded vaguely sad.
\"You do not remember, do you?\"
\"Remember...? Remember what?\"
She gave him \'a look\', and shook her head. \"No, never mind. I don\'t expect you to have to remember that far back.\"
\"What is it? How far back? What are you talking about?\"
Phantom smiled briefly, and Man\'essin realized he\'d walked into her trap. \"Men, I swear...\"
\"Now, that wasn\'t fair, baiting me like that. What are you talking about?\"
\"When we were children....\"
\"We...?\"
\"Yes. I am called Phantom now; but before the darkelves attacked Men’anai, I was known as the Crown Princess, Eshina Oretak.\" Man\'essin\'s eyes widened.
\"You...You.... YOU’RE Princess Eshina?!?!?!\"
\"You seem shocked. Surely no others have a purple streak in their light brown hair, right? It was said that my sister and I were the only ones in this kingdom with grey eyes. Surely that tipped you off, did it not?\"
Man\'essin shook his head, shock overwhelming him. \"But...you\'re dead! The whole of Men\'anai was destroyed, the king and queen killed, and the twins… You and your sister were never heard of or seen from again. Tell me what happened. ...Please...?\"
A strange voice cut in. \"Princess Eshina, eh? Princess of Thieves now! Phantom...Well, well, girl, you\'ve grown.\"
Phantom\'s head whipped around, and Man\'essin was secretly relieved that she hadn\'t sensed his arrival either. A scar-riddled man who looked about 7 feet tall stepped out from the bushes. Several other men also appeared from no where. Phantom swore quietly.
\"Well, well. Looks like you have a new scar, uncle. Where\'d that one come from?\"
Man\'essin watched with growing dread as the man backhanded her off her horse. She got to her feet and spit at him.
\"Bitch! You know where this one came from!\" He trailed a finger down the left side of his face where a recent wound had scarred. It was a clean wound that ran from his forehead, down through his eye, blinding him, to his chin. One of the men who had appeared with him chuckled.
\"Hey, boss, looks like she and the prince of X\'vanne were out on a little pleasure ride!\"
He whirled angrily to the man, and Man\'essin. \"Why didn\'t you say something at first? Worthless piece of dog shit.......Hmm....He\'s right.....Well, well.... Prince Man\'essin Darksquall. What are you doing here in the company of such a whore?\" Phantom lunged at him, screaming a battle cry that chilled his blood. She had her sword drawn in seconds, and he had his in his hand so fast it had seemed to materialize there.
\"Let me give you another scar to match the one I already gave you, fungus slime!\" She said, heatedly as their swords crashed. Man\'essin saw instantly that she could fight more than adequately, but was sorely outmatched by the larger man.
He never saw the minion who\'d pointed him out knocking a bow, arrow aimed unerringly for his heart. The arrow sang through the air.
As arrowhead met flesh, Man\'essin gasped.
~*~*~*~*~
An-nai and Jiriki slowly walked the horse back to X\'vanne. Conversation was sparse as they attempted to figure out how to tell the queen her son, and heir, was kidnapped by brigands.
\"We\'re supposed to be his guardians...\" An-nai whined.
\"Ah, quit it...We\'ll just tell her exactly what happened. He came out of nowhere, knocked us out, stole our weapons and food, and kidnapped the Prince. It ain\'t that hard.\"
\"Yeah, what\'ll be hard is trying to avoid the rope around our necks. She\'ll hang us for sure! Since prince Jingizu ran off with that sexy legionnaire, Zandramas, Man\'essin was her only heir! Now we\'ve lost him, too! She\'ll eat our hearts for breakfast, and feed our livers to the jackals!\"
\"You worry too much. Don\'t worry. She\'ll understand.\"
~*~*~*
\"You.....WHAT?!?!?!?! How could you let this happen! Oh, I should feed you to Mara Anni just for coming back here without him!!\"
Both men gulped. Niku\'a\'s wrath was not one to incur wisely. And neither liked the prospect of being fed alive to the beautiful cheetah that lounged by the throne. At the mention of her name, said cheetah looked up, and purred slightly before going back to sleep.
*~*~*~*~*~
Phantom felt the arrow hit her in the shoulder. She heard Man’essin gasp, behind her, and had enough time to hear Dadro call his men to retreat and not come back. The ground rushed up to meet her hard, and the breath was wrenched from her lungs. Man’essin dropped to his knees beside her, and turned her onto her back. He broke the end of the arrow, and tried to pull it out. She groaned with pain.
“No, idiot, push it out through the back…” she gasped out.
”But that’ll make another wound,” he protested.
”Don’t worry about it. It was your stupid hide I was saving anyway. Besides,” the pain was nearly blinding, and robbed her of her breath. “It’s just one more wound – one more scar – to add to the dozens I’ve already got. Dadro himself gave me most of them. Bastard….” She cried out once more as he pushed the arrow through her back, and pulled it out. “Good job… Do you know anything of field aid?”
“Yes.” He nodded sharply in accompaniment to the brief statement.
“Good. Now bandage the wound, but first find some blodbane… it’ll help staunch the bleeding.” He was gone scant seconds to fetch the blodbane and something to bandage her shoulder with. When he returned, she was unconscious, and pale.
//Oh, princess… don’t you dare have survived all this time just to die protecting me… Not when I’ve just found you again…//
Man’essin made camp right where they were, not trusting to move Phantom at all. She’d regained some of her color, and was sleeping peacefully by the fire, something he was grateful for. He reclaimed some of his weapons, and was cooking a rabbit over the meager fire when the shadows burst forth from the darkness.
Cloaked figures knelt by Phantom, as a cool blade was slipped around his neck. “If you value your life, your highness, you’ll not move a muscle,” a rich feminine voice whispered into his ear. He nodded once, more of a jerk than an actual nod. A great hulking giant lifted Phantom onto a horse, and Man’essin was also dragged along. At some point, someone hit him over the head, and blackness was all he knew.
~*~*~*
A sweet, soft voice, raised in anger. Mother? No.. couldn’t be. He’d left her in the palace he was returning to. Where were An’nai and Jiriki? They didn’t speak that way, certainly. Where was he? He was terribly cold, and uncomfortable. Was that a ROCK digging into his backside?
Shifting, he opened his eyes, and looked around. A strange encampment greeted him. A man was gesturing wildly, sometimes at him, talking loudly with a giant, who looked duly chastened.
“He’s awake!” Deep, flowing… Feminine. Which ladies did he know had voices like that? He’d never heard a woman with such a deep voice. Someone knelt beside him, someone he knew.
“Phantom?” He tried. It came out more of a croak than a word, but her face lit up with a smile. It was she who’d been arguing with the massive man, but from the back, her stance, clothing, and hair all belied her femininity.
“You’re okay? Sorry, Maye’sa can be a little overzealous sometimes.”
“Am not,” the same deep voice protested. He assumed that it was Maye’sa, whoever she was.
“You are too, now shut up. Are you okay? Here, have something to eat.” She shoved a plate at him, which was filled to overflowing with various fruits and meats, and some bread. He ate it quickly, realizing afterward how hungry he’d been. Phantom smiled at him. He was reminded of their games when they’d been children.
Children.
They’d known each other, and … something else… Something was nagging at the back of his mind, but he couldn’t think for the life of him what it was. When he was finished, Phantom offered him a cup, and, after taking a sip, he realized that it was water; some of the best he’d ever tasted.
She stood by the edge of his fire, and waited for him to stand. When it was clear he was not going to fall back over, she offered to give him a tour of the camp. Maye’sa, and a few others followed closely behind, but she shooed them away after a few minutes. He followed, listening half heartedly to what she was saying. That same nagging feeling came back, stronger than ever, and he realized belatedly she’d stopped speaking.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“You’re not listening to a word I’ve said, are you?”
He flushed. “No,” he replied honestly. “I can’t stop thinking about… something… it seems important, but I’m not sure what its about. I can’t remember.”
“It’s nothing to do with Maye’sa’s bumping you on your head, is it?” She looked worried.
“No. Speaking of which, how’s your shoulder?”
She smiled. “It’s fine, thanks. Luckily, it wasn’t poisoned. I didn’t lose too much blood because of your idiocy.”
“My idiocy? YOU’RE the one who jumped into the path of the arrow.”
“Just because you were too much of an idiot to see it in time to dodge it. Better my shoulder and arm useless for a few weeks than you dead with an arrow in your heart.” She said. He acceded her point, and thanked her again. “I said, it was nothing… Now stop thanking me. You’ll make my ego swell. Man’essin… I’ve been thinking… I never expected this to happen… I was trying to avoid you when I jumped in on your traveling party.”
He grinned easily. “Way to avoid us, landing right in the middle of us.” He teased.
“You jerk. I’m trying to say something important here.”
“I’m sorry, my lady. Please, carry on.” She scowled at him for a moment.
“Did you ever know about… us… as kids?”
“Us?” It was quite possibly the stupidest thing he could have said, and it was clear that he couldn’t tell left from right. She told him as much.
“You rock-headed, fumbling, lack-wit horses’ ass!!” She snapped. Maye’sa and Aditu – he believed those were the right names – stepped out of the woods and walked over to him as she stalked off. Man’essin felt lost – clearly he’d been expected to remember something and he’d failed. Maye’sa giggled.
“Don’t worry about her. She’s just grouchy that she won’t be able to fight for a while.”
“Yes, but didn’t she say something about talking to him?” Aditu piped up. When compared with Maye’sa’s voice, hers was extremely high pitched. Pleasing, but high. “I bet she tried to talk to him about IT and he said something stupid!”
Both of them were dressed much as Phantom was, with short choppy hair, and men’s clothing. “Hey, I AM right here, you know. Please don’t speak about me as if I weren’t.”
They looked appropriately guilty.
“Now, can one of you explain to me exactly what is going on? What is ‘it’? What did she want me to remember, because, clearly, I said something stupid~”
Maye’sa and Aditu exchanged a glance, then Aditu spoke. “You mean, you really can’t remember? You’re five years her senior, which means YOU should have known long before her, and therefore, remembered it.”
This was ridiculous. “Remembered WHAT?” he exploded.
“Why, the two of you~ ‘Shina, and you~ are engaged to be married. Since her birth, she told us. It was to combine your kingdoms. She’s always thought about you, and talked about you, and she seemed so happy to have you back in her life.”
It sank in slowly. “we…. were ENGAGED?!”
Ende chapter Two.
Well… this is normally where a short blurb about the story would go. Pretend you see one here.
Yami Bakura
\"We\'re going to the ruins of my hom-.....to the ruins of Men\'anai. There, a friend of mine will keep you until I am sure that your people have \'paid the ransom\'.\"
\"Why did you kidnap me in the first place?\" She sighed, a sound that to Man\'essin sounded vaguely sad.
\"You do not remember, do you?\"
\"Remember...? Remember what?\"
She gave him \'a look\', and shook her head. \"No, never mind. I don\'t expect you to have to remember that far back.\"
\"What is it? How far back? What are you talking about?\"
Phantom smiled briefly, and Man\'essin realized he\'d walked into her trap. \"Men, I swear...\"
\"Now, that wasn\'t fair, baiting me like that. What are you talking about?\"
\"When we were children....\"
\"We...?\"
\"Yes. I am called Phantom now; but before the darkelves attacked Men’anai, I was known as the Crown Princess, Eshina Oretak.\" Man\'essin\'s eyes widened.
\"You...You.... YOU’RE Princess Eshina?!?!?!\"
\"You seem shocked. Surely no others have a purple streak in their light brown hair, right? It was said that my sister and I were the only ones in this kingdom with grey eyes. Surely that tipped you off, did it not?\"
Man\'essin shook his head, shock overwhelming him. \"But...you\'re dead! The whole of Men\'anai was destroyed, the king and queen killed, and the twins… You and your sister were never heard of or seen from again. Tell me what happened. ...Please...?\"
A strange voice cut in. \"Princess Eshina, eh? Princess of Thieves now! Phantom...Well, well, girl, you\'ve grown.\"
Phantom\'s head whipped around, and Man\'essin was secretly relieved that she hadn\'t sensed his arrival either. A scar-riddled man who looked about 7 feet tall stepped out from the bushes. Several other men also appeared from no where. Phantom swore quietly.
\"Well, well. Looks like you have a new scar, uncle. Where\'d that one come from?\"
Man\'essin watched with growing dread as the man backhanded her off her horse. She got to her feet and spit at him.
\"Bitch! You know where this one came from!\" He trailed a finger down the left side of his face where a recent wound had scarred. It was a clean wound that ran from his forehead, down through his eye, blinding him, to his chin. One of the men who had appeared with him chuckled.
\"Hey, boss, looks like she and the prince of X\'vanne were out on a little pleasure ride!\"
He whirled angrily to the man, and Man\'essin. \"Why didn\'t you say something at first? Worthless piece of dog shit.......Hmm....He\'s right.....Well, well.... Prince Man\'essin Darksquall. What are you doing here in the company of such a whore?\" Phantom lunged at him, screaming a battle cry that chilled his blood. She had her sword drawn in seconds, and he had his in his hand so fast it had seemed to materialize there.
\"Let me give you another scar to match the one I already gave you, fungus slime!\" She said, heatedly as their swords crashed. Man\'essin saw instantly that she could fight more than adequately, but was sorely outmatched by the larger man.
He never saw the minion who\'d pointed him out knocking a bow, arrow aimed unerringly for his heart. The arrow sang through the air.
As arrowhead met flesh, Man\'essin gasped.
~*~*~*~*~
An-nai and Jiriki slowly walked the horse back to X\'vanne. Conversation was sparse as they attempted to figure out how to tell the queen her son, and heir, was kidnapped by brigands.
\"We\'re supposed to be his guardians...\" An-nai whined.
\"Ah, quit it...We\'ll just tell her exactly what happened. He came out of nowhere, knocked us out, stole our weapons and food, and kidnapped the Prince. It ain\'t that hard.\"
\"Yeah, what\'ll be hard is trying to avoid the rope around our necks. She\'ll hang us for sure! Since prince Jingizu ran off with that sexy legionnaire, Zandramas, Man\'essin was her only heir! Now we\'ve lost him, too! She\'ll eat our hearts for breakfast, and feed our livers to the jackals!\"
\"You worry too much. Don\'t worry. She\'ll understand.\"
~*~*~*
\"You.....WHAT?!?!?!?! How could you let this happen! Oh, I should feed you to Mara Anni just for coming back here without him!!\"
Both men gulped. Niku\'a\'s wrath was not one to incur wisely. And neither liked the prospect of being fed alive to the beautiful cheetah that lounged by the throne. At the mention of her name, said cheetah looked up, and purred slightly before going back to sleep.
*~*~*~*~*~
Phantom felt the arrow hit her in the shoulder. She heard Man’essin gasp, behind her, and had enough time to hear Dadro call his men to retreat and not come back. The ground rushed up to meet her hard, and the breath was wrenched from her lungs. Man’essin dropped to his knees beside her, and turned her onto her back. He broke the end of the arrow, and tried to pull it out. She groaned with pain.
“No, idiot, push it out through the back…” she gasped out.
”But that’ll make another wound,” he protested.
”Don’t worry about it. It was your stupid hide I was saving anyway. Besides,” the pain was nearly blinding, and robbed her of her breath. “It’s just one more wound – one more scar – to add to the dozens I’ve already got. Dadro himself gave me most of them. Bastard….” She cried out once more as he pushed the arrow through her back, and pulled it out. “Good job… Do you know anything of field aid?”
“Yes.” He nodded sharply in accompaniment to the brief statement.
“Good. Now bandage the wound, but first find some blodbane… it’ll help staunch the bleeding.” He was gone scant seconds to fetch the blodbane and something to bandage her shoulder with. When he returned, she was unconscious, and pale.
//Oh, princess… don’t you dare have survived all this time just to die protecting me… Not when I’ve just found you again…//
Man’essin made camp right where they were, not trusting to move Phantom at all. She’d regained some of her color, and was sleeping peacefully by the fire, something he was grateful for. He reclaimed some of his weapons, and was cooking a rabbit over the meager fire when the shadows burst forth from the darkness.
Cloaked figures knelt by Phantom, as a cool blade was slipped around his neck. “If you value your life, your highness, you’ll not move a muscle,” a rich feminine voice whispered into his ear. He nodded once, more of a jerk than an actual nod. A great hulking giant lifted Phantom onto a horse, and Man’essin was also dragged along. At some point, someone hit him over the head, and blackness was all he knew.
~*~*~*
A sweet, soft voice, raised in anger. Mother? No.. couldn’t be. He’d left her in the palace he was returning to. Where were An’nai and Jiriki? They didn’t speak that way, certainly. Where was he? He was terribly cold, and uncomfortable. Was that a ROCK digging into his backside?
Shifting, he opened his eyes, and looked around. A strange encampment greeted him. A man was gesturing wildly, sometimes at him, talking loudly with a giant, who looked duly chastened.
“He’s awake!” Deep, flowing… Feminine. Which ladies did he know had voices like that? He’d never heard a woman with such a deep voice. Someone knelt beside him, someone he knew.
“Phantom?” He tried. It came out more of a croak than a word, but her face lit up with a smile. It was she who’d been arguing with the massive man, but from the back, her stance, clothing, and hair all belied her femininity.
“You’re okay? Sorry, Maye’sa can be a little overzealous sometimes.”
“Am not,” the same deep voice protested. He assumed that it was Maye’sa, whoever she was.
“You are too, now shut up. Are you okay? Here, have something to eat.” She shoved a plate at him, which was filled to overflowing with various fruits and meats, and some bread. He ate it quickly, realizing afterward how hungry he’d been. Phantom smiled at him. He was reminded of their games when they’d been children.
Children.
They’d known each other, and … something else… Something was nagging at the back of his mind, but he couldn’t think for the life of him what it was. When he was finished, Phantom offered him a cup, and, after taking a sip, he realized that it was water; some of the best he’d ever tasted.
She stood by the edge of his fire, and waited for him to stand. When it was clear he was not going to fall back over, she offered to give him a tour of the camp. Maye’sa, and a few others followed closely behind, but she shooed them away after a few minutes. He followed, listening half heartedly to what she was saying. That same nagging feeling came back, stronger than ever, and he realized belatedly she’d stopped speaking.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“You’re not listening to a word I’ve said, are you?”
He flushed. “No,” he replied honestly. “I can’t stop thinking about… something… it seems important, but I’m not sure what its about. I can’t remember.”
“It’s nothing to do with Maye’sa’s bumping you on your head, is it?” She looked worried.
“No. Speaking of which, how’s your shoulder?”
She smiled. “It’s fine, thanks. Luckily, it wasn’t poisoned. I didn’t lose too much blood because of your idiocy.”
“My idiocy? YOU’RE the one who jumped into the path of the arrow.”
“Just because you were too much of an idiot to see it in time to dodge it. Better my shoulder and arm useless for a few weeks than you dead with an arrow in your heart.” She said. He acceded her point, and thanked her again. “I said, it was nothing… Now stop thanking me. You’ll make my ego swell. Man’essin… I’ve been thinking… I never expected this to happen… I was trying to avoid you when I jumped in on your traveling party.”
He grinned easily. “Way to avoid us, landing right in the middle of us.” He teased.
“You jerk. I’m trying to say something important here.”
“I’m sorry, my lady. Please, carry on.” She scowled at him for a moment.
“Did you ever know about… us… as kids?”
“Us?” It was quite possibly the stupidest thing he could have said, and it was clear that he couldn’t tell left from right. She told him as much.
“You rock-headed, fumbling, lack-wit horses’ ass!!” She snapped. Maye’sa and Aditu – he believed those were the right names – stepped out of the woods and walked over to him as she stalked off. Man’essin felt lost – clearly he’d been expected to remember something and he’d failed. Maye’sa giggled.
“Don’t worry about her. She’s just grouchy that she won’t be able to fight for a while.”
“Yes, but didn’t she say something about talking to him?” Aditu piped up. When compared with Maye’sa’s voice, hers was extremely high pitched. Pleasing, but high. “I bet she tried to talk to him about IT and he said something stupid!”
Both of them were dressed much as Phantom was, with short choppy hair, and men’s clothing. “Hey, I AM right here, you know. Please don’t speak about me as if I weren’t.”
They looked appropriately guilty.
“Now, can one of you explain to me exactly what is going on? What is ‘it’? What did she want me to remember, because, clearly, I said something stupid~”
Maye’sa and Aditu exchanged a glance, then Aditu spoke. “You mean, you really can’t remember? You’re five years her senior, which means YOU should have known long before her, and therefore, remembered it.”
This was ridiculous. “Remembered WHAT?” he exploded.
“Why, the two of you~ ‘Shina, and you~ are engaged to be married. Since her birth, she told us. It was to combine your kingdoms. She’s always thought about you, and talked about you, and she seemed so happy to have you back in her life.”
It sank in slowly. “we…. were ENGAGED?!”
Ende chapter Two.
Well… this is normally where a short blurb about the story would go. Pretend you see one here.
Yami Bakura