Royal Captive

[Prizzy Kriyze]

(Arrow in his arm )


He laughed and said "Oh, of course you would say that. You are the victim, after all." He looked at the arrow in his arm, and was painfully reminded of the aches that such a wound brings with it, and moaned loudly. He sat on his knees in the sand, and clenched his arm tightly. Healing magic was such a pain, and unless you were very skilled in it or had a lot of resources around, using it on yourself was usually a bad idea.


He quickly looked up at the girl when she said to give her his arm. He looked at her skeptically, but then extended his arm. Even if she tried to hurt him, he could stop her. "Huh? Usually people don't act to positively to getting kidnapped." He leaned his head over and looked into her brown eyes. "What's the occasion?"

 

[erikaleeanne]

(Oh, sorry! I knew that xD )


Annabeth smirked and gently traced her finger over the top of the arrow. "No special occasion. Brags giving just won't get me very far in this situation, I suppose. You just look like you're in quite a bit of pain, and I guess I don't like to see people in pain...no matter how incredibly annoying or precarious they are. And that's that."


"Not to mention that I've observed many wounded soldiers being treated for this sort of thing. I've taught myself a thing or two about these situations." She rested a hand on his knee, using the other hand to wrap her fingers around the base of the arrow. "This will hurt, so don't blame me for that." Annabeth then gently and swiftly yanked the arrow from his arm.


"A nurse told me once that that was the least painful way to remove such a thing." She tossed the arrow to the ground and glanced at the wound with a wrinkle of the nose. "There's not much that I can do about the bleeding," she commented, "but I suppose you have a parlor trick for that."


Annabeth then turned away and brushed the hair from in front of her face. "So," she asked, "to be blunt, who sent you to kidnap me?"

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

Garret chuckled at the words. "Annoying? You're far too kind." He sat completely still as she came up to him and grabbed the arrow, but he was ready fling her far away from himself, should she try anything. He gritted his teeth when she pulled it out, and then recoiled. "Aarrgh, fuck!" He said, and grasped his arm again. Blood started running down his arm rapidly, and he quickly took a hold of his glove with his teeth and pulled it off. He pulled his sleeve up to reveal the wound, and then raised his middle finger and thumb in the air. Slowly they turned from their usual skin color into a gleaming orange, almost as if they were red-hot iron. He took a deep breath, then quickly pushed them again the entry and exit hole that the arrow had left. He gasped, but after a short moment the bleeding had stopped. Garret, on the other hand, didn't feel too good. Cauterizing wounds was painful in general, but doing it to yourself was worse.


He sat back in the sand and started peeling his sleeve off, forming some sort of makeshift bandage. "This is a lot more than parlor tricks. Otherwise we would've died on that wall." He said with just a little bit of underlying spite. He wrapped the expensive bandage around the scorched wound, quite happy with the result. "I don't know how expensive you think a sorcerer mercenary is, but I've been paid enough not to give out information on my employer, that's for sure."

 

[erikaleeanne]

Annabeth watched the sorcerer heal the wound with some amazement. Sorcerers came to the palace very rarely, for one reason or another, and you can only uptake so much information from a book about sorcery, as opposed to a first hand experience.


She sighed at his bitterness and unwillingness to give her any information, placing a fist under her chin and leaning against it.


"It's pretty superfluous of you not to," Annabeth finally said, "I'm going to eventually find out anyway. We're just speeding up the process. Not to mention that you've taken an arrow for the cause."


She then looked down at his wound and the pain in his face, and couldn't help but feel the faintest hinge of pity for the man.

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

"You speak in such aristocratic terms." He retorted. "I bet you've studied your entire life just to sound more important than others." He sternly gazed at her, and then shook his head. "Sorry. I suppose there's no need for us to hate each other. Unless a miracle of some sort happens, we're going to stay out here for a while, after all." He stood up and brushed the sand off of his leggings. "I'd say it's equally pointless for you to know who it is, if you're going to find out anyway." He leaned against the large rock, which was almost 4 times his height and about 50 feet long in diameter, and started walking around it. "Come over here, unless you want to stay in the sun all day." He shouted, as he got into the camp he'd set up a couple days earlier. A beige white large sheet of cloth served as a roof, supported by four poles. Between each of the poles hammocks were suspended, and there were a couple of crates lying around. A wide plain carpet served as flooring. The camp was sheltered by the large rock, so sand didn't blow into it, but unfortunately that also meant they were on the sunnier side. Luckily, the cloth barely let any light through.

 

[erikaleeanne]

Annabeth followed the sorcerer to the set-up by the rock, ignoring his snide remarks and examining the crates.


"When you're not allowed to leave your home without a swarm of guards at your heel, you find you don't have much to do THAN educate yourself. Either that or sneak out. And believe me," she plopped onto the carpet, "I've tried quite a lot."


She pulled her knees to her chest. "So there's nothing I can do to convince you to tell me, then?"

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

"Oh, so this is a nice change of pace for you, then?" He said, and jumped into one of the hammocks. He reached out with one of his hands and knocked the top off of one of the crates, revealing a pile of various things, amongst which books where very prominent. He seemingly randomly picked a small wooden sphere out of it, laid back in the hammock, and started levitating it around, phasing it between his hands, even making it move through them. "Not really anything you can say, no."


He leaned his head over and looked at her. "Just so you know though, you better pray that your father will acquiesce to his terms. If not, I'm ordered to kill you."

 

[erikaleeanne]

As the sorcerer made the wooden sphere pass between the two of them, the words "I'm ordered to kill you," hit her as if the sphere had just done so, when in reality, it mulled about harmlessly.


Annabeth sat in silence for quite some time, before quietly standing up, rummaging through one of the crates for a book, then sitting back down on the carpet and leaning against the rock once a title caught her eye, and glanced out at the lowering sun, thinking.


"Well," she finally said as she turned to the first page of the novel, "If there's a way to leave the world, being slain by a sorcerer is one of the most impressive."

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

Garret made the sphere balance on his index finger, then flicked it far out into the desert, in a bored fashion. The rock was the only one even visible from here, so the scenery was pretty barren. "You're awfully positive, aren't you?" He gave her a neutral expression, and then switched to a bare smile. "I guess there's something respectable about that." Grabbing a blanket, Garret threw it around himself and turned over in the hammock. He snapped his fingers, and a lantern lit up. "If you wanna read up late use that. It gets cold during the night in a desert, so you know. Get a blanket or whatever." He sighed loudly and pulled it over his head.

 

[erikaleeanne]

A small smirk appeared in the corner of Annabeth's mouth as he remarked on her positivity. After he pulled the covers over his head, she said silently for a while before quietly saying, "I honestly don't like to be called princess. I prefer my name, Annabeth."


With that, she stood and fished a blanket from one of the crates, and curled up inside of it, book still in hand.

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

(Sorry, it's christmas eve, which is the day we celebrate christmas in Sweden, so I've been unable to post for most of today.)


Garret closed his eyes and pulled his legs up. Annabeth.. What a nice name. He thought, but he didn't voice it. "Mhm... I'm Garret, nice to meet ya." he grunted from underneath the blankets. What an interesting conversation to have with a "captive". He thought. Although it didn't even feel like she was a hostage or anything of the sort. She seemed really comfortable with this. Garret's train of thoughts went on until he drifted into slumber.

 

[erikaleeanne]

(Don't worry about it! Merry Christmas!)


Garret. She couldn't think if anyone else who had that name. It was unique to to the tongue. Annabeth quietly mouthed it to herself, and couldn't think much of the reading at this point.


She eventually drifted off to sleep, book tucked into her arm. When she woke up, the sun had rise into a lovely palette of orange, pink and blue. Annabeth felt no urge to get out of bed, no motive. So she lay there, eyes half closed, thinking about the long day ahead.


 
Annabeth finally woke up in full, and found herself staring into the horizon. She then began to wonder: what if I run?





It was almost a stupid thought, but she was in a desperate enough position to think of it. The desert had to stop somewhere, right? Not to mention, if the sorcerer no longer had her as a bargaining chip, then her father wouldn't have to bargain for her life.


Annabeth glanced in Garret's direction, noticing that he was still asleep. She could get away for quite a distance; he would be weak and tired from his arm wound.


This is incredibly stupid. But I'm going to try.


She slowly stood up, tossing the blanket off of her and glancing into the crates for something that she could use to her advantage: no weapons. Just food and books.


Well, if I die, I suppose I'll at least die free.





Annabeth then took a soft breath in mental preparation, and then began hiking across the morning sand, the only thing in hand being the novel that she had started reading the night before. Annabeth wasn't exactly why she was taking it; she just felt the need to.


How long did she trek until she stopped, she didn't know. She only stopped whenever she could no longer see the large rock in the distance to stop and minutely rest.


Perhaps I'll do this. Perhaps I might get away.


(Did you want to play a quick role as the bandits, or should the threat be something different?)


 
Just as these thoughts passed through her mind, she saw what she hadn't seen before: three figures atop camels, not exactly a great distance away. Annabeth sighed in relief and began hiking towards them, believing that true freedom might be awaiting.


The figures halted their camels upon seeing her, and she stopped but a foot or two away. By what she could see, Annabeth assumed them all to be men. "Hello, gentlemen," she greeted, minutely curtsying, "I do apologize for bothering you, but I have lost my way, and I..."


One of the men held up a hand. "Miss," he said, "You got lost in the desert?" His accent was untraceable.


She nodded. "A bit embarrassing, I know. I don't exactly know where I am, but if you take me to the nearest town or village, I would pay you a mighty load." She clutched the novel in her arms, in hope. The three men were quiet, then exchanged even quieter glances among one another. Perhaps these weren't the best people to ask, she thought. "On second thought," she said, taking a small step back, "I think I'm capable of finding my way. Thank you for your time."


She was about to spin on her heel when one of the men called, "Now wait a minute!" and leaped from his camel. He was tall and broad shoulder, most of his face hidden behind a scarf. He approached Annabeth and looked down on her as the other two men leaped from their camels. "What's that you got there?" He asked, snatching the book from her hands. "Um," she said, reaching a hand out, "that's mine. I'd like that back, if you don't..." One of the other men grabbed her wrist.


"You see, miss," he said, using his free hand to grab the small of her back, "We're not ones who give things back once we see something that we like." The two other men chuckled softly.


Oh no. Oh no. Annabeth tried to fiercely pull away from the man, but he was just as fierce. He pulled them even closer, until Annabeth was able to hit him in the groin with the base of her knee. He toppled over, causing a quick reaction from the other men. The one not holding her book advanced upon her, striking a hard blow to her face with the back of his hand and knocking her to the sand. She could faintly taste blood from a cut on her lip, and once she reoriented herself, she saw the other man begin to aggressively tear sections from the novel apart. "No!" She shouted, almost shrieked, "Stop it!" She attempted to crawl and reach for it, but one of the men harshly, but not too aggressively, kick her over with the side of his foot before planting it on her stomach.


"You listen here," one of the men (she was now guessing bandits) hissed, "you're ours now. You belong to us."


Annabeth could only reply with a very bleak, "Burn in hell."


One of the bandits kicked her nose. She shrieked. "You see what happens when you give us a hateful tongue?" He boomed. "Speak again and the lesson we teach you won't be so kind." He turned to the other men. "Get her up. We'll set camp up at the end of the day. Then maybe we can have some real fun."


(I didn't realize how long that was until I finished. Sowwy. Got carried away.)

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

(Merry christmas, and don't you worry, I prefer long posts to be honest )


Garret twisted and turned in the hammock until the rays of the sun were so bright he simply couldn't stay asleep anymore. He blinked a couple of times to get used to the sunlight, and then sat up straight in the hammock. Something felt completely off. He scanned the area, but couldn't find whatever it was that bothered him. He got up and knocked the top off of another one of the crates, revealing a stock of food, kept edible by spells he'd placed upon the crate. He grabbed and apple and bit into it while closing the crate again. With the apple in his mouth he started walking out into the desert, stretching his arms out to wake his muscles up. They had plenty of food, so that would last them for a while, but he'd have to take a walk to the local oasis once every so often if he wanted them no to die by dehydration.


After about 5 minutes of walking into the desert he'd finished his apple, and what had been wrong struck him like a sledgehammer to the face. Annabeth hadn't been there. It was only the first day of staying in the desert so he hadn't gotten used to her being around yet. He turned on his heel and dashed off back towards the camp again, only to find that she definitely was not around. He frowned and groaned loudly when he spotted her tracks. "God damnit." He stated aloud to himself. "You aren't going to make it out of the desert on your own like that..." he complained, before starting to follow the tracks.


He walked at a rather slow pace, figuring that he'd catch up to her eventually no matter what. She most likely wasn't used to the climate, or travelling by foot, he'd imagine. Besides, she didn't have magic to alleviate her own fatigue like he did. The sun was hot, so he decided that he could sacrifice a little strength to create a shield protecting him from the unforgiving rays of light. Honestly, he didn't have anything against walking, but he was pretty aggravated by her vain attempt to escape. A sigh escaped his lips, but then quickly turned into a gasp. The footsteps lead to other tracks in the sand. Hoofprints met her own tracks, and there looked like there had been a struggle. Garret kneeled down in the sand and took a closer look at it. A tiny stain of red in the sand made up his mind. Bandits.


He quickly started running after the hoofprints that kept going. Hopefully they hadn't killed her, hurt her badly, or anything stupid like that. I freaking knew I should've tied her up. I freaking knew it. He thought as the sun started setting.


As the darkness settled across the desert, Garret's sprint came to stop at the top of a dune. Below him he saw fires along the side of an oasis, where the tracks led. He was cold, hungry, tired and definitely not in a good mood. Now he just needed a plan to approach them.


(Stopping here so you can describe where you are, and their camp even though I took the liberty of placing next to an oasis.)

 

[erikaleeanne]

The bandits' camp site was nothing too elaborate, with three large tents spread apart in a triangle formation, with a hearty fire in the center. The faint reflection of the fire danced across the water, a nice effect to a rather horrible day.


Annabeth was under strict supervision of the bandits, until, of course, they got bored. Her hands were tightly bound in front of her most of the time, unless they wanted her to do something. Anything they told her to do, however, she usually refused to. Occasionally it would end with a strike from the front or back of the hand, but most of the time they would just grimace and curse at her, annoyed with her stubbornness, then drown their anger in alcohol, almost as if they were caught in a cycle. So it goes.


At this moment, as darkness was settling in, they were all seated around the fire, Annabeth plopped between two of the men, hands bound as usual. She listened to them tell crude jokes and sing to each other in a manner that lacked almost any class. Whether they were drunk or not, she couldn't tell nor care. Annabeth simply gazed at the colorful water and starry sky, and occasionally to her book that was tucked into one of the satchels hung about the camels, who were tied down by the water. It was in poor condition, and many of the pages were now gone, but she still wanted it. Still couldn't place why.

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

Garret sat perched on top of the dune until he couldn't wait anymore. He started walking down straight towards the camp with decisive steps, and halfway down the hill he stopped, and slowly started weaving his arms through the air. The wind started picking up. Soon sand was sliding across the dunes, and within short of that a dark beige wall of dust started whirling over the desert towards the camp. He noticed a few of the bandits shouting to the other ones and looking, but they seemed generally unbothered by the sudden storm. Perfect.


He calmly walked down the hill and in-between the tents, without anyone even noticing him. Now, where's Annabeth? He pondered, and then almost walked straight into one of the guards. The bandit stopped and took a step back. "Sorry." he looked at Garret with tired eyes, and Garret returned his gaze with a 'Seriously?' look. It took him half a moment, and then the bandit's eyes widened. "Wait, yo-" He didn't get any further before Garret had slapped his hand over his mouth, and a black shadow ran down his body, constricting his movement. He looked at Garret with scared eyes as he pulled him to the edge of the oasis, and slowly sunk his head into the water, and held it into the water until the bubbles stopped.


When his body went limp, Garret pulled him up again and laid on the sand. That got some aggressions out. He thought, and calmed down considerably. He looked at the corpse, and couldn't help but feel ashamed. He didn't have to do that in such a violent fashion, and especially not while scaring him like that. He sighed, and stood up. He whispered a quiet "Sorry.." before turning around and sneaking through the cloud of smoke to Annabeth's side. He kneeled down behind her and grabbed onto her shoulders, while leaning forward and whispering "Sssh, don't be alarmed. Just be quiet and we'll be out of here before you know it." He undid her bindings.


(SORRY! It was just lying there for 2 hour and I forgot to post)

 

[erikaleeanne]

When the storm came, and the men were now distracted by both it and themselves, Annabeth glanced around, wondering if she could make some sort of escape. She felt incredibly battered and weak, and new she would most likely die out in the dunes on her own, but she didn't care. She would rather die there than here.


When hands grabbed her shoulders, and she heard Garret's voice in her ear, she almost cried out in relief. As he undid her bindings, she glanced up to see if any of the bandits had taken notice. One or two seemed to be reorienting themselves, and she prayed that, somehow, they could get away.


(Ha, don't worry about it!)

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

He grabbed onto her wrist and started leading her out of the camp, careful not to create too much noise. They hadn't noticed their missing friend yet, and Garret had no wish to be caught and end another life. "Let's go, and be quiet.." He whispered to Annabeth.


As soon as they got out of the circle of tents, the winds of sand parted and they walked unbothered by the winds. As soon as they got out of view of the place Garret collapsed in the sand, tired from the run over here and excessive magic-use. Between the heavy exhales he managed to get out "Are you.. *inhale*.. alright?"

 

[erikaleeanne]

When Garret asked her if she was alright, she wasn't quite sure how to reply at all. She was battered, that was for sure, her lip and certain parts of her face aching from where she had been hit. Her nose felt broken, although she hoped that the bandits didn't have so much force and menace in their bones to do such a thing. Garret, although not beaten, looked incredibly haggard.


Still not knowing what to say or do, she slowly collapsed into the sand beside him. "Thank you," was all she said, her voice raspy as she tried to contain any tears that might escape. You're not going to cry, dammit. Stop it.

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

Garret lay in the sand and sighed loudly, trying to regain his breath. "No... problem.." He said, and then rolled over on his side to get a look at her. "Just don't do that again..." He noticed how her face looked and frowned. It pissed him off ever so slightly how the bandits could've had the audacity to manhandle someone under his protection. Without warning he reached his hand forward and put it over her face. "Lay still. This will hurt." a low green light eminated from his hand, and a low hum was heard as he healed the injuries riddling her face. He rolled back onto his back again, and worked yet again to catch his breath.

 

[erikaleeanne]

Before she could react, Garret's hand was over her face and Annabeth felt a pain stretch over her skin. She did what she told him to, and kept still. When he removed his hand, she gently touched her lip. The pain was completely gone. She stared at Garret as he lay in the sand, catching his breath.


"You didn't have to do that," she said, one hand still on her face as she marveled how all of her injuries were simply gone.

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

"Yeah I did." He said, still trying to catch his breath. "You're under my protection." He rolled over to face her again, and added "Besides, you'd ruin your good looks if you had a bunch of scars." He got up from the cold sand and looked up at the sky. I should've brought blankets... He thought to himself as the chilly winds cooled him down further. They'd freeze to death up in the open like this. He sighed, and then walked over to Annabeth where she was laying. "Lay still." He ordered as he got on his knees adjacent to her, and pushed his palms into the ground. The sand around them started rising, and then enclosed the two in a rather small egg of sand. "Sorry 'bout this, but we'll need to utilize our body heat as much as possible. Desert nights are colder than freezing, since the ground doesn't hold any heat, you know?" He said as he laid there, shoulder to shoulder with her against the hard sandstone that he'd created.

 

[erikaleeanne]

As Annabeth felt her shoulder against Garret's shoulder, she began to relax. The warmth was nice and, as a surprise to herself, being close to the sorcerer didn't bother her as she had expected it to.


"Yes," she replied in response to what he had said, "I read a book about the desert once or twice. Although it pales in comparison to the real thing." As she stared up at the stars, she thought about her books back at home. She missed them. She especially missed the book that the bandits had taken from her, although she still had yet to know herself why it was so important to her.

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

Garret twisted around and looked up at the sky. "You read a lot, don't you?" he blinked a couple of times and felt his heart rate dropping down to lower levels again. She was warm, a lot warmer than himself, so he found himself pushing himself slightly closer to her in an attempt to steal as much heat as possible.


"Did you know there's an almost endless amount of stars in the sky?" He found himself asking aloud. He laid his arm under his own head, and continued "A single sun has the power to wipe out multiple thousands of planets on it's own. It even makes someone like me, a sorcerer, who is able to create things on huge scales feel powerless."

 

[erikaleeanne]

Annabeth smiled very softly. "I do read a lot," she replied, "When your life resembled that of a furnished yet imprisoned animal, it sort of does that to you." She paused. "And to answer your next question: yes, I do know that. Read a book on that once too. I suppose that's why I read. When you know things, you can feel powerful even when you're actually powerless. I know that seeing me only as a princess, that probably sounds a bit crazy."


She was quiet again, and could feel his body press closer to hers as the cold ensued. Subconsciously, Annabeth moved a bit closer to him as well, almost until her head was nudged under his armpit. "It universe is pretty impressive, I will agree...when you think about its wonders and abilities, it's truly more beautiful than anything that I've ever seen."

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

Garret looked over at her. What she lacked in experience because of her protected life, she made up for in knowledge. He looked back up at the sky again, and didn't move away as she got closer. "I suppose you're right. The universe is everything after all. In the end, we're a part of it." He reached towards the sky with his free hand, and grasped thin air. "I still wouldn't mind having the power of a star though. I could do anything I wanted. Shape the world the way I wanted it to be. No wars, no deaths. Just people happy with being people." He paused for a while and looked at his hand. "... that's just idealistic though. Oh well."