forum "I Will Never Bow Before You" (Fantasy O/O Closed)

Started May 31, 2022 by @ShadeStar

tune

About a week later, the door opened again. Several guards entered, mostly small kestrels, falcons, and kites. They took up positions around the birdcage, preparing to transport it. Then a young man entered last, with gingery brown hair and dressed in dark green. A wreath of black-tipped feathers, white berries, and leaves circled his head. He held a curious look on his face, looking expectantly into the room.
“Ahh, there she is,” he said when he got close enough to get a good look. “The Demon Princess. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He smiled.

Cicada had spent most of the week caring for her wings and silently praying to her gods. Thankfully she had been left alone for the most part only having visitors when she got the occasional meal or water. So when a bunch of guards entered all at once she knew that something was about to happen. She silently observed as the final found man entered and immediately felt a… Strong dislikement for him. As he approached she found her lips curling into a snarl as she didn't give him a response.

The man just chuckled. “What? I’m not your executioner, princess. Anyway, I should probably tell you who I am, since you don’t seem to know.” He gave her a little bow. “I am Prince David, here to relocate you to a new place of residence. Shall we go?”
He glanced to the guards, who all took the cage in their hands or talons, waiting for permission to move it.

So this was the prince, her future- She let that thought die right there and then, she did not want to be thinking about the future at this very moment. She needed to be focused on the current moment. Cicada responded curtly as she sat in the cage, "You're going to move me whether I want to or not, so I don't know what you're waiting for."

“Just an answer, princess. Any answer.” David nodded to the guards, and they hefted the cage and moved it as he began walking put of the room. As he stepped out of the doorway, he looked like he was going to fall… until he transformed into a red kite. The guards that were human transformed as well, and together they took Cicada up into the higher levels of the Nidum.

Cicada was startled and almost let out a yelp, before pursing her lips tight in order to not let the sound escape, as they hefted the cage up and then began flying with the cage. Her hands gripped the bars unfamiliar and uncomfortable flying around without using her own wings. She stayed silent in the cage focusing on the path they were taking so when she made her escape she would know how to get out of her next location.

Eventually, they stopped at a certain height, and began moving forward down a few hallways. They went up a staircase, which opened up to a circular balcony with a few doors on the curved wall. In the middle of the doors was another hallway, with more doors on either side. Prince David and his guards brought the cage into this hallway and in front of the first door, just beyond the corner leading to the balcony.
“Alright, here we are,” David sang once he shifted back into a human. But before he could let his guards open the door and unlock the cage, there was a flash of movement around the corner.
Rowena emerged. “David?” She called, her eyes landing on her brother, his guards, and the cage with Cicada inside. Her muscles tensed, and a deep frown pulled at her lips. “What the hell are you doing?”

Cicada had been keeping note of the way there and also noted how maze like the palace was. She scowled that David had chosen to sing upon arrival, but that dropped the moment she saw the guards going to open her cage. However that was all cut off when the Day Queen appeared. She could see how tense the Day Queen was and put two and two together that David had moved Cicada of his own accord. Cicada tensed up in response hoping the Day Queen wouldn't think Cicada had anything to do with this, she was just as unwilling of a participant as the queen was in this moment.

David blinked, eyes wide. Then he laughed, approaching the Day Queen and casually putting an arm around her shoulder.
“Your Majesty!” He greeted. “Why, just showing your fiancée to her room. You can thank me later.”
Rowena pushed him away, her gaze dark. “You didn’t need to do that. I would have had my own guards bring her here. And don’t call her my fiancée, for the love of the gods.”
David still wore an amused look on his face. “Well, when I heard you were getting married to the Demon Princess, I just had to see her for myself. Besides, your guards looked glad to leave the job to me.”
Rowena scowled. “David, you are so annoying. I do not want your commentary on this, I really don’t. Just shut up. Please.”
“Aww, don’t be like that, Ro,” he pouted, “Besides, how can I not commentate? The queen who swore she would never marry is actually getting married, and to a demon no less!”
“Shut. Up.” She grabbed his collar and dragged him to the other corner and lowered her voice. “And don’t call me Ro. Does Edward know about this engagement, too?”
David rolled his eyes. “He does. Mother told both of us a few days ago. Something about how it was for the good of the kingdom and that we should be supportive, all that. You should probably get back to the Demon Princess in that cage, hm?”

The Day Queen's name was Ro, or that was a nickname perhaps. Then the Day Queen, Ro, told David not to call her Ro, so Cicada was only going to call Ro that from this point on. In fact, this entire conversation was giving Cicada a lot of information about her "soon-to-be" wife. At the very least it didn't seem like Cicada was going to be blamed for what happened, and that alone caused her to relax ever so slightly. With that off her conscious, she could focus on gathering the information just being handed to her on a silver platter. The Night Queen was the Day Queen's mother and the Day Queen seems to have two brothers, David, the one who got her in this situation in the first place, and Edward. Somone Cicada knew nothing about, which scared her ever so slightly.