forum A Thing You Won't Remember

Started September 18, 2022 by @ElderGod-yellowqueen

tune

Carth proceeded to pick her up by her collar and bodily carry her to her tent. He set her on her cot, before turning and heading out the flap. He turned at the door. "Then consider me no better, or whatever it was you said." He headed back out to do his job.

Lear didn't bother responding to Elia's raving.
Lily noticed, though. She was as confused as it was possible for her to be. Elia had always been kind of obnoxious at the brothel, but there she was the top dog.
Here, she was nothing but a lucky guest, and yet…. she was still demanding like they owed her their attention or something.
She was shaking her head sadly, when Calvin looped his arm through hers, pulling her attention back to the conversation.
They listened carefully to Lear's explanation of what was about to happen.
~~~~
An hour passed, during which the medical tent was set up, the teens given jobs they could handle, and everybody but Elia was made aware of the plans.
Then the thunder began.
The soldiers came thundering in, many with children in their saddles or in their arms. A few made it back to camp, only to fall off their mounts, passing out unconscious on the ground.
The ones carrying children passed them off to the teens and guards at the camp, before turning back for more.
Lear barked orders and collected kids, noting with a satisfied smile that the children were clinging to the soldiers, as they always did. Stability, and removal from men who would hurt them, went a long way.
The oldest child there was about 11, which was a heart-rending fact. The youngest was easily around 4, although she looked like she hadn't been harmed, maybe just recently kidnapped. Lear sent them all to the medical tent with the teens, once the soldiers who had needed care had gotten it. For most of them, it was bandaging wounds that were weakening them by blood loss.
The kids had other needs.
Slowly but surely, the number grew, but no Romulus yet. Lear asked on of the soldiers, and they reported he'd gotten separated and hadn't been seen in a while.
With anyone else, Lear would have worried.
But with the Prince?
Well, the only worrying Lear did was for anyone in his way.

She was being locked in.
The walls were closing in on her.
She was suffocating.
She couldn't breathe.

Elia forced her head between her knees and focused on taking deep breaths. She wasn't back in that room. There weren't walls closing around her. There were just fabric walls on the tent and they weren't moving.
It took time to get her breathing under control. She hadn't had a panic attack like that in a long time. Memories kept resurfacing in that room. She didn't do well with tight spaces any longer. She thought it had gotten better but with recent events bringing up the past, it decided to bring that up as well.
She wiped away any stray tears that had leaked down her face. She needed to appear strong and collected. She wasn't weak. She was Elia.
She looked around the small tent, taking a last look at her things. She would mourn all of her books but there wasn't a way for her to take them with her. She was done. She was done being treated like she was a villain or some terrible person for not being so trusting. She couldn't trust in her line of occupation. After everything that had been done to her, her trust for anyone had been shattered. But at least she knew where she stood in that brothel. She had some sort of grasp on control. And she wanted to go back. There was nothing for her here. She no future with these people. She had came to make sure the children would be alright. They were. They were going to be taken care of, at least she hoped they would. But they were so taken with the prince and there was nothing she could for them anymore. But she didn't belong there. She didn't belong at court. She didn't belong in a castle surrounded by attendants. She was a whore. That's what she would always be. And she was ready to back.
No one would be paying attention to her. They would be busy with the guards and hopefully the children they brought back with them. No one would bother watching her. No one would likely even notice she was gone for a long while. She slipped out the front of the tent, kept her head down, and started walking away from all the commotion, back to the trail they had taken to get there. She grabbed a discarded cloak and clasped it around her neck and took a knife that been laying around and tucked it into her waist band. She flipped the hood over her head and disappeared into the woods.

Nobody noticed Elia leave. In the hustle and bustle, Carth and Lear were both too busy, and the rest were running around too much to notice the hooded figure.

~~~~
Several minutes into the woods, a scream rang out up ahead of Elia. A young girl, no more than 10, came running through, with a tall man chasing her. The man was wearing merchants' clothing and was waving a sabre as he chased her. He was slowly gaining, the poor girl clearly exhausted. She was scantily clad, and was wearing way too much makeup for a child her age.
She tripped over something, and fell heavily, her arm folded awkwardly under her. The man was on her in a flash, aiming a kick at her ribs and his sword at her neck. She screamed again, a short high shriek of terror.
There was a blue of motion as a seeming shadow blitzed into view and hit the merchant with a full body check.
The heavy-set man was sent flying several feet, and landed heavily.
The black-armored figure of the Prince stepped over him and punched him once, in the skull.
The merchant immediately went limp, and did not move again.
The girl picked herself up and looked lost, tears streaming down her face. The Prince knelt, and crawled over to her, avoiding looking over her.
"You're alright, it's ok, you're safe." His voice was soft, gentle, inviting, and different from how he'd talked to any of the adults that Elia had heard. He opened his visor, before collapsing the helmet into a collar . The girl looked at him for a moment, before stepping tentatively towards him. He stayed on his knees and held out his hands, and she made a decision. The girl ran to his arms, clinging on around his neck.
The Prince stood, and turned to head to the camp. He saw Elia and froze for a moment.

(Sorry it took me so long, busy Saturday)

Elia froze as she heard a scream ahead of her. It sounded young, scared. She pulled the knife out of her waistband and set off at a run, determined to help. But she was too late. The prince had gotten there first.
Her limbs wouldn't move as she watched him kill the man. It was terrifying. She had seen death before but nothing like this. Nothing so gruesome. It was almost nauseating to watch. She used to have a weak stomach. So much as the sight of blood had her vomiting. But she had seen atrocities and she had learned to overcome that. It hadn't bothered her anymore. It couldn't with what she did.
If she was smart, she would walk away. She could slither into the trees while she had the moment to do so. The prince was preoccupied with the girl and hadn't seen her yet. It would be so easy to slip away. But she was hurt. The child's arm was bent unnaturally and her ribs were likely bruised. She could help her. So she didn't leave. She let the prince see her.
In a different situation, it would be comical that the sight of her made him freeze. A big man like him, who could kill with just his hands, freezing at the sight of a small girl.
But this wasn't an amusing situation.
Elia stripped the cloak off of her. She used the knife to tear it into strips, makeshift bandages until they could get back to camp. "I need to see her arm, access the damage."

Romulus immediately moved towards her quickly. He hadn't expected to see Elia there, and he didn't know how she would react. But she immediately offered help, and the little one needed help. So he moved.
The girl wouldn't let go of his neck with her one arm when he got to Elia. She kept murmuring "You saved me…. You saved me…"
He turned his body so her poor broken arm was exposed to Elia, and began talking to the girl in that same soft, gentle voice.
"The lady is going to help you. You're safe now, see the pretty lady? I have to go get other ones, she's going to help you now, ok?" He tried to kneel and set her sitting on the ground, but she wouldn't let go.

There was rough, masculine shouting in the woods between them and the town. The Prince's face stayed gentle, but the steel in his eyes made clear his anger.
"There are more I need to get to. Get her to camp." His voice was low as he spoke to Elia. He peeled the little one's arm off of him, ignoring her small noise of protest.
"The pretty lady is going to keep you safe. I'll come see you soon." Gentleness, calmness, encouragement.

He snapped his helmet back up and his visor down, before taking off towards the shouts.
Rage. Focus. Vengeance.

Elia moved in front of them. "I'm going to touch your arm now, sweetie. I need you to trust me."
She tried to be as gentle as possible but with a break as severe as that, it would be hard not to cause her pain. She used the cloth she cut to make a makeshift sling. She didn't have the right materials or help to correct it. The bone would need to be set properly before any type of bandaging could be done. She would need to make a remedy to help with the pain and strong hands to hold the girl down. None of which she had in these woods.
Elia took the girl from him and transferred her into his arms, ignoring his protest. She gently felt her ribs, searching for any break or fracture, and was relieved when she found none. She would likely just be bruised.
She shot her hand out and grabbed hold of the prince before he left. "Be safe."
She had a feeling they would talk later but now was not the time. She needed to get this girl help. Elia perched the girl on her hip and turned back towards the camp, walking as quickly as she could.
"I promise we're going to get you all better sweetie. There are lots of children back at camp that you will be able to play with. You're going to be taken care of."
She walked through the camp and headed straight for the medical tent. It wasn't hard to guess when she saw bloody men going in and out. She hurried in, barking orders. She didn't care who listened only that someone did. "I need ginger root, lavender, cloves, and feverfew, along with a bowl of hot water. Someone clear a cot for me. I'm going to need strong hands."

There were easily 15 other children in various states of treatment in the tent. A sheet had been hung about a third of the way back, dividing the tent. Any injured adults were behind the sheets, hiding to their more gory wounds.
Several of the guards and the teens were working on kids. Some of the children were resting already, their wounds tended.
Nobody moved to help Elia when she came in. Lear glanced up at her from where he was bandaging a child's arm. "Calvin."
The boy turned from where he was giving medicines to a small boy. He walked over quickly and indicated an empty cot. "Sit her there and keep her calm. Please don't try to take control, we've got a system." He handed her a small cup with a sweet smelling liquid in it. "Give her this, and make sure she drinks all of it. It's sweet, so she probably will, but if not, try to get her to drink it." He went back to the little boy.

Elia wanted to strangle Calvin but she settled for rolling her eyes. She was tired of people telling her what to do. Her plans of leaving hadn't changed. She fully intended to leave after this but she wanted to make sure the little girl in her arms was going to be okay. "Perhaps if your precious saviors didn't lock me up this would have gone better," she snarked.
She placed the girl on the cot, got on her knees beside her, and brushed back her hair. It wasn't hard to convince the girl to drink the cup. She made sure the cup was empty before setting it aside. She took her arm out of the sling carefully and examined it. It needed to be set if it was going to heal properly. She carefully felt along her arm, trying to find the source of the break. If she wasn't careful, she could things worse. Luckily for her, this wasn't the first time setting a bone, nor was it likely to be the last.

Calvin ignored her, showing remarkable maturity for a 16 year old boy, and just went about his business.
The little girl drank the cup and immediately relaxed, the mix of herbs and extracts helping her drop off into an incredibly deep but natural sleep. She lay back on the cot and was out like a light.
A guard she hadn't met walked over with some odd looking bandages, dipped in some sort of medicinal substance , from the smell. He knelt next to the girl. "Excuse me." He nudged Elia's hands out of the way and felt along the girl's arm. He found the source of the break quickly and with a clearly practiced motion, he set the bone. He immediately began wrapping the arm with the bandages, which quickly hardened into a cast. He began checking the girl's eyes and vitals. "Any other wounds that you know of?"

(Oof that sounds awful. I also promise I'm not an alcoholic I just apparently hate my OCs and want to make their life miserable XD)

(It was actually a really fun day, just very busy. I'm a musician, and events can be a bit crazy. And you're ok! I make mine suffer as well, but more on that later No spoilers XD )

(That does sound fun.)

Elia stepped back, watching the guard. She blew out a breath she was holding. She was tired. She was stressed. She needed a drink, or five. She ran her hand through her tangled hair. "Bruised ribs, likely. I'd double-check for a break. I didn't have much time to check over her, what with fighting going on not twenty feet away from us."
She knew the girl would be in good hands. She would be cared for. Of all her distrust and disdain for the prince, at least he was kind to children and looked after. She hoped. She prayed. There was really no telling if he was telling the truth. She had to have some trust that he wasn't a complete monster. With that thought in mind, she strode out of the tent without a second thought.
She found her way to the makeshift mess hall. She remembered where Lear had put away the bottle. She pulled it out of the drawer it was in and took off the cork. She poured herself a drink and took a nice, long gulp of it, enjoying the familiar burn in her throat. She lowered her head to the table, letting the wood cool her skin. She needed a moment away from everything. She needed to think. And she wanted to lose herself in a bottle for the first time in years.

The guard nodded and checked the girl gently, finding nothing else seriously wrong with her.
Lear watched Elia leave and wondered if he should try to contain her in the chaos, but she was cooperating for the moment, so he let it slide.

The bottle in the meeting tent was only about a third full, but Lear had to have gotten it from somewhere, maybe his quarters with Romulus.

~~~~
Romulus was tired, and sore. His armor was extremely protective, fitting for the Crown Prince, but it was incredibly heavy and very hard to wear. His neck hurt, and his shoulders ached, and he was heartsick on top of that. The amount of children involved in the raid today had been… awful. Just terrible. He tried not to think about it, but he knew he had just saddled his camp with around 30 kids, from one trafficking ring. A massive, city-wide trafficking ring.
He had also done a lot of killing. He'd killed pimps and clients, politicians and police who took bribes, and anyone else who tried to tell him he didn't have the right to save these children.
He rode back into camp, and immediately made for the medical tent. Of the kids, about half had been injured, and he'd made sure they got medical attention. His guards were all alive, but several were wounded. He sent most of the 20 who had ridden up this morning into Calegon to hold order, till tomorrow. It was getting late in the day.
He left 7 healthy guards in camp, along with 3 wounded ones in the med tent. The teens had been tasked with supervising the uninjured children, and were busy cuddling them or otherwise trying to sooth their damaged little souls.
He came in and did all this administrating, still in his armor, a hulking black monolith with blonde hair. He eventually made his way back to his tent, and collapsed onto the ground with a loud crash.

At some point, Elia had made her way outside by the bonfire. Or at least where it had been. She was nursing her second cup. Had she been alone, perhaps she would have finished the bottle. But seeing as she was in a camp that consisted mostly of very strong men, she wasn't going to chance that. She had every chance to leave. She should have left. She could be half back by now. But she couldn't. She wanted to make sure the kids were going to be okay. She wanted to see what was going to be done about the city. She was too curious for her own good.
She saw the prince out of the corner of her eyes. He was walking to his tent. She didn't acknowledge him. She wanted to forget about him. She wanted to forget about all of it. She was going to make sure the kids were okay then she was leaving. That was her plan.
Just as she had begun to raise her cup to her lips, she heard a crash coming from the prince's tent. She looked around to see if anyone had noticed it but there was no one around them. She placed the cup to the side and jogged to the tent. Her nerves had calmed from the alcohol but she was glad she wasn't heavily affected. She wasn't drunk nor even tipsy. There was just a small buzz.
It was a good thing for that too, that she decided not to drink the bottle. She wouldn't be able to handle this otherwise.
The prince.
Collapsed on the ground.
She rushed over to him, turning him on his back. She got his helmet off of him and tosses it to the side. "Prince? Your Highness?"

Romulus rolled onto his back in time to see Elia pushing at him. There was no way she was going to be able to move 300lbs of man and 150lbs of armor, but she yanked at his helmet and managed to get the thing off, impressively. It was massively heavy on its own, the osmium-titanium alloy making everything supremely dense.
He blinked at her, surprised. "Yes, Elia? Can I help you?" His voice sounded exhausted.
She seemed slightly off, and her breath this close smelled of alcohol, but not strongly. Buzzed, then. He wasn't really sure why she was there, unless she'd heard him drop, which was his habit after a long day.
But why would she come in… The idea she might be concerned or worried never crossed his mind.

Elia had half a mind to slap him. She didn't because she did like having her hands attached to her body but she wanted too.
"What do you mean 'Can I help you?'" She attempted to mimic his voice, which did not work very well. "Here I am, trying to sulk in peace when all of a sudden I hear a loud crash and see your body on the ground. I thought the worst! They're going to see me in here with you and assumed I killed you or something."
She sat back on her heels and ran a hand over her face. "I think you've just aged me ten years. And my face is my best feature. i can't be looking old yet."
The humor was a defense mechanism. She felt stupid being in there now. She should just get up and leave but she found herself frozen on the floor, kneeling in front of a false prince.

Romulus closed his eyes. His patience was in short supply after dealing with pedophiles and criminals all day, and he wasn't sure if he was ready for an interaction with her venom.
"I asked if I can help, because why else would you be here. And what worst could you be thinking, I'm fine."
He snickered a bit to himself. "Nobody is going to see me on the ground and think you killed me, you don't have to worry about that."
He didn't comment on the face remark. She would be very pretty for a long time and he wasn't worried about it.
"I'm sorry I've aged you. I don't know how or why, but I apologize. Is that all?"
He began tugging his gauntlets off, his hands feeling leaden. Getting out of the armor was always a much longer process than getting into it.

Elia frowned at his comment. She might be significantly smaller than he was but that didn't mean she couldn't have anything up her sleeve. She didn't. But she could have.
She didn't reply to him. Only grabbed his arm and started helping him take his armor off. She had plenty of knowledge in removing armor, this was no different. Even if it was attached to a mountain for a man.
"Why do you do it?" She asked quietly. "And don't say it's because you can't stand what's been done to us or that it's not okay. There are plenty of people in the world that see what happens to people like us and think it's an atrocity. But you don't see anyone else doing anything. No one else is there trying. So why you?"
It was a genuine question. There was no bite to her words. She was too tired to argue. She was just tired. And she wanted to know. She wouldn't be left in the dark any longer.

The Prince looked at her for a long moment as he worked the first gauntlet off, before turning his arm so she could get at the fasteners easy. "Don't drop that on yourself, all of this is heavy and you don't need bruising from it."
He sat up, groaning as his muscles protested.
"Why do I do what, try to better people's lives?" He began working on his other gauntlet. "Because I can. Because they're my subjects. Because no one else is trying." He pulled the gauntlet off, and set it down with a heavy clank. "Because no one is going to stop me."
It was probably the first thing she'd said to him that didn't seem barbed, and he was surprised.
After the day he'd had, her behavior was too complex for him to try to parse, and find ulterior motives, or sneaky questions to get information, or anything like that. Normally, he'd scrutinize, but she seemed willing to talk for whatever reason, despite the fact that this morning, she'd looked ready to try to kill him herself.

Elia set aside his armor carefully. She leaned forward to start working on the straps at his shoulders. She couldn't imagine what all of this weight felt like, how taxing it was. She never wanted to know.
She took a deep breath before speaking. She kept her voice low, any venom and anger weren't present. "Your father killed my family. I barely escaped with my life. I would have died if Madame Rosette hadn't taken me in." She reached across him to undo the straps on his other shoulder. "She promised me safety and security. She promised me pretty dresses and a full belly. I was nine. I thought that was the best thing I had ever heard since the night I had just had. And for awhile, it was great. I was taken care of. I had pretty dresses and a full belly. I was left alone to mourn. But it didn't last they way for long. Her sweet words turned to poison. She ordered me about, forcing me into chores from daybreak until midnight. I was lucky if I got food. This happy paradise had quickly become a nightmare and I had no idea what was happening or why. What had I done to deserve this?
"The first time I was punished, I received a broken arm. One of the other girls helped nurse me to health. The second time was a beating." She took a deep breath. "I was twelve when I got my first bleeding. I was expected to service a man after the week was done. She tried to force me to some man. I scratched him when he tried to touch me. I was dragged out by my hair and placed into a dark room below the brothel. It was so small I couldn't even fully stretch out. I was down there for three days without food or water. I was put down there many times until I finally learned to be compliant.
"I've had men promise me their love. I've had them promise that they would come back and buy me out, free me. I've had men promise they were going to save up to marry me. I've had men promise they would never hurt me. Each one of them lied to me. I have only ever known lies. Not once has anyone given me their truth and stuck to it."
Elia leaned back watching him before staring at her hands. "It's why I asked for the blood oath. Words mean nothing to me. I've heard too many of them in my life to trust them. A blood oath is permanent. It guarantees me protection. I understand I can't ask that of you and offer nothing in return. I will swear a blood oath to be loyal to you as long as I may remain in your service, as long as you swear to me your protection."

Romulus paused to look at her while she was talking to him. Something was off, maybe it was the buzz, but she seemed… like something had gentled her towards him, at least for the moment. He couldn't think of what, though.
Her story was sad, hard, difficult to listen to, but… it was nothing new to him. Everyone he pulled from the maw of destruction had a sob story, a hard life. People for whom life was easy didn't need rescued. Most of the people he helped had known only lies and deception for a long time.
None of them had needed blood oaths.
"Why do you think you deserve special treatment?" He said softly, not trying to be derisive. "Everything I have said to you so far, I have followed through on. I haven't said anything to you that hasn't been shown to be true. Why should I give you what you're asking for, when my very actions leading up to this point prove you wrong about only being lied to?"
He looked away, and pulled on his chestpiece. It was a massive front back piece of armor, like a barrel big enough to cover his chest. It probably weighed 40lbs by itself.
The Prince pulled it over his head, and set it on the ground. He was wearing a cotton undershirt, but it was wet from sweat and sticking to his heavy physique, outlining every muscle and every ripple as he moved.