Knight in Amour

2000 years of human error

21/02/2008 03:52 The Temple, Willowcombe Manor

As the Beast's hands grips Garnette's throat Kirsty makes a break for the door. She crashes into it and the wood gives way, spilling her out into the yard. Behind her Livvy desperately tries to reactivate the binding spell, but there is just not enough power left for it to be any more than a mild inconvenience. The Green Man bats the strand away as if it were no stronger than a ribbon of tissue paper

Garnettes eyes bulge and her jaw moves as if she is trying to bite the air and force it down to her lungs. But the beasts grip on her windpipe is too strong. Livvy throws herself at the god in the hope of distracting him from his murderous intent. He releases Garnette with one hand to grab the young witch, lifting her off her feet by her wrist and leaving her dangling, reduced to pathetic attempts to kick him. His growl deepens then he looks back at his original target. The muzzle distorts into a snarl and old crones brittle neck snaps with a simple twitch of his massive hand.

In the confusion Finola lifts her daughter and flees into the depth of the house. The Beast turns sensing the offering has been taken. He bellows again and shakes Livvy hard before swinging her round like some malformed hammer and releasing her towards the stained glass effigy. The window shatters into a thousand tiny shards as the woman's body sales through it. It disrupts the illuminating spell and plunges the house and yard into utter darkness.

-

Stu curls in the shadows of the bedroom, straining to hear enough to make out what is going on beyond the thick wooden door. He has hears the raised and heated voices of the mistresses, but they were too overlapping and angry for him to make out the subject. He can only assume that the Mistresses have realised he is missing . He waits in the darkness to feel his mistresses summons but it does not come.

He looks round the room, unsure which Mistress it belongs too. None of the belongings seem familiar but there is a small mattress, similar to a slaves bed, under the window. It confuses him. He knows that Mistress Dream has decreed that all slave must sleep in the stables so he can not understand why the bed in there. He heads to the window, wondering if it might offer him a route out of the building. As he pulls back the curtains a roar echo through the house. It freezes him again, panic rising. The view from the window is not promising, a drop onto the hard concrete of the yard, with the added danger of a thorn bush waiting directly below if he does not jump far enough. There is a second noise, even more terrifying than the bestial growl as in incorporates a sneering laugh. It makes his decision for him. He fumbles at the window latch but it refuses to move. In panic he grabs for a poker from the fire place and thrusts it at the glass. It cracks but holds firm. He throws himself at the window feeling it shudder but remain intact. He bounces back, staring at the window trying to work out how it is defying him so successfully. He can only assume Mistress Dream has some protective charm on the building.

The door crashes open behind him. He spins in panic, expecting to see the monstrous source of the roars. The poker raises up above his head in a vain attempt to defend himself.

Mistress Winthrope stares at him, the naked slave girl lying in her arms, clearly unconscious and injured. The two adults stare at each other. Mistress Winthrope's look of surprise turns into a glare.

"What are you doing in my room slave?" SHe demands. Then her attitude changed. "No forget that, It is unimportant." She pushes the girl forward. "Take Lora."

Stu drops the poker and catches the girl before the old woman can drop her. He looks down at the girl. There is a nasty gash on the side of her head and he can see bruising on her legs and groin.

"What happened to her?"

"That does not matter." Winthrope says. She opens cupboards and drawers, pulling things out into a large carpet bag. "We must get away from here before the Beast finds us."

"The beast?"

"Did you not hear the roars Man!" she says. "That idiot Morgan released the charm of obedience. Now there is nothing to hold the God in check. We need a way out of this place."

Stu lifts one hand. "I have the keys to Morgan's car." He says. Fumbling desperately to show it without dropping the injured girl. He feels the button depress. Beyond the cracked window he hears the car alarm chirp as it deactivates.

Winthrope turns grabbing at the key.

"No." Stu says, pulling back. "Either we all go or none of us."

The beast roars again and Winthrope shudders. "It is hunting for us."

"Then we'd better be quick." Stu says, "We can take the servents stairs. This way."

-

Kirsty scrabbles for the car, managing to reach it before she realises it is not the rescue she had hoped. There is no sign of the keys and in a panic she realises War must have taken them with him. She pulls on the door handles half crying in fear and frustration. After a few desperate attempts she hears the alarm chirrup and door clicks open. She forces herself through the door, the cars internal light seeming dangerously bright in the short time the door is open. She clambers into the back seat searching for shadows that might hide her from the beast. As she tries to slide down into the footwell something long skins against her leg, shredding the skin. She pulls the offending mass up and out of her way, throwing it onto the back seat so she can take its place. It is only as she slides down into the shadows that she realises what she has discovered is War's 'insurance'.

The catch on the gun-case is old and stiff and in her panic she fumbles before managing to force it open. Inside are two shot guns; one is ancient, a twin bore clearly of some quality. It's metal plates are inscribed with a twisting Celtic knot work making up the initials M.A.W. The other, squashed into the case with it and distorting the padding designed to hold the relic in place, is a much more modern military weapon.

As she reaches for the modern weapon she can feel the compulsion not to touch it escalate and has to pull her hand away before it turns to pain. The military shot gun is clearly War's asylum issued weapon. The protective charm preventing any one but him using it. She curses the corporate policy that insists on such things and gingerly reaches past it for the older double barrel. To her relief, that contains no similar charm and she can at least lift it form the case. As the growing moon light glints off the polished barrel, she just wishes she knew how to shoot the damn thing.

-

The green man stands in the desecrated temple. Once again these mortals have rescinded on a deal they made with him. This crime is nothing new. He remembers when they were little more than beasts in his forests begging for his aid. Then they at least had the sense to recognise it and make suitable sacrifice in gratitude and penance for their violations. But then others came from across the sea and distracted them with lies as to his true nature. Like his brethren, he retreated to the darker places where the invaders power was still weak.

It has been too long since the offering were made, too many of his sacred places have been destroyed. So much is owed and now he has an opportunity to reclaim the cost and force humanity to pay for its mistakes.

His anger at the coven rises. He lifts his muzzle to the air and inhales deeply. The scents of the women that trapped him are all to evident and their trials would be easy to follow but he can not detect the scent of the one they gave him as his mate. He lowers his head and growls, sniffing at the unconscious witches on the floor but none of them are female he had claimed. He turns them over with taloned paws, sensing they are no real threat, or use, to him in their current state. But he knows these creatures well enough to know that once they have recovered they will be a danger again. He systematically slices through their throats and leaves them to bleed out onto the floor of the temple of their goddess.