Post by PeroxidePirate on Aug 22, 2010 11:41:24 GMT 10
Title: Riding Ahead
Rating: R for original character death and allusions to war, violence and sex
Prompt: 19. he who travels fastest goes alone
Summary: Knowing it's not your fault only helps so much.
Sandry found Briar in his garden, after his weekly visit with the mind healer. He knew she was there, but didn't outwardly acknowledge her presence.
"Tris is worried about you," she finally said. "She says you come out here after your appointments, and when she looks down from the roof, all she sees is thorns."
"Plants need protection," Briar answered gruffly.
"Is it helping at all?" Sandry couldn't keep the worry out of her voice.
"Some," he admitted, setting down his rake.
“But you still can't talk about it to us?”
Briar shook his head.
“To me?” Sandry pleaded.
He hesitated, his expression a mix of dread and hope. He wanted to tell her, she realized.
You saw me in that box, she said into his mind, bound and bleeding, close to losing my mind with fear. You saw me, Briar. Her eyes were steady on his. So you know everything about me.
He looked down, at the grass that waved around his bare feet. Then he sat down on a stone bench, beckoning for Sandry to join him. Evvy's no good on a horse, he began. Rosethorn... well, you'll believe this, even if Daja and Tris wouldn't: Rosethorn had plenty of patience with her, even when I didn't. So I'd ride ahead, some afternoons, and make camp. If we were coming up on a town, I'd find an inn and get us rooms.
Then, one day... Briar shifted, something sliding closed in his mind. “One day,” he continued aloud, “I got to an inn, and while I was waiting for our rooms to be ready, one of the maids invited me back to the kitchen for supper.”
Sandry rolled her eyes, already seeing where this was going, and Briar flashed her a grin.
They were both silent for a minute. When Briar continued, something in his manner had changed: he was all seriousness as he said, “She was the first – my first. Her name was Annie. She had the prettiest laugh I've ever heard.”
“What happened?”
“I was with her when the army came. They marched right down the street, through the middle of that town, raiding and killing as they went. The guest rooms were at the front of the inn – if I'd been there, I would have seen them coming. Heard them, probably. I could have gotten out, and gone back to meet Evvy and Rosethorn.”
The servants' rooms were at the back. Briar switched back to mind-speech. Annie and I never knew they were coming until they were there, in the hall outside her room.
All I could think of was getting away, going back to Rosethorn and Evvy. And Annie knew more about armies and soldiers than I did.
Sandry took hold of his hands. His flower tattoos had turned to black, with tiny, stark white blossoms.
She jumped. Her room was on the third floor.
“Oh gods, Briar.”
“I climbed down a trellis, but she was already dead. The soldiers were everywhere, and Rosethorn and Evvy were still out there, and... I ran. I just ran. I found them, maybe half mile out of town. We had to hide in the hills, because the army was still coming. I'd lost my horse, my shoes, and all my gear. And I couldn't even stay to see her buried.” He was crying, Sandry realized: slow, fat tears running down both cheeks.
She held onto his hands until the tears stopped.
After a long time, Briar disentangled his hands and rubbed at his eyes. His voice was steady in Sandry's mind. War is war. Pirates or armies or street gangs, it's the same. I have nightmares about bodies and boom powder, screams and smells and panic.
Sandry nodded: they all had nightmares like that.
But I saw the death of someone who gave me something precious – and it was my fault. Evvy and Rosethorn could have died, too – and it would have been my fault. The smile he gave Sandry was the exact opposite of his usual grin. All because I decided to ride ahead.
Briar, no. You couldn't have known-
I know that. But I don't believe it. Leastwise, not yet.
Rating: R for original character death and allusions to war, violence and sex
Prompt: 19. he who travels fastest goes alone
Summary: Knowing it's not your fault only helps so much.
Sandry found Briar in his garden, after his weekly visit with the mind healer. He knew she was there, but didn't outwardly acknowledge her presence.
"Tris is worried about you," she finally said. "She says you come out here after your appointments, and when she looks down from the roof, all she sees is thorns."
"Plants need protection," Briar answered gruffly.
"Is it helping at all?" Sandry couldn't keep the worry out of her voice.
"Some," he admitted, setting down his rake.
“But you still can't talk about it to us?”
Briar shook his head.
“To me?” Sandry pleaded.
He hesitated, his expression a mix of dread and hope. He wanted to tell her, she realized.
You saw me in that box, she said into his mind, bound and bleeding, close to losing my mind with fear. You saw me, Briar. Her eyes were steady on his. So you know everything about me.
He looked down, at the grass that waved around his bare feet. Then he sat down on a stone bench, beckoning for Sandry to join him. Evvy's no good on a horse, he began. Rosethorn... well, you'll believe this, even if Daja and Tris wouldn't: Rosethorn had plenty of patience with her, even when I didn't. So I'd ride ahead, some afternoons, and make camp. If we were coming up on a town, I'd find an inn and get us rooms.
Then, one day... Briar shifted, something sliding closed in his mind. “One day,” he continued aloud, “I got to an inn, and while I was waiting for our rooms to be ready, one of the maids invited me back to the kitchen for supper.”
Sandry rolled her eyes, already seeing where this was going, and Briar flashed her a grin.
They were both silent for a minute. When Briar continued, something in his manner had changed: he was all seriousness as he said, “She was the first – my first. Her name was Annie. She had the prettiest laugh I've ever heard.”
“What happened?”
“I was with her when the army came. They marched right down the street, through the middle of that town, raiding and killing as they went. The guest rooms were at the front of the inn – if I'd been there, I would have seen them coming. Heard them, probably. I could have gotten out, and gone back to meet Evvy and Rosethorn.”
The servants' rooms were at the back. Briar switched back to mind-speech. Annie and I never knew they were coming until they were there, in the hall outside her room.
All I could think of was getting away, going back to Rosethorn and Evvy. And Annie knew more about armies and soldiers than I did.
Sandry took hold of his hands. His flower tattoos had turned to black, with tiny, stark white blossoms.
She jumped. Her room was on the third floor.
“Oh gods, Briar.”
“I climbed down a trellis, but she was already dead. The soldiers were everywhere, and Rosethorn and Evvy were still out there, and... I ran. I just ran. I found them, maybe half mile out of town. We had to hide in the hills, because the army was still coming. I'd lost my horse, my shoes, and all my gear. And I couldn't even stay to see her buried.” He was crying, Sandry realized: slow, fat tears running down both cheeks.
She held onto his hands until the tears stopped.
After a long time, Briar disentangled his hands and rubbed at his eyes. His voice was steady in Sandry's mind. War is war. Pirates or armies or street gangs, it's the same. I have nightmares about bodies and boom powder, screams and smells and panic.
Sandry nodded: they all had nightmares like that.
But I saw the death of someone who gave me something precious – and it was my fault. Evvy and Rosethorn could have died, too – and it would have been my fault. The smile he gave Sandry was the exact opposite of his usual grin. All because I decided to ride ahead.
Briar, no. You couldn't have known-
I know that. But I don't believe it. Leastwise, not yet.