Biting the Hand that Feeds You...
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Nici
Date Posted: 15th September 2005
Characters: Cazriel
Description: A Holder ponders his journey to Emerald Falls...
Location: Emerald Falls Hold
Date: month 8, day 1 of Turn 3
The man who stood at the prow of the fishing boat was much changed from the man he had been 8 months ago.
Where before his bearing had been proud and tall, he now hunched just slightly. His hair, once black as pitch, was now stark white.
His body was thinner, the skin tight to the bone and it was only recently that he had started to regain the muscle that had once rippled beneath the flesh. That too was different; paler, with no hint of its previous tan, blooming with health a vigor.
One thing had not changed. His eyes--they still burned, much like dark coals. Sometimes, a worker would turn to glance at him or say something and be stilled to silence by the far off look in them, the burning emotions churning within their inky depths.
His mind remained as sharp as ever as well. He was always thinking, always plotting strategy. Inside, he screamed at his weakness, at the agony of the flesh that he had endured.
And all because he had relaxed his guard but for one single moment. It had been enough. Those bitches, those women he had married but never loved. One, a long time mistress, the other some half-highborn wench. The lure of a joint seduction by them both had been a surprise and a delight. He should have known better. Women, like most low creatures, were so often incapable of working together. But these had.
One day he would repay the knife they'd plunged into his chest with death.
So many to kill and so little time...
Fingering the knife at his belt, the man smiled. He had been aided by a loyal soldier who had carried his body free of the Hold, had made sure that he had been cared for, nursed to a semblence of traveling condition. The guard had been so loyal, that he had even managed to secure them both passage out of Emerald Falls proper.
And then one night, the guard had been repaid when, mustering his remaining strength, the man had used the very knife that the loyal guardsman had used to skin meat to feed him with to kill him. Leaving the abandoned cot they'd found after leaving the ship they'd caught passage on, he, less than grateful, had stumbled off, barely keeping himself upright. And then he had lost all consciousness.
He'd been found later by a seaholder and nursed to health over the past months by the man's daughter. A 'romance' had ensued and, even though the recovering man had claimed not to know his own name, the holder had allowed the marriage of his only child, his daughter, to the man they'd named, with his help, Leirzac. They'd never quite understood why the name amused him, every time he heard it.
Poor Holder Mistan--it had been _such_ a misfortune, to have broken his neck falling off the ladder leading up to the roof he and Leirzac had been attempting to fix. Of course, he'd not truly broken his neck during the fall. It had taken every bit of strength in is son-by-marriage's body to finish the job before the man began to scream.
Murder was so annoying. Still, that easy murder had left him in charge of a seahold and a compliant wife. Now, before she up and got pregnant and left him with a reason not to kill her eventually, he decided it was time for them to take two of their best ships towards the main hold to drop off their yearly tithe. It was time to for a bit of reconnaissance as a lead in to revenge.
The voyage, while leaving his men saddened at being parted from their families, was more than sensible. It had been such a _good_ year after all and their seahold had much offer in terms of tithe and bragging rights. Even with Holder Mistan's unfortunate accident, Whitesand Seahold had prospered under his daughter's husband.
It was all so amusing, how he'd ended up with an entire Hold without raising a single finger and yet it had taken romance and then murder to secure a simple seahold.
"It was worth it," he whispered into the breeze that swept them closer to his revenge.
And there was nothing so satisfying, Cazriel, now named Leirzac reflected, than biting the hand that fed you....
Last updated on the September 15th 2005