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31_days2006-08-02 03:28 pm
seta-suzume.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2006-08-02 03:28 pm
[Aug. 2, 2006] [original] In the Border City...
Title: In the Border City...
Day/Theme: Aug. 2, 2006 "There is a palace, and the ruined wall/Divides the sand, a very home of tears, /And where love whispered of a thousan years/ The silken-footed caterpillars crawl."
Series: Original
Character/Pairing: Seif and Duncan
Rating: PG-13
The sobs that reached Sir Seif's ears touched some part of him to the very core. He stopped in mid-stride, hands shaking, and listened intently to get an idea of the sound's origin. The cry came again and he shuddered before finding the strength to plod eastward through the dirt and rubble to the toppled beams of what looked to have been the home of a fairly well-to-do citizen of Ligaia. The sniffles of a child were now quite distinct.
Seif moved aside a cracked door, only to discover the bloody body of a white-haired man in merchant robes. His chest tightened. The knot in his stomach worsened. All the bodies he had come across in the ruined city were those of women, children, and the elderly. Who would perpetrate such an atrocity? The Holy Knight felt vaguely sickened.
A whimper. These first sounds of life in the crushed city needed to be his first and foremost thoughts. Stepping over fragments of shattered plates and squeezing through a lop-sided window frame Sir Seif found himself hanging a foot or so above a floor of packed dirt. Perhaps at some point it had been a basement.
A squeak of fear alerted the Holy Knight to the presence of a small child cowering in a shadowed corner of the depression.
Seif let go of the wooden window frame, landing neatly on the hard ground. Unlike the sandy dust outside, this was moist soil which did not send up a grainy cloud at the touch of his boots. He took a single step forward. "Don't be afraid," he said to the child," I'm not here to hurt you."
"Y-you're from Messina," the tiny voice replied shakily.
The child did not come closer, but as Seif's eyes adjusted to the dim light, he could see that he was speaking with a sandy blond, long-haired boy. "Yes, I'm a Holy Knight," he answered plainly, "My name is Seif."
Seif could not have predicted what came next. The small boy rushed forward and latched his arms around the knight's waist. Tears welled up in his wide eyes, "Help me, please save me! They came with ballistas and catapults and wrecked the city and killed everybody! And I'm all alone! Don't leave me here!"
Who had destroyed this city? Seif was thoroughly confused. He had arrived ahead of the Messinan Army, so regardless of the differences in style of warfare and prohibitions against killing civilians, this could not be the work of his nation. ...And for a Ligaian child to run to a man who would usually be considered a deadly enemy...There was only one thing he could think of: the Ligaians had sacrificed this city to further their cause. After all, who but the higher-ups knew how far the Messinans had advanced at this point?
Swallowing hard at the realization, Seif scooped the Ligaian boy up in his arms and held him as tenderly as being in full-armor would allow.
****Author's note: The last one was more of a short story, while this was more of a moment directly from the story...
I would really like to try hard to do every day this month on time (I've done everyday several times before, but not in time to post them) and I will try to keep my focus on the incidents surrounding Sir Seif and his comrades!
Day/Theme: Aug. 2, 2006 "There is a palace, and the ruined wall/Divides the sand, a very home of tears, /And where love whispered of a thousan years/ The silken-footed caterpillars crawl."
Series: Original
Character/Pairing: Seif and Duncan
Rating: PG-13
The sobs that reached Sir Seif's ears touched some part of him to the very core. He stopped in mid-stride, hands shaking, and listened intently to get an idea of the sound's origin. The cry came again and he shuddered before finding the strength to plod eastward through the dirt and rubble to the toppled beams of what looked to have been the home of a fairly well-to-do citizen of Ligaia. The sniffles of a child were now quite distinct.
Seif moved aside a cracked door, only to discover the bloody body of a white-haired man in merchant robes. His chest tightened. The knot in his stomach worsened. All the bodies he had come across in the ruined city were those of women, children, and the elderly. Who would perpetrate such an atrocity? The Holy Knight felt vaguely sickened.
A whimper. These first sounds of life in the crushed city needed to be his first and foremost thoughts. Stepping over fragments of shattered plates and squeezing through a lop-sided window frame Sir Seif found himself hanging a foot or so above a floor of packed dirt. Perhaps at some point it had been a basement.
A squeak of fear alerted the Holy Knight to the presence of a small child cowering in a shadowed corner of the depression.
Seif let go of the wooden window frame, landing neatly on the hard ground. Unlike the sandy dust outside, this was moist soil which did not send up a grainy cloud at the touch of his boots. He took a single step forward. "Don't be afraid," he said to the child," I'm not here to hurt you."
"Y-you're from Messina," the tiny voice replied shakily.
The child did not come closer, but as Seif's eyes adjusted to the dim light, he could see that he was speaking with a sandy blond, long-haired boy. "Yes, I'm a Holy Knight," he answered plainly, "My name is Seif."
Seif could not have predicted what came next. The small boy rushed forward and latched his arms around the knight's waist. Tears welled up in his wide eyes, "Help me, please save me! They came with ballistas and catapults and wrecked the city and killed everybody! And I'm all alone! Don't leave me here!"
Who had destroyed this city? Seif was thoroughly confused. He had arrived ahead of the Messinan Army, so regardless of the differences in style of warfare and prohibitions against killing civilians, this could not be the work of his nation. ...And for a Ligaian child to run to a man who would usually be considered a deadly enemy...There was only one thing he could think of: the Ligaians had sacrificed this city to further their cause. After all, who but the higher-ups knew how far the Messinans had advanced at this point?
Swallowing hard at the realization, Seif scooped the Ligaian boy up in his arms and held him as tenderly as being in full-armor would allow.
****Author's note: The last one was more of a short story, while this was more of a moment directly from the story...
I would really like to try hard to do every day this month on time (I've done everyday several times before, but not in time to post them) and I will try to keep my focus on the incidents surrounding Sir Seif and his comrades!