#muse; lyliana carvahali

[legaciestold]

@honorhearted continued from x

sounds reverberate throughout the tunnels under the palace, dirt and stones shifting and falling as a battle of magick and swords and dragon fyre encases everything above. her body feels numb, not even the bloody wound to her skin felt as she's half drug along, deeper and deeper until they turn and then begin moving upward again. 'would you truly let your father's sacrifice be made in vain?' sir ben's words ricochet within her mind, the image of her father's gaze as he'd pushed her into ben's arms so clear. the high queen was dead, a prince was dead. the high king was dying or dead, and she'd been forced to flee as men and women died in her name. it was wrong. oh it was so horrifically atrocious! the princess doesn't remember ben raising her hand to the painting to allow them passage. she doesn't remember her screams or the way she'd thrashed in his hold. 'be strong, lyli -- live for him...for your kingdom!' when she'd recall these moments later she thinks that was the moment she'd stopped fighting. when something else had taken hold of her, wrapping around the horror and encasing it in a broken heart, using it as fuel and deciding she had to survive. her people were dying. her father was dying but she remained and her other brother did too. the horrors of this night would be too horrific if such a toll held no purpose. if she died and her people were left to the venomous wrath of an evil witch to rule them in terror.

and so she had stopped fighting ben and instead began leading them through the labyrinth of tunnels until sounds and smells met their senses, day blackened out by rising smoke as they meet quickly waning daylight a distance from the palace, and her dragon standing high and tall at the ready. there's one man too, a man she'd always fondly seen tending to the royal family's dragon companions. he's wounded, she can see, the bodies of three others laying splayed across the ground where they'd worked to aid him in preparing the riding harness on apophis. if their princess was to take to the skies she would not do it without some precaution. without the best chance for her survival and escape. these people had given their very lives to ensure it. other dragons, wild, spiral through the skies as they clash with two who have been enthralled, covering the activity taking place below. apophis moves closer then, laying flatter as the man meets her and sir ben and urges them forward toward the dragon. everything happens in quick succession then. her forcing benjamin with a commanding authority she'd lacked in her previous shock to get onto the dragon first because she hadn't trusted that he wouldn't attempt to cause her to escape and stay behind and her following quickly after, seated in front of him. she seeks to grant the man who had ushered them forward some form of comforting words yet apo rushes onward as a dragon crashes feet from them and takes the man with him in a cloud of dust.

she wants to scream. this time she doesn't.

the battle had raged around them, apo maneuvering in the way sir poe had taught them never having intended for her or the dragon to have to use such teachings in practice. dragons flank them, dragons fall, the capitol is in ruin. there's a point when anger begins to overwhelm everything else, as she watches myra's men slaughter people in the streets below. she knows they can not stop their escape yet she does have her dragon lower toward the ground, a single command for fyre uttered, engulfing myra's men and their dying victims with it before they surge back into the skies and away from the city, out over the water and into the night. fyre did not care what it touched, it was brutal, but it could be wrath and mercy in one. she thinks that's the moment she truly became something new. when youthful innocence had been tore from her and fyre had remade her. the serpentine princess lyliana had never taken a life before this day. in fact she had strived to protect it even when a plot to take her own had once befell her. in the chaos of the usurping she had killed in defense. but in that moment she had killed as justice. she had killed as the queen they'd need her to become.

she'd nearly fallen off apo soon after, consciousness lost in the dampness of flight and apo's voice spoken into ben's mind to hold her before she slipped. much of the following hours had been cold and chaotic, any pursuers lost to the depths of the sea and darkness of the night. they nearly crash through the raised wards of the kingdom of eldenvale. sir poe had made it. he'd warned them. they'd prepared. soldiers meet them with prince jayson pushing past to meet her as she's passed down off the dragon. unspoken words passed between the last remaining children of a dead king and queen. chaos ensues when her uncle commands sir benjamin detained, untrusting of anyone so near to his niece and nephew when reports came of trusted friends having been turned against the royal family. the princess that would be queen can barely stand, though she rages immediately. authority in her voice that causes pause to even the warrior king-uncle before her. they let sir ben remain with her, escorted to rooms and only the carefully spoken words of her queen-aunt causing lyliana to allow healers into the rooms. they use their magicks to close their wounds and restore their skin though the fatigue and blood loss is not so simply remedied. that would take time.

the princess, like ben, argues the moment sir ben leaving the chambers is suggested by members of court though how she has the energy to have such powerful conviction in her upset is a wonder. they concede to her because they have to. the realms are in chaos but the high king and queen are dead. this girl may be exhausted and in turmoil yet she had become their queen the moment her dragon had made landfall. they call her 'her grace' in respect and in mourning, as a symbol of what was to come in the wake of what was transpiring around them yet the title is lost to her because she's beginning to fall apart again the moment the door closes. the moment the world and reality begin to enclose around her again. the moment she can't be strong as ben had commanded of her anymore. she doesn't remember anything after that. she doesn't remember the exhaustion consuming her or how she'd been laid in the bed. she doesn't remember refusing to let go of her hold on him either.

time passes, hours, as others in the castle move about directed by her uncle and aunt. prepare for war. prepare to protect the castle should myra send others upon them. they do not bother the chambers lyliana and ben occupy, not yet though the small trails of colors begin to play in the skies. it's early, extremely early when she awakens with a strangled scream upon her lips, her surging upward in the bed in horror as if she's back in the moment. her breath is labored, eyes searching wildly until they settle on sir ben. thankfully no one has heard her, no one but him and she knows as her light hues meet his that it wasn't a dream though she wishes it all had been some horrid nightmare. it had all happened. it was all real and the weight of that is gut-wrenching. "they're all dead, ben. she killed them. she killed them all and i want her dead!"

[dracoserpentis]

@honorhearted

a light drizzle meets thorndil, skies above the city awash with streaks of green and blue. the day has been quieter than most as of late, the excitment of conflict to the east of which her parents had saved the lady myra from imprisonment having finally passed. though worrying talk had still plagued her mind. images of dark armies morphing into a kind of dark plague washing over the land in her dreams. myra's talk of things she had seen had had brought forth hushed tones among court of a time foretold even if many did not give such credence. they had always believed such a threat would come from the unknown reaches to the north not the east. lyliana wished her brother was there, for at least she'd have him to speak with for as rash as he could be at times he always seemed able to quell her fears and chase her nightmares away if only just by providing a comforting embrace. of course she could have spoken to sir ben but.. despite how silly such a thought was she didn't want him to think her weak for having such fears. he'd always been her most loyal friend and it had usually been her thrusting them into danger-- even if said danger was merely mingling secretly with the peoples of the city or venturing into the darhk forest when young. she'd always appeared the princess she was supposed to be, strong and brave. not a silly girl with nightmares of a time that perhaps would never come to pass in the first place.

darkness begins to meet the sky awhile later, the sun lowering as the twin moons appear just past the rings and she wonders what the sky might look like far way as she stands near the window of her chambers. she's heard tales the planets rings look different elsewhere, altering the whole look of the sky. <we could go there one day, i've seen it, i can show you.> the thought is projected into her mind from apo, blue hues washing over the city as she sees the dragon, his morph first dark and then turning golden as he soared above buildings and toward the dragon pits to rest. <maybe one day but not today. i think sir poe is still recovering from my last unexpected excursion. maybe sir ben is too.> she projects back, smiling. the tension in her shoulders eases and she decides to go in search of her youngest brother. one of her guard outside her door acknowledges her and she frowns slightly at the unexpectedness of who it is. wasn't sir ramsey supposed to be her guard for the evening? she had made a point to know of such things, determined that she was kind and friendly to all her guards and not just the one she'd grown up with. lyliana questions such being informed sir ramsey had been ill and required a healer, perhaps having eaten something which had not agreed with him. she has no reason to question it, further stating that she should visit him in the infirmary following finding prince cormac.

her door remains open still when strange sounds begin to emit through the palace. there's a scream that causes her pause, then metal clanking far down the corridor. alarm creases her features as sir edris moves closer to her, seemingly to usher her back inside her room, however he grabs her arm instead all pretense lost and a strange darkness covering his eyes like black glass. she questions what he's doing, shoving at him as he begins to unsheathe his sword. there's a loud crashing sound somewhere outside the palace, shaking the floor for a moment as if something large has attempted to break into the space. it gives her an opening to yank herself away from sir edris, the large vines outside her window directed toward him as she falls to the floor and he after her. he swings his sword at the vines before attempting to stab at her. he nearly succeeds, a large cut to her arm spilling blood on the floor of her chambers before she rolls away. her vines falter for a moment before she redirects them back toward him and when he attempts to stab her again she sends them through his neck though she's not entirely sure such was what she intended. lyliana doesn't have time to allow herself to comprehend what's just happened or what she's just done, her grabbing at his sword before moving out of her chambers. she's in kind of daze, apo sending her flashes gates opening and a dark army moving into the city though she can not quite muster actual words to send to him or understand fully what he's trying to communicate to her other than there was no means for a dragon to enter the castle so a dragon wasn't going to save her from whatever was happening.

another person, a knight for twins sake charges at her, the same look in his features, and she raises the sword against him. she may not be as skilled as jayson or ben when it comes to swordplay but she knows enough. she needs to get to her brother. to her mother and her father. but first her brother. he'd be the least able to defend himself. she manages to shove the knight down the stairs before she's moving again. but what she finds when she gets to cormac's chambers sends a chill through her body. his guards are dead outside the ajar door and she nearly drops the sword then and there despite the sounds of conflict coming from all directions now. her footfalls are slow, too slow, as she pushes the door open and it's then the worst and most blood-curling shrill scream escapes her. she moves into the space, nearly falling onto the queen and prince's bodies on the floor, her mother's lifeless body protectively over her brothers. blood, too much blood littering them. the sword falls as she shakes her mother first and then her brother but.. there was no life left in them. she can't breathe. she can't think. they have to come back. they have to. this wasn't real. it couldn't be.

her scream, or was it screams? not even she knows have attracted attention, two men who she recognizes as having seemingly been imprisoned with myra before her parents saved her appearing in the doorway. they don't have the same darkness washing over their eyes but they do have hate and malice in them. they move into her brother's chambers and she scrambles for the sword trying to protect her mother and brother unable to accept them truly fallen. but they are larger than her, quicker, and their sight is not clouded by tears. she tries to strike out at them but the sword is knocked from her, one of them, the one without a sword so that his hands were free grabs her as the other with his back toward the door seeks to stab her too. in the distance her dragon screeches violently over the city, sound booming given his size and age as he like the now fallen dragon of her brother's tries to break through a palace wall with fire and sheer force of his body.

"why? why are you doing this? we helped you!" she's struggling violently, seeking answers if it is to be the last moments she has and praying others.. ben, her father, and so many others still lived. but then she realizes with the sick and twisted expression of the man with the sword staring at her as he points it toward her the true depth of betrayal. "it was all a trick. myra never was a prisoner was she? this is what you wanted, wasn't it?!" she doesn't get a response and anger rises within her as she stares back at the man, unwilling to grant him fear in her death. there is no peace as she realizes she's about to die, no, anger is all she has. "the twins will see you pay for this! my brother will hunt you down and you will burn for this!"

[dracoserpentis]

@everythingheard (king peter)

REBECCA FERGUSON as Elizabeth Woodville and MAX IRONS as Edward IV in "The White Queen" (2013)

[legaciestold]

@razorfst

wards pulse over the green skies of halendil, the sure signal of a storm upon the horizon as misty air blows off the sea onto an overlook from the palace. prince jayson looks out over the city, his dragon companion soaring high and then surging lower as they observe the groups of mages checking the energy sources of the wards, a silent conversation passing between the two as the dragon comments upon the state of the grey skies to the east and the way it melded into green as snow became warmer rain within the wards. the queen-- the true queen-- ponders herself, looking upon her brother and then back toward the large table with various figures plotted within the kingdom, how long their wards would be able to keep the brutality of the snow witch's winter from this part of the ten. it took an extraordinary amount of resources to maintain when their forces and the loyalty of houses were still scattered. of course there was always an advantage to keeping winter at bay when one was training forces, something which would likely ensure halendil's state of warmth, though the entirety of eldenvale perhaps not. her queen-aunt would need to speed along her plan to help reinforce the south of the kingdom for what was to come. eventually, they would have to let it in and divert some resources to maintaining wards in throne where much of their weaponry and gear was being formed.

lyliana's features frown as her golden hair cascades down her back and shoulders, light hues analyzing the map as her king-uncle kaspar enters, the doors closed around him and jayson meeting his sister and uncle at the map. "he's arrived with the men and shipment from throne." he reveals with a kind of fascinated look upon him. kaspar was tired of the stagnation around him, his own avenging quest consuming him as he gathered forces to his niece's.. to his.. to their family's cause and threatened those who's loyalties remained teetering. of course, his threats were not like the snow witch's, there was no calls to slaughter families, but the stern reminder that when fyre and blood met upon the field and mira lay dead with her glass soldiers the banners who rose to lyliana's call would be the ones remembered just as much as those who did not.

"remain at your sister's side. always vigilant jayson but do not allow your emotions to cloud truth." kaspar commands before turning toward his niece. "i hold no doubt, your grace, that you could defend yourself. but we do not know the full truth of his otherworldly weapon. i will not take chances in this matter. any more than we already are in the least." for it had been lyliana whom had insisted to meet this man reports had come in about once one of her own former guard had spoken of witnessing the man's actions within a letter and though a king, her uncle held no power to truly overrule her. of course, all communications thus far have revealed the man in question as a possible ally, reports that he aided in battles along the long path to halendil positive. but there had been too great of loss to take too many unnecessary risks especially when it came to technology of realms like earth which were so strangely contrasting to their own world's.

the sound of large stone doors at the end of the corridor emits through the space, the lack of being within the throne room the man is being passed through is purposeful. this space is that of military discussions, of planning, of speeches of loyalty and pledging banners. of seeing the true vastness of the war upon them on the large wooden table and magical figures moving about the map. royal guards shift their stance near the doors, two remaining there and two others moving to other vantage points within the large chamber. prince jayson's dragon finds it's way below the overlook, heard but not seen unless one looked down while kaspar's and lyliana's remain close to the palace, within reach but unseen, sensing possible danger and allowing themselves to be ready for it, ever-protective. king kaspar shifts closer to the door, a hand upon the hilt of his sword and stance every bit the confident warrior-king songs spoke of while high queen lyliana and prince jayson remain where they had been. when the doors open and the stranger is led in and presented to the royals lyliana is the one to thank the guard who brought the stranger in, a kindness about her smile though weight in her light hues which shift to the stranger in curiosity.

"reports from our allies speak well of you, sir. it is why you have been brought here. i do hope your journey has treated you well. i understand you come from somewhere very different than my home." lyliana comments, moving around the large table and placing her hands at her front with her prince-brother following her, him remaining a step in front of her, not so subtly protective and ensuring she does not get within reach of whatever the devise upon the man's arm was.

"yes, yes. there will be time for pleasantries later depending upon what is spoken here." king kaspar speaks, seeming to decide that the man before him held himself as he'd expect someone who held more than a month or so's history in battle. still lyliana frowns briefly at the way he speaks though allows him to continue.

"let us not beat around why you are here sir. by all accounts you have held time to see what is befalling the kingdoms and thus far you have shown a willingness to aid our forces in as much as such has aided you. your asset would be of great use to us against the bitch who infects the walls of thorndil." there's venom in his tone toward the bitch in question. "so speak now, where is your fidelity?" kaspar questions as prince jayson chimes in. "your time here is assured until the war's end. the portals are not safe under mira's guard." and then, her uncle again speaks. "choose your path sir, now before the rightful high queen of the ten, and such will determine what your time in this realm shall contain."

[legaciestold]

@everythingheard asked: “  i won’t let anyone hurt you again. not ever.  ” (for lyliana from peter)

the soft mewling of a dragon, golden color shimmering into a deep black harmonizes with the sounds of crashing waves against the black cliffs below. the rock of beruna. her little brother should be there with them, flying carefree with his dragon against a sunlit sky. apo knows it as well as she does and lyliana sighs with a heavy heart, light hues washing over a shimmering horizon in resigned sympathy, a hand placed upon scales before she looks away. all these months later and reality felt as disjointed as her aunt's magical wards made the scenery from dragsea. oh lyliana held no doubt that if the snow witch had known her and peter had ventured from eldenvale and queen allyria's war councils that she would attempt a move against dragsea.

she'd fail.

of this much lyliana is confident. for even without the seeming loyalty of the wild clutch of dragons which resided there, the magical wards of the mage houses on the island would be enough to combat even myra's dark magic for quite some time. long enough, in the least, for reinforcements to arrive. it further benefitted her and peter's presence there that the snow witch's attentions where drawn away by her uncle's forces having joined with house qin of the ten, engaged in conflict against the dark army. no, the witch couldn't have dragons uniting with dragons. not unless they were under her thrall.

it strikes the princess then, that her uncle had taken jayson with him, a fact which causes a tight kind of pain to course through her body and a hand to fall upon her midsection. forcing her eyes from the horizon and away from her dragon too as she looks back toward peter who's no doubt deduced where her mind has gone. she'd lost her little brother along with their parents just months prior. lyliana wasn't sure she could survive losing jayson too. wasn't sure the child within her could survive the stress of such an event either. war. she had been a child bore to prevent war and now she would give life to a child in war. the twins were cruel sometimes as was the nature of gods and goddesses, the duality of light and dark, though perhaps she should hold a greater distaste for the fates at present for did they not also hold the very gods accountable?

a snow flake from the south blows past her face and lands in peter's hair, melting in the contrasting warmth within the wards and lyliana's features soften. sometimes she wonders if this man before her, this king, understands the depths to which she cares for him. to which she loves him, even if duty had nearly spelled their end before they could have truly become what they were now.

“you can not promise that, peter. not when war surrounds us at every turn.” her hand reaches out for his cheek gentle, bittersweet. "but-- we have allies, we have family, and we can vow to be at each other’s side, to do everything in our power to protect each other and this child in these uncertain times.” she had to believe that would be enough.

[dracoserpentis]

@honorhearted gets a semi-flashback!

the sun is past it's peak in the sky, late afternoon upon thorndil as the princess changes her clothing into something less formal and more of the common classes. she knows ben is outside, her guard for the evening and that he's capable of protesting far more than her other guards feel able to but it's the last day of one of the cities fetes and she wants to experience it, not from the tourneys held within the confines of the palace lands but as her people do. she wants to experience the colors and the joy and the excitement of it and she is ever determined to, it's just a matter of sneaking out of the confines of the palace and making her sir poe doesn't find out. still, she is not an idiot about it, her normally icy blonde hair appears darker, almost as dark as the princes' hair that they'd inherited from their grandfather. nearly black. one of her attendants had created the waxy mixture herself that they had worked through lyliana's hair. it'd come out with a good washing but for now she looked ever unlike herself, at least from the perspective of the feature she was known to the people for. most people of the city had never been close enough to her face to actually remember her facial features. her clothes are layered too, a finer cloak open and hanging off her shoulders revealing a somewhat shabbier one underneath. she could shed the top one once they got to the secret tunnels that'd lead out of the palace. because she fully intended to drag him with her and was well aware if he wanted to keep to his oath to protect his dearest friend he was going to have to join her. alright, perhaps her and sir caleb might have to fight for such title of dearest friend but she did have the fact she was the princess of the nation on her side.

maybe such was playing dirty, but lyliana was determined and it wasn't as if going into the city was going to be as dangerous as when she'd drug him out into the darhk forest when they were younger. now that, even she could admit, hadn't been the smartest move. but her dragon had been overhead so they'd made the trip in one piece. ah to be young and adventurous. she thinks, a small smirk coming to her features that she knows will certainly not be on sir ben's. door to her chambers opens gently and quietly, her half-stepping out to draw his attention from his watch of the corridor. he certainly had to have expected something from her, rare was it that she let him merely do his job outside her chambers without engaging in some kind of conversation or excursion even if it was just a walk about the gardens in the evening before she'd go to sleep because sir ben wasn't her other guards. they'd known each other most of their lives, experienced growing up together, been tutored together at times and while she was always nice and engaging with the rest of the watch which protected her, she always felt a certain level of guilt that ben was to watch over her when he was one of the people she trusted above many others, when to her he was her equal rather than just another knight sworn honor and defend her family. she never had liked holding herself above others in any real sense, even if she was the crown princess and sometimes pulled rank to get her way on such occasions like this night.

"ben--" she begins, using his name and not the honorific in an attempt to win him over with their friendship. "--before you try to say no, let me remind you that i'll find a way to go out there even if i have to call apo to my window. and that will cause far more of a scene than if we just sneak out through the tunnels. it's the last day and i want to see it and i'll surely i'l be the safest princess in all of the ten if you're with me." her eyes are pleading in that way that always reminds of a baby animal or child. completely innocent, except she knows they are both well aware of her use of such tactic, at least with him and perhaps her father and brother. as a point of fact she's used such on his father before too. it never quite worked on her mother though. "i promise we don't have to stay in the city long."

[legaciestold]

her mother used to tell lyliana that she held her father's heart within her. that was not to say her mother had ever been unfeeling or unkind, but her mother had been every bit a regent in everything she did. she could be kind and ruthless within the political sphere. she could be harsh to betrayers and gentle with friends. she cared about her people and family with a fierceness and understood the meaning of and responsibilities which came with power. her father had too, but his heart had always been more readily present for all to see. the toll of which the discontent with her uncle eagon had taken on him over the years plagued her father's heart for while he would always protect his family, even from his own brother, lyliana knew he had still held hope and love for her uncle. her mother had married her father for many reasons, many strategic and due to the what had been foretold to her, but love had come later. lyliana thinks maybe love had been there all along for her father. both lyli and her father had always felt too much at once, always felt their emotions so strongly and ever-present.

and right now, in this moment, she understands why her mother had always said such about her for the emotions coursing through her as her blue hues gaze into benjamin's, finally seeing him and not the scenes which had plagued her dreams, are chaotic and weighted and so very hard to endure. it's as if all the air has been taken from her as she utters words she never thought she'd say. but she does want myra dead. she wants her worse than dead and that conviction is rooted deep within her, reshaping something within her as she remembers the bodies of her mother and little brother upon the ground and the feeling of her father embracing her before she was ushered away. still, she allows a gasping breath to be taken in by her lungs and further him to settle her back down in a way she'd never allow someone else.

his words wash over her and her mind swims with the weight of everything which has happened and was to happen. "evil----" she lets the word sit a moment. would she expect a counter attack once she discovered lyli's body wasn't among the dead? or would she believe the friends she'd turned into murders would be enough to cause pause from any forces lyli might be able to gather? she wants to scream, though she doesn't think she has the ability to anymore than she already has.

"i have only heard of dark magicks like hers in... to turn good people into ghosts of themselves.. into murders... to do her bidding... ben what if this is it.. what if this is what was foretold? the dark time?" lyliana questions with a shudder running through her body that makes her shift, turning so that she faces him as if she needs to see him to remain holding onto reality, that he's really there and she's not imagining the safety of his hold on her or that this isn't just another dream she's woken into. she knew the stories as all of their people did of a time that would come upon the lands from a far away place. where terror and darkness and coldness would need to be met if anyone was to survive. she also knew there was a touch of prophesy to her own birth though she had never been told the fullness of it or been bold enough to believe there could be any correlation. but what if.. there was?

"my uncle will have already begun forming a council." she reveals, knowing the warrior nature of king kaspar. he may have already begun sending for word upon houses to determine where loyalties laid. "but he will not take offense action without--" a pause as if the nature of her words is finally washing over her, what everything that has happened now means. "-- without word of his queen commanding it." yes, her aunt was his queen but now that her parents were dead lyliana was the high queen. the rightful queen of the ten even if myra was working to usurp that. her uncle would respect that no matter how much more experienced he was than her. she would need him to guide her as much as she would need her aunts and living brother and sir poe (if he had survived past forewarning of her arrival) and sir ben. they were the only ones she could fully trust without question.

still.. and maybe this is the only time in the days to come she will or can admit it out-loud, in the low-light of this night, to him who has seen all sides of her in a way no one else has. "ben, i--i'm scared." she's scared of everything that was to come the moment the sun will rise upon the horizon. of being queen. of the weight of losses. of war. of leading her people against myra. that she will lose the family she still has. that she will lose ben. that she herself was just a girl and not being enough to save their people. of the thought that myra could somehow find them now, here, and kill them where they lay.

Benjamin wasn't certain how they'd fallen asleep. With the horrors of that day vividly seared into his subconscious, he'd gone to sleep with the scent of smoke and ash in his nose, the taste of blood on his tongue. Even while enveloping Lyliana in his arms, there had been scant comfort to be found.

Death was all around them. Amidst his vow to protect and serve, the threat of death was ever-present, and yet this time, it felt wrong, unjust, and even while attempting to calm the princess, he'd been overcome by a seething coil of rage. Myra had stolen something from them -- from Lyli -- and it was nearly enough to make him disappear into the night in search of vengeance.

But he didn't. He remained in Lyliana's bedchambers, curled up against her back with his arms wound tightly around her waist. Neither seemed capable of letting go; whether from sentiment or necessity or both, it was unclear, yet they fell asleep in this way.

It was only hours later when a long, high-pitched scream tore through the air that Benjamin finally awoke, his heart pounding amidst his disorientation as Lyliana thrashed at his side.

Feeling yet another shriek rip through him like a blade, he rolled over and instinctively gathered her into his arms. "Lyli? Lyli?" he asked, lightly patting her face. "Lyli, please: look at me!"

When their eyes finally locked, she appeared dazed and completely upended. "they're all dead, ben," Lyliana whimpered. "she killed them. she killed them all and i want her dead!"

"Shh," he soothed, a hard lump forming in his throat. "I've got you..." Coaxing her into lying back down, Benjamin turned Lyliana so that her backside was pressed snugly against his front, his arms threading around her waist as he rested his lips against her shoulder. In that moment, he didn't want to think about what laid ahead -- couldn't, in fact, since to accept such a feat meant to accept everyone was dead and gone.

"We'll get her," Benjamin lowly promised. "Maybe not today or tomorrow...but we will. Evil can never prevail forever." Giving her a gentle squeeze, he advised, "We need to be smart about this. Myra will be expecting a counterattack, so it's wisest to lie low and wait for the proper moment to strike. We can form a council in the morning"

[dracoserpentis]

she can feel her heart pounding in her chest, hear it in her mind as if it was war drums. chaos remained in every direction as sounds continued. a booming sound shakes the walls suddenly as if something large crashed into the castle. it's not like before when the dragons had slammed against the walls, this time it had come from above. he grabs her arms and it's the only thing that steadies her in the moment. it's the only thing that keeps her from looking back upon the bloodstained floor where bodies lay and horror is abound. her light hues bore into his, desperation within hers. she needs him to promise her. she needs him to make her believe that they will survive this. that someone will survive this. that they can do it together like they always have. not a knight and a princess but a girl and boy who had shared so much with each other. oh she knows she set him alight with frustration much too often but she couldn't handle the thought of a world where he wasn't a part of it and fear courses through her as her eyes drift to his wound and back up to his face.

promise me, ben. please. her eyes plead but his words contrast and it makes her whole body tremble because she knows the truth of it. the fates could be just as cruel as they could be good. he can't promise her his life anymore than she can promise him hers. even though she knows he'd ensure her life with his last breath.

he brings her hands to his lips and her eyes close for the briefest of moments as the tears she'd violently wiped away from her cheeks threaten to return. horror seeps into the edges of her body, shock and pain and loss and fear, anger... all course through her at once. her father. her father. her father could be alive but-- she couldn't.. she couldn't leave ben. she couldn't leave her father if.. her mind spirals in a dizzying fashion. there's dragons. apo had said there were others willing to help them. "i won--" she begins but he cuts her off, her eyes boring into his at his words. you. he says. no, us. she thinks and her gaze screams it at him before he's leading her further down the corridor.

the hidden corridor was growing close, just around the bend. they are almost there when a surge of fire flies past the interacting corridor and the sound of metal against metal is heard. there's magic being used, a mage though she doesn't know who's side they are on it. there's no time to react or ponder as a bloodied head freshly severed slides across the floor in front of them and she halts, staring, frozen as she screams though she doesn't even realize she's doing it. a sword drags across the ground around the corner before the king appears with blood upon his sword. he'd always proven a capable warrior, human yet able to battle any manner of species with skill. her eyes drift upward as her scream is choked back when her eyes meet her father's and relief floods her. but it's that relief which blinds her to the festering and blackened wound present at his side and the way dark streams of veins are creeping up his neck from the top of his shirt. he hadn't been in his armor when the attack had begun.

lyliana's hold on ben releases as she surges forward and into her father's arms automatically. him hugging her to him with all of his might. he'd believed her already lost, having seen the dead man in her room and.. the body of his wife and son. he'd doubled back through another secret passage knowing where her mind would take her should she still be alive and fighting his way through. his hand holds her head as he mutters her name, his eyes closing for a moment before they open and look directly at sir ben with an intensity and message that he thinks needs no voice. protect her. save her. the king knows ben had seen what his daughter had not. there was no escape for him. he'd already known it. now, all the king could do was trust this man to be as devoted to his daughter as he always appeared to be and attempt to go after myra before her curse took him.

the king pulls back after a moment, looking back upon his daughter who clings to him, finally seeing the wound before peering back at him in terror. "father-- what.. we need to.." she can't find words again. footfalls echo in the distance. 'shhh. my little sprout.' his hands come to her face, cupping it with a pained expression. 'we don't have time. i love you. if you take one thing with you, remember that.' he tells her, placing his sword into her hands and pressing her fingers to the hilt of it. 'you are the future of this kingdom. you need to live. your people, our people will need you. your brother will need you.' panic engulfs her as he speaks, her head shaking frantically as he looks over her to benjamin again. 'sir poe took his dragon to the portal outside the city. i have to believe the gods are with him and he made it before myra's forces could prevent him.... eldenvale will prepare for you. she has to touch the painting. it's old magic.. it's not like the other.. passages...it'll let you through with her.. but she must touch it to open it.." his features strain in reaction to his wound, he's starting to falter even as he holds himself up with the strength of a warrior king.

there's men at the end of the corridor, them seeing the three of them and beginning to move toward them quickly, swords drawn. lyliana's hold on her father tightens instinctively as if her body knows what her mind won't allow her to understand yet. "daddy--" it's a plea, her ability to breathe escaping her as she gasps it out when he looks upon her again as if he needs to remember his daughters face. see it and commit it to his memory one last time.

"i love you! i love you! it's we can.. dad.." the king looks at ben again, though it pains him to look away from her. then he speaks his command. a king to a knight. a father to the man who he trusted to protect his daughter like he always had. 'take her. give me your sword and take her. once you're through they won't be able to follow you. go now.' lyliana shakes her head again but she's already being pushed back toward ben, backed into his hold as her father takes his sword and moves toward the men almost upon them. she's thrashing almost immediately, trying to follow her father without a care for the men coming toward them. "no! no! daddy i can't.. you have to come with us! dad!" his sword clashes against the first man and then the other with precision despite his wound. 'go now.' he commands again.

Myra...

The name was spat from Lyliana's lips like venom, and Benjamin nearly drew to a stop at the admission. Eyes sparking like flint, his jaw tightened so harshly that his teeth ached. He knew it...he knew it!

"She won't triumph," he promised. "One way or another, she will meet her end, whether it be through your fire or the tip of my sword."

Even amidst his savage determination, something about the princess' wild, frantic eyes disarmed him, and a raging swell of guilt stabbed between his ribs once she practically threw herself upon him, begging and desperate.

Catching hold of her arms, Benjamin lowered so that they were gazing eye-to-eye, his expression grim as he shook his head.

"ben, promise me we are going to survive this together."

"I can promise you nothing -- not without tempting fate," he reminded her, gently squeezing her elbows. "I will try to remain by your side, just as I always have. There's nothing that gives me greater pleasure than fighting alongside this kingdom. It's always been the two of us...through hell and high water."

Reaching for her hands, Benjamin winced as the chilling sensation of blood dribbled down his arm, sickening and warm. "We still haven't determined the fate of your father," he pointed out. "If by some miracle he is alive, I want you to take him on Apo instead. I don’t wish to slow you down -- I can stay behind and fight."

The fiery look in Lyliana's eyes proved she would not agree with his terms, and swallowing past the dryness of his throat, Benjamin drew her hands to his lips and admonished, "There's no time to argue. Let's get you to the tunnels."

Lifting his sword, he entwined their fingers and encouraged her to stumble with him past the newly fallen bodies. His head was starting to pound, and dizzily, his boots tromped heavily against the cold stone flooring, some of which was besmirched with the gore of battle.

[dracoserpentis]

lyliana had once told benjamin that she would be the safest princess in all the ten with him at her side and gods knew, she may have been the safest without him too. (though she doubts it.) she certainly had been the most guarded even if she often shed her guards in favor of adventure (at least most of them, save for ben) at least up until this night. but danger had been something the princess had rarely encountered herself aside from a few close calls which perhaps were somewhat of her own fault. oh she was not stupid, she understood the world they lived in was not without strife. she knew of wars and conflicts, she knew of her uncle eagon's plots. she had not been spared the story of how her parents came together as her father made a different choice than what he had been sent for, for lyliana had to be made to understand the dangers which lurked in the world. their family (eagon's side aside) was strong and faithful to each other but houses continued to play games of powers across the ten and the eight. her uncle eagon had sent her adoptive cousin to wed her under a guise of peace with the full intention of her death following an heir and it had only been due to prince ming's reckless and inebriated nature his plot had been uncovered and her saved from it from his threatening encounter with her. lyliana knew of war and conflicts too. she'd been educated in it.

educated her entire life to one day be a ruler.

yet another facet of such had been to learn compassion and love and protectiveness toward her people too. her uncle of the eight sought to rule over people and yet never be of them, but lyliana's parents had always encouraged the opposite. they sought to help others, had even brought many of the city's people into the safety of the palace when a fire had broken out and ravaged an entire section of the city before mages had been able to stop it from spreading. it was that nature which she had always believed would make her a good ruler when the time came. but it was that nature which had doomed them now. her parents had faced an eastern threat and found lady myra and some of her people playing captive and sought to save her. they had welcomed them into their home, into the heart of the kingdom because they had kindness in their heart and now myra was repaying it in blood.

lyliana had never wished death on anyone before. even when the decision of exile back to the eight or death had been brought forth in relation to prince ming she had advocated for his life even knowing he had desired to plot her own death down the line and the vile things he'd called her for having taken part in the spring rite previously because a part of her understood he had been twisted by her uncle and she felt saddened by it. would she ever trust him again or even want to see his face? no. she was no fool. but she had had a large heart and held compassion in her soul. now, however, lyliana wants myra dead. she wants her to suffer. how many lives had already been taken and still will be taken this night? would her and ben both still meet the twins in death yet?

"myra." she'd answered with venom before they moved into the chaos and it was the thought of the woman which had propelled lyliana's strength as she'd attacked the lord who now lay upon the floor next to her dropped sword. it's the thought of the evil woman which makes her reach up to her face and harshly drive away her tears because they don't have time for her to lose herself again. they don't have time for whatever horror was building within her. myra has to pay for this but they had to survive to make it so.

ben takes her hand and she lets him lead her until they are faced with a wall and two directions to go forth. thankfully they hadn't encountered another group of threats (despite still hearing the chaos echoing in the building) which either meant something had already transpired in this corridor where her parent's chambers were or had yet to reach it. she tries not to allow herself to go there. she tries to have faith that her father, that gods above, her father could still be alive but it's hard. it's so hard and she squeezes ben's hand tightly and takes a grounding breath. however his words give her pause as she starts to pull him to the right and stops, whirling back to look at him with wide eyes as multiple realizations hit her at once.

firstly, her dragon. it had to have been apophis rocking the castle that second time, only stopping when he realized she was.. well, alive.

secondly, her own emotional state had seemed to block her communicating vocally from her dragon until now, the princess taking another breath and opening her mind back up.

<where are y--?> lyliana projects before she's cut off by a series of flashes of the city and apo's own emotional state. she gets the sense she's doing the same to him, her dragon already knowing of her intended escape route.

<i can be there if you can get to the end of those tunnels. she's using old magick princess. she's enthralling dragons. the skies will not be easy but it is the only way out. some of the wild clutch is with me. with you. they will help cover us. hurry lyliana. hurry.> her dragon speaks in her mind before lyliana's gaze refocuses on ben and she fully understands his previous meaning.

the third thing lyliana realizes is that ben intends for her to leave him and ride away on her dragon and if their lives weren't already on the line she'd kill him herself for such a suggestion, at least metaphorically. the princess hadn't stayed awake for over three days attending to a feverish ben after he'd nearly drowned, nearly getting sick herself to leave him to the mercy of the woman who had taken everything else away from her in the span of a few hours.

"i will not leave without you. i'll die first, ben. she can't have you too. i can't lose you. so take leave of any of such thoughts. apo will be at the end of the tunnels. we just have to get there. and he'll take both of us. both of us. do you hear me?" her tone is suddenly commanding like a ruler, as if she needs to hear him say the words, as if the fear of losing him to this horror had overridden anything else that she was reeling from. she's not shaking anymore, no, her hold on him is fierce and gaze determined and stubborn. "ben, promise me we are going to survive this together." this moment, this escape, the war that's sure to follow.

Finally, a flicker of life entered Lyliana's eyes, though the spark was akin to an ember, a blaze, and once her hand curled around his own, Benjamin allowed a fraction of grief to weigh down heavily upon his heart. This wasn't how things were supposed to be -- it couldn't be the kingdom's promised fate -- and yet as Lyliana grabbed her assailant's sword and stumbled to her feet, he remained dutifully silent in his disbelief. His burdens were not hers to bear.

With her fingers clasping his arm, Benjamin listened to the caustic vitriol in her voice and frowned. "Who?" he demanded. "Who will pay?"

But he knew... Somehow, a part of him just knew -- and feeling a swell of anger roiling within, he kept his arm wrapped supportively around Lyliana's shoulders, his free hand holding his sword aloft while they burst from the room and out into the fray.

Their destination soon became apparent. Ever since he could remember, they'd traversed these very halls, typically in secret rather than their present urgency. Unfortunately, they weren't the only ones who'd chosen to seek this direction...

Two men charged them from either side, and forcing his injured arm to lift, Benjamin grave a great cry just as the first man's sword clashed with his own, the force of the blow causing him to slide back as Lyliana joined him in the fight. It wasn't her battle to endure -- oh, God, why must he fail her in this too? -- and just as he sliced his blade through the assailant's stomach and slashed upward, Lyliana leveled her very own attack. The lord fell soon after.

She started shaking, overwhelmed and disoriented, and tears tracked through the blood and dirt on her pale cheeks. "You did well," Benjamin commended, though he could tell Lyliana was far from pleased. Taking her elbow, he pleaded with her, "Come -- we can't stay here."

"the tunnels, we're almost--- there's an entrance.. down this.. corridor."

Nodding, he took her hand and tugged her along, wincing with every step. His shoulder wound strained and bled, and giving her fingers a supportive squeeze, he pressed, "Can you call Apo? Can your dragon come get you?"

Benjamin feared he might slow them down -- it was a laughable thought, he supposed, given how a dragon could surely support them both -- but he'd also never been overly fond of riding any creature other than a horse, and his present dizziness would surely not be abated by being airborne.

[dracoserpentis]

slow motion. everything around the princess suddenly slows as if she's in some kind of strange dream. the palace shakes as another force rocks it, though it does not hinder the man who's blade taunts her, tip held firmly against her body ready to tear into her like they had her mother and brother. his eyes are taunting and harsh. malice vibrating off him. the other man's hold is bruisingly tight, no amount of struggle allowing her freedom. they never do respond to her vocally though her would be killer's features do. there's a moment which feels a lifetime long in which lyliana stops fighting the hold, venom upon her lips as she stares the man down. a part of her wants to look away, to close her eyes and shield herself from what was coming. but that would be giving up, giving into a death of which was unjust. no, she may halt her struggles yet her strength is in the way she watches him unblinkingly, refusing to give him any satisfaction from her death. he may pierce her, but he will not have her will. he will not have her defiance. he will not take from her who she is. he will not have her cowering in fear or begging for a life she knows he cares not for. those eyes are so cold... and as the tip of the sword presses against her more firmly she wishes for a warmth that she's void of in that moment.

the princess braces herself to join her family on that cold floor and does not see the knight who enters the chambers until the pressure upon her lessens and her would be killer's' body slumps against her nearly engulfing her in his weight. it's enough to disorient that man holding her, his hold loosening enough to allow her to pull her arms free quickly and push at the dead man reflexively. it slumps him to the floor at their feet before she too is knocked down in the struggle as the man begins to engage with.. sir benjamin? ben? ben. ben was alive. ben was there.

he tells her to run but she's fallen in blood, in her family's blood and she's frozen, looking from the blood on her to the bodies of her mother and brother and back toward the fight in time to watch ben's sword enter the man's neck and more blood to spill and it makes her recall her own actions in horror. it's too much, her mind refusing to allow it to fully process and she looks back toward the bodies on the floor, reaching for them as if she can somehow will them back to life. then he's speaking again, his hands coming to the sides of her face and his touch is something she's come to be reactive to be it conscious or not, with her leaning into it yet this time she does not. this time her gaze is a ghost of itself because she'd just looked into the unseeing eyes of her dead brother and mother.

there's nothing you can do for them. her eyes turn back toward the bodies. no, that can't be right. there has to be something. the floor is so cold. her brother had never liked the cold. how can she leave him to the cold? how she can leave her mother laying there at his side? there's no protection, there's no one to bury them, there's no one to love them if she leaves. then he forces her eyes to come back to him, to start to see him instead of all the blood and it takes her a moment to start to focus. they wouldn't want her to die for them. die. suddenly her arm hurts again and while her gaze is still wide and scattered, she sees he's injured too. she can't be the reason ben dies too. she couldn't bare that on top of everything else.

'come with me. come with me now so we can make whoever did this pay!'

pay. myra needed to pay for this. she needed to die for this. lyliana realizes with a coldness in her heart she's never felt before. a vengeance she's never felt before that awakens something in her. her blue gaze refocuses, sees ben. really sees ben as a hand comes up to cover one of his on her face. she can't look back at the floor, if she does she'll crumble again. if she does she won't be able to leave. so she doesn't. she forces herself not to and instead reaches onto the floor for the dropped sword with her other hand, them getting up off the floor and though her hand falls away from his face she doesn't let go of him, hold tight on his arm as if it's the only life line she has in the moment. maybe it is the only thing she has. death was all around them. but he was there with her. he'd come for her. he'd always come for her, been there for her. even all that time ago when she'd feared giving herself to a stranger he'd joined the hunt and he'd been the one to bring her the mostag. with him there the fear subsides into something else because even if she's always tried to hide her fear beneath adventure and strength, she's never been scared when he's been there with her.

"she's going to burn for this, ben. i'll make her suffer like she made them. and then, only then i'll make her burn in dragon fire." lyliana says finally and they are words spoken with a malice and violence she has never shown anyone before. with a willingness to harm that she's never had before. because it's that moment she's truly lost the innocence she's always had. it's that moment something's broken in her that is never going to be able to be fixed. it's that moment something leaves her that she'll never get back. and with that they move toward the door and into the chaos.

they make it down the corridor, start heading toward the secret tunnels they so often used over the years. her dragging him after her for if he truly wished to protect her on all those summer days and nights when energy flew through the air of city festivities then he'd have to go with her wouldn't he have? they make it down one flight of stairs before they are charged almost immediately in that corridor, crazed in a wild kind of frenzied attack from two opposing directions. she lets go of her hold on him to lift the sword with two hands. he can't engage both and she knows it. everything happens so quickly, too quickly and before she knows what she's doing her sword has managed to run through a man with the sheer force of her pain giving her the strength to do it. but there's blood again, so much blood and her hands are shaking on the hilt that's rapidly falling from her hands and clattering to the ground.

the man was a lord. a lord she's known for most of her life and there's a hysteric scream building up in her again that she's trying to force down because she knows she needs to focus. knows they have to get out of there. knows she needs to be able to fight. she can't breathe. she has to breathe. her hands are shaking violently, they can't shake. she's a series of contradictions. she's just killed a man. a second man. a man who used to bring her little gifts from his travels in payment for the flowers she used to bring him as a child. she's crying again and she hates herself for it because it will do nothing to help them. she takes in a gasping breath, forces herself to look at ben as if it will somehow refocus her and it does even if she shakes too. "the tunnels, we're almost--- there's an entrance.. down this.. corridor." she's trying to get her words out but it's so hard. she reaches out for him franticly, perhaps needing some form of contact to ground her. to keep her present. "i never took you to that one because it was too close to my.. my parents chambers."

Smoke, heat, chaos ravaged Thorndil in buffeting waves. Benjamin raced through the crumbling halls, gritting his teeth while searching for Lyliana. He never should have left -- never should've gone against his gut whenever he'd been turned away for the evening. Nothing felt right...this was wrong, and it horrified him to think the kingdom had fallen prey to a deceptive trap.

With every step he took, the slice through his armor throbbed along with his brisk, thundering pulse. Just moments prior, he'd had to run through a fellow knight, a friend, yet Benjamin knew in his heart that his compatriot had no longer been an ally -- no, his eyes had been inky, black as night, and although he'd been injured in the scuffle, the shoulder wound didn't slow him down as he raced through the halls.

A scream arose through the castle, chilling and enough to stop him in his tracks. Benjamin skidded to a stop, rotating about to best assess the source of the noise, and then realized with mounting dread that it was Prince Cormac's chambers.

Praying that he hadn't arrived too late, Benjamin shouldered his way into the room, panting and holding his sword aloft in preparation for attack. What greeted him, however, wasn't the prince at all -- no, the boy and queen were dead -- and with his heart in his throat, he realized he didn't have time to mourn; not when Lyliana was pinned to the wall like a butterfly upon corkboard.

Lyli...

Ever since he'd first been presented with this monumental task, with caring for and protecting the princess, Benjamin had been warned to act with his head and not his heart. And despite his better judgment, he'd allowed himself to become close to the family, to care for them, so perhaps this was why his following movements were not his usual agile grace. No, his cuts were messy and merciless as he ran the first man through with a dull, sickening crunch of metal through flesh and muscle and bone. He shouted along with the vicious stab, twisting the blade for good measure. The man holding the knife slouched against Lyliana, lifeless, but Benjamin was quick to shove him free of his sword and ward off the sharp, jarring clang of the remaining brother's weapon.

"Lyli," Benjamin gritted to her, "run."

His shoulder burned from the effort of fending off each of the remaining man's blows, and gnashing his teeth so hard that they ached, Benjamin's fury kept him pressing onward without mercy. With the reminder of the prince and queen lying dead behind him, covered in far, far too much blood and violence for what they deserved, he growled and drove the tip of his sword through the assailant's throat, causing the man to choke and spit up blood before collapsing to his knees.

Yanking his blade free of the gushing wound, Benjamin sheathed the sword and immediately dropped to his knees, taking Lyliana's face between his hands and commanding her attention. "Lyli," he called, unnerved by her blank, unseeing stare. "Lyli! You must leave them -- you have to move! There's nothing more we can do for them!"

Although his heart ached for her, the family, Benjamin was nothing if not wholly pragmatic. Turning her face so that she was forced to peer up into his apologetic, mournful eyes, he snapped, "Your family wouldn't wish for you to die for them -- you know it's true! Come with me. Come with me now so we can make whoever did this pay!"