Post by The Stranger on Apr 9, 2008 20:30:23 GMT -5
It was chilly afternoon when Manderly stepped off the boat. Wrapped in thick fur, he once more longed to be back in King's Landing, where chamberpots didn't freeze constantly and the view wasn't so fucking grim.
"My lord!" Came the cry from a young lad in chainmail and curly red hair. "You carriage awaits!"
Already? Well, at least I won't be developing aother case of frostbite.
As he entered the carriage, he noticed how bare it was... "Boy, where is the old carriage?"
The knight answered the lord with crisp respect. "My apologies, Lord Manderly, but there was an incident with one of the horses. The carpenters promised to have it repaired by the end of the day."
The lord nodded slowly, though more for the crick in his neck than any real weariness. In the moving carriage, he pulled out a small wooden dragon from his pocket, a present for his young nephew.
As he ran his fingers over the delicate craftsmanship, he felt the carriage take a sudden turn then stop. There were loud cries, but Manderly would never learn their source. When he opened the door to investigate, all he saw was darkness as the blow came from behind.
The dragon's neck broke when it slipped from his hands and it the ground.
--------------------------------------------------
The Lord of White Harbor awoke to a pungent smell. Above him, the fire man whom Manderly had recieved so many complains about was withdrawing the smelling salts back into his sleeves. Without a word, he gestured to someone behind the lord and suddenly he fekt strong arms grasping him.
Lord Manderly was dragged to the dark stage, escorted to two tall men. “Let me go, I said!! Don’t you know who I am! Don’t you?!”
How did I get here? thought the lord in his shocked mind. Where the hell are my guards?
One particularly well-built man stepped forward to frisk him for weapons. He was dimly aware of how moist his hands were and how they left very dim stains upon his tunic.
“He is unarmed.” He nodded to another man, his eyes like stone, and soon the Apostate arrived. Pylos stood in the center of what had once been used to hang people, before Pylos had demanded that criminals be burned instead. Like any coward, Manderly had accepted his doctrine for fear of a revolt. The fire man looked at Manderly with soft eyes, before raising his hands to the sky. Suddenly, the pyres were lit and the noble realized he stood before all of White Harbor. He had never seen them in one place… He cried for help, but too late he realized he had no friends here. Where are my soldiers? This is impossible!! What is that foul odor the brute left on my body and why the hell am I even here?!!!
“White Harbor!” Cried the man with long red hair and eyes like the Inferno… “I bring you your master, newly arrived from selling your lives at market to his vile keepers!”
“Murder him!!”
“Burn him!!”
Were those his subjects or Pylos’ slaves… he just couldn’t see them from from here… so bright… the smell…
“I am Lord Albert Manderly and I demand to be freed!” he cried. Were there soldiers coming for him? He remembered now…
The snickering man with red hair who had called himself a knight and offered to escort him on his return to his fortress in the city…
Were we ambushed or slaughtered? For once, he began to wonder about the lives of others… but it was too late…
“Lord Manderly, you have sinned in the eyes of the Lord of Light and all his aspects! You have been a poor ruler, a weak man, and a wretch to all you meet! Your men despise you and your people stand to watch you be punished with satisfaction! You are a disgrace to White Harbor…”
“NO! I never harmed-”
“You sat in court while you fleeced the poor of their livelihood then you sent their fathers and sons to die in the cold!”
“This is NOT HAPPENING!!”
“R’hllor has delivered you unto us for judgment and you will repent for your greed and gluttony!”
Why are you DOING THIS? I let you stay here, remember? I gave you sanctuary!!”
“Out of fear and weakness! Do you submit to His Judgment?!”
“Let me go…” He could only whimper now… he could see the madman was right…. If anyone knew he was here, noone was coming to save him…
“Do you submit to the revealing light of…”
As the ‘prophet’ droned on, he fell to his knees sobbing. That weird smell and the situation had finally deprived him his dignity… but wait… a dagger? Across his wet abdomen? But how…
If Manderly had been even a slightly more cunning man and in better control of his faculties, he would have realized it was a trap, that the dagger had been placed by the frisking man. When he leaped forward at the Apostate, brandishing his knife, Manderly saw a brief sneer across Pylos’s face as a hand with an almost imperceptible flicker set him alight as the lord flew past the billowing red robes.
A few tried to save the burning man as he ran off stage and onto the ground, but none faulted the Apostate, at least not until the night was over and word had spread to those who had not witnessed R‘hllor‘s judgment themselves. Once again the Lord of Light had shown his hand…
Results:
Pylos the Apostate improves towards Master in the Mysteries of Fire and Shadow
Pylos the Apostate improves towards Expert in Persuasion
"My lord!" Came the cry from a young lad in chainmail and curly red hair. "You carriage awaits!"
Already? Well, at least I won't be developing aother case of frostbite.
As he entered the carriage, he noticed how bare it was... "Boy, where is the old carriage?"
The knight answered the lord with crisp respect. "My apologies, Lord Manderly, but there was an incident with one of the horses. The carpenters promised to have it repaired by the end of the day."
The lord nodded slowly, though more for the crick in his neck than any real weariness. In the moving carriage, he pulled out a small wooden dragon from his pocket, a present for his young nephew.
As he ran his fingers over the delicate craftsmanship, he felt the carriage take a sudden turn then stop. There were loud cries, but Manderly would never learn their source. When he opened the door to investigate, all he saw was darkness as the blow came from behind.
The dragon's neck broke when it slipped from his hands and it the ground.
--------------------------------------------------
The Lord of White Harbor awoke to a pungent smell. Above him, the fire man whom Manderly had recieved so many complains about was withdrawing the smelling salts back into his sleeves. Without a word, he gestured to someone behind the lord and suddenly he fekt strong arms grasping him.
Lord Manderly was dragged to the dark stage, escorted to two tall men. “Let me go, I said!! Don’t you know who I am! Don’t you?!”
How did I get here? thought the lord in his shocked mind. Where the hell are my guards?
One particularly well-built man stepped forward to frisk him for weapons. He was dimly aware of how moist his hands were and how they left very dim stains upon his tunic.
“He is unarmed.” He nodded to another man, his eyes like stone, and soon the Apostate arrived. Pylos stood in the center of what had once been used to hang people, before Pylos had demanded that criminals be burned instead. Like any coward, Manderly had accepted his doctrine for fear of a revolt. The fire man looked at Manderly with soft eyes, before raising his hands to the sky. Suddenly, the pyres were lit and the noble realized he stood before all of White Harbor. He had never seen them in one place… He cried for help, but too late he realized he had no friends here. Where are my soldiers? This is impossible!! What is that foul odor the brute left on my body and why the hell am I even here?!!!
“White Harbor!” Cried the man with long red hair and eyes like the Inferno… “I bring you your master, newly arrived from selling your lives at market to his vile keepers!”
“Murder him!!”
“Burn him!!”
Were those his subjects or Pylos’ slaves… he just couldn’t see them from from here… so bright… the smell…
“I am Lord Albert Manderly and I demand to be freed!” he cried. Were there soldiers coming for him? He remembered now…
The snickering man with red hair who had called himself a knight and offered to escort him on his return to his fortress in the city…
Were we ambushed or slaughtered? For once, he began to wonder about the lives of others… but it was too late…
“Lord Manderly, you have sinned in the eyes of the Lord of Light and all his aspects! You have been a poor ruler, a weak man, and a wretch to all you meet! Your men despise you and your people stand to watch you be punished with satisfaction! You are a disgrace to White Harbor…”
“NO! I never harmed-”
“You sat in court while you fleeced the poor of their livelihood then you sent their fathers and sons to die in the cold!”
“This is NOT HAPPENING!!”
“R’hllor has delivered you unto us for judgment and you will repent for your greed and gluttony!”
Why are you DOING THIS? I let you stay here, remember? I gave you sanctuary!!”
“Out of fear and weakness! Do you submit to His Judgment?!”
“Let me go…” He could only whimper now… he could see the madman was right…. If anyone knew he was here, noone was coming to save him…
“Do you submit to the revealing light of…”
As the ‘prophet’ droned on, he fell to his knees sobbing. That weird smell and the situation had finally deprived him his dignity… but wait… a dagger? Across his wet abdomen? But how…
If Manderly had been even a slightly more cunning man and in better control of his faculties, he would have realized it was a trap, that the dagger had been placed by the frisking man. When he leaped forward at the Apostate, brandishing his knife, Manderly saw a brief sneer across Pylos’s face as a hand with an almost imperceptible flicker set him alight as the lord flew past the billowing red robes.
A few tried to save the burning man as he ran off stage and onto the ground, but none faulted the Apostate, at least not until the night was over and word had spread to those who had not witnessed R‘hllor‘s judgment themselves. Once again the Lord of Light had shown his hand…
Results:
Pylos the Apostate improves towards Master in the Mysteries of Fire and Shadow
Pylos the Apostate improves towards Expert in Persuasion
Hope you all are well and happy.