Archives: Liberation of Ales
Chapter 2: Plans for Revenge
Morning had arrived and Cebina opened her eyes as the daylight shined through the window of their room. She moved her head up off of Meridian’s chest and looked at the boy’s face. No. He wasn’t a boy at all. Last night proved that he was very much a man. She had been very pleasantly surprised with him. The night had turned out much differently than she had expected when she had first met him in the alley. In fact, she much felt like having some more fun, but a quick look at her hand with her two gold rings reminded her that she couldn’t. She sighed, disappointed that her rings took so long to recharge and laid her head back down on his chest, waiting for him to wake up.
Feeling the shift of weight and the tickle of hair on his chest, Meridian woke with a slight start to find Cebina sleeping on him. “Good morning,” he said, his voice slightly raspy from the position he’d slept in. With a smile, he caressed her silky white hair, momentarily reflected on the night before. It gave him only greater confidence when he could please a woman like her—the priestess’s lessons had been quite helpful in that area.
Cebina shifted her weight over the boy, kissing his neck playfully, “And a very good morning to you,” she purred, “I have to say you’re just full of surprises. What happened last night was the last thing I expected when I met you in that alley.”
Meridian arched his neck with a grin as Cebina kissed it. “I’m full of surprises,” he said. “Though I can’t say I expected that either. I thought I’d be sleeping on the floor.”
Cebina chuckled, “Oh, I had never planned on making you sleep on the floor.”
It was the truth. She had been planning on having the boy sleep in the bed with her and simply drive him crazy with her seductive ways until he begged her for her services. Things hadn’t turned out exactly like she had planned, however, and she had dropped the idea of making him pay as she had quickly decided to relax and enjoy herself instead.
“Now usually I charge for my services. It’s not often that I give myself out for free,” she informed him. “However, with all that talk of vengeance and killing, how could I resist?”
Meridian chuckled to himself, the color rising in his cheeks slightly. “Of the few people I’ve told, they’ve said that I should get on with life, that vengeance wasn’t worth it,” he replied. “I can’t let that man live though, not with what he did to me. I can’t move on with my life until I know he’ll never torment me again.” Again, the passion and anger rose in the half-elf’s voice. He wasn’t trying to tempt her, but he kept his anger bottled up so much, it was almost necessary to speak it and release it. Meridian looked up to met Cebina’s eyes. “So, you will come with me to Ales?” he asked, just to make sure.
“Of course I’ll go with you.” Cebina brought a hand through the half-elf’s soft brown hair gently. “The ones who tell you to move on will never understand people like us, Meridian,” she said. “They don’t know what it feels like to be beaten, shamed and humiliated.”
The dark elf finally lifted herself off of him and got out of the bed, stretching out her naked form before taking the two gold rings off her fingers and placing them safely in the backpack she had left on the nightstand. “If your father is anything like the men who shamed me, then I’ll be more than happy to assist you on your quest.”
Meridian watched Cebina’s nude form appreciatively now, unafraid of repercussions. “What happened to you?” he asked. He had a feeling that it was similar to his story, but he wanted to hear it from her.
Cebina froze at Meridian’s question. She had been so relaxed and comfortable after last night that she hadn’t even realised that she had brought up her past as simple as that. It wasn’t something that she had ever spoken about before. The Myrii priest that had taken her in had been able to get a few details out of her and had tried to set her on ‘the right path’, but in the end she had refused to confine in him.
She was silent for a moment, trying to decide what to say to the boy. She thought of brushing off the question at first, but then she thought of how he had been back in the alley. Perhaps it would give him more confidence to know he wasn’t alone in what he felt. Helping others wasn’t something she liked to do, but she greatly liked how Meridian had acted last night and she was worried that he’d revert back to the way he was before if she said nothing.
“When I was twelve, my village was raided,” She kept her voice calm. “They killed both my parents and forced the children that survived into slavery. I was separated from the others because of my exotic looks. They said I was too beautiful for labor work... and had special plans for me.”
Cebina gave him something, and he sympathized with that, but it wasn’t the entire story. It didn’t seem to come easy to her, but neither did his story. “And what was that?” Meridian asked, pressing her further, though his voice was a gentle as ever.
Cebina grew irritated as Meridian pressed on. She highly disliked being asked personal questions and the idea of someone analysing her persona made her highly uncomfortable. She felt her cheeks flush under the frustration and turned her head away from the half-elf, wishing he would just put two and two together and figure it out himself. Did she really have to paint him a picture?
“They sold me to a brothel,” she finally said for the first time to anyone. “But not before they had their own fun with me first of course.” Her fists clenched to her sides as she immediately mentally kicked herself for letting that much personal information surface.
She was angry, he could see that. He had to know though, and he didn’t want to make assumptions. He had to know if she would understand what he went through on no uncertain terms. Cebina’s anger struck him at first, leaving him frozen in his place on the bed, but he realized the opportunity he had and steeled his will. Climbing out of bed, the half-elf approached Cebina and put his hands on her shoulders. “I...was raped too,” he started, lowering his head. If she wanted turn around to look him in the eyes, he didn’t think he could handle it. “By my father.” It was coming out in pieces, too hard for him to say at once. “For five years,” he finished.
Cebina did not turn to face Meridian, but still listened to the words he spoke. She had suspected that he had been subjected to some form of abuse from his father, but she hadn’t imagined this. It was no wonder the half-elf wanted to kill his father so badly. His words eased her frustration, knowing that he had gone through the same type of treatment as she had. The anger she heard in his voice reflected perfectly her own, and for the first time in eleven years, she found someone who actually understood how she felt.
For all that time, Meridian accepted it as a part of his life, until Lianora came along and explained just how horrible it was. That knowledge had bred so much rage in him, and now the anger was building again. He gripped Cebina’s shoulders a little tighter to anchor himself. “That man used me like...like a whore to fill his own desires, because I looked like his wife. The woman he drove to suicide because she got pregnant with me by some elf,” Meridian spoke passionately, his voice full of fire and anger. Then the fire cooled as he continued, but there was still strength and solidarity in his voice, “So...we have something in common. We were both used, and we both want revenge. I can’t stand to see anyone used like that, so I will help you kill every man that ever did that to you.”
His voice continued, softer now ,but still strong. She finally turned her head to look at him when he told her that he would help her hunt down every man that had shamed her. She wasn’t the trusting type but his eyes were sincere. Her anger had vanished by then, leaving behind a feeling of relief. A soft smile, probably the first genuinely kind smile she had ever given anyone, brushed her lips. She nodded her head in thanks, not able to speak the words out loud. “Sounds like we have a long road ahead of us.”
“I’ll be with you every step of the way,” he said softly. Taken by the heat of everything he had revealed, and the change from sultry to angry to soft from her, Meridian cupped her jaw in his hands and gently kissed her lips, holding it for only a moment. The boy then drew back, a small, pleased smile on his lips, and said, “We had better get started then.”
Cebina was taken aback by the gentle kiss Meridian gave her then. This was a whole different world than the dark elf was used to. Being a prostitute, men never treated her with gentleness or kindness of any type. They were always out for a good night and that was all. Part of her enjoyed the way Meridian treated her, but another was terrified. She had to remind herself not to let herself get carried away in the moment. She had already revealed too much on herself and, in doing so, reached out to the beautiful half-elf in front of her. They had gone from a simple one night stand to a sort of companionship. And if she didn’t watch herself...
Despite her worries, she kept the kind smile on her face and turned to gather her clothes. Taking a cue from Cebina, Meridian gathered up his scattered clothing and began to dress as well.
Meridian was feeling good. There was a fire in his heart, both for this new dark elf and for the resolution of his mission that would surely be coming soon. Now he felt he had more of a purpose in his life beyond his vengeance and merely surviving, even if that new purpose was a much larger vengeance scheme. Fully dressed again, Meridian tossed his cloak over his shoulders, though leaving the hood down. There was a new confidence in his composure, he was standing tall, his eyes met hers when he spoke to her, and the meekness was gone from his voice. It wasn’t a complete transformation, but there were obvious signs of his growth overnight. “Let’s get some breakfast,” he suggested as she finished dressing.
Cebina finished dressing, bringing her cloak up around her shoulders when Meridian spoke again. By then she had gotten her composure back. She noticed how Meridian stood with much more confidence now, and she was very pleased with that. She grinned at the half-elf, showing that she was happy with what she saw, then finally brought the cloak up over her head to hide her dark skin. She didn’t like having to hide what she was, but she still wasn’t sure how the townspeople would react to a dark elf. It was not that she was afraid, she just didn’t feel like being bothered with the subject at the moment. For now, she just wanted to enjoy the morning. Maybe she would change her mind later if her mood changed. She opened the door of their room and walked down the stairs, towards an empty table.
Meridian followed Cebina down to the common room and joined her at the table she picked out. The smell of cooking food suddenly made his stomach growl. He never ate much, and at times, often missed meals for a day or two at a time. That didn’t mean he wasn’t looking forward to a hearty breakfast for once. As the pair sat down, a barmaid bustled over to them.
“You two need somethin’ to eat?” she asked. As she waited for her response, her eyes wandered over them. The look she gave the hooded Cebina was suspicious, and she couldn’t seem to figure out if Meridian was male or female, as usual, but her eyes still lingered on him.
“Yeah, just whatever you have on the stove,” Meridian replied, ordering for himself. At his masculine voice, the barmaid seemed vaguely surprised now that her question was answered.
Turning her attention to Cebina, the barmaid asked, “Same for you miss?”
Cebina grimaced under her hood at the suspicious look the barmaid gave her. It was to be expected, but she knew that it would have been even worst had she not been hiding what she was. She smile returned, however, as she suppressed a giggle at the surprised look on the woman’s face as Meridian spoke.
“That would be wonderful, dear,” Cebina answered the barmaid happily, “I hope it’s something good. We worked up quite an appetite last night.”
Meridian had a hard time restraining a smirk at that. The barmaid turned away with a raised eyebrow, obviously catching Cebina’s hint. Momentarily, the woman returned with two plates of eggs, ham, and bread for the pair. Meridian began to eat almost as soon as the plate was in front of him. It had been a long time since he ate food this fresh, and he enjoyed every bite.
Cebina paused and stared as Meridian immediately began to eat the food that was given to him and wondered when the last time was that he had eaten something. She shrugged it off, not really caring what the answer was and set to work on her own plate of delicious food. She was quite hungry herself. Having eaten nothing but rations for the past few days, it was nice to have a good meal like this.
“So,” she spoke up, “What did you want to do after this? Are we going straight to Ales or stopping somewhere first along the way? I’m getting a little short on coin so I don’t think another night at an inn will be possible unless I stop and work my magic for a bit along the way.”
“It’s about two days walk from here,” Meridian replied, taking a break from his ravenous eating. “I had to camp out overnight when I left, but there was a village along the way that I think I had an inn.”
“I should have enough rations to last that long, so we’ll see how things are going when we get there,” Cebina concluded and went back to eating the food in front of her.
She was silent through the rest of the meal, thinking on Meridian’s offer to help her hunt down the men who had shamed her. Until now, that goal had been very distant in her head. It was something she had always told herself she would do, but never something she actively thought of until now. She looked forward to seeing those men get what they deserved, but at the same time she was terrified. Running into them was probably the biggest thing she feared, although she hid that fear exceptionally well. She still had nightmares of them hunting her down and punishing her for her disobedient behavior. The dark elf had managed to escape them once in her early slavery years, and they had somehow managed to find her and force her back. If it was just one or two men to go up against, she would have killed them long ago, but these people had the numbers to raid and pillage fairly large villages. It wasn’t a group to blindly attack without the proper strength and planning.
Meridian finished his breakfast shortly before Cebina finished her own, and he refrained from the temptation to lick his plate clean. After all, he still wanted to keep Cebina impressed. She seemed to be deep in thought as she ate, but he didn’t want to ask what was on her mind. Honestly, he wanted to be on the road; crowds always made him uncomfortable, after all. “Shall we go?” he asked after she finished.
Cebina was pulled out of her thoughts as Meridian spoke. She nodded and stood up from her chair, even though she had been hoping to just sit and relax a bit longer. It didn’t bother her too much though, once they were out of the town she wouldn’t have to hide under her hood anymore, and she was looking forward to that.
