Cold and Broken

[Maegwen Isbeth Vasser]

Cold. It was so cold. Though she had lost feeling in much of her body some time ago she could still feel the biting chill as wind and ice tore at her clothing. How long had she been out there? Wandering in what might as well have been a frozen wasteland? For all she knew she was walking in circles in the courtyard of her own home and come spring Melchiah would discover her frozen body lying amongst the roses.

So poetic, wasn't it?

Time was no longer consequential in Maegwen's mind. It didn't matter if it was going forwards or backwards, fast or slow or if it had stopped entirely. It was as useful to her as breathing was for Grayson. Who cared if she'd been out for two hours or two days? There was no denying how tired she was. She was spent mentally, physically and emotionally.

"Live with your guilt."

Your guild.

She stumbled over something hidden in the snow and tumbled into the snow. Portions of her body not yet numb trembled at the invasion of cold through her clothing. Over the sound of her blood pounding in vain in her ears and the wind whipping at her hair and clothing she could hear someone sobbing.

It took her a long moment to realize that she was the one crying. It amazed her because she hadn't believed there were any more tears left to cry.

"I'm sorry, Grayson," she choked out her throat dry and her voice hoarse. "I'm so sorry. I loved you so much and now... now..." her throat clogged with emotion and she fell silent as she slowly pulled herself to her hands and knees. Beneath her she could feel the rocky ground and something else barely discernible beneath near frozen fingertips. Tree roots. There was a tree nearby, it would offer some shelter from the weather and a place to rest her back. She could curl up, close her eyes and never worry about a thing.

It didn't take her long to find the tree though it felt as though an eternity passed her by. With stiffening joints she pulled herself up to lean heavily against the rough, icy bark. Almost instantly the wind ceased and she found protection from the elements. With her legs unable to support her weight she slid down the length of the tree until she was sitting on the ground. Closing her eyes she thought of happier moments, warmer moments. The fire crackling in her hearth, the blankets piled high on her bed waiting for the moment when she'd crawl in between them. Was Melchiah looking for her? Did he know she'd even left? Perhaps he thought she was in her room, mourning Grayson's death.

Wouldn't he be surprised when he discovered the truth? Found her missing? Would he feel regret or remorse for his actions? It wasn't likely.

Feeling the wind biting at her again she shifted positions, using the side of the tree for support. Offering up most of her weight to it she began to shift only to have her hand slip out from under her. She tumbled forward quick suddenly, her head striking something hidden beneath the blanket of snow. The pain was sharp, fiery and she gave into the blackness clawing at the edges of her vision.

If this was the end she would do nothing to stop it.

[Melchiah Bryant Vasser]

With his ever faithful butler cleaning up, Melchiah went on about his day as though he hadn't just slain two men. The halls were empty, quiet. Unusual for this time of day. His brow furrowed in contemplation. Something was amiss. Perhaps they heard the gun shot and fled? Unlikely, given the fact that Melchiah would some times leave his study guns a blazing in a fit of drunkenness. They were most likely used to it by now. Something else had to be keeping them from their work.

Further down the hall his question was answered. A rush of fridge air sent his arms wrapping around his chest. He grunted.

Like a flock of curious birds, a group of servants had gathered around the open door. They whispered among themselves, but none had bothered to venture after Maegwen thus far. Melchiah smirked, creeping closer in silence. When he was upon the he spoke, abrupt and jolting.

"You better have a wonderfully captivating explanation for keeping the door open in this cold." Two of the three ladies practically leapt from their skin. A pot boy swooned backward. The young man hit the floor like a sack of bricks. Melchiah glanced down, rolled his eyes, then stepped over the boy. " As I was say....what are you all gawking at?"

"Your sister Sir. She's run away. We lost sight of her in the snow." The woman pointed sheepishly out the door." You must go after her. She could get lost Sir."

The wind whipped past the door, bringing a cascade of snow and blurred vision beyond. The biting cold made Melchiah squint." Damnit Maegwen," he said threw clenched teeth. " Get me a torch." He demeaned.

The servant woman nodded and slipped away, quick to return with a flint in one hand, a charred torch in the other. She struck the flint, sparks caught fire, then flame slowly licked its way over the linen wrapped tip.

"Here Sir."

Melchiah snatched it away." Fetch the doctor. I'll return once I find her." He didn't know what to expect. Would she already be dead, if not dying? She didn't stand a chance in her attire. Even more so now that it was soaked in blood. It was suddenly difficult to swallow. Like his throat was constricting. Uneasy feet began his trek into the snow. One final look over his shoulder and he shut the door behind him. He felt his heart sink when he looked out into white nothingness. Melchiah was worried.

"Maegwen!" He called." Maegwen!" His voice more frantic." Bloody hell....where are you?!" By now he was practically running, holding the torch above his line of site.

For what seemed like ages he saw nothing but snow. Any drift could be her fallen body. He cursed, spat, and kept walking.

"Maegwen!"

[Jerreck Serge]

The virgin white snow covered everything within sight, not a single flake was disturbed as far as the eye could see within the vast wilderness. It was something that would leave anything within eye range believing that nothing had walked these paths in some time. But they would have been gravely mistaken, because Jerreck Serge was hidden beneath the snow, patient….completely still….and waiting. Waiting for what, you ask? At first he had been waiting for unsuspecting food to wander by – but instead something else entirely crossed his path. Something he had been looking for, but wasn’t expecting to find quite so suddenly. Some would call it fate, others luck, but Jerreck Serge called it payday.

He didn’t much care why she was walking out in the snow, crying and talking some nonsense to herself. All he knew was that he had been hired to do a job, and his job had just unknowingly fell right into his lap. He liked it when things turned out that way, easier for him. Doing less work for the same pay was always a plus, but his men back at camp needed to eat and it appeared that the young blond woman wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Squinting his eyes to peer through the sheet of snow that covered his face, he slowly – very slowly – pushed himself up, allowing some snow to roll off his back as he moved. Slowly he inched his way forward, his belly scrapping against the snow beneath him.

Jerreck was still someways from the girl – but not what he had come out here to get. A deer quietly stepped through the snow, completely unaware of the stalking predator nearby. Suddenly he struck – silently – deadly. The deer never stood a chance and hadn’t even been aware of his presence until it was too late. Jerreck ripped his dagger from the belly of the deer, turning the snow around him blood red. But now he had a decision to make. Save the girl, or carry the deer. Hm. Quite the dilemma. Mostly considering the men back at the camp were hungry, but he could hardly pass up such an opportunity. So, he silently made his way over to the unconscious woman, wrapped some animal skin around her, scooped her up in his arms and hefted her over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes.

She didn't look too good, and felt ice to the touch. He knew he needed to get her back to the camp before she died on him. Von Drake wanted her alive, and that's exactly how he intended to deliver her. When she was wrapped up and slung over his shoulder, he went back to the deer, grabbed it by it’s hooves and began to drag it behind him as he made his way back in the direction of the camp. Two birds with one stone -- not bad for one night of work, and Von Drake would undoubtedly be happy to see what Jerreck had brought him.

[Maegwen Isbeth Vasser]

Maegwen found herself suspended somewhere between unconsciousness and reality. The dull ache in her head and the numbness of her body kept her from being able to drag herself fully back to awareness. Caught in the dreamlike state she was able to imagine warmth and ignore the biting cold. She was not completely unaware of what was going on around her though she did have this odd sense of detachment. She almost felt as though she weren't herself, as though she wasn't sure what her 'self' was supposed to be anymore.

Who am I?

The thought echoed oddly through her mind before the answer came as though it were carried on the wind, faint and haunting.


"Maegwen!"

It was so distant that she wasn't even sure she'd heard it at first. It barely penetrated the heavy fog that had settled over her, the numbness that became all she knew. Was she this Maegwen person? It felt familiar but for some reason she felt a ripple of apprehension slide through her unmoving form. She felt herself falling again, through darkness, the sound of the whistling wind fading into the background as she sank deeper.

Sleep was disrupted again when she felt herself moving through the air. Was she flying? Was this another dream perhaps? She delighted somewhat in the idea, she'd always wanted to fly, ever since she'd been a little girl. The sudden drop as she was slung over something hard and unyielding prompted a near silent gasp to escape her lips. She struggled to drag herself to the surface of awareness. In her state of semi-consciousness she knew something wasn't right but she didn't know just what it was yet.

Every effort to move, make a sound, anything was met in vain defeat. Her entire body felt heavy, lethargic and aching from the effort to keep blood pumping through her limbs and air pushing in and out of her lungs. Somewhere in her mind she was able to deduce that she was being carried by someone. Who? In her mind she was met with blankness. Not a single thing, not a single clue to hint at any likely possibilities.

In the back of her mind she knew that she had to do something but she didn't have the energy and when she tried to open her eyes to at least see what was happening the sudden influx of light caused pain to lance through her skull nearly causing her to vomit with the sheer ferocity of it. Instead a small whimper escaped her lips, this one more audible than the gasp from earlier but hardly something that could be considered loud by any means.

[Jerreck Serge]

Jerreck had been dragging the deer through the snow with Meg draped over his shoulder when he felt her stir. This did absolutely nothing to deter his plans or make him even halt for the briefest of moments, because he was far too busy walking in circles and onto paths he didn’t plan on actually taking. The deer was leaving a good amount of blood as it trailed behind him, and it was far too cold to wait for it to drain before heading back towards the camp. Besides, the woman who he was carrying had a head injury that needed to be taken care of, and soon. So, he walked in circles and down this path and that until he was sure that if anyone followed in search of her, the only thing they could possibly accomplish was to confuse the ever-loving crap out of themselves.

Once he felt they were a good distance away from where he had found her and had made a good maze of possible ways they could have gone, he dropped the hooves of the deer and carefully set Meg down against a nearby tree. When she was settled, Jerreck unearthed a piece of rope, tied a knot and threw it around the branch of the tree she was up against, then proceeded to tie a knot around the legs of the deer. He secured the rope around the base of the tree and hoisted the deer up, allowing the blood to drain quickly as he tended to his wounded …..companion. Quietly he began to rummage around with the items he had attached to his belt and in his pockets. Within a matter of seconds he had unearthed a couple of rags and a homemade form of ointment he had concocted earlier that day to help one of his men with a wound they had sustained. It smelled horrible and stung like nobody’s business, but it got the job done.

He smeared the ointment onto one of the rags, laying it on thick before he pressed it against her head-wound and began to clean it, knowing full well that if she was even remotely conscious it would sting like hell. But he hardly cared; she was wounded and needed to get it taken care of. Once he felt it was clean enough for now, he quickly took the other rag, rolled it tight and wrapped it around her head, knotting it to keep the ointment-soiled rag place firmly over the wound. He then began rubbing her hands, cupping them in his and blowing on them lightly. She needed to stay warm, and the animal skin was helping but she wasn’t as warm as he would have liked. Jerreck began to rub the sides of her arms and her feet, trying to bring the warmth back to them, knowing that if she woke up during this frisk-down, he'd get a kick to the face - or she'd at least *try* and undoubtedly fail at such a violent gesture. He was far too fast for her to actually kick and have it connect, but he wouldn't put it past her to try..

[Melchiah Bryant Vasser]

" Fucking hell it's cold! Where are you!?" Melchiah wrapped his arms around his chest as best he could while holding the burning torch. He hadn't realized just how much he hated the snow until now. Was he yards from the house? Miles? Every sense of direction or distance was stolen by the weather before him.

Then, he saw something. A dark wisp in a gray and white veil. A tree perhaps? Holding the light overhead he pressed further. The tree branches reached out at him before he realized just how close he was. He ducked, moving closer still. A frustrated grunt. No sign of Maegwen. Where in blazes did she get off to so quickly? And in a dress? Clearly he had underestimated what a woman was capable of in such attire. Well, Maegwen was no doubt still being powered by anger, and even he could relate to how motivating that was. A glance down had his thoughts brought to a halt.

The ground was disturbed.

A glimmer of hope gave him a burst of strength, but only long enough to see the maze before him. His knuckles turned white from his grip around his waning torch. Footprints were everywhere. Melchiah knelt down to closer examine the tracks. Boots? Brow furrowing he placed his hand along side one of the foot prints. Far to big to be Maegwen's, even if she were wearing boots. Between the howling wind and the relentless snow it made it hard to tell how much, if any, struggle had taken place.

"Damn girl. What have you gotten yourself into this time?" He muttered to himself. Word of Grayson wouldn't have traveled quickly enough for this to be a result of that. Who else had a grudge against him? The list of how didn't was shorter. Hmm, more complicated to narrow it down than he would have liked.

He had to get back to the house. Each passing moment was dire. Whomever had been brave, no...... stupid enough to trespass here and take his sister was a dead man.

Back in his study, Melchiah was raging. His risen voice could be heard from outside, and he household staff was doing their best to avoid the whole east wing of the house for fear of crossing his path.

"No one steals from me!" He slammed his fist into his desk. "No one!" Spoken as though someone had just stolen a horse, or perhaps his better silverware, Melchiah began to pace the length of his desk. "Gather whomever is capable. Begin a search party. Span out here, here, and here." He pressed his finger to points of the map on his desk. "I want this province combed before dawn. No one sleeps until she is found. Do I make myself clear?"

The guard gave a single nod." Yes Sir. Myself, nor my men will fail you."

"See to it that your statement remains true. You know how I feel about failure." The black of his eyes seemed to darken further. As if resonating his fury.

" I want his person alive. If they are returned dead....." His voice deepened, his left hand rising to point a finger toward the guard.
" You will take their place."

[Maegwen Isbeth Vasser]

Everything was a sort of blur in Meg's mind as whatever she was riding shifted and moved beneath her. Each step the unknown creature took sent a jolt of pain racing to her head where it exploded in a continuous display of fireworks that made her cringe inwardly. All she could do as she drifted about somewhere on the cusp of awareness but still lingering in the world of unconsciousness was suffer in silence and hope that blessed blackness would steal over her again and rid her of the pain.

The darkness did come again but it went just as quickly, rushing in and out like waves against the sand, leaving her head spinning as it tried to focus on something beside the now dull ache in her skull.

She was in one of those periods of blessed darkness when the mysterious creature she'd been riding set her down on the ground and propped her up against a tree. Somewhere in the back of her fogged mind she connected 'strange creature' with 'man' and the panic that should have arisen from such a revelation remained dormant beneath the more pressing need of suppressing the spikes of pain lancing through her head as pressure was placed against where the cause of all the grief must've been. It was so sudden that she let out a sharp gasp of pain and surprise and fresh tears sprung to her eyes. Even through the intense stinging, however, she could feel the ache in her head began to lessen. She wasn't entirely sure she liked the thought of giving up one pain for another but it seemed she didn't have a choice.

It wasn't until she felt hands rubbing against her frozen skin that forced herself from the haze that had clung to her like heavy weights. Her hands, her feet, her arms, all of it being touched, rubbed, in a way that had her feeling quite uneasy. Someone would be very, very angry about this but when she tried to think of who the thought disappeared into a fog of obscurity. She protested in her own way, though she was hardly strong enough to kick the man she did try to pull whatever appendage he presently held away while trying to crawl, because walking seemed impossible at the moment, away from the offending hands.

"N-n-n-no," she whimpered, her teeth chattering so badly she barely got the word out.