Character Castle 2.0
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The man who’s helping to rescue her is Locran, and the puppy-dog follower is his devoted Daire
Ummmm…. Is it crazy to say that I’m fangirling a little bit because finally FINALLY, I find someone who understands the many hidden virtues of my beloved Lorcan ??!! This scene is so perfect, I was like YAASSSS GO GET EM BABY, I’M SO PROUD OF YOU! I’m like a proud momma now😭😭😭
And puppy is so correct for Daire HAHAHA🤣🤣
Lorcan
That auburn haired girl was what snapped him out of his blank daze.
Lorcan saw the girl’s eyes widen, her mouth in an O shape as if to say no, get away from here! His gut tightened. She was close to the dragon. Too close.
Daire that blasted idiot was still chatting away, oblivious to the unfolding situation.
The dragon’s tail wrapped around her body like a snake, lifting her effortlessly off of the ground. She was struggling to breathe, her eyes fluttering.
Lorcan didn’t need to think this through. He was already moving with determination towards her, picking up speed as the thoughts of Yila’s broken body erupted in his mind. Never again. Never was he going to allow someone to die on his watch. He launched into the shadows and landed next to the girl. Up close, he could see her sweating, panic in her eyes as she took him in.
Unsheathing his sword, he hacked ruthlessly at the dragon’s tale, his face twisted with grim intent. The metal of his blade was hibernium, the rarest and most durable metal in existence. It was what was used to forge three of the Sacred Treasures of Éire. His blades had never failed him. And they wouldn’t now.
He refused to panic. He set his thoughts aside, and focused only on freeing the girl. His blade cut into the dragon’s scales.
The girl let out a silent scream as the dragon blasted blue fire at Klein who had moved to attack it. Then it turned its mighty head towards Lorcan.
Crap. He only worked faster, muscles contracting furiously as determination twisting his expression. He refused to give up.
Lorcan felt the blue flames hit him. Extreme heat sent sweat running down his spine, but otherwise did nothing to him. He had dealt with dragons before. He always came prepared.
The girl struggled, then flopped, her eyes sliding closed.
No no no. Lorcan opened his mouth to yell at her to stay with him.
Then something rock hard collided with his body, his head. The air was knocked from his lungs as he was thrown roughly onto the ground. The shock of the strike didn’t stop him from halting his fall by throwing his arms out, his palms coming down hard against the stone floor beneath him. In doing so, he prevented his head from slamming onto the ground. Super strength didn’t necessarily mean he couldn’t suffer concussions too. And now wasn’t the time for minor head injuries.
He groaned, already feeling the burning pain of broken ribs in his torso. He would worry about that later.
He leapt to his feet, his lips pulling back from his teeth in a snarl. The girl had properly fainted now, her head lolling like a rag doll in the dragon’s grasp. The dragon roared at him, blue flames shooting towards him. They scorched his skin, but he pushed his feet forwards.
And idea manifested in his head. It was a risk but… His gaze flickered towards the girl suspended in the dragon’s grasp. She looked small and helpless. His chest constricted. It was now or never.
Lorcan picked up his sword from where he had dropped it, and strode right towards him, ignoring the flames roaring at his feet. His second sword slid out from his sleeve as he picked up speed, his gaze on the monster before him. He knew that cold rage was simmering in his eyes, because he could feel it running in his veins.
His heart thrummed, and he took a deep steady breath before vanishing into darkness.
He reappeared suspended above the dragon’s head, using every power in his muscles to spin with furious momentum, his blades brutally striking the dragon dead in its eyes as he let out a battle cry. His aim was precise, as always.
The dragon let out a blood curdling roar, the sound of it causing the earth to shake. Lorcan used the moment of surprise to teleport back to the girl, adrenaline pumping in his veins as he roared, his spinning blades slashing with all the strength he had into the dragon’s tail, which was beginning to lift with terrible speed.
He only cut less than halfway into the flesh. But it was enough. He had cut through the nerves because the tail went completely slack. The girl dropped. His chest heaved as he caught her in his arms, one hand braced on the back of her neck to prevent whiplash as he teleported away from the monster and reappeared a safe distance away.
He laid her onto the ground, checking her pulse. Still alive. He let out a breath, his head bowing briefly in thanks.
“Look after her,” he growled to no one in particular. “If she dies, you’ve got another one coming. Do you hear me?”
Without waiting for an answer, he pulled away, striding with determination towards the flailing dragon
_
Omygoodness that was soo long, sorry guys😂😂
This is a bit of a battle frenzy moment for Lorcan, which almost never happens, he usually keeps his emotions in check. But well, he’s sort of angry at everything at the moment what with poor Yila and Daire speeding into his life for no particular reason… So in a way, it should be rather disconcerting to watch for the rest of the characters 🙂
Ohhhh, lots of fun stuff going on! I’m going to make Aydin, Liorah, and Chantara vanish in a puff of glitter because I don’t know how to take them out XD
I’m going to drop in Mejt because I love her and I know nothing about her XD
She’s going to have fun with these events…
Okay, for context, she lives in a vaguely Mediterranean vaguely 1700s fantasy setting with no magic or fantasy creatures. (It might actually be Liorah’s world but like two hundred years later and a different country XD)
Okay, let’s go!
Name: Mejt (Prounounced May-et) Often goes by May.
Age: Ummm, idk? I think about 18, but that might change.
Appearance: About 5’8″, plus-sized, so pretty curvy. Light blonde curly hair (About 3a if that rings a bell for anyone XD) blue/green/gray eyes. Very light skin.
She’s wearing lower-class/peasant clothes, in plain colors (Faded blues and green, I think) Long skirt, petticoats, long sleeves.
Personality: Ummm, I don’t know… anything… she tends to be secretive and bitter about a lot of things, that’s all I know XD This is why she’s here, I have no clue XD
Notes: She wasn’t born in the country she lives now, she moved from a vaguely Scandinavian country when she was really young. There’s a lot more background about this but suffice it to say they weren’t exactly welcome. She’s good at accents and will mask her own. She’s a seamstress and plays the violin. Her father is a lighthouse-keeper so they’ve always lived near the sea.
I have no idea how this is going to go, so let’s see ig XD I’ll try to write her tomorrow!
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
Remind me to never get on Lorcan’s bad side. xD
KHALON
Conroy was gone. He had just…disappeared.
“Well, thanks for that at least,” I muttered to the castle. Now, with my conscience satisfied, I turned to make my well-deserved exit when I found that the door was conveniently gone. There was only hard stone wall.
“You have got to be kidding me,” I groaned.
Lorcan, Darie, and Klein were charging the dragon. Well, Lorcan and Klein were at least. Daire was getting in the way. I backed up against the wall. They seemed to have everything covered.
“Ugh, you’re supposed to fight! Why do you think I took the door away? You char-people can be really thick sometimes,” a quiet voice around me grumbled.
Before I could register that the walls were talking, a sword materialized at my feet. It was my sword.
“How on earth…”
“Just take it and fight already!” the voice said, louder this time.
I glanced up and saw that the dragon was dying. Lorcan’s doing.
“Guess I missed out on the fight. Too bad,” I said cheerily.
The dragon’s throat began to glow red. Steam poured out from its nostrils. It was going to burn us all.
“Guess you arrived just in time,” the voice chuckled.
Lorcan was bent over the tail, hacking at it with his sword. There was a…princess? I shook my head. Now was not the time to be wondering how she got here.
I edged behind the dragon. It was too preoccupied with dying to notice me. Lorcan had managed to free the girl and was now charging towards the dragon. The dragon opened its mouth and blasted him with flames. I shoved aside my horror. Now was the time to act.
I leapt onto the dragons back and scrambled up its spines. The dragon violently shook itself. I was a flea that it needed to rid itself of.
“Come on, come on,” I strained through gritted teeth. I hunkered close to its body. It was then that I realized that I had no strategy on how to kill it. I hissed in annoyance but continued climbing. I’d come up with something. I reached its head and dug by sword into its skin, gripping it with all my strength.
I scanned the room in hopes of finding anything that could kill a dragon. Nothing. The dragon swung its head. At least it wasn’t trying to burn everyone. Why didn’t it just die already? The dragon shook its head more vigorously. There was nothing I could do but hang on. The dragon was getting dangerously close to the wall. It was going to slam its head against it soon. I braced myself for the blow.
“Wait a…” I murmured sitting up. “Hey dragon! I’m over here! Over here! Hello!” I yelled, bending over its face.
The dragon roared and lunged in the direction of my voice. It collided headfirst with the wall. It roared weakly and stumbled back. Its head began to sway. Its flames came in small, short bursts. It slumped against the wall. It was fading, but it was still alive. And if it was still alive, it was still a threat. A threat I had no idea how to kill.
Over to you!
Klein heard the second dragon. No time to mourn the dead. Picking up the warhammer, Klein face the new opponent. This one was a little smaller than the first dragon. But this one also had a hostage as Klein could see. She was also chained. The dragon was coiling its tail about the column too. Killing the dragon risked crushing her. Freeing her risked a prolonged battle with the dragon. Lorcan moved first.
A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week. Klein rushed the dragon. He would try to draw its attention for a few seconds. It was risky. The draconic fire was an unknown. Klein suspected it was a flammable gas as there was no leftover flame. If so, his armor could theoretically take a hit or two. Before he could think it out any further, a flash of flame engulfed him. In seconds, the surface of his armor rose a couple hundred degrees before the cooling system tamed the rise. Fortunately, his rifle and its ammo was in an armored sleeve on his back or it would have cooked off.
“That’s hot man!” yelled Klein as he pressed forward.
Then the dragon switched to attack Lorcan. It let out a second jet of flame that Lorcan seemed to deflect while he worked at amputating the dragon’s tail. Undeterred, the dragon lunged to bite him. Klein quickly threw the warhammer at it jaws. The impact adjusted the trajectory from a full bite to a crushing impact. Not the best but certainly better.
“Over here you colossal fossil!”
Klein picked up a spear this time. He would have to feint a bit. The spear ricocheted off the neck scales disappearing into the cavern depths. Snapping around, the dragon opened its mouth as a golden glow appeared. Jumping, Klein ran toward a column stump.
“Catch me if you can (expletive).”
Snatching another spear from the ground, Klein stopped when the dragon gave a terrible howl. Lorcan was slashing deep into its neck before teleporting to the now rescued girl. It was now open season. Doubling back, Klein grabbed a hammer and short javelin. Leaping onto the reptile’s back, he fought for balance. Someone else was climbing up. Klein paid no attention. The dragon knew it was crippled and was fighting death it knew was coming. The longer he took, the more likely the dragon would win. Thrusting the javelin into the open wound, Klein struck its shaft with the hammer. It stuck hard on the spinal cord. Klein was thrown from the dragon’s back as all spasms stopped and the beast fell.
The Devil saw me with my head down and got excited. Then I said Amen
Ummmm…. Is it crazy to say that I’m fangirling a little bit because finally FINALLY, I find someone who understands the many hidden virtues of my beloved Lorcan ??!! This scene is so perfect, I was like YAASSSS GO GET EM BABY, I’M SO PROUD OF YOU! I’m like a proud momma now😭😭😭 And puppy is so correct for Daire HAHAHA
Yay! I’m so happy I wrote it okay. I was mentally yowalling the whole time like “Owowhow, I hope this isn’t totally wrong–I hope she likes it owbowow”). Honestly, I love Locran. Every time I think about him another piece of me melts a little bit. He’s just so–I don’t have the words, and I shall likewise fall to fangirling. 😀 Shall we do it together? Plus his name! I like names, too, though more the aesthetics/sound than the meaning, and I love Locran’s name. It just fits him. Is it real, btw?
@inkhorn @rusted-knight and Neasa, Nice work: the beast be dead.Inkhorn, I love how your quote is on dragons, and here’s Kahlon fighting one.
Rusted Knight
“Over here you colossal fossil!”
made me smile. I have the idea that there’s more to Klein than meets the eye.
Mejt sounds so cool! I love it that she’s part Scandinavian (so am I!) and I can’t wait to see what she’ll do with this insanity–er ahem! Character Castle.
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore!"
https://silverpenstrokes.wordpress.comHaha don’t worry I’ll drop little reminders here and there 😂
Yay! I’m so happy I wrote it okay. I was mentally yowalling the whole time like “Owowhow, I hope this isn’t totally wrong–I hope she likes it owbowow”). Honestly, I love Locran. Every time I think about him another piece of me melts a little bit. He’s just so–I don’t have the words, and I shall likewise fall to fangirling. 😀 Shall we do it together? Plus his name! I like names, too, though more the aesthetics/sound than the meaning, and I love Locran’s name. It just fits him. Is it real, btw?
Aww do you mean it?! That makes me so so happy that you feel that way😃🥲 and did i read that right, YOU MELT A LITTLE BIT?!!!!😭😭 my friends, i am doing something that i am proud of for once😜
Your reaction is exactly what i intended with Lorcan yassss😆 we shall fangirl together girl cause at the moment I‘m the only one in the Lorcan fanclub and its a little bit embarrassing…😜
Aesthetically oh yes it totally suits him, im pleased you think so! And yes Lorcan is a real name, in fact its quite a common one at the moment in Ireland. Chances are if you talk to an Irish person, they will know at least one Lorcan. Like when I told a friend of mine about him it sorta went like this:
Me: I have this amazing new character, he’s cool, good looking, mysterious and his name his Lorcan-
Irish Farmer Friend: Oh cool my second cousin is called Lorcan.
If I ever pluck up the courage to make reels, there’s a tonne of ideas I have for Lorcan memes…😊
we shall fangirl together girl cause at the moment I‘m the only one in the Lorcan fanclub and its a little bit embarrassing…
Pffft, excuse me?? I’ve been in the Lorcan fanclub ever since he and Liorah started squabbling like the two horrible little gremlins they are! XD
If I ever pluck up the courage to make reels, there’s a tonne of ideas I have for Lorcan memes…
*Happy gasp* DO ITTTT!!!! I have so many random audios saved because they sound like Liorah and one day I want to actually draw them but I simply do not have the motivation XD I’d LOVE to see Lorcan reels, he’s too hilarious already!
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
Also I’ve been toying with the idea of having more fantasy creatures in this world… we’ll see how it goes, so just don’t be startled when I mention some XD I had an idea of massive bioluminescent dragons that live underwater. They aren’t hostile, but they’re huge and potentially dangerous, just because of their size, like whales. I kinda love the idea XD
Mejt
The cave was dim, but massive. What? There weren’t any caves in the area, how had I gotten here?
I stood and looked around, frowning. What was this? Was I dreaming? Probably.
On the far side of the cave, there was someone, something. A pile of writhing scales, surrounded by people who crawled over it like ants. It looked like they were killing the creature.
What was it? Was it dangerous? The people were shouting and scrambling. Green blood covered the floor, slick and slimy. That didn’t look healthy. They hadn’t seen me yet.
Most of them appeared to men, some in armor. A snippet of bright blue velvet caught my eye. A girl, in a bright blue dress. She was completely limp, slumped against the thrashing, writhing scales. That didn’t look safe, and nobody else was there to help.
My hair tumbled loose around my shoulders like it did when I was home. I couldn’t let anyone see me like this, what would they think of me?
(in the country where she lives now loose hair is seen as inappropriate, but in her home country it isn’t. Just for context XD)
I fumbled in my pocket and pulled out hairpins. I twisted up my hair and pinned it in place. I shook my head, making sure it was firmly stuck.
I tucked the hem of my outer petticoat in at the waist, so I could run more freely. I ran across the cave, skidding to a stop next to the girl. The dragon was huge, men swarmed over and around it, but it seemed to be dying.
The girl was slight and as pale as moonlight. She looked ill, and chains secured her wrists. I pulled out one of my hairpins and picked at the lock. I’d never done this before, but it was easier than I’d thought it would be. The girl slumped once the support was gone. I looped an arm around her waist and half helped, half carried her away from the thrashing beast.
I put her down against one of the walls, well out of reach of anything the dragon could do. Her dress told me she was a noble, which made everything far more awkward. I had the urge to draw back and disappear, but she might need me.
She stirred but hadn’t opened her eyes yet. I knelt next to her, not sure what else to do.
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
Aww do you mean it?! That makes me so so happy that you feel that way😃🥲 and did i read that right, YOU MELT A LITTLE BIT?!!!!😭😭 my friends, i am doing something that i am proud of for once😜
You doubted? Lorcan is a great guy! (Just tell me you make him at least an anti-hero if not actually a hero in your story. Please, please, please! okay, you don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to.)
Your reaction is exactly what i intended with Lorcan yassss😆 we shall fangirl together girl cause at the moment I‘m the only one in the Lorcan fanclub and its a little bit embarrassing…😜 Aesthetically oh yes it totally suits him, im pleased you think so! And yes Lorcan is a real name, in fact its quite a common one at the moment in Ireland.
Now we can have three (including Rose) in the Lorcan fanclub.
huh…I’ve never heard it before. Is it said how it looks (Lore-can)?
…that moment when you realize you’ve been mispelling someone’s character’s name. *groan because I know what it feels like*. Really though, idk if it’s spell check or what, but people usually call Quin Quinn… and I have a character named Avin and I can just forget about him ever being said or spelled right lol. serves me well for making up an outlandish name. XD
Me: I have this amazing new character, he’s cool, good looking, mysterious and his name his Lorcan- Irish Farmer Friend: Oh cool my second cousin is called Lorcan.
lol!
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore!"
https://silverpenstrokes.wordpress.comIsella
She opened her eyes. The world spun once or twice and finally came to a standstill.
Her lungs and ribs ached from the pressure of the dragon’s tail and lack of air, but when she tried to inhale she found she could breathe. But with breathing came the horrible smell of the dragon. She glanced carefully around.
The dragon’s tail was gone, and she realized that she was leaning against something. Something hard. Her hair was in her face again. she lifted her hands carefully, but no chain rattled on her wrist. She risked another look around, but could see almost nothing in the darkness around her.
She tried to turn her head, but fragments of light and shade stabbed at her eyes, and her stomach rolled. She groaned.
Fainting twice in a day isn’t recommended.
There was one good thing about it, though. While she was unconscious she couldn’t feel the pulsing. It was going on now, incessantly, as it always had and always would. Underneath the lighter, shorter pricks as babies were born.
She smiled. If only it were just people being born that she could feel!
But sharper and more forceful, overriding the light tingling sensation, was the ever-present hammering in her veins: one prick each for someone leaving time, though out every age of of the world that had been or would be.
as her eyes grew used to the darkness of the cave she saw at the other end a heap of…people. One of them stirred, but underneath was one that was motionless.
Her stomach churned again, and this time it wasn’t an effect of fainting.
That person there, lying on the ground–that body. She had felt them die. She closed her eyes. there had been a sharper prick–almost a stab–before the fight with the dragon began, just as she was regaining consciousness the first time.
“It was them.”
“What?”
Isella jumped at the brusque feminine voice so close to her. She risked the nausea to look around. A well-set woman, hardly more than a girl, stood a little to her right, between her and the place she had been chained. Beyond her the body of the dragon lay on the ground, quivering, it’s green blood staining the floor and causing the whole cave to reek.
The girl had wispy blonde hair, so light that it seemed to glow faintly in the darkness of the cave. She was pretty–would have been almost beautiful if she didn’t have a look of fear and regret or bitterness that seeped through her sea-green grey eyes. They were only a little more green then Isella’s.
Isella tried to smile at her, but the effect must have been ghastly, because the girl stepped back.
“Who are you?” Isella’s voice rasped with pain and thirst. she was still sweating from the heat of the dragon, and wondered vaguely if her bodice was singed where the brute’s tail had clasped.
The girl seemed less at ease now than before Isella had spoken. She longed to say something to comfort her, but she was too tired. She leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes. her lips mouthed the word, “Water.”
She opened her eyes and asked properly, “Do you have water? please.” Then her eyes rolled back.
No, don’t faint again. It will just make you feel worse.
Her eyes lolled back, threatening to drag her into unconsciousness or delirium.
She tried to think of something, anything. Then it flashed across her mind: That man. Where is he?
She forced her eyes open, but she couldn’t see him. Had the reeking blue flames killed him instead of her?
she let her eyes drift across the room. He’s very handsome. she thought with a coolness that most girls would have either envied or despised. All her eyes landed on was the girl, and it occurred to her that she had helped Isella escape.
She formed the words “thank you”, but they stuck in her dry throat.
Unconsciousness pulled so strongly that she was running out of energy to resist. It would be so much simpler. Her eyes drifted closed and she forced them open again.
“Where’s Cirian?”
nevermind your horse! You’re about to permanently faint!
But had the dragon got him?
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore!"
https://silverpenstrokes.wordpress.comAww do you mean it?! That makes me so so happy that you feel that way😃🥲 and did i read that right, YOU MELT A LITTLE BIT?!!!!
What’s not to love about a man who is tall, strong, handsome, and regretting his past? I mean, really! This guy has had me around his little finger since I first stepped into the castle. 🙂
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore!"
https://silverpenstrokes.wordpress.com(weeping massive crocodile tears of sorrow.) Sniff. Sniff. I wrote like an hour worth of cool stuff, and it’s all gone. I got logged out some reason. (tear drop).
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried. ~ G.K.C.
Aw, man! That is so depressing! :'( I’ve had similar things happen. SE secretly hates us and often tries to destroy our posts. Maybe next time you could try copying it every so often as you write, so if it disappears you can paste it back in and keep going. (SE is foiled and it’s such a wonderful feeling of revenge–ahem, relief).
Also, welcome to the Castle!
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore!"
https://silverpenstrokes.wordpress.com(weeping massive crocodile tears of sorrow.) Sniff. Sniff. I wrote like an hour worth of cool stuff, and it’s all gone. I got logged out some reason. (tear drop).
Oh noooo!!!! It’s happened to all of us, we call it the SE gremlins who eat the posts XD It’s horrible, especially when you spent a long time on it!
Maybe next time you could try copying it every so often as you write, so if it disappears you can paste it back in and keep going. (SE is foiled and it’s such a wonderful feeling of revenge–ahem, relief).
I second Emily’s advice! That’s what I always do, and it’s saved me really often!
And welcome to the Castle! Do you need any explanation on what’s going on/characters/rules/anything else?
It’s great fun, I think you’ll like it! We break the fourth wall every few pages, miraculously restore our characters whenever we torture them a bit too much and “plot” goes on, and when anything gets boring we have a dragon fall from the sky XD
It might help if you post a character profile! I think I have an example for one of mine on this page or the previous one…
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
Mejt
The girl opened her eyes. She wasn’t more than a girl, not much older than I was (Is that right, I don’t think you posted her age?)
Her eyes were green and looked wild, troubled. She shifted, slowly, painfully, as though everything hurt. It probably did.
For the first time, I really had the chance to see her. She wore a silver coronet, a necklace of sea-tears, and her gown was shimmering gray, like the billows of spray that broke on rocks. Her sash and the insides of her dress were deep blue, like the depths of the sea.
I recoiled, almost instinctively. She was a noble. She wasn’t like me. The deep, rooted bitterness curled around me. It was her kind’s fault. Everything was.
“It was them,” the girl mumbled. Her voice rasped.
“What?” I said, rather brusquely. She had startled me, and besides that, I was considering whether I should have left her there. People like her always had others running to take care of them. She didn’t need another servant, and I wasn’t volunteering to bow and scrape for her more than absolutely required. I wouldn’t have a choice eventually but I wouldn’t do it a second sooner than needed.
The girl turned toward me, surprise in her unfocused gaze. She looked me up and down, her eyes trailing over me with the easy confidence of someone who was just a little too comfortable judging others.
I refused to look straight at her. That was the way it was supposed to be. I shouldn’t look directly at anyone so far above me. I hated it.
“Who are you?” the girl rasped.
When someone like that asked, you answered.
“My name is May, Delya,” I said, attaching the ambiguous title of respect. I didn’t know her rank, so this would have to do for now.
I twisted my vowels and forced my consonants, forcing my voice into an almost perfect accent. Perhaps lower-class, as fitting to my station, but not foreign. That’s all it needed to be.
The girl leaned back against the rock, apparently exhausted. Now she had turned away I could look back at her. She was pretty, but most nobles were. Somehow, their higher birth gave them everything they wanted, even beauty.
“Do you have water? Please,” the girl managed, though she was now even paler than before. Sudden worry pricked through my resentment. Perhaps she was a noble, perhaps she wouldn’t even look in my direction once she was well enough, but she needed my help.
A sudden, unwanted thought pricked through my mind. Why should I help her?
I’d had that question so often, more times than I could count. We had lived in the lighthouse for as long as I could remember and for as long as I could remember, we’d had guests.
The lighthouse was a beacon of safety. It was our duty to care for the wounded, the sick, the traveler who had nowhere else to go. It was our task to go out in the darkness of a stormy night when the wind ripped at our clothing and it had dashed a ship against the rocks. It was our duty to look for survivors. I hated it, but with a hatred that was so close to love, I couldn’t tell the difference. I hated being too late, and we were often too late.
The travelers were worse. It had happened too often that they’d come to the lighthouse, only to be rude to our faces. I supposed they’d expected people like them, they couldn’t believe the leaders had appointed Father to be the keeper of the lighthouse.
(I haven’t figured out the political system so I don’t know who their leader is XD)
It was never outright insults, just quiet, gnawing disdain, that was impossible to ignore but individually too petty to say anything about.
Sometimes my brother would get so angry he’d go to the highest room of the lighthouse, and we wouldn’t see him for the rest of the day. I’d join him. I didn’t mind the paint fumes that eventually made me dizzy. Usually, we wouldn’t speak. He’d paint, I’d read or watch the sea. No wonder he’d gone to sea as soon as he could. He was as sick of it as I was.
After they left, Father would take the time to remind us that it wasn’t our problem how people treated us, we only needed to worry about our reaction. Like it was our fault.
I didn’t want to help this girl, but it was my duty, my inheritance. I didn’t have water, but I’d have to find a way to get some.
I looked around, hoping for a stream. There was none, though I noticed at least one of the men had a water bottle at his belt. He was tall and red-haired, awkwardly standing around instead of helping with the dragon. (I don’t remember whether Daire has red hair, sorry XD) It seemed dead anyway.
I was about to get up and go ask him for it, but the girl went even limper. No, this was bad.
“Where’s Cirian?” the girl asked, her voice trailing off.
I needed to keep her conscious. I touched her hand, just to get her attention.
“No, don’t do that. Who is Cirian? I’ll see if I can find him, Delya.” My voice was gentler now.
I needed to get that water but I couldn’t leave her.
I whistled, loud and shrill, the kind of whistle that reached from the top of the lighthouse across our whole island.
Pretty much everyone looked at us. I didn’t particularly care, I had more important things to worry about.
I nodded to the red-haired man. He didn’t look dangerous, he looked almost thrilled with the whole dragon incident.
“I need your water,” I said, briefly.
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@irishcelticredflowercrown @emily-waldorfTime to get Daire to do something XD
This was pretty interesting to write, I’m surprised it got so long! I think I’m finally starting to figure out more things about Mejt!
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
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