[RPG] [Atamara] The Mad King

[zmobiebob]

Amz was hurting.


Her wounds suffered escaping Riverholm were aching. She had caught up to the
party escorting Armitage's children and the midwives had done all they could
to clean and dress her wounds.

They were now camped in a meadow in Dampinn, awaiting Trager who would
escort them to Lady Callisto. The midwives were feeding the children and the
guards were relaxing.

Amz was watching one of the mid wives, the woman was like a scared rabbit,
she seemed nervous an edgy. Amz could hardly blame her; the knowledge that
the king might send armed men to overtake them and take his children away
was a real threat. No doubt they would have orders to kill everyone involved
with taking the children away.

Amz was reflecting on her confrontation with Gauihu. "It certainly could
have went better," she thought "Of course I'mm still alive and I suppose
that counts for something."

No doubt warrants for her arrest were being issued right now.

The woman she was watching walked over by the children and into the trees
behind them, no doubt to relieve herself. Amz noticed she had dropped a
piece of parchment. Amz got up and limped over and picked it up, she turned
and walked towards the children to give the woman her letter back. Amz
smiled it was probably from her lover or husband. No doubt she was sad to be
separated from him. She glanced down at the letter and a chill ran through
her. She had seen enough letters from Gauihu to recognize his handwriting.

She quickly read the letter, it was short.

*Kill my children whenever you get the chance.
*
*Gauihu
*
"Oh Luna," she thought, "An assassin! I must get this to the judge."

Amz looked up, right into the eyes of the woman. She was looking at the Amz
with a horrified expression on her face.

For a moment they looked at each other, then the woman quickly drew a dagger
and ran towards the children.
"Luna, no!" Amz yelled. "Stop her, stop her, protect the children!!"

Amz charged the woman, they reached the children at the same time. Just as
Amz was about to grab the woman her wounded leg gave out and she pitched
forward. She scrambled up, trying desperately to grab the woman. The world
seemed to slow down. She saw the woman drive the dagger into the boys chest.

 "Oh Luna, no, no, no, no, no!!!" Amz screamed. "So much blood, so much
blood."

 Amz mind went numb as she watched blood streaming out of the boys chest.
Men and women were screaming but she hardly seemed to notice. Her vision
tunneled and the only thing she saw was the boy lying on the ground, she
walked numbly towards him reaching out.

Amz never saw that dagger that was driven into her ribcage. She felt a sharp
pain and felt like she had been kicked in the side. She feel to her knees
still trying to reach the small body on the ground.

As blackness took her, her last thoughts were *Oh Armitage, I'm so sorry,
I'm so sorry.*
Then blackness took her and she knew no more.

The woman tried to pull the dagger out but it seemed to be stuck in Amz
ribs, no matter how hard she pulled it would not come out.

 She looked up and saw Amz's guard rushing her, snarling in fury.

 She turned and ran as fast as she could, straight into a large group of men
she had not noticed approaching.



--



*Evening was setting in, and Trager's men were a bit spread out, as ordered.
He wasn't sure what he'd run into, and he wanted to be able to pull a
surprise on the Mad King's men, should they be in pursuit of the children.
He though, "odd though, that his men, who aren't insane, would follow such a
blatantly bad order like that... hopefully they can be reasoned with..."

He was about to progress further into that thought, thinking of diplomatic
tactics, when he heard shouts northwest of his position..* "Men!! Rally that
way," *he shouted, pointing toward the noise.

Running full tilt, for a couple of minutes, he heard a couple of his men
shout,* "Got someone!"*. Continuing on for a few seconds, he tried to get to
where he first heard the screaming. Breaking from the woods, into the
clearing, he skidded to a halt at what he saw:

.. Lady Amz lying in a small, but expanding, pool of blood ..

.. many adults, a few who looked like healers, scrambling to help one child
remain calm, and the other... he wasn't sure what they were doing with him
..

Ignoring his anger and shock at the scene, he shouted,* "Healers to my
position!!!" *Seconds later, two men with backpacks arrived. He quickly
directed them to take care of Amz and see to her condition. He then made way
to where the children were. By the time he was close enough to see, he could
tell the male child was already being wrapped in bandages and being prepared
to wrap him entirely (not quite like a mummy, but in some form close to it).

He also saw what seemed to be a healer's helper, being shielded by three men
who protected her... and she was closely holding the girl child, trying to
calm it down with her words and humming - though the cheerful and calm
sounds she projected didn't even closely reflect the shock and despair
written across her face and especially her eyes.

Approaching the guards, he calmly stated, so as not to set the woman
off,*"I come in peace.. I am Marquis Trager Maximoff, of Dampinn. I
am,"
*he trailed off as several of his men came back out of the woods, holding a
woman with far too many "red stains" to not know what exactly was going on
here...* "I was sent to bring Armitage's children safely though Dampinn....
*What*... *happened*...?" *

Taking in the scene before him, and marginally listening to the quickly and
angrilly spouted descriptions of events, he stared at the spot where Lady
Amz had been moved from, so his healers could work on her. He
uttered,*"Keep talking..."
*, as he walked to the piece of parchment, which had red fingerprints on it
(and not ink, he could tell). Picking it up, he read what was on it:

**Kill my children whenever you get the chance.

Gauihu* *

..... upon seeing that, and the captured woman's shaking and terrified stare
as he stalked toward her, he knew they had captured no one innocent. When he
stood in front of her, he remained locked in his gaze upon her for a full
minute... annoyed that she wasn't screaming out reasons she should be
spared, by now, he simply said,* "Explain. Now. Truth is NOT optional."



--



*The woman who had just committed murder against Lady Armitage's son
faltered a few times, but finally found her voice:

*"It was a price, Mi'Lord. The King said I had only one thing to do for him,
and that I must agree to it, unknowing what it was. Or... or he was going to
have our entire family slaughtered... I... I care not what you do to me, my
life is forfeit. I'm also not proud or even believing of what I had to do..
but if a King wants me to kill two of his children, to save the four of
mine, my husband, our parents.. I'll not be happy about it, but I have no
one else... what can I do to stop a KING, Mi'lord?"

*Trager rushed to her, and grabbed her chin in a vice-like grip, and said
through gritted teeth,* "You tell the Queen."

*Again, he held her gaze until the understanding hit her eyes...* "But..
but! He said not to open his demand until we got to our first camp!! I
didn't even kn.."

*Still holding her chin, he turned her head to follow where he angrily
pointed at Lady Amz.* "Then you tell HER!"

*Disgusted, he wrenched his hand away from her, leaving marks on her jaw.
With his back to the woman, and looking around at the scene before him, he
spoke loud enough for her to hear:* "The King is not himself lately... or
perhaps he finally became what he always was. It doesn't matter...
Everything he does now, he does to destroy what's trying to get out from
under his grasp. If you had opposed him... simply by telling a Lord or
Lady.. and it wouldn't have been hard to find one opposed to him as well,
these days... we could have protected you... we could have safeguarded your
family... and we wouldn't have had half the new bloodline of D'Anglos
seeping into the ground."

*He slowly turned around, still taking in the bits and pieces of the
horrible show he's been audience to tonight. He looked at the woman, no
longer showing anger... simply defeat in his eyes.* "I understand what it
is, to feel like you have nobody to help you... that you are going to be
made to suffer, unless something horrible happens.. We are, as a Kingdom,
deep within that sorrow. But you, ma'am', have just made that sorrow
ten-fold for the lot of us... and a thousand that for that lifeless boy's
mother."

*Letting the gravity sink in to the woman for a few moments, he turned his
back on her again. Walking away, he spoke loudly enough for all his men to
hear,* "Clap her in irons, and strap her to the cart. We take this tragedy
to my wife... the Duchess of Suville... she'll have my head, and any other,
were she not able to look this woman in the unbattered eye."

*Marquis Trager then approached the woman holding the last child of Armitage
(that was known of).* "Mi'Lady? Your guard has just improved. We're going to
Suville... now." *Looking to his 2nd Lead, he said,* "We're no longer
waiting. Get the men close, and get the men moving fast. Center our location
on our charges, and make sure to always leave an out. Gather everyone, and
order movement."

*The remaining widwives looked on, as Trager's Lead called a rally, and then
dropped their jaw to see over 100 men all emerge from the woods around them,
almost at once. As they moved, the lead widwife who carried Armitage's
daughter was brought near Trager himself. He let her know that they were not
leaving his sight, until they were safely in Suville. She also saw that the
Queen's son was also being borne by one of Trager's men, and was receiving
the same respect and care he'd have deserved were he still alive.

She looked over at him again, his face passive though very determined. Still
unnerved by what had happened, she felt someone needed to speak for the
child that would never grow up to speak for himself.* "He was a good child,
my lord, full of happiness and always smiling. What's happened that our own
people can be turned against us now, and against someone so small and
innocent?"

*She noticed his jaw clench tightly for a moment, but his eyes remained on
the path they took through the forest, and his gaze scan the horizon like so
many of his men.* "You're looking for a reason. However, Insanity doesn't
require Reason. It simply is what it is: Insanity. A sane man wouldn't have
ordered his own children killed, by holding the future of an entire family
line of commoners by threat of execution. Just look forward, Miss... looking
back, now, won't make any more sense than it did 20 minutes ago, nor as it
won't 20 years from now... let's just get to the city..."
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