Ravensway: A Headless Encounter [Ein]

[Ahnnie]

The night was calm and cool in the forests of Ravensway. The magic in the air could be felt, scattered about the trees and leaves and the very breath of the place. Thus Sacora thought it would be appropriate to take a moonlit walk underneath the trees to take in the forest in all its nightly beauty. It made her feel a bit nostalgic, sparking memories of her foster family before they had died. Her foster parents sometimes took her out on moonlit walks like these. They had lived in Jadenshine then, of course, and so the younger Sacora had no way of knowing what a night walk in Ravensway felt like. But she could clearly say that the experience was different; more magical, more soothing.

She stopped beneath a thick tree to take in the image of the moon between the leaves and branches. Blue-white moonlight fell upon her as she stood there, for she had come to stand beneath an open space in the leaves where a large moonbeam was free to shine down on her. It was so beautiful, so enthralling, that Sacora hadn't thought of being vulnerable in this spot the way she was now.

[Ein]

Clip clop clip clop the sound of clattering hooves was heard as Beowulf was riding through the woods. It probably was about midnight and normally the headless horseman would search for someone to scare to their literal death, but however in this particular night everything was different. He was looking for someone to help him and so he followed the trace of the only human being far and wide. Although "looking for" was the wrong phrase.

As he could sense the innocent soul quite clearly he got of his horse to get closer. Slowly, carefully he approached, never leaving the shadows so the stranger wouldn't notice him to early. When he was only a few more steps away his loud and dark voice echoed through the night: "You. Woman. Come to help me and you shall be rewarded."

[Ahnnie]

The peace of the forest was soon to be disturbed. Sacora had not noticed him until he was but approaching within a few steps of her; a giant, hulking silhouette of an armored man with...with no head. A chill went down Sacora's spine and she drew back a few steps to put some distance between them. There was no way he could be normal, for no one could live without their head; something eerie was felt about him as well, something unlike magic. Something more like...death. Not that Sacora was an expert on such things, but there was just a certain feel to him, that any who stood near might feel were they sensitive enough.

"You. Woman. Come to help me and you shall be rewarded."

A disembodied voice coming from this headless knight echoed loudly in the dark, its words directed to Sacora.

"Wh-what are you?" she stuttered, feeling more and more scared by the moment. Her fingers tensed beneath her palms and the traces of a few beginning flames could be seen flickering in her hand. "Try anything, and I'll...well, what is it you want, first?" She decided to take the logical and more calm route, for she was not quite sure whether or not he was even dangerous. But she was still on her guard nonetheless.

[Ein]

He was well aware that she was able to wield magic; fire magic to be precise - the most dangerous magic to all undead like himself. Flames could easily devour not only his body but also his rotten soul. And still he had no other choice but to rely on this mage.
When she saw him she recoiled in fear and so he waited for her to calm down and surprisingly - she did. She tried to threat him first but then she stopped and asked him what he was up to. "I am not here to do you any harm." , he clarified before answering her questions. "Your kind likes to refer to me as a ghost, a demon or even death itself. However as you can see I am nothing but a knight who lost his head. Furthermore I was shot by an arrow, which got stuck in my chest. I need you to remove it."
To prove his point he slowly opened his linen shirt with his left hand. He had already removed his chest plate and most of the arrow's shaft. He then reached out his other hand to the young woman and came closer very slowly. As he stepped into the moonlight himself he revealed his bare chest - the chest of a young man, who did never reach the age of 30. His skin however was cadaverous and there - quite close to where the heart should be the arrow he mentioned was stuck. The skin around the wound was almost black as if the arrow was impregnated with poison, which now killed him slowly.
"Remove the arrow and I will serve you till I repaid my dept."
His voice was calm, but the arrow was threatening him quite badly and he was ready to do anything she wanted if she just pulled it out.

[Ahnnie]

"I am not here to do you any harm," the headless knight told her. "Your kind likes to refer to me as a ghost, a demon or even death itself. However as you can see I am nothing but a knight who lost his head. Furthermore I was shot by an arrow, which got stuck in my chest. I need you to remove it." He began opening up his shirt, coming up to her slowly at the same time. Sacora fought back a gasp and lowered her hands, relaxing her grip. His other hand touched her as he came into the moonlight, a simple gesture of entreaty, but it sent more shivers down her spine than she cared to count.

When she saw his chest, she was surprised to find that it was very much as solid and tangible as human flesh. Perhaps because he wasn't a regular sort of ghost...whatever he was. He had mentioned that he was dead (of course, he didn't even have a head) but it was still unclear what sort of undead category he fit into. He was not a ghost--he wasn't transparent and holographic. So was he a demon? An entity of some sort? Either way, Sacora's golden eyes were drawn to the spot where the arrow pierced him.

Oh god. She felt sick. The skin was dead looking and blackened around the spot of penetration, looking like mangled black meat, as Sacora thought. "Remove the arrow and I will serve you till I repaid my debt," the headless knight added, perhaps to sweeten the deal knowing how it looked to Sacora then. So all he wanted was for her to take it out? She supposed she could help with that. She still felt tense, in case he should attack her the moment she finished helping him.

"I will try," she said at last. "Just, um...perhaps, come closer into the moonlight and kneel down." She pointed to a particularly bright spot. She asked him to kneel because, when standing, he was much taller than her and the job would be harder standing. But she had never removed an arrow before, especially one with most of its shaft missing. There was still some of it protruding out, so she guessed that she could pull...although whether or not this headless apparition will feel pain, she was not sure.

[Ein]

His skin was cold his body without life - no pulse, no breathing. He slowly moved his hand to her shoulder to push her backwards gently. He followed her and stopped just at the same point where she had been standing before, the moonlight falling through a hole in the foliage. However he was way to proud to kneel in front this young woman. "Just pull it out." he said slightly impatiently.

[Ahnnie]

The headless knight came into the moonlight as she had requested, pushing her back gently as he did so, but he refused to kneel. "Just pull it out," he said with a bit of impatience creeping into his disembodied voice. Where this voice even came from, Sacora couldn't fathom. When she looked at him more closely to see where such a voice might come out of, she thought she could discern the barest traces of a smoke-like fog dissipating from his neck. She mentally gulped.

"All...all right," the young woman said, coming up closer to the chest of the knight. Her hands were shaking slightly as she brought them up to his chest--how cold his skin was to the touch!--and she had to grasp the remaining arrow shaft tightly to keep them from trembling any further. With a deep exhalation of breath, and a mental encouragement that she could do it, she started to pull. And pull, and pull...

Goodness, it truly was stuck. The reason, no doubt, was that the surrounding flesh probably hampered it from sliding out as smoothly as it should have. That, and the way the arrow was shaped--it didn't have barbs in it, did it? That would make it all the more harder. Sacora closed her eyes and pulled again. It started to slide out, about a quarter of an inch, until it was once again stubborn and refused to move. Sacora tried tugging on it several times, but it honestly wouldn't budge. Which brought her to the conclusion:

She would have to dig a finger in and pry at it before pulling again.

The thought made her feel woozy and turned her knees to jelly. "I...I will have to reach a finger in and...and loosen it," she stammered in a voice that was close to whispering. "If...if you're ready, then I will...start..."

[Ein]

He waited for her to get closer, while he still rested his hand on her shoulder - a little reminder that, if she would try to kill him he would be able to react fast. However he soon realized that she wouldn't to do so as she started to pull out the arrow with all her strength. At least she tried to pull it out.
Beowulf sure was quite hard to kill but he felt pain nonetheless. The arrow caused horrific pain by just being stuck inside his chest but as the woman started to pull it out the pain got even worse. Even the slightest move would cause an avalanche of pain, that almost knocked him out. Still he remained quiet and motionless even as every single muscle in his body was flexing - needless to say that his grip around her shoulder was also tightening up. He was way to concentrated to even notice this and it took him a few seconds until he realised that she just said something. Even though he didn't need to he took a deep breath loosed his grip again and said with a slightly trembling but determined voice: "Let's do this."

[Ahnnie]

Sacora had been so engrossed with the removal of the arrow that she had not noticed the knight's tightened grasp of her shoulder until it loosened. "Let's do this," his voice affirmed to her in response to her question about poking a finger into the wound. It sounded shaky but firm. So he could feel pain. This was not making it any easier for Sacora.

The young mage closed her eyes and began to place her fingers near the wound. Then, with much trepidation, she began to reach her left index finger through the arrow wound...

If it hadn't been for the cold, deathly hand the knight had placed on Sacora's shoulder, she might have fainted right on the spot. His touch was something of a support, something that kept her from swaying along with her fright. For she was shivering as her finger dug through the wound, touching cold, dead meat as she wound her way down to where the arrowhead was. She could feel it, yes, and from there began to pry and scrape in the gentlest way she could at the point, which appeared to be stuck in some deep flesh. At the same time, she was trying not to imagine the great pain the knight must be suffering, for if she did so then she could readily imagine what it felt like on her.

After five minutes or so of this sort of prying, Sacora took her other hand to pull at the arrow shaft. It inched out some more. Feeling progress, she only pushed the arrowhead with her finger one last time before her other hand successfully yanked the arrow out. The momentum sent her stumbling backwards, also jerking her finger out of the dead man's chest at the same time. When she composed herself, she looked at the bloody, cadaverous-smelling finger on her left hand, and the released arrow in her right.

Something about the sight, though it meant the job was done, just didn't soothe her. Her fingers suddenly weakened, causing her to drop the arrow, and she sank down onto her knees. Her whole body trembled and shivered as if a chill wind was blowing through her, and moments later, she doubled over as she vomited up the last remains of her dinner on some fallen leaves. When she was done, she shakily sat back up, gurgled some water from her waterskin, spit it out, and took out her handkerchief to wipe at her mouth. She paused for a moment, then took out her waterskin again to run some of it over the finger that she had poked into the dead flesh.

"I apologize," she said weakly to the headless knight. "It...it wasn't an easy thing for me to do...or look at."

[Ein]

The pain was immense. It almost drove him crazy and even if he would have loved to scream out loud while tearing up the girl that caused all this agony he forced himself to stand still and so he didn't move for the whole process.
He could exactly feel the arrow and her finger inside his chest and when she finally was able to pull it out at least a little bit he was quite relieved. His body would immediately regenerate itself and so it came that there was up to no bleeding, only some black smoke came out the wound.
Eventually she managed to pull out the whole arrow. While she lost her balance he had to try really hard not to just faint at the spot. He took his hand from her shoulder and covered his wound, which actually was almost healed already.
He then felt his lifesaver groan and shake on the ground. A strange mixture of feelings then arose in him. He felt guilty and campassionate - feelings he had almost forgot because he didn't feel them for hundreds of years.
He kneeled down to her slowly and gently he brushed some hair out of her face. "What is your name?" , he asked sounding a lot more humanlike than before.

[Ahnnie]

Sacora was almost afraid the headless horseman might attack her after the arrow was removed. She had thought about it before accepting the task, and promised herself that she would be on her guard. But now she realized she had completely forgotten about that. As he came up to her, she tensed, but then he knelt down before her and brushed the stray hair from her face. A tender gesture. Sacora waited with bated breath, wondering what he was going to do.

"What is your name?" he asked her.

The disembodied voice that spoke out to her was different this time. It was more warm, more alive, more...more human. It was unlike the way he had spoken to her before, when he had been insistent on removing the arrow. She felt less afraid of him, hearing his voice like that. Sacora cleared her throat, and then said, "My name is Sacora Vale." She thought about asking for his name, but then decided not to push her luck. She waited, instead, to see what he would do with this newly given information. As she did so, her eyes wandered down to his chest, which reminded her that there should be a hole left behind by the arrow--but to her surprise, the skin on his chest was whole as if nothing had ever touched it.

Of course, he has his own magic, she thought, trying not to appear too surprised.

[Ein]

He felt the fear inside the young woman. Sacora. It was quite tempting to attack her but again: She saved his life and even though Beowulf was undead he remained a knight and as such he followed a few principles. He wouldn't harm the innocent and he wouldn't attack someone who helped him. So he waited for her to calm down a little before he started speaking again.

"Sacora you are a brave woman and as promised I will serve you with all my might until I am able to repay my dept." He paused for a moment. "Let me start with  escorting you home." He decided then he offered her his hand to help her up.

[Ahnnie]

"Sacora you are a brave woman and as promised I will serve you with all my might until I am able to repay my dept. Let me start with escorting you home."

He then held out a hand to her to help her up. Conscious of this new change in his demeanor, Sacora felt her fear diminish slowly. She accepted his hand, even though it felt like ice and very much unlike a living human's hand. "Thank you," she said to him once she was standing upright once more. She looked down from the corner of her eye at the discarded arrow. It was useless now, and the headless horseman was probably glad to be rid of it. Rightfully so.

"Home? Ah, yes, home..." At the moment she was away from home, so to speak, spending some time in the neighboring province of Ravensway when her technical home was in Jadenshine. However, there was a place she was staying at that the headless horseman could escort her to. She started to walk in that direction, finding herself better comforted by the fact that the horseman promised her no harm.

As she walked she thought a little more on his words. She hadn't paid much attention to them until now, when her mind was much clearer. He intended to serve her until he repaid his debt. What did that mean? And serve...she was no noble lady or person of remarkable rank. She felt more than a little undeserving of being served. Also, what was his debt? If she thought about it, she had saved him from a grievous injury--so until he saved her from a similar fate, his debt would be finished?

She had so many questions she wanted to ask. But it appeared rude to her to suddenly question his chivalry. Instead, she decided to arrive at that in a more roundabout way. "How is it that you came to be shot with the arrow?" was what sounded to her a good first question. It showed concern, which was sincere, about his well-being and what had happened to him.

[Ein]

He helped her on her feet when she took his hand and nodded when she thanked him. She still seemed a little confused but soon she started heading in a different direction. Without saying anything he followed her. She then asked him about his little "accident". He was fine with that and so he answered her right away.
"I was fighting a bunch of bandits, when their archer shot me with this arrow. As you may have noticed it was covered with a layer of gold. Gold is in fact one of the few things I am vulnerable to." He wasn't afraid of telling her his little weakness since he somewhat trusted her. He also hoped that this gesture would make her trust him too.

[Ahnnie]

The headless horseman followed her and began to tell her about how he acquired the arrow, saying, "I was fighting a bunch of bandits, when their archer shot me with this arrow. As you may have noticed it was covered with a layer of gold. Gold is in fact one of the few things I am vulnerable to." It was surprising that he should relay such a weakness to her so soon. It then occured to Sacora that he must have trusted her greatly to inform her of such a thing. She felt touched, and she responded in kind with a similar weakness:

"Gold? I am vulnerable to iron. When I am near it, it makes me feel ill and makes my magic irregular. When I touch it, I feel as if it is burning me, and I suppose I would weaken the longer I touch it...but I've never tried or had the misfortune to do so for longer than a few seconds. If I did, I would probably not be here right now." This was a recurring Serenian weakness that many other Serenians, especially those with a stronger presence of Fey in their blood, would relate to. Since she encountered this headless horseman within Serendipity, did that mean he used to be Serenian? Or had it been so long ago that even he would not remember?

"Were you once a native to Serendipity?" she chanced to ask. "Also..." She frowned, for she went back in thought to what he said about the bandits and the archer. They must have known his weakness, to prepare such arrows as the gold-covered one that had been buried in his chest earlier. After all, gold was a precious material, not one to be wasted on simply decorative arrows! Sacora had not been able to see the arrowhead clearly with all the dead blood on it, but if that was so, then that must have meant the bandits were anticipating him. Hunting him, even.

She continued her question: "...correct me if I'm wrong, but were those bandits after you? It seems to me that this weakness of yours is not an obvious one. So, for these bandits to have gold-covered arrows...well, it seems as if they made them specifically to hunt you down." She blushed in embarrassment, then added, "Of course, if other undead are also vulnerable to gold, that might not be so. They could have just been seeking out undead to kill in general." She knew little about undead, much less the headless horseman, and so she hoped he would forgive any ignorance on her part.

[Ein]

He was quite content that his plan worked out. She told him about her aversion towards iron. He actually knew this before or at least he had an assumption. He sensed the fae blood and it was pretty usual that fae were weak towards iron. Nonetheless he was quite satisfied.

Then she asked him about his own origin. He was a little surprised about that and he was a little shocked that he couldn't quite remember it. "Yeah.. I was Serenian." , he said though. The second question however made him laugh. "Hunt? Me? No. They surely just wanted to be prepared as a lot of people know that I like to hunt. I bet that archer had a silver arrow as well - for the case a werewolf would attack them. Gold is infact a weakness many undead share."

[Ahnnie]

"Yeah..I was Serenian." He said this a little slowly, as if he himself was unsure of it.  That was understandable, if he had been an undead for a long time. He laughed, though, upon hearing her question about the gold arrows. "Hunt? Me? No. They surely just wanted to be prepared as a lot of people know that I like to hunt. I bet that archer had a silver arrow as well - for the case a werewolf would attack them. Gold is infact a weakness many undead share."

Sacora blushed and chuckled lightly along to keep from feeling too embarrassed. "Oh, haha, that does sound silly now that I think about it. It's just, I've never met an undead before, and I've never known much about them." Indeed, she knew next to nothing about undead. It was only today that she met her first one. Upon that thought, she grimly reminded herself that despite his sudden tenderness when she vomited after pulling out the arrow, and when he offered to escort her back, she still might have to keep her guard up just in case. They had only just met this night, after all.

She sighed. Do I have to be so suspicious? Is the world truly so horrible, that I have to suspect everything that comes my way? Sacora wasn't one to be suspicious. She wasn't the moody type who threatened every stranger that came her way. Hence, her decision to hear the headless horseman out. Otherwise, she would have bolted through the woods had he advanced any further, or attacked him with her fire. While she knew that not everyone was trustworthy, at the same time she reserved some sort of hope that it was not always true. There was some kindness, if not the word 'good', within everyone--or at least, most people.

"How long ago did you live, if you still remember?" she then asked, to keep her mind off the unpleasant thoughts of treachery. "What were you called?" Or rather, what was his name, although for some reason she still felt etchy about using such casual words. It just felt too intrusive if she were to suddenly say, What's your name? even though he had asked her in pretty much the same way.

((What do you say to some bandit action in the next few posts, like an ambush/confrontation or whatever XD?))

[Ein]

It didn't surprise him that she had never met an undead before. Beowulf himself had encountered only a few of them during all the years he had been wandering around. A lot of people probably never meet one in their whole lifetime. The living shouldn't forget about them though.

She was silent for a bit before she asked him two more questions. He had to think about them for a few seconds. "It was a long time ago.", he said trying to remember but as he noticed that he couldn't he moved on to answer the second question. "My name is Beowulf. I am quite sure it was the same during my lifetime." He hadn't heard his name in a long time and wondered how it would sound when a human would say it. He was a little curious but he didn't ask her to do so - again he was way to proud.

((Let's do this! xD))

[Ahnnie]

"It was a long time ago. My name is Beowulf. I am quite sure it was the same during my lifetime."

"Bay-oh-wolf," Sacora said, trying the name out on her tongue. It sounded a fitting name for one such as strongly built as he. It denoted toughness, bravery, and manliness. She wouldn't be too surprised if it was indeed the name he was born with when he was alive; although the fact that he had forgotten whether or not it really was made Sacora wonder just how long ago he lived. Even he didn't know!

"At least I know what to call you now." She smiled at him, although she wasn't sure whether he could see it or not.  He seemed to be able to find his way around, even coming up to brush hair out of her face and old her hand out to help her up...So, for some reason, he could still see without a head. Hmm. Or was it a matter of sensing? She shrugged, refraining from asking any more questions this time. She bombarded him with enough already. Instead, she took up humming to fill the silence, thinking of other things in the meantime.



"Almost..."

The voice spoke out in a hiss amongst the trees. While it seemed as though nothing or no one could be seen, there were in fact many things--along with a few people--hidden amongst the night scenery. They had eyes in several trees, watching the road for unsuspecting and vulnerable people.

Several of their scouts reported a young woman with black hair entering the forest some time ago, through this path. It was growing late and it would probably be high time for her to return; and so here they waited. They grew ready to spring when, from around the bend, she happened to be coming along. Her details couldn't be made out due to the distance, but their leader tensed as he waited for the opportune moment.

((Feel free to NPC some bandits yourself ;) ))

[Ein]

He listened to the sound of his own name. It made him smile, well of course he couldn't smile without a head, but if he would still have one he would be smiling and he did in fact sense the change in her mood as well.
Sacora however seemed to be satisfied. She didn't ask him anything else and started to hum. He remained silent and listened to her melody.

It was only a few moments later that he felt the presence of another group of humans. They seemed to hide in the woods. Beowulf felt that their souls were tarnished and assumed another group of bandits waiting for someone to pass by. However the person they were waiting for was Sacora and Beowulf got quite mad. How could this trash even think about ambushing his mistress? He felt the desire to punish them for their sole thoughts.
Nonetheless he didn't warn Sacora. He just waited, putting his hand at the hilt of his bastard sword. He wouldn't even let them touch her.

The bandits however waited for Sacora to make a few more steps before they bolted out of the shadows. The leader was ready to hit her with his mace to knock her out, when he noticed the dark silhouette of the headless knight already drawing his sword to split his skull. He tried to dodge and fell to the ground. He looked up in fear as Beowulf approached to kill him with his sword.