Sherwood Adventures -- Part II (of III)
Feb. 24th, 2012 11:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
queenofmayElsewhere;
Marian had been right about two things.
One. It was far easier to sneak out of Nottingham Castle the week prior with the serving girls, than it was to sneak in during the busy evening. Two. That now that time had sped up, again, her useful need as Vasey's Masochistic Scapegoat had been called back into existence.
Which was why the late evening, with all the candles nearly two-thirds burned down, found her standing in the corner of Vasey's Office. In the middle of the Bird Cages. Sinigng. The parallel not lost on her. Not even when hours later, her voice was raw. He was still fiercely angry. That he couldn't find her during the late morning or half of the afternoon, and he didn't believe she'd been in the market for all those hours.
It was not enough to threaten her father, or to say he would not eat this night, or the next, or until he was satisfied she had learned her lesson. To have her beg for her leniency that she be punished instead. It was to do both. To make her stand there. No water. No chair. No meal. No reprieve. To stand in the middle of his bird cages. The frail yellow birds flitting back and forth in their wooden cages chirping endlessly, as she sang.
Sang, whatever he demanded. As long, as many times, as he demanded. Sang, as lords made reports to him, and peasants pleaded, and was made to start over if she stuttered or tried to stop to say a single word against his decisions. Sang, and watched the sun sink into evening. Sang, and watched the candles lit. Sang, and watched them burn down. Sang, and worried, doing her best not to show it.
For Caspian was floors beneath her, and had been for hours. If they had decided he wasn't one of Robin's Men, he was safe. Or at least as safe as could be promised in a jail cell below Nottingham Castle. But if they had decided, being found aiding the villagers, that he was one of Robin Hood's Men...
Marian had been right about two things.
One. It was far easier to sneak out of Nottingham Castle the week prior with the serving girls, than it was to sneak in during the busy evening. Two. That now that time had sped up, again, her useful need as Vasey's Masochistic Scapegoat had been called back into existence.
Which was why the late evening, with all the candles nearly two-thirds burned down, found her standing in the corner of Vasey's Office. In the middle of the Bird Cages. Sinigng. The parallel not lost on her. Not even when hours later, her voice was raw. He was still fiercely angry. That he couldn't find her during the late morning or half of the afternoon, and he didn't believe she'd been in the market for all those hours.
It was not enough to threaten her father, or to say he would not eat this night, or the next, or until he was satisfied she had learned her lesson. To have her beg for her leniency that she be punished instead. It was to do both. To make her stand there. No water. No chair. No meal. No reprieve. To stand in the middle of his bird cages. The frail yellow birds flitting back and forth in their wooden cages chirping endlessly, as she sang.
Sang, whatever he demanded. As long, as many times, as he demanded. Sang, as lords made reports to him, and peasants pleaded, and was made to start over if she stuttered or tried to stop to say a single word against his decisions. Sang, and watched the sun sink into evening. Sang, and watched the candles lit. Sang, and watched them burn down. Sang, and worried, doing her best not to show it.
For Caspian was floors beneath her, and had been for hours. If they had decided he wasn't one of Robin's Men, he was safe. Or at least as safe as could be promised in a jail cell below Nottingham Castle. But if they had decided, being found aiding the villagers, that he was one of Robin Hood's Men...