Dreamed Into Life

[GamesMaster]

I knew I loved you before I met you

I think I dreamed you into life

I knew I loved you before I met you

I have been waiting all my life

The Two Rivers Clan had conquered all its neighbors, building itself a little empire, and Castelia, just down the coast, was afraid. 

Castelia was an island, and by rights should have been ignored as Two Rivers conquered its way across the land. But inland was the Red Empire, and Two Rivers wasn't quite strong enough to go to war with them. Instead, they turned their sights to the islands spreading out from the mainland, of which Castelia was nestled into the largest. Castleia was different than the other islanders, different still from the pagans on the coast. They believed in the One God, whom missionaries had brought centuries before from a land so far even the Two Rivers ships wouldn't be able to sail to it, and their ships were the most advanced in the region. Their warships brought death and fire to the settlements where they landed, and they retreated with the gold and armor and valuable copper and bronze needed to enhance their already fearsome weapons and armor. 

There was only two ways to fend them off. Number one was iron, lots of wrought iron. More iron than Castelia had on hand, unfortunately. Iron was a way to stop their fell magics from working, but you can't build castles out of iron, you can only use iron arrowheads and swords. 

The other way? Retreat inland from the shore-side fortresses and trading posts, take their valuables deep into the heart of the country, and burn their own towns to stop the savage marauders from doing it first. 

Castelia was abandoning the port town of Dolphin Bay, where the Princess had been blessing the harvest with her pure, virgin light. She had been meant to flee before finishing the last of it, retreating with their goods and valuables to the earthen fortress of Hillside, which was partially built into the side of a hill. It was a mining outpost, and thus very secure from the marauders. But she had dreamed -- and as the virgin princess, her dreams often came true -- that the very earth would shake and quake and destroy the outpost, and if she were there, she would lose her life. Her parents were too old to have more children; at five-and-twenty, she'd have been married off long ago if there was a good candidate for the next King and if there was a younger sister to do the Virgin Blessings. Instead, she had been put on a metaphorical shelf, used for display and protection, like a good luck charm. She had never spoken to a man other than her father, and she spent most of the year in the castle, praying and fasting and keeping herself pure so that in the springtime, she could bless the lambs, an in the fall, she could bless the crops. 

The winter was the worst time of year. Then she would be stuck indoors, unable to go out in the snow or keep any company but her handmaiden, Arielle, and her governess, Nemuria. At least in summer she could pray in the beautiful gardens at the castle and not just in her rooms. Often weeks would go by without her seeing a single person other than her two lady companions. She wished she could hurry up and be wed. Then she would be able to hire more ladies to keep her company. But as it stands now, her only power is her virgin soul and her prophetic dreams. 

She put a lot of stock in her dreams. So when she was ordered to abandon Dolphin Bay, for the first time in her life, she refused to go. 

"You cannot stay here," insisted Nemuria, crossing her arms. "I forbid it, do you hear me? In your father's absence I have charge of you, and I forbid you to remain here."

[Illianna]

I sigh risinged "very well matron." I say sweetly "forgive me, I fear I've upset you. Let me make my penance and then we may leave." I turn on my heal befor she can speak and lock myself in my room. They may leave me if they want! I can hear the door rattling as I drag my trunk in front of it. I then sit on it and begin to pray. May god forgive me my stubbornness

[GamesMaster]

Venturing forth after dark, long after the rattling stops, she finds the castle deserted save for a single soul: Arielle, asleep in a pile outside her door, refusing to leave her mistress alone in such danger. 


They are breaking their fast the next morning with some basic bread and cheese when they hear the war drums, spy the ships landing at the bay below. They begin to pray as the seige begins, but without an army to fight back with, the castle is quickly taken. Big, rough men take the pair of them, their hands easily able to encircle the princess's dainty wrists and drag her along. They put the pair in heavy iron chains, tossing them into the largest of the longboats like so much gold or treasure, and indeed, a chest of gold coins nearly smashes Arielle's head if she hadn't moved quickly. 

Then the men begin to row, taking Arielle and Illianna away from everything they've ever known. 

[Illianna]

I sit in shocked silence in the hold feeling the ship pitch beneath me. My dream was wrong... my dream was wrong and because of my foolishness Ari and I are in chains. I know father will ransom me but poor Ari is likely to be sold by these heathen savages. I claps her hands tightly as I begin to sob.
"Forgive me father for I have sinned, my sin is pride for which the innocent now pay dearly with me. Forgive me father for in my stubbornness I put my faith in myself and not your will. I beg that you see Ari safe from harm punish me as you will but punish not her loyalty to a fool." I falter hearing foot steps above us. I'm frightened but Ari leads me in the our father "for thine is the kingdom," light spills into the hold "the power," we are hosted onto the deck "and the glory forever," we are pushed towards a gang plank "amen"

[Ravna]

The men shove the pricess onto her back, tearing at her fine gowns, and she realizes then how much danger she might be in. They might take the one thing that truly matters in her life before they have her ransomed! They might....


"Stop," calls a voice, and the men back away immediately. A tall woman, dark as sin, with long tresses like tentacles atop her heathen head, steps forth. She is over two yards tall, her hair all the way down to her mid back, and she stands cloaked in power and authority as much as she is cloaked in furs. "I know this one. Child, stand and account for yourself." Her voice is thickly accented, and she seems at a glance to have fangs instead of teeth. "Who are you?"

[Illianna]

I stand shaking badly leaning on Ari to stay upright "I am Illianna Blackwood Princess of Castilia heir to the throne." I say loudly trying to mask my fear "this is Arella Hawthorn Duchess of hillside. And you?" I ask heart racing she may be savage but she stands between myself and a fate worse than death

[Ravna]

And her demand for information is.... ignored? 

"The Princess is mine," the woman demands. 

"Then let us have the duchess," sneers one of the men, looking at Arielle. For that he is backhanded, the woman suddenly going from perfect stillness to motion in a flash.

"Ignorant fool," she hisses. "I am your Queen. I shall have whatever share I demand. And I demand them both. They suit me." 

"Yes, lady," says the man, rubbing his jaw. 

"Take them below until we reach the shore. Then have them brought to the dungeon until I can prepare for the wedding. I have just the suitor in mind..."

[Illianna]

Tuck once more below I pull Ari to me. We both stay silent and shaking until we are marched to the palace dungeons. Oh what a mess I've made. God forgive me!

[GamesMaster]

The indignity of the next twenty-four hours is something she wishes never again to experience in her life. They are given nothing to eat, and only a little water to drink, not even watered ale. They are both forced to piss in the same pot, in front of each other in the dingy, dark cell; they are forced to sleep on the ground, and her gown is utterly ruined beyond repair by this. 

The good news is, she's taken from the cell the next day -- not that she can truly tell what time it is, given she's in an underground cell and has been for ages. Rough hands tear at her, undressing her, and then pulling a gown over her head, cinching it tight. Her hair is brushed out and braided, like the barbarians, not pinned up in an elegant coif like her people do. None of them speak her language, or at least, they pretend not to understand when she asks them what's going on repeatedly. She's separated from Arielle, and before she quite understands what's going on, she's looking at the sunset as she's frog-marched outdoors to a small glen in the woods. 

The woods are lovely. There are a hundred candles alight all around, and if she pictured good Castellian people instead of these rough barbarians, she would be quite enchanted by the gathering. There is a feast laid out, though it is untouched as of yet. And the Queen...

The Queen is standing at one end of the glen, looking utterly fae and strange. She is a picture of beauty and power, and Illiana begins to wonder if she isn't a demon herself, instead of a summoner of them. She must be here to officiate the marriage, Illiana decides, and she begins to look around to see who she is to marry. 

She's just about picked out which man it is when she is marched to stand beside the Queen. Clearly it's the man standing to her right: a tall, pale by comparison though darker than Illiana, wild-looking man. He has huge hands, and she worries he may beat her if she disobeys him. Though, she has been taught her entire life to obey her husband. And yet, who would imagine it would be such a strange, wild man?

Tears stream down her cheeks by the time she reaches the Queen and the stranger, and she sniffles, trying to keep the heartbreak from showing too badly. She is a princess. She will bear up in this tragedy. She will....

Her hand is grabbed suddenly by the Queen, and a cut is made across her palm, shallow but bleeding. 

[Illianna]

It's not a wedding it's a sacrifice! My heart stops dead a moment jawclenching to keep fro screaming in fear. The lord is my sheared I shall not want... I bring the salm to mind as I lock eyes with this wild witch

[Ravna]

The Queen gives a cold, heartless smile. Then she slashes her own left palm, pressing it to Illiana's so that the blood can mingle. The man to her right takes a ribbon and binds their hands together; the Queen lifts them, and the crowd erupts in raucous cheers. 

"You are mine now," the Queen says, in Illianna's own language. "My bride."

[Illianna]

Bride? I...I'm married to a women? No a Witch Queen?! The world goes dark and my knees buckle in a dead faint

[GamesMaster]

When she next awakens, the first thing she notices is the chill. She's no longer in that heavy gown she was in last she noticed, meaning someone.... someone undressed her, someone laid hands on her body yet again while she was unconscious. Now she is in a thin linen gown, an undergarment so like her own nightgowns she almost wonders if this were all a dream. And yet the room is utterly alien to her. There are candles, and wooden trunks, but the bed is a style she has never seen before, and the covers are scratchy and rough, not fine silk like she is used to. 

There are manacles on her hands again, though they are fine silver ones, no longer heavy iron. When she tries the door, she finds it locked. So there is nothing to do but sit on the bed, and wait, and weep. 

That is, until someone enters the room... the man from the wedding, now clothed in only an under-tunic and a belt with a knife on it, his hair unbound and flowing freely down his back. "I suppose you have questions," he says, and his accent is lighter than the Queen's, his voice gentler. 

[Illianna]

I scramble back until I hit the headboard clutching the blanket to my chest. Still the thought of awnsers makes me bold. "Where am I? What happened? Is Areill safe?" I as my voice shaking

[Arthur Chevalier]

"You're in the Queen's home, in... you would say, Two Rivers. These are to be your bedchambers now that you are wed to the Queen and are her consort."