Saturday, July 21, 2012

Chapter 8: Caged


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With the slightest gesture, Auberon uses his magic to dress his 'guests' as he deems appropriate for their conference. Though it is disconcerting to find himself suddenly clothed like a fairy, Riain is determined to go along with Auberon's whims, putting aside his own pride for the sake of all their peoples.


"Don't eat anything," Shayeleigh whispers, touching Riain's arm as he reaches for the fruit laid out before them. Dragons normally eat only meat and the flame fruits grow only in their gardens, but it has been a full day since his last meal, and even these simple fruits tempt him. "Fairy food is enchanted," Shayeleigh explains, "Any who eat it are bound to the fairy that feeds them."

Riain growls, a low rumble. "Listen, fairy, your tricks do nothing to foster peace."

"Surely, you can understand my---"


Auberon stands suddenly, gesturing for silence as he listens to something none of the rest can hear. "Ico," he says after a minute of quiet, "Something has happened. I feel...she was frightened, hurt. it's gone now."


"Is this some trick?" Riain asks, rising from his seat.

"No trick," Auberon says, meeting the dragon's gaze, "Something has happened to Ico. I must go find her. Will you help me, dragon?"

Riain's hand balls into a fist, "I don't trust you, fairy. Aymeri would never let any harm come to Ico."

"Nor would I, dragon. But harm has come to her. I must find her. And since she has once again gone somewhere where I cannot sense her, I need your tracking skills."

Riain looks to Shayeleigh, who nods at him. "He's not lying, my love. I ask that you go with him. And I will come too."

"Thank you, Shayeleigh," Auberon says, "I would appreciate your help. You can keep your dragon in line."

Riain growls again, louder and more menacing, "No, we don't know what we'll find out  there, Shaye. Stay here where it's safe."


Just outside his magically constructed house, Auberon stops to consider their situation. They don't where to begin their search.

"The only time Ico had ever been out of my reach was while she was in the dragon's nest," he muses, speaking more to himself than to his companion, "Perhaps she'd tried to escape and the dragons recaptured her?"


Riain has done all he could to tolerate the fairy's smug superiority and air of command, but the accusation that his brothers may have harmed Ico is more than the dragon can bear. He lashes out with a punch that sends the surprised Auberon flying to the ground.


"I am a dragon, never forget that," Riain says, his voice controlled and steady.

Auberon looks up at the dragon with a wry smile. "Thank you for the reminder," he says. He could, of course, remind the dragon of his own considerable power and bring him to his knees in pain, but there isn't the time for these games. They must find Ico.

"Ico was never our captive, she came to us, following Aymeri," Riain says, helping the fairy to his feet, "And I know my brother would never allow her to be harmed. If they were out searching for me..." he stops talking as he considers the possibilities. Tensions run high between the nests as they females gather in council to talk of war. Hayder attacked him on sight; if a group of males like him found Aymeri outside the nest with Ico, if they had managed to fight and defeat his brother, Ico could very well have been taken to another nest, could have been, as Auberon feared, captured by dragons. "We should search where Shayeleigh killed Hayder," he decides, assuming that his brothers were out searching for him.


The unlikely pair head off in the direction Riain suggested, but are stopped suddenly by a bird that lands on their path.

"Shayeleigh," Riain says, kneeling to offer her his arm. She cannot speak in animal form, but Riain knows the mind of his love. "If you must come, I cannot stop you," he says, "Just, stay by me."


"Her trail just stops here," Aymeri says. There are other scents here, not Ico, not fairy of any kind, nor of any beast he recognizes.

"Are you certain she has not betrayed you?" Emrys suggests.

"She wouldn't," Aymeri says, expressing more confidence than he feels. She'd sent a message to the other fairies once, he thinks, perhaps she took this opportunity to flee from him back to her kind..."No," Aymeri decides, "She wouldn't do that, I'm sure of it." She loves him, he knows that to be true, without question.

"We must search for Riain," Emrys insists, "With or without your fairy."


"Brother!" Riain cries out in joy when they come upon Aymeri and Emrys on their search.

Aymeri pulls Riain into his arms "We feared the worst, brother. It is more than good to see you unharmed."


Riain has not seen his father since he came of age and left his mother's nest to join Tearhne's.

"Is that...her?" Emrys asks in wonder, sensing the magic in the bird riding his son's shoulder.

"Shayeleigh," Riain says, "This is my sire, Emrys."


Auberon watches, bemused by the affection displayed by these fierce creatures. "Are you Aymeri?" he asks of the one Riain called brother, "I would speak of Ico."


Aymeri steps closer to the fairy, "She was looking for you," he says, "We found the place where Riain was injured, and knew he'd been with a fairy. Ico went ahead, believing the fairy would have brought him to you."

"Shayeleigh brought Riain to us, but Ico never followed. I felt her distress not an hour ago. And then, nothing."

"Nothing?" Aymeri asks.

"The same as when she was in your nest, dragon," Auberon says, "Some magic keeps me from sensing her."

As far as Aymeri knows, only dragons have that kind of protective magic over their nests. "I told her it was not safe to be out alone," he growls, his anger directed at himself. "I should never have let her out of my sight."

"You will find that fairies are not so easily caged, dragon," Auberon says.


"These are the creatures that took Kern and Tegar?" Tor asks in disbelief. Tracking this one was difficult, but once found, she was easier to take down than even a deer. How could such a pretty, fragile thing take two of his best hunters?


"Don't be fooled by her pretty face," the Spirit Talker says, rising to face the hunters, "They are creatures of great magic, and can steal your soul just by looking into your eyes."


Uvie sits quiet and unnoticed as her mother weaves tales of horror to frighten the hunters. Even she doesn't know how much of her mother's stories are true, and how much is concocted for effect, to impress the hunters and keep them under her sway.


While the Spirit Talker is engaged with the hunters, Uvie sneaks closer to the captured creature.


Whatever falsehoods her mother may be weaving for the hunters' benefit, Uvie is certain of the truth of the creature's magic. She touches its face with one hesitant finger, and feels the current of energy pass through her. The creature is powerful and beautiful, like the great cats, her mother had warned her, but even more dangerous. Uvie is not afraid as she gently prods the creature, hoping to wake it from the drugged slumber inflicted by the poison from the hunters' arrows.


So entranced is she by the creature, Uvie doesn't notice as the hunters depart from their hut.


"Uvie!" her mother shrieks as she turns to find her daughter inside the magic circle.


"Do not go near it," she admonishes, "With one look, it can steal your spirit, make you its slave!"

"So you say," Uvie retorts, "But you don't know. You've never even seen a creature like this before."

Her mother slaps her across the face. "Do you doubt what the spirits tell me?" she hisses, "I am the Spirit Talker! My visions are true!"


When Ico awakens, she finds herself in a strange place, in the presence of two strange creatures, not unlike her in form, but not fairies or dragons. Like the beasts of the land, they are not magic. Whatever they are, they sleep, and Ico means to take advantage of their slumber to leave this place they've brought her to, to find Aymeri and resume their search for Riain and Shayeleigh.


But as she steps to the edge of the circle of stones she stands in, a magical force stops her.


As she tries to counter it, pushing forward, it pulls her back with great force.


Uvie wakes at the the strange creature's cry of pain as she falls back to the ground.


Heedless of her mother's warning, Uvie once again enters the circle, and fearlessly looks the creature in the eyes. Her mother may be frightened of it, but Uvie is more curious than afraid of the unknown.


These creatures are not made of magic the way fairies or dragons are, Ico realizes, but they have use of a magic of their own, and have trapped her within it. Quickly, she grabs the wrists of the one who approaches her, meaning to put a glamour on her, make her remove the spell that holds her prisoner here.


Uvie breaks free of the creature's grasp and flees the hut, dashing out into the night's darkness. Her mother will be very angry if she discovers how close she came to falling under its spell.


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Special thanks to Heaven for allowing me to use Uvie, a spare from her Avendale Legacy . I was touched by Uvie's search for fairies in the legacy, and always wanted for her to find them. (Uvie's mother is also an adult version of the teen Uvie offered by Heaven)

I also wanted to note that I am aware that I've given these cave people far greater technology than they would have possessed, with metal pots, bow and arrows and what not. But, I am somewhat constrained by what I can find in the game and CC. Not much is for the Stone Age, not surprisingly, lol. Lots of medieval stuff, and even some Bronze Age things here and there, and I have to make do. So, please excuse the anachronisms.

26 comments:

  1. It's interesting to me that I both hate and love the humans in this story. I like Uvie, and I hope she helps Ico whether wittingly or not. Ico is in grave danger.
    I loved it when Riann (I hope I spelled the name right cuz I'm too lazy to scroll up on my tablet atm) punched the fairy king guy. That was awesome cuz I'm really starting to get irritated by his cocky attitude!

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    1. Thanks, mypal,
      I do try to make it so no one side is the big bad evil. Fairies,dragons and humans (and whoever else might show up, with SN coming out) all have different personalities, some better than others. So I'm happy you both love and hate humans. Some of them will do things you hate, but others will hopefully do things that redeem their kind.
      Auberon really asked to be punched, lol.

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  2. THANK YOU FOR THE PUNCH! I just... I mean... I love you. You have all my love. I will find a way to stage a friggin alien abduction in my legacy now. There is really nothing more I can say about that except that it was completely and fully satisfying. And... and then the photo of Riain standing over him... <3 Thank you. Just. Thank you. I don't think I can love you anymore than I do right now.

    Oh wait, I can. Cause you have UVIE! *Hugs tight* Seriously, I'm amazed more new readers haven't swarmed here just for her. She's soooo friggin cute here and I really hope she helps Ico escape... and not be killed horribly in the process.

    Now if you don't mind I'm going to make up a bunch of alternate captions for the fourth last photo... cause my mind is filthy.

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    1. Thanks, Cece!
      Riain put up with a lot of crap, but even he has a breaking point. Auberon had it coming.
      Uvie is adorable. I have a lot planned for her. Her encounters with fairies will change her life forever.

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  3. Haha! Looks like Auberon and Riain are going to have to work together. It was a awesome punch though and so well timed! I loved that part as well!

    I feel bad for the humans for when the dragons and fairies find them...I can imagine! They need to go easy on them! They are just curious and what to find out what Ico is! I'm sure they mean little harm! Uvie should have known to listen to her mom, she was right lol.

    Enjoyed it and looking forward to seeing what happens next!

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    1. Yes, the dragons and fairies have a tenuous alliance for the moment. They both want to find what happened to Ico and get her back safely. Unfortunately their main suspect is another dragon nest, they are barely aware of the humans and haven't even considered them as a possibility.
      But yes, if they do find Ico imprisoned like that, it could be very bad for the humans.

      Uvie's mom is a little crazy (she actually has the insane trait and was 'speaking madness' to the hunters), but she also seems to have some rel insight into the nature of the magic creatures her tribe has encountered in this place.

      Thanks for reading, Aeon, I'm glad you are enjoying it.

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  4. The pictures are amazing. Perfect and so awesome. I've lost words.
    The story is so entrancing. I am under the fairy spell, or the dragon's gaze, I can't decide. ^_^
    I sort of rather hoped that Auberon would have shown some of his power on Riain. But then that would not have solved anything, showing that Auberon is actually the stronger of the two. He knows what they need to do and doesn't want to waste an ounce of time.

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    1. Thank you, Fae! I've been working on my set building and picture taking for this story. And I'm so thrilled that you are captivated by the story. =D

      Auberon already showed his power whn he was torturing Riain, and you are right, he held back now because he has more important things to achieve than showing his power just to prove his strength. He also prefers to keep people off guard, lull them into a sense of security, so if he does have to fight at some point, they are less prepared to take him.

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    2. I completely missed the chapter before where Auberon does put Riain through some torture. Wow. I hate missing any single update :(
      I take back my words and say Auberon deserved it.

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    3. I'm sorry you missed that one, Fae!
      The torture does make it hard to be sympathetic toward Auberon.

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  5. Awww, I am so glad to see Uvie! I'm definitely hoping for a happy ending for her. Though, caught in a war between fairies and dragons with humans thrown in the mix, I may be overreaching.

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    1. =D
      I won't give away spoilers, but when I asked you about using Uvie, this storyline wasn't even what I was thinking of, she wasn't actually even going to appear until sometime later. But once I decided to use her, I realized her later story would be better if she was part of this, too.
      So, she does have a future to look forward to, happy or otherwise.

      And thank you again for sharing her. Getting involved with fairies is always a dicey business, but I always wanted for to find them.

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  6. Hmm. I hope we find out where the old lady got this magical knowledge. =D

    This chapter really has my inner conspiracy theorist going, wondering what other kinds of magical creatures there are out there, if the faeries tested their harmful magics on them, or on their own kind, etc.

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    1. My strong interest in comparative religion and studies about shamanism are the basis for the Spirit Talker. I'll try to get more in depth about that.

      And, actually, I've been thinking about the various other supernatural types available in Sims (or soon to be available with SN coming out), where they fit in and whether some of them might not be fairy experiments gone awry. That is a subject I will be dealing with; you might remember in my Dayspring legacy, Tania told her son about a human she turned fairy, Tam Lin (which was my version of a real fairy legend)? I haven't forgotten, and that and other tales like it will come up again.

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    2. In my head I'm picturing a young Spirit Talker walking up to a fairy and screaming "teach me the secrets of alchemy!"

      I do remember the story of Tam Lin. ^^ It was very interesting, and somehow very creepy, to think of the fae as lacking something humans have.

      I've wondered before if Tam Lin would ever appear here. I kinda sorta maybe okay really really wanted to see that. No pressure of course!

      And... lol... this is going to sound so weird. >.> I've been thinking about the "experiments gone awry" theme a lot lately as well, as potentially explaining some of the SN races if they pop up in my legacy. It would more or less be recycling and !@#$ing up a really old plot point used in one of my non-sims stories, though, so I'm not sure if I'll bother going there.

      There's probably a whole tropes page for this. I bet Tolkien stuff is there.

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    3. LOL, maybe I'll have to some flashbacks for Uvie's Mom, the 'How I learned magic and went insane' episode. =P
      Actually I've been dying to get to Tam Lin's story here. But it's a medieval tale, so I have to wait a bit. (I'll be doing some huge time jumps so the story won't painfully crawl through every human era, lol) I do tend to like to balance things, I don't like the idea of these immortal powerful without some weaknesses and something lacking.
      I'm actually really excited about taking on a bunch of folklore about the fair folk here.

      There should be a tropes page for experiments gone awry! I'm looking forward to whatever ways you include the new supernaturals into your legacies. You always handle them in an interesting and unique way. (Mummy Apocalypse!)

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    4. Yay! So happy you're gonna do the Tam Lin story.

      I can be patient. ^.^

      *casts vote for Uvie's mom episode*

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  7. Oh good she is alive and well. NO she is alive, but well.... Humans and that Uvie my goodness she is a noisy one isn't she. I loved this chapter and are those my poses you used for the dragons. They look really familiar.

    Again I loved this chapter and I actually just love how you pose and take your pictures awesome Job as always.

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    1. Uvie is a very curious girl, and she's intrigued by this strange new captive her mother has.

      And, yes, those are your poses! I was excited when you did the bromance set because I knew I'd get a lot of use of them with my dragons.
      Thank you!

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  8. Uvie! *tackles her*

    That was one of my favorite parts of heaven's legacy, and I'm so excited that you are using her. I love how curious she is, and I can't wait to see what you've got planned for her.

    Also, yeah. Your sets are amazing. The human's house even looks like the inside of a mud hut. Amazing! =)

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    1. Thanks! That wallpaper is actually something in the game, I think in the Misc wall covering section, made to look like a mud wall.
      I thought about setting this up underground to look like a cave, but it's really hard to make the flat ceilings and angled walls look remotely cave like, so I'm going with mud huts. My nomadic humans are settling down here and starting to evolve. Sadly, they can't start domesticating livestock like cows and sheep which is big part of the change from nomadic hunters to settled villages.

      Every time Uvie mentioned wanting to find fairies in heaven's legacy, I was like 'they're out there, Uvie! Go find them!'

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  9. Yay! Still loving this story! I hope I get to know Uvie better!

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    1. Thanks, Kathleen. There is definitely more Uvie the following chapters.

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  10. Yea, Riain! Punch him! Then help him up, you're such a sweetheart. I like Uvie's curiosity.

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    1. Auberon deserved that punch (and more!), and I'm glad Riain did get to lash out a little at him. But, their mission was most important, so Riain let go of his anger so they could get on with it.

      Uvie is one of my favorite characters in this story. Her role was going to be minor, but I just fell in love with her, and she actually becomes pretty central to the story as it goes on.

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  11. Can't say Auberon didn't deserve that hook, but maybe not wise of Riain to deliver it. Although I can't really blame him for doing so, either.

    Hm, dragons and fairies both in search of Ico. I expected more would come of that meeting...more fairies seeing more dragons. Times really are changing, whether either side realizes the extent or not.

    I hope Uvie is the key for Ico getting out of there!

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