The Plague

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"Nah, your boy's actually been behaving the past few days. It was those god damned knights..." The words were laced with hidden rage as Edward followed Leo as far as he could. "They thought that my little Asylsa was a shifter and nearly had her killed! The dumb asses nearly killed my little girl..." Edward sat down, rage leaving him as he felt the fear finally flow away. "If it weren't for the Lord Trevor she would be dead by now... hanged..." He covered his face with his hands, shaking.

It was no secret that Edward and Marth were protective of their adopted daughter. Since the couple couldn't have a baby it seemed logical that when they found a small girl at their door they took her in. They loved her like any parent would, making sure that she lived a good life, even if she was a bit too adventurus for their tastes. Normally Edward was a calm man, only getting mad when Asylsa and Roan did something stupid. It also took a lot to shake the man, and having his daughter nearly die was just the thing to leave the poor man nearly sobbing.
 
Leo immediately stopped what he was doing and looked to his friend in shock. Did he hear that right? Asylsa was about to be hanged? He knew she was adopted, but he also knows a shapeshifter when he saw one and she definitely didn't look like a shapeshifter. He could be mistaken, though, and it wouldn't be the first time. He set the sickle down and started pacing the around the hall rubbing his temple. "She was saved by a lord?" Leo asked, finding the notion completely insane. "Your daughter ain't no shifter, Edward, but why would a lord go ou' of his way to save a commoner? Of course, I don't mean any disrespect by this, friend."

As he was thinking on it he sat down across from Edward and looked at him. "It doesn't ma'er, what ma'ers is your girl is safe. Is she alright, how's she handlin' it?"

***~***
​
While Roan was working on adding the finishing touches to the armour his father had given him, he noticed Edward entered and started talking about the incident. He kept looking over, feigning interest and when his father sat down he took it as his queue to go and visit Asylsa. He ran through the streets, avoiding carts and bumping into or shoving a few pedestrians out of his way. He made it to Asylsa's place in a timely fashion and quickly made to knock on their door. As he was standing there waiting for the door to open, he couldn't help but wonder what would happen if he told Asylsa that it wasn't a lord Trevor that saved her, but him. He pushed the thought aside quickly telling himself that she would never believe it. He had ran away after all, like a coward. Well, Roan ran away. He could barely contain the excitement within himself, but quickly sobered up by taking a few deep breaths - he didn't want to seem excited about his best friend being almost killed.
 
Edward sighed. "I know... it was strange seeing him check the back of her neck just to make sure... he almost acted a little bit like your boy. It was because she has a scar on the back of her neck that they took her..." He shook his head, sighing as he leaned back in his chair. "She was scared out of her wits, the poor thing... I hadn't seen her cry like that since she was a wee lass. First thing she asked about after being let go was if Roan was okay... I swear sometimes that girl worries too much about others."

***~***

Martha sighed as she answered the door before smiling. "Ah, Roan. Asylsa is out in the back washing her clothes. Keep your hands to yourself and you can go see her." The woman said, moving to let the boy walk to the back of the house. When he got to the back of the house, he could see Asylsa in one of her simpler work dresses and a new ribbon around her neck. She was washing the clothes, rubbing them against the washboard as she tried to stop herself from crying. She still was freaked out, tears hitting the washboard very frequently and addign to the water Asylsa was using to wash her clothes with. She didn't notice Roan, busy trying to wash her things.
 
Leo's neck snapped up when Edward mentioned that this lord acted a little bit like Roan. It couldn't be, he said to himself shaking his head, to think Roan would make himself a lord and put himself at risk would be ludicrous - he knew far better than to do that. Perhaps the youth act a certain way and Edward only saw it in Roan, he reassured himself. "Heh, to think," he said shaking his head. "I'd say you best get on your way to sendin' that good lord a le'er of appreciation for savin' your kid's hide. I don't know how many innocents get killed in these things, but were it not fo' 'im your daugh'er would've been one of 'em."

Leo gave Edward a reassuring pat on his shoulder and stood back up to begin working on the sickle once again. He went about adding another piece of metal to it and hammering it into place, then heated the two pieces together and hammered to give it the curve and finally moved on to the whetstone to make it sharper. "How you holdin' up?" He asked at last, not looking up from his work. "If you'd like, after I finish this thing up we can head to the tavern, my treat."

***~***​

Roan nodded solemnly to Asylsa's mother and walked towards the back and found tears still streaming down Asylsa's face. No doubt the event shook her far more than it did him; hell, to him it was exhilarating, having saved his best friend - it must be a totally different story with her, though, he realized. She was nearly killed for being something she's wasn't; he had to admit that he even he would be as traumatized, or even worse, than her if it happened to him had he managed to survive. Realizing that he was staring, Roan cleared his throat and walked up to her and crouched down, worry written all over his face. "I heard from your father about what happened," he said, his voice shaking. "I'm so sorry, it's all my fault. If I hadn't attacked that guard none of this would've happened, they wouldn't have mistaken you for a shifter, and you would still be happy."

He started moving his hand to place a reassuring grip on her shoulder but thought better of it. She probably hated him after what he'd done, and no doubt loved Trevor for saving her. Maybe he should have come as lord Trevor instead, he wondered. No, he told himself, it wouldn't make sense. A lord saving a commoner was bad enough, visiting one too would just be too suspicious. He didn't know what to do. Why did he even come? He sighed and clenched his jaws and couldn't help but think of wiping those tears away. He didn't want them there, he didn't want to see his friend hurt because of his idiocy. He realized sullenly that he should have left back before they entered the town - Asylsa would be sad, but she wouldn't be traumatized like she was now.
 
Edward sighed and shook his head. "I'll be fine. Besides, the knights have been hanging around the tavern and I want nothing to do with them. Listening to me blabber is just enough. Thank you for the offer though. I have to get back to Martha and Asylsa. I'll pick the sickle up later." The man stood up and smiled at Leo before thanking him for fixing his sickle and leaving.

***~***

Asylsa blinked before quickly wiping her tears away. "R-Roan! I... I'm fine... I just... I was so scared!" She quickly hugged the boy, shaking as she buried her head in the crook of his neck. "I was so worried that they were going to go after you... I thought I was going to die... I just wanted to keep them from running after you, I knew they would search for you if I didn't do something... I'm sorry!" She sobbed to the boy, forgetting that her arms were wet as she was just washing clothes earlier.
 
Shock filled Roan as Asylsa practically pounced at him when she went in for the hug and began explaining everything to him. It appeared that she didn't hate him after all which caused mixed feelings of confusion and relief. He really didn't know how to react to that, he had to admit, that she went out of her way and was willing to sacrifice herself to keep him safe. The thought of her knowing he was a shifter suddenly creeped into his mind, had she seen his mark before but never mentioned it? It would explain why she did what she did, but then how was he to explain her not knowing that he shifted into a lord to save her? Maybe she did it out of the goodness of her heart? He didn't know, everything was so confusing.

Pushing all the thoughts from his mind he wrapped his arms around her. "It's fine," he reassured her, though he barely believed it himself. "I'm untouchable, and even if the guards chased me, they'd never find me!" He wanted to take away all of her worries and toss it into the nearest river and see the smile that was on her face before this whole catastrophe took place. "You've gotten a new ribbon, I see," he chuckled lightly trying to ease the mood, though how successful he was he didn't know. More than ever he wanted to turn into the lord and show her his true self, his true shape shifting powers, but that fear still resided in him and he pushed the urge down and tossed it away. It wasn't time, he told himself, she probably wouldn't understand and only push him away for nearly having her killed for being an actual abomination. The fear of betrayal was something he couldn't handle, especially if it came from her.
 
Asylsa smiled and gave a small laugh at his statements, moving away from the hug. She touched her ribbon lightly. "Yeah, my other one sort of got lost in the commotion and Ma thought that I should use a different one for now." She realized that her arms were still wet from clothes washing and she had just gotten her friend all wet. "Oh, God! I'm so sorry, I just got you all wet... If I had a towel I would give it to you, I'm so sorry!"

Asylsa was glad that Roan wasn't blaming himself anymore. She hated to see her friend act like that. She quickly started washing again, knowing that Ma would have her head if she didn't finish by nightfall. She scrubbed away at the stains, the brown of the mud and alcohol starting to fade away as she washed.
 
Roan looked down to his shirt and noticed how wet he was and laughed with a shrug. It didn't bother him as much as seeing his friend hurt, and now that the feelings of gloominess had left her and a smiled had returned to her face he really couldn't care less about his shirt, and even if he did, it would dry out on it's own under the sun. "Nothing to worry about," he said watching her wash the dress with mild fascination. He couldn't help but wonder how she continued washing with ease, as if her arms never got fatigued from the constant force and motion against the washboard.

He sat there watching as Asylsa continued with her work with mild fascination as he waited for her to finish, often asking small questions here and there to keep the conversation going and to keep him from going mad while he waited. His thoughts soon went back to the clothes he had stuffed in his cupboard and began wondering if his mother's curiosity would cause her to look and see what sort of clothes he bought. From what he heard Edward tell his father, and if his mother told him about the clothes, he would definitely put two and two together. Although his 'true' father was a patient man, he wouldn't know how he would react to such a thing. Perhaps its best to dwell on it later, he told himself, afraid of darkening his mood.
 
Asylsa smiled as she started to hang up her clothes, finished with washing them. "You know... I don't think it was actually Lord Trevor who saved me from being hanged..." She carefully put her clothes up, straightening them out. "Call me crazy, but I think it was a shifter... I've seen Lord Trevor in the bar and he acts absolutely nothing like that, sober or drunk. He would die before saving someone from being hanged. It's a sport to him." She didn't look at Roan as she said this, almost afraid of what he would say. She finished hanging up her things to dry and laughed. "That's probably just me overthinking things, right? I mean, I should just be grateful that I'm alive!" She wiped her arms on her apron, drying off from the wet water.

Asylsa always had a suspicion about Roan. She knew it was weird to suspect something from your best friend, but she called it listening to her sixth sense. Roan was different. Whether it was in just how he acted or how he always wore high collared jackets, he was different. With the shapeshifters starting to be persecuted, Asylsa would have to be stupid to not notice how Roan reacted and acted around the knights. She was a lot more observant than most people thought, hearing things in the bars. It was so easy to tell the shapeshifters from the humans in the tavern when she worked. She would watch them, notice how they would seem to be able to just know what the other was. She began to notice that around town to, the knowing looks and the casual greetings that had so much more depth to them. She even knew which customers were shapeshifters and which were humans in her parents own shop! It would have been just stupid of her not to notice these things about her best friend.
 
"I heard lord Trevor saved you," Roan said standing up and shaking the feelings back into his leg. "I couldn't believe it myself. I don't know the man, nor how he acts, but a lord saving you. Just watch, within half a day you're going to be talked about all over town!" He walked up to a wall and leaned his back on it and put his hands in his coat pockets and shrugged when she asked him the question of whether she was over thinking things. Lord Trevor was the only lord he'd seen well enough to turn into, if he'd mistaken his character it could turn ugly real fast and backlash at him. No one knows it was me, he reminded himself. Even if they suspected a shifter, he was safe.

"You probably are over thinking," he said at last. "Maybe he was just drunk and had no idea what he was doing. Or perhaps the lord has a thing for a commoner!" He laughed at his last statement pushing himself off of the wall and going over to play with the wet dress that Asysla had just hanged. "It wouldn't be the first time a lord infatuated himself with the common woman, you all have a certain charm about you."
 
Asylsa slapped his hand away when he started playing with the dress. "Oh really? A lord falling for a commoner? That sounds like some fairy tale. Besides, our only charm would be yelling that supper is ready and complaining about the high prices of turnips." She chuckled quietly before hesitating, thinking about something. She bit her lip before asking, "Hey... Can I show you something?" She waited for him to approve before taking off her ribbon and pulling her hair away. She turned to show her friend the red scar that was burned into her skin. A moon that seemed to never heal quite right or go away.

Asylsa said nothing as she let her friend look over the scar. She waited for him to ask, waited for him to come to his own conclusions. She would tell him the story. It seemed right after keeping it from her friend for so long. She hesitated, wondering if he would touch it, feel how the skin of the scar differed from her own soft skin. She felt exposed somehow, but after nearly being hanged, she felt that she had to show him now in case she didn't get the chance later.
 
Roan pulled his hand away and rubbed while looking at Asylsa with mock hurt; he began to say something clever to her retort when he noticed her hesitation causing a feeling of worry to well up within him. He watched her with intent eyes, not sure of what to make of her sudden hesitant behaviour, and began wondering about the various number of logical and illogical reasons as to why she suddenly became hesitant.

He got his answer when she asked him if she could show him something, he nodded slowly, not sure what it was she planned on showing him. She removed the ribbon from her neck and showed him the mark on the back of her neck. He had been wondering about it ever since he'd left the incident, he knew of the stars that shapeshifters had, but he'd never before seen a moon. Cautiously he moved his hands towards it and touched the mark, amazed that she was willing to share this with him. "What is it?" He asked, baffled. "H-how did you get this?"
 
Asylsa shivered at the touch. She felt herself sigh when he asked. "It's a scar. See how the color is different from the rest of the skin? Yeah, that's because it's a burn." She contemplated telling the story, but wasn't sure how exactly to say it. She sighed. "It's kind of a long story..."

Asylsa took a deep breath before starting her story. "You see, when I was a little girl before Ma and Pa found me, I remember being in this... place. It was full of fire and people were screaming. It wasn't anything like town. There was a man. He looked... sad. He seemed almost sad that I had to be there. He kept telling me that he was sorry, that this was all for my good. He had a brander, like the one that Marcus uses only smaller. He told me to run, to go find a new family before using the brand on me." She bit her lip before continuing. "I had nightmares every night and I still do..." She sighed as she curled her toes, almost a bit afraid of how Roan would react.
 
Roan moved back as Asylsa started explaining how she had got the mark, and he felt his face go from confused to shocked to horrified at the story. "Who would do such a thing?" He asked, bewildered, circling round to face her. "For your own good? That-that doesn't make any sense, how will being branded like cattle be for your own good?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing, he felt a boiling anger bubbling within him at whoever it was that had done this to his friend. While he was fuming, his mind went to the mark that was on his neck and he began wondering if he should tell her the truth.

Moving away from her he turned and peered up at the sky trying to come up with a decision. It was clear to him that he was afraid, but if she was willing to show him the mark on her neck, she wouldn't react any differently, would she? It wasn't the same thing but surely she should have suspected something off about him, considering how close they were and how strange he reacted to knights among many other things. Clenching his fists he took of his coat and said, "I've got something to show you of my own," revealing the star on the back of his neck.
 
When Asylsa saw the mark, she found it hard to act surprised. She took his coat and put it back on him, putting the collar up. "Better keep that covered. Wouldn't want the wrong people to see it. Also you need to work on your acting skills." She smiled before tying her ribbon back in its bow and took his hand. "Come on! Ma's making her special soup and malled wine! Why don't you invite your family over for supper!"

As Asylsa dragged the boy inside to ask her ma if Roan's family could come over for supper, she thought about Roan being a shapeshifter. In some ways she expected it. In others she was completely flabbergasted she hadn't seen it earlier. Her best friend was being hunted by the knights. The rest of his family were probably shifters too. That made her feel a bit better for distracting the knight earlier.
 
"My acting is fine," he protested. "It was good enough to save you, wasn't it?" He felt himself being dragged once again and had no choice but to follow Asylsa back inside. His stomach rumbled at the sound of her mother's soup and he'd forgotten just how hungry he'd been. The day had gotten so nearly out of control he thought he was going to lose his friend, though now that the ordeal was over he found himself famished and more than happy to have dinner at her place.

"Why not," he said heading towards the door to call for his family and headed out. While he was walking down the street, he couldn't help but feel like a giant weight had lifted from his shoulders, the reaction - or lack thereof - of Asylsa led him to believe that either she knew beforehand or she had an idea, either was just as possible as the other. The winds were heavy, and snapped his coat while he walked towards his house where he found his father standing outside with the clothes he had worn when he turned into the lord Trevor. He didn't say a word, simply looked at him, his jaws clenched. "I can explain," Roan said, his heart pounding in his chest.

"You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"I was trying to protect a friend, and it worked! Why're you so worried?"

"Son, that's not the point!" His father said walking them inside their house. "Your actions have consequences, that wasn't lord Trevor earlier, it was you; and they'll know it was one of us who protected your friend! What do you think they're going to do to her and her family now? Even if they don't have the mark, they'll be hanged for conspiring with the shapeshifters." Sudden realization donned on Roan, for the second time today he might have put his friend's life in danger, and if he tried to protect her again by shifting, he'd probably be run down with swords.

"What was I supposed to do?" He asked, furious. "Let her die?" His father let out a sigh and sat down rubbing his temples.

"Yes," he finally said. "It's cruel, I know, son, but the world, especially our world, isn't-"

"What do you mean yes? You're going to say the world is an evil place and harsh place? I've witnessed our cousins being hanged while we stood back not doing anything! We're shifters! We could topple this kingdom and bring it to it's knees but we're all afraid because the world is "harsh"! Bugger that, father! I'm sick of all this cowering from the king and I'm sick of our people being hunted like animals! I'm going to take a stand against this and if you're not going to stand with me, I'll find others who will!" He stormed out of the house and made is way back to Asylsa's.
 
When Asylsa saw Roan walking back, she smiled. "Hey! Roan, is your family coming?" She asked, meeting with him halfway before noticing his expression. She frowned and led him inside. There she asked, "Hey, what's wrong? Did your father chew you out or something?" She looked over her friend, concerned for him.

As Asylsa was dealing with Roan, Martha and Edward were in the kitchen, talking. "I don't know Edward, it seems so sudden... and you know we're not as young as Leo and Sarah are. We would take longer to move out then they would." Martha pointed out, pouring the malled wine into a few bottles to store.

"I know, Martha, but things in town are getting too dangerous. We'll take our flowers and leave. With Asylsa almost getting hanged... it is just not safe here anymore." The man leaned back taking a sip of the tea that Martha had made earlier.

"Then where do you suggest we go? We can't right leave the kingdom without finding more knights. Besides she's going to find out sooner or later. We should tell her."

"No, Martha, we can't tell her now... we have to wait. Besides, I hear the drow kingdom is very accepting of humans."

"Edward! We are not going to the Drows!" The argument continued quietly as the woman prepared dinner for the family, making extra in case Roan and his family came.
 
Roan looked up and shook his head, replacing his frown with a grin. "How would you like to start a revolution?" He asked. "I'm tired of the king treating us like animals. He's probably scared of us - I'll show him what to truly fear." He hoped Asylsa would agree with his foolhardy idea of a revolution. They truly needed one, and since he was rejected by his father he wouldn't know just how to feel if Asylsa rejected him as well. The anger he felt, however, made him want to storm straight to the king's chambers and lock him away in the deepest dungeons and take the King's place for himself. Things would change then, he thought to himself, the kingdom wouldn't be as bad nor as crazy.

He moved further into the house and plopped himself down onto a stool and looked intently at Asylsa. "You probably think I've gone mad, don't you," he asked with a chuckle. "If we did start a revolution, it would change everything. The king would know to fear us and he'll leave us alone at last to live in peace. Maybe we can even overthrow him and put a shifter in his place. Clearly, a king who kills innocents doesn't deserve to be king."
 
Asylsa blinked when he started talking about a revolution. "Whoa whoa, slow down. A revolution? Are you serious? Roan, I hate what the knights are doing too, but right now you're just one kid and the shifters are all afraid of the knights. We can't just start something like that on a whim. We'd have to plan, get followers, make sure people were okay with overthrowing the king. Besides, who says that the new king would be any better? The shifter king might decide to exterminate all humans for all you know." She sighed as she took a break from her rant. She ran a hand through her hair before turning to Roan. She knew that she was hasty, but this just screamed danger in every idea.

Asylsa took a deep breath before starting again. "Right now, I don't think it's a good idea. You need to lay low until there's a time where the knights aren't as hard pressed to kill shifters. Maybe after a while there will be a time where something big hasn't happened in a while and then we can go ahead with the revolution idea. Right now... just focus on staying alive."

Martha walked out to get Asylsa and noticed Roan. "Oh, Roan. Is your family coming over for supper?" She asked, wiping her hands on a towel.
 
Her words hurt him, but Roan knew they held truth in them nonetheless. He didn't want to listen to her, he wanted to ignore her advice and storm out, but he knew the knights were especially aggressive these days, and he was alone after all. "I suppose you're right," he sighed in defeat. It didn't mean, however that he had to stay alone, he could make an underground army of shifters that could take on the king and his knights and strike when they least expect it. "I'll wait then. I don't bloody like it, but I'll wait."

The more he thought about it, however, the more he saw the wisdom behind waiting. Once the guards had killed off the weak shifters, only the strong would remain and once they were banded together, overthrowing the king and ridding the kingdom of the knight's would be be done with in an efficient manner, their powers and abilities aiding each other against the powerless men. He couldn't wait for that day to arrive, for their persecution to end and the tyranny of man to fall. Roan stood up from the stool, his thoughts disappearing as he did so, and nodded to himself. "Thanks for talking me out of it," he said at last with a small smile, deep inside, however, he could feel his anger brewing, waiting to be unleashed upon mankind.

He looked over to Martha as she appeared and shook his head at her question, "no, it doesn't look like they will," he said. "They have important things to do; their jobs and all that."
 
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