shadowsong26: (fera)
shadowsong26 ([personal profile] shadowsong26) wrote in [community profile] rainbowfic2012-11-20 04:47 pm

Arsenic #8, Bone #3, Gunmetal #1

Name: shadowsong26
Story: Knife's Edge
'Verse: Feredar
Colors: Arsenic #8. hemlock, Bone #3. active decay, Gunmetal #1. Knife
Supplies and Materials: feathers, modeling clay, pastels (my current GRK card O5 "waiting"), chalk, seed beads (Fera, Sola), novelty beads (You say so, but I think it is your biggest pretend), yarn, glitter, glue ("You are coming into another phase of powerful changes this week...things are likely to move much quicker now.")
Word Count: 360
Rating: R
Characters: Fera, Sola, Andrell
Warnings: References to character/familial death, resignation to suspected impending assassination
Notes: Constructive criticism welcome, as always.


Her sister-in-law's news echoes in circles through her mind.

Kellom is dead. They just brought his body back. There is no mistake.

"You have to get out of the city," Sola continues. "Keta and Tana have already fled. Deva and I should be all right, but you...people are angry, Fera."

Sola's right. People are angry. The things Kellom did...Fera is--has always been--on the edge of things, never involved, but aware, a shadow Queen with no role, no influence, no way to act on what she knows.

But she mutely shakes her head. "There's no time," she says quietly. "But thank you."

"You don't have to die with him," Sola tries to insist. She takes her hand. "You haven't done anything wrong, not by anyone's standards."

And it won't matter because I am--I was--his wife. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life being hunted, Sola," Fera says. "Are your children safe?"

"Yes, of course they are. But Fera--"

Voices in the hall, loud and angry and pounding footsteps. "They're coming. You should go."

Sola hesitates only a second, then throws up her hands and leaves the back way.

Fera closes her eyes. I am not afraid to die, she tries to tell herself.

The door bursts open. Four soldiers, men she doesn't recognize. She only prays they'll be quick.

"Stop." Her last surviving brother-in-law's voice, quiet, but firm. "Don't hurt her."

They listen. Somehow, they listen. She doesn't resist when they tie her hands. Andrell wants to keep her alive. Part of her is relieved. Andrell is a good man, he doesn't lie, if he says 'don't hurt her' he means it.

Everything feels like she's under a dozen feet of water, and her knees give way when they pull her up. They take her to another room, smaller, more secure.

"I'll make sure no one knows you're here," Andrell promises her. So no one will come to hurt you, is left unsaid. "And when things quiet down..." He gives her a tired little smile. "I'll protect you. I promise."

They cut her hands free and lock her in, and for a moment, she believes him.
kay_brooke: A forest corridor in autumn, the path carpeted with leaves (autumn)

[personal profile] kay_brooke 2012-11-26 05:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Poor Fera, getting a temporary reprieve but unable to believe Andrell really will be able to protect her. It's almost more cruel, in a way--she had already accepted her death and now it's just going to be prolonged.
bookblather: A picture of Yomiko Readman looking at books with the text "bookgasm." (Default)

[personal profile] bookblather 2012-11-28 07:24 am (UTC)(link)
Jesus, poor Fera. I like the resignation in this; it sort of builds on the fact that she's never really had any control over her life, and she won't have any control over her death, either. Nicely done.