Thread: To thunder against the heavens (Alexander and Crvenqueenie)

He didn't care for a lecture on how she did or did not work. Right now, she was in his domain... at least, that is what he thought. In this mystical field, it was difficult to tell. She seemed to have been the one moving towards him, but it was just as possible that she had flung him a far distance from that town, and brought him before her. He shook hid head to remove the several confusing thoughts in his mind. He hadn't taken anything from her, either, at least, no more than had been stolen from him. And even then, it would be like comparing the taking of a coin in a pouch, to the theft of an entire estate. Just as he found it impossible to compose his posture while in her weighty presence, after she spoke her toxic words to him, it was difficult to share speech with her as well. His jaw felt like it weighed twenty pounds, and he found that both rising and talking at once was quite impossible under this aura, so he settled for merely fending her with words from the ground. He wondered if this strange presence affected her as well, explaining her distractingly loose and light attire. If he did not hate her so, he might have admired the luscious curves that she flared at him. If his body were not so restrained, he might have attempted to caress her skin. And yet, what he would have done to link a chain between her two anklets, and turn her jewelry into shackles... You claim heresy? What would Kelenor say? He asked, invoking the patron of law and righteousness, possibly a poor thing to attempt in front of Ailis. I think it would be declared that justice has been achieved, today. His own definition of justice did not normally include slaying women in cold blood, but with enough introspection, he believed that he would be able to live with himself. The woman was guilty by association, and Ailis herself claimed mothership of that woman, so there could be no doubt about her identity. There is much pain that can be wrought both ways, Ailis. Do you wish to see your grandchildren in the afterlife alongside their departed mother? Do not touch the village, now that I have freed them from its tribute. He knew nothing of the emptiness of his threat, Ailis already having damned those he thought in his custody to that dark fate. He shook his head, when he thought of the thousands who would have glady carried her banner, even thrown themselves into the underworld at her request, a year ago. Since then, he had met but one other boat of Phrace in what had once been lively and active waters, and they knew little more than his company did, having similarly been far from home when the reckoning came. You had your pick of countless worthy heroes. The first that came to mind was his own namesake. Cyncus's father was on a voyage nearly thirty years ago, back when the monsters had begun to rise from depths unknown and were sinking ships left and right as if they were nothing but lead anchors. They journeyed for a whirl-serpent, and the thing had licked thirty men from the deck of the ship, torn off all the masts, and was busy removing the hull ten planks at a time with furious body-slams before one man's harpoon caught its tongue, and with inhuman strength pulled the thing from the water and onto the ship such that the rest could properly attack it, nearly weighing the whole vehicle down to the water line. Cyncus actually had another name before the day that his father returned, but he would never know it. When his father learned that the day that Cyncus was born coincided with that great victory, he wanted his son to share the name of that great warrior. His mother accepted the request, and even when Cyncus gave inquiry as to what used to be his identity, she refused to ever tell him what his original one was. His hand rose slowly, as if he needed to rip away a chain shackling his arm, but he eventually managed to brush her hand away from his face, before letting it drop heavily and exhausted. Do not attempt to trick me as Eurethys would. You know the only thing that would ease my pain, and even if you could undo it, you would never admit you were mistaken in your fault. He did not believe that anybody, including Ailis, could undo her fury. With its vast population and influential position on the matters of the world, even a lesser god might find themselves more highly praised than Ailis if its whole population of Phrace were to support that deity. You might find a champion still, from another land, but never one from Phrace. He gave her a stare that might have frozen a weak-willed human as if he were a basilisk. Take five such chiefs, if you care to. As soon as word of their deeds and position reaches me, I will go and I will find them, and I will leave your reach into our earth empty again. He found himself in a strange position, one that he had seen from the opposite side, when his country's army held its opposition under its heel, and yet they were encouraged to participate in a token show of diplomacy. Rather than the defeated mongrels taking the small bone they were offered, it was a common choice to die with their teeth bared and their face snarling, instead. Cyncus hoped that his part at this moment might be more of a noble lion defending its domain, rather than a miserable mutt to be taken behind a shed.