These Are Desolate Times (Lyric, Nikolai)

[Deidra]

The day was gloomy and cold as ever, the trees no longer held their former beauty and were now tall monuments of what used to be. The very earth had gone dry and animals were getting scarcer and scarcer as their food supply withered away daily. Far into the forest of the countryside, if one were to travel that far they would find a small fire and a haphazard lean-to built within the depths of the lifeless trees. Inside that lean-to you would find what, at a far off glance, would appear to be a long haired man sitting inside it dressed in dirty and torn Ellsinoran guard clothes, but upon a closer look you would find that man was infact a woman. This woman was none other than Lyric Allionette the only female that had been permitted to join the ranks of the Ellsinoran guard and had quickly risen her way up in the ranks. She was deftly adept with a bow but even this was no longer helping for suitable prey was hard to find for the woman and she had often gone hungry for nights on end before spotting a small deer or boar wandering through in search of a nice meal. If you were to peer into the shadows around the lean-to you would see a shadow of a large animal once healthy and lively now slightly thinned from lack of proper nutrion.

Lyric sighed from within the lean-to she needed water as she was now out but she did not like traveling so late in the evening it made it harder to see where she was going and what was around her. She stood grabbing two buckets and a makeshift harness she had made for Shetan to carry the full buckets back. The young woman, once a beautiful strong woman now looked fragile and unkempt as she had gone for several months without a proper bath, her hair was slightly tangled and had lost its shine. Lyrics eyes no longer held any happiness for she had lost hope in her world but still she soldiered on, surving however she could and hiding from any Muratian that came looking for refugees. She wondered here and there if she would catch sight of any of her fellow soldiers the one she thought of most being Nikolai, the only man that had gained her heart and now she feared she would never see that man again in this desolate place.

Lyric walked to her massive stallion and tied the make shift harness to him before taking his halter in hand and making her way towards the falls, her only source of water now. The water was dirty and full of parasites now making Lyric work that much harder to get drinkable water she would have to boil it for an hour or so for it to become drinkable once more. “Come Shetan, time for another water run.” She said softly to the stallion now picking her path carefully and treading softly over the dry ground. It wasn’t a very far walk from her make shift home to the Falls but it was dangerous now one could never be too sure that they were alone in the woods and Lyric had her sword at her side and her bow and quiver upon her back. It was silent within the trees but as she came closer she could hear the faint tinkle of the water and she smiled a sad smile. Shetan danced a little and picked up the pace prancing a little to the waters edge and dipping his head to grab a drink. Lyic watched him for a moment before glancing around making sure there was no one else around before bending to dip the buckets into the water now.

[Desperanza]

Nikolai’s eyes were sharp and glancing around himself thoughtfully. He was avoiding town altogether because he had already gotten word that any past soldiers of Ellsinora were being murdered or imprisoned on the spot and he refused to give in to the grip of the evil king. No, instead he kept himself out in the forest or whatever the hell was left of it. It was in ruins. The ground was charred and the trees that still stood were barren. The world was beginning to grow wickedly cold and by now, he wore a pair of cotton pants and a simple cotton cover that covered his chest though his arms were still exposed. His sword was belted at his side but the leather strap that he had once worn with the emblem of the royal guard imprinted on it was gone. It had gone up in the flames that had consumed Ellsinora and the surrounding beautiful land around it. Now, he simply looked every bit the muscled young man that he was. His muscles remained but his days were no longer spent thinking about working out. They were spent trying to figure out how to survive. He spent his days hunting down food that he could find, any food and when he did he spent hours trying to catch it. He had never honed his skills with a bow and arrow and so he had not been sent out into the wild with many arrow firing skills. Instead, he held many sword and blade skills which he used to skin and slice the meat to eat. He let it dry into jerky before eating it, cooking it now and again when he could get a tiny fire going on the dead, cold ground but it was rare that it happened and so cooking was hard.

Sighing, the soldier stood glancing around the landscape for a few long moments, gazing about where he should be headed next. There really wasn’t anywhere that he desired to go on earth. He had been unable to find any other soldiers of Ellsinora and the one soldier that he did have interest in, he had yet to find and feared that something terrible could have happened to her. Lyric, the one woman that he worried about. He sighed, closing his eyes as he leaned back against a tree, glancing around himself silently for a few moments before he glanced back to the trees once again. The empty, leafless trees, the empty, lifeless landscape. The whole world seemed to have turned upside down. There seemed to be no way of knowing what the hell was going to happen next. The one thing that he did know however was that he was drifting closer to Celeste Falls. He needed water. He hadn’t had a drink in days and the wear was telling on him. He was feeling the strain from a lack of a proper diet and nutrition and yet the Murate guards were practically killing them all. Any soldier that set foot in town and was caught as a known soldier flaring up against the wicked King would be killed, it wasn’t worth the risk if someone wanted to live.

He straightened from the tree after a few moments, glancing around himself thoughtfully before he made his way forward and traveled among the tree line once again. He strode forward, sighing. He swallowed the last of his jerky and made a face. This seemed to be the last and only thing that he would eat for the rest of his life. Now would be the perfect time to have found a woman that had a knack for cooking, a woman that had knowledge of those life skills that he himself did not. Oh the pleasure of a female that was purely feminine with the house skills that he did not carry. He sighed, thinking about Lyric. The only thing he hesitated over was the fact that he wasn’t sure whether she had those skills or not. What did she eat there in her hut at the guards quarters? Did she cook herself tasty stews at night or did she eat jerky and bread crust like the rest of the men? He pondered the thought as he wandered forward, a slight smile touching his features now as he wandered forward.

Fortune had seemed not to smile upon anyone for quite some time now since the wicked King had taken over and yet today, fortune would smile upon this man. He had come forward searching for water and he would surely find it, along with the one woman that he had been thinking of as well. Making his way through the forest there really wasn’t much to look at from the dead trees to the charred ground. The falls weren’t far behind and yet he didn’t expect that to be much better. Now, as he approached, the faint trickle of water could be heard but faintly and as he drifted closer he glanced over the water thoughtfully with a small sigh. He glanced towards the falls that once were glorious and yet now were a mere sad sight to see from their former glory. The water trickled thinly no doubt filled with parasites and bacteria that could make a full grown man sick. It would take some sure fire boiling for quite some time to clean that water though he rather considered himself lucky that there was water here at all. However once he got closer, he paused for a brief moment. There was a form there that he recognized. The rather large, onyx backside of that familiar black stallion and he grinned at the sight. There just past the stallion was the form of the one woman that had clouded his mind. He smiled, sighing as his eyes drifted closed slowly and he settled himself once again, pausing for a moment as he closed his eyes slowly for a moment before he glanced back towards the woman once again. Lifting a hand to his lips, he slid a few fingers into his mouth and offered a soft whistle before lowering his hand again as he waited patiently, watching her thoughtfully.

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[Deidra]

The water was nothing like the former beauty it was, now it was dirty and almost putrid in smell but it was all Lyric had. This was the only water she knew of and probably the best to take from she thought now as she reached to grab the second bucket and fill it too with the brownish tinged water. Shetan stood quietly at her side for now which she took as a good thing. The stallion was sort of her early warning guide for he deeply distrusted most men and had even bit the fingers off one man who had dared approach him. Lyric glanced up at her black horse now as she remembered the moment, it seemed so far away, her night in the stables with Nikolai seemed so far away. The thoughts almost brought tears to her eyes, almost but not quite. She was not known to be a soft woman having been always known as “That woman in the guard.” But then again she had never wanted to be seen by the men as soft to them she wanted to be their equal not just another woman in their eyes. But Nikolai….

Lyric’s thoughts stopped there as from behind her came a low whistle. She quickly dropped the wooden bucket beside her and pulled the bow from her back and an arrow from her quiver. The arrow was knocked in no time as she spun and stood to see just who it was that dared sneak up upon her. Shetan shied away for a second and reared before coming oddly calm beside her now. And Lyric soon found out why. At first she thought her eyes were deceiving her, that she had been thinking of this man so hard that he had appeared to her almost like an apparition. But no, here he was in front of her real and in the flesh and a sigh of relief escaped her as she slowly dropped her bow down to her side now. “Nikolai..” she whispered still not sure if she should trust her eyes, trust that this man was still the man she had let her heart fall for and yet she had some feeling deep within her now that she was safe now that this man would not harm her and she took a tentative step forwards now as if inviting him to come closer to her for she had deeply missed the sight of Nikolai the past few months.

[Desperanza]

Nikolai’s eyes gazed across the sight of the woman. From her pale blonde hair to her slender feminine body she looked every bit the woman that he had left in Ellsinora, though not willingly. Now she was thinner, scragglier. Her hair had lost it’s shine and her body was ever thinner. Her clothes were tattered and she had small smudges of dirt here and there however he could see past the way that she had been forced to be by now. Provisions were scarce out here and no doubt he too looked thinner if not a little sick. Bread crusts and jerky had been most of his meals before but now, food was becoming harder and harder to find. However as he looked across at her, he still thought her beautiful whether or not life had been hard on her and surely when she spoke she would show him the woman that he had left behind. He watched as she turned on her heel sharply, her bow in hand and an arrow knocked and aimed at him now as he watched her thoughtfully. He arched an eyebrow, knowing that if she released the arrow, he would be dead. She was a damn good shot with her bow and arrow and he knew how deadly she could be. However, he chuckled at the sight of her threatening to shoot him, “You are going to kill me, Lyric?” he inquired curiously to her this time, his arms folded across his chest as he stared across the space to her with a slight grin this time.

As he watched her, he could spot the recognition cross her face. So she had not forgotten him after all. He nodded slightly in return and straightened from the tree again as he glanced towards her again with a slight smile as he stepped forward a bit and paused, waiting. When she took a step forward he smiled and hurried forward. Whisking her into his hold he spun her gently before pulling her towards himself gently as he placed a kiss rather squarely upon her lips before straightening a bit as his hands brushed over her thoughtfully for a moment. He cast a glance to Shetan and smiled, “Been taking good care of this here lady big guy?” he questioned with a chuckle as he glanced back to Lyric again with a grin, “Sorry madam but, I was thinking that some strange manly hobbit lived here. What is a beautiful lady like yourself doing out here?” he muttered to her thoughtfully this time. He glanced over her briefly now that he could see her better before he grinned, nodding slightly as he watched her thoughtfully. His fingers worked through her blonde hair for a moment, catching a few knots here and there as he gazed at her thoughtfully before he nodded slightly, inquiring a reply from her silently now with a slight smile.

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[Deidra]

Lyric smiled as he rushed towards her and found her bow falling from her hand as Nikolai picked her up and spun her around. His strong arms around her and then his mouth came down upon hers, it still felt the way she remembered and she smiled. Her hand lifted to his cheek and she gently caressed it with her fingers as he spoke. Her eyes searched his face and found that his happiness seemed to match her own. This filled her with more joy for this man, this man was happy to see her and she was happy to see him. AS he finished talking asking a question of her she found that at first she couldn’t talk because of her happy elation. But when she did finally speak she did not answer his question right away for she was still amazed to see him, to have him hold her in his arms. Her fingers ran across his jaw as she looked up into his face and she said “You are no apparition.” This statement was more to convince herself that he was real but it came out anyways. She smiled and found herself blushing as she realized she had spoke the thought outloud and she dipped her head down for a moment before looking back up into his brown eyes.

Sighing once more Lyric said “I am out here for the same reasons you are Nikolai, I want to live and I will not live under Magrej’s rule. I ran away from him once I most definitely do not want to go back.” She said and found herself wrapping her arms around his waist. “I have thus far succeeded in evading any Muratian searching the woods for refugees moving here and there but I believe it is only a matter of time before they find where I am.” She said pausing o take in the sight of him, he looked as if he had been facing the same difficulties as she had and this saddened her but in her eyes he was still Nikolai, the brave soldier and this made her smile once more before she continued. “Though if any Muratian did try to take me there’d better be several, or else they’ll be dead.” She added the last part a little maliciously some of her hate bubbled to the surface now as she remembered Tajj and she knew she could easily do that again but her thoughts turned back to Nikolai as she asked “How have you been faring?” her tone light now and a smile crossed her face.

[Desperanza]

Nikolai smiled despite the fact that their ordeals were not the best. They had no home, there was not much food, the water source was sludgy and dirty and the landscape was barren at this point. The fact that he knew that she had been stuck out here on her own for a while pained him. He hated to think of the fact that she had no proper home. He sighed, frowning. He had never imagined that he would fall for a woman like Lyric. She had started out as everything that he did not want. She was a soldier, she worked like a man. She hardly spoke and didn’t seem to hold any of the abilities that he searched for in a woman. She wasn’t anything like what he wanted at all. But for some reason she had managed to steal his heart and the feeling was undeniable at this point. As he gazed down at her thoughtfully with a slight smile, his hands stroked her back subconsciously in a comforting motion as he nodded slowly to her words in reply. He glanced around the area for a moment, glancing back towards her makeshift camp before glancing back towards her once again with a slight smile as he nodded slowly in reply, lowering his head to press a kiss to her forehead before he straightened again with a soft sigh as he closed his eyes for a moment, “I’m so sorry that this has happened, Ly.” He muttered quietly to her, offering her a pet name. He offered a slight smile and glanced back to her again as a rather crazy thought occurred to him, “Things have not been simple for me either. There is hardly any food to spare around this place and the temperature is dropping. These conditions are ridiculous, Ly. We have to do something.” He muttered.

Rather suddenly, an idea came to him. He winced at the thought and sighed before he nodded slightly and glanced back to her again, “I have to get you out of here.” He muttered softly to her. “We need to get into town with the rest of the people.” He stated with a slight grin. He glanced around the forest for a moment as he straightened briefly. He bent to pick up her bow for a moment before he glanced back to her again. “We will probably have to leave our weapons behind, hide them for a while but at least for the winter we can hide in town. We won’t be able to survive out here. We will have to be able to pose like towns people. You will have to get rid of your soldier outfits and be a woman and I will have to get an idea of how the hell men live in town. Come with me, darling. Let me take care of you. I will protect you.” He promised her gently with a smile as he looked down at her thoughtfully now.

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[Deidra]

Lyric looked up into Nikolai’s face as he talked and smiled at the sound of the nickname he had christened her with. It sounded nice, coming from his mouth this strong soldier who months before had not like her one bit, had not dared speak to her but now here they were in each other’s arms. Lyric sighed quietly and moved a hand to his covered chest fingering the cloth thoughtfully as he went on speaking of going into the town for the winter and she quite suddenly grew a bit frightened of the idea but she tried not to let that show as he offered to take care of her to protect her and Lyric had to smile into his face. She brought her hand up once more and stroked her thumb gently across his jaw and smiled once more. She lifted up her face to his and planted a gentle kiss upon his lips before nodding in response to his words. “If there were anyone that I would trust my life with it is you Nikolai.” She said softly her pale eyes shining for once in a long while for she finally could see some hope for her future now that she had found Nikolai.

Then she gently pulled herself free from Nikolai’s grasp and said quietly “I will be back in just a few moments.” And then she walked back towards her lean-to and pulled from a small sack a purple cotton dress and quickly changed stuffing the worn soldier clothes inside a hollow tree as she did not want to be caught with them on her person. Grabbing he sack she walked back to Nikolai she smiled at him and said “Now do I look like a woman?” Lyric moved forward to him again and placed her hands at his sides once more looking back up into his brown eyes and momentarily lost herself thinking of how much she hoped they had a future together before she finally came about to addressing their last dilemma, where would they stay in town?

But while she had been dressing she had remembered an old friend, one that she had stayed with before she had joined the guard and she knew the woman had had a pretty big home for one person, Lyric just hoped it was still standing and that the woman had not opened her home to other people for it was quite honestly their last hope in her mind. So she found herself looking up into Nikolai’s face and finally speaking. “I think I know of a place for us to stay, and I believe it would be safe for us to live there or a little while at least. There’s a woman that lives on the edge of Kiyer she was at one time the barmaid for the Blue Boar and she had opened her home to me when I first came to Ellsinora. Marlena is a wonderful woman and I believe she would let us into her home. And I believe she is our last hope.” She said examining his face before she asked “What do you think? Should we risk it?” she said with a small sigh now and pressed her forehead against his chest now waiting for his response.

[Desperanza]

Nikolai’s eyes never left Lyric now as he watched her thoughtfully. He folded his arms across his chest for a few moments as he watched her disappear among the lean-to only to return with a purple cotton dress on now. He grinned a bit and sighed softly. Lowering his hands, he untied his sword and picked up her bow and arrows. Traveling a few feet away he glanced in the direction of town and counted the trees for a few moments before he finally knelt forward and began to dig a rather deep hole. After a while of scooping away at the sludgy and freezing soil he finally slipped the weapons into the soil before shifting the soil back in place and making it look a bit more natural now. He felt rather bare without his sword at his side to use as protection but if they entered the town armed they would likely be killed. Sighing, he stood and turned back as Lyric reached him again.

Grinning, he lowered his head forward to brush a kiss to her once again, finding it rather hard not to imagine her having of returned to him without anything at all and that the dress covered what he wouldn’t deny seeing sometime. She had been the one woman that he had not wooed into his bed the first night that he had met her and still he had yet to whisk her away into the night. Sighing, his eyes glanced over her briefly before he turned and trailed his way to the trickling fall waters and rinsed his hands from the dirt. He thoroughly dried his hands, feeling the chill already beginning to sink into his finger tips he winced and shivered, running his hands through his sun streaked hair before he paced forward to Lyric, offering a rather amused smile at her words.

As he drifted closer to her he whisked her from the ground and gathered her into his arms and against his chest with a soft sigh. He kept an arm wrapped around her back and the other beneath her knees as he looked down at her thoughtfully, trailing a few gentle kisses along her neck thoughtfully before he grinned and lifted his head once more, “Sounds good to me, doesn’t seem like there is anywhere else to stay at the moment.” He returned with a bit of a shrug though he kept hold of her for now. He glanced towards Shetan and set Lyric gently on her feet with a soft sigh before he pulled the cloth cover from his chest and back, coming to lower it gently over her. It was already warm from wearing it himself and it would protect her neck and arms from the chill.

Turning, he strode towards the large black stallion. He offered his hands out to the beast to allow the horse to investigate before he reached out and unhinged the contraption from the stallion’s back before he set it aside and took hold of a few strands of the large stallion’s mane before leading him forward. Pausing, he patted Shetan gently, rather finding that he was finding that he had a rather soft spot for the stallion indeed now as he glanced up at the black stag before he turned back to Lyric and approached her. Lifting her gently once more, he lifted her right onto Shetan’s back, “You should stay up there Ly.” He muttered gently to her as he patted her leg gently, his fingers brushing her thigh and calf briefly before he sighed and pulled his hand away.

He turned back and made his way back to the tree where she had hidden her soldier clothes and retrieved the clothes. After ripping and tearing for some time he made a make-shift halter and lead for the horse, finding that it would be more convincing to look like a man bringing his wife into town with the family horse other than a man bringing in his lover and her stallion. He rolled the clothes to give more of an appearance of cloth. It would be soft against the stallion’s face for which he was thankful; he didn’t necessarily want to deal with a stallion that was pissed at him. He slid the halter into place and let the short and extra ‘rope’ hang for a moment as he made his way back to the camp. Kneeling by the tiny fire area, the flames were non-existent and were crackling like tiny orange gems among the wood.

He inhaled slowly and blew gently to stroke the flames with oxygen. Taking a breath he stood and took one of the sticks that protruded from the fire with a bit of flame licking the end. He cupped a palm around the end of the stick to keep the flames from disappearing in the cold air. He turned towards her lean-to and kicked it in. He had to admit that she had done a good job with it but the evidence had to go. He lit the cover on fire and tossed the stick into the mess before he added the remains of the torn cloth, making sure that all of the items about camp were added into the fire and with their weapons buried a few yards away, there would be nothing to see if anyone stumbled upon their camp site. Someone would be able to find their footsteps until a layer of snow covered the tracks of which he was sure would happen soon enough. Now, he turned and made his way back to Lyric and Shetan with a soft sigh as he inclined his head a bit to glance up at Lyric with a light smile, “Ready?” he asked her thoughtfully.

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[Deidra]

Lyric was somewhat surprised at the gesture of him giving her his shirt but at the same time she smiled. She wasn’t used to being treated this way by a man but she quite liked. She almost refused it and handed it back fearing that he’d get cold without it, then thought against it as she figured he wouldn’t take it anyways and preoccupied herself with watching him with Shetan. The horse’s trust in Nikolai only assured her further that Nikolai indeed was the man for her and yet again a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. It wasn’t until Nikolai set her upon her stallion that Lyric began to question what he was doing but the touch of his fingers across her bare skin sent chills and a flurry of sensations against her and she sucked in a breath quietly as he walked back into the tress. It felt weird to be upon Shetan in a dress as she had never mounted her horse in anything but soldier clothes, but here she sat and it felt almost unnatural. But it seemed that everything was changing now as she peered around her at the dying forest and let out a sigh. Digging her hands into Shetan’s mane she steadied the anxious stallion as he became rather annoyed at standing still.

With another sigh Lyric brought her eyes back up to find Nikolai approaching with a make shift halter of sorts in hand and held her breath as he fashioned it onto Shetan. Lyric only let out her breath as Nikolai walked away and was even more amazed that the stallion had not bitten him. She gave her horse a small pat on the neck before a sudden blaze caught her attention, for a moment she was upset about her makeshift home going up in flames but she knew it indeed had to go. But she only truly let the feeling go as she saw Nikolai walking back towards her and gave him a small smile. She trusted him and as he came up beside Shetan and asked if she were ready she replied almost eagerly. “Sure, why not?” she said her soft smile growing a little bigger as she wished she could wrap her arms around him in that moment and never let him go but she contained herself and waited for his response now.

[Desperanza]

Nikolai smiled patiently, nodding slowly in reply as he took a breath and gathered the lead to the make shift halter that he had created. Glancing around himself, he watched as the last of the lean-to fizzled out into ashes before he turned and stepped off silently. The path to the village was not hard and it didn’t take him long before he could spot the desolate buildings here and there in town along with Ellsinora castle that stretched skyward into the heavens. As he gazed towards the sight of the castle, he sighed. It was a shame for at one time he and Lyric had lived there alongside of the castles courtyard among the guards quarters where they had trained for years for their service as guards. Now, they were struggling to survive just like the rest of humanity. The whole event was utterly depressing all in all and Nikolai would happily admit that he wasn’t pleased. He rather wished that there was a way to change things though going back wasn’t the way to fix things. It was the royals that had ignored their problems in the first place that had gotten them there. It was the fact that they had done nothing for their growing problems and now look, the world had been cast into darkness. As he approached town, he glanced around himself silently. Soldiers came to stare at them silently but he did not give an inch. He simply cast glances to Lyric that were quite believable for the fact that they offered looks of adoration and love for his ‘wife’ and horse. As he glanced around himself thoughtfully for a few moments, he closed his eyes slowly for a moment before he opened them again with a sigh. He remembered her telling him that Marlena lived on the edge of town and he offered a rather thoughtful look to the fact that she would be at the edge of town. It would at least be a little easier, he hoped. But as he approached the edge of town, he realized that the soldiers stretched everywhere, and he sighed. He at least was not questioned and they were not stopped. By the time they reached Marlena’s house, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and closed his eyes. Glancing back at Lyric, he offered a small smile and lifted her gently from Shetan’s back before he turned to lower her gently to the ground before he straightened again as he turned towards the house silently instead.

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