The Warned

[Captain Fox McCloud]

That night at the General's mansion there was held a match. The parlor was filled with a dozen or so officers, mostly Captains and thier Lieutenants, but there was another General present as well. This was a chess match against two players who exihibited expertise in the feild. Each move of they made was calculated to prevent loss, but as the match progressed tacktics changed. If you wanted to rid your opponet of his piece you would have to sacrifice your own. After an hour or so of play the score rested at. The king, six pawns and a rook for the General and the king, two pawns, two rooks and a knight for the Captain. Though the captain had less pieces he commanded more power from each. He left both of his rooks in their original places to prevent a pawn from reaching his side and regaining a piece and the second one to provide back up, incase that pawn was as trap. His knight had the sole duity of killing the General's rook, which was in this game the only threat.

A supprising event then took place. The General foolishly placed his rook in the L shaped path the knight made. Rex took this rare chance and removed the rook from play. The game was finished in less that a minute since all he had to do was clean up the pawns and the king sealing the victory for the Captain. After the match, while the General was seeing the other officers out. Rex approached him and gave him an odd remark, "Why did you throw the match?"

"I did no such thing," the General protested, "I just made a mistake."

"It was an awfully big mistake, something you reputation will contradict," Rex replied.

"You had already beaten me. By the time we reached the point where I only had my rook left, you had out smarted me at every turn. I did not want to see you mess up and lose," the General remarked with a small smile, that was partialy hidden under his silver bushy beard. As the General handed his subordinate a piece of parchment "You had every thing to gain and nothing to lose. I had nothing to gain and only my pride to lose. Perhaps we may have a remach some time, but perferably with out such high stakes."

Rex nodded and replied, "Thank you sir, perhaps another time..." He then exited the mansion and undid the rolled stationary the General had handed him. It was a parden for Trina's crime and was signed by all five generals. He then mounted his horse and rode off to the prison. After giving the pardon to the warden, he was led down into the hellish depths of the dungeon to retrive Trina.  

[Tramer]

Tramer awoke from his bed with sweat dripping down his face as a dark voice continued to ring in his ears “I am coming to get you” the voice said, Tramer didn’t know what to make of it so he decided not to worry about it until he was out of the city. Tramer sat in his bed for a long time until the sun began to rise, Tramer hoped that the anyone he encountered would just assume his arm was covered in strange armor as the inn keeper did. Tramer gathered his things and left the in and started to explore the city. Tramer quickly gathered the supplies, and was pleasantly surprised on how few people even commented about his arm. Tramer walked through a busy street looking at the products all the venders had to offer, thou Tramer had all the supplies he needed he had never been in such a large city before and was amazed at how many venders there were. Tramer’s pack seemed unusually heavy making his sword rube on the strap as he walked, Tramer started to head out of city and was just getting out of the busiest part of the street when he heard a man yelling “thief! thief!” Tramer turned to see the man was pointing at him and all the near by people began to back away from him. “what are you talking about” Tramer said with a confused look on his face knowing well he hadn’t stolen anything. Then exactly what Tramer feared most happened seven of the town guard walked up

“what seems to be the problem” one of the guards said to the shop owner but still keeping a close eye on Tramer

“that man stole several priceless items from me” the man said pointing at Tramer

“what is he talking about” Tramer said trying to remember if he had even ever seen this man before, then he remembered going into the man’s shop, he soled weapons of every shape and size, Tramer had thought about buying one of his swords but decided not to because he didn’t like the weight of it “I didn’t steal anything” Tramer said in a defensive tone just then he felt Ryu’s presence brush agents his mind

“what is going on” Ryu said in Tramer’s thoughts

There has been a bit of a mix up, don’t worry I’ll straiten everything up Tramer thought knowing she would be able to hear it.

“sir, you say you didn’t steal anything form this man” the guard asked “if that’s true will you mind showing me the contents of you pack” the guard said a calm tone just as the other six guards surrounded Tramer

Tramer didn’t like this it seemed to be going form bad to worse but at the same time Tramer new he had done nothing wrong so he hoped everything would be straightened out. Tramer took his pack off his back slowly and opened the it, Tramer looked into the bag confused and then grinned his teeth as he saw several finely made daggers in his pack

“see! Those are made form solid silver” the man said to the guard

As the guard looked into the pack he reached for his sword and pointed it at Tramer, at the same time the other six guards did the same “drop the pack” the guard said in a forceful voice

“could this get any worse” Tramer mumbled to himself as he sat the pack on the ground “I don’t know how those got into my pack, but I didn’t steal anything, I did visit that man’s store but I didn’t take those daggers” Tramer said thinking about reaching for his sword but quickly decided not to. “ok, lets just all calm down and think about this rationally, I didn’t steal anything, I don’t know who put those in my pack but it was not me” Tramer said in a calm voice

“we do not put up with thefts here” the guard in front of Tramer said “now slowly place your hands behind your back and done move a muscle

Tramer new he could easily kill this small group of guards but then that would mean he would have to worry about a small army trailing after him. Tramer did as the guard said and place his hands behind his back, allowing one of the guards from behind to come up and tie his hands

“now come with us” the guard said as he led him to the cities dungeon. The guard led Tramer into one of the cells, “you sword, and your armor” the guard said as he untied Tramer's hands

Tramer un-strapped the sheath from his back and handed it over to guard “I will not take off my armor” Tramer said hoping the guard would let it go

“I said take off the armor” The guard said forcefully as he took the sword and tosed it out of the cell, the guard then graped Tramer’s right arm and started to try and take it off himself, but as he tried he couldn’t find any straps of anything that seemed to hold it on, and then he noticed that there was no gap inbetween the armor and Tramer’s skin. The guard quickly backed away from Tramer and left the cell and then quickly closed locked the door he then sat the sword down lining ageist the wall just across for Tramer’s cell what in the hell is he, I better report this to my superior the guard thought to himself

This could not get any worse Tramer thought to himself. Tramer looked around and only saw one other inmate, a young girl about the same age as himself siting in the corner of her cell, Tramer look at the girl worried for she looked pail almost as thou she had just seen a ghost or something “so, what are you in here for” Tramer said as he lined up ageist the wall of the cell  

[Trina_Alvertina]

Slowly Trina's eyes began to shut as she sat on the cold stone. Suddenly a voice reached her ears, her head shot up, and her eyes darted about in search of the voice's owner. She felt her stomach wrench at the sight before her. There standing in her cell was the prince. Why was he here? No, it couldn't be him, speaking so casually to her. No, he was terrofied of her. She was the 'traitor', the one who tried to kill him, or so he thought. She looked at him blankly. Her mind must have been playing tricks on her. Maybe this was her mind's way of punishing her. For what?

A dry lump was stuck in her throat when she noticed one of her throwing stars. She felt like she couldn't breath, then the unexpected happened. He threw it at her with the intent to kill. Accostumed to using her fast reflexes, she immediately used her powers to try and stop the uncomming blade with no avail. She watched in fear as the star hurtled towards her chest. Then it vanished. No wounds were left, not even a scratch. What had just happened. She looked up to find that the prince was gone. Looking back down to reassure herself that the star was gone she noticed a small silver key hanging from a chain around her neck. Before she could question it a voice popped into her head, "A piece of the puzzle..."

Cold sweat was now present on Trina's face and she had an odd feeling that this was all correlated to the threat from before. It was the same voice that had presented itself during her set execution. Then her mind went back to the whole ordeal she was in. She couldn't help but wonder if the lethal game of chess was going well, and if it had even begun. It was impossible to disern what time of day it was. The prison's low depths didnt allow for such priviledges.

Again Trina let herself calm, but then heard something. She looked around. Another prisoner was being brought in. She quickly wondered what he could have done to be brought this far down into the prison. Only those with high offenses were sent this far below. Noticing the sword and armor, she realized that the soldiers who brought him in were probably just apprehensive about his appearance. Fear could drive anyone to take extra precautions. She watched as the gaurd atteptment to take off what appeared to be amor from the young man, but he ended up leaving it. Why?

Once the gaurd had exited the cell beside her own's occupant spoke. "Treason," she answered dryly. "And yourself?" she asked without explaining her own situation. Really she was quite sick of how things were going. Just maybe the Captain would be successful and she would be free of this mess.

 

[Captain Fox McCloud]

Soon light flooded the dungeon as the dor was opened a two formally dressed men walked down the stairs. It was the Captain and the warden. When they reached the cell the warden took out his key ring and fiddled throug the two dozen or so keys untile he found the one for that door. The warden then undid Trina's shackles and switly removed her from the cell, locking the door behind him. The warden then took his leave and left the two to find thier own way out. Rex took little notice of the an that shared Trina's cell, mainly because he did not know him and was more concerned with getting Trina out of the dungeons dreadfull conditions.

When they had made it outside, Rex turned to her and said, "I am sure you have been wondering why I bet your life on a game of chess. The answer is simple, if you were to go back on trial, the outcome would have been the same. Challeging the General for a pardon was the only idea I had that would save you from getting executed." He then mounted his horse and extended his hand to help her up, "I feel as though you should rest up at the officer's house tonight since you will begin serving your sentence in the morning and I am sure you have several weeks of filth stuck onto your skin."  

[Tramer]

“mindless fear” Tramer said as he saw two men enter the dungeon and started releasing the other prisoner “wait” Tramer yelled trying to get someone’s attention, Tramer let out a long sigh as the door to dungeon closed “ok, this is going to get interesting” Tramer mumbled to himself as he started trying to think of a way out of this whole mess  

[Trina_Alvertina]

Her fellow inmates answer was shot and to the point just like hers. She let a small wilting smile grace her lips before the sound of metal scraping together echoed throughout the lower depth of the prison. Her heart jumped as hope and surprise mingled within her green eyes. It was the Captain. He had come. The warden quickly removed her shackles and led her out of the cell. Trina was amazed of how light her legs and arms felt now the heavy peices of confining metal were gone. She quietly followed the Captain, trying her best to keep up.

Her muscles felt stiff and sore from the lack of use. The first few days she was locked up she had attempted to keep in shape, but even push-ups were strenuosly difficult while her limbs were bond. When they escaped the prison walls Trina's pupils shrank and she squinted. Her mind then took notice to her Captain speaking. So he had won the game of chess. Trina understood his actions and replied with a quiet, "Thank you, Captain." She had finally noticed that her voice was a bit shaky and she wasn't sure if the time in the dungeon had given that effect or if her encounter with the prince and the threats had. She took his hand gingerly and slowly mounted the horse with a bit of resistence from her body.

Trina leaned against the Captain for support and simply listened to him. A bath sounded wonderful. Filth caped her skin and she was a bit ashamed of getting any on the Captains clean uniform. Knowing there was no keeping it from him without falling off the horse she just sat there wondering what her sentence would entail. He had kept her from death, she could at least serve a sentence willing without complaint.

 

[Captain Fox McCloud]

As Trina leaned her soft upperbody against him for support, while the rode the horse back to the Companies HQ, a smal smile formed on Rex's lips. He had saved her from what he belived was an unjust fate, and in fact her cared much for her. He was unsure though, if his feelings had affected his judgment or if he would have done that any other soldier he felt needed to be saved, but at least he was successful in this attempt.

When they reaced the Offiers house, Rex first helped Trina off and found a maid to "please heat up so water for the bath and to leave a set of night cloths for the young lady by the tub." Minutes later the maid returned and took TRina's hand while saying, "Your bath is ready miss," as she led her to bathing room, waiting for her to undress so she could take her dirty cloths to be washed.  

[TY Charns]

A few hours before dawn, an old frail looking man passed by Constance in her sleep. He crept up to her to make certain that she asleep before he began to rumage through her pack as quietly as possible. Unfortuantely, he wasn't quiet enough. As she awoke, he jumped back suddenly.
Quickly and quietly, the words flowed from his mouth. "just wanted something to eat. wasn't gonna hurt you. really. just looking for something to eat."
Slightly cowering before her, he continued mumbling phrases of words similar to these meanings. He suddenly struck up the courage to almost look her in the eye as he clearly said. "Could you spare a morsel of food for a poor old man such as myself?"  

[Some gay biotch]

Constance rubbed her eyes and looked at the old man. "I'm sorry, but I don't have any food at the moment." She smiled slightly. "And you could have woken me up to ask. If I had any, I would be more than happy to share." Momo woke up as well. "No, you wouldn't help. How do we know he isn't some masked criminal trying to kill you or something?" "Momo, if he was, we would probably be dead by now. Besides, I highly doubt he's a criminal any more than we are." She smiled. "By the way, my name is Constance. What is yours?"  

[Trina_Alvertina]

Upon reaching the Officiers house, Trina with the Captain's help dismounted the horse and followed him. Quickly she found herself with a maid near a tub of hot water. She peeled the dirt drenched clothing off her skin and eased her way into the water. Trina soaked and soaked absently scrubing when she felt that she could. In between scrubing she let her mind drift off. She wondered if she would ever truly detatch herself from the time she spent in prison. Never in her whole life did she think that she would be tried for a crime, any crime. Her life had been dedicated to the kingdom since she was born. There was no reason for her to ever be a threat. Now she knew how the accused felt. She knew how the innocent felt when they were wrongly tried. Powerless, defensless were only a few emotions that boiled over during the last week or so. Trina still wasn't certain how long she was down there. The important thing was that she had been let free. Her Captain had come for her.

In the past she had admired Captain McCloud for his leadership abilities in the Company. Now she admired him for so much more. He had believed her when she pleaded innocent before the court. He had chance everything for her. Surely he would have done the same for any soldier, but she still admired him for it.

Once her since began to feel pruny and wrinkled from over-exposure to the water, Trina lifted herself out of the tub, dried herself, and dressed into the night cloths that had been laid beside the tub. She then exited the bathing room to find where she was to stay the night.

 

[Captain Fox McCloud]

Soon after her exit from the wash quarters, Reax greeted her along with the companies surgeon. He was there to inspect and bandage her wrists and ankles were her bonds had rubbed her skin raw. The doctor then applied some healing ointment and wrapped some fresh gauze around them. He then left and went to his own quaters for a nights rest.

"Well I am sure yoou a re ready to get some rest," the Captain said as he led her to his bed room. "You may take my bed for the night since some of the recruits who were assigned to sleep in tents on the field decided to take over the female bunk house since the only female in the entire companie was currently housed in the prison. I will slepp in my office so don't worry, you need your rest more than I do." He then grabbed one of his pillows off of his bed and left Trina to sleep. Rex slid his large overstuffed armchair over to his desk and placed his pillow on the hard oak surface. He then sat in his chair and rested his head on the pillow. Thhe Captain quickly drifted off to sleep.This was actually the first time in a week the Captain would be able to get more than a few hours of shut eye. He had been restless over the past week since Trina's Execution was nearing and was only able to get two hours of rest before the chess match.

The morning was signaled by the trumpeting of the bugular's morning call. It was time for everyone to meet on the field for drill practices. When everyone had been acounted for by the Corpral of each squadron, the Captain and Leiutenant made their way to the plat form to give the morning annoucments. After the Corprals called their squadrons to their drill spots, the Captain summoned Trina to the armory to explain her punishment.

"Since you had taken a man's life, reason or not, you will repent for your sin by doing chores to save our own troops lives. First of all you will sharpen and maintain all the weapons in our armory. This is your main task that will dertemain how long your sentence is to be carried out. While you are doing this you will also have to participate in mess hall duity and cleaning duity. This is to signify sustaining our troops and preventing their illness." He then handed her a cleaning cloth which held a pair of whetstones. "Now you have about four hundred arms that need to be sharpened as well as kitchen and cleaning duities. These will all end and you can get back to your normal duities when every sword edge, ax blade and spear tip has been given a razor sharp edge."  

[Tramer]

Tramer sat in the corner of his cell, he tried to get the attention of the guards as they past by and tried to ask to talk to there superiors but they all ignored him “how long are they going to keep me here” Tramer mumbled to himself. Tramer new he could easily get out of the cell and kill any of the guards on patrol, but then he was also wondering about how long it would take for the main forces stationed here to get out of bed, armed and onto the streets, Tramer had never fought large numbers of well trained shoulders, a guard or two or a few solders, but never more than two or three at a time, Tramer new that if they reacted quick enough he would quickly be overwhelmed. Tramer decided to try and talk his way out if only someone would hear him out. Tramer then saw a guard walking through the dungeon making his rounds, the guard held a halberd in his hand “sir! I have been wrongly imprisoned and would like to speak with your superior” Tramer said as he stood up and walked up to the front of the cell

The guard walked up to Tramer’s cell and stood facing Tramer, the man then lifted his halberd and lunged the bottom part thought the bars hitting Tramer in the chest “I have spoke to the guard that brought you here, and he told me about you, I don’t know what you are but you‘ll most likely rot in here” the guard said as he lunged with the bottom part of the halberd again

Tramer fell to his knees and grinded his teeth as the guard spoke. As the guard lunged the blunt side of his weapon forward again Tramer shifted to the side and cot the halberd with his right hand and with one clean jerk ripped the weapon form the man’s hands and trough it to the back of the cell “now go get one of your superiors, and I wont have to kill you” Tramer said in an aggravated voice, just as he realized he had probable just made everything a lot worse. The guard quickly backed off the headed out of the dungeon, Tramer walked back to the back of the cell and took a sit in the corner  

[TY Charns]

The old man hadn't heard anything Constance said after "...don't have any food..." and began mumbling to himself again, "no food. no food."
At the name "Constance" he uprighted.
"Did you say your name was Constance? That's my mother's name..."
He began fevorishly searching his pockets until he appeared to find what he was looking for. Keeping it covered in his limber bony hands, he brought it out slowly.
"Mother. You gave me this before you left...do you remember what it is?"
The old man was speaking to Constance, clearly thinking she was his mother.


A Messenger ran up to the Captain looking quite like he had just run a marathon to get there. As he arrived, he pulled out a small pouch and held it out to the Captain speaking in between breaths, "Sir, this is for you. The man would not say who it was from, only that it was your turn to have it."
Though he would not admit it, he was dying to know what was in the pouch.

((Within the velvet lining of the pouch lay a simple Silver Ring with a Black Diamond encrusted into it's band. If you looked into the Diamond, sometimes you could just make out a crest. Not one that anyone will recognize though.))  

[Trina_Alvertina]

Trina cooperated quietly as the company's surgeon tended to her raw wrists and ankles. Afterwards she was amazed to be led to the Captains quaters. She almost refused the offer, but knew that she would be fighting a losing battle. Insteat she thanked he with a curt nod and went off to sleep. The next morning Trina awoke the familiar sound of a bugal. That sound was overly comforting. In the dungeons there was only silence, no bugular to wake you in the morning. She quickly found where the maid from before had left her uniform, dressed, and then went off to the feild, as if she had never been accused in the first place.

Of course reality snaped at her as she was greeted by those in her company. Some gave her pittying smiles, others scowled at her. She knew that some still believed her to be guilty of treason, but that didn't matter as long as the Captain still supported her. Trina eagerly reported to the Captain for the details of her sentence. Though many would have feared or disliked serving their time, she was thankful that she could repay the company. Trina listened to the Captain's intructions, took the cloth and whetstones handed to her, and then answered with a respectful, "I'll start right away, Captain McCoud."

Once her superior left Trina began her long punishment. She began at the far end of the armory with a barrel filled with spears deciding to work her way foward. Grabbing each weapon at a time Trina effectively sharped the edges with graceful strokes. After sharpening ten or so spears, Trina decided to make the task a bit easier. She sat in the center of the armory and used her telekenesis to bring the weapons to her and then when she was finished she sent them back only to call upon another to sharpen. Trina continued this ritual, keeping her eyes peeled for a sign that she needed to go and help prepare the mess hall for the troops' next meal.

 

[Foxkilth]

((Sorry I'm late with this post))
"Stop Thief" Rosette heard as her target was walking out of the town, and from the darkest shadows around, she watched the guards take the daggers from his pack. "Yes! Come to mama." She gave a slight smile as she started to follow her prize. She cast a quick glance toward her framed, and lost her smile. After all, she thought, he's kind'a cute. "Snap outta' it, you've put people better off then him out before." she mutted to herself. At this time with a quick start, Rosstte relised she had lost the guard with the daggers. "Shoot! I'll go follow him around then, I might get something good form it anyway. With this she starts off toward the castle.