Pawn Sacrifice
May. 8th, 2007 04:59 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
lanfykins.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
zg_shadowsYou're staying here for the next couple of months, a voice in her head had told her as Jamie stepped forwards to announce the terms of the challenge. Nobody else had seemed to notice how odd it was that he had taken control.
Of course, but why?
It was the only way to get Drake to agree to this. Sorry.
Pawn sacrifice.
She thinks of this as she looks at the young King, a scared boy who speaks aloud what Edward Ryder whispers in his ear.
"Katrina," says a voice that she knows well, with an uncertanty that she doesn't. "Could you... spend some time here, over the next couple of months?"
Katrina controls a slight smile at the irony, that her alpha commands and her enemies request. "Why do you ask?" she replies to the dark-haired girl who was her first Garou friend.
"His Majesty... might appreciate someone to speak to who isn't fifteen years older than he is."
Katrina smiles, genuinely, at Miriam Ryder. "Of course," she says, and Miriam starts to smile in response. And she realises they can't do this.
"Miriam..." there is no easy way to say this, but she finds one anyway. "I swore an oath." She leaves it a moment, only, to sink in. "But I don't have to fulfill it yet," she adds hopefully. Can't they have a little time? Must they always be on opposite sides of this chasm?
"We gave up our honour to the King," Miriam says, in what would have been a change of subject to anyone who can't understand both of their conversations, all of the things they are saying in the same words.
"I know." She would have given Stalwart Guardian to Lex Talionis anyway, but being confirmed in the deeper rightness of it made it... better.
"A King needs people he can trust absolutely."
"A King needs honour."
Katrina looks again at the young King. He's the same age as Connor, she realises. He's the same age as she had been when Bitter Howl of Vengeance had left her and Kira to kill six old women and a priest. He's only a couple of years younger than Xylona, soon to be mated against her will, or Miriam, still decent enough to regret the murders she had committed at her alpha's command.
Pawn sacrifices, all.
She walks across to kneel before the young King, ignoring the dark eyes of the assassin at his shoulder, the knight, moving in crooked ways.
"Your Majesty. May I introduce myself?"
All she had was a pawn's move. But it was all she needed. Step by step closer to the other side of the board.
Of course, but why?
It was the only way to get Drake to agree to this. Sorry.
Pawn sacrifice.
She thinks of this as she looks at the young King, a scared boy who speaks aloud what Edward Ryder whispers in his ear.
"Katrina," says a voice that she knows well, with an uncertanty that she doesn't. "Could you... spend some time here, over the next couple of months?"
Katrina controls a slight smile at the irony, that her alpha commands and her enemies request. "Why do you ask?" she replies to the dark-haired girl who was her first Garou friend.
"His Majesty... might appreciate someone to speak to who isn't fifteen years older than he is."
Katrina smiles, genuinely, at Miriam Ryder. "Of course," she says, and Miriam starts to smile in response. And she realises they can't do this.
"Miriam..." there is no easy way to say this, but she finds one anyway. "I swore an oath." She leaves it a moment, only, to sink in. "But I don't have to fulfill it yet," she adds hopefully. Can't they have a little time? Must they always be on opposite sides of this chasm?
"We gave up our honour to the King," Miriam says, in what would have been a change of subject to anyone who can't understand both of their conversations, all of the things they are saying in the same words.
"I know." She would have given Stalwart Guardian to Lex Talionis anyway, but being confirmed in the deeper rightness of it made it... better.
"A King needs people he can trust absolutely."
"A King needs honour."
Katrina looks again at the young King. He's the same age as Connor, she realises. He's the same age as she had been when Bitter Howl of Vengeance had left her and Kira to kill six old women and a priest. He's only a couple of years younger than Xylona, soon to be mated against her will, or Miriam, still decent enough to regret the murders she had committed at her alpha's command.
Pawn sacrifices, all.
She walks across to kneel before the young King, ignoring the dark eyes of the assassin at his shoulder, the knight, moving in crooked ways.
"Your Majesty. May I introduce myself?"
All she had was a pawn's move. But it was all she needed. Step by step closer to the other side of the board.
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