Unforseen Consequences (4/12)
Apr. 12th, 2007 06:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalThe last scene is not yet finished, but I thought my current stopping point is a nice little cliffhanger. *evil grin*.
Oh, and if anyone is wondering, no, Tez is by no measure a nice person at all. Then again, the father of the hero of one my favorite series of books killed two men in a jealous rage, executed a third with his bare hands after his orders were contradicted and then proceeded to participate in the conspiracy-murder of his empire's crown prince (and hid the crime under the bodies of five thousand lambs to the slaughter). Yet everyone thinks of him as a perfectly honorable man, including his wife, who's smart enough to know better, and most fans of the series love him as well.
So I figured I could make Tez reasonably sympathetic despite himself. :)
She slept fitfully, anxiety over their situation warring with the poppy tincture. When she finally awakened, the dawn bells were pealing out over the town, as the sun entered the temple’s small windows. Maria pushed herself up to a sitting position on her mattress, leaning against the altar, looking around. For a moment she panicked, not seeing either Tez or Garvin, but the latter entered through the front door bearing a roll of warm bread and a small tub of butter.
“Breakfast for you, Maria,” he said, tearing off a piece of bread and dipping it into the tub before handing it to her.
“Where is Tez?” Maria asked, biting into the bread and wolfing it down. Between anger, pain and poppy juice, she had forgotten that the last time she had eaten was breakfast the day before.
“Upstairs asleep,” Garvin told her. “He said it made no sense to face whatever comes this morning without a full night’s rest.”
“What are we going to face, do you think?” she asked.
Garvin sighed. “This is a temple of the gods, Maria. Whatever else happens it is a sanctuary for you and Tez, however long you wish to stay here. If someone attempts to remove you from it, I will defend you as best I can.”
She took hold of his hand. It was gnarled, old, stained with the marks of age, but still strong. She gripped it tightly, seeking an anchor for her will. “I can’t bear the thought of you being hurt, Garvin,” she told him. “I just can’t. If anyone forces their way in, don’t put up a fight, please. I couldn’t stand the thought of you being injured just for me.”
“Not just for you, dear Maria,” he said, returning her grip. “For everyone else who might seek sanctuary in this place in the future. But it will not come to that, I don’t think. That horrible woman and the Most Merciful Alfred must know that they’re overextended. Their claim on your manor comes from legal arguments. Attempting to enter here in force, violating legal traditions, would undermine those arguments and lay greater weight to your own.”
“There’s a mild problem in that summary. They happen to be in the right. I did commit fraud with Master’s will, and you helped me cover up the crime. My arguments would all be based on that fraud, while theirs will be based on reasonable and quite correct suspicions.”
“Ah, well, there is that,” Garvin agreed, looking deflated. “But… what other choice did you have?”
Maria turned away from Garvin to stare at the wall. “I could have done nothing. I could have cared for my Master, and accepted the terms of the will when he passed away. I was a slave, I had no other real option.”
“I was always curious,” Garvin said in a deceptively mild tone, “just what were the terms of your disposition in your old master’s will?”
Her answer was bitter in her mouth. “To be disposed of at auction, along with the rest of the livestock.”
“Ah, I thought that might be it,” he answered, and gripped her hand a little tighter. “I must confess to you, Maria, that I thought no better of slaves, though I never owned any of my own. It was not until I lost my wife and our children, and I joined the ranks of Thanatos’ priests, that I came to understand that Death holds dominion over all. Whatever pretensions we put forth in the world, they are meaningless in Death’s eyes. All are equal, when she conducts us to our final reward.”
“Did you love them?”
Garvin paused before he answered. “My family? No. Does that shock you?”
She turned back towards him. “A little.”
“I was a wayward husband and an indifferent father.” Garvin smiled wistfully, remembering. “I had married out of obligation to my parents and my eventual inheritance, meaningless that it truly was. I had no appreciation of the gifts that I had been given, until I faced the long, lonely hours of the night in my home, contemplating a life forever alone, and a death that would be marked by no one save Death herself.”
There was a loud knock at the temple door, and they turned towards the sound, startled. “Lay worshippers?” Maria asked.
Garvin looked worried. “Not this morning, though perhaps there was a death in a night that I’m to be asked to officiate.” He let go of her hand and headed towards the door. “Who is there?” he called out.
“The Most Merciful Alfred du Miens and your superior, along with the Marchioness Evelyn! Open this door, Garvin!” came the reply.
“Forgive me a moment, Most Merciful,” Garvin replied, “I fear I’m not yet fully dressed.” He headed back towards Maria and asked a whisper, “What do you wish to do? Stay here and confront them, or attempt an escape out the back?”
“Trying to escape only delays the inevitable,” she replied. “Help me get a seat though, I’m not going to confront them lying on my back.” Garvin steadied her as she pulled herself up into a chair, while Tez came down the stairs, barefoot but wearing one of Garvin’s shirts, the tail nearly hanging down to his knees.
“Open the door, Garvin!” Alfred shouted again, pounding on the doorframe.
The old Death priest walked up to the door and unlatched it, saying sweetly, “That’s ‘Most Merciful Garvin’, I believe.”
Alfred barged in, but Garvin stepped in front of the door before the Marchioness could enter.
“Get out of my way, you senile old fool,” she hissed.
“I beg your pardon, Marchioness,” Garvin replied, bowing slightly to her, “but this is a temple of Thanatos. Unless you bear a death’s head mark upon you somewhere, I am not obligated to permit you entry.”
“Let her in, Garvin,” Alfred ordered.
“I am the high priest of this temple, Most Merciful Alfred. I am not obligated to do anything you tell me to.”
Alfred turned on Garvin, looking incredulous. “This is no temple, Garvin. It’s a converted storefront, a bad joke, and an insult to the Most Merciful. This charade of yours, making yourself a supposed leader of the community, has gone far enough. Once this incident is through I will have you replaced by a proper priest.”
“Du Meins, stop wasting our time,” the Marchioness said irritably. Then she spoke a rapid phrase and Garvin’s face suddenly went slack. “Get out of our way, Garvin,” she told him, and the old Death Priest stepped away from the door.
“Yes, milady,” Garvin said humbly, his face blank.
“She’s a magus, just like her brother was an enchanter,” Tez said, standing beside Maria. “That explains the scent of magic around Garvin that I felt before. They’d interrogated him prior to approaching you at the manor.”
“What should we do?” Maria whispered, as the two came towards them.
“Knock her unconscious,” he suggested.
“Wait,” she told him. “What do you want, Marchioness?”
“What is mine by right and by law,” the Marchioness replied. “This foolishness of making yourself a landed citizen has gone on far too long. Go down on your knees and bend your neck to me, like the animal you are!”
“I won’t, not for you, not for anyone,” Maria replied, drawing herself up in her seat, while Tez steadied her shoulder with his hand.
“She has sanctuary here, Marchioness Evelyn,” Tez told the woman. “By entering in violation of the Most Merciful Garvin’s expressed denial, you are violating this temple’s holy grounds and committing a sin.”
Evelyn turned on him, “What does a decadent elf like you know about the definition of sin?”
“Well, for one thing I’m certain I’ve committed far more than you,” Tez replied evenly.
“Be quiet! I’ll enjoy punishing you for striking down my Beast-Kin and allowing this one to escape.”
Maria made herself smile in the face of the Marchioness’ anger. “That’s an interesting question. If I’m just an animal then Tez was never really enslaved to me, so he’s free to do anything he wishes. Since your Beast-Kin servant is, after all, just livestock, that means the worst he can be accused of is property damage. Hardly a crime worth beating someone over.”
“You’re hardly in a position to debate semantics, Beast-Kin,” Alfred said. “You’re an animal, a mule, below Death’s notice. You owe your existence to your master’s alchemy, and when you are gone nothing of you will remain.”
Maria took hold of Tez’s arm, and pulled herself to her feet. “Untrue,” she said, “for I will yet leave my mark on the world. I am blessed by the All Merciful Thanatos herself, the only Beast-Kin with a living womb within her. When I die, my bones may rot in the earth, but my soul will be born away by Her, and my children will hold me dear in their memories.”
Alfred’s face grew crimson. “You lie, you blaspheme. He raised his hand to strike her. Tez grabbed the man’s arm and rammed his knee into Alfred’s crotch, doubling him over.
“Tez, wait!” Maria cried out, but before she could say anything further she felt a vice grip her chest, and she fell over onto her knees, Tez collapsing beside her.
“Enough of this!” the Marchioness declared, her hand held out in front of her, as raw magic curled and spun from her palm to wrap around Maria and Tez both. “You all keep arguing when there is nothing more discuss. Alfred, pick yourself up off the floor. As for you two, it’s obvious that keeping you, Maria, is more trouble than it is worth. I will simply squeeze the life out of you until your beloved Thanatos comes to see you personally, assuming what you say is true. You are my property, do not forget, and I can with you what I wish. If the town fathers object, I’m sure a sufficient bribe will quell their tongues.”
“Garvin…” Maria gasped, stars floating in front of her eyes.
“…is a simpleminded fool, and has no say in what I do.”
“Tez…”
“…will be obedient enough, once I’m through taming him. He’s far too pretty to let go to waste.”
She fell to the floor, lungs burning, eyes watering in pain. No, it can’t end like this. It can’t! I have too much to do! But even as she thought this, she could see Thanatos herself glide into the humble temple, dressed in pale robes, her staff of ash in her hand. She wanted to laugh. I do have a soul, see! She’s coming for it now.
Of course you do, the goddess said, I knew that from the beginning. Then Thanatos touched her staff to the line of magic that ran from Evelyn’s hands and it dissipated into nothingness. Maria drew in a grateful breath and pushed herself back to a sitting position while Tez sprang to his feet, ready to defend her. But there was no need. A familiar calm filled her, as it had when the Goddess had first appeared to her and granted her boon. There was nothing that could harm her now. Nothing.
“What? Who are you, what are you?” the Marchioness cried out.
Don’t you know? the goddess replied, have you not said so many prayers to my brothers and sisters, to ward off my approach?
“Wait, what’s happening?” Tez asked, looking around the room in confusion. Alfred, who had risen shakily to his feet at Evelyn’s attack, had dropped back down to his knees again, while Garvin shook off his magical stupor and approached where Maria lay. The old Death Priest’s face was beatific as he muttered softly, “Twice, I have seen her twice”
“Most Merciful, she who brings the final succor, please forgive me, I did not understand,” Alfred babbled, his face filling with tears.
Tez looked down on Maria, confused. “What is the matter with him, what is the matter with her?” he asked, gesturing to Evelyn, who’s face had gone pasty white with shock. “How did you manage to disrupt her spell?”
“It wasn’t me, Tez, it was the Goddess,” Maria said, gesturing to where Thanatos stood.
“What goddess? You’re pointing at thin air, Maria.”
Maria pushed herself back into her chair, then pointed again, “Thanatos, Tez, the Most Merciful is right here. Can’t you see her?”
To whom do you speak, Maria? the goddess asked.
“Maria, there's no one there!” Tez shouted at her.
“Wait, wait, you mean you can't see her,” Garvin asked, coming out of his haze. “Beloved Merciful Goddess, can't you see him?”
All the senses that are mine to see with, perceive nothing.
“Maria, are you serious, are you saying the Death is standing right here in this room and I can't see her?” Tez demanded. His face was... Panicked was the only possible word to describe it.
“I'm sorry, Tez, but yes,” she answered, then bowed to Thanatos. “Most Merciful, the one in the room with us is Tez. He is an elf, and very old indeed, from what he has told me.”
I see no one.
“Maria, what is happening?” Tez demanded.
“She doesn't see you, Tez. I'm sorry, but she doesn't see you.”
“Doesn't see me? Doesn't see me!” Tez whirled around in a circle, his fists clenched in anger, his face red with rage. “How can Death not know who I am? Have I not cheated you of your prize thousands of times? You uncaring bitch, have you not taken more of my beloved mates and children than I can possibly count? Have they never spoken of my fate to you?”
“Most Merciful Thanatos, Tez begs to ask why you have not noticed him, why you have never heard of him, even though you have taken many that he loved,” Maria said.
I cannot explain this. I have never heard his name spoken to me by the souls that I have reaped.
Maria shrugged her shoulders helplessly. “Tez, she honestly doesn't know who you...”
“I am Tez the Undying, Tez the Accursed, Tez the Murderer, Tez the Conquerer! I have sent men to the poison chambers and women to the chopping block, after slitting the throats of their children in front of their eyes. I have launched weapons that have made continents burn, the land melted and poisoned so that no blade of grass could grow and no man could live there for twenty thousand years. I have killed billions for you, and all died cursing my name on their lips, and you say you don't know who I am?”
TBC
Oh, and if anyone is wondering, no, Tez is by no measure a nice person at all. Then again, the father of the hero of one my favorite series of books killed two men in a jealous rage, executed a third with his bare hands after his orders were contradicted and then proceeded to participate in the conspiracy-murder of his empire's crown prince (and hid the crime under the bodies of five thousand lambs to the slaughter). Yet everyone thinks of him as a perfectly honorable man, including his wife, who's smart enough to know better, and most fans of the series love him as well.
So I figured I could make Tez reasonably sympathetic despite himself. :)
She slept fitfully, anxiety over their situation warring with the poppy tincture. When she finally awakened, the dawn bells were pealing out over the town, as the sun entered the temple’s small windows. Maria pushed herself up to a sitting position on her mattress, leaning against the altar, looking around. For a moment she panicked, not seeing either Tez or Garvin, but the latter entered through the front door bearing a roll of warm bread and a small tub of butter.
“Breakfast for you, Maria,” he said, tearing off a piece of bread and dipping it into the tub before handing it to her.
“Where is Tez?” Maria asked, biting into the bread and wolfing it down. Between anger, pain and poppy juice, she had forgotten that the last time she had eaten was breakfast the day before.
“Upstairs asleep,” Garvin told her. “He said it made no sense to face whatever comes this morning without a full night’s rest.”
“What are we going to face, do you think?” she asked.
Garvin sighed. “This is a temple of the gods, Maria. Whatever else happens it is a sanctuary for you and Tez, however long you wish to stay here. If someone attempts to remove you from it, I will defend you as best I can.”
She took hold of his hand. It was gnarled, old, stained with the marks of age, but still strong. She gripped it tightly, seeking an anchor for her will. “I can’t bear the thought of you being hurt, Garvin,” she told him. “I just can’t. If anyone forces their way in, don’t put up a fight, please. I couldn’t stand the thought of you being injured just for me.”
“Not just for you, dear Maria,” he said, returning her grip. “For everyone else who might seek sanctuary in this place in the future. But it will not come to that, I don’t think. That horrible woman and the Most Merciful Alfred must know that they’re overextended. Their claim on your manor comes from legal arguments. Attempting to enter here in force, violating legal traditions, would undermine those arguments and lay greater weight to your own.”
“There’s a mild problem in that summary. They happen to be in the right. I did commit fraud with Master’s will, and you helped me cover up the crime. My arguments would all be based on that fraud, while theirs will be based on reasonable and quite correct suspicions.”
“Ah, well, there is that,” Garvin agreed, looking deflated. “But… what other choice did you have?”
Maria turned away from Garvin to stare at the wall. “I could have done nothing. I could have cared for my Master, and accepted the terms of the will when he passed away. I was a slave, I had no other real option.”
“I was always curious,” Garvin said in a deceptively mild tone, “just what were the terms of your disposition in your old master’s will?”
Her answer was bitter in her mouth. “To be disposed of at auction, along with the rest of the livestock.”
“Ah, I thought that might be it,” he answered, and gripped her hand a little tighter. “I must confess to you, Maria, that I thought no better of slaves, though I never owned any of my own. It was not until I lost my wife and our children, and I joined the ranks of Thanatos’ priests, that I came to understand that Death holds dominion over all. Whatever pretensions we put forth in the world, they are meaningless in Death’s eyes. All are equal, when she conducts us to our final reward.”
“Did you love them?”
Garvin paused before he answered. “My family? No. Does that shock you?”
She turned back towards him. “A little.”
“I was a wayward husband and an indifferent father.” Garvin smiled wistfully, remembering. “I had married out of obligation to my parents and my eventual inheritance, meaningless that it truly was. I had no appreciation of the gifts that I had been given, until I faced the long, lonely hours of the night in my home, contemplating a life forever alone, and a death that would be marked by no one save Death herself.”
There was a loud knock at the temple door, and they turned towards the sound, startled. “Lay worshippers?” Maria asked.
Garvin looked worried. “Not this morning, though perhaps there was a death in a night that I’m to be asked to officiate.” He let go of her hand and headed towards the door. “Who is there?” he called out.
“The Most Merciful Alfred du Miens and your superior, along with the Marchioness Evelyn! Open this door, Garvin!” came the reply.
“Forgive me a moment, Most Merciful,” Garvin replied, “I fear I’m not yet fully dressed.” He headed back towards Maria and asked a whisper, “What do you wish to do? Stay here and confront them, or attempt an escape out the back?”
“Trying to escape only delays the inevitable,” she replied. “Help me get a seat though, I’m not going to confront them lying on my back.” Garvin steadied her as she pulled herself up into a chair, while Tez came down the stairs, barefoot but wearing one of Garvin’s shirts, the tail nearly hanging down to his knees.
“Open the door, Garvin!” Alfred shouted again, pounding on the doorframe.
The old Death priest walked up to the door and unlatched it, saying sweetly, “That’s ‘Most Merciful Garvin’, I believe.”
Alfred barged in, but Garvin stepped in front of the door before the Marchioness could enter.
“Get out of my way, you senile old fool,” she hissed.
“I beg your pardon, Marchioness,” Garvin replied, bowing slightly to her, “but this is a temple of Thanatos. Unless you bear a death’s head mark upon you somewhere, I am not obligated to permit you entry.”
“Let her in, Garvin,” Alfred ordered.
“I am the high priest of this temple, Most Merciful Alfred. I am not obligated to do anything you tell me to.”
Alfred turned on Garvin, looking incredulous. “This is no temple, Garvin. It’s a converted storefront, a bad joke, and an insult to the Most Merciful. This charade of yours, making yourself a supposed leader of the community, has gone far enough. Once this incident is through I will have you replaced by a proper priest.”
“Du Meins, stop wasting our time,” the Marchioness said irritably. Then she spoke a rapid phrase and Garvin’s face suddenly went slack. “Get out of our way, Garvin,” she told him, and the old Death Priest stepped away from the door.
“Yes, milady,” Garvin said humbly, his face blank.
“She’s a magus, just like her brother was an enchanter,” Tez said, standing beside Maria. “That explains the scent of magic around Garvin that I felt before. They’d interrogated him prior to approaching you at the manor.”
“What should we do?” Maria whispered, as the two came towards them.
“Knock her unconscious,” he suggested.
“Wait,” she told him. “What do you want, Marchioness?”
“What is mine by right and by law,” the Marchioness replied. “This foolishness of making yourself a landed citizen has gone on far too long. Go down on your knees and bend your neck to me, like the animal you are!”
“I won’t, not for you, not for anyone,” Maria replied, drawing herself up in her seat, while Tez steadied her shoulder with his hand.
“She has sanctuary here, Marchioness Evelyn,” Tez told the woman. “By entering in violation of the Most Merciful Garvin’s expressed denial, you are violating this temple’s holy grounds and committing a sin.”
Evelyn turned on him, “What does a decadent elf like you know about the definition of sin?”
“Well, for one thing I’m certain I’ve committed far more than you,” Tez replied evenly.
“Be quiet! I’ll enjoy punishing you for striking down my Beast-Kin and allowing this one to escape.”
Maria made herself smile in the face of the Marchioness’ anger. “That’s an interesting question. If I’m just an animal then Tez was never really enslaved to me, so he’s free to do anything he wishes. Since your Beast-Kin servant is, after all, just livestock, that means the worst he can be accused of is property damage. Hardly a crime worth beating someone over.”
“You’re hardly in a position to debate semantics, Beast-Kin,” Alfred said. “You’re an animal, a mule, below Death’s notice. You owe your existence to your master’s alchemy, and when you are gone nothing of you will remain.”
Maria took hold of Tez’s arm, and pulled herself to her feet. “Untrue,” she said, “for I will yet leave my mark on the world. I am blessed by the All Merciful Thanatos herself, the only Beast-Kin with a living womb within her. When I die, my bones may rot in the earth, but my soul will be born away by Her, and my children will hold me dear in their memories.”
Alfred’s face grew crimson. “You lie, you blaspheme. He raised his hand to strike her. Tez grabbed the man’s arm and rammed his knee into Alfred’s crotch, doubling him over.
“Tez, wait!” Maria cried out, but before she could say anything further she felt a vice grip her chest, and she fell over onto her knees, Tez collapsing beside her.
“Enough of this!” the Marchioness declared, her hand held out in front of her, as raw magic curled and spun from her palm to wrap around Maria and Tez both. “You all keep arguing when there is nothing more discuss. Alfred, pick yourself up off the floor. As for you two, it’s obvious that keeping you, Maria, is more trouble than it is worth. I will simply squeeze the life out of you until your beloved Thanatos comes to see you personally, assuming what you say is true. You are my property, do not forget, and I can with you what I wish. If the town fathers object, I’m sure a sufficient bribe will quell their tongues.”
“Garvin…” Maria gasped, stars floating in front of her eyes.
“…is a simpleminded fool, and has no say in what I do.”
“Tez…”
“…will be obedient enough, once I’m through taming him. He’s far too pretty to let go to waste.”
She fell to the floor, lungs burning, eyes watering in pain. No, it can’t end like this. It can’t! I have too much to do! But even as she thought this, she could see Thanatos herself glide into the humble temple, dressed in pale robes, her staff of ash in her hand. She wanted to laugh. I do have a soul, see! She’s coming for it now.
Of course you do, the goddess said, I knew that from the beginning. Then Thanatos touched her staff to the line of magic that ran from Evelyn’s hands and it dissipated into nothingness. Maria drew in a grateful breath and pushed herself back to a sitting position while Tez sprang to his feet, ready to defend her. But there was no need. A familiar calm filled her, as it had when the Goddess had first appeared to her and granted her boon. There was nothing that could harm her now. Nothing.
“What? Who are you, what are you?” the Marchioness cried out.
Don’t you know? the goddess replied, have you not said so many prayers to my brothers and sisters, to ward off my approach?
“Wait, what’s happening?” Tez asked, looking around the room in confusion. Alfred, who had risen shakily to his feet at Evelyn’s attack, had dropped back down to his knees again, while Garvin shook off his magical stupor and approached where Maria lay. The old Death Priest’s face was beatific as he muttered softly, “Twice, I have seen her twice”
“Most Merciful, she who brings the final succor, please forgive me, I did not understand,” Alfred babbled, his face filling with tears.
Tez looked down on Maria, confused. “What is the matter with him, what is the matter with her?” he asked, gesturing to Evelyn, who’s face had gone pasty white with shock. “How did you manage to disrupt her spell?”
“It wasn’t me, Tez, it was the Goddess,” Maria said, gesturing to where Thanatos stood.
“What goddess? You’re pointing at thin air, Maria.”
Maria pushed herself back into her chair, then pointed again, “Thanatos, Tez, the Most Merciful is right here. Can’t you see her?”
To whom do you speak, Maria? the goddess asked.
“Maria, there's no one there!” Tez shouted at her.
“Wait, wait, you mean you can't see her,” Garvin asked, coming out of his haze. “Beloved Merciful Goddess, can't you see him?”
All the senses that are mine to see with, perceive nothing.
“Maria, are you serious, are you saying the Death is standing right here in this room and I can't see her?” Tez demanded. His face was... Panicked was the only possible word to describe it.
“I'm sorry, Tez, but yes,” she answered, then bowed to Thanatos. “Most Merciful, the one in the room with us is Tez. He is an elf, and very old indeed, from what he has told me.”
I see no one.
“Maria, what is happening?” Tez demanded.
“She doesn't see you, Tez. I'm sorry, but she doesn't see you.”
“Doesn't see me? Doesn't see me!” Tez whirled around in a circle, his fists clenched in anger, his face red with rage. “How can Death not know who I am? Have I not cheated you of your prize thousands of times? You uncaring bitch, have you not taken more of my beloved mates and children than I can possibly count? Have they never spoken of my fate to you?”
“Most Merciful Thanatos, Tez begs to ask why you have not noticed him, why you have never heard of him, even though you have taken many that he loved,” Maria said.
I cannot explain this. I have never heard his name spoken to me by the souls that I have reaped.
Maria shrugged her shoulders helplessly. “Tez, she honestly doesn't know who you...”
“I am Tez the Undying, Tez the Accursed, Tez the Murderer, Tez the Conquerer! I have sent men to the poison chambers and women to the chopping block, after slitting the throats of their children in front of their eyes. I have launched weapons that have made continents burn, the land melted and poisoned so that no blade of grass could grow and no man could live there for twenty thousand years. I have killed billions for you, and all died cursing my name on their lips, and you say you don't know who I am?”
TBC
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no subject
Date: 2007-04-12 11:21 am (UTC)*waits a bit for the goosebumps to settle back down*
THAT is a very good piece! Death not seeing Tez... now that was a nice touch! I was honestly persuaded that She was purposefully avoiding Tez... but her not to KNOW him, or of him *shivers*
I love the Divine intervention, actually. Makes sense, as you've already settled that Tanathos likes Maria... :)
(Re Tez not being Nice... Does this
Two slips that leapt at me.
They’re claim on your manor comes from legal arguments.
I think it should be "Their claim..."
“Ah, I thought that might it,”
that might be it, I think.
Very, very good!
P.S. Of course we love him! Aral, I mean...
no subject
Date: 2007-04-18 11:11 am (UTC)Its just when he isn't that the people around him get scared. Because when he decides to chuck his moral obligtions to the wind, there are literally no limits to what kind of mayhem he's willing to commit.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-12 07:57 pm (UTC)Poor elf, looks likes Dead just kinda passes him by accidentally?
Tez and the Gods
Date: 2007-04-12 09:22 pm (UTC)Altho...that gives me an intriguing idea.....hit me up some time to explain it to you.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-13 06:39 am (UTC)Interestinger and interestinger...
no subject
Date: 2007-04-18 03:27 am (UTC)Absolutely fantastic. I love Tez's outrage at finding out the reason he is immortal is because the Goddess of Death simply doesn't know he exists. What a blow to his ego. ROFL!!!!
Excellent update... it's always handy having a diety in your back pocket to get you out of strife.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-18 11:08 am (UTC)I'm just going to have to be careful about overusing Death there. Having a god as a patron is nice, but kinda puts the story at risk...