Der Erlkönig, Der Verräter [closed thread]

[qhostqrowls]

The iron-scars were numerous, thin silver lines marring her muzzle, her throat, her haunches. The kick connected solidly, and the beast yelped - but did not cower away, instead snapping wildly at his ankle, lunging after his foot. Its fangs were almost too long for a foxes slender face, and its tail lashed angrily side to side as it retreated, loping out of reach.

“I will rip you apart,” Came the snarling words, smooth and clear even with an animal mouth and tongue. “You do not listen!”

The creature stared angrily up at Aberdeen from the doorway, licking the doves blood from her muzzle. She glanced hungrily to the little broken body, and then back to the nokk, baring her teeth as if she dared him to hit her again.

[NightshadeVII]

Aberdeen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Both were equally useless. This thing would hunt him to the ends of the earth if she had to. But why would he ever listen? Why would he ever come willingly? He knew what he was coming back to. Only a fool would believe he could be welcomed back with open arms after all he did. No, it simply wasn’t an option.
Without thinking, he clutched his necklace- as if the stupid little trinket could somehow protect him.

A silent curse slipped from his lips as he looked around the bedroom, the minimalist decor providing nothing he could use to defend himself. So instead he stepped backwards, well out of reach of snapping jaws, kicking the dove aside as he did. Would she follow or would she remain unmovable, blocking his exit? Perhaps he should chance a jump out the bedroom window. Not once did his eyes leave the scarred black fox, a myriad ideas forming in his mind as to how to best deal with her.
He should have crushed her while he had the chance.

Though her threats were mostly void of any real consequences- after all, she could hurt him all she wanted to, he would heal- the nøkk did not doubt that she would make good on them. His hand was almost healed, though it still hurt, and his leg bled freely, clear water mixing with the gore of the dove.

“Perhaps you should”, Aberdeen finally said in a matter-of-fact tone, “in fact, why don’t you just kill me now and spare me the headache?”
After all that was better than the fate awaiting him, if he was brought before the court.

[qhostqrowls]

The fox sat down in the doorway, its bushy tail curling around its paws. Amber stared into turquoise, both entirely focused on the other.

“No. They want you alive.” It said, almost sulkily. “I will follow you wherever you flee. You can hide amongst humans. You can hide in your lake. But that will only make it worse for yourself, because you will come with me in the end.”

It lifted a paw to lick it clean, cat-like, watching Aberdeen slyly the whole time. For such a small animal, his earlier blows should have had it limping and hurt. But it seemed to have recovered entirely, its gaze sharp and direct as it thought. Words did not come easily, and she did not have the flowing eloquence of most fae. But for a creature with her purpose, blunt was best.

“I have more shapes than what you have seen. I can become a mountain cat and drag you there with my fangs in your throat. Or I can break your legs with my hooves.”

The threats were spoken like they were statements, and Aberdeen knew she meant what she said.

“Or you can come with me now. I will lead you there and not bite you again.”

[NightshadeVII]

The idea of the court wanting him alive was laughable. Of course they did- they couldn’t make a good example of him if he was brought back already dead. It would be embarrassing.

“Nice try”, Aberdeen spoke coldly, “you really should work on your conversational skills. You’re not being particularly persuasive.”

Without looking away from the fae creature, he reached into the drawer of his nightstand. Here he found exactly what he was looking for as his fingers brushed against something cool and smooth. He pulled it out slowly, wrapping the bundle of violin strings around his hand to form a thick cord of steel core strings. It wouldn’t do much against the creature’s teeth or claws, but it would be enough to choke her, stun her perhaps, affording him a chance to escape. By now, he was fighting for minutes of freedom, little more.
It was pathetic, he knew that, but he had run out of options.

The nøkk moved suddenly and without warning, aiming a kick square at the creature’s chest, hoping to knock her backwards, into the living room- he needed space, needed room to breathe. As it was, he had no advantages, so he would have to force them.
He cursed himself under his breath, he should have made more of an effort to actually learn to fight.

Pressing his fragile advantage, Aberdeen flicked his wrist, the corded violin strings lashing out like a whip, aiming to keep the creature away, but he wouldn’t cry over drawn blood. If he wasn’t attacking, he had to keep his distance and not get corned. In some strange moment of clarity, he felt his heart beating slow, his breath steady.

[qhostqrowls]

The fox, whose stare had been cold and flat, stood suddenly, hackles rising as she watched Aberdeen draw the strings from the nightstand.

“Insolent fool.” She snarled, backing away, amber eyes blazing and entirely fixated on his makeshift weapon.

Any further words dissolved into a snarling yelp as the strings whipped past her flank. The fox fled to the living room, whirling to face him with heaving sides. Her bushy tail was tucked beneath her, ears pinned back, and she seemed torn between a blind rage and abject fear as the nokk loomed closer.

But this was not the iron-studded whips she was so afraid of. The strings would hurt, but not burn. If it was iron, the nokk could not hold them as he was. She realised this, belatedly, and her panting mouth almost seemed to grin.

Her form blurred, twisting unnaturally, and suddenly in the place of the fox stood a sleek black cougar. Its proportions were wrong - the tail a touch too long, eyes too wide and large. But it had the teeth and the talons and the brute strength, and that was all she needed.

“Fangs in your throat it is,” She hissed, and lunged at Aberdeen. A heavy paw went to cuff the side of his head, her curved claws gleaming wickedly the morning light. The beast barely fit in the apartment, and she seemed entirely unperturbed by the disturbance they were about to make.

[NightshadeVII]

Whatever triumph Aberdeen might have felt as terror flashed in the creature’s eyes was quickly shattered as it shifted, taking on a form that was only more monsterous than before. Claws and teeth flashed in the morning light as the now-cougar stared him down. How was he supposed to deal with this?

Chairs were knocked over and there was the sound of something shattering- a vase maybe, as the feline moved, barreling through the apartment, his carefully crafted life.

The paw caught him on the side of his head, making his ears ring, the horizon tipping.
Aberdeen stumbled backwards, disoriented, desperate, willing his body to move, to do anything. His form was unsteady- there was a brief flash of sharper teeth as he cursed. Cursed the court, cursed this creature, cursed himself. Not like this. He shook his head, forcing himself to snap out of it, to focus, to fight back.

The nøkk moved again, faster than before, looking as if he was about to try and punch the feline, but in the last moment, he feinted, ducking to the side around the animal.
The violin strings, now pulled tight between his hands, flashed out as he tried to wrap it around the creature’s throat. The movement was precise, practiced. He had done this before.

[qhostqrowls]

Muscles rippled beneath sleek fur, her movements fluid and violent and entirely focused. She swatted at his legs, claws slicing effortlessly through cloth and flesh, water spraying across the hardwood. It was an almost playful movement, like she was toying with a bird, if it hadn’t been for the calculated cruelty behind the blow. She was trying to cripple him, get him down on the floor. Her tail lashed excitedly from side to side as she stalked nearer, assured of her victory.

She snarled, a guttural, hair-raising noise almost like the harsh laugh of a woman when the steel wrapped around her throat. She hadn’t tried to avoid the grab at all, and she twisted her head to the side to sink curved fangs deep into the nokk’s forearm, shaking her head like a dog. Hot, sticky saliva dripped down his wrist, mixing with the water that gushed from the wound. The power behind the bite was terrifying - she could rip his hand off if she twisted just a little harder.

The steel cut through her fur, dark blood welling and sliding over the silver criss-cross of scars already around her throat. It was if Aberdeen was doing nothing at all. She seemed not to feel or care about the pain, and as his grip tightened desperately she bit down, hard, a sharp crack ringing through the apartment as something in his arm snapped beneath the pressure.

[NightshadeVII]

Tears stung hot in Aberdeen’s eyes, blurring his vision, drawing trails down his cheek with every tear of the creature’s teeth and claws. He bit back a scream, the sound muffled and breaking with sobs. The world was blinding white as pain overtook his senses, his nerves fraying all through his arm, like ripping seams. His broken arm, useless now, was a mess of flesh and twisting branches jutting out unnaturally.
Distantly, he heard how furniture snapped and cracked in the scuffle, books thudding to the ground. Everything he had worked for, gone in an instant.

Desperately, he pushed away from the creature, scrambling across the floor, vase shards cutting up his palms. Glistening with beads of blood, the violin strings fell to the ground, abandoned.
As it was now, the shapeshifter was between him and the door, looming over him in the small apartment. No escape.

“W-wait- no, no, no, please-“, the nøkk gasped, his voice trembling.
His heart was pounding loud in his chest, the sheer force of it disorienting, adding to his panic. Instinctively, he raised his arm as if to shield himself, the flesh visibly knitting itself together again after the fae creature’s attack. Surely enough, he was immortal and would regenerate, but that did not mean he was immune to pain. Which made it an excellent motivator.

There was nothing but fear and hatred in his eyes as he looked at the creature before him.
Desperation was getting the better of him, his earlier air of calm like a distant dream or a bad joke. Blindly, he felt for anything he could defend himself with, anything he could use to incapacitate, to maim, to hurt. His free hand closed around the broken of leg of a table- or maybe it was from a chair?
Without warning, he lunged with inhuman speed, bringing his makeshift weapon up under the creature’s jaw, aiming to stab her in the throat.

[qhostqrowls]

Siofra paused at his words, one massive paw raised mid-step as she stared at the trembling man. As his hand moved, she went to strike, but his aim was true and a terrible, screaming yowl ripped through the apartment when the wood stabbed into her throat. The beast staggered, swatting the makeshift stake out, ripping it further through flesh. It clattered to the floor, dark blood pouring from the gash.

She straightened, staring down the man, either not feeling or not reacting to the steady drip of blood from the wound.

With all the lighting-fast reflexes of a feline, she lunged at him, aiming to score her claws across his eye and down the side of his face and neck. The savage blow had all her power behind it, and her amber eyes narrowed as she hissed at the fallen man.

“Do not beg only to keep fighting.” She spat, aiming for his stomach now, cruel claws capable of disemboweling with a single swipe. The playful twitches of her tail had turned to angry lashing, her ears flat against her skull. Her blood gushed from the wound, dripping hot and thick over Aberdeen as she slammed a paw on his shoulder, forcing him to the ground, trying to pin him there.

[NightshadeVII]

Nothing worked. Even as Aberdeen watched dark blood spill from a torn throat, the creature did not stop, instead, it snarled all the more fiercely. He should have known.

As the claws came down towards his face, he rolled to the side, avoiding the brunt of the blow, though the talons still snagged his shoulder, flaying flesh. Beside him, the floor split apart. He had no time to recover as the beast attacked again, claws ripping across his stomach. Aberdeen screamed then, the sound breaking into a sob as his head fell back against the hardwood floor. He felt the prick of claws against his shoulder as the feline pinned him down, even the lightest of touches had him expecting pain. A small, cynical part of him still wished for her to just rip throat out and be done with it.
He had died before, enough times that he didn’t bother to count anymore, but that did not mean that the process would ever be pleasant. And besides, this creature had made it very clear that she would not let him escape through death- she would only bring him agonizingly close, dangling it out of reach like a morbid prize.

Cruel were the whims of the fae, suffering a goal in itself.

“You would… do the same in my place”, the nøkk coughed, water spilling past his lips, soaking his hair. His grip was weak, his hands slipping as he tried to push the beast’s paws away. The effort was laughable. Dark blood dripped down on him, soaking his clothes, burning in his open wounds.

Steadily, desperation gave way to despair. It shone clearly in his turquoise eyes as he looked up at the feline, his breath coming in ragged pants.
The tears that feel from his cheek was now no longer because of the stinging wounds- he was terrified, as powerless as a fly caught in a spider’s web.

“Don’t do this, please… I can’t- I can’t go back…”, he begged, pride forgotten, “please…”

[qhostqrowls]

Siofra flopped down onto the man, the water from his wounds soaking into her fur. Her crushing weight pinned him as much as the threatening claws on his shoulder did, and she tilted her head, ears twitching forward, at his cries.

Her expression was blank, her eyes large and reflective, the soft dawn light gleaming off them like mirrors. Aberdeen could see himself in the amber depths as she leant in, whiskers brushing against his cheeks.

“But you must.” She said plainly, her voice a low rumble he could feel in his chest. “I can’t return without you.”

This was the truth, and they both knew it. As angry as she had been, there did not seem to any lingering malice, only her dogged determination and assurance of her victory. She had her task. He had his fears.

“Come with me,” Her claws retracted slightly, only to prick at his skin again a heartbeat later. She closed the space between them, rough tongue rasping over his tear-streaked cheek and along his hair, like she was grooming an unruly cub. He could not quite tell if it a threatening gesture or a comforting one. “Or I will keep hurting you.”

She thought for a long few seconds, tail flicking against his leg. Her animal face was emotionless, but there seemed to be some attempt at persuasion in her voice when she spoke.

“They only want you to return to where you belong. If they wanted you to die, that would be my task.”

[NightshadeVII]

The moment the nøkk went down, it was as if the creature’s malice disappeared, replaced by calm indifference. A harsh reminder that his anger was misplaced, wasted, even if he still felt justified in it. But it hadn’t been enough. It was over, wasn’t it?
He groaned in pain under the creature’s weight, her every movement disturbing the wounds she has inflicted just moments before. When her rough tongue lapped at his wounds, he flinched, instinctively trying to pull away. He couldn’t decide if she was trying to soothe or belittle him, and honestly, he wasn’t keen on either option.

His eyes narrowed as he studied the creature, now that she wasn’t trying to disembowel him. She was nothing like any creature he knew from home. A new addition to the court, perhaps, but a strange one, after all, he knew their preferences and this creature did not live up to them. And then there was the matter of her scars, of course- what was the story behind them? Would any of that knowledge even be useful to him? Already, Aberdeen was trying to plan five steps ahead, though he didn’t have nearly enough information to actually do so.

Only want you to return to where you belong.

What a joke.
As if this was something as benign as an overdue family reunion. No. Nothing could be further from the truth. The nøkk half-scoffed, half-laughed- the sound tore at his wounds. All he had wanted was to be left alone. Nothing more. After his escape all those years ago, he had done nothing to get in the court’s way, he had laid low, he had done everything right to stay under their radar. Now all he could do was lament his own foolishness.
He lifted his head, looking back up at the feline. She had no idea what she had been caught up in.

“I can’t move with you lying on me like that…” Aberdeen sighed, flicking the feline’s nose in some act of petty resistance, “didn’t think that through, huh?”

[qhostqrowls]

The cougars dark muzzle twitched at the flick, wrinkling back to expose teeth as if she was about to sneeze. So near his face, her fangs took up all of Aberdeens vision, long and sharp and bone white. But she only shook her head as if a fly had landed there, sitting back to stare regally down at the nokk, with all the offence of a normal housecat that had been disturbed.

“I will rise once you promise to come.” She shifted her weight, her back paw digging obnoxiously into his side. His joke hasn’t seemed to land. “Do not be sly and dishonest like you were before. If you hurt me again I will kill you, and drag you from your lake when you return.”

There was a faint irish inflection in her accent. She twisted her head to lick at her bloodstained fur, not quite able to reach the worst of it. The bleeding had stopped abruptly, unnaturally. She lifted one paw to lick it, rubbing the back of it under her torn throat. She seemed entirely relaxed, her pinning paw shifting to press on his solar-plexus as she cleaned herself.

“This way, you can return with some dignity.”

[NightshadeVII]

The more the fae creature spoke, the clearer it became that she wasn’t part of his court, not really. A weak link, perhaps.
That faint hint of an accent revealed different roots, which meant different rules to play by, different tedious games. Why would the court ever send some outsider to do their dirty work? Seemed like he wasn’t the only one who had changed his methods in their time apart- that prospect unsettled him.

“You want me to promise?”, Aberdeen’s brows furrowed and he tilted his head slowly, “my word means nothing…”
If nothing else, he was honest in his dishonesty, his life stood as testament to that fact. His promises were as useful as matches to a child.
As the cougar’s paw pressed against his solar plexus, he groaned slightly again, grimacing. Though his wounds were steadily knitting themselves together, the pain fading to memory, he was still sore, his nerves still raw making everything feel sharper than it was. His hands flexed and he looked down at them, despite the way the feline had mangled them, they were now flawless, scarless, moving with ease. His nails hadn’t even chipped.
“Fine, as you wish”, the nøkk relented with a sigh, “I promise to go with you and… not hurt you.”

Aberdeen chuckled then, the sound bitter as his head fell back against the floorboard. His expression became distant and somber as he traced invisible shapes in the ceiling. The full weight of what was happening finally settled, burrowing into his shoulders, tightening his ribcage. Ironic that it would feel like drowning.
All signs of his true form had disappeared- like this he looked like just another regular human, if it wasn’t for the shadow of something ancient in his eyes.
“Dignity, you say…” he mused, making it sound like the words were foreign to him, “a pleasant lie, that.”

[qhostqrowls]

Siofra blinked down at Aberdeen, silent and impassive. The beginnings of a purr rumbled in her throat at his promise, and she moved to stand.

There was a brief moment of terrible pressure against Aberdeens chest as she lifted her weight, but she finally lifted her paw and stalked to the other side of the trashed living-room without so much as a backwards glance.

The tip of her tail disappeared around the doorframe. For a few precious seconds, the nokk was alone. But before he could even think to run for the door or grab a weapon, the creature padded back in, crunching on the dove. White feathers drifted to the floor, and she licked her muzzle to remove the last of the bloodied down. Evidently, she had been thinking about her breakfast since she’d lost it.

“Follow me to the forest.”

Her form blurred, and in the place of a cougar was a lithe black cat. The shifts didn’t seem to drain her energy in the slightest, and she leant up to scratch incessantly at the doorframe, clearly impatient.