[Flashback] Freedom is when an oath is fulfilled (Solo)

[Iskessah]

42 Fall, 505 The sound of the door quietly opening awoke Iskessah from her slumber. Her senses quickly gave her a picture of the situation. It was too dark to be morning yet. From the heat signatures in the room, she could tell that her master was in his bed, and another human had just entered the room. A quick flick of the rattler's tongue confirmed that the visitor was Angela, the old man's apprentice. The Dhani stayed perfectly still, not wanting to alert Angela to the fact that she was awake. She listened and watched the heat signatures as Angela moved quietly to the master's bed. Her hand moved to his face, blocking his breathing passages. There was a brief struggle, but the man was old and feeble, and the woman young and strong. After one chime the man stopped struggling. Angela held her hand against the vein in his neck for many chimes after. Finally, she took her hands away. "Now the world is free of you, Mattieu Kosun," Angela muttered, and spat on the man's corpse. Then, her voice twisted with hatred of an intensity Iskessah had never heard in her before, she said, "Vagik!"

[Iskessah]

Iskessah watched Angela with much curiosity. Something quite interesting was happening. The world, free of Mattieu Kosun? Was Iskessah then also free of him? She had been his prisoner in this cage for so long, she couldn't quite believe the day of freedom had finally come. Angela spent a great number of the next several chimes rummaging through the dead man's possessions, heedless of the destruction and chaos she caused. She searched under his bed first, then in the bed, dumping Mattieu's body haphazardly onto the floor. Whith a frustrated noise, she moved to his desk, scattering papers everywhere. The glassware that Mattieu had used to mix up poisons (most of which contained some of Iskessah's venom), was irreparably smashed upon the floor as Angela knocked it over in her haste. Then Angela went along the floor, testing each of the boards, apparently looking for one loose enough to move. She seemed to be in a hurry for some reason that Iskessah could not fathom. In any case, Iskessah was learning more then she'd ever known before about where to hide things. Or, not where to hide things (since these were apparently the places so obvious that Angela would look there first), but where to look for things. She would never have guessed that something could be attached to the bottom of a bed, thereby making it hidden to a cursory glance.

[Iskessah]

Angela searched for several bells, growing ever more frustrated and desperate when her quarry eluded her. Finally, she stopped. Iskessah thought for a moment that she'd given up, but that didn't seem right. Angela wasn't a woman who just gave up. The only change the Dhani could perceive was the light coming through the window that Angela was looking at in dismay...which meant, the sun was rising? This time was called "morning," which was when the overt activities of the city began. Perhaps Angela had run out of time, then. But time for what? What was she trying to do? With an expression of reluctance tempered by resolve, Angela approached the Dhani's cage. She stopped several feet away. Angela had never let her guard down around the Dhani, which Iskessah chose to interpret as a sign of respect. "I know you can hear me, Dhani. I have a favor to ask." Iskessah was surprised; this was the first time Angela had spoken to her directly. She raised her head slowly, too sluggish to pay full attention to the woman. She glanced longingly toward the hearth, hoping that Angela might light a fire for her. Ravok's ambient temperature was pleasant for most mammals, but a bit chilly for Iskessah, so Mattieu had purchased the hearth, perhaps thinking that if Iskessah had enough warmth to be comfortable, she'd produce more venom for him to harvest. Though, he had stopped lighting fires in recent years, leaving the Dhani to Rhysol's mercy. Angela did not take the hint, instead seeing Iskessah's movement as acknowledgement. "You must know where he keeps his journal. If you find it -" She cut off abruptly, and seemed to be debating how much to reveal. "Just, keep it safe." Without another word, Angela darted forward, lifted the latch on Iskessah's cage, and left Mattieu Kosun's house before Iskessah could blink.

[Iskessah]

Iskessah waited several chimes as she tried to process what had just happened. Angela had unlatched her cage. Usually her cage was only opened when Mattieu wanted to harvest her poison... She lifted her tail and whacked it against the cage's door, which swung open easily. As she slithered out of the cage for the first time in decades, the reality of what had just happened hit her. Mattieu Kosun, her captor, her jailor, was dead. She was free. The first emotion she felt was rage. If she'd had a human mouth she would have screamed, so it was just as well she was in her snake form. She thrashed around, flailing, crushing anything she could reach with the rattle on her tail, unleashing sixty years of suppressed resentment and hatred. There were sounds of breaking glass and snapping wood; the lab Kosun had used to refine Iskessah's poison was shattered into oblivion; the cage which had been her prison was soon nothing but scraps of wood littering the floor. She felt better after that outburst. But she still felt cold. She had to fix this. She shifted slowly into her Dhani form, stretching out to her fullest length, something she had not been able to do in far, far too long. She explored the hearth with her hands, relishing being able to touch the source of the glorious heat which she had always been separated from in the past. She tried to recall how the old man had lit the fire. He had arranged the logs, much like they were arranged in the hearth now. But wait, what was this? She knocked a log off of the precisely arranged pile, revealing something hidden behind. A book? Perhaps this was the journal Angela had spoken of. Iskessah tossed it aside to deal with later; there were more important things to consider for now. She found flint and steel resting near the hearth. With trembling hands, the Dhani struck them together, throwing sparks onto the firewood. It took quite a few tries, and more than a few chimes, but eventually, she had a small blaze going. She wanted nothing more than to cuddle up in front of that flame, and bask in its warmth, but there was still one thing she had to do. She turned and regarded the body of Mattieu Kosun. OOCThe journal she finds is her heirloom item.

[Iskessah]

She could not begin to count the number of times she had begged Siku to free her from this prison, or the number of times she'd sworn vengeance upon Mattieu Kosun in Siku's name. And now, so suddenly she was still having trouble believing it, her oppressor was dead. Had Siku finally answered her prayers? Had she sent Angela to free her? All that time swearing vengeance, and now, he was dead. Not even by her hand. She felt... incomplete somehow. Like she'd left her oath unfulfilled. It felt like there was still something more Siku wanted her to do. "I swear in Siku's name, I will put you in your place," she hissed her oath in the snaketongue of her people. His place? What, then, was his place? For half of her life, he had kept her in a cage, harvesting her venom, but she had always known he was beneath her. He was insignificant, little better than an animal. He was fodder. The only place he belonged was in her stomach. With a feeling of great satisfaction, Iskessah unhinged her jaw. She fit her mouth over the corpse, pulling it slowly into her mouth. She savored every moment of her power over the man who had thought he was better than her. A bell later, when she had finished swallowing, she devoted the meal to Siku. Feeling satisfied for the first time since her capture, she hissed, "I declare my oath fulfilled." Now, she was free.

[Lazybones]

Thread Complete! Notes: Ah, a use of the word "vagik". Not one we see often enough! I loved this look into Mattieu's death. Your writing flows incredibly well and tells a great story. Iskessah Award : Skills: Investigation +2, Acting +1, Observation +1 Lores: Angela's Murder, The Art of Concealment, Oath to Siku Fulfilled, Creating a Fire, Sixty Years of Hatred Released