Seals of Power - REVIEW THIS STORY

Written by Michi-chan and KazeRogue
Last updated: 01/02/2007 02:01:11 AM

Chapter 5

Jacqueline heard the bandit gasping for air and his hold around her body eased if only a bit. But it was enough for her to free herself from him and scramble to her feet. She'd failed. She hadn't been able to kill him. It had only been a split second's hesitation, but it had been long enough for someone with the thief's reflexes. Why? Why had she hesitated? He had been there and all she'd had to do was to slit his throat with her dagger. But she hadn't. And now it was too late. Her chance was gone and she felt that there wouldn't occur another one like this.

The only possibility she had left now was to run. Her attempt at avenging her father may have failed this time, but she didn't need to get captured by the bandits to add to her humiliation. Without a second glance at the young thieves' leader who was now as well coming to his feet, she whirled around to run for it. And found herself face to face with the muzzle of a loaded pistol.

"Uhh, look, who's here. Long time no see, M'lady"

Jacqueline froze. Even without looking at the speaker she would know who was standing in front of her. She'd heard that voice only once before but she recognized it instantly. Although some part of her just resisted to believe her ears. That couldn't be. That girl just couldn't be here that quickly, not the way Jacqueline had tied her up. And Jacqueline knew how to make knots.

"You should check ALL pockets of the folks you tie up, Missy, especially if they're sucker for knives like me." The young girl's smirk was plainly affable and also, strangely, triumphant. Now she had proven her worth to the thieves and saved their leader's life. No one would ever look down upon her as a kid again.

"I'll keep it in mind", Jacqueline said while checking her options. In the corner of her eye she saw the other thieves' approaching and she guessed that their leader had gotten up by now. Her guess was proven right when strong hand grabbed her shoulders and made her turn around. His eyes locked hers though he was talking to Sarah.

"T'anks f'r de aid, p'tite. I t'ink de lady missed our estimated company." With only a sidelong glance before his eyes returned to the noblewoman, he told his men that he had everything under control again. Taking both her wrists in one hand behind her back, he shoved her towards the small hut around which the camp had gathered. Jacqueline walked without resistance, neither her blank face nor her stiff back betraying the turmoil of emotions burning inside her.

Remy was silent as well on the short way to the hut, trying to regain his composure that had been extremely shattered when he had recognized the woman that had attacked him. And he had no clue what to do with her now. Taking a deep breath, he decided to talk to her first. And that was something he was not quite looking forward to as his bad conscience ate him up. Jacqueline on the other hand couldn't await to be alone with him in the small hut. With all the thieves around them, she had no chance to free herself and get another shot at him, but when alone, the odds would change to her favor. And playing the shocked, weak noblegirl would leave him inattentive enough to try a surprise attack.

But though she could tell from the expression on his face that he hadn't expected her to lash out at him when she did as soon as he had closed the hut's door, she had to give him - again - credit for his reflexes. Before she had even realized that she had failed again, she felt one strong arm around her waist while his other hand tried to grab both her wrists again. She heard him panting as she struggled in his embrace and he tried to keep her in check. She stood still for a moment only to stamp her heel on his foot as soon as his grip had eased. He shoved her towards a chair and limped towards her, taking a string from the table as he passed it. Angrily, he forced her hands behind her back before she had recovered from his blow.

As the thief kneeled down behind the chair's back to bind her hands, he let out the air he didn't know he'd been holding and forced himself to cool down a bit. As he was finished and had checked that she couldn't escape, he walked around the chair to face her.

"Look, p'tite, I'm sorry about that, I didn' mean t'hurt you, or push dat hard, but y'have to be reasonable. If you go on kickin around like dat, I won't be able t'keep my men from killin' ya."

"Like you care! Like you DID care when my father died!" She was too enraged to notice his wince and his sudden inability too look her into the eyes.

"Dat was an accident..." He answered evasively.

"An accident???" she screamed. "Taking a person's life can never be an ACCIDENT!"

"I never wanted anybody t'get hurt. Y'have to believe me, I'm really sorry."

"Oh... I see, you are a NOBLE thief, some kind of Robin Hood." her voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Oh, wake up, you bastard! You're nothing but scum! And I will see the day they hang you for your crimes, if they estimate you worthy enough for the string. And I will laugh!"

His eyes narrowed as he leaned over her and gripped her shoulders as if to shake the stubbornness out of her. His voice was dangerously calm as he spoke.

"Y'should watch dat mouth of yours, lady. No one's birth gives em de right to judge anot'er person. I might not be spending my time with hunting and dancing at balls, but that doesn't make me scum!"

"No, only your killing people does!" she shouted angrily.

He stared at her for another second, then turned brusquely and stormed out of the hut.

Chatton watched with a grin as LeBeau left the hut and punched his fist into the next tree. When he grabbed the rein of his horse and pulled himself on it's unsaddled back and rode away in a fierce gallop, he knew that the angry young man wouldn't be back for a while. Casually, he walked towards the hut, expectation speeding his pulse. As he opened the door, her head flung up, anger still burning in her emerald eyes. As she realized it was not the thieves' leader, anger was replaced by mistrust.

"Who are you." she demanded in a voice that was reserved for the aristocrats. Chatton only grinned and closed the door. He strode to the table casually and picked up stuff only to lay it down again after taking only a glimpse at it, closing in on her by the way.

"Yer nightmare." he said lightly while pretending to intently study a framed picture that he had taken out of a bag, then he shrugged and threw it back in. Finally his attention turned towards Jacqueline an he gave her an almost friendly smile, his eyebrows lifted as if he couldn't await her reaction. That came promptly. She snorted with all the disgust versus the bourgeois class that had been drilled into her in the convent of Montmiraille. Thought patterns, that weren't her own, but that she had learned by heart to please the conventional nuns and make her life more bearable, kicked in as automated defense, as if her birth would keep her as safe here as it would in the king's palace.

Chatton only laughed. An uncomfortable, grumbling sound, that sent shivers down Jacqueline's back, though she still kept it straight and wouldn't let her face betray the fear she felt in the company of the manbeast that radiated violence. Nonetheless, he noticed the split-second's flicker in her eyes and squat down in front of her, grinning wolfishly.

"'Fraid?" he asked innocently and pulled her head back by her hair.

"Not in the slightest." she answered with a pressed voice, then gasped as he tore at her ponytail even harder.

"Y'should be." A last violent haul at her hair had her fall on her side and land painfully on her shoulder, and since her hands were still bonded, she could do nothing to cushion the fall. With a feral growl Chatton pulled away the chair that had almost crushed underneath her from the impact. Then suddenly, he laid upon her, his weight forcing the air out of her lungs, while his mouth and his hands conquered her body. Jacqueline struggled as desperately as fruitlessly and tried hard to fight down the panic. There was no use in exhausting her powers like that, she had to concentrate them in a single blow. That much for the plan. The reality told her that even if her hands had not been bond, she wouldn't stand a chance against this horror come to flesh.

Chatton sat up on her, his thighs pressing her hips together violently and let a finger trace down the line of her collarbone.

"Y'know, I really enjoyed killin' yer father. Maybe I would have even done it without LeBeau's order. The kid may be a dick, but he knows how ta make a party out of work."

Jacqueline was too numb to even gasp, she just stared at the thief's smirking face wide-eyed, her mouth hanging open slackly. She didn't even notice the man tearing up her blouse, ripping it into shreds. She didn't notice him stopping in his tracks, didn't hear the gasp of surprise as he stared unbelievingly at the silver bracelet she was wearing around her upper arm. She noticed none of these things as a dark, cold hatred crawled it's way up from the deepest recesses of her soul and suffocated her fear, while concentrating all her might in one rear that sent him flying towards the floor. Jacqueline felt her chin tremble with uncontrolled rage, her eyes shooting lightenings at the man that was already rising again. The surprise was gone from his face and had given way to a complacent grin. Quickly, he grabbed her upper arm and took a closer look at the bracelet, ignoring her struggling while closing her mouth with his free hand.

"So yer kept somethin' from us, eh? Well, I can still take this later, let's have some fun first." He pulled her close in a rough grip, his strong arms that enclosed her like iron bonds preventing any resistance.