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lets-do-the-time-whump · 5 years ago

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Whumptober Day 1: Let’s Hang Out Sometime

Alright, very excited to post some content for the first time. I’ve never used all these Tumblr features before so I hope I get them right lmaoo

So, this scene is based around the ‘Shackled’ prompt, and is a scene in one of my WIPs I hadn’t got to writing yet, so I decided to rip it out and do it here. Be prepared for 1400 words of someone’s uncle being a jack*ss.

Previously: Teodarn Malik, wanted by the law, several Mage villages and a half a ragtag crew of adventurers, is at the end of his tether. Caught in a war between two kingdoms for a draught of immortality, he’s taken the only vial of a key ingredient in many kingdoms, and is meeting his uncle in a remote location to give him the vial in return for being left alone.

As I crested the hill and the cabin came into view through the mild snowstorm, I swallowed down the last of my fear about coming here. The vial of the still warm, sticky liquid bashed against my leg with every step, tightly tied to a loop of my belt. That’s the reason I came here; to deliver that bottle to my uncle. It would be worth it, I had to believe that. He’d sworn to me, “Bring me the bottle, and you will never see me again."

I knocked on the door, and the force sent shudders through my freezing fingers. From inside, I heard a clanking of metal and the crackling of logs on a fire before the door was opened, and the cool face of my uncle came into view.

"Teo my dear boy! So you took my offer,” His smile was dark and there was a certain malice in his tone, and I reminded myself again, this is an in-and-out job. After all, Juniper (or one of her lackeys) passed me a note from the mages of the mountain earlier. An avalanche is on its way.

“I have it.” “Sorry, dear boy? Could you speak up? I can’t hear you over the cold.” I grit my teeth and stepped inside the door, and for a moment Konotos seemed to retreat. “I brought the Honey-dendron extract.” His brief surprised expression melted back to its previous malicious happiness. “You should’ve said! Do come in.” I stepped in uncertainly as he pulled the door firmly closed behind me.

The cabin was entirely non-descript, same spruce-ish wood on the floor, walls and door. Simple double bed with a cast iron frame, weaving an ornate pattern that reminded me of the gates outside the Blanche castle. There were a table and three chairs in the corner, a cabinet of what seemed like meaningless knick-knacks and books, a fireplace burning low in the far centre and a small, mostly devoured lunch on a nearby chair, including the greasy remains of something between bread, and a full pitcher of water. The bed was made up, a thin layer of dust blanketed most of the room and apart from the lunch, the cabin looked like it hadn’t been used in at least a week.

“Ignore the mess, you know how I am by now-” “Do I now?” I questioned him as he drifted confidently about the space, moving two of the empty chairs from the corner to put one by the foot of the bed and one about a foot from it. “My, someone’s grown a spine without daddy, hm? Come, take a seat.” I set my mouth in a determined line and held my ground. “I came to deliver, not to chat; there’s an avalanche in a couple hours and I’d very much like to get off this mountain before it comes down on us. I suggest-” My resolve wavered as he strode towards me, but still I tried to stand firm. “-you get off the mountain too. I don’t think your ice powers will protect you if the whole glacier falls on your head.” He smiled somewhat warmly, putting his hands on my shoulders and slowly steering me towards the chairs. “Looks like someone hasn’t lost that loyal streak, eh? Charming. I’ll leave your father to tell you how proud he is when you see him.”

He pushed me into the chair, and I regret that I let him: as little conflict as possible. “So,” He sat down himself, leaning forward on his knees and interlacing his fingers. “To business. You have the extract. How might you have found it before me? Or our… little friend in the trees for that matter.” I didn’t take my eyes off him as I unlooped the vial from my belt - call it a habit - and held it out in front of us. “I- I stole it. Took it from another tribe of Mages, one of the travelling ones.” I didn’t tell him the full truth, mainly because I really wanted to get out of there by now, but that raised a chuckle from him all the same. “Well dear boy, you’ve become the thief they charged you. Never thought you had it in you personally, but I suppose we’ve both been learning a lot about each other recently.”

He held out his hand and I placed the small bottle into it, and I was acutely aware that somehow, it was still radiating heat and in its absence, I longed for it back. It’s definitely got some sort of magical properties, from the way it shimmers and flows, to the heat, to the overwhelming bliss you feel on coming into contact with it. I watched that calm wash over him, smoothing the wrinkles in his brow and straightening his hunched posture. There’s a small sound like someone jarring a chain as he sat up, opening his eyes and smiling. “At least I can count on your honesty. Thank you, my boy.” He stood quickly and danced across the room. As I rose from my seat he placed the vial on a cabinet shelf, and as I started towards the door he moved over to the fireplace and the abandoned lunch. “That almost repays all the trouble you’ve caused me.”

I froze, my heartbeat quickening, as I heard the hissing sound of a fire being put out. I turned just in time to see him slam into me, pinning my body against the wall. I spluttered and cried out, but he clapped a hand over my mouth, probably more for the quiet than anything else, since there’s no one out there but the trees to hear us. “You heard me. Family ties are lovely and all, but I can’t have anyone knowing that I have the only vial of Honey-dendron this far south. So I’m afraid-” He wrenched one of my hands to the side, pressing me into the wall with a knee and forcing a shackle around my wrist. “You will be staying here awhile.”

The shackle sent a flood of panic through me, and I started to fight because I recognised these cuffs. They’re the same cramped half domes that I was forced to wear when I was arrested by the Blanche clan. Magic inhibitors. I started firing as fast as I could from my other hand, cursing him in all three of the languages I can, squirming my legs to escape his grasp. Once he had my left hand fixed he dragged me, still fighting with everything I could, over to the foot of the bed. He kicked the chair aside and threw me to the bed, looping the open side of the cuffs between two of the bars and forcing it around my other hand, leaning his full body weight right on my gut as I groaned and struggled to wrench away.

I struggled not to panic as he left, trying to move my hands and flex my fingers and activate my magic. Nothing but a light glow of heat inside the cuffs. I pulled again on the chain but both the cuffs and the bedpost held fast. “Why?” “I told you why.” I leant back and watched him pick up the now half-empty pitcher of water set on the side of the smouldering fireplace. He took his time swaggering over, looking me in the eyes and grinning. “Dear boy, I know you’ve been stepping on my toes for years, but the incident by the riverside was the last straw.” I gritted my teeth, “That wasn’t my fault!” “It wouldn’t be if you didn’t blow up the supply ship.” He knelt down by my side, taking my hands in his by the outsides of the shackles. “You haven’t been useful to anyone. Not me, nor your father, especially not that ragtag bunch you call friends.” I feel cold on the cuffs and look down to see frost cover their surface. “No one’s cared about you for a very long time.” With nothing to stop him he calmly un-does the clasp of my cloak and throws it aside.

With no cloak and frost creeping up my arms, I started to shiver. “Kono, please…” My begging escapes my mouth shrouded in warm mist in the air, and it dawned on me fully what he intended to do. He took my chin in one hand and touched our foreheads together, and I started to feel lightheaded as something flickered in his eyes. “Oh Teodarn, how cruel fate can be.” And I watched, frozen still, as he upended the pitcher of freezing water over my head.

#whumptober2020 #no.1 #shackled #oc #fic #hypothermia tw #child abuse tw #oc - teodarn malik #world 1 - blanches and delaclans #let's hang out sometime

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