Vampire: Dark Ages - Scene 2: Harrowing: Seska

[Goatkiller666]

"So, the religious is just an excuse to act the way you wish, I see? You have your own moral code, above the requirements of your gods. Children matter more than gods."

She gently puts Seska's foot back down on the couch, and disengages her own feet from Seska's hands. "Hand me my shoes, dear. Let us put this all to the test." Once all footwear is returned, she leads Seska through a side door into a hallway (where Gabrin recently lead Taduz) then through another door to some stairs down to the cellar.

At the bottom of the stairs, there is dark room with a plain dirt floor. In the corner is a freshly dug hole, within which is a plain wooden coffin. There's a table and a single chair. On the table is an oil lamp, glowing dimly. A small peasant child is also in the room, playing with some sticks in the far corner.

Amisa pulls out a thin daggar from her belt, and hands it to Seska. "Would you end this child for me?"

[Seska Karantanija]

Seska looks at the dagger in her hand in astonishment. "What? No! I would not commit such an act for some twisted idea of defending my gods. Why would I do this simply because you asked?"

She narrows her eyes and grips the dagger held backwards in her hand, "What game are you getting at?"

[Goatkiller666]

She sits on the chair, unconcerned about the dagger in Seska's hand. "Game? This is no game, I assure you. But I wish to be sure of the depth of your beliefs. Now, would you kill this child to save your whole way of life? For, you see, I come from a land filled with Arabs. With a word, I could have whole armies of infidels riding to war. They would wipe the Christians from this land, and leave your people in peace, as they leave the jews in peace now."

"Now, you must choose between the life of this child, which would likely be lived in pain and poverty anyway, or a quick death by your own hand, and the salvation of everything... everything else you hold dear."

[Majesty applies, and you believe her offer.]

She gestures grandly towards the child.

[Seska Karantanija]

She clenches and unclenches the handle of the dagger, out of nervous unease rather than malice. "War? I do not want war, regardless of its ends. Nothing good comes of it." Not quite pacing yet, she does take small steps back and forth while being emotive with her arms. "My man, Bojan, was in war. His side won, yet it destroyed his faith. He was broken by it."

"There are few Christians in my lands. Starting a war would bring them in ever increasing numbers! Then I would have Christians and Arabs fighting over my lands while we get trampled underneath. Why would I want this? Why would I want to take the life of a child to bring this upon my people!?"

"Do you not understand yet?" Seska implores, quite genuinely. "My belief is that it is not for me to force my ways upon others. Leave the child out of this!" Without being consciously aware of it, she has taken the blade of the dagger in her right hand and clenched it hard enough to draw blood. "Why are you so anxious to bring troops here, at my choice, and why involve a child in this at all?"

[Goatkiller666]

Amisa's eyes focus on the blood dripping to the floor, "Oh dear. You've gone and cut yourself."

"But I was never anxious, dear. Bored, maybe. I like to know the true metal of a person. But I would keep my word, if you do what I ask. Give up the thing you seem to love most, for the thing you claim to love most. It would not be war for very long. Not here in your lands, anyway. Perhaps there would be fighting far away in the so called Holy Roman Empire, but nowhere you would ever see. Nobody you know would be dying."

[Seska Karantanija]

"Oh, uh?" Seska looks at her hand. Realizing what she has done, though barely worse than untold other purposefully inflicted cuts, she shakes her openly bleeding hand in frustration and tosses the dagger into the dirt. She speaks to herself, "Here I was planning on doing this tomorrow evening..."

She walks to stand in front of Amisa, a pained expression visible because she knows the offer is genuine, "You offer me much, but none of it is what I want." The blood pooling in her right hand has managed to land a few drops on her gown, streaking it as they run down. The back of her left rises to touch Amisa's face, to show how much she appreciates the thought of what some might consider a generous offer -- entire armies fighting in their name -- but she lowers it with hesitation before actually stroking the cheek.

[Goatkiller666]

Amisa stares at Seska's injury, and at the blood on her dress. As Seska's other hand falls back to her side, Amisa snarls, then hisses. Her eyes change color and shape, and Seska looks directly into them. They are now gold, with the irises covering the entire eye. The pupils are vertical slits, narrowing as she focuses her power.

Seska cannot move. Amisa picks her up by the waist and lowers her into coffin, almost gently. "Foolish girl. Your purity sickens me. Your regard for other life has cost you your own." She lowers the lid of the coffin over top, and Seska is locked into the darkness, still unable to move.

Soon, she hears the sound of shovels full of dirt falling onto the lid of the coffin. Eventually the dirt is so thick that she can't hear the new thuds clearly.

[Here ends the harrowing.]