Different than Expectations (Arthur)

[Vailea Ceylan]

The forest was sprinkled with trees and forage, though not too dense. A few birds chirped their merry songs, but Camelot was no where near happiness. There were suspicions of a plague taking hold of the city, and one citizen had already passed. The forest that surrounded Vailea were pleasantly quiet, though eerie at the same time. Her horse stood a few yards away from her, tied to the trunk of a nearby tree. The rock upon which Vailea sat was shaded from the sun's rays by the tall trees that hovered over her head. She held an apple that she had taken from her house back in the city, and sat examining it. Perhaps it contained whatever was causing the plague....Maybe it didn't. "Only one way to find out." Vailea muttered to herself. No, she wasn't suicidal....Not at all, but that was just her nature... Vailea was daring and a major daredevil. Besides, she was hungry anyways.

As soon as she sank her teeth into the flesh of the apple, a moist sweet taste danced upon her taste buds. After she finished off the last of the apple, Vailea tossed the useless core a few feet away and stood from the rock. Her pale blue dress swept across the ground as she paced, somehow failing to pick up the mud and dirt that lined the forest floor. She should stay in Camelot... What were the chances she would catch whatever was going around? Besides, only one person had had it so far, unofficial word of mouth could not be trusted. That was final. Who knew if this would turn into an epidemic? There were probably already many people searching for clues and such, since some suspected that magic was the cause. Most likely, it was.

A sudden crunch sent Vailea's head snapping upwards and her ivy green irises scanning the trees. That was no forest animal, the sound was too large for one to create...It had interrupted her jumbled thoughts, and she felt her heart thumping. No other sounds followed, and her posture relaxed. Crack! Long, soft brown hair sliced through the air as her attention shifted to her right. She took a small step forward towards her speckled gray horse, ready to grab her bow and arrows at a second's notice. Her eyes stayed focused to where the noise had sounded and her hand stretched close to where her weapon rested. "Hello?" She called shakily, trying to keep her voice firm. Clearing her throat, she spoke again. "Who's there?" This time her voice didn't waver, and gave a more powerful tone. There was no need to be frightened after all.... Vailea was trained for defense, and she obviously hadn't failed yet. She was alive, after all.



Setting~ Surrounding forest of Camelot.
Timeline~ Mark of Nimueh
Muse~ Bleh.
Notes~ Short and horrible. This also broke character a bit, but she'll come more alive later in the thread. >.<

[Arthur Pendragon]

It would not be too much longer until the city entered a state of complete and utter panic. The illness . . .plague . . . curse . . . whatever it was to be called, was spreading quickly and they were no closer to finding out what was causing it -- or who was causing it rather -- and how it was spreading. Arthur efforts were continuing to produce empty results, and this failure was costing the lives of civilians. It was something that brought the young prince great pain; losing people of Camelot. These people trusted him and the knights with their safety and security, turning to them for protection. People dying was not protection . . . he was failing then and he could not stand to lose any more. He could not bare to witness this long trail of bodies that this evil plague was leaving behind. He needed to get to the source of it . . . and soon! He had doubled -- no, tripled -- guards in the city so that they could keep an eye on just about everything. His father had given him explicit orders as he planned to fully carry them out.

That was partly what brought him out to the woods today. He wondered if there would be clues as to who was behind this, or how it was spreading among the people. What if it was caused by something in the woods? Being carried by travellers? Arthur had no idea for when it came to anything related to magic, he felt helpless. He never underestimated the power of sorcery but he was certainly no expert in fighting it off. It was a wonder he had survived this long when Camelot was fighting a war against magic. But he would not let it cause the kingdom to crumble; not while he was alive. He rode on his horse well into the surrounding woods. He was dressed in his regular attire . . . a shirt with his brown leather vest on top, pants, boots, and gloves. He carried a sword in its sheath, attached to his side, and a crossbow on the saddle of his horse, just in case he came across an enemy, which was the purpose of being out here in the first place: to investigate.

Despite the heavy thundering hooves of his horse, he heard a sound in the near distance. He brought his animal to a halt, pausing for a moment before swiftly dismounting and tying the reigns to a nearby tree. He then proceeded to pull out his sword in preparation for whatever was out there. It could be bandits, it could be a random nomad . . . or it could be a sorcerer. He was not sure of either enough to lower his guard, nor his weapon. He began to creep up on the stranger, making sure his footsteps were light, making sure to gain the upper hand and advantage of being able to see the person first, so that he could properly assess them instead of blindly entering their presence. It did not take long for his gaze to erst on an image in the near distance. A woman. A beautiful woman at that, but Arthur could not be distracted by such things. He was not naive enough to believe that those with magic were solely men. At the same time, it was more difficult to nearly impossible for him to threaten or cause harm to a woman. Especially when he had been raised to protect them. Never the less, curiosity got the better of him, and he lowered his weapon to the side, less cautiously approaching her.

She was aware he was coming. For her questions about who was surrounding her filled the almost silent air. He did not let his unknown presence linger, but rather, stepped into the clearing to make himself known. He looked at her, his sword lowered by his side by still firmly grasping the hilt, and one of his eyebrows slightly raised. He did not exactly answer her question through words, but rather actions. He kept his sight on her but kept a keen awareness of his surroundings, in case there were others lurking about. "What business do you have here?" He inquired. His voice held a strong authoritativeness tone to it, one that came natural with spending twenty years of his life giving orders and expecting compliance. He was unsure if she recognized who he was, for he bore no seal of the Pendragon crest, and was not wearing any armor to even indicate he was a knight. But if she was from the city . . . then she may recognize him. If not, then he would eventually make himself known. For now though, his question he felt took precedence. He wanted to know why she was here, alone, in the middle of the woods. With so much at stake; with people's lives at stake . . . everyone was a suspect.

[[ AWWW Its not short OR horrible!! It was a GREAT post!!! I LOVED it!! Thanks for starting the thread for us! ]]

[Vailea Ceylan]

(Sorry for the wait! Posting tomorrow. Life got all busy on me. XD)

[Vailea Ceylan]

The footsteps grew slightly louder as the person neared her and she felt her heart accelerate. At first she couldn't quite make out the form parting its way through the trees, but as the man stepped into the clearing her eyes narrowed. It appeared to be Prince Arthur, but he wore no symbol of the Pendragon crest. Or any armor for that matter. "What business do you have here?" His voice broke through the silence of the forest and she frowned. Yes, this was definetly Prince Arthur, she could tell by the way he spoke and stood. Not just the royal quality, but also the stress and determination. He felt he needed to find the cause of the plague and stop it..... Protect his people. Her eyes met with his and she tilted her head. "You see....Prince Arthur." She said, a small smile forming on her face. "With this....Interesting plague takng hold of the city... One must worry about the situation, yes?" Vailea hesitated, but not long enough for him to answer. "So I thought a decent ride in the forest would do me some good....Get out of all that mayhem." She hadn't chosen her words all too carefully, making her answer quite... Unrespectful really. And her answer had been really quite vague, but if he wanted more of an answer, he would most surely ask.

Her hand dropped to her side and her intense eyes softened. She quickly offered a quick introduction, bobbing a curtsey. "Vailea Ceylan, Prince Arthur." She smiled and eyed the sword he had been holding, ready to strike. "Hmm going to attack me, your higness? Surely not, I presume?" She shot him a quizzical look, already knowing the answer. Even if she was the city's largest threat... Would he kill her? Life was stressful for everyone these days, and stress pushed everyone to do things they normally wouldn't. She fiddled with a small silver ring on her right hand, the one her mother had gotten her for her birthday a long time ago... Because once upon a time, Vailea had had a family, people who loved her no matter what.



Notes~ Haha thanks. This one's short though... Oh well.

[Arthur Pendragon]

So she knew who he was. Now that could either work in his favor, or work to his disadvantage. Either way he could not help that she recognized his face, though it did assure him that she was most likely from the city. Despite her use of titles -- as there was clearly a rank difference between them -- there was something about her tone that he strongly disapproved of. He wasn't sure what it was. Just . . . something odd about it. It was not enough to grow intensely suspicious or skeptical of her, but it was enough for him to not quite yet be ready to fully lower his guard. "These woods are dangerous," he told her, or warned her rather. Especially for a young, attractive woman to be traveling through by themselves. And If she had an escort with her, then he was doing a terrible job for it was easy enough for Arthur to enter her presence. "You may have merely exchanged one source of mayhem for another." Meaning, she may have tried to escape one source of chaos, only to find herself in another situation. Whether it be a group of bandits, or other magical creatures that lurked about. Even the woods had their fair share of threats.

"Besides," he continued, holding that strong formal authority in his voice. "We are disallowing people to leave the city until the source of the plague is discovered." To prevent it from from spreading throughout the entire kingdom. For now, it was bad enough that it was practically taking over the city . . . and the worst of it -- apart from the fact that people were dying -- was that they hadn't the slightest clue as to how it was being spread. His father believed it was sorcery, and from the nature of it, Arthur was inclined to agree. Until then, curfew, frequent searches of the town, and constant patrolling. His determination had brought him here though, to the woods, in the company of this woman who . . . Arthur could still not place what it was about her. She was using respectful titles, and even curtsying now, yet some of her words came out in a rather disrespectful manner.

Her words that followed were indeed curious ones. But at least she told him her name. Not that there was any reason to do anything about it the moment. "Hmm going to attack me, your highness? Surely not, I presume?" Was she making presumptions? Telling him what he was and was not going to do? He did not take too well to that. After all, it really depended on if she gave him a reason to. Of course he doubted he could ever strike down a woman, but if she was a sorcerer . . . on the off chance of course . . . then he may be required to act rather than think. Never the less, he put his sword back in its sheath -- for now -- still prepared to pull it out at any unexpected threat that came his way. "You should never make assumptions." It was more a piece of advice, mixed in with a bit of warning. If she knew who he was, then she knew he posed no threat to her . . . not without cause.

[[ No worries!! Quality over quantity!! ]]