Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Oct 30, 2010 3:28:47 GMT -5
...do I wish to end my dreaming
should I go while I’m still standing
my hands encirclingmy stolen flute
or should I set a new tune weaving…
Tam blinked at the lady, amused by the way she seemed to order the man about. Often, it was the other way around.
"Sounds good to me, ma'am," she said, meaning the stew and tossing the coins needed onto the bar. But when the lady suggested milk, Tam's eyes narrowed. Was she teasing? Tam knew she looked younger than her seventeen years... people often teased her in taverns by offering her milk.
"I will have barley mead," she said carefully and added another coin.
And then suddenly she was grinning again. She placed her flute on the bar.
"Aye... t'was me. Did you like it?" her eyes danced.
|
|
Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Oct 21, 2010 23:29:54 GMT -5
[ blockquote]
…I do not know where I’m going
But I still dance beside the pathway
And when people pass me I will ask them questions
That they do not care to answer...
"It isn't my law," Tam retorted. "If it was, we would not be having this conversation. I would have your tongue pulled out and a rabbit's head stuffed inside and your lips sewn up. And then I would hang you. As it is," she continued lightly, as though she had not just made a string of terrible threats, "It isn't my law. Therefore you play with all the fire you want. S'long as you don't burn the forest down."
She smiled sweetly, at last returning her knife to its sheath. Her stomach growled at the mention of food. The way to keep company of any street-thief was to offer them food. Tam grinned.
"Feed me and I am forever yours."
She followed Kazira into her clearing and sank down cross legged in the grass. She thought over the question. Just what was she doing here?
"Oh... just wandering," she answered. It was true enough. She was bored of Camelot and wanted to go steal some things elsewhere. "Seeking my fortune?" she added as a question. Maybe it was true. Did she have a fortune to find? Probably not. She had lived longer than many street-kids already...
[/blockquote] |
|
Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Oct 17, 2010 22:27:19 GMT -5
…do I wish to end my dreaming
should I go while I’m still standing
my hands encircling
my stolen flute
or should I set a new tune weaving…
The problem with a town so small was that everyone knew if you were a stranger. And they distrusted you for being a stranger. Which was annoying enough if you were innocent, but it you were in fact a theif it made you life very difficult. It forced you to be honest for once in your life and leave as soon as you could.
This was how it was for Tam Piper.
She had spent the day in Willowdale, not picking pockets as she had hoped but playing her flute on a street corner. She was wonderfuly good and people had listened but they had not given much money. Tam supposed that Willowdale was not rich. She had enough to buy food. She had enough for a room, if she wished... but she might just find a roof to sleep on instead, and save that coin.
Tomorrow she would make for Camelot. Bigger city and better luck.
Tam pushed her way into an Inn named The House of the Dancing Mare. Pretty name. As always she was dressed in boy's disguise and though obviously a traveler, she carried no pack. Everything she needed was hidden in the thousand pockets of her cloak.
Tam's quick eyes took in the Innkeeper and his lady, the handful of other guests. She took quick steps to the bar.
"Bright evening sir, mistress." she addressed them lightly. "How much for dinner? I'd go for the cheapest, long as it aint liver!" Tam gave an infectious grin. She hated liver with all her childish heart.
|
|
Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Oct 7, 2010 13:08:29 GMT -5
Tam grinned at his name, paused in her walking to make the knight a slightly mocking bow.
"Sir Coal," she smiled at him. For that was how she thought it was. The pronouncing was the same and Tam was from a world where people wore fake names, descriptive names. Her own chosen name 'Thomas Piper' to shorten as 'Tam' was by no means chance. She could play songs on the flute to make the minstrels cry. And it was musical boys with the names 'Thomas' and 'Tam' who the Queen of Faeries would carry away into her own world... so the ballads said, anyhow. In a way Tam's very name was a dare.
"I was not hiding," she continued with righteous dignity. "I was resting. I was thinking it was a lovely day, thinking how happy my sister would be when I gave her my gift... but," she added lightly. "What she does not know cannot hurt her, hey?"
She almost laughed aloud when Coal asked who she had met. She had met thieves and cheats and those against the law, that was who!
"The stay has been comfortable and not quite clean," Tam said evasively. "I have met market-goers and music-players and those who tell stories for a penny or a drink."
|
|
Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Oct 6, 2010 16:42:46 GMT -5
…I do not know where I’m going
But I still dance beside the pathway
And when people pass me I will ask them questions
That they do not care to answer...
Tam grinned.
What I'm doing isnt illigal if I don't get caught.
It sounded like something she might say herself. A thief was full of opinions that let them dance around laws. Tam did not know if Kazira was telling the truth when she said she would have cursed the King closer to the Castle... while Tam knew that magic worked to rules in the same way as anything else, she did not know what these rules were. Nor did she really care if Kazira Astras planned to kill the King. Tam had no liking for him, or even any respect. She had seen better kings on her travels, young kings full of fire and life.
Tam was not planning on turning Kazria in for the reward, either. One law-breaker does not turn in another. She had just been trying to find out if Kazira was evil with witch-craft. If the girl had tried to stab her to keep her mouth closed, Tam would have stabbed back and then run.
But the attack did not happen.
"Aye, well... but what do I want with riches?" she asked, eyes dancing. "Do not forget I am the Prince of Azamandiya. I was born with gold cluched tight in my fists. When I cry, I weep sapphire tears."
|
|
Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Oct 2, 2010 19:38:44 GMT -5
…if I could bring myself to trust you
perhaps I’d stay throughout the evening
beside your door and watch the moonrise
pretending that I am dreaming…
Tam felt a smile dancing on her lips at the sound of the little girl's joy. But it was a smile mixed and twisted with sadness for she was not used to seeing children so carefree. The children she knew, the child she had been... they had knotted hair, bare feet and the instincts of animals. They had stolen and cheated and lied, played vicious games and ran in gangs because that was how they had to stay alive.
"Emma..." she softly repeted the name, eyes far away. Then at her father's cautioning she turned to look at him. Her eyes shone with mischief.
"Hardly fair to scold her for stranger-speaking," she pointed out. "When it was you who spoke to me first."
But little Emma gave it away anyhow, and Tam learned Gwain's name in profession (even if it had been pronounced wrong.) But heard that Emma was a blacksmith's daughter gave her heart a cruel twist. Her own father had been a blacksmith. It was difficult not to let this sudden new pain show on her face. She took a deep breath and pushed the thoughts away. That was long ago. It could not hurt her now.
Instead she turned back to Emma.
"Blacksmiths do metal," she said and held out the flute once more. "See how it is all wood? Inless your so-cautious father is also a carpenter, he would not know how to make one."
Tam flicked a glance back at Gawain and make her last sentance almost a question. Then she had an idea.
"If you let me stay the night at your place," she said lightly, as though it did not really matter to her. "And let me share your supper, I will gladly teach your sweet Emma to play a flute."
((Welcome return. If you wish to continue, I am happy.  ))
|
|
Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Oct 2, 2010 19:15:00 GMT -5
...with the hands of a pick-pocket
and the laughing tale of the fool
I'm the ranger of disorder
with my strange and simple rules... Tam was surprised that she was not dead yet. She had expected him to slit her throat long before she reached cursing in Arabic. Now watched him with wary eyes, at last falling silent. Not because she had repented her words, but simply because she had run out of things to say. What kind of knight got so wild at the theft of his trickets that he chased her all through the city and then did not kill her when she insulted his mother?
Perhaps he is into torture... Tam paled a little. That chilled her heart and she wished she had not thought of it.
And when he spoke, his words told her exsactly nothing. He kept the swords close on her throat and his tone was unreadable. Tam did not know if he mocked her or if he was genuintly interested.
"I'm not going to beg and weep like some caitiff," she told him scornfully, almost spitting the words.
"So if you're going to kill me, you do it quick and clean. You're a knight so I know you can."
And hopefully he would do that and not think of torture. Tam did not hope that he would let her live - not after the wild way he had cased her.
Well, she reflected, still glaring up at him. Made it to seventeen, anyhow. There's street kids that don't even grow to teen years. And better to be killed for something I done then to die of cold or fever.
|
|
Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Oct 1, 2010 14:14:00 GMT -5
...with the hands of a pick-pocket
and the laughing tale of the fool
I'm the ranger of disorder
with my strange and simple rules...
Before Tam could scramble to her feet, she felt the touch of cold steel to her throat. The knight loomed over her like an armoured mountain, a sword in each hand. She did not like the expression in his eyes.
Tam was afraid. Of course she was afraid. One thrust of his hand and she would be paying for her wickedness in the next world.
But she knew better than to let him see that fear. Besides, if she had to die then she was not going to beg for her life and give him the satisfaction.
So she swore at him. And continued with every disgusting word that she knew, words that were never written down for fear they would burn the paper. She insulted his mother, his family and cursed him in seven different languages.
|
|
Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Sept 27, 2010 18:54:44 GMT -5
…I do not know where I’m going
But I still dance beside the pathway
And when people pass me I will ask them questions
That they do not care to answer...
Tam watched, fascinated. She had suspected Kazira Astras of having some secret but she had rather thought at had been that Kazira was not as honest as she pretended to be. A thief, in other words. But never would Tam have guessed her for a witch! It made her a little annoyed but more than a little impressed. No much slipped past her quick eyes, she knew.
Oh... Now it seemed her watching eyes had been noticed. For Kazira had taken a dagger and made her way over. Tam had a knife in her own hand, drawn smooth as a sliver of mercury. Though she had liked Kazira, she knew well enough that people were not always as nice as they first seemed. If they could be witches in disguise, they could be murderers too.
But those thoughts did not show on her face. The knife was held passively at her side and the normal look of mischief danced over her face.
"Nothing illegal... like some people I could mention." Tam said and managed to sound both accusing and light-hearted. "I think I should be asking the questions of you..." she paused before asking lightly "So, you planning to curse old fat-belly Uther? He gives good money for anyone who informs on your kind, you know."
|
|
Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Sept 27, 2010 18:41:43 GMT -5
...with the hands of a pick-pocketand the laughing tale of the fool
I'm the ranger of disorder
with my strange and simple rules...
Tam was in the forest now. Forced into being a nomad for the past two years, she knew enough forest-craft to survive but no more. She was a city thief by heart and skill. Her invisibility was in crowds, her speed was in scrambling over rooftops and dancing down shadow alleys. It was only because she felt she had no choice did she turn to the forest to escape the knight. She did not believe he would go so far as to chase her out the city.
Once again, she had under estimated his stubbornness. And this time there would be no second escape.
Tam had slowed to a walk and had not left the forest path. She had even started to whistle again, which meant that even if she had left the path she could have been followed.
Suddenly she heard a noise behind her. Thinking wild animal or perhaps another traveller she turned.... and it was that man again! Tam whirled on her toes, he was so close and her speed was the only thing she had over him! So panicked, she had not seen another danger.
Tam had not taken three steps when her foot caught in a tree-root. Her ankle twisted and she tumbled, smashing her shoulder into the hard ground.
((Sorry for that slight God-Moding of having you be so close to Tam. If you do not like it, I will change. But in your next post you have my permission to catch her and hold her a sword-point or whatever. ))
|
|
Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Sept 25, 2010 18:41:35 GMT -5
...with the hands of a pick-pocket
and the laughing tale of the fool
I'm the ranger of disorder
with my strange and simple rules... The maddened knight was almost on her before Tam realised. She swore and bolted like a frightened rabbit, running along side the city wall. How had he found her? She though she had left him well beaten with the chickens and the lady in the yard. She thought he would have slunk home licking his wounds. Yet here he was, still after her and for what? Those leather bracelet would fetch a pretty price on the market, but were they really worth so much to this knight who could just buy more?
Tam glanced over her shoulder and saw that he still followed. Curse him! She suddenly knew he would chase her all through the city until she was caught. That thought was not a pleasent one. She had to escape somehow...
And then she saw how. Some wonderful person had left an old barrel beside the wall. Tam sprinted for it, leaping like a cat to to balance on the lid. Then she lept again, fingers catching the top of the wall and feet scrabbling under her. It was a wild struggle but Tam managed to pull herself until she sat astride the wall.
She paused a moment to look down at the man. Her grin made her look like a little brown demon.
"So long, Sir Knight!" she called. "Thank you oh so for the gift!"
And she dropped down outside the wall. It was a long fall. Tam hit the ground and rolled the break the impact. Then she was up again and racing for the forest. She would spent the night in secret there and then return the next day to sell her pretty treasure. |
|
Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Sept 24, 2010 17:45:27 GMT -5
…I do not know where I’m going
But I still dance beside the pathway
And when people pass me I will ask them questions
That they do not care to answer...
Tam Piper had decided it was time to leave Camelot. She had been there several weeks now and though she liked the place, she had grown restless. Her feet were itching, her heart longing for an unknown place and unknown people where she could slip invisible through the crowds.
So she had fitted her flute and few belongings into the hidden pockets of her cloak, stolen a pair of boots without holes and set off into the forest.
She whistled as she walked, an answer to the birds and their sweet choiring songs. She followed the pathway at her feet. She did not know where she was going, but trusted that all roads lead somewhere and if she did not like where this road ended, well. There was no law against turning back and treading the same road twice.
Suddenly she heard something. Not an animal or forest song but a rythic swish of a skirt and dancing feet. It was close, though Tam could see no one. She froze, listening and curious. Slow, carefully picking her silent way, Tam left the path and followed the sounds.
And saw something she had never expected to see. A girl perhaps only a few years older than herself, barefoot and dancing in a forest clearing. With her hands she wove streams of fire and water, twisting them like a child playing with ribbons. Tam gave a long, low whistle of admiration. For she reconsied this girl as Kazira Astras who she had met in a festival but few weeks before. Tam had not even guessed that Kazira Astras had such a secret.
|
|
Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Sept 23, 2010 0:27:26 GMT -5
...I wander quietly and listen to the wind
the sweetest shadow thief am I
my lamp is the brightness of the bandit’s moon
I heed the warning of the night-birds as they fly... Tam tilted her head sideways, looking remarkably like a curious little sparrow. This smith-man seemed very strange to her. He did not get angry even though she stole from him and then insulted his shop. He was also amazingly calm about being called a demon in a city where such suspicious were solved with execution.
But, Tam supposed, who would listen to the words of an urchin like Chance Malone?
"A wild imagination and the head of an idiot," Tam lightly repeated the smith's words. "You could live with him for a year and come to no better conclusion."
But when the smith calmly told her she might keep the dagger, Tam could not hide her surprise.
"You what?" she asked, amazed. "You just going to let me walk away with something of yours?" She did not believe it. Most likely it was some trap. He would follow her and then try to catch all the people she knew, or give her description to the city guards, or something.
If she was smart she would have run away as soon as she saw him... but Tam always had too much curiosity for her own good.
"Why?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. "You don't seem so rich that you can afford to let some thief run off with something of yours." |
|
Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Sept 21, 2010 17:27:52 GMT -5
...I wander quietly and listen to the wind
the sweetest shadow thief am I
my lamp is the brightness of the bandit’s moon
I heed the warning of the night-birds as they fly...
Tam kept wary eyes on the smith. At the first sign of threat, she would run away. Though she was very skilled with the knives that she held, Tam always chose to run away if she could. Her street-life may have taught her to act hard and to fight fiercely if she had to protect herself, it had never managed to kill the kindness that Tam hid inside. And she hid at as skillfully as she hid the fact she was a girl.
But the smith's question took her a little by surprise. Her tongue had been racing rudely in the way it always did, while her mind was hunting out for danger. Now he actually wanted to know why she was there. Well. Tam supposed that there was no harm in telling him. She did not believe he was a demon anyway.
"Chance Malone say you are some fire-demon," Tam said, naming the boy she had the bet with. "I told him he has a head of idiot fancies and so he bet me I would never dare to steal something from you." Tam gave the smith a wicked grin as though she were a demon herself. "I dare. You going to call up fire to kill me?"
That was a jeer more than a question. Because Tam did not believe the stories of Chance Malone.
|
|
Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Sept 20, 2010 17:53:57 GMT -5
...I wander quietly and listen to the wind
the sweetest shadow thief am I
my lamp is the brightness of the bandit’s moon
I heed the warning of the night-birds as they fly...
The tiny hairs prickled on the back of Tam's neck. She froze. Someone was opening the door so silently it could hardly be heard... Tam spun on her toes, cloak swirling round her, two knives suddenly in her hands. Not the one she had stolen but two of her own, thin and sharp and deadly. Her eyes glared at the demon-smith. Then Tam reminded herself that she did not believe he was a demon. But he was still big blacksmith and much stronger than she. Tam half turned to run for the other door when he spoke. She paused, puzzled and glanced up at his face. He did not seem at all angry at the theif who had broken into his shop. Indeed, he was even advising her what to steal!
Tam knew that the smart thing would be to run away. But his calmness made her so curious. Why was he not wild with her?
"A sword is fair hard to run off with," Tam told the smith scornfully. "And no market-merchant is going to buy some sword from me! Know it was stolen as soon as look at it and then I'd be in some mess." Stupid the way people never seemed to think of such things. She did not steal swords. No one stole swords! Jewelery, yes. Precious stones and cloth, yes. Spices, yes. But not swords. Perhaps knives or bows if you need a weapon. The knife in her left hand she had stolen years ago and the one in her right was bought with stolen money.
"Besides," she added rudely. "If it a good price on the market I wanted, I would not have come here."
|
|
Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Sept 19, 2010 22:22:03 GMT -5
…I am the jester of this courtyard with a smile like a girl’s
a riddle for the women with the dimples and the curls…
Tam knew a princess when she saw one. It was obvious from the richness of this lady's dress and the grace with which she wore it, from the accents in which she addressed them. Tam had her mouth open to make Kazira some teasing joke, when this princess spoke right to them.
Tam was surprised. It would be obvious from her own scarlet camelot clothes that she was working as musician and Kazira... however much Tam liked Kazira Astras, it was just as obvious that she was no courtly lady. Perhaps that was even why Tam liked her.
"It is no disterbance, my lady," Tam said and gave a perfect bow. Her voice was fulled of the correct reverence but her eyes danced with mischief. "May I present to you... the Lady Astras of Azamandya and I, her younger brother."
Tam had never had the chance to spin such lies to a princess before. She rather wondered what would happen.
|
|
Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Sept 19, 2010 21:57:52 GMT -5
...I wander quietly and listen to the wind
the sweetest shadow thief am I
my lamp is the brightness of the bandit’s moon
I heed the warning of the night-birds as they fly...
Tam was disapointed. There hardly seemed to be anything here worth the trouble of stealing. If it had been her own mission, she would have left then. But if she returned with nothing that loud-mouth boy would think she had failed or was afraid. Tam could not allow such a thing to happen.
So she half-heartedly picked up an item close to her. Some piece of armour, she guessed, but not even finished and so worth only the price of the metal. She sighed and put it back down, quick brown eyes hunting for something else.
Then she spotted a knife. Tam moved crossed the shop on cat-light feet. It was simple and plain, not worth much but at least it was finished. Or almost finished. Running a finger down the blade she could tell that it had not been sharpened. Never mind. She had been here too long already and it would have to do.
Tam slid it into her pocket and glanced around one last time to see if there was something better. But there was not.
|
|
Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Sept 18, 2010 22:09:35 GMT -5
...I wander quietly and listen to the wind
the sweetest shadow thief am I
my lamp is the brightness of the bandit’s moon
I heed the warning of the night-birds as they fly...
Tam crouched on a rooftop like a little demon, hood pulled over to hide her face. She did not normally do burglery. It was safer to keep to the streets, lifting money that no one could claim was rightfully theirs. But Tam had been in Camelot a while now. Long enough to get to know the darker side of the market, who she could trust and who she could not.
Yesterday she had been talking with a street-boy who claimed there was a blacksmith who was immune to heat. As Tam snorted at the idea, the boy's claims became wilder until he was saying that the smith was a kind of demon. Then he had bet Tam that she could not steal something from his work-shop.
Tam was not afraid of one smith and the over-active imagination of a boy. So she had taken him on his bet.
That was why she sat here now, watching from the roof of the smith's craft-shop. She could see him sitting down there, apparently lost in thought. Good. Silently she dropped from the roof, dagger in her hand. The smith was out the front, so she would go in the back way... it look only a moment for her to pick the lock. Then she was inside, the knife still in her hand.
Tam glanced around the shop. She wanted something that would take that boy's breath away....
((I hope this is an ok reply? And I give you permission for you next post to godmod Tam a little... you can over-power her, take her knife away or whatever, if that is what you want to do.))
|
|
Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Sept 18, 2010 21:38:46 GMT -5
...with the hands of a pick-pocket
and the laughing tale of the fool
I'm the ranger of disorder
with my strange and simple rules...
Tam paused in the narrow street, listening. That knight had followed her over into the yard, cetainly! She could hear the terrible noises, the screaming battle-cries of chickens and the woman first shrieking then sobbing and then yelling again.
Tam smiled. That mountain-man would not be out of there in a hurry! It would take him long enough to fight away such enemies. Laughing to herself, Tam began to trot slowly down that street. She no longer ran for her life, though the precious treasure was still hidden in her cloak. She believed she had got away. Which was a mistake.
Tam moved at the slow jog-trot, taking this twist and that turn but not bothering to be careful of tracks or to look over her shoulder. She was thinking that she would make her way out to the city wall and wait at the edges of the city until the market place had calmed down. Then she would go the secret ways and take the treasures to a man she knew. Best to get it off her hands as soon as posible.
[[ ]]
|
|
Offline
Oct 30, 2010 3:31:50 GMT -5
Tag me @tam
|
|
Post by tam on Sept 14, 2010 19:16:00 GMT -5
...with the hands of a pick-pocket
and the laughing tale of the fool
I'm the ranger of disorder
with my strange and simple rules...
From the terrible commotion behind her, Tam guessed that she was being followed. She risked a glance over her shoulder and saw that mountain-man trying to chase her! He was pushing people over and somehow sent a whole load of barrels rolling through the market.
But Tam was not worried that he might catch her. He was big, and burdened with both armour and swords. She grinned like a demon and raced off again. She would lead him such a chase!
At first she had been worried that he might shout 'theif' and many hands would move to catch her. But he had not. Tam guessed that was his pride. Most knights had terrible pridefull feelings - lucky for her!
Tam dived under another stall that was in her way, scrambled to her feet and found she had reached the edge of the market place. She chose the nearest narrow alley and ran into the dark. Blinking hurried to get her eyes to agree with the gloom, Tam scrambled over a wall into someone's yard. Scattering chickens and making a lady scream, she was at the other wall in two strides and vaulted over. No lumbering knight would catch her!
[[Oh, that is good! I am glad because that is exsactly how I thought her to look also! But I could not say it, because I could not say 'headlights' in a medival role play...  ]]
|
|
))
]]
