literature

A Quartet of Strings - Geira.

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The day was bleak and cold, one of the most bitter days of the year, despite the fact that the eleventh moon had appeared in the sky barely two days ago. The snow was replenishing its icy deposits over the Ari Mountains, rendering the ability to travel long distances impossible. Geira was squatting near the exit of the cave, her back against the rocky wall, waiting. She was turning ten today and was about to receive her birthday gift.
She could hear the screams coming from inside, the agonizing shrieks and the pleading. Her face remained calm though, a flicker of anticipation barely noticeable in her eyes. She didn't have to wait long. Yeran called her name. Geira ran to him, eager to follow her father's commands. He took her by the hand and together they walked deeper into the cave complex.


Lamps were placed in cavities within the walls, emanating a cold ghostly white flame, providing enough light to the chamber. Men and women dressed in white, some of them hooded, were silently watching. There was a wooden rack in the center of the room. A blonde woman, frost-burns covering a major portion of her body, was tied on it, naked. Blood was flowing from her groin, staining her legs, creating little streams on the wooden surface before dripping to the cavern's ice-covered floor. A huge, muscular man, his distinctive dark skin contrasting the redness of blood on his clothes, was standing next to the rack. He was holding something in his hands, wrapped up in leathers. Yeran looked at Geira.

"Are you ready for your gift, my beloved?"

The girl nodded, a smile dawning on her face.

"Yes Daddy, I am."

Yeran glanced over at the Yesare, gesturing him to approach. The man walked up closer, lowered his head and kneeled before them.

"His name is Sukhbaatar young mistress" he said and offered the bundle he was holding.

Geira opened her eyes widely when she noticed the small figure of the newborn boy that was wrapped up in all those leathers. She turned her head and looked at her father, utterly elated. Yeran grinned.

"This is your gift, beloved. I hope you like it." He paused and pointed over to the bleeding woman. "Now go say goodbye to your mother, she won't be here with us for long. The boy gave her quite a harsh time."

Geira nodded, before walking obligingly towards the rack. The woman was pale, her breath shortening with every passing moment. She turned her head with great effort, one that felt like a feat of strength, and looked at the little girl with pleading eyes.

"Take good care of him, I beg of you..." she whispered.

There was an eerie coldness in the girl's voice, colder than the ice covering the ground and  ceiling of the chamber, as she responded.

"He is mine now to do as I please. You did good though. Thank you mother." She tilted her head to one side, her eyes lingering on the woman. "You can die now you know. You're not needed anymore." she said emotionless, before turning to the exit. "Let's go Daddy."

Yeran smiled at her.

"I'm right behind you my beloved."

She had only taken a few steps away when she heard her father's orders.

"Get rid of the body. And clean this place well. The branding ceremony is tomorrow."

She grinned contentedly.


___________________________________


The memory of that day had burned bright in her mind, sprinting back to life momentarily as her fingers brushed the rough wooden surface of the old rack.  Twenty two years ago, in this same chamber, her father had given her Sukhbaatar as a gift. Her step brother, the "axe-man" in Yesare language, known through the ranks of Es Dylah's army as Mancuerda the Hand after his favourite way of torturing, had become her most trusted minion, her personal bodyguard.
Geira was furious.
Not only had she lost her prisoner, and thus any chance of using her as bait again, but she was also forced to sacrifice Mancuerda in order to stay alive.

"The irony of it all" she murmured, her lips curling to a wicked grin. "One step brother for another" she thought and laughed menacingly, the echoes of her cackle filling the cavern chamber.

A week ago, a band of her best trained minions had left the camp in search of the man who was meant to replace Mancuerda. They were headed south, to the dunes...
The last part of the chapter "A Quartet of Strings" is about Geira, daughter of Yeran, step sister of Norick and hated enemy of Uma.
Geira is one of my OCs from Terra Antiqua.





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space-commander's avatar
Well that was gruesome. I guess Geira and her father really are flat out evil after all. Must be something to do with that crazy cult they’re in. Can’t think of any other stories I have been exposed to with the father/daughter evilness duo, so you definitely have an A+ in the creativity department.

I applaud your use of white light and white robes here. The white light definitely makes the whole thing creepier and a whole bunch of red along with triangular shapes would have been pretty cliché.

Having the girl (and reader) aware of the screams but not actually see it at first is of course a classic approach, and it was a great way to go in this story as well. It would be good to describe some of the facial features on the man with dark skin. The flow of my reading was disrupted a little bit as I tried to figure out whether this guy would look Africanoid like the Redguard of the Elder Scrolls universe, or more like an Italian or Arab.

And why does Yeran keep calling her “my beloved?” Are they…never mind, based on what I remember of the Hassar/Guillaume dynamic I think I just answered my own question. Dare I even ask why Mancuerda is called “the Hand?”

The way you depicted Geira she sounds a lot like the actress who played “The Orphan” and one of the fighters from District 2 of “The Hunger Games.” Well done. It almost comes across as if she were some witch that made a body-swap with some girl in a coma.

If “the man meant to replace Mancuerda” and the bait are who I think they are then this story comes across a lot like “The Empire Strikes Back.” I hope Geira doesn’t try to talk whoever replaces Mancuerda into joining with her to overpower her father only to be betrayed by her father at the last minute like Ventris was by Count Dooku.

By the way, have you decided what the brand will look like yet? I’m assuming it would be something similar to what the “League of Shaddows” had in Batman. Hmm, now that I think of it the Geira/Yeran dynamic does have a striking similarity to Bane and whatever that woman’s name was in the last Batman movie. Makes me wonder if he is even her father…