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xaq_the_aereonThe past few days have had a recurring story going on in my mind, starting from a dream.
The story is about a child of royalty, third-born after 2 older brothers. At first, the character was a human male, but as the story evolved, they became a female, and then became a lioness in an anthropomorphic world.
The rest of the story remained the same, however. Her family all had brown hair, but she was born with fiery red hair. Because of this, the king accused her mother of infidelity, for which the queen was imprisoned. Because of his disdain for the daughter's apparent heritage and lack of need for a third heir after his two sons, he never even so much as gave her a name. She grew up locked away from the world, only knowing the staff that tended to her. One of the staff was a former soldier in the king's service, who taught her an invaluable skill...how to fight.
Her oldest brother, Gregorio, and her older brother Alejandro never bothered to visit her, only seeing her when she was being taken somewhere for lessons or meals. They never spared her any mercy at those times, blaming her for their mother's infidelity.
What none of them were ever aware of, however, was what the red hair signified. She had indeed been sired by the king. The unearthly red mane she bore was the mark of the Witchborn, a rare breed of people born with the innate ability to use magic. Most could be taught minor spells and, with time and devoted practice, gain some proficiency in the arcane arts, but she had been born with centuries of knowledge garnered by Witchborn of the past instilled in her as instinctively as the act of breathing. This became apparent when, some time after her 14th birthday, she ignited the entire royal library in a fit of anger.
After this, the king and the princes were all too ready to have her sent away to a monastery. The roads to this monastery were known to be targeted by bandits and pirates looking to make ransom off of abducted nobility, but they didn't care. Whether she was kidnapped or consigned to a life of exile, she was finally their problem no longer.
Naturally, the carriage she was being transported in was assailed by a pirate crew. She was tied up,
taken aboard their ship, and was nearly locked away when one of the crew, an older woman with faint red hair, took notice of her. It was instinctive for one Witchborn to recognize another. She advised the captain not to bother locking her up; she would only destroy the ship if they tried. The captain agreed and helped her be as comfortable as she could be, taking an interest in her abilities.
As time passed waiting for an answer on their ransom demand, she grew to enjoy her experiences with the crew. As tough as shipboard life could be, they had shown infinitely more kindness and interest in her than her own family...no, than the king and his men...ever had.
One day, the elder Witchborn crew called the girl to her room. There, she explained that her time was coming to an end, but before she passed on, she wished to give the girl a gift for the pleasant last few days she had given her. Two gifts, in fact. The first was all of her magical knowledge, the eternal legacy of those who were Witchborn. The second was the one thing the girl had never had, and which the old woman no longer needed: her name.
From that day forward, the red-haired lioness was known as Fiona Lightbow.
The next morning, Fiona saw a ship on the horizon. The jade dragon-head on the prow was unmistakable, even to one as sequestered as her: it was the royal navy's flagship, the Hellfire, the one under Alejandro's command.
She knew he was not coming to pay their ransom for her. The king had clearly taken offense to someone daring to try and squeeze him for money, and now the Hellfire was here to destroy them all. She warned the captain just as the first barrage from the great cannon in the dragon's mouth fired; warning enough to narrowly avoid a hit. Their ship made a run for it, but the Hellfire was not only heavily armed, but astonishingly swift in the water. Their efforts to outrun it were of no use; it was clearly gaining on them.
That was when the crew saw a great red glow from the aft of the ship. Fiona had grabbed a longbow and, without an arrow knocked, drawn it. As she drew the string back, an arrow of flame formed in her grasp, shining as brightly as the sun.
She let it fly into the maw of the Hellfire. On impact, the arrow exploded with flame, detonating the payload that had been loaded in. The explosion set off other munitions, causing a chain reaction that devastated the ship and allowed the pirates to escape.
Days later, the captain is with his crew, planning a heist on the king's castle. As he explains the plan for his midnight raid, Fiona offers a suggestion: By coming in from the east at sunset, they'll sneak in just as the guards on perimeter watch are changing. The oncoming crew will be waking up, the offgoing crew will be dead tired, and all will be too busy passing on details and changing over the watch to look out directly into the glare of the setting sun to notice their little ship coming. Then, they can more easily get into position to make their raid.
The captain loves her idea and goes with it. As a result, the heist goes off better than they could have hoped. Eventually, however, they are spotted while loading up the last of their haul and the alarm is sounded. Gregorio, the crown prince, leads the royal guard to take on and destroy the pirates. It is then he spots his little sister among them. The hatred he had always felt for her boils over as he sees she is part of the group attacking them, and he comes at her in a blind rage.
Sadly, while he had been trained to lead armies, he was not as experienced a fighter as any of his soldiers...or Fiona. She formed a blade of pure ice and battled him with military skill and a disposition as cold as her blade. In no time at all she succeeded in disarming him, and drove her blade straight into his heart. In a single week, both heirs to the throne were slain; with his queen still imprisoned and his own body too old to sire a new child, the age of her family's reign was now at its end. Her revenge was complete.
...This is as far as the story ever gets, sadly, but Fiona has certainly grown on me as a character.
The story is about a child of royalty, third-born after 2 older brothers. At first, the character was a human male, but as the story evolved, they became a female, and then became a lioness in an anthropomorphic world.
The rest of the story remained the same, however. Her family all had brown hair, but she was born with fiery red hair. Because of this, the king accused her mother of infidelity, for which the queen was imprisoned. Because of his disdain for the daughter's apparent heritage and lack of need for a third heir after his two sons, he never even so much as gave her a name. She grew up locked away from the world, only knowing the staff that tended to her. One of the staff was a former soldier in the king's service, who taught her an invaluable skill...how to fight.
Her oldest brother, Gregorio, and her older brother Alejandro never bothered to visit her, only seeing her when she was being taken somewhere for lessons or meals. They never spared her any mercy at those times, blaming her for their mother's infidelity.
What none of them were ever aware of, however, was what the red hair signified. She had indeed been sired by the king. The unearthly red mane she bore was the mark of the Witchborn, a rare breed of people born with the innate ability to use magic. Most could be taught minor spells and, with time and devoted practice, gain some proficiency in the arcane arts, but she had been born with centuries of knowledge garnered by Witchborn of the past instilled in her as instinctively as the act of breathing. This became apparent when, some time after her 14th birthday, she ignited the entire royal library in a fit of anger.
After this, the king and the princes were all too ready to have her sent away to a monastery. The roads to this monastery were known to be targeted by bandits and pirates looking to make ransom off of abducted nobility, but they didn't care. Whether she was kidnapped or consigned to a life of exile, she was finally their problem no longer.
Naturally, the carriage she was being transported in was assailed by a pirate crew. She was tied up,
taken aboard their ship, and was nearly locked away when one of the crew, an older woman with faint red hair, took notice of her. It was instinctive for one Witchborn to recognize another. She advised the captain not to bother locking her up; she would only destroy the ship if they tried. The captain agreed and helped her be as comfortable as she could be, taking an interest in her abilities.
As time passed waiting for an answer on their ransom demand, she grew to enjoy her experiences with the crew. As tough as shipboard life could be, they had shown infinitely more kindness and interest in her than her own family...no, than the king and his men...ever had.
One day, the elder Witchborn crew called the girl to her room. There, she explained that her time was coming to an end, but before she passed on, she wished to give the girl a gift for the pleasant last few days she had given her. Two gifts, in fact. The first was all of her magical knowledge, the eternal legacy of those who were Witchborn. The second was the one thing the girl had never had, and which the old woman no longer needed: her name.
From that day forward, the red-haired lioness was known as Fiona Lightbow.
The next morning, Fiona saw a ship on the horizon. The jade dragon-head on the prow was unmistakable, even to one as sequestered as her: it was the royal navy's flagship, the Hellfire, the one under Alejandro's command.
She knew he was not coming to pay their ransom for her. The king had clearly taken offense to someone daring to try and squeeze him for money, and now the Hellfire was here to destroy them all. She warned the captain just as the first barrage from the great cannon in the dragon's mouth fired; warning enough to narrowly avoid a hit. Their ship made a run for it, but the Hellfire was not only heavily armed, but astonishingly swift in the water. Their efforts to outrun it were of no use; it was clearly gaining on them.
That was when the crew saw a great red glow from the aft of the ship. Fiona had grabbed a longbow and, without an arrow knocked, drawn it. As she drew the string back, an arrow of flame formed in her grasp, shining as brightly as the sun.
She let it fly into the maw of the Hellfire. On impact, the arrow exploded with flame, detonating the payload that had been loaded in. The explosion set off other munitions, causing a chain reaction that devastated the ship and allowed the pirates to escape.
Days later, the captain is with his crew, planning a heist on the king's castle. As he explains the plan for his midnight raid, Fiona offers a suggestion: By coming in from the east at sunset, they'll sneak in just as the guards on perimeter watch are changing. The oncoming crew will be waking up, the offgoing crew will be dead tired, and all will be too busy passing on details and changing over the watch to look out directly into the glare of the setting sun to notice their little ship coming. Then, they can more easily get into position to make their raid.
The captain loves her idea and goes with it. As a result, the heist goes off better than they could have hoped. Eventually, however, they are spotted while loading up the last of their haul and the alarm is sounded. Gregorio, the crown prince, leads the royal guard to take on and destroy the pirates. It is then he spots his little sister among them. The hatred he had always felt for her boils over as he sees she is part of the group attacking them, and he comes at her in a blind rage.
Sadly, while he had been trained to lead armies, he was not as experienced a fighter as any of his soldiers...or Fiona. She formed a blade of pure ice and battled him with military skill and a disposition as cold as her blade. In no time at all she succeeded in disarming him, and drove her blade straight into his heart. In a single week, both heirs to the throne were slain; with his queen still imprisoned and his own body too old to sire a new child, the age of her family's reign was now at its end. Her revenge was complete.
...This is as far as the story ever gets, sadly, but Fiona has certainly grown on me as a character.