Prompt: Captured

[happyfalcon]

((ooc: Open for anyone to tag, but beware the historical mindfuckery. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Is to rescue Anne Boleyn from the prison tower of Emperor Charles V in Spain.))



It seems the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, was not content to sit idly by and let Henry VIII, King of England, mistreat his aunt. Catherine of Aragon, the unhappy queen, had been neglected and ignored by Henry since her miscarriage of their son. Henry grew angry, thinking his marriage cursed by God and had thus sought to create male heirs by his mistresses.

Though Anne Boleyn was different.

She had refused his advances at first, to the chagrin of her father and uncle. Anne hadn't had interest in the king - and did not take to the idea of being referred to as "The Second Great Prostitute" like her sister, Mary. Still, after a while she had broken down and agreed to be the king's One True Mistress - though they had yet to share a bed. Still, that didn't stop Henry from pursuing a divorce from Catherine.

That's what had made Charles angry.

A few secret letters from Catherine told him the truth of how she had been mistreated by the king, and how he sought to divorce her in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Outraged, Charles had sent orders to his ambassador to take a few men with him and kidnap the queen and her ladies.

Kidnapping the queen and bringing her to Spain would free her from the king's cruelty. And, as Anne was a lady in waiting to the queen, she would also be captured, and Charles would be free to execute her in his realm. The charge: Treason against the queen of England.

So Anne was locked in the prison tower, awaiting her punishment. What would it be? Hanging? Drawn and quartered? Anne knew Catherine would want the slowest, most painful death imaginable for her...but Anne would not give the satisfaction of showing her fear. Even locked in the tower she remained strong and refused to cry.

But in her heart, she wondered: Where was her brother, George? Where was her father? Where was the king?

Would anyone rescue her?

Comments

[happyfalcon]

At first Anne did and said nothing. For a few seconds she just stayed in place, staring at him. Had she finally snapped? But no - he was speaking to her...hallucinations didn't usually do that, right?

She lost her senses a moment and moved purely on instinct: Anne practically flew across the room and threw her arms around Killian. Privacy and propriety be damned! She would have embraced anyone who had walked through that door to save her - though the quick, hard kiss she gave Killian was an exclusive action reserved for him. But she made sure to do it quickly so as not to be discovered, so she hoped, anyway. Still, it didn't make the kiss any less passionate, or sincere.

"Thank God, oh thank God you're here lieutenant!!" Anne still kept her embrace tight around him, burying her face against his chest - trying to keep her face hidden; she was on the verge of tears at her relief and the sudden rush of emotion.

[seekingcrocodile]

There's no one following him up the stairs, so they won't be discovered. He puts his arms around her in a brief hug. "The king would only send the best, so here we are."

[happyfalcon]

Anne takes a moment, composing herself before looking up to him, eyes still a bit shiny as she teared up. She keeps her head leaned against his chest for a moment.

"Thank God..." she mumbles again. "I thought I was dead for certain..."

Then it occurs to her-

"Shouldn't we...leave? And quickly?"

[seekingcrocodile]

"Aye, we should. I'll get word to the others that you're safe and we'll all head back to the ship." He crosses over to the window and sticks his head out. "Liam!" he yells, then gives a signal.

He turns back to Anne. "My lady. I'll go first, in case anyone has followed me up the stairs."

[happyfalcon]

Anne nods and steps aside to let him give the signal out the window, then follows after him down the stairs.

"Was it difficult? Getting past the guards I mean," Anne reaches out and gently grasps the back of his coat as they move, for her own security - confirming that he was there. She dropped her voice before continuing. "Killian...did you come all this way...just because the king gave the order?"

[seekingcrocodile]

"There was some fighting, but we overcame them in the end. We're soldiers as well as sailors, and we brought men experienced in battle as well." He draws his sword and holds it in front of him in case there's another attack.

"I go where the king tells me. We both do," he says. "I don't mind following orders that are given to me." He knows what she's asking without asking. "This time I was especially glad to follow them."

[happyfalcon]

She's not even remotely surprised that Henry didn't come himself. He was a king without an heir, he couldn't put himself in such a situation. She gets a little closer to him, again squeezing the back of his coat.

"I'm just...glad it was you," Anne's voice was soft. "If it had been anyone else...my brother, my father...I wouldn't have been nearly so relieved."

[seekingcrocodile]

"Why is that, then?"

[happyfalcon]

Her face goes red, making her glance away to try and hide it - thank God he's in front of her and not looking directly at her!

"...They would have...different reasons for rescuing me, that's all!" That's her story, she's sticking to it.

[seekingcrocodile]

"It would have something to do with you being their family, and also because they have plans that involve you being alive, is that correct?"

At the base of the tower, he looks around to make sure there's no one in their way and then starts to lead her to where the ship is anchored.

[happyfalcon]

"More so the latter than the former," but that was not what she had meant to focus on. She complained of that enough around him, and she was certain he was probably tired of hearing about it.

She pauses with him when he looks and then quickly follows after him towards the ship.

[seekingcrocodile]

"Are you ready to meet the captain?" It's a given that she will, since she'll be a passenger on a ship under his command. "He's even more of a gentleman than I am."

[happyfalcon]

"Uhm...certainly!" She's a little caught off guard but she should have expected this - she was a noble on a ship of the king's navy. Naturally she was going to find herself introduced to the captain. "I just wish I looked a bit more presentable!"

Though that last part brings her trademark smile back to her face.

"More of a gentleman than you? Such a person exists? I rather doubt it."

[seekingcrocodile]

"You've been a prisoner in a tower. He'll understand." It's not like he meets many nobles, anyway.

"Yes. Who do you think taught me?"

[happyfalcon]

"Still, doesn't seem right," Anne fusses with the folds of her gown, dusting it off with her fingers, or at least attempting to.

"Oh, naturally I assumed you were just born with such gentlemanly tendencies," Anne teased.

[seekingcrocodile]

"He honestly won't care. And you don't look bad at all. I wouldn't have known if you hadn't said anything."

He looks down at the floor and blushes. "It took a lot of work to get this way."

[happyfalcon]

"You're too kind, and you're being far too modest again," Anne gave his arm a reassuring squeeze. "I've not met a more polite man than you in my life."

[seekingcrocodile]

"With the lords and the kings? I find that hard to believe."

[happyfalcon]

"You'd be surprised," her tone is a little more biting than she intended - not intended towards Killian, of course. It was the contempt that she held for the arrogant lords of court. "The arrogance and pride has made politeness all but forgotten."

"Any sense of chivalry King Arthur and his knights installed in the English has been long gone."

[seekingcrocodile]

"I suppose. With that much power, they don't care how they act because no one can tell them they're misbehaving."

[happyfalcon]

"Precisely," Anne gives a very short nod. "You can only imagine the king's temperament."

She once saw him mercilessly beat one of his servants for delivering a message from the queen in her presence. A sight which had made Anne...uncomfortable, to say the least.

[seekingcrocodile]

"I've never met him personally myself, so imagining will have to do."

[happyfalcon]

"You're better off not, truth be told," Anne pointed out. "I've found that real men know how to behave, know how to work, men like..."

And she's just gonna' stop there, face red, not wanting to be that forward and continue the discussion.

[seekingcrocodile]

"Men like me, you mean?" How to work, how to behave, those are both things his brother taught him.

[happyfalcon]

She doesn't answer right away, just glances to him for a moment, then looks off to the sea.

"...perhaps."