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JD & LL proudly present: the Cold and the Brave

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Lord Ludwig

Lord Ludwig

Magistrate
... or more simply "Merida's story" as JD wants to call it (he doesn't share my predilection for puns and word games).

A small premise: a couple of months ago JD sent me a preview of a new pic he made, asking me if I could provide a brief text. In his view the portrayed girl was Triss, form the Witcher universe. I did not recognize her (he was using a new model) and so I penned down a brief text, less than a hundred words, identifying the girl - who as you will see was going through some inconveniences - as Merida, the red haired Disney princess.

JD, be he ever blessed, liked my text well enough to produce more pics. I in turn produced more text. One thing lead to another, and we ended with a not-so-short story and several dozen pics. Today I start sharing the result with you.

The Wheel of Ryme (I)​




Venturing south on her own to celebrate her eighteenth birthday had turned out not to be such a good idea. For dinner, Merida had shot a hare, proudly congratulating herself on taking down the swift animal with her first arrow. At sunrise, she had been surprised in her sleep by a small hunting party. It turned out she was in the properties of some English baron. And that the penalty for poaching – the bones and leftovers of the animal clear evidence - was death. Her protestations of being of royal blood were met with laughter, and the baron decided to teach this fiery haired wench a lesson for lying before taking her to his castle, where she would be judged. A nearby watermill provided just the ideal opportunity.

All this went through Merida's mind, when for the second time she emerged, her lungs screaming for air.

In the distance she heard the scorning voice of the baron: "they tell me the Scottish are tough. I bet with my falconer here that you would survive thirty spins of the wheel. Do not disappoint me, I would hate to miss the opportunity to have you as a guest in my dungeons!"

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I protest - I was Scotland's Eulalia Merida here on CruxForums well before Disney stole my identity! :mad:
See my 'Interrogation & Punishment Centre for Girls' novel in the Archive - and eulaliamerida is my handle on Deviant Art too.
Never mind, great start for your story, looking forward to lots more. :D
 
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Eulalia said:
I protest - I was Scotland's Eulalia Merida here on CruxForums well before Disney stole my identity! :mad:
See my 'Interrogation & Punishment Centre for Girls' novel in the Archive - and eulaliamerida is my handle on Deviant Art too.
Never mind, great start for your story, looking forward to lots more. :D
Click to expand...
I thought Eulalia was FROM Merida, and thus Spanish, not Scottish... :cool1:
Anyway, judging by the pics, even if you were here well before the Disney movie you still look stunning on the wheel!
 
The Wheel of Ryme (II)




The baron won his bet. Barely,

After the shock of the first turns, Merida fell into a rhythm. The wheel, fortunately, was not a very big one. It made a full turn in about two minutes, and she was submerged for slightly less than a third of the time. The worst part was entering the icy water upside down. Even taking as deep a breath as possible when her hands touched the stream, water would still enter her nose, making it extremely difficult to keep the air in her lungs. Her ordeal, she realized, would have been a lot less terrible if they had only tied her the other way up. Clearly, they had done this before, and knew how to make it as painful as possible.

She took strength from what she had heard. Thirty turns meant she would be subjected to this torture for about an hour. She knew she could do it. What was in store for her later she couldn’t imagine, but she pushed those thoughts out of her mind, concentrating on staying alive.

After the last spin, exhausted, barely aware of her surroundings, Merida was released and taken down. Instead of allowing her to recover, her captors tied her wrists in front of her, and the baron attached the long, coarse rope to the front of his saddle.

“Enough bathing for today, trollop! A brisk walk is what you need now!” he said. They started at a pace, slow for the horses, barely attainable for the exhausted princess.

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All the Baron’s Horses (I)


At first, even if the horses were just pacing, keeping up was hard on Merida. The prolonged water torture had exhausted her. But after less than one hour the forest gave way to a paved road, and having regained some of her stamina she found keeping the pace easier. This was not lost on one of her captors, who joined the baron in the lead.

“My Lord” he said “our guest seems eager to reach her lodgings. Shall we pick up the pace?”

Before he could answer, the baron was interrupted by Merida. “You English dimwits! You twats! I am the daughter of King Fergus of Scotland! You should be kissing my feet! Release me at once, or…”

Merida was in turn brutally interrupted, by the falconer who laid a whiplash squarely across her back. She released a short scream, and fell to one knee.

“Get up lass, if you don’t want me to drag you all the way to my castle” said the baron.

“Did you not hear, wench? Up, at once!” said the falconer, striping Merida’s back with a second stroke.

“My Lord” replied his woodsman “while this annoying lass certainly deserves no better, dragging her all the way to your castle would likely kill her. Wouldn’t it be a waste, to have her in your dungeon as a corpse?”

“Right you are” said the baron “but I do not intend to tolerate her annoying voice any longer. Not until I’ll make her scream, that is”.

“Do not worry. I know the perfect solution. Just give me a few minutes”.

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All the Baron’s Horses (II)


Having said so, the woodsman dismounted, and, after casting a look around, picked up a sturdy branch that had fallen from a tree. He then took out his hatchet, and with a few well-aimed strokes cut a rough piece, about a foot long, out of it. He then proceeded to attach short ropes to both ends.

“Ha ha” said the baron having picked up on his servant’s intentions “nice idea. But I’m not volunteering to put that between the hellcat’s teeth, Gareth”.

“No problem, my Lord. Please, Gawain, lend me a hand” said Gareth, the woodsman.

Gawain, a muscular guard, dismounted and approached Merida from behind. He grabbed her neck, crushing her in his right arm, and pinched her nose closed with his left hand. As soon as Merida opened her mouth gasping for air, the woodsman shoved the wood in between her teeth, and tightly tied it behind her head.

“We can resume our voyage. It’s a bit large, but then she has a big mouth. Won’t produce more than some groans with it now, however”.

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All the Baron’s Horses (III)

They resumed the ride. Although they did not speed up the pace, from there on it became again harder for Merida to keep up. The events of the day were taking their toll on her. She had been subjected to the torture upon the wheel at the water mill for about an hour, after which she had been walking behind a horse - at a pace that was slow for the animal but close to running for a human - for over twice that time.

Worse, however, was the improvised gag they had forced upon her. The rough wood cut into her lips. She could taste her own blood. It was humiliating, but just an extra layer upon the humiliation of walking stark naked, as a dog on a leash, among five men on horses. It also made breathing a lot harder. Worst of all, however, were the fierce cramps it started causing in her jaw muscles. The first one had set in after about half an hour, but now they were coming frequently, each more painful than the one before.

Merida started wondering how long it would take for them to arrive, and if she would manage at all to reach the baron’s castle without fainting. But when the sun started its descent on the horizon, the castle came into view. Of course, she thought, the last mile just had to be upwards to the top of a hill…

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Wragg said:
Could you trim down your image file sizes, please?

Please see our new guide re file size limits https://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/important-please-read.9955/#post-731501
Click to expand...
Of course, I was not aware of this new rule. Do you want me to remove those already posted, or is it enough that I watch for the new 400K limit from now on? If I have to remove the previous ones and switch them for shrunk ones I will do so ASAP, but I cannot guarantee it will happen before the weekend.
 
Lord Ludwig said:
Of course, I was not aware of this new rule. Do you want me to remove those already posted, or is it enough that I watch for the new 400K limit from now on? If I have to remove the previous ones and switch them for shrunk ones I will do so ASAP, but I cannot guarantee it will happen before the weekend.
Click to expand...
No, don't do that, but yes please to keeping below 400kB in the future. :)
 
Lord Ludwig said:
Of course, I was not aware of this new rule. Do you want me to remove those already posted, or is it enough that I watch for the new 400K limit from now on? If I have to remove the previous ones and switch them for shrunk ones I will do so ASAP, but I cannot guarantee it will happen before the weekend.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry, @Lord Ludwig - these are your original artworks, aren't they? Therefore 1MB is fine.
 
Lord Ludwig said:
All the Baron’s Horses (III)

They resumed the ride. Although they did not speed up the pace, from there on it became again harder for Merida to keep up. The events of the day were taking their toll on her. She had been subjected to the torture upon the wheel at the water mill for about an hour, after which she had been walking behind a horse - at a pace that was slow for the animal but close to running for a human - for over twice that time.

Worse, however, was the improvised gag they had forced upon her. The rough wood cut into her lips. She could taste her own blood. It was humiliating, but just an extra layer upon the humiliation of walking stark naked, as a dog on a leash, among five men on horses. It also made breathing a lot harder. Worst of all, however, were the fierce cramps it started causing in her jaw muscles. The first one had set in after about half an hour, but now they were coming frequently, each more painful than the one before.

Merida started wondering how long it would take for them to arrive, and if she would manage at all to reach the baron’s castle without fainting. But when the sun started its descent on the horizon, the castle came into view. Of course, she thought, the last mile just had to be upwards to the top of a hill…

View attachment 1238782View attachment 1238783
Click to expand...
I LOVE the build up of anticipation and dread these portray.... especially the second one! Great work!
 
Wragg said:
I'm sorry, @Lord Ludwig - these are your original artworks, aren't they? Therefore 1MB is fine.
Click to expand...
Ah, I see my private post to you comes a bit late. As I clarified in the introduction, those ARE original works, but only the text is mine. Art is by JD (doe1971), who is a member here, although he decided not to be active here anymore due some discussion he had about politics. I am posting here on his specific instructions.
 
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