Rene Sauve
From Edge of Darkness Wiki
Rene "Reynard" Sauve was born on September 16th 1732 at 10:55 am, and after a harrowing first few minutes of life, he was christianed in a little church near the orchards in what would soon become Montreal. While growing up the child, who could be sweet and kind when he wanted, often showed a perchance for joking and trickery, making his mother worry, his fur trading father proud and, when he went too far, his backside sore. He would often be invited to the docks to help his father to sell his furs after his long trips into the wild and while there he would show the merchants his new tricks . While his father was away he learned to keep those helping his mother in line with a few good trick tools, and when that wasn't important he wandered the woods. His red brown hair wavy hair and sleek body coupled with his personality earned him the nick name "Reynard."
It was in the woods on a warms spring day when the child was six that he first met his Mistress. He came across a sleeping woman who was surrounded by fine things. He spotted something his mother would love, and beveling the woman dead he began to try to take it. The woman awoke and in a fit of anger attempted to drag him off. Thinking fast the young boy attempted the best trick he knew: He took her nose. When he held it up the Fae, for that is what she was, panicked. She loved nice things and with out her nose she could not smell the beautiful flowers she was bringing home. She begged the boy to give it back but he refused, so she offered to leave him here, and when he refused again she told him she would give him a gift, and when he refused again she offered two.
The boy smiled and said "Alright. You must leave me be until I get home, Your first gift will be a nose, I want a nose that can sniff out anything I want. "
"Yes" the woman said.
"My second gift is that you will leave me be for...." the child though hard about how long a long time was. "Six years."
After all, six years was his whole life.
"I promise, just give me my nose back!" the woman cried.
The child opened his hands with a smile to show he wasn't holding anything. The woman stared and then looked at him and laughed like glass against glass.
"You tricked me child, you are very cleaver. For that I would have your name."
Now the child was smart for his mother told him stories of women asking for his name , so he simply replied "I am Renyard."
The woman laughed. "A nose for a fox ? Very well then." She reached over and touched his nose lightly . "I shall see you in six years "Reynard."
Six years flew by and the fairies gift served him well. He soon became a wonderful hunter along side his father, as well as an avid card player. For his tenth birthday his father gave him cards which he always kept with him. When he was twelve though his father fell ill one late night in winter. Reynard was sent to fetch the doctor, but was stopped at the side of the road by a Beautiful woman on his way back, for the doctor had rushed ahead of him.
"It has been six years Little Reynard. It is time for you to come with me. "
The boy pulled back though when she reached for him.
"Oh but my lady, my father is sick! Surely you can not take me when I am in mourning." he begged. The woman considered and nodded. "Your father will be fine, but you are to come with me. "
Reynard thought quickly and then pulled out his cards. "My dear lady I beg that you play a game with me. If you win I will go with you, but if you loose I will ask for two gifts and that you leave me be until I get home to check on my father."
The woman agreed and he began to shuffle.
"Since you set the stakes I choose the game. I believe we shall play 52 pick up. "
"I do not know that game. "
"It is a race, and I will of course tell you all the rules."
The woman looked triumphant.
"I can best anyone with speed, tell me the rules."
Renyard threw the cards into the air, where they were caught by the wind as he shouted. "You must pick up the cards, and if you can by the time I get home, you win."
With that he raced off on his horse, the howls of the Fae, now desperately chasing cards, mingling with his laughter the entire way home. When he reached home he shouted through the house door. "My wishes are this: Leave me be for six more years, and Give me a tongue of silver so that I may never be in trouble. "
The woman gave him so and left, the young boy laughing as he went up stairs to greet his now well father.
Six years passed and soon Rene was a successful fur trader, with his uncanny ability to catch the right animals, and his silver tongue, he not only brought home enough money to allow his father to retire, but also enough to catch the eyes of many women. In one of his travels he fell in love with a girl from the western reaches of New France, a firey woman who laughed so warmly that a summers day seemed cold in comparison. He courted her and her family, wary at first, found him charming, kind and rich, and so allowed him her hand in marriage. He brought her home where he settled down to become a merchant, and when he was 18 the fae returned.
This time though she was prepared. She came in the fall and watched him , and when the time was up she waited longer to see what she could use against him.
It was the next fall, after he had though her gone, that she approached him, a bag bulging with things over her shoulder and she proposed a game. He laughed and set the stakes, she could have him if she won, but two more gifts if he won.
"Then I choose the game. My game is dice. " She smiled. "We bet though and if I come out with more than you... I win.If one refuses to roll they loose. "
"You would be on my trades?" he sounds shocked but accepts.
They start small, a pin for a strip of lace, each trying to gain the upper hand. The woman had much to offer, but much more of it was worthless. Yet much of what she had she knew the value of and soon she owned everything he did and he owned all that she did.
"A life for a life." she said.
"As you wish."
She rolls and gets a 2 but places her hand on his when he reaches for them with a triumphant grin.
"Do you wish to know which life you will claim?"
The man looks confused until she reaches into her bag and pulls out the woman throwing her to the ground. It was his wife.
He pauses then drops the dice, refusing.
She had won.
She brought him home and told every one she met of her capture, carrying him and holding him, shaping him into a Fox and wiping from his mind the pain and memories that stopped him from being her toy. She showed him off, making him perform the tricks to Humiliate those she disliked and entertain those she did.
It was not a kind existence, but Reynard, for that was his name now, the only name he knew, was better off than others, and he pitied them. He was treated like a pet, pampered some days, the brunt of the mistresses wrath the next. He learned to weather it , and in a way he came understand the world better as he watched the Fae. Many of their actions were mysteries to him but as he watched he found he understood at least somethings about the pledges and promises they made. He asked questions and his mistress, ever doting , answered, thinking he was too stupid to put it to use.
Eventually though even that became boring and he decided to leave, for he felt there was something beyond the hedge, something that was so warm the summer would blush . So he fell ill, for he had made a deal with an illness to allow his mistress to believe him deathly ill. She begged him to tell her how to cure him, but he refused, telling her that if he sent her she would get lost on the way to the real world.
"I know the way, I have done it more than once."
Reynard whined and fussed but finally told her that it was in a small grove near his old home. The woman left, and renyard paid the illness and left behind her, fit as a fiddle. He followed and when she broke through he ran, leaving her behind. The world was different, but he found that it was also the same. He was greeted by others who had left the Hedge, he learned others stories, and eventually created a new life. He learned of fetches but assumes his dead.
It has been six years and lately he has become agitated by the face that his mistress has not shown her face. In an attempt to leave her behind he has left Montreal and seeks a place in the city of Sacramento.
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