Friends, Enemies and Answers. (906 hits)
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Submitted by Magicaddict (View user info) at 2004-06-18 08:48:12 EDT
"Thank you. I am Rhinyn. Rhinyn Morridar."
It was the first thing I said when I opened my eyes. The man who had hidden me from the constructs was sitting near me, while the wild man was at the cave entrance.
"I'd reserve your judgement on that until later."
He was fairly tall and looked well built, as though he was no stranger to violent combat. He looked at me calmly, then carried on.
"I asked you earlier - who was doing the necromancy? Man or woman, short or tall?"
"One woman, one man. She was average height."
"She raised the undead?"
"No, the other one. The man, fairly short."
He blinked and stared at me.
"Are you sure? Are you certain she wasn't doing it through him?" He sounded on edge.
"Quite sure. I know an incantation when I hear one."
"Yes, but are you sure that it was him doing it? A man's voice?"
"Well, she was quiet, and he was waving his arms around and chanting. Look, I don't want to seem rude, or ungrateful for what you did, but who am I talking to, and who was I attacked by?"
He groaned and put his head in his hands. No answers there, I thought.
"She's taught him."
"Who has taught who?" I quietly asked. He paused for a second.
"I'll get to that in a minute. It's easier to explain who we are first." He offered me his hand and I gladly shook it.
"My name is Adaron. I am wholly of the trees, and primarily of the oak. The wild man you see over there is Draugus."
The feral man was dressed in furs, hunched slightly, and seemed to move furtively, with animal-like twitches.
"He is wholly of the beasts, and primarily of the wolf."
Druids. I had heard stories of the naturekin, and read about their powers, but had never met one before. However, I hadn't seen a corpse stand up before today either.
"He lives so closely with wolves that he has forgotten how to speak with men, though he can communicate feelings and emotions to those who are very well known to him. I am lucky enough to have...hunted...with him long enough to be one of those people."
A novel concept, I thought, pausing while I wondered how that could work.
"And what of...Aurora? Is she also like you?"
He smiled. "Aurora is my sister. She was trained as a priestess in the capital, specialising in maintaining a balance between the powers of the world. She left the capital when...well, I think she will explain that to you."
I little cryptic, but I continued.
"And those who attacked me?"
"The man was called Nyosim. Nyosim Rollismor. He was a college mage in the capital. He left quietly when he found a better deal than air magics."
"Such as necromancy?"
"Such as Millitzent."
Aurora spoke the name with distaste as she appeared in the cave's entrance, looking like she'd just carried a horse across a ploughed field on a rainy day.
"Millitzent?" I enquired.
"The woman." Aurora sat down next to me and inspected my arm.
"She is the necromancer, although how she got to be one I will never know. We know that her name was Alianna Chantisse when she too was in the college, and we also know that she was the lover of the college's head. She clearly found something better as well."
"She's taught Nyosim to raise, sister," Adaron said with what appeared to be a foul taste in his mouth. Aurora's shoulders dropped a little further, something I would not have thought possible. She looked utterly crushed.
"Oh no - two of them. I had hoped it would take longer than this."
She put her head in her hands. Adaron took them away.
"Don't give up now. We can tell it to the council."
After a pause, she nodded and turned back to me.
"Six months ago, she absconded with several magic items and left a calling card of an undead mages' guard wandering up to the Queen's palace steps and proclaiming, "Alianna is dead. Millitzent is born." With her, she took Nyosim who had twice been disciplined for wanting to learn necromancy, and a warrior priest called Vorik Mallakan, who everyone knew thirsted only for power. It has to be assumed she promised them what they wanted, and stayed true to her word. They are currently at large in the lands outside the capital. For several months now, people have been...going missing. We fear the worst."
There was another brief pause while she finished checking my arm, seemingly satisfied with her handiwork.
"So, why are you here?" I asked. "I thought that anyone who didn't have to be around would have cleared out so the guard could deal with her."
"I'm not here out of choice." She sounded agitated.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way" I apologised. She waved it away.
"Someone has to try to protect those who can't protect themselves. I was researching in the temple when she left. Within days, scout parties started returning white with fear, if at all. I knew something had to be done, and the guard didn't seem to be all that effective. Whenever parties large enough to put an end to her were sent out, the three of them vanished to ground and they could never be found. When smaller parties were sent, they either came back paralysed with fear, or not at all."
She looked down and said the last part grudgingly, as if she should have been able to prevent it, before carrying on.
"I came out here firstly because I wasn't about to leave my brother and Draugus to be found by her, and secondly because I can help people. I can heal those who escape, tend wounds, offer a calming word, and the three of us can protect them."
"As you did to me. " I completed her thought. "I can only thank you."
She smiled. "We were glad we could help."
Something that had been said earlier reoccurred to me.
"Does the council know you're here?"
"Yes. It's not official, but the queen knows where we are. We were planning on reporting to her soon, travelling to the capital to give the information we can at a council of war. That will have to be moved forward a little now, in the light of the current developments."
She stopped for a moment while a thought occurred to her.
"Will you join us? You have eyewitness information and aren't delirious. That's a rarity."
I was about to speak up saying I would also be glad to help when Adaron looked up into the middle distance for the moment, then snapped back into reality.
"Incoming."
Immediately, he took position on the other side of the cave's entrance from Draugus, scanning the area. Aurora headed for the cave's entrance, and hung back a few yards behind her guard. Having nothing better to do, and with it seeming the right thing, I followed her forward and took position at her side. She glanced at me and gave a slight nod of thanks.
He stumbled into view. A man, white as a sheet and bleeding from his temple.
"All is well - he's the only one."
Aurora sprinted out to catch the man, who's face drained of possibly even more colour when he saw other people. Adaron was there in moments as the man's eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out. With Draugus scouring the area for any other contacts with penetrating vision, Adaron and Aurora dragged the man back into the cave and laid him down. She placed her hands on his head and closed her eyes, and winced.
"He's in trouble. Hold him."
She maintained her hold on his head and started speaking an incantation.
Nothing happened.
She tried another, longer one, her eyes screwing up.
Nothing happened.
Again and again, all kinds of incantations, shaking with the effort. She tried combinations, each one sounding more strained as she tapped her power to its full extent.
Nothing happened.
She shrieked a desperate missive to whomever she worshipped, ending with a request for power she neither had nor deserved. She delivered the energy into him, and fell back, screaming in pain. Adaron was over her in an instant, holding her up.
Nothing happened.
She gingerly put her hands back on the man's head, and closed her eyes.
After a brief pause, she fell over him, sobbing. Adaron held her.
"I tried...I gave him everything I had..."
"I know. I know."
He just held her as she cried, and for the first time in a long time, I felt utterly helpless.
Not for long.
Adaron went from being still to being frozen for a moment. He quickly took Aurora's face in his hands and looked directly into her eyes.
"She's out there."
Anger clouded the sobs, and then overtook them entirely.
"Where?"
"Incoming. Rhinyn - go."
I was already moving, heading for the entrance to take up Adaron's position, while he helped Aurora stand up. For a few moments I waited, tense and remembering the terror she had previously put me through.
Millitzent strode alone into view, at around about the same time that Aurora - now walking of her own volition, or possibly her own adrenaline - made it to the cave's entrance. She had obviously been on the trail of her now dead victim. It was some measure of her power that she was willing to walk around without any protection.
I had previously thought that Millitzent looked malevolent. Then I saw the way she and Aurora were staring at each other.
Someone must teach women how to do that.
"Good afternoon, Alianna, come to try doing away with us?"
Aurora's voice was tight, and shaking ever so slightly. Millitzent quivered noticeably.
"Alianna...is....dead," she hissed.
"She seems to be alive and well and raising undead from where I stand."
Millitzent's face darkened even further as she surveyed the three of us flanking her enemy. She paused on me. I successfully fought the urge to turn and run.
"Found yourself some help? The treehugger and the man-beast not sufficient?"
"Enough to send you to the netherworld if you come a step closer."
Aurora's smile was at once grim, determined and malicious. She reached out her hand and beckoned Millitzent forward. "We're not going anywhere. You're going to have to kill us."
Millitzent's rage was fast boiling over. She could see she was currently outmatched, and was losing control of her anger.
Aurora took a step forward.
Millitzent clamped her left hand over a bracelet round her right wrist, quickly spoke an invocation and vanished into thin air.
Everyone remained staring at the point where she vanished for what felt like minutes, then Aurora turned and walked back into the cave, and collapsed. Adaron and I followed. He sat down beside his sister and took her hand.
"She will be back, with Nyosim and Vorik. I'd chance three on four. We have to go."
She paused for a second, then looked up determinedly.
"Tell Draug - we're going to see the Queen. Now."
User Reviews
Submitted by StonedSilly (user info) at 2004-08-02 15:01:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
where the fuck did this guy go?
Submitted by indigogecko (user info) at 2004-06-22 12:10:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
another perfect 2, and I'm inclined to add my agreement. Good stuff.
Submitted by engine13 (user info) at 2004-06-21 15:52:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
These are really good.
Submitted by LucidCognition (user info) at 2004-06-19 01:37:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Yes (user info) at 2004-06-18 12:16:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
kickass
Submitted by SoxSexSax (user info) at 2004-06-18 10:48:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I liked this, although you may want to use a grammar checker on it as you fail to use commas when required at many points.
Submitted by AshK (user info) at 2004-06-18 10:43:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I am completely entranced. Keep going!
Submitted by JMG114 (user info) at 2004-06-18 10:36:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Keep up the good work. Consider formatting differently, merely for reading ease. Other than that, three thumbs up.
Submitted by Random Joe at 2004-06-18 09:36:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I should have mentioned:
Pt 1: A Rake's Early Progress - http://www.ubersite.com/m/35727
Pt 2: Dark Eyes, Burning Like Death - http://www.ubersite.com/m/35915
Magic