Ambition 3: History (long with stupid spacing) (759 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.89 on 9 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by stardamage (View user info) at 2004-12-06 14:45:28 EST
continued from:
Ambition 1: Awakening (long): http://www.ubersite.com/m/53093
Ambition 2: Meeting (long): http://www.ubersite.com/m/53208
This one is a bit dialogue and plot heavy; sorry, I realize it can be tedious to read through.
I also really apologize for the spacing because I've been told that it's difficult to read, but I've done my best to space it out as much as possible. Thanks for reading.
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A blob of wax lit on the wall next to Kailestis and he lowered the hood, coughing. He had short dirty blond hair that was disheveled from being under the hood, and he raised a hand to rumple it, shaking water droplets from it. His eyes were the color of the sky before a storm, that brilliant halfway color between blue and gray that was breathtaking behind an autumn tree in red and gold. Kailestis stopped mussing his hair when he noticed Davoren watching him, and cleared his throat.
"This place is safe as far as I know, at least for a while. It's deep enough underground so that it's not easily detectable, and the water brings animals close to the hole so that the hunting doesn't take me so far away. The water also cools things down so much that my body heat isn't tangible above ground from here." He waved his hand in an expansive gesture and added, "As long as you want to stay, you're welcome. It's your choice but I would suggest you staying through the month at least, because they'll be looking for you."
"Who, exactly?" Davoren's eyes narrowed.
"Well to start from the beginning, after you fell there was a power struggle between two unknown vampires, who gathered allies and strength around them. They are both extremely powerful in their own way but in very different ways - one force is made primarily of older, stronger vampires, but there are few of them. The other is far younger, less powerful individually but there are many more of them. An outright battle would be destruction for both at the moment, but they're looking for that one deciding factor that will swing the scales to their favor. And that deciding factor is you."
"Ah. As a general, I am assuming."
"Either that or a powerful behind the scenes ally who will step in at the right moment to devastate the enemy."
Davoren gave a short humorless laugh.
"Don't sell yourself short. We all saw what you're capable of back before...well, you know. Just the idea of you being involved with one side or another is enough to intimidate a significant portion of the enemy. You know, rattle their cages a bit, make them a little unsure of themselves. Even if you're not up to the standards you were before, your image and the memory of your power will be a weapon in itself."
"So...what exactly is their motivation? Why these two groups in particular? Who are their leaders? Where do they differ and where are they similar?"
Kailestis took a deep breath. "I'm not involved with either faction, as you may have guessed, and that means that for now I'm considered an enemy to both. I mean, I could just be pretending and really be a spy, couldn't I? Even the most powerful vampires can't see things I don't want them to see when I'm concentrating on keeping it from them. So I don't know all that much. But it's rumored that the force made up of younger vampires is focused, you know, after they win, on being really aggressive towards the humans, and becoming the dominant race. Making more of us, and beating the human race into submission."
Davoren was astonished. "You mean...coming out in the open? Revealing ourselves?"
"Yes."
"And the other force...they want things to go on as they always have?"
"As far as I know. There's been talk of receding to the wild lands and letting the humans have their cities, letting them work as they will and feeding mostly from animals instead. But again, that's only from the extreme point of view. Most from the older force want to keep things the way they are. Even so, most of them feed only off of animals and leave humans mostly alone."
"That explains the age difference," muttered Davoren. "The younger ones are power-hungry, they always have been." Kailestis' skytension-colored eyes glittered in amusement.
"You asked about the leaders, too. Apparently they both played parts in your rise and fall, but no one knows who they are or what side either of them belonged to before. It's kind of generally known that the younger force is headed by a female, who is much older than her followers. She's called the Red Queen by most people. The older force is headed by a male, older than most of his followers but younger than some, called the Mist Strider. More than that I don't know, nor does anyone else even in those armies. Apparently they keep their identities a big secret."
"As they would if they were planning something," pointed out Davoren.
"Well, but also it's a dangerous decision in some ways. I mean, especially in the younger ones, people like to know who they're supporting. Take away a figurehead, a central image for people to cling to and associate with their cause, and loyalty wavers more easily. My guess would be that the Red Queen would have more of a problem with keeping her followers focused if she doesn't interact with them directly, and so she'll be more drastic unless she wants to reveal herself. That's why I think that that was one of her agents, and not the Mist Strider's. He'll wait for you to come to him."
"And why would he assume that I would?"
Despite his skepticism, Davoren was slightly impressed by the knowledge of the younger Kailestis - he seemed to have a good basic understanding of leadership, even if he didn't know much about this situation specifically.
"Well, because you're powerful and he needs someone like you to help control his army. Since he has the intelligence to court and get older and more powerful allies, he probably also knows that unless he gets someone with higher status than he has to give him credibility, he will lose many of his allies. He also knows, even assuming you know nothing about the political situation, that you will not fall for flattery and promises of power; you will need to be persuaded to join him in a much more subtle manner. He will wait until you hear of his force and he will make sure that you hear about the blunt force tactics that the Red Queen is apt to use and that you are sure to disapprove of. That way it seems like your idea to come to him, and from there, since you go to him willingly, it's easy to persuade you to lead his forces."
"So for right now we only have one faction to worry about."
"To worry about attacking you outright, yes, but remember that the Red Queen has the advantage of numbers, so she can throw as many of her troops out here to find you as necessary. She can easily wear a strong vampire down with sheer force, and has done so. The Mist Strider will probably send a few of his own out when he hears that you are alive again; he will try to protect you from hers, and at the same time try to gain your support."
Kailestis leaned back against the wall and chewed on a hangnail. "I'd say we have about a year here in safety before they start searching in more depth - they'll be scanning a much wider area for a while. Of course it would probably be more to your advantage to leave before then."
"Where are they strongest?"
"The Red Queen is supposedly based south of here, in the human city Dursich, in Varda. The Mist Strider is much further north. To get out of immediate danger, I'd suggest a course of east northeast, simply to distance yourself from both. That would bring you near my original home in Hatskland. There are a few pockets of vampires there who don't belong to either faction and I'm sure they can help you."
"And for you? Will you just stay here to be found?"
"No. I think, if it's okay with you, that I'll travel with you to Hatskland and then perhaps find someplace else to stay out there. Staying in one spot when the political atmosphere is this dangerous is not wise. I've been moving constantly."
Davoren nodded. "Of course, you can come along. I don't know what has changed in the years that I have been sleeping. I need someone who knows Hatskland. I don't know it well myself. I can only speak Hatsklandic a little." He slapped a hand on the lid of Kailestis' coffin. "So, Kailestis-"
"Kai, please. Saves time, it's easier to say and so on."
"Kai, then. Tell me about yourself. You have not explained why it was that you were waiting for me."
"Just like I said before: I saw that your awakening would immediately be a problem. It would provoke the two sides. Like I said, you're the deciding factor. So as soon as I realized that, about fifty years ago or so now, I set up watch every night, waiting for you. I wanted to get here first so you'd know as much as I did, as opposed to a biased opinion. I also knew that since you'd be a bit weaker than usual at first that's when you'd be open to attack most, so that was also something I wanted to prevent."
There was a slight pause, and then Davoren said in a slightly surprised voice, "Well, thank you for that. Truth is, I'm not at my former level of power yet, even though I can tell even now that I'll soon have that and more. So really, I am glad that you were there to help me."
"Even when you're weak you're still much more powerful than I am or that other vampire was. I knew you could protect yourself. I mostly wanted to make sure that he didn't get away to alert his superiors. You probably wouldn't have known to do that, since you were unaware at the time of who he was working for."
Kai closed his eyes. "Truthfully, I'm still quite young as far as vampires go. Sure, I was around when you were still in power, but I'm not strong yet, not like I need to be to keep going on the way I am. Mostly my strengths come from things I already had begun to develop as a mortal, like a strong ability with languages and debate and logic. That's also where my power is as a vampire, in telekinesis, telepathy and clairvoyance. That's extremely useful when you don't want to be seen but I'm not much for brute strength." He gestured to his body and smiled. Davoren laughed.
"I'd offer you a cloak or something but it'd probably be too small. Well, here, try it anyway." Kai reached into his coffin and pulled out a cloak in black and a pair of pants in black and silver embroidery, along with a pair of tall black boots. "The boots probably won't fit but you can wear them if they do."
Davoren pulled on the pants first and then the cloak, wrapping it tightly around himself like Kai had it, pinning it in place with pins that Kai gave him. The boots were too small and he gave them back.
"You'll have to get your beard and hair cut too. The style now is to have a heavy shadow and either short spiky hair or if you have curly hair to grow it out a little, but only a little. Your hair could go either way, I guess. It'll be easier if you fit in."
"Do you have a blade?"
"Only a dagger, but if you want it..." Kai reached under his cloak and pulled out a bright dagger, the edges gleaming in the candlelight. He held it out on the palm of his hand, handle towards Davoren. Davoren took it from him, careful not to cut himself - he needed all the blood he had. Kai came away with a small cut on his palm which instantly closed. Kai watched with his brilliant eyes as Davoren grabbed his shoulder length hair and sliced through it, first a little and then closer and closer to his head until it was only a little longer than Kai's. Then he carefully shaved most of his beard off, using the river to wash his face. He turned around when he was done and handed Kai back the dagger, offering it to him flat out on his palm.
Kai turned his back and sheathed the dagger again, and then climbed into his coffin. "Dig yourself in if you want, or just lay on the floor. There's no sunlight that comes in here."
Davoren rearranged the cloak pins so they wouldn't poke him in the night and waste blood. Then he lay on his side and fell asleep.
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Comments are really appreciated. Should I continue this?
User Reviews
Submitted by Vomit (user info) at 2005-01-28 11:56:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-01-18 19:53:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I liked it. The dialogue sounds too much like exposition, though. When I read it I get the impression that the words are written for the purpose of providing as much information as possible to the reader, which happens at the expense of a natural flow of dialogue.
Submitted by bigbabylons (user info) at 2004-12-16 17:19:15 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
fantastic
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2004-12-15 12:39:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Jungle_Jimanee (user info) at 2004-12-15 06:13:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm having fun
Submitted by Circe (user info) at 2004-12-06 20:42:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Yeah, you should. This is really, really good... well done and, in case anyone hasn't said it, welcome to uber.
AshK - You were right. This is awesome.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2004-12-06 17:09:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Cool.
Submitted by AshK (user info) at 2004-12-06 16:24:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I am enjoying this series. I hope to see it get some more attention, soon.
Submitted by TigerLilly (user info) at 2004-12-06 15:28:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I really liked this alot.