A Promise of Revenge (494 hits)
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Submitted by Magicaddict (View user info) at 2005-06-18 20:39:27 EDT
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
Pt 3: Friends, Enemies and Answers - http://www.ubersite.com/m/36055
Sorry Pt 4 has been so long coming.
"Once again, congratulations for getting out. You've no idea how many people we've lost trying to even find that woman, let alone observe her."
"Thank you, happy to serve."
Queen Corvil was someone I had never thought I would even see, let alone be sitting around a table with, in her palace in my nation's capital city, speaking on the level with her and the captain of her guard, about a dead body I had watched get up at the command of one of the acolytes of Aneron's most wanted criminal. I think I could have been forgiven for being slightly slow with my answers at first, though it took her abject dismissal of my formality and a direct order to call her by her first name to do so. The withering looks from Aurora and Adaron didn't help either - at least they'd met the Queen before.
The hour we spent getting out of that forest marked some of the most intent concentration I have ever had the misfortune to have to employ, and for its part felt like half a lifetime. Draugus was in front, with the piercing eyesight and enhanced smell that Adaron had told me stemmed from his devotion to his path of worship. Quite frankly I didn't care how he got it - having him a hundred yards ahead of me made what felt like being alone in this death trap a lot more bearable, if it made it only just. A further hundred yards behind me, Adaron acted as a direct bodyguard for Aurora himself, ruing the fact we hadn't got anyone bringing up the rear. She had assured him the best way she could protect us all was to be following us, but he had still seemed unconvinced, and to tell the truth, I agreed with him. The only thing more terrifying than the thought of Millitzent - or Nyosim OR Vorik for that matter - striding out in front of me, was the thought of them following on behind in order to take our charge out from where we couldn't reach to stop them.
The fears proved unfounded, however, and after said half a lifetime we emerged from the trees into the relative safety of the Aneron road and the inn not a mile along it. Hardly pausing for breath, Aurora stormed into the common room, waved a paper under the innkeeper's nose that made his eyebrows almost climb off the top of his head, and made him summon the owners of three of the horses in the stables after sending a runner to have them saddled. When they showed up, looking to be merchants from their clothes - good wool, with a little embroidery around collars and cuffs - she showed them the paper as well. It revealed itself to be a commandeering order signed by Corvil herself, declaring martial law upon the establishment for the duration of the bearer's attendance and ordering the immediate preparation of three mounts bound for Aneron. Needless to say, this caused no little consternation amongst the horses' owners, but whatever concerns they had were swept away in the whirlwind that was Aurora's authority, as she departed for the stables with what could only be referred to as a "by your leave" by the most optimistic of observers. Not ten minutes after sighting the inn, Aurora, Adaron and I were mounted and riding hard for the capital city.
"Why not Draugus?" I asked, guiding what was in truth a very fine bay to an endurable canter. The feral druid had been strangely absent since entering the common room.
"He won't go near horses," she replied, "and he isn't fond of crowds or cities either. He's going to take up residence in the grove outside Aneron's wall for the moment, while we make our report. The third horse was never intended for him."
"Oh?"
She gave a wry smile. "It was intended for whomever we managed to get out alive. Don't worry, his faith grants him am impressive level of endurance. The ride we'll make in an hour he'll make in just over two."
We rode straight through the gates, after Aurora had quite literally thrown the commandeering order at the guards who hurriedly opened up, and rode directly to the palace. I had looked forward to visiting a full-blown city at some point in my life, but it had never occurred to me that it would be under these circumstances. Evening was descending, and the streets had all of the bustle I had expected, but I had no time to savour it or take an interest in the myriad of colour and life around me. It was like the very busiest festival days at home, just in every direction for as far as I could see - and I paid it no more mind than I did when I had lived in the middle of it.
Immediately upon entering the palace courtyard, liveried servants ran out to meet us, taking charge of horses and speaking in low tones to Aurora. She nodded to Adaron and myself and we were informed that Queen Corvil awaited us in her antechamber. We departed for it without hesitation.
I sat and talked, for what seemed like another lifetime, about what I had seen, reporting as I had been taught long ago - locations, facts, opinions, in that order. Corvil and Norlis, the Captain, listened intently. Aurora stared at the surface of the table, looking as if she knew what was coming.
It was not pleasant going back over what had happened to me that day, and even worse to be asked probing questions about it - what language they were talking in, the orientation of the body (apparently, it might have pointed to the location it was robbed from if had been buried), the exact nature of the constructs that had given me the now non-existent gash - but the two of them seemed to be relentless. Corvil concentrated mainly on the nature of the people, Norlis - a middle aged man with the scars of campaigning all over him - was more interested in locations. Whatever they made of my opinions, they were polite enough to keep it to themselves.
Once I had finished, Corvil got up and began to pace round the room, ticking points off on her fingers.
"So she's taught Nyosim to raise. That much we could have guessed...and you're sure you could find the place again?"
I nodded my agreement, and Adaron added, "If he couldn't, I could."
Norlis spoke up. "It's the only lead we've got. They wouldn't do anything like that too far from where they were based, so if we put someone in there..."
Corvil nodded. "Infiltration is the only way in - infiltration with...bait." Her mouth twisted with distaste at the concept.
"Agreed."
"No other way." I echoed Adaron. Aurora looked ill.
"So who is it going to be? As if I had to ask."
Strange question, I thought, as I turned to ask what she meant.
I found myself not alone in looking at her, intent as she seemed to be on finding microscopic defects in the table surface.
"No, you don't have to ask," Corvil conceded, "you've known you were going to do this from the very start - we just needed the eyewitness intelligence first."
"You mean...her?" I blurted out without particularly thinking what I was saying. Aurora turned to look at me, eyes sparkling.
"Who else? She knows me and would give just about anything to put an end to me. I'm the only resistance she faces - on a daily basis. Every time she does something, I'm there trying to undo it. Every time we find she has created an undead, Adaron, Draugus and I do our damndest to kill it. I block her, impede her, slow her down and am as prickly a thorn in her side as I know how to be - In fact I'd be quite offended if she weren't willing to go out on at least a slightly shaky limb in order to kill me."
She resumed her study of the tabletop. "Doesn't make it any easier though."
I looked again at this woman, and considered again what she must have gone through. She was maybe five years older than me, not even approaching middle age, yet here she was, having set herself against this monstrosity from the start, cultivated a dialogue with the Queen of our nation, gone into enemy territory to live, work and collect information, and was now preparing to dangle herself like a worm on a hook as a means to get Millitzent into a position where she could be caught, and if she was feeling fear, she was hiding it magnificently. If I were ever to fall in love with half the woman I was staring at, I would consider myself in well over my head.
Corvil looked at Aurora for a moment, then nodded. "Right. Adaron, you're going in with her?"
"Definitely. We already came up with a scenario, but it requires the military unit to be doing their job."
Norlis raised his eyebrows, but allowed the druid to continue.
"Aurora and I are making our way through the target area, investigating where Rhinyn had said the raising took place, and she falls and breaks her ankle. She can't heal with that injury, and calling power from the trees takes minutes rather than moments. They'll know this, and will know that we won't wait around for me to do anything about it there. I'll pick her up and head back for the second clearing Rhinyn mentioned. They either surprise us on the way there or while I'm "healing" her in the middle of it - Millitzent would never pass up an opportunity like this, and she'll be desperate enough that she might not be thinking straight. We planned this based on the fact she would be, so anything short of rationality on her part will be a bonus."
This entire plan seemed very tentative to me, but I kept quiet - I'd done my job.
"That clearing is backed by dense forest - dense enough that fitting twenty or so people behind a leaf screen and making it look like nothing out of the ordinary will be painfully easy. All we need is to have them within that clearing, and we can have an aura up in moments. If the others are with her, even better."
It was at this moment that I just had to pipe up.
"Err...excuse me?"
Four pairs of eyes shifted immediately to me. Strangely enough, they didn't look annoyed, or even irritated. They looked interested.
"This all sounds very...well...speculative. The plan relies on our being able to move soldiers through the forest unseen, on knowing from which direction Millitzent will be headed, and on her not being able to get away by saying "item do thy work" to her bracelet and vanishing into the aether. It seems like a lot is being left to chance."
Norlis, who had been frowning in places but nodding overall, managed to smile in a way that didn't look patronising. "You underestimate the amount of planning we've put into this."
"We have been formulating a plan for several months. However, we needed certain things to make it work - most importantly, a scouted location that we could set things up."
"Yes," Corvil responded to my raised eyebrows, "you are responsible for us being able to move, and for that I cannot thank you enough. When I said well done for getting out, it wasn't only for your sake."
I smiled. This was a serious deal, and I'd just received personal thanks from the Queen. Father could put that into his pipe and smoke it.
Corvil continued, "there is to be no marching of troops through the forest. Now we can pinpoint the location we're aiming for, we can use her own trick against her and send you in by air transport ritual. You and the rest of the insertion force."
"Me?" I was genuinely surprised that someone who had run like a frightened child when shown real danger would be let anywhere near such a venture.
"Well, I would have thought you wanted to," she replied. "Wait until I have finished - you won't have to deal with those eyes again."
She seemed to know exactly wheat I was thinking, and that only served to make me listen more intently to what she said.
"The ritual will transport you to within sight of the clearing. The troops will erect the leaf screen, and Aurora and Adaron will head for their target area. I am sure that you can scream loud enough when you "break" your ankle to arouse her interest?"
Aurora nodded at what had now to be an accurately mapped section of the table, and Corvil went on.
"They will limp back towards our clearing - good grief, this is more like fishing with livebait than I care to think on. The second they are acquired by Millitzent, and hopefully Vorik and Nyosim as well, Aurora fires off a little something we will have given her to even up the score, the troops drop the screen, and we finish this once and for all."
I couldn't help but be intrigued. "A little something?"
Corvil smiled a determined smile. "An item that will put paid to another of your worries. It will put up an anti-magic aura centred on her, with a reach of approximately twenty five yards."
Realisation dawned inside me, and I broke into the same type of determined smile. Corvil nodded in agreement and confirmed what I was thinking.
"All Aurora will have to do is stick to Millitzent like glue, and all she will be is an unarmed, defenceless woman. No way out, no means of fighting," her voice took on a note of compassion, "and no dark eyes."
I closed mine, for the first time looking forward to this. The only armed enemy I may be facing was Vorik, and I'd take on a big man with a sword any day of the week.
"I really don't care who kills her, as long as one of you does. Are we agreed?" the Queen asked, and was answered with nods from all round the table.
"Right." She sounded quite relieved. "As I said before, this nation really cannot thank you all enough for what you are about to do, but hopefully the reward outweighs the risk. We move tomorrow, after you have had some rest. Quarters have been prepared for you. Get some sleep - you're all going to need it."
We had all been too alert for too long and fatigue had finally managed to catch up, so the feather mattresses and down pillows of the palace guest quarters should have been a welcome release. However, while I cannot speak for anyone else, I know that I never slept a wink that night. The events of the day, and those of the next, were all still far too vivid in my mind, and the best I could manage was some kind of trance in which I lay there, passing my knife back and forth between hands, trying not think of ways the plan could all go horribly wrong. The dawn came too soon, with clouds and a hint of rain that matched my mood almost perfectly.
User Reviews
Submitted by Hirilnara (user info) at 2005-06-20 05:02:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
It's lovely to know ubersite is filled with intelligent, compassionate people with attention spans slightly longer than the average goldfish, isn't it?
I liked it...of course, now you have me waiting for what happens next (and curse those black eyes!)
Submitted by Feijuada (user info) at 2005-06-19 02:42:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
DAMN, this post has boon on the front page for HOURS and nobody's touched it!
WHY!
IT'S TOO FUCKING LONG!
AND IT SUCKS!