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A Rose In The Wind: A Saga of the Halmae -- Updated June 19, 2014
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<blockquote data-quote="ellinor" data-source="post: 5096991" data-attributes="member: 14561"><p><strong>10x02</strong></p><p></p><p>A searing pain burned between Tavi’s shoulder blades as the hail of arrows rained down. One arrow hit. Then another. The pain spread across his back and shoulders and into his arms as he heard a great howl from behind him. As he turned to look, a horde of derro crested the clearing’s ridge. The derro emerged from the trees behind the group and charged toward them. Five rode giant lizards. The one on the largest lizard—clearly the leader—wore very heavy armor, apparently cobbled together from a variety of different suits, dwarven and human, crudely bolted together. A dozen archers and foot-soldiers flanked him, brandishing axes, hurtling toward the group and the holy Spring. SHUNK. An arrow sunk into Arden’s back as well. She winced.</p><p></p><p>Instinctively, Tavi looked to Rose. She dashed to the side, trying to find cover while staying close enough to listen to the Spring’s message. The expression in her eyes hovered between determination and despair. <em>This is it,</em> Tavi thought, vainly trying not to reduce his entire life into this single moment. <em>Protect Rose. Protect the Spring. Hear the prophecy.</em></p><p></p><p>He craned his ears, but could not hear what the Spring was saying. A few feet away, Twiggy yelled something as she conjured her fireball and Mena yelled something else as she charged toward one of the footsoldiers. Tavi could not hear them, either. He could not hear anything more than five feet away—the wind and rain were too loud. He would not be able to move away from the Spring if he was going to hear its message. None of them could. Frankly, they might not hear the whole message even if they stayed right on the Spring’s banks. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: blue">“—single gas—”</span>, the figure in the Spring continued.</p><p></p><p>Savina ran toward Tavi. “No killing!” she yelled. “It’s Alirria Ascendant!” Tavi was tempted to dismiss her words, but he knew she was right: killing any living creature on this day, in this place, would be sacrilegious. Not just that: it might stop the Spring from making its prophecy, and all of this would be for nothing. Glancing at Rose’s determined face, he wondered how many of the others had heard Savina’s plea—and he hoped that those who hadn’t would guess for themselves. Savina pulled the arrows from Tavi’s back and he felt the warm glow of healing where the arrows had pierced him. </p><p></p><p>While Savina healed Tavi, Kormick rushed toward the derro. He focused his meager, though effective, sorcerer powers and unleashed his electrical attack, which hit a lizard and felled a footsoldier (<em>dead?</em> Tavi wondered) and then he swung his axe at the lizard, leaving a gash in its hide that seemed less significant than the blow warranted. A stone from Arden’s sling whizzed by and sank into the lizard’s shoulder. But as blood dripped from its injuries, the lizard and its rider kept charging forward. <em>This is not looking good,</em> thought Tavi, as he readied his sword to attack the same lizard.</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, the leader of the derro reared back and pointed. The air shimmered. The rain, already cold, froze into icy hail, and the ground became slick beneath Tavi’s feet—beneath all of their feet. Then Kormick screamed, grabbed his head, and doubled over in pain. Tavi had just enough time to wonder what spell had attacked Kormick when two arrows sank into Kormick’s thigh. Spots of blood blossomed on Kormick’s pants. </p><p></p><p>The derro leader was not unscathed—one of Nyoko’s arrows flew past Tavi and hit the snarling leader, along with one of the derro archers beside him—but he was still riding tall.</p><p> </p><p>As if Nyoko’s arrows were a cue, another rain of arrows fell with the hail. Two grazed Savina’s arm, and her blood spattered into the underbrush. “No!” Savina cried, desperation ringing in her voice as its sound dissipated in the wind, “no blood in the Spring! We must keep the Spring pure!” </p><p></p><p><em>Too far, and we can’t hear the prophecy. Too close, and we risk despoiling the Spring. No one said it would be easy,</em> Tavi thought. <em>Mena would say I’ve trained for this.</em> He looked over to where Mena was marshaling the dwarves, who were fighting to stay alive. Mena shifted away from the dwarves to guard Rose and listen closely, and then shook her head in frustration. Tavi craned his ears again.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: blue">“—to turn the storm—”</span></p><p></p><p>As the giant lizards backed away from Twiggy’s ball of fire, Tavi unleashed his <em>flame cyclone</em>, charring the nearest lizard and rider. But most of the lizards remained unscathed and continued to charge, snarling and slashing at Arden and Kormick. They foamed and growled as Arden used her cloak to teleport back toward the pond (and into listening range), and loosed two stones from her sling. A lizard and rider reared back as the stones hit. “Rose!” Tavi yelled. “Get to the other side of the pond!” In a flash, Rose teleported across the pond, farther away from the derro, but still not completely out of danger. </p><p></p><p>There was no such thing.</p><p></p><p>Twiggy’s ball of flame helped to hold off the lizards, but it drew attention to her. The derro leader pointed at her, and she doubled over as Kormick had, in obvious pain. A rider urged his lizard forward and sliced at Twiggy with his poisoned blade. Tavi followed the arc with his eyes as a drop of her blood flew up, across…just wide of the spring.</p><p></p><p>“A little help over here?” Tavi just barely heard Kormick’s voice shouting from a few feet away—and on the slippery ground, he could not move to help. A lizard and rider were bearing down on Kormick, and one of the footsoldiers was rushing his way, too. SLASH. The lizard’s claws raked across his chest. SLICE. The footsoldier’s axe split his side. </p><p></p><p>The Justicar fell to the ground, unconscious, his blood soaking the wet, trampled grass.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ellinor, post: 5096991, member: 14561"] [b]10x02[/b] A searing pain burned between Tavi’s shoulder blades as the hail of arrows rained down. One arrow hit. Then another. The pain spread across his back and shoulders and into his arms as he heard a great howl from behind him. As he turned to look, a horde of derro crested the clearing’s ridge. The derro emerged from the trees behind the group and charged toward them. Five rode giant lizards. The one on the largest lizard—clearly the leader—wore very heavy armor, apparently cobbled together from a variety of different suits, dwarven and human, crudely bolted together. A dozen archers and foot-soldiers flanked him, brandishing axes, hurtling toward the group and the holy Spring. SHUNK. An arrow sunk into Arden’s back as well. She winced. Instinctively, Tavi looked to Rose. She dashed to the side, trying to find cover while staying close enough to listen to the Spring’s message. The expression in her eyes hovered between determination and despair. [i]This is it,[/i] Tavi thought, vainly trying not to reduce his entire life into this single moment. [i]Protect Rose. Protect the Spring. Hear the prophecy.[/i] He craned his ears, but could not hear what the Spring was saying. A few feet away, Twiggy yelled something as she conjured her fireball and Mena yelled something else as she charged toward one of the footsoldiers. Tavi could not hear them, either. He could not hear anything more than five feet away—the wind and rain were too loud. He would not be able to move away from the Spring if he was going to hear its message. None of them could. Frankly, they might not hear the whole message even if they stayed right on the Spring’s banks. [color="blue"]“—single gas—”[/color], the figure in the Spring continued. Savina ran toward Tavi. “No killing!” she yelled. “It’s Alirria Ascendant!” Tavi was tempted to dismiss her words, but he knew she was right: killing any living creature on this day, in this place, would be sacrilegious. Not just that: it might stop the Spring from making its prophecy, and all of this would be for nothing. Glancing at Rose’s determined face, he wondered how many of the others had heard Savina’s plea—and he hoped that those who hadn’t would guess for themselves. Savina pulled the arrows from Tavi’s back and he felt the warm glow of healing where the arrows had pierced him. While Savina healed Tavi, Kormick rushed toward the derro. He focused his meager, though effective, sorcerer powers and unleashed his electrical attack, which hit a lizard and felled a footsoldier ([i]dead?[/i] Tavi wondered) and then he swung his axe at the lizard, leaving a gash in its hide that seemed less significant than the blow warranted. A stone from Arden’s sling whizzed by and sank into the lizard’s shoulder. But as blood dripped from its injuries, the lizard and its rider kept charging forward. [i]This is not looking good,[/i] thought Tavi, as he readied his sword to attack the same lizard. Suddenly, the leader of the derro reared back and pointed. The air shimmered. The rain, already cold, froze into icy hail, and the ground became slick beneath Tavi’s feet—beneath all of their feet. Then Kormick screamed, grabbed his head, and doubled over in pain. Tavi had just enough time to wonder what spell had attacked Kormick when two arrows sank into Kormick’s thigh. Spots of blood blossomed on Kormick’s pants. The derro leader was not unscathed—one of Nyoko’s arrows flew past Tavi and hit the snarling leader, along with one of the derro archers beside him—but he was still riding tall. As if Nyoko’s arrows were a cue, another rain of arrows fell with the hail. Two grazed Savina’s arm, and her blood spattered into the underbrush. “No!” Savina cried, desperation ringing in her voice as its sound dissipated in the wind, “no blood in the Spring! We must keep the Spring pure!” [i]Too far, and we can’t hear the prophecy. Too close, and we risk despoiling the Spring. No one said it would be easy,[/i] Tavi thought. [i]Mena would say I’ve trained for this.[/i] He looked over to where Mena was marshaling the dwarves, who were fighting to stay alive. Mena shifted away from the dwarves to guard Rose and listen closely, and then shook her head in frustration. Tavi craned his ears again. [color="blue"]“—to turn the storm—”[/color] As the giant lizards backed away from Twiggy’s ball of fire, Tavi unleashed his [i]flame cyclone[/i], charring the nearest lizard and rider. But most of the lizards remained unscathed and continued to charge, snarling and slashing at Arden and Kormick. They foamed and growled as Arden used her cloak to teleport back toward the pond (and into listening range), and loosed two stones from her sling. A lizard and rider reared back as the stones hit. “Rose!” Tavi yelled. “Get to the other side of the pond!” In a flash, Rose teleported across the pond, farther away from the derro, but still not completely out of danger. There was no such thing. Twiggy’s ball of flame helped to hold off the lizards, but it drew attention to her. The derro leader pointed at her, and she doubled over as Kormick had, in obvious pain. A rider urged his lizard forward and sliced at Twiggy with his poisoned blade. Tavi followed the arc with his eyes as a drop of her blood flew up, across…just wide of the spring. “A little help over here?” Tavi just barely heard Kormick’s voice shouting from a few feet away—and on the slippery ground, he could not move to help. A lizard and rider were bearing down on Kormick, and one of the footsoldiers was rushing his way, too. SLASH. The lizard’s claws raked across his chest. SLICE. The footsoldier’s axe split his side. The Justicar fell to the ground, unconscious, his blood soaking the wet, trampled grass. [/QUOTE]
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A Rose In The Wind: A Saga of the Halmae -- Updated June 19, 2014
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