Barsoom Tales II: Romance, Revolution and BLOODY REVENGE!!! -- COMPLETE

[Avarice]

Actually, in this context, "either" is incorrect. On Barsoom, none of those states are mutually exclusive.

Yeah, I was thinking it was more likely to be: 4) Undead, and plotting to kill you. I guess we'll see soon enough.

Wonderful stuff as always, barsoomcore. I've been wondering, though, how exactly were you handling XP for these guys? It seems like they've been dodging death for a very long time, now, and yet they're still fairly low level.

 

[barsoomcore]

How exactly were you handling XP for these guys? It seems like they've been dodging death for a very long time, now, and yet they're still fairly low level.

They're about 5th level at this point in the story. I eschewed XP entirely for this campaign and just told them when they were levelling up.

By the end of Season Two they're about 8th level, I think.

 

[barsoomcore]

Interlude I

The battleaxe cut off his arm, but the grim black warrior scarcely seemed to notice. He leaned into the descending weapon, ignoring his own sudden dismemberment, and his great scimitar flashed upwards.

As the pale-skinned, bearded man he was fighting collapsed, clutching at his entrails, Laughter of Stones turned.

Before him stood an enormous reptilian creature, rearing up on two legs and with great leathery wings stretching out overhead. Golden scales shimmered in the torchlight. Hissing, it stepped towards the one-armed undead swordsman.

"Fool. No one left alive remembers you. Even your kind embraces us now, and forms alliances with us. For every one of us you kill, you slay dozens of your own."

Laughter held his ground.

"There is nothing but the Oath of Kabbar. You will die, Keyadar. All your kind will die."

"For a thousand years you have hunted us. Put down your sword."

"You know it is impossible. I am 34th of the Scarith Tushan. I swore the Oath and I must maintain its sanctity."

"I am not alone, man of Tushan."

The Keyadar reached out to either side, gesturing, and two Lohanese men stepped forward. They raised their hands and Laughter watched as dark coils of Shadow swirled up around them. He grinned mirthlessly at the Keyadar he had come to kill.

"Nor am I, Keyadar."

The Lohanese men never saw the black-skinned warriors materialize behind them. They were dead without ever realising that they were in danger. The three Scarith Tushan turned on the now-much-less-confident Keyadar.

"My brothers are with me, monster. And we will fulfill the Oath of our king. Tushan Kal Kabbar still rules our fate. And yours."

Deep beneath the surface of Barsoom, an ancient monster died.

*****

"I want the woman."

The dark-haired Gap woman stared hard at her Saijadani host. He leaned back and interlocked his fingers over his broad belly.

"The woman is gone. I have told you. She escaped. She left. Nobody knows where she is."

"You are lying to me, Rodrig."

"What makes you say that?"

"If you had truly lost a prisoner of Pilar del Orofin, you would be dead. Now where is she?"

"If I had truly not lost a prisoner of Pilar del Orofin, and I told you, what makes you think I would be any less dead?"

"I can protect you from Pilar."

The man snorted. Collette de Maynard, once an accountant, leaned forward. She yanked a ring off her finger and threw it at her host. Startled, he caught it and studied it.

"del Maraviez?"

"The woman is a friend of the family's. Tell me now, and I'll pay you handsomely. Tell them later, and the exchange might not be so profitable."

"Who is she?"

"Emmanuelle del Valencia. I've been asked to find her. I'm a friend of her son's."

Rodrig's panic at the thought of being caught in a feud between two of the rival family syndicates that ran Saijadan kept him from noticing the amused smirk with which Collette made that last declaration.

"A good friend."

*****

Kimiko Torokan studied a sheet of parchment and shook her severely-coiffed head.

"Are we sure there's been contact?"

The tubby Hinsuan man seated on the floor before her bowed.

"Most definitely, Blood Mother. One of our agents was in Tallal. There can be no doubt -- it was the Demon Goddess. She appeared friendly with Arrafin."

"We must proceed cautiously."

"Yes, Blood Mother."

"The girl must be made to understand what she is dealing with."

"Yes, Blood Mother."

"Prepare some of the more horrifying stories and have them sent to me. Strictly those that can be verified, mind you. The last thing we want is to send her looking to investigate rumours."

"Yes, Blood Mother."

"And stop calling me that. There hasn't been a Blood Mother in a hundred years. The Demon Goddess saw to that."

"Yes. Madam."

*****

A sloop named Wavereaver swung at anchor in the deep harbour of Pavairelle. Captain Mateo, a young man with a tired face, dangled his legs over the side, staring yearningly at the docks. He looked down as the tender pulled up alongside.

"Ahoy! Anyone going ashore?"

"No. No one's going ashore. No one ever goes ashore."

The tender handler frowned, but turned to his crew and got them to work heaving the ship's cargo into his boat.

Even over the rattle and thump and cursing of the crew as they unloaded, Mateo could clearly hear Natacha's heavy tread as she clomped across the deck to where her captain sat.

He spoke before she could ask.

"Cadençia. Isabella wants us to go to Cadençia. Passengers. Probably in trouble."

Natacha sighed and leaned on the rail next to Mateo. She plucked at a sliver of wood and tugged it free, threw it overboard.

"You know, Captain, if I'd known it was going to work out like this..."

"Don't say it. We have to do what she says, don't we?"

"Isn't thirty years of service enough?"

"You got plans, I'm all ears."

They both sighed.

"I just wish I could go ashore for a day."

"Yeah."

*****

Her name was Rhaeillian. Wherever she walked, flowers bloomed. Birds sang. Children danced.

Eternal Princess of the Tuthean Tarn. Beautiful beyond mortal comprehension. Laughing. Delicate. Surrounded by a riotous court of her subjects, the Tuthean Tarn, freakish creatures of all descriptions and sizes, flying, scampering, hopping and squealing wherever she went.

She accepted their endless grovelling as the natural way of things. Their voices were as the voices of waves on rocks to one who lives by the sea.

Even Ugwyrdin bowed to her. He raised his antlered head.

"SHE has gone. The Beauteous One has left Dannockshire. The little ones are distraught."

Rhaeillian felt a sudden stabbing agony of betrayal. She was not wounded by physical weapons or needs, but by emotions. Their newest love had disappeared. All around her the Court gasped and cried out their dismay. Even those who had never beheld the Beauteous One were in pain.

"Find HER. SHE will return to Shaer one day and when SHE does, we must convince HER to stay."

*****

"Speak once more and I'll do more than... I'll do more."

Madame Yuek studied the remains of her daughter with a deep sort of satisfaction. The girl clearly understood the error of her ways, that much was certain. An elegant ivory finger traced a line up the girl's exposed spinal column, lingering over the long needles that emerged from the bone. Madame Yuek flicked a few of the needles and chuckled as Kani jerked and screamed.

"So lovely."

Her beautiful face glowed with contentment.

The vampire convulsed suddenly, and her happy expression twisted into something akin to horror and rage. She shrieked and hurled a table across the room, storming about in a sudden fury. An assistant failed to dodge from her deranged path and was torn apart by her bare hands. She made a circle around the room and came back to where Kani was bound. Madame Yuek staggered back from her hideously maimed daughter, screaming in terror and clawing at her own face.

Blood sprayed everywhere. Madame Yuek stumbled into a workbench and started as the immense black sword she'd acquired recently fell to the floor. Immediately calm again, she knelt and lifted the weapon. The rends in her face knitted themselves back together, restoring her perfect features in moments.

"It destroys and commands the undead."

"Destroys."

The statuesque woman rammed the hilt of the sword into the stone wall beside her. Stone shattered upon the impact and the hilt drilled inwards, leaving the enormous blade protruding. Without a pause she stepped back and then hurled herself onto the blade.

Madame Yuek screamed. Those servants still in the room collapsed, blood pouring from their ears. Stone walls cracked and shook.

She screamed and screamed and screamed, impaled on the blade. Her blood cascaded onto the stone floor. Black energy firehosed out of her torso, spraying in all directions as she heaved and flailed. Her adopted daughter, immobilized only a few feet away, screamed along with her.

Kani's voice gave out after only half an hour. Madame Yuek went on screaming for much longer, but at long last even she collapsed, motionless, hanging from the blade. The black steel extended from her back a good three feet. The pool of blood at her feet spread across the room.

For long hours Kani hung helpless in her bonds, the intricate tortures of her insane mother still working their agonizing arabesques on her body. What little sanity the girl had left disappeared. In her mind, she saw herself surrounded by endless faces of her gorgeous mother, smiling at her. Loving her.

Kani was finally at peace.

Silence descended over the demolished laboratory.

At last Madame Yuek raised her head. She studied the blade rammed right through her body.

"Well. THAT'S disappointing."

 

[Joshua Randall]

Bump for Blackdirge's latest "pimp a story hour" thread.

And because this story rules.

 

[barsoomcore]

Frying Pan, Fire: 1

The long road to Al-Tizim, across leagues of heat-seared, featureless desert, wound at last through green fields and under spreading fruit trees, filling the air with exotic spices and the promise of cool water. Through gaps in the rows of trees the shining white walls of the ancient city hid its wonders from sight, excepting the highest domes and minarets that sparkled in the afternoon sunshine.

Traffic, for weeks non-existent on the long road from Tallal, now choked the high road with wagons, carts, lowing beasts and chattering merchants.

To say nothing of chattering local guides.

Arrafin had brightened up immeasurably since they'd arrived in the environs of Al-Tizim. She'd been uncharacteristically quiet ever since leaving Tallal, and brushed off her friends' concerns by saying it was just sadness at missing her father, who'd been required to return to the Khadisan's army after the victory in the palace square.

But as they entered the irrigated farmlands surrounding her hometown, the Naridic girl's voice rose up again, detailing histories of the ancient buildings and occasional ruins that lined the road.

"These pillars used to form a great colonnade that stretched all the way to the city gates."

She gestured to indicate the spread of the ancient roof.

"They were raised by Caliph Hidash in 5th Era after the Five Brothers returned to Al-Tizim, to welcome home his son, Hussein the Tall, after the Wars of the Eastern Sudul."

"Fascinating."

Only Isaac bothered to respond to Arrafin's enthusiastic comentary. Zuleika and Etienne had dropped back to walk on their own, apart from the others, just as Nevid and Kaley had pulled away in front of them. Nevid seemed almost eager to get to Al-Tizim before the others.

Elena walked along with Isaac and Arrafin, but she kept her mouth shut and spoke only in quiet grunts. Isaac really wished she'd contribute more to the conversation, but in all honesty he couldn't blame her.

Their trip north had not been a convivial one. The notion that they had sent their enemy Kani to a fate truly worse than death at the well-manicured hands of the vampire Madame Yuek had not sat easily with anyone, and the group formerly of five friends had become instead a group of two couples, a Naridic patriot and two Saijadani who, more and more, were wondering just what the heck they were doing, caught in a war of liberation for a land that wasn't theirs. Splintered, all that seemed to be holding the group together was the narrow road to Al-Tizim.

Isaac wondered what might happen to this group once they reached their destination.

"Oh! And see, that bit of wall emerging from that reservoir? That was destroyed in the assault of the first Khadisan against Caliph Reharr el-Habib."

He hoped it would involve less history.

*****

The gates of Al-Tizim impressed even Etienne.

"Holy big."

The true scale of the gleaming white walls of the city could only be appreciated by understanding that the tiny specks moving along its upper edge were guardsmen, peering down at the road far below. A vast gap in the wall yawned open to admit the hundreds of travellers pouring along the roadway both in and out of the greatest city in the Narid.

Horns skirled, announcing some potentates' passage through the throng. Thousands of voices rose in a helter-skelter babble of pleading, arguing, bargaining, accusing -- a great whirlwind of human activity that swept travellers up and swallowed them without a ripple.

Isaac felt plenty swallowed as they passed through the immense city wall. It was more like a lengthy tunnel, arched high overhead and the stones black with smoke, sweat and dust from centuries of travellers' passage. Kishak guards, tall spears in their left hands and their right hands resting on the hilts of their slim longswords, stood watching the endless stream of humanity pass by.

It was a good reminder that they were not safe here. Al-Tizim was now a Kishak stronghold, under the fist of the Tyrant's Shade, and any attention they attracted to themselves now was sure to cause them trouble down the line.

But they were nearly out of the gate tunnel and soon to disappear into the great faceless mass of the city.

"Why's Nevid going to talk to those guards? Isn't the idea to lie low?"

Isaac watched with a growing sense of doom as Nevid and Kaley came to a stop in front of last guard at the gate, whose shinier accoutrements than the others meant he was more important, Isaac assumed.

The guard listened to Nevid's speech and seemed to take little note, gesturing the Saijadani youth on, but Isaac saw the captain's eyes follow their friend into the crowd. Nevid twisted, looking for the others behind them, and Isaac took hold of Elena and Arrafin to guide them behind a passing cart.

"What? Isaac, what are you doing?"

"We don't want to be Nevid's friends just now. Trust me. Ow. And tell your owl to stop dive-bombing me."

Not until they'd passed out into the vast market that swarmed around the inside of the gate did Isaac allow the cart to rumble by and allow Elena and Arrafin to scan the crowd. They reunited with Etienne and Zuleika first, and Isaac related what he'd seen Nevid doing.

Etienne cursed.

"That dumb kid!"

"Etienne, how old are you?"

"What? I'm just saying."

Zuleika chuckled sourly but pointed down one aisle of stalls and hysterical merchants, all shrieking at passers-by to stop and sample their one-of-a-kind bargains.

"There's Nevid."

Reunited, the seven weary travellers made their way through the thronging streets, following Arrafin's eager directions.

"Here we are. My house."

Arrafin gestured proudly to a two-story house of whitewashed stone and plaster, nestled in a quiet street along with innumerable other identical houses.

Etienne expressed surprise that the door was unlocked, but Arrafin assured him that was the norm around here. Inside the house was surprisingly cool and well-kept, if a bit over-stuffed with books and papers. Every piece of furniture appeared to have been turned over to the job of holding masses of written material.

Many of the documents looked ancient and fragile to Isaac's eye, but Arrafin unconcernedly brushed papers to the floor to find seating for her friends.

"Okay, so here we are. My home."

Etienne nodded.

"It's great. But we should be looking for a way out of town. There's Kishaks everywhere here and it's only a matter of time before they figure out we're around."

"Or maybe they already know. Nevid, what exactly did you tell that gate captain?"

Nevid raised his eyebrows at Isaac's growling question.

"I told them I was a representative of the del Maraviez, and that I would be obliged if I could discuss some matters of great relevance to their commander."

Six pairs of eyes stared at Nevid. Five blinked.

"Why?"

Elena's tone made it clear she doubted there was a reasonable explanation.

Nevid shrugged.

"It might be interesting to find out who's in charge here and what they think of the del Maraviez family. That information could be very useful."

"It could also get us all killed, you little prat."

"Oh, I doubt that."

Only Kaley was still watching Nevid with the same expression she'd started the conversation. The others had all expanded on their facial vocabulary of shock and dismay.

"Did you tell them where we were staying?"

"Of course not. I also told them I was alone."

Elena sighed.

"Well, what's done is done. Hopefully this won't come back to trouble us in the future."

She looked over wryly as Isaac snorted.

"Because when have we ever been troubled by somebody else's bad decision?"

Everyone except Kaley turned to look at Arrafin. The Naridic girl held up her hands.

"I just wanted some more spells. I didn't know crazy vampire women would be involved."

"Hey, I wanted to ask something about that chick. The big Lohanese one."

Zuleika pursed her lips as she considered her question.

"Is she? I mean. She kinda seems. You know. Into you. Kind of beyond friendly, if you know what I mean."

Arrafin frowned.

"No. What? What's so funny, Elena?"

Elena and Zuleika were chuckling at each other while Isaac looked quite horrified at what was being suggested. Etienne stared at Zuleika in confusion, then suddenly his expression cleared.

"You mean Madame Yuek thinks..?"

He snorted. And then his expression cleared for a second time.

"That's kind of hot. I mean."

Elena and Zuleika laughed all the harder.

Arrafin glared at them all, indignant.

"What is so funny?"

*****

The ancient Grand Library of Emir Guran faced onto the plaza of the Fountain of Kings, looking out between the two immense stone banths and across the fountain itself at the Caliph's Palace.

The fountain wasn't all that impressive, actually; a circular pool a hundred paces or so across, with a small pillar in the center from which four jets of water rose up in arcs that met the pool halfway to the edge.

But the age of the entire plaza was obvious. The stones were weathered and incised with runes and iconographs no one any longer knew how to read. The lip of the pool was set with six hundred and twenty-three pink granite blocks, each an armspan across and numbered in seemingly random order, using the ancient numerals of the Karidish language.

Arrafin and Nevid sat at a table in the high-vaulted Reading Room of the Library, pouring over a diagram of the fountain and its outer blocks. They bickered over translation but, Elena assumed, they made progress.

Etienne and Zuleika had gone off to explore the city together, and, presumably, to find a little alone time. Elena didn't begrudge them their romance, though she wondered how long it could last. Zuleika was clearly looking for a replacement husband and somehow Elena didn't think Etienne was the marrying kind.

Isaac was prowling the stacks, to Elena's surprise. Her burly friend harboured a sharper mind than she'd thought way back when they first met, but she was still surprised to find him interested in old books.

Not her. Elena stifled a yawn and managed a smile at an excited explanation from Arrafin about something completely nonsensical.

She thought again of Zuleika and Etienne off having a little romance and wondered ruefully when it might be her turn.

Her thoughts shifted abruptly as she felt her entire body recoil with sudden horror. Shadow. Sorcery. And lots of it. There was a sudden screech from Arrafin's owl and the little bird leapt into the air.

Elena found herself suddenly on her feet, backing away from the swirling darkness that erupted in the midst of the library.

Out of the shadowy cyclone stepped a towering figure of crimson, gold and white white skin. Smiling.

"Oh, no."

"Arrafin, darling. Aren't you pleased to see me?"

"Uh. Yes?"

 

[barsoomcore]

This story rules.

Thanks, man. I'm worried it lacks for action. Insufficient action, I worry.

Worry worry worry.

 

[barsoomcore]

Frying Pan, Fire: 2

"Darling."

"Why are you calling me that? Wait. What are you doing here?"

Elena listened to the exchange between Arrafin and the vampire woman with only half her brain. The other half of her brain was curled up gibbering with fear in some dark corner of her skull.

Madame Yuek radiated power and death. She smiled charmingly, but there was nothing but terror in her presence.

Dimly Elena realised people were screaming and running in all directions away from where she stood.

Nevid crouched behind the table, Kaley huddling beside her.

Arrafin stood facing the statuesque vampire, a single scrawny little figure standing in front of beautiful, sweet-smiling death.

"I've brought you a gift, Arrafin."

"A. Gift?"

"To help you with your magic. I know how it is for mortals -- you're always running out of Shadow to power your spells."

"Yes! Yes, that happened to me in Tallal. Fighting Kani. She. She had too much power."

"Mm. She can carry a good deal of Shadow within her, that one."

"Is she. Okay?"

Madame Yuek laughed delightedly, covering her mouth with one hand.

"Oh, you are a dear thing. Of course. She's fine, Arrafin. In fact, she's my gift."

The half of Elena's brain still listening began to consider joining the other half back in that dark corner.

"What?"

Madame Yuek gestured to the still-swirling Shadow at her back and a figure emerged.

Pale, distended. Stiff. Eyes of dead black. Skin peeled up from flesh and held with long rods and pins.

The thing lurched forward on unsteady legs. Arrafin gasped and stepped back. The little owl on her shoulder squawked and flapped to keep its balance. Horrified eyes widened as Arrafin realised she recognized this thing.

"Kani?"

"Mm, yes. She's much more... tractable this way, isn't she? She was always such a willful girl. Now, observe these pins, Arrafin here, down the spine. Stretch out with your sorcery, girl, and you'll feel it."

Unable to resist the silky voice, so low and rich with amusement and seductive promise, Arrafin studied the exposed bone of Kani's spine, noting how the skin had been peeled away and arranged in delicate, artful patterns, lending an savage, terrifying elegance to the long pins emerging from the unfortunate girl's spinal column.

Arrafin flinched as her sorcerous senses made contact.

Shadow. Oily and black and deadly. Infusing Kani's body.

"What?"

"Think of her as a walking storehouse of Shadow energy, there for you to call on when you need it."

"What?"

"My dear, I believe you're in danger of fainting. Are you quite alright?"

Shaking, Arrafin could only nod.

"Well, I'll leave you then. Can't stay in an undefended place like this for too long, you know."

The vampire sighed, heaving her marble-white bosom dramatically.

"There's always something."

And then Shadow swirled and she was gone.

Leaving Arrafin still shaking, staring at the glorious ruin that had once been Kani.

Elena managed to get to her feet. She approached her friend, trying to keep a healthy distance from the bizarre figure standing nearby.

"Arrafin? Sweetie? Are you okay?"

Big round Naridic eyes turned to Elena. Arrafin pointed.

"That's the most f**ked-up thing I've ever seen."

They both considered Kani. The creature was no longer a woman, no longer resembled a human being. It was a nightmare illustration of agony and terror, rendered all the more horrible by how it just stood there without any indication of life.

Nevid stood abruptly.

"We're leaving."

He and Kaley scrambled out of the room.

Elena and Arrafin were still staring at Kani when Isaac joined them.

"So she's... like a freaky walking Shadow battery?"

"Yeah. Guess so."

"Well, she's been prettier."

*****

The Diamond Spider was, as dangerous and filthy wharfside joints went, both more dangerous and filthier than most. Nevid pushed his way past brooding Naridic soldiers, drowning their shame, boastful Kishaks always clustered together in large groups, Shaeric mercenaries confident and full of boisterous laughter and even sour Saijadani looking out of place and world-weary even here. Many of the patrons eyed Kaley as she clung close to Nevid.

The hulking giant at the bar ignored Nevid's first three attempts to get his attention. The Saijadani glowered and flashed the blue and gold badge on the inside of his cloak. That got the bartender's attention, and they entered into a brief conversation that concluded with the giant jerking his head upwards, indicating a table on the upper level.

Sitting at the table Nevid could see a thin Naridic man in dark leather, drinking alone, watching the crowd. He nodded to the bartender and headed for the stairs.

Over the noise of the crowd, he didn't pick up on the yelling and pushing until the Kishak patrol was right on top of him.

The captain grabbed him and without a word, dragged the young man from the bar.

"We understand you know things of great relevance to our commander. He mentioned your name to the Tyrant's Shade. Guess who's coming to talk to you tonight?"

Nobody thought to look for Kaley. She was nowhere to be seen.

*****

"She's coming. She's coming at last."

Nevid heard a voice not his own emerge from his throat.

"This is madness. She's too powerful, Keiko. Don't attempt this."

A Lohanese woman sneered at him.

"You've grown soft, old woman. We know what's really been happening. She has no idea what to expect."

"Don't. Don't do it."

Nevid realised he had no idea what language he was speaking.

"There. She comes."

Keiko wore the crimson robes of the Blood Council. She pointed and Nevid felt himself turn to look.

He stood on a tower, he realised. Below him spread a vast city, completely unfamiliar to him. Beyond the city walls, across a wide, slow-moving river, rose a range of hills divided into narrow plots. Atop the nearest hill he could just make out a distant figure of red and gold.

"No."

"We have the Imperial Army, Kwan. And the might of the entire Blood Council. Your own silence has seen to our involvement."

"It won't be enough. We're all going to die."

"The Council always survives, Kwan."

"No, I mean we're ALL going to die. The world is going to end, Keiko. You don't understand what she is."

The distant figure approached, sailing directly through the air towards the city. Nevid saw ranks of soldiers arrayed outside the city walls.

Some command must have been given. From the army, a cloud rose, thousands of arrows converging on that single figure. And these arrows had been enchanted by the most powerful magic of the Blood Council. The arrows met and the air tore itself apart in fire and fury, engulfing that distant figure in a mid-air cataclysm.

And again.

The sound of the explosions reached Nevid. He felt heat ripple on his face. The army was falling back now, unable to withstand the intensity of the sorcerous destruction overhead.

The explosions roiled on, still nearing the city, still hammering that figure, tearing it to shreds. Shreds that burned and flew apart and began to float to the ground, where dark circles told of the potency of the Blood Council's sorcery.

The air was still.

Nevid felt his head shake from side to side, even as Keiko laughed in triumph.

"You don't understand."

"What? She is destroyed, Kwan. You were wrong. Shang was wrong."

"No, Keiko."

The motion caught his eye, and Nevid turned back to where the figure had been destroyed. An enormous blast of earth and rock knocked Nevid flat.

He staggered to his feet and peered back at where a vast, smoking crater told of the enormity of the explosion they'd just witnessed. Vast sprays of earth disappeared beyond the hills, launched upwards hundreds if not thousands of feet into the air. Faintly he heard the impacts as boulders the size of houses plunged into the city.

At first he thought the wave of twisting smoke radiating out from the crater's edge was flame. He realised, without knowing how he realised it, that he was watching the souls of the people of Zuyang, torn from their bodies by the pure rage of unchecked Shadow. A great dark cloud began to form overhead.

"You haven't destroyed her."

Thousands died as he spoke. The wave of death expanded outwards. Behind it, buildings exploded into dust, paving stones blasted up hundreds of feet into the air, walls blew apart, and behind it all, the terrible terrible screaming of a young girl's tantrum.

"You've just made her angry."

*****

"They've taken him away. Me lad. They've taken him. I canna follow. Ye've got ta help."

Isaac tried to guide the frantic, shaking Kaley to one of the chairs in Arrafin's living room. The girl had appeared before them, materializing in a bizarre shower of brilliant, multi-coloured sparks, and she hadn't stopped begging them to help Nevid since.

Elena sneered.

"Dumb kid has no one to blame but himself. Let him rot overnight."

"Oh, no, ye must help the poor lad. I'm begging ye."

Arrafin raised a hand.

"Should we be, you know, moving? Nevid knows where we are."

Isaac shook his head. He turned to Kaley.

"Do you know where they took him?"

"Aye. The big place with the golden domes. Yonder the plaza ye were at today."

"Right. Of course."

Everyone sighed in unison.

"So we'll just break into the Caliph's Palace and spring him from the royal dungeons, then, shall we? Excellent."

"Oh, thank ye. Ye're ever so kind."

"Right. Of course."

 

[barsoomcore]

For those who are curious, Zuleika looks like this:

 

[barsoomcore]

Frying Pan, Fire: 3

"So, here we are..."

"Here we are..."

"...breaking into the Caliph's Palace..."

"...breaking into the Caliph's Palace..."

"...to rescue the dumb-ass who gave his name to the Kishaks so they could come and arrest him."

Elena did not repeat Isaac's whispered words this time. She pointed silently down into the garden where a pair of guards patrolled. The Kishak warriors disappeared behind a tall fern and the two Saijadani dropped down from the top of the wall.

Not in total silence. Elena's foot crunched on some twigs and the guards whirled, spears at the ready, and closed in on where she and Isaac crouched.

"Come on out of there. We know you're in there. We won't hurt you."

"We will."

The guards turned in surprise as Etienne emerged from a rhododendron behind them. One collapsed, clutching at his throat, and the other drew breath to scream.

Zuleika's scimitar lashed out and his head rolled down the garden path to where Elena and Isaac straightened up. They watched as Zuleika, her face twisted with anger, delivered another two-handed blow to the corpse of the Kishak guard at her feet.

Etienne touched the woman's arm and they stared at each other for a second. Zuleika nodded.

"Clear."

Isaac ran back to the garden wall and tossed one end of a rope over. He felt it tug and began hauling.

Kani's creepy weird body/corpse/thing appeared at the top of the wall and, mastering his disgust, Isaac lowered it to the garden path. He tossed the rope back and soon Arrafin stood next to the nasty "gift" she'd received from Madame Yuek.

"You know, Arrafin, I'm not so sure studying sorcery is a great idea."

Arrafin scowled, one hand stroking the soft feathers of her owl familiar.

"Let's find him and get out of here. Gral is sure something bad is coming. Come on, Kani. Come with me."

Watching that thing obey Arrafin's instructions and walk along behind her was by far the creepiest thing Isaac had seen in.

He shook his head sourly.

In hours, at least.

"So, here we are..."

"Here we are..."

"...letting one friend lose her own soul in order to rescue another."

"Yeah."

Elena managed a grin at her old friend.

"We can't let her go alone, now can we?"

"Oh, no. Can't have that."

*****

To everyone's surprise, Arrafin knew the layout of the Caliph's palace rather well. She had picked the Lesser Fern Garden as their point of entry as it led into the Old Wing, where the Kishaks had situated their City Barracks, and where rumour had it most "political prisoners" were held.

Gral swooped down the dark hall ahead of the little band of rescuers, and the others watched Arrafin for indication as to which way to go. The slender Naridic girl pointed.

"There's two guards just around that corner."

Etienne nodded and he and Isaac drifted forward in silence. They stepped around the corner and after a moment, Etienne leaned back and waved them forward.

They moved down the narrow hallway, careful to step lightly on the polished flagstones. Two Kishaks sprawled on the floor in spreading pools of blood. Arrafin considered for a second, then pointed again.

"This way. There's a locked door and a room full of guards."

"How many?"

"More than two. Gral can't count very high."

Zuleika snickered.

"That's okay, neither can Etienne."

"Hey!"

"Shush. The guards we've already killed will be found soon enough. Let's move."

The group followed Isaac's advice. They burst into a guardroom of dark stone, low ceilings and rough wooden furniture. Kishak soldiers leapt to their feet and drew steel.

Isaac, Zuleika and Etienne were first in. Isaac spun off to the left and feinted high at the guard still getting up, and when he raised his longsword to block, the Saijadani's heavy blade came swooping down to slam into his stomach. The Kishak groaned and collapsed across a table. Zuleika whirled her scimitar overhead and kicked out, knocking a chair at one guard while she chopped down right through the parry of another, her weapon shearing through collarbone and shoulder in a spray of blood.

Etienne took advantage of flying furniture to thrust one of his longknives into the distracted guard's kidney, and as that soldier dropped to his knees, screaming and clutching at his side, the half-breed spun low, ducking a wild strike and coming up underneath, planting his other blade up into the ribcage of his second opponent.

Elena fired her crossbow down the length of the room, catching the guard nearest the far door in the face with an explosive burst of bone fragments and blood.

Still, another six or seven guards filled half the room, no longer off guard but forming up into a tightly coordinated group. Isaac pushed forward but one effective parry and another dangerous counter-thrust sent him stumbling back just barely staying clear. Zuleika showed even less caution and took a deep cut to her leg before breaking off.

Elena yanked at her crossbow to reload it but looked up as two figures strolled past her. Arrafin led Kani into the room.

The Naridic girl ran a hand up the forest of pins that emerged from Kani's flayed back. Arrafin shuddered with easy flow of Shadow energy that came spilling out of Madame Yuek's gift, but she began her spell and all else passed from her mind.

Flagstones at her feet erupted in a deafening explosion of dust and stone, which then ripped forward, hurling furniture and bodies aside and blasting right through the iron door where the Kishak guards had taken their stand.

Zuleika reeled from the sudden thunder, but both Isaac and Etienne plunged forward to take advantage of the stupefied guards. Elena just stared at Arrafin. Her friend was grinning with delighted glee at the aftermath of her spell. She turned to Elena.

"It worked! Wow, that was really something, wasn't it? Did you see that?"

"Yeah. Saw it. Heard it, too. And so did the whole palace, I'm sure. Zuleika, wait. I want to try something."

Elena put her hand on Zuleika's leg and concentrated. She grunted as a wound on her own leg suddenly opened, even as Zuleika's leg healed. She recalled seeing this happen on the body of that ancient undead warrior, Laughter of Stones.

As Zuleika stood up, shocked, Elena turned her attention to herself, and willed her body to repair itself. Flesh knitted and skin sealed itself and, with only a certain fatigue to tell her anything had happened, Elena got to her feet.

"That'll come in handy with you lot, I'm sure."

The group scrambled past bleeding and torn bodies and into the dark hall beyond.

*****

Nevid had always assumed that his imaginative pictures of dungeon cells would turn out to be wrong, but no. The Caliph of Al-Tizim, at any rate, went in for the standard stone walls and single iron-clad door with a small barred window at face height.

He sat on the bench and sighed. Isabella would be so disappointed with him.

A blue, flickering light shone through the barred window. Whatever it was, it moved, sending rectangles of light sweeping across the cell walls. Nevid got to his feet and was about to rush to the window when a sudden mechanical clattering stopped him.

He'd heard that sound before. It sounded like nothing so much as an enormous metallic spider.

A harsh, grating voice snarled something in no language Nevid had ever heard. Cringing replies and slapping footsteps told of a good-sized group outside. Echoing bangs and clangs reverberated down the hall outside.

They were banging on the doors of the cells.

Looking for someone.

A sudden memory of an elderly Lohanese man sitting in the midst of articulated metal arms came to Nevid. He shuddered and with a quick motion, ran to the wall where the door stood, crouching down so he could not be seen from the window.

The clanging grew louder. Somebody screamed in Naridic, and there was a sudden eruption of voices and struggle. The screaming rose up higher, frantic. Butcher shop noises filled the hallway and the screaming cut off. Laughter, and then that harsher voice, snarling out commands.

With a distant rumble dust drifted down from the ceiling. Nevid looked up with a frown. It seemed the noise had startled the interlopers outside as they paused in their searching. It was only a matter of moments before they came to Nevid's cell. They would see it was locked and they would know somebody was in there.

Nevid ran over his options. They were few enough.

The cell next door was thrown open, the iron door banging against the wall. Somebody heaved against Nevid's door. Voices chattering. That strange blue light shone more brightly through the window and Nevid could hear breathing, angry voices. The Saijadani youth huddled down against the wall, willing the searchers to move on to the next cell, to assume somebody accidentally locked an empty cell, to leave and not notice him.

But no.

Some terrific force thundered against the door and it tore open with a spray of rock and dust. Nevid choked and then struggled as cold hands grasped his arms. Despite his heaving and wrenching, he was dragged out into the hall.

Before him sneered Matai Shang, the wizened sorcerer who sat in a bizarre array of mechanical limbs. He who had fought the dread vampire Madame Yuek toe-to-toe and not been immediately turned into a pile of dust. He looked five thousand years old. And very, very unhappy.

That ancient face leaned forward. He spoke in halting Imperial Kishak.

"I need your brain."

Nevid couldn't think of a thing to say. To his surprise, however, somebody else answered.

"I wouldn't bother. It doesn't seem to work very well."

Cringing minions turned to gape down the hall behind their master. Shang himself levered himself around to look at who had spoken. At last Nevid, realising he was unattended to, leaned to his right to see past Shang.

At the far end of the hall stood Isaac, fists on his hips, and with him Arrafin, Etienne, Zuleika and Elena, with varying degrees of confidence on their faces.

Arrafin waved.

"Hi, Nevid. We're here to rescue you."

Shang gestured. His impatience sent minions scuttling forward.

"I will attend to you once I have what I came for."

Shang turned back to Nevid.

But Nevid had gone.

Isaac and Elena sighed.

"So, here we are..."

"Here we are..."

 

[barsoomcore]

Frying Pan, Fire: 4

Arrafin didn't wait for Shang's minions to reach her; she closed her eyes and with her sorcerous senses took hold of Kani, shuddering as Shadow's dark power flooded into her, kissing up her spine with its cold fury. It was so easy, now, with Madame Yuek's bizarre "gift" of her former apprentice to provide her with the energy her spell needed.

Her eyes snapped open and she pointed. Flagstones ripped upwards in deafening explosions and minions pinwheeled into the walls.

"I guess we're fighting this guy."

Isaac sighed as he drew his heavy blade. Etienne tumbled by, knives flashing, with Zuleika charging behind him. Elena's crossbow went off and he heard a sharp twang as the bolt deflected away from Matai Shang's head.

The ancient sorcerer didn't seem to notice; he was too engrossed in demolishing walls back there. Isaac shrugged and moved forward.

*****

Nevid huddled against a cell wall, once again hoping with little hope that he would not be found. He heard explosions and screams from out in the hall, and a hideous snarling that had to be Shang himself.

Searching for him.

For his brain.

Nevid shook with terror and hugged himself, leaning against stone and trying to keep his breathing quiet, even though the cellblock echoed with screams and the ring of steel. He heard Isaac cursing the way he always did in battle, and a shrieking warcry he had come to recognize as Zuleika's, and he knew his friends were out there fighting a sorcerer who could at least hold his own against the vampire Madame Yuek.

They weren't going to last twelve seconds. They were his friends.

Nevid took a deep breath and stepped out into the hall.

*****

At first Isaac figured they had a chance. Guys in funny robes and funny hats came at them with a lot of enthusiasm, but not much skill and two were writhing at his feet before he'd even had time to get worried.

Matai Shang, his sprawling mechanical legs clattering, seemed engrossed in whatever he was up to back there, and unconcerned with his servants' inability to fight. Isaac stepped around twitching bodies and confronted yet another minion.

This fellow stood notably taller than the others, nearly as tall as Isaac himself, and he sneered as the Saijadani approached.

Isaac saw Etienne leaping in from behind and raised his sword.

"I don't know if you understand me, but you better get going if you don't want to end up like your friends."

The minion laughed. Isaac frowned.

Etienne saw his opening and darted forward, reaching in with one of his long knives for the kidney.

Isaac was watching carefully and he still had trouble seeing it happen. Etienne, overconfident and already thinking about the kill after this one, never saw it coming.

Feet planted, the Lohanese man twisted with one arm outstretched and backhanded Etienne across the face. The half-Kishak's legs flew out from under him and he sailed backwards. Before he'd struck the flagstones, the Lohanese man thrust a hand out palmfirst and caught Zuleika as she was charging from the other side and she, too, sprawled back. A knife, curved and nasty, appeared in the man's hand and Isaac had to stumble backwards from a sudden thrust.

"Whoa."

The knife came at him, above, below, looping around his guard, and Isaac scrambled to defend himself. He managed a parry on the outside edge of his sword and quickly reversed his blade, slamming the big hilt into his opponent's face. Blood sprayed and the man snarled.

And changed. Isaac leapt back as the man's snarl dropped an octave and became the bestial roar of an angry beast. Skin darkened, toughened and fingers lengthened into talons. A Lohanese face distorted, fangs and horns and long, reptilian jaws thrusting out. And he got bigger. A lot bigger, especially when leathery wings burst from his shoulders.

Etienne stumbled over to where Isaac was still staring.

"It's possible we underestimated this one."

*****

Elena growled with frustration at her own uselessness as she watched her friends struggle against the sudden appearance of some sort of dragon.

"Great."

She gritted her teeth against the sudden surge of stabbing pain in her skull and pushed her will at the creature now looming over Isaac. Something inside her bowed and gave way and she reeled as a wave of formless energy leapt at the draconic figure, lighting the entire prison hall in sudden cold illumination.

It roared and gave back a step or two. Isaac, Etienne and Zuleika scrambled back to where Arrafin and Elena stood, all of them wide-eyed with restrained panic. Arrafin hurled her arms outwards and another blast of stone and dust exploded the length of the hall. She sagged and only Isaac's strong arm kept her from collapsing to the floor.

"I'm real sorry about Nevid, but we have to get out of here. Oh, look, there's another one turning into a monster."

Zuleika tugged at Etienne, trying to convince the half-Kishak to leave. Etienne pointed.

"Look. It's Nevid."

At the far end of the hall a solitary figure stood in slumped surrender.

They heard Shang laugh, a brutal, mocking sound, as his mechanical legs skittered and clanked and carried him towards the Saijadani youth. The two dragon-things faced the small group at the opposite end of the hall, taloned feet thumping heavily on the torn flagstones.

Arrafin drew more power from Kani, this time channelling it into a spell that threw flashes of black energy at their foes. To no effect. She tried again. Still they came forward.

Once more Arrafin drew on the store of Shadow in Kani's mutilated body, but to her surprise there was no more. Frowning, the Naridic girl turned to look at Kani.

Where the bizarre undead-or-whatever-it-was version of Kani had stood there was only a smouldering pile of ashes. Horror filled Arrafin's wide eyes as she realised she'd killed the girl. Or whatever it was.

"Oh, God. Oh, God. What have I done?"

"Put an end to her suffering, most like," growled Isaac, "which puts her ahead of us, it would seem."

Arrafin shook her head, fluffy curls bouncing, and fell to her knees.

"Oh, God."

She twitched as sudden explosions told of Isaac abandoning the need to be quiet and firing his pistols at their approaching foes. His curses made it clear they'd had little effect.

"Damnit. Elena, can you help Nevid?"

"I'll try. I'm going to need. Some time."

Arrafin looked up to see Isaac nod, grim and resolute. The big Saijadani chewed at his cigar and turned to face the draconic monsters with his sword held low at one side.

"We'll do what we can."

*****

Nevid looked up as Shang neared him. The ancient figure in the midst of the bizarre apparatus sneered and cackled and spoke in some language Nevid didn't understand.

The Saijadani held up his hands.

"Please don't hurt my friends."

The hall filled with black swirling tendrils that he recognized as sorcery unleashed. At first he thought Shang had begun whatever terrible spell was going to devour his brain, but the look of shock and dismay on the wizened Tianese man's face made him reconsider.

*****

"Keyad'ar. Now we see you."

Elena, Isaac, Etienne and Zuleika all stepped back as black forms rose out of the blasted floor. Tall black-skinned men of immense physiques, with equally huge scimitars in their hands.

The dragons reacted with confusion and dismay, rearing back and snarling at the three newcomers. Who wasted no time but raised their weapons and walked forward.

Talons and blades met and flesh tore. Blood hissed on the shattered stones of the hall's floor.

Isaac spoke for the rest.

"Huh?"

*****

Nevid stared as Shang whirled and shrieked at the sight of the three black men attacking his dragon-people. Another wave of sorcerous energy erupted and Shang disappeared even as his monstrous minions fell back, their bodies torn and hacked to pieces by their implacable enemies.

For a moment the hall shook with screams and terrible butcher noises as those heavy blades sank again and again into draconic flesh. At last those came to an end.

Elena gestured and scowled and Nevid scrambled past the end of the slaughter to where his friends stood.

They remained standing as those dark figures turned. All three seemed identical. Elena coughed.

"Laughter of Stones? Is that you?"

One of the figures bowed. Zuleika frowned at her friends. Etienne whispered a quick explanation.

"We met him earlier. He's an undead warrior who kills dragons."

"Oh, well, that explains everything."

The man who had bowed stepped forward. Elena was surprised to see him smile.

"I am pleased to see you again, friends. It seems we share an enemy."

"Yeah. What?"

"Matai Shang hides the Keyad'ar from us. Until they leave his fortresses we cannot sense them."

"Oh."

In the silence that had suddenly fallen across the hall, distant alarms became audible.

Elena smiled back at Laughter.

"Do you think you could, uh, get us out of here? Like last time?"

He bowed again.

"It would be my honour. Where do you wish to go?"

Arrafin came forward and waved.

"Hi, Laughter. Can you take us to my house? It's not far."

"Of course. Step nearer."

*****

Dark swirling tendrils filled the empty parlour for a moment, and then figures emerged from the floor. One bowed and disappeared. The others looked around, and started at the sight of a tall Lohanese woman in a forbidding crimson gown.

"Sister Torokan. Hi."

The Lohanese woman bowed.

"We have to talk."