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Barsoom Tales II: Romance, Revolution and BLOODY REVENGE!!! -- COMPLETE
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<blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 3636623" data-attributes="member: 812"><p><strong>Another Fine Mess: 1</strong></p><p></p><p>Arrafin held her breath.</p><p></p><p>Her huge round eyes widened even more than usual as she concentrated. She knew she had to relax, to open some non-existent portal inside herself. She didn't know exactly what would happen, but she'd prepared.</p><p></p><p>She'd studied. She'd read the translation provided by Blood Sister Kimiko Torokan, read and re-read and made notes on and sat up late nights as the ship heaved around her, ignoring her sea-sickness as she puzzled at the devious passages and strange mathematical formulae that filled page after page in the Blood Sister's neat handwriting.</p><p></p><p>She'd made the figure. Bound of twigs and twine, it was a crude humanoid form, only a couple of handspans from head to toe, lying on the floor in the middle of her tiny cabin. </p><p></p><p>She'd investigated. Although Arrafin's specialities at university had been history and language, all students at the University of Al-Tizim were expected to excel in all subjects, and mathematics had come easily to the quick-witted girl. Her skills were stretched to the limits as she tried to comprehend the complex notation and strange equations in the ancient text, but in the end she was pretty sure she'd gotten it figured out.</p><p></p><p>She hoped. All indications were that whatever she was about to attempt, it was deadly. The text was filled with dire imprecations and warnings of terror and horror and madness and pain and death.</p><p></p><p>She tried to relax.</p><p></p><p>Inside her, outside her, something opened. Something emerged. Something <em>leaked</em> into existence.</p><p></p><p>For less than a heartbeat, Arrafin felt panic. Her spine shuddered with cold darkness and an empty, gaping hunger that roared to life inside her. Her wide eyes crawled with blackness and shadowy tendrils roiled outward from where she sat on her narrow cot. They licked at the floor and spread in a circle around her, drifting right through the partition walls of her cabin.</p><p></p><p>For less than a heartbeat, panic pushed into Arrafin's brain. She began turning the complex equations over, solving them for the values that rose up, unbidden, in her mind. The concentration required, the intricate patterns that appeared within her consciousness, consumed her utterly and panic slid aside, driven out by the cold perfection of mathematics.</p><p></p><p>Outside, the night-time darkness hid the strange shadows, and the crew went about their business unaware of the supernatural events taking place below.</p><p></p><p>*****</p><p></p><p>Isaac leaned on the stern rail, staring off into the dusk. Next to him, Elena did the same. Around and above them, the crew of <em>Thuria's Dream</em> bustled about making the ship ready for the coming night.</p><p></p><p>Elena voiced her troubled thoughts.</p><p></p><p>"Why are we working for these people?"</p><p></p><p>"Who? The del Maraviez family? You mean besides the fact that they're rich, powerful, well-connected and completely ruthless?"</p><p></p><p>"Yeah. Besides all that."</p><p></p><p>Isaac turned around and leaned back against the rail. Elena looked up at her friend, curious at his sudden silence.</p><p></p><p>Isaac was not the most handsome man she'd ever seen. His face was blocky and his nose appeared to have been broken at some point in the past. He scowled constantly, usually chewing on the dog-end of an old cigar. He was powerfully built with broad shoulders and large hands, but Elena knew he was capable of moving with stealth and silence.</p><p></p><p>He looked across the ship to the far horizon where the setting sun blazed in its final, bloody fury of the day.</p><p></p><p>"I owe them a lot, Elena."</p><p></p><p>He chewed his cigar.</p><p></p><p>"My family was destroyed by the del Orofin family. My father was convicted of treason and executed. I was sent to prison. Even that wasn't enough for them. They sent a man into the mines to kill me. I got away.</p><p></p><p>"When I got back to my family's estate, the house had been looted, and the property was tied up in some sort of legal mess. I was still a fugitive, an escaped prisoner, so I couldn't even look into it. My mother was gone. I never found out what happened to her.</p><p></p><p>"Isabella contacted me in Mataleo. She knew the whole story, she knew the del Orofin had managed the whole thing so they could get their hands on Father's trade concessions in Caedmon. She kept the law off my back, put money in my purse."</p><p></p><p>Isaac shrugged.</p><p></p><p>"So I work for her now."</p><p></p><p>Elena studied him for a second, then turned back to the water. She was a solidly-built young woman, with the same Saijadani darkness to her features and skin as Isaac, and like him, tended to scowl most of the time. Around her eyes she appeared to have a delicate tattoo filigreed into her skin.</p><p></p><p>They stood in scowl-faced silence for a while as the ship heaved and creaked around them.</p><p></p><p>"Do you trust her?"</p><p></p><p>Isaac considered.</p><p></p><p>"I don't know if I think she's always honest, but I don't think she would betray us. I definitely don't think she'd betray us to the Kishaks."</p><p></p><p>"Lying is a form of betrayal, Isaac. Or Philip. Or Dominic."</p><p></p><p>"Dominic, if you please. We might as well try to maintain the fiction. The del Maraviez went to a lot of trouble to set it up."</p><p></p><p>"But who knows what they're really up to?"</p><p></p><p>"Ah, you're too suspicious. Why wouldn't the del Maraviez want to help Naridic rebels against the Kishaks? We've fought those red bastards before, you know. If we don't stop them in the Narid, who's to say they won't invade Saijadan again?"</p><p></p><p>Elena's scowl deepened.</p><p></p><p>"I don't trust them."</p><p></p><p>"I don't trust anybody."</p><p></p><p>Elena's eyes flicked over to Isaac, or Dominic as he was now called, then returned to studying the red-flecked waves around them.</p><p></p><p>"I don't trust them."</p><p></p><p>*****</p><p></p><p>"The coastline all along the nor' coast of the desert 'tis nothing but shoals and sandbars, me lad. We'll no get this deep-bellied lass within two miles o' the shore, I'm telling ye."</p><p></p><p>The captain of <em>Thuria's Dream</em>, O'Shannon, was a Shaeric ex-mercenary whose past had proved every bit as ill-starred and chequered as Nevid had expected of a gun-running smuggler willing to dodge Kishak galleys for a promise of gold. He and Nevid studied a hand-drawn chart of the southern coast of the Inner Sea, where the calm green waters met the endless sand dunes of the great desert of the Narid.</p><p></p><p>Nevid shrugged. Nautical details were of no interest to the small, serious-looking Saijadani youth.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, well, you have a rowboat or something to take us ashore? With the rifles?"</p><p></p><p>"Aye, that we have, lad. But should ye find trouble, we'll no be able to provide assistance, that's what I'm saying."</p><p></p><p>"I don't anticipate any trouble, sir."</p><p></p><p>Captain O'Shannon considered the confident young man.</p><p></p><p>"Ye've not done this afore, have ye?"</p><p></p><p>Nevid was about to respond when a shriek came from out on the deck. Nevid moved faster than the captain and saw the source of the trouble right away.</p><p></p><p>A small figure was walking across the deck with stiff, awkward movements, like an ill-handled puppet. Apparently formed of twigs or sticks the figure made its unsteady way towards Nevid.</p><p></p><p>Mastering his astonishment, Nevid looked down the length of the ship to where Arrafin stood, eyes wide, watching the figure with obvious awe and delight.</p><p></p><p>The figure reached Nevid. Sailors all around withdrew, muttering dark curses and dire warnings. The crudely-fashioned head tilted up at him and one arm lifted to wave, back and forth. The twigs rustled and snapped as it moved.</p><p></p><p>Nevid looked around at the fearful faces and groaned inwardly. The sailors were horrified at the sight. They'd never seen anything like it before. </p><p></p><p>The young Saijadani raised a foot and brought it down on the little waving figure, stomping it savagely until the bundles came untied and fell apart, leaving just inert sticks scattered across the deck boards.</p><p></p><p>Arrafin cried out in hurt anger.</p><p></p><p>"Nevid!"</p><p></p><p>The Saijdani stormed over to her and took her thin arm.</p><p></p><p>"Arrafin, what are you thinking? These sailors will think you're a witch or worse! Think for once, why don't you!"</p><p></p><p>Arrafin glared at her colleague for a second and then shook herself free of his hand and raced into her cabin, slamming the door behind her. Nevid shook his head as Isaac and Elena joined him.</p><p></p><p>"Honestly, she's got to think. She can't just be... casting spells."</p><p></p><p>Isaac took the cigar out of his mouth.</p><p></p><p>"On the other hand, she's casting spells."</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, well, that frightens me, too."</p><p></p><p>Etienne had been in the rigging, trying to learn how to navigate by the Sentinels, and arrived with a thump.</p><p></p><p>"What's all the fuss? Hey, who dumped those sticks all over the deck?"</p><p></p><p>*****</p><p></p><p>In her cabin, curled up on her narrow cot, Arrafin hugged herself, outrage and hurt feelings quickly replaced with a fierce, exultant joy. It worked. Sorcery worked. And she could do it. She could learn this wild physics. And while animating tiny figures might seem a small accomplishment, Arrafin's quick mind raced into the future, seeing possibilities opening up before her.</p><p></p><p>Her homeland need not suffer for all time under the yoke of Kishak oppression. Her people could rise up and take back their freedom, no matter how many legions the Tyrant's Shade threw into the desert. They could win.</p><p></p><p>If someone would lead them. Someone with power.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="barsoomcore, post: 3636623, member: 812"] [b]Another Fine Mess: 1[/b] Arrafin held her breath. Her huge round eyes widened even more than usual as she concentrated. She knew she had to relax, to open some non-existent portal inside herself. She didn't know exactly what would happen, but she'd prepared. She'd studied. She'd read the translation provided by Blood Sister Kimiko Torokan, read and re-read and made notes on and sat up late nights as the ship heaved around her, ignoring her sea-sickness as she puzzled at the devious passages and strange mathematical formulae that filled page after page in the Blood Sister's neat handwriting. She'd made the figure. Bound of twigs and twine, it was a crude humanoid form, only a couple of handspans from head to toe, lying on the floor in the middle of her tiny cabin. She'd investigated. Although Arrafin's specialities at university had been history and language, all students at the University of Al-Tizim were expected to excel in all subjects, and mathematics had come easily to the quick-witted girl. Her skills were stretched to the limits as she tried to comprehend the complex notation and strange equations in the ancient text, but in the end she was pretty sure she'd gotten it figured out. She hoped. All indications were that whatever she was about to attempt, it was deadly. The text was filled with dire imprecations and warnings of terror and horror and madness and pain and death. She tried to relax. Inside her, outside her, something opened. Something emerged. Something [i]leaked[/i] into existence. For less than a heartbeat, Arrafin felt panic. Her spine shuddered with cold darkness and an empty, gaping hunger that roared to life inside her. Her wide eyes crawled with blackness and shadowy tendrils roiled outward from where she sat on her narrow cot. They licked at the floor and spread in a circle around her, drifting right through the partition walls of her cabin. For less than a heartbeat, panic pushed into Arrafin's brain. She began turning the complex equations over, solving them for the values that rose up, unbidden, in her mind. The concentration required, the intricate patterns that appeared within her consciousness, consumed her utterly and panic slid aside, driven out by the cold perfection of mathematics. Outside, the night-time darkness hid the strange shadows, and the crew went about their business unaware of the supernatural events taking place below. ***** Isaac leaned on the stern rail, staring off into the dusk. Next to him, Elena did the same. Around and above them, the crew of [i]Thuria's Dream[/i] bustled about making the ship ready for the coming night. Elena voiced her troubled thoughts. "Why are we working for these people?" "Who? The del Maraviez family? You mean besides the fact that they're rich, powerful, well-connected and completely ruthless?" "Yeah. Besides all that." Isaac turned around and leaned back against the rail. Elena looked up at her friend, curious at his sudden silence. Isaac was not the most handsome man she'd ever seen. His face was blocky and his nose appeared to have been broken at some point in the past. He scowled constantly, usually chewing on the dog-end of an old cigar. He was powerfully built with broad shoulders and large hands, but Elena knew he was capable of moving with stealth and silence. He looked across the ship to the far horizon where the setting sun blazed in its final, bloody fury of the day. "I owe them a lot, Elena." He chewed his cigar. "My family was destroyed by the del Orofin family. My father was convicted of treason and executed. I was sent to prison. Even that wasn't enough for them. They sent a man into the mines to kill me. I got away. "When I got back to my family's estate, the house had been looted, and the property was tied up in some sort of legal mess. I was still a fugitive, an escaped prisoner, so I couldn't even look into it. My mother was gone. I never found out what happened to her. "Isabella contacted me in Mataleo. She knew the whole story, she knew the del Orofin had managed the whole thing so they could get their hands on Father's trade concessions in Caedmon. She kept the law off my back, put money in my purse." Isaac shrugged. "So I work for her now." Elena studied him for a second, then turned back to the water. She was a solidly-built young woman, with the same Saijadani darkness to her features and skin as Isaac, and like him, tended to scowl most of the time. Around her eyes she appeared to have a delicate tattoo filigreed into her skin. They stood in scowl-faced silence for a while as the ship heaved and creaked around them. "Do you trust her?" Isaac considered. "I don't know if I think she's always honest, but I don't think she would betray us. I definitely don't think she'd betray us to the Kishaks." "Lying is a form of betrayal, Isaac. Or Philip. Or Dominic." "Dominic, if you please. We might as well try to maintain the fiction. The del Maraviez went to a lot of trouble to set it up." "But who knows what they're really up to?" "Ah, you're too suspicious. Why wouldn't the del Maraviez want to help Naridic rebels against the Kishaks? We've fought those red bastards before, you know. If we don't stop them in the Narid, who's to say they won't invade Saijadan again?" Elena's scowl deepened. "I don't trust them." "I don't trust anybody." Elena's eyes flicked over to Isaac, or Dominic as he was now called, then returned to studying the red-flecked waves around them. "I don't trust them." ***** "The coastline all along the nor' coast of the desert 'tis nothing but shoals and sandbars, me lad. We'll no get this deep-bellied lass within two miles o' the shore, I'm telling ye." The captain of [i]Thuria's Dream[/i], O'Shannon, was a Shaeric ex-mercenary whose past had proved every bit as ill-starred and chequered as Nevid had expected of a gun-running smuggler willing to dodge Kishak galleys for a promise of gold. He and Nevid studied a hand-drawn chart of the southern coast of the Inner Sea, where the calm green waters met the endless sand dunes of the great desert of the Narid. Nevid shrugged. Nautical details were of no interest to the small, serious-looking Saijadani youth. "Yes, well, you have a rowboat or something to take us ashore? With the rifles?" "Aye, that we have, lad. But should ye find trouble, we'll no be able to provide assistance, that's what I'm saying." "I don't anticipate any trouble, sir." Captain O'Shannon considered the confident young man. "Ye've not done this afore, have ye?" Nevid was about to respond when a shriek came from out on the deck. Nevid moved faster than the captain and saw the source of the trouble right away. A small figure was walking across the deck with stiff, awkward movements, like an ill-handled puppet. Apparently formed of twigs or sticks the figure made its unsteady way towards Nevid. Mastering his astonishment, Nevid looked down the length of the ship to where Arrafin stood, eyes wide, watching the figure with obvious awe and delight. The figure reached Nevid. Sailors all around withdrew, muttering dark curses and dire warnings. The crudely-fashioned head tilted up at him and one arm lifted to wave, back and forth. The twigs rustled and snapped as it moved. Nevid looked around at the fearful faces and groaned inwardly. The sailors were horrified at the sight. They'd never seen anything like it before. The young Saijadani raised a foot and brought it down on the little waving figure, stomping it savagely until the bundles came untied and fell apart, leaving just inert sticks scattered across the deck boards. Arrafin cried out in hurt anger. "Nevid!" The Saijdani stormed over to her and took her thin arm. "Arrafin, what are you thinking? These sailors will think you're a witch or worse! Think for once, why don't you!" Arrafin glared at her colleague for a second and then shook herself free of his hand and raced into her cabin, slamming the door behind her. Nevid shook his head as Isaac and Elena joined him. "Honestly, she's got to think. She can't just be... casting spells." Isaac took the cigar out of his mouth. "On the other hand, she's casting spells." "Yeah, well, that frightens me, too." Etienne had been in the rigging, trying to learn how to navigate by the Sentinels, and arrived with a thump. "What's all the fuss? Hey, who dumped those sticks all over the deck?" ***** In her cabin, curled up on her narrow cot, Arrafin hugged herself, outrage and hurt feelings quickly replaced with a fierce, exultant joy. It worked. Sorcery worked. And she could do it. She could learn this wild physics. And while animating tiny figures might seem a small accomplishment, Arrafin's quick mind raced into the future, seeing possibilities opening up before her. Her homeland need not suffer for all time under the yoke of Kishak oppression. Her people could rise up and take back their freedom, no matter how many legions the Tyrant's Shade threw into the desert. They could win. If someone would lead them. Someone with power. [/QUOTE]
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