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<blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 3808923" data-attributes="member: 812"><p><strong>Another Fine Mess: 13</strong></p><p></p><p>"Not again."</p><p></p><p>Isaac raised his head wearily. None of his friends were anywhere in sight. This he expected.</p><p></p><p>What he had not expected was the towering ruin that surrounded him. Half-crumbled walls and leaning spires, scoured by the sand-thick wind, emerged from the dunes as mute, tragic evidence of the passage of time.</p><p></p><p>No sign of that traitorous minx Kani, of course. Isaac swore a very specific and descriptive oath to himself concerning what he would do to that crazy sorceress if he ever encountered her again.</p><p></p><p>Frustrated, Isaac shuffled through the nameless ruins, kicking at toppled blocks and weaving ever-more elaborate curses over not just Kani but that del Orofin bootlicker, Collette de Maynard, who'd made a fool of him again and again. Somehow, he was sure, this was all that bitch's fault.</p><p></p><p>He rounded the corner of some broken-down tower and stopped, staring down at a wooden plank set very deliberately out of the way of the wind and drifting sand. All thoughts of unpleasant women left his mind as he read the writing carved into the wood.</p><p></p><p><em>Dominic. Wait here.</em></p><p></p><p>"That's new."</p><p></p><p>*****</p><p></p><p>Aran pulled hard to the left, signalling to Harim to follow.</p><p></p><p>Just where she said he would be. Aran recited a quiet prayer of thanksgiving that he was honoured to serve the Khadisan, she who foresaw the future and embodied the living will of God. She who had dispatched he and Harim to this ancient ruin to meet the foreigner.</p><p></p><p>They circled the ruin once, the buzzing wings of the kithrak stirring up loose sand below. The foreigner watched them descend, his arms crossed over his burly chest. He made no move to shield himself from the sudden sandstorm kicked up by the kithraks' descent.</p><p></p><p>Aran wondered how he'd gotten here. He had no visible supplies and was not dressed for travel across the desert. Perhaps he was a djinn, compelled to serve the Khadisan. Aran resolved to be polite.</p><p></p><p>He dismounted and approached the foreigner. Both he and Harim bowed.</p><p></p><p>"Honoured guest. The Khadisan, the Glorious Beloved of God, has sent us here to find you and deliver you into Her holy presence. Before Her you will know the grace of God and be fulfilled in your sacred duty. We humbly offer you our service in this voyage, and pledge ourselves to your safe delivery. Blessed be the Khadisan. Glory to God."</p><p></p><p>The foreigner stared at them. And then spoke in what Aran assumed was Imperial Kishak, the language of all the nations around the Inner Sea.</p><p></p><p>Except the Narid. Aran had no idea what the big stranger was saying.</p><p></p><p>"This could be difficult."</p><p></p><p>*****</p><p></p><p>"There's thousands of them."</p><p></p><p>Etienne came scrambling down the ridge towards his friends. Even sheltered as they were, they could hear and smell the massive camp of the Crimson Host. Thousands of warriors appeared to have joined the Host's banner, eager for the opportunity to plunder and kill.</p><p></p><p>Zuleika shuddered at the sound of the warriors' triumphant cries. Etienne put an arm around her shoulders.</p><p></p><p>"We'll have to go around. I can see Tallal, it's just a few miles, but I don't think we should go any further until dark. If they see us..."</p><p></p><p>Nobody needed that sentence finished. Images of what had happened to Zuleika's family a few days ago were still vivid in everyone's mind. Silence and secrecy were the only defense the small band had against such a massive gathering of savage desert pirates only a bowshot away. Everyone stayed huddled against the lee of the dune, hoping that if they could only remain completely silent, they would avoid detection.</p><p></p><p>Nevid began screaming and thrashing.</p><p></p><p>*****</p><p></p><p>Children shrieked on all sides. High pillars of gold-veined marble rose up in the morning sunshine, still and unmoved by the unending screams of anguish and terror.</p><p></p><p>The air stank, thick with blood. Meat slapped down on the steps, splashing gore. One scream rose up suddenly, as a guttural roar broke across the immense hall. Flesh tore and bones snapped and something hungry tore and grunted and snarled as it fed.</p><p></p><p>Nevid stared upwards through eyes not his own. He could see sprays of blood painting the walls, hear the screams and hopeless wailing cries. Other voices sang in angelic counterpoint to the hellish scene around him. Torn bodies of young girls sprawled everywhere.</p><p></p><p>Suddenly SHE leaned over him. Madame Yuek, her perfect face covered in blood, dripping. She sneered and reached down with taloned fingers and the pain as his sight went red then black was more than Nevid had ever known.</p><p></p><p>*****</p><p></p><p>Isaac tried to show no discomfort as, encouraged by the Naridic fellows, he climbed up into the saddle of the gigantic beetle. His enormous insect was tethered to that of Aran (learning each other's names had stretched everyone's linguistic talents), so he was at least comforted by the hope that he wasn't expected to know how to guide the creature.</p><p></p><p>He settled himself into the stiff, cracking leather of the saddle, and grabbed the horn as all three creatures leapt into the air.</p><p></p><p>There didn't seem to be any straps, he noted. No doubt these mad desert warriors thought any concern with safety showed moral weakness.</p><p></p><p>Isaac hung on, letting his pulse settle enough that he could afford to peer over the side of the flying insect beneath him.</p><p></p><p>The desert rolled by underneath, the dunes undulating so smoothly it seemed as though it was the waves of sand rolling by while he remained motionless. The occasional dry bone finger of scrub reached up from the valley floors between the dunes, and here and there unseen beasts had left their tracks, but otherwise there was no sign of life below.</p><p></p><p>The dunes stretched out to the horizon in all directions. Isaac twisted in his seat and swore in surprise at how far they had travelled --- the ruins were far behind them already, nearly lost to sight. Even the steady wind in his face had not prepared him for the speed of their flight.</p><p></p><p>When he turned to face forward, he saw the dunes ahead beginning to lessen, giving way to a vast rocky plain that baked in the sun, sending up wavering mirages of heat. Dust devils rose up higher than the travellers flew, twisting pillars of whirling sand seeming to walk across the horizon. Isaac wondered if the locals considered such things supernatural.</p><p></p><p>He squinted. Far off, what he had taken for just another dust devil had become to appear too regular, too steady. He realised the tower of dust was much farther away than he'd assumed, and swore again upon understanding the true scale of what he was witnessing.</p><p></p><p>At the base of the rising sail of dust a dark shadow moved across the desert, spreading slowly. Isaac and his guides headed straight for it. The shadow was miles in length.</p><p></p><p>A column. An army, marching across the desert. Isaac had done little study of political events but he knew the name: Sharina al-Sharina beni Howetait, the Banthspeaker. The Khadisan. The holy woman who led the great hope of the Narid against the armies of Kish. Her great army moved across the sea of sand, travelling where the Kishaks could not, and beyond the range of the Tyrant's Shades power.</p><p></p><p>Arrafin had mentioned the hope that the Banthspeaker would lead her army against the Kishaks before the gates of Al-Tizim, but apparently that had not happened.</p><p></p><p>Perhaps Isaac would get a chance to ask why. Their mounts tilted and began to descend, and Isaac swore yet again.</p><p></p><p>The advancing column was not made of men. It was made of banths. Isaac had heard stories of the impossible desert beasts of the Narid, cats the size of houses, but he'd not quite understood that the tales were in no way exaggerated. The mammoth creatures stood thirty feet high at the shoulder, striding along with vast paws spreading out on the rock.</p><p></p><p>What they might eat out here Isaac couldn't imagine. But each carried a sort of platform on its back, and these were packed with soldiers and tents and crates.</p><p></p><p>The scene was as though an immense armada of galleys had been transformed into titanic lions and deposited in the middle of the desert. It was impossible. </p><p></p><p>Isaac shook his head in wonder as they descended to the lead beast and landed. His guides helped him to dismount and gestured.</p><p></p><p>"I hope no one's offended if I say I've never really liked cats."</p><p></p><p>*****</p><p></p><p>"Shut him up."</p><p></p><p>"I'm trying."</p><p></p><p>Elena grappled with Nevid's twitching form and got a hand planted firmly over the young man's mouth, at last silencing his groans. She held him down as Etienne scrambled to the top of the ridge, then came hurtling down again.</p><p></p><p>"We have to leave. Now."</p><p></p><p>Zuleika helped Elena drag the now-unconscious Nevid as Arrafin gathered up her papers and hurried in their wake. The group scrambled down a rocky gully, Etienne watching behind them.</p><p></p><p>Voices rose up, distant but threatening. Nevid moaned.</p><p></p><p>Etienne, watching backwards, stumbled into Arrafin.</p><p></p><p>"Watch it, Arrafin. If we--"</p><p></p><p>Where'd he come from?"</p><p></p><p>Etienne turned around to find his friends stopped, facing a large Naridic man with his arms crossed over his broad chest. The Naridic man smiled.</p><p></p><p>"Come with me."</p><p></p><p>As they stood staring, a Kishak man, much shorter and tubbier than the Naridic fellow, peered around from behind the first. He pointed to a cave opening in the side of the gully.</p><p></p><p>"This way, this way."</p><p></p><p>Hooting Naridic voices from behind made their decision easy. The friends scrambled to follow the Kishak man. Etienne frowned and looked back. The Naridic man had completely disappeared. He turned to mention this to his friends, but they were already hurrying into the narrow cave. Etienne shook his head and followed.</p><p></p><p>Inside, he once again ran into Arrafin. She'd stopped just at the entrance, as had the others, staring in surprise at a crowd of Kishaks suddenly surrounding them.</p><p></p><p>"I'm having a lot of trouble keeping track. Who are the bad guys again?"</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="barsoomcore, post: 3808923, member: 812"] [b]Another Fine Mess: 13[/b] "Not again." Isaac raised his head wearily. None of his friends were anywhere in sight. This he expected. What he had not expected was the towering ruin that surrounded him. Half-crumbled walls and leaning spires, scoured by the sand-thick wind, emerged from the dunes as mute, tragic evidence of the passage of time. No sign of that traitorous minx Kani, of course. Isaac swore a very specific and descriptive oath to himself concerning what he would do to that crazy sorceress if he ever encountered her again. Frustrated, Isaac shuffled through the nameless ruins, kicking at toppled blocks and weaving ever-more elaborate curses over not just Kani but that del Orofin bootlicker, Collette de Maynard, who'd made a fool of him again and again. Somehow, he was sure, this was all that bitch's fault. He rounded the corner of some broken-down tower and stopped, staring down at a wooden plank set very deliberately out of the way of the wind and drifting sand. All thoughts of unpleasant women left his mind as he read the writing carved into the wood. [i]Dominic. Wait here.[/i] "That's new." ***** Aran pulled hard to the left, signalling to Harim to follow. Just where she said he would be. Aran recited a quiet prayer of thanksgiving that he was honoured to serve the Khadisan, she who foresaw the future and embodied the living will of God. She who had dispatched he and Harim to this ancient ruin to meet the foreigner. They circled the ruin once, the buzzing wings of the kithrak stirring up loose sand below. The foreigner watched them descend, his arms crossed over his burly chest. He made no move to shield himself from the sudden sandstorm kicked up by the kithraks' descent. Aran wondered how he'd gotten here. He had no visible supplies and was not dressed for travel across the desert. Perhaps he was a djinn, compelled to serve the Khadisan. Aran resolved to be polite. He dismounted and approached the foreigner. Both he and Harim bowed. "Honoured guest. The Khadisan, the Glorious Beloved of God, has sent us here to find you and deliver you into Her holy presence. Before Her you will know the grace of God and be fulfilled in your sacred duty. We humbly offer you our service in this voyage, and pledge ourselves to your safe delivery. Blessed be the Khadisan. Glory to God." The foreigner stared at them. And then spoke in what Aran assumed was Imperial Kishak, the language of all the nations around the Inner Sea. Except the Narid. Aran had no idea what the big stranger was saying. "This could be difficult." ***** "There's thousands of them." Etienne came scrambling down the ridge towards his friends. Even sheltered as they were, they could hear and smell the massive camp of the Crimson Host. Thousands of warriors appeared to have joined the Host's banner, eager for the opportunity to plunder and kill. Zuleika shuddered at the sound of the warriors' triumphant cries. Etienne put an arm around her shoulders. "We'll have to go around. I can see Tallal, it's just a few miles, but I don't think we should go any further until dark. If they see us..." Nobody needed that sentence finished. Images of what had happened to Zuleika's family a few days ago were still vivid in everyone's mind. Silence and secrecy were the only defense the small band had against such a massive gathering of savage desert pirates only a bowshot away. Everyone stayed huddled against the lee of the dune, hoping that if they could only remain completely silent, they would avoid detection. Nevid began screaming and thrashing. ***** Children shrieked on all sides. High pillars of gold-veined marble rose up in the morning sunshine, still and unmoved by the unending screams of anguish and terror. The air stank, thick with blood. Meat slapped down on the steps, splashing gore. One scream rose up suddenly, as a guttural roar broke across the immense hall. Flesh tore and bones snapped and something hungry tore and grunted and snarled as it fed. Nevid stared upwards through eyes not his own. He could see sprays of blood painting the walls, hear the screams and hopeless wailing cries. Other voices sang in angelic counterpoint to the hellish scene around him. Torn bodies of young girls sprawled everywhere. Suddenly SHE leaned over him. Madame Yuek, her perfect face covered in blood, dripping. She sneered and reached down with taloned fingers and the pain as his sight went red then black was more than Nevid had ever known. ***** Isaac tried to show no discomfort as, encouraged by the Naridic fellows, he climbed up into the saddle of the gigantic beetle. His enormous insect was tethered to that of Aran (learning each other's names had stretched everyone's linguistic talents), so he was at least comforted by the hope that he wasn't expected to know how to guide the creature. He settled himself into the stiff, cracking leather of the saddle, and grabbed the horn as all three creatures leapt into the air. There didn't seem to be any straps, he noted. No doubt these mad desert warriors thought any concern with safety showed moral weakness. Isaac hung on, letting his pulse settle enough that he could afford to peer over the side of the flying insect beneath him. The desert rolled by underneath, the dunes undulating so smoothly it seemed as though it was the waves of sand rolling by while he remained motionless. The occasional dry bone finger of scrub reached up from the valley floors between the dunes, and here and there unseen beasts had left their tracks, but otherwise there was no sign of life below. The dunes stretched out to the horizon in all directions. Isaac twisted in his seat and swore in surprise at how far they had travelled --- the ruins were far behind them already, nearly lost to sight. Even the steady wind in his face had not prepared him for the speed of their flight. When he turned to face forward, he saw the dunes ahead beginning to lessen, giving way to a vast rocky plain that baked in the sun, sending up wavering mirages of heat. Dust devils rose up higher than the travellers flew, twisting pillars of whirling sand seeming to walk across the horizon. Isaac wondered if the locals considered such things supernatural. He squinted. Far off, what he had taken for just another dust devil had become to appear too regular, too steady. He realised the tower of dust was much farther away than he'd assumed, and swore again upon understanding the true scale of what he was witnessing. At the base of the rising sail of dust a dark shadow moved across the desert, spreading slowly. Isaac and his guides headed straight for it. The shadow was miles in length. A column. An army, marching across the desert. Isaac had done little study of political events but he knew the name: Sharina al-Sharina beni Howetait, the Banthspeaker. The Khadisan. The holy woman who led the great hope of the Narid against the armies of Kish. Her great army moved across the sea of sand, travelling where the Kishaks could not, and beyond the range of the Tyrant's Shades power. Arrafin had mentioned the hope that the Banthspeaker would lead her army against the Kishaks before the gates of Al-Tizim, but apparently that had not happened. Perhaps Isaac would get a chance to ask why. Their mounts tilted and began to descend, and Isaac swore yet again. The advancing column was not made of men. It was made of banths. Isaac had heard stories of the impossible desert beasts of the Narid, cats the size of houses, but he'd not quite understood that the tales were in no way exaggerated. The mammoth creatures stood thirty feet high at the shoulder, striding along with vast paws spreading out on the rock. What they might eat out here Isaac couldn't imagine. But each carried a sort of platform on its back, and these were packed with soldiers and tents and crates. The scene was as though an immense armada of galleys had been transformed into titanic lions and deposited in the middle of the desert. It was impossible. Isaac shook his head in wonder as they descended to the lead beast and landed. His guides helped him to dismount and gestured. "I hope no one's offended if I say I've never really liked cats." ***** "Shut him up." "I'm trying." Elena grappled with Nevid's twitching form and got a hand planted firmly over the young man's mouth, at last silencing his groans. She held him down as Etienne scrambled to the top of the ridge, then came hurtling down again. "We have to leave. Now." Zuleika helped Elena drag the now-unconscious Nevid as Arrafin gathered up her papers and hurried in their wake. The group scrambled down a rocky gully, Etienne watching behind them. Voices rose up, distant but threatening. Nevid moaned. Etienne, watching backwards, stumbled into Arrafin. "Watch it, Arrafin. If we--" Where'd he come from?" Etienne turned around to find his friends stopped, facing a large Naridic man with his arms crossed over his broad chest. The Naridic man smiled. "Come with me." As they stood staring, a Kishak man, much shorter and tubbier than the Naridic fellow, peered around from behind the first. He pointed to a cave opening in the side of the gully. "This way, this way." Hooting Naridic voices from behind made their decision easy. The friends scrambled to follow the Kishak man. Etienne frowned and looked back. The Naridic man had completely disappeared. He turned to mention this to his friends, but they were already hurrying into the narrow cave. Etienne shook his head and followed. Inside, he once again ran into Arrafin. She'd stopped just at the entrance, as had the others, staring in surprise at a crowd of Kishaks suddenly surrounding them. "I'm having a lot of trouble keeping track. Who are the bad guys again?" [/QUOTE]
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