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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: 5977975" data-attributes="member: 14561"><p><strong>30x03</strong></p><p></p><p>Nyoko shivered at the unfamiliar voice in her head. It wasn’t Brother Ono—it wasn’t anyone she recognized—and the force of its terrible command threatened to shake all of her considerable willpower. </p><p></p><p>Nyoko took a deep breath. There were still seven guards—two of them inhumanly fast, but on fire from Twiggy’s fire spell—and everyone was in bad shape. Mena and Kormick were petrified. Savina, Twiggy, and Mawu seemed at death’s door. Tavi was surrounded. Yudai was immobilized on spikes. Rose was—at best—insane. Nyoko concentrated and aimed for one of the guards. Her arrow flew wide.</p><p></p><p>Arden was hurt, but still moving: she ran at one guard, stabbed him in the chest, swept her arm across his face, flipped the knife in her hand, and stabbed him in the back as she ran past. That left six guards. </p><p></p><p>Tavi spun where he stood, knocking down two of the guards who surrounded him. They didn’t move. Tavi chased the third one on to the dais, and slashed him with his flaming sword. The guard tumbled down the stairs in a heap. That left three guards. But Tavi staggered, clearly on the edge of consciousness. </p><p></p><p>Mawu stared at the three remaining guards. “Come here,” she said, her voice steady despite her near-fatal injuries. “I have something to show you.” She reached into her bag again, and something glinted. Even Nyoko found it unsettling. Two of the guards fled. One remained.</p><p></p><p><em>Kill,</em> Nyoko heard again, in her head.</p><p></p><p>### </p><p></p><p>Kormick blinked his eyes open and took a great gulp of air. His vision cleared quickly, but his chest was tight. His limbs were weak, and he felt disoriented. A moment ago, he had been surrounded by fighting. Now, up on the dais, Yudai was immobilized and Tavi was bleeding, taking great heaving breaths, Arden was bleeding profusely against a column, Twiggy was unconscious, Mawu was barely standing . . . Rose was curled in a ball on the floor, clutching her head. Nyoko was the only healthy party member, and she was loosing arrows at an impossibly fast guard, the only one remaining . . . Where were Savina and Mena? Kormick felt the slightest bit of panic rise in his chest. Both of them had been turned to stone. The Mother Superior stood in the center of the dais, virtually unscathed, rebuffing the Synod members one by one.</p><p></p><p>Rose cried out with a throaty scream. “MAKE IT STOP!”</p><p></p><p><em>She hurt Mena. She hurt Savina.</em> Kormick was boiling mad. But he didn’t have the strength to move. He heard a buzzing in his head. It rose to a roar, and then quieted to a hiss. <em>Kill Rose. Kill Roseanna di Raprezzi.</em> The voice kept repeating. He wanted it to stop. It wouldn’t.</p><p></p><p>Nearby, Arden stabbed the last remaining guard, but he didn’t go down. Instead, he dashed up on to the dais and spat at Yudai’s enormous foot. “That’s for you and your Affirmation,” he snarled. </p><p></p><p>Kormick finally felt strength in his legs again, and he snapped into action. He ran up the stairs, vaulted the railing, and fired his crossbow at the last guard. THUNK. The guard went down. “And that’s just for you,” Kormick said. </p><p></p><p>Then he turned to the Mother Superior, who finally had no one left to help her. “And now for you,” he said.</p><p></p><p>###</p><p></p><p>Mena gasped and felt consciousness return. But with consciousness returned the voice, that hissing, whispering voice. <em>Kill Roseanna di Raprezzi,</em> it said. <em>It’s your duty. Your responsibility. Make the sacrifice. Kill her.</em></p><p></p><p><em>No,</em> thought Mena, and willed her legs to move. They felt slow and stiff. She couldn’t make them work. Mena seethed. She had no patience for stiff legs when there was a Mother Superior to beat. On the dais, Arden and Tavi flanked the Mother Superior, and Yudai attacked her from the front with bladed might. Kormick dashed behind her and pounded her with his warhammers. <em>Good. Kormick’s okay.</em> One of Nyoko’s arrows flew right past Yudai and into the Mother Superior’s chest. Brother Ono Arato tackled the Mother Superior backward into the wall. Finally, they were doing some real damage.</p><p></p><p>Away from the dais, Twiggy was barely conscious, but she and Savina were attempting to minister to Rose, who was rocking and screaming, unresponsive. Suddenly Twiggy wheeled, reached into her bag, and charged up the stairway to the dais. “You’re hurting her,” she said, and threw a bag of acid at the Mother Superior. It barely reached the woman, but Mena could see her skin burn where it hit, and the Mother Superior growled in pain. <em>Good girl,</em> Mena thought. <em>Use what you have.</em></p><p></p><p>Rose seemed lucid for a moment. She sat up and gripped Savina’s arm so hard the skin around her hand went white. “Don’t let them kill me,” she said.</p><p></p><p>“Never,” Savina replied.</p><p></p><p>Mena began to feel control in her legs again. She limped forward, but was still too stiff to take more than a few steps. <em>Kill Roseanna,</em> said the voice, again. Mena concentrated on driving the voice out of her head, but couldn’t. And though she tried, she couldn’t ignore it. She tried to place it: whose voice was it? But she couldn’t do that either. It didn’t sound familiar. Just a nameless whisper, insistent, angry, eager, with an increasingly irresistible command . . . </p><p></p><p>But then there was another voice, a familiar one. A voice she’d yearned to hear since she was a child. A voice that she had known she’d never hear again. The voice whose loss had turned her into a Defier. <em>Don’t listen,</em> it said. <em>You don’t have to listen.</em></p><p></p><p>Mena felt a flood of confusion. That new voice, so clear, so familiar, so impossible. Maybe it meant she was going crazy. Or maybe—just maybe—it meant Ehkt hadn’t given up on her.</p><p></p><p>She saw Kormick, up on the dais, two steps from the Mother Superior. He cocked his head, as if listening to something. He smiled. He looked down at Mena. </p><p></p><p>“Jan!” Mena yelled up to the dais. “Will you hit that Mother Superior bitch for me, please?” </p><p></p><p>“You bet,” he replied. And then he did. He swung hard and hit the Mother Superior right in the kneecap. There was a cracking noise. </p><p></p><p>###</p><p></p><p>Nyoko stared down the shaft of an arrow at the Mother Superior’s head and adjusted downward to follow the head as the Mother Superior’s knee buckled, then collapsed.</p><p></p><p>“Yes, kill me,” said the Mother Superior, raising her head—another arrow adjustment—and looking from Kormick to Yudai. “That’ll resonate with the people. Let the word spread that heathen members of the Inquisition killed the Mother Superior in defiance of Kettenek’s law. The Sovereignty will explode against the godling worshippers . . .”</p><p></p><p>“We won’t kill you,” said Kormick. “But you’ll wish we had.”</p><p></p><p>The whisper in Nyoko’s head spoke again. <em>Kill the Mother Superior,</em> it said. <em>Do it.</em></p><p></p><p><em>We are here to arrest her, not to kill her,</em> Nyoko inwardly told the voice.</p><p></p><p><em>Let the word spread that the Sedellan mob killed her,</em> it continued. <em>None will be the wiser.</em> </p><p></p><p><em>I am an Adept,</em> Nyoko insisted to herself. <em>And I must Witness what I see.</em></p><p></p><p><em>You are but one voice against the roaring of the wind,</em> the voice said, insistent, and for a moment, Nyoko believed it.</p><p></p><p>Then: <em>No,</em> she thought. <em>I am Nyoko the Adept. I Witness the truth. I am the rock. The rock does not move.</em> She shifted her aim downward, and let the arrow fly. It landed perfectly in the Mother Superior’s shoulder. </p><p></p><p>The Mother Superior stumbled, then fell forward, unconscious. And as she did, the voice in Nyoko’s head, and the fighting outside, grew quiet.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ellinor, post: 5977975, member: 14561"] [b]30x03[/b] Nyoko shivered at the unfamiliar voice in her head. It wasn’t Brother Ono—it wasn’t anyone she recognized—and the force of its terrible command threatened to shake all of her considerable willpower. Nyoko took a deep breath. There were still seven guards—two of them inhumanly fast, but on fire from Twiggy’s fire spell—and everyone was in bad shape. Mena and Kormick were petrified. Savina, Twiggy, and Mawu seemed at death’s door. Tavi was surrounded. Yudai was immobilized on spikes. Rose was—at best—insane. Nyoko concentrated and aimed for one of the guards. Her arrow flew wide. Arden was hurt, but still moving: she ran at one guard, stabbed him in the chest, swept her arm across his face, flipped the knife in her hand, and stabbed him in the back as she ran past. That left six guards. Tavi spun where he stood, knocking down two of the guards who surrounded him. They didn’t move. Tavi chased the third one on to the dais, and slashed him with his flaming sword. The guard tumbled down the stairs in a heap. That left three guards. But Tavi staggered, clearly on the edge of consciousness. Mawu stared at the three remaining guards. “Come here,” she said, her voice steady despite her near-fatal injuries. “I have something to show you.” She reached into her bag again, and something glinted. Even Nyoko found it unsettling. Two of the guards fled. One remained. [i]Kill,[/i] Nyoko heard again, in her head. ### Kormick blinked his eyes open and took a great gulp of air. His vision cleared quickly, but his chest was tight. His limbs were weak, and he felt disoriented. A moment ago, he had been surrounded by fighting. Now, up on the dais, Yudai was immobilized and Tavi was bleeding, taking great heaving breaths, Arden was bleeding profusely against a column, Twiggy was unconscious, Mawu was barely standing . . . Rose was curled in a ball on the floor, clutching her head. Nyoko was the only healthy party member, and she was loosing arrows at an impossibly fast guard, the only one remaining . . . Where were Savina and Mena? Kormick felt the slightest bit of panic rise in his chest. Both of them had been turned to stone. The Mother Superior stood in the center of the dais, virtually unscathed, rebuffing the Synod members one by one. Rose cried out with a throaty scream. “MAKE IT STOP!” [i]She hurt Mena. She hurt Savina.[/i] Kormick was boiling mad. But he didn’t have the strength to move. He heard a buzzing in his head. It rose to a roar, and then quieted to a hiss. [i]Kill Rose. Kill Roseanna di Raprezzi.[/i] The voice kept repeating. He wanted it to stop. It wouldn’t. Nearby, Arden stabbed the last remaining guard, but he didn’t go down. Instead, he dashed up on to the dais and spat at Yudai’s enormous foot. “That’s for you and your Affirmation,” he snarled. Kormick finally felt strength in his legs again, and he snapped into action. He ran up the stairs, vaulted the railing, and fired his crossbow at the last guard. THUNK. The guard went down. “And that’s just for you,” Kormick said. Then he turned to the Mother Superior, who finally had no one left to help her. “And now for you,” he said. ### Mena gasped and felt consciousness return. But with consciousness returned the voice, that hissing, whispering voice. [i]Kill Roseanna di Raprezzi,[/i] it said. [i]It’s your duty. Your responsibility. Make the sacrifice. Kill her.[/i] [i]No,[/i] thought Mena, and willed her legs to move. They felt slow and stiff. She couldn’t make them work. Mena seethed. She had no patience for stiff legs when there was a Mother Superior to beat. On the dais, Arden and Tavi flanked the Mother Superior, and Yudai attacked her from the front with bladed might. Kormick dashed behind her and pounded her with his warhammers. [i]Good. Kormick’s okay.[/i] One of Nyoko’s arrows flew right past Yudai and into the Mother Superior’s chest. Brother Ono Arato tackled the Mother Superior backward into the wall. Finally, they were doing some real damage. Away from the dais, Twiggy was barely conscious, but she and Savina were attempting to minister to Rose, who was rocking and screaming, unresponsive. Suddenly Twiggy wheeled, reached into her bag, and charged up the stairway to the dais. “You’re hurting her,” she said, and threw a bag of acid at the Mother Superior. It barely reached the woman, but Mena could see her skin burn where it hit, and the Mother Superior growled in pain. [i]Good girl,[/i] Mena thought. [i]Use what you have.[/i] Rose seemed lucid for a moment. She sat up and gripped Savina’s arm so hard the skin around her hand went white. “Don’t let them kill me,” she said. “Never,” Savina replied. Mena began to feel control in her legs again. She limped forward, but was still too stiff to take more than a few steps. [i]Kill Roseanna,[/i] said the voice, again. Mena concentrated on driving the voice out of her head, but couldn’t. And though she tried, she couldn’t ignore it. She tried to place it: whose voice was it? But she couldn’t do that either. It didn’t sound familiar. Just a nameless whisper, insistent, angry, eager, with an increasingly irresistible command . . . But then there was another voice, a familiar one. A voice she’d yearned to hear since she was a child. A voice that she had known she’d never hear again. The voice whose loss had turned her into a Defier. [i]Don’t listen,[/i] it said. [i]You don’t have to listen.[/i] Mena felt a flood of confusion. That new voice, so clear, so familiar, so impossible. Maybe it meant she was going crazy. Or maybe—just maybe—it meant Ehkt hadn’t given up on her. She saw Kormick, up on the dais, two steps from the Mother Superior. He cocked his head, as if listening to something. He smiled. He looked down at Mena. “Jan!” Mena yelled up to the dais. “Will you hit that Mother Superior bitch for me, please?” “You bet,” he replied. And then he did. He swung hard and hit the Mother Superior right in the kneecap. There was a cracking noise. ### Nyoko stared down the shaft of an arrow at the Mother Superior’s head and adjusted downward to follow the head as the Mother Superior’s knee buckled, then collapsed. “Yes, kill me,” said the Mother Superior, raising her head—another arrow adjustment—and looking from Kormick to Yudai. “That’ll resonate with the people. Let the word spread that heathen members of the Inquisition killed the Mother Superior in defiance of Kettenek’s law. The Sovereignty will explode against the godling worshippers . . .” “We won’t kill you,” said Kormick. “But you’ll wish we had.” The whisper in Nyoko’s head spoke again. [i]Kill the Mother Superior,[/i] it said. [i]Do it.[/i] [i]We are here to arrest her, not to kill her,[/i] Nyoko inwardly told the voice. [i]Let the word spread that the Sedellan mob killed her,[/i] it continued. [i]None will be the wiser.[/i] [i]I am an Adept,[/i] Nyoko insisted to herself. [i]And I must Witness what I see.[/i] [i]You are but one voice against the roaring of the wind,[/i] the voice said, insistent, and for a moment, Nyoko believed it. Then: [i]No,[/i] she thought. [i]I am Nyoko the Adept. I Witness the truth. I am the rock. The rock does not move.[/i] She shifted her aim downward, and let the arrow fly. It landed perfectly in the Mother Superior’s shoulder. The Mother Superior stumbled, then fell forward, unconscious. And as she did, the voice in Nyoko’s head, and the fighting outside, grew quiet. [/QUOTE]
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