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Message: <blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 3875976" data-attributes="member: 812">Interlude IThe 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."</blockquote>

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