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Message: <blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 4593987" data-attributes="member: 812">What A Woman's Got To Do: 20The dazed little group of survivors -- Etienne, Isaac, Arrafin and Madame Yuek -- staggered away from the ruins of the pagoda, dust still billowing about them in choking clouds. They crossed the well-kept lawn but came to a stumbling halt as Arrafin teetered, pointing."Oh, god. Elena."Their friend's body lay where it had fallen, the back of her head a shattered ruin. Isaac tried not to cough as clouds of dust continued to roll past them. There was nothing to say. Arrafin had turned to bury her face in Madame Yuek's shoulder."Oh, Elena."Etienne cleared his throat."Do you think the skull...?""No, Etienne, she's dead. It can't bring her soul back. That's gone for-- what is it?"Arrafin's question was addressed to her lover, who was staring upwards in consideration. Overhead the endless swirling nightmare of souls continued howling and writhing, their remorseless sorrow only held off by the magic of the Blood Council Sanctuary."Her soul, darling. It hasn't gone far. It's up there. It's in there somewhere."The two women exchanged a look."That laboratory of Shang's. How far is it?"Isaac shrugged."A few hundred yards, I guess."Madame Yuek was barely listening. She snapped her fingers at Etienne."You. Fill the skull and apply it to her wound. Then bring her with us."Arrafin tossed the half-Kishak youth the marble skull of Suelekar ben Azan and, grateful for something to do, he rushed over to the nearby pool and filled it."Pour it on her. On her head."Skin knitted together and bone regrew as the back of Elena's head restored itself. Madame Yuek nodded in satisfaction."Bring her."Exchanging an uncertain look, Isaac and Etienne picked up Elena's already-cooling body and followed the two women out into the blasted ruins of Zuyang.The anguish of the disembodied souls pressed upon them immediately and all of them struggled to keep their minds focused. Isaac stared down at the bare rock swirling with dust before him as he dragged the weight of Elena's body with him. They made their way, leaning against the wind, to the upturned blocks that led down into the relative quiet and calm of Shang's strange laboratory.The girl still lay there, strange tubes pumping in and out of her body. Madame Yuek took in the scene, quickly appraising the array of technology. The tall woman leaned over the table and tugged experimentally at one of the tubes that fed into the girl's mouth.Her thin body arced as she screamed and gibbered in agony, frothing and convulsing. Madame Yuek released the tube and the girl collapsed, gasping for breath. Her limbs were skeletal, skin just hanging off her. A fetid smell came from her body and Madame Yuek turned her over to examine the horrid sores that infested her back. Flesh had begun to rot and the stink was horrific."That's gangrene. She's only got days to live.""Should we --"Isaac couldn't finish the sentence. After all they'd been through, coldly taking this poor girl's life seemed too heartless.Madame Yuek clamped a hand over the girl's face, braced her other hand on a scrawny shoulder, and twisted.SNAP"There."She set about yanking the tubes free, and shoved the corpse off the table to sprawl on the flagstones."What the hell are you--""Shut up. Put your friend here."Arrafin was examining the crystal spheres on the wall. Isaac tried to object, but then Madame Yuek simply grabbed Elena's body and dragged it up onto the table. She ripped the dead woman's clothes off and stabbed the tubes into her skin.Isaac and Etienne both just stared, but the real grotesqueness had only begun.Madame Yuek climbed up on the table beside Elena's body, spread her legs and with an expression of concentration, began pushing another set of tubes up into her own crotch. She winced once, then lay back on the table. Catching Isaac's horrified look, she offered a sneer."Only a live soul can power the operation. And of course Shang would engineer this to use a woman's. Darling, do you know what to do? I can't do any sorcery now, since those Blood Council bitches..."Arrafin came over, worried."Well, it's a Kereseemar search algorithm, right? I thought I would be able to limit the depth with a Kau Lang assessment, since we know she died today. So the Kau Lang pass first, then for each vertex remaining I can..."The two women's conversation became immediately incomprehensible to Isaac and Etienne, but quickly enough Arrafin stepped back to the spheres and Madame Yuek lay down on the table and began inserting more tubes into various parts of her face.Arrafin concentrated. This was much harder than the spells she'd been using earlier, as she was having to make up much of the actual computation on the fly. She drew on Shadow, wobbling a bit as the relentless driving horror of Zuyang pressed in on her, but the cold purity of sorcery allowed her to focus and she sent her senses whirling upwards into the terrible whirlwind of dead souls above them.Pain.Unending.Unceasing.Pain. So much pain.Arrafin was unaware of falling to her knees, unaware of Isaac grabbing her and holding her steady, as she filtered through the madness of unliving souls. All doomed by the Demon Goddess, her lover, to an eternal torment here above the city where once she'd ruled as a mad goddess on earth. She could not hear herself groaning as she struggled to proceed with the search for Elena's soul, trapped here with all the others.Fragments of personality and memory tore at her, terrible visions and horrors pressing upon her as she considered and discarded one after another. Souls. Human souls, once vibrant and alive but now husks of pain and terror. She felt them grasping at her, envious of her life, pulling each one like a little bit more weight on her shoulders as she struggled through the wild maelstrom.At last. Elena. Her friend, not so overwhelmed as the other souls. Not lost. Still with hope. Arrafin somehow grabbed, or pulled, or implored, or bullied her friend downwards. Down to life. Down. Into a place of safety. A shelter. A prison.Isaac held his young friend as she reeled and collapsed, and then Arrafin was back and standing, wobbly on her long thin legs but reaching up for one of the spheres, which had gone dark in its core. Something swirled.Arrafin lifted the sphere and turned, placing it into a depression on Shang's machine. A sudden rattling shriek filled the room and the mechanism began to shudder and give off sparks. Dials whirled. Vents hissed.And Madame Yuek screamed as the tubes in her body drew out SOMETHING. Arrafin pointed and yelled over the noise, "Hold her down! Don't let her hurt herself!"Isaac grabbed the Lohanese woman's shoulders and Etienne took her ankles and between the two of them they were able to keep her in place, but the woman was strong and certainly kept them engaged with her wild thrashing. Arrafin watched, trying to sense the flows of Shadow's dark energy, leading them in the right direction here and slowing them down just a little there. She was so engrossed in what she was doing she never noticed the desperate struggles of her beloved.Nor did she notice when Elena started breathing.But everyone noticed when the Saijadani woman sat up and screamed.Even Madame Yuek went quiet for a second."Holy crap.""turnitoffturnitoffturnitoffARRAFINTURNITOFF!"At Madame Yuek's shriek, Arrafin jumped and turned back to Shang's machine, willing the sorcerous flows to halt. She snatched the now-clear crystal out of the depression it sat in and Madame Yuek collapsed, sobbing.Elena sat there looking around at everyone."What?"*****Hours later, they stumbled up a steep hillside road past land that had once been cultivated -- the flat, regular divisions showed that -- but was now simply a mass of tall unkempt grass and the occasional spindly tree.The road itself wasn't much, either; cobblestones remained in sufficient number to show where the road had been, but it was well-overgrown with weeds and tangled vines.They had climbed several hundred feet since leaving Zuyang behind them, and were slowly feeling some relief from the ominous pressure of the undead souls. That terrible tower of death still hung in the air behind them, rising far above them still.Ahead, a low stone wall and tidy-looking red tile roofs told of some habitation.The group was somewhat larger. After leaving Shang's laboratory the five encountered the surviving civilians and managed to get them out of Zuyang before that place's terrible power claimed another life. Elena, ignoring her friends, chatted with these folks, comforting the most stunned and shocked among them and reassuring them they'd get home safely. She stayed with them as the whole group passed through an open gate and into a wide yard where a few goats nibbled at shrubs and chickens bobbled about as though only miles away a great and terrible evil didn't sit rumbling into the sky.At their arrival, two bald men emerged from one of the low buildings and stared in surprise. They came forward and bowed and spoke in a language none of the four spoke.Madame Yuek did, and after a quick negotiation, the men smiled and ushered the group through the yard and up a few steps into a wide hall lit by hanging lamps."They're monks. They'll feed us and maybe allow us to stay a few days."Elena sneered."Who put you in charge, you evil bitch? I wish you'd been killed along with Shang.""Elena!""Shut up, Arrafin. This is all her fault in the first place. People are dead, Arrafin! Thousands of people are dead because of her!"Arrafin ran to confront her friend, but Elena pushed her aside easily. The big Saijadani woman yanked a pistol from her belt and levelled it at Madame Yuek."She deserves to die."Madame Yuek stared."Well?"Elena's voice rose up in an unsteady shriek."Well? You killed them! All those people! YOU killed them!"Arrafin tried again to get at Elena, but this time Isaac held her back. More roughly than his usual self, he shoved Arrafin back and joined Elena. Etienne grabbed the angry Naridic girl."You're evil. We all know it. I don't know if you turned good or something because of Arrafin but--"Isaac broke off as Madame Yuek burst into delighted laughter. She covered her mouth and controlled herself, but could not keep an amused smile off her face."Forgive me. You were saying?"Elena broke in."Are you sorry?""Am I WHAT?""Are you sorry for what you did?"Madame Yuek's smile disappeared and her dark eyes narrowed."Sorry? You ask me-- F**k you. You want to kill me, little bitch, go ahead. Shoot me. I'm right f**king here. But don't think you can sit in judgement on me. I am the f**king Demon Goddess and I am not to be judged by some f**king PEASANT girl."She spread her hands."So shoot me."Arrafin broke free of Etienne and ran in front of her statuesque lover. She stood right in front of Elena's pistol."Please. Please. I love her."Elena scowled and lowered her gun."Fine. You win. I can't shoot you. But I can watch--"The whole conversation halted as more of the bald men came in.Carrying swords. They yelled, and Madame Yuek sighed."Oh dear. It seems they've figured out who I am. They're going to kill us all.""Oh, thank heavens," said Isaac as he drew his sword, "That was getting scary."Etienne slipped past the first rank of swordsmen and found himself amongst their leaders. He chuckled confidently and spun low, lining up the first one for a--They were better than he'd expected. Etienne had three blades in his stomach before he reached his target. He groaned and collapsed.Isaac laid into the nearest group, and this time the underestimating was on the other side as the big Saijadani broke through parries and avoided cuts easily, leaving stricken men in his wake.Elena stretched out a hand and sent a purple glow blasting into the midst of the onrushing swordsmen, knocking men flying and blowing apart the rough chairs and tables behind them. She realised her outstretched hand contained a pistol and fired it into the face of the nearest attacker. He fell back, kicking and screaming.Arrafin tried, without noticeable success, to push Madame Yuek behind her and unleashed one of her earthbolt spells, sending more warriors blasting in all directions.*****In a cell on the other side of the world, watched by Collette de Maynard, an old woman died.*****"Isaac? What's wrong?"Isaac dropped his sword and swayed in place, though no one had struck him that Elena had seen. Their attackers had retreated in confusion, their numbers decimated, and both Elena and Arrafin ran over to their friend.They leapt back as he turned with a terrible snarl, then leapt back further as he fell to his hands and knees and then, right before their eyes, turned into an enormous black panther."Uh. Isaac?"The panther snarled once more, then leapt out the high windows of the hall and disappeared."Uh. What?""Your friend."Elena and Arrafin, both in identical states of shock, turned to see Madame Yuek holding up Etienne's body."He's dead."</blockquote>

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