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Message: <blockquote data-quote="simmo" data-source="post: 1395601" data-attributes="member: 9744">chapter 3 Let Your Soul be Your GuideRoxanne wiped her sleeve across her face, trying to hide the tears that she'd shed from the children. The plump half-elven woman was busy organising getting the younger children outside the city walls to a place of relative safety. Ever since the news had reached them that the modrons were coming through the city many of the children had begun crying and Roxanne was rapidly losing her strength to deal with the situation.She'd heard that a dwarf and a human had talked the modrons in to passing through the library without causing any damage, but she was not willing to run such a risk with the children. A large warrior of stone had dashed in at the last minute to carry off some aged philosophers intent on diverting the mach. When they'd heard the falling masonry and later found out that the Defenders of Tomeri were tearing down houses and shops, even more of the children had begun crying. The half-elven woman had considered telling the children that the buildings were being destroyed to slow down the march, but decided against it.The one good thing to happen that day was the arrival of a petite woman in a long blue dress wearing a locket of Tomeri. As soon as she stepped in to the large orphanage many of the younger children had stopped crying. It was almost as it the woman had some kind of soothing aura around her that reassured the little ones. Roxanne smiled for the first time that day and was delighted to hear that the woman was going to help get the children to safety.She said that her name was Serena Allman and that she was looking for children belonging to a man called Kendrick. Roxanne did not recognise the name, but after a brief description of the man she soon identified him as the father of Vincent and Lizzy.Some of the youngest children had been brought to safety. They were playing beneath the branches of the huge elm tree outside of town, unaware of the chaos now reigning within the port town. The older children who understood more what was going on were forming lines, getting ready to be led out. Some of those slightly younger ones knew that there was something very wrong, but not what it was. They ran around either crying or trying to play as usual and were making life for Roxanne and the other carers very difficult.The half-elven woman found a few moments to herself and this time did not bother to wipe the tears from her eyes. After all these years the memories were still fresh of watching the fiendish army march across the Outlands to raid her village. A skirmish is what others had referred to it as, but for Roxanne it was the most painful period of her life. Within a matter of hours she lost a loving husband, her three wonderful daughters and many friends and relatives. The memory was so strong and the scars still unhealed that she could not stop herself from crying out in pain.Even after all these years of working in the orphanage, her nightmares did not go away. Each morning she'd greet the children with a smiling face and worked as hard as she could to make their lives comfortable, safe and happy. But at night as she lay down to sleep, the demons that haunted her dreams came back. Once she'd been visited by a shining figure of light that had cradled her and sang to her. It had been the first time that she'd slept peacefully since the fateful raid.Stepping out of the doorway where she'd been watching Serena talk to the children and calm them down, she wiped her tears away a final time and began to sing 'For the Love of Tomeri'. The children who sang the song every morning knew the words off by heart and joined in immediately. They formed in to the lines that they stood in each day when they sang praise to Tomeri. The other carers smiled at Roxanne, grateful for her idea in getting the children organised.Soon the other carers began to lead the children down the streets that the Defenders had made safe and out of the city. Roxanne finished up by searching the remainder of the orphanage to see if there were any children that they'd missed. She was glad to be joined by Serena in her search and as they walked over to the last building, the modrons burst through the wall and in to the courtyard.A child's scream came from the last building and a small girl stood in the doorway. Malkir came rushing in to the courtyard soon after the modrons had arrived, but Roxanne was already ahead of him. The plump half-elven woman ran with all her might to get to the small girl before the modrons could reach her and felt her ankle twist as she ran. Gritting her teeth and ignoring the pain Roxanne reached the girl moments before the modrons were about to march straight through the building.Malkir jumped in to action, stepping on to several modrons and leaping over large chunks of broken buildings. He moved quickly over the top of the march, feeling as though he was trying to ride a wild river. Hands, tentacles and other appendages reached out towards him, but he managed to dodge them all.Roxanne watched the oncoming modrons and the uncaring way in which they trampled everything in their way. Lifting the small girl high in to the air, she flung her in the direction of Malkir hoping that he'd be able to save her. “May Tomeri keep you safe in her arms,” she whispered as the modrons closed in.The henshin mystic raced across the march and made a final leap in to the air. The small girl laughed as she felt strong arms wrap around her and was delighted in the new game that the adults were playing. Malkir landed on the other side off the march, cut off from Serena with the girl safely in his arms. His back and sides ached a great deal from the landing, but he did not think that any bones were broken.When he stood up to look across the marching modrons at Serena, he was glad to see that she was safe. Looking in the direction that the march was going he could see that nothing of the last building in the orphanage remained.</blockquote>

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