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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3582679" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 472: Mother and Daughter[Is there anything in my quarters?]    [Only the little one, my lady.] the Palace responded swiftly. But then he added something that Marix would rather not have been there. [However there are four Mrrakesh scaling my exterior. It is likely they are moving towards your room.]    Marix cursed as she rounded a corner. [How soon will they get there?]    [Five minutes at their current speed.] there was a hesitant feeling of unease from the Palace before it went on. [There are three others moving towards Loki.]    [Seal off my quarters.] Marix was climbing the last flight of stairs to reach it now, running as fast as she could and trying to keep the Network calm at the same time. [Doors. Windows. Any opening. Only open what I need opened to get to Andrea.]    [You will need to move fast, my lady. They are carrying a great deal of weapons and equipment and the seals will not hold them.]    After skipping the last handful of stairs, Marix was sprinting down the corridor, passing rooms that were being sealed to protect whoever it happened to be inside from the Mrrakesh. She was focused now, like she had been years ago. It was a kind of focus she hadn’t experience since...since she was Shadow. One-mindedness and the rest of everything be damned.    But now, her focus was unlike ever before. It had always been on a target, of course, but never like this. Always to kill. Kill it, get out. Locate. Kill. Leave. Simple. But not now. Back then the idea of being an adult never crossed her mind so much so that the very thought of having children was a galaxy away. But that felt like so long ago, now. Now...now the one-minded focus had something else with it: maternal instinct.     The Palace cut in just as she turned the final corner to head for her quarters. [You have approximately two minutes before they will be inside.]    [Including breaking through the walls?] Marix couldn’t help but wonder how the Palace knew how fast it would be.    [Yes. Their equipment is very...strong.]    Thankfully, Marix was to the wall that was usually a door. As the wall shifted into a door which immediately irisised open, a part of her took notice of the lack of Knights outside the room. It wasn’t a surprise. After the years of being under their constant watch because she was assumed to be a threat to the Empress, Marix couldn’t bring herself to allow any of them to guard her room again...despite the fact that many of the ones among the Palace guard were Tam’Day’U.    By now Marix was inside the main living quarters and was glad to see that it was like a box. She had to stop next to one of the chairs to reorient herself and find where the door to the twins’ room should have been. The familiar feeling in the Force drew her towards a wall that was already turning into a door that was opening at the same time.    And as it opened, Marix could hear the little Alraxian crying. She was more sensitive to the Force than her brother and with the way he had reacted, Marix wasn’t surprise at all to see Andrea curled up on her bed looking at her with two big eyes. As she ran to the little girl, who sat up and stared at her mother with silvery eyes, Andrea mumbled softly, “Momma...?”    “Its okay, Andrea,” Marix said quickly as she scooped the little girl up into her arms and drew her close. She had switched to speaking Alraxian, as Andrea had always been more comfortable with that language than Trade. Well, with everyone but Jyren.    There was a heavy tearing noise a ways behind Marix and before she could turn to look, the Palace cut in. [Should I seal the room you are in?]    [No.] Marix said, turning and seeing a long metal blade through a wall in the other room that was slowly cutting through. [Just leave a path open for me and close it up behind. Anything to slow them.]    She then looked down to Andrea, who was shaking and starting to cry again. Still speaking Alraxian, Marix said firmly while shifting the girl into her left arm, “Andrea, I need you to put your head in my shoulder, hold on as tight as you can, and close your eyes.”    The little girl looked as confused and shocked as anyone would after being told that with no explanation. Not having time to explain or wait, Marix added quickly, “There isn’t time to explain. Hold on tight, use your claws if you have to...close your eyes and promise me you won’t open them.”    “Promise...” the word was mumbled into Marix’s shoulder as Andrea did as she was told. Marix then shifted her hold on the little girl so that she would be safe and headed as fast as she could to the exit.    But just as Marix made it into the main room again, the wall that had been an opening to a window gave way to a monstrous form. Mrrakesh were a good head higher than the tallest of Alraxians on average, and where an Alraxian had a great deal of natural strength, they generally had very lithe builds. Mrrakesh, though, were massive and somehow, despite their size, faster than most Alraxians. But the Mrrakesh that came through the wall looked like nothing Marix had ever seen.    He wore some kind of blue-black armour that covered every inch of his body save for the top of his head and one of his eyes. She could see a large pack on his back with a rifle of some sort in addition to another of the distinct, utilitarian designed blaster-like weapons that the Mrrakesh employed. But it was the large sword he was holding that caught her attention. Metal.    Not that it bothered her, but it meant she had to be extra careful with Andrea. Of course it wasn’t going to be easy.    Well, no, that was a lie.    The Mrrakesh had been on his feet for probably two seconds before Marix caught him by surprise. She extended her free hand, drew the Force to her, then unleashed it at the Mrrakesh. The huge creature was hit by an invisible wall and sent flying out of the hole it had just cut.    One down.    At that thought, two more Mrrakesh had cut through and were in the room, with a third cutting through. Time seemed to freeze as Marix looked at them...they all looked the same. A part of her screamed that she shouldn’t even be considering running. She should stand and fight. Who was the Empress, of all people, to run?    But the terrified child in her arms made the decision far too easy to make. The Mrrakesh were moving towards her with amazing speed, but once again, Marix called on the Force. She drew it into her legs and ran as fast as she could back the way she’d come, hoping that the Palace could at least give her a few more seconds to figure out how, exactly, she was going to get herself and Andrea out with Loki, hopefully, already gone.</blockquote>

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