Vengeance of the half-blood

[Sabresque]

After an hour or so of searching, Serana could hear the trickle of running water. The young woman made her way to the stream. Bending down, she cupped her hands and filled them with water. Trying to drink faster than the water slipped through her fingers, she glanced around. The light from the sun was gleaming through the foilage in beams, making the running water glint as it ran over the rocks. She stood, smiling at the peacefulness of the forest, almost forgeting the confrontation with nækos earlier.

Finding her way up the stream, she could see how it was good country for archers and sentries with the tall and thick trees. This thought set her on edge. Gripping her simple sabre's hilt, she scanned the trees with her eyes as she walked. Eventually she found the end of the stream, where it emptied into a large lake. Stopping, she scanned the shores. All was peaceful except a small trickle of smoke coming up through the trees on the far shore. A cooking fire. Serana was just about to drop to her knees behind a bush when she heard the mettalic sound of a sword coming out of it's sheath. Before she could turn, though, there was a blade at the back of her neck. A talruum voice sounded form behind her.

"Human."

[Swordsman]

Editor's Note:

While our bunch was heading out here from Arconia, Loch, Jo, et al were heading out to I can't remember where for their fight with Zarcon. By the time we got to Nova Zemblar, Arcon, Zarcon, and Moonitic had just gone over the cliff. While we've been at most a week since getting here, they spent several weeks searching down the river before returning, and have been probably a week since.

The relevance:
Our bunch is several weeks behind the rest of Arconia, probably at least three. That means that we can finish up here, get back to Arconia, and be in time to enter the tournament. So, don't start without us, we'll be there!

[lochinvar]

Sorry to burst your bubble, Swordsman, but the corrected time line is as follows:

Loch and Jo and Rosaline search the river: four days.
Return to Arconia at Zelda's summons: three days.
From return until the departure on the second search: three days.

So, only about ten days (give or take one) have passed since Arcon went over the cliff.

I'm not sure how time is running in Nova Zemblar, but if anything you're ahead of us, not behind. Sorry if that puts you in a time squeeze, but I'm sure Zelda has something in mind to delay the tournament.

Loch and Rosaline won't be there, in any case. It was three days hard ride from the river mouth by soldiers traveling light; we now have a larger group, several civilians, and a wagon. So, it will be four-five days at least getting to port I calculate, plus the time it takes to lay in stores on the ship, then the searching time to reach and explore at least some of the outlying islands.

All things considered, we may not be home for at least three weeks, and probably more like a month.

So, do what ya gotta do, and then come on home.

[Sabresque]

(ed Note:

Ack... um, it took me forever to send that and I didn't realize you guys had posted. I don't know I could figure it in.)

[Swordsman]

Hmm...I'll have to review that thread, but somehow I got the idea that it took a few weeks. This does change things...well, one of two things needs to happen, I guess. Either we edit that thread so that there are a few extra weeks in there, or Zelda finds a way to delay the tournament. The first would fit a little more neatly, the second might be easier. I suppose neither "has" to happen, but it would sure be nice to get into that tourney...

[Zelda]

Well seeing I havent actually sent out a decree for the tourney it could possibly be done.

[Fencing Angel]

Serena didn’t move for fear of her life. She knew that this was a talruum by the shadow that was cast over her. She just sat there in silence, hoping that she could talk her way out of this, or that angel was close by. But she knew that he was down in the village. And she didn’t dare to cry out for fear that she would be killed outright.

“Stand…” a rough voice came. And she obeyed. Knowing that there was nothing that she could do.

“Turn around…” again she obeyed.

Then she realized that it was blade…and he realized that it was Serena.

“I have looked for you”

He said in broken basic. She wasn’t quite sure why. But it seemed rather important.

“Follow.”

Blade commanded. They climbed higher into the mountains as they went she was wondering where they were going. It was soon clear that they where headed to the Clan that blade belonged to… she started to see more and more talruum scouts and more Visible pathways thorough the rock formations as they waked along she noticed that there was a gathering of Talruum following them. And then suddenly they where there, there was about 75 talruum in the square of the little village.

“This must be one of the smaller clans,” thought Serena

Blade explained that she was to talk to the clan leaders into trying to working together for the greater good. Trying to wipe out most of or all of the rouges was going to take a lot of each clan helping the others.

Serena also noticed that there was a dog wandering around the village, a dog that looked rather familiar. Then she realized that it was naekos’ dog. Where he came from she didn’t have time to ask, she ran to Blade and asked if he had any parchment. He pointed her to a tent about 50 feet to her left. It turned out to be the tent of the head scribe. She grabbed up a piece of parchment and then she scribbled down a note to Angelo. Telling him that things where coming together nicely and to hurry up and start killing off more of the archers. And the heads of archers of zemblar. When she had finished writing the note she found corasce and tied the note to his neck with her hair ribbon and then let him go. Hoping that angel would find the dog down in town..


When Corsca got to the city he spent several days looking for some one that he thought was family, angel, or naekos. After the first day he just collapsed in the alleyway and went to sleep. In the morning he foraged for some food. Finding that several bars threw away perfectly good food he took advantage of a free meal and set out onto the task at hand finding someone he knew, or thought he knew. About lunchtime on the third day he saw a figure that looked like Angelo. So he followed at a distance sniffing along the way, so as to look like a stray.

Angel went back to his inn to figure out his next target. When he got there the barmaid said,

“I’m sorry sir...but we don’t allow pets in the inn.”

Angel looked around and saw the dog at his heels with what looked like a not tied to his neck.

“I’m sorry ma’am. But I think this stray followed me in. Allow me to take it back outside.”

With that angel walked the "stray" out side and untied the note and read it. He whistled to him self and patted corsace on the head. And started to wonder how he could get this note to naekos.

[ 01-07-2002: Message edited by: Fencing Angel ]</p>

[Swordsman]

The machinations had been set in motion.

Serana and Blade were ready with their part – the regular Talruum clans were united, and ready to fight the rogue clan, which they vastly outnumbered.

Versekaya was dead. Nækos had slit his throat as he slept the night before. All of Versekaya’s lieutenants were dead as well. With no leadership or instigation, much of the anti-Talruum hatred had already dissolved. Nækos himself had gathered every remaining anti-Talruum person he could find, and become their leader now, spouting epithets and curses against the mountain brutes with every other word.

The ranks of archers were considerably thinned – the Black Archer had done his work well. Those still remaining were the meanest, the most evil – or just the most stupid, completely brainwashed by the constant propaganda against the mountain peoples. With only Angelo and Nækos in charge, the two charismatic newcomers, the mob was easily led.

All was set for a battle – one with the outcome already known.

Nækos finally had the excuse to meet Angelo – he was the other leader, and they needed their troops to work together. He used it immediately, and found him in the bar of one of the other inns.

“You are Angelo, the archer, no?”

“That I am. And you are…?” Angelo expertly covered any surprise he may have felt at encountering Nækos, to the pleasure of the latter.

“I am the Swordsman. I’m told you command a respectable force of archers.”

“That I do, though this ‘Black Archer’, and the fear of him, have both thinned these ranks. I hear you have had similar troubles with your group of soldiers. Something of a ghost?”

“Yes, they speak of a black wraith that descends in the night to steal one’s soul, a sort of silent incubus. He’s left me the only one to lead this mob. Which is why I seek you – we must combine our forces and our leadership.”

“Great minds think alike, my friend.”

“They do, that. Now, let us discuss matters of logistics and strategy, in a location of security. The walls have ears, you know, as seem the very tables sometimes.”

Angelo merely nodded at this, and they moved to a back room, locking the door behind. Finally Angelo spoke. “This is private, don’t worry. We’re ready. The numbers have thinned to around eighty, and they’re scared. What’s your plan, and how many of what do you have?” Angelo seemed edgy, a tad nervous. Nækos couldn’t blame him. It was a huge, constant bluff to have to keep up, added to the stresses of commanding an uneasy group.

“I’ve got seventy or eighty, maybe ninety. Mostly peasants, basically just a mob. Hate the Talruum with a passion, but know nothing about them – least of all their fighting capacity. We must finish this tonight. I have a message for you, to send back to Serana on Corasce. Get your men – every one of them – ready for battle. Do whatever you can to screw them up, though, without their realizing it. Here’s the important part: have them at the edge of the forest and ready, and wait for me. I do not care what you hear or see, you do not let a single man go back. You do not do a single thing, but wait. When we join you, we charge the mountain all together, straight up. Wait beside the river, and we go up that way. My group will already be at a run, so be ready to go. Our path will take us up into a narrowing ravine, the perfect ambush spot. The Talruum have been informed, and will be waiting. As soon as the fighting begins, drop your bow and switch sides. You’ll be with me, and they’ll know me. As soon as it’s over, we come back down with Serana and Corasce, grab horses, and sprint back for the coast. Got it? Be ready with your archers at the edge of the woods beside the river.”

“Got it.” Their meeting ended, Nækos returned to his rooms. Angelo took the letter Nækos had given him and tied it to Corasce’s neck. But then he untied it, opened it, and read it. Most of it was the tactics, a sketched map, information for the battle. It was going to be a massacre. One big bloody massacre of at least 160 men, and who knew how may Talruum. But there was a more personal part to the letter, all the way at the bottom:

Serana, there are so many things you should probably know, but I cannot find the words. Emotions, dark thoughts and memories, senses I can’t even explain. Summed up and greatly simplified, I find that I believe I love you. I say ‘I believe’, because I don’t know, I can’t know. I never have before. Not like this. I have loved people before – Salar; Kinkado; the Aiovuses; Angelo, the brother I never had; Serena, the one with the name so similar to yours. But I have never been in love before. This is new to me, and disturbing. It is a kind of dependence, and I hate to be dependent on anything. But I know this – the whole time I was away before, and the short time you have been away form me now, I have missed you. I feel as though I’m partly missing. I feel as though were you to die tonight in the battle, so would half of me.

And now, I have completely opened myself. Now, if ever, I must know your reply, I must know your thoughts. And no one else can know what I just told you. I cannot risk looking soft.

Nækos

Angelo turned bright red, reattached the paper, and sent the dog on its way.

Nækos sat in his chambers, thinking and worrying. There was so much. So much grey. To destroy the homes and property of innocent villagers, for what cause? Were the Talruum worth it? In an instant, yes. The property of perhaps a dozen people, in return for the very lives of an entire race. But still, the price weighed on him. Humans could be so ugly…and yet, here he was in love with one. The One. And at his right hand another helped him to lead 160 – human – men to their deaths, for the Talruum. The price was so dear…

For once, also, he was concerned about death. Because it was imperative he reach Arconia alive.

While Versekaya still lived, he had gotten news from the main Russic government. From Nova Servaya, the rotting capitol. Nækos had confiscated it, and luckily, too. The Russics were ambitious, and expansive. Already their empire was large, the army powerful as the iron fist of the church. They wanted more. Most of their neighbors were already conquered, and so they looked across the sea. And what they saw was many smaller nations, squabbling amongst themselves. Ands so a massive navy was already under construction, paving way for the invasion. Arconia wouldn’t stand a chance. Neither would, Muu. Or Schoolcraftia. Or even fencingsucks.com, for that matter. Not one single country was large or wealthy enough to resist the Russic empire. They would have to band together, immediately, and begin preparations for the largest war they would ever see. And only then would they possibly stand any chance.

And that was why Nækos had not only to survive, but return and report to Arcon as soon as possible. Arcon would have to begin to forging alliances as fast as blades.

At least there was one good thing: Nækos had had the opportunity to search out Nova Zemblar’s barber, and have the ragged tail of hair cut off that had been growing for the past two and a half months, since he’d fled Arconia and Josephine.

[ 01-07-2002: Message edited by: Swordsman ]</p>

[Swordsman]

The pep talk Nækos gave was probably the first of his life. Actually, it was less a pep talk than it was more instigation to riot. The speech was entirely improvised and thoroughly profane, calling on every hatred suspicion and prejudice harbored by the mob. They were already rallied against the Talruum; he spent little time on that. It was against other people in the city that he spent most of the hour rallying them.

Nækos needed the men to be evil. They were going to get massacred, no prisoners taken. And if they were seen as heroes, martyrs, then all would have been in vain. And so he set them against their fellow men, whipping them into a frenzied hatred for Talruum sympathizers in Nova Zemblar.

And at the height of this frenzy, he charged.

At a run he led the mob into the heart of the city, not so far from where the House Aiovus had stood. And there they razed everything in the area, burning houses and buildings and trees and destroying with force what could not be burned. The people they found were tied hand and foot, slung from long wooden poles and paraded about. Any who came out to cheer, Nækos either swept up into the mob or killed.

He brought them to the square in front of where the House Aiovus had stood. The captured sympathizers were held up for display to be egged and mocked and spat upon. Nækos began another speech, a hateful holier-than-thou designed specifically to offend everybody. And at just the moment he needed, the city struck back.

A counter-mob was coming down the street, intent on retribution. Nækos took the moment, turned, and ran. With him ran his mob, and together they raced for the trees beside the river.

And in the very place where years before Nækos had succumbed to the rage, where Kinkado had been stolen and slaughtered and the Aiovuses burned and lynched, the half-blood had his vengeance.

The rest was just cleanup.

[Swordsman]

The mob fled down the street and out of the city, along the river. Nækos led the front, hurling every vulgarity he could think of back to the pursuers. Shortly outside the city, his mob ran into a large group of archers, with Angelo at the head. Seeing the archers, the irate citizens dropped their chase and went back to clean up.

Nækos’ group didn’t slow a step. Angelo’s group launched into a run along with them, and suddenly it was truly a mob, one huge confused mass of men and weapons surging into the woods and up the foot of the mountain. The men were hooting and yelling, working each other up for killing, quelling their own nervousness, ready for blood. Nækos and Angelo were silent, knowing whose blood it would be.

Nækos was confident as they moved up the slope, tearing through the trees and vegetations, rolling over rocks in the way. The mass was flowing, but in no way organized or ready for combat. Their opposition was a deadly force, trained and ready for a fight, waiting in exactly the right place. And he carried a Talruum sabre – he would switch quickly to the winning side, and then leave.

Finally he caught sight of the ridge he had been looking for. It ran up the mountain, forming a ravine on the mountainside between the steep rock on one side and the river on the other. The ravine narrowed continuously until the ridge finally turned all the way and ran across the river, forming a beautiful waterfall. That river would run red today. There was only one problem: Nækos found himself with the ridge to his left. He was on the wrong side, in the open. Around the flank of the waiting Talruum.

A lot more Talruum were going to die now than he’d hoped or expected. Because of his failure to come down the right street.

And suddenly there were the Talruum. A flash of one first, then another, then full groups of them. The men were still screeching, and the volume rose even further as they recognized the enemy and closed in. There was no kind of order. No way Nækos could have called him back had it even been wise. All he could do was not attack, take Angelo and get out of the battle. He had to find Serana and Corasce and maybe Blade, and then just get out of there.

The Talruum heard the screaming coming, the crashing of the brush as the mob plowed through. None were caught by surprise. There was actually no word in the Talruum language for ‘surprise’, a fact which had caused Nækos some trouble when learning their language and ways.

The first Talruum turned to the crowd, sabre out, and began the fight. They swarmed around him, and he was overwhelmed. But not before killing at least six men. Bows were nearly useless with so many friendly warriors mixed about. The prospect of fratricide was far too high even for these killers.

The next encounter was several Talruum, which proved much more of a fight. By the time it was done, most of the other Talruum on the mountain had come down to join the fight. The ones across the river were already fording it, and within minutes the humans were outnumbered in addition to their already being outsmarted, out-positioned, and vastly inferior one to one.

Nækos and Angelo were already out of the group. They took off into the trees, and Nækos was sure to have his Talruum sabre out and visible to any that might come and kill him, too. He was lucky enough not to encounter any for quite a while, until they were fully around behind the fight. He was thoroughly startled, though, when Corasce came up on him from behind.

The sun was setting over the city, straight into Nækos’ and Angelo’s eyes. They found themselves on a rock outcropping uphill from the fight, looking down with a clear view. Blood flew everywhere. The Talruum spread sideways a little and had the humans completely surrounded. There was never a chance for any to escape, and only a very few of the archers ever managed to actually get a shot off.

In a matter of minutes, it was over. The ring of Talruum just constricted around them, pressing in closer until there wasn’t even room for all of them to get in on the fight. And suddenly, the mountain warriors met in the middle, and the last man fell between them. There was no bellow of victory, no roar of exultation. They’d been forced to kill, and so they had. And now the danger was passed, and the dead lay in heaps around them. Nækos knew what would begin immediately, probably before he even had a chance to leave. The Talruum would all gather around the battleground, and mourn the dead. Only two of theirs lay dead. They would be carried off to the nearest clan, and mourned separately with a special ceremony that would last for months. For the humans, he could already hear the requiem beginning, resonating, haunting dirges that carried across the whole mountainside. Just to hear the sounds, even if one didn’t know the meaning, was enough to elicit a deep sadness. The Talruum didn’t know how to hate. They knew how to fight, and protect themselves, but not how to hate. The few that learned hate were the rogues, exiled from the clans to live the rest of their lives under a death warrant. And so after a battle, the hymns began, sorrowful elegies to the spirits of the slain. And in that moment, Nækos loved the Talruum more than anything he knew. Simple, peaceful peoples striving only to be left to their own isolated society. Hated, hunted, and subjugated by the people for whom they now sang songs of mourning. Nækos cursed the fools who had so long ago given into their infatuation and given him a cross of human and elven blood. He cursed each in turn, and the humanity and elvishness within him. The fault and greed and weakness that lay inherently in each.

But it was time to be moving. He and Angelo woke from their trance and went down off the rock, moving down the hill. After barely surviving the first Talruum he met, Nækos explained who he was, showing the sabre. They were taken to Serana and Corasce and Blade, next to the river. Words were few.

“Blade, the humans are no longer a problem. What of this rogue clan?”

“We are quite able to destroy it, as we must. Though it is not a happy thing.”

“I know, Blade. I know. But if you are quite able, then I will leave with my kind. You are staying here, are you not?”

“I am.”

“Alright. Now we have to leave.”

“Goodbye, Nækos Servaya.”

“Be well, Blade.” Nækos began to move down the mountain, Serana and Angelo silently with him, Corasce just ahead. But Blade called after him.

“Nækos!” He turned. “My friend…I thank you. The rest of them do not yet understand what you have done, but I do. And all of us are in your debt.”

Friend. Blade had called him friend. As the Talruum did not know hate, neither were they very familiar with the concept of friendship. Emotion from a Talruum, especially friendship or gratitude, was quite a rare thing. And yet, Blade had just said “My friend…I thank you.”

Something inside Nækos jumped, and again he loved the Talruum. Suddenly, he felt he did not want to leave. He wanted to just stay and live with these mountain folk, to train with them and enjoy a simple, peaceful life. No wars. No kings. No conspiracies or evil or magicks or hatred or love or loneliness or – But that did not matter. It was his duty now to return to his king with the information he had. Information about war and kings and conspiracies and evil and hatred. Nækos would be the last one to admit it to anybody but himself, but he always had a response for anything said. He could always think about something as it was being said, and know exactly what to say back.

And now he was rendered speechless by five small words from a mountain beast.

He had only one gift worth giving to the Talruum. Any of his weapons would be sorely inferior, and anything else he had completely superficial. He had only one thing: The Pendant of the Magi. Nækos reached down the front of his shirt and held it, pulling it out from the neck and letting it drop on his chest. Reaching around behind his neck, he unclasped the chain, then re-clasped it in front of him.

It was a simple thing, really. Maybe the size of a half-dollar, it was a thin circle of clear crystal. Across the front were four diagonal pieces of crystal, shaped as though they’d been molded in the tear in a cloth. Running down from left to right, they were in order white, red, green, and blue. On the back of the pendant was a fifth piece of crystal, the same shape. This was the purest black, running opposite the front four. The thing was called the Pendant of the Magi. It was the symbol of the Russic church, which was the real power behind the empire. Its presence was noted far back in ancient scriptures and prophecies. Most of these prophecies were known only to the church. This pendant had been around Nækos’ neck when he was found as a child by Salar, and had only ever so rarely left it. It had become his own symbol in his exodus.

Reaching out to the Talruum Preacher before him, he slipped the chain over Blade’s massive head, letting the pendant fall flat on the bare chest. And finally he could speak. “Come to find me someday, and I will tell you about this pendant. Your people owe me more than I can ever hope to pay back.”

And with that, he turned and ran. His companions, human and canine, pursued. He did not want them to catch him, though. For once again the Swordsman wept.

[Fencing Angel]

As they ran down the mountainside angel started thinking that maybe he should go back the archery shop and buy them out of these arrows. He rather liked the way that they flew. So when they reached the village angel yelled,

“Wait for me at the southern gate.”

Then he ran thought the now somewhat familiar streets of the town to the archery shop, and when he got there he burst through the door and drew his dagger that he kept at his hip. He looked at the shopkeeper and said,

“I want all you’re black arrows. NOW! Lets get a move on…I don’t have time to spare.”

The shopkeeper didn’t ask any questions, so obviously he knew what was good for him. About a minuet later he came back with all the black arrows that he had. Then angel looked at his own quiver and sighed.

“Well it looks like I’m going to need another quiver too.. A nice big one.”

The store keeper ran off again and came back about 2 minuets later with a large leather quiver, angel looked at it and said,

“Send the bill to the kingdom of Muu.. They shall see that you are compensated.”

Having said that he ran back out the door and headed to the southern gate where naekos and Serena where waiting for him. Horses ready.

“I needed to do some last minuet shopping…”

He explained as he jumped to his horse.
They both smiled and then the started the long ride back home to arconia. For the next two-day they rode through swamps, grasslands, dense forests, and Lots of Fog.

Two days passed as they rode on, and Serena was asleep in the saddle, but then again two days with out sleep would do that to a person. When they stopped to let the horses rest and eat, angel took this chance to look around, and to find his bearings. Looking for any of the mountains around arconia that would lead them in the direction of home. That’s when he saw Ludeskya peak in the mountains. For it was the only mountain that far south which had snow on it. He knew that it had to be it, for there was no other mountain that high this far south. And from a quick calculation he figured that they where about a 2 to 3 day ride from home. But angel wanted to be back as soon as possible. He knew that there where a great many chasms and valleys in between them also. It would be rough going, but they had to survive. The spent the night in the forest somewhat sheltered from the wind and the cold, but it was still cold enough to make a fire. They rested and let the horses rest also. In the morning they would set off again.


The next morning they set off again as planned, it was a rainy day for the beaten, hungry and weary travelers, but they all had one common goal...getting home. There were a king and a queen awaiting the return of three of their knights. (And not to mention the beds for the knights.)
Lunchtime found them staring across a seemingly endless canyon. But they had come this far and wouldn’t turn back for this. But the only two options that they had where following the river back to the sea and then coming back towards arconia via the sea route, or just letting the horses go and climb down into the canyon and then cross the river and climb back up the other side. Since none of them really wanted to take another 2 days out of the already seemingly endless journey they set the horses free, fastened a rope to a nearby tree and started repelling down the rock face.

When they got to the bottom it was dark and they where all tired from the climb. So they found a cave and spent the night at the bottom of the canyon. For the remainder of the night there was a thunderstorm that this part of the county rarely ever saw. But none of the three travelers ever woke in the night.

Next morning they woke and started forming a plan to get back up the other side. But more importantly where they would get back up the other side. And how would they cross the river? They started looking up stream and found a pool of shallow, calm water about a half mile up. And decided this was the only chance they would have of crossing the mighty river. After wading across it there was the next question of where they could climb back up. Angel didn’t see anyplace that looked “easy” to climb up. But he knew that Serena and Naekos where both good climbers. So he just started climbing. After climbing for about 3 hours they got to the top of the canyon and flopped out on the ground, for climbing was hard work. Because angel was climbing lead he got to the top first and after helping the others get up started looking around for where Lubeskya peak was, so that they could start walking in the right direction. Then he found it. Due south from where they were. He hoped they could make it by nightfall, but he wasn’t optimistic. After walking past lakes, through rivers, over ridges, and through more forests, all of a sudden they where at the base of the last ridge. Angel knew the answer to the question he asked next but he thought it was better to ask then just assume.

“Over or around??”

“Over.”

Said Serena and naekos at the same time, and he knew that it was just because they wanted to get home as badly as he did.

Again in the fading moonlight they started to walk again. But this time there was just a little more spring in their steps cause they knew that they where almost home.
At about midnight they crested the ridge and looked down into the valley below. Arconia…home. They where finally home.

[Rayen]

another bump for Crin