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| Tweet Topic Started: Thu Jun 14, 2012 10:42 pm (3,793 Views) | |
| Nkiruka | Mon Aug 6, 2012 9:54 pm Post #61 |
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Nkiruka's eyes widened at Rin as she felt the strange staleness in the air dissolve away. The soldier took a few cautious steps back, looking around for some means to escape what she knew was coming next. While there were a few ways to exit the building, the soldier wasn't sure how well she could avoid attack and then Rin was already calling Laevateinn into her fingers and she had no choice, it was either run away or get badly slowed down by the fire. The Istani officer tore out of the front door at full clip, slamming past a pair of operatives and continuing to run as far away as she possibly could before the blast. There were much fewer people out here than expected, even taking into account the dead; some must have already left with wounded in tow. Clearly confused by the fleeing soldier and wondering if it was a trap, no one pursued her and several took steps away from the house. Just a few steps wasn't enough to save them from Laevateinn, which lit the earth and sky on fire. Those too slow or unaware to get away from the cracks in the ground -- mostly the unconscious and wounded -- were immolated and died instantly. The air quickly filled with the pained screams of the burning living. Nkiruka watched with wide eyes as the entire house and everywhere even remotely near the house was sheathed in walls of fire. Witch-warriors shielded their comrades with their fire-immune bodies as they all scrambled to safety, but they could only absorb so much of the melting heat. Chaitaki, who wasn't visible, shouted a word over everything else. Every single one of the Rainfall operatives that were still fairly healthy, which was not many, abandoned their wounded and scattered. They had to; trying to pull off a complete retreat in a hostile city didn't exactly account for more dead weight. Nkiruka felt her body tense up on reflex, wanting to pursue one of them, but they were all going in different directions and nearly distracted her from their real goal. That was when the fire died down, and the Istani officer saw a group of dark blurs running down the valley and into the city of Axerise proper. "Rin!" Nkiruka shouted, digging her boots in after the fleeing Chaitaki. Up ahead, she could make out three distinct yet identical outlines climbing up the side of a distant building. "The rooftops!" The Istani soldier jumped up onto a low-hanging house and managed to catch the edge of the roof. Pulling her body up, she reoriented herself in the darkness and could just barely make out the silhouettes. Any more wasted time and they'd be out of sight and completely lost. Just like that, another attempt would be wasted. And that truth, the reminder that Nkiruka had failed again, was something she could not tolerate anymore. There was too much at stake here. And that was how she found herself no longer in a martial trance, but in something rarer, uncontrollable, and far more deadly. The feeling of nothing in her world existing except the fleeing Chaitaki, the strength in her bones, the wind in her lungs telling her she could run for eternity and never get tired. They did have a chance, if Rin had gotten Chaitaki with that fire. A witch-warrior's immunity had a flipside; it made their muscles just a bit slower with each exposure. They could really do this. While running, hoping that Rin was close by, Nkiruka fumbled to raise her soldier's warhorn to her lips. She let loose a two-note series of repeating distress calls, known universally in the sultanate as a request for aid. It was worth chancing it just in case Nadiyah had stationed some soldiers undercover in Axerise. |
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| Rin | Tue Aug 7, 2012 7:18 pm Post #62 |
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The conflagration was like a force of nature, a wild beast that was impossible to tame. It raged along the streets and through buildings, red and orange and yellow and hot. The nearest operatives were simply transformed from living, breathing creatures to funeral pyres, small columns of agonizing pain amidst the greater destruction. Some of the guerillas had been fast enough on their feet to avoid the initial inferno, but the expanding flames had crept up behind them as they fled and set their clothes alight. Their frantic efforts to extinguish the fire looked almost like some type of fast-paced dance, once you ignored the terrified screaming. Rin wavered back and forth in the middle of the destruction, lips parted and eyes bright with pain and bloodlust. She lifted Laevateinn in her uninjured hand, its runes along its length glowing brightly and bathing her features in harsh, crimson light. A quick gesture with one hand picked up the five throwing daggers from where they had been deposited around the ruined safehouse, sending them flying back into the bandolier strapped across her chest. Her head snapped to one side when she heard Nkiruka's shout, and a cackle crawled out of her throat. The girl shot off in that direction, moving far faster than should have been possible due to her injuries. She jumped towards a nearby building, vaulting over a batch of fire and thrusting the broadsword into a gap between two bricks. The weapon's tip sunk into the stone, allowing her to flip her body onto the flat of the blade and use it as a springboard to jump to the rooftop. She twisted her neck back and forth, searching for any trace of her companion or their target. It wasn't long before she heard the low-pitched call of a warhorn, identical to the item she knew that Nkiruka carried on her person. The construct set off in that direction, leaping between buildings haphazardly and scrambling across their roofs. She was hanging in the gap between two rooftops when she heard a deadly and familiar noise from the surrounding darkness. Rin instinctively curled into a ball, pulling her armored legs to her chest and wrapping one arm over her face and the other around the back of her neck. Chaitaki's spinning knives zipped out of the darkness. One missed entirely, but three struck the steel plate with a shrieking grinding noise. The last struck her already-injured left arm just above the elbow. She felt a lance of pain travel up the arm as the whirring knife sliced through muscle to grate against bone before tearing itself free. The construct landed painfully, rolling across the rooftop uncontrollably. Her left arm flopped around uselessly. With a cool sense of detachment she internally listed off all of the muscles and tendons that had been severed by the floating knife. If it had struck at a different angle, she would have lost the arm; as it was, it was a dead weight. The screaming noise of the spinning knives cut through her pain-fuddled mind like an alarm, and she quickly jerked her right hand up. The Mithridatium daggers tore themselves free of her bandolier, orbiting around her body in a blur of green metal. There were harsh metallic angles from every side as the floating blades connected, knocking the witch-warriors blades rocketing away into the darkness. Rin grimaced and continued forward, moving noticeably slower than before as she devoted a fraction of her attention to keeping track of her defensive screen. Still, she maintained a steady pace that soon brought her into sight of the fleeing Rainfall operatives. From this distance, it was impossible to tell which of them, if any, was Chaitaki. "Mjolnir." The warhammer appeared in her grasp, electricity already tracing along the Norse symbols carved into the metal. She brought the weapon forward, eyes narrowing slightly as she murmured a soft word underneath her breath. A three-foot wide bolt of lightning shot out of the head of the hammer, blue-white energy so bright in comparison to the night it left a searing afterimage across her field of vision. The electricity missed the three witch-warriors by less than a foot, but they reacted to its presence immediately, changing directions to try and get out of her line of fire. Rin smiled thinly and mumbled again, this time sweeping the sparking hammer in a slow, wide arc. The coursing electricity trailed across the rooftops in response, a swath of galvanic ionization that lit the streets below in violent shades of white and azure light. The girl continued to follow after the fleeing figures, randomly shooting another beam of electricity in their direction as the knives danced in the air around her. |
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| Nkiruka | Wed Aug 8, 2012 4:25 pm Post #63 |
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Nkiruka blazed forward, boots pounding into flat stone or metal rooftops. Spinning knives whirred past her, slicing into her legs and torso; she was too focused to dodge. Beyond all odds, she was gaining on them. Those little barely-visible outlines were now a larger part of her field of view. Rin's lightning bolt made them scatter slightly as they descended into the mouth of the Axerise underground. The dwarven keep was much, much larger below ground than above; lanterns hung from the humongous cavern ceiling which expanded far over interlocking layers of stone streets. Had she logic in this current mental state, the soldier would know that those three were going underground because it was far more crowded and populated even in the middle of the night. Higher chance of losing their pursuers or motivating them not to use effective techniques that would cause collateral damage. They continued leaping across rooftops for a time. One glanced back and had to dive out of the way of another crackling bolt of lightning from Rin's hammer. Another one suddenly jumped down, disappearing into the streets, and the others followed a couple moments later. Nkiruka stayed on the rooftops for a bit longer, until the pair ducked off into a narrow side-street. Turning ninety degrees on a dime by lowering her center of gravity -- in the process dodging one of Chaitaki's spinning knives -- the soldier hurtled over the building, landed violently in an intersection and started barreling down the road after them. The guerrillas upturned carts and scattered vendor's stands behind them, but the berserker wasn't even slowed down a little; she threw her body up and ran across walls or simply charged through whatever was in her way. It was getting so close that Chaitaki was forced to show herself by casting a spell. Nkiruka homed in on the guerrilla that was making strange hand gestures. The wall of a building up ahead exploded as part of the stone warped instantly into the shape of a massive spike. The soldier twisted, sliding, and had to bend back just to avoid getting impaled, losing some speed in the process. More, smaller but faster spikes erupted in sequence down the street, casting a line of them that narrowly followed Nkiruka's path. Chaitaki looked back, finished another gesture and purposefully stomped her toes into the ground. The street became like a wave flowing back towards Nkiruka. Her body throttled by the instability, she had to slow down considerably. Just as the waves were starting to crest into spikes, Chaitaki and her fleeing ally reached an intersection. And just as they did... a tremendous blast of pure light engulfed the entire cross-street they were passing. Nkiruka skidded to a stop, throwing up an arm a moment too late. A painful afterimage throbbed under her half-blinded eyes. When she opened them, Chaitaki was stopped there in the middle of the street, although the other Rainfall operatives had bolted into different alleyways in an attempt to lure off Rin. Her mother's arm was raised over the eyeslits of her mask. Her entire loose outfit was burned so badly that it was mostly threadbare, burned-open holes in the side facing the attack that led down to blistering, nearly charred skin. A moment later all her knives flew back to her, orbiting her body. Nkiruka emerged onto the intersection, her rage faltering due to the silence and tension of the situation. Each step her boots made smeared a thin trail of black blood from the knife cuts and getting stuck in the arm by one of those stone spikes. Chaitaki was looking right, in the direction the massive burning beam of light came from, so the soldier's gaze followed hers to the source of the attack. And she realized, after a short moment of disbelief, that the distress call fired from her horn didn't attract any of Nadiyah's men that she might have placed secretly in the Deep Cities. No, it attracted Brigadier General Nadiyah 'ela Korzul herself. Rin's parade around Axerise was intended to attract Chaitaki to the city. It finally dawned on Nkiruka that if Chaitaki was somewhere, Nadiyah would do her absolute damndest to follow. The tall, dark-skinned woman was completely in plainclothes except for her army coat; the long epaulettes and sleeves hung hastily off her shoulders. The entire street a hundred feet in front of her was red-hot, buildings badly scorched, heat visibly distorting the air all around them as flakes of ash flew through the lingering current. The Brigadier General was stepping towards them, wrapping her fingers around the handle of her scimitar and pulling it out of its scabbard. Nkiruka's eyes were instantly drawn to her hands, which, for the first time since she had met her, had no gloves on. Brightly glowing runes were etched directly into her hands, a matching symbol on the tops and palms of each. A small orb of light hovered just above the woman's forehead, casting a dangerous shadow over her face. One of the Rainfall operatives managed to flank Nadiyah via rooftop, and was about ready to jump down and attack her from behind. Before their body even hit the ground, a beam exploded from a point between Nadiyah's shoulder blades, blowing a foot-wide steaming hole through their torso, continuing up and taking out the corner of a building in the path directly behind them. The hole in her coat was burned at the edges, and anyone with a view of her back would see the bare skin beneath was also etched with a light-emitting rune. Chaitaki glanced at her path, and it clearly dawned on her that Rin's lightning bolts and Nkiruka's chasing had -- intentionally or not -- driven them straight toward the edge of the city and into a dead end. She was essentially cornered. "Ah, it's my good friend, the Major..." Chaitaki said unevenly, trying to sound coy. Her burns looked incredibly painful. "Finally." Nadiyah's voice was almost a whisper. "Twenty-seven years and three months... finally..." Her grip on her scimitar tightened. Nkiruka kept trying to blink off her afterimage. How the hell was Nadiyah capable of that kind of light power, anyway? Everyone said she was a great fighter in the Army; wasn't that magic? "Careful, Nadiyah," she said. "Calm down. I can hear it in your voice, just calm down. Me and Rin can take care of this if you help us keep her pinned." |
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| Rin | Wed Aug 8, 2012 6:37 pm Post #64 |
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The chase across the rooftops was a frenzied nightmare, a haphazard pursuit across the dark city. Rin was barely aware of the clashing daggers that surrounded her, their metallic reverberations echoing in the air. From time to time one of Chaitaki's knives would slip through and tear at her skin, but they were always slight injuries that barely slowed her down. She launched attack after attack with the thunder god's hammer, bright streaks of lightning that never seemed to connect, but were always close enough to the mark to make their target cringe. An astute observer might have noticed that she wound attack more frequently every time the trio of Rainfall operatives started to move in the direction of Zaki's house. It would have been difficult to tell if this was on purpose or merely circumstantial; Rin seemed more like a wild animal than a sentient creature, each breath rattling in her chest worriedly, her eyes wide and unblinking. She continued to follow the guerillas into the subterranean section of the city, a massive open space underneath the earth where the buildings had been chiseled out of solid bedrock. Rin stayed on the rooftops as she followed to give her a better angle to attack from. However, these streets were not as empty as they had been above ground. The majority of the pedestrians were dwarves, but taller figures moved amongst the crowd as well. She was forced to limit herself to throwing lightning bolts forward whenever the Rainfall operatives entered an open space, an occurrence that grew less common as they barreled through the edge of the city. She saw Nkiruka drop to the street out of the corner of her eye and followed the soldier along the rooftops, eyes never leaving the fleeing trio. The huge surge of white light caught her completely off guard. She hissed in pain and slammed her eyelids shut to try and avoid being blinded, but the after-image of the attack flashed across her vision. Momentarily blinded, she stumbled over a chimney and fell to the ground clumsily, banging her limbs painfully and cursing under her breath. She managed to force her watering eyes open just in time to see a black-garbed figure shoot past, clothes smoking and breathing labored. Rin growled and hurled Mjolnir after the guerilla, the hammer flying straight and true despite its bulky shape and weight. Her target seemed to sense the attack at the last second, dropping to the floor so that the projectile merely clipped their mask instead of taking their head off. The construct caught a glimpse of silver, vertically slitted eyes before the witch-warrior disappeared, dropping out of sight onto the street below. She gestured, summoning back the warhammer and turning to the intersection where the ambush had occurred. Chaitaki stood in the center of the road, looking decidedly worse for wear. Her clothes were in singed tatters, the flesh underneath blistered from the intensity of the unexpected attack. Nkiruka stood in her mother's escape path, fierce even in her battered state, black and red blood dribbling down her body in patterns as intricate as her ritual tattoos. The source of the attack was revealed to be the general she had met in Striberg, the grim-faced Nadiyah 'ela Korzul. As Rin watched the third of the fleeing operative attempted to ambush the woman from behind, but another beam of powerful energy lanced out of her back, blasting a hole straight through the guerilla's abdomen. The construct stayed perched on the nearest rooftop, her lips pulling back in a feral smile that looked downright creepy in combination with her black eyes and swollen, blood-encrusted nose. Her left arm hung uselessly in front of her, coated in red from the elbow down and dripping crimson droplets onto the stone. Her dress clung to her thin figure tightly, soaked through in a dozen places and ripped open in more. Mjolnir sparked and sizzled in her uninjured arm, surrounding her body with a corona of flickering electricity that illuminated her manic mien in harsh detail. Her eyes shined with the desperate, maddened joy of someone who had finally relinquished their tentative grip on sanity. "Chaitaaaaaaaaki..." The poisoned throwing daggers had stopped orbiting around the girl as soon as the witch-warrior had recalled her own levitating blades. Now they shot towards Rin, sheathing themselves within easy reach along the bandolier. The air around her shimmered before a new weapon appeared, a shortsword with a elaborately ornate hilt that floated slight above the girl's head. Golden fire spread along it in the next moment, transforming it into a bar of sizzling holy energy. The construct giggled, tilting her head to one side as she stared down at the leader of the Rainfall Rebellion. Excalibur began to spin rapidly, transforming it into a glowing golden disc of searing power. The blade would had been a suicidal choice of weapon earlier in the encounter, when her life had depended on being able to deflect incoming attacks. Now it was perfect. Rin lifted Mjolnir so that the buzzing head of the hammer was pointed straight at Chaitaki, the spinning holy weapon jerking back and forth as she waited for the perfect moment to strike from above and back up Nkiruka. |
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| Nkiruka | Wed Aug 8, 2012 8:40 pm Post #65 |
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Chaitaki heard Rin's voice up above and cocked her head in that direction, not looking at her but listening very closely. Nkiruka noticed how her orange eyes were glossed over, coupled with the peculiar way she stared straight ahead at nothing in particular. "Hello, Rinny. That isn't going to work." The guerrilla leader regarded Nadiyah. "I caught a glimpse, Korzul. You've gotten older." "You've gotten crazier," retorted Nadiyah. She rolled her shoulders as she approached, letting her burned coat slide off. "I hear you managed to repair your reputation. You had to, if you were to ever get a promotion after what I did to you." Chaitaki smiled, recovering her confidence. "A reputation built on terrifying people, but one nonetheless." Nkiruka, meanwhile, glanced up at Rin. Excalibur, the glowing blade, was spinning wildly next to her, held in the air via the same sort of telekinesis that Chaitaki had. It looked like Rin was waiting for her signal. The soldier didn't give one yet, but started to edge closer while her mother was distracted by the ongoing conversation. The Brigadier General's face was blank as she listened, but after a second her lips curled into a wide grin made horrifying by the scar deadening some of her nerves and the sunspot's shadows adding extra contrast to her facial features. A dissonant laugh rolled from her throat. "Stand down, Nadiyah. She's just taunting you. She does it to everyone." "Captain Menai I can get you a spot as a Major -- no, a Colonel -- and a huge bonus, a big house, more land for the Choma, anything if you just let me kill her." Her voice had a desperate quality tinging its normal calmness, barely kept at bay under a flood of restrained emotions. "You and Rin have done a great job. Just stop her from fleeing and I'll do it, I'll do it, don't you worry. Kids shouldn't get this kind of blood on their hands." "Quite the little angels those kids are," Chaitaki quipped, unsheathing her weapons. "I like your logic, though. Blood washes blood. Getting yourself obsessed, spending your whole life training up, discovering secret power buried deep inside you, nursing your anger and grief all the while. If I was in your place I would have done the exact same thing." She attacked while Nadiyah was chewing on the implications of what she just said. Nkiruka attacked the moment she saw what was happening, shouting for Rin to do it. Everything clashed at once: the knives, the sickle and flyssa, Nadiyah's scimitar, Nkiruka's weapons, and soon the spinning Excalibur. Chaitaki locked her sickle around Nkiruka's arm and dragged her into the path of Excalibur while her flyssa shakily blocked Nadiyah's counter-attack. The glowing, whirling sword banked out of the way at the last moment, slicing a hair-thin cut into the soldier's chest as she jumped up from the lock, twisted and kicked her mother in the knee. Chaitaki rolled with it, falling to a kneel which allowed her to dodge a slash from Nadiyah that would have been powerful enough to lop off her head. Nkiruka had to dodge it, too; they were fighting too close to each other. "Back--" Nadiyah went into a series of rapid-fire parries to keep the floating knives at bay, "--off, Captain!"
Edited by Nkiruka, Wed Aug 8, 2012 9:06 pm.
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| Rin | Wed Aug 8, 2012 9:11 pm Post #66 |
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The tension hung in the air, as tangible as fog, just waiting for someone to make the first move. When it finally happened, all three of the women on the street level moved simultaneously, coming together in a chaotic clash that was difficult to follow with the naked eye. Rin twitched slightly, as if she was fighting the impulse to throw herself in the mix, but some small shred of self-restraint held her back. Jumping into the middle of a fight between three highly skilled combatants would simply get her killed. Instead, she sent Excalibur juking forward, the hum of the blade intensifying as she focused more of her attention on the whirling blade in order to manipulate it with greater finesse. The first pass of the holy weapon was almost catastrophic when the witch-warrior managed to yank Nkiruka into its path at the last second. Rin hissed and redirected it with moments to spare, her brow furrowing as she saw the tip of Excalibur pass through the woman's shirt and skirt across her chest. The blade of a distant and forgotten king, it was only effective against flesh and did not leave so much as a tear in the fabric as it sliced the skin underneath. The construct narrowed her eyes and manipulated the weapon with more caution, raising it above the free-for-all for the barest instant and waiting for an opportunity. When it arrived it was only there for a heartbeat, but Rin did not hesitate. In the space of a blink of an eye she acted, sending a bolt of raw electricity surging through the warhammer. The galvanic energy surged across the intersection, arcing between the two Istani soldiers and passing so close to Nadiyah that for a second she thought she had clipped the genera by accidentl. Instead of striking Chaitaki, it struck the ground directly where the with-warrior had been about to place her foot. The woman responded instantly to the threat, shifting her weight to avoid the electricity and simultaneously regain her balance. It was a perfect recovery that demonstrated how extremely dangerous and talented the guerilla warrior was... but the unexpected movement managed to draw her attention away from the spinning holy weapon for a fraction of a second. Excalibur dropped like an guillotine, its spinning tip descending towards the witch-warriors right shoulder so quickly it left a glowing after-image along its path. Rin wet her lips in anticipation as it fell, time seeming to slow as the golden energy spun closer and closer to its target... |
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| Nkiruka | Thu Aug 9, 2012 3:25 pm Post #67 |
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This was getting insane. Chaitaki was almost able to match them -- two highly trained, highly lethal warriors -- at the same time, while blind. Almost. She was faltering a lot more often. She had gained some of her speed back, but because of the burns her lips were curled into a kind of pained grimace that she probably would have wanted to look like a smile. While Chaitaki looked like she wasn't having a problem against the combined might of Nkiruka and Nadiyah, her increasing raggedness showed in the cuts she was getting across her body. Instead of seeing, predicting and countering, the guerrilla leader attacked in response to perceived sounds, movements of people through the air, and raw instinct, which wasn't as accurate as she might have hoped. For once, they had the upper hand. Nkiruka flinched at the sudden bolt of lightning from Rin, which shot through a narrow gap between the berserker and the general. Chaitaki must have felt it in the air, or something, because she managed to avoid stepping where it hit. Nadiyah took advantage of this split-second of imbalance like a real veteran, shouting a battle cry as she went in for the kill. Nkiruka saw what was coming, and maybe even her mother might have heard or felt it as well. The guerrilla had to choose now: be disemboweled by Nadiyah 'ela Korzul, or lose an arm. She opted for the latter. She sunk into the most stable mandak stance possible, blocked the scimitar with her flyssa, misjudged slightly where the scimitar was and got badly sliced across the forearm in the follow-through. Excalibur came down at the same time, and while Chaitaki had started to lean to the side, she never would have been able to completely dodge it when also taking on her two other opponents. In the next moment, her arm was gone, messily severed and cauterized by the holy weapon's intense heat. Nkiruka's stomach sank; her mother hadn't even cried out in pain. Chaitaki staggered forward. The glassy film had left her eyes, replaced now by a desperate intensity the soldier had never seen on the guerrilla leader before. The Chomai woman hooked her foot under the curved blade of her sickle, kicked it straight up into the air and caught it with the outstretched fingers of her remaining hand. Holding both weapons in one hand, Nkiruka knew she was about to flee and instinctively ran at her. Chaitaki tucked into a combat roll past both her and Nadiyah, but the soldier was so dead-set on not letting her get away that she had forgotten about one important thing. And she paid for that lapse in focus through the sudden, agonizing pain of being stabbed in both legs at the same time. Chaitaki's knives cleanly hamstrung her; she collapsed onto the street, roaring in pain and clutching her wounds. She was running again, this time properly toward the dark mouth of the city. Instead of tend to her badly wounded comrades, Nadiyah was so angry, so obsessed with catching her mortal enemy that she bolted after her. The Brigadier General didn't get too far; the very stone of the street rose up around her feet with liquid consistency, slowing her down as badly as one might slog through mud. Roaring a challenge, Nadiyah raised her free hand and shot bright beams of light at the fleeing woman, who zigzagged to avoid them. Chaitaki turned a corner out of sight and Nadiyah, now rendered completely immobile by the stone stuck around her boots, dropped her scimitar and prepared to fire a special beam around the corner. Before she could, all five of Chaitaki's knives buzzed around her head. She gasped, interrupting her casting instantly so she could curl up, wrapping her arms around her face in a desperate bid to protect herself. Edited by Nkiruka, Thu Aug 9, 2012 3:28 pm.
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| Rin | Thu Aug 9, 2012 7:28 pm Post #68 |
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Not even Chaitaki was skilled enough to avoid a simultaneous assault from all three of them. She might have managed to avoid the blast of lightning and Nadiyah's frantic slashes, but Excalibur struck home, cleaving her arm off. The burning blade barely slowed down as it cleanly sliced through skin, muscle, and bone. Any blood that came into contact with the holy energy evaporated into a red mist as the heat cauterized the wound closed. The witch-warrior fell, and for a moment the construct through that she was finished. However, she nimbly recovered, flipping up her dropped weapon and grabbing it in her remaining hand. She sprinted away, but not before sending a pair of knifes zipping behind Nkiruka to cleanly sever her hamstrings and drop the soldier to the ground. Rin froze halfway through turning to follow the guerilla leader, her worried eyes fixed on her friend and mentor. The woman dropped with a yell was half pain and half surprise. Nadiyah did not even hesitate to start after their target, but Chaitaki made the street roll up and wrap around her ankles, trapping the general in place. The construct knew that right now, she had an opportunity to take out the witch-warrior. She was tired and alone and injured. She was in an unfamiliar city. It was the perfect opportunity to strike, and Rin knew that a few months ago she would not have hesitated to chase her down. Now, however, she was not the Grimoire's thrall. The girl knew that there were some things more important than the success of a mission. She couldn't let Nkiruka and Nadiyah die. With a wordless shout that echoed with frustration she dropped both her weapons, letting Excalibur and Mjolnir clatter to the ground as her uninjured arm flashing out towards the general. Her fingers curled up into claws as she reached out across the short distance, wrapping invisible fingers around the knives that were spinning towards the woman. They froze in place, their blades straining mere inches away from Nadiyah's upraised arms. Rin growled and tightened her hand into a fist, exerting more of a pull on the floating weapons. They slowly drew away from the woman, still struggling against her control. Only when it was clear that they would not be able to escape her telekinetic grip did they reverse direction, flying away to rejoin their wielder. Rin let them go, clumsily hopping off of the rooftop and landing on the street below. She knelt next to Nkiruka first, ripping a huge swath of fabric off of the hem of her dress. She used the fabric to quickly bind the terrible wounds on the back of her legs, knowing that blood loss was the real concern right now; the injuries would heal with time. After making sure her friend would not die in the next few minutes she walked over to Nadiyah, frowning at the stone that had cemented her in place. It took her longer to summon Amenonuhoko than usual from a combination of exhaustion and pain, but once the naginata was in her grasp it took her moments to undo the earth's stony shackles. "... I'm sorry." That was all that she said to the woman before returning to Nkiruka's side and seating herself cross-legged on the cobbles. "I am going to lose consciousness soon. Someone else will have to call for the healers." Her pupils had shrunk now that they were no longer in immediate danger, and there was a deep weariness in her words. "I expect that I will be asleep for roughly twenty-four hours so that my body can focus its attention on healing instead of cognitive processes." Rin looked at Nkiruka for a second before glancing away, embarrassed. "I... I'm sorry she got away. We... we were close. Both parties underestimated the other. Next time..." She fell silent, closing her eyes and slumping down. |
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| Nkiruka | Thu Aug 9, 2012 10:00 pm Post #69 |
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Nadiyah heard the whirring noise of the spinning knives go away and peeked out from between her fingers. Once she saw the little knives go flying off after their fleeing owner, the soldier let her arms fall down to her sides. She lifted and twisted her feet in their stone cages, but they didn't even budge; in fact, Nadiyah had no idea Rin was even trying to help her, so focused was she on the opportunity slipping very quickly through her fingers. She went running the moment her feet were free, scooping up her scimitar. The woman was breathing so quickly through her clenched jaws that it sounded like a snarl. While the Brigadier General disappeared around the corner her enemy had taken far too long ago, Nkiruka remained on the street, lying in a pool of black blood near her mother's severed arm. The soldier was partly curled up, holding her badly bleeding wounds while making a gasping, shivering sound, face contorted in pain. Her eyes flicked up to an approaching Rin, who fashioned tourniquets for her legs and explained the situation in a calm, mechanical tone. "That's fine," Nkiruka said between breaths. "We learned a lot. This was good." Her attempt at optimism didn't sound as convincing as she'd hoped. Lifting one shaky hand from a wound, her bloodied fingers searched around her belt. They wrapped around the familiar shape of her small warhorn. She twisted and yanked it free right when Rin lost consciousness. A respectable distance away, Nkiruka heard -- or thought she heard, as the blood loss was making her mind cloudy -- Nadiyah screaming at the top of her lungs: a terrible shout filled with years-suppressed rage and genuine anguish that was accompanied by bright beams of light exploding randomly from a distant street and filling the cavern above. Nkiruka lifted her warhorn to her lips, propping her arm up by her elbow, still grimacing. The scream went silent, the beams of light stopped, and it felt like all of Axerise went perfectly silent for the first time since the attack had begun. The Istani soldier filled it by blowing into the warhorn with all her might, the same two-tone distress call that had caught Nadiyah's attention. She kept blowing the desperate, almost mournful-sounding signal until she passed out from blood loss. Loose papers and bound papers and scrolls of all sorts were scattered in organized chaos across the entirety of not only Nkiruka's nightstand, but her hospital bed as well. Messenger-hawk canisters littered the floor around it. Back and legs heavily propped up, she had a board on her lap which she used like a writing desk. The Istani officer had her quill gripped so tightly in her fingers that her knuckles were white, painstakingly composing a letter. Her hand shook, fumbling the characters and she almost crumpled the entire parchment in a fit, but narrowly restrained herself. Nkiruka took in a long, shaky breath instead, running her fingers through her loose hair. She was in a room that could hold about five patients, maybe ten in an emergency, but her and Rin were the only occupants. Coughing echoed through the halls all the way from the sick ward across the building. Otherwise, it was painfully quiet. Axerise's hospital was a little larger than it needed to be -- Nkiruka assumed her and Rin were the only current inpatients -- which was presumably in anticipation of disaster or invasion. The walls were a dull gray brick, the sheets were white, and the mice were black. After being here for a day Nkiruka felt like the colors were draining from her eyes or something. Putting aside those thoughts and her growing restlessness, Nkiruka squared her shoulders and kept writing. Earlier on, back when the soldier was in a lot of pain, Zaki had returned with a case of imported coconut milk in one arm and a book in the other. She thought the Istani officer might do well with something else on her mind. The break didn't make Nkiruka feel any better; she just felt like she'd lost an hour or two of valuable time. Now that her partner had left, she was furiously trying to make up for lost time spent working. She wrote, and wrote, and read whenever she wasn't writing, and drank coconut milk whenever she wasn't reading or writing even though the taste didn't even cross her mind. Every so often she'd seize up from the pain of the healing and restorative runes on her legs, feeling the magic working under her skin to regenerate and re-stretch her severed hamstrings, which was a horrible process to even think about. When Rin finally woke up, Nkiruka was talking hospital payments with one of the healers: a young dwarven man with a cleanly braided beard who wore gray robes. Every so often while he was speaking he would look down worriedly at all the messenger-hawk canisters. "--know it's cosmetic, but it's still important, especially for facial scars where internal systems were damaged." "I don't have time to worry about it. You think I'm more vulnerable to your rip-off healing while I'm a cripple?" She scowled, and the part of her face that Chaitaki's knife had slashed didn't move. "I never said anything of the sort, miss Menai. Please just listen to me." Nkiruka turned to look at the stirring Rin. "Sleep well?" she said. Her tone wasn't necessarily warm, but it wasn't unfriendly either. The Istani officer glared at the healer to make him go away, but he instead rounded around to Rin's bed and did a cursory check of her runic bandages. "A lot happens in 24 hours, my friend. Or maybe I should call you va-Dromigg while in public, now that pretty much the entire Army of Istan is going to be turning their eyes our way very, very soon." |
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| Rin | Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:06 am Post #70 |
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It seemed like it would be easier to stay in this darkness rather than waking back up. The pain of her injuries was diminished here, suppressed to the point she was barely aware of their presence. In the past, the Grimoire had helped her heal her wounds, mending the skin as adeptly as any surgeon and healing them in a fraction of the time. Without the book's power, she was forced to use its pages to accomplish the same effect. Without its guiding intelligence, she had to direct their energy herself. It was not a matter of simply repairing her flesh. Rin was not nearly knowledgeable or skilled enough to redirect the natural healing process of her body or augment it. What she did was subtly change the fabric of reality, making it so that the wounds had never existed in the first place. It was a difficult and tedious process, and she lost track of time passing in the mortal world. She opened her eyes slowly when she returned to the realm of the living. The ceiling was a dull, lifeless shade of gray, as if the color had been bleached out out of it. The impression was not changed when she glanced down and saw that her blankets were white. Her sundress had been cut away. Thankfully, they had not removed the silver ribbons wrapped around her forearms, shins, waist, and breast. It probably wasn't for lack of trying; the material might feel as soft as leather, but there was no seam, and it was impossible to cut. They were a part of her, just as much as her hair or skin or eyes. The first thing she heard was a rather gruff and dispassionate greeting from Nkiruka. The construct tilted her head to that side, smiling when she saw that the soldier was lying on the bed next to her. She did not seem bothered by the nature of the woman's greeting. A dwarf tottered over to her and bent over to check on her bandages, but Rin waved her hand to stop his ministrations. She sat up, swinging her legs off of the bed and gathering the sheets to her neck to keep her modesty intact. "Your ministrations are not required. Leave us, for now." The healer looked like he was about to protest, but something in the girl's words or face convinced him that arguing would be a poor decision. As soon as he had closed the door behind him Rin sighed and lifted up the blanket to look at herself. Heavy bandages were wrapped around all of her injuries, making her look more like a mummy than a person. Her left arm was in a sling, with the three broken fingers splinted and taped together. She held the sheet against herself with one hand as she started to unravel the cloth around her legs. Where her wounds had been the night before were smooth, silver scars that stretched across her otherwise unblemished skin. The girl continued to remove the wrappings, revealing more and more scars. Cuts that she had barely noticed during the frantic ambush and pursuit were now difficult to ignore. "I'm sorry that we couldn't catch her, Nkiruka. Truly, I am. I was arrogant... but so was she. And she won't be able to hurt anyone for a while. She's... distracted." She unwound the bandage around her left bicep, grimacing as she saw the thick, ropy scar underneath. She tried to wriggle her fingers experimentally and found their response sluggish and clumsy. She sighed with exasperation and left the limb in its sling, knowing that it would probably be best if she didn't move it for now. She stretched out her right arm, feeling a small twinge between her shoulder blades from Chaitaki's flyssa. Except for her left arm, she removed every bandage from her body, revealing her suspicious lack of injuries for someone that had been so grievously wounded a mere twenty four hours before. She considered speaking further about Chaitaki, but suspected that Nkiruka would appreciate moving on. She took in the sheets of paper and messenger tubes in a quick glance. "Clearly I've missed some important developments. Bring me up to speed... and I can check on your legs at the same time." She hopped off of the bunk, walking over to the soldier's cot and holding her fingers over the soldier's legs. She had literally touched Nkiruka's soul in the past, helping the Chomai fix the damage that had been done by an incomplete grafting ritual. Healing her would be easy by comparison. "Did Nadiyah survive?" |
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| Nkiruka | Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:11 pm Post #71 |
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Nkiruka eyed Rin warily. After being constantly poked and prodded by the healers, she was about as keen on further healing as an injured animal might be. When it was clear that Rin wasn't going to be doing any healing that required actual physical contact, the soldier relaxed some. Her friend asked her to catch her up on the recent surge of communication. "Nadiyah is very much alive. She paid us a brief visit before catching a portal back to Istan City." She made a noise kind of like a laugh, her eyes losing focus as she recalled the exchange. "Anyway, the short version is that everyone is going insane, me included. The longer version is this. Nadiyah lost track of Chaitaki, came back and managed to get us to a proper healer with the help of some scared townsfolk. We were close to dead at first, but recovered quickly." This amazing feat she stated like something that happened as part of their day-to-day lives, which wasn't far from the truth. "Naturally a destroyed city block and a scorched street covered in blood is going to attract some attention. This counter-insurgency project was never supposed to be flashy. My job for the longest time has been to follow Chaitaki's trail of corpses while I search for and destroy cells of Rainfall. Nadiyah said to go all-out when we start going in for the kill, though, and we did. That was assuming overkill would give us something to show for all the destruction. Army meritocracy only cares about results." She glanced down at the mess of papers on her lap, and the half-finished letter. "Now I've got hawks pouring out of the city portal. Communications from all sorts of higher-ups. We're not in trouble, necessarily. Well, Nadiyah kind of is. It's just an overload of information. This whole Rainfall business dragged into the public eye even worse. Word's spreading about what we did, everyone discussing whether it was justified and how bad the threat is and what we're going to do. I have to defend myself against that, defend the non-extremist Chomai that some people want to punish, monitor my men, find the money for hospital and house repair payments, put together all this information from the Academy and Nadav cases..." She sighed. "Well, all of that isn't really important right now. We'll be discussing the highlights at the meeting we were invited to. Expected to show up at Central this coming dusk. You were specifically included. And it gets worse." Nkiruka reached to her nightstand, where the most important papers were kept. She plucked a letter off the surface and unfolded it. The seal depicted a kite with a curved saber resting across its talons, and the letter was trimmed in gold leaf. That alone said a lot about what it was. "The Sultan herself wants an audience with us. Tomorrow. No time for us to take etiquette classes. Others invited to that same audience are actually telling us to reject her invitation because our presence will only hurt their case. Or, if we do go, to shut up and not say a single word." She handed it to Rin if her friend wanted to take a look at it. Nkiruka fidgeted, chewed on her nails and tried to shift her weight in her spot, clearly plenty worried about that in particular. |
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| Rin | Sun Aug 12, 2012 3:23 pm Post #72 |
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RIn's eyes half-closed as she got to work. The healing demanded enough of her attention that it was difficult to listen to Nkiruka's words, much less respond intelligently. She stayed silent throughout the entirety of the explanation, although her expression revealed her thoughts on the matter. There was a small smile of relief when she heard Nadiyah survived, although it grew slightly bitter as she imagined how angry the general must have been to lose her chance to eliminate Chaitaki. A small wince of regret pulled back her lips when Nkiruka mentioned how much destruction their ambush had caused. Her expression grew thoughtful when she was informed of the meeting at Central, and when the Sultan's presence was indicated her eyes widened slightly. The construct shook her head when the invitation was offered, returning her full focus to the woman's injuries. The dancing knives had dug deep into the back of her thighs, wounds that were meant to cripple their opponent. It took her a few more minutes to finish reversing the damage and encouraging the flesh and muscle to re-grow across the gash. When she was done she sighed and stepped back, wiping off her brow with the back of her hand. "There. You should be able to walk now... Although you might still need assistance for a day or two. I couldn't fix everything at once, but your augmented healing capabilities should have a much easier time of it now... I would say your legs will be back at full strength in a day, maybe two." Now that she was less worried about her friend's health, she used her right hand to wrap the sheet around her slender figure in a complicated pattern while holding it up with her chin. When she had finished tucking it into place the fabric fell around her like a toga, although it was too long for her height and trailed a bit on the floor. Only then did she pick up the invitation, eying the fine vellum it had been printed on and the gold leaf that was patterned around the edges. Rin plopped back down on her cot, the fingers of her right hand tapping out a steady rhythm on the side of the bed. "I can understand that Army's frustration. We're lucky the Deep Cities didn't interpret the attack as a declaration of war. To be honest, I'm more than a little miffed myself. I think we might have been able to get her if she didn't bring so much backup..." The girl shrugged. "We will simply have to make sure your superiors understand the seriousness of the situation. Left unchecked, Chaitaki will completely destroy the sultanate. We responded accordingly." Her words held a steady undercurrent of utter conviction. Rin was no stranger to consequentialism. While working under the direct control of the Grand Grimoire, she had wiped at least two entire villages off of the map and killed countless others. In the eyes of most people, that made the construct a mass murderer. Few of them understood that if she hadn't acted in such a manner, the integrity of reality might have been compromised and literally everything would have ceased to be. This situation was not nearly as dangerous as that, but she would do whatever it took to defeat Chaitaki. "As for meeting the Sultan... It sounds fun!" She started to clap her hands together before realizing that it was impossible with one arm in a sling. She resigned herself to just flashing a thumbs-up at Nkiruka instead. "I've never met a Sultan before! I wonder what she's like..." |
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| Nkiruka | Sun Aug 12, 2012 4:58 pm Post #73 |
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Nkiruka relaxed her grip on her sheets, which had grown tight over the course of Rin's healing without her realizing it. She experimentally slid her legs under the covers and found that they moved fairly well and without unbearable pain. Immediately the soldier gathered up her things and started shoving them into loose canisters and then shoving the canisters into her pack, listening to Rin. Nkiruka had to stop midway through her actions, holding her head as she fought off a wave of slight vertigo. She'd lost a lot of blood. "Yes, exactly. Our goal will have to be to convince all those people of this. And the Sultan." Rin seemed excited to meet the Sultan, saying that she'd never met a sultan before and wondered what she was like. "I wonder the same thing. Everyone does." Nkiruka could scarcely imagine. Once she'd packed up everything, Nkiruka tore off her sheets and, with some difficulty, got herself dressed. She called over one of the dwarf healers and asked them for a pair of crutches. He gave her a funny look before shuffling off to retrieve some human-sized ones, maybe assuming that a fierce Istani would reject such blatant aid. However, Nkiruka knew that it would be foolish to not use them after taking injuries that major, as it would impact the healing and just be plain painful. Once the soldier had her shoes laced and her officer's jacket on, the healer came back with a sturdy wooden pair which she accepted with a quick thank-you. The dwarf also wordlessly offered Rin some simple clothing, placing the folded top and bottom on her hospital bed while avoiding eye contact. He then left again. Using her crutches to provide leverage, Nkiruka pushed herself from sitting on her bed to standing. Her stance was a bit awkward -- it still hurt to completely straighten out her legs -- but the crutches took off a lot of weight on her feet and made it much easier to walk. "You ready to go? The portal's on the other side of town." The donkey-drawn cart came to a slow stop once it reached the huge portal behind the Istani embassy. Nkiruka awkwardly climbed out of the back of the cart, hobbled over next to the driver and pressed a gold coin into his palm. "Thanks," she said. The driver gave a friendly smile missing teeth and bid them a good trip. The portal was one of the bigger ones Nkiruka had seen: it was probably about ten feet tall and twenty wide, able to usher multiple people through it at once. It was heavily guarded by five elite Istani soldiers -- some of Nadiyah's men -- and a contingent of Axerise guardsmen who looked tough but badly sleep-deprived. It was easy to get the clearance for herself to pass through the portal, but much more difficult to get it for Rin. The dwarf she was talking to wasn't convinced Rin had the proper clearance and pulled the classic 'just following orders' defense. Nadiyah's men were too busy looking completely still and focused to butt in and defend Rin, even if they might have fought alongside her in the past. Nkiruka had to go through the ordeal of getting out the meeting invitation that included Rin, showing it to him, him explaining he couldn't read Istani, her actively calling over one of the Istani soldiers to read it out loud for him, and him finally allowing her to pass. Nkiruka glared at him as she hobbled through the massive magical doorway. Where they emerged -- the portal room inside central military headquarters in Istan City -- it was total chaos. Soldiers coming in, soldiers leaving, army mages channeling new connections, lots of noise, arguments, shouting over the noise, crowds of people moving all in different directions. Someone in the back of the room, who previously was trying very hard to stay out of everyone's way, lit up at the sight of Nkiruka and waved his arms over the crowd to catch her attention. The soldier Mu'tamid Baris, one of the men under her command, was outfitted in full military formal dress and looked very well-groomed. He met up with the two of them halfway, saluted Nkiruka and offered to shake Rin's hand. The volume in the room was too high for them to exchange any meaningful words yet, but as he led them out of the portal room he seemed to radiate genuine friendliness in the way he walked and carried himself. Outside of the portal room in the main chamber of Central, they could at least hear themselves think. Nkiruka realized that Mu'tamid was being so overly nice and friendly because he was probably genuinely worried about what was going on. His eyes kept flicking down to her legs. After Nkiruka brushed off all his pleasantries, he went right down to business. "It's going to be held in Common for va- er, miss Rinrae's sake," he said. "Ground floor, executive conference room number three, down the hallway and to your-... your right..." He stumbled and trailed off because of a small crowd that was starting to form around them. Mu'tamid glanced around at the loose group of soldiers, many stopped and others looking closely as they passed. All of them had their eyes trained on Rin. Nkiruka's whole body tensed. Propping her underarm on one of her crutches, she held her arm out protectively in front of her friend and stared them all down. She knew exactly why they were lingering, and Rin no doubt did as well. Even after months or years it was hard for a person to forget fallen friends and loved ones. "Captain?" Mu'tamid asked, uneasy. He'd gotten beaten up enough at boot camp to know the look in some of their eyes. "She's with me!" Nkiruka shouted over all the muttering and whispering of Rin's name. It came out so rough that it was almost a growl. |
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| Rin | Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:23 am Post #74 |
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Rin helped pay for the healer's efforts, although she knew that the dwarves had done very little to actually help her recover. It's the thought that counts, I suppose... The healer seemed slightly surprised by how mobile she was already, but he managed to suppress his confusion and keep from asking how it was possible. The gray-robed man brought her some clothes and Nkiruka some crutches when they were ready to depart. She changed into the button-up tunic and long skirt quickly, frowning slightly at how faded the colors had become from years of washing. She would definitely have to get new clothes before meeting with the Sultan. The girl left her arm in the sling underneath the shirt, knowing that it would be impossible to thread her arm through the sleeves. The soldier hobbled through the city streets awkwardly on her crutches, but Rin knew better than to offer any assistance to the woman. It took them longer to reach the army outpost than it would have otherwise, but she didn't mind. There was plenty to think about, after all. The portal itself was massive, big enough to allow a dozen people through abreast. A small contingent of Istani soldiers and Axerise guards stood watch over the magical doorway. Rin had expected the warriors to oppose to her presence, but the dwarves turned out to be much more difficult. They demanded to see all of the paperwork three times before finally allowing them to step through the portal. The scene they emerged upon was chaotic, filled with soldiers and couriers running back and forth frantically and barking out orders in Istani. A bored-looking young man in the back of the room waved them over and Rin perked up when she recognized them. "Oh! Hello Mu'tamid!" The man gave her an odd look and didn't respond, and it took her a few moments to remember that the last time they had met she had been in disguise. Before she could tell him otherwise, he started to talk with Nkiruka and she just followed behind, humming softly and bouncing on her heels as she walked. It didn't take long before a group of soldiers formed around them, stopping them from moving forward. At first, she thought they were just more subordinates here to give reports to Nkiruka. However, when a tense silence began she realized that was not the case. Rin looked up and saw that several men and women were blocking the way, staring at her with open resentment. The small smile on her features faded slightly as she saw the rage there, her eyes narrowing slightly. Their anger was almost palpable, and Mu'tamid and Nkiruka both responded to it. The officer stepped in front of her, growling a reprimand to the soldiers. "It's okay Nkiruka. I don't need protection." She deftly stepped around her friend's outstretched arm, marching forward until she stood only a foot in front of the closest soldier and setting her feet firmly. He was easily a foot taller than her, with broad shoulders and thick arms. He did not back down, although she thought she saw a flicker of unease in his grimace. "My actions are unforgivable. You do not understand the necessity of my actions, so you are angry." She craned her head back, meeting his eyes without blinking. "Would striking me assuage your injured pride? Would that make you feel better?" The soldier's face flushed red and he brought one hand up in a vicious right cross. Rin knew the blow was coming as soon as the muscles in his arm tensed, and even though it would be laughably easy to dodge or block the attack she did not move. In fact, even when his knuckles crashed into her cheek she barely moved. The attack split her upper lip, and she could taste the warm, salty flavor of blood on her tongue. The construct's stare never left the soldier's face as he struck. When he brought his hand back for a backhanded follow-up she caught his wrist easily, squeezing slightly so that her fingertips dug into the ulnar nerve. When she spoke, her voice was icily calm. "You had your one blow. No more." She twisted her hand slightly, and the soldier's face blanched in sudden pain. Rin kept the pressure on his wrist for a moment before letting go and stepping past, her bright blue eyes meeting the glares of each individual in her path. To a man they stepped aside, unwilling to confront her openly. She continued down the corridor, trusting that Nkiruka and Mu'tamid would catch up. She absentmindedly wiped the blood off of her chin with the back of one hand, her mien frozen in an emotionless mask. |
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| Nkiruka | Tue Aug 14, 2012 3:15 am Post #75 |
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Nkiruka looked on with some degree of worry hidden beneath her serious exterior. Even though she knew Rin could hold her own against all of these soldiers at once if she needed to, it was still hard to watch her allow herself to get hit like that, even if she understood why the construct was doing it. It forced that soldier to confront what he was doing directly, and by doing so reevaluate his motivation to hurt her in the first place. Making them all think about how worthwhile it was to get revenge, especially on someone remorseful. When Nkiruka followed along after Rin down the hallway, leaving Mu'tamid behind to attend to his own duties, this got her thinking about revenge in general. She had always been taught that revenge was a dead-end process: you're wronged, you kill or ruin the person who wronged you, end of story. Joining up with Nadiyah's counter-insurgency project taught her how incorrect this view was. It was childish to think of something without taking into account the more far-reaching consequences of it. Rin dried out Meera's Miracle, killed and displaced many people. Loved ones were affected. The consequences rippled outward. Hatred was bred and nursed over long periods of time. Or, similarly, the Rainfall Rebellion. Hundreds of people suffered, a select few did everything they could to stop it, in the process committing terrible wrongs against the people opposing them. Nadiyah's subordinates were slaughtered in front of her and then her life was ruined by Chaitaki. Nkiruka became dizzy imagining all the different interactions and all the ways that everything was escalating, how each person's rage was festering even deeper, how more people were being drawn into this mess and how each of those would affect it in addition. It was probably one of the reasons why Chaitaki still kept killing so many people. She was trying to make the cycle into a dead-end by destroying every last person involved. And she was crazy enough -- and strong enough -- to be willing to eliminate any ripple those revenge killings would cause, too. Or maybe that used to be the case, but not anymore. Now it was clear that Chaitaki would never stop. There would always be someone new to kill. She would never, ever feel like the situation was at rest. Nkiruka tossed Rin a nervous glance before pushing in the door to their meeting room. It was a large, austere area with the flag of Istan hanging in one corner and not much else. The room was dominated by an oval-shaped table able to seat over a dozen people. It was mostly full, as the meeting was going to begin soon. At the head of the table's far side was none other than Nadiyah 'ela Korzul. She had her head down, gloved hands folded in front of her while she reviewed her notes and the piles of vellum near her. The Army mages had done a good job of patching her wounds up just well enough to make her look healthy. Also sitting around the table in various states of casualness were a variety of faces: some friends to Nkiruka, some she had seen around the city, some acquaintances and a few she was unfamiliar with. For example, there was a woman about her age who had her legs crossed onto the table, leaning back in her chair while she cleaned her nails with the point of a massive combat knife. Or the Lieutenant Colonel with the shaved head and missing eye who staunchly refused to wear an eyepatch. Those sorts of army people. A few were very familiar. One of the first people to look up at the new arrivals was Khopesh. The owl demon rose to his feet politely. He was dressed much, much better than the haggard fugitive Nkiruka originally knew him as; he wore his black and red il-Makhti cloak like a cape, which showed off the elaborate decorations of his white and gold-trimmed general's uniform beneath, including epaulettes with long trim. The owl-faced man was utterly emotionless as usual, but gave the two of them a warm greeting and even embraced them both. Nkiruka noticed that his eyes looked tired and a few of the feathers on his face were grey, but otherwise he seemed to be in good shape. He didn't ask them anything too personal but clearly looked interested in Rin's presence and Nkiruka's crutches during their brief small talk. Following him was, of all people, Aisha Zaman. The black-haired woman was glad to see both of them doing well, and even hugged Rin after a very short hesitation. "What are you doing here, Zaman?" Nkiruka blurted out, more surprised than anything. She laughed nervously. "I'm useful," was all she said on that subject. The invisible presence of her ancestor spirit was heavy and thick around her; it had gotten stronger since Demir's attack on Istan City. It poked and prodded at Rin, displaying affectionate familiarity toward the construct. "Please, sit." It was Nadiyah who said that. She had looked up from her papers and politely extended one arm toward the opposite end of the table. Something was very different about the way the Brigadier General looked at the two of them, an aura that told Nkiruka it wouldn't be a good idea to anger her today. Without a word the soldier took a seat on the opposite end of the oval, with Rin sitting next to her, setting her crutches down at her feet. Khopesh returned to his seat on the far side and Zaman sat back at hers just next to the knife-wielding woman. Nkiruka quietly got to work preparing her own materials, flashing some genuinely nervous glances at Rin every so often, like she was checking to make sure her friend was still there. While they waited, several more people filed into the room and took their seats. Most people were fairly calm and casual about the whole ordeal, but some tension still hung in the air coming mostly from Nkiruka and Nadiyah. Khopesh leaned forward in his seat to make eye contact with Rin. "I heard you and Nkiruka are going to meet the Sultan tomorrow," he said. "I trust you will do well. It is not as bad as many claim." |
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7:02 PM Jul 11

