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[Ransom]

Perseus lowered Freya down on the sand well outside the city. He had landed behind a large dune. This way she could make her escape without attracting any unnecessary attention, however unlikely it was that she would.
He voiced some instructions to her and gave his last scraps of food, sending her on her way to the nearest village to Van'duras, a small farming hamlet named Jeod.

She thanked Perseus and set off, her eyes still wide and frightened, but determined. Perseus watched her tread slowly through the sand. She had a funny walk, this Freya girl. Or maybe she was just traumatised? Despite that, she curiously left no footprints or marks in the sand. Was this some strange art learned in her homeland? which was... where?
Where did Steel get this girl from anyway?

Perseus looked back at the city, and wondered whether he could be bothered going back into the carnage of battle at all. It got a bit tiring after awhile, all the action, all the... killing. He could just go with this mysterious girl who had a pirate swagger and left no footprints, and live happily ever after. But what would that gain him? Regret? More regret? And the girl, did he suddenly love her? He didn't think so. For a second he just loved the idea of being at peace, not being at peace with anyone in particular.
No, he would go back into the battle, back into the adventure. After all he was still young and relatively unexperienced in the manner of life. So he had to go back, he didn't have a good enough excuse to go.
But that didn't mean he had to like it.


Perseus, alone with his thoughts, flew back over the city and headed toward the palace, which was looking to be the epicenter of coming events.

[Steel Samurai]

Steel stepped lightly up the long staircase which led to the entrance of the palace, a rather large affair fronted by huge pillars which reminded one of various government buildings scattered throughout the Alliance, unsurprising really, as this was one the of said buildings.

The guards in front of the massive door to the palace shuffled their feet nervously.
"Psst, Bill," The whisperer was a weedy, shifty looking fellow, whose armor was much too large for him.
"Wot?" replied his compatriot, a portly fellow whose armor was much too small for him. He had removed several of the strips of metal at the bottom of the cuirass in order to accommodate his ample girth.
"Less get outta here. The battle's lost. Dem Labbys are gonna rip us apart ovvawise."
"Dey'll shoot us for deserting before we can get 15 paces."
"Betta than waiting to be gutted by de Labby's."
"On Free then?"

"one
"two"
"free!"
The two ran off in the direction of the nearest gate "OY!" The Guard lieutenant shouted "They're Trying to DESERT! GET E . ." A shuriken appeared rather suddenly in his throat. He looked down, expecting to see an arrow, only to jab his chin on one of the other points of the throwing star. He gurgled and pulled the sharp object from his throat. It was a bad idea. Blood spurted from the severed jugular vein, showering the surrounding men with a red rain. Not that they noticed, being far too occupied with the shuriken in their own throats. Steel stepped over their prostrate bodies, pausing briefly to get the keys for the door from the belt of the lieutenant. He could have picked the lock fairly quickly of course, that being one of the few assassin skills which had improved since he lost his sight, but keys were much easier.

The door opened with a loud creak. Steel involuntarily winced, but he had little need for stealth at this point. Ironically, it had only been around a week and a half since he had stepped into this very palace as a guest, if not a very well known one. As soon as he stepped through the door he was assaulted by several more guards. They were easily dispatched. The entry hall to the palace was immense, the sweeping staircases and high ceiling giving it a fairy tale appearance, at sharp odds with the pool of blood which was spreading from the soldier's dead bodies. Steel turned back towards the door for a moment, the burning city stretching forth before him. It had been a beautiful city in days gone by, with few poor sections and gorgeous libraries and public buildings made of marble and shaped to inspire one with the glory and majesty of their civilization. But, the war with Uradiel had taken its toll, and most of the stone buildings were now little more than ruins, built over with ugly wooden structures. The palace itself had somehow miraculously remained intact, its fairytale appearance and seeming invincibility giving hope to the people of Vanadiel, so burdened with war. The royal family had lived there for other 1,000 years, not always as the kings and queens of Vanadiel, some of Uradiel, some of Unidiel. Even during the period in which Uradiel had occupied the city, a royal family member, disguised as a servant boy, had been in the palace. Khuffie, of course, now ruled as "Lord Protector" allegedly only until prince Gana'diel came into his majority, however the prince's 18th birthday was fast approaching and Khuffie showed little sign of handing power over. Things could get ugly, the prince was proud and patriotic, his views on his country's involvement with the
Alliance well known. He could make trouble for the Leader of the Alliance. Assuming, of course, that he survived tonight, which, knowing Selena, was certainly not a given.

Suddenly, a young boy no older than 12 summers, ran out of a room to the right, a large cleaver in his hand, obviously obtained from a kitchen. Steel turned with lightning speed, his blade flashing in the firelight. The boy fell, his chest but one gaping wound. Steel wiped his sword dispassionately. The boy had been a fool. Steel turned to Kitsune and Ransom.
"Guard the door. Kill anyone who tries to get in or out. Tell Selena to think of this as part of the Fortress's payment. I won't be long."
With that, he turned and ran up the largest flight of stairs. He had once assassinated a high court official here. Where did they keep the secret documents? A plan of the palace formed in Steel's mind. Ah. Of course. There was a secret passage which led out of the castle through the a small grate in the wall. The secret document room was off of the passage. The entrance was in one of the bookshelves of the great library. He jogged down one of the wide halls. There. The Great library of the West Wing. The other libraries were less than half its size. The small wooden door opened up onto a space at least the size of the grand ballroom directly below it, packed with books and ledgers. Steel walked over to the librarians desk. The handle was disguised as one of the ledgers for 2 ADW, a date in which little activity had taken place due to the Uradiel occupation. Steel reached for the book, but felt nothing. The door was open. Odd. There would have been little reason to go down the tunnel, the Uradiel soldiers had blocked the exit. Unless of course the royal family had never been told of that. Steel paused for a moment. Faint footsteps pattered off in the distance. This provided an interesting opportunity. Steel began jogging down the tunnel, possibilities running through his mind. Time enough to think of that in a moment he supposed. The secret document room was on his right. He swiftly kicked the door in and stepped in. Fortunately the archivist had kept all the scroll cubbyholes well numbered. Steel pulled a large ring from his pocket. It was an interdimensional storage device, using magic to open a portal into another dimension, allowing one to store objects which one didn't have room on one's person for. The disadvantage was of course that the retrieval device was the size of a room, which meant that if one needed to keep the object on one's person one would have to find an alternate means of storing it. Steel breathed softly on ring, which then began to vibrate, the other dimension slowly becoming visible in the middle of the ring. Steel grabbed the documents he wanted and thrust them through the ring into the alternate dimension. This was the work of but a few minutes, and the ring was put safely away. Steel then left the room and further down towards the tunnel.

She was breathing heavily, her long dark red hair streaming behind her as she ran down the tunnel, her right hand clasped firmly by the metal gauntlet of the man in front of her. Suddenly, they came to a stop. The tunnel split. "Which way, my lady?" the handsome man in front of her said, his own shoulder-length golden locks tousled and messy. It took her a moment to think, distracted by the way the shadows created by the torchlight set off smooth good looks and heightened his strange red eyes.
"My lady?" She snapped out of it.
"Left. The right path led to the Public Library."
The man nodded and they continued their flight. The exit should only be a few hundred paces ahead. There. Daylight. Something was wrong. There were bars in front of the small portcullis. Had Uradiel . . .? They were finished.
"It appears to be blocked, my lady."
Something within her broke. She sank to her knees and wept silently.
"It's over Guihwind. We are lost. To go back is death, and there is no way forward."
"Lose not hope, my lady. If need be I shall fight my way through the entire labyrinthine army to get ye to safety."
He knelt down and took her in his arms. She clung to him, her sobs echoing down the tunnel.
"Guihwind, whatever shall we do?"
"We go back and find another way."
"I fear that there is no other way." This was a new speaker. A man with jet black hair and bandages covering his eyes stepped from around the bend, wearing nothing but some loose black pants.
"Who are ye?!"
"I'm here for the princess."
"Ye shall not have her!"
With no further words, the knight known as Guihwind rushed the man, who was, of course, Steel. His sword flashed in the torchlight and Guihwind was disarmed and on the ground, the Dualist Blade at his neck. The princess shrieked.
"Now, my lady, you'll be coming with me."
"Never! I shall die first!"
"Don't be foolish. You'll come with me alive and awake or alive and unconscious. Don't try to swallow your tongue either, it's much more difficult that it sounds, and then I'll have to gag you."
It was obvious that the princess was attempting to do just that. Steel sighed. Within a heartbeat he had her jaw in his hand. He removed his bandages and gagged the princess with them. Suddenly cold steel pressed against his throat.
"Let her go."
"Impressive. You got up without me noticing. But you made one mistake."
"I said let her GO!"
Another blade flashed in the torchlight, and Guihwind's sword arm sank to his side, his dagger dropping to the ground.
"You should've just killed me."
Steel grabbed the princess' hand.
"Come princess. It's time to visit your brother."
The girl refused to move. Steel picked up her light frame and swung her over his shoulder, then began to walk off back down the tunnel. Behind him, Guihwind scrabbled around for his sword, found it, and charged at Steel's unprotected back. He raised his saber for what he thought would be a killing blow, and brought it down on nothing. He only had a second to contemplate the fact that the man was suddenly 3 centimetres from the edge of the blade before he felt a sudden pain in his chest, and only a moment after that to contemplate the short black dagger now growing out of his heart before his vision began slowly to fade. He heard the princess give a muffled shriek in the background.
"I . . . have failed you princess."
Guihwind de Frickeng, Vanadiel's foremost knight and fiance to the princess, fell to the ground dead.

[Selena]

Although a large portion of the Alliance soldiers had been distracted, that did not last for long. When Selena's personal elite marched into the courtyard, they had only one things on their mind - kill the enemy. This was an operation where they were hoping to shed as much blood as possible for the sake of cutting down the numbers within Khuffie's army. Had they retreated, she would only have to fight them again. So, when the Alliance soldiers returned their attention to the palace's front courtyard, they found a waiting horde of extensively trained warriors waiting for them. A few Labyrinth archers that had followed to support her launched arrows. Instantly, at least ten of the enemy were sent to the ground. They then ducked behind the structures of the courtyard, be it fountain or hedge, and knocked another arrow as the enemy reacted to the mild surprise. A horn was blown from one of their commanders, and at once, the Alliance readied itself.

Their own archers were first. A row of them held aloft their weapons and fired. Easy enough to deal with. Selena shouted, "Shields!"

Her elites held their shields high and locked them together in unison. Arrows rained down from above, most missing their targets. Though without a shield of her own, Selena stood her ground. Many came to rest on either side of her, and those that would have hit were incinerated by what arcane magic she had in her arsenal - a gift from that beloved tome she had found in the deserts. The well aimed projectiles burrowed into the defensive shields of her troops as another wall of Alliance soldiers rushed forward through the courtyard, leaping over obstacles in their path. When the assault from above ceased, her soldiers stood and prepared themselves for genuine combat. Although more than comfortable as raiders and mindless barbarians, it was unwise to underestimate the Labyrinth elite. They could switch from pillaging horde to well oiled war machine in a matter of moments. This was such a time.

The Labyrinth soldiers at her own vanguard sliced their way through the incoming enemy with wonderful precision. Limbs and bodies slammed into the ground. They hacked their way through another incoming wave and then moved to the back, the soldiers behind coming forward to replace them. It served to keep them all as fresh as possible. Fatigue was a killer in itself during long operations. She was next, then, and swung her spear out in a wide arc. It sliced into the neck of an enemy, and he involuntarily knelt before her as he clutched the wound in agony. She then thrust the Kanagida into another foe, piercing his abdomen. A sword lashed out at her and she blocked it with the other end of her weapon. Using the same edge, she slammed him back. Stunned from the blow, she brought the bladed side back around, sinking it into his skull. His helmet was not strong enough to protect him from the steel of her ancient weapon.

She and the others then fell back, as was part of the military routine, and ordered the next line up to replace them. And in those moments where she was forced to wait for the next chance to fight, as the enemy had yet to break through the phalanx, she found herself wondering about her fellow leaders.

Where had Chikara and Toan gone? She had lost them once the battle had broken out, as was something common in these large scale battles. They were, hopefully, leading their own groups of soldiers against key targets. They were royalty, after all. That was their duty. She could at least rely on them for that, couldn't she? Doubt momentarily filled her before she fixed her eyes on the enemy, who were now approaching from the side. The phalanx shifted to accommodate the change, and she was now at the forefront again. With almost automatic reactions, she thrusted out with her weapon and impaled an enemy. Sliced through another. Parry, advance, kill. Dodge, cut, gut. All routine. She'd been doing it for years and years, long before most had started down the path of the warrior.

She launched a ball of dark fire into a final enemy before once again moving to the back of the formation, catching her breath. She did feel drained. Damn it all, she'd gotten out of shape. Such was the price one paid for keeping quiet in terms of military conquest. She would hopefully be fixing that. Gradually, she watched as the Alliance soldiers scattered, leaderless and broken. The attack wound down, like a music box playing its last notes. Her losses had been minimal. Only a few had been killed, and they had, as expected, been the least experienced of her bunch. A shame, but she could not dwell on it.

Her gaze turned to the palace. Steel had broken away earlier. She hoped, much like she hoped from her own kin, that he was doing his part.

[Steel Samurai]

OOC: After having done a little research, I've decided to start using Odachi to refer to Steel's really long katana instead of Dai-Katana. It's about 6 feet long. Not that anyone really cares, but I just thought I'd say something anyway.

Dammit. The extra weight Steel had been carrying around for most of the night, first with Freya, now with the princess, was beginning to tell. Plus the bitch was trying her best to strangle him. The manner in which Steel had tied her up made it impossible for her to actually do so, but she could still make him fairly uncomfortable. Steel mentally shrugged. Momentary discomfort. Inconsequential, especially in light of the potential benefits if his plan succeeded. He was out of the tunnel now. Pausing for a moment, Steel concentrated on what was happening outside. The Alliance forces seemed to be dwindling. The greatest concentration was here in the palace itself. Hmm. He supposed that since he was here it would probably be good to do something to help finish conquering the city. They seemed to have gathered in the downstairs ballroom. Hopefully the prince would be there. Time to get moving again.

Steel stepped quietly out of the library. Damn. A few stragglers ahead of him. As soon as she saw them the princess began struggling harder, trying to scream through her gag. The soldiers heard her, and began to turn around. Steel started to draw the Odachi on his back, but the princess made it somewhat difficult. He barely dodged the first soldier's attack by jumping a few feet backwards quickly. Steel drew the Dualist Blade and quickly decapitated both soldiers. She was going to have to go before he engaged the bulk of the Alliance soldiers. With a running start, Steel leapt over the balcony ahead of him to the bottom floor, landing with a thud on his feet. The door was right in front of him. He severed the cords binding the princess' wrists together, allowing her to fall to the floor. She scrambled to get up, but this was made difficult by the cords around her feet.
"Princess. I'll leave you as you are for the moment here with Kitsune, but if you try to get away I'm afraid we'll have to take some more drastic measures." Steel turned to Ransom. "Come. We've some rats to take care of. Kitsune, would you please do me the favor of looking after her royal highness till we get back?" With that, Steel took off towards the ballroom.

[Ransom]

(umm since there is some confusion about what my characters actually called... im just gonna say its Ransom now, itll be easier. Everyone disregard the name "perseus".)

"Come. We've some rats to take care of. Kitsune, would you please do me the favor of looking after her royal highness till we get back?"

Ransom grinned at Kitsune, and then followed Steel down the hallway, his wings stretching out behind him as he ran.
Finally he was going to do some fighting. He had been itching for some action the whole night, what with all the fruitless running around they had been doing. He had expected to get dumped with the job of looking after the princess as well, he always got the boring jobs. Not that he could say the princess was all that boring... on the contrary, she was quite a fine specimen.
But Steel could fight better blind then Ransom could with his eyes wide open, so it made sense that he should take a position of command. Ransom would listen to him for now... or at least until this battle was over, and the day was won. Though he wasn't sure if he was on the side he wanted to be or not. Bu tthey were winning were'nt they? Thats all that really counted.
Ransom dismissed his wandering thoughts, and comforted himself with the knowledge that he was better at archery than Steel.

They got to the entrance of the ballroom and stopped. Two ancient but sturdy looking mahogany doors sat in the entrance. They were closed, and the sound of clinking weapons and shuffling armour could be heard from inside.
Ransom quietly unsheathed his blades and turned to Steel.

"I don't think we could take so many in such an enclosed space... maybe we could lure them into the labyrinth army? If the main mass of the troops were out of the room we could deal with the prince and his guard personally."

Ransom hoped the ceiling was going to be high enough.

[Steel Samurai]

Steel rounded the corner and came upon the massive arch leading into the ballroom, a room with a ceiling nearly one hundred feet tall. He ducked quickly back around the corner before the guards in position around the arch could see him. Fortunately there was little chance of them hearing him, with the scrabble of feet and armor in the central hall. Steel sat down and focused. It took him a few seconds to tune out the background noise, but from the sound of the heartbeats there were around 400 men gathered in the ballroom. With that many people it was impossible to tell if the prince was there as well, but if luck was with them he would be. Ransom's idea was a good one at its core, but it required the Labyrinthine soldiers to be where they were needed to be at exactly the right time, a condition which made it impossible in this situation. From the troops he had fought around the city, Steel guessed that this was the bulk of the Elites, plus Vanadiel's own royal guard. Which, as they were bound by oath to never leave the side of the eldest royal unless commanded by the royal himself, meant it was highly likely that the Prince was there.

Steel went over his options. Bringing down the roof on the soldiers would work, but it would require far too much time to undermine the pillars sufficiently, and there was always the chance the Prince would be crushed under the rubble. No, it would have to be something else. Damn. He had nothing. If there had been even a small platoon of pirates there were 20 or so plans that became feasible, but with just the two of them things looked somewhat dire. Think. Given a week to plan and prepare, Steel could have come up with anything, but . . . wait. Of course. Simple but brilliant, just the way Steel liked it. He leaned over and whispered to Ransom
"This is what we do . . ."

[Ransom]

Ransom nodded and sighed while Steel divulged his plan. He had a feeling that somewhere along the way he would probably be hurt or maimed in some form of another, with his luck. Or maybe killed? Strange...He hadn't thought about death much amidst all the fighting in the last few months. But he guessed it would come eventually and he couldn't worry about it to much... paranoia was the kind of thing that actually got people killed.

Steel gave the signal, and Ransom praised a deity somewhere that the ceiling was as high as it was.

Edited by Ransom, 21 August 2007 - 07:11 AM.

[Steel Samurai]

Steel stepped out from cover and ran towards the arch. The guards spotted him almost immediately, and braced themselves for what they thought was an attack. But Steel stopped just out of reach of their spears, bent over and put his hands on his knees, breathing heavily.
"Thank Diel I made it."
The guards relaxed slightly.
"The Labyrinth has taken control of most of the rest of the city . . ." pant "They'll be here soon. We . . . need to get out of here."
"Abandon our post? Never." The speaker was a rather officious looking lieutenant. "Just who are you anyway?"
"Me?" Steel looked up at the man. He had removed his bandages just prior to coming out, revealing the cold, pupil-less blue eyes. "I'm just a traveler caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Julius Grimm is the name." Steel extended his hand with a friendly smile. The Lieutenant slowly took it and shook it, obviously somewhat disturbed by Steel's eyes. "This." He said, motioning to Ransom "Is another traveler I met only today. His name is . . . what was it again?"

[Ransom]

"Granvus..." he said quickly, shaking the guard's hand vigorously, "Granvus Togg."
The guard only stood perplexed... staring at Ransom's wings.
He quickly improvised.

"...Its a flying machine." He cursed at himself silently... it sounded so lame. "I'm an inventor you see, and this particular recent work of mine just gave Mr. Grimm and I a handy escape from a burning rooftop... Its actually strapped to my back underneath this tunic."

The guards just stared at him strangley, and then to Ransom's relief, visibly relaxed and ignored the wings from then on.

[Steel Samurai]

"Now, could we please speak to your general or whomever is in command here?" The Lieutenant shifted uncomfortably.
"Do you wish to speak to General Orion or Prince Gana'Diel?"
"Which one is of higher rank?"
"Well, err, technically the prince is I suppose."
"Then take me to him man, don't tarry. I have important information."
"I thought you said you were just a traveler."
"I am you fool, a traveler with important information for the prince. Or would you rather be back to washing dishes as a cook's assistant, assuming you survive the night."
He swallowed it.
"Right, this way then sirs. You lot! Make sure no one gets through!"
Steel smiled as the lieutenant threaded through the campfires and small tents to the back of the ballroom, where a large tent was set up. There was a definite line where one could see that the uniforms of the men ceased to be Alliance Elite and became the Royal Guard. Interesting. Segregation. From what the good lieutenant had been saying earlier, it seemed as though their was something of a power struggle between the young, headstrong prince and the older, more experienced General Orion. From what Steel knew from perusing Fortress intelligence reports, Orion was a bullheaded, stubborn man, loyal to Khuffie to the core, and just smart enough to keep his position. Excellent. This would make his plan so much easier.

They reached the Prince's tent, and the Lieutenant stepped aside and motioned them in. Steel stepped through the flapping entrance and bowed.
"Good evening your highness."

[Khallos]

Shouldering down the door, Khallos barged into the room of the small house. He threw himself to the floor, as the crossbow bolt he was expecting hit the wall behind him.

"Now, now, don't go killing me. Trying to put a bolt through my chest will just get a sword threw yours." Khallos said as the old man desperately reloaded his crossbow.

"Look, I told you..." Khallos grunted as he smacked the old man across his face, breaking his nose and sending him to the floor. Picking up the crossbow, he shot at a Van'Durian and managed to hit a fellow Labyrinth trooper in the calf.

"Lousy piece of crap, just don't make them like they used to" Hmmm, I should really have done some practice at the ra..

"Argh!" he yelled as the chamber pot smashed over his head. "Look! Do you want me to kill you all and rape your daughter?! I'm trying to do some honest looting, and all you people can think is killing folk," he muttered at the woman backed away from him, and went back to clutching her unconscious husband and her daughter behind her back. She had a certain confused look on their face for some reason.

"Jewellery, have any of it? Coins, anything?" he asked, the mother shaking her head as he ruffled through drawers. "I can't take this, won't even buy me a small blade with what you have in here. I knew I should have gone into the merchants? district, instead of here!"

"Booze, you have booze right?" The woman quickly nodded her head, pointing to a cupboard.

"Ah, distilled parsnips, my favourite." Still, alcohol is alcohol however horr... "My Gods! Are you trying to poison me!?" Suddenly he retched out the window into the street below.

"Look, I'm going next door, because frankly your house is the pits. I mean no cash, no booze, nothing. And if you aren't gone by the time I get back, I'll be raping all of you, yes, even the man. Theeeen, I kill you." he told them as he started to brutally hack through the wall with his sword.

Hearing the family scurry out quickly, he managed to weaken the wall enough to simply barge through. On the other side knelt a kid, clutching his Dad as he lay bleeding. No, maybe it was his uncle, they looked too different.

"Hey, you got some drink?" Khallos asked as the kid sprang to his feet and grabbed the old guy's sword and shield. Lunging at Khallos, the kid overstepped wildly and stumbled. He was completely clothed in green, and had a silly pointed hat, what a weirdo. Then again, I'm all in black, but hey, what kinds of baddies wear bright green? Swinging his sabre around, Khallos lopped off the young fool's swordarm.

"See what happens when you play grownups? People get hurt, in this case you. Twelve year olds should really drop the sword fighting act."

Grabbing the kid's left arm off the floor, as he screamed in pain, Khallos threw the limb out the window onto the street below.

"See now, you're 'armless! Geddit, harmless-armless, hah, classic." joked Khallos, the kid didn't even have the courtesy to laugh. Must be dumb, hasn't said a word the whole time I've been here.

Grabbing the sword and shield, and some cash from the kid and the man, Khallos raided their wine cellar. Bizarrely it was full of milk, not one drop of alcohol. Weirdoes. Coming out into the square, Khallos saw the Labyrinth troops surge forward. His eyes were drawn to a screaming man on fire, running past. Watching him fall, his eyes flickered to the person nearby, someone he recognised. Running forward, he grabbed an arm off the floor and slapped Catt's face with the now limp hand.

"Hah, I made sure I was well armed today! Hah, genius." Battles were so much fun?

Edited by Khallos, 03 September 2007 - 12:15 AM.

[Steel Samurai]

The young prince looked up from his desk. a weary look on his face. "What? What is it?"
No guards in the room. Good.
"I have a proposition for you, dear Prince."
The prince chuckled dryly. "At the current rate it seems I won't be prince for much longer, but I'll hear you out."
"My name is Steel, perhaps you've heard of me?"
The prince started, and opened his mouth to yell, but was quickly silenced by Steel's hand, who suddenly appeared behind the Prince's chair.
"Now now, no need to shout." A sharp dagger pressed against the Prince's throat. "We wouldn't want to have an accident, now would we?" The prince slowly shook his head. "If I'd wished to kill you you would be dead already, the arrangement I hope to make will be beneficial for both of us." Steel slowly took his hand from the prince's mouth.
"Come, let us whisper together . . ."
15 minutes later the two stood up and shook hands. The Prince poked his head out of the tent and motioned to a nearby officer and whispered in his ear. The officer nodded and scurried off. Prince Gana'diel motioned to one of the guards at his tent, an Alliance Soldier rather than one of the real Royal Guard by order of Khuffie. The soldier obediently walked inside the tent, and stood in front of the prince at attention, one arm grasping his Halberd, the other at his side.
"What do you wish of me, your high. . ." His words turned to a gurgle as Steel stepped behind him from where he had been hiding at the tent entrance and thrust his dagger under the soldier's ribs, piercing his heart. A trickle of blood crept out of the corner of the soldier's mouth, and he slumped over the dagger. The prince grabbed the dead man and walked out of the tent and faced the royal guard, casually gathered outside their tents putting on armor and strapping weapons to their sides.
"Men! General Orion, that slave of Khuffie, has sent an assassin to kill me, that Khuffie might proclaim himself ruler of our fair kingdom!" The prince shoved the soldier's dead body forward as proof. A howl of anger went up from the Royal Guard, and, without another word, they attacked the Alliance Army on the other side of the Ballroom. The surprised Alliance Soldiers never had a chance, though they outnumbered the Royal Guard nearly 3 to 1. Slaughter ensued, General Orion set upon by 10 Guardsmen and stabbed repeatedly in their anger at his alleged treachery. Leaving the Prince and Ransom to finish mopping up the rest of the soldiers, Steel quickly left the Palace to inform Selena of the events which had just transpired. Most of them anyway.

He found her fairly close to the doors. "The Palace, dear Selena, is clear of enemies."

[JRPomazon]

"Sorry, but I'm afraid you have the wrong person."

The person that resembled Selena shifted back to his original form, a man cloaked in gray. He face covered mostly by his gray cloak, showing only his disturbing grin.

"You are quite the warrior, being as blind as a bat but able to kill countless people. Very impressive. But I wonder, do you know exactly what you have done?"

The cloaked man let out a small laugh, equally as disturbing as his smile.

"The man who was guarding the princess was the greatest warrior of this land and the princess' fiance. They were to be married in a month. And now, he lay dead as his beloved is at the mercy of the invading forces."

He began to laugh even harder.

"It's absolutely marvelous! You single handedly destroyed the bonds of a couple who were so in love! A woman who awaited her wedding day now awaits only despair!"

A white light appeared next to the cloaked man. He looked over and smiled even more violently.

"Well speak of the devil, it's the soul of that man. It seems he has some unfinished business with you, my murderous warrior."

The cloaked man raised his arm towards the light, grabbing it with his hand. He walked over to a fallen solider and slammed the light into the warrior's corpse. In a brilliant flash of light, the fallen warrior's body began to glow and rise from the ground. The helm covered the newly revived warrior covered his face. He removed the helm and revealed his face. It was a handsome man with long golden locks and crimson eyes.

"Now, let us see whether or not it is time for you judgment . . ." said the cloaked man as he backed away from the warrior he revived.

The warrior grabbed a blood stained sword from the ground and pointed towards Steel.

[Steel Samurai]

Steel ignored both of them, focusing instead on tying the black bandages back around his eyes. He concentrated, seeking to find Selena's distinctive aura amongst those of the labyrinth soldiers and the last pockets of Alliance resistance. There. He turned and began walking away from the two, looks of confusion spreading on their faces. Steel stopped momentarily and turned to the cloaked man.
"I'm in a good mood tonight, despite my tavern being burned down. Probably be a good idea not to piss me off."
Without another word he turned back and set off at a light jog to Selena's location, the brisk night air cooling his bare torso.

Edited by Steel Samurai, 17 September 2007 - 12:11 AM.

[JRPomazon]

The cloaked man stood idly by as Steel left for search for Selena.

"He's quite the peculiar one, a very interesting man to say the least."

He gazed over to the warrior he revived.

"I have a very special job for you."

The cloaked man walked over to his new subordinate. The two of them began to vanish from the scene.

[Steel Samurai]

Bloody interfering villains. Steel listened rather absent mindedly to their conversation as he jogged away. Peculiar his ass. That cloaked man was the peculiar one, appearing and disappearing, never doing anything remotely useful. For example, the undead knight. The man was a pushover, his style sloppy and incredibly wasteful of energy. Despite what the narrator had said, Steel had serious doubts as to whether the knight was the best in Van'Duras, let alone the whole kingdom. The man was about as useful a subordinate as Shadow Link, and likely about as smart. Bah. No use worrying about it. There. That was definitely Lena's location. Steel rounded a corner and nearly bumped right into her.
"There you are. Palace is nearly clear. I've managed to convince the Prince and his guard to surrender, they're finishing off the Alliance commander and his troops now. The rest of the city?"

[Selena]

Selena slammed her spear into the stunned body of an enemy and ran him through, blade sinking down through his abdomen until it hit the solid earth below. He squirmed and writhed as blood poured from his wounds, and she grinned in dark satisfaction. He was one of the last. The rest of her forces pounced upon the few who were left behind until not a single Alliance soul remained on the battlefield. So, when Steel suddenly appeared without warning, she naturally spun around to face him as if he were an enemy. The blade of her weapon came to a halt before it managed to sink into him, and she grimaced in annoyance. Foolish pirate.

She lowered the weapon and took in what he actually had to say. He did... what? She looked at him with an expression of mild surprise. "The rest of the city? I was going to burn it to the ground. The only people who remain amongst the living are women, children and old men. And those are merely the ones who managed to escape."

Selena rested her spear against her shoulder. "So you've used the prince to slaughter the Alliance within. And what do you now intend to do with the prince? Any nobleman of Vanadiel will cower before Khuffie the moment his armies march down from the capital. These people have a limited number of soldiers, even more so now that I've been playing, whereas Khuffie's army is awe inspiring. The people of Van'Duras will be independent of the Alliance for all of one week before he re-conquers with a grand force. Which is why I had intended to kill everybody and turn the city into ash to prevent him from re-acquiring his resources and people. So unless the prince is dead, the palace is not clear. Unless you managed to work out some very favorable business arrangement, I have no desire to let any of these people see another sunrise."

That, and she wasn't quite done yet. There were other, more private, loose ends to tie up. She snapped her fingers and gathered the attention of her elite troops. The ones who served her and her alone. "You two squads. Get going."

She didn't need to elaborate more than that. She'd given them instructions beforehand, and they were the type to die before disobeying. With their successful operations, all her ambitions could come to pass, as the negligent queen and imbecilic Zora would be out of her hair for good. She turned to Steel, who would rightfully be confused. She smiled. "Ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies."

[Steel Samurai]

Steel smirked. Favorable business arrangement? One might put it that way yes.
"Khuffie will surely come and reconquer it, should it become free, yes. Free countries are incredibly boring anyway, with all of their talk about 'rights' and the 'duties of their ruler'. If, as you say, every Vanadiel citizen in the city is dead, then none know the prince and his Royal Guard turned against the commanding Alliance general in the final hour, which makes it fairly easy for the prince to fabricate a story about his escape. If he then went to Khuffie and waived his right to the throne on the condition that Khuffie make him Prime Minister or some other equally important political post, then we have a man over whom we have significant leverage in the second most powerful position in the country. The citizenry of Vanadiel being what they are, with a few months training he could have a guerilla force ready to attack the Alliance invaders at a moment's notice, should their lord command it, for, as I'm sure you know, the people of Vanadiel are fiercely loyal to their monarch. Now, on its own this would not be a significant advantage for the prince or us, as the full might of the Alliance army could crush a guerilla insurrection of that size in a matter of a week, and it does us little good to have a man in the position of power who must, on the surface at least, follow instructions from Khuffie. However, should we wish to invade the Alliance heartland, a guerilla insurrection two or three days prior would draw a large number of troops away from the capitol, making an invasion much easier." Steel paused. "As to how the prince could be trusted, let us simply say that I have considerable leverage over him. Consider the option. You burn down the city, kill the prince and all the remaining inhabitants, Khuffie comes back in, builds a new capitol and installs one of his puppets on the throne. You don't burn down the city and leave the prince, Khuffie conquers the country in a few weeks and kills the prince, installing his puppet on the throne. The only advantage to this course is the preservation of the architecture of the city. You follow my plan, Khuffie gets the country partially, but the man on the throne is one of ours, not a puppet, and the architecture of the city is preserved.

[Selena]

She suppressed a desire to roll her eyes, and forced herself to listen with a neutral expression. An explosion went off behind her, and a building crumbled to the ground as the barrel of gunpowder ripped through its walls. "....I obviously do not care about the architecture or the city itself."

His plan was ultimately useless because she already had what he was hoping to gain - the political insiders. Steel wanted a minister on his side, but Selena had a god on hers. Someone who sat with Khuffie in the Tower and was privy to the most secret councils held by the emperor. Someone who could actually pull strings and move Alliance troops around in Selena's favor. Someone who had been, through poison and other sordid details, been responsible for an excess of twenty 'mysterious deaths' in the capital. All done in her favor. Their favor. Whatever the case may have been. Labyrinth roots ran deep, even in the heart of Khuffie's inner circle. And even if the highest agent in her ranks would no longer serve her, then she had others.

Selena tried to use a diplomatic tone. "If the Fortress wishes to gain an inside ally, then you are free to do what you like with the prince. Consider him yours. I have no use for such people, I'm afraid. Put him on the throne, make him a minister to Khuffie or dress him in a bunny suit - use him as you see fit."


She didn't say anything on the matter of how many insiders, if any at all, she had within the capital. Allies, much like friends, didn't have to tell each other everything. Especially when she still had doubts about the Admiral and his willingness to cooperate with 'that damned robot,' as he had so lovingly called her in earlier days. A tribute to her stunning emotional capacity, Selena figured. She didn't have to focus on plans. All she had to focus on was finishing her current operation and getting the hell out of there before troops from the Vanadiel interior, Uradiel and the capital marched in to secure the city.

"We're likely to have company by midday tomorrow, if not sooner. If you're wanting to plan anything, you'd best execute it quickly."


/////////////


The two groups of elite Labyrinth soldiers that she had dispatched moments earlier sprinted through the city as fast as their legs would carry them. They soon split up, one heading to the north of the city, the other heading for the eastern section. The north-bound soldiers traveled down alleyways to stay out of sight, as unnecessary attention would be to their disadvantage. They climbed to what rooftops remained intact and ducked low to stay out of sight as they searched for their target. It was not difficult to spot a man who what not really a man. It took them several minutes to reach the proper area where the youthful prince of the Labyrinth was located. The lean Zora had been fighting the northern garrisons with claws and fangs, ripping them to bits with Labyrinth troops at his side.

When Selena's forces found the royal, their leader changed into a civilian garment he had stolen from a now destroyed home. It would make it look like a civilian was simply defending their homeland instead of what it really was. The lead soldier crouched on the side of a building and leveled a high tension crossbow at the son of Chikara, having been given orders to 'assassinate that drunk, incompetent fool before he can ruin everything that the Labyrinth has accomplished over the last age.' And in Selena's opinion, he likely would should he ever find himself in charge of any detachment for more than a day. She wanted her sibling gone. With him out of the way, she would be safe in knowing that he never succeeded her in the event of her death. And that she would never have to share power with him.

She'd killed one of her siblings already - that long dead sister of hers. She could do it again.

Having orders from his esteemed mistress, the disguised leader of the Labyrinth elite fired his crossbow. The poison tipped bolt flew right towards the prince of the Labyrinth. A token of his sister's affections.


/////////////


The second group, who had gone to the east, had a much more complicated task. Theirs was the one that would likely cause civil war if the wily target manage to elude them. Even if they said nothing, she would likely deduce what was going on. Endless bickering and competition would be the beacon that illuminated the source of the attack. They had to do it where no one else could see them. The first thing the elites did when they approached the scene in full regalia was to dismiss the queen's standard infantry. "You have been called by Selena to defend the square from potential counterattack. We are to act as the queen's guard."

And so the standard infantry filed out of the area without objection, as the elite were in clear control. Though smaller in number, the elite soldiers flocked to Chikara's side, even though she hadn't given them permission to do so. As she finished slaying a rebellious citizen who was trying to defend his family, they drew near with a drug laden piece of fabric. Their mission was concisely presented as: "Sedate and capture the queen."

While she wanted Toan dead, Selena still saw Chikara as being of value - due to those connections she had mentally praised earlier. She would lock Chikara up and strip her of the crown. Selena was the de facto ruler of the Labyrinth, but she wanted true power for herself after years of the queen's negligence. She was an unfit ruler, so she made her troops believe. That mental conditioning had made her elite willing to die for their cause and serve only the heir to the throne.


Revolution was so fun, wasn't it?

[Nevermind]

Toan had no time to even turn his head as a dark shape - blacker than any natural shadow could possibly be - leapt from out of the wall behind him and blanketed the Zora inside its equally dark cloak. Much to the surprise and chagrin of the Labyrinth assassin, the two seemingly passed straight through the ground and disappeared completely. Soldiers surround the Zora jolted and raised their weapons as a crossbow bolt struck the concrete wall with a heavy clang. This was followed by the sounds of swords clashing and men dying on one of the rooftops above.

~~

Xeres pulled her arm violently upwards, her blade ripping straight up middle of the elite soldier. Without missing a beat, Xeres twisted and spun on her heel, bringing the same blade down upon the next man's skull, lopping off a fair-sized portion of his head. The soldier jerked and collapsed, convulsing as the other half of his brain slowly tumbled onto the rooftop. Xeres' movements were the epitome of elegance. Her body held no tension as she danced gracefully around the soldiers, bending and twisting, spinning and wielding her two scimitars as if they were natural extensions of her limbs. She had always loved this style of killing; turning death into an art form. She was desperately of the desire to test her new skills, though.

Four soldiers still remained; one was rushing towards her in a futile attempt to somehow at least injure her, whilst the other three were now starting to flee back to their Mistress. As this brave - or perhaps stupid - soldier ran at her, his blade held high, Xeres opened herself up, inviting an attack. At the same time she enveloped herself in the darkness she had so easily wielded, however, this time she drew the darkness in upon herself just as One had instructed. Her entire being, rather than just being covered in darkness, became a deep, dark portal into Oblivion itself. With a twisted grin, Xeres leapt upon the soldier, her body consuming his until he had completely disappeared. She retained her smile, releasing her body of the void; a much-welcomed gift for her true master.

It was now time to try it out on her blades. The assassin opened the void inside one of her blades. Without taking her eyes off the fleeing trio, she bent down and thrust the scimitar into the concrete below her. One of the soldiers ahead fell as a shadowy blade emerged from the ground he was running on, consuming half of his leg. Xeres pulled the blade out and stabbed at the ground again. This time the void severed the soldier's head from his body. Without removing the blade this time, Xeres began to run, crouched low, towards one of the other soldiers; the blade jutting out of the ground moved along behind the Labyrinth soldier, gliding like a shark's fin towards its prey. Just as the weapon overtook the soldier, Xeres dropped to her knees and this time opened a small void in the concrete itself. She returned the blade back to normal as she dipped herself into the new portal she had just opened. Now facing the soldier was not just a blade, but the entire top half of Xeres' body. The fear-stricken man was unable to stop himself in time and ran straight into Xeres' two outthrust blades, impaling himself. Before she could remove the body from her swords, another hand reached through the portal and pulled them all back, Xeres, the body, the lot.

Standing up again Xeres realised that she had lost the body, along with her blades, inside the portal when she had been jerked back through. She turned and saw One, a surprised albeit calm Toan standing behind him. One bent down and reached his hand through the concrete, removing Xeres' two blades. The body had already been consumed; they were always consumed quickly. He handed the blades back to Xeres.

"Nothing is ever lost to us in there, my dear," He smiled, "Not anymore."
Xeres prepared to make a move towards the last assassin; it was the leader. She stopped when One's hand fell on her shoulder.
"Leave him be. After all, someone needs to relay these events back to Selena."
Xeres relaxed and watched the frightened man retreat. Selena would no doubt kill him anyway. Failure was not one of her favourite things.

Edited by Lazurukeel, 03 October 2007 - 11:12 PM.

[Chikara Nadir]

Chikara had a certain soft spot for those she ruled over, ignoring their more immature or outright frustrating deeds often enough- a throne room blackened with gunpowder, halls that needed a good mopping after a literal blood-bath, all the best liqueurs missing after a good "Official Red Room Night"...or was that last one just her doing?

Whatever the case, she actually had a tendency of trying not to kill her servants, and had gone so far as to give her personal guard guidelines as to their actions in her presence to ensure that they'd have the opportunity to follow her for a long time to come. None of these rules were written, of course. This was firstly in part because she tended to make things up as she went, which aided the veteran guards greatly in 1) knowing more than the newer recruits and 2) giving the gullible bastards false information if their elders didn't like them. However, the other, quite better thought out reason for keeping her regulations unwritten was that she simply didn't want outsiders to know how to pretend to be insiders.

One of the first rules of being a personal infantry member to Chikara was to look sexy. It didn't matter if you were tall or short, scrawny or thick- you had to find a way. She encouraged beautifully curved, wickedly edged armour pieces, often body-fitting despite their sturdiness and efficiency at protecting the guards from being gutted. However, part of the point to being so elite was that you could be trusted not to get slaughtered, whatever you happen to be wearing. And if you couldn't be trusted...a little bare skin made it all the easier for Chikara to do away with you.

Another rule was to stand no closer than ten feet within the circumference of the queen during battle or fighting exercises. You are to keep enemies from getting within that circle, but to avoid getting in the way of your leader's own blade or magic attacks.

Also unwritten was the request that they not leave Chikara's side for any reason except at the request either of the queen herself or of any others in the royal family. She figured that she could handle herself if her children were in more dire need of assistance.

There was also a rule about not eating white cake within twenty four hours of entering the queen's personal chambers or the throne room, but that was a long story that must have involved alcohol, and brushing one's teeth allowed for this rule to be easily bypassed.

Now, why would a great queen care to keep these rules private? Simple.

The first rule mentioned was meant first to distract the enemy by attractive forms (although the Loddie version of 'attractive' might have been a little more sadistic and war-driven than anyone else), secondly to confuse the enemy as to which of the females amongst the circle might be the queen, and thirdly- so that she could memorize every detail about the bodies of those close to her, ensuring that no unwelcome soul might get close without being recognized as an impostor. She knew their every curve and muscle; these were no heavy-armored, faceless meatbags...unlike what she thought of the easily slaughtered citizens of the unfortunate city their underground nation had invaded.

The second rule was also a safeguard: Chikara was not necessarily just trying to protect her soldiers from harm, but also from them. Should anyone, whether friend or foe, approach her from any angle during battle (or from behind even in times of peace), the woman seldom would find reason to hesitate from killing them if she should come to sense their presence within that small no-entry zone she had designated for them. She didn't like having to look first to make sure she wasn't putting a pike through the throat of one of her most loyal.

This played into the third aforementioned rule quite easily. Because no one, including LoD guards outside of her own knew of the list, it made it further impossible for them to know that if they tried to take the place of her trusted few with ill motives at heart...they would likely fail. It also ensured that any decision to use a widescale attack in such a situation would not prove fatal for her elites, as they had been summoned elsewhere.

As for the last rule about white cake, and the importance of why it must not be uttered to another living soul...it was just personally embarrassing to Chikara.





Stage: the east side of Van'Duras

Players: Chikara, a small group of Selena's devoted soldiers, a dying man, chorus

Enter: all players


"If you'd whined a little less, I might have savoured your suffering and let it last a little longer..." The queen sighed deeply at this musing, sliding her blade cleanly through the neck of a fool who had thought to enter into her sights when attempting to protect his progeny and sow-like wife. The woman would have to be executed as well, of course. Couldn't have her moaning and flailing to attack the fighters of the Labyrinth whilst her children were being stolen. Silly peasants.

A thin smile was peeled on her lips, red (like most of her body) from gratuitous layers of blood. The occasional speckle of ivory on her face looked almost out of place, and beneath her crowning helmet hair stuck heavily in crimson knots. God, how she loved a fresh war-shower, and it had been so long since she'd been allowed one...

"Left side enter the house from the front, right come with me through the back." They always tried to escape through the back door, it seemed. "I still smell rats about-"

The woman stopped quickly, a tingle of discontent rising up her vertebrae as she heard the sound of footsteps too close behind her. The vibrations of the very earth below her were displeasing; the citizens of Van'Duras weren't the only rats to be found. "Oh, bloody hell," Chikara muttered, pulling her sword out from below her latest victim's chin and swinging her arm in so wide an arc that her shoulder nearly popped.

She gave a grimace of displeasure in the direction of whatever she'd just stabbed...but somehow the idea of this happening during battle had failed to enter her mind. Labyrinth uniform. The woman had to think quick about this. A messenger? No, there are more ready to take his place in attacking. Then skilled enemies who had stolen uniforms from the dead.

The woman lept backwards a bit more quickly than she might have for any mere pawn of a soldier; these might pose some threat. That doesn't make sense either. Their attire is too crisp, undented and without nearly enough blood. And surely it couldn't have been stolen from our own territory in advance. She held her weapon high for a moment, attempting to determine which to attack first- which needed to die most immediately.

And then the cloth caught her eye. That was definitely no white flag. But drugging? Who here would want to capture me entirely unscathed? Khuffie? One? No, they could have just sent a message, and neither would have reason to dare send their spies before me in my own people's garb. The sword was thrown swiftly toward that particular ill-willed fool, meant both to stick in his chest and also to make the others take an instinctive step back out of self-preservation so as to give Chikara the right moment to think up a real attack.

Whilst the sword hit a mark, it wasn't the right one. Another of the group swept in front as a human shield, eagerly taking the blade into their breast whilst the rest better prepared their own weapons. These were a people willing to die to get to her...and the one with that simple yet effective mode of intoxication was yet unscathed. Certain one syllable, four letter words entered into Chikara's mind at this realization.

She knew she could beat this, but how? If these were real Loddies, they'd know some of her fighting techniques through past experience, and they especially would have paid close attention if this had been planned out for a while. She couldn't blind them by envoking darkness- her own kind could easily adjust to there being almost an entire absence of light, and doing a wide-scale spell would take time and energy that she didn't want to waste. If this were a fight in closed-quarters, things might be different...but as it stood, it was time for a brawl.

"I'd hoped to keep this clean for the bedroom," Chikara shouted out with a confident grin, not ready to let those who meant her ill see whether she was actually upset by this turn of events. From her side she unbuckled the wound leather tendrils of her whip. On an unrelated note, the merchant who sold it to her claimed it was made from a single sinuous piece of dragon leather. She just liked how well it soaked up blood and tore through tissue.






So this was how it came to be that in the backstreets of Van'Duras, a lone woman dressed in an earth and blood-soaked cloak ran frantically away from the centre of the city, her location easily given away by enemy soldiers by the scream of a small infant held firmly to her shoulder. It was better this way. With the appearance of utter weakness, aided greatly by a detrimental limp, it would be difficult to find reason to kill her instantly. It wasn't worth the effort.

What's more, Chikara had had just about enough of disloyalty from her kind, and it wouldn't be long before they who meant her ill would realize that their assassins were sliced to ribbons. What she needed right now was to look like an innocent survivor in the eyes of the city's guards, at least until she could get in touch with some Loddies who might remember who she was to them. The sooner the better; a couple close calls with that cloth being passed between the soldiers like a hot potato, and she was still reeling.

Warning was needed, for the soldiers and especially for her children, assuming they too hadn't been attacked. The queen did not yet want to assume that one of her own offspring had sprung the trap, though she'd certainly want to hear a good list of alibis from her best soldiers as soon as she got back to the Labyrinth.



P.S.: The chorus died too.

[Toan]

"Leave him be. After all, someone needs to relay these events back to Selena."

Toan watched his would-be assassin limp off, feeling obligated towards One's request to leave him as the messenger yet altogether bloodthirsty for revenge. After all, he hardly had a moment's notice before Xeres yanked him from the midst of his self-absorbed slaughterhouse to nothingness while she proceeded to kick some ass. The Zora could not help but feel a bit of resentment...

But he was alive. Spitting a bit of blood aside, he grunted a reluctant acknowledgment of his wellbeing. "Thanks," he uttered to Xeres. Turning to One, Toan cast him a look of mild incredulity as he pondered aloud "Was that a LoD crest that fool was wearing?" At this point, he was speaking mostly to himself as he said under his breath "...I wonder who he killed to get tha-"

And then it hit him. Relay these events back to Selena? That bitch turned on him! But why? It was only a little bit of booze. What a stubborn fool...

The Zora then thought of the Queen. Might be best to inform her of these events - after all, sister is serious here. "I'm leaving," Toan then announced quite succinctly. "If you want me, I'll be hunting down Chikara." With a twist of his cloak he was off, moving as swift as the wind itself. He'd picked up on a scent, a scent that reminded him of Chikara - kind've like bourbon and stale blood - and he followed it.

Through the fire and flames, he carried on. He kept a sharp eye out for his Queen, who clearly must be valiantly battling entire troops with the single flick of a wrist, yet he firmly followed the scent until it led to a fleeing, veiled woman carrying a crying infant. Toan stayed back... positive as he was of the scent, he was unsure of what his eyes beheld... so the Zora followed from a distance, and hoped his Chikara would pick up on her own offspring following her...

[GuardianNinja]

Upon entering the village Hazaku quickly took notice of screams, scent of blood, and burning houses "What could of happened here..." Hazaku, Koru, and Scythe quickly hopped behind a house as Guards passed by and started attacking other guards "Koru, Scythe looks like we came in the middle of a battle, Stay here a second" Hazaku leaped up onto the roof top of a non burning house and runs into the dark side it and sent out a shuriken into each of the enemies necks "There we will be able to get through here now" after finishing the last one in there area Hazaku drops down and goes back to Koru and Scythe. "Wait a second do you smell that... it smells like dried up blood, come on lets check it out" with that being said Hazaku jumps up and runs off towards the east of Van`Duras with Koru and Scythe following behind.

Edited by GuardianNinja, 07 October 2007 - 10:09 AM.

[Steel Samurai]

Steel was somewhat surprised at Selena's lack of enthusiasm at his plan. It was unlike her, or unlike her reputation, to refuse a way to gain an advantage over the enemy. Likely then she had another source, probably more powerful. Regardless of that, if she was unwilling to mention it now she was unlikely to let the Fortress use such a source, which meant that the plan would still result in a large benefit for the Fortress.

"We're likely to have company by midday tomorrow, if not sooner. If you're wanting to plan anything, you'd best execute it quickly."
"Right. My business here can be concluded in a matter of several minutes. However, if you're still serious about an alliance with the Fortress, a treaty will have to be written up and signed by Lord Juno and, depending upon whether 'tis just with you or with the Labyrinth, yourself or Chikara. I assume she is still technically the queen. Regardless, for that to take place you'll need to visit the fortress, as Juno is highly unlikely to wish to go to that musty set of caves you call home. I myself will go where I'm needed, once my business here is taken care of."

[Toxin]

as they were running thought the village Kuro began to realize the danger of joining a war but he could break down, not yet al least. as they past a burned down tavern koru, Scythe and Hazaku saw many enemy soldiers. all of the men stop one of them who looked to be of high ranking stepped forward and said, "ha ha ha, looks like some children want to play. Kill them!" before anyone could could react Hazaku and koru killed every all the men. while Hazaku threw his stars kuro slashed each man down, sometimes in one swipe. as they started to walk away one of the soldiers rushed behind koru as he did this scythe sceamed a sceam that could chill even the greatest warrior. Scyth cast an unkown spell which instantly obliterated the man.

With blood on his face koru led his friends to the real battle

[Selena]

"Don't worry about Chikara," Selena said to Steel. "Securing an alliance with me is just as good as meeting with the entire royal family. Labyrinth soldiers will avoid harming anyone from the Fortress, and I do hope the same courtesy will be extended. I'm afraid that I'll have to pass on the invitation to the Fortress. Quite busy with current matters, as you can see. Perhaps another time."

Not that she had any real desire to go to that sea flea ridden, fish smelling, dilapidat-- "Lady Selena!"

She turned to face the direction of the shout, and her lips fell into a deep frown. There stood one of her 'specialist' soldiers. One of the men she had sent after her family members. His skin was paler than normal and his eyes bugged out like a twisted looking insect. She knew already that he had failed in his task. "What happened?"

"W-we could not complete the mission, Lady. There was... there was some kind of phantom woman in the way! She just... she was everywhere at once! She used portals, and the scimitar just appeared as if from no where. He never saw it coming. And...!"

Xeres. There were only two people that Selena knew who had apparently mastered those abilities, and one of them had served her in earlier days. She had wondered where they had gone. They had hidden themselves away during the war, having mumbled something about dark gates and oblivion just before it broke out. But why would they have helped Toan avoid death? Her eyes widened for a fleeting moment. Toan was in league with One? For how long?! Was he a recent recruit or a long time ally? Her blood began to boil. Her brother had been working for someone else all along! Now his assassination seemed all the more fitting. He was not only a delinquent, but he was also a traitor! How many other members of her inner circle were following that enigmatic man? She had no problem forming an alliance with that man, but if all her elite soldiers were working for him, then she had no dominion over her own forces! Her fist tightened until her knuckles cracked.

When she lashed her hand out again, she fell back on a rarely used move. She was not a mage by any means, but her study of the dark arts after her exile from the Tower had given her a few key skills. A dark but heated ball of energy flew out from her hand and penetrated her assassin's gut. He was thrown back several feet and landed in a bloody mess next to a broken down fountain within the courtyard they stood in. Her arm fell back against her side, trembling lightly with rage, until she stilled it. With a deep breath, she regained her composure and put a poker face on to mask her emotions. She had actions to take. No time to get overwhelmed.

Xeres and One were in the area, helping Toan. They wouldn't have let the assassin live this long if they didn't want to get her attention. They probably wanted a meeting. At the same time, her other assassins had not returned. Which meant that Chik had eliminated them. She and Toan had surely escaped - run off together like incestuous lovers do. Had they gotten the support of other Labyrinth members? Would they split the Labyrinth into factions? She couldn't risk her troops any longer than she already had. An Alliance army was on the way, and she would be surrounded. Her forces had to get out of there.

Selena sighed and resigned to leaving Chik and Toan be. If they were out there, the Alliance army would enjoy finding the traitorous aid of Khuffie and the rogue Zora. It didn't matter who killed them in the end. And if they escaped? They'd never make it back to the Labyrinth. She would make sure of that. She'd reset the traps in the tunnels and convince her troops that the two were conspiring against them all. She'd have the whole place under her control in a short amount of time. Empress of the Labyrinth. At that thought, she clapped both her hands in order to get more attention from her already shocked troops.

"We're out of here! The city has fallen and Khuffie has felt the first sting of the dorm revolutions. Let's go back home and get drunk off our spoils of war!" She shouted. Her soldiers gave her a hearty cheer and prepared for the evacuation of the city. They piled toward the Labyrinth entrance and slipped back inside. It would have to be sealed over after they went in. Too risky to leave it be. They could reopen later with the dorm's special breed of explosives if it was necessary to access Van'Duras again.

She turned to Steel and gave him a nod. "I'm going to have to take my leave now. Keep your men in top condition and get out of here before the Alliance can secure the area. They're dumb cronies, but there will be too many to deal with. Perhaps we'll see each other again in the near future."

- - -

Selena observed most of the retreat until that pressing matter continued to weigh on her mind. One and Xeres. She entered the tunnel amongst her soldiers, and ordered them to head back to the main Labyrinth structure. She, on the other hand, was to take a small detour. As the tunnel seal slammed shut and was secured, preventing further access by anyone who may have dared to follow them, Selena went down another fork in the path. She emerged from a small emergency tunnel a mile south of the city, where she watched it blaze and burn. Fire teams hadn't yet put out the majority of the flames that they had gleefully started. There she stood. And she watched. And she knew that Toan and Chikara were out there in the woods somewhere, while Xeres and One were somewhere in the general vicinity.

She removed the gem that Xeres had given her before the war. If she used it, she would certainly get their attention. That's what they wanted, after all. What, oh what, could those two have to say? Selena held the dark gem in between her fingers and ran her thumb along the length of it. Well, then. She might as well get it over with. Squeezing the gem tightly, she concentrated on the image of her former associate. If Xeres heard the call, she and her little master would no doubt show up to babble about something or other. Though she was irritated by their intervention, Selena couldn't help but feel a mild curiosity about what they had to say.

"Here's hoping they aren't going to call me juvenile again."

- - -

oc: Sorry for the long delay. I was assuming a certain enigmatic someone was going to post before me.

[Steel Samurai]

So. It was to be an unwritten alliance then, a mutual understanding. Fine. He would let Juno know as soon as he returned to the Fortress. Steel turned and began walking back to the Palace. Time to leave the city. And, unless his ears deceived him, the Gryphons were returning. How fortunate. He reached the Palace and took the Princess' limp form from Kitsune's arms. "Time to go. The alliance will be here in hours. Let Ransom know." Without another word he turned and began walking towards the Gryphon stable, the Princess slung over his shoulder. Around him the Labyrinth soldiers were finishing up their rapes or pillages and collecting their booty for the return. Steel sniffed the air. The acrid smell of smoke hung on it, burning the nose. Hopefully the wind would pick up and carry it away soon. The Gryphon's stables were directly in front of him. Steel set down the princess and waited for the large birds to land.

[JRPomazon]

"Trusting a crazy animal like a Gryphon, even though you are blind? You are braver than I thought."

A cloaked man appeared from the shadows, wearing a disgusting smile. His gray cloak, covering his face shifted slowly in the light breeze.

"Perhaps I can take you to where you want to go, in exchange for hearing out a proposal."

He had some business with this blind samurai, someone who showed no fear even in the presence of a inhuman being such as himself.

Edited by JRPomazon, 01 December 2007 - 10:00 PM.

[Steel Samurai]

"You again. Why should I hear something from the man who, not so long ago, wanted to kill me?" Steel sighed and shifted his position. "Out with it. Do not test my patience, or you may find that my blindness is no handicap in battle."

[JRPomazon]

"Temper, Temper." He said, backing away jokingly.

"If you act like that, no one will want to be your friend."

He began shifting into darkness, Steel and the princess vanishing as well.

"We will discuss business at my residence. I'll even bring that luggage of yours with us."

In moments, the three of them were gone, transported to another location in the world.