Lord of Azure Flame Chapter 20: Bait and switch

[Inactive Account]

One set of gates

Arrin was out already, Francis spurred on by the tide of civilians; Charlotte had healed him, but he still couldn't control his direction. "Kelas!" he yelled, but was carried away from the others regardless of his attempts to stay with them, as Francis fled on. "Tessa!"

Kelas rode for the exit, trying not to trample civilians. "Just... hold... on..." They were out, they were over the bridge, and as the refugees spread out across the road, she managed to head for the edge of the crowd, looking for the others. "Oh gods, we've all gotten separated anyway," she said, quietly realizing what that meant.

Other set of gates

"No, lady, y'can't!" Tobe insisted, attaching himself to the general's leg. "They's tryin' to take over the capital! Dunno who your General is, but he ain't gonna be there! Lady!"

OOC: Kelas and Arrin are in different places, so don't refer to both in the same place. People will be separated for a while.

[Psych]

Vera:

"I am Major General Vera Tyrell. I may not have authority, but I can't sit by and let a capital city get taken over! Now, please remove yourself from my leg." Vera calmly pulled him off, before heading back to the carriage to retrieve some things.

---------------

Pary:

As the crowds ran outside, Pary was shoved up against Alferis, much to his chagrin. Great. "Get off of me!"

The two men were shoved outside of the gates, and Pary stood looking for the others.

[Script]

Luc Altair

Chaos erupted. Luc looked around as soldiers barring the mark of Jace the Brute conquered the area. Even ahead of the group, barring their way was a force of Jace's men. Luc gripped his halberd, tightened his handle on his reins and turned down a smaller street. Fargo choosing that moment to be competent and follow him.

"Combat's that way Captain!"

"But the gate controls aren't! Fargo, go find Paul!"

"Uh, yes sir!"

The two Directus cavaliers split off at the next junction for their own tasks.

Even though Luc had no known way of getting up to the gatehouse, he was certain that if he moved fast enough he could compensate for lack of knowledge. And lo and behold it didn't take long for him to find his way up. The loyalists that were part of the gate crew had fought valiantly, so much so that there were only two of Jace's men in Luc's way. Using the staircase to ensure he fought only one at a time, Luc dispatched the already wounded men, albeit while taking a few glancing hits himself. The armor was proving itself thrice-over.

Inside Luc had no idea how to deal with the gate system. It was completely different than the one at Directus. But as long as the gate wasn't closed, it wouldn't matter, Luc hastily reasoned. The cavalier looked through one of he arrow-slits as waves of civilians crashed around the area. In the time it had taken Luc to arrive here, the patrol the group initially confronted had been defeated. But now Luc could barely see individual members. They had become separated, and that just made things a whole lot worse than they already were. There was no general rendezvous point that Luc was informed of or that he suggested. If the group became too splintered, they would just be easy targets for any of the factions opposed to them.

At least he could try. Luc retrieved one of the standards he had brought with him and began waving it out the slit. It was incredibly dangerous, but at least it might rally someone.

Paul

Suddenly there was a war going on. Not exactly pleasant ground for anyone to be wandering around, let alone a spy. Yeah. Paul threw all the strength he could muster into his legs and began running back.

EDIT: Spellng, words.

Edited October 24, 2010 by Script

[Inactive Account]

"You mentioned Jackson?" another servant who'd fled with Tobe asked, pausing. "So far as I know, his group left the city about... three hours ago, before the fighting started, or maybe just after... big group, had a lot of military, the General and one of our own, and some Halton officer, Kleine... look, they should be all right, they probably got out. I'd try to find him elsewhere. Unless you've got healers..."

Tobe reluctantly let go, but reattached himself when the name "Kleine" was mentioned. That was his da's name, wasn't it? He'd best go with this lady, if she didn't do sommat crazy like charging back into the burning city.

Edited October 24, 2010 by Kiryn

[Dark Sage]

"Oh shit," said Alferis, getting up, Reika looking for the others.

Great. I'm stuck with the crook. Ah well, maybe the others got trampled to death?

"Reika, you see anything? And...huh? Oh no," said Alferis, spotting the blond haired girl amongst a crowd of people. Shoving through them, he grabbed her and pulled her away to stop her from being trampled.

"Ah...thank you."

"We have a habit of meeting it seems."

"Yup. Uh, thanks for saving me,"

"No problem. I'm looking for my friends though,"

"I see....I'm Sadie by the way."

"Alferis. Now c'mon, we gotta get out of here."

[Psych]

Vera:

"Klein!? That vagabond is still alive? I suppose it would make sense for Uncle to be protecting him. Alright. You can come with us. We'll need directions."

Walking back to the carriage, Vera and Rosalind stepped back in, their guest sitting next to Rosy. It was a bit cramped, being only for two people, but they made due. "Driver! Step on it!" Vera ordered the drivers to go, the horses galloping off. They did their best to avoid the civilians, taking off after the group.

Edited October 24, 2010 by Psych

[Snike]

Milady, Milady, Where are you going?

Eric was running towards the city gates, as he saw Charlotte going back into the city. "Milady!" he exclaimed, turning around and pushing people out of his way, to pursue the princess.

Progress

It wasn't too difficult to make it to the palace gates. Only a couple of hours, which was rather fast, compared to the old days, Jace thought, smiting a loyalist sentinel with Hauteclare. At his side were a dozen of his finest warriors, just in case the Septimian dogs tried to assassinate the Brute. The gold-clad Hero was at the gates of the palace now, where dozens of civilian servants came running out, in a bit of a panic. Amusingly enough, there was a group of visitors, seemingly confused.

"Afternoon," Jace shouted over the crowd. "You may want to stay inside your carriage, at least, for a few more hours," An arrow bounced off of hit helm, a reminder to the reaver that he still had work to do. After digging his axe into the ground, he drew his silver bow, and shot the sniper who had attempted to end his life, before quickly storing it away and retrieving his melee weapon. Once he was inside the gates, Jace resumed his mindless destruction of the loyalist Royal Guards.

Edited October 24, 2010 by Snike

[Snowy_One]

As the leader of the group of soldiers was struck down and the soldiers about them seemed to part and retreat away, Esphyr quickly sheathed her blade once again. "What the heck was that all about?" she said as she shielded her eyes to look up towards the skies. "And why the hell are there pegasus knights here, but no TISME magi? Why would Elyisima send their knights, but not strong-arm TISME in to joining them if they planned on invading?"

"I do not know, dame Esphyr." said Altion, riding up to her, blood staining his weapon. "What I do know is this however. They see us as their enemies. That is all we need to know for now. Be they on the side of justice or corruption, they see us as foes. Come, mount up with me if we need to flee this place."

---

The moans of the sick were an ominous chorus that surrounded Kaileen as she set foot within the ward of the slums. People with wounds sever and illnesses piled within what seemed to be little more than a alleyway with several slats of tile suspended above it to keep the rain off. No priest or medic strode the narrow, cluttered, squalid passages, having long since been scared off by the surly nature of the world about them.

"Please, miss." the weak grasp of a man, his legs torn and bloodied as if they had been impaled by a falling crate of wooden nails tugged at the hem of Kaileen's robe. "Help me... I want a glass of water. Fresh water." A sympathetic look crossed Kaileen's face as she bent down to look the man in the eye. "I don't have any water, but I can heal you-AH!" As she had spoken to him, her hands had gone down to the man's wounds, removing the cloth, only to reveal ugly, ghastly, flesh of putrid green and black, the meat falling away from brown and rotten bone. Kaileen was taken aback for a moment, stumbling backwards in shock. She had never seen such a thing before, even in her time with the army!

"GAH! Miss! Watch where you're going!" shrieked a man, catching her fall. Kaileen turned about only to see that half his face seemed to have been boiled off! Bouncing off his lap, she backed away, horrified. "Sad sight." said the man whom had taken her to the place. "No medic, no priest. Most of them come here out of habit, resigned to death already. We don't even go to the back anymore, where the people have been the longest. Please, follo-WHAT IN TARNATION?!"

Suddenly, overhead, a large force of pegasus knights swarmed over the city. At first, Kaileen didn't know what to do. She could only stare up in shock as the multitude of riders filled the air above her.

---

"What you see is barely even the surface Ixion. It is what I see on mornings when I awaken with a headache. To see the world as I saw it as a child, as a half-spirit unbound by the laws of acting human sees it, would send you insane if you saw it at once." she said, relaxing her mind just a bit. Slowly, more and more of the spirits vision of the world bubbled forth, and what both Ixion and her saw soon came quite... unsettling. The world about them, castle formed of confining stone, suddenly felt dead. Not just dead though, but somehow... worse than dead. The stale air, being pushed and shoved through the corridors by the motion of passing servants, felt... unnatural. Abominable. Undead. Rotting with the laden scent of decades compacted into one spot and forced to life by people desiring breezes, siphoning off the pure, clean world of life that seemed to circulate about the castles exterior.

Worst of all, as Mana looked at Ixion, the shadowy magic about him seemed to rot the very air about it. Corrupting, twisting, maligning... as if the darkness was somehow killing what little life remained in the world. To Mana, showing him a degree of how spirits saw the world, to look at Ixion without the mental control and maturity that had come with age was to look at death itself. Death, while outside, the pure motion of life seemed to swirl about in wild eddies and currents. Six small whirlpools of life, brilliant and shining, dashing by above the castle, their passing felt through the wind itself as it swirled and shaped about them, flowing into their lungs and gliding over their wings. Yet, the unmoving, steadfast stone, unyeilding in it's motion, was like a tomb. Her tomb. His tomb.

"Ungh!" grunted Mana, bringing her hand up to her forehead and wincing in pain. "Imagine that twice over, and that is the world I saw as a child. It hurts to loose so much control."

[-Cynthia-]

Charlotte ran her horse through the street. She didn't have to search long for someone injured, there was a child laying on the ground with a broken leg. "M-mommy, d-daddy it hurts. Help..." his voice trailed off.

Charlotte dismounted from her horse and began healing the boy. Unfortunately, she didn't notice the soldier's lance coming towards her, though through some grace of the Goddess it managed to land in the ground instead. Charlotte screamed. This is all so terrible...where did everybody else go?

Bellerophon snorted in indignation and managed to stand upright. He nosed the boy who rode on him and gave him carrots. He wasn't moving...

Edited October 24, 2010 by -Cynthia-

[Snike]

Saving Grace

The soldier swore as his spear went wide. He was losing it: How could he miss such a stationary target? Nonetheless, he picked up his lance, and moved in for a guaranteed kill. That is, he began to, before he was ran through.

Eric wrenched his sword out of the dead traitors' corpse, then ran over to the Princess. "Charlotte, we need to get out of here!" he said, urgently. "If we stay any longer, we're going to die!" As if to emphasize his point, a ballistae bolt went off-course and embedded itself in a building just feet away from Charlotte and the boy.

[Phoenix]

The Castle

Just outside the entrance off the castle, some of the remaining loyalists had a lone Falcon Knight surrounded. One of them had already been killed however. Daneka let the man's body fall away from her blood covered sword as she hoisted it above her shoulders. A quick flick of her arm and the blood flew from the sword.

Loyalist: You worthless traitor! First Jerdon, and now Septimus?!

Daneka: You can whine about it or you can kill me. Take your pick.

Loyalist: You're dead! Guh-

As the words left his lips, he flinched in agony! Blood soon came pouring from his mouth as he fell over revealing Alphonse. The sword master didn't sheath his sword just yet. There were still others to kill.

Alphonse: A promise. Until I am dead. No harm can come to the Colonel. You will all have to go through me.

Daneka: (Well zat's boring.)

The remaining men all rushed for Alphonse aiming to cut him down! Daneka shrugged and began steering Nyx to head for the gate as the sounds of the loyalists' screams began to cut through the air. That's when she finally noticed Jace himself approaching.

Daneka: Bonjour, Monsieur Jace.

Not far away, Levski arrived and landed on one of the western walls. The fighting at the gate was difficult to make out from that distance, but the black pegasus was an easy spot.

Lev: These is a bit closer than I was planning to get.

Darkess

Ixion: Hmmm.

Unsettling, yes. What Ixion saw was quite a surprise indeed, but he swiftly crushed every emotion, every natural response that would have surfaced as he had done since his early childhood. Instead he focused on the truth behind what he saw. That death, that corroding darkness was his very own power. His strength, his years of training manifest, and most assuredly his destiny. His human body and carnal nature were defeated yet again and pushed back into the depths of his mind with relative ease.

Ixion: This sight of yours ... is it a curse to you?

[-Cynthia-]

"But we can't just leave all these people to die!" Charlotte protested. An arrow went whistling by her head. "But...maybe there is nothing more I can do here she said sadly, moving in the direction of the gate. However, there was a large crowd of people in the way.

[Mercakete]

Tas dismounted Namid, quickly setting the hatchling down in front of the larger wyvern to watch. Then, he quickly had his attention on the prince and his pegasus, though he didn't approch very much mainly because he was close enough as it was. "Prince Tristan, are you alright? Hey, prince!" he called in concern. (He helped me out quite a bit, even going so far as to provide facilities and food for Namid, the hatchling and me. I have to do something... But what?) Taking a bit of a breath, he cauciously approched the mounted prince and began to steadily pull him out of the saddle, hoping the pegasus wouldn't try to attack him for disturbing Tristan. It didn't take long to get him on the ground, though. Tas began looking for injurries while Namid kept an eye on the hatchling, occasionally looking over to the winged horse suspiciously.

ooc: Tas' reasoning for not being so afraid of pegasi = they can fly so they can't be that bad. XD

[Ether]

As the chaos of Burgosas erupted, a blonde woman armoured in earthy brown watched the fighting from an alleyway. A swordsman and a Falcon Knight were easily cutting down Septimian troops. It was not a battle here, so much as a slaughter.

"Looks like fun... hahaha..." The woman mused to herself, a satisfied smile painting her face.

Septimian troops moved past the alley, approaching the swordman...

"Hehe... time for you boys to die!"

Leaping out from the shadows with a shrill yell, resounding throughout the air like that of a banshee, the woman drove her axe into the nearest soldier's skull, smashing it open with a single blow, and sending his brains to paint the stone road.

A hard swing of the poleax cut down several more men, and as more Septimian's approached, Kiera hefted the axe over her shoulder.

Turning to the swordmaster, she spoke with a vigorous fervor.

"Hope you don't mind me jumping in, big boy. But these wimps just looked so fun to play with, and you seemed to have plenty to spare~" Keira said with a wink, hurling her hand axe at a man aiming to sneak up on the swordsman.

"So let's have some fun bitches!" Kiera called out, retrieving her hand axe and drawing her Steel axe, charging at the Septimian troops.

'If these fuckers fall, I can loot as much as I damn want! This is so awesome.'

[Phoenix]

Arufonsu

Seeing a loyalist brutally cut down, Alphonse turned to face the source, a woman wielding an axe, apparently ready to fight the remaining troops.

Alphonse: While some forms of help are appreciated, it would still be beneficial to know who you are.

As he asked for her name another loyalist took him from behind only for Alphonse's blade to pierce into him and quickly retreat! He grabbed the wound and stumbled back only to be killed as Alphonse span around finishing him with a slash across the neck! Sheathing his sword he turned back to the woman waiting for an answer.

Edited October 25, 2010 by Phoenix

[Dark Sage]

"The hell is he doing?" said Reika, watching Alferis with Sadie. "Huh. Seems to know her..."

Approaching Pary, she glared down at him, tapping her feet.

"Listen jackass. We're gonna get out of here now. You're going to heal us if necessary got it? I'll have to make you if you refuse. Otherwise, I'll have to make sure you'll never ever be able to make children if you catch my drift. It's in your best interest to keep us alive."

"C'mon Alf! Bring along that lady of yours if you must."

"These friends of yours?" said Sadie, looking at Reika.

"Yeah. Some more than others," said Alferis. "You can come along with us if you like. You should leave though after we get to safety. We're not the safest bunch."

[Psych]

Pary:

Idiots. "You realize if you need to be healed, and you kill me, you'll just die? No wonder thieves are idiots. "

Pary walked ahead of the group, hoping to meet up with the others as soon as possible.

[Dark Sage]

"Bigger idiocy to not heal at all and let all of us die. Besides, you can still keep going after being neutered. Moron," Reika said, rolling her eyes.

Curious about the priest, Sadie approached the priest, gently tapping him on the soldier.

"Hello. You're a priest right?"

[Ether]

"Who I am? Hahaha!" Kiera confirmed his question with a chuckle, swinging her steel axe to tear a nearby soldier's head off of his shoulders. The blunt force of the strike sent the skull against the hard ground, segments of brain and blood splashing across Kiera, as well as several other men.

The lifeless body fell to the ground with a dull thud, and the men took a step away from her, one of them vomiting on the street, as a shard of bone cut his cheek.

"Names Kiera. I'm a mercenary, see? Not to brag, but I'm one of the best around. These fuckers never stood a chance."

Replying to Alphonse, Kiera grabbed ahold of her Poleax, and with a heavy downward swing, smote a charging Paladin, cleaving both the righteous rider and his trained stallion in half with a single mighty blow.

"And what about you, handsome? Who are you, and what made you decide to start this delicious bloodbath?" Kiera asked him, licking her lips, and catching a drop of blood on her tongue, swallowing it with a delighted sigh.

[Psych]

Pary:

She'll be gone soon enough.

"Hmm? Why? Do you need something?"

[Dark Sage]

"No I'm just curious on who you are. My name's Sadie. I'm a bard here. Are you waiting for anyone here? Are they interesting? Who are they?" asked Sadie innocently.

[Script]

Luc Altair

It wasn't working. Luc had spotted a few of the group straggling but over the din of the crowd he couldn't call to them. As he futily waved the standard about he saw something odd. Someone fighting to get back inside, someone he recognized and whatever the reason he was heading back inside was just another additive to the pile of mess this situation they were now all stuck in. But charging in after Eric wouldn't work, Luc had already lost sight of the swordsmen and returning to Thunder would be futile.

Thinking of his mount Luc took a glance back at the entrance stairs. His favored horse still stood guard over the doorway, the panic of the events around him not bothering the horse in the least. From Luc's perspective anyway.

Luc returned his sight to the ebb of the civilian waves below. He had to find someone, but things were going poorly. So poorly Luc desired to have had Fargo help with this instead of retrieving Paul. Luc held the standard out further.

The Fargo

"OhgoddesIdon'twanndie!" Fargo said as he raced through the panicked streets. Why were there even so many people running around? Then a ballista bolt crashed through some building. Err, well, that's still more protection than the streets!

Paul

Even running along the rooftops was an exercise in frustration as enough lousy pegasus riders and ballista and catapults rained down their different brands of death. Not like any of them could hit Paul, but they did force him to break his stride a lot and it was very rude like that! Another rock landed in front of the spy forcing him to jump over it. Lousy people couldn't aim a bit. But this was getting too annoying. Paul jumped off the roof, broke his downward momentum with a conveniently placed impaled bolt and landed safely on the alley.

Paul darted back to the busy street and made his way to the closest gate. Taking a few souvenirs fro the panic around him as he moved forward.

[-Cynthia-]

Bellerophon nosed the boy some more. It wouldn't do to have to train a new human.

Tristan opened his eyes slowly. Ooh...wyvern? "Did we win?" he asked the man near him groggily.

"Everyone just calm down!" Charlotte tried to shout above the chaos. "If we proceed in an orderly manner, we can all get out of here alive!" People listened to some extent, though there was still a lot of chaos. She thought she saw one of Luc's men, but it was rather hard to tell given the circumstances.

[Phoenix]

Pleased To ... Make Your ... Acquaintance

Alphonse: Kiera. Very well, I am Alphonse, a simple bodyguard. The man behind this attack is approaching us as we speak.

He pointed in Jace and Daneka's direction as the Brute made his way over accompanied by his men.

Alphonse: He started this. I am only protecting the Colonel.

Edited October 25, 2010 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

Tas was relieved that the prince appeared to be alright, though a look over his shoulder revieled the burning, siege-infested capital wasn't doing so well. Distant shouts and shrill whinnies were barely audable. Much louder were the crashes of the siege weapons. (We're still too close. We should hide the prince for good measure...) Facing Tristan again, Tas replied, "The battle is still raging. It seems hopeless. It was so sudden and so many people suddenly attacked... I don't know how everyone got there so quickly, and from all sides! Prince Tristan, you helped me before, housing and giving meals to my wyverns and to myself. I've been meaning to thank you. For now, though, we have to get out of here. How do you feel? Do you think you can ride your pegasus? You were hit by a giant bolt, after all." How they even launched the prjectile was beyond Tas. All he knew was to avoid them.