Return of the Emblem Chapter Eleven: Unleash

[Ether]

Well, it would seem they weren't being pursued, that was always a plus. The Dauntless had gotten moving, and the archers up on the wall seemed to be minding their manners as well, so as far as she could tell, the retreat was going well. There was still the issue of Raquel's family members becoming targets, but that would have to wait until they were out of the fire. Sardis also seemed dead set on, at the very least, keeping her father safe.

With the tension seemingly slipping, Faatina looked back at her passengers, who appeared to be fine... relatively speaking. The woman still wasn't in the best shape, and seemed to have drifted off again, held steady by Axel.

"So how far do you think we'll have to go before it's safe to take some time to give the wounded a more thorough treatment?" She asked the lancer.

***

Good, Raquel's group was retreating. Seemed that was all this meeting wrote... for now. And with that, Kit herself fled the area as well.

[roymbrog]

With both extra passengers now on her back, Volga picked up speed, bounding forwards with a combination of leaps, wingbeats, and glides. She didn’t want to fly without Katrina guiding her and so for now did what her rider usually had her do and followed the wagon.

---

Having caught the tail end of the conversation, Synthia managed to place the voice behind her as Sinbad and relaxed again. It wasn’t some stranger running off with her, thank Mercy. Her head still hurt, which sucked, but at least she wasn’t dead, she thought. Opening her eyes and taking a brief glance around, the only other person in the immediate vicinity was Nadya, who was saying something about people possibly catching up and killing them. Obviously something had gone very wrong while the mage had been unconscious.

If they were fleeing, that meant they lost, and if they lost, that probably meant at least one person was dead. Synthia skipped the question of what happened and instead asked what she considered to be much more important. “How many casualties were there?” Best to get that over with now and maybe she could pass out again…

---

Phyllis continued plodding on towards Sinbad and Nadya, but because roy is tired and doesn’t want to write certain things yet Valter and his horse haven’t yet reached them.

[Mercakete]

When Connor spoke up, he said something rather confusing. Cocking his head some and arching an eyebrow, Norbert voiced his misunderstanding. "What makes you think you speaking up will make a situation like that any better?" his expression changed to more of a snarl with his next statements, "Those crazy kidnappers would probably just take you, too. I'm sure they'd love the extra leverage, the twisted dragons. That or kill you, going by that maniac's threats against Raquel's family."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gytha only felt worse with Blake's reply. She was going to answer Veronika when she asked if she was needed, but Blake quickly took care of that. It realla is different... she thought dismally. No wonder there's so much insubordination around 'ere... People just do n' say what they want most o' th' time. Blake's even givin' th' first mate instructions. This realla hasn't been me best day...

She curled up a little more as she winced at another thought. I wonder how much I've done t' hurt 'em thinkin' I was helpin'? Ah, by Leviathan, I realla hope I haven't inconvenienced 'em too much. Oigh... I wish Amon was here. He understood things like this a lot better n' I do... Katrina's a fine lass. She seems t' understand I don't mean ana harm. Maybe she can help me with this since Amon's back in th' sand sea. I wonder how Katrina n' Synthia're doin'... I didn't see 'em when I was headed fer th' land ship...

[Phoenix]

Dauntless

First there was some exchange between Blake and Gytha about authority and Veronika that Reign didn't much care for, and then the woman herself inquired about the kigenese woman. Blake left it up to Reign to show her, so he prepared to do that. When he moved his hand close to where he thought she was, he was surprised to see that nothing was really there and his hand hadn't faded out like before. Did she move already ...? He leaned forward a bit and lowered his hand to feel around for her. When his hand faded out again, he knew he was close, but at this height, she must have keeled over and began lying on the floor. He was sure of it once his hand came to rest on what he was certain was her left thigh. He instinctively put his left arm up to shield his neck. He knew the woman had a short sword on her somewhere and didn't want to take any chances. At the very least, this way, if she reacted violently and took a swing at him, he wouldn't get killed outright unless it was a perfectly clean cut. Even Sardis wasn't doing many of those today.

"She's probably still unconscious, though that makes this light bending even more incredible. I'd check for scars on her back since I'm starting to doubt she's human, but even our flying cousins don't do stuff like this." He began carefully moving his hand along to the left, trying to see just where and how she was lying. It wouldn't do to accidentally step on a limb that was resting just a bit too far away from the body, and it most certainly wouldn't do to step on her head of all things, though that seemed far less likely. While he was feeling around for her upper half, he heard Robin give a rather demoralized inquiry. Oddly enough, he was used to that kind of talk, but it didn't make it any more tolerable. "Did you think we were fighting pushovers before? Nothing's changed regarding the strength of the enemy, so there's no point in asking questions like that, Robin. We kill them, or they kill us. Same as before ... only now Raquel knows." Reign felt this was how things were going to be all along. How were they supposed to rescue Jethro from the organization and walk away with the emblem? It just wasn't happening. This open declaration of war had been coming for a long time now, and hopefully that would help Raquel focus.

Reign soon found the woman's left shoulder and began tracing her arm a few inches just to make sure it wasn't sprawled out too closely to anyone's feet. He wasn't going to go so far as to feel around any further, it was obvious where her head was and he had no intention of waking her right now ... assuming she was still asleep. It was impossible to tell. "Anyway, be careful; she's lying down right here." When Reign took his hand away, it became visible again, and he sighed. He really hoped she was at least not an enemy, because if she was, she was in the best position to start killing people off. Her actions suggested she wasn't, but the possibility was always there, and so was the grim reality whether she was injured or not, they were pretty vulnerable in a position like this.

Sky

"Pretty sure he means the Wrathoites, Bert," Gabbie attempted to clarify. "They're nuts, but they're too closely toied to the military to flat out ignore a Weyland. They aren't nobility, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be doing themselves any favors by kidnapping one of them. Hell, if they did, we moight actually be able to get real help from the military for a change ... if they weren't so toied up themselves, that is." A stark increase in bandit attacks since the military began consolidating around key strategic areas, roaming neviskotian dragons terrorizing the land; Gabbie wasn't confident they could requisition much more than a token force consisting of a half dozen men at best if a situation like that came up. Though on the bright side, this was exactly why Weyland Enterprises maintained a sizable security force. External security was just as important as internal, and they would spare whatever they had to to rescue Connor, though the fact that only about three people in the group actually had any sort of obligation to protect him gave her an inkling of doubt about just how far they were willing to go.

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"Right, the Ursian military depends heavily on Weyland Enterprises and even an off branch like the Wrathites has to respect that. I wasn't with you guys in the church in Ursentius and having Siv along really complicated things the second time. I don't really know what to do about the Organization but I can at least try to minimize our problems," he echoed Gabbie.

Nadya

"On our side? None when I left. Once they tried to blow up the Dauntless I figured it was time to get goin'," she answered Synthia's query.

Veronika

"If she were our enemy, I think she would either attack us or try to leave. I think this matter should be investigated but I agree that it can wait until we're safer," Veronika answered Blake. An invisible Kigenese woman is in the wagon...sounds like a joke but things just keep getting stranger.

[Mercakete]

Connor's interjection made a whole lot more sense with the clarification. Gabbie's list of pros and cons only made Norbert uncertain just how much Connor could help in that sort of situation, though. These were all things he hadn't thought about. He had to respect Connor's willingness to help, though, especially since he seemed to understand his limits. He was very appreciative of that in particular, as before when Raquel wanted to help and they didn't know she actually could, she made protecting her a lot harder than it could have been.

"You're a good kid. Smart and talented, too," Norbert commented, having cooled to neutral again. He frowned as he continued, though, "The Wrathites might try to 'rescue' you from us, though, if you showed up. Apparently, the military's been told Raquel stole a sacred artifact from Wrath or something. You can guess just what that artifact is. That doesn't put us in a very good light."

[Snike]

"Maybe another half-hour or so, really it depends on where the Dauntless stops," Axel said, keeping his lance ready despite no sign of imminent danger. "Looks like it'll be a long day of travel, regardless. How's the leg?"

***

"Yes, it would be nice to at least speak to her about this, but as I said it's tricky if she doesn't want to talk," Blake said, as he walked over to one of the open wagon doors and, after sticking his head out, closed it. "No enemies in pursuit, just yet. As for who or what she is, well, do you think it's possible Lilith might've sent her? She's performed magic like that before. Though, she didn't seem to like working with us, so maybe not."

***

Well, that escalated quickly. Cassandra, do not worry about Catarena and Reina, I will arrange for them to be guarded. If you could help us find where Jethro was sent, that would be helpful. How is the emblem?

[Phoenix]

Dauntless

Blake went over and shut the Dauntless' door. That just left the gaping hole in the roof. Maybe if someone stood right beneath it, they would at least be able to tell if she was making a run for it, what with them likely being bumped into or at least grazed by the strange light bending field she was erecting around herself. Hopefully she would just stay put and answer questions though. Reign sighed. He could hope, but he just didn't see the reasoning yet. Even now she was cloaking herself from them and whether out of habit of distrust, he couldn't be certain.

Meanwhile up front in the driver's seat, Raquel kept Sandrock and Riley on the move. The Dauntless had steadily picked up speed, but was still below her maximum. On terrain like this, pushing their limits would have made the ride unbearable for those riding in the back. She had no idea how far out to go before stopping and regrouping, but the main road was still a long ways off at this pace. She was leaning toward stopping the wagon once they reached Nadya and Sinbad, however, as steamrolling past them, the healer in particular, didn't seem sensible. Deep down she was waiting for that sense of the emblem piece to fade, but she was apparently still too close to it. The emblem is the last thing I want to be thinking about right now, but I can't ignore it ....

Ignore it.

I ... can't! Raquel mentally shot back.

Fortress

Cassandra was relieved to know Raquel's family wouldn't be fending for themselves, but didn't show it externally. The last thing she needed was to let out a big sigh of relief in front of Samael, although given what had just happened, she had a good excuse. She wasn't sure about Jethro, though. I don't know if Sardis will tell me what he's planning. I could ask him about it, but if I'm not careful, he'll get suspicious. As for the emblem ... it's ... bigger, a little stronger. Also I ... She paused for a moment when Samael turned away. It was nothing serious, but got her attention just the same. He seemed to be about to address the men. I can sense Raquel without her emblem piece and even at this distance. I have her emblem piece, so this a little ... confusing. It's like what that annoying animal woman said is true and that she's an emblem piece herself now.

[Snike]

Maybe try asking about this 'Alexis' Samael mentioned. That might give a better chance of finding him. As for the Emblem, that is and is not the case. I cannot explain it much, but it appears that some of the energy from the emblem was left behind in her body. I doubt it is unlimited, but I will be investigating it shortly. Stay safe, and be careful with your piece, as the rest, including a certain scaly individual, is inside that one.

[Snowy_One]

As Tia rode along on Rook's horse, her eyes kept looking over to the Dauntless with a very worried look as she eagerly awaited the first, proper, stop so she could go inside and check to see if her books were alright. Under her breath she muttered to herself, trying to shift her focus away from the tomes as best she could. Anyone riding close to her or trying to listen to the girl would likely be able to hear it in spite of her lowered voice however.

"Water is an element that allows for both power and versatility when used by a skilled mage. Once in the water state, anima units can merge with fluids and alter their material state and motion in such a way that cannot be replicated easily elsewhere in magic. Due to it's immense utility in both war and peace, it is well-known in every country despite that some combat mages tend to look down on it for it's lack of obvious offensive power.

In order to function the anima must first merge with a fluid. How viscous the fluid is determines how long it takes with more viscous fluids taking longer. Some fluids take too long to be practical for combat use without prior merging. Once merged the caster can manipulate the... fluid... Maybe I can use it to pull the water out of the pages? But what about the ink? Will the pages be alright? Can I fix them if they're not burned or blasted?"

---

"Sorry for being glum." said Robin with a distinct lack of emotion in her voice before the doors to the Dauntless were shut. "I can not help it though." she continued on, talking to no one in particular. "I seem to have all the bad luck."

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

Connor beamed a little at Norbert's praise. "Well if we don't have the emblem, I'm don't think they can prove that we 'stole' it. They might take us in for questioning, but without any hard evidence they can't hold us...assuming they follow proper legal procedures," he said hesitantly.

Veronika

Veronika shrugged at what Blake said. "It's certainly possible, but I know little of Lilith and less of invisible women. I'm not sure if we can rely upon Lilith as an ally anymore- without the emblem I doubt she has much interest in us," she thought aloud.

[Mercakete]

"So, she really lost it, huh?" Notbert asked with a sigh. He gave a thoughtful hum for a moment before adding more neutrally, "I might be able to help get the Wrathites off our backs, then, depending on which ones we run into. I'm sure they won't harm you no matter what, Connor, I just don't know what sort of story they'll tell the rest of the world if they just assume Raquel has the emblem."

[Snike]

"Yes, let's hold off on letting her know about this," Blake said, pointedly ignoring Robin's lament of bad luck. "She might just fry us and find someone else to work with, or something."

[Parrhesia]

"Readin's a waste of time," said Rook, breezily.

[Ether]

"My leg? It's fine... the worst it got was me falling off Sharif after I got poisoned and passed out... but I didn't land on it, so it turned out okay." Faatina replied, with a light grin.

"Well, a long day of travel isn't a problem. Sharif is desert-bred, so the conditions in Ursium are good enough that he can go for quite a long time."

***

Eventually said fleeing lead to Kit finding herself sitting on top of the wagon. Just as planned, of course. Popping her head down through the hole that the aureola had caused, she saw the group members that had gathered in the wagon.

"So, everyone make it out okay?"

[roymbrog]

No casualties, that was good, but… what? Synthia lurched forward slightly, grimaced, and clutched her head after the pain the sudden movement caused. “They did what?! I mean, if the Dauntless exploded I’m sure someone died.” Something with the force to damage that huge hunk of metal they called a wagon surely wouldn’t leave much else unscathed, would it?

Having had Phyllis trot the rest of the way over, Valter heard the last part of the conversation, mostly the bit from Synthia who he was very glad to find awake. “That wagon did not explode. It’s right behind us, in fact,” the horseman cut in, pointing back over his shoulder. “I won’t complain if you were waiting on us, but is there any particular reason you’ve both stopped here?” he asked the other riders. Nadya in particular he was surprised wasn’t halfway to Europa by now. There was also the issue of possibly taking Sinbad’s passenger, but it’d be better to deal with one thing at a time.

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"Do you have some sort of connection with the Wrathites?" Connor asked Bert curiously. He would kind of fit the stereotype that Wrathites can be...rather temperamental, he thought to himself, remembering some loud arguments he had overheard.

Veronika

"If Lilith wants to fry us, not much we can do about it," she commented. Better to worry about the enemies we might be able to do something about.

Nadya

"I was told that there weren't enemies followin' us so I decided to stick around. Also didn't know exactly where we goin'- I'd suggest find a small town around here to rest in, but I ain't the one callin' the shots," she responded to Valter.

[Mercakete]

Norbert nodded with a thoughtful grimace. "Probably too many, and most of them aren't friendly. Or rather, well, probably not the Wrathites themselves but the military personnel they're sending after us. A lot of my sisters choose to join the military when they leave the orphanage. One of them -- Erica -- found me in Sergio and warned me that this group's dangerous to be in and told me that the Wrathites are hunting us and why. I tried to convince her that Raquel doesn't have any legendary artifacts. Not sure how effective that was, but if we run into a group with her in it, she might be able to convince her allies to search us instead of just attacking. If they don't find anything -- and they won't -- the Wrathites shouldn't bother us anymore. Heck, we could even tip them off to the scum at that fortress!"

His frown had faded throughout most of his explanation but returned as he added, "Not sure if they'll actually leave us alone or not, though."

[Snowy_One]

"You don't understand you big... something..." said Tia with an annoyed, almost sad, voice. "Those books held years of knowledge in them. The culmination of tons of facts, research, and magical power. Maybe they don't matter to you, but to me they represent tons of potential and knowledge. With them I can learn tons of things about the world and develop new arts and means to do things currently thought impossible. Without them I'm just a dumb fishermans daughter who would have spent her life casting nets and pulling up fish. Those books are who I am. They are what makes me me. And... now they may be gone!"

[Phoenix]

Dauntless

Reign didn't think Lilith had much of a reason to hurt them. She seemed too apathetic to them for that sort of thing. At worst, he could only really see her scolding them for losing the emblem, taking the vasilus egg away, and leaving them to fend for themselves from this point onward with no help or support of any kind. That wasn't much different from how things were anyway, so ... big deal, he thought. Toward the end of this musing, Kit popped her head down through the new sunroof and asked if they were okay. "More or less," Reign answered as he sat down on the floor leaning up against one of the crates. He almost flinched when he felt himself touch the cloaked woman's foot, but decided that it was probably harmless since he wasn't outright sitting on it. No one was in a position to see it, but part of his right thigh was now obscured by the field cloaking her.

Sky

Gabbie wondered how Bert could have any effect on the wrathite situation, but admittedly didn't know much about him. Connor was already investigating this, though, so she remained silent for the moment and just continued to listen to the exchange. She glanced down to where the Dauntless was on occasion now that it was in clear view and leaving the fortress. There was no point landing until it came to a stop or slowed down, so she didn't alter course even a little.

Bert then explained that some of his 'sisters' growing up were in the military, some even in divisions run by wrathite officers. That was interesting, and his point about getting searched instead of outright attacked seemed sound, but Gabbie couldn't help but wonder if they wouldn't try something more conniving this time around. If they were convinced this group had an emblem piece and had failed more than once to get it, they were probably going to do something more drastic next time.

"Whether we run into the wrathoites or not, we should tell someone about that place," Gabbie chimed in when that came up.

Saddle

For some reason, things became less exciting once they cleared the fortress entrance and pursued the Dauntless. Shadrak felt a lot of the tension leaving his body and wasn't sure why he felt safe out here. It wasn't until they were out of range of the archers that he felt the peace of mind he was experiencing was warranted. Their ride, Volga, was still chasing after the Dauntless and gaining ground, but that was about all that was going on of note. "M-Mushirah ...? Are you okay? I mean ... it was pretty rough back there ..." Oh who am I kidding? The only reason some of us are even alive is because that bastard called the whole thing off and basically kicked us out. Why the hell did he do that ...?

[scorri]

Marella stared ahead blankly for a few seconds before starting to reply as she grabbed on tight. "I... that's not it. It's not that I think that there's shame in asking for help per say. Well.. I... I suppose it's like this. I'm supposed to be the strong when. When I fail... others get hurt. Others are depending on me to protect them. if they're depending on me, how can I be asking them to help me? They need me to be strong and not need them. And so I don't ask for help. It's just how it works."

[ReformBlade]

"Heh, I gotcha. I apologize if I offended, it's just... I found what you said now and from before a bit conflicting." she said in a raised voice. "You've been in this group for a little while less than I have, and all I can offer you is the advice of keeping your mind open to new things. Not everything is black and white. Hell, maybe you'll need someone defending you in the future? This world is fucked up, so uh... just take things in stride, don't let shit get you down. Look out for yourself, too."

Trying to keep everyone on the wyvern steady, Mushirah shot back rather curtly, "What do you think?!" not quite sure why she snapped, the magician took a moment to keep her emotions in check, "Sorry, I just, it wasn't good. i couldn't protect you, or Katrina here. How I'm alive I don't know, I just don't know." I don't know how I could've possibly done that better... And after a long moment of silence. "Maybe I should just head back home. I don't... know if i can handle this. I knew it'd be tough, but this is humiliating and demoralizing, just being shooed away after such a destructive display." In her quickly rising state, her grip on Katrina faltered for a moment but she quickly adjusted it and helped the girl up more, not letting her fall over.

[Snike]

"Other than just not let her know for as long as possible, you're right," Blake said, before Kit's head popped in, from the roof. "We all made it, i think, if that's what you mean. Doubt everyone's been patched up just yet."

***

"Poisoned as well? Looks like antidotes sales will spike after we stop," Axel said, frowning under his helm. "As for the distance, well, don't push yourself. We're probably still going to have to deal with the Wrathites."

Edited May 9, 2013 by Snike

[Ether]

"Well, if you need anyone patched right now, I suppose I could do it." Kit replied, as she scanned the wagon.

"So, who is the invisible wind mage... I've never seen that before. Sound blocking, sure, but never vision." She commented, dropping down through the hole in the roof.

***

"Maybe so... but it isn't something to worry about right now." Faatina replied, before Axel continued.

"The Wrathites, huh? Can't say I've ever met one... what are they like?"

[Parrhesia]

"I don't respect anything that can't take a light rain," said Rook, casually. "You'd do well to take the same. If a bit of paper's all that makes you strong in the world, you'd better bloody toughen up."