Leki was still exhausted from the poisonous gas she inhaled. Those leaves may have saved her life, it’s not like they actually blocked all the poison out completely. She insisted on sleeping outside with Petta. Not merely for being with their trusted horse, but also because she preferred being in a natural environment over any house, even one as lovely as this one.

Sentinella agreed surprisingly fast to this. Not only could the horse protect Leki if needed, but the fresh air would do her good. Not to mention all the beneficial scents from the flowers in the courtyard. Sentinella had one additional reason for letting Leki sleep outside: her plants could protect her far better than any of the magic inside the house could.

Sentinella’s skin felt cold as ice when she tucked Leki in. Shaandra was looking after the wound in her shoulder, using some of Sentinella’s more potent healing herbs. Sentinella spoke calm and smiling as always: ‘I’m going to get your brother back, he’s been out for far too long now.’ Leki nodded, she hated being too weak to join her.

‘Are you going alone?’

‘Yes dear, Shaandra needs to rest as well.’ Sentinella looked at Shaandra with a caring smile, but Shaandra clearly wanted to disagree with her. She didn’t, in the end she was indeed too weak to be of help.

‘Aunty Senti, there were too many. You won’t make it on your own.’

‘First of all: there are many more than those you’ve seen. Second: they won’t stand a chance.’

‘There’s always the thing you didn’t expect Aunty.’

‘Very wise words my dear cousin. I promise you I won’t get careless than. Now you go to sleep, because I really do have to go get your brother now.’

Sentinella always left the house with her blue lace scarf draped over her long blond hair. At this point at night, when the first light started creeping in, she looked more angelic than ever. Her breath came out in frost clouds, her step was elegant yet fast paced. An angel of revenge, if any.

She stopped at the bridge to the lower city. A woman was sitting there, feeding the pigeons. Sentinella walked up to her. Without further introduction she addressed the lady whom she didn’t know at all. Still her senses had revealed the awareness the woman had of her, and the way she observed her.

‘Go to the leader of that pack of rats of yours and tell him that the lady of the house of scents has come to pick up the boy.’

‘Are you drunk? I have no idea what you are rambling about.’

‘If you make me repeat yourself, you will die in the process.’ Sentinella smiled at the woman and straight after jumped of the bridge, just above the big round sewer exit. A little pond seemed to stretch up to break her landing. She hardly even bent her knees upon hitting the floor.  

The sewers weren’t all sewers, they were mainly underground water canals. They were used primarily before the lake was dammed, now they were merely there as a security option: if the dam would break, these tunnels could direct the water away from the houses and buildings of the upper city.

Enormous tubes in stone that were filled only for a little part most of the time, leaving enough room to walk alongside of the water. It was the maze where anything dwelled that couldn’t stand up in the light of day. The water was rather shallow this high up in the maze, but it would get to a small stream further in. Sentinella walked into the puddles, going straight on.

A few vagabonds hang out in there, they welcomed a fresh sight like Sentinella. Not only was she an attractive woman, she also appeared rather wealthy with her lace and gloves and all. One extremely scruffy woman was the first to come up to her, while one of the men tried to block her way back out. Sentinella looked at him and said: ‘I have no intention at all of running away, so you shouldn’t bother.’ The woman scorned her, while reaching out for her scarf. Sentinella stamped her foot and immediately the wrinkles in the water chained up around the legs of the woman. ‘Step aside please, once you can of course. I have neither the time nor the intent to end up in a brawl with the likes of you.’ The woman gazed at how the icy chains fell of her feet again. She backed of, but the man behind Sentinella did not. She merely kicked up some more water. It formed a ball of ice as fast as looking. The next moment it stomped him in the lower stomach, very low in fact. ‘Go cool of, before I lose my temper with you lot.’ A few icicles flew about, not particularly aimed to hit anyone specific.

They ran, all of them, in different directions. A few ran further down the tunnel she was headed for. Of to warn the others. More would be waiting for her, she was sure.

The light got more dim, but somehow the water shimmered on. Sentinella approached the group waiting for her. These weren’t beggars anymore, these were the first of the fighters. With slow distinct movements she took of her lace gloves. She let her scarf down from her head and her hair hang loose.
Two men with knives came up to her. Water twirled under her hands, it moved in a spiral up to her fingers as she awaited their attack. On the first move one made she let go a wave of small but sharp ice blades from her left hand. Most blades passed them but a few hit their arms and chest, cutting them like small knives indeed. The next moment the ice dissolved to water and only the open wounds remained. She walked on, inviting more to try their best. The fight ensued with a fierce brutality. One had a long stick he turned and twirled in a deadly fashion. An ice lance from her left hand again pierced his shoulder and knocked him back. A chain of connected blades swooped from her left, ripping open the legs of many. Ice bullets sprang around in circles as she stomped her foot. Sentinella was in a chilling rage. Nothing would stop her from going through to the boss of this lot. The one she knew that was holding Kyell. There were many attackers but nothing they could do from being severely cut by unstoppable weapons. Sentinella had to do nothing it seemed to summon these blades and chains of ice. She walked, mutilating anyone foolish enough to step in her path.

From a far she heard a voice with authority yell out: ‘Get back you idiots, wait for her. She’ll rip you apart one by one.’

‘My first opponent.’ She had a wicked smile as she said it, sweeping the last one running from his feet with a sharp chain again.

The tunnel took an opening, in front she saw the man who had called the others back. He held a torch, his black hair matched his dark red robes.

‘Charming,’ Sentinella said, ‘but not the leader I’m looking for.

‘Don’t get near her men. Let her come to us if she desperately wants to die.’ He was cautious but not afraid. Neither was Sentinella and she walked on, merely to amuse him. In the middle of the water, she stood still: ‘Is this spot good for your strategy? Since it is for mine, and it would be nice if we could agree on those.’

He kept silent, waving his arm around at his men, who moved along the walls on both sides.

Bowstrings were strung, bolts were mounted on the crossbows and bullets were loaded. The man lifted his torch, he didn’t intend to fight her up close.

Sentinella stood there, waiting politely till they were all ready. ‘Do try not to miss because it would be rather silly if one side ended up shooting the other.’ Several men repositioned themselves when they realised they were indeed standing straight opposite the others.

The man grinned at her when he gave the signal with his torch. An endless chain of clicking, swooping, banging and twirling sounds was unleashed. In the same fraction of a second the first projectiles were launched, a cone of water blasted up around Sentinella. In the blink of an eye she was covered by a massive block of ice protecting her from anything coming her way. Not only the arrows and even bullets could not pierce this rock of ice, but they all ricocheted back in some direction. They all flung to one side or another, several indeed hitting some of the men. The group panicked and their first reaction was to move out, even if by than the shooting was done. From inside her block Sentinella let the water spread out as an enormous slick of ice no one could remain standing on. Now they panicked for real. You couldn’t run on the ice, only those few that remained calm could actually walk. Next was the crackling of the entire block of ice, into what had to be a zillion little cuts. The man with the torch was the only one standing still. ‘Get out! It’s going to shatter.’ His men and women tried to move out on the ice, falling and crawling over each other. The crackling stopped and next they knew the massive rock of ice exploded into an endless wave of sharp projectiles. Most hit the upper part of the stone tunnel at first, as the waves came lower in direction. It was as if they were given time to get away before being shred to pieces.

Amidst this rain of ice bullets, a cone of fire was hissing at the wall. A corner was the only real cover he could use to hide, trying to stay out of the line of sight while burning of the incoming ice.

Sentinella stood there in the same spot still. She had not moved an inch.

The man with the torch came from around that corner there as well, the last one standing in fact. The others had either been struck or they fled.

‘You are not the one in command. Tell him to give me the boy and I will be on my way again.’ She was relaxed and friendly. Nothing hostile in her voice, while the struck and the wounded were dragged away.

‘The boss already gave me his answer. He said: kill her.’

‘How practical.’

The man waved his torch as he spoke to her. Hissing was heard where his fire met the water. He drew out a long blade as well. Rather swift in his movements with it.

‘Aw.’

‘What?’

‘Such a disappointment. I thought you would put up a good fight but if you think you need to rely on a sword than I gave you too much credit.’

He sneered. He demonstrated his skills with his sword for a moment, but deep down he had to know she was right. But maybe he counted on her being right. His sword might not have been his most lethal weapon, but it sure was his fastest.

He launched towards her, sliding on the ice. It turned to water again and he jumped. It moved from under his feet altogether and he swiftly started running on the lower bottom. He was fast on his feet and his reactions were perfect. She could not fool him, or stop him.
His sword swept passed her face, almost cutting her face open. Sentinella’s eyes were on the torch, lashing flame tongues at her from the failed distraction of the sword. She avoided his dashing attacks.

One moment he felt his sword was stuck. Sentinella didn’t look away from the torch, but he did. The man was amazed by what he saw: she held his sword by the blade with her bare hand. The metal froze up. His hand could barely hold the clinging cold. He tried to warm his hand, but he knew he couldn’t without using his torch for that. His torch?

That very moment he realised his mistake as his hand with the torch suddenly felt cold and numb. A shield of ice so thin and sharp, like a guillotine, rushed up next to him. It came up extremely fast. He knew he had been distracted by his own sword: she had used it against him to draw his attention away from the fire he wielded in his other hand. His strongest weapon.  The torch fell to the water, and even though he felt nothing at all, he could see his hand fall with it.
The water under his feet swelled again and in one blow threw him back to the wall. She had let go of his sword and it was still frozen to his hand. With the hand she released the sword from, Sentinella formed a lance of ice, twirling it up from the water to her fingertips.

As his back hit the cold damp stones of the wall, he pulled his head in with his last efforts. That instant he saw the lance fly towards him, in that last blink. It pierced his chest instantly. There was no pain, everything was cold.

Sentinella looked at him with kindness in her eyes, and a little compassion for his own foolishness.

He gasped for air.

‘I will be getting the boy now. Could you tell me where to find that boss of yours now?’

‘He will kill you, child or no child.’

Sentinella nodded kindly. As she gave him a light but cold kiss, he felt the lance dissolve into water again and flow from his body. It flowed endlessly.

10-05-2010 om 00:00 geschreven door Kim  

It had been a couple of days. As the first thing she had taken those children to Sentinella’s place in the city. It seemed the safest place to bring them to, leaving them on their own in the forest was no option. It was only a few hours from where Laynah found the children to Sentinella’s house of scents in the city. No other place close by was this secure, given that the children didn’t wonder about too much. The city had many area’s that were far too dangerous to dwell carelessly in. Had Laynah known Shaandra would arrive at Sentinella’s house, she might not have left the children there.
Laynah still didn’t understand why the children were sent out on their own, with their mother being sick and all. What kind of medicine requires the children of a sick woman to go to the healer? It didn’t make sense at all. But seeing as both that ‘crazy woman with the wild eyes’ as Kildur agreed with this plan, Laynah figured there had to be a good reason for it all. She smiled at the description Kyell gave of Ileya, that woman was crazy indeed…

Laynah followed the trail of the children back, even though she knew exactly where it would end. Smart move of Muredin though, sending them over the wade in the river into the forest. They were bound to run into her, Laynah figured. Or better: she was bound to pick up their tracks pretty soon. A big wooden house on wheels and a massive horse leave a trail that’s hard to miss.

In her mind Laynah went over every word of the children’s recollection of the events. Retracing the route they had taken was easy enough, even though the children had lost all sense of direction in the panic of fleeing away. In fact: merely mentioning the grave on the hill was sufficient for Laynah, she had been at that stone often herself. Although she had to admit she never noticed the part of it being turned around, even less so the part of it being empty. If that was correct of course. Something she would investigate as well, once the rest of the work was done.
First she tried to asses the situation as good as possible. What kind of creatures were they up against here? The recollection of the children didn’t correspond with anything she had seen, none of the animals she ever came across fitted this description. Laynah had knowledge of just about any living thing between the Stone Desert and the Open Sea, so this whole affair worried her.

She took her time, Laynah tried not to miss any detail. The road itself showed almost no usable tracks, except the heavy carvings of the wheels of the wagon where it turned. Once she came to the grass down the hill, things became more interesting though. The grass was high enough to hide in, which seemed convenient for these creatures. On the ground Laynah found all sorts of traces. There had been fighting even there, this far down the slope. The children said that their horse Petta had steered clear of most, if not all of the pursuers. Muredin had been drawing the attention of almost all of them during the whole escape. Still there were markings left by fighting there as well, not even near the wagon tracks. They had been fighting amongst themselves it seems. There was a faint stain of blood here or there, but never a lot. In fact: there was always less blood than the fighting would have suggested. Maybe they tried to drink it all when it was fresh…

Whatever these things were, they could jump far and high, leaping like cats. Just the same they turned and twisted upon landing. Still the marks were not those of cats or wolves. Laynah made out hands and fingers here or there, albeit with claws rather than nails. Footprints as well, deeper in the ground than normal, from setting of with more power than humans normally posses. Laynah found this extremely fascinating: the markings were a bit like her own if she was on a move. Almost like her sister in fact, just before she turned completely. Her sister… all this side business better not let her lose track of her again. For a moment Laynah imagined her sister wandering further and further of, than she returned to the matters at hand.

These creatures might have had exceptional strength, between beasts and men, they sure seemed rather dumb. They fought among each other, and what was worse: they got distracted by the slightest change. Laynah could make out parts where a group had been sneaking through the grass but than stopped and started fighting amongst themselves. Just like they were tracks where they ran fast and than simply changed direction away from where the wagon must have been. Upon following this change of direction, Laynah could make out another spot where a wounded one was killed of and likely eaten.
The weird part was that the chaotic running about seemed the norm, but at given moments they all moved as one again. From different spots at the same time, all of a sudden they focused again. As if someone was whipping them up, time after time forcing the creatures to keep going for the real objective. That goal, in this case, was the wagon and Muredin. As far as Laynah could deduct, when given this signal, they moved for the wagon first. Still most were drawn more uphill to where Muredin must have been fighting. To him, or to the bodies he lied there for them to gnaw on… That dwarf sure did a good job distracting the whole lot. Both the strong hatred to fight an enemy slaughtering them one by one, as well as the unstoppable hunger for the blood of those he had slain. He got their attention one way or the other.
So these things fought each other primarily, or whatever closest to them, and had to be ordered to move to a given target. Still, a simple distraction could easily distract them, in this case: a crazy dwarf hacking them to pieces. This left Laynah with two important questions: what kind of creature is this self destructive, and more importantly: who or what was giving these orders? Laynah looked up to where the grave was, thinking of what that girl Leki had said. Leki could feel things others couldn’t, so maybe she could feel things even Laynah had no knowledge of. In the end the hunter felt a connection to al living creatures, not to anything dead, or worse.

Laynah inspected all tracks and traces all over the hillside, slowly moving up the slope from left to right. She re-enacted the entire scene in her mind, going from mark to mark. She could make out much more of the events than the children had been aware of. Likely even more than Muredin had noticed, even though he hardly ever missed a thing no matter how much was going on, or how much he had to drink.

The whole time while Laynah was doing this, there was rustling in the grass around her. Things were moving about. She smiled and ignored it all. Her blunderbuss was hanging over her shoulder, using it sometimes as walking stick.

All the rustling from a far aside, there was one soft noise coming closer. Something crawled up to her in the grass behind. She knew it was different from the other rustling that was going on. Apparently one of the creatures was feeling lucky today. Laynah could move this fluently you didn’t take notice of it, even though you were looking straight at it. She could take a piece of meat out of a bear’s mouth as he was waiting to attack her, this fast but also this naturally her movements were. Laynah turned around and looked the thing straight in the eye. It hunched, not expecting to be suddenly gazed upon by the prey it was stalking from behind. The turning around hadn’t startled it, it probably didn’t even really notice it until it actually looked into the eyes of the hunter. Laynah used the time to investigate every aspect of this pitiful creature, never letting go of the eye contact.

This thing had pain and suffering in its eyes, and most of all it was hungry. The kind of insatiable, uncontrollable hunger sharks have when there is blood in the water. More like a dog with rabies, Laynah realised. The thing waited, unsure what to do. It had been human once, but now it was reduced to a state even below that of an animal. Laynah observed it carefully: the remaining human basic form, the parts where a dirty fur grew, the claws and teeth, the enhanced muscle tonus, and mostly it’s eyes that lacked any form of intelligence. This was a deformation, done by who knows what kind of foul magic. It must have been of recent doing, since Laynah never saw anything of the likes before, in all her travelling about. But recent as it may be, such a transformation was still unseen by any breeding standards.

The creature gazed upon Laynah, biding it’s time. It swayed a bit from left to right, sitting there on all fours ready to jump. It was drooling at Laynah, still it had no clear focus in its eyes. The thing most noticeable in its eyes was the pain it suffered. This thing wanted to die, more than anything else, Laynah realised. What was more: it seemed to be decaying. The fur was hanging lose at parts, the skin burst open without real cause. Even if it wasn’t killed, it would still die very very soon. This explained how so much fighting happened amongst themselves: if they were this hungry for blood and they were dying at any point, it was to be expected they turn on each other all the time.

It had to do something, it was getting confused by the eyes of the hunter. Turning back was something this creature did not have the intelligence for. It could attack, or it could die trying. There were no real options. The delay was due to the fact it was mesmerised by the look in Laynah’s eyes, not because it was weighing its options.
Laynah jumped forward, before the creature did. The blade at the end of the blunderbuss pierced its neck, as the hunter landed on top of the hunching creature. The speed at which this occurred made sure the poor thing never even realised fully it was done for. Laynah killed not easy, but when she did, it happened at the blink of an eye. She had taken the time needed to make her assessment, and than passed judgement in a split second. Laynah’s fingernails scratched the metal of the blunderbuss: they had grown to small claws the instant she jumped. She smiled looking at her fingers, her claws were always the first sign that gave her away.

Her nails got pulled in again, she relaxed and looked around. Swiftly she addressed the deadly wound in the neck of the creature, she didn’t allow any blood to be spilled. Having more of these things jumping about, was not what she wanted at this point.

Up the hill she went, carrying the dead body of the creature with her. She still followed tracks but it was clear she knew exactly where to go. The part of investigating was over, it was time to go find the dwarf.
‘A brave dwarf hides under a rock when things go rough, the bravest of all dwarves becomes that rock himself.’

Countless times she had heard Muredin use this saying of his own making. Not many knew what he meant by it, most saw it as another of his drunken ravings. Laynah knew better: the moment she heard the boy Kyell mention that Muredin was the bravest dwarf that ever existed, she knew what he had been up to. Laynah carried the dead thing further up the hill, to a point somewhere in the middle. She stopped at a big rock lying in the grass.

‘Let’s see how brave this rock really is…’

05-05-2010 om 00:00 geschreven door Kim  

The rustling never ceased, it went against the wind and was far too irregular to be of natural cause. Laynah stood in the middle of the hillside, the furthest away from any cover possible. She wasn’t disturbed by the rustling at all. There were many things moving about in the high grass, the activity close by was from a different nature than the threatening rustling near the edges. Around her there was a comforting business, while at the edges of the grass plain she noticed many of those creatures looking her way. Maybe they sensed the corpse of one of their kind, even though Laynah had made sure there wasn’t any blood spilled to draw attention from. She was ready for them, that was what all the friendly rustling was about in fact, all that comforting business…

Way up high she saw the tree part where the grave was. She would check that out later, first things first though. The big rock in front of her lied there out of place. She hit it with her foot once, as if she was making sure it wasn’t going to move.
‘A brave dwarf hides under a rock when things go rough, the bravest of all dwarves becomes that rock himself.’

This time she cited it from the top of her voice.
For a moment nothing happened, but than the rock seemed to soften up in the sunlight. It lost some of its dark greyness, some of the veins became less edged. Those veins soon became clear as being nothing but folds in the fabric. This whole thing wasn’t stone, or at least it wasn’t anymore now. Bit by bit one could see the contours of a lying shape. A broad short figure, covered in a leather tunic and with a dark beard draped over the larger part of it. It wasn’t simply a visual change, a few moments before there had been a rock hard stone there. Now there was a dwarf lying still in the grass, his hands covering his face.

Laynah took the dead creature she was holding and held the ugly twisted face straight above Muredin’s face. He hadn’t opened his eyes yet, and she held it there very lightly, unnoticeable. She waited, knowing he would take his time to fully awaken.
Muredin wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t already have his own opener though. He made the first sound that was heard from him, half conscious only, still coming back from his lethargic state.
He burped.

Loud.

Laynah held back her laugh, trying not to give away the little surprise she had for him. Muredin opened his eyes. The very instant a small fright escaped his lips, catching him not fully in control of his actions yet. He instinctively grabbed the dead thing’s throat and reached for his axe with his other hand.

‘What a girly squeal.’ Laynah giggled.

‘I’m going to slap you silly with this dead thing!’ Muredin rose up and already held the corpse above his head.

‘Keep it down, at the moment you’re holding up lunch to his friends under the trees over there.’

He calmed down, lowered the thing, and looked over to the side of the hill.

‘They’re still there you reckon?’

‘I doubt they even went away. They have been watching me for over an hour now. My guess is that they have been there since the fight a few days ago.’

‘Over an hour here already? A few days ago? You bloody took your time to come and wake me, didn’t you? It’s nice to see I am on your priority list!’

‘Relax. Now that you’re no longer breaking their teeth when they bite you, I’m sure they will come for the both of us any moment now.’

‘I see you caught one without it being eaten by the rest of them.’

‘The trick is to make sure it doesn’t bleed, you should have figured that out yourself.’

‘I’ll try to use my axes in a more surgical fashion next time.’

Muredin turned both his heavy small axes around in his hands.

‘You do realise I actually wanted them to be eaten by the rest, right lass?’

‘If you say so… Did you notice anything odd in their behaviour, like being commanded in some way?’

‘Indeed I did: something was controlling them. Odd thing was: I never saw anything myself giving any orders.’

‘The little girl, Leki, claims she saw that ghost from the grave commanding them.’

‘What? That Tekshi woman?’

‘Seems so.’

Muredin looked over to where the gravestone was, in fact a bit concerned.

‘Do you think that girl can know such things? I mean: she gave me the impression of being a bit sensitive in an odd fashion already. Like that horse they have, it’s like the girl can understand every word that animal snorts.’

‘That horse can outsmart you any day. But yes: I am convinced that girl picks up things others don’t. She can feel animals almost the same as I can, for example.’

Muredin frowned.

‘Not control them, relax. She’s no family. She can read into their feelings mostly. But in the end it’s a weaker version of the same: I don’t really control anyone, they merely offer to help me all the time.’ Laynah laughed, but at the same time loaded her blunderbuss. She had her own way of doing that. Kildur had designed the weapon with a lever to reload very fast, bullet after bullet from the built in storage. Where Kildur himself loaded the gun by holding it straight up, pinned to the ground, and using his free hand to pull the lever, Laynah simply swung the weapon holding it one handed by the lever only. She let it turn back and forth thus switching the mechanic. Muredin had come up with that idea of handling this gun. Something others saw as blasphemy since it was by far the best gun Kildur had ever designed. The dwarven leader himself merely said that if the gun couldn’t take that type of handling, it was made for the wrong purpose and should be used for clay pigeon shooting only.

‘So, what’s the plan for this than? If they are looking at us for dinner, than how you figure we get out of here?’

Laynah said nothing and pulled the dead creature up from the ground again.

‘Throw it.’ She pulled it at the feet of the stou dwarf.

‘Come again?’

‘I don’t plan of getting out of here at all. These things are dying as we speak anyhow, and the only right thing to do is release them from their misery.’

‘Sounds reasonable. Ok for you if I don’t do it out of philanthropy like you, but merely out of bloody revenge?’

‘Whatever makes you feel happy good sir.’

‘So let me get this straight: I throw the thing, they jump it and we… run in and slay all hundreds of them before they notice us?’

‘That’s about right, apart from maybe the running in. I would advise letting them run to us instead.’

‘Why? They are bloody fast, you know.’

‘Not fast enough.’ Laynah nodded at the dead thing still lying at Muredin’s feet.

 ‘Still there must be hundreds still alive.’

‘Hence the ‘not run in’ part.’

‘Just spit it out already, what are you up to?’

‘Throw it near that bush there. When they run in, some surprises are waiting for them. Even this much of a party it will totally block them from getting to us.’

‘Sounds lovely, but what do I do than? Spit on them from here?’

‘You focus on the other side of the hill, they will come from the right as well.’

Muredin looked over the other side, mumbling something.

‘We kill that side first, by than it should be easy to finish of the initial bunch on the left here.’

‘So that was what you have been doing instead of saving me straight away. But how exactly can you be sure they didn’t notice you laying down a trap or two?’

‘I didn’t.’

‘Oh, you let your little friends do all the hard work again, did you…’

‘You should know by now I never fight alone.’

‘Of course you don’t, I’m always there to cover your skinny back.’

‘One more remark like that and I’ll be kissing you.’

Muredin spit on the ground.

‘Throw the dam thing already, will you.’

‘Too heavy for your delicate back?’ Muredin took up the corpse and held it behind him. With a massive swing he launched it way up in the air. It flew higher than you would expect even from a dwarf. In mid air Laynah suddenly shot the flying body. Blood splattered as it flew it’s last end. With a dull smack it hit the grassy ground not too far from the designated spot.

Muredin gave Laynah a dirty look. She raised her shoulders in innocence. He sighed.

‘You missed the bush, but it will do I guess.’ Laynah reloaded.

‘Want me to hurl you over there too, so you can carry it back here and I throw it again?’

The bait worked, especially after spilling blood in mid flight. From under the trees on left side the grass started moving a lot. They tried to remain hidden to some extend, but soon their hunger took over and the first ones were leaping forward with a remarkable speed. It was a matter of seconds before one reached the corpse. Muredin looked at Laynah: wasn’t something supposed to happen now?

‘One.’ she counted.

Two followed very soon after, closely followed by three and four.

Upon Laynah saying: ‘Five.’ flames rose up in a long line to the left, from above that bush till all the way down to the road almost. It burned those first creatures at the corpse, and it startled all the others running in. As they backed of, looking for a way around the fire, a second explosion came, louder now. Behind them, close to the trees on the left in fact, more fire rose up. Heavier and wider spread this time. At this point all the creatures that had rushed from the left side of the hill were trapped. The traps were delayed just enough so they would all have rushed in. Muredin made a complement on the traps, but he didn’t look at Laynah.

‘Those critters have done a nice job.’

‘They have been rustling to and fro for ever, but not one of those creatures had the sense of looking at anything other than me.’

‘Maybe they don’t eat mice and rats and hamsters, or whatever it was this time you had laying your traps for you.’

Laynah smiled and let the fires do their job. They had another side of the hill to worry about now.

Of course there was a whole bunch of creatures on the right side too. Triggered less by that dead body flying to the left, they still were moving out. Not in as big a mass as their unlucky mates on the other side. Hiding in the grass more, focusing on the dwarf and the hunter in their sight. Still stirred just the same by all the shooting and exploding that was done.
Muredin moved out to meet them. He duck a bit in the grass, and in fact he became less noticeable as he progressed further.

‘Mind the fires.’

He looked over at Laynah who was grinning wickedly.

‘Great, more traps from rodents…’

The fires on the right side spawned random here and there, simply triggered by the first creature running into them. The fires were blue-ish this time though. Muredin questioned Laynah, who was still standing behind him, waiting.

‘I got some flacons from the lady of the house of scents.’

As the first creature moved between the fires without getting caught, he jumped for Muredin. One hard blow of a small but heavy axe later it dropped dead to the ground. Funnily enough the second one getting there jumped the fallen one instead of Muredin. A second axe hammered it down on top of it’s desired mate.

‘By the way: she says you’re invited for tea.’

‘Lovely. Could you stop chattering now perhaps?’

Two creatures leaped for Muredin, confused but aroused by the fires. Laynah shot one, he avoided while she reloaded swiftly, and she shot the second.

‘Slowpoke.’

The dwarf rushed in now, not awaiting any more to reach him but going out to look for them himself amongst the fires. He was fast as ever, his axes hacking and slashing at every turn. Laynah was shooting from the middle still. Not a single creature ever got close enough to reach her alive. In the midst of the fires, Muredin noticed he wasn’t the only one fighting there. A grey wolf he recognised very well, was tearing at the creatures limbs. The wolf didn’t fight them full out however: he grabbed them and pulled them into one of the fires. Each time avoiding to be hit by the fire himself. That wolf was fast, but above all he was tenacious.

‘I’ll be damned,’ laughed Muredin, ‘that I should be taking lessons from a wolf!’ Upon which he simply tossed the nearest creature at hand into a fire. And than he knocked back the next, into the fire. He punched one while his axe stuck into the previous one still. Both into the fire again. Those blue flames devoured those poor creatures. Being burned meant instant death. It seemed a cold but lethal fire. Flaming ice, Muredin called it. That Sentinella sure knew how to brew a potion…

The entire bunch on the right side was being caught in flames and turned to each other out of sheer desperation. Meantime, Muredin and the wolf held a big clean up at the right side, throwing anything that moved into that purgatory blue fire. Laynah simply stood there shooting, as if she was mainly waiting for the important part to happen yet.

It happened. As by command all of the creatures, on either side even, started fighting each other. They fought ferociously and really tried to kill each other. Any one of them being thus clawed or bitten immediately got jumped by all the others near. They ignored the fires, and they ignored Muredin, Laynah and the wolf.

This was the sign Laynah had been waiting for.

‘They have been given an order Muredin, we have to find whoever did that!’

Muredin searched his surroundings as good as his keen eyes could. The wolf dashed of to the trees on the left side. Over the trees at the left an owl suddenly was searing in circles, looking for one in command as well. Laynah did her best to pick up any signal in between the fires and the howling of the last creatures killing of each other.

No one could find anything. The owl came down to sit on Laynah’s wrist. The wolf still scouted the tree side, but not picking up any trail. Muredin was rounding up the last creatures in the remaining fires. He too had seen nothing.
Laynah looked up at the grave, decided. Muredin saw that and he sighed. He knew she would turn that grave inside out, following down every worm that as much as nibbled on the rotten flesh. She wouldn’t stop until she was a hundred percent sure where the corpse went. To the last fingernail…

He didn’t like meddling with the dead. He didn’t like it at all.

30-04-2010 om 00:00 geschreven door Kim  

He sat on a bench to the side, reading a book. The big seat, which looked like an improvised throne, was empty. The whole room was overly decorated, in a rather kitschy fashion. As if the gold paint and fake inlaid jewellery were aimed at proving he had the status of a worldly leader. It was something that kept his minions happy he figured: the feel of having a rich and important leader. In the end he figured that fear and bribery were the real incentives, but he played along with the flashy display of luxury. It was the sewers after all, anything shiny stood out from the muck and mud…

Sentinella came walking in that overly ornamented room. Not her decorating style, at all. She let her fingers glide over some of the stones set in the wood of the balustrade. A touch of frost remained. How fake could you get? It was so far from her own flowers and natural element it hurt her eyes. There were mirrors everywhere, in all shapes and sizes. She straightened her hair and checked her dress for blood marks. Meanwhile she observed him sitting there reading.

‘Good book?’

He ignored her.

‘I came to get the boy.’

Still he said nothing. As he turned a page, he first looked at her.

‘Sorry to disappoint you, but there is no boy here.’

‘We saw you take him away at the bridge. So now I’m here to take him home.’

‘Look, I’m reading here. Try getting your facts straight without my help for a moment.’

A ball of ice was forming in the palm of Sentinella’s hand. Without as much as looking at it, the man on the bench continued: ‘First of all, you saw nothing. That priest did, and maybe even the little girl. Speaking of which: is she for sale?’

The ball of ice hit the man straight in the face. Blood splattered on the impact, yet he seemed unmoved. He wiped the blood from his forehead and there was no wound to be seen. Sentinella seemed puzzled for a moment. Only at that point he put down the book. He had indeed been holding it all through that hit to the head. Puzzling her apparently was his main aim.

‘People call me just Q, but you can simply bow for me.’

She sneered, ready to strike again.

‘Just Q? Does that make ‘Just’ your first name than?’

He chuckled, clearly unimpressed: ‘Your wits get worse once you start doubting your actions mylady. Being witty when being wrong is probably what makes a good leader a great one.’

Sentinella hated this guy more by the minute, she was ready to knock his head straight of by now.

‘Two things mylady. First of you didn’t see a thing. Second: that priest saw the boy being carried away when we were attacking.’

Sentinella waited, he was stating the obvious so far.

‘Now, for the sake of argument: let’s say the ones attacking, being us, weren’t in the same party as the ones snatching away that boy, being not us, if the first assumption is correct.’

He had her there. Shaandra had told her Kyell was being taken away by this gang, but what if it was a third party indeed? Sentinella had no way of knowing what had in fact occurred precisely. She cursed herself for going on Shaandra’s word this easy. What was worse: she sensed this man, this ‘Q’ wasn’t lying to her.

‘You have the boy or not?’

‘See above.’

Sentinella was furious, mostly at herself. She turned around in a forced silence.

‘Sorry for the intrusion into what must surely be your deepest thoughts, my dear lady, but do you actually hold it possible to simply walk out of here after, for lack of a better word: slaughtering my best men?’

‘I only took out those that came into my way.’ She knew she was justifying herself at this point. She felt a minor nuisance, like a headache getting worse. She ignored it.

‘You must be a laugh at Sunday markets…’

Sentinella looked at him. As much as she hated admitting being wrong, she still welcomed any excuse to silencing this gang leader forever. Even ‘just’ for speaking too much.

Q stood up and without a warning a lance of ice struck him. Sentinella had lost her patience. She wanted to get this over as fast as possible and go look for Kyell.

Q’s body slammed against the wall, pulling several curtains down with him. The ice lance pierced him and dissolved. His hands were covered in blood as he pressed the wound. The bleeding stopped as soon as it started. He coughed, more to clear his voice than anything else.

Sentinella’s head was pounding, her knees felt a little wobbly too.

‘Not that I wouldn’t roll over and die for you mylady, but haven’t you forgotten a little detail?’

She looked at him amazed. No one had ever survived such a strike before, and there he was barely scratched. That headache had gotten worse, and her stomach was upset now as well from all the emotions.

‘I think, correct me if I’m wrong, but I indeed think that you forgot to ask me who it was than that snatched the boy away from all of us.’

‘Do you know?’

‘That’s beside the point. The issue I was pressing for is: do you want to know if I know.’

It was a rain of small ice knives, she didn’t stop before even the smallest piece of ugly ornament was pierced. Not one wound he could lay his hands on, his entire body seemed ripped to shreds.

Skin deep. Not deeper. Like a bunch of thumb nails exploded in his face. The ice melted down to water and washed the little wounds clear. Scratches, and than even less. Sentinella’s stomach felt like it burned. She was ready to throw up any moment. That headache was pounding hard now, thinking clear was getting hard. Her legs could barely hold her up. She did her best to cover up that her nose was in fact bleeding.

‘I’ll help you out here: I actually know.’

Sentinella was at a loss now. She let him do his speech, or whatever it was he was doing while surviving her most brutal attacks. The worst part was standing straight upon her feet. Her nosebleed getting worse and painfull, her stomach throwing up acids worse than gall. The pounding in her head was unbearable by now. On top of it all every single of her teeth ached like it would fall out any moment. Still she bore with him, keeping herself from collapsing.

‘I’m not going to tell you.’

He sat down again and picked up his book, focused on finding his page back that he lost on that first hit to the head.

Sentinella was forcing out her last strength to strike at him, but she threw up blood instead. Her nosebleed was making her head light, while the headache hammered her brains down. She sighed to her feet as he looked over the edge of his book. He didn’t get up, but he observed her collapsing with a keen and interested eye.

‘I’ll tell you, seeing as it’s the last you’ll ever hear. Scaramance himself put a price on getting his hands on that boy alive. So apparently a playful couple of lovely lovebirds decided it was a good opportunity to cross me. It seems they found it good sport to take our prey from us.’

Sentinella gasped for air but only swallowed her own blood.

‘That young couple will pay for their betrayal of course, once we found them that is.’

This man really talked too much, Sentinella hated that more than anything else she was going through that moment.

‘Now doesn’t that make you wonder? What makes that boy so interesting that Scaramance wants him so bad?’

‘Why don’t you ask him than?’

Two backsides of small but very heavy axes hit Q on both sides of the head. He got stunned so bad by these knocks he couldn’t do a thing to recover. Next moment Muredin cut his throat and dropped him helpless to the floor. He had a way with magicians like that. Nothing to be proud of, but very effective nonetheless. For a moment he hesitated to cut of his tongue too, but than he rushed over to Sentinella who was smiling at him with red teeth, still coughing up nasty.

‘Think we both need a cup of tea.’ Muredin took the woman in his strong arms and ran out. Leaving Q for dead.

She adressed his throat with a cold balm. The wound got stable.

‘Where did that dwarf fit into your plan?’ Q’s voice was hoarse and weak.

‘He didn’t. You were supposed to kill her. But I guess the other way around works too.’

‘Note to self: I’m not dead yet.’

Q felt his throat to make sure. He immediately felt something was wrong here, in a way his healing touch couldn’t help. The wound at his throat was indeed closed again, but inside he felt a poison burn him. It was out of reach: it didn’t touch his skin at any point.

His skin was where the healing came from. His hands were merely the tools he used the most easily to get in touch with his skin. But for what it mattered: his entire skin was where this healing magic was active. Nothing could pierce him permanently, and any wound healed back up merely from coming in contact with his skin. The only way Muredin had been able to cut him up like that, was because the dwarf knocked him unconscious first. Q still had to be somewhat active to do his healing, he could be distracted but not entirely unconscious.

Now this poison burned him up from inside, unreachable to heal exactly because of his regenerating skin itself.

‘Balance must be. And you just fell on the wrong end of it my friend.’

Shaandra left him behind scratching his skin open, it healed up at every scratch. Even with a knife he wouldn’t reach the poison inside. The few weak curses he threw at her, she easily cured drinking a potion or two against headaches and stomach pains…

25-04-2010 om 00:00 geschreven door Kim  

The plants on the wall opened their ranks as soon as Muredin arrived with Sentinella. The scent of her garden alone already cleared the air for her. She was still coughing up blood and couldn’t stand up straight without help.
One flask from that shelf, a piece of cloth from the cupboard, a seed or two from a little plant near the window, and of course: tea. Sentinella meddled about, almost blindly. The headache was cluttering her vision, but in her own House of Scents she knew where everything was by heart. Muredin helped her where he could, but as far as all the meddling with herbs and flowers went, he stuck to putting the kettle with water on. Sentinella lied down on the sofa only after putting the tea in the pot. She held up that flask and tried pouring a few small drops of it in her cup. Things didn’t go smooth yet, but at least it wasn’t getting worse anymore. With a faint gesture she motioned Muredin to sit down as well, and maybe have a cup of tea and a biscuit.

‘Where are Shaandra and Leki? I could use their help at the moment, I think.’

Muredin stood up and took a paper from the table. He handed it to Sentinella who tried reading it as good as her headache allowed. The small drops she had put in her cup of tea were showing their beneficial effect already. Things were clearing up somewhat in her mind.

‘Well I’ll be darned, if you don’t mind the expression.’

Muredin nodded ever so politely, agreeing on the use of such a word for the occasion.

‘Have you read it? Oh, of course you have, how else you would know where to come look for me…’

‘Indeed, the mentioning of you going to get Kyell back from that gang in the sewers at the bridge side, sort of gave me a hint.’

‘Thank you for that by the way. It would have taken an eternity to get that blabbering idiot down.’

‘To be perfectly honest here, he did have you nearly dead with sickness and all.’

‘I still had a trick or two up my sleeves.’ Sentinella inspected those mentioned sleeves, they were filthy from all the blood she coughed up, as well as the constant nose bleeding.

‘I’m sure you did, but I figured I would speed things up. Sorry if I interfered where I shouldn’t have.’

‘You did fine.’ She smiled at the robust dwarf holding the porcelain cup. He chuckled, sipping from the tea.

The paper Muredin handed to Sentinella was a letter from Leki. After Sentinella had set out to find Kyell, Shaandra too had left the house. It seemed Shaandra miraculously recovered from her poisoning rather fast, once Sentinella was gone. Leki didn’t say it in so many words but she clearly found this suspicious enough not to stay behind herself.

Muredin was going over a lot of things in his mind, most of which neither he nor Sentinella had an answer to. One thing he did ask though: ‘May I inquire how that little girl managed to get past your plants on the outer wall? I would imagine them letting Shaandra pass, but clearly they should have stopped Leki from leaving on her own.’

‘That girl probably just asked them or something. She has a way with living things I have not often seen.’

‘Funny enough Laynah mentioned something likewise, but in fact she said that Leki felt things but could not control them.’

‘Hmm, could be right. Than indeed it’s a mystery how the plants have let her pass.’

‘Shaandra can enter and leave the shop at will?’

‘Yes, but only the shop.’

‘The letter was pinned to the backdoor of the shop, at the side of the hall.’

‘Are you saying she followed Shaandra out through the shop? That is very unlikely my dear rescuing friend. This could not be done without Shaandra being aware of this.’

‘Exactly my point.’

‘You mean that Shaandra knew Leki was about to follow her, and she deliberately let her?’

Muredin finished his tea and stood up.

‘This can’t be true. Why would Shaandra do this? What does she have to gain by having Leki run after her? She might as well have taken her with her than, whatever her motives were for having Leki out with her.’

‘First question is: where is Shaandra now. Only than we can get an idea of where Leki could be.’

Sentinella coughed again, as she tried to get up.

‘I think you should stay and recover. I’ll go looking for them alone.’

‘Oh well, I only tend to blow things up anyhow. Not my style to do discrete investigating.’

Muredin nodded again, very understanding.

‘If I would have control over this city, I would clear out those sewers entirely.’

‘Than you would have clean sewers and other places filled with hiding criminals… And are you planning to run for mayor next elections than?’ Muredin chuckled at the idea.

‘You know, I might. Who has been controlling the most powerful resource this city has, for all these years?’ Sentinella referred to the well at her courtyard. This was where the true magic of her plants and flowers came from. The well was the point where the living veins of this city came together. The water in those veins made everything living flourish. Its power was so great, that Sentinella had dedicated her life to guarding it.

‘Well, good luck on the campaign and say hi to the Nuncio from me when he establishes your post.’ That last part he said with a sneer. Any mayor of the city, or any official at all for that matter, had to be acknowledged and approved by the Nuncio.

Sentinella didn’t want to start an argument about the Nuncio versus the Queen. There would always be someone in power, and they would always have something powerful to force their will upon others with. The Queen was gone for years now. Maybe it was time if people accepted the fact power had shifted, for better or for worse. Simply living in the past did not help anyone.

Sentinella kept her thoughts to herself though. She knew Muredin was of Kildur’s clan, and that old dwarf clung to the Queen till his last breath. Sentinella was more practical in these things: she cared about the day to day life of people, and what they needed was stability, not an ongoing subversive war. Not that she liked the Nuncio one bit, but in the end they had to accept the fact that the Queen was gone.

‘One more thing, the thing that Q said: did you know that Scaramance had put a price on Kyell’s head?’

‘No I didn’t Muredin. And I never could stand that Scaramance fellow. There is no telling what dirty business he is involved in. Not that I know him personally. But isn’t that the whole point: no one seems to know him…’

Muredin kept silent.

‘It seems that Kexon and that girl of his have Kyell, two vagabond nobodies. The children had met them in the park earlier. Q mentioned the boy being snatched away by a pair of lovebirds.’

‘Never heard of those two. But if they were brave enough to take Kyell away in the midst of an action by Q’s pack of muttons, they sure got some nerve.’

‘I don’t like the fact that Scaramance would be after the boy Muredin, if Q was indeed right about that whole bounty thing.’

‘Do you think he was lying?’

‘He wasn’t lying, I’m sure. But he could be misinformed. Who says for sure that Scaramance wants the boy alive?’

‘Sentinella, we both know that when it comes to bounties, the gangs in the sewers are never misinformed…’

Sentinella didn’t answer to that last part. She closed her eyes and tried to rest.

Muredin went out through the shop, first he had to pick up Shaandra’s trail, than find Leki. As for the boy: if Scaramance wanted him alive, he could at least be sure no one in his right mind would risk hurting but a hair on the boy’s head. Kyell seemed safe for now, wherever he was. Muredin spit on the ground when he got outside: ever since Kildur had assigned him with guarding the children, he had done nothing but lose track of them.

Leki had followed Shaandra. From the shop all the way to the narrow streets at the market. She had felt Shaandra was up to something. With Sentinella looking for Kyell, she saw no other option than going after Shaandra herself. Her only regret was that she didn’t dare to take Petta with her, but a big horse like that surely wasn’t fitted to follow someone discretely in the city.

Many people were about in the streets, especially as they approached the market place. Not many were selling things there since it wasn’t a Sunday, but the shops were open and the atmosphere in that part of the city was lively. Leki had a hard time trying to stay far enough behind not to be seen, yet close enough not to lose track of Shaandra. The priest seemed in a hurry, but she tried to walk at normal speed to not draw attention. Why was she going this way, Leki wondered. She remembered the way they took to the bridge where they were attacked and Kyell was snatched away. Now they went a different way altogether. Odd, since Shaandra had urged Leki she went out to look for Sentinella.

The narrow streets were a maze. Leki had to rush each turn to be just in time to see which way Shaandra turned. They entered that maze further each of those turns. It felt like she was getting caught in a spider’s web. Leki could feel the hostility of the people she crossed, their cautiousness, and their fear even. Several times she had to go down stone steps, or under little bridges. Those moments were the hardest to remain out of hearing range of Shaandra. At the first of several small tunnels, she hesitated. Either way: it was too late to turn back now. These had to be the Sewers, or almost. It seems Shaandra took an older route to the sewers, entering from where they first originated, in the old part of the city. Leki clenched the rope in her fist, but than relaxed her grip as she entered the shadows. Meme Uzuela had stressed it often enough: no rope can fly if you grab it too tight.

At first it was easy enough to follow the sound of Shaandra’s footsteps through the water echoing on the stone. A lot harder was it to not make those same sounds herself. Leki stayed clear of the water and took of her shoes. She had been hopping around barefoot her whole life anyhow. Shaandra turned up the pace. She went from one tunnel to another and sometimes even changed direction just like that. Did she know Leki was trying to follow her, or was she unsure where to go herself? Whichever it was, Leki couldn’t keep up without revealing herself. In the end she lost Shaandra. The tunnels were grimmer than before, and more desolate it seemed. Things were getting pitch dark, wherever this was, not many others had been there before…

Leki never noticed anything of the fight going on between Sentinella and Q’s gang, even though it was closer than she would have believed. Nor did she find Shaandra again, who had found her way to Q’s throne room by than.

Leki was lost in the dark, wandering the tunnels for what seemed hours on end. Aware of every drop of water that fell or every piece of stone that scratched. Doing her best to sense whatever living things were in there with her. For the most part she could feel none, but fear surely cluttered her perception of things. After a long time, she felt nothing anymore. She saw nothing and she heard nothing. Nothing except for the small drops of water from the ceiling. Trickling down, always one, never stopping, until they made the loudest noise in the universe.

20-04-2010 om 00:00 geschreven door Kim