Main Characters:
Keila:
Name: Vallen Laerdies
Nickname(s)(if you want one): Val, Valley
Age: 18
Hair: Brown; longish bangs, straight, waist length
Eyes: Green; turn blue when she's really mad or determined
Height: 5'2"
Weight: Not saying....
Power: Nature Speaker
Weapon(s)(as many as five maximum):
a) Sais that become Jitte
b) Chu-links
c) Shirukens
d) Dagger
e) Fans
Animal(s)(if you want one, all Magic Casters must have one): Merlin Falcon named Dart
Kat:
Name: Corey Lark
Nickname(s)(if you want one): Cor, CL, Red
Age: 17
Hair: Strawberry blond with purple streaks (dyed, of course); mid-back length, wavy and unkempt, usually tangled
Eyes: Hazel-green with gold flecks; get darker green when she's angry
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 148 lbs
Power:1) Magic Caster:
~ Jewelry: A silver ring with an elliptical onyx. There's a small diamond in the middle; a necromancer (specifically) with a little background in darker magic.
Weapon(s)(as many as five maximum):
1. Composite longbow and arrows
2. Shurikens
3. Daggers
4. Bladed staff
5. Bastard sword (longer than a long sword but not a great sword)
Animal(s)(if you want one, all Magic Casters must have one): Gray Wolf/Siberian Husky hybrid- Aramil (or Aram)
Willow:
Name: Willow Mae
Nickname(s)(if you want one): Wil
Age:16
Hair: Shoulder length and golden blonde, curly at the end with a black streak in the front.
Eyes: Blue-gray most of the time, green-blue when in love or thinking happy thoughts, dark gray when angry or upset
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 135
Power: Song Weaver
Weapon(s)(as many as five maximum):
1) Dagger (she always has this)
2) Rapier
3) Bow and arrows
Animal(s)(if you want one, all Magic Casters must have one): None
Sona:
Name: Druidia Cantin
Nickname: Drew
Age: 20
Hair: Brownish blond, falls to middle of back, usually worn in a pony tail, with stray tendrils on both sides behind the ears.
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5'6
Weight: 120
Power: Death Seer
Weapons:
a)Broadsword w/ demon head on hilt
b)boot knife
Animals: Skye, a husky
Rainbow Fright:
Name: Seraphim LeFaye
Nickname(s)(if you want one): Rainbow, Rain
Age: 19
Hair: Blood-red and cropped short, save for the two pieces that hang in front of her ears that are just past shoulder-length.
Eyes: Blood-Red, turning black when she's angry.
Height: 5'3 (I'm short and proud of it!)
Weight: 105 lbs.
Power: Magic Caster-specializing mainly in the areas of necromancy and black magic. As for an object to provide control over the power, it would be a black velvet choker with a silver pentacle affixed to it.
Weapon(s)(as many as five maximum):
1.Bullwhip
2.Vials of poison(For coating weapons or occasionally dumping down someone's throat)
3.Crossbow
4.'Dagger of the Dead'-An ankh-shaped dagger, with the rounded end being the hilt, and the straight end being the blade, dull black in hue, usually carried by a necromancer.
5. Scythe.
Animal(s)(if you want one, all Magic Casters must have one): A crow named Mordred
Last corrections of the corrections, I swear. ^^;
January 6 2003 at 5:19 PM QG
Quatre's Girl:
Name: Elizabeth Foxfire
Nickname: Liz, "Kid" on occasion
Age: 14
Hair: Almost black, with plum highlights; cut just to her chin, with bangs as well, sort of like a more feminine Xelloss hairstyle
Eyes: Dark Brown
Height: 5 feet 4 inches
Weight: 105 pounds
Power: Mystic Creature Communicator
Weapon(s):
1)Throwing darts (some laced with poison)
2)Dagger (medium-length blade)
Animal: The little, colorful bird Fredricormonder Aurelious the III, later nicknamed "Freddy"
Other World characters:
Arianna:
Name: Aerielle Kevlehan
Nickname(s)(if you want one): Aeri, Elle either will work
Age: 19
Hair: plum with silver streaks, is about mid-calf length, bangs, the ends curl a little bit
Eyes: dark emerald green, that sparkle like starlight, lose their sparkle when sad and turn almost black when angry.
Height: 4'9"
Weight: 87
Power: magic caster, skilled in light and illusion; a teardrop shaped crystal hanging in a crystal ring pendant attached to a black satin choker.
Weapon(s)(as many as five maximum):
1) a black crystal staff with a curved white crystal blade
2) white, crystal throwing knives
3) white crystal rings that can change into chains or wire-like thread
4) the celestial cards, resemble tarot cards and deal with all kinds of barriers
Animal: Liam, a silver fox, he's bigger than a normal fox and can move like the wind.
Indy:
Name: Freedom ChancyNickname(s)(if you want one): ChanceAge: 15 (nearly 16)Hair: Flaming red, usually wild.Eyes: Gray-green. (occasionally change color according to mood and surroundings)Height: 5'8''Weight: 119 lbsPower: Shape Shifter Weapon(s)(as many as five maximum):
1) Adamas-bladed butcher knife
2) Shifting bow and dipping quiver
3) Adamas-spikes in wrists
4) Blinding orbs
5) Willing fangs
(Adamas is an almost impenetrable, unbreakable stone/metal; a shifting bow changes into different kinds of bows at the will of the owner and a dipping quiver turns certain kinds of wood and stone into arrows but these supplies are difficult to get and taxing on the owner to use to much; blinding orbs are basically thumb-nail-sized balls that when thrown by owner make big blinding white explosions—those foolish enough to leave their eyes open are usually permanently blinded; willing fangs only appear in place of regular canines(teeth) when wanted—often tipped in poison)Animal(s)(if you want one, all Magic Casters must have one): blue-black cat, named Knighter, faster than most cats, great fighter
Other Characters:
Name: Bryant Cenith
Age: 22
Hair: Black
Eyes: Golden Hazel
Height: 6'2"
Weight: Average for his height (I really need a height/weight chart....)
Role in Story: Prince of the Cenith Kingdom, Knight of the Dragon Rose Order
Power: Knight with the powerfully magical sword Dragon-Dove
Main Weapon(s): Dragon-Dove Sword
Animal(s): Hawk, Bridgette, Large Stag (seen Princess Mononoke?), Var
Name: Ubiquo
Age: 78
Hair: White; waist length like his white beard and moustache
Eyes: Black
Height: 5'9"
Weight: ?
Role In Story: Master Wizard
Power: Wizardry
Main Weapon(s): Staff
Animal(s): Eagle, Eian
Name: Sally
Age: 24
Hair: Blonde; knee length, curly
Eyes: Sky Blue
Height: 4'9"
Weight: 98 lbs
Role In Story: Master Sorceress
Power: Sorcery
Main Weapon(s): None
Animal(s): Dove, Agalia
Name: Jessia
Age: 29
Hair: Black; waist length, wild curls
Eyes: Green
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 145 lbs
Role In Story: Master Witch
Power: Witch Magic
Main Weapon(s): Long Dagger
Animal(s): Raven, Sky Wing
Name: Galiea
Age: 32
Hair: Brown; short
Eyes: Brown
Height: 6'
Weight: 150 lbs
Role In Story: Master Enchantress
Power: Enchantery
Main Weapon(s): Golden dragon on a black stone on a gold chain around her neck
Animal(s): Racoon, Bandey
Name: Maron
Age: 22
Hair: Reddish/Brown; shoulder length, straight
Eyes: Green
Height: 6'2"
Weight: ?
Role In Story: Master Mystic
Power: Mystic Magic
Main Weapon(s): Sword
Animal(s): Wolf, Chaser
Name: King Lawrence Cenith
Age: 47
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 6'3"
Weight: ?
Role In Story: King of the Cenith Kingdom
Power: Magical sword Dragon-Rose
Main Weapon(s): Dragon-Rose Sword
Animal(s): None
Power definitions (In case you'd forgotten)
Choose from these choices:
1) Magic Caster (must have some form of weapon or jewelry to use to control your magic and make it easier on you because raw spells can be over taxing on body, mind, and soul and if you want to do Elemental Magic you have to use only ONE element)
2) Song Weaver (person who uses song to cast healing and emotion related spells)
3) Nature Speaker (person who can communicate with the force of Nature to learn things and gain energy throwing abilities, does not include animals although they can read their body language, also energy throwing is taxing on the body and takes from minutes to days to recover full strength)
4) Mystic Creature Communicator (person who can communicate with mystical creatures (dragons, gryphons, fairies, elves) in their languages)
5) Natural Animal Communicator (person who can communicate with animals and humans both in language (all human languages included), body language, and telepathy (only animals, not humans))
6) Seer (choose one of the below:)
a) Truth Seer (no one can tell a lie or wear a disguise, or use cloaking spells in your presence without you seeing right through them, downside is you can never tell lies, your attempts as disguises suck, and you can't be 5 feet away from the person using the cloaking spell that covers you)
b) Life Seer (you can see the life-aura's of most people and creatures, only problem, you have to be blind to see them)
c) Death Seer (ever see 6th Sense? 'nough said, only you can control when you want to see them, problem is, light is not really your best friend, shades are recommended)
d) Time Seer (you can see the past in dreams, the present in reflective surfaces, and the future when you are at peace with yourself and your surroundings)
7) Fighters (choose one of the below:)
a) Warrior
b) Knight
c) Hunter/Huntress
(no Inward Powers, but you can use mystical and powerful weapons and armors (Given Powers)
8) Shape Shifter (you can change into the shape of any natural animal after you have seen it, any human and mystical creature after you have touched it, but be brief in the amount of time you stay changed, you may loose your identity and think you are what shape you are)
9) Mind Mages (basically psychics, telepathy, telempathy, and telekinesis, you have all, but are only powerful in one of them)
10) Vessels (one time deal only, you agree or wind up as this you loose most of your humanity and emotions to make room for the powers of the god who choose you to be their Vessel)
Weapon(s)(as many as five maximum):
Animal(s)(if you want one, all Magic Casters must have one):
Other Information!
-Animals will be normal animals! Any self-respecting, think-for-themselves, intelligent mystical creature or animal wouldn't be caught dead belonging to a human! Friends yes, belonging no. So your animal must be normal, they can have a certain power to them if you want, but Magic Caster animals can only lend strength to the spells and workings of the Magic Casters.
-Song Weaver powers come from a source inside themselves and do not use any elements, etc. But it is associated with Life/Spirit/Death. The only way they can use outside elements is if they 'link' with a willing Reagent who can be their outside link to gaining more strength for their power.
-Some Mystical Creatures can shape shift into human form: dragons, most of the less-human-like fairies, unicorns, and centaurs.
Brief Outline of Alternate Adventures:
-Volume One:
–Get there
–Have everything explained to us
–Gain our powers
–Gain our weapons
(By gaining our powers we also gain our fighting abilities, even though we do need training in them first.)
-Volume Two:
–Training is going on, and then we are attacked, our first battle is fought, and won
–We decide to act and prepare to leave
–We’re not out of town five minutes when we’re hit with a spell that sends us, some together, some not, all over the world
(This is the time for individual (maybe) adventures as we each try to find a way to get together again.)
-Volume Three:
–This continues on our adventures on our own, maybe meeting with others
–We also gain the Articles of Power that are needed to defeat the baddies
–Ends with our getting together again
Volume Four:
–We head for the baddies strong hold
–Our adventures and battles along the way
-Volume Five:
–We arrive at the baddies strong hold and after some planning, we strike
–Our adventures inside and outside the strong hold
–Ends with us facing off main baddie
–We kick main baddies butt and win
-Volume Six:
–Our leaving this world
–Our reappearance in our world, where we wind up still facing off Monica (or something like that, maybe we wake up in the hospital instead, I dunno)
Bad Guys:
In the Time of Chaos within our world there was a great evil that ravaged the lands. No one could stand up against him, The Jackyl. Until there were born two with great Power, a combination of all Powers. They were twins, he was known as Hawkstar, she was known as Sparrowheart. They grew up in hiding for The Jackyl knew they had the power to defeat him. When they were old enough and knew all their powers and had created the Articles of Power they confronted him. The battle was fierce and destroyed the land on which it was fought on, turning it into the Western Dark Wastes. But the Twins won, they sealed The Jackyl and his demon army into a pocket of space between dimensions, now known as the Neither Lands. The Twins disappeared after the battle, and Sky Gazers noticed two new constellations in the western skies, which they named after the twins. But one of The Jackyl’s human allies was able to keep a small part of the seal open with his magic, creating the Tare in which the demons of his army could escape out of the Neither Lands into this world. We have had to fight occasional appearing demons, but nothing as major as recent attacks. And usually the demons never made it past the Western Dark Wastes as the Order of the Twins destroyed them when they passed through the Tare into the world. The Order has been nearly destroyed. How might the Tare have opened up enough for The Jackyl’s army to come through? It has been a thousand and more years since the Battle for Order occurred, and the Seal has deteriorated in that time until The Jackyl was able to open the Tare even more, and soon he will be able to break the Seal completely. We must stop him! The Jackyl has Power enough to transcend Time and Space if he found the secret and take over and destroy more worlds! We must find the Articles of Power and face him with them. We must, or all is lost....
Articles of Power:
-Sword of Ages
-Stone of Life
-Scroll of the Elements
-Jewel of Power
This message has been edited by Reonis on Jan 12, 2003 8:29 AM
Alternate Adventures
Volume One:
Part One
By: The CRWS
They ran.
Lifting the hem of his black robes so he wouldn’t trip on them, Master Wizard Ubiquo led the other Masters of Magic up the stairs towards the central Life Tower of the Domones Castle of Light.
The sounds of battle that raged within and without reached their ears as they ran, quite too close for comfort.
Too close.
Master Sorceress Sally stopped and spun around to face the enemy that followed them up the stairs. “Sopero!” she yelled pointing a clawed hand at them. Ice blue light burst from her palm and swept over the enemy capturing them in a sheet of ice. She spun back around and lifted her sky blue skirts up to catch the others.
“Good job,” Master Enchantress Galiea complimented as Mistress Sally caught up.
“Thank you,” Mistress Sally gasped, “too bad it doesn’t last long.” She had casted a low spell to save her energy for what they were about to do to save this world.
They made it to the top of the stairs and froze.
“Damn,” Master Mystic Maron cursed. His grip on his sword tightened until his knuckles turned white.
The battle had reached this floor already. Men dressed in black and dark creatures fought against King Lawrence’s army to destroy the Cenith Kingdom and to stop the Masters of Magic.
Master Ubiquo ignored the fighting not to far away from them and pointed towards the magically barred door of the Life Tower. “There,” he said simply heading towards it.
Fortunately the battle had yet to reach that part of the floor.
“Tell me why again we’re trying to commit suicide?” Master Warlock Vessler asked in his hissing voice.
“To save our world,” Master Witch Jessia rebuked.
Master Vessler snorted. “I don’t even know why I’m joining this insane mission,” he muttered. “I could always teleport myself back to my tower and be done with you all!” But he still ran.
All six Masters stopped in their tracks as one of the Dark Creatures dropped in front of them.
**********
The oldest at 20 was Druidia “Drew” Cantin, a 5'6" tall young woman with mid-back length brownish/blonde hair kept in a usual pony tail with tendrils hanging in front of her ears, and brown eyes. She was calm in her demeanor as she regarded the nine other girls and the situations they were in.
The young woman who was 19 was Seraphim “Rainbow Fright” LeFaye, she was short at 5'3", but not the shortest of the group. Her hair was blood-red and cropped short with shoulder length pieces in front of her ears and her eyes were blood-red as well. Her eyes narrowed to dangerous slits and she refused to be intimidated by her opponent.
At 18 years of age Vallen Laerdies was the shortest of them all at 5'2". Her hair was brown and hung to her waist with longish bangs and green eyes. She had a small triumphant smile upon her face as her hands moved like lightning.
There were two 17 year old’s among the girls, Corey Lark and Willow Larson. Corey was 5'9" with unkempt, wavy, mid-back length strawberry blonde hair. Her hazel-green eyes were shining with concentration, the gold flecks inside them seeming to glow in the face of a challenge. She growled darkly. Willow, like the others, was intent on her situation. At 5'7", she had long golden auburn hair and blue-grey eyes.
Lastly was the youngest in the group, Elizabeth "Liz" Foxfire. 5'4, 13 years old, hair that was bordering on black streaked with plum and dark brown eyes. She too was caught up in the goings on.
**********
He was at least seven feet tall, incredibly skinny, completely devoid of hair, and a sickly gray in color. A huge spiked club hung from one of his long, dangling arms which reached his knees. It’s head was large and set with a pair of large, bulging eyes that were yellow with slitted red pupils. All it wore was a ragged brown loin cloth.
“Oh no,” Mistress Galiea whispered.
The creature roared at them and raised his club.
Master Ubiquo narrowed his black eyes at him ready to cast a spell.
**********
“Ahhhhhhh!!!” Drew shrieked, not caring who heard and looked oddly at her. She turned to glare at Vallen who stood there grinning. ‘GAME OVER’ flashed on the Tekken3 video game screen behind them. “I hate you!” she exclaimed, not really meaning it.
Vallen grinned wider. “You know how good I am at these games, why do you always challenge me?”
“I know that one day I will beat you!” Drew declared.
In a cheesy Asian accent Vallen said, “Ah grasshopper you have much to learn.” She dodged Drew's hand and turned back to the game.
Drew moved off to see how the others were getting along in their matches. Corey beat a frustrated Willow, and Liz ungraciously lost to a snickering Rainbow.
Drew checked her watch. “Fifteen minutes till the movie starts,” she said loud enough for the others to hear.
**********
The creature froze and his club fell limply to the floor as his eyes rolled back into his head and dark blood oozed from his mouth. He fell to the floor, dead.
Standing behind him was a young man with long black hair and golden hazel eyes dressed in simple fighting leathers. The large and strangely beautiful sword he held was covered in the creatures blood.
“Hurry and cast your spell,” he told them. “Alexander is casting teleport on the fighters here to take them out of the castle, you will have time.”
Master Ubiquo nodded. “Thank you Prince Bryant,” he said. Without another word he led the others to the door. With a softly spoken word the door opened and they passed through while Bryant held off attacking enemies.
The door closed behind the Masters of Magic.
*********
“Please just one more game!” Liz begged her friends. “I swear I’ll beat her and that’ll be it!”
“We’re going to be late for the movie so no.” Corey spoke for all of them. They all stood around the middle of the arcade with their bags for the sleep over later that night.
“If we can we’ll come back later all right?” Willow offered.
Liz sighed. “All right....” She glared at Rainbow who started snickering again. “And I’ll beat you next time!”
“Yeah right,” Rainbow snorted. She winked a blood-red eye at her.
“Yeah right....” a voice drawled nastily.
The seven girls looked up. Standing before them was a group of fifteen girls. They all wore the same baggy jeans and skimpy or too tight tops in yellow and red. A yellow and red tie dyed bandanna was tied around every forehead of the girls. The leader, Monica Mendoza, stood in front of the others a sneer on her Mexican face as she glared at them.
“Uh oh....” Liz breathed staring wide eyed.
“The Lady Wilds,” Vallen said narrowing her eyes, which were starting to turn blue.
“You mean the Lady Bi-,” Rainbow began to growl before Drew pinched her in warning.
*********
Master Ubiquo paused on the third step of the long, curving staircase that led to the top of the tower. “No,” he muttered to himself, “too long.” He snapped his fingers and all six Masters appeared at the top of the tower.
Master Maron dropped his sword, his skin incredibly pale. “Warn me next time!” he snapped after gaining his startled breath back. He hated teleportation.
The room they were in had stained glass windows depicting all tracts of life upon them, birth, life, death, and the transition into the Spirit World. It was large, circular and devoid of all furniture but for a pedestal with a large marble basin on the top and a small table, the objects upon it covered by a midnight blue cloth, against the wall underneath the picture of the transition into the Spirit World.
Master Ubiquo ignored Master Maron and took a position next to the table. “This tower is protected from evil, we need not worry about interruption.” He looked up at them. “Let us begin.”
*********
“Oh! I’m frightened!” Monica snorted looking them over with glittering black eyes. Her gang snickered.
“You should be,” Corey spoke with deadly calm.
Monica guffawed. “And what should I be afraid of?” Her gang snickered again.
Vallen stepped forward, stopping the others threats, and delaying the imminent fight a while longer. Maybe she could talk their way out of this. She had before.
*********
The other Masters nodded and took position around the basin and pedestal. The older, bearded Master pulled the midnight blue cloth off of the table revealing a diamond bowl carved like the images upon the windows and a straight edged, white-tinted knife. He lifted the bowl carefully from the table. It was filled with swirling iridescent liquid that radiated a soft, strong white light with power. He slowly poured it into the basin. The liquid was think and no drops escaped as he poured it. He placed the diamond bowl on the table and picked up the knife.
*********
“Look Monica, we’re just going to the movies. If you and your friends stand aside and let us past we’ll be out of your sight and no harm will be done okay?” she said. It wasn’t a plea or begging, it was a command, but she said it in a calm, friendly tone of voice.
Monica laughed. “No,” she said simply. She gave Vallen a hateful look. “Listen short and balled, this is our territory, and your leaving it now.”
Vallen’s eyes narrowed, as did those of her friends at that insult. She could take insults, but Monica had finally crossed the line. With many years of insult having been taken, Vallen could take no more. Her eyes became a vivid dark blue in her anger. She was only vaguely of her friends stepping to her side and fanning out into a line.
“Listen you brainless twit,” she snarled, “I’m going to make this clear! We don’t want to have anything to do with you! You leave us alone and we won’t rip you to shreds when you’ve finally crossed the line!”
Monica’s brown eyes narrowed and her bright red lips pulled back from her teeth in a feral snarl.
********* ”Our planet bleeds in the face of an unconquerable evil.
No one can stop it, no sword, no spell.
We beg the great gods to bring us aide,
To save the good before it fades.”
They chanted. Over and over again they chanted the words, the request.
Each bared their arms and thrust them out over the basin. The swirling iridescent liquid began to glow brighter and move faster then before.
*********
Liz looked up suddenly. She thought she had heard someone say something to her but all of her friends attentions were riveted on Monica and the Lady Wilds. She blinked and listened hard seeing if she could hear it again. She knew if a fight broke out she would be pushed into the back so she didn’t bother, even though she was confident in her own fighting ability.
There! She heard it again! And this time it looked like Willow did too.
*********
As the other Masters chanted, Master Ubiquo took the knife and ran the sharp blade over his inner arm. ”The blood of Wizardry I add to ask thee,” he spoke as his red blood dripped into the liquid.
He handed the knife to Mistress Sally.
**********
Willow had heard people chanting something, and then a mans voice over it all saying something about blood. Well if he needed blood she was sure some was going to be spilt soon if they weren’t able to talk themselves out of the situation or someone with authority didn’t come and break them up. She hoped they would get out of this. But the chanting lingered in her mind.
**********
She took the knife and as the others chanted, she cut her inner arm. ”The blood of Sorcery I add to ask thee,” she called watching as her blood mixed with the drops in the iridescent liquid.
She passed the knife to Master Maron.
*********
Drew was the next to hear it. *Blood of Sorcery?* she thought confused. *Great gods?* She blinked then returned to her waiting for an opportune moment to take control and use her authority as the oldest person there to dissolve the conflict, if she could.
*********
Without hesitation he cut the inside of his arm as he said, ”The blood of Mystic Magic I add to ask thee.”
The knife then went to Mistress Jessia.
*********
Corey’s head jerked up and she looked around for the male voice who had spoken and the group of chanters. There were none. She blinked. She had sworn she had heard something. And they were talking about blood, and asking, and aide to fight an evil. She blinked again in confusion.
Monica watched them wondering what was going on among them.
*********
She took it and repeated the actions. Her blood joined those of the others. ”The blood of Witch Magic I add to ask thee,” she intoned.
The liquid in the basin moved faster and began to grow brighter. A slight wind began to pick up.
*********
Vallen paused in the breath she was taking to launch another insult at Monica when she heard a voice over other voices suddenly. Her eyebrows raised and she looked around. “Did you guys hear something?” she asked them.
The girls who had stared at her startled. The girls who hadn’t stared at her like she was crazy.
*********
Master Vessler added his own blood to the mix. ”The blood of Warlock Magic I add to ask thee.”
The wind grew louder and harder as they chanted, whipping the words from their mouths. The light grew brighter and a shining, singing sound began to come upon their awareness.
*********
Then Rainbow heard it and she quickly shut her mouth on a comment about Vallen’s sanity and listened carefully. Then she heard it.
The chanting, the wind, the singing sound.
*********
Mistress Galiea’s hand shook as she took the knife from the Warlock. She did not like knives or any type of sharp weapon, that was why she became an Enchantress, to avoid such things. Gritting her teeth willfully she ran the blade over her inner arm. ”The blood of Enchantery I add to ask thee,” she called as her blood mixed with the others.
*********
“What’s going on?” Liz asked wide eyed.
Monica looked at them amazed and annoyed. “What are you talking about?” she demanded.
Then it happened.
*********
The wind howled, lifted hair, and whipped skirts and robes about their wearers. ”Our planet bleeds,
Please do not forsake our plea great gods of All.
Send us help from far away,
For more then our world is at stake!”
*********
Everyone could hear it. The tense crowed in the video arcade, the shoppers in the mall, and the clerks too. They looked around wildly to find out where the chanting, the sudden wind, and the singing were coming from, scared.
The seven girls looked around as it seemed to be coming from close by in the arcade.
“Why do I have an queasy feeling about this!?” Willow yelled to no one in particular.
********* ”We call thee!”
*********
The people in the mall were panicking, running for the nearest exits in the building in scared crowds. Monica and her gang followed their example and left abruptly, leaving the other girls to their fate.
They couldn’t move, although they wanted too, something held them in place. An odd sense of fascination and curiosity.
*********
There was an explosion of bright light and their worlds became black with unconsciousness.
*********
The people outside the arcade running for their lives screamed and hit the floor as a bright light exploded out from it blinding them all momentarily. The light died and with it the wind and singing. And if anyone had looked into the arcade they wouldn’t have found a single person in there....
There was an explosion of bright light and their worlds became black with unconsciousness.
*********
The people outside the arcade running for their lives screamed and hit the floor as a bright light exploded out from it blinding them all momentarily. The light died and with it the wind and singing. And if anyone had looked into the arcade they wouldn’t have found a single person in there....
Alternate Adventures
Volume One:
Part Two
By: The CRWS
Vallen’s world was spinning around her in a cascade of colors that left her breathless and dizzy. It was like she was in a tunnel made of the colors, twisting and turning to make her want to vomit. She had already screamed herself horse, but kept it up even when she couldn’t any more. She knew that her friends weren’t with her by the many times her flipping had sent her looking backwards. A part of her that wasn’t panicking wondered where they were and what was happening to them.
*********
Bryant’s mind flashed in lightning thought as he saw his men die around them. He looked at his two friends, Will and Geoffrey, who fought at his side valiantly. His mind made up. He wouldn’t risk any more lives. “Fall back and regroup!” he yelled.
His command was relayed across the battle grounds that Alexander had so graciously teleported them too and his men broke off the fight and backed up to regroup.
“What’s going on!?” Will demanded as they moved away.
“I have a plan,” Bryant said simply. “Wave the white flag of truce!” he ordered.
The two men stared at him.
“What!?” Geoffrey yelled. He stared up as the white flag was raised.
There was a quiet lull in the air as both sides saw the whiteness against the overcast sky.
“So you are willing to surrender?” a harsh voice yelled from the other side.
Bryant finally got a good look at them from across the field. He was surprised that there was a lot less of them then he thought. He stood tall before his men and shouted across the field, “We do not, but I will challenge your leader to a one on one battle for victory!”
There was silence and he saw the man who had spoken consulting with some men around him. Many long minutes passed before his response came. “I accept the challenge!”
**********
Aerielle Kevlehan brushed a strand of plum hair out of her face, studying the battlefield. A flash of light in the sky caused her to blink. *I wonder....* "Come, Liam, we must see what this is about." The large, elegant silver fox looked up at her then cachet his head in a certain direction. Aeri followed his gaze. A purple comet streaked towards them. "A pixie?" she guessed.
The purple comet continued to streak away from it's pursuer. "HELP! HELP! HELP! HELP! SOS! SOS! SOS! SOS! HHHEEEELLLLPPPP!!!" it continued it's high pitched squeak of distress. It noticed a couple of larger size people and changed it's course straight to them. "HELP ME!!"
"What's wrong, pixie?" she asked in a soft lilting voice.
The purple comet abruptly dove into the hair of Aerielle and shuddered. "That big mean monster is after me!!" it wailed. The purple comet popped it's head out of the hair and it revealed a small face framed by long burgundy hair with wine and purple streaks and highlights with large frightened blue eyes. Apparently the pixie was still not an adult yet. Her butterfly wings flapped in fear. "It just came out of no where and tried to eat me!!"
Aerielle ignored the tickling feeling the pixie's wings made against her neck. "What is trying to eat you?" she asked calmly.
Liam watched in amusement.
The shuddering winged creature dove underneath Aerielle's hair again as a large, clawed, dark beast came out of the forest following the same trail that she had taken. "T...that monster is..." the young pixie wailed in terror. The beast itself was horrible-looking and frightening and would tower over a normal human. To a small pixie it seemed like a giant of titanic proportions of a beast.
Aerielle stared at the creature, Liam growled. "Ah… hang on pixie." She moved her staff into a defense position.
The creature's nostrils flared as it caught the scent of the pixie. It lunged toward Aerielle. She jumped back, then used her staff to block the creature's claws. The creature roared impatiently and stepped back. Aerielle stepped back then jumped up arcing her staff with it's long curved crystal blade over her head and down thereby splitting the creature in half. Liam sniffed the fallen creature, then headed towards the edge of the forest. The pixie poked her head out of Aeri's hair and stared in astonishment at the fallen creature.
The pixie cautiously and curiously flew out of Aeri's hair and flew over to the creature and tentatively poked it. The creature didn't react. The pixie did a flying look around it and saw it wasn't even twitching. She then looked up at Aerielle and her face lit up into a wide beaming smile. "THANK YOU!!" the enthusiastic young fey-child said as she flew up and hugged Aeri's neck the best she could. The purple comet turned out to be a 3 inch tall humanoid looking creature with large butterfly wings attached to her back with waist length wavy hair and a penitent for light purple judging by the knee length type dress the small creature was wearing. "You're really strong!!"
"I'm not that strong, just well trained. And the creature was slow." Aerielle replied modestly. "What are you called, pixie? My name is Aerielle and this," she pointed to the fox, "is Liam."
Liam watched the pixie flutter near him. His gold eyes held amusement.
The pixie flew around Liam and hugged him and tried to pet him the best she could, until she got frustrated. Then she flew up and size-shifted into a still fairly short humanoid figure with large butterfly wings. She then bent down and petted Liam. "I am called Ari or Amethyst. Which ever you prefer." She smiled sweetly. "I can't tell you my full name I'm afraid though."
Aeri smiled, "That's okay. Will you accompany us to the castle? Something has happened and I want to know what's going on." She wiped the blade clean on the damp grass then walked toward the edge of the forest and the rest of the battle which sounded as if it had ended. Liam followed.
"I'm sorry, I cannot accompany you." Ari pouted sadly, fluttering about Aerielle and Liam in distress. "I was on my way elsewhere when that mean monster attacked me. I thank you for your help though!! Thank you!! And good luck on your journey!!" with that, the small pixie buzzed off on her way. Aeri and Liam watched her go with a smile, and turned back to their own path.
**********
“Bryant are you sure this is wise?” Will asked. His attitude was cold and indifferent as he spoke, but the others didn’t care. They knew this was natural for a Vessel and had gotten used to it.
“Yes I do. It’ll prevent more lives from being taken.”
“But can we trust him to keep up their end of the bargain?” Geoff asked.
“No, but it’ll give you two and the other Magic Casters time to recover and cast spells to stop them if they do.”
“You’re insane,” Geoff muttered.
“Good luck,” Will said dispassionately.
Bryant shrugged and gripped his sword tighter walking resolutely out into the open to face his opponent.
The man was huge, towering over the Prince by a good five inches. He wore blood red leather armor and was bald, his eyes a startling blue. He carried a large bastard sword in his hand and glared menacingly at Bryant. Bryant looked calmly up at him, no fear showed in his face and eyes.
“Begin,” Bryant commanded.
The fight was on in earnest. Blocking, slashing, parrying. The sounds of metal against metal rang out above the roars of the two crowds as they cheered their leader on. Then silence.
It was over.
Bryant had won.
He had unarmed the big man in a move like lightning before he had time to react and block, thus ensuring his victory.
Bryant drove the point of his sword slightly deeper into the man’s throat drawing blood. “Leave,” he growled.
The man blanched, truly a coward in the right situation. “I will....” he muttered.
Bryant pulled his sword away and raised it above his head in triumph. His back was completely open.
The big man wasted no time and grabbed his bastard sword from where it lay on the ground raising it to strike Bryant down.
“Look out!” Geoff yelled.
He didn’t have enough time to save himself.
A scream ripped the air as from high up there was a flash of light. The two armies and the combatants froze in surprise. The big man didn’t wait long to find out and stabbed forward yelling. He nearly reached Bryant-
-then something landed on top of him, hard, and he was knocked out.
Vallen moaned, she could barely register the body underneath her or the handsome man standing over her with a look of surprise. “Oh kami....” she breathed before she passed out.
**********
Seraphim took her own little tumble through the void, the intense shifting and swirling of light and darkness enough to make the girl extremely dizzy, if not nauseous on the spot. She suppressed the urge to retch, since it's not nice to barf in the Time-Space continuum and all, besides, this was one of her favorite outfits, and it wouldn't be too cool if she vomited all over it, and besides, wherever she was going to end up getting dumped might not have a washing machine readily available. *With my luck, I probably got abducted by aliens or something.... that'll teach me to pay more attention to the X-Files....* she thought dryly, just before she passed out.
A jarring thud, and the feeling that she'd landed on something jolted Seraph out of unconsciousness, and her blood-red eyes slowly opened, only to find herself face to face with a corpse, the neck nearly severed through, and the blank eyes of the lolling head staring up at her, a thin trickle of blood running from the corner of the parted lips. "Sh*t!!! Oh sh*t...." she gasped as she scrambled up and off the body, dusting herself off while staring down at it fighting down a reflexive urge to be sick once more, and checking herself to make sure she didn't have any blood or entrails on her. "It figures that I'd end up getting deposited on a corpse... what the hell happened anyway?" she muttered, brushing a few strands of scarlet hair away from her deathly-pale face as she surveyed the area. If she didn't know better, she’d say she ended up in the middle of some bizarre period piece, but the dead looked, felt and certainly smelled, as she'd caught a face full of the offensive odor upon landing on a corpse, far too real for that to be the case. Sighing, she gathered up her long black velvet skirt and stepped carefully over the bodies, hoping to eventually find someone alive... and hoping they wouldn't decide to put an arrow or something similarly unpleasant through her.
**********
Liz felt sick. The world had dissolved into a plethora of colors, all spinning together. All the noise and confusion from the extremity of the continuum was giving her a very big headache. She seemed to be traveling through a tunnel, a spinning one at that, and she had curled into a little ball, repeating to herself not to throw up. She was terrified, and the dizziness and stomach-churning didn't help. She cried out to her friends, heck, she even yelled for Monica, but none of them appeared to be with her in the colorful vortex. She suddenly lurched down and screamed as loud as her lungs were able as she spiraled downward.
The horrid, looming creatures prepared to strike. They had foot-long claws and black, leathery skin. Their gaping jaws displayed razor-sharp teeth that were already stained red from blood. The group of Enchanters and Enchantresses who had been trapped inside the castle away from the battle stared up in fear at them. They stood in the Great Hall, oblivious that the battle was over.
Atop one of the monsters sat a speaker to magical creatures, clothed in a black soldier's uniform. He had a sadistic smirk on his face. "So, you thought you could outwit us, did you? Pathetic. You should've known you didn't stand a chance. Why don't you just surrender?" he asked. The group glared at him. They prepared ice and fire spells in their hands as he continued to talk.
"Now, we'll have no need for that. If you surrender now, I promise to give you all quick deaths," he said.
"Never," Enchantress Catherine replied as icily as the spell she held in her hands.
"Very well. Kill them," he said, but as he waved his hand to command the beasts, a bright light appeared over his head and something, or rather someone, fell on top of him. The group took that moment to fire, their spells engulfing and killing the beasts. The person fell off of the man she had landed on, her almost unconscious body caught by Enchanter Marvin. The others fired again, killing both the man and his creature.
Liz was dizzily stood up and heard an entire group of people talking to her at once. She wasn't quite sure what they were saying, for their voices blurred together in a mishmash of indistinguishable sounds. She tried to shake her head of the blackness that was creeping into her vision. She whispered softly, "Where am I?" before passing out.
**********
Corey knew something had happened. As if it weren't obvious something had happened. Just a moment ago she had been standing in the movie theater. Now she was flying through some kind of space rip. Or maybe a time rip. "Been watching too many sci-fi movies again, Cor," she told herself, her voice echoing around her. She had originally screamed in shock and fear when the flash came, but had calmed herself down moderately. She'd told herself that there was no use screaming- no one could hear her anyway- and that maybe if she waited, she would find out what happened. And what was going to happen. After all, she had to be in the tunnel for some reason, odd though it might be. She wondered where the others were. She hadn't seen them since the light had come. "Maybe they're behind me. Or farther ahead. Yeah, that's gotta be IT!"
Corey screeched as the flash of light came again and she found herself a few feet above a creek. *Dear gods I hope it's deep!* She fell into the freezing water and had trouble keeping herself from inhaling sharply at the shock of it. Looking around as she gradually slowed in the water, her eyes widened at the sight of another person. Except this man seemed to blend with the greenish-blue of the water. She pushed away and up to the surface, gasping for much-needed air. After she began to breath somewhat normally, she headed for the bank, pulling herself through the sluggish water with slow forward strokes. Pulling herself out of the bank, Corey slipped once and almost returned to the icy water, but regained her grip and made it out. Waiting until her back was against a tree and her behind on solid ground, she relaxed, letting her limbs go limp.
*That was some crazy s--- back there.... What the Hell happened?* She didn't have time to think about the last question, because a low growl swept her thoughts away. Her eyes snapped open and locked with a large, shaggy, silvery canine's. She tried to control her heartbeat, but it was hard. It was standing a few feet from her. Its eyes were unsettling. *Wolves can smell fear. Don't widen your eyes. Don't narrow your eyes. Wolves can smell fear.* She couldn't help but gasp when the wolf began walking towards her. *This is it. I'm dead.* She shut her eyes tightly and waited for the attack.
A warm, wet tongue laved her cheek.
Corey peeked through her lashes at the beast and was astonished to see it sitting next to her, licking her face. She sat in shock for a moment, before tentatively reaching up and petting its fur. Its tail whapped the ground once and it continued licking her. After a while, she tapped the muzzle gently and he- she'd tried to be discreet in looking, seeing as how he probably wouldn't have been pleased with her lifting up his leg- stopped. "You're a sweet fellow," she murmured. "You remind me of this wolf I once read about in a book. His name was Brokefang." Her mind zipped over names that somehow had a connection with the names in the Wild Magic series. She looked at him curiously. "I think I'll call you Aramil, chico. Maybe just Aram, for short."
He slapped his bushy tail on the ground again, then picked up her hand in his teeth and tugged, never breaking the skin.
She was bewildered as the wolf got up and tugged insistently on her hand toward the opposite side of the forest. She got to her feet, the large animal leading her along by her hand like a small child leading its mother through the toy aisle. "Where are we going?" she queried. *Right, as if he can answer me. Idiot.*
They came to the edge of the forest and Aram let go of her hand, staring at a broken circle of men, another group on the other side of the obvious battlefield, but they were disappearing in flashes of light. Most of the men had weapons in hand. One man stood in the center, while two other bodies lay at his feet.
Corey squinted at the colorful form on top of the other. "Vallen?" she whispered to herself. *That can't be Vallen.... But if we were all taken at the same time, then we must be going to the same place, right?* "Vallen?" she called louder, striding toward the half circles. She stepped over the corpses, ignoring them completely.
Some of the men heard her and alerted their companions. Soon most of them were looking at her, including the one standing in the middle.
She felt the warmth from Aram beside her after a moment of emptiness in which he had stayed behind in the forest. "What have you done to Vallen?" she yelled at the men, confusion and anger building a blush in her cheeks.
**********
Willow slowly began to open her eyes, then immediately wished she hadn't. Colors and lights were swirling all around her. *This is going to make me sick....* she thought mournfully as her stomach began to lurch violently. Fortunately before anything drastic happened, the insane spinning stopped. Unfortunately, she found herself falling belly-flop onto the ground. Twisting herself wildly in the air, she managed to land mostly on her feet, stumbling wildly to and fro to maintain her balance before flopping with a heavy thud on her buttocks. She winced and tried to stand, mumbling to herself. "Well, that was a dramatic entrance, Wil. Not a good one, but dramatic at least....ow...." It was then that she took time to realize her surroundings. She was nowhere NEAR the video arcade, in fact, she didn't think she was anywhere near her own time! She had landed in the middle of a forest.
"Where is everyone else?" She silently mused, before catching a glimpse of a familiar head across the creek. Willow stood up and hurriedly limped over to the water. She was sure of it, that was Corey's head!
"Hey, Corey!!!" she called out. Her friend was too far away to hear her though, so Willow rolled up her jeans and started to wade across the creek. The moment she entered the water, she regretted it. It was COLD. And very... wet. She braced herself and crossed as quickly as she could, the desire of not being left alone outweighing her desire to stay clear of the frigid waters. She crawled onto the other bank and continued her pursuit.
"Corey! Wait up!" She called, before noticing what Corey was walking towards.
It was a battlefield and from the looks of it, the battle had just ended. A group of men stood around a handsome man and two figures, one of which she knew. It was that one who Corey was pointing to.
"Vallen?" she wondered. Willow picked up her speed, not wanting to be left out of things.
**********
Seraphim continued to pick her way through the dead, holding her skirt up off the ground with one lace-glove clad hand so that it wouldn't end up getting covered in blood, bits of entrails or other assorted nastiness, the other over her face trying to filter out the stench of blood and vomit that arose from the bodies. It figured that she'd end up in the part of a battlefield where the dead were thickest.
Flocks of carrion crows fed upon the corpses, and even more circled overhead, waiting for their chance to feed, their raucous cries the only sound in the otherwise silent area. One cawed reproachfully at her and flapped his wings a few times before taking to the air once more, and she couldn't help but smirk.
"Sorry if I spoiled your dinner, but I have to get out of here before I lose my lunch," she murmured. She kept her eyes to the ground, trying to keep from stepping on any of the corpses, and so, she didn't notice anyone else in the area until a cold, sharp object was pressed to the back of her throat.
"Don't move, witch. That is, unless you want to die...." a cold voice came from behind her.
Seraph froze, though she lifted a black-stained lip in a silent snarl, and her blood-red eyes narrowed. She felt the point of the blade travel around her throat, just below the spiked collar she wore, as the person who had addressed her moved into view.
He was obviously a soldier, and severely wounded, yet still alive, and he had a sword blade laid against her throat. Upon seeing her face to face, his eyes widened slightly as he took in the blood-red eyes, the deathly-pale complexion, the spiderweb drawn under her right eye and down the right side of her face in black pencil, the black-stained lips and the fake fangs slipped over her eyeteeth. "Witch or daemon... whatever you are, you’re coming with me. I’m sure you'll be wanted for questioning," he said, the blade still at her throat.
"I'm not a daemon," she growled. Geeze..no matter where she was, she always got sh*t due to her appearance.
The soldier let out a humorless laugh and pushed the blade a little more firmly against her throat. "You can't fool me, hell spawn, no normal human girl looks like you do. Now come along, before I kill you on the spot and send you back to hell," he replied.
Seraph growled once more, but she complied in the end, walking along with the soldier's blade at her throat. Figured... not five minutes, and she was already knee-deep in sh*t.
Gadine squeezed herself as tightly as she could into her hiding place in the far corner of the stables. Her leathery wings were pressed firmly to her back, and she hid her massive head under her claws. Large tears tumbled from her eyes.
"Mommy!" Gadine wailed. She wished she had listened when her mother had told her to stay hidden there. But no, she had to go see the battle, she had to peek out the door just in time to see her mother speared, then mobbed by those things that were attacking.
After a while, Gadine had cried herself out. She did her best to pull herself together. Her mother had agreed to protect the castle. Now that her mother was dead, it was her job to protect the castle. Even if she wasn't half even half grown yet.
Gadine crawled to the door and peeked out. The battle was more or less over. A flash in the sky made her look up. A body fell out of the light, landing right on top of a corpse. Gadine winced inwardly. Whoever that was did not have the best of luck either. She tried to muster up enough courage to walk over there and see if the human was all right, but her acute fear held her motionless at the door. It was not common knowledge that dragons were hired to help guard some castles, and the few she had actually come in contact with, besides the higher ranking, had just run screaming.
The human picked herself off the corpse. She looked like she was going to be sick, and picked her way over more corpses, though Gadine wasn't quite sure where she could be heading. It was hard to tell for sure from this distance, but was that human unusually pale? Maybe she was mistaken about it being human. That gave Gadine a bit more courage. non-humans generally seemed friendlier...well, the non-castle attacking sort did anyway.
She moved partway out, stopping when something moved by the girl. A soldier now had his sword at her throat. Gadine's eyes narrowed. Always suspicious of the non-humans, they were. She looked around for any more left alive. Seeing none, she stalked carefully out of the stables and headed towards the two, both heading slowly away from her.
As she drew near, she could see the soldier was in very bad shape. She was surprised he was able to walk. in the distance, she could see a good part of the soldiers, their attention turned to something in the other direction. He turned, his eyes growing wide when he saw her. His sword leaving the girl's throat to be brought into a defensive stance. Gadine glared at him, she was on his side for heaven sake! It almost made her want to cry again, or rip his head off, but that wouldn't do, for her newly acquired duty came first.
**********
Drew squeezed her eyes shut. The swirling and tumbling and colors didn't seem so bad with her eyes closed. She could almost pretend it was a carnival ride. Of course, how the heck did she get on, and when could she please get off? She prayed this was a new arcade game. And if it was, she was seriously going to injure whoever created it.
A hard thump, and a whole lot of pain in her back, butt, and head, told her when the ride was over. Drew stayed where she had landed, unmoving for a long time, until the pain eased. She opened her eyes. Sky. How did she get outside? Slowly she sat up. She blinked. It was not possible that she was where it looked like she was.
Drew stood up carefully. She had landed on the roof of a building. That looked suspiciously like a castle not far away. Movement caught her eye. The red hair and black clothing was unmistakable even from that distance. She looked around, but didn't see anyone else. But if Seraphim was here, the others probably were too.
Drew looked back to her friend. Someone else was over there too. She didn't recognize that person, but from the distance, it was hard to pick out details.
"Ok." She said under her breath. "First things first. How do I get down?" Drew inched over to the nearest edged and looked over. She jumped back, suppressing a scream. Inching back on her hands and knees this time, she peeked over again.
A tan/gold dragon, at least she thought it was a dragon, about the size of a large horse, slowly emerged from the building she was on. Drew groaned when she saw where the creature was headed. She got back to her feet, and found herself a way down. She would have to run, but hopefully she would beat the creature to its goal.
Alternate Adventures
Volume One:
Part Three
By: The CRWS
"Call it off...." the soldier growled at Seraph between clenched teeth, still eyeing the dragon apprehensively.
Her eyes narrowed slightly as she leveled a Death Glare at him. "And how would your propose that I do that, might I ask?" she snapped in reply. Maybe if she was lucky, the reptile would decide to pounce and tear the bastard's throat out, spit acid in his face, torch him, or maybe something else entirely, depending on what kind of dragon it was. Too bad it wasn't a black dragon though, as she'd always been fond of them when she played D&D. Unfortunately in that case it would probably attack her too.
"I don't know! You're the daemon and you probably called it! Now get rid of it before I rive you through the heart!" he snapped back, desperation creeping into his tone.
Seraphim rolled her eyes and muttered several of the most vile obscenities she could think of under her breath. If the dragon didn't kill this guy, she would. "Dude, if I were indeed a daemon, a vamp or anything else of that ilk, do you think I'd just be walking casually around at this time of day? Furthermore, if I were any of the like, do you think I'd allow you to treat me the way you have been? But if you want me to do something about the dragon, fine. Anything to shut you up," she said, and before he could answer, she took a few steps over to the dragon.
It looked small as far as dragons seemed to go, and if she was lucky it wouldn't bite her hand off. "Hello there.... It's okay, don't be scared of the village idiot over there. Maybe you can help me get away from him...." she said, keeping her voice low enough so that the soldier couldn't make out anything she said.
*********
Gadine stood glaring at the soldier. Now that she had his attention, she had no clue what she was going to do. If she pounced on him, she might hurt the girl, not to mention get herself stabbed. If she only had the ability to flame-no, she would probably torch them both. Her uncle could spit ice very accurately, but again, that was not a skill she had either.
The strange looking girl took a few steps toward her. Gadine wasn't totally clear on what the girl said, she had just started her lessons in human speech, but she did pick out ‘Help’. She shifted her weight as the girl drew nearer. When she was out of the way, Gadine whirled, smacking the soldier squarely in the back of the head with her tail. She smiled to herself at the accomplishment.
**********
Bryant looked at the impudent young woman with the wolf at her side. “What do you mean what did I do to her?” he demanded.
Geoff stepped forward and kneeled next to her. “She’s okay, no broken bones or anything, just unconscious.”
“See,” Will said icily behind her, “your little friend is fine. Now answer our questions.”
Corey spun on Will glaring at him. “How dare you!” she snarled.
Vallen moaned and opened her eyes, wincing as the sunlight over her sent stabs of pain through her pounding head. “What hit me?” she groaned.
“Nothing,” a man’s voice told her. “You landed on it.”
Vallen risked opening her eyes more and found she could stand the light again. She was aware of the many pairs of eyes on her, most of them from men she had never seen before. She tried to move and froze. She was laying on top of someone, she had heard him grunt. “Oh boy....” she muttered.
Corey brushed past the three men and kneeled next to her friend. “You all right?” she asked.
“Yeah,” she said placing a hand to her head. She froze and her eyes opened wide. “Corey, the others! Where are they?” she demanded looking at her friend, her eyes wide.
Corey shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said.
“I’m here!” Willow said stepping through the half circle of men she had been hidden behind. She moved to stand next to Corey.
The men stared. There was another girl dressed in the queerest garments they had seen. Curiously they wondered if there were any more and where they all had come from.
“Anyone else?” Vallen asked.
Willow shook her head.
Corey pursed her lips and got to her feet looking around and up at the sky, searching for any familiar figures. Her hand buried itself in the fur on the wolf’s back. Willow joined her.
The other army had suffered the loss of the one-on-one fight between the Prince and their commander. They had all disappeared after and had not returned.
Vallen pushed herself up to a sitting position.
“Let me help you,” Bryant offered holding his hand out.
Vallen took it and was hauled to her feet.
Will gestured Bryant and Geoff to step closer to them. “We need to know that they are not enemies. They speak of others, how do we know that they are not the second wave who wishes to invade us?” he whispered to them
Bryant nodded gravely.
Geoff shook his head. “I believe they are good,” he whispered back.
Will glared at him. “You are too soft hearted and trusting. It will get you killed one day boy.”
Bryant chopped his hand through the air slightly signaling for quiet before the two could begin arguing. “I agree with Will, we should be cautious of these girls. We know nothing of them.” He gripped his sword hilt tighter and turned to the three girls. “Ladies,” he addressed them.
The girls looked up at him.
“I mean no disrespect to you, but until we know more of you, and your friends, and your intentions, I have to place you under arrest.”
Wide eyes regarded him with surprise, and some fear.
He gestured at them with his hand and some of the men with him surrounded the three girls, weapons lowered.
“Oh crud....” Vallen breathed.
Corey stood up suddenly, feeling threatened- who wouldn't?-, frightened- who didn't?- and angry with the fact that they weren't trusted. She knew the anger was unjustified- after all, she and the others had fallen in on the men, not vice versa- but that knowledge didn't make any of her frustration go away. She opened her mouth to speak--nothing came out but a squeak. She glared at the soldier with his sword point at her breastbone. Moving away, she snapped at him, "What did you think I was going to do, attack? Christ, I'm unarmed and fairly untrained." Vallen tugged on her friend's shirt sleeve warningly.
"Don't piss them off," she hissed. Corey relaxed, but stayed tense, looking as if she would literally bite the next soldier came upon her.
"We meant no offense, ladies," said Bryant. "But until we know more about you, and where you come from, we can't leave you running around freely. Do you understand? We don't wish to make a mess of this."
Corey opened her mouth to respond but Willow got there first. "Of course we understand. We just... aren't sure of how we got here."
"Or where 'here' is, exactly," added Vallen.
Bryant looked at Will and Geoff inquiringly; Geoff shrugged helplessly, and Will did not seem to care.
"Come on, ladies. We need to go," Bryant ordered. "I hope this can be conducted in a peaceful manner." The three girls rose. The men surrounding them waited patiently while the two adjusted their unconscious friend's grip around their shoulders, then escorted them toward the castle.
**********
Elizabeth's eyes fluttered open. She was lying on a bed where several people in robes were walking around, tending to her and various other people. They were mostly soldiers and other robed people, all of them had wounds of some sort. Their injuries were being tended to, broken arms were set, bleeding heads were bandaged, etc. She bit her lip at the sight of the wounded, having never really seen so much blood before, except in movies. She hopped out of bed and walked up to the first person she saw. It was a woman in long robes who had just finished wrapping someone's burned arm.
"Um... excuse me, miss?" Liz asked her. The woman turned around.
"Oh, you're awake. How are you feeling?" she asked, concerned.
"I'm fine, thank you. I was wondering where I am..." Liz questioned. The woman looked her up and down, taking in her flared jeans and black peasant blouse.
"I can see you aren't from around here. You're inside the Domones Castle of Light in the Cenith Kingdom," the woman spoke, moving on to another patient.
"Okay... um... could you please tell me your name?" Liz asked as she followed the woman, groping for a question while trying to make sense of it all.
"I'm Enchantress Catherine. What's your name, dear?" the woman replied.
“Elizabeth. Uh... just call me Liz. What happened to the soldiers and people here?" Liz asked. Catherine sighed.
"There were attackers. Everyone is trying to overthrow the throne. Our world is split into two great forces, constantly battling one another. I wish it would all end," she replied. Liz took this all in while slowly massaging her temples. Nothing was making much sense and passing out had given her a big headache. Liz sighed and bit her lip, her eyes still lingering on her friend. She thought a moment, then asked, "Is there anything I can do to help?" She needed something to take her mind off things for a while. Catherine looked at her skeptically.
"I'll do anything you want me to. I... I tend to adjust better when I can do something easy like organizing things or cleaning. Please, can I help? " Catherine smiled.
"Of course you may help," she said, and put the girl to work organizing and retrieving medical supplies.
**********
The girls walked slightly before the men, who were keeping a close respectful watch on the strangers.
"I don't see why they have to be so formal about it." Corey grumbled angrily. "We already agreed to go peacefully, and it's not like if we tried to escape there would be anywhere to go." Vallen grinned.
"Well think of it this way. At least we're going somewhere. Who knows, maybe we'll meet up with some of the others if they came here too." Corey nodded.
"Isn't it beautiful?" Willow mused, gazing out around them. The others gave her a strange look.
“It's a battlefield Wil, and it absolutely reeks of death. What's so beautiful about that?" Corey retorted. Willow hung her head sheepishly.
"Of course not where we are at the moment... but the whole atmosphere. It's almost like living at the Renaissance Festival, you know?" There was a slight pause before she spoke again. "Ok, maybe it's just me...."
"Yeah, maybe."
Willow shrugged, and began to sing under her breath. It was something to keep her mind off the confusion that had just happened in the past few moments. "On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the world and meet the sky;
And through the field the road run by
To many-tower'd Camelot..."
It seemed to work, keeping focus on something other than the death around them, the recent arrest and the fact that they had no idea where they were or what was going to happen next.
Slowly, Corey and Vallen joined Willow in harmonies, a lilting music vibrated in the surrounding silence as they walked on.
"The castle is right up this way." Bryant motioned atop a nearing hill with his sword. The trek continued as they drew nearer to their destination.
**********
Drew quickly followed behind the dragon heading toward her friend. "Please let this be a dream. I know I've always imagined getting transported to some other world, but I really didn't want to end up in the middle of a battlefield." She broke into a run. The dragon was moving much faster then she was. If she didn't hurry, the thing night eat Seraph before she even got into yelling distance.
"Krimes! How do I expect to face a dragon? That thing's huge!" Drew reached into her back pocket as she ran. "Pocket knife. Like that puny thing will be any good against a dragon. Lighter, yeah like that compares to breathing fire. Tape measure, calculator, useless." Since she wasn't paying attention to where she was running, Drew tripped and fell, hard.
"What luck." She said sarcastically. Drew blanched. It was a body, missing a few vital parts. Namely the head and both legs. Dead things didn't bother her much, but messy dead things were not fun to fall over.
"What luck!" she repeated, happily this time. There was a spear laying next to the body. Now that could be useful. She grabbed the spear and continued running. The dragon had just knocked the guy (she could see it was a soldier now) out with its tail.
Drew ran between the dragon and Seraph, pointing the spear at the creature. Unfortunately, she hadn't actually looked closely at the spear. No sooner had she gotten into a ready stance, the sharp tip of the spear fell off.
Drew watched the metal piece fall to the ground, then looked at the blunt end pointed towards the dragon. "Oh shit."
**********
The song died down and the three girls froze as they saw what laid before them.
A palace on top of a tall hill that seemed like a combination of a fairy tale castle and a fortress of medieval England stood before them. It was both beautiful and imposing, even in the destruction that surrounded it, the city at the foot of the tall hill that smoldered at the front of it, the smoke that rose from places inside the castle that revealed dead fires where the enemy had tried to start them, the bodies that laid strewn about it, and the people, some sobbing some bravely tending the wounded, who moved about it.
“That is the Domones Castle of Light,” Bryant told them looking at it. He turned to look at the girls. “Let's go,” he ordered.
They started off again towards the castle.
As they approached the town the people who saw them began cheering and thanking them for saving their lives and homes. The men took the compliments with civility and some broke off the main group to go and see about their homes, families, and friends.
The girls couldn’t help notice how they were stared at by the people who saw them. Or how their clothes and styles were being commented on in whispers.
Corey glared at a few of the people as Willow blushed in embarassment and Vallen stood straight and ignored it.
On they marched to the castle. The guards at the front stared at the girls until they noticed Bryant and saluted him. The three girls didn’t know who they were saluting but didn’t have time to wonder as they were led inside the front gates over the drawbridge and through the inner wall portcullis.
All around them wounded men laid being tended to as others rushed to tend to them and to see how much damage had been done. Bryant stopped them and Vallen had to struggle to keep what Seraph called her ‘mother hen complex’ under control. Her mother was a doctor and her father had been a EMT, her grandfather an apothecary. They had all taught her how to take care of hurt people, her grandfather had even taught her pressure points and non-modern day healing.
Bryant gestured some men to come forward and the girls watched as the large man in red Vallen had landed on was dragged, bound hand and foot, forward and dropped before them.
“Take him to the prison. We’ll question him later,” he ordered. The soldiers with him nodded and dragged the man away.
Vallen looked at Corey and Willow wide eyed. They were all hoping the same thing, that they wouldn’t be taken to the prison to be ‘questioned’ too. They were relieved when Bryant led them forward into the castle.
Inside Vallen had to struggle even more to not stop and help the wounded about her. She bit the insides of her bottom lip to quell the desire.
Willow froze as she recognized a familiar figure with short, plum-streaked black hair. “Liz!” she yelled.
Bryant and the others stopped and looked up to see the girl who immediately began to run forward to greet her friends, fighting off tears as she did. “Another one?” He whispered to Will and Geoff.
“Yes and this one is inside the palace and unguarded,” Will icily commented.
Liz then noticed the way the men were surrounding them and looked nervous. “What’s going on?”
“We’re under arrest. And since you’re one of us, you probably are too,” Corey remarked casually while glaring the whole time at Will who glared back.
“I’m afraid so Miss,” Bryant said. “It’s only until we can straighten this all out.”
Liz nodded frightened a bit. She looked around and saw Enchantress Catherine. “Can you help us?” she asked.
She shook her red head. “Nay I cannot contest the orders of His Highness,” she said.
Four pairs of wide eyes snapped themselves onto Bryant.
“Highness?!” Vallen squeaked.
Bryant ignored them. “There is a way you can help them Enchantress,” he said. “You can take the unconscious one and treat her if you may.”
Enchantress Catherine bowed slightly in answer.
Corey growled. Willow had no idea what to do.
Vallen turned and stared deeply at Bryant. Bryant stared back without flinching. For long silent moments they studied each other then Vallen broke contact and turned to the others. “We can trust him,” she declared.
“What?!” Corey shrieked.
“Corey!” Vallen snapped cutting off anything her friend might say to get them into trouble. “Think about it, they're only taking us prisoner because they don’t know anything about us.”
Willow looked at Corey. “She’s right. They’ve done nothing bad to us so far,” she said.
“And I trust Catherine,” Liz added.
Corey thought about it a long moment and then grudgingly gave in.
“Ladies, this way,” Will said icily pointing with his sword in the direction where the Great Hall was.
The girls each took deep breaths and began walking in that direction.
**********
Gadine wasn't sure if she wanted to severely maim the new human that had appeared to wave a weapon in her face, or fall over laughing when the point fell off. It was painfully obvious even to her that the girl did not know how to use the thing. Plus the other human looked happy to see her. The new human was probably trying to save the one she had just saved.
The two humans spoke to each other. Then the new one put the useless spear down. She still was watched suspiciously, but that didn't bother her too much. The humans looked around. They looked lost. Well, odds were they were looking for the castle, or for someone, who in turn was probably at the castle.
Gadine lowered a shoulder, and gestured with her head to her back. She might not be able to fly with weight, but she was certainly big enough to run the distance with two passengers. Besides her mother had told her never to go in the castle or city because it would scare the humans. If she had some humans from the castle with her, it had to be OK to finally see what was so great inside the castle.
The two girls looked at her, then conversed some more. Gadine tried again to motion them to her back. She really wished she spoke human right now. It would make things so much easier. Finally the strange looking human walked towards her and put a hand on her back. Gadine nodded. The human climbed up. Gadine looked at the second, hesitating, human. The one on her back motioned to her friend. Finally the other joined her friend on Gadine's back. Gadine turned towards the castle, and took off running.
**********
The girls followed the men through the winding stone walls of the castle to the Great Hall. It was huge! The girls were amazed at the vastness of the hall. There were two stories to it, the first taller then normal. A series of tiers rose up the wall behind the throne dias, places in which members of the Imperial Council sat while court was in session. Twelve steps led up to the top of the dias on which the throne sat. Along the upper story of the hall were walkways and balconies that looked down on the hall. Benches stood along side the walls where people could sit during the long hours of court business. Beautiful tapestries of silk and cotton and wool hung from the roof and over the walls, and behind the throne was a giant stained glass window, a red rose in the middle of a golden sun, the royal emblem of the Cenith kingdom. Bryant turned to them.
"I'm sorry. Guard!" he called. Several armed guards ran into the room.
“Yes, Prince Bryant?" they asked in unison. Vallen looked at him in disbelief.
"Prince?!" she asked. He smiled, then got a little more serious.
"Guards, we have to place these girls under arrest, at least until we know more about them. Please, however, don't throw them in the dungeon. Give them a guest suite, but put it under lock and heavy guard," he told them.
"Yes, your highness," they said. The guards surrounded the group, some pointing their swords at them. Liz moved a little more behind Vallen. She didn't like pointed objects at all. "Let's go then," one guard ushered them along. Willow, Corey, Vallen, and Liz all followed them out of the room and down another hall.
Corey looked around at the rich tapestries that lined the walls. Paintings of royalty in lavish garments, were so well done that she could see the shadow in the folds of velvet and silk or the light glinting off the golden amulets around the neck. She looked at gilded mirrors and furniture as she walked, not paying much attention to where she was going.
She had cooled her temper fairly quickly, her more rational senses taking over and calming her bruised mind. She had no idea what was going on, and she knew that there was not a way to get back home right now. *So why bitch about it?* she asked herself. *Just take it as it comes. Not like there's much you can do about it anyway.*
Her reverie was broken by a few faint shrieks from down the hall, accompanied by the deeper shouts of men. Most of the girls froze, worried that perhaps the guards would think they had brought whatever-it-was and kill them on the spot.
Corey turned with the guards. She realized at that moment that Aram wasn't at her side. *Guess he left when they took us...* Without thinking, she released an ear-piercing whistle after hearing the clicking of nonretractable claws on marble floor.
Everyone looked at her strangely, especially the guards, a few of whom pointed their blades at her. A low growl came from the other end of the hall, the large silvery great wolf coming into view. The guards looked from Corey- who had a smile on her face- to the great wolf and blinked. She knelt down to hug Aram around the neck, burying her fingers in his fur.
"What in the—"
"He's mine," Corey asserted, standing and acting as if nothing happened. "He won't hurt anyone, as long as I'm all right." The guards looked at her in surprise. She motioned forward. "Aren't we supposed to be going?"
"Yes. On." The lead soldier turned hesitantly and walked on. The rest of them waited for the girls to go, then followed them, keeping a distance from the wolf. Corey kept her fingers twisted in the furry ruff. Vallen looked over at her quizzically; Corey shrugged and shook her head, meaning "Not now. Later," and walked on. She felt warmer inside, as if something that was gone had come home to her and completed her being. She smiled happily, walking on.
**********
Aerielle brushed strands of plum hair behind her ear and studied the battlefield after leaving the forest. "Looks like it's over, Liam." The fox glanced up at her then at the battlefield. Aeri frowned when she saw the tan/gold dragon running toward the castle with two strangely clad girls on its back. "I think that's a good place to start." She gathered up her dark green skirt and headed towards the castle.
Aeri followed the dragon and riders. "I want to know what's going on. I wish I spoke dragon…" Aeri said as she picked up speed. Liam followed and arrived at the gates about the same time as the dragon and two girls.
**********
The room they had been led to was well-furnished in surprisingly non-medieval furniture. There were couches, love seats, comfortable arm chairs, all richly tapestried with lovely woven blankets thrown over the backs of them and wonderfully made pillows. The view was amazing, or it would have been if it didn't look down on the battle field. The girls would have enjoyed staying in the room if they hadn't had to step aside while men removed bodies from it.
"Oy...." was all Vallen could say at the sight.
"Please ladies will you enter?" the guard asked.
Vallen took a deep breath and stepped over the threshold and into the room, finding a seat on a couch far away from the blood stains where the bodies had been. The other girls followed her example.
Two armed guards stood inside the room on either side of the door while two more took positions outside the door and it was closed and locked.
There was quite a few moments of tense silence.
"So..." Vallen started smiling at the two silent men, "what room are we in?"
"His Majesties casual reception room," the biggest guard, who was at least three times Vallen's height, said.
Vallen nodded and went quiet again. She raised wide green eyes at her friends and they waited.
**********
"Father," Bryant said approaching the brown haired man who was leaning over plans and maps of the local area that were on his desk in his personal office, discussing where the people could put up tents until their homes were rebuilt and the plans of supplies needed to rebuild those houses and businesses.
King Lawrence Cenith looked up at his son, his wise blue eyes somber. He didn't wear his crown or circlet and his clothes were dirty and blood stained, but he still had the bearing and power of a king about him.
"The Masters?" he asked immediately. "Did they make it?"
Bryant nodded. "I saw them close the door behind them before we were teleported outside the castle."
"And now?"
Bryant shook his head.
King Lawrence looked at one of the soldiers with him. "Go to the Tower and see what happened."
The man saluted him and moved off at a brisk walk.
King Lawrence looked at his son. "You wanted to speak to me of something?" he said.
Bryant nodded. "We discovered some girls, some very odd girls, on the battle fields."
"Oh?" The king raised an eyebrow at his son.
"They fell out of the sky, Your Majesty," Geoff interjected. "One of them saved His Highness’s life."
"She did, did she?"
"Landed on a man who was about to stab him in the back," Will explained.
"Interesting." He looked back at the plans on his desk. "And what have you done with them?"
"Captain Glycl took them to your personal reception room until it was figured out who, or what, they are," Bryant told him.
King Lawrence nodded. "I'll see them in the Great Hall after I am finished with business here. Until then, since they seem non-dangerous enough, treat them like honored prisoners, give them food and water. And if any more show up, place them with the others." He looked at his golden hazel eyed son. "Sir Will and Sir Falchion take care of that. Bryant stay and help me. Then I will be finished faster and we can handle the girls sooner."
They nodded and Will and Geoff left to act out their lords orders. Meanwhile King Lawrence watched as Bryant gave his own opinion of the problems and stood back to let his heir learn.
**********
Drew settled herself on the dragon's back behind Seriph. not too different from riding a horse, if you ignored the wings behind your butt. The dragon took off running. Drew held on with a death grip. "We’regonnadie. We’regonnadie. Wait a sec this is fun. Wheeeee!"
The dragon stopped at the castle gate. Drew's attention was caught by the approaching figure. She was an oddly dressed woman accompanied by a rather large fox. Ok Drew, get a grip on yourself. Mentally Drew slapped herself. The first thing she should do is get off the dragon... incase it decided to bolt or something.
Just as Drew started to lean to the side, a voice from the direction of the gate stopped her. "Nobody move!" In front of her Seraph groaned. Oh great, more of those soldiers. This was going to be a really bad day.
**********
Corey studied the view from the window, ignoring the blood spatters on it. Looking over the battlefield, she shook her head at the thought of men who had needlessly lost their lives, then moved her gaze out toward the forest beyond it. Aramil rubbed his head against her hand comfortingly, and she smiled down on the silvery canine. Turning, she sat against the wall, while Aram gave her something to lean on. She scratched his ears while she looked around. Her eyes inevitably landed on the guards and stayed there. One noticed.
"Is there something I can do for you, Miss?" She blinked for a moment then gathered herself.
"You could answer a few questions for me." Corey felt her friends' eyes on her person, but ignored them.
"If I can, I will answer your questions, Miss."
"Thank you, sir. Why are we here, instead of in the dungeon?" she asked. "Not that I don't like it here, but it just seems rather curious."
He chuckled. "King Lawrence ordered that you ladies be treated like honored prisoners instead of common ruffians and brought to a suite. He will be with you shortly."
"To question us?" asked Vallen quietly.
"Yes, Miss, to question you. There are a great many things that we wish to know."
"Such as how did we fly out of the sky and land in the midst of your battle?" offered Corey dryly
"That, among other things. One thing I'd like to ask you is about that wolf," the man told her. She shrugged.
"I landed in a creek when I fell. I got out and he led me to the battlefield. Does he make you nervous?" The man cleared his throat but changed the subject.
"What are your names, ladies?" the guard asked, looking at Vallen, then Corey with questions in his eyes.
"I'm Vallen Laerdies."
"Corey Lark."
"I'm Willow Larson."
"Elizabeth Foxfire."
"And you are?" Vallen asked the guard after a moment of uneasy silence. He didn't seem to want to answer. "It is only fair that we have your name, sir. After all, we gave you ours."
"I am Glycl, Captain of the Royal Guard." Corey noticed that he drew himself a little taller when he told them that and giggled to herself over the quirks of men.
"We're pleased to meet you, Captain Glycl," said Vallen pleasantly.
"As am I, ladies. I just wish it didn't have to be under such difficult circumstances," remarked Glycl.
"You and me both, man," muttered Corey.
The idle chatter went on for a while longer until the doors opened again to admit three guards.
"We're here to take you to the king." They said gruffly, though they made no menacing movements. "Follow us, please."
Alternate Adventures
Volume One:
Part Four
By: The CRWS
"Have her ready in three days," he said.
She glared down at him, eyes burning an almost neon green in her fury. The words she would have spat with venom in his face were withheld by the metal gag applied to her mouth. The dangerous blows she would have delivered to his body were hindered by the rusty, though strong chains and hard leather harnesses strategically placed to keep her immobile. She was bound to the wall with a good half yard between her feet and the floor, so as to make it less likely for her to touch the workers.
“Yes, lordship,” said her keeper. He kept his eyes carefully sighted on the floor, respectful of his master. He was ugly, as many of his race were, but he was kinder than her last two trainers and smarter in some ways.
“Mind that you do... or you will suffer most severely.” And with that the lord turned to leave, servants at his heels. He stopped at the door and looked back at the teenager chained in the cage. “Don’t do anything stupid, catari,” he warned.
She screamed into her gag and writhed furiously in her bonds, using what little energy she had left to express her rage. Immediately, a collar about her neck sent a fire-like shock through her body. She ceased struggling and gasped in pain. The lord merely laughed, for he found the struggles of the catari girl most entertaining in the vainness of their effort. Then, he left.
When he was gone, her keeper sighed with relief. He stepped inside the open cage, occupying the same place just below the bound teen that his lord had just quit. He looked up at her anxiously, not over her condition, but over the little time left for him to force her into submission.
She stared back vacantly, her eyes made dull with pain, almost black now. She knew the keeper was there, but couldn’t quite focus her gaze enough to see him. She didn’t even have the strength to growl.
Finally, the keeper walked out of the cage, locking it behind him. It was suppertime and he was going to be late as it was, what with the Lord Yhil’s inspection visit and all.
“Catari, you have made life difficult for me,” he said through the complex network of crisscrossing metal bars. “I will not allow you to defeat me as you did my predecessors.... I’ll be back in a quarter hour.” As he left the torture cell office, his gaze fell upon the racks on the wall behind his desk. Various instruments of torment were hung there. He would have need of them soon.
Upon looking at her, one would think she was hardly worth torturing at first glance. She was appallingly undernourished, her ribs and cheekbones easily visible under her well-tanned, but scarred and dirty skin. Her scant clothing, a loincloth-style skirt and shirt, resembling a halter-top, made of animal hides, were torn and tattered. Bruises marked her body and the cris-cross cuts of whip-lashings scored her back, legs, and arms. She was limp in the chains and harnesses.
She had been held in this terrible captivity for nearly two months. When she’d first been brought there, she’d been strong enough to break a man’s leg with her hands; her eyes had still been bright and vibrant. But since then, her captors had dissolved her into this pitiful wretch, unable even to lift her chin anymore.
The reason for all this?
Her ability.
She was a shape-shifter. Born into the catari race nearly 16 years before, she was the fifth and final child born to her family. Her four brothers, mother, father, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and the many members of other families in her tribe. The catari were a woods people and she had been raised in the name Freedom Chancy in honor of catari liberty.
Many other members of her family had been shape-shifters and it wasn't abnormal amidst catari. But it was one little detail that made all the difference in Chance's case. She was a friend of Prince Bryant... and she'd touched him and his father.... She could shift into their shape.... And that made her valuable.
So, these strangers had attacked her village. They'd killed most of the tribe, all of Chance's family, and then taken her prisoner. They were trying to break her spirit. In the process, they'd broken all of her fingers and nearly broken her arms. She'd managed to kill off her first two keepers. The first had died beneath the bite of her venomous willing fangs, a catari trait. The second had died because she'd made him look bad in the eyes of his Lord Yhil, who'd had him executed....
But soon, she would be broken... and they would win.
But no catari wanted to die indoors, and Chance knew she would die before breaking.
In a final, desperate effort, she screamed mentally, throwing all her pain and suffering into the sound, hoping there would be a mind mage nearby, maybe even a song weaver. She screamed in the catari language, but if a mind mage heard her, that would make no difference. ~PLEASE, ANYONE... DON'T LET ME DIE HERE!!!~
And then she collapsed.
**********
Aeri frowned. She didn’t recognize the two strangely clad young women perched on the dragons back. *I wonder who they are and where they’re from. Guess I’ll find out later.* "Guards," she muttered under her breath.
The four guards were startled by the young dragon and pointed their weapons at them and arrested them.
After studying them closely, two of the guards decided the girls were probably harmless, but insisted on taking Aeri’s weapon. "Just in case," one said. Two guards led them into the castle while the other two chased the dragon away. One in front and one behind.
Not paying attention to the other two young women, Aeri glared at the soldier’s back. "Where are you taking us?" Aeri asked coolly.
"The guest suite," He said coldly.
*The Great Hall?* she frowned and followed the guard glancing occasionally at the other two girls. *They look lost and confused and maybe annoyed.* She sighed and wished she were better at reading people. The guard led them through a myriad of winding halls before they arrived at a door with two guards standing outside.
**********
Slowly the girls stepped out from their "cell" and behind the ranks of the guards. The trip to the king’s reception room was silent as everyone’s minds turned through the sudden occurrences of the day.
“This way ladies.” The guard opened the door and ushered them into the large room on the other side. Moments later, they were standing before King Lawrence.
“I see my son was speaking truthfully when he spoke of strange girls in my land.” He sat forward in his throne and looked intently at the girls.
“A little odd, but charming!” Willow piped up, a nervous smile on her face.
“So also I’ve been told. Please, enlighten me on how you came here.” His deep blue eyes were intent on each girl present. Liz and Willow exchanged glances, Corey coughed loudly and Vallen shifted uneasily. Finally Vallen stepped forward.
“Well, your majesty,” she executed an awkward bow. “We can’t quite tell you that.”
“Oh?” His voice was surprisingly calm.
“What she means is we don’t exactly know.” Liz amended.
“Sure we know.” Corey muttered. “We fell from the sky, were captured and brought here.”
“Get your hands off me,” A harsh growl was heard from other side of the door. The doors opened and three guards ushered three figures into the room.
“Drew! Rain!!” Willow’s eyes widened in recognition. Drew rushed to the group and Seraphim strolled over, her eyes narrowed dangerously at the guards. The third woman hung back watching them.
“Well, nice to know everyone’s alright. Now, where the hell are we?” She demanded.
“I take it you ladies are part of this gathering.” The king spoke directly to Seraphim and Drew.
“I should hope so! I never thought I’d see you guys again,” Drew directed her last phrase at her friends.
“Very well. Shall we continue with the questioning? Hopefully some answers can be found soon.” King Lawrence smiled kindly at the growing group of girls.
Before anyone got to say a word more, a young man burst in through the doors.
"A scream. A very loud, very desperate, anguished scream...." he said, looking slightly ill. "A plea for help...." The girls look at him in startled confusion, but the others in the court did not seem as shocked.
"Paul, what did you hear?" one of the old mages asked urgently, approaching the man."
"Help?" Vallen asked, looking concerned. "Who? And where?"
Romis, Paul's old master, spoke up. "A girl about the age of you young ladies. She's in terrible trouble. About five miles west of here."
"Let me go to her. I'll bring her back here to be healed," said Paul, a sort of eagerness about him.
"Paul," Master Romis said, "Do you think you can do it on your own? You've never done anything like this without your brother...."
"I'll be fine without him. I can do this, master, let me prove myself," Paul asked.
"Very well. Go, and be quick, for much is about to take place," Romis said.
Paul stood very straight and was obviously trying not to grin. "I shall, master." He bowed to the king and the other occupants of the room. "Your Majesty, ladies... I shall return before you know it."
King Lawrence cleared his throat. "Ladies... shall we get on with the questions?"
"You say you fell from the sky?" asked King Lawrence.
"Yes, Your Majesty," answered Vallen.
"From where exactly do you come? I've never seen clothes quite like yours in any of these regions."
"That's because we're not from around here," Seraphim snorted.
"What my friend here meant to say, Sir, is that we came from a different realm," said Corey. "Possibly from the future or from a different world entirely." Lawrence raised an eyebrow at that but seemed to accept it. Corey looked at Vallen hopefully, wondering how far they could all get before they actually were met with a question they couldn't answer. Corey's fingers tightened in Aram's fur. She looked around the throne room, at the small window slits in the stone that wouldn't allow for an easy target. And sighed.
The doors opened behind them; some of the girls jumped as the trumpets sounded to life.
"Prince Bryant!" one of the trumpeters announced. The youth strode into the throne room purposefully, nodding to the group of girls as he passed before kneeling at his father's throne.
"Father, the Masters request your attendance in the War Chamber."
"The War Chamber?" The king's eyes narrowed. "Do they suspect another attack so soon? Their warriors, surely...." He seemed to be thinking, his brow furrowed intensely. Bryant said nothing to disturb the king's thought, waiting patiently for his answer. Lawrence finally looked up at the girls again and managed a tight smile. "Please, consider yourselves guests here in my palace. Rooms are already prepared for you, as well as baths, clothes and a hot meal if you wish it so. Glycl will show you to your chambers."
"Thank you, Majesty," said Vallen, accompanying her words with another bow, this one slightly less faltering than the first.
"We're sorry we couldn't be of more help," said Willow softly.
"It's all right, ladies. Now, if you'll excuse my son and me, we'll take our leave. Perhaps the Masters will help us to find something," he told them in a reassuring tone. The man rose and left, his son following him out of the room. Glycl motioned for the girls to follow him out. They looked at each other, saw no other alternative and did so. After all, they hadn't been treated badly so far. Why would things start now?
**********
Kevranan leaned against the rough bark of the tree and sighed. He looked aimlessly at the piece of parchment in his hand, covered with ink blotches, then looked back at his harp. This was getting nowhere fast...without any inspiration, he couldn't write any ballads. What he needed was some scandal, some adventure, something interesting to write about.
Then he felt it. There was a tug in his heart, something that urged him to stand and look out across the fields. *There,* he thought. *There lies adventure....* he remembered his old teacher telling him again and again the tale of how he had been found. Kevranan had been told of the time when he would experience the same binding feelings when a new Song Weaver emerged, and how he would have to find them before the ache would recede. This was it. A new Song Weaver had emerged, and now it was he who would become the teacher. He quickly shouldered his harp and stuffed the paper into his pocket.
With long steps he started out across the fields in the direction his heart pulled him. *The Birth of a Song Weaver will make an excellent ballad. Let this song begin.* Kevranan grinned and began to hum merrily. It looked as though he would finally get a chance to be useful to someone.
Alternate Adventures
Volume One:
Part Five
By: The CRWS
Chance struggled to lift her head. She couldn’t find the strength. Bryant... I kept my promise.... she thought out. She was past coherency and not quite aware of anything. Her thoughts were jumbled and desperate. I didn’t.... I won’t.... Bryant... my friend... never... secrets.... I kept my promise.... Bryant, please... Bryant....
Over 20 minutes had passed since her silent scream for help and her keeper would be returning soon. She couldn’t have known that in her state, but she was vaguely aware of the urgency of her situation. I found it, Bryant.... I found it.... she thought, almost as if she could actually tell him.
Her keeper walked in.
The little dark shape moved swiftly from tree branch to tree branch. Its eyes glowed in the dark. The sun had just set. Below it, a man stalked through the trees stealthily. The creature above him watched with little interest. Then, it stretched, yawned, and trotted off down the branch to leap to a nearby rooftop.
It was a cat. A blue-black cat, domestic looking, with harsh golden eyes. In her mouth, she carried a rabbit, her latest prey. Sitting on the rooftop, she ate this kill hungrily. Finished, she moved to the edge of the roof and dropped to a windowsill and then to the ground. She landed a mere foot behind the man who’d been walking through the trees.
Startled by the feline, the man nearly lost his balance, as he was crouching beside the wall. He remained silent as he glanced at the cat. The cat didn’t really care and simply sniffed him. She licked her lips and stood on her hind legs like a weasel to peer into his face. Then, she blinked, dropped down to all fours again and began to purr. The cat rubbed against the man’s knee.
A moment later, she turned away and trotted off towards another building. The man watched her go.
Turning a corner, she jumped up to a windowsill and peered through a hole in the wooden planks that covered the window. Feline night-vision allowed her to see into the dimly lit room inside. She gave a tiny mrow towards the figure inside before simply sitting there and washing her paws.
The man had followed her. He rose carefully to the window the cat sat on and gently pushed her far enough aside for him to peek through the hole in the wood. As his eyes adjusted, he could faintly make out the shape of a cocoon-like figure on a wall, past some meshed bars. He squinted in his effort to see better.
Abruptly, he heard the weakened mental voice as it rambled, I found it, Bryant.... I found it....
His eyes widened. *Prince Bryant?* he thought, surprised. *She knows him?* Thinking quickly, he tried to remember if he’d ever seen a girl of that age with the prince. Nothing came to mind.
Then he saw the door open inside. A strange man walked in. The man glanced into the cage and then walked over to a desk. He ran his hand over several weapons hung on the wall. Picking one up, he moved towards the cage.
Outside, Paul realized what was about to happen and glanced around quickly. “Here we go,” he murmured. Grabbing the cat and letting it drop to the ground, he stepped back. Then he kicked the window-boards in. The window was just big enough for him to scramble through it.
Immediately, he was on his feet and charging at the other man, who, it turned out, wasn’t really a man. He was something similar, but definitely not human. Paul slammed into him, causing him to stumble backwards and into the desk. Before the keeper was even on his feet again, Paul assaulted him mentally.
The keeper moaned and grabbed at his head. Before long, he was screaming in confusion and trying to rise to his feet in fear. When he did get to his feet, Paul confused him enough that he ran into a wall, knocking him unconscious.
As soon as his opponent fell to the stone floor, Paul nearly collapsed himself. He thought for a moment that he’d be ill. He’d overdone it. He grasped the bars of the cage and waited for his breath and sense of balance to return to him.
He heard a sound from the girl in the cage. “You came... thank you....”
She sounded so weak, as if she shouldn’t be capable of even opening her mouth. “Now, sir,” she gasped. “Could you please take me outside? I’d rather die out there....”
**********
Seraph's mind began to wander while she brought up the rear of the group. First coming here, and falling among those dead bodies...how she remembered the feel of the cold, clammy skin of the dead soldier, the sickening squelch of flesh and shattered bone giving way as she landed on his chest, the harsh cawing and flapping wings of carrion crows as they tore at the bloodied flesh with cruel breaks. It was sickening, but yet somehow she felt as if she were part of it all, as if she belonged to it, and it to her. The redheaded girl was dimly aware of one hand clutched tightly around the silver ankh she always wore, the metal pressing into flesh from the virtual death-grip she had on the object. She could still see them, still feel them, and it made her flesh crawl... she wanted to claw at her skin, quite willing to rip it clear off if it would only make that damn feeling, like insects under her skin, go away. The mental image of the bloody battlefield came to her mind's eye again, only now the sky was a sooty red, and a slight-stature figure stood in the middle of the carnage, a carrion crow perching on their shoulder. She couldn't be sure since she couldn’t make out any features-it was merely a silhouette-,but the figure appeared feminine, with short hair and either wearing a long skirt or a dress of some sort. One thing she could see was the ankh-dagger held in the figure's hand, as well as a pair of crimson eyes that held an almost manic gleam. She could imagine the expression on the girl's-if it was a girl-face. She was grinning. A slight flick of her wrist, and the nearest body began to stir, to rise, like some kind of macabre puppet....
Seraph was now aware of the fact that she'd slumped against one of the cold stone walls, her arms now hanging limply at her sides. "Oh man... that was sick...."
Drew was trailing behind most of the group as the guards led them to the chambers the king had spoken of. Somewhere between the dragon ride and getting arrested she had developed one hell of a migraine.
The group turned a corner, passing a very bloodied soldier who was frantically looking up and down the halls. The guards ignored him. Drew wondered why at least one of them didn't stop to see what was wrong. But they probably already knew. And the soldier hadn't noticed the group yet.
The decrepit looking soldier turned and spotted them. He waved frantically. The guards didn't stop. Drew looked at her friends. They didn't seem to notice him either. The soldier stumble-ran over. Drew could have sworn her headache got worse.
"Has anyone seen Sky? I must find Sky. She might be hurt. I saw her run into the fighting. I need to know she made it back alive!"
Drew stopped. "What does she look like? I can keep an eye out for her. If i see her i can tell her you are looking for her."
The man looked relieved someone was finally paying attention to him. "She is very beautiful. She's about 3'4 at the shoulder, medium grey hair, blue eyes. Very beautiful."
"She's kinda short. I hope she carried a big sword into that battle," Drew mumbled. Her headache seriously starting to impair her tact.
The soldier looked at her oddly. "My Sky is a dog. The most beautiful-"
"Got that part," Drew snapped. Pain also made her unusually irritable. "I'll keep an eye out for your dog."
The rear guard (who had been slacking back a bit seeing as how the strange girls didn't seem to be very threatening) finally caught up to the two of them. "Hey, now, lets keep moving. The king ordered you girls to be taken to the guest rooms."
Drew stared a little fuzzily at the guard. "Someone's gonna help him find his dog right?" She pointed at the soldier.
The guard gave her a weird look. "Help who find what dog?"
"Him. He wants someone to help him find Sky."
The guard looked a bit peeved. "There is no one there."
"Geesh! The poor guy looks like he's been through a meat tenderizer and y'all just ignore him! What type of weird ass society did we fall into?!" Drew practically screeched. With the amount of pain pounding in her brain right now, she had about as much sane thought as a drunk.
Stressful was an understatement for the day everyone in the castle had been having. Some weird female screeching at him made the guard snap. "I tell you there is NOBODY there!!"
Drew drew back and punched the guard. Taken by surprise, the guard stumbled backwards into the wall. His flail upset a rather large ceramic knickknack of some sort that decorated the walls at intervals. It fell squarely on his head, knocking him out.
Drew blinked a few times. "Oh shit." The soldier seemed speechless. "Well, ah, the rest of the group is, ah, out of sight, so ah, I guess, we can go look for your dog. And maybe find me some Tylenol, Asprin, Morphene...."
The soldier hesitated. Then seemed to make up his mind. "I'll just explain to the king what happened later. Now we must find my Sky."
**********
Corey flopped down on the large four-post bed, looking up at the thick fabric of the canopy. A small whine came from the side of the bed; she looked over and smiled at the large wolf. She scratched his head lightly. He closed his eyes and let his tongue loll out of his mouth in happiness.
"You can get up here, you know," she told him. He hesitated for a moment, then crouched and leaped over her onto the other side of the bed. He turned a full circle before laying down on the comforter and rested his head on her stomach. She chuckled at him, scratching under the fur of his ruff while looking around. *This is quite a place,* she thought to herself. The room was made of stone—just like the rest of the castle—and quite expansive. The bedstead was made of dark hardwood, polished to a sheen and the mattress was stuffed with some kind of sweet-smelling herb that Corey could scent even through the thick downy comforter. She ran her fingers over the dark cover, feeling the alternating ridges of stitching that must have taken forever to put on. A huge wardrobe was on one wall, made of the same wood as the bedstead. Two plushly upholstered chairs sat before the grand fireplace, in which blazed a moderately-sized fire. It was getting chilly in the castle, after all, with darkness setting in. Luckily there were windows that could be opened and shut against the cold, and heavy cloth drapes to shut out the cold even more. She shivered against the coming cold and sighed.
"Well, Aram... I guess we should try and figure out just what in the world we've got to do around here, hm?" The wolf just looked at her, as if to say, ‘I'm not moving from this bed’. She stuck her tongue out at him and got up to close the windows. She noticed vaguely that the room faced the battlefield. She began to shut the windows and stopped suddenly, something filling her mind. Power, trickling in, cool and black and comforting....
Corey opened her eyes wearily, felt the bed underneath her and tried to discern where she was.
"Cor? Corey, you all right?" Who was that? It was... Drew. That was Drew's voice.
"Drew?" Corey croaked and wondered why in the Hell her voice was so rough. A glass was pressed to her lips.
"Easy, now. Don't try to do too much," someone else said. That voice finally registered as Willow's. Corey drank down the cool liquid—water, she realized—and tried focusing on the others in the room. Vallen stood at the foot of her bed with Seraphim and Liz. Drew was right next to her bed, holding the glass of water. Aramil was sitting on the bed next to her, looking down at her sharply.
"Why's everybody looking at me like I died?" she said lowly, pushing herself to a semi-sitting position.
"Because we thought you had," Willow told her, her eyes worried.
"What?"
"All we knew was that Aram was trying to rip Rain's hand off trying to get her to come in here. We followed him in and found you on the floor," Vallen told her.
"I've never seen you so pale," said Seraphim. She crossed her arms over her chest, looking at Corey squarely. "What'd you do, huh?"
Corey shook her head weakly. "Do? I didn't do anything! I went to close the window and felt... something. I don't know what it was."
Seraph went to the window and looked out, then shrugged and closed the window. "There's nothing."
"Why don't we go get you something to eat and bring it back. We'll get you some more water, too," offered Willow. She smiled and motioned the others out of the room quickly. Corey smiled back gratefully and laid back on the pillows to rest, trying to think of what had happened.
"I went to close the window. Then something came in my mind...."
~You fell.~
Corey blinked wildly. "What the—"
~You stopped at the window and fell down. You humans don't take magic very well when you first get it, do you?~ Aram nudged her cheek with his nose.
She looked at him, bewildered. "Great, now I'm hearing things."
~I'll thank you to call me a wolf, not a thing. I was afraid something bad had happened to you, cub. Don't do that anymore.~
She looked him squarely in the eyes, unblinking. "That's you talking." He blinked in answer. "Oh my God, I'm talking to a wolf...."
Willow took the tray of food down the corridor to Corey. When she entered, Corey was looking at the wolf Aram intently, as if listening to him. When Willow crossed into the room, Corey looked up at her. Wil shrugged.
"I used to talk to my cats back home all the time. Here, I've got you some food, but I don't think it'll be quite what you need right now. Sorry, it was all I could get." Corey took the food.
"Thanks." Willow smiled and began to sing softly under her breath while she crossed to the window to look outside.
"Hey Wil, what are you singing?" Corey asked. Willow shrugged.
"I dun know, just something that popped into my head. I like to sing, it makes me feel better. I thought maybe it could help soothe your nerves or something, but if you want me to stop I will." Corey thought for a moment, then shook her head.
"Naw, go ahead. It sounded nice." Willow grinned and began to sing again.
"If friendships can bloom,
And my tears fall as rain,
Then I'll make you strong,
And you'll live again."
Willow stopped singing abruptly. She could feel something pressing inside her body, as though there was something that wished to get out. It ached and pulled at her muscles as she slowly slid to the floor, leaning back against the cool stone walls.
"Hey Wil, you okay?" Corey looked over at her friend, who nodded dumbly.
"Yeah...." Willow felt a tightness in her throat, and she opened her mouth again and began to sing again, only she couldn't control herself. Notes spun wildly through the room, soon she was striking chords with her own voice before the pain in her body shot out in a burst of energy. Willow stopped her frantic singing immediately, and fell onto her side and was asleep. Corey listened for a moment as the sounds were swallowed by the thick stone walls, then turned to Willow's still pale form.
"Hey, what was that all about?" She demanded, feeling much more like her usual self. Aram padded over to the sleeping girl and nudged her arm then turned back to Corey.
~She's asleep. She spent much energy healing you from your fall. Let her rest, cub.~ He came back over to Corey's side and sat down.
"What do you mean? All I saw was she started to sing wildly and then collapsed. It was freaky." She buried her fingers in Aram's fur again as she replayed the scene in her mind.
~You feel better, do you not?~ Corey thought a moment and did a quick self-examination.
"Yeah, I feel fine. What's your point?"
~She wanted to make you feel better and succeeded. That is what happened. Now, you should rest too, cub. You still haven't finished your food.~ He nudged the plate and gave Corey such a stern look that she picked up her food and began to eat it obediently.
Kevranan hoisted his harp back onto his shoulder and looked dubiously at the castle.
"Here, they must be here," he muttered to himself as he walked swiftly to the gate. With each step he took, the ache he had felt was decreasing. He knew it, there was someone he had to meet.
"Halt. State your name and business," the guards demanded of him. Kevranan brought himself up to his full height of 5'4" so he stood just below the guard's chin.
"I am Kevranan, Chief Musician of the Bard's Guild. I have urgent business inside." The guards looked down at him questioningly, then laughed.
"You don't look much like a Chief Musician. Today is not the day for you to finish your business, it is a busy day in the castle. Come back some other time." While the guard had been talking, Kevranan had slid his harp from his shoulder and was absently tuning it. When the guard finished speaking, Kevranan played a silent chord and hummed a bar of magic, and the guard stopped mid-sentence.
"Of course, Lord Kevranan. If you do need to conduct business inside, I'm sure it must be of great importance." He stood aside and opened the gate. Kevranan took a moment to bask in the pride of his handiwork before going through the gate. With a smile on his lips he bid the guard farewell and once more began to follow the trail to his goal.
Suddenly, a great burst of energy stopped him in his tracks.
"Mother of Mountains, what's going on?" He recognized that magical signature. "An untrained Song Weaver can be a dangerous Song Weaver...." he muttered. It would do no good if the person used all their energy and died before Kevranan got to them. He picked up his pace and began to look in earnest for his new pupil. He needed to make sure they didn't use any more power foolishly and kill themselves in the process.
Vallen stood in front of the door to the room she had been given and looked around. At one end of the room was a moderately large hardwood bed with a sea blue comforter on it. Against the wall across from her was a wooden desk with chair between a large window with a window seat, and a pair of glass doors leading out to a balcony. On the wall on either side of the bed was a large wardrobe and a dresser with a mirror above it. Across the wall from the bed was a large fire place with a nice size fire in it fighting off the cold that was coming with the night. Beneath her feet was a beautiful handmade rug.
"Wow...." was all she could say. Just then the door opened and she was knocked down. "Hey watch it!" she exclaimed from the floor. "Knock next time!" she said as she got to her hands and knees.
"I'm very sorry miss," a female voice said from behind.
Vallen sighed and got to her feet to turn and face the woman.
She was a few inches taller then Vallen with blonde hair pulled back in a French braid and wide blue eyes. She was wearing a long dress of light blue fabric with an ornate belt around her waist. She curtsied when Vallen met her eyes.
"Please don't," Vallen said. "I'm not royalty of any kind. I just forgot where I was for a moment. I'm sorry I snapped at you."
The woman nodded. "I'm Stella. The Head of staff sent me to see to you and the other ladies needs," she said.
Vallen looked down at herself. Her loose jeans where covered with dirt and dust and had a new hole in one knee, and her blue Sailor Moon T-shirt was dirty as well. She sniffed herself experimentally and wrinkled her nose. "What I need is a bath...." she muttered.
Stella nodded and disappeared.
Vallen blinked. "Huh?" she said wondering where Stella had gone to. She didn't have to wait long to see as Stella reappeared.
"I have had baths prepared for all of you in the bathing area. If you will follow me we will collect your friends and I will guide you there."
Vallen nodded and followed.
Aerielle paced the floor in deep thought. Liam lay, relaxed on the soft, coverlet calmly watching her.
It wasn't often that common folk like herself were allowed into the castle and meet the king. Today she had done both.
*Not that it was under the best of circumstances,* she thought wryly. *And what about the other young women brought to the castle? They looked just as confused as I am.* She stopped abruptly in the center of the room. "And what am I going to tell my parents?" she asked aloud. "This is too much to take in right now." She sighed and flopped down on the bed next to Liam.
Liam raised his silver head, ears arched forward. ~Child, don't worry about it. Your parents will understand. As for the other young women, we will find out soon enough.~
Aeri smiled. "I guess so. But I'd still like to know where they came from."
~As would the king.~
"Heh, true." She ruffled his silky fur playfully. "I wonder where the pixie went." Liam snorted, lay his head his front paws and closed his eyes. Aeri glanced out the window. *It'll be dark soon. I wonder... what all this means.*
A gentle knock at the door broke her musing. Liam opened on eye. Aeri frowned and opened the door a crack. "Yes?"
A young maid stood on the other side and asked if she would like a bath. Aeri blinked and glanced down at her slate blue dress. "Yeah I think I will, um... can this be cleaned?" She gestured at the mud, grass and bloodstains (from the daemon she had killed) on her dress.
The maid frowned. "I think so."
Aeri smiled cheerfully. "Thank you!" She piled her long, plum hair atop her head and secured it with a ribbon, then followed the maid to the baths.
She smiled blissfully as she sank into the hot, soapy water. *Now this is worth being arrested.*
Liz lay back in the porcelain bathtub. The bubbly, warm water soothed her tired muscles and cleaned her dirty skin. Around her, her friends were doing the same, lying back in baths of their own.
As she idly played with the bubbles, Liz thought. How had they come to this foreign world? She recalled being in the mall, waiting for the movie to start. Then they had encountered that nasty bunch of girls, and had begun a cat-fight, but then there was that bright light and she was spinning around in this colorful abyss. Then, they had wound up here. Were they summoned here, or was it just a strange coincidence? And moreover, where the heck was here? It didn't seem like any world she'd seen, or any anime for that matter. It seemed more medieval and King Arthury, like in those awesome books that she had read. Liz sighed. Why couldn't anything interesting like this happen every day?
"I think we need more of these odd goings-on in our world. We don't get enough, unless it's in anime," she said to herself, then thought for a moment. "Of course, we need to go to a place with a little less blood and a little more Quatre."
Liz could hear the others fall over, or as best they could being in the bath tubs.
Vallen walked among the ‘stalls’ in the bath room the maids had lead them to with a robe tightly tied around her figure. The stalls were in reality cast iron tubs surrounded on all sides by privacy curtains. The room was long with three rows of ten tubs and a huge fireplace at each end, and two on each of the other walls towards the middle. The girls were surprised by the room, and especially surprised when they found out they had plumbing.
“Seraphim?”
“Here!”
“Drew?”
“Here!”
“Liz?”
*Splash!*
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Vallen smirked.
“ACK! Stupid soap! Here!”
Giggles answered her rant.
“Willow? .... Willow? Corey? .... Anyone see Willow or Corey? And who’s the plum/silver haired girl?”
Suddenly, a small bird, very odd in color and not looking at all like a regular bird, flew in through the open window and perched on the side of her tub.
"Why, hello there!" Liz said pleasantly. "Have you come to help me figure out why we're here?" The bird cocked its head to the side.
"Of course, you can't understand me, can you?" she said with a small laugh. "I must be losing my mind, talking to a bird."
"Oh, I understand quite well. It's your question that puzzles me." Liz blinked, and stared at the bird in amazement.
"Did you just talk?" she asked. It gave her an are-you-crazy- look, or as best he could, seeing as he was a bird.
"Of course I did. It's you I'm surprised that can talk. Usually humans can't talk with me. It's not that fun, really. They never even understand my jokes..." he shook his little bird head sadly.
"I think I'm going insane. I'm talking to a bird..." Liz said to herself.
"I told you, you are not going insane. You just have a special gift, that's all. Some people do, and I guess you do too. That's nice because then I can talk to someone. I talk to myself a lot," the bird replied. Suddenly, Liz felt an immense jolt in her forehead, like someone had slammed her head into a wall. She cried out and the bird began tweeting furiously at the others. Liz gripped her head, yelling in pain, as the other girls pulled on bath robes and ran over to her. She was holding her head in her hands, screaming at the top of her lungs. All she could hear were the frantic calls of the bird and the worried-sounding voices of her friends. She couldn't see, couldn't think, couldn't breathe. All she could feel was the horrible pounding in her skull before everything dissolved away.
This message has been edited by Reonis on Jan 16, 2003 3:33 PM
Alternate Adventures
Volume One:
Part Six
By: The CRWS
Willow was still out cold, although Corey had managed to lever the girl up onto the bed. With Aram's help, of course. Corey's friend was sleeping soundly now, peace written all over her features. A maid had come to fetch them, but Corey had thanked her to leave them both alone, excusing them by saying that they would find the baths when Willow had woken.
'Do th' ladies requiah anythin' else?' the woman had asked. She was middle-aged, with a shining face and well-kempt clothes. Corey could not help but to smile. 'M'Lord has let us poor servants be of some service t' his new guests.'
'Would you mind bringing us some extra drink and food? Perhaps just some water and bread and a little meat?'
'Of course, M'Lady. Right away,' the maid had complied and shut the door as she bustled away.
Corey sat on one side of the bed, stroking Aram's fur gently. "You know, I'd feel better around here if I was armed. Everyone else I've seen so far has been. At least, the men have been." She made a face. "Stupid chivalry...."
~ Poor cub. Without her claws and teeth and gone away from the den.~ Corey glared at him.
"Gee, you're helpful." He licked her cheek. "Thanks so much," she muttered grudgingly. "I tell you one thing though—they better give me breeches and a shirt and boots. Because I'm sure as Hell not wearing a dress and petticoats!"
~I have a feeling that you'll wear whatever Lawrence tells you to.~ Corey wrinkled her nose.
"Not if I can help it." There was a soft knock at her door. Thinking it to be the serving-woman, Corey went to open it a crack and was confronted with a man dressed less richly than the palace men and carrying a harp over his shoulder. She narrowed her eyes at him and opened her mouth to yell for the guards but nothing came out. She vaguely noticed the harp in the man's hands and his fingers strumming the strings, but paid little attention to the fact. Backing away in a daze, she opened the door to let him in and closed it behind him.
There was a loud clang and a grunt of pain, accompanied by a snarl. The man blinked at the floor but froze under the great wolf holding him to the floor. Corey blinked, coming out of her trance to hear Aram snappishly reprimanding the intruder.
~—do not interfere with the girl! If I must, I will kill you, bard, do you understand me?! Magic will not be played with, and its instruments not played with either, especially when the instrument is under my watch!~
"Who are you and how did you just get in my room?" Corey snapped.
"I am a Song Weaver, like that girl on the bed. Is she a friend of yours?" he asked in a soothing voice.
"That's none of yours to know."
"If you call it off—"
"He does as he pleases."
"If you'll ask him to get off, then, I'll explain myself." Corey bit her lip in hesitation, then crossed her arms over her chest and sat on the bed between the bard and Willow. "Aram, please get off him."
~Very well.~ Fur still bristled, the great wolf rose from the man's back and leapt on the bed next to the girl, watching the bard intently. The man got up and stood, brushing himself off. He looked up with a smile.
"I'm sorry to have put a spell on you."
**********
The cat trotted ahead of them tirelessly. Chance glared at her feline friend, resentful of the cat's energy. Paul had to hold the catari girl about the waist and her left arm was over his shoulders. They were making slow, very slow, progress down a path through a stand of trees. They'd been walking for around 2 hours.
"What's your name?" he asked her abruptly.
Chance licked her dry lips, and choked out, "Freedom Chancy... call me... Chance...."
"Well, I'm Paul.... How do you know the prince?"
Surprised, Chance let her head flop to the side so she could look at the man. "Eh...? Oh, right. You're a mind mage.... He's a friend...." At this point she found she hurt too much to talk anymore. She yelped once as her leg nearly buckled for the umpteenth time.
Paul glanced at the girl. "Do you think I could carry you?"
She winced and nodded. "I don't... weigh much...." She gave a wry smile. She had, in fact, lost over 20 pounds since her capture.
Gently, the mind mage lifted her up. He was surprised. She really was very light. He started walking again, following the cat along the path. Chance had pointed it out as they'd left the little village/hideout and said that it led to the castle.
Chance moaned as Paul carried her. Her back was still very sore from all her whippings and there was scarcely a spot where she hadn't been scored. But, if she could survive this long... surely she could make it to the castle at least.
"If I'm not awake... when we get there," she gasped, "could you tell Bryant... that I found the ring stone?"
"Of course," replied Paul, confused. He had no idea what the catari was talking about.
"Good," she whispered and then was asleep.
Up ahead, the cat trotted out into a clearing. Paul followed her. Looking around, he recognized the scenery. This was the private park behind the castle. He picked up his pace and sent a mental message to one of the other Mind Mages in the palace. Tell one of the servants to bring a Healer. This young woman may not last much longer.
Paul was exhausted, mentally and physically, and yet he carried the young woman without complaint up to a room, where he lay her on the bed to wait for the healer. He sat heavily on the chair beside the bed and sighed.
"I need to relay a message to the prince for this young woman...." He turned and addressed one of the servants in the room. "She wanted me to tell him that she found the ring stone. It's important." The servant girl nodded her blonde head and ran off to deliver the message.
The servant who had gone for the healer entered the room. A balding, grey-haired, gangly man followed behind, presumably the Healer.
"What do we have here?" he demanded in a business-like hurry.
"Her name is Chance. She's catari. That's really all I know."
"What happened to her?"
"Captured, tortured... pain and suffering. I don't know any more than that."
"I'll need you to step outside for a moment," the Healer said, and Paul did as he was told.
Paul paced worriedly in front of the door. Silently, he sent word to his master about the situation. Master Romis, there's a catari that says she's found the ring stone for Prince Bryant. Has she? the response was immediate and urgent. What has she told you so far? Speak quickly, this is important. I know it is, Paul responded tiredly, But she is weak, and is currently being tended to by the healer. I haven't been able to find out any more. I know it goes against the code, but if she doesn't make it, how else will we find out what she knows?
There was a pause, followed by a heavy mental sigh. Let us deal with that issue when the time comes.
**********
Corey scowled at the man murderously. She wanted nothing more than to have him out of her room immediately. The sooner he left, the more at ease she would be and the safer she and Wil both would be.
“Leave. Now.”
“I’m trying to help your friend, young lady, so if you please....”
“If you’re trying to help her, then why did you put a spell on me?!”
“Because you obviously weren’t going to cooperate. You aren’t cooperating very well now.”
“If you hadn’t put a spell on me,” she growled, “then maybe I’d be a little more cooperative....”
Heavy sigh. “Miss, I’m very sorry. I had no choice.” His gaze turned to Willow’s sleeping form. “Is she alive?”
Silence.
“I must know, is the girl alive?”
“Yes.”
“Good. She didn’t wear herself out.”
“No.”
“My name is Kevranan. I am the Chief Musician of the Bard’s Guild. I felt your friend’s song from afar and I came to see her. She is dangerous, you understand, as untrained as she is. She could kill herself.”
Corey’s eyes narrowed, unsure of whether she could trust this man or not.
~He is a Song Weaver, cub. And he is right... she could kill herself from foolish use of power. I will keep a close eye on him.~ Aram nudged her elbow gently with his nose, sharp yellow eyes darting quickly to the man still on the floor.
“She’s asleep,” Corey said in a low tone. “She’ll wake up, and you can talk to her when she does. Until then, you stay away.” She settled herself further on the bed, leaning on Aram and fiddling with her fingers, ignoring Kevranan completely. The bard got up and moved into a chair, where he looked at his harp intently.
Corey stuck her thumbs in her jeans, shifting and trying to get comfortable. Something was sticking in her thigh through her pocket. Suddenly she grinned and pulled out her ever-present pocketknife and flicked it open. She wondered how she hadn’t lost it in the confusion of everything.
Open. Shut. Open. Shut. Open. Shut.
Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.
~Easily amused, aren’t we, cub?~
“Yep. Gotta have something to occupy oneself.”
Dave is so retarded looking that mental wards call in for back up. Les is so ugly that lions, tigers, and bears back down from his face. He is so ugly that moon beams turn up to space when he enters the night. They both are so ugly and old looking that when they pass rest homes old weman say "And i thought i had bad skin". Dave and les are so ugly that when they get together, civilizations of foreigners move away. They both are so ugly that the forensics team would need bottles of Pepto and shades in order to fiqure out what genetically went wrong. They are both so ugly that scientists say " It's mind boggling!"Les is so ugly that police say " Oh no! not this mug shot". Dave is so ugly that cows and sheep migrate away when he arrives. They are so ugly that plants die and planets orbit a few miles higher in the solar system. Space aliens say "We dare not to capture the likes of these horrible looking earth creaturez!"
My name is bad ass Jimmy Kanada. Who in the hell can whip more deer, milk more goats, shave more sheep, sip more tonic mixed with gin, puke more coors light and grape wine, shoot more ducks in mid flight, break more deer necks, tame more hyenas, smoke more weed, smoke more Cool Filter Kings, jam more blues (Al Green) at midnight, pop more cherrys, spit more dip, whip more ass, piss longer, curse louder while walking barefoot through a swamp, trim more trees, sic more blood hounds on a pig, drink more yak, out fuss any slut into licking toes and stripping, gut more sword fish, bust more watermelon, grease more shot gun barrels, neuter more doberman pinschers, crack more mountain ice while shooting shot gun rounds at mountain goats, fight more geese with bare nuckles before sicking the pitbulls, sing the tracks of Betty Wright better, stomp more snails with only dress socks on, take more heat from the sun, cook more deer meat before catfishing with a spear gun, fill more milk jugs full of guerrilla piss, chew more gum and corn, gulp more liquir, roast more penguins, chunk more guinea pigs in a chicken cage full of blood thirsty mangy mutts with the aids virus, kill more jack rabbitts with a piece of glass, poop in more buckets to mix with lime juice, crack open more sea snail shells with a car jack, slap more lambs, peel more oranges, make more cock roach poison out of blended battery acid and giraffe piss, shoot more cross bow arrows at a politition's mansion from the weeds, spit more loogies in Walgreens, dance better in a croud of drunks, urinate longer in the back of a taxi cab, swing more sloths around in a circle by the balls tied to a shoe string, fry more octopus in dead fish grease for greyhound chow, hit more swan birds in the water with a truck load of broken gravel, milk more camels to make the step mother oatmeal, whip up more horse dookey and butter in order to force feed it to a retarded elf, take more wasp stings only to catch them for hunting season, make more hard headed house brides run across more sewage leaks in the yard for punishment, beat more hillbillys to the punch line after 11 bottles of Mad Dog 20/20, Train more sheep dogs to murder pigeons, laugh in the face of more census takers, cut more lumber, bust more salt lick only to grind it for monkey poop mixing, hunt more zebra for truck seat covers, fart more beans in Taco Bell, steal more chickens from another mans farm, scare more pizza delivery boys with a red hot branding iron fresh out of the fire, seduce more weman in the back of a big foot truck while sipping grape wine, make more chumps dance while ducking gun shots to the toes, and brush whiter teeth on a drunk mule packing a sack of pecans and marijuana seeds? Than JIMMY KANADA DAMMIT!! !! ??My name is Jimmy Kanada. Who has the audacity to challenge 11 of my baddest neutered blood hounds with rabies, drink more Mad Dog 20/20, smoke more Winston cigarettes, smoke more cigars, smoke more packs of Marboro 100’s, sick 44 starved beagles on a bull frog, whip a mule with a pair of deer antlers, spit more dip, drink more Coors light, bust up more salt lick, crack more mountain ice while shooting at mountain goats, ride a moose through 8 miles of swamp land, and make a wife lick the moss and sweat from in between ole Marvin Kennedy’s toes, mow more grass, talk more jive, shred more hay, dig more ditches, trim more hedges, drink more coffee, catch more bass fish, rope more cattle, use more giraffe spit and battery acid blended together for rat poison, vomit more grape wine, sip more yak, Bust more salt lick, make more beef jerky from buffalo meat, bar-b-q more quail, pluck more chickens, Tame more jackals, throw a guinea pig in a chicken coup full of wiener dogs, bust a bottle full of pee up against the mayors limo, beat a hillbilly to the punch line, crack open more pecans, eat more planters peanuts, chop more cedar wood, stomp on a plant full of water bugs with gator boots on, drop a wood rat in a bucket full of fire ants and scorpions, breed a pack of male hyenas with a half dozen Dobermans, milk a bull cow, sip more tonic, make a mule gallop through mud packing sun flower seeds, plow more desert land, make the nephews fix the sewage tank and clean the commodes after Thanksgiving, pop more black cats (fire works), sick 44 blood hounds on a wounded baby hippopotamus crippled on land by a shot gun bullet, curse, Play more blues and
Polish more Cadillac’s than ole Jimmy Kanada huh?Who in the hell dares to step on Jimmy Kanada's grass to out grape wine drink, piss for the longest time on the store room floor of Walgreens, mix more baboon poop and butter for force feeding 4 geese with the mumps, shoot more shot gun rounds up the butt crack of a moose, vex more 92 year old cowboys by throwing mangy stray mutts over in theyre chicken cages, sick more doberman pinschers with the aids virus on a 3 leg having goat, throw more honey dipped piglets up against a wasp nest, stick more needles through the flesh of a dead camel, get a mule the drunkest on moon shine before brushing the donkeys teeth with colgate in order to see the donkeys teeth at night,neuter more wild zebra in the dark with a razor blade, make more fat girls cum with a classic pickle, make more short leprechauns clean the sewage tank after june with 3 dress socks for violating my grass, curse out more pricks for not comprehending the 11 blood hounds with tape worms, make a hooker lick toes for not being sexy, flick more Kool Filter King lit cigarettes at a pizza delivery boy for not saying yes sir, Train more starving beagles to pluck a goose, sell more crack in the ghetto, piss off taller sky scrapers after new years eve, eat more planters peanuts while plowing the dessert, hunt more sloth in the rain forrest, mix more fish guts, guerrilla piss, ape man poop, and rat poison to kill palmetto roaches in a cave, shoot more bats with piss dipped darts, cause more avalanches while shooting a bazooka up at mountain rams, make a horny cow watch me titty screw a tramp woman, tell the sickest jokes, strangle more flamingos with a car jack, piss on the top of a 3ft tall mans head from London for kicks, Bust more wine bottles up against the limo of the next county judge, drop more piglets in a tank full of water snakes and stinging sea snails, blow up more country clubs with 44 sticks of lit dynomite, fry more road runner birds in a pot full of piss and fish grease while they are still alive and kicking, fry more poop mixed with eggs in order to punish a drunk horse with gold teeth, cause more monkeys to masterbate by showing them porn, milk more giraffes with a water hose, fight more computer geeks drunk to the sweet sounds of the Jackson Five, Jam more Al green while steaming greens, sic more red nose pitbulls on a guinea pig, mix more guerrilla piss with cow nut for boiling frogs, make more home made honey from a bee's nest, crush more beer cans with a jack hammer, train more Hyenas to murder swans from a pond, sit for 2 days in a truck jamming Barry White before cursing out the wife and getting piss drunk on moon shine quicker than bad ass Marvin Kanada huh?!
For more live info: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBwyR9vCV-c