[Mkguild] Snow Storm: Storm Front (4/4)

[Nathan Pfaunmiller]

I mentioned this a while ago, but I wanted to go on record as saying that
this is one of the most gut-wrenching things I've ever read. It is
extremely well executed, and make s me want to step in and intervene at
several points.  To get me that involved in a story, you have to be doing
something right. Keep up the great work. I look forward to how you handle
this as you move along.

-LurkingWolf
On Jun 16, 2013 11:08 PM, "Hallan Mirayas" <hallanmirayas at hotmail.com>
wrote:

>      "Help!  Help!"
>
>
>
>     Even with keen animorph ears to listen and a quartet of witchlights to
> light the dark street, Raven didn’t spot the woman until they were almost
> on top of her.  Bursting from the curtain of snow, she tumbled,
> panic-stricken, into the priestess’ arms.  "Lightbringer?" she gasped.
>  "Oh, th-thank the Lady!  Please!  Help us!"
>
>
>
>     Elemacil’s runes lit up like a hunting dog scenting prey.  One sniff
> told Raven what the woman had been doing before running out into the storm,
> as if the blanket that served as her only clothing wasn’t enough to guess.
>  But it was what was on the blanket that drew her attention- a splatter of
> daedra blood.  Before she could ask, the answer tumbled from the woman's
> mouth.
>
>     "D-D-Demons!" the woman gasped, still out of breath and her teeth
> starting to chatter with cold.  "F-F-Fighting each other!  P-Peddlers’
> House, up the s-s-street!"
>
>
>
>     The Peddlers’ House.  Rumor had it the Sensates had been turning that
> old inn into a pleasure den.  It looked like rumor was confirmed.  Raven
> invoked a blessing of warmth from the fire goddess Yajiit for the woman to
> still her chattering teeth.  "Daedra fighting each other?  Are you certain?"
>
>
>
>     "Yes!  One was calling the other a traitor, and said something about
> replacing her.  Please, hurr-eek!"
>
>
>
>     Rickkter, in the midst of slicing a blood-stained scrap of fabric from
> the woman's only garb, caught a ringing slap for his efforts.  "Ow!
>  Dammit, woman!" the raccoon mage protested, rubbing the sting out of his
> ear.  "It's for a trace spell!"
>
>
>
>     Raven stood the woman up, twisted free of her grip, and summoned one
> of the witchlights.  "Follow this light.  It will lead you to the Temple.
>  Go now."
>
>
>
>     The faint whispers of daedra presence that had flickered fitfully
> ahead of them vanished in an explosion of power just two blocks beyond,
> like two candles being eclipsed by the full fury of the sun.  Raven
> staggered as if physically struck by the blast, her worst fears realized.
>  "An Oath," she breathed.
>
>
>
>     "He’s here.  In person," growled Rickkter.  The battle mage had felt
> it, too.   "There’s no way a binding that powerful was done by proxy."
>
>
>
>     "Agreed.  Sensate, get to the Temple -now-."  With the Sensate woman
> out of harm’s way, Raven cast her voice onto the winds again.  "Merai!
>  Tessa!  To-"
>
>
>
>     "We’re here!"
>
>
>
>     Heralded by a pair of witchlights, the cat and the half-elf emerged
> from the storm, accompanied by every Long Scout currently in Metamor.  Two
> of the healers who had been dispatched to the Euper fire followed them.
>  "Where are the other healers?" Raven asked, alarmed.
>
>
>
>     "Some stayed at the Jolly Collie, the rest are waiting out the storm
> at the Deaf Mule, Lothanasa," replied Tessa.  "Fighting the fire exhausted
> many, and the climb from Euper was treacherous.  We had several injuries
> from the ice."
>
>
>
>     "Very well.  Staying at the Mule should keep them out of harm's way."
>
>
>
>     A flash of red lit the night, then another, and a rumble like thunder
> followed.  Xavier's head jerked up.  "That wasn't the storm."
>
>
>
>     Rickkter's grip tightened on his sword.  "No, it wasn't.  Come on!"
>
>
>
> -----
>
>
>
>     The blast of power shocked the duel at the Peddlers' House to a
> momentary halt.
>
>
>
>     "What has that idiot mortal done?"  Thestilus only took his eyes off
> his enemy for a moment, but a moment was all Alexastra needed.  Stepping
> into his weakened guard, she slapped his knives aside and then slashed out
> his eyes on the backswing.  Not content with that damage, she ducked back
> under his flailing arms, reached into a pocket with a gloved hand, and
> flung several thousand garrets worth of powdered mithril straight into his
> bleeding face.
>
>
>
>     Thestilus' knives clattered to the ground, unheard over the
> glass-shattering shriek of his screams.  He followed them down, writhing in
> agony on the floor and raking at his smoking face with his claws.  The holy
> metal ate into his wounds like acid.  Kicking his knives aside with one
> foot, Alexastra continued the step to kick him in the gut with the other.
>  In that moment of contact, she smashed through his shattered mental
> defenses an illusion of being ripped apart by a ravenous pack of
> hellhounds, just to twist the knife.  "What has he done?" the furious
> daedress echoed, her voice icy with hate.  "The unexpected, just like I
> said he would.  If you made me miss my chance, you miserable piece of
> filth, I promise you that this level of pain will feel like *bliss* in
> comparison to what else I can do!"  She kicked him again, this time
> conjuring a flechette storm of flaying steel, then picked him up by the
> scruff and dragged him to the hole in the wall that their entry had made.
>
>
>
>     She was in luck.  "I've wanted to do this for years," she growled, and
> then shouted into the wind.  "Hey, Raven!  Catch!"  With that, she threw
> her former partner to the wolves.
>
>
>
> -----
>
>
>
>     Raven’s head snapped up, partly from the shout, but mostly from the
> sudden flare of daedra presence radiating from the two bats.  One Elemacil
> identified as an exceptionally powerful imp, but the other was unlike
> anything the holy sword had ever encountered.  Here was the source of the
> flickering detections- it had to be, based on the lightning-quick
> revelation.
>
>
>
>     "Alexis Nightwind?" Merai gasped in recognition as the disguised
> daedress heaved her compatriot from the exploded third-floor room in which
> they’d been fighting.  Her aim was both deliberate and accurate, and Raven
> only needed to swing once, parting the imp’s head from his shoulders.  The
> bat dissipated into smoke, banished back to the Hells with a fading scream.
>
>
>
>     "Damn," the daedress swore down at them, her foxish face a scowl.  "I
> was hoping you’d gut him first.  He deserves it.  For the time being,
> Lightbringer, you and I have common cause.  Under the eyes of the High Lord
> and the Dark Prince, I pledge to you my oath of alliance."
>
>
>
>     The archaic vow startled Raven.  The last time she’d heard it used had
> been in an ancient Suielman text, dating back to the last alliance of the
> aedra and daedra against the Titans.  She racked her brain for the
> appropriate reply, but the she-bat gave her no time.  "The words you’re
> looking for," she snapped with an impatient flick of her hand, "are ‘I
> accept your oath and will not try to shoot you, stab you, or otherwise
> banish you tonight.’  We have no time for niceties: my Edward’s life hangs
> in the balance."  Raising her hand, she pointed down a side street.  "Long
> Scouts, your leader is down that street, and likely needs your help by now,
> if the collapsed buildings I can see out there are any judge.  The rest of
> you, try to keep up."  Without waiting to see if anybody took her advice,
> she leaped from the building and took wing.  Her flight path twisted into a
> tortured corkscrew in case any archer or mage below decided not to accept
> her offer of truce before she could get out of range, flitting through the
> storm winds as if it were a calm day.  At the same moment, and to Raven’s
> renewed astonishment, she vanished from Elemacil’s detection with the
> suddenness of an extinguished lamp.
>
>
>
>     "Did she just-" Merai asked.
>
>
>
>     "Yes, she did.  She’s something I’ve never seen before.  Rickkter?"
>
>
>
>     Rickkter was already running after the departing daedra as the street
> ahead lit up with another red flash.  "Less talking, more chasing!" he
> yelled back over the sound of collapsing masonry.
>
>
>
>     "Tessa!  Go with the Longs, and search for survivors!  The rest of
> you, with me!"
>
>
>
> -----
>
>
>
>     Not all who crossed Drift’s path of devastation that night did so by
> design.  For some, it was just a case of bad luck, of being in the wrong
> place at the wrong time.  That the encounter was not sought, however, did
> not make it any less devastating.
>
>
>
>     Drift grabbed Wolfram's collar and lifted the ram effortlessly off the
> ground by it, his lips peeled back in a furious snarl.  Wolfram moaned in
> response, his face a rictus of pain.  His arms clutched over his gut where
> Drift had kicked him.  The ambush had been as sudden and unexpected as it
> had been devastating, and a small part of Wolfram's mind marveled at the
> speed of it.  *One moment, perfect health.  The next, perfect agony.  How
> strangely poetic.  *Blood trickled from the ram's mouth and nose as he
> forced one eye open.  Blinking past blood from his shattered right horn, he
> found a sword point hovering barely an inch from it.  Beyond, the red glow
> of the blade cast a demonic pall across Drift's white fur and strange,
> half-formed armor, and Wolfram struggled against the pain to focus on his
> friend's face.  He didn't bother to ask why he'd been attacked.  One look
> in Drift's eyes was enough to see the insanity.  "If... you're going... to
> do it," he grunted, fighting for each word, "make it quick."
>
>
>
>     The sword seemed to quiver in Drift's hand as if eager to strike but,
> surprisingly, he didn't.  A war of conflicting emotions raged behind his
> eyes before he finally lowered the blade.  "No," he said, and then repeated
> it as if to convince himself.  "No."  For an instant, he was calm.  Then
> the samoyed's gaze turned eastward and his lips pulled back again into a
> killing snarl.  "No more delays.  No more distractions."  He tossed Wolfram
> aside with a negligent flick of the wrist, heedless of the crash of
> shattering timber and the screams of shock and fright as Wolfram smashed
> through the wall of an inn.  "This ends now!" he growled, and the last
> thing Wolfram saw before darkness claimed him was his friend running off
> into the night.  Then the falling snow closed in behind and blotted him
> from view.
>
>
>
> ---
>
>
>
>     "ARKOS!!"
>
>
>
>     Arkos' forge hammer fell from his hand with a clatter.  Ice shot
> through his veins, freezing his blood in an instant.  That scream in the
> night- it was right outside, and there could only be one person-
>
>
>
>     "ARKOS!!"
>
>
>
>     The desert hound lunged for his forging bench, where his sword laid
> waiting.  Curse Thestilus!  The wretched imp had been supposed to warn him
> before Snow got this close!
>
>
>
>     "COME OUT AND FACE YOUR JUDGEMENT!!"
>
>
>
>     Linafex had allowed himself a few moments tinkering in the forge to
> settle his nerves, expecting to be notified in time to prepare a proper
> reception.  Now, in his haste, he grabbed too quickly, and his knife's
> pommel bounced off his reaching fingers and clattered to the floor.  He
> ducked, scrambling to reach for it... and a beam of red light cleaved
> through the air where he had just been standing.  Sweeping across the whole
> of the room with a horrible rending shriek, it left chaos behind.  He
> cowered under his work bench as brick and timber crashed down around him.
>  Another shrieking slice followed, and he heard the rest of the house start
> to go.  His wife screamed, and his gut twisted with panic as that scream
> cut off.  He froze, hoping, praying that maybe Snow would think-
>
>
>
>     "COME OUT NOW!  I KNOW YOU'RE STILL ALIVE IN THERE!"
>
>
>
>     Throwing away any pretense of hiding, Arkos yanked loose the hidden
> panel in the workbench and snatched his weapon of last resort from its
> hiding place, a small green stone that had cost him a small fortune to
> purchase without questions or record.  He'd almost certainly have to flee
> Metamor if he used it, but surely-
>
>
>
>     A black mail-clad hand punched through the work bench and seized him
> by the scruff of the neck.
>
>
>
>     "Found you."
>
>
>
>     Ripped from the debris and flung with the ease he might throw a doll,
> Arkos landed in a sprawl on the snowy roadway.  Icy cold bit through his
> short fur after the warmth of the forge, but that discomfort was forgotten
> the moment he looked up.  A nightmare awaited him with hate-filled eyes,
> clad in armor black as night and wielding a jagged, demon sword, wreathed
> in a red glow that blended with the growing flames from his demolished
> forge.  "N-no... impossible... it can’t be," he babbled.
>
>
>
>     "I’m not as easy to kill as my father," spat the beast, its voice like
> hammered iron.  Nor my beloved."  It stalked him, sword raised, striding
> through the knee-deep snow like it wasn’t even there.  Its red eyes
> promised no mercy, only a painful death.
>
>
>
>     Arkos floundered, panting with panic and looking around wildly for
> Thestilus, or even Agemnos himself.  Where were they? He was important!  He
> was an important client!  Why weren’t they protecting him?  Something
> hidden under the snow tripped him, and he landed in a sprawl again.  To his
> horror, he dropped the stone, and he scrambled in the snow trying to find
> it again.
>
>
>
>     The nightmare reached him first.  The jagged sword hooked under his
> chin, drawing a line of blood as it forced his head up.  Edward Snow, the
> tinker’s brat, the wretched whelp, snarled at him from beyond the blade.
>  "For all your crimes," growled the beast, "I think I’ll kill you slowly."
>
>
>
>     Arkos laughed, high-pitched and hysterical, barely registering the
> feel of urine running down his leg.  He desperately sifted through the snow
> for that lost stone.  He had to find it!  He just needed more time!  "You
> can't kill me!" he gibbered.  "Agemnos promised I'd die the only tinsmith
> in Metamor!"
>
>
>
>     The beast’s jaw opened slightly, a moment of disbelief.  Then he
> sneered and raised the sword to strike, and his words dropped the bottom
> out of Arkos’ plans.  "I quit a month ago, you stupid son of a bitch.  Die."
>
>
>
>     "Daddy!"  Mariah, Arkos’ little girl, ran weeping from the wreckage of
> their home and threw herself across her father's chest, clinging to him.
>  "Please, mister.  Please don't hurt my daddy."
>
>
>
>     The beast froze, stalled by tear-filled eyes, and Arkos dared to hope.
>  His fingers had finally closed upon the stone.  His daughter was in just
> the right spot to shield his movements.  If he could just keep the weapon
> out of sight for a few seconds more, get it into line-
>
>
>
>     "Stop this madness!"
>
>
>
>     "Misha!"  The beast spun away, distracted by a warrior fox in full
> battle gear, a giant axe held at the ready.  Behind him, every Long in
> Metamor materialized from the night.  This was just the distraction he
> needed!  He brought the stone up-
>
>
>
>     "Watch out!" came a voice from high and to the right, and Drift
> whirled just in time to see an impossibly familiar silhouette outlined in
> green between him and Arkos.  He only saw it for an instant before the bat
> vaporized, immolated by the light.  Beyond, crouching behind his child like
> a shield, Arkos held his hand straight out toward them, a green gem glowing
> in his palm.
>
>
>
>     For a moment, all was shock and silence.  Then Drift screamed.
>  "ALEXIS!!!!"
>
>
>
>     Arkos snatched up his daughter and tried to run.  He made it two steps
> before his world exploded.  The sword speared through his back, jagged
> spikes ripping apart his spine and lungs, but the blade through his heart
> snuffed his life before he had even started to crumple.  But he was not the
> only one to die, and his daughter managed an aborted shriek before the
> blade stabbed through her as well, stealing her life away.  Almost unseen,
> the gem slipped from Arkos’ lifeless hand and disappeared into the
> bloodstained snow.
>
>
>
>     The moment the sword left his hand, the madness left Drift, and
> reality slammed back into him like a mountain avalanche.  He watched in
> stunned disbelief as Arkos and his daughter crumpled lifeless to the
> ground.  "What...  what is..." he whispered.  His hands started shaking.
>  "No!  This isn’t what I wanted!  She didn’t deserve to die!  She wasn’t
> supposed to- ack!"  A bolt of light leapt from the sword to strike him
> squarely in the throat, forming a ring around his neck as the rest of the
> armor faded away.    "Misha?"  Drift's voice rose rapidly in panic as he
> tugged and jerked vainly at the black metal collar, latched with a
> five-sided shield with a thin black wedge down its center.  "Misha, help
> me!  It won't come off!  It won't come off!!!  Help- aaaahh!"
>
>
>
>     A flaming chain snaked from the darkness and latched onto the collar.
>  Without a moment's hesitation, Misha lifted Whisper to sever it, but he
> froze into stasis mid-swing as a dark-haired man in black armor stepped
> from the shadow.  The man scowled.  "Oh, joy.  A Patildor.  He should have
> been shredded to pieces by that spell."  His irritation was short-lived,
> though, and he smiled with malicious delight as he turned his gaze on
> Drift.  "Oh, look... an *ex-*Patildor.  I always wanted a war dog."  He
> pulled on the chain, dragging the samoyed closer.
>
>
>
>     Moving with the blinding speed he'd been gifted, Drift reached for the
> one weapon he had left, the dagger he’d bought long ago to end his life if
> he were ever trapped by fire.  Jerking it from its arm sheath, he hurled it
> at the man, and it flew like a bolt of lightning.  The dark-haired man
> caught it in front of his face as if it had hung there for days.  Smirking,
> he declared, "This is a good knife," and then discarded it over his
> shoulder like a small child's toy.  "You won't need it anymore."
>
>
>
>     Drift grabbed the chain, tried to jerk it loose, and screamed when the
> fire seared his hands.  Raw, primal terror screamed through his mind, and
> his feet dug furrows in the ground trying to resist that inexorable pull.
>  "Who are you?!"
>
>
>
>     "Who do you think?  I'm sure you've heard of me.  Revonos.  The Lord
> of Rage.  God of murder.  Your new owner."
>
>
>
>     "No!"  Drift's eyes showed white the entire way around.  He thrashed
> against the chain, ignoring the burns it caused on his hands, his tail held
> tight against his belly in fear.  "No!  I won't go with you!  Misha!!"
>
>
>
>     "You say that like you have a choice."  Revonos' laughter echoed over
> Drift's screams of agony as a flash of light snapped down the chain.  The
> samoyed's body warped and grew and changed, bones crunching as he was
> thrown to all fours, his remaining clothes tearing away.  His screams
> turned to howls as his body grew larger, wilder, the softness of his canine
> fur giving way to the coarseness of a dire wolf.  "No more puppyhood for
> you, boy.  You are -mine-."
>
>
>
>     The wolf writhed, muscle bulging under the shaggy pelt, long, sharp
> fangs slipping past his lips, but his fur stayed as gleaming white as it
> had started.  That is, until Revonos pulled his blade from the corpses of
> Arkos and his daughter and wiped the blood off on it.  "Yes... I like that.
>  White shows the red so well."
>
>
>
>     The wolf lay still, panting for air as the changes completed,
> shattered and reformed into a dire wolf the size of a horse.  His eyes were
> wild with terror for the bare second Revonos gave him to recover before
> jerking him with a yelp onto his paws by the chain.  The wolf whirled and
> bit Revonos on the thigh, but his teeth scraped on armor and only caused
> the god to laugh.  "That's the spirit, Carcarak.  Go for the arteries."  He
> then slapped the wolf hard upside the head, jarring his teeth loose and
> sending him sprawling again.  "Save it for the pits."
>
>
>
>     He didn’t let him stay down for long.  "Up, boy," Revonos said with a
> cruel smile and another yank of the chain.  "Time to go."  Black smoke
> swirled around them both, nearly concealing them from view when-
>
>
>
>     "Halt!"
>
>
>
>     The street lit up with a brilliant flash, and the smoke recoiled from
> the light like a living thing.  "Who dares?" roared Lord Revonos, rounding
> on the source of the flash with sword drawn and teeth bared.  His furious
> expression flashed over in an instant to one of disgust and annoyance as
> Lady Akkala stepped into view, decked in full armor and flanked by Raven,
> Merai, Xavier, and Rickkter.  "Oh," the daedra lord sneered.  "It's you.
>  You're too late: this one is mine."  He yanked the chain cruelly, jerking
> a yelp from the nearly insensate wolf for emphasis.
>
>
>
>     Lady Akkala held out her hand and a chain of silver light snaked from
> it to the wolf's collar, disputing the daedra lord's claim.  "He is mine by
> prior oath."
>
>
>
>     "Which he broke when he asked for my aid!" Lord Revonos retorted,
> taking a step forward and lifting his sword as if to attack.
>
>
>
>     Every weapon except Akkala's rose to resist, but the Lady of Healing
> remained a bulwark of calm amidst the storm.  "That will be for the
> Celestial Court to decide," she proclaimed, loud enough for all to hear and
> be stilled.  When Lord Revonos started to scoff, she interrupted him.  "By
> order of Lord Kammaloth."
>
>
>
>     The invocation of the high lord of the aedra finally halted the Lord
> of Rage.  Balked, he lashed his chain of fire with enough violence to
> strike sparks off the cobblestones.  "Fine!" he snarled as the wolf's
> collar changed its aspect: one half fire-blackened iron, one half gleaming
> silver.  "Fine," he repeated, a dark dragon banking its fire, but only for
> the moment.  "I can wait."  Waiting for a faint glimmer of hope to cross
> the wolf's features, he crushed it with a sadistic grin.  "I can always
> hurt him more later."
>
>
>
>     "Tend to your wounded," Akkala instructed Raven, quietly so her words
> would not carry to the daedra lord.  With a nod to the stasis-frozen fox,
> she added, "Both physically and mentally.  I will do what I can."
>
>
>
>     She started to draw away, but stopped when she felt a hand on her arm.
>  She turned to regard its owner, a black leopard who looked like he
> couldn't believe he'd had the temerity to touch her.  Swallowing the heart
> in his throat, he drew up his courage and asked, "Is there any hope, my
> Lady?"
>
>
>
>     Lady Akkala looked across at the trembling wolf and the daedra lord
> standing over him scowling impatiently to be away.  "Hardly any, Xavier
> Marcus, but I will do what I can."  She touched the leopard-man once on his
> shoulder, a gentle comfort, before drawing away.  The three vanished in a
> flash of light and shadow, leaving only a terrified wail to linger behind.
>
>
>
>     And then even that was swept away by the fading storm.
>
>
>
> *TO BE CONCLUDED...*
>
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