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All That Glitters...48


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#1 Guest_Tenebrous_*

Posted 12 January 2004 - 05:12 AM

Chapter Forty-Eight

A noise made itself heard from inside a room that the party was passing by, and everyone jumped. It was soon recognizable as a woman's voice.

Nalia sighed, in response to the questioning looks directed towards her. "That's my Aunty Delcia. I'm happy she's alive, but...she's not the nicest person to meet. I apologize in advance," she said, then opened the door. Or tried - there was obviously something blocking it on the other side.

Kal leaned over and pushed on the door, exerting all of his considerable strength. From inside, there was a snap, and the barricade suddenly gave way.

A harried-looking guard rushed up to the door. "Hold! You...Mistress Nalia!" He blinked. "Is it..really you?"

"Yes, Hendron, it's me...how are you still alive? I'm glad to see you, but..."

"I barricaded us in here to protect your Aunt, Mistress Nalia. I have fought few trolls...I think they are not interested in either of us. What they are doing, I cannot say."

Nalia nodded. "We'll find out soon enough. I...am glad Aunty is still safe. Do you know of the secret exit?"

"The one you use all the time, milady? Yes...I know of it."

"Can you take Aunty out through it, and into the palisade outside? The way is clear."

"I will go where your Aunt goes. I have sworn to protect her, and I have maintained my oath thus far. It is...it is just..." Hendron's face crumpled. Kal had never seen a stern-faced guardsman such as Hendron on the verge of tears before.

"Auntie is a real pain, huh?" Nalia asked sympathetically. "I know. I know. Look, once you get outside, let someone else protect her for a while. I'm releasing you from your oath as soon as you get to the palisade."

"I'm ready to go, then!" Hendron replied eagerly.

"Right. Let me talk to her and then you can be off," Nalia said. Nalia moved past him, trailed by the rest of the party closely.

"Nalia? Oh, my dear, what have you brought home with you this time? I have told you about consorting with such creatures, you will only end up like your mother," Delcia moaned.

Nalia's face showed a flicker of anger that was quickly suppressed. "Yes, yes, yes, you have told me a hundred times or more about my mother's death. Don't do it again, Aunty."

"It bears repeating, my dear. She would slum as you do, offering charity to those beneath her, and her reward was a pestilence that took her life. But you never listen...ah, what dregs have you brought to our home this time? More scum," she said, shaking her head sadly at the party.

"Aunty! We're here to rescue you! Treat them with respect, please!"

"Commoners don't deserve it," Delcia sniffed.

Keldorn coughed loudly. Delcia immediately began waving her hands in the air. "Pestilence! Foul pestilence! Lower-class pollution! I shall die! Die!"

Keldorn stepped to the front of the group. "I apologize, milady," he said with a slight edge to his voice.

Delcia peered at him. "Lord Firecam! What a surprise to see you here! You've caught some beastly pauperish disease, haven't you? See what happens when you associate with scum!"

"Madam, I am a paladin...we don't get diseases," Keldorn replied as civilly as he could.

"Oh. Are you sure? You can't be too careful, you know, especially around the dregs of society. But what are you doing with these other...people?" she asked, with the pause clearly to think for a moment as to whether "people" was appropriate. "You soil yourself dealing with your lessers, Lord Firecam."

"Whatever you say, Lady Delcia," Keldorn said. "I think you should be taken outside and to safety as soon as possible."

She looked with distaste at the group. "Taken by these?"

"At your service, milady," Kal said. "But we would rather your loyal servant Hendron, with whom you are familiar, do so. If that is your wish."

Delcia seemed to consider it for a moment. "Is there no other way? I feel...polluted, even seeing these brutes track mud through my home. Such...worthless peasants."

Anomen's eyes bulged. "Worthless? Peasants?"

Keldorn, Nalia and Kal all gasped at the same time. "No, you fool!" Keldorn said, but it was already too late.

"Obviously you don't think so," the Lady Delcia Caan said, with practised precision. "That is because you think on such a limited scale. Realize, however, that your scale is within a larger truth: some are born to rule, others born to follow. And you are certainly intended to follow...but at a distance. No sense getting your subhuman dirt on me."

"I am Anomen Delryn, squire of the Order!" the indignant knightling proclaimed.

"Oh. A Delryn. You're almost as bad as commoners anyway."

"A warning! Trolls approach. Hendron should see the Lady to safety immediately," Yoshimo called from the hallway.

"Of course," Kal said with a calm expression on his face. "This way, milady."

Once they were gone, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "Now as to those trolls," Kal began.

"No trolls," Yoshimo said. "Except, perhaps, the one which has already departed." He grinned, and the party burst into laughter - except Anomen, who was seething in rage.

Kal made a mental note to get back to that. He seems to care about what anyone says about him. I wonder why that is?

"How...how did you know how to handle her?" Nalia asked Kal. "Rather amazing restraint on your part, and I thank you for it...but how did you know what to say?"

"I wonder as well," Keldorn said. "Experience has taught me how to deal with Delcia, though they're experiences I'd rather not have had...."

"I saw the golden goblet," Kal said, referring to the symbol Delcia wore on her bracelet. "I've met die-hard Siamorphans before. They refuse to see reason, so I don't even try."

"Siamorphans?" Viconia asked in puzzlement.

"Followers of Siamorphe, the goddess of nobility," Kal explained. "Very minor, and rarely documented in any important books, because her following is so small. Her philosophy is simply that...."

"If I may interrupt," Keldorn said, "this really isn't the time."

Kal nodded. "Right. Sorry. I do that sometimes. Let's keep going."




Due to the open structure of the courtyard, the party was easily noticed from the moment the opened the door to the top of the wall. As they dashed around the top of the walls, the single snake-warrior and four trolls in the courtyard raced after them. The four patrolling the top of the walls moved to intercept, as well, but they reached the drawbridge windlass quickly. Kal, being the strongest, rapidly turned it, dropping the drawbridge, as the party set to receive the oncoming trolls' charge.

Wielding torches, the remainder of the De'Arnise house guard charged across the open drawbridge, immediately getting the attention of the trolls. The house guard attacked the snake and the four trolls in the courtyard, freeing Kal's party to handle the four atop the walls.

Even four trolls were quite a handful. Fortunately, they were all approaching from the same side, so Anomen, Keldorn, and Kal were able to form a front line as the trolls advanced, standing shoulder to shoulder across the trolls' path. Their weapons bit deeply into troll flesh, but the trolls responded in kind. Sharp claws skidded across plate to embed themselves in the chinks between them, tearing deep welts into the party members. Long, spindly arms clawed at their gorgets, hoping to get a razor-sharp claw beneath the plates and into their throats.

Kal was at the forefront, both swords working furiously to stop the quick jabs of the thin but strong trolls' arms. He did this by mainly aiming to slice through their wrists, weak by any standards - but hard to hit. To his left, Keldorn resolutely hacked his way through a troll, catching as many swings as possible on his sword guard. His blade burned each troll claw that touched him, but not very seriously. To Kal's right, Anomen was focused on fighting - and not the "glorious combat" he had waxed poetic about. He pounded the troll before him mercilessly, working off the anger that the Lady Delcia had stirred up in him.

One of the trolls had charged up the stairs behind the party, and was now in striking range of Nalia and Viconia in the party's rear. Reacting instantly, Nalia thrust out an open hand and shouted two words. Air blurred as a beam-shaped projection of force lanced forth from her hand, striking the oncoming troll with such force that it flew backward across the courtyard and slammed hard into the opposite wall. A guard cracked a vial of oil over the troll's broken body and ignited it, burning the troll before it could knit its bones back together to stand up.

Then Keldorn made a small mistake. He swung his blade in a violent overhand motion toward the troll's legs, and the troll barely managed to dodge in time. The motion, however, yanked Keldorn off-balance as he overextended his blade. He began pulling his blade back in defensively, but even as he did so he knew his recovery would be too long. The troll knew it, too, and it launched a flurry of claw-strokes. Three clinked harmlessly off of Keldorn's armour. One cut shallowly into the inner edge of his left elbow - a painful but not critical wound. And the last took him directly across the throat, under the gorget, tearing a thin gash into his neck and half-severing the main artery.

I'm dead, Keldorn thought, dropping his sword as his hands lost the strength to hold them up. Blood gushed from his neck in what seemed a lethal amount, and his vision blurred. He began to pray to Torm with the last of his consciousness, when he suddenly felt a hand clap across his neck and a burst of healing energy seal the wound closed.

"You are not dead yet," a voice whispered into his ear. He knew that voice. Keldorn turned his head, and Viconia smiled.

In front of them, Kal struck down the last of the trolls, and Yoshimo uncorked a vial of acid to splash over it and make sure it stayed down. Kal turned back. "Keldorn...are you all right?"

"I...I am," Keldorn replied hoarsely through newly knitted muscles. "Thanks to...to...."

"Viconia," Viconia prompted. "It is not such a hard name to say."

"Yes...thanks to Viconia," Keldorn said, though, as it turned out, it was a hard name to say.




Of the sixteen who had charged in, seven of the De'Arnise house guard were now dead, along with two trolls. The two remaining trolls kept them back with clawing frenzies, while the snakelike creature handled its two-handed blade with viperish speed, using its entire body to perform lethal lunges. In fact, it looked as if they might overcome the remaining members of the guard until the party struck them from behind.

The snakelike creature was obviously the greatest threat. Even as Kal approached, he could see the huge wounds its sword had torn into the bodies of several house guards. The snake saw him coming, and coiled its lower body in the same way that a human fighter would crouch. Then it sprang forward, sword aimed directly at Kal's head.

Kal hadn't expected it to have such reach, but his swords went up in a defensive cross immediately. He began the follow-through spin-disarm, but the snake had a much quicker recovery than any human would have, and snapped its blade out of the way before Kal could tear it out of its hands. Kal tried to close into sword range, but it recognized Kal as the greatest threat and began lunging at him repeatedly, forcing him to slow and then stop his advance. The snake struck again and again with incredible force, blows that would have driven anyone else to their knees, and it was difficult for Kal to react quickly enough to deflect the attacks.

One thing few people understand is that swords are not shields. It seems immediately obvious, but many who have never had any sword training tend to believe that one can simply hold up a blade in the way of another and successfully "block" it. This is, of course, less than truthful. Anyone trying to block a sword with another will find themselves at a serious disadvantage, as the attacker has speed, momentum, and whole-body force, while the defender has nothing but the strength of a single muscle pushing his own blade outward. Swords are used defensively - but the nature of the defence is using the sword to strike another sword in mid-attack, deflecting it from its attack, or as a final resort to catch the attack on the flat of the blade and redirect it sideways - not blocking it as a shield might do. This snake-creature struck so quickly that even though Kal was defending with both blades, which increased his chances of success, it was difficult to pick out the right moment to knock the incoming blade aside: too early or too late and it would take Kal right through the chest.

Choosing prudence, Kal backpedalled quickly and let the swords fall to the ground, easily unlimbering his bow and drawing an arrow out of the quiver strapped across his back. Force of habit had carried him through the actions, but as he aimed the arrow he heard a half-chuckle, half-hiss, echoing somewhere inside his mind. Yes...that's right.... Bhaal said.

Kal shook his head violently. No! I don't have to. I don't. He flung the bow and arrow aside, scooping up his blades again, and charged directly toward the snake. He was fairly sure he could take it. Without having anything more to do with Bhaal.

He saw two people break off from the trolls to assist him. Anomen circled around the snake's left flank while Captain Arat came at it from the right flank. Kal turned his eyes back to the snake - better not to tip it off - and began advancing again, this time using its recognition against it. He was driven back again, but every time Kal drew off an attack, Anomen and Captain Arat got closer. All he had to do was keep threatening and advancing....

Halfway through that thought, the snake struck again, with a perfectly timed and angled blow. Kal had raised his blades defensively, but Kal's luck had run out, and his blades had gone up too early, and they were already up when the attack hit. Instead of striking the other blade in midmotion, they were static, unmoving, and instead of redirecting the force off to the side, they had been almost perpendicular to the incoming blade - not redirecting the force at all. Kal was literally knocked off his feet, and flew through the air before landing with a crash. Both Captain Arat and Anomen began to run toward the snake as soon as they saw Kal fall, but they wouldn't be in time to stop it from striking again.

And it did - but not at Kal. Anomen's shield flashed down a second too late, and it bounced off the side of the sword as it crunched through Anomen's plate mail. Anomen collapsed, the massive wound on his right bleeding all over the stones of the courtyard. Kal got to his feet just in time to see Captain Arat drop his shield, take his bastard sword in both hands, and swing it downwards, slicing deeply into the snake's side. It would have killed any human - but this thing wasn't human.

The response was immediate. The snake let out an angry hiss, and drove its blade through Captain Arat's chest - at this close range, plate bent and crumpled like paper. The captain's body flew through the air, hit the wall, and slid down, leaving a lengthy bloodstain.

A red haze filled Kal's vision. He had already been running towards the creature, but now he suddenly blurred, moving at a speed even greater than the one afforded by his enchanted boots. Even as Arat hit the wall, Kal leaped into the air, spinning his swords and reversing his grip in mid-air. The snake turned away, ready to strike again - and it saw Kal for just a second before two sword blades, with all of Kal's weight behind them, slammed into its eyes and emerged from the back of its skull.

A red-and-black chuckle, in the back of Kal's skull. Perfect.




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