Post by Lady Hammer on May 7, 2007 18:39:26 GMT -5
It's a little bit long. 9 pages in MS Works.
IX: The ARC Contract, p2
The first thing Kedo’s violet eyes saw was Aeslyn. The older sister was wounded, crawling about the ground with her leg, bleeding at the thigh, and her arm was holding tightly onto something she couldn’t make out. Anna’s eyes then found her partner Malynn standing beside another man, and next to him was the supposed Black Ranger. Maravandril found Centa. Heavy breaths, gritting teeth, and blood running down his lips and cuts. Hand clenched tightly over the hilt of an elven sword. Other hand clenched, also bloody. Aeslyn had every reason to warn them. His malice was beastly.
“You bitch!” Anna took long strides up to Malynn and backhanded her as forcefully as she could. “I can’t believe you! You’re filthy! What kind of partner are you?”
“Anna, I didn’t know you--”
The thief hit her again, harder.
“I don’t care what you didn’t know!” Malynn fell, holding her swelling cheek in pain, trying not to move her jaw. Tears fell down her face.
“But I thought we were friends! Sisters…” Anna kicked her, and Malynn stilled and kept quiet, curling up on the ground. Disappointed, the thief looked down at her for only an instant before the strange other man grabbed her by the neck.
“What kind of city lowlife stands up for the law?” he asked. “It is the very law you want to save that keeps your poor self in the slums!” She was losing air fast. No one was coming to her rescue until a gun shot fired into the man’s side, and the thief was dropped to the ground. Phio approached, swinging two duelist pistols on his fingers.
“Emilio von Sanknich. Am I correct? Welcome to ARC.”
Pulling out a pair of knives, he eyed the amorphous black form, cackling when Maravandril gasped for air.
“Does my name matter? You’re all going to die here anyway. Then I will pry the Black Dress from the firebreather’s cold, dead fingers, and pry open these coffins!” He gestured to a black and a white coffin sitting next to each other in a dark corner behind the Ranger.
“The hell you’ll get this dress!” Aeslyn crawled forward, but Kedo ran to her rescue, finding the garment within her grasp.
“Aeslyn, we have to hide you --” She swatted Kedo’s hand away from her.
“No. I’m not losing my backbone to this battle! Take down the both of them no matter what! Don’t worry about the grounded little thief girl. Go!” Hesitant, the young sister followed her orders. Then, suddenly, Phio launched his fist into Centa’s face. They ignored Emilio’s laughter, but were in a silent awe when Centa was still, and didn’t move a muscle.
“Shut up and fight,” Phio told him before anything else was said. And he did.
Only half aware of his surroundings, Bootmann fumbled around with his little wooden spoon. The elf hated to think of it, but he was a useless addition to the operation. She couldn’t fathom ARC’s reasons for bringing him. Then, her eyes caught something hiding in the shadows of another corner. Someone. She squinted her eyes, and saw the frame of another elf suddenly gasp, and slowly step into the light. It was a charcoal-skinned, starry-haired ‘mirk elf’, who carried a thin sword that was nearly as tall as he was.
“You vile kind! Why am I not surprised a disgusting mirk elf is in on this?” Maravandril said lowly, clenching her fingers around a white feather-tipped arrow. At once, even before the mirk elf could snicker, Emilio’s thick bicep tightened around her throat, his arm curling around her neck.
“You should watch what you say to Taak!” he said, cutting off her air. “Mirk elves are known for having grudges that continue long after they are dead! Silly elf girl!” Then, Taak’s eyes widened as he saw Centa’s fist dive into the side of Emilio’s head, and Maravandril was dropped to the floor. For a second, she gathered herself and looked to the man, but him and Emilio engaged in combat. She then turned to Taak, fitting her arrow into her bow.
Kedo, as she pursued the Black Ranger, cutting down the daemonlings as she went, couldn’t help looking back at her sister. Aeslyn seemed helpless, trying to hide the fact that she was taking refuge behind the Black Coffin. Something just didn’t feel right. It was always supposed to be the other way around. Aeslyn was the one who fought, and Kedo was the one who hid. But now, she supposed it was her time to show just how strong she really was, and how she could fend for the both of them.
“Kedo!” Phio had called her. It was a bit shocking; she didn’t even know that he knew her name. She looked back at him, and decided she’d prove how strong she was to him too. As the watchwoman neared, the Black Ranger suddenly turned around and roared at his now two pursuers and lashed out with clawlike hands, digging a deep wound in Kedo’s abdomen. Retaliating, the woman swung her sword. Missed. Then, Phio fired a round off his duelist pistols.
“You should really take your sister and get out of here!” he said to her, grabbing her wrist and pulling her out of the path of the Black Ranger’s next lunge. At once, she yanked her hand back.
“No! I know what I’m doing! I’m here for a reason, just like everyone else!” she shouted. “You should be grateful for our help!”
Beside them was Malynn, inching away, crawling, stumbling, as her partner glared down at her maliciously.
“Please, Anna! Forgive me! I’ll fight with you! I will! Please don’t hurt me, Anna! I’d never do anything to--” the other thief kicked her hard in her side, and crying, Malynn sputtered.
“Please, Anna!”
“Get up and fight, you bitch!”
Behind her, Maravandril and Taak had gone from firing arrows back and forth to slashing and stabbing wildly with them. Then, there was a ferocious yell from Centa. He and Emilio had migrated to the center of the room, beside a tall, spiraling staircase, and the criminal had cleaved his knife right across the watchman’s chest. Blood was spitting from the wound and slicking the stone ground, and Emilio stood there, watching in the tiny moment of gratification he had. Still in a stupor gazing at his own blood, Centa’s eyes slowly went across the room to Phio, who worriedly stared back. Silence. And then, suddenly, Centa growled and snapped his bead back to Emilio, continuing the fight with a vicious swing of his fist. Through everything, Bootmann lumbered around in the background.
“Take your weapon out, whore!” Malynn had finally risen, and refused to unsheath her shortsword. She shook her head. “You’ll take it out or I’ll cut you down right now, Malynn!” Anna roared. She could hear Centa’s blood drip behind her, and her angry fever only grew. “Fight me!” Tentatively, the thief at last took her weapon out. Immediately, Anna swung her dagger. Malynn dodged.
Centa had an upper and on Emilio despite his wound. With each of his strikes, Emilio took a step back, parrying. Then, the meandering asylum patient cluelessly stood in his path, amazed.
“Oooh…”
Emilio looked back to take notice just a moment too late, and with a terrified yelp, stumbled over the man, watching as Centa prepared what would be the finishing blow.
Anna noticed this, and the men’s fight was right behind hers. She suddenly found herself caught between a stationary Centa and Malynn, who had suddenly turned offensive.
“That’s it! I’m sick and tired of you always kicking me around! Like I’m lower than you! We’re both the scum of the city, and you know this! And you know what Anna? You know what?” Anna narrowly avoided her swing. “When we get to be the level of low we are, it doesn’t get any lower on that level, and we’re all equal! So stop acting like you’re so much better than everyone!” She came jabbing at Anna with such force, she was nearly throwing her sword. Anna had no choice but to side-step. Centa was just about to thrust his weapon into Emilio’s ribcage when Malynn’s shortsword flew sharply into his back. Once again, the room was quiet. But, instead of his fury growing like it had, and instead of him readying another swing, Centa fell. Slowly. He looked up, blood beginning to drip from his lips, his eyes wide. Phio watched him in disbelief. Watched him like it wasn’t supposed to be that way. The tall man choked and coughed up his own blood, providing nervous sweat at Phio’s temples. Something was off. Centa had fallen. Suddenly, the room exploded in fury again as Anna’s dagger hacked through Malynn’s midsection, and back again. The girl didn’t even have time to scream. When it became clear that Anna’s massacre would continue, the fighting went on, only this time, Phio’s rage sent him right at Emilio.
“He’s not dead… is he?” Kedo asked herself, looking at Centa on the ground, unmoving, and his blood pooling beneath him. The Black Ranger swooped beside her and clasped his icy claws around her throat, a wispy laugh wheezing out of his form, sending a chill down her spine.
“Worry not about him. Your bones are breaking between my fingers!” Thrusting her elbow into the form’s stomach, Kedo whipped around, sending her foot into the side of the Ranger’s head. What he said next couldn’t be heard over Malynn’s painful screech. The others turned to watch. Anna stood before her partner with her dagger in her hand, and a foot planted over Malynn’s fallen shortsword on the ground. With a futile attempt, the young bawd clamped her hands on her deep wounds, but the bloodspill was too much. Withering to the ground with sad, defeated eyes, she saw the last swipe of Anna’s blade, and she slumped over.
“That’s what you get. You’re filthy! You’re all filthy! This city is pained as it is! What do you want from it?” The thief’s deathstare locked on Emilio, but her dagger pointed at the Ranger.
“You certainly are one to call us filthy, aren’t you?” Taak then said, sidestepping Maravandril’s jab. Scowling, she slowly ducked away as the mirk elf spoke again, inconspicuously reaching for Malynn’s discarded weapon.
“I’m not fraying the very hems that this city relies on! Don’t you look at me like I’m scum!” Anna bit back. Before Taak could open his mouth, Maravandril swung the sword as hard as she could into his neck, and a spray of purple mirk-blood misted the air.
“You damned creatures of the mirk…” she said, panting. “You should stay with the decay you grew from!” Taak grasped the wound on his neck, dropping all of his weapons and falling to the ground, glaring to the elf.
“You are a stain to your kin… you’ll see it before long!” Maravandril then stuck the shortsword through his chest.
“How dare you call me a stain!” Then, she turned to Emilio.
“Sir Sanknich,” Phio’s broken voice then came, “I would love to know who you’re working for.” He clenched tighter onto his guns. “Whoever sent you… will die…”
“No. No, she won’t die. You’ve had years to kill her and have done nothing!” the man shouted back. “All the better. You had your chances, after all!”
“Then you’d better make the best of this chance of yours!” Maravandril said, fitting an arrow into her bow. Phio followed suit and began firing, Emilio dashing out of the way and coming at the watchman with his sword.
Trying to catch her breath, Anna stood over her dead partner, letting her rage quell as she stared. It just couldn’t be enough that Malynn was needy and irresponsible and was always putting them in danger. No, she just had to be working against her. But Anna wouldn’t let guilt hit her. The opposition, no matter who it happened to be, must be killed. A secret paranoia of hers. Then, in the corner of her eye, she saw Bootmann with a small knife, staring to the Black Ranger. Strangely, the apparition was just circling the area, gazing at Taak, Malynn, and Centa’s still bodies. Without warning, the lumbering man ran into the Ranger, knocking him into the ground and shoving the knife into his midsection. Immediately, Anna joined in, kicking the downed enemy as hard as she could, although her and Bootmann’s efforts turned futile. The Black Ranger rose in an instant, and two daemonlings crawled from the shadows. Kedo saw them, fearfully, from between the coffins as she tended to Aeslyn.
“Go help them!” the older sister snapped. The watchwoman avoided her glare.
“I need to help you! If I leave you, they’ll kill you!”
“Kedo, g--”
Aeslyn paused and looked in Kedo’s pack, her eyes finding a black book cradled in a sheet. She then gave a different stare to her sister.
“You have the Black Book.” Silently, Kedo nodded. “… Open it.” The girl’s hands brought the book before her and separated the pages. Aeslyn’s green eyes rested on all of the crypted words, page after page of an unreadable story. She was agape.
“Kedo--”
Finally, five gunshots pierced through Emilio’s leather armor, and the criminal howled in pain as he was knocked off of his feet. His blood smeared the already crimson-stained ground, and that was when Kedo noticed that the trail of mirk-blood had disappeared.
“Kedo! Look out!” Aeslyn shouted. Above her, Kedo looked to see an angry Taak looming over, his dark blue eyes twinkling with a strange, nonliving essence. Immediately, she tumbled out of the way before his blade could crash down on her, and with a firm kick to his chest, got herself up. The mirk elf quickly regained himself.
“Just give me the book, darling little human!” he said, tightening the grip on his blade. Kedo’s anger escalated.
“No! The damn book is mine! I’ve worked a hell of a way to get this far, and if you want the book, your dead fingers will have to pry it from mine!”
With one fell slice, the elf’s head, hair and all, came to the ground, shortly followed by his body.
“Kedo…”
The little sister turned to Aeslyn, catching her breath.
“No. Don’t console me, don’t congratulate me; just acknowledge this, sister,” she said. The Black Ranger suddenly cackled.
“Oh what? You think you’ve saved her?” Everyone turned to the apparition. “You are far from success.” And then, the room went dark, and when seconds had passed, it was light again, but the bodies of Taak, Malynn, and Emilio were gone. Furiously, Maravandril turned to Phio.
“What the hell is going on!? This is sick! You filthy men and your filthy building!” she yelled, approaching him. The man had his back turned to her and was standing before his comrade, who was motionless on the ground, and Phio’s unresponsiveness only further upset the elf.
“Did you hear me? I’m calling you filthy! How do you know Kardis? Hey!” She ran up and spun him around by his shoulder, and then stopped when she saw his expression. She couldn’t have expected a more distraught face if it had been her own. Quickly, the man wiped away an escaping tear.
“Please, just go…”
For a second, Maravandril’s anger was completely through the roof, but she hurriedly turned away and let him tend to the other watchman. The lambent sadness he radiated hurt her, and she couldn’t stand to watch him kneel to Centa. Grasp his hands in his own. Whisper. Maybe cry, even. She bit her lip.
Over by Kedo and Aeslyn, Anna and Bootmann were examining the two coffins, sighing and folding arms in frustration. When the elf saw the Black Book open, however, her anger was replaced by a growing curiosity.
“What’s going on? What does the book say?” she asked, running over beside Kedo.
“We don’t know. It’s all coded. Can you read it?” Maravandril shook her head, scanning over the pages. “Regardless of what it says, it must have something to do with these coffins!” the watchwoman continued. “Look…” she flipped through a few pages until there was a picture, “… it’s the Black Dress Aeslyn has! I have to take it somewhere and have them translate it for us…”
“No!” Aeslyn said, slamming the book shut. “We can’t let anyone see this! Emilio and those others that were here -- what if we had people like them translate it, unknowing that they were secretly hired against us? It’s too risky! We have to keep this to ourselves and figure it out on our own!” Kedo glared, but her words were cut off by Anna before they could start.
“Hey! These coffins have keyholes!” Remembering the key that Kardis gave her from the mirror, the elf rushed over to see. She wanted to say something halfway consoling when she saw Anna covered in her partner’s blood, but quickly decided against it. “See? Look.” Indeed, there were keyholes in both coffins, but Maravandril shook at the thought of opening one. The coffins were larger, much larger than one of standard size, and were made of a dull steel. The elf rubbed her hands on the smooth surface before sighing.
“Should we open them?” she asked. Grunting, Aeslyn tried to stand, but Kedo pulled her back down.
“Let me up! I’m fine!” she growled.
“Your leg is hurt. Stay down for now! I’m not going to jeopardize your seniority!” Aeslyn looked away from Kedo, hiding her sour glare.
“You’re the one on trial,” Anna said, folding her arms and eyeing the elf. “Why don’t you be the judge of opening them?”
“But I’m afraid that I’m missing one of my sister’s riddles. It just doesn’t seem like the decision should end here…” Then, there was a silence with only Aeslyn flipping the pages of the book.
“What, like you’d only be able to open one of them?” Kedo asked. Maravandril nodded.
“Then you’d better choose wisely,” the thief said, grinning and folding her arms. “At least there’s only two to choose from.”
“Everything is black,” Aeslyn suddenly said. “Black Book, Black Dress, hell, the Black Ranger…”
“So then…” Maravandril turned to the Black Coffin and looked at the arrow in her hand, “… I guess I’ll open the black one.” Tentatively, the elf poked the key into its hole, and immediately, Phio cried out.
“NO! DON’T OPEN THE BLACK ONE!”
But the call was useless, and he knew this. There was a loud unlocking noise as a hot rush of dust blew from the cracks and openings of the coffin, and its lid slowly started to open. Phio rushed over to them, tore the book out of Aeslyn’s hands, and ripped a blank page out from the back.
“Go, go, go! Get out of here before it’s too late!” he shouted, helping a cursing Aeslyn into Bootmann’s arms. Confused, Anna, Kedo, and Maravandril followed them out of the room, and back into the darkness with the curtains.
“What’s going on? What just happened?” Anna snapped at once. “I demand to know!”
“The Black Coffin, the Black Coffin… dammit! Why did it have to be the Black Coffin?” he mumbled, opening a secret section in one of the walls, and sorting through piles of junk until he found a quill and an inkwell.
“Heywood, give us an answer!” Maravandril shouted. Phio ignored her, putting the blank paper against Bootmann’s back and scribbling furiously. He disregarded the man’s ticklish laughter.
“I need you all to sign this!” he then said, handing it first to Kedo. “It’s a contract. I need you to go to Theshol, and figure this out: A tower hidden hides nothing but a tale. And please, protect the bell!” Aeslyn sneered when Kedo passed the contract around after signing.
“‘The following people are bound by contract from ARC. Details unwritten.’ How dare you ask me to sign one of your stupid contracts! Not until you tell me what’s going on!”
“There’s no time for that, Aeslyn!” he said. She glared at him.
“Then no deal.” Maravandril snatched it from her hands, signed it, and passed it to Anna and Bootmann. Suddenly, there was a loud roar and a rush of heat. With a line of profanity, Phio handed Kedo his duelist pistols and rushed out of the room.
“Hurry! Go!” Just before he pushed a door shut over his only exit, Maravandril saw a fiery, gargantuan entity rise from the coffin, heading for Phio. The door was firmly in place, and, puzzled, Kedo looked at the duelist pistols in her hands.
IX: The ARC Contract, p2
The first thing Kedo’s violet eyes saw was Aeslyn. The older sister was wounded, crawling about the ground with her leg, bleeding at the thigh, and her arm was holding tightly onto something she couldn’t make out. Anna’s eyes then found her partner Malynn standing beside another man, and next to him was the supposed Black Ranger. Maravandril found Centa. Heavy breaths, gritting teeth, and blood running down his lips and cuts. Hand clenched tightly over the hilt of an elven sword. Other hand clenched, also bloody. Aeslyn had every reason to warn them. His malice was beastly.
“You bitch!” Anna took long strides up to Malynn and backhanded her as forcefully as she could. “I can’t believe you! You’re filthy! What kind of partner are you?”
“Anna, I didn’t know you--”
The thief hit her again, harder.
“I don’t care what you didn’t know!” Malynn fell, holding her swelling cheek in pain, trying not to move her jaw. Tears fell down her face.
“But I thought we were friends! Sisters…” Anna kicked her, and Malynn stilled and kept quiet, curling up on the ground. Disappointed, the thief looked down at her for only an instant before the strange other man grabbed her by the neck.
“What kind of city lowlife stands up for the law?” he asked. “It is the very law you want to save that keeps your poor self in the slums!” She was losing air fast. No one was coming to her rescue until a gun shot fired into the man’s side, and the thief was dropped to the ground. Phio approached, swinging two duelist pistols on his fingers.
“Emilio von Sanknich. Am I correct? Welcome to ARC.”
Pulling out a pair of knives, he eyed the amorphous black form, cackling when Maravandril gasped for air.
“Does my name matter? You’re all going to die here anyway. Then I will pry the Black Dress from the firebreather’s cold, dead fingers, and pry open these coffins!” He gestured to a black and a white coffin sitting next to each other in a dark corner behind the Ranger.
“The hell you’ll get this dress!” Aeslyn crawled forward, but Kedo ran to her rescue, finding the garment within her grasp.
“Aeslyn, we have to hide you --” She swatted Kedo’s hand away from her.
“No. I’m not losing my backbone to this battle! Take down the both of them no matter what! Don’t worry about the grounded little thief girl. Go!” Hesitant, the young sister followed her orders. Then, suddenly, Phio launched his fist into Centa’s face. They ignored Emilio’s laughter, but were in a silent awe when Centa was still, and didn’t move a muscle.
“Shut up and fight,” Phio told him before anything else was said. And he did.
Only half aware of his surroundings, Bootmann fumbled around with his little wooden spoon. The elf hated to think of it, but he was a useless addition to the operation. She couldn’t fathom ARC’s reasons for bringing him. Then, her eyes caught something hiding in the shadows of another corner. Someone. She squinted her eyes, and saw the frame of another elf suddenly gasp, and slowly step into the light. It was a charcoal-skinned, starry-haired ‘mirk elf’, who carried a thin sword that was nearly as tall as he was.
“You vile kind! Why am I not surprised a disgusting mirk elf is in on this?” Maravandril said lowly, clenching her fingers around a white feather-tipped arrow. At once, even before the mirk elf could snicker, Emilio’s thick bicep tightened around her throat, his arm curling around her neck.
“You should watch what you say to Taak!” he said, cutting off her air. “Mirk elves are known for having grudges that continue long after they are dead! Silly elf girl!” Then, Taak’s eyes widened as he saw Centa’s fist dive into the side of Emilio’s head, and Maravandril was dropped to the floor. For a second, she gathered herself and looked to the man, but him and Emilio engaged in combat. She then turned to Taak, fitting her arrow into her bow.
Kedo, as she pursued the Black Ranger, cutting down the daemonlings as she went, couldn’t help looking back at her sister. Aeslyn seemed helpless, trying to hide the fact that she was taking refuge behind the Black Coffin. Something just didn’t feel right. It was always supposed to be the other way around. Aeslyn was the one who fought, and Kedo was the one who hid. But now, she supposed it was her time to show just how strong she really was, and how she could fend for the both of them.
“Kedo!” Phio had called her. It was a bit shocking; she didn’t even know that he knew her name. She looked back at him, and decided she’d prove how strong she was to him too. As the watchwoman neared, the Black Ranger suddenly turned around and roared at his now two pursuers and lashed out with clawlike hands, digging a deep wound in Kedo’s abdomen. Retaliating, the woman swung her sword. Missed. Then, Phio fired a round off his duelist pistols.
“You should really take your sister and get out of here!” he said to her, grabbing her wrist and pulling her out of the path of the Black Ranger’s next lunge. At once, she yanked her hand back.
“No! I know what I’m doing! I’m here for a reason, just like everyone else!” she shouted. “You should be grateful for our help!”
Beside them was Malynn, inching away, crawling, stumbling, as her partner glared down at her maliciously.
“Please, Anna! Forgive me! I’ll fight with you! I will! Please don’t hurt me, Anna! I’d never do anything to--” the other thief kicked her hard in her side, and crying, Malynn sputtered.
“Please, Anna!”
“Get up and fight, you bitch!”
Behind her, Maravandril and Taak had gone from firing arrows back and forth to slashing and stabbing wildly with them. Then, there was a ferocious yell from Centa. He and Emilio had migrated to the center of the room, beside a tall, spiraling staircase, and the criminal had cleaved his knife right across the watchman’s chest. Blood was spitting from the wound and slicking the stone ground, and Emilio stood there, watching in the tiny moment of gratification he had. Still in a stupor gazing at his own blood, Centa’s eyes slowly went across the room to Phio, who worriedly stared back. Silence. And then, suddenly, Centa growled and snapped his bead back to Emilio, continuing the fight with a vicious swing of his fist. Through everything, Bootmann lumbered around in the background.
“Take your weapon out, whore!” Malynn had finally risen, and refused to unsheath her shortsword. She shook her head. “You’ll take it out or I’ll cut you down right now, Malynn!” Anna roared. She could hear Centa’s blood drip behind her, and her angry fever only grew. “Fight me!” Tentatively, the thief at last took her weapon out. Immediately, Anna swung her dagger. Malynn dodged.
Centa had an upper and on Emilio despite his wound. With each of his strikes, Emilio took a step back, parrying. Then, the meandering asylum patient cluelessly stood in his path, amazed.
“Oooh…”
Emilio looked back to take notice just a moment too late, and with a terrified yelp, stumbled over the man, watching as Centa prepared what would be the finishing blow.
Anna noticed this, and the men’s fight was right behind hers. She suddenly found herself caught between a stationary Centa and Malynn, who had suddenly turned offensive.
“That’s it! I’m sick and tired of you always kicking me around! Like I’m lower than you! We’re both the scum of the city, and you know this! And you know what Anna? You know what?” Anna narrowly avoided her swing. “When we get to be the level of low we are, it doesn’t get any lower on that level, and we’re all equal! So stop acting like you’re so much better than everyone!” She came jabbing at Anna with such force, she was nearly throwing her sword. Anna had no choice but to side-step. Centa was just about to thrust his weapon into Emilio’s ribcage when Malynn’s shortsword flew sharply into his back. Once again, the room was quiet. But, instead of his fury growing like it had, and instead of him readying another swing, Centa fell. Slowly. He looked up, blood beginning to drip from his lips, his eyes wide. Phio watched him in disbelief. Watched him like it wasn’t supposed to be that way. The tall man choked and coughed up his own blood, providing nervous sweat at Phio’s temples. Something was off. Centa had fallen. Suddenly, the room exploded in fury again as Anna’s dagger hacked through Malynn’s midsection, and back again. The girl didn’t even have time to scream. When it became clear that Anna’s massacre would continue, the fighting went on, only this time, Phio’s rage sent him right at Emilio.
“He’s not dead… is he?” Kedo asked herself, looking at Centa on the ground, unmoving, and his blood pooling beneath him. The Black Ranger swooped beside her and clasped his icy claws around her throat, a wispy laugh wheezing out of his form, sending a chill down her spine.
“Worry not about him. Your bones are breaking between my fingers!” Thrusting her elbow into the form’s stomach, Kedo whipped around, sending her foot into the side of the Ranger’s head. What he said next couldn’t be heard over Malynn’s painful screech. The others turned to watch. Anna stood before her partner with her dagger in her hand, and a foot planted over Malynn’s fallen shortsword on the ground. With a futile attempt, the young bawd clamped her hands on her deep wounds, but the bloodspill was too much. Withering to the ground with sad, defeated eyes, she saw the last swipe of Anna’s blade, and she slumped over.
“That’s what you get. You’re filthy! You’re all filthy! This city is pained as it is! What do you want from it?” The thief’s deathstare locked on Emilio, but her dagger pointed at the Ranger.
“You certainly are one to call us filthy, aren’t you?” Taak then said, sidestepping Maravandril’s jab. Scowling, she slowly ducked away as the mirk elf spoke again, inconspicuously reaching for Malynn’s discarded weapon.
“I’m not fraying the very hems that this city relies on! Don’t you look at me like I’m scum!” Anna bit back. Before Taak could open his mouth, Maravandril swung the sword as hard as she could into his neck, and a spray of purple mirk-blood misted the air.
“You damned creatures of the mirk…” she said, panting. “You should stay with the decay you grew from!” Taak grasped the wound on his neck, dropping all of his weapons and falling to the ground, glaring to the elf.
“You are a stain to your kin… you’ll see it before long!” Maravandril then stuck the shortsword through his chest.
“How dare you call me a stain!” Then, she turned to Emilio.
“Sir Sanknich,” Phio’s broken voice then came, “I would love to know who you’re working for.” He clenched tighter onto his guns. “Whoever sent you… will die…”
“No. No, she won’t die. You’ve had years to kill her and have done nothing!” the man shouted back. “All the better. You had your chances, after all!”
“Then you’d better make the best of this chance of yours!” Maravandril said, fitting an arrow into her bow. Phio followed suit and began firing, Emilio dashing out of the way and coming at the watchman with his sword.
Trying to catch her breath, Anna stood over her dead partner, letting her rage quell as she stared. It just couldn’t be enough that Malynn was needy and irresponsible and was always putting them in danger. No, she just had to be working against her. But Anna wouldn’t let guilt hit her. The opposition, no matter who it happened to be, must be killed. A secret paranoia of hers. Then, in the corner of her eye, she saw Bootmann with a small knife, staring to the Black Ranger. Strangely, the apparition was just circling the area, gazing at Taak, Malynn, and Centa’s still bodies. Without warning, the lumbering man ran into the Ranger, knocking him into the ground and shoving the knife into his midsection. Immediately, Anna joined in, kicking the downed enemy as hard as she could, although her and Bootmann’s efforts turned futile. The Black Ranger rose in an instant, and two daemonlings crawled from the shadows. Kedo saw them, fearfully, from between the coffins as she tended to Aeslyn.
“Go help them!” the older sister snapped. The watchwoman avoided her glare.
“I need to help you! If I leave you, they’ll kill you!”
“Kedo, g--”
Aeslyn paused and looked in Kedo’s pack, her eyes finding a black book cradled in a sheet. She then gave a different stare to her sister.
“You have the Black Book.” Silently, Kedo nodded. “… Open it.” The girl’s hands brought the book before her and separated the pages. Aeslyn’s green eyes rested on all of the crypted words, page after page of an unreadable story. She was agape.
“Kedo--”
Finally, five gunshots pierced through Emilio’s leather armor, and the criminal howled in pain as he was knocked off of his feet. His blood smeared the already crimson-stained ground, and that was when Kedo noticed that the trail of mirk-blood had disappeared.
“Kedo! Look out!” Aeslyn shouted. Above her, Kedo looked to see an angry Taak looming over, his dark blue eyes twinkling with a strange, nonliving essence. Immediately, she tumbled out of the way before his blade could crash down on her, and with a firm kick to his chest, got herself up. The mirk elf quickly regained himself.
“Just give me the book, darling little human!” he said, tightening the grip on his blade. Kedo’s anger escalated.
“No! The damn book is mine! I’ve worked a hell of a way to get this far, and if you want the book, your dead fingers will have to pry it from mine!”
With one fell slice, the elf’s head, hair and all, came to the ground, shortly followed by his body.
“Kedo…”
The little sister turned to Aeslyn, catching her breath.
“No. Don’t console me, don’t congratulate me; just acknowledge this, sister,” she said. The Black Ranger suddenly cackled.
“Oh what? You think you’ve saved her?” Everyone turned to the apparition. “You are far from success.” And then, the room went dark, and when seconds had passed, it was light again, but the bodies of Taak, Malynn, and Emilio were gone. Furiously, Maravandril turned to Phio.
“What the hell is going on!? This is sick! You filthy men and your filthy building!” she yelled, approaching him. The man had his back turned to her and was standing before his comrade, who was motionless on the ground, and Phio’s unresponsiveness only further upset the elf.
“Did you hear me? I’m calling you filthy! How do you know Kardis? Hey!” She ran up and spun him around by his shoulder, and then stopped when she saw his expression. She couldn’t have expected a more distraught face if it had been her own. Quickly, the man wiped away an escaping tear.
“Please, just go…”
For a second, Maravandril’s anger was completely through the roof, but she hurriedly turned away and let him tend to the other watchman. The lambent sadness he radiated hurt her, and she couldn’t stand to watch him kneel to Centa. Grasp his hands in his own. Whisper. Maybe cry, even. She bit her lip.
Over by Kedo and Aeslyn, Anna and Bootmann were examining the two coffins, sighing and folding arms in frustration. When the elf saw the Black Book open, however, her anger was replaced by a growing curiosity.
“What’s going on? What does the book say?” she asked, running over beside Kedo.
“We don’t know. It’s all coded. Can you read it?” Maravandril shook her head, scanning over the pages. “Regardless of what it says, it must have something to do with these coffins!” the watchwoman continued. “Look…” she flipped through a few pages until there was a picture, “… it’s the Black Dress Aeslyn has! I have to take it somewhere and have them translate it for us…”
“No!” Aeslyn said, slamming the book shut. “We can’t let anyone see this! Emilio and those others that were here -- what if we had people like them translate it, unknowing that they were secretly hired against us? It’s too risky! We have to keep this to ourselves and figure it out on our own!” Kedo glared, but her words were cut off by Anna before they could start.
“Hey! These coffins have keyholes!” Remembering the key that Kardis gave her from the mirror, the elf rushed over to see. She wanted to say something halfway consoling when she saw Anna covered in her partner’s blood, but quickly decided against it. “See? Look.” Indeed, there were keyholes in both coffins, but Maravandril shook at the thought of opening one. The coffins were larger, much larger than one of standard size, and were made of a dull steel. The elf rubbed her hands on the smooth surface before sighing.
“Should we open them?” she asked. Grunting, Aeslyn tried to stand, but Kedo pulled her back down.
“Let me up! I’m fine!” she growled.
“Your leg is hurt. Stay down for now! I’m not going to jeopardize your seniority!” Aeslyn looked away from Kedo, hiding her sour glare.
“You’re the one on trial,” Anna said, folding her arms and eyeing the elf. “Why don’t you be the judge of opening them?”
“But I’m afraid that I’m missing one of my sister’s riddles. It just doesn’t seem like the decision should end here…” Then, there was a silence with only Aeslyn flipping the pages of the book.
“What, like you’d only be able to open one of them?” Kedo asked. Maravandril nodded.
“Then you’d better choose wisely,” the thief said, grinning and folding her arms. “At least there’s only two to choose from.”
“Everything is black,” Aeslyn suddenly said. “Black Book, Black Dress, hell, the Black Ranger…”
“So then…” Maravandril turned to the Black Coffin and looked at the arrow in her hand, “… I guess I’ll open the black one.” Tentatively, the elf poked the key into its hole, and immediately, Phio cried out.
“NO! DON’T OPEN THE BLACK ONE!”
But the call was useless, and he knew this. There was a loud unlocking noise as a hot rush of dust blew from the cracks and openings of the coffin, and its lid slowly started to open. Phio rushed over to them, tore the book out of Aeslyn’s hands, and ripped a blank page out from the back.
“Go, go, go! Get out of here before it’s too late!” he shouted, helping a cursing Aeslyn into Bootmann’s arms. Confused, Anna, Kedo, and Maravandril followed them out of the room, and back into the darkness with the curtains.
“What’s going on? What just happened?” Anna snapped at once. “I demand to know!”
“The Black Coffin, the Black Coffin… dammit! Why did it have to be the Black Coffin?” he mumbled, opening a secret section in one of the walls, and sorting through piles of junk until he found a quill and an inkwell.
“Heywood, give us an answer!” Maravandril shouted. Phio ignored her, putting the blank paper against Bootmann’s back and scribbling furiously. He disregarded the man’s ticklish laughter.
“I need you all to sign this!” he then said, handing it first to Kedo. “It’s a contract. I need you to go to Theshol, and figure this out: A tower hidden hides nothing but a tale. And please, protect the bell!” Aeslyn sneered when Kedo passed the contract around after signing.
“‘The following people are bound by contract from ARC. Details unwritten.’ How dare you ask me to sign one of your stupid contracts! Not until you tell me what’s going on!”
“There’s no time for that, Aeslyn!” he said. She glared at him.
“Then no deal.” Maravandril snatched it from her hands, signed it, and passed it to Anna and Bootmann. Suddenly, there was a loud roar and a rush of heat. With a line of profanity, Phio handed Kedo his duelist pistols and rushed out of the room.
“Hurry! Go!” Just before he pushed a door shut over his only exit, Maravandril saw a fiery, gargantuan entity rise from the coffin, heading for Phio. The door was firmly in place, and, puzzled, Kedo looked at the duelist pistols in her hands.
