Fated (Chapter Fifty-Nine)
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Chapter Fifty-Nine
Kingdom of Kalt’on, Minecraftia. November 4, year 573. Time instance 483Z.
It was late at night on the fourth when the first watchtower guarding the border of the desert came into sight. They had dodged a few other watchtowers set up in the forest, but they were considerably less frequent. While Kalt’on did technically stretch north all the way to border Sunspire, the kingdom barely even guarded its forested areas due to its people being hesitant about leaving the desert.
Mokdal had landed some time ago to avoid being spotted by the guards, but was no stranger to complaining about how much energy walking took and how much he hated it.
“You can’t possibly hate walking as much as I hate flying.” Marcus told him.
“Do you ever stop complaining?” Vian asked him, raising an eyebrow.
“Never. I’m an asshole like that.”
“I’ll take you over Valkan any day.” Nia told him, and the group muttered in agreement.
“Hey, I said I was an asshole, not a full-fledged broodmother of asses.”
Quite a few people laughed, only to be shushed by Iirkolav. “Do you want to be heard? I’m hoping to slip between two watch…tow…ers…”
Iirkolav trailed off as something else, something between the watchtowers, came into sight:
A fence.
An unexpected obstacle.
It was about nine feet tall and made of thick links of metal with sharp barbs at the top and between the links. It connected one watchtower to the next and the section they were at didn’t appear to have an entryway. In addition to the guards on each of the watchtowers, patrols walked back and forth between the watchtowers along the fence, eyes peeled for intruders. Iirkolav quickly motioned the group back out of sight before speaking again.
“Well. That’s new.”
Blade looked at him like he was nuts. “That fence has been there for at least a hundred years or so. The only way that’s ‘new’ is relative to a dragon.”
Iirkolav shot him a withering glare. “I’m from two hundred years ago, fuckwad. According to me, this fence was put up yesterday.” He peeked over the ridge at it again before shaking his head. “I didn’t plan for this. Last time we just wiped out a watchtower and strolled on in.”
“Kill them all.” Blade suggested. “Climb both watchtowers at the same time, kill everyone inside, and take care of the patrols.”
“The others would notice eventually.” Iirkolav barked. “I want to get in unnoticed, dammit.”
“Why?” Blade demanded. “We’re here to kill them, aren’t we?”
“We’re here to kill the Hostiles.” Nia corrected.”And if Kalt’on soldiers get in the way, well… casualties have to be sustained.”
“I could fly everyone over, if I made multiple trips.” Mokdal reasoned. “There’s just a chance of them seeing me take off and land. I have no idea how far is far enough so that I’m out of sight of the patrols and won’t land in the middle of another patrol route or similar, and being in the air too long is risky. Those ballistae I saw on the towers are undoubtedly built to kill dragons, despite no dragon setting claw in Kalt’on for many centuries now.”
“Why did the dragons withdraw from most places, anyway?” Nia asked, looking at him oddly.
Mitven cleared her throat, looking guilty. “Let’s not go into that right now, shall we?”
“Agreed.” Mokdal sighed. “So what is the plan?”
“Let me think.” Iirkolav drew diagrams in the sand and grumbled to himself before finally sighing. “Unfortunately, I think Blade has the best plan. If Mokdal tries to fly us over, there’s a huge chance of him being shot down. The only problem is that I don’t know how we’ll get to the towers without being seen and shot at.”
“Send in flyers.” Nessy suggested. “You could go for one tower and I could go for the other. While they’re distracted, the others could get to the towers. We’re too small for them to readily aim with the ballistae.”
Iirkolav looked at her like she was a genius. “That’s absolutely brilliant. Who’s good at climbing?”
Blade, Vian, Claire, Onai, Marcus, and Katrin raised their hands.
“Okay. Blade, Claire, and Onai, you take the tower on the left with Nessy. Vian, Marcus, and Katrin, you come with me to the tower on the right. Everyone else, once those towers are sufficiently distracted, charge forward and cut through the fence and take care of the patrols. Mokdal, stay back just in case. You’re pretty noticeable, even at night.”
The dragon nodded, resigning himself to sitting this one out.
“Don’t forget to avoid letting them light the signal fires.” Fate put in. “If they get those lit, all of Kalt’on will know we’re here in about three seconds.”
“Right. No fires. Everyone know the plan?”
The group nodded.
The first organized battle striking at the armed nation.
Iirkolav drank a few drops of his potion, changing into his monstrous form, even as Nessy transformed into a dragon. She spread her purple wings and looked at Iirkolav for confirmation.
“Mokdal, if you would be so kind as to throw me in the vague direction of the top of the tower, that would be appreciated. It’s hard for me to fly without some sort of lift.”
Mokdal nodded and seized Iirkolav in his front paw, leaning back to throw. Dragons weren’t the best at this, but it would have to do.
“Now!” Iirkolav hissed, and Mokdal threw. Iirkolav extended his arms as he sailed through the air, balancing out his flight and aiming for the tower. He glanced to his left and saw that Nessy had launched herself at the opposite tower, teeth bared in determination.
Nessy reached her tower seconds before Iirkolav did, claws ripping into one man the moment she collided with him. Another began to shout but her tail knocked his feet out from under him and her claws soon dealt with him. She dodged the sword of another man and was soon engaged in combat with the dozen or so soldiers in the tower, mostly doing her best to avoid their attacks. She just had to hold out until-
A hand made of darkness appeared from the corner and wrapped itself around one of the soldiers, crushing the life out of him. Claire wasn’t far behind Onai, sword flashing, but Nessy noticed that they were not the most terrifying of her backup.
Blade’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cut down man after man, a slight smile pulling itself onto his face once every soldier lay dead. He raced quickly down the stairs, trying to get to the patrols at the bottom before the others did. Onai frowned after him, exchanging glances with Nessy.
“I wonder if he’s okay, mentally.” Nessy mumbled.
“He is a bit concerning.” Claire admitted. “Come on!” She followed him down the stairs, Onai not far behind. Nessy leaped off the tower and flew down, finding any and all opposition dead. The fence appeared to have been cut with a very large axe, and if Zekara’s grinning face was anything to go by, she had had a wonderful time doing so.
The descendants and company regrouped quickly and set off into the desert, Mokdal quickly darting between the two empty watchtowers and keeping his head low as he followed. He was nervous, afraid that one of the other watchmen from another tower would see them and end his life in one well-placed ballista bolt.
The bolt never came, however, and the group continued unopposed into the desert.
~~~
When Samuel awoke the morning of the fifth, he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He shivered and looked around their campsite, but even the sight of nothing unusual didn’t make him feel any better. As they set off towards the ruins of Dalania once more, he quietly warned everyone to be alert.
He hated feeling like he was being hunted.
Darkness, watching.
After about half an hour of walking, a quiet bit of insane laughter reached their ears. Samuel’s weapon was the first one out, followed by Shred’s.
As Altair hovered in front of them, incorporeal and ghostly, the only thought in Samuel’s mind was Sometimes, I hate it when I’m right.
“You!” Baltbee shouted. “You’re the guy that killed Carl!”
Altair shrugged. “Guilty. He was an idiot, anyway…” He flexed his claws. “So, who’s next?”
Tarsen raised his sword but Samuel put a hand in front of him. “Don’t. You can’t hit this guy. Remember what Iirkolav told us- don’t let him melee you, stay in pairs, and don’t get too close!”
“Oh, you’re no fun.” Altair suddenly swooped at Tim and the boy shrieked, but Altair’s claws passed harmlessly through him. Altair laughed and swiped at Shred next, this time becoming corporeal long enough to hit her. Unfortunately for him, Shred was faster, and moved out of the way. He barely avoided Samuel’s spear before becoming incorporeal again, making disapproving sounds.
“That’s just rude.” He scolded. “Hold still so I can kill you.”
He suddenly went for Adrian, but Teramelle knocked him out of the way and barely dodged the blow herself. She snorted at the Hostile in anger as Tranpar clung to her back, eyes wide.
“You aren’t very impressive.” Altair told them, crossing his arms. “I was expecting more from you.”
“Let us hit you and we’ll show you more.” Valkan snarled.
“How about no?” Altair abruptly threw himself forward, towards Samuel. Samuel quickly jerked out of the way, but Altair’s claws snagged on his backpack. They hit something hard so instead of passing through the bag, they ripped it off of Samuel’s back. Altair looked at it curiously as he became intangible again, opening it and looking at its contents briefly before shrugging.
“Hey!” Samuel protested. “Give that back!”
“Nah.” Altair kept it on his left hand as he went back on the offensive, striking at them in unexpected places at slightly terrifying speeds.
Something felt wrong, though. He didn’t feel like he was putting a serious effort into attacking them. More like he was…testing them.
That made Samuel uneasy, but that didn’t stop him from freaking when he set his sights on Shred and went for her with claws aimed at her throat.
Mira, who had been clinging to Shred’s back, suddenly reacted. She pulled herself up onto Shred’s shoulders and roared (which was admittedly a little weak due to her small size) and flared her wings, claws on her front feet extending as she raised them. Silvery flames blasted from her jaws at Altair as he approached and he howled as they burned his scales. Shred avoided his hit and moved to allow Mira to get as much flame as possible on the Hostile.
He panicked, trying to go incorporeal but found himself incapable until he had gotten out of Mira’s range and the silver flames had ceased licking his scales. He sighed in relief as he slid back into intangibility, but he definitely looked shaken. Mira hissed threateningly at him and blasted more silver flames, making him shiver.
“I’ll…I’ll…I’ll be back!” Altair snarled, a promise written in his angry eyes, before he dove into the ground and vanished without any other trace.
It took several minutes for the descendants to be sure he was gone, sighing in various stages of relief. Samuel checked on Shred first, frowning slightly at Mira, who looked pleased with herself.
“I didn’t know she could do that.”
“I didn’t either.” Shred looked annoyed. “If I had known, then I could have gone south! Defenseless baby dragon, my ass! Altair was scared shitless, did you see that? Mira’s a tough little dragon.” Shred couldn’t keep a slight smile off of her face, though, as Mira made a series of happy noises and purrs.
“If you had gone south, the entire north group might be dead.” Samuel told her.
“Well…yeah, I mean…yeah.”
“Plus, I’m glad to have you along.” He smiled a bit, and just as Shred was smiling back, Tarsen shoved himself between them.
“What was in that bag you lost?” He asked, a little louder than was necessary. Samuel sighed quietly to himself before considering his answer.
“Nothing irreplaceable, I don’t think. It’s not a huge deal. I can’t imagine why he stole it, though.”
“To be a douchebag?” Niel suggested. Tim giggled.
“Probably. Anything to mess with us would be something appealing to a Hostile. Murder, thievery, anything. He probably enjoys causing suffering, too.” Samuel agreed.
“Douchebags are like that.” Tranpar reasoned.
Samuel shot a death glare at Niel. “You’re all a terrible influence. Tranpar, don’t say that word.”
“What! Other people can swear!”
“Other people aren’t eleven years old!”
The group laughed and Samuel sighed. “Let’s just get back to traveling, okay?”
Shred shrugged. “Lead the way, survivor man. And Niel, we have some things to discuss. Your stance was better but could still use improvement…”
-~-
“Don’t say it.” Vechs muttered, not meeting Aureylian’s eyes.
“I’m going to say it.”
“Don’t you d-”
“Altair can’t be in the Vortex, as he’s right there.” Aureylian pointed triumphantly at her orb.
“He could have left.” Blame grumbled. “And he might come back.”
“I hope not.” Nebris had his arms crossed and seemed suitably embarrassed from his freakout the other day. He had insisted that it had never happened and internally he was still wondering how he had gotten that freaked out. Normally he was more levelheaded, but…
Well, if even Blame was freaking out over this, so could he, right?
Aureylian shook her head. “He’s not here. You guys need to stop looking at that orb. Who even has it?”
Nebris shrugged. “I don’t know. Someone’s taken it from me.”
“How did you even get it from me?” Etho demanded.
“I, ah, stole it from your pocket and put an apple in its place.”
Etho frowned and opened up the pocket in question, sighing at the golden apple that gleamed at him from the depths of the pocket. “Cheater.”
“That’s me.”
“Wait.” Vechs shot Etho an odd look. “How did you get it?”
“Sevadus tossed it to me as he was running from you guys.”
“But where is it now?” Blame demanded. “Who could have stolen it from Nebris?”
They all exchanged looks, worry on their faces, knowing that pretty much anyone could have it by now.
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Date: Sunday, November 29th, 2015 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, November 30th, 2015 05:50 am (UTC)So now I'm going to theorise that if Altair really wasn't there then when Specterviel cracked the orb he used some kind of crazy magic causing the shared paranoia of those who view the orb.
-Anon Cami
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Date: Monday, November 30th, 2015 06:48 am (UTC)But I won't kill people. I'm too softhearted. And I hate knowing that you will. Probably.
Also, the part where Tranpar swears was fantastic. And then Samuel's answer to "Why can other people swear when I can't." Very good.
(::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::)
-the lurkiest lurker
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Date: Monday, November 30th, 2015 08:43 am (UTC)One name. Valkan.
(Really? You're writing a book? What's it about?)
-Anon Cami
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Date: Monday, November 30th, 2015 11:46 am (UTC)(It's mostly about someone who had a tragedy happen to her figuring out how to live as a person again, with the help of a few people who become close friends. It sounds kind of silly when I put it like that, but it's not. I don't think. XD)
-the lurkiest lurker
no subject
Date: Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 02:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 05:22 am (UTC)(It sounds really interesting! Good luck on writing!)
-Anon Cami
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Date: Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 06:32 am (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
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Date: Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 06:48 am (UTC)-Anon Cami
no subject
Date: Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 12:04 pm (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
no subject
Date: Wednesday, December 2nd, 2015 11:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 05:03 am (UTC)-Scott
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Date: Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 06:33 am (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
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Date: Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 06:50 am (UTC)(I don't even know what half of what I typed was)
-Anon Cami
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Date: Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 12:03 pm (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
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Date: Wednesday, December 2nd, 2015 11:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 02:17 am (UTC)I used to not be able to kill characters.
Then I read Homestuck.
Now I'm a cold-blooded fictional character murderer. Yay! :D
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Date: Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 06:35 am (UTC)Some of my friends read Homestuck. They told me not to as it will "destroy your life." I'm not sure I'm going to listen to them.
-the lurkiest lurker
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Date: Wednesday, December 2nd, 2015 11:29 pm (UTC)READ IT :P
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Date: Thursday, December 3rd, 2015 06:20 pm (UTC)-TLL
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Date: Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 02:53 pm (UTC)