"Already killed you?" Fiallain shakes her head slightly and grabs onto Ryland's hand to pull herself upright. She takes the waterskin from him, but shakes her head. "I am alright Ryland. I just need sleep."
Ryland shrugs his shoulders and helps Via sit up. "That is what he said. Split me in half, along with my men. By the light, why are we always wrapped up in insanity. "
Amorial groans, "My friends, a few moments of peace are shattered by this strange Gardener".
Amorial speaks up in his own booming voice, "Peace Brother. I have seen your kind and bested them before, three to my one. Let us talk calmly. Do you see your Mistress anywhere in sight? No. Then how is it my friends have taken her hostage. Check the building if you wish to see that we have her not".
Enough of this. Obviously if he was healthy he'd have already charged us. See the red stain on his armor? thats not paint, its blood. Kodokura snaps irritably to no one in particular.
Stepping forward, he raises a hand and a small ball of fire erupts from his hand and shoots at the ogier, striking him in the middle of the chest.
but, rather than explode, the fireball simply unravels and dissipates into nothingness, leaving behind a slight char upon the armor.
Taking a step back, kodokura says uh oh...
"Alathea, you may want to check over Kodokura's brain once we are done with this mess," Ryvin growls as she draws her sword.
Even as she speaks and draws, she channels, Air hardening around the Seanchan Ogier until it becomes as thick as a block of stone. She leaves the Ogier's head free so he can breathe out of respect for Amorial -- for now.
Startled by the sudden use of the One Power, Chen shouts and attacks whoever is within his ten foot reach.
It is perhaps odd to see so large a creature begin a display of sword forms, but the masked Ogier drops effortlessly into Moon Rises Over the Water.
Charging forward, the ogier belies belief that something so huge could move so fast. legs churning, his heavy shod feet tearing up large tracks of dirt and wheat. Rushing up towards kodokura, the obvious threat, his mouth wide open with a silent scream, he suddenly jumps high, sword arching overhead and descending towards kodokura's skull. Kodokura, seeing for the first time an ogier made mad, stands resolute as his fear is something else fed to the flame.
As suddenly as it starts, it halts. The blade has stopped a mere eyelash away from Kodokura's face. Yet the ogier doesnt see his opponent, for his attention is drawn to the west.
There, just above the tree line, perhaps a mile away, is the image of a Seanchan Flag rippling in the breeze.
Alathea is startled by Kodokura's sudden outburst of violence, but she recovers from her shock quickly. "Kodokura!" she snaps. "Have you lost your mind?!" As soon as the words leave her lips, though, she pales. With a fearful, quiet voice, she continues, "You and I must talk after we repair this situation, yes?"
As the strange Ogier charges, Alathea weaves instinctually to wrap him with cables of Air...
...and watches as her weaves dissipate at the fury of the charging Ogier. In desperation, she cries out, "STOP! Stop, all of you! This fighing serves none of us, yes?!"
Vala shifted her feet slightly as her hand gripped tightly about Ganders' hilt. She prepared herself for facing such a combatant.She took in the form this Ogier took and readied her counter with Swallow Takes Flight.
However it seemed the warrior was distracted by something coming there way. Vala did not give up her stance as she did not know who was coming.
Amorial grasps his staff tightly holding out for a few more seconds as it was his own side which struck first.
"Is that flag what you seek? My memory is hazy but I believe I may have heard rustling in the brush last night before I slept. Perhaps we have found who you are looking for Gardener?"
the ground around kodokura begins to crumble into dust, causing him to slowly shift away from the massive blade held over his head.
as the space widens, Kodokura weaves some levels of air and forms a hardened wall between him and the Ogier.
Looking at Alathea, he says in a monotone voice. Perhaps...
Alathea shakes her head sadly, but keeps her attention on the stranger. "You know I did not mean it that way, my Heart," she pleads, "but what has come over you?"
"Sheepdip!" Ryvin curses. "Let's get the blazes out of here and leave the bloody Deathwatch to his own kind! Come on!"
"Ryvin is right. If there are more of these... shown- chien about. We need to be elsewhere."
Kodokura roars, stepping up and away from the hole he created. As he walks, each step he takes causes the plants to quickly disintegrate.
Looking at alathea, he pauses, smiling. His hand reaches out to touch her, but stops short.
no. I am sick of running. Sick of hiding from these seanchan. I understand ryvins fears and anger towards them, having been shackled like a dog to them. But i am not a woman. I am an Asha'man. but i am also in love to a woman who wishes to be an Aes Sedai, and a Red at that. he gives a brief chuckle.
So, while i am sick of running, it may be practical for you to run away, or at the very least, find a more defensive position. I can hold them here for a while at least. I may have failed the Dragon in my quest to finding the next level in channeling, but i shall not fail in my due diligence as a lover to Alathea to protect her from harm. Ryvin, I respect you. Please watch over Alathea as you would a younger sister.
looking up at the ogier standing over him, he says you, Captain. If I give myself to you as hostage and promise to help you find your missing Lady, will you hold off on cutting my friend Ryland in half? The lady on the ground is his wife, and she would literally destroy this mountain if you were to harm him.
"Fear?" Ryvin repeats, incredulous. "Fear? You mistake me, Asha'man."
The Ebou Dari turns her eyes on the Ogier Gardener and she bares her teeth in an expression of rage.
"All I feel for the Ever Vile Army and their Empress, may she start to rot even before she dies like a dog, is ! They do not deserve to live."
Those last six words are pronounced with the force of a judge's sentencing of the condemned...
Perception
Fia blinks in quickly covered surprise before turning a raised eyebrow on Ryland. WIFE? Is Kodo bluffing? Or is this another strange wetlander custom?
Her amused musings cut off abruptly however as Ryvin's tirade crescendos. Unsure what the hulking gardener's response might be, her fingers close around the hilt of her dagger.
Alathea whirls to face Ryvin, her expression turning from anguish to fury in a flash. "Ryvin, be silent! We all know that you fear nothing, that you are as formidable as any, yes? That there is no chink in your armor? But by the light, you must quibble with words and nuances at a moment like this?!"
Still seething, she turns back to Kodokura. Squeezing his hand, she murmurs, "You need not do this, my Heart. We are not yet to such desperate measures, yes?" Pitching her voice louder for the benefit of the stranger, she calls out, "My...husband speaks truly, Builder. We do not have the one you seek, and we do not wish to cause you trouble. We have had a harrowing time of late, and our emotions are running high, yes? But fighting will not serve any of us. Will you not speak with us?"
My sister speaks wisely, Alantin. There is no reason for blood to be spilled here today. It would truly serve no one. Least of all your Lady."
Chen looked around with uncertainty. There is such chaos within this group, some wish to fight others wish reason. No order. He thought for a moment on what it meant to him to be Seachan to be the order of the empire.
He spoke in a booming voice. it is quite apparent that giant Ogier is quite frustrated but to well trained and disciplined to allow his emotions to govern his actions.
The masked warrior sheates his blade and drops to his knees with a crash, assuming a meditative stance.
Vala slowly pulls Gander from its sheath as she peers at Kodokura and then the others. Normally it took a lot to unnerve Vala, but an odd acting male channeler and the encroaching Seanchan army tended to bring out the Shienaran woman's sense of unease.
"Look here if the big idiot wants to wait lets let him,as for that army I have no problems getting on the road once more."Vala says accenting it all with the sound of her blades guard hitting the scabbard.
"Kodokura," Ryvin says, visibly restraining herself. "You must not give yourself up to these people. What they do to those they term marath'damane is as vile as what Darkfriends would do. And I doubt they would balk at trying to break you. If not by the Power, then by some other method. And remember; if they have damane, they could Shield or Sever you."
The Ebou Dari goes to stand in front of the Asha'man, looking him in the eye. When she speaks again, there is a note of pain in her voice and the anger seems to be completely gone. "Kodokura, my friend. I am honoured that you would entrust your Heart to me. But I can not let you give yourself over to the Ever Malicious Army. They break people, twist their minds with torture and lies. How could I surrender a friend to that?
If they catch you and escape is not an option, then death is preferable. Believe me."
Ryvin turns to Vala and nods.
"Yes! Leave the big lump and let's just run! The filth is still at a distance, we can still run and find a better defensible position. With a Great Link, we stand a chance."
Though Alathea knows that Ryvin's urgency to leave the Seanchan behind is sensible, her curiousity gets the better of her. Cautiously approaching the Ogier, she asks, "Your lady is missing, yes?" She gestures to Ryland. "And you seem to think that Ryland is responsible, even though you say you killed him? It sounds like we both find ourselves in a strange place, yes? Perhaps we can help each other, yes?"
Keelix nods to Ryvin and Vala's suggestion, "We cannot fight an army. We must not let them find us. This ogier and the person he searches for are none of our affair."
Kodokura looks skyward. death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than a mountain.
turning, he looks back at the impressions he left upon the field. a smirk.
No fate can be worse than what i am becoming. he beings to say, but then his smirk becomes something different, evil, leering, looking at Ryvin as if it is the first time he has seen her. In a voice as smooth as a silk dress he speaks again I am the harbinger of death, the killer of kings, the toppler of empires. I made the hawkwing fly, the hawkwing die. i made the gilded tower filled with children quail in terror at my mention. I brought the beasts of burden to my beck and call, to ransack the southlands. I am.. I am.. I am Kodokura. the last he stammers out, a shocked look upon his face.
For a moment, Ryvin stands stock-still, her eyes searching every inch of Kodokura's face. Then she nods, once, her expression grim.
"Ye misain Morilan," she says, and she reaches out almost tenderly, drawing a symbol on Kodokura's forehead with her thumb; the sign of the Rising Sun, the sign of the Light. "Moridin'concion ninto hisain. Cuebiyar ninto asha'man ye misain," she says, the Old Tongue falling slightly clumsily from her lips, but with great sincerity.
"The Light cradle your soul," she says after the benediction she has spoken. "And, as the Borderlanders say, the Mother receive you home, Kodokura. It has been an honour."
The Wilder holds out her hand to the Asha'man and shakes his if he will allow it.
"Embrace the fullness of the Power ere you break," she advises. "If the legends hold true, a woman in the depths of despair and loss caused great destruction when she did so. A man strong in his love should not be capable of any less. Wish you for me to cleanse your soul one last time ere we part?"
A small human lady approachs Chen, and makes a good point he thinks for a moment, while keeping a wary eye on the bizzare unfolding event of the man in the black cloak.
"Yes, this land is strange and it changes in the dark. I will stay with you for now, until I can find my charge."
The large Ogier stands, and nods a slight bow. ""I am called Chen Armand, Gardener and Deathwatch guard, to the Empress, may she live forever."
Vala gave Kodokura a Shienarean salute before she turns away from the oncoming army and looks at the others."I hope we can get out of here before we meet those forces. I doubt any of us seek to fight a small army yet.I know I hate to say this but I am not as fit as I could be but if I must I will fight." she says not really wishing to loose her life or her child's to some foreign army that seeks to undermine the very fabric of the conquered way of life.
why would i have said I am moridin? Kodokura thinks to himself.
Keelix looks flatly at the Ogier, "You assume that we will allow you to accompany us so easily so soon after your threats and blustering?"
Rhoekk looks to the mirror of his companion Ryland, and then back to the newcomer, where he hides with his companions in the foliage. What strangeness is this? Whatever is going on here, my companions need warning.
Rhoekk moves ever so subtly, shifting to where he hopes Fia might be able to spot him, but where the shrubs and thick brush will temporarily block direct sight of him from the potential ambushers. He moves a hand slowly, in a gesture he hopes will attract only her attention. If he catches her eye, he signals her in Aiel hand speech.
"Fiallain, four men hide in the bushes there. One is twin to Ryland. They attempt to remain unseen, but move like wetlanders. I move to flank."
If she sees, he will wait for a signal of acknowledgement, before moving back.
Sweeping slowly and carefully around, he takes up position behind the stalking wetlanders, making sure to check that they themselves are not being followed, lest he get caught between two hostile forces.
Three men move up next to the man you see is similar to your Ryland. they begin to talk quietly, very quietly. While they move like typical wetlanders, you cannot help but feel impressed by how quietly they talk. You pause in your movement to better hear them; but instead of hearing wetlander speech, you instead here a strange language, but its definitely not Seanchan. You simply shrug and move on towards the rear.
A loud voice, feminine sounding, suddenly echoes through the mountains.
the voice cuts off...
Though alarmed at Kodokura's increasingly erratic behavior, Alathea relaxes a bit at the strange Ogier's response. But the woman's voice interrupts her before she can respond. Rushing back to Kodokura, she pulls him along behind her and sets off to where the cry came from.
Special Ability: Skill Mastery - Rhoekk can take 10 on Acrobatics, Climb, Perception, Stealth, and Survival rolls, even when under stress or distracted.
Lord Aelorn, the Gardner that, well, that split you appears to be discussing something with that group. but the strange thing is that one of them looks similar to you.
Similar how? this lord Aelorn replies.
Well, he looks exactly like you. except for the big scar. the other man replies
Thank you, Lord Eclon. Blunt as usual the ryland-doppleganger remarks.
Sorry my lord. the way he acts and speaks, well, he is similar to you in all facets. Lord eclon says
Perhaps diplomacy is needed here, especially if he enlists the aide of these people to help him find his ward.
The lord Aelorn grunts doubtfully.
why must we have this lady, my lord? the third man asks pensively.
Because, the prophecy says so! Lord Eclon snaps in a hiss.
Gentlemen. Be still. Let us wait and see. Discretion first, then diplomacy if needed.
What is this? They speak the Old Tongue? Learning it served me well in my studies, but I've met few in the wetlands besides a few scholars who knew more than a few passing phrases, and most only enough to badly misinterpret anything they try to understand. These know it well enough to converse in it. Stranger and stranger.
Continuing to hold still, Rhoekk waits silently to see if intervention, violent or otherwise, is needed in regards to these men.
At the sound of the cry, Chen looks towards the sound bursts into a blur of motion, taking off at a dead run toward the origin point.
Amorial sighs as the chaos of the scene unfolds around him. He sheathes his staff in favor of the axe taken from the Gardeners hoping that he will not have to use it.