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Fia and Keelix leave the servants stairs and enter into the main hall. Death, carnage and destruction litter the floor. Body parts, parts of statues, and columns lay broken upon the floor.
By the Light! I am surprised that the Tower still stands Fia mummers to Keelix as they survey the surroundings.
Keelix grunts. True. We must be fast. Vala is here...
Fia nods in agreement and begins to look around. statue blocking door. she thinks as she looks.
Near and far and she looks around as she deftly moves about the broken items that litter the floor.
Just as she is about to turn and speak to Keelix, she spots a set of double doors hidden in a shadow of the hall, at the extreme far end. a massive statue lays across the double doors, blocking access.
I found it! End of the hall!Turning, she sprints, her long AIel legs carrying her along the ground at a pace that would make a Wise one Proud.
Fia cannot help but feel a bit of Aiel pride wash through her, knowing that these wetlanders, no matter who they are, cannot come near the speed of an Aiel. But her gasp and shock are the more loud when she slides to a stop as Keelix stands before her.
What kept you? he asks, before disappearing from her sight.
Vala is fading fast. her strength, the last bit that she had, has been spent nursing Litheene, wrenching a leg from a desk free and then beating on the door trying to make noise.
Hunger gnaws at her. Strength left her minutes ago, causing her to slide against the side of the door.
Her gaze unfocused, she slides to her right and lays upon the floor. She tries to look at the red bundle where Litheene lays cooing.
her eyes drift slowly shut, and the last image she sees is Keelix's boots appear before her.
Odd, that death wears my lover's boots she thinks as consciousness flees her.
You truly are a Blademaster, Ogier. Never have i met an equal the blademaster with pride. You have sheathed the sword well, but, can you keep it sheathed?
Suddenly, around the two men, a large red tinged dome surrounds both the blademaster and Chen. It cuts off all sounds, leaving the two men within, alone.
We must be on our guard. I am sure with the Dragon here, there are guards everywhere in her quarters. Disable them swiftly, before they raise an alarm.Analin commands quietly.
When everyone nods in agreement, she leads them out of the stairs and into the Amyrlins quarters.
The Amyrlins private kitchen and dinning room are empty, a strange sight that partially worries Analin. These guards wouldnt leave their post, even with the disturbance downstairs.
Suddenly analin throws her hand up, stopping everyone.
someone is channeling. just barely...There
Analin points out at a door. She motions for everyone to go fast.
Analin, argrand, dengorin, all rush through the door, a million thoughts and expectations rushing through their mind. Analin embraces the Source, ready to defend her companions.
Through the door they rush...and stop, seeing Litheene sitting behind the Amyrlin's desk. In her hands she holds a stack of papers, and on the desk sits a wooden box that has been cut in half.
Her face denotes surprise and shock, not expecting anyone to be up here.
Jasmine looks over at Ryvin and says Well he is contained. Unfortunately, so is the blademaster. That is the best I can do for now. We need to head upstairs. With that she ties off the weave and begins to run up the stairs towards the Amyrlin's chambers.
Fiallain closes her dropped jaw then hisses. "Keelix! Where did you go!?" Not waiting for an answer, she weaves arms of air and lifts the statue out of her way.
"Vala!" Keelix kneels beside Vala, his hands working quickly to check for injury or sickness.
Argrand weaves Harden Air around her, "Where is the Amyrlin and the Dragon?"
"What about those Novices?!" Ryvin protests.
At Ryvin's exclamation, Jasmine's eyes go wide, thankfully she had not yet tied off the weave and gone upstairs as she intended. So instead she looks at Ryvin and says If I release him, he could kill a lot more people but we cannot leave those novices to die either. I'm going to change the ward to seal us all in this chamber with one exit small enough that the ogier cannot get through but a person could. Hopefully that will work. You focus on getting the novices and I will try and keep everyone from killing each other.
Jasmine will then release the ward.
Ryvin grunts her agreement and channels while she sheathes her sword, creating a shape of solidified Air in her hands: a longspear!
"Ryland," she says. "Cover me."
Provided Ryland joins her - and even if he doesn't - Ryvin will try to get behind Chen and cut through the bindings keeping the Novices contained!
Vala smiles and faintly points over to the baby. She whispers."I named her litheene" She smiled before she winced hearing her child cry.
As her child cried she cried.It was a horrible twist of fate she had suffered here.
Noticing the baby for the first time, Keelix rises and steps over to her picking the infant up gently. He returns to Vala's side quickly, "What is wrong, Vala? How can I help?"
She smiled briefly before she cried again. "She...I..." as she spoke the baby cried louder. Anger and sorrow filled her but she was to tired to fight it anymore.
"The woman, who charmed Chen, cursed me. Our daughter feels pain when I speak or if I touch her...I.." She cried even more as she turned away ashamed at her inability to kill the woman.
"I am going to kill the woman that did this. with every breath I have I will cut out the blacken stone that is her heart and watch her die!" She said venom dropping from her voice as she tried to get up only to fall back down drained yet not defeated.
The blood first drains from Keelix's face, then floods back into it as his veins all stand out in his neck and on his head. A snarl issues from Keelix's throat, so primal and harsh that it sounds as if it might have damaged vocal chords which were never meant for such a feral sound. It takes a moment to register that it was actually a spoken word: "Who?"
Vala was hungry and tired. She looked at Keelix her eyes red and puffy."She..she looked like Litheene, but was someone else, someone evil, she was darksouled killing with impunity. She left to find that lab we had cleared. Almost as if she knew the twisted creature who was doing the experiments...I need food, and my weapons.I need ..." she slumps even more exhausted.
Keelix's eyes soften and he drops his pack carefully to the floor, digging into it for food and water, handing them to Vala, "Eat, love. Drink. Save your strength. We will find who did this and take our vengeance. She will scream for mercy before we let her die."
Ryland follows Ryvin. "He has gone mad. It would be better for him if you allow me to end his suffering."
After handing food and water to Vala, he carefully sets his daughter down on the far side of the room, then moves Vala to be near her. Then he applies himself to trying to shove/break/batter the door open.
Fia removes the statue, lifting it and setting it aside with the power. She tries the door, but finds it locked.
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Keelix sets his daughter safely behind the desk and then moves Vala carefully away from the door. As he rises from where he set Vala, a growl begins to issue from his throat as his rage rises again. "You will not die!" He draws his great blade and pauses for a moment looking at the sword, "I am sorry, old friend," he mutters. Then he looks back to the door and swings with all his might, a savage snarl echoing through the room.
Chen frowns at the man.
"Your name Master?" Chen asks the skilled swordsman.
Sounds good Rizzen. I was just checking in.
Litheene smiles slightly. Hmm? a male channeler is questioning me? Tell me, boys, which of you is the Channeler? Or are you both?
The hardened air that captured Litheen suddenly drops away as if it never existed. Argrand reels from the shock of having his weave cut, and Analin screams out as she sees Litheene flick her wrist and a blade of pure light punches into existance, assaulting everyones eyes. Even before you have a chance to blink, the beam hits Dengorin square in the chest, leaving behind a hollow image and a strange ethereal smell of something burnt.
Analin, quick on her feet, attacks defensively. She weaves a strand of air and hurls the heavy desk at Litheene at the same time grabbing Argrand by the back of the head and pulling him into the kitchen again
Thats not our litheene! she shouts in shock, glancing through the hole where the Balefire punched through the wall.
Josum, honored ogier
Chen struggles to pull his blade free of the blademaster, but realizes he cannot. It is trapped! a variant of Empresses shame?! Such resolve and honor
For a moment, a red dome appears around Chen and Josum, only to have it fall away.
He spots Ryvin moving up on his flank, a small dagger in her hand, yet she hasnt done anything that warrants her being a threat. Another aes sedai with a yellow shawl, one who appeared to have talked to Ryvin, stands to the side, staring at Chen. The others have gone...
Fia no sooner slides the heavy statue away than the door explodes in a shower of wood chips! the large lock on the door is sheared away from the wood and is hurled across the hall and skids to a stop 30 feet away. Inside, Fia sees Keelix standing, his gaze gone far, his lips in a snarl, his sword gleaming in the torchlight. On the floor lays Vala, pale, limp, unconscious! And then a noise! a baby screaming!
Fia, for all her gruffness, feels her heart leap in exhaultation at the sound of a newborn baby. and then fear! Vala!
Keelix stares at the splintered door and at Fia standing beyond it for a moment as if surprised that it is open. Then his eyes lock onto Fia and his voice is so thick with a snarl it is hard to understand. "You are one that touches the wind and calls fire! My mate is hurt and will die. You will heal her."
He sheaths his sword and steps back into the room turning to Vala, then back to Fia in a peculiar motion that does not seem natural on Keelix's upright posture.
Jasmine finishes the channel and drops the done over the entire room leaving a small hole in it, barely big enough for a man to slide through. She then says loudly, You are trapped. Stop this foolishness at once before we all perish.
Argrand sputters at Analin, "Analin Sedai, what power did she use! Have we a chance of even stopping her!?"
Fia frowns and raises a questioning eyebrow at Keelix's odd tone and manner, but apparently writes it off to the stress of the situation and Vala's plight. She does not waste time, but immediately pushes past Keelix to kneel beside the unconscious woman.
Taking Vala's head in her hands, she begins to channel swiftly. Strands of power flow into her companion as she forms a general healing weave to hopefully stabilize her before delving...
Long Fang watches Fia as she passes him. His eyes never leave her as she moves over to Vala, their strange yellow flashing in the dimmer light in the room. Finally, as she begins to treat Vala, he closes his eyes, struggling to push the rage away. It has served him well once again, but it is time for it to go once more to where it waits.
With a great personal effort he pushes the wolf within back a bit and Long Fang stalks back into the deeper parts of his mind.
Keelix opens his eyes, and breathes a sigh of relief. The rage had been so strong! Long Fang had not wanted to withdraw.
He crosses the room swiftly and picks up his crying child, trying to comfort her.
Vala winces at the touch but all in all the near comatose warrior relaxed in the arms of Fia.
Fia stares blankly a moment in consternation at the woman in her hands. "She... she is not responding Keelix. If anything the weaves that should be healing are instead making it worse. I... I don't know what to do." Her attention returns to Vala as she continues to work, using the little she knows of healing through more mundane methods.