After all her training, her preparation, Outai didn't know what to do to find the men that had robbed her of what meant everything to her. It was confusing for her, as well as frustrating. She wanted revenge so badly that she could almost taste it. She s make those bloodthirsty heathen pay for what they had done to her husband and son. But how could she do so if she couldn't find them?
Her first clue was to talk to the regent of her land. Surely he would know who they were, or at least who they worked for. Since all the people in the land technically worked for the regent paying taxes in both money and in food that they grew or clothes that they tailored or other necessary wares she knew that the best place was to start with him. Surely he d listen to a humble farmer s wife, part of a family who paid their dues.
Once their destination was decided, Outai and Mooney went ahead and traveled towards the castle, where they knew the king would be. However, once they reached the town that resided inside the protective wall of the castle, what they saw confused them. Everyone was in a panic, packing up and running as fast as they could. Their minds were in such disarray that anyone who fell or tripped was trampled to death. It was pure and utter madness. What in the world was going on? People were packing up their families and leaving, only to be stopped by soldiers at the gate, soldiers that they themselves had narrowly evaded.
As Outai stood in the middle of the little town inside the castle walls, Moonstar resting on the top of her head in his cat form as usual, she was bumped and jostled back and forth. She herself was amazed that he hadn't woken up or fallen off, but that was a question for later. She tried to find a somewhat safe place to hide, at least until the mass hysteria had died down or left town enough for her to approach someone without getting killed again. Her eyes darted to and fro, looking even for the smallest nook that she could stand in to keep from being pushed and jostled, but to no avail. Instead, what she did see was an elderly woman get pushed to the ground, and trampled by the feet of the panicking humans. Concerned for the woman s health, she started shoving back, roughly pushing anyone aside who was in her way. Some gave her death glares, but moved on in terror anyway. Others were so frightened that they hadn't noticed. She was afraid that she would be too late by the time she got to the woman and stopped the trampling.
It seemed to take forever to get to her, but once Outai was there, she wasted no time in pushing away anyone who dared near the injured old woman.
"Mooney!" she yelled to her feline companion, "what can we do about crowd control? People are getting killed like this!"
"People want out, right?"
"Yeah!" Outai said as she held her hand out to the old woman, which was grasped by a swollen and trembling old hand.
"Well since there's only one opening in the wall, we ll have to make more. How are we going to do that? Those walls are made of stone, at least half a meter thick!"
As she spoke the woman seemed to pull away, her old, tired eyes wide with fright.
"I won t hurt you, I promise." She told the woman reassuringly, who then took her hand again and allowed her to help her up.
"I'm an elementor, remember?"
"Right. Then I will trust you with the rest. This woman needs medical attention."
"Right!" Mooney said and jumped to the ground.
Mooney then began to dart to and fro between people s feet. Before Outai had realized it, he was out of sight. With all the panic and hysteria, it was difficult to move, but for a cat like him it was possible. Moments seemed like hours before he reached the castle wall, where several armed soldiers were fighting off panicked civilians, often killing them. The sight was horrible. This was the third time he d seen something like this, and it was enough to drive anyone mad. Mooney closed his eyes tightly, to push the sight away long enough for him to concentrate. Outai was right. The walls were thick, and built well with stone. However, the weak point was the mortar. This would be easy enough to break away, and easier to conceal than stones flying on their own. After all, if they had seen something so out of the ordinary happen, that would only cause more hysteria. To make things better, they had been blessed with rain that day, so there was plenty of water on the ground and the walls. All he had to do was make it seep into the mortar in an area on the wall of about twenty meters wide reaching up to the top of the wall. Once the mortar was soaked through, he froze the water, causing it to swell and break the mortar apart. He wanted to aid the civilians, who really had no chance as their only weapons were gardening tools and harvesting tools. So, rather than cause a scene by having the rocks explode apart, or crumble to the ground uselessly, he used his mind to push them forward onto the soldiers. This time it was the soldiers who had no chance. The weight of the rocks, as well as the soldiers who had been on top of the wall, crushed them. The civilians in that area heard the screams of soldiers being crushed, and turned their heads. Those who weren't killed saw the wall fall, and ran towards freedom, most falling at the arrows from the soldiers on the wall.
Damn! Mooney thought to himself, Those soldiers are a real problem. I need a way to get them out of the way, without it looking unnatural. But how?
Mooney looked up and noticed that some of the soldiers on the wall had hot tar with them. This could be a disadvantage to the civilians, but to him was an advantage. In the confusion one of the soldiers ran by the pot of hot tar, and Mooney took his chance then. He caused the soldier to trip on the pot and knock it over, but in such a way as to make it spill along the wall and not over the side. What tar would have fallen over the sides, he directed down the length of the wall. Nearby one of the villagers got his head together enough to see what had happened, and take advantage of it. He lit a torch, and threw it up on the wall where the tar was, setting it ablaze. By the time they realized what was going on, the soldiers who were in the area of the tar were too late. Their feet were stuck in the thick, ebony goo, and now were on fire, their screams only adding to the cacophony of noises.
Now the villagers were starting to get a sense of courage, in spite of their terror. Those who were close enough to see what had happened to the wall started to attack the soldiers that protected it, often resulting in their deaths.
Aurora, I hope you re fairing better than this Mooney thought to himself as he ran towards the next section of wall that he was about to blow apart.
Meanwhile, just after Mooney ran off, Outai lifted the old woman to her feet. It was obvious that the woman wanted to run from her in fear, but she was too injured to do so.
"You demon!" the woman shrieked as Outai helped her to a wall where she could rest, "Your hands are as cold as death!"
"Woman, silence yourself!" Outai ordered, more for the fact that her shrieking would cause more panic. "I told you I shall not injure you and I mean every word of it, so you needn't fear for your health around me."
"And what of my soul?"
"Nothing will happen to your soul. Just tell me what is going on here and hold still so I can fix your injuries."
"That bastard king!" the woman shrieked as Outai began to examine her injuries.
"Silence! You speak lies! The king has been a wonderful man to all of us!"
"Silence yourself, you whelp! You know not what you speak! Thy words were once true - he did service us greatly. But now he's gone mad with power! He has already had several of his own villages cleansed of life!"
"What do you mean?" Outai inquired.
"He's murdered all in those villages! Man or woman, old or young, human or animal it means naught to him! All were murdered and left to rot in the streets, with no one to bury them. Even the farms outside the villages were not spared his murderous wrath."
"You mean..." Outai said dazedly.
Was what this woman said really true? Was the decimation of her village, the murder of her family, all by order of their beloved king? If so, why would he do such a thing? What had happened to him? Outai remembered where he had once gone through and visited each and every one of his villages just to see how people were doing. Those he visited on days when his mood was uplifted were gifted with fine raiment that he d brought on his trip, and the slave masters ordered to give their slaves a day free from slavery, to do as they wish. Her own village was one of them. How could such a kind man do such a thing? There was one answer that she could think of. The woman was lying. She was delusional. Her head must have been trampled, or hit the ground hard when she fell.
"No! It is not true!"
"It is! For sooth it is!" the woman yelled, "AND WE ARE NEXT!"
"I don t believe it!"
"Ye may believe what ye wish." The old woman said, now clearly tired, most likely from the hysteria, and from her injuries, which Outai surmised were fatal. "Whatever ye believe, it will not hide the fact that what I say is truth. "
"Woman, thy name?"
"Miranda."
"Miranda, stay here, and hold strong."
"Nay, my time has come, thou kind demon. "
The old woman was slipping away, and there was nothing she could do about it. She hated feeling this useless, but what could she do? She doubted any more that this woman was lying or delusional. She had checked the woman s head and found no trauma, so the only reason she might be delusional is because she was dying, and only a moment ago her mind was clear and sharp as ever, even in her old age.
"I am not a demon. " She said quietly, not knowing what to do or think.
"Thou liest to a dying woman, and to thyself." The woman said quietly as well, as though she could read Outai s mind right then and there, "Thy magic is not holy, and thy heart is filled with hatred, yet you treat this old dying woman with kindness, who should have been trampled to death. Answer me this before I die: Why?"
"As I said, I am not a demon. A demon would not care for the life of a human. But how did you know?"
"Old Miranda always can know the heart."
And with that the old woman went limp, slumped against the wall as she had been. If Outai could have shed tears then, they would have been streaming down her face in a river. However, she wasn't left with time to mourn. Even louder screams sounded behind her, about twenty meters from the gate. When she turned to look, a wide section of wall seemed to fall away onto some soldiers that were fighting off the civilians, crushing them to death. Only moments after, a soldier on the wall tripped over a pot of hot tar, and spilled it, yet not one drop fell from the wall itself. Instead, it flowed in a stream along the length of the wall as far as it would go, gluing the feet of the soldiers on the wall to the wall itself. She watched as a torch was lit, and flung up on the stream of tar, lighting it and the soldiers on fire. She was about to douse the flames, when Mooney contacted her with his mind. It was still weird to her how he could do that, but it was an effective means of communication between them.
STOP! He ordered, as if to already know that she planned to put out the blaze on the wall, They are in the way. I cannot free these people with them in the way!
But they are humans too! They may be working for the man who ordered this, but they do not deserve this! She argued.
And what of the men you came here to punish? Are they not human as well? These humans are killing each other. These soldiers are attacking civilians who have no fighting chance. I am giving them a fighting chance by decimating the numbers of the guards.
You were supposed to open a way! Not murder people!
They are murdering each other! I am trying to stop the hysteria, but there's a roadblock and I have to get it out of the way first!
That doesn't mean killing them!
Yes! Remember that for the men you want revenge on!
As if on cue, a voice came from behind. It was the voice of a man, and it was thick with malice. She could almost hear the blood thirst on his voice. Even more, she recognized the voice. Outai whirled around and stood face to face with him.
"Thou shalt not run!" he said with a menacing grin as he drew his sword quickly.
In one smooth, fluid motion, his sword was out of it s scabbard, it's blade flying for her throat. Outai remembered the scene where her husband had been killed in the same manner, and remembered it. This was the man that had murdered her husband, and his companion was the one that impaled her son and herself.
"YOU BASTARD!" she screamed as she ducked his sword and punched him square in the solar plexus, as she had been taught by her master.
The man doubled over in pain, temporarily not breathing. She had knocked the wind out of him, and that single punch left her with a sense of gratification. She had put him in pain, and wanted to see him in more pain. After what he had done to her family, he deserved it.
"Wench! You dare hit a king's guard?" he screamed once he regained his breath.
"There is nothing you can do to me that you've not done already!" she screamed back while at the same time sweeping his feet out from underneath him with a clean sickle sweep of her leg.
The man fell to the ground, hitting his head hard. Before he could move, she put her foot on his throat and began to add pressure. His hands grasped at her ankle, but she did not move. His breathing was becoming labored now that his airway was being slowly shut. The weight of her foot alone had to be excruciating.
"Wh-who are you?"
"You dare forget those you've murdered?"
"It was orders from the king! I swear it!"
"You seemed to enjoy those orders. You hypocrite! You murder without thought, with pleasure even, yet you beg for your life! Tell me! What was the purpose of this order, besides bloodshed?"
"He's mad! He wants to use magic to make a stone that will give him eternal life!"
"You lie!"
"I speak the truth! Now please, let me go! I'll do what you want!"
"I want my family back!" she screamed as she knelt to stare the man in the eye.
As she did so, she pulled a knife she had hidden in her boot, and pressed the blade to his throat.
"May your soul burn in hell!" She screamed.
In one quick motion, she drew the blade across his throat, pressing in deep. She severed the carotid artery, causing his blood to spray up like a crimson fountain and spill all over her.
Satisfied now? Came Mooney's voice in her head.
No. There is one more. Two, if you count the king.
Why him?
He ordered that massacre, and several others. All in the name of using our lives for some magic that will bring him eternal life.
Forget them for now! Give me a hand! These people are out of control.
Where are you?
Start on the other side of the gate. I ll meet up with you.
Outai tried to rush to the other side of what used to be the only gate into the village, but there were too many people still rushing about. She had to push and shove her way through the crowds of hysteric people, though on her side it wasn't nearly as bad. Most were trying to escape through the holes that Mooney was making, which now numbered two, nearing three. They were spaced twenty meters apart, and were twenty meters in width.
When Outai finally did make it to the wall, she noticed what Mooney had noticed that the rock was strong, but the mortar that held it firmly was the weak point. Even she could figure out how to blast a hole in the wall. She lay her hand on the wall, trying not to be pushed to the ground in spite of the crowd, and used the moisture from the ground to saturate the mortar between the rocks. From there she froze the moisture instantly. However, she was far less careful about adding to the hysteria than Mooney had been. Her freezing technique caused the wall to not only crumble, but explode. She tried to keep most of the rock from hitting civilians and soldiers around her, as well as herself, but it was no use. Several people were hit with rocks, being severely injured, or even killed. She herself was hit in the head hard by a flying stone, and knocked unconscious.
Mooney had heard an explosion and already knew what it was before he saw it. There was only one thing it could be, since Outai still had a long way to go with using her telekinesis on heavy objects such as large rocks. Without that control, the rocks would explode outwards and injure people. His biggest concern, however, was her close proximity to the explosion. She still couldn't freeze things at a distance, so she would have to be close to whatever she was freezing. Being that close could be fatal to her, and he didn't want to go through that again.
You idiot! He chastised her telepathically, you should have gone slower! One level at a time, or take out just the bottom row! However this time there was no response. Mooney quickly finished the hole he had started his fourth one now and pushed his way through the crowd. There weren't as many people where Outai was because all the extra exits that he created were on the other side. However, those that were there were either severely injured, or dead. By the time he finally saw Outai and got to her, she was out cold. Her mask had broken where a rock had hit it and knocked her out. There was a large hole in her skin, revealing shattered bone tissue that poked into her brain. He knew the wound had to have been fatal, and knowing that made his heart sink. He failed again. How could he be so careless? What if she didn't come back again?
However, before he could do anything, he noticed that the fragments of her skull started to piece themselves back together, and her skin healed over it. When it was all done, there was no sign that anything had happened at all, save for a large chunk of clay missing from her mask. Though her wound was healed, there was no way to tell if she was really alive or not. Taking advantage of the confusion, he wrapped Outai s arm around the back of his neck, and wrapped his other arm around her waist and lifted her to her feet. She was very heavy, especially since she was frozen, but he could handle it. He had to.
"Dumb kid." He said with a grunt as he lifted her and began to carry her towards the castle.
Just as he entered the castle, it seemed the entire land for miles around him glowed bright red. What was this light, this energy? Where was it coming from? Whatever it was, it was draining him badly. He looked around and the few that remained screamed in agony, civilian and soldier alike. They grasped at their bodies as if in pain, and then, to his terror, began to dissolve into thin air before him. Even to him the pain was excruciating, causing him to scream out in pain. Outai at least was saved from this hell by her unconscious or even dead, state. The pain only continued to escalate, until the world went dark around him and he crumpled to the ground, landing on top of the limp Outai.