History Reborn - Chapter 10
History Reborn by Ka (MQ):

~Chapter 10~

A few days later, Silk, alive and well despite Marmo's chaotic reputation, neared the fortress of Empress Ka. He had honestly expected that the surroundings would be seething with the presence of guards and malevolent creatures, but he was relieved to find that there was no such thing. This was confusing, as everyone on Lodoss knew that the dark city Salbad, the only city on Marmo and thus where Ka's fortress was located, was constantly surrounded by kobolds and other such monsters.

"I'm getting chills," Silk mumbled to himself, eyeing his surroundings warily, his steps making absurdly loud crackling noises as he marched atop the beaten path of dry leaves and fallen branches, "I still can't believe I'm alive." He chuckled to himself absent-mindedly and walk on.

He continued steadily until the thicket of impossibly tall trees cleared, revealing the looming structure that was Ka's fortress. Silk paused, his hand going nervously to his vest, where a hidden dagger was cleverly stashed, "What a piece of crap." The slender thief commented slowly, his voice resounding flatly in the crisp air. His eyes scanned the perimeter of the building, as well as the outskirts of the ruined city off to the side; he squinted as he caught a glimpse of motion, which at first looked like a few solitary wanderers hanging about the fortress walls, but then, as he got up onto higher terrain, he realized that there were many more 'loiterers' than he had previously thought.

"Jeez!" He breathed, his eyes widening as a few hundred feet away from him, at the foot of Ka's fortress, a half-dozen of hundred-man battalions milled about. As Silk was over the crest, he could now hear the ring of steel and the sound of rowdy laughter and cat-calls. He had never thought there would be this many guards!!!

Silk shook his head and plopped down amidst a heap of leaf-bare bushes, "I can't believe this." He groaned, rubbing his eyes, "I can't believe this." He repeated dismally, his gaze now steadily fixed on the churning mass of soldiers ahead. What in the name of Phalis was a group of six-hundred men doing guarding one fortress? Silk wondered, "It's not like the armies of Lodoss are just gonna rush over here to take down this Ka person," He said aloud, "most of them don't even know she's alive!" He shook his once more and cursed his predicament.

A loud sound errupted from the group of soldiers and Silk looked up to see what was going on. A small circle of men cheered on two soldiers who had begun to brawl; this wouldn't have bothered Silk if it wasn't for the fact that the fight was being taken out of the fortress perimeter and towards the forest line, where Silk sat in hiding. In a flash, the wiry thief jumped to his feet and found himself another hiding spot, away from the very edge of the forest; without much effort, he found a high-enough tree branch to perch on.

"Coward!" Came one of the feuding soldier's cry as he and his opponent came to a halt inches from where Silk had once been sitting. The soldier, a human of about thirty years of age bearing a frightening scar above his eye, called his opponent on with a wave of his sword, "You and your kind are worthless pests!" He spat vindictively. The human's advsersary made an appearance then, snarling something unintelligeable; it was an orc -- an ugly, stalky, unintelligent creature that roamed the city of Salbad and some of the forests of Lodoss island. The orc dove at the human with an awl-pike, and the two engaged in combat once again.

Silk watched all this with minor interest, "Huh," He whispered, high up in his tree, "even citizens of Marmo hate citizens of Marmo." He remarked cynically, barely audibly.

Below the thief, the human and the orc battled on. With a cry of rage, the human impaled the orc and the creature dropped to the dusty ground in a bloody heap; the soldier laughed richly and turned to call to his comrades over by the fortress, but as he stepped away from his kill, he tripped over a raised root and fell to the ground face-first. Unfortunately for him, he was impaled by his own sword.

Silk laughed at the sight, "Long live Momo!" He cried, well aware of the mispronounciation. With that, he jumped from his branch and stepped over to the dead soldier's body. Eyeing thoughfully, he stripped the man of his armor and bloody sword, "This'll get me through those men down there." He figured contentedly, donning the new chain mail quickly and turning to face the throng of warriors gathered outside Ka's fortress.

"There are no direct entrances to the dungeons." The thief reminded himself as he made his way down the sloping hill of the forest line and headed towards the other soldiers, "Gee, how much brains did it take you to figure that one out, Marfa?" He spat ruefully, not quite sure wether he cared if the Goddess was listening or not.

As he finally mingled amongst the other warriors, of various races he noticed interestingly, his fear of being asked questions by the dead human's fellow soldiers died quickly. Wether the human had no friends, or wether no one really cared about the fight that had just occured between the owner of Silk's new armor and the orc did not seem to be of much importance. Silently, Silk cursed the dark island and its despicable inhabitants, "You all just make me want to rob every one of your houses..." He said aloud, pushing through a group of gathered kobolds, "...if that is, you even have houses. Which of course, you don't. You probably all live in dank caves and eat raw meat and leftovers..." He stopped his grumbling when he reached the entrance to the fortress.

"You lost, soldier?" Came a rough voice from behind Silk.

The thief whirled around to face a scowling dark elf, "No." He snapped as sternly as he could, "Go away." He added, sneering down at the dark elf, his hand going to his new sword's hilt. He didn't really want to fight the other man...he just wanted to look like a genuine Marmo soldier.

The dark elf looked Silk up and down, "Excuse me?" He asked, stepping closer to the taller thief and raising an eyebrow quizzically.

Silk sighed loudly and pushed the elf away, "Beat it, homo." He replied sharply, "I haven't got time for the likes of you. I have business inside." He threw his thumb back towards the great doors of the fortress. Quite nervously, he watched as the dark elf spat at his feet; before he knew it, the dark elf turned and disappeared amongst the other soldiers.

Silk breathed a sigh of relief and turned to face the doors, with a mighty effort, he yanked one of them open and slipped inside. The sound of the soldiers' chatter was instantly cut out and he stood in silence at the far end of an amazingly large carpeted hall. He darted towards one of the walls, as being in the middle of an open area and standing there dumbly was not the way to look inconspicuous, and followed a side corridor deeper into the heart of the fortress.

Figuring the dungeons would be on the lowest level of the structure, Silk descended every staircase he encountered. Twice he found storage areas, but he eventually arrived in the dungeons. Unfortunately for him, Silk found out that the dungeons were alot larger than he had anticipated; winding corridors of dank cells went on for what seemed like miles, "How many captives does Ka keep for god's sake? Entire cities?!" He cried in exasperation at one point.

As if in response to his mock-question, a woman's voice sounded from of to the east, "Shut up!" The voice hollered, its sound echoing throughout the entirety of the prison block.

Silk froze. A guard? Arwen? Kalie? He swiftly and stealthily headed towards the voice's origin and eventually came up behind a red-robed figure that stood before two cells -- two occupied cells. Silk was barely able to hold in a shout of glee; he had found Arwen and Kalie! Now all he had to do was find a way to get past the robed figure...

Casually, he strode up to the person in question and cleared his throat, "You are wanted in the empress' audience chambers." He declared as gruffly as he could. The red-robed figure turned then, and he found himself facing another dark elf -- this time, it was a woman...and she was frowning displeasedly.

"Really?" The woman asked, her voice crisp and sharp.

Silk nodded half-heartedly, his eyes darting from the dark elf to the two prisoners who knelt by the bars of their jails. As much as he wanted to inspect the pisoners, he kept finding his gaze jumping back to the dark elven woman. She did not look happy with his summons. He felt himself flush with embarassment.

"I was just with the empress, soldier." The woman went on, her hands crossed negatively over her chest. When Silk didn't respond, she picked up on the hoax instantly; in a flash, she reached out and grasped the front of Sik's shirt, pulling him an inch from her scowling visage, "Listen to me, whoever you are." She hissed, "There are many important things going on right now and I haven't got the time or people who desire to screw around with me.".

Silk smiled a ridiculous smile, "The empress might have been asking about someone else..." He tried, shrugging his shoulders.

The dark elf sneered, "You don't even know who I am." She spat.

Silk opened his mouth to respond, but then he pursed his lips, "You're right, I don't." He declared in defeat, cursing under his breath.

With that, the dark elven woman whipped open an empty cell and threw Silk inside, "I am Lady Rose," She said with evil intent as she slammed the door shut, "Welcome to Marmo."