Volume 3, Chapter 21 – Torio: Bloody Sunrise
The sun dawned the next morning, bright and warm as usual. Saeldur stood outside Torio's door, having woken up early and having already been downstairs to see the priests of Pelor and the people below. He touched the wood of the door, remember the feel of her mouth against his. A part of him hoped she didn't regret her actions last night; another part of him chastised him for placing himself between her and her lover. The lover who was apparently was with another woman. The elf knocked gently, "Torio? I am very sorry to disturb you, but the people want to know if they can leave the temple, walk around and such? They promise not to stray too far from the tower..."
Torio groaned into the pillow her face was pressed against. Her head was pounding...she would definitely need to lay off the wine. She stretched, hearing Saeldur's voice float through the door. Her mouth curled into a sleepy smile; she felt blissful, contented, her bed soft and comfortable beneath her. Once they defeated the devils she'd be able to move into a regular bed in the town, not that the floor was terribly hard...it would be better than roughing it with the lupinals, but she'd only have to go out with them occasionally, and then when she returned to the library...
Her eyes snapped open fully.
She sat up, pressing her fingers to her head. She was in the library...and Saeldur was still at the door. She rubbed her hands across her face for a moment, her disjointed, warm thoughts sending a buzz of confusion through her as she stood and moved to the door, pulling it open. Sure enough, Saeldur's voice turned into Saeldur himself, and she smiled wearily at him. "Good morning...they want to leave the temple, do they?" She leaned against the doorframe, pursing her lips. "Is there any word from Prince Talisid or the others on the devils? I suppose they can go out, but I want guardinals with them."
Saeldur shrugged. "Everything is peaceful and quiet. And nobody was taken last night either. If it wasn't for the entire city in the floors below me, I would scarcely believe a war was coming. I'll let them know they are allowed to leave with guardinals for protection. There's food downstairs as well. Your halfling friend is eager to share breakfast with you." The elf smiled at her, brushing some hair out of her face. "Big day for you today again. Come, we'll go downstairs together. I am going to bring food up for Lend."
Torio followed Saeldur downstairs, her head still thrumming unpleasantly. She felt strangely lighthearted, watching the elf's long hair swing and shift in front of her as they descended the staircase. There had been something she was trying to decide, something her mind had stubbornly been clinging to, but she couldn't quite place it...
It had almost formed in her mind, her stomach sinking slightly, when Brandobras was clapping her on the back (her lower back) and dragging her towards one of the tables set up along the wall. "Come on, come on...you'd think you never ate breakfast, the way you sleep in the mornings!" There was something unidentifiable and scrambled and hot waiting on a plate in front of her, and someone placed a mug of steaming dark liquid next to her hand as she sat down.
Brandobras chattered as she ate; apparently no one had gone missing in the night, and Prince Talisid was forming a small squad this morning to be sent through to locate the captives. "Which means we might be expecting an attack soon," said the halfling, lowering his voice with a glance towards the townsfolk that were desperately trying not to look like they were eavesdropping. "None of the scouts know exactly when, but it's a good thing we've gotten most of our preparations done already!"
The drink tasted remotely like coffee, in that it was hot and slightly bitter, but there was a rich, nutty taste to it that made it something infinitely better. The food was, of course, delicious. Torio finished her breakfast in record time, just to look out one of the windows and see a small crowd of people moving around the streets, and squad of cervidals moving amongst them.
"We'll have to get them in quickly, then," she said quietly. "They won't be able to linger long if attack is imminent." She felt a slight twisting in her stomach as she watched a group of children form a singsong ring and began dancing in a circle...
Brandobras nodded, "Just give them a few more minutes. Devils won't attack in full daylight...will they?" The halfling looked uncertain. "In anycase, Dahras would like you to check the lupinal archers in position today since it's their first day on duty. He's taking this very seriously, calling you his Sister-General. I keep telling him there's no such position but he's taken to the term. I'll come walk with you. We have to refill some of our water barrels in any case. I'll get some of the equinals to help carry those. By the gods, equinals are strong, did you know?"
Saeldur passed by the table with a heaping platter of food for the ursinal upstairs. Balancing the tray with one hand, he reached out and squeezed Torio's shoulders. "If you're leaving the tower, please...be careful. My historical entry on you would be terribly boring if you died today." His tone was light but his silver eyes were creased with worry. He moved away and up the stairs.
Torio smiled slightly, watching Saeldur disappear up the stairs a moment before she stood, brushing herself down. "Sister-General is it?" She chuckled, gesturing for Brandobras to precede her out the door. "I've most definitely never heard that one before. And what shall we call you?" They stepped out into the sunlight, some of the townsfolk released from the temple waving at them as they passed on their way towards the outer buildings. "Inspector General of Supplies? Head Master Food Taster?"
She caught sight of Dahras conversing with two other lupinals at the base of one of the makeshift ladders they had embedded into the walls of the buildings yesterday, and she headed over to him, Brandobras on her heels. "Good morning," she said lightly, nodding to all of them. "What's the word, Dahras? How are the archers?"
Dahras gave her a huge grin. "Sister-General!" He saluted her. "The archers are in excellent condition! We're looking forward to kicking some devilish ass!"
Brandobras merely raised an eyebrow. "Language, Dahras! What would your mother say if she could hear you?"
The lupinal chuckled, "She'd probably say, 'Go get 'em'?" Dahras saluted again. "You can count on us, Sister-General. Whatever comes our way, we'll be ready for it."
Brandobras chuckled and then began walking towards the River. "Torio, some of the merchants on the River have also asked for protection because they can't ferry themselves away quick enough. What do you say?" He gestured for the small handful of boats lining the riverbank as it wound its way through the city.
Torio eyed the boats on the bank, frowning slightly. "I didn't see the merchants yesterday...where did they come from, did they say?" She had walked Gwillikins full around, twice, and hadn't seen hide nor hair of a boat on the river the morning prior. She sighed, pinching her nose. "Well, let's go take a look at them, then. Maybe they'll have some explanation for it; we could probably fit them into the temple with the others." She headed down towards the bank; a few nondescript figures waved at her as she and Brandobras approached, and she lifted her hand in greeting as well...
...curious...what was that smell? She'd smelled it before, faintly, she couldn't quite place it...
A human on one of the ships smiled at her as she stopped on the edge of the bank. "Ahoy, Ambassador! Got any room for a few sailors and merchants?"
...where had she smelled it? Her mind clicked on it sluggishly, her memory moving like some writhing, struggling thing; the night on the river, with the serpent, when he had asked her to assassinate Prince Talisid or the avoral leader...
Sulphur. It had clung to the snake, faintly, but unmistakable. And she could smell it now, too.
A tiny alarm went off in her head, and she could feel the blood draining from her face as the human on the ship's smile faded, and his eyes narrowed at her. She pushed Brandobras behind her slightly, backing up a step. "Merchants and sailors, is it? When did you arrive here?" Her voice was cautious, cool, but her blood was pounding.
The merchant sailor took a step off his boat and began walking towards Torio, his posture menacing. "Now there, Ambassador - what's with the sudden lack of love?" As he came closer and closer to Torio and the halfling, his skin began blurring and shifting and the man seemed to stretch impossibly taller until he stood over 7 feet tall. His skin suddenly turned green and long, sharp spikes erupted from his flesh, along with a long barbed tail.
The barbed devil grinned down at the human. "When did we arrive? Oh days ago, little human. We've infiltrated all your precious cities. Attack!" He leapt forward toward Torio, his claws extended. Behind him, emerging from the boat were two bearded devils and six lemures. The bearded devils were wielding large, bloodied glaives and yelling for the lemures to hurry off the boats.
Dahras could be heard behind them, yelling for the archers to fire at will.
Torio had time to kick Brandobras out of the way and grip the hilt of her kris before the claws were upon her; she felt the hardened, boiled leather crunch, bend, and give as the poniard claws pierced through her shoulder and her side, and she cried out, swearing violently as the kris slithered from its sheath. The tips of the claws drove into her skin, but the leather kept their entire length from entering her body, and she sliced upwards into the devil's palm, falling back onto one knee.
A hail of arrows flew over her head, dropping down like a horde of angry bees onto the devils still trying to clamber off of the boat. Torio cried out at the top of her lungs, "To me!" and tried to maneuver herself out from under the claw that pinned her.
The barbed devil gave a roar of pain as it felt Torio resist, pulling her towards his prickly body like some sort of infernal porcupine and staring into her eyes. "Give up, girl...do you think that because you fight in the Heavens you won't go to the Hells when you die?" More of the quills punctured through her leathers and the devil gave her a large toothy grin; but suddenly both the devil and Torio were knocked flat to the ground by a charging equinal. The massive horselike warrior whinnied triumphantly, prying the devil away from Torio before beginning to pound on the hellish creature with his bare hands, taking cuts himself on the sharp barbs.
Brandobras had the wind knocked out of him and he lay there, dazed for a moment, as it seemed like the entire world around him erupted into chaos. He could hear the sounds of battle, the whizzing of arrows... He sat him, ducking a bit and then shouted, "I'm warning those at the tower! We're under attack! We have to warn the Prince..." He bolted for the tower, his short legs moving as quickly as they could.
The lupinal archers made short work of the lemures, who were barely able to get off the boat before being embedded full of arrows. Cervidals were charging at the bearded devils, their faces grim, their eyes gleaming. The bearded devils' glaives could be seen flashing in the sunlight, sprays of blood flying in the air as the cervidals screamed in pain and anger.
Torio's body stung with pins and needles of fire as she scrambled back over the grass, blood seeping through her armor and leaving a scarlet trail across the green carpet below her. She stuck the point of her kris into the ground and hauled herself to her feet, staggering back between the ranks of forward charging guardinals.
"Dahras!" She shouted, near screaming over the din. "Archers, north and south flank!" She was amazed that none of the guardinals had been hit by friendly arrows so far. Her eyes flicked over the scene before her for a half-heartbeat; the equinals were nearly mad with joyous battle-craze, ignoring their own wounds and throwing themselves into battle in near ecstacy. She sprinted haphazardly towards one of the ladders on the side of the nearest building, and climbed up halfway, hollering over the cacophony, "Form a line, godsdamnit! Draw back from the boat!" She could hardly think straight; she could feel hot, sticky liquid trickling down the inside of her armor, the sweat on her skin making the multiple piercing wounds sting and throb in agony.
Dahras ran over to Torio, grabbing her arms and hauling her up onto the rooftop with him. "Sister-General! You're hurt but you took on that devil all by yourself! That was phenomenal!" He dropped his bow on the ground and quietly cast a minor cure spell on her. "Not much but it'll slow the bleeding until we can find a healer. But look! We're winning!"
He pointed to the battlefield, holding her up with his strong arms. Below them, they could see all the lemures were dead. One of the bearded devils was down, lying unmoving in the grass while the other was completely surrounded by cervidals. The equinal that had pulled Torio from the barbed devil lay fallen in a mangled heap, covered in blood. The barbed devil was barely fending off attacks from other equinals and soon, it too, fell defeated.
For a long second, there was nothing but silence.
Dahras looked at Torio. "That was it? I was expecting more."
Torio's breath came a little easier as the minor spell washed over her. She frowned, squinting down at the blood soaked riverbank. "No," she said, after a moment, "This can't be right. He did say they were in other cities, as well...are their forces so split up?"
She stared at the lazily keeling boats in the water for a moment longer, before suddenly paling. "Back to the tower," she said sharply. "I want archers posted on every rooftop; sound the alarm if you see anything. Everyone else, back to the tower!"
As Torio and the others ran back to the tower, a large avoral came crashing down to the ground, her wings torn and bloodied. "Torio! They've been using the River! Oh gods - they came out of nowhere... Prince Talisid wants you with his army now!"
The cervidals crowded around her, healing her as best they can.
"...what's happening?"
"...just Torio?"
"...Do we go too? What about Gwillikens?"
The avoral stood shakily. "From what I understood, small stealthy groups of devils were dispatched to many of the cities and towns along the River. It was like that was a game for them, to show us they could infiltrate our ranks so easily - to kill as many of the civilians as they could." Her voice rose, shrill. "But the main army is moving to meet Prince Talisid head on, on the battlefield now. He's headed north." The avoral's eyes rolled in her head in a panic. "There's so many of them and they keep calling up more."
The door to the tower suddenly opens and Lend and Saeldur came rushing out with Brandobras. The relief in their eyes was evident. "Oh gods, you're all right." Saeldur gave her an embrace. Brandobras was tugging on her sleeve. "Dahras...is he all right?"
"Dahras is fine." Her voice sounded grim, even in her own ears; she pulled back from Saeldur slightly, a frown creasing her forehead. "Our losses were surprisingly light. So far. Can somebody see to the messenger?" The avoral looked much worse for wear; a few of the cervidals surrounded the winged creature as she looked back towards Brandobras, Saeldur, and Lend. "Talisid wants me on the field," she said quietly. "I have to leave, now..." Her eyes flicked to Saeldur's face, but she merely straightened her shoulders in a brisk, businesslike fashion. "Is there a faster way I can reach the army besides on foot?"
Saeldur nodded. "The River will take you there in half the time. I..." He grabbed her arm. "I'm coming with you. A historian needs to be able to record the battle as he sees it. I've spent too long in the library."
Squire Sirrow popped out of the tower. "I will have the people prepare the ships for you. Pack your gear, get your supplies. We'll be ready to leave in a quarter of an hour or so help me gods, my name isn't Segamore Sirrow!" He re-entered the tower, looking for the first time, like the leader of the town.
Lend placed a heavy paw on Torio's shoulder. "I am coming as well. The ursinals have always served by their Prince's side in combat. This war will be no different. We can probably divert half the unit here to the Prince."
Brandobras looked torn. "I'm...I'm going to stay here Torio. There's still much that needs to be done here, especially for the fallen." He threw his arms around her waist. "Please be careful. Thank you for saving my life out there..."
Torio stared around her in amazement for half a second. Their eyes shot through her, pierced her more effectively than the devils' talons had moments before. She kneeled down and slipped an arm around Brandobras' shoulders, planting a light kiss on his cheek. "Be safe, yourself," she murmured, and then stood, watching the halfling turn and disappear in the direction of the small battleground, a cervidal escort hot on his heels.
She turned to Lend. "If you can mobilize half our force here, and get them down to the river, I'll grab us some supplies from the temple and meet you; we've got no time to lose." Her eyes flicked to Saeldur, and she glanced at the guardinals pressed around them before grabbing his arm lightly, and pulling him off to the side.
"Are you sure you want to come? You don't need to...prove anything, you know. By the hells, I shouldn't even be going out there...I'm no grand warrior." She gestured to her hole-punched armor, the skin beneath it now smooth from the healing spells. Her mouth was tight with worry. "Saeldur, if you come with and anything should happen..." It'd be my fault...She knew the truth of it even if she didn't say it
Saeldur laughed, his voice surprisingly light despite the seriousness of the situation. "Well I've already died once, what's a second time? Especially for something this important. I'll finally be able to answer the question of where souls of the dead go once they've died again." He turned his head and looked over the guardinals and the scenery before him. A peaceful silence had once again fallen over the town. "Look, I'm not saying I'm going to run into combat or anything like that. But you will need help bandaging wounds and running simple errands such as getting water, food. If I can help with that, then the warriors can worry about what they do best - fighting."
The elf placed his hands upon her shoulders. "Now is the time when everybody needs help. Don't turn my help aside for whatever reason. I'm not doing this to prove anything but too long have I lived in Elysium and have taken from her; it's time for me to give back in the only way I know how. Now, I'm going upstairs and I'm getting my quills and ink and such. Don't leave without me. Promise!"
Torio snorted at him, but the corner of her mouth twitched in a suppressed smile. "Fine. I promise, as long as you promise to hurry." She watched the elf duck back into the tower, and sighed, bunching her fingers into a handful of her short hair and pulling on it in mild frustration.
She mused as she collected a small pack of supplies and swung it onto her shoulders by the entrance to the temple. She certainly had no death wish. There was a nagging voice at the back of her head that whispered she was a fool, playing the part of the warrior, wearing hardened leather and weapons and ordering battle maneuvers; in truth she had a wealth of knowledge on battle tactics that she had read about, but seeing them practiced in theory was another matter altogether.
Well. It was a chance to put such knowledge to good use, at the very least. Using it as it was meant to be used, instead of twisting it, manipulating it, forcing it to thread into some complicated, nefarious plot. She watched the door to the temple, fidgeting anxiously while the guardinals waited patiently for her to signal she was ready to leave. If she had room...if she had energy to spare, she would have paced a groove into the cobblestone by now, waiting for Saeldur.
The elf re-emerged a scant five minutes later, looking slightly frazzled but excited. "I think I have everything I need." He looked at the activity along the River where the townsfolks were bringing out rafts, boats, and barges of all shapes and sizes. Food and supplies were rapidly being packed in, Squire Sirrow directing the people with his characteristic fluttering nervousness. Saeldur reached out and squeezed Torio's hand. "All right, fair leader, pick your vessel and I will follow.
Torio led them onto the lead boat, the small vessel rocking and keeling slightly in the water as they added their weight to those already on it. She found a spot where she could kneel comfortably by the side, and held on as the boats pushed off from shore and began punting down the river, the guardinal bodies around her swaying and shifting as the boat slid along the water...Saeldur sat somewhere close by, next to and slightly behind her as the barges and riverboats picked up a steady pace down the river.