The Chronicles of Weyard
By Claviculae
Chapter 6: Prox
"Hey Gandas! Wait up!" Meron yelled over the howling winds. "Give him a break." Brigg yelled back. "He hasn't seen his family for months." Gandas was running at full speed, eager to see his mother and brothers one last time before embarking on his new career. Santur, Meron, and Brigg were doing their best to keep up with him, but none of them were used to running in knee-deep snow. They finally reached the town limits. Gandas ran onto a street that was, suprisingly, snow-free. The Mars Clan did a good job of maintaining their town. Gandas started dodging through back streets and alleys, taking every shortcut he knew. He eventually came to his house. He threw the door open and rushed in. His mother was sitting by the fire, reading to his youngest brother while his other young brother swept the floor and cleaned the kitchen up. At the noise of the door, his mother and brothers looked up. He ran up and embraced his mother, who was lost in tears. "Oh, Gandas." she sobbed. "We've missed you. We weren't expecting you to visit for several months more. I'm so happy to see you." "Me too, Mom. It's great to be home for a visit." He sat down in a chair and started playing with his youngest brother, who was also happy to see him.
"Gandas," his mother queried, wiping her eyes, "why did you come back now? I thought you were going to try and get a job somewhere." "Yes, but then I decided to join my friends on their quest." he said, indicating his companions. "Are these the friends you told me about? The ones you met at Colosso?" she asked. "Yeah, they are. Oh, sorry. I haven't done the introductions yet. Mom, this is Santur, this is Meron, and this is Brigg. Guys, this is my mother, Jannel. This is my youngest brother, Stenar, and that's my second youngest brother, Josan. There. Now everybody knows everybody else." "So, what is their quest and how does it bring them here?" Josan asked. "We're all studying Psynergy, and eventually want to become Adepts. We're here because my friends wanted to meet my family. So, we took the boat back here. Oh, Mom. I'm so happy to be home. I" He was cut off as a rock came smashing through the front window. Jannel looked startled, then angry. "Who did that and why?" she said to no one in particular. Santur walked over to the shattered glass and picked up the rock. It had a note tied to it. He unfolded and read it. Meron watched as he gasped and turned ghost-white. His hands started shaking and he dropped the note. "Santur, settle down. Get a grip!" Brigg said. Santur clenched his fists, took several deep breaths, then turned around. "Gandas, stay here. Brigg and Meron, we need to leave. Now." "What is it, Santur?" asked Meron. He picked up the note and handed it to her. She read it, then handed it to Brigg. He looked at it. It read, 'We're coming to get you, Isaacen.' "Who's 'Isaacen'?" asked Meron. She paled as realization struck her. "The Gray Company!" she said, grabbing her backpack. Gandas looked confused. "What's wrong? What's the 'Gray Company' that you're talking about?" he asked. Brigg explained as quickly as he could. "They're a group of Alchemy fanatics, religious kooks, if you will. They're after Santur's life because they think he wants to seal Alchemy. They've already tried to kill him once, and they're going to try again tonight. Gandas, stay and protect your mother. Hopefully, they won't worry about you. But they will consider Meron and I a threat. If your night here is undisturbed, meet us at the ship tomorrow. We need to get out of here as fast as we can. If there's trouble here, stay in the house. If you're not at the ship by noon, we'll come back and help." Gandas opened his mouth to argue, but Brigg held up his hand. "No, Gandas. That's an order. This is for your family's safety." With that, they walked out of the door.
They made their way through the blizzard to the outskirts of Prox. They were about to head to the ship when a very loud whistling sound was heard. Santur, being of Jupiter and having heightened reflexes and speed, bairly had enough time to duck as the arrow whistled through his hair. He spun around and projected an aura around himself and his companions. Within a half-second, a dozen arrows had hit it and clattered to the ground. The source was a group of fifteen men, all in Gray Company uniform. Brigg instantly held his hand in the air as a massive sword flew down into their midst, impaling two of them. The sword being a non-physical Psynergy attack, the wounds closed up as soon as the sword had driven itself into the ground. The two that had received the blow were unconscious, lying in a pool of their own mingled blood. That left thirteen assassins to deal with. Santur held up his hands and screamed, "Shine Plasma!" A dozen or more lightning bolts struck four different men, knocking them out. Meron cast Deluge on the remaining killers. The water drenched them. Several of them laughed at the weak attack, but stopped their laughter when they realized the climate they were in. Their clothes started to freeze, rendering them immobile. Several of them started turning blue. As they started collapsing in the snow, hypothermia rendering them unconscious and half-dead, the four men who had been stunned by Santur's Shine Plasma rolled to their feet. One of them held up his hands as three little symbols spun towards Santur, Meron and Brigg. The symbols rested over their right shoulders, and they soon discovered that they couldn't use Psynergy. "Two can play at this game!" Santur yelled, unleashing Luff. In seconds, the same symbol rested over the four remaining assassins. The one who had first sealed Santur's, Meron's and Brigg's Psynergy smiled slightly before collapsing in the snow. He started shaking uncontrollably as he froze to death, his last bit of energy used to seal his enemy's Psynergy and revitalize his companions. Santur, Meron and Brigg drew their weapons, preparing for combat. Santur held his sword up in the air before remembering that the flames that normally engulfed it were a product of his Psynergy. He snarled, lowering his non-burning sword into a combat position. The assassins each drew a two-foot shortsword. They lined up, each assassin pairing with one target. Everyone stood still, glaring at their opponent. Then one of the assassins uttered a battle cry. The three members of the Gray Company charged, and the fight was on.
Santur's opponent rushed at him, swinging his sword in the air, trying to bring it down on Santur's head. Santur swung his sword up at an angle, parrying the blow off to the side. Santur continued swinging his sword over his head, giving him momentum for a backflip. As he spun in the air, his opponent rushed forward, stabbing at him. Santur parried the blow while landing. He used his sword's momentum to swing it around and hit the assassin's right side. His opponent responded with a heavy "Oof!" and fell sideways, rolling to his feet. He launched at Santur, who bent forward. His enemy landed on Santur's back as Santur stood up, throwing the assassin back onto his head. Santur flipped his sword into a stabbing hold and brought it down towards the killer's head. The man rolled aside just in time, shoving himself up with his arms. Santur tried to jerk his sword out of the icy pavement in which it was embedded, but it wouldn't budge. His assailant came at him, preparing to bring his sword down in a cleaving blow to Santur's head. His sword met with Santur's Assassin Blade, which he still kept as a pocketknife. The sword was stopped when it slid down the side of the dagger and met with the hilt. Santur jumped up in the air, pivoting on his dagger so that it would remain in the same place. He reached the peak of his jump and fell, landing his feet on the flat of his opponent's sword. The killer was thrown to the ground in his effort to hold onto his blade. As soon as Santur's feet touched the ground, he pulled his dagger out from under the enemy's shortsword then swung it over his head, building up the dagger's momentum. He swung it in a full arc, landing it in the assassin's back. The man screamed in pain. Santur pulled his knife free and grabbed a vial. He was about to pour it in the man's wound, but the assassin gave one final effort, tugging his shortsword out from underneath Santur's feet. Santur fell on the ground, spilling the vial's precious contents all over the frozen pavement. The assassin attempted to stab Santur as he lay on the ground, but missed as he flinched from the pain of his wound. The sword met with the ground. The assassin stumbled, but managed to regain his footing. He saw Santur swing the handle of his dagger towards the man's head, attempting to knock him senseless. The would-be killer made one final move, swinging the point of his sword up to his own chest and throwing the handle to the ground. The handle of Santur's dagger met with the assassin's head, knocking him senseless. Santur saw too late what the man had done with his sword. He grunted from the blow, then fell to the ground, impaling himself on his own sword.
Meron heard Santur yell and looked at him. He was trying to stop his opponent from killing himself. Meron felt a blow to her chest as her opponent landed his foot in it. She was knocked back into a lamppost, too dazed to parry the next blow. Her assailant stabbed his sword into her left shoulder, mere inches away from her heart. She screamed in pain as he withdrew her sword. He saw another chance and stabbed again, this time into her right shoulder. He withdrew his blade and prepared to strike again, this time aiming for her throat. She grabbed her mace, however, and parried the blow, striking his sword so that it instead clipped her left cheek and ear. He scowled at her and struck again, this time at her heart. She brought her mace down on his sword, knocking it down so that it impaled her left leg. By this time, Santur had picked himself up and grabbed his dagger. He issued a scream of rage as he saw his lifelong friend being impaled for the sole reason that she was his friend. He leaped towards the villain, intent on slashing him to pieces. The assassin had heard his cry, however, and whirled around as Santur ran up to him. He held his sword out in front of him. They met, Santur's knife stabbing the assassin's shoulder and the assassin's shortsword impaling Santur's stomach. Santur was too enraged to even notice. He pulled his dagger out and brought it down on his opponent's right arm, slashing the tendon and rendering his fingers useless. He started slashing at the man's face, driven by burning hatred. The man screamed in anguish and fell onto his back. Santur proceeded to stab him numerous times in the chest. It wasn't until he had stabbed the man nine times that he thought about Meron. The man was dead, no longer a threat. He turned to her. Her once-blue outfit was stained in three separate places with blood. He reached down to his tunic pocket to grab a vial when he noticed that he, too, was losing blood. That didn't matter. All he cared about was helping Meron. He grabbed the three vials that he had with him and poured one on each wound. The wounds began to close, but she was still unconscious from blood loss. He grabbed an herb and placed it in her mouth. It dissolved when it came in contact with her saliva. Her eyes fluttered open. She was okay. "Thank God you're okay, Meron." he said to her. "Thanks for helping me out." she said, weakly. Then she noticed how his abdomen was drenched with blood. She tried to cast Ply on him, but fainted from the exertion. He looked down at himself and tried to grab an herb. He had closed his fingers around it when he landed facedown on the ground in a pool of his own blood. Brigg, seeing this, was charged with adrenaline. He redoubled his attack, hacking and slashing at his opponent. The man went down. Brigg thrust his sword down, killing the would-be assassin.
Santur woke up five minutes later to the bitter wind. Brigg was leaning over him and had just finished casting Cure Well on him. He looked at his stomach, but there was no wound. Brigg explained. "One of the killers had a potion on him. I used it on you. Quick. There are probably more of them. We'll have to carry Meron." They grabbed their weapons and packs and started heading for the ship again. Santur suddenly stopped, causing the stretcher with Meron on it to fall to the ground. "Santur, what is it?" asked Brigg. "I hear a voice." Santur replied. "I don't hear anything but this awful wind!" Brigg said. Santur didn't hear him. His mind was drawn by the voice that he could only hear in his mind. 'Very good job, Isaacen. Or should I say, Santur?' the voice said. 'My name is Santur. Who are you?' he replied, unaware that he was not only communicating telepathically, but also verbally. Poor Brigg heard only a one-sided conversation. 'My name is not important. I am the higher-up in the Gray Company that you very cleverly figured out. You're right. I'm just manipulating them. I don't actually believe their religion. But back to the point. You're probably wondering why I have set them against you.' 'Of course I am. Why?' Santur replied, trying to pry into his adversary's mind. As he tried, the voice began to sound different. Instead of the monotone that was commonly used to mask oneself in telepathic communication, the voice began to sound like that of its wielder. An old man, with a heavy, German accent. (a/n:yes, germany isn't in weyard. but it's the only way to describe it to you.) Santur tried to get an image of what he looked like. 'I have nothing against you personally, Santur. In fact, I have been watching you for the last few years, ever since you turned thirteen. I am fascinated by your skill, and do not really want to kill you.' Santur cut him off. 'Why are you trying to, then?' 'I am a businessman, Santur. Someone made me a tempting offer, and so I decided to take them up.' 'What offer?' 'A very large cash sum, but that's not important. What's important is the fact that I am willing to discuss this matter with you in person. Perhaps we can reach an agreement. Are you interested?' Santur was breaking through his defense, trying to get a picture of him. 'Sort of. Who hired you?' 'I myself do not know their names. All I know is that there are two of them, and they are very talented with Mars Psynergy. A man and a woman, if you want to know. Now, are you interested in your life being spared?' 'Sure. Where do we meet?' 'Come to Kalay. I'll give you more specific directions when you get there.' 'How do I know I can trust you?' Santur asked. 'Because I'm a man of my word. I don't really want you dead, and besides, if you refuse, there are plenty more assassins where these ones came from. You will die eventually.' 'I'm convinced. I'll go to Kalay if my companions agree.' 'Very good. I'm breaking off. I'll see you in Kalay.' Suddenly, as the communication broke, the man's defense went down. Santur got a brief image. He was old, dressed in a white coat and pants. He had very little hair, just some tufts that stuck out on the sides and a bushy mustache. Way out. About six inches, in fact. What hair he had was gray, in fact. Odd coincidence. Suddenly, Santur was brought back to reality by Brigg shaking him. "Santur, come on. We've got to get Meron out of this wind. The ship isn't far." Santur picked up his end of the stretcher and started walking again.
They reached the ship twenty minutes later. Soon, they were inside the cabin, warming themselves at the stove. As soon as Santur could feel his fingers, he turned to Meron. He leaned over her, trying to see what condition she was in. She was breathing deeply, and appeared to be asleep. "Brigg, I'm going to check on her." Santur said as he sat down next to the bed, leaning his back up against the side of it. He closed his eyes and used Mind Read, instantly falling asleep. He was in a meadow filled with flowers. And there was Meron, walking around, enjoying the freedom. Santur walked up to her. "Meron, are you all right?" he asked, concern showing on his face. "Of course I am. Why do you ask?" she replied. Before he could reply, her expression changed as she remembered. "That's right, the fight. And the stabbing." she said, wincing at the very memory of it. "Are you all right? You used your vials on me, but I passed out trying to cast Ply." "Yes, I'm fine. Brigg took care of me. Right now, we're in the cabin on the ship. You're sleeping, so I decided to check on you." She smiled, appreciating the concern. "Thanks, Santur. I'm fine. Hey, now that you're in my dream, why don't we relax and enjoy it?" "That sounds great. Poor Brigg, he never gets to do this." Santur said, laying on the grass and enjoying its softness. It was so much better than the frozen tundra outside of Prox. Meron lay down next to him and stared at the clouds. They relaxed and talked for an hour or more. Finally, Santur realized that Brigg was probably worried. "Meron, I need to get up and tell Brigg that you're all right. I'll be back in a little while," he said, forcing himself to wake up. As he snapped back to reality, he noticed the time. What had been over an hour in the dream had been a mere five minutes. Brigg noticed him, then got up. "How is she?" he asked, hoping for the best. "She's fine. We were relaxing in a nice meadow when I realized that you were probably worried. I think she's going to sleep through the night, so I'm going to grab a cot and sleep here next to the bed. I told her I'd be back in her dream soon." Santur said, setting up his cot next to the bed were Meron lay, peacefully sleeping. Five minutes later, he said goodnight to Brigg and lay down on the cot. Brigg grabbed a sleeping bag and hit the floor. Santur used Mind Read and was soon relaxing with Meron in the meadow.
The next day, Gandas arrived at the ship, packed and ready to go. Santur told everyone about his mental conversation with the old man. They all agreed to go to Kalay. Gandas said everything had gone peacefully at his house, and that he had already said goodbye to his mother. They shoved off and set course for Kalay.
Wow, six chapters already! The last one made me search every crevice of my brain (or where my brain would be if I had one) to come up with a simple three thousand words. This one, I hit 3k easily. Whaddya think about me reintroducing the Gray Company? And has anyone figured out who the old man is? Email comments, suggestions, hate mail, top secret CIA information, etc. PLEASE REVIEW! Thanx.
Claviculae
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5/31/03
9:12 PM
19 paragraphs
266 lines
3390 words