MY ONE-SHOTS
Summary: My version of how the battle against Kralkatorrik went. What actually happened was heavily researched by me to ensure that I got everything right (because I haven't actually read the book).
Chapter seven: The Aftermath
Author's Notes:
I started the chapter off with one little tidbit I could find on the wiki directly from the book. I doubt the book actually follows on like this - my writing style is certainly different from King's, (for one thing, I write present tense and he doesn't) and I have not actually read Edge of Destiny, but I was writing a story that has a section in this, and as I didn't know how it went originally (and how can I write a what-if if I don't know how it went originally?) so I wrote this to give myself a basis. And I posted it for you.
So. If you've read the book, feel free to give me criticisms, like how a certain thing happened.
A lot of my information comes from the Discussion sections on wiki pages - the EoD page, the Kralkatorrik page, Destiny's Edge page, and the different members of Destiny's Edge's pages. Several people there have gone and given a summary of the battle, which I found quite useful. If I got something wrong, just tell me.
This chapter was originally going to be called The Aftermath, because it would've focussed on the aftermath of the battle, but then I realized 'how do I start it?' and started with the one quote from the book I had that was relevant. (Edit:) Actually, I'll keep it at that. Because it does focus on that - the battle part is very short.
So, I'm going to make this chapter present tense. I'm only mentioning it because the portion taken from EoD is in past tense, and that might make it a tad confusing.
Disclaimer: (that I haven't done yet because... I don't know.) I do not own Guild Wars 2, or Arenanet. I do not own the book entitled Edge of Destiny, or it's publisher(s), I did not write the book, and I am not making any money from either of these organizations.
Okay, here's the chapter now:
Excerpt from chapter: 'Battle of the Desert' (This can also be found in the references section of Kralkatorrik's page on the wiki.)
Enraged, the dragon sought this delighted mind, this maddening contentment. The eye of the dragon shifted, fixing on the ruined sanctuary far below.
That was where it lurked.
But not for long.
The minions of Kralkatorrik would root out this intruder.
Branded swarm from all sides at the little group - Glint is dead, but Kralkatorrik is subdued, on the ground.
Snaff is holding his own against the dragon's - the Elder Dragon's - mind, but the Branded are coming for him.
"Rytlock, take the spear and end it!" Eir shouts, once she is sure the dragon is down.
Rytlock breaks off from the group of three, leaving them to face off against the horde of dragon minions coming their way.
They form a three-pointed circle around Snaff, weapons ready.
Rytlock charges at the dragon. He can't throw the spear too soon - he might miss, or it won't work right at such a distance - so he gets closer. The dragon won't come to him, no, so he goes out on his own. The Branded ignore him, and Rytlock prepares to launch the spear made from Kralkatorrik's own blood.
"No!"
Not a one of the group know which one of them failed - the Branded are on all sides, now, and one cannot spare much attention for the next dragon minion in line to die - but one of them does.
The crystallized monster tears apart the golem that Snaff is in, causing Snaff to lose his connection to the dragon's mind just in time to realize his own death as fact.
Caithe, Zojja, and Eir aren't in time to stop it.
Kralkatorrik, freed from Snaff's mental restraints, immediately takes wing, calling it's minions after it, just as the spear thrown by Rytlock flies through the air.
The spear rattles against Kralkatorrik's crystal scales and falls to the sand below.
Rytlock spins around, to find the rest of the group clustered around where Snaff and his golem should be.
The Branded have left them, following the dragon.
Rytlock approaches the group to find Big Snaff, Snaff's golem, nearly shredded on the ground, and Snaff lying dead among the wreckage.
Zojja is almost frozen in shock, Eir's eyes seem empty as she stares at the body of her companion, and Caithe's shoulders are slumped and she seems rather… withered.
Rytlock's eyes are riveted on Snaff, and comes to a halt by the others.
'The Branded… ' Rytlock thinks in shock. 'They must have got past...'
"Dwayna's mercy…"
Rytlock looks up sharply to see Logan staring at Snaff's body.
"This is your fault," Rytlock snarls.
Logan blinks in confusion. "I wasn't even here," he says, forhead furrowed.
"That's the point," Rytlock spat back. "You ran off to your precious Queen when we needed you most! Do you think for a moment - "
"The Queen was in danger," Logan replies heatedly. "I wouldn't not go to her! Ebonhawke was under attack by the dragon's minions, and would have been overrun if not for her."
"And we were being attacked by the Elder Dragon itself, fool! Did you think that the dragon's death would have had no effect on the minions?"
"The only reason - "
"I don't care for your reasons. You deserted your friends when they needed you most. If you were a charr you could have been executed for that."
"Another reason on a long list why I'm glad I'm not a charr," Logan answers coolly. "If I recall the plan correctly, it was your job to get the Dragonsblood Spear in the dragon. Did you succeed? No? Didn't think so."
"Because you weren't here to help protect Snaff, so Branded got and killed him before I was close enough to use the spear!"
"Go faster next time!"
"You're being unreasonable, both of you," Caithe interrupts. "Calm down and we'll talk this over rationally."
"You can't reason with a traitor," Rytlock snarls.
"I'm no traitor," Logan snaps. "And if I was, I'd be a traitor whichever way I chose - traitor to my queen and love, or my friends? How would your have chosen?"
"I'd have stayed, or are you to dim to tell already?"
"Well, that's obvious," Logan snarls. "You're the dim one. Don't you charr have some sort of rule that says you are loyal to your legion before your warband? I'd say this is a warband, I'd your ask me. Who's your ruler, Imperator somebody or other? If he called you, wouldn't you go?"
"I'm sure I could make him see reason, especially if I had such a… personal relationship as you seem to have with your queen. He's much more reasonable than she is, you know."
"And if he was dead?" Logan challenges.
"From what you're telling me, the queen settled the branded soon enough. What help were you?"
"I defended her from Branded while she created an illusion of Kralkatorrik itself," Logan replies coolly.
"And the Branded believed that?" Rytlock snorts. "Don't they have some sort of link to the dragon?"
"Whether they do or not, it worked. I see you're not calling me out for, what was it, abandoning you, now you've seen how powerful she is?"
"Oh, no," Rytlock snorts. "Better for her to die than the dragon live. Especially if she will keep calling you away at crucial moments in the future."
"How are you so certain you would have succeeded if I'd stayed?"
"The plan was unbeatable. The only way the Branded got past was because there were so many. We had a lot extra that we were counting on you to kill."
"Or somebody should have changed the plan," Zojja speaks up at last. "Changed it, or saved the battle for another day. You said we could do it even with Logan gone, Eir. It's your fault Snaff died. He trusted you, and you failed him. You failed all of us, Eir."
"I couldn't have known - "
"You're the leader, the 'tactical mind' of this group. You should have seen we couldn't face an Elder Dragon at any disadvantage."
"You know we've always discussed these things beforehand, Zojja. But nobody objected."
"There wasn't time for anybody to object, Eir!"
"Logan choose a very poor time to run away," Rytlock agrees, glancing at Logan.
"Calm down!" Caithe says again. "Words can't be unsaid, once spoken. And those spoken in anger are almost always the ones you wish you could take back, later."
"I'm perfectly calm and rational, Caithe. You stay out of this." Rytlock tells her.
"No, Caithe is right. If Eir had simply been more rational and calm - "
"None of us were calm," Logan interrupts. "An Elder Dragon was attacking and the queen was in danger. No one would be calm."
"And you need to be calm to be rational." Caithe agrees.
"Like Logan said," Rytlock says, ignoring Caithe, "none of us were calm - obviously, since Logan ran away and some poor decisions were made. If we'd been calm then Logan wouldn't have run away, we'd probably still have decided to continue the attack, and most likely won, too."
"I made my choice," Logan says firmly. "I wouldn't unmake it."
"What rationalization can you make for deserting your team?" Rytlock demands. "Are you telling me - "
"Yes!" Logan retorts. "The queen was in danger; I had to save her. I did return as soon as I could."
"Doesn't matter. We were fighting an Elder Dragon. Not a dragon champion, not Glint, an Elder Dragon."
"Where is Glint, anyway?" Logan asks. "I'd have thought she'd knocked some sense into you idiots by now."
"Dead," Caithe replies softly. "She sacrificed herself to get the powerstone key on Kralkatorrik."
"Oh."
"Yes. 'Oh.'" Rytlock snarks.
"That's too bad. Looks like I'll have to knock sense into you, then." Logan says, getting angry.
"Knock sense into me? What type of sense?" Rytlock snorts sarcastically. "The fool 'run away when people need you' sense, or - "
"I prefer to think of it as run to people who need you, since otherwise it'd have been stay away when people need you. If I'd been at the queen's side first, and you'd called, what if I didn't come?"
"You would have been an utter fool."
"If I hadn't gone, that's what it would have been like from her perspective."
"Better to be a fool than a traitor!"
"You're contradicting yourself."
"I don't care for your opinions, traitor."
"I don't care for yours."
"It's still your fault."
"My fault that what? You failed to do your job?"
"Your fault that Snaff died!"
"And now we get to the bottom of the issue. If what I've heard so far is any indication, it's your fault."
"Snaff wouldn't have wanted this!" Caithe says desperately. "He works have told us to work it out!"
"Would have being the key phrase there. Thanks to this idiot, he's dead. Is that why you ran away?" Rytlock challenges at the same time as Zojja turns on Caithe.
"You have no idea what Snaff would have wanted. And you saw what happened - Eir obviously doesn't talk things out, and that's why he's dead."
Logan snapped.
"We've always talked things out before, Zojja," Eir starts.
"So it's my fault Snaff is dead, is it?" Logan snarls viciously. He has his sword out. "It's my fault that Kralkatorrik escaped? It's my fault that Glint's voluntary sacrifice was in vain? It's my fault that - "
"Yes!" Rytlock roars. "And the world would be a much better place without you, human!"
"It would have been better if you'd never been born, Eir," Zojja says scornfully. Garm snarls viciously, but Eir holds him in check.
"Rytlock! Zojja!" Caithe protests weakly.
The other four ignore her.
"I'm sure all the dragons would be dead by now if it wasn't for you," Rytlock continues.
"You're right. No one needs me." Eir says, turning away. Garm glares at Zojja malevolently.
Zojja smirks spitefully at the two. "I'm glad to know you can see reason," she says tauntingly.
"I'm sure your wish will be fulfilled soon, then." Logan taunts Rytlock. "If, of course, you're as good a swordsman as you say you are. Somehow, your recent failure make me doubt it. Perhaps you're too weak to face up against me."
"Please," Caithe's voice finally breaks through. "If you can't keep from attacking each other, for just one moment, I don't see why I bother! You obviously can't listen, so go kill yourselves! Get in a fight to the death or whatever it is you're planning! You think that other being dead will help things, so try it! Do you really think one less of the few people who care about the dragons dying will help our cause?"
"He wouldn't help us anyway, he's shown that," Rytlock snarls.
"You're no help, even you do try," Logan scorns.
"It's better than not trying at all. Go guard your human Queen, for all I care. Go die, I won't worry." Rytlock mocks, sheathing his sword. "Either way, you don't matter, and honestly not worth my time."
He smirks at Logan, turns, and leaves the scene of the battle. Logan glares after him, sword still in his hand, a feral snarl on his face.
"Now the idiot is gone," Zojja says after a bit, "perhaps we can go do something worthwhile?"
"Like what?" Logan scorns, turning on Zojja. "Driving away the 'tactical mind of the group', as even you put it? She may have made a mistake, but that doesn't excuse you."
Zojja blinks.
"if anything, future failed attempts would be on you. Her plans and strategies were brilliant. I don't care to work with someone who would ditch me like that if I made a mistake." Logan turns on his heel and leaves in the opposite direction from Rytlock, sheathing his blade.
"He's right, you know." Caithe tells her. "We'll never get anywhere accusing each other."
Zojja glares at Caithe. "You say that now. Wait until someone does something blameworthy to you."
She turns and looks sorrowfully at the wreckage of Snaff's golem, falling silent.
Caithe sighs and shadowsteps away.
Author's Notes:
How do you like it?
To anybody who's read the book, how well did I stick to canon? Tell me if I made any mistakes.
I hope I did it justice. It was really hard to write a scene with Destiny's Edge arguing like that. To quote Eir: 'It's sad to see Logan and Rytlock argue.'
I may have made them out of character - but that was bound to happen, since they go through major character development in the game. Especially Zojja.
I didn't put in too much Zojja-Eir confrontation because they don't strike me as the type to get into shouting matches. I went off of the arguments they had in the game - Zojja accusing Eir of terrible things, Eir protesting a bit, before agreeing with Zojja and blaming herself.
I feel like the Logan-Rytlock confrontation was a little mild, and forced as it was, and a forced ending to it, as well, because if they actually had got in a physical fight with each other that would have made the being friends again that much harder and a bit more unbelievable for the CoF dungeon. Although, saving his life is a bonding thing, however much hostility lies between them. Which is why it was so believeable.
And now I'm rambling again!
I need to learn to stop that.
Read and Review, please!