Silimar picked up the fruit and examined it. He wore thin robes wrapped around him, hiding his armor. The vendor looked at him nervously, and he offered him a reassuring smile. He reached beneath the robes, and pulled out a few coins, placing them on the counter.
"Keep the change; these fruits are amazing!" he told him, picking up another fruit and walking away to where Timur and Weyloran were waiting. He tossed one of the fruits to Timur, who bit into it happily. They, too were wearing robes, though not their usual Warlock sets. They were dressed as Silimar was.
This operation required them to be inconspicuous. The three of them stood in the shade between buildings, watching as several children played in the dusty, sandy street. Warlord Kariven. Vicious. Unforgiving. Striker Titan. Every month, he came to the village. He took what he wanted, killed anyone he deemed useless, and stole one of the children, never to be seen again. Silimar wondered which one of the kids he would go after.
They were kicking around a ball. One of them kicked towards a young woman of about seventeen, maybe eighteen, carrying a basket. She stopped the ball, set down the basket, and kicked it into the air, bouncing it on her knees a couple times before sending it back to it's owners, who giggled with delight.
"Cool, Efrideet!" one of the young boys exclaimed, beaming up at her, before running back to join his playmates, the young woman giving a small wave before picking up her basket again.
Suddenly, someone screamed. The woman's head snapped around, Timur, Weyloran, and Silimar looked up the way, to see five pikes zooming their way across the flat land, kicking up dust as they went.
"That's him. This is it." Silimar told his companions. Timur's hand cannon flashed beneath his robes as he pulled it out slightly. The young woman, seeing the approaching danger, dropped her basket, turned, and ran for a house nearby, slamming the door open and leaving it swinging on it's hinges. The children were shooed inside, terrified.
The pikes stopped. Silimar could tell where the best place to be when they attacked would be. Five? This is going to be hard. Good thing they had Ashraven and Jolder on standby. The Warlord and his men strode through the village, tossing citizens to get what they wanted. The large Titan with the shining, bald head was Kariven. His eyes found one of the children, the mother backed againsts a wall, hiding him. The Warlord strode forwards, the woman begged him not to.
Silimar grabbed the edges of his robes, ready to rip them off and go for the nearest handyman.
And then, a shot rang out.
"No!" a voice cried, gun pointed upwards. It was a warning shot. Soon the barrel was pointed in Kariven's direction. It was the young woman from earlier, a hand cannon in her hands. The sun shone on her auburn hair, making her ponytail look like a brand of fire. The freckles on her face accented her green eyes, alight with defiance. An elderly woman stepped forwards, looking horrified, as the Warlord turned to glare at whomever had defied him.
"Efrideet, stop." she begged. "Get back inside!"
"You stay away from them!" the young woman yelled, ignoring the older woman's pleas.
Suddenly, one of the men gave a shout, swiping at something as it flew out of it's hiding place. A Ghost! The woman pointed her gun at it for a fraction of a second, but then snatched it out of the air, protecting it, pointing the barrel at the man who had tried to kill it. Warlords tended to kill Ghosts they found; they didn't want rivals being revived on their territory.
With one hand, she held the Ghost close to her chest, and with the other... she pulled the trigger. The offender dropped dead, his eye a bleeding hole, and she pointed the gun back at Kariven.
"I've seen you killing Ghosts. I've seen you killing people. Not one more is going to die because of you." she declared bravely, with all the guns of the other three normal men pointing at her. Enough of this! Silimar started forwards, but Timur grabbed his arm. He looked at him, confused. The Warlock was staring at Efirdeet with stunned interest.
"Just... give it a while, Silimar. I want to see this." He said.
"Timur, she'll be killed!" Weyloran hissed. The Stormcaller held up a hand for silence. One of the villagers looked in their direction hopefully. They knew of the Iron Lords' plans, but not all of them. Efrideet must be one of the ones who didn't. Silimar clenched his fists, eyes locked on the brave teenager. She had moxy, he had to give her that.
"Really? Is that so?" Kariven threw the mother to the ground, and drew his gun.
Efrideet's arm was a blur. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. Five bodies slummed to the ground. The first shot, she killed Kariven. The second, third, fourth shots, she killed the rest of his men before they could react. The fifth shot, she killed Kariven's Ghost as it finished reviving him. The sixth shot, she killed Kariven for good. But the sixth shot wasn't louder than the others; it was a double shot. As The bullet entered Kariven's eye, another bullet went through Efrideet's mouth, bursting out the back of her head.
The elderly woman screamed and rushed forwards, and Weyloran pushed past Silimar. The Titan spun to face Timur.
"Are you happy now?" he yelled. "Has your curiosity been satisfied!?"
With that, he, too ran to the fallen teen, leaving the Warlock behind. The older woman cradled her, begging her to wake up. One of Weyloran's hands rested on her throat, the other on her head, the Sunsinger channeling his fire through to the wound, trying to heal her. His shoulders slumped and he looked up at her.
"I'm sorry." he murmured. The woman let out a racking sob, burying her face in the teen's shoulder, rocking her back and forth.
"What is wrong with you people!?" One of the villagers demanded of Silimar angrily. "You were supposed to stop this from happening!"
"Yes." Silimar said quietly, turning to glare at the approaching Timur. "We were."
" I think you should scan her." The Warlock said to the Ghost Efrideet had saved. The device glared at him.
"I think you should back off!" She whirred angrily. "Show a little sensitivity! This poor girl..."
"Yeah. Still think you should scan her though." Silimar shoved him away.
"She said back off, Timur. You've done enough damage for one day without flouting respect for the dead." he snapped.
"Buuut, what if she's chosen?" he reasoned in that annoying Timur way. "Wouldn't hurt any to try. And she could be an ally. She's got a nice aim."
Weyloran's glare could have melted suns. But the old woman looked hopeful.
"Try! Please!" she begged. "If you can bring her back... please..."
The Ghost let out a sigh, and Timur looked triumphant. Silimar reminded himself to punch him later. The shell of the Ghost parted, and a beam of light scanned the teen's cooling body. Suddenly, the Ghost made a surprised beeping sound.
"Impossible!" She exclaimed. Her shell expanded, and then closed with a sort of finality. Efrideet gasped, blinking in shock. Her eyes fixed on the woman, whose tears had turned into ones of joy.
"Grandma?" she asked weakly. The woman embraced her kin tightly. The rest of the village looked on in shock. All around them, the whispers echoed.
"Efrideet, a chosen? Our Efrideet? Efrideet killed Kariven!"
"I... I don't believe it!" the Ghost exclaimed softly, excitement radiating in her voice. Efrideet looked up at her. "You- you're the one I've been looking for! All this time! All these weeks I've been here... I knew you were here somewhere!"
"Y-you mean...?" Efrideet started.
"I'm you're Ghost!" the tiny robot confirmed. Efrideet held out her hand, and the being floated down to rest in her palm. The teen grinned down at her new companion. She brought it in to share the hug of her grandmother.
"Thank you!" she exclaimed happily. "Just you see, we're going to do lots of things together! Awesome things!"
"Oh, there's no doubt about that." The grinning Timur agreed. Silimar glared at him and made a hand signal to shut up. Efrideet being chosen was a one in a million chance. The Warlock had risked an innocent life out of curiosity.
Radegast would here of this.
... and it wouldn't be the first time someone paid dearly because of Timur's insistence.
And then there was Efrideet. Stuck as a teenager. So remember kids, before you wish you could never grow up...
And I personally think that, after all the death they endured to get to the replication chamber, it would have been more sensible not to press your luck any further when there were only nine of you left. I think, if he had lived, Timur would feel absolutely terrible about making it all happen. In a way, it was kind of his fault the Iron Lords died. He was too insistent, and didn't know when to quit.
He couldn't tell when the cost outweighed the rewards, even when Colovance got killed, despite the fact those two were supposedly close friends. Just saying, a lot of things may have been different if Timur had weighed reason against desire.
Anyway, let me know how you all liked Efrideet's backstory and all that. I'm posting a chapter now because I'm bored and a lot of reviewers seemed to have taken vacations. (seriously, Jayfeatther just posted the climax of her story a few days ago; only two reviews, when last week she was getting six per chapter)
Seriously! It's like all the guests who usually review have taken a hike or something! Maybe there's a glitch? I dunno. Anyway, say how you liked Efrideet, I'ma go do something nerdy. Chao.
Read and REVIEW!