Chapter 8 Assassin in the Lands
Raynor worked diligently in the infirmary moving from patient to patient using his best healing magic over and over again. As he made his way around though he found himself running out of steam. His mana reserves are getting low. He could do a few more but, soon he would be fresh out and there was a lot more to do. The Slayers had suffered a lot of injuries during the last battle and there had already been wounded in the divine tower even before the slayers arrived so every healer was on deck to help those suffering.
As Raynor worked, Ava watched on. She was waiting for treatment for a cut on her arm. She had been bandaged up but hadn't received any healing magic yet to fix her up. She was fine though, there were many people more injured than her. She had only been grazed. As she watched the healers work she looked up and around the study hall of the divine tower. Books were piled high in the upper levels in unorganized shelves, large chandeliers hanging low from the ceiling. Giving the room a dim light. Around her were lots of beds where wounded soldiers lay receiving the help they needed.
As she waited she noticed something. There was a shadow on the upper floor. A small bit of motion but enough to catch her attention. She moves away from the wall and walks towards the elevator near her to the upper levels of the study hall. Slowly making her way there. She looks. The elevator was currently down so no one had gone up it recently and she saw no one taking any wounded up there.
She walks back out and away from the elevator looking up. She notices the shadow again. This time in the rafters. Slinking along the figure was obviously not someone who belonged here. Though she couldn't tell if it was a thief or an assailant. Either way she grabs her bow. With her hurt arm it would be hard for her to pull for very long but she didn't need to aim. She quickly knocks an arrow then pulls. As she pulls Raynor looks at her. "Ava what are you-" He is cut off as she launches the arrow. "Gah." She says holding her hurt arm shaking it before watching the arrow sail and nearly hit the assailant but, a flash of a blade deflects it. They then jump from the rafters to a chandelier and then to the walkway below.
The agile figure then looks at Ava. She was tall and wore a face mask that hid everything from her nose down, a flame symbol etched into it. The woman was armed with a long and slender dagger. Blackened leather armor covering her whole body, her brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and of course her eyes. They glowed with a dim yellow light. "You're a good shot!" She shouts to Ava in a joking manner obviously not taking this seriously.
The healers around her notice the assailant and quickly stumble away from her. Raynor looks at her. "Who is that?" He says surprised. Ava gets her bow ready. "Don't know but, what they want can't be good." There were many sick and wounded soldiers more so than healthy ones. If she wanted to kill a few people she could. Though Ava doubted that was her only reason unless she was going after a specific person.
The girl laughs "I guess I'm going to have to fight now right?" She says. Ava looks around. There were too many injured people to just start fighting. "Not here if I can help it." She says. A group of soldiers hearing the commotion enter to support Ava and a few soldiers who weren't as badly wounded as the others began to help the healers move people away as best as they could. The woman chuckles. "I guess we will fight later then so I can see your arm in action. By the way I'm looking for a friend of mine and thought they'd be around here."
Ava kept her bow ready, her arm burning but it was better than letting this creep go. "Well then you could have walked through the front. Now drop your weapon and maybe we can show you around." She says. Soldiers close in on the assailant surrounding her. She just shrugs and then jumps, her movement fluid, almost making her look like she was gliding through the air. The assailant almost moved like a black knife assassin as she moved away from the soldiers looking to surround her and got past their tight blockade on her. Ava launches an arrow but narrowly misses the woman as she rushes out into the chapel portion at the base of the divine tower. "Go!" Ava shouts as the guards charge to follow her.
Raynor joined them. "Ava, don't shoot with that arm again until I deal with it!" Raynor shouts back, happy for her quick action but not liking how she hurt herself a bit to do so. She huffs and waits once more knowing she would only slow the others down, she maybe had a shot left before she really started to hurt her already scuffed arm.
Meanwhile Raynor pursues the invader. As he enters the chapel he sees the soldiers had engaged with the girl. She was laughing as she sliced the throat of one before dodging away and cutting another across his leg. The girl moved nimbly making the soldiers look like fools. This looked bad.
He fires a bolt of lightning at her. She turns and dodges the bolt hitting the wall instead. "Another good shot! The serpents have a lot of good fighters it seems!" She says excitedly. "You guys really are as good as they say!" She continues to dodge attacks as she talks. It felt like she wasn't even paying attention to the soldiers fighting her.
"Now I would love to keep playing with you but, I really do have to go!" She says dodging away once more. "My friend doesn't seem to be here. Weird. You would think the Elden Lord would be close right?"
Raynor blinks. "Wait what!?" His throat clenched up. She was after the Elden Lord! He chases after the woman. Rage fills his body, he needs to protect the Elden Lord. After all, if she died. Wasn't all of this for nothing? She had also saved him and his fellow soldiers.
"What do you mean by that!?" He shouts. The girl simply laughs, continuing to run. Far too fast for Raynor or the other soldiers to catch up to her. Before long the woman disappears into the woods around the divine tower. She was gone. "We need to tell the Elden Lord." Raynor says worried. "She might be in trouble."
Sophie sighs, laying back and relaxing. She had been moved to a fortress near the divine tower where she would be more safe. The Elden Lord having been specifically moved to a place more secure and more comfortable. Sophie even got her own quarters here. Something she had objected to at first but, for safety reasons, had reluctantly agreed to. She would rather be out in the open sleeping with the soldiers but, right now her advisors knew she was weak from the attacks made on her. So she needed to be away from the public eye while she recovered.
Though this didn't sit well with Sophie. Despite all the reasons she should have, she still felt guilty. As always she wanted to be out there, to adventure and to put herself on the line. As she sat in her small room she eventually heard a knock on the door. Quickly heading over to it she opens it up to see a familiar face. "Rya!" She says very loudly seeing her friend.
The girl was hunched over and short, her blond hair braided nicely behind her head, wearing a simple green dress and make-up so thick on her face it made her look white and almost sickly. "It's nice to see you again." Rya says smiling.
Blaidd, who was standing next to her, tilts his head to the side revealing his confusion. "She said she knows you. I'm assuming that was correct then?" He says noting how happy the Elden Lord seemed to be around Rya.
Sophie nods. "Yes she is. A good friend of mine. In fact. She is my niece." She says. Saying the last part a bit shyly, Rya and Blaidd look at her confused.
"Oh?" Blaidd says questioning the fact a bit. He had never heard of this girl before or of Sophie having a niece in fact.
Sophie nods. "She is Rykard's daughter and since Ranni is my wife that makes Rya my niece." She explains.
This makes Blaidd even more confused but Rya smiles brightly. "That's amazing!" Rya says excitedly. "So that means we are family then!" Rya then hugs Sophie tightly.
Sophie smiles, hugging the young girl back. Rya had recently been through the ringer. Prator Rykard was a demigod, the eldest son of Radagon and Ranala. He had fused himself with a massive serpent becoming the abomination that the serpent slayers had rebelled against. Despite the loss of his troops though he was undeterred and began to look for new soldiers to defend himself with. Serpent people made from a horrible, horrible ritual, loyal only to him became his new army.
Among the most intelligent of these serpent men was Rya. A serpent unlike the others who was the most like an actual human. Lady Tanith, Rykard's wife, raised this success as her own. This Zorias or Rya as Tanith called her was given a spell to turn into a more human form that would be more appealing to most. That was the small and sickly form before Sophie now.
In this form she had helped her mother find Tarnished willing to kill others in order to join the volcano manor particularly those strong enough to be chosen to feed to Rykard who would devour the new recusant and become stronger. Sophie had been chosen as a Recusant but simply used the privileged position in the manor to be able to kill Lord Rykard. Along the way though Sophie found Rya to be a close friend and she helped her find the secrets of the manor including Rya's true identity. A revelation that horrified Rya to her core and led to her leaving the manor to do some soul searching. Soon after Sophie discovered Lord Rykard and killed him, After his death the rest of the volcano manor came undone. Lady Tanith went mad and the other recusants went back to being the murderous bastards they always had been.
While Sophie was happy to see Rya she couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. She had killed the man who had created her and as a result the only mother she knew and really the one parent she knew had gone mad. Now, in a way, Sophie was Rya's only family. Though seeing how happy Rya was. How much she trusted and loved Sophie. Well she felt a bit better. Lady Tanith and Rykard had not been the best parents so maybe it was better this way. Sophie thought, trying to convince herself of that fact despite how bitter the sentiment was in her thoughts.
Rya pulls away. "You are so kind." She says quietly. Sophie saw she was even tearing up a bit. The young girl was very much something that Elden Lord was striving to protect.
"Can you give us a moment Blaidd?" Sophie says, turning to the half-wolf.
He nods. "Of course. Don't let me get in between this reunion." He says. She could tell the cogs in his head were turning. He knew some of what had happened in the manor. Sophie had explained but she had left Rya out of the story. She could tell he was trying to think of how Rya fit into all of it.
As Rya and Sophie found themselves alone Sophie smiles. "Would you like to get comfortable?" She says closing the door. Rya smiles and wipes some of the makeup off of her face forcing her body to revert to her Zorias form.
The puff of smoke left a red serpent with thick scales and long fangs and bright yellow eyes in the young girl's place. Rya stands much taller than even the massively tall Blaidd. She looked down with a smile at Sophie. "It still feels strange to appear to you in this form." She admits sitting on the bed looking about the room. "Your room is nice though." She says.
"It's not permanent." Sophie says remembering how her room in the manor had honestly been nicer. Though she and Rya both hated the noises of the manor. The creaking halls the slithering. The accommodations had been nice but, knowing what was going on behind the scenes. Well it put a damper on the manor to be sure.
Sophie looks the serpent over and sits next to her. "Lots of things have changed through." Sophie admits.
"I know… I went to the manor." Rya says, sounding a bit forlorn. She had plenty of reasons to be. "Oh… So you saw Lady Tanith." She says. Rya looks down. "What was left of her." Sophie looks away awkwardly. "Yeah." "Yeah." the two look at each other. "I'm sorry." Sophie says, trying to console her friend. "It's ok." Rya affirms. "What she did… To make me… It was horrible." Sophie puts a hand on the serpent.
"So… What brings you back here?" She asks. Rya sighs. "Well you have a chance at life. I asked you to end me. To end my existence but do you remember what you told me?" Sophie nods. "Yeah clear as day."
Sophie steps into a room of the manor and looks about. Skulls littered the floor, candles were scattered about on the floor indications of the ritual that had been performed here. Cages filled with bodies. Rya sat in the room looking down in her human form. Her whole body was shaking. Her hands, her legs. Every piece of Rya looked like it was about to fall apart. The look of fear and absolute horror was obvious on her face. Sophie grimaces upon seeing her friend like this. "Zorias."
Sophie says quietly her friend looks up, not looking at her per say but, looking past her Rya speaks very softly, yet shakily. "Oh, it's you... I'm afraid... There is something I must tell you. I was an unwanted child. Born not of grace, but of a hideous ritual. Something that can never be accepted, not by men, nor serpents. Even Lady Tanith shouldn't accept me.I know that you have done so much for me. But I wish to ask for one last kindness. Kill me, please.I thought that I feared nothing. But this... Free me from this accursed frame."
Sophie walks up to Rya sheathing her sword. "No. I won't." She says simply. "You may not have been born the way she told you but, Lady Tanith loves you. I love you. You're such a kind hearted person. You don't deserve to die just because where you came from isn't pretty. You don't deserve to die just because you aren't what you thought you were. I don't care what made you. I only care about who you are now." Sophie then hugs the frail girl and she begins to cry. Bawling and hugging Sophie tightly.
Rya smiles thinking upon the memory. "I decided one thing… You are the person who loved me even when others would have left or turned away. So to return your kindness I want to be your servant. To spend the rest of my life paying off the debt of a new life I owe you." Sophie sighs. "You don't owe me anything. All I did was help you remember your worth." She says earnestly. Rya nods "I know but, I still want to. Besides, with Lady Tanith gone I have very little else to go and I refuse to stay in the manor. So… I have come to you." Sophie sighs. "I suppose though, please don't think you're a servant. You're my niece and I'll treat you like it."
Rya smiles. "So I have a question." She says very innocently, cheering up quite a bit. Sophie smiles. "Alrighty shoot." "How would you like your eggs?" Sophie blinks. "What?" "Eggs. Lady Tanith often had me make breakfast for her personally." Sophie tilts her head. She had always seen Rya in the kitchen in the morning. She was surprised that was the reason. "Oh uh you don't have to cook…" Rya frowns. "Uh…. Scrambled I suppose…" Sophie says not wanting Rya to look sad. Rya of course then perks up. "Oh lady Tanith and you love them the same way then!" She says. "Hopefully that's the only thing I share with her." Sophie says to herself a bit awkwardly.
While Rya seemed to Idolize her, Sophie knew Lady Tanith differently. She had seen first hand the lengths that she would go to make others believe in the cause of the recusant only to feed them to Rykard once they had proven themselves. To be fair in her mind those sacrificed to Rykard became part of a greater whole but the depravity and disgusting nature of the rituals she used. It left Sophie sick. She had no doubt Tanith herself had oversaw the ritual to create Rya in the first place.
Though that was now in the past. "For now though Rya. Just relax, I'm sure Blaidd can show you where to stay for the night right?" She asks. Rya nods. "I do rather like him. He is so kind despite his exterior." Sophie nods. "You know you could reveal your true form. I am sure most everyone would be ok with it. After all, everyone loves Blaidd." Rya frowns. "Things are a bit different with me. Though it's fine. I have always lived like this." She puts some of her make up back on and soon the lizard was once again in her human form. "Though I will keep it in mind." She says humbly standing up. "Good night auntie." Rya says with a bit of a giddy smile, happy to use that term when referring to Sophie. Sophie nods. "You too… Good night." Rya then leaves. Sophie once again all alone but, at the very least she felt like things were falling into place.