Saigo Nozimi

[faeythe]

A wave of sorrow came over her as the topic of Lucian’s village was broached. The sorrow was almost tangible, an icy blue a winter wind. An image of fires, scathing furious and unquenchable… the sound of screaming flitted before her eyes briefly. Again the hairs on the nape of her neck prickled. She was beginning to reconsider the wisdom joining the man for a meal. She had more than enough trouble containing and coping with her own emotions. Now another’s were pervading into the place deep in her psyche that felt much too deeply. A faint shudder wracked her body but she did her best to disregard it. She was here for a reason, perhaps this man would lead her to it.

“I am from nowhere, from birth a nomad. I am here only because the stones told me herein lay my destiny.” She burst into laughter. “What a fool I must sound… some bits of rock told me my fate could be found in this repulsive city… but, I speak the truth.” She paused. “My deepest consolation on the burning of your village.”

At that moment the waitress thudded back towards their table and plunked a simmering bowl of rabbit stew gruffly down in front of Faelynne. She didn't even have time to wonder if he noticed the allusion to a burning he had mentioned nothing of. The sthingy was in hand before the thought even graced her mind.

[xinck]

"It seems we are in the same boat..." Lucian paused. Perhaps he had said too much.

"Thank you...I believe that...this must be said though..."

Lucian closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Somehow, she knew, and there was no stopping it now. Looking back up at Faelynne, Lucian's left eye changed to a dark blue color.

"I was born...into the village of Aceldama. It was a simple life there, but it was really a beautiful place to live." Lucian paused just for a moment, recalling the nice breezy autumn days, sitting by the lake with...

"...Then, thirteen years ago they came. I was only five years old...They slaughtered us all...Within minutes they had the entire village on fire...Me and...my friend were told to run, so...we did..." A stray tear fell from his right eye. No, now was not the time for grief. It was time for action. Grieving could come later, once this was all over with. Putting on a stoic face, Lucian continued. His left eye changed to a darkish red color.

"So, for thirteen years I have lived nowhere. I have traveled across the world, preparing for this moment. This city, Hebron, it is the closest city to the once great Aceldama." Lucian smiled, giving himself an adventurous glow. It almost seemed to radiate hope. Lucian lowered his voice, making sure Faelynne would be the only one that heard him.

"So, here I am now, preparing for the thrill of a lifetime...or death. They use Aceldama now as a checkpoint for transferring supplies to this city. I plan on waging war on them, one battle at a time. Call me crazy, but can you say that things are better now than they were before? You must have seen the terrors that they have done across the continent."

Lucian knew she think he was insane. They were almost exclusively dominant. Fighting against all odds...Lucian smiled. It will all be worth it. The Shinryakusha were not meant to rule. Tyrants, flaunting their power and military might. They had to be stopped...at any cost.

[faeythe]

A sound in the night… voices, raucous, loud, cruel…her mother rising from the soft dew-covered forest floor... “Stay,” Elle Swanne whispered as she had slunk off into the night clutching her ritual dagger to her breast. It was only moments before the screams began. Faelynne tasted fear on the air, mingling with the coppery scent of blood and hot lust. Terrified, she crawled forward towards the break in the brush her mother had passed through.

Peering through the bushes the sight that graced Faelynne’s 18 year old eyes was one of sheer horror. Men in uniforms, three of them… pants around their knees. Elle Swanne laying on the ground, her robes shredded away from her pale breasts, her skirts lifted. Even from this distanced Faelynne could see the trickle of blood running down her mother’s face, the pool of it she lay in.

“Witch,” one of the uniformed soldiers exclaimed then spat on the body.

“Aye, but she was a pretty one,” another man answered with a guffaw…

War… it was a word that made Faelynne tremble. She had seen what the Shinryakusha were apabe of. More than just the lost of her mother for which they were responsible their were the forests weeping and charred shamelessly burnt by their men for no reason. There were the corpses that were oft found stabbed, hung brutalized on roadsides or river banks.

But to wage ware against them? It was madness… One man, alone? Inconceivable. She chose her wording carefully.

“Have a care sir with your grand schemes. I too have suffered loss at the hands of the rulers. I too have seen atrocities I would not wish upon any living creature.” She glanced at the hideous waitress who seemed to be gazing straight at them and lowered her voice. “But to propose war against them, alone with no allies… That is simply madness sir!”

[xinck]

Lucian smiled.
"Madness? Perhaps, but will you just sit around and watch as the world around us crumbles underneath them? War was not the best wording, I should have said, subtle warfare. A Rebellion, if you will. It is not only me. I have a friend, but she has been missing for three years. Ten years ago, we split up, knowing that the time for their downfall was about to begin. Trying to recruit as many people as we could. We promised to meet up every year...but the first year she didn't show up. Nor the two years after that." Lucian looked Faelynne deeper into the eyes.
"I know she is alive somewhere. I can just feel it. Starting with Aceldama, I plan to slowly knock them off their pedestal, hopefully, finding my friend along the way. So Faelynne, what do you say?" Lucian nodded at her. Even if she declined and threatened to report him, he doubted he could just kill her. No, he knew he couldn't. In her eyes, he could see she had suffered a similar pain that he had.

[faeythe]

Faelynne stiffened. The penalty, were they to be found out in this venture would be extreme; death, in all likelihood following inconceivable torture. It was a bold request to make of someone only recently become an acquaintance.

And it will keep you away from the forest longer, most likely. Faelynne fretted.

Still, she had been lead to this place for a reason. If this man wasn’t it, then perhaps he would lead her to it. She would read the stones tonight and find out what they had to say.

“Though I fear where this path may lead us… I feel it is in the stars that this is the way I must go. So yes, sir, I shall be your ally in this plight.” She paused. “If, that is, you devise away to keep me from sleeping on the streets again this eve.”

[xinck]

"Of course." Lucian smiled.
Maybe he had rushed it, but he was relieved to have company, even if Faelynne couldn't fight. Sleeping under the stars would be nice too. Against all odds, yet they had to win. The fate of their world depended on it. Lucian looked Faelynne in the eyes. Something about her now made him happy. Just the feeling of having someone traveling beside him again. There was no time for lolly gaging thought, they had to get going.

[faeythe]

Faelynne sensed urgency in Lucian as she finished up her rabbit stew. Clearly he was in a hurry to get away from here. She wondered where they would be heading… Then she wondered what in God’s name she was thinking getting roped into this insane “subtle warfare” of his. She was no fighter. She was a gypsy who read speaking stones and made little charms… What use could she possibly be to this man? She brushed the thoughts aside. She had already committed to this. And at least she would have a place to sleep that wasn’t crawling with rats and god knows what else for a change.

“So, where do we go from here,” Faelynne asked Lucian, pushing aside her empty bowl.

[xinck]

The waitress was missing. Closing his eyes and focusing, he didn't hear any other sounds either. They must have left, which could only mean one thing. Lucian opened his eyes.
"Get out of here alive."
Footsteps could be heard outside. The guards would be here any moment now.

[faeythe]

Faelynne felt a sudden change in the air. The stones in her pocket grew icy, almost frigid enough to burn her skin through satchel and clothes. An image of uniforms and marching boots flashed before her eyes. She blinked frantically trying to focus her eyes on Lucian and the room around her again.

“We have to leave. Now,” she hissed getting to her feet. She grabbed Lucian’s hand and pulled him up as well. “I know somewhere to go, somewhere safe.” She didn’t take time to see if Lucian was following behind her as she all but sprinted across the bar and darted out the back door.

On the city streets she kept to the shadows, something she was accustomed to being a perpetual outcast. Dim alley, narrow meandering side streets, she had memorized them all within her first few days in the city so it wouldn’t be difficult to make her way to where she was headed. A safe place. Perhaps, the only safe place.

Time seemed to creep by at a snail’s pace as they skittered and darted around the forgotten places of the city until they finally arrived on a residential street. Run down shanties in ill repair lined the broken weed choked cobbles of the street. In the center loomed a large well.

Faelynne approached the stone edge of the well and hoisted herself onto the lip of it. She watched as a pebble tumbled into the impenetrable blackness beneath her.

“If you truly trust me, you’ll jump,” she said, her tone matter of fact though it quavered with fear.

[xinck]

Trust. The thought echoed into the deepest reaches of his mind. Something he had none for. Only one living being in the world held his trust, and for all he knew, she was dead. Iris, changing to its normal gray, Lucian looked down the well. He wasn't scared, he just didn't have much trust for her yet. He had just met her. After all, in all aspects, it was him against the world. He looked up at Faelynne.
"No." He said apathetically.
"You go first, then I will follow. Better hurry."
Lucian looked Faelynne in the eyes. She had her own agenda, and so did he. Perhaps this was a mistake after all. The guards were getting ever closer, now spreading through the village.

[faeythe]

So for all his crazy notions, he’s not completely a fool, Faelynne thought. She was willing to trust him little farther than she could throw him, and she was glad to hear he felt the same about him. Without a word to him she took the plunge, sliding down the rough rock side of the well, dangling for a moment then dropping to the floor. Faelynne had found the well by accident a while back when an unsavory customer of hers had falsely accused her of robbing him. Fleeing the man and the rather intimidating though unwieldy claidhmore he had attempted—and failed, to lop her head off with, she had dove down the well on a wing and a prayer.

As it turned out the abandoned well was know true water well at all… Rather it was an entrance to some sort of underground tunnel system. Faelynne hadn’t taken the time to explore it initially… but if seemed now might be as good a time as any to investigate it.

“Coming down, or prefer to take your chances with the guards?” She strained her eyes up from the blackness to where Lucian peered down at her.

[xinck]

"Hmm. Not yet." Lucian said somewhat deviously.
He jumped down and landed Faelynne.
"Most likely, soon. Very soon."
Lucian looked around the well. Not a very friendly looking place, but in some ways it was better than the tavern they had just fled from.