Fic: Ruins of Tasur'Ke (1/4)

["sochankitsune" <annelise@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A change of style.

Anne-Lise.

--

The orcs breached the outer walls faster than the Brethren expected.
"We're in a whole world of shit now," Vorn commented dryly. He 
summoned forth an elemental staff and let rip with a stream of 
scintillating colour. "Follow me!" He charged into the breach, multi-
hued explosions ripping forth as he left behind a bloody trail.
Fhyn arched a bemused eyebrow at her partner, Enoc. "Who wants to 
live forever anyway?"
Enoc shrugged, easing his war-axe from its sheath over his broad 
shoulders. "Me!" He decided, and charged through the narrow corridor 
of gore Vorn had opened in the orc offensive.
Fhyn grinned and ran after him into the melee.

*

"Here you go." Calla gratefully accepted the mug of Klah offered by 
her grandchild Cecilia.
She sipped. "What news of Tasur'Ke?" she asked, prepared for the 
worst.
Cecilia sighed. "The orcs have stormed the beaches as the scryers 
reported. They've taken the Eastern Reaches and the walls have 
fallen."
Calla gasped, a hand fluttering to her mouth in open 
shock. "They've taken the city?"
"More or less."
Calla put down her mug and pondered the situation. "Summon the 
Council, call in the apprentices and close doors to the neophytes!" 
She ordered.
"Is it really that bad? Surely..." Cecilia broke off as Calla 
viciously backhanded her. "Never question my orders!" she 
seethed. "You may be most beloved of Kryvar, but to shine in my eyes 
you have to earn my respect."
Cecelia lowered her eyes and curtseyed formally. "Forgive me, 
grandmother. I meant no disrespect."
"Of course not. Now begone!" Calla waited until Cecilia closed the 
door behind her, before she allowed the tears to form.

*

Trees whipped by as Sodoshi ran, and she laughed aloud in joy. She 
slowed and waited for Apollo to catch up.
"Isn't it a gorgeous day!" Sodoshi waved her arms around her, 
gesturing at nothing and everything.
Apollo eyed her as if she'd grown an extra head as he struggled to 
reclaim his breath. "Whatever... you say," he managed.
Sodoshi sat down beside him and chewed on a small cutting of irid 
moss. "You're really out of shape," she pointed out in the way of the 
precociously young.
"Well, thanks." Apollo mopped at the perspiration that dripped from 
his brow. "Why're we in such a hurry anyway?"
Sodoshi's nose wrinkled as she frowned. "Mother summoned me." She 
stared skywards for a moment. "She's in danger, and she needs me."
"Oh." Apollo considered this. "Your talents in the arcane arts have 
grown to such where you'd be considered a useful aid to the Brethren?"
Sodoshi's face lit up in a grin. "I guess so!" Her smile faltered 
as she recalled the touch of fear in her mother's contact. "I guess 
so."

*

Enoc leaned heavily on the stave of his mighty war-axe. His wary 
eyes kept track of the orcs that milled nearby as they reorganised 
their offensive.
"Are you okay?" Fhyn asked as she slipped her arms around him from 
behind.
Enoc grunted. "This is just a prelude to a larger attack," he 
judged. "There's too few orcen commanders."
"Maybe this isn't a sanctioned assault?" Fhyn pondered. "Maybe it's 
a mercenary attack."
"Could be." His eyes narrowed. "Fuck! Run!"
Fhyn fled, casting her eyes about as she followed Enoc, who kept 
good speed even while lugging his massive axe. Long association with 
Enoc meant that she never questioned his instincts. "What... Oh." She 
saw the white robes of the Order as they poured forth from the 
walls. "Fuck." She ran faster, her graceful Tsol'aan legs seemed 
almost a blur.

*

Calla led the Order into battle wearing her brightest raiment. 
Unlike traditional warriors who camouflage to hide themselves away, 
the Sorcerer's Order had grown from its traditional roots as the 
Imperial Guard to the Protectorate of the Realm. The very sight of 
the white robes should be enough to instil fear in the observer. 
Unfortunately it'd been too long since orcs had experienced the 
bitter taste of battle against such a foe. They came running.
"Now!" Calla ordered, and globes of pure elemental energy formed in 
the capable hands of the Order's most proficient sorcerers.

*

The explosion seared the air and tore the orcs asunder. The skies 
burned equal with the land, and the water of the moat bubbled and 
steamed until it was no more. The broken walls of Tasur'Ke charred 
and fell, and the grass became as dust: all unto nothing.
Within the wasteland they had formed, the White Order stood 
together within their enchanted shield and stared out at the 
devastation. Amongst their number, Calla, her face pallid and drawn, 
nodded once at the carnage and turned her back.
"Hashan is once more safe, as is our charge."
Merik swallowed. "The cost..." he spoke quietly.
"...Weighs heavily upon us all." Calla nodded and dispelled her 
shield, and strode towards the burning houses of Tasur'Ke that still 
remained, stepping over the charred corpses of young girls and 
townswomen that smouldered at her feet, and cast forth enchanted 
waters until she was too drained to continue.

*

Sodoshi slowed to a jog as she cleared the Western extremity of the 
Ithmian forest then stopped. Apollo, riding hard on his ebon mount, 
broke his canter and let the horse trot to a halt beside her.
"You felt it?" Sodoshi asked, her voice hoarse with fatigue.
Apollo shook his head. "I have no Empathy," he shrugged. "It is not 
a trait of my bloodline."
"Not yet." Sodoshi flitted him a faint smile. "There are many dead 
and dying," she told him. "Over there..." She pointed slightly north 
of east.
Apollo considered. "Hashan?" he asked.
"Possibly..." Sodoshi continued to stare, her senses riding the 
winds and touching upon the minds of the forest. "Near the waters," 
she muttered. "It must be Tasur'Ke."
Apollo trusted her senses. "That's where we're heading?"
"Its where my mother is," Sodoshi acknowledged.

*

Giles gasped as he felt the pull on the magical fabric of the world.
"What happened?" Anya asked. "Whatever it is, its good right? 
Because... We're not dead. Which has got to be a good sign...?"
Giles struggled to regain his strength. "I have no idea," he said 
breathing heavily, "what just happened."

*

"What happened?" Xander asked. Moments before he'd been confronting 
a decidedly evil Willow who'd been pouring mystic energy into the 
steeple of a satanic cathedral, and then she'd, well, 
dissolved. "Willow?"
He sank to his knees, emotionally drained.

*

Sodoshi approached the devastated mess that had once been Eastern 
Tasur'Ke. The fog of war was slowly lifting, and the clouds of dust 
and cinders were now settling. Amidst the carnage, she saw something 
she didn't expect. A red-headed woman, barely older than herself, 
apparently unharmed yet unconscious.
Sodoshi approached warily and laid a hand upon the woman's 
shoulder. She took a torus-shaped crystal from her belt-pouch, and 
rummaged around further until she alighted upon a smaller, egg-shaped 
crystal, and span each upon a silvered mirror that she placed upon 
the floor for just such a purpose. She closed her eyes and 
concentrated her powers of crystalism, embedding the vibrations into 
a harmonic spell of healing which she fed upon the supine stranger.
Willow's eyes flitted open, twin pools of liquid ebony.
"Who are you, and where am I?" Willow demanded imperiously.
Sodoshi raised a horrified hand to her mouth. "A'mon tel ka-de!" 
she whispered. She shook her head. "Be you Tasur'kean?" she asked in 
her best Achaean.
Willow frowned as she slowly took in her surroundings. "This isn't 
my dimension!" She screamed.

*

End Part 1.