Intermission #9: Prey

Tacey faded into the shadows once more and then impaled another creature. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked around. Her line of soldiers were wiping up the last wave that The Darkness had thrown at them, and she was relieved to have a break.

Upon her examination of the battlefield, she spied one man and a creature however. They were speaking instead of fighting. She couldn’t hear the creature’s words though, having long ago stopped The Darkness’ attempts at speaking with her. She ran over to him in a hurry and stabbed the creature while it was mid sentence. The man turned to her with tears in his eyes. She saw the fear on his pale face as his gaze looked through her.

“Will you allow me to quiet it?” she asked the soldier. His soft nod was all she needed. Tacey touched his cheek and activated her aspect, severing their communication. “I’m here to safeguard you. You can rest easy tonight.”

The man merely stared at her, still in shock, and Tacey gestured at someone to take him back behind the lines. She knew that look. This man would not be well for many days. Tacey had wanted to sever everyone’s communication with The Darkness, but there were limitations even she could not overcome. Her time was limited and she was needed in many places. Besides, The Darkness did not speak with everyone directly.

Tacey headed back behind the lines as well. She hated being separated from Saryn during times like this, but the soldiers were so skittish around creatures that it wasn’t safe for her own creature to be on the lines. Nonetheless, it gave her an opportunity to practice fighting with all of Saryn’s abilities at once while her creature got a rest that was well deserved. She began walking back, eager to be reunited, when she received a notification from her aspect.

> System: Vina (Hidden) has moved from The City of Halos to Southern Randar Expanse.

>

> System: Langternem(Hidden) has moved from The City of Halos to Southern Randar Expanse.

Tacey stopped in her tracks. “That’s Carda’s campaign. Oh no…” She took off running to the command tent as she flicked several skills for Saryne. She burst into the tent moments later. “Exemplar! I’m leaving!”

She barely had time to see the man turn his head before she dashed away and leapt up to Saryne’s back as it ran by her. The nearest portal ring was a day’s ride out still. She moved Enduring into their Tandem slot and Saryne raced away. She updated her companion as they rode toward Lampasa. “Vina and Langternem have left Halos and are heading to the Southern Randar Expanse where Carda has his army stationed. I think she is making a move to use Langternem as a weapon against The Watch’s army. We need to warn Haco!”

Tacey knew she was just going through the motions at this point. If Langternem was being used as a weapon, there wasn’t much any of them could do. They could only bury all of the portal rings and hope the disease didn’t make it to this continent. Even then, history showed that that might not be enough. Trina herself had appeared confused on how Langternem Disease spread. Tacey was just thankful that The Darkness’ activity on this side of the world was so minimal that her absence would not be an issue.

The next morning after a long trip through the only portal ring she could activate due to its distance away, Tacey passed through the massive golden gates of Lampasa. As they ran, she reached out with her aspect and sent a message through the communication system she had created to the grand hall ahead of her. Immediately someone within the halls picked up her words using a duplicate of her perfect aspect to relay her words to Haco.

The morning sun lit up the beautiful golden city, exposing one of the many world wonders that Gij had made. Together, she and Saryne ascended the stairs to the halls where she had hoped Haco and maybe others of The Twelve would still be. When Saryne crashed through the guarded doors, she was not disappointed when Haco rushed out of one of the rooms while wrapping a red robe around herself.

“Tacey!” she hissed. “I didn't understand your message. What is Vina doing?”

Tacey spoke quickly, “Vina and Langternem have passed through the portal ring where Carda and his army are.”

Haco paused and considered her words carefully, “You think she’s using the travel system as a means to attack us?”

“What if she is intentionally spreading Langternem Disease?” Tacey suggested.

Haco shook her head and spoke softly, “Tacey… if she is doing that, there’s really nothing we can do. That’s the end. We all lose. I spoke with The Shaper about those times and if it happens again, it is beyond our control. If Vina is infected with Langternem Disease, she will be dead very soon, and we’ll all be joining her shortly.”

“My concern is, what if she isn’t infected. What if, like The Shaper, she found a way to overcome it. Maybe, even control it. We know they have similar abilities,” Tacey said urgently. She suddenly had another notification appear in her vision.

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> System: Vina (Hidden) is no longer hiding.

>

> System: Langternem(Hidden) has moved Southern Randar Expanse to Southern Termilian Plains

“She’s moved again. Now she’s at the Southern Termilian Plains,” Tacey said before Haco could respond.

Haco gently bit down on one of her fingernails, which Tacey recognized now meant she was thinking. She knew from experience to be quiet during these times.

“I know where she’s going, but I’m not sure why. If she was wise, she’s likely already disabled the portal ring she took to get there. We can still try it in case she was careless. How high is your disease resistance?”

Tacey quickly checked all of her abilities as well as attributes. “Six hundred and twelve percent.”

“Kaliq had more than four times that. We can send more soldiers to check it out or you can go yourself. It’s your choice, Tacey. I won’t force you to go check on Carda or pursue Vina. If you get infected though, you can’t come back here,” Haco said sharply.

Tacey saw the meaning in Haco’s eyes as much as heard it in her tone. She wanted a promise. She was about to open her mouth in response when they both turned to the sound of heavy footsteps in the halls leading to the portal ring. As one, they turned and ran toward the portal ring kept there only to run into Carda, carrying Zera in his arms.

Tacey knew immediately what had happened to his wife, but she had no idea how. Haco managed to get control of herself first. “How?” she asked, her tone filled with suspicion.

“It was Vina. She did this,” Carda said, clearly still in shock.

~~~

Saryne grumbled as it sped across the rocky plains as the sun set in the distance. Tacey laid as low as she could to reduce any drag her body created. “You don’t even need to ask,” she whispered into his ear. She felt Saryne begin to draw upon her stamina, and she closed her eyes as she entered a meditative state. They had to take a much further portal ring than Vina had. Haco had assumed correctly and Vina had disabled the portal ring behind her that was closest to Termily. From the portal ring Vina had taken, she would have had a three or four days of casual riding to reach her destination. Tacey and Saryne had the same three days now, but with nearly nonstop exertion. They had pushed hard and didn’t sleep through the night with the use of their combined abilities.

Her mind tried to wander as she tried to focus on recovering stamina for her creature. Her own feelings about this trip conflicted with the orders she had been given. Carda argued for one thing; Haco demanded another. Haco won in the end. “She always does,” Tacey thought. She looked at her quest log with disgust.

Faction Mission: Recruit Vina and return with Langternem intact.

Although she understood Haco’s reasoning, it didn’t counter her own feelings about the situation. She wanted Vina dead. She wanted all of the Esca family dead for what they had done to her. She also wanted Norimor dead and had nearly succeeded at that if not for Etana’s interference. When she had learned about Ann, her desires still hadn’t changed; she just hadn’t had an opportunity to engineer her accidental death before she left for Halos.

Now among The Twelve, only she, Haco, The Exemplar, and Nil felt the most strongly about Shan and his family. Vina had killed The Shaper, and Tacey believed Ebba could have been convinced once she saw the evidence. For so long that evidence had remained buried and forgotten. The Twelve had existed in relative cooperative peace. She knew as soon as there was a calm moment now, there might well be a reckoning amongst the remaining twelve over this unearthed drama. She had an idea how that conflict would end.

If she could just collect Vina today though, she would have another piece of the puzzle. Once captured, in her care, Vina would meet an unexpected accident. Then Etana would be forced to come to them to figure out what happened. Together they could overpower her and then things would return to normal once again. After what Carda shared with them, they may well even be able to turn this war around without those three girls.

“We’re close. Slow down and recover,” Tacey spoke loudly in Saryne’s ear now that the stones were humming around them. She knew it wouldn’t be long now before they switched on. She hoped to catch Vina before that happened however, but she didn’t think it was likely.

She watched her map eagerly. Langternem’s desire to hide made tracking it, and therefore Vina, easy. In the next couple of minutes both of them had filled their stamina bars once more and Tacey removed Enduring from their Tandem Slot and placed Resurgence in its place for a doubling of the recovery benefit. She knew she wouldn’t need to see in the dark anytime soon.

Together they walked the rest of the distance until they saw a figure. She faced away from Tacey and had a red cloak wrapped around her. It blew about in the winds that covered the rocky plains, but it didn’t seem to move naturally. She stood beside a Smarmel where she held the reins in her right hand. The two of them overlooked a large depression in the ground that Tacey suspected led far deeper than most could imagine. All around them the stones hummed a song.

Seeing no threats and knowing this was not an assassination mission, Tacey disabled her stealth skill and her aspect. “Vina Esca!” she called out.

To her credit, the woman didn’t jump in surprise. She simply turned her head, let go of the reins, and a weapon formed in her right hand while her left hung weakly, seemingly broken at her side. In the dying light, Tacey could barely see the red in one of her eyes. Slowly her hood fell back without a touch, and Tacey could see the damaged side of Vina’s face, Her injured eye still covered with a bandage. Perched on her shoulder was a shadow possessed Marf.

The small animal’s mouth moved, but Tacey did not hear its words. For a long moment, Vina didn’t move, and Tacey absorbed exactly what Carda had described in detail. Finally, Vina nodded, but Tacey could tell it wasn’t for her. “Why can’t you people leave me alone?” she called back.