“Huh, this one’s weird, what is this place?” Fiannah, covered in tattered pieces of clothing used as improvised bandages, asked Raelitha. “Those are stone tables… I think this is where the noise I heard before I found you came from.”
Raelitha looked around them to analyze the room they were in. It was large, more than a hundred meters in length, and about fifty in width. There were dozens of polished stone tables arranged around it, with orichalcum benches bolted to the floor close to them, where eaters would sit. “This is a mess hall, Fia. The kitchen should be that way,” she pointed towards an open passage to the west. “And the way to the other labs and warehouses should be there:” and pointed to another passage, to the east. “From what you described, your friend is probably somewhere in that direction.”
Fiannah sighed in relief and replied, “I’m so glad there isn’t anything trying to kill us here. Just a relaxing walk towards more nerd shit, then I can find Caldor.” She then immediately heard to the west three sets of humanoid footsteps. I had to open my mouth. Please just be satyrs. She gestured for Rae to stay behind her quietly, and slowly moved towards the passage on the west. Grabbing Seb, Fiannah poised herself, again leaning more weight on her right leg.
What came into the room weren’t more Laraweians, in fact, they were actually familiar faces, people Fiannah knew. Assholes. An excursion party, one from each guild. A Cleaver, a Wand, and a Lens. The Cleaver looked at Fiannah with a defiant grin on his face. He wasn’t as tall as her, but was probably just as strong, and he idly held the hilt of a black longsword covered in runes, while the blade rested over his shoulder. The man was bald and had the crest of his family tattooed on his neck. The Wand was a pretty, tall and thin woman wearing her black hair in a bun, and had a similar look to the man's, but radiated an air of superiority he lacked. The Lens was a short and stocky red haired man who looked mostly unassuming, and seemed disinterested in anything happening around him.
“Farikah, what the fuck are you and your cronies doing here? This isn’t your excursion.” Fiannah growled, staring at the woman, with anger that seemed to come from something deeper and older. Either way, she slightly dropped her guard. These people shouldn’t be here, but they were her people, at least.
The lean woman looked at her with disdain and said: “Well Lady of Yastra, nothing much really. We have just been charged with finding out what happened to you two, and rescuing your sorry selves from whatever has you pinned down here.” She laughed a shrill laugh that made Fiannah’s left eyelid twitch.
“Yeah,” laughed Harrin, the Lens. “Where’s Master Stammers of Anderon anyway?” Fiannah probably hated this nickname Caldor had more than Caldor himself did. She narrowed her eyes and breathed in, also realizing she was instinctively blocking Raelitha’s body with her own. She finally responded:
“Have you checked up your ass, Harrin? Also, rescue us? We’ve been here for two days, tops. What rescue is there to do? We’re fine, you can go back up. If I need anything I’ll use the ‘dickhead summoning incantation’.” Raelitha chuckled at this. The laughter drew Ganok’s attention.
“Wait, who’s this here? Did you find a new wounded animal to bring home and beg daddy to let you keep, Fifi? Oh she’s just cute as a button isn’t she?” He looked at his two friends who were smiling at his taunts. “Why don’t you let us take her off your hands while you’re at it? Don’t want any extra weight while you go fetch Master Stammers do you?” The bald Cleaver walked slowly towards the Laraweian as he said this; Fiannah made a mental note that he didn’t even comment on her unusual appearance and clothing?
Before he could get closer to Rae, Fiannah stepped in front of him, putting herself in the middle of the two. “That’s close enough, Trahalgo. She’s not your problem, I’m escorting her.” Her grip around Seb tightened and she could feel Raelitha behind her, grabbing Fia’s left arm instinctively. Fiannah continued: “I’m gonna say it again: turn around and leave, we don’t need your help. We never have, and I don’t plan on starting now.”
Farikah stepped forward as well. She lifted her gloved hand and caressed the steel quarterstaff the larger woman was holding. “She really loves this thing doesn’t she?” She said this looking at Fiannah, but talking to anyone but. “Did you know, Lord of Trahalgo, she named it after that storm saint. Seb, right?” Her delicate fingers seemed to float across Seb’s surface. Fiannah tightened her grip more.
Fiannah smiled at Farikah in a confident challenge. “That’s right. Seb, Saint of The Raging Storm and Aspect of Rage of the Wrathful Eye. You wanna find out why he’s my patron saint, Farikah?” Fiannah had a tendency to disrespect titles. She had done it with all three of them at this point. This frustrated the Wand more, so much so that she didn’t seem to notice Fiannah’s thinly veiled threat.
“It’s Lady Farikah of Medina II, Fifi. Make sure not to repeat that mistake. You should also address Lord of Trahalgo and Master of Algakor with respect. Don’t want your dear father catching wind of your irreverence.” She looked at Ganok. “It seems she doesn’t want our help. Whatever shall we do?”
Ganok of Trahalgo put his hand over Farikah’s shoulder. He stepped forward to meet Fiannah’s eyes as well and said: “She doesn’t have a choice. Fifi, here.” He flashed a similar permit to the one the blonde warrior and Caldor had, except his also included an order of ‘search and rescue.' Such orders were issued when a party had spent more than five days over the predicted time of an excursion without returning. It wasn’t appropriate for their current situation, but it was in fact real, or a really good forgery.
Fiannah lifted an eyebrow. This all seemed really fishy to her. First, they send these dickheads for us, that’s bad enough. But with a search and rescue permit? What’s their game here? She finished contemplating and said: “Ok, last time. Farikah, I swear by the Wrathful Eye. If you three don’t turn around and march your pompous asses back to the surface, we’re gonna have a problem.” The Wands’ noble smiled again, her hand still touching Fiannah’s staff.
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“Just what I wanted to hear.” The thin woman opened her mouth to say an incantation. Fiannah started to withdraw Seb but was too slow. Farikah said: “Dwisrealesté” with her trademarked shit eating grin. The lightning staff in Fiannah’s hand suddenly felt lighter. She looked down, and the steel was quickly dissolving, into metallic gray powder. Fiannah tried grasping it tighter, as if that could save it from turning to dust. Her favorite weapon, into nothing.
Before she could react she saw Ganok’s sword shift, reflecting her light briefly. He was about to cut her, shoulder to belly button. She also saw Harrin jump back and prime a dart launcher just like the one she carried. The sword swung down and she instinctively blocked it with her left arm. She yelled in pain, right before Harrin’s dart pierced her lower torso. Empty, she thought.
Thinking fast, and seeing Farikah using her glove to draw a rune in the air, Fiannah shouted to Raelitha, “east passage! Go!” Rae turned back and ran to the opening that was to their backs. Harrin shot a dart at her but barely missed. As she took cover inside the adjacent room, Raelitha shouted, “come! Please!” Begging for Fiannah to disengage and flee as well.
“Don’t worry,” Fiannah used a big portion of the strength she still had to smile. “I’m not giving these assholes the satisfaction.” She punched Farikah, interrupting her casting to buy some time. Then, she kicked Ganok back, not hurting him, but pushing him far enough that the sword slid away from her arm. The cutting motion made her grunt in pain once more.
Finally, the lady Cleaver hopped back, turned around, and dashed towards the eastern passage. Harrin hit her with another empty dart, this time on her upper back. While removing the darts, she took cover behind the wall opposite to Rae, and saw the tiny woman pushing a supplies cabinet in front of the entrance, but struggling to do so. From her side, Fiannah helped, and they managed to block the door completely. Then, Fiannah leaned her weight against it, to make it slightly harder for them to bust in.
“Rae! I had an idea, but I need your help.” She tossed her knife to the other woman again. “Remember the trap rune? I need you to cut it onto the back of my right hand, then I’ll carve something else on my left. Mister Durkhann might ironically save our lives from these dipshits.” Raelitha understood her plan. And so, while wincing through the Cleaver’s pain she carved the kinetic energy rune circle Fiannah had used for her traps, right where she was asked to. Feeling the back of her right hand sting, Fiannah grabbed her knife back and carved the lightning runes on the back of her left hand and said: “I’m sorry Seb. We’re gonna take them out for you.”
On the opposite side of the cabinet she heard Ganok’s voice, slightly muffled. “Fifi, come on. This doesn’t have to be this hard. What do you think Lady Yonya will say when she hears her favorite student is disobeying my orders? I outrank you, remember?” Fiannah could hear Farikah preparing what was likely a kinetic energy rune incantation to blast the cabinet away.
No more time, gotta go, Fiannah thought, and slid the cabinet back just enough that she would be able to come into the mess hall again. “Rae, close this behind me, ok?” Raelitha looked overwhelmed and had some indication of barely contained stress in her eyes, but she nodded and started laboriously pushing the cabinet back into place.
"Hey!" Fiannah shouted at Farikah as she ran. When the Wand looked up, the first thing she saw was Fiannah's right fist. "Soenritrekken!" Fiannah shouted, and the same shockwave from her traps radiated through her hand and the other woman's chin and jaw. It shattered most bones in Fiannah's right hand, and dislodged Farikah's jawbone as well as sending her flying back towards the western passage. "Son of a bitch!" Fiannah cried out in pain with her crushed hand.
Ganok gritted his teeth and swiped his sword against the air. Its runes shimmered orange and a bright plume of fire flared around the black blade. He moved in Fiannah's direction and stepped into a thrusting attack. It hit her where her liver would be. She barely managed to jump back and make it a relatively shallow wound, but had to focus to avoid passing out from the pain; the stabs and cuts, her hand, and the burn. Fiannah was nearing her limit. That was when two more of Harrin's darts hit her, this time, filled with the brown toxin these launchers carried.
Her vision was getting blurrier by the second; Fiannah barely stepped out of another flaming swipe from Ganok's sword, which grazed her left cheek. She cornered the Lens Harrin, and, grabbing him by the face with her left hand, slammed his head on the amber colored wall. Lightning singed her hand but coursed straight through the man, flowing into the metal of the wall and knocking him down - barely conscious.
She stumbled in Ganok's direction, who was visibly distressed and said: "How rude of me, I still haven't shown you guys why Seb is my patron saint huh?" She closed her left fist, burning and releasing sparks from the rune carved onto it. Ganok stepped into another attack, and swung his sword into Fiannah’s shoulder again; she didn't even try to dodge as the blade lodged itself into her flesh. At this point she was delirious with pain, but looked him in the eye and said: “He gave me this, it’s the reason I’m a Cleaver, asswipe.” She lifted her arm, grabbed his flaming sword and invoked, in complete serenity: “Kalleukbhel.” Her hand sparked again and shone a strong light blue - almost white - color, as lightning arced from her heart, to her arm, to the sword, and finally to Ganok. Thunder rumbled and echoed inside the mess hall; Fiannah’s ears bled from the boom she had released, due to it bouncing on the walls of the enclosed space. Ganok’s lightning struck body fell limply, and he dropped his sword, which now had no more flames. Fiannah collapsed as well.
“Fia!” Raelitha shouted from behind the cabinet as she once more pushed it out of the way. She ran over to Fiannah, laying on the floor and breathing raggedly and falteringly. She held the lady’s head. “Fia, stay with me, come on.” At this point Raelitha was weeping. She hadn’t known Fiannah for that long, but the Cleaver had protected her and given her company in this hostile ruin of her home. She wanted her to be okay - no - she needed her to be okay.
Fiannah laughed and slowly opened her eyes. She looked up at the crying woman, “hey Rae, anyone ever tell you how pretty you are? Sight for sore eyes, that’s for damn sure.” She was barely able to stay awake, again. “Hey I know we just dismantled our camp but, think I’m gonna take another nap okay?” And fell asleep in the woman’s arms. Rae kept sobbing quietly, thinking of what her next step should be. That’s when she heard something else.
“Raelitha-Ya, snap out of it and bring her here, now!” Demanded a familiar voice, in Laraweian.