View Full Version : Power Struggle
Continuation of and conclusion to Power Surge (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=4022). Karuka's Level Zero Profile (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=3915) still applies. Solo (with alt cameos). Items and/or abilities not found in profile will be found in spoils granted from Part I
Count Uyen Barchon paced his study anxiously. He'd sent money for the party to pay the soldiers, but his page had reported back that only three soldiers had returned, all of them with fairly severe injuries. Of Captain Revelin Strozzi, nothing. Either the island had claimed him, or his orders had been found out and he'd been killed. But how? The gangly stick figure hadn't seemed able to kill such a doughty man, and the red-headed girl surely possessed nothing in the least bit useful.
And yet, they were the ones to survive, when he had ordered Strozzi to ensure their silence. They were the ones unscathed. He could only hope that the girl he'd summoned before him that evening had the artifact.
Going over to one of the massive shelves that lined the walls of his study, Barchon grabbed a fairly innocuous book from the rows neatly set before him and opened it, drawing a much smaller, much older book from within the dusty covers. His long, thin fingers turned the yellowed vellum pages with infinite care.
Within this book were ancient secrets -- legends that told of the wonders the Ancient Scara Braens had possessed before the Aneni Dynasty, the Dynasty to which he was the last heir, the Dynasty that the Valeena had overthrown. There was one legend in particular that had been nagging at his mind of late -- in fact, it had been nagging at his mind ever since he'd heard a madman utter a simple, but all too meaningful sentence not even a week before.
"The liviol trees are growing."
There was only one artifact of such power that it alone could cause a noticeable spike in liviol growth, and Barchon stopped as he reached the right page. The Heart of the Land. Every nation reportedly had one, somewhere, lost to myth and legend. Only in their own time would they return to life.
The Heart of Scara Brae had returned to life in his time. Bellari Valeena was ignorant, he was informed. He would claim the prize, and then HE would take over Scara Brae. The gears were already in motion, as a letter on his desk reminded him.
~*~
Karuka stepped carefully through the shopping center at the western end of Scara Brae city. She'd left Osato and A'rei behind, since neither of them knew what she carried, and since A'rei just wanted to start a new life and Osato wanted to go back to drinking.
The steady pulse emanating from her battered leather bag was either inaudible to the masses or they simply chose to ignore the sound. She held the strap tightly between her fingers, and kept the bag close to her, feeling its weight on her shoulder and against her leg.
The market was bustling with the sounds of housewives and maidens talking about their business of running their houses and bargaining for wares from flour to eggs, cheese, and other groceries. Deeper in were mostly men, looking for a good sword or trinket for themselves or their women. Sometimes women were looking wistfully over various pieces of jewelery, but that wasn't what Karuka Tida was looking for.
She had to see Queen Valeena. The glowing yellow crystal she carried with her was to be delivered to the Queen and the Queen alone. Anyone else that touched it would go mad -- a fate Karuka was saved from only by virtue of the liviol blossom she wore in her deep red hair. Though it had been plucked several days before, the bloom had lasted remarkably well.
Originally purest white, in her hands the flower's four large petals had flushed a bright crimson, each bisected by a wide night-blue strip that turned to obsidian black at the very tip. The center of the flower was such a bright golden it almost seemed alight, although there were darker tinges to the bright yellow -- in some places, the color was almost brassy.
Finally, Karuka found what she was looking for, a shop that specialized in beautiful clothing. The fact that she'd longed for something beautiful to wear ever since her mother had married the brutal and racist Calhoun aside, she HAD to get the Heart to Queen Valeena, and she had enough princess in her blood to know that she wasn't getting in if she didn't look presentable.
Tattered rags were DEFINITELY not presentable.
Fortunately, Karuka had some money on her, a little over a hundred from a week before added to whatever she'd gained from the Count's courier earlier that day. She hadn't counted, hopefully she had enough money to get decent clothing.
She entered the shop, ignoring the owner's scornful glare, and looked around. There were dresses of many beautiful fabrics and colors -- red ones in a heavy, shiny cloth, green ones in crepe and black ones in gauze, but those didn't hold her attention. The one that DID draw her attention was blue like the waters off the coast of her native Ireland when the sunlight struck them in the summer, and had little sparkling green beads scattered over the top, while the skirt was plain. As she reached out to touch the soft, sheer material, she noticed that the top and bottom were in separate parts, and that the skirt would flow from just above her hips to her ankles, and the top would cover her rib cage.
There was a set of jewelery that went with it -- a pair of bracelets and an anklet with blue and green beads, and Karuka picked up the set and looked at the shopkeeper.
"How much, fer these?"
Hani looked up from her accounting books and sighed. It wasn't every day that a girl dressed in rags would come in and ask prices on fine clothing. Either this one had saved up a lot of money to spend frivolously, or she'd stolen money and was looking for a way to disguise herself.
It didn't really matter, Hani reasoned, eying the golden-skinned girl as she brushed a raven lock out of her eyes. If the City Guard came looking for a thief, she could witness against the girl. If the girl was legit, she'd have good money in exchange for a good silk dress.
"The silk set? Three hundred gold. If you need it tailored, I'll do that as well, for an extra ten."
Karuka didn't know if that was fair, or if she was being ripped off...but she had the money, she was pretty sure, so she decided to take the offer. The money was the means to the dress, the dress was a means to her entrance into the castle, which was a means to her end of giving the Heart of Scara Brae to the Queen.
Not half an hour later, Karuka walked back out of the shop, the silken garment seamed up to fit her snugly and folded into her bag.
She was on her way to clean up quickly before she actually changed into her new outfit. There was a little bath house on the road to the palace, and Karuka was certain she'd be able to keep an eye on her bag with its precious load.
Twenty minutes later, Karuka found herself in a private bath chamber. Setting her bag on the rim of the stone-lined depression, she stepped out of her battered and filthy rags and slipped into the steaming water. It had been years since Karuka's last hot bath, and the heat seeped through her scrawny frame like a loving embrace. As much as she wanted to linger in the bath and enjoy a rare opportunity to be warm, she felt and urgency to get the Heart to its rightful possessor.
It had charged her with that, and with keeping it out of the hands of the "Aneni," whoever they were. It had told her that they would want it, if they could find it. It - no - he, the king she'd met within the stone, had told her that they must not get it.
How they can when if y' dinna wear th' flower or are th' right bloodline y' touch i' an' ay go mad dinna make sense t' me. Maybe they'd been the right line once, and they still had that immunity. She'd never know, she was giving it directly to Queen Valeena. If she could get an audience.
Sighing, she hurried to scrub weeks of dirt and grime from her light brown skin, bringing it back to its natural honey tone. That done, she dunked her head into the water to wash her hair. She didn't notice the gentle rocking of her bag on the ledge beside her as she submerged, and was only alerted to something abnormal when two objects plopped down into the water beside her. Recognizing the shape of the Heart beside her, she grabbed for it, and watched as her underwater world transformed...
As she reached toward the glowing figure of the Heart of Scara Brae, Karuka glimpsed the other fallen object from the corner of her eye. It looked like a small totem of the Liviol Sanctum's feline guardian, and as her hand made contact with the living crystal, she felt the low rumbling of the sagacious old cat, and saw its face in the brief moment before light flooded her vision.
When Karuka's vision returned, she was lying on a sunken pad of pillows in the middle of a white marble room, still naked and wet from the bath. A man stood facing a large open window, his back to her. The shape of his head closely resembled one she'd seen before, but she didn't get time to study him before he spoke in a very cold and commanding voice. She could see his lips moving, unlike with the old king, but the voice sounded off, as though he were speaking a different language and someone was translating over him for her benefit.
"There is a robe available beside you, Miss Tida. Please don it, you haven't much time before your body drowns, and I have an important matter to discuss with you."
Without thinking, Karuka groped for the robe and pulled it over her body. Had the situation been less sudden and potentially dangerous, she'd have taken time to revel in how soft and thick it was against her skin, but that was a luxury she didn't have.
"Who are y'?" she demanded of her host. "An' what d'y' want wi' mi?"
The red-head, her eyes fully adjusted to the bright light emanating from the window, walked toward the well-dressed, iron-haired man who turned to regard her. While he lacked the huge moustache, this man had the same prominent nose and weak chin that had unnerved Karuka about Uyen Barchon, and had the same cold, calculating look in his eyes.
"I am Dareth of Aneni. I am aware of your encounter with the last Emperor of Scara Brae and the Liviol Sanctum, and thought you ought to know why Valeena mustn't gain possession of the Heart. This way, please."
That said, he led her rapidly down a long corridor of pristine white marble, punctuated by scarlet-hung alcoves graced with statues of gold and sparkling semi-precious stones. The sculptures were amazingly beautiful in their executions, but their strange and unfamilia shapes writhed and contorted in ways that discomforted the red-head slightly. Despite the awe-inspiring nature of her surroundings, the hairs at the back of Karuka's neck tingled the same way for Dareth of Aneni as they had when she'd first met Count Uyen Barchon.
"When the Emperor died," continued Dareth, interrupting her quiet musings, "he left no successor. This was a thousand years ago, as you measure time. For the next seven centuries, the Islands were left in utter anarchy, with warlords battling for supremacy as the strong preyed on the weak and helpless. Finally, the two most powerful of the warlords, myself and [insert name here] Valeena, allied and subdued the other warlords. By this time, the Liviol Sanctum was in ruins, and the entire population had been living on the larger island for centuries, and most people already feared to venture into the wooded blue depths, despite the wealth and cultural significance of the island.
"Valeena and I were meant to rule together as Kings. My eldest son and his favorite daughter were to wed, and thus ensure that both our lines reigned as one in perpetuity. But it wasn't long after we had started the construction of our capital that he ordered the assassination of myself and my son. My son perished in the attack, and I fled to the Sanctum, where I found the ruins of the ancient castle and the same stone that you hold in your hands. I was dying, Miss Tida, and with my last breath I gave this stone my memories, my knowledge, and my soul. I have been waiting for you for a long time, because I need you to hear.
"I had one child, and one only, that survived Valeena's greed - my ten-year-old son, who was made a minor noble in order to quiet my supporters."
Here Dareth paused, as they entered a large antechamber that was dark save for what little light filtered in from an impossibly tall ceiling. He gave Karuka a few moments to mull over his words before turning back to face her.
"A dynasty initiated with treachery is a dynasty undeserving of the Heart of its land. I have one descendant remaining, and it should be he on the throne. You can grant him the chance to have the position he deserves by birthright, and he will be kind to you. You are emaciated and your clothing is rags. You own nothing and have no one that will vouch for you, no one that will protect you, no one that will claim you. He will give you land and titles, servants and wealth beyond your wildest imaginations. Anything you ask will become yours...even if you desire to be Queen beside him."
As he spoke, he gestured, and fleeting ghost figures flitted before her, showing the brilliant future he described for her, but Karuka merely shook her head in refusal. While the promise of having enough to live by - even luxury, should she ask - was more than slightly alluring, her dharma had charged her otherwise. It had charged her with giving the Heart to Queen Valeena, and none other. It would be a benefit to the people of Scara Brae, even if they knew nothing of her involvement, or of what had happened.
The good of the many is more important than the survival of the lonely little orphan in rags.
Dareth raised an eyebrow, surprised at her unwillingness to be swayed. "What about this, Karuka Tida?"
He waved his hand again, and monumental temples amidst dense tropical jungle blurred into view across the room. Karuka didn't have to wonder to recognize it as India, and she felt her throat close up. If he could really get her a way to India...what did they matter, people who didn't know her and whom she didn't know?
Was it worth her own damnation to have a chance at finding her father?
"Think on it," she heard him say as the world started fading out. "And stand up."
The first sensation that greeted Karuka back to the world of the living was a sense of tremendous pressure in her chest. Her lungs were straining, screaming for air, demanding it with such and urgency she thought they would implode, and she was stuck beneath the water. The surface was so tantalizingly close, if she could just reach up...
She reached up for the surface with her chubby little fingers of just four summers' experience, but something grabbed her leg and started pulling her downward. Darkness closed in on her vision as something grabbed her around the waist and yanked...
BA-BUMP
A sudden, loud heartbeat shocked her out of the past, and with a startle she straightened her legs, splashing through the surface like a terrified animal running from one of the monsters of the deep.
Spots of brilliant color speckled her vision as air, pure, sweet air flooded her lungs, overwhelming her dying body with new life. She clung to the side of the bathing pool with her arms, keeping the Heart safely out of the water's reach. She could feel the hard, smooth stone beneath the soft flesh of her arms, how much of a chill it had compared to the warm water which made a soft wssh sound as it lapped against the walls that bound it. She could hear the desperate rasping of her breath as she drew in more and more air, and as she quieted, she reflected.
This was the fourth chance at life she'd been given just since she'd been sent after the artifact that she grasped now. She could have been killed by the old cat that had attacked the camp - in fact, she bore a scar on her arm where one of his massive claws had grazed her. She had almost been killed by the Knight Captain's sword when they'd reached the Heart and he had touched it, instantly suffering the madness that affected all who touched the Heart wrongly. She'd been wearing the liviol bloom that marked her as one of the right people not of Valeena blood to touch the living crystal, even though she hadn't known it when she'd picked it up...and now she'd been spared drowning in a bathing pool.
Sighing, she slid the Heart back into her satchel, then moved back into the pool to finish bathing herself. She hadn't taken two steps when she landed on a hard irregularity in the floor. Looking down, she saw that it had a dark blue tint to it, in contrast to the slate grey of the stone beneath it, and curiosity overriding caution, she bent down to pick it up.
In her hands, she found a palm-sized figurine that depicted the giant cat of the Liviol Sanctum in mid-leap, powerful shoulders bunched and hind legs propelling him several times the length of his body, long tail curled close to his body and a snarl on his face. The miniature sculpture, made of liviol wood, was a study in perfection, down to the tiny obsidian specks imbedded for the long streaks and rosettes on his coat. Karuka couldn't remember picking up the sculpture, but wasn't going to complain. It was a fitting souvenir.
She hurried to finish cleaning herself, and then sat on the edge of the pool, reflecting on her strange vision. Who was right? Which path should she take? How much worse would the mysterious last Aneni be than the Valeena line? Could she really get to India if she gave it up? Which was the best course?
As she pondered, her hand laid out a set of runes, and she glanced down at them. If she followed the way she wanted, the one that had promised her India and a chance to meet her father, she would be killed and the land would rapidly spiral into a hellish state of turmoil. If she did what the old king had told her, she would still be killed, but the nation would be safe.
"Well...if I'm t' die anyway...best t' not drag every'un with me." She sighed, gathering her things and getting into her new silk dress.
"No 'un cares abou' th' wee orphan lass, especially in th' face o' so much fer th' rest o' every'un."
With another sigh, she re-secured the liviol blossom in her hair, and headed out, toward the palace. The thrill she'd gotten out of getting a new, pretty dress had faded rapidly once her divinations had been made. She was headed to her death.
Seraphima
10-29-07, 06:14 PM
The mid-afternoon bustle sounded much the same to Sara as she made her way through the crowded streets of Scara Brae, with a difference that she couldn't quite pinpoint. Her walking stick probed the ground in front of her with a tak-tak sound, and in her left hand was the lead to her dog's harness.
The voices of the people were the same, the same mothers calling to the same children and arguing with the same vendors in a cacophany that was almost disorienting and strangely reassuring, and there were the same scents of the same foods and perfumes wafting through the air. But something was different. A soft humming sound purred up from the ground, so strong that she could almost feel it, and yet she couldn't pinpoint a source. It didn't seem to bother the sighted residents of Scara Brae.
As she and her dog Maurz reached their usual spot by the fountain, Seraphima sat down on the bench, smoothing down the soft cotton of her dress. That done, she let her dog go so that he could explore the scents, meanwhile smoothing a few stray silken curls back into place and adjusting the blindfold that hid her unseeing eyes from the rest of the world.
The humming was getting louder, slowly but surely, and on the very edges of her perception, there was the faintest pounding sound. But where was it coming from? She was normally much better at pin-pointing directionality of sound, but with the humming, all she could hear was the faintest ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump.
Satisfied with his findings, Maurizio returned to his mistress, wagging his tail as he nudged her hand to get a scratch. The scents of the plaza were always interesting, but he didn't dare leave her alone too long. The blind were far too often targets of mischievous children, and Sara had developed a cough recently...she was fragile.
"Do you hear it too, Maurz?" the sweet, dove's-hush voice fell like water on his ears, and he pricked up his ears, wagging his tail against the ground for her to hear.
"It's a little strange, I think. And it's getting louder. I think it's coming this way."
A few minutes passed, with the blind woman and her dog sitting together in silence, listening to the unusual pulse that seemed to be traveling closer. How could the rest of the city not notice it? Could they not see it, and therefore paid it no heed...or were they simply looking the wrong way? Could they not hear it? Why?
Finally, the beats got loud enough that Sara could tell that it was coming rapidly from her right, as though someone was carrying it, and in a hurry. That was even more curious. As the sound entered her square, Sara moved closer, hoping to hear more clearly. The sound persisted, louder and louder, but the footsteps that bore it were barely audible, as though there were no shoes upon the stone.
Bare feet? On this?
"Hello?"
Karuka knew her way with a surety. It had been in that large elm that she had met the Mime, on that ledge she had waited for her first friend on Althanas before he'd left, on that very fountain that the runes had given her instructions that started her journey. This was one of the few places she knew well, and to the East loomed the palace.
A voice called out to her in the middle of the sprawling square, grasping for her attention with a soft and tremulous insistence, and Karuka turned to look, guarding her bag carefully in case someone should try to grab at the precious item she carried. But rather than an unknown threat, a short, slender woman was facing her, "looking" at her with an intensity that would have gone right through her had the eyes been visible beneath the blindfold.
Karuka scrutinized the other woman carefully, not sure whether she viewed a person or a spirit. Everything about her was pale, from the alabaster skin to the flaxen hair that fell neatly in large curls. Even the dress was the palest of greens. The face was perfectly symmetrical, the faintly pink lips pulled into an uncertain twist.
"Hallo..."
As she was addressed, the blind woman's hand tightened slightly on her staff, clenching it anxiously and turning slightly to her big, black dog who could as easily be a spirit's familiar as a dog to guide the blind.
"I...my dog's name is Maurizio," she started with a slight stammer, as though it were habitual for her to introduce the dog first and not to be spoken to. "But that's something of a mouthful, so he goes by Maurz. And I...I'm Seraphima...but that's also something of a mouthful, so it's Sara."
"I'm Karuka."
"Hello, Karuka...I just was curious...but I can't help but hear the heart in your bag."
Karuka felt like her feet had been stuck to the cobblestone with mortar. So far as she knew, this woman or spirit, whichever she was, was the first individual aside from her to be able to hear the Heart aside from her, and she struggled to think of something to tell her that wasn't the truth, but was plausible, and came up short.
"I...I canna talk abou' tha'."
Seraphima
10-30-07, 05:21 PM
From the moment the other woman returned her greeting, Sara could hear in her voice much more than she'd have known could she have seen her. She knew that she was speaking with a foreigner, one that was nervous, resigned, and incredibly tense. From there, it wasn't hard to guess the cause of her anxiety. Such an odd burden, if so secret, surely couldn't be one of the more pleasant.
"Excuse me," she murmured, listening to the slight shifting sounds of leather against a smooth cloth - the sound of the woman shifting her weight from one foot to another. Sara thought that if she weren't so nervous, the foreigner that stood before her would probably sound much more pleasant, and perhaps not be so eager to run.
But where? Where would she run? And why?
Curious as blind Sara may have been, it wasn't her place to interfere in the business of strangers, but maybe she could know just one thing, and she held out her staff to her dog before reaching out to Karuka with both hands.
"May I? I...can't 'see' you any other way."
There was a moment of tense silence before a pair of warm hands, calloused from use, took her cold, soft ones and guided them to the taut skin of the face. The cheeks pulled harshly over the bones, indicative of a body deprived of nourishment. The eyes were less sunken than Sara had expected, and were fairly large in comparison to the rest of the face. The forehead was broad and smooth, and the nose slightly sharp and fairly thin. The mouth told the blind woman what she had known before. The lips, while full and soft, were pulled shut and tight, a sign both of tension and determination.
"Good luck, Karuka. Everything will turn out all right."
There was another silence that spoke too much of an almost desperate tension, and a very resigned determination. Had the ambient noise been softer, Sara was almost certain that she could hear the other woman's heart pounding; certainly her breath came after a hesitant pause.
Finally, there was a soft murmuring of thanks and the almost imperceptible shish-shish of bare feet on hard stone, and the other woman disappeared from Sara's limited scope.
"Come on, Maurz. I think we should go walking. You need more exercise than we get, I fear."
A whimper sounded from her left side as her cane was returned to her hands. Maurz knew more than she did, Sara was certain. He wouldn't take her into danger, and she respected that. It was unlikely she'd meet the woman with the strange accent again, but the memory would haunt her.
A slight cough shook her body, and the whimper grew louder as the dog became concerned.
"I'm all right, Maurz. I just need more exercise, too."
Taking up the lead once more, the blind woman walked off down the streets that sounded so familiar. She knew that she'd have to leave soon; there was nothing for her here. But until then, she would walk with her dog, just like she always did.
Everything will turn out all right.
As Karuka walked on toward her doom, Sara's words echoed through her head. She couldn't see how everything would turn out all right; she knew she was doomed. But... perhaps everything would turn out all right. What was life but a transition point between eternities? What was death but a transition point between one life and the next? She had done her best with this life, maybe she'd have better luck next time.
And everything would turn out all right for the people of Scara Brae, too. Without the rule of the Aneni, and with the Heart in the right hands, there would be prosperity. Souls would be saved rather than lost.
There y' go. Y' just need t' stop thinkin' in th' here an' now. Th' eternal's always the part y' need t' look t', an' y' play a part o' th' eternal here. Ay...
The palace gate came before her almost before she had looked up, and in the distance of the great entrance courtyard, she could see richly dressed people, one of whom she thought might be Queen Valeena.
There were guards just beyond the gate, but they didn't challenge her yet. She was sure that would change.
"Hallo!" she called out. "I'd like t' r'quest an' audience wi' Queen Valeena. I bring a gift o' utmost import'nce."
Several heads turned to look at the scrawny red-head that stood at the gate, and she could feel intense eyes roaming over her, trying to guage her intent.
Finally, a tall woman in rich dress gestured to one of the guards to open the gate.
"She interests me. Let us see her."
The gates opened, and Karuka stepped through. At least now she had a chance of success before her nightmare began.
Sakurazuka Anila had only been in Scara Brae for a few days when she received the invitation to visit the palace and the Queen. She had excused herself on that occasion, wishing to become settled in her position at the Dajas Pagoda first. Now that she had two victories under her fans and was comfortable with her arena, she had written to the Queen to ask if she was still welcome to visit.
Naturally, she was. Nobility tended to be gracious to nobility, and where Anila existed in her nation's social heirarchy, she would make a potent ally to foreign relations. That wasn't particularly important right now, however. Right now, she was longing to be a member of polite society again after so long among fools and boors, and Valeena's court, while not quite the model of stately grace and quiet power that her native court was, did not disappoint.
She had arrived in the morning and spent the day in genial, formal conversation. Everyone knew their places, and everyone accomodated the foreign dignitary in their accustomed manner, and Anila played the part with ease.
As evening drew on, the court went outside to enjoy a walk in the cooling air, scented sweet by summer's late blooms. The procession had barely reached the front courtyard before a voice called out to them, thick with a foreign accent. The figure was probably a poor wretch, at least in her eyes, but despite the emaciated frame and unstyled red hair, there was a clarity in her eyes and a power in her voice that made her a figure to notice. Her clothes looked acceptable as well, if not fine.
She could approve of Valeena's decision to accept the girl's petition, and watched with interest as everyone filed inside to hear what she had to say.
It wasn't the red-head's bold petition that had made Queen Valeena grant her an audience. Barely a week went by that didn't see a similar petitioner, and most of the ones that didn't state precisely their business were directed to a clerk of the court.
But for the last several months, Valeena had been hearing a heartbeat. It came infrequently and intermittently, but it came, nonetheless, and there was no record of any such thing happening before, nor did any other member of her court seem to hear the sound.
During the past week, the sound had pounded through her head almost constantly, and earlier that day it had gotten louder. Now she could hear the sound from the young girl's bag, and hoped to gain some answers.
When the court was arranged in the central throne room, Bellari motioned for the red-head to come forward.
"State your business."
Karuka stepped forward swiftly. At this point, she just wanted the Heart out of her hands and into the right ones. Her heart beat so loudly in her chest, it almost drowned out the crystal one in her satchel.
Not bothering with a clumsy bow or curtsey, Karuka withdrew the crystal from her bag and unwrapped it from the tatters of her cloak. It still glowed warmly, undamaged from its drop into the water, and its warmth reassured her.
"Recently, I was in th' ruins in th' wee islan' t' th' north, th' Liviol Sanctum. Many went wi' me, an' few returned. I found this stone...an' it wished t' be given int' yer han's. It'll suffer t' be held by none but y'... 'twill ay drive mad th' soul that touches it. I'm allow'd only fer t' give i' t' y'."
Stepping forward to give the Heart to Valeena, Karuka was intercepted by a guard, but the Queen waved him off.
"Let her pass."
A moment later the Queen held the Heart in her hands and gazed into it while it took her through an explanation of how it came to be and why she was worthy of it. When she looked back up at Karuka, there were tears in the corners of her eyes.
"You've done this country a service, child. What is your name?"
"I'm Karuka. An' if y'll let me...I'll be on my way."
Valeena nodded, preoccupied by the need to get the Heart to somewhere safe. "You're welcome back here as you please, and I should hope to see you again someday."
"Ay...perha'." With that, Karuka stepped out into the darkening evening, even as Valeena excused herself from the court, and a pale messenger slipped away to inform his master what had happened.
His master would not be pleased that he had been crossed.
Karuka took in a deep, shuddering breath as the evening air descended upon her. The Heart was in the right hands, and that was what really mattered. She had followed her dharma and done her best; maybe she wouldn't be reincarnated as a rat or a dog. Maybe her next life would be better. If she was brave to the end and never flinched, maybe she'd even be allowed into Valhalla, but she doubted that.
She walked the dimly-lit cobblestone streets with a slow certainty. Even though she had nothing to give the Count that had sent her on the deadly mission, she was supposed to report what had happened to him. She just needed to lie a little tiny bit. She didn't have far to walk; the mansion's grounds touched palatial fields.
The Count's residence was not nearly as grand as the palace, but it felt ten times more ominus to Karuka as she stepped through its gates. The hair on the back of her neck rose and tingled, it was almost as though an evil presence had taken a grip on the place. In the distance, she could see a bright blaze, as though some ceremony were beginning on a little islet nearby that was home to a church. Many such blazes had been used in many holy festivals, but they had always been benign. This flame looked like the harbinger of the evil spirit she felt all around.
There's ne'er any turnin' back...
With that thought, she walked up the lane leading to the iron-grated doors and knocked, stepping into a dimly-lit hall as they creaked open. She was neither asked her name or her business, merely grabbed by both arms as the Count stepped out of the darkness.
"Traitor. Take her to the dungeon...get her story...and then dispose of her."
She struggled briefly as the mandate was given, but the men who had grabbed her had hands like iron. This was it...this was where and how she was going to die, and she started to shake as adrenaline shot through her veins.
There was nothing she could do, though, as her belongings were taken from her and she was herded into a deeper darkness.
Queen Valeena secreted away the new treasure in the most secure vaults in the palace and went back to her court, but even the duty of having a foreign visitor could not make her focus on the people that walked through the high-vaulted ante-chamber. The message that the crystal held was both uplifting and ominous, and the messenger had seemed relieved to see her. It had almost been as though the old man had been expecting someone else, despite the fact that he assured her that there weren't many others that could touch the stone without going mad.
Unable to focus, she retired early to have another audience with the Heart. This vision was different from the last, benevolent one. The brief flash that it showed her was not images of the distant past and promises for the future - it was present and violent, and it fell to her to have it stopped.
"Guards."
~*~*~*~
It had only been a few hours since she'd been dragged into the bowels of Count Uyen Barchon's dungeon, but Karuka would have sworn it to be an eternity.
Five times they'd asked her what she'd found in the Liviol Sanctum, and five times she told them that the group had merely run into man-eating will's o' th' wisp, the great cat, and some deadly ruins. Five times she'd been tortured for lying.
The first time, they had slowly driven an iron rod through her right foot. The agony from the crushing bones and shredded muscles made her dizzy, and her world exploded in pain. The second time, the same had happened to her other foot.
The third and fourth time they had burned her with hot irons, and she could barely feel that over the agony of her feet. Now they had just finished trying to drown the truth out of her, but she was dead anyway, and telling them would do her no good.
Her shoulder and abdomen were seared from hot irons, and the fetid stench of her own burnt flesh was still nauseating. Her new silk garment was shredded, her hair was damp from being plunged repeatedly into a trench full of foul water, and her feet were slowly going numb - blissfully numb. She couldn't bear to look down to see the wounds that went from arch to sole, if she did, it would seem more real.
'Tis here, t'night. An' ay short wee life...
"My servant tells me that you're omitting a key piece of information."
The smooth voice of the Count infiltrated her thoughts, and she tilted a begrimed face to look at him. The once-proud head had lost its strength; she couldn't lift herself up to face her tormenter eye to eye.
"I've ay told y'...there was naught anythin'."
"You're lying. My page saw you give the Heart to Valeena, and for that treachery, you will die."
Karuka could have laughed. She hurt enough that death would have been a welcome relief. There was less to fear in death than in life, at least for the moment.
"Aneni."
The word echoed slowly through the dank chamber, and Barchon's mouth twisted under his mustache while he tried to express his anger into her next torment, but he was interrupted when a servant burst through the door.
"My lord, the Queen's Knights come."
Barchon whirled around, looking for all the world like a cornered rabbit, before he turned back to his servants.
"Hang her." With that mandate, he vanished into a deeper dungeon on his way out, and the bruised and beaten Karuka was dragged higher up to a waiting noose.
The Knights burst into Count Uyen Barchon's home expecting a resistance, but what they found was a building utterly empty -- until a few of them ducked into the cellar. The only thing they heard was a sharp thunk and the slow creaking of a rope, before feet ran away from them. When the leader got to the scene and laid his eyes on the swinging body, all he could do was curse them all as rats.
~*~*~*~
Karuka had been dragged from her chains to the gallows, every inch burning its way through her feet. The rope had been set, and without the energy to protest or fight back, she let herself be lifted, the hood tossed over her head, and the noose fitted around her neck.
Aum Bhur Bhuva Svaha
Aum Tat Savitur Varenyam...
And then the world dropped. There was an agonizing throbbing in her head, and she lashed around as she struggled to breathe. Maybe she had resigned herself to die, but she wasn't ready just yet.
Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi ...
Spots of brilliant colors danced violently before her eyes, and she felt her tenuous grip on consciousness starting to slip away, though she clung to it with all her might. She heard a grating sound in the far distance, and voices as the people beyond her ran, but it was distant...so distant.
Dhiyo Yo Nah Prachodayat...
Complete blackness flooded her vision, and as her body finally gave up the battle and went limp, she finished the mantra.
Aum.
The next thing she knew, she was standing in a clearing in the middle of a lush jungle. A young man with tawny skin and the blackest hair looked at her, clearly puzzled.
"You don't belong here yet."
Anila had excused herself from Court less than an hour after Valeena left. After all, she did have an early appointment, and she liked to be refreshed before a battle.
She had just changed from her formal kimono into her more comfortable standard outfit (Hissomi not being present to assist her) when her servant rushed through the door of her arena, bowing and frantically shoving a note into her face.
It told that there was a criminal of noble birth on the run, and that he might come into the Pagoda at some point. Pagoda Heirarchs were to be informed so that they could bring him to the Queen if they saw and could subdue him. A crude sketch of a man was on the piece of parchment, and Anila re-read the note while Hissomi took her hair from the perfect up-do that had charmed courtiers into the simple braid that was both comfortable and effective.
Doubtless, everyone else would rush out at the slightest hint of a disturbance, so the slender Akishiman felt no need to stir herself, and instead pulled a few cushions from around the walls to make a comfortable pallet on which she could re-focus after having been re-introduced into the ordered chaos that was court life.
She hadn't been down for more than ten minutes when there was a loud splash! from the koi pond out the side, and she sat up, hurrying across the gleaming bamboo floor to slide open the screen door between her main dojo and her outdoor enclosure. Irritatingly, it seemed that the Count had a door right into her arena, and had stumbled into her pool.
Well, it's only polite to greet a guest...
"Barchon-sama...you are wanted by the Queen. Come with me and offer no resistance, and you will remain uninjured."
Rather than heed her warning, the Count drew his sword. Of course he did...no one ever entered the Pagoda without an intent to fight to the death.
"Hissomi."
Her servant was already on the way, hastily shoving the fans into her mistress's hands -- the wrong hands, Anila noted with ire -- before rushing to safety. Hissomi did not belong in the middle of a physical altercation. That was her mistress's job, and Anila could already feel her irritation and the stress of the day giving way to the void that consumed her every time she fought. The less she felt, the more control she had, and the more sure of victory she was.
Changing her fans back into their correct hands, Hagane right and Uindo left, before backing into the light of her main arena.
"Do come in, then."
Count Uyen Barchon lunged at the short, dark-haired woman with her deadly fans unfurled. If he killed her now, he could run and be at the monastery by midnight. He didn't notice the other woman running out the door, so intent was he on impaling the immediate threat.
As the Count closed in, Anila whirled, parrying with one fan and slashing with the next. He was as good as she was and had longer reach, meaning it was harder to get in with her fans and get a good slash in.
I don't have to take him down...merely distract him for long enough.
Thus began the deadly dance of of the single-stingered scorpion and the dual-winged sandpiper. The first would try to stab, but the blow would be deflected by the steel fans, and then the sandpiper would try to hit the scorpion with its other wing, only to have to parry another sting.
So the dance went, blow after furious blow, from one end of the dojo's polished bamboo floor to the other and halfway back before a group of Knights burst in and used their numbers to subdue the Count.
"Count Uyen Barchon, you are under arrest for High Treason." One of the officers continued to feed him the standard speech while the Count was being bound and dragged cursing from the Pagoda. The commotion done, Hissomi rushed over to her mistress, checking for wounds of any sort, but Anila waved her off.
"I am uninjured...and I suppose the drama is done."
"D'na b'long here yet?"
Karuka parroted the man's words, still dazed from her sudden change of scenery. Where was she? What had happened? Why did her burns no longer hurt and her feet feel whole? Why?
She tried to form a question, tried to think it through, just how she could have come to this place. She had been resigned to death, but she felt so incredibly alive that the thought hadn't crossed her mind yet, and her guide was in no mood to let her accept that she was dead - once she accepted it, putting her back on her life track would get much more difficult.
"Think not on your questions, Karuka Tida, merely follow me."
He pulled aside some brush, leading her through dense foliage in the most intense shades of green she'd ever seen, dotted by flowers that had the colors of the most perfect gems. Everything was more perfect than she had ever imagined anything could be, and she'd much rather stay in this paradise than suffer more of the same world. Why must she be rushed away from it?
Finally, they came to a well, and her guide looked down and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Excellent, excellent."
Turning to look at her, he took her hand and pulled her up to the well, but didn't let her see in yet.
"It's good to see that you're following your dharma so closely, Karuka...but the time has not yet come for you to join us."
Lifting her up gently, he cradled her as if she were a small child.
"We'll be watching you closely, though. You'll never be alone."
With that, he tossed her into the well, watching her fall, thrashing and flailing, down and down.
Poor thing...she thinks it's real, and doesn't swim...
~*~*~*~
Rather getting wet when she hit the water, Karuka opened her eyes, and instead of finding herself sinking to the bottom of the well, she found herself staring up at a white ceiling, feeling only hints of pain from her worst injuries and a little groggy and confused.
A nurse, the same one that had chased her away when she had tried speaking to the madman, leaned over her not long after she came to, checking over her.
"Good, you're awake. You'll feel like yourself in a few hours, and then you'll be wanted at the palace. Just rest, for now."
Finally, the reality of the man she'd seen and the jungle she'd walked were made apparent to her. She'd spent the time walking the land of the dead...or somewhere between the land of the dead and the living.
With a sigh, she settled in to rest.
The reason she was wanted at the palace was simple; she was to give her testimony in the trial of Count Uyen Barchon. All the survivors of the island journey that could be found were pulled in to give their testimony, and even without his confession, there would have been enough to convict him.
The knights told that they had been hired to escort a small group to the Liviol Sanctum and make sure they didn't survive the island. Karuka told of how she was hired and the torture she'd gone through and the Count's hands, and the courtly Sakurazuka Anila told of her battle with him in her Pagoda Arena as he tried to flee.
In the end, he decided to at least be heard, telling the story of the Valeena "treachery" of so many centuries ago, and how he had planned to take what was rightfully his.
He was executed later that day, and Karuka was allowed to roam free again. It was no longer quite right to stay in Scara Brae, so she needed to find a way to move on.
Unfortunately, the only way to do so was by boat, so she put it off for a few days. When she finally did dare to venture towards the docks, she crossed the same fountain square, looking for the blind spirit who had prophesied for her, and there she as, sitting like she'd never left, and Karuka went up to her, letting the dog smell at her first.
"Hallo, Sara."
The woman, so pale before, now looked even paler, as though something malign was trying to eat her from within. It seemed wrong, that this woman, slim and beautifully tragic, like a stricken swan, should be suffering more, but Karuka's thought was interrupted as the woman turned to her.
Seraphima
11-21-07, 02:05 PM
The calmness in the woman's voice was pleasing to Sara, a marked contrast from the strain and stress it had had barely two days before. Apparently, her prediction had come true.
"Hello, Karuka. I hear the heartbeat's faded."
"Ay, 'twill be again, perha' another thousan' year."
"Probably a good thing."
"Ay."
The two sat in silence for a few minutes not sure what to say, but Sara finally broke the silence.
"I'm glad things turned out all right."
"It did...I doubted y', but y' were righ'."
A soft smile touched Sara's rose-petal pink lips, and she tapped her cane against the ground. "Everything finds its way, sooner or later."
"Ay." There was another silence, but this time it was Karuka who broke it with her sweetly exotic tones. "Are y' all righ'?"
Sara nodded quickly...a little too quickly, and coughed a few times, lightly. "I'm all right, really."
"If y' say so...but...can I do somethin' fer y'?"
Sara couldn't help but smile. "If you'd like."
Karuka placed a hand on Sara's back. She wasn't sure if a mere prayer would work to help heal a spirit, but perhaps it would, just a little bit.
"May th' road rise a'fore y',
May th' wind always be a' yer back,
May th' sun shine warm upon yer face,
An' th' rains fall soft upon yer fields,
An' until we meet again,
May th' gods keep y' in th' palms o' their han's."
It was a beautiful prayer, softly and feelingly said, and Sara felt a warmth flood through her body, as though there was a force rooting for her in her fight.
"'I wish y' naught but th' best, Sara."
Before Sara could say anything more, there was a soft shuffling of feet on rock, and Karuka was gone, her face to the wind and her world about to change. Within a few days, she would be in Corone.
Spoils: The silk dress that Karuka bought, repaired, subtract a total of 300 for the dress.
The Heart of Scara Brae passes into Valeena hands.
Call me J
12-02-07, 08:20 PM
Total Score- 61
You’re a good writer, and I’m really sad to see the way this ended given where it was going. It’s a shame really. Also, given your comments in the judging request, I’m focusing more on the differences between the way you play the different characters. Normally, I wouldn’t do this with multiple authors, but when all characters are played by the same person, I have less qualms juxtaposing them against each other.
• STORY ~ 20/30
Continuity (5) ~ By herself, Karuka was a seven. However, the cameos were highly lacking, especially considering the fact that they took up a third of the thread.
Setting (7) ~ I loved the ambiance you set in the first post. I felt things were really very vibrant there and I could practically feel Karuka walking through the shopping center. I also like how you gave me the same setting from Seraphima’s POV. It really helped contrast the two characters.
Pacing (6) ~ This had some great moments, but in the end, I left disappointed.
• CHARACTER ~ 16/30
Dialogue (7) ~ While dialogue is naturally distinctive for Karuka given her accent, I also feel that you do a much better job of conveying things through her speech than you do with the others.
Action (4) ~ The Baron’s plan was not very good at all.
Persona (5) ~ Anila stood out as poor compared to the other two characters.
• WRITING STYLE ~ 20/30
Mechanics (8) ~ There were a couple things in here that shouldn’t have been there, but your grammar is quite strong.
Technique (6) ~ You put much more effort into your technique early on.
Clarity (6) ~ Some of the flashbacks didn’t flow as seamlessly as they could have, but outside of that, I’d have no reasons to take marks away.
• Wild Card (5) ~ This is really the kind of thread that makes me think more about what could have been.
Spoils
Karuka Tida receives 1350 EXP and 240 GP – 300 GP = -60 GP and receives the silk dress.
Anila receives 470 EXP and 35 GP
Seraphima receives 470 EXP and 35 GP
EXP/GP Added! Karuka levels up!
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