Goriel and beyond

[Jack Rothwell]

Tamina blicked owlishly in the sunshine, marking the other airship with interest, but Angrist's pointing out of Jaime with much more.

"Jay!" She called. "What's app-nin?" A sudden banking of the vessel made her sway gently, drawing her attention back to the other.

"Our ship be dancing with the other ship?"

.....

It took Eli a moment to find a quiet spot away from the crew and his companions. He moved with the air of a man in a trance, shutting the door of the cabin behind him and mumbling a few words to muffle the sounds leaving the room without any consultation from his brain's higher functions.

There were a few articles of furniture in the room. A chair here, a chest there, a few shelves... good.

For another moment the half-elf simply stood where he was, then the rage came like a rising tide, an unstoppable flood. Eli threw back his head and let out a roar that was equal parts anger and anguish. He drew his weapon and whirled, slashing mindlessly at the contents of the room around him. Planks split and splinters flew. He threw the weapon at a wall where it stuck, quivering and then, deciding he wasn't done, began hammering on the walls with his bare fists, not stopping until blood flew from his knuckles and his breath came in ragged gasps.

He sat down heavily on the floor, clutching the amulet against his chest like a drowning man clinging to driftwood, willing himself back under control.

The artifact lit up, passing a glow over his body which bathed him in a reddish light. It was an eerie sensation, an invasive one, Eli felt the rage draining away like the magic was pushing it back from wence it came. Moments later it was gone, leaving only a zen-like calm in its wake.

Slowly, wincing, Eli fixed his hands. A minute later the room was repaired and the half-elf was leaving it with a faint smile on his face.

[Drusia]

"I wasn't quite thinking like that," he said -- "I mean, I didn't remember anything, if I was unconscious or not, let alone what I might've been doing. But thanks....I mean, what you did was very decent of you."

He's relieved - I can see it plain on his face. I'm... just a tad disappointed. Well, at least I wasn't mean to him. He seems quite pleased that nothing happened. I guess he has more discipline than I realized. Too bad.

"Wait -- " he said, his hand reaching out, but he pulled back from touching. "Have you another moment? I'm actually worried about Eli."

I don't want to talk about Eli, but... I'm worried about him too. And if Tim's noticed....

"Back in Port Lorrel - we fought a strong party of slavers at the docks. And he was using magic I've never seen before. He'd been studying a strange book before that, and this time - he was calling up...something monstrous. He banished it when he was ready, and he did it with ease, but I fear there's something of it still with him. I don't know what he's dealing with, or how he got there, but I think he's in danger. And I think this strange magic's involved. And -- I haven't told it all to Rose yet. I don't think she's equipped to get to it the right way. But if he's in the clutches of d...something he shouldn't be, I want to get him out of it. And you know where he came from and know him best of anyone - have you seen anything of what this might be?"

"I have no idea," I reply honestly, "We don't use any kind of horrible magic like that back home." At least... at least the fire he used yesterday was just fire - or was it, that magic felt... off - but summoning something awful like that -! "And a weird strange book? I don't remember Eli having anything like that. I... he turned up with a strange amulet recently too. He said someone gave it to him." I try to remember details, but that conversation got interupted by relaxatory sex. Failing to call up any additional details, I shake my head in frustration.

"Tim, Eli's been... different lately," I tell him quietly. "Angrier. Cruel. He... he's been scaring me. I thought I was being irrational - I mean, I spent half of yesterday afraid that Eli was going to appear and hurt me." I pause, realizing that sounds worse than it is. "Not that he has!" I hasten to clarify. "It was just... the way he killed those prisoners yesterday, in cold blood. The Eli I knew back home would have never done something like that. I tried to talk to Eli about it a few minutes ago, right before I ran into you, but he... just got angry." I wipe at fresh tears.

"I think there's something wrong with his magic," I add. "Lately, there's... something off about it. It... it feels wrong." Great job of describing the problem there, Desiree. "Back home," I continue, trying to ignore my inner critic, "people would use fire magic to start bonfires or hearth fires, or to creamate bodies, and... that magic always felt okay. Normal. Natural. Eli's fire spell yesterday felt totally different. Wrong. I... I'm sorry, I can't explain it any better than that."

This is so frustrating!

-- Desiree

[Graybeard]

Rip climbed down from the crow's nest just in time to hear the next orders shouted out of the captain's cabin. "Helmsman! We've got 'em right where we want 'em! Steer to cross the tee!"

Hmmm. That was ... worrisome, Rip thought. It hadn't seemed to occur to Wrackham that (1) most of a typical airship's heavier firepower was forward, (2) they were just presenting this enemy(?) ship with a larger target to use that firepower on, and (3) the Bonny Read's own starboard deck gun was out of service, courtesy of what that one weird passenger had done to it. That third point, he could eventually do something about ... if he survived problems one and two.

In fact, however, there didn't seem to be much to worry about. The Bonny Read executed an elegant, if toothless, turn to starboard, just in time for him to see the other ship sail serenely on, straight as an arrow, beneath them, as though it hadn't even noticed that it was being hunted. No shots were exchanged.

"THEY'VE TAKEN EVASIVE ACTION!" the captain bellowed. (Since when is flying in a straight line considered "evasive action"? Rip wondered, but now wasn't the time to bring that up.) "Luminosita's Nethers, I knew they were hostile! AFTER THEM!"

Rip rolled his eyes; lacking anything better to do, he headed down to the engine room to see if he could help the airshipmen coax a little more speed out of the bird. (Plus, they had the best escape pods on the ship; being in charge of maintenance, he knew about such things...)

-------------

"That's -- quite an outfit," Sister Rose allowed, making a mental note to herself to be sure to wear a sheath underneath it. Luminosita's Nethers. If that's what the clan chief's wife is supposed to wear in Goriel, what are the "kept women" going to look like?

Her reveries were interrupted by the appearance of a crewman, who spent a long moment looking at the outfit before he saluted. "Ma'am? The captain wants to talk to you and Dr. Cleiviein about what we do when we make landfall. That will be in about three hours now." Relief in her face, Rose thanked the young man, and took Argus' hand to help him out of his seat ... although she was wondering what Harker would come up with while they were occupied.

[Sareth]

"Tami!" Jamie shouted from beneath Tiny. "Get this... oaf off of me!"

At that moment the ship heaved about in its hapless pursuit of its oblivious prey. Jamie gave the "oaf" a shove at the same moment, and Tiny tumbled off of her. Leaping to her feet, she darted over to Tamina and gave her a hug that was rather affectionate.

The gunners all paused to watch, then gave whoots and cheers.

Releasing Tamina, Jamie darted over to a cannon. "Hey! Tami! Ever fired a cannon?"

****

After Rose and Argus left, Lillith began laughing. Harker joined her in snickering.

Confused, Brad looked around, then blinked at the pair. "What? Care to share the joke?"

Lillith gave her husband a smile. "Did you see Rose' expression?"

"Well, it is rather a skimpy garment." Brad colored a bit at the thought of his cousin in it.

"That's Desiree's. We really did save the most modest one for Rose." Lillith turned and picked up a toga that, while baring the shoulders and arms, really was modest. "But the look on her face..." Lillith giggled again.

Brad shook his head, but he was smiling as he wrapped his arms around Lillith.

[Graybeard]

Still shaking her head at the outfit she was apparently expected to wear, and blissfully unaware that it was a practical joke, Sister Rose went forward with Argus to meet with the airship's captain.

Under the garish uniform, Rose realized, the captain was a surprisingly young man, possibly around thirty. (When did I come to consider that "young"? she asked herself, then decided not to answer ther own question. Besides, you were only as old as you felt. Wasn't that right? And after last night, she was feeling young again herself ...) He rose and saluted smartly as she and Argus came onto the bridge. Then he passed some news. "We have two messages from home, ma'am, one from Emerylon and one from -- your direct superiors." Was the Tsuirakuan cleared to know about the Special Forces base? It seemed unlikely.

"It's okay, captain, we're all in the know here," Rose smiled. If there was an innuendo in that statement, the man didn't notice it.

"First, from Emerylon," the captain continued. "There have been diplomatic contacts with the Prime Minister of Goriel. They are going to be 'completely cooperative' when we land." He snorted. "I think that mainly means they won't open fire on the airship. The message says not to count on them for much beyond theoretical diplomatic immunity."

"Well, that's something," Rose observed. "What's the word from base?"

The man held up a hand. "Not done yet, ma'am. The Prime Minister wants to meet with you when we land. The message says that might be 'awkward.' I assume you know why?"

It was Rose's turn to snort. "They're so stiffnecked that they won't know how to handle talking to a woman in a command position, is what it means." Her expression turned to a wry smile as she moved to include Argus in her field of view. "Not a problem. We'll just have to make sure that my husband, here, does all the talking."

<"With telepathic help, of course,"> she thought at Argus, not yet willing to let him off the hook as to the "husband" role being part of the masquerade ... or not.

[Alberich]

Tim nodded at Desiree's explanation. It lined up exactly with his opinion of what was happening. ("His opinion" was largely informed by folktales and Church-student rumor about witches and demon-worshippers, but there was no need to bring that up.) As far as he was concerned her account was very informative indeed. If she'd been able to render it more technical, he wouldn't have understood it anyway, nor believed that he needed to. This was spiritual warfare. What mattered was in the heart.

He spoke quickly and earnestly, for he didn't want Eli to catch them conspiring. "Thank you - I'm afraid that fits what I saw all too well. I'm pretending not to be worried because I want to learn more from him. Staying by him too. I need to be there when there's a chance to save him. I'm sure he's beyond being talked out of it..." because I can't fathom how any man could resist you unless he was very far gone "...it'll take a situation that hasn't come up. And I don't know what it is."

"But please, if he ever needs healing, don't hesitate - don't let him die like this."

Something was still missing. "And...thank you. Again." Heartfelt.

It was fortunate for Tim, or at least for his virginity, that he had no sense of Desiree's disappointment. Oh, he could spin out plenty of reasons why he must never get involved with her, quite apart from his vows. But as an Orthodox believer, he well knew there was much more to a man than his intellect, more to his faith than the doctrines he believed, and that good reasoning was far from enough to keep a man from temptation.

If she was through, he'd wander away from her, and if he met Eli, try to gauge his mood. But he wasn't walking away if she had more to say now.

* * *

Releasing Tamina, Jamie darted over to a cannon. "Hey! Tami! Ever fired a cannon?"

Udo was on the gundeck by then. "I have!" he said. And to Tamina, "It's fun!"

Through a portal he saw the "evasive action" taken by the other ship, and read it the same as the captain. "Hah! They're running away! Got 'em on the run, chickenshit pi...airshippers!" If the other ship managed to avoid battle completely, as seemed likely, Udo's imagination would work on this encounter 'til it was truly the stuff of legend.

[Drusia]

"Thank you - I'm afraid that fits what I saw all too well. I'm pretending not to be worried because I want to learn more from him. Staying by him too. I need to be there when there's a chance to save him. I'm sure he's beyond being talked out of it... it'll take a situation that hasn't come up. And I don't know what it is."
"But please, if he ever needs healing, don't hesitate - don't let him die like this."
"And... thank you. Again."

"Well, of course I would heal him!" I say, surprised. "I don't hate him. He just... scares me. And worries me. I just... can't be with him anymore. But that doesn't mean I'd let him bleed if he was hurt!" Why would he think that of me? Oh, never mind, he seems too occupied with thanking me. I'm not sure why, but... well, whatever makes him happy, I guess.

"I... should probably go help Lillith," I lie. This conversation has gotten awkward. And... well, actually, maybe it isn't a lie. Awkward or not, at least I'm not crying anymore. I doubt I'll be stellar company at the moment, but at least I'm not likely to break down crying - since I already did. For the moment anyway, I seem to have gotten the tears out of my system. A quick healing spell on my eyes should take care of any redness. And I did promise to help Lillith with those outfits.

-- Desiree

[Alberich]

Tim nodded - another "thanks" would've made him feel inane - and they parted. He didn't know if he'd run into Eli before the ship landed, but if not, he was determined to stick close to the half-elf warrior when they landed. Not that that ought to be a problem - surely the dangers and uncertainties of this strange new country would hold them all together, in a protective circle around the women. But if they knew what Argus and Lillith could do, they'd run from us - he smiled slightly as he remembered the casual way Argus had piled and shaped a ton of stone, and Lillith's winds had blown him around by mistake.

[Jack Rothwell]

"Hey! Tami! Ever fired a cannon?"

"OoooOOOOoooh! Exclaimed Tamina at Jaime's indication of the huge gun. The kobold ran over to the weapon giggling and clapping her hands.

"What's it do? Clatra se shamra*? How's it work?"

During her excited bi-lingual jabbering Tamina had clambered onto the construction, ignoring the warning shouts of the crewmen and the alarmed look in her girlfriend's eyes.

"N' if I pull the chain here..."

"No!"

"Wha-?"

There was a clattering noise as the securing for the gun came free, following by the trundling noise of metal wheels rolling backwards.

"What's it doing? Oh... CABRA!**"

The kobold began picking up speed.


*-blows up poachers/hunters?

**-A curse term for a foul excretion made by a large herbivore animal native to the southern continent.

OOC Yeah, I'm inventing this language as I go along./OOC

[Alberich]

The cannon rolled straight back into Udo. Doubtless his cat-like reflexes could have gotten him out of the way, and it was only his amazing heroic determination and concern for the lives of others that caused him to stay in place and block the gun's passage with his body. True, the move looked a little clumsy, but afterwards he explained that he "meant to do that," so there could be no doubt.

However, he was now stumbling towards the opposite wall and the open gun-port there, and the cannon, while slowed, was still not back in its place.