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@emily-waldorf

That was awesome… as long as I attacked after I warned them, then it would be within character, I think. He assumes they are under the command of an evil emperor, so if they didn’t take to his warning and approached with raised weapons, he’d attack.

What page are Klein and Lorcan’s descriptions… I would love to know who is in the room with us… I found Isella’s… but those two seem further back. Also wondering how many are in the room currently. Five? (me included)

I can see I’m going to have a lot of fun with this (tapping tips of fingers together with palms touching, a big grin on my face. hehehehe.)

points of notice

– essence is my word for magic.

-vaelintrien is the same race the evil emperor (the dhaiga) is, and they control elements like fire, wind, water, earth, etc.

– artifacts are magically imbued objects, and curses are a form of magic that effects someone else in a long term manner. Both artifacts and curses are rare and have been lost to the ages – lost to myth and legend, but recently dug up to a limited extent.

– Garb is my word for a tradition robe that aygiff’s wear.

– augment means to take the characteristic of without transforming physically – so the skin of the crayfish means Abirami’s skin becomes really hard (but doesn’t transform or visibly change)

– nyuki is a large bee Ku’Aya uses to transport messages across long distances

Abirami

No sooner had the words left my maw, that a figure moved within the shadows.

Close. Much too close. If the dhaiga had truly armed these faehins with artifacts or curses, who knew what vile effects they may have.

Rising up into the air, I used the darkness to my advantage. He looked for me.

Please, my mind begged, just leave. I don’t want to kill you.

A glint of metal caught my eye, just under his shirt. Must be an artifact. If I could destroy it first…

Swooping down, my claw struck the man. The distinct resistance told me I’d hit my mark. The man stumbled back and fell. It’d be a win-win as long as my claws hadn’t gone too deep.

This form once produced a snow storm atop a mountain, just from the force of its wings. Controlling that strength was even harder than holding the essence of it.

Even then, I could feel my strength slowly ebb away. I still couldn’t hold this form for long. My limit had grown over the past year, but… 10 minutes. That’d be my guess.

A faehin in a metal suit followed my flight path. What kind of artifact was that?

Whatever it was, it made him obnoxiously slow. Landing, I prepared to try something new. If it worked, I would call it a frost wall. My stomach churned as I built up the liquid within me.

A female faehin with green eyes and blond, braided hair shuffled forward. She was tall for a faehin, and her face reminded me of Semiramis.

The poor lady could barely walk. She stumbled over her own feet, and I wondered how she remained standing. The tannink’esh had done a job on her, yet still she came.

A knot formed in the pit of my heart. Just what had the dhaiga done to get them to be this desperate?

I set aside the mass of ice I’d formed and spit a warning shot at her.

She stopped and raised her hands.

I flexed, but she had no objects in her grasp. A curse?

Her hands began to glow, like the eyes of a vaelintrien while casting. White meant wind essence. But how? Had the dhiaga found a way to transfer his powers to others? And why just her hands and not the eyes?

I hadn’t the time to think on these things. She was about to attack, and the armored man was just behind her.

I pounced, spitting my creeping ice at her, hoping it would catch her before she cast her wind at me.

But then everything stopped. Like a puppet on a string, I was left stranded in the air, as if frozen by my own ice. But that wasn’t possible. I stared at the woman with wide eyed wonder. What was this?

How was this possible? Even my spittle had stopped, though everything behind her was moving apace. Could she stop all before her? But then I wondered why I was still breathing. Stupid thought. Should be grateful for something I can’t explain and could never answer.

The young woman’s voice reached my ears. The accent was foreign, as was the tongue, but somehow I understood.

“We don’t want to hurt you.” Her voice was firm but warm, despite being a bit shaky. It was thick with desperation, but something about it was off… I didn’t think she was lying.

“I don’t know why you’re here; I don’t know why I’m here. But if we don’t work together we will all die. These people–” she gestured behind her–“they helped me. That man you hurt saved me from the dragon.”

They aren’t together then? And what’s a dragon.

She continued to reason with me.

Frozen, I finally had the chance to get a good look at these faehins. They didn’t wear any clothes I was familiar with. They had no emblems or signs of the dhaiga, in fact, there were designs I’d never seen before. Were they long distance travelers? Perhaps from across the sea? But then how would they not be traveling together. And how could they reach so far into the empire without the dhiaga’s influence?

Her words seemed illogical, yet I was inclined to at least believe she didn’t wish me harm. She had me completely at her mercy. No reason for subterfuge at this point.

The flash of light disappeared. I cringed and reeled as I fell, realizing I had inadvertently let go of the aemirok’s essence. I thrust my hands down as I reverted back. I quickly focused upon the essence of a mouse. It held, and I changed once more.

Oh, I hope no one saw. How embarrassing. That’s why I HATED using that form in battle.

The lady was frozen to the side of a rock. My last moment shot must have continued along its path after the light vanished. My heart filled with regret.

I had to move quickly.

The man clothed in metal was panning his head back and forth, and he was watching the sky, which hopefully meant he had missed that embarrassing moment. Thank the Maker!

Scurrying over to where I had left my gaaban, I released the essence of the mouse and slipped it on. With a sigh of relief, I jumped, transformed into a raven, and flew back toward the entrance.

Releasing the essence, I landed in front of my garb, now back to normal. Rummaging through the pocket, I took out the vial and left the garb lying on the ground. I still didn’t trust these people fully.

Turning, I walked toward the frozen lady. Her face reminded me of Semiramis, but something about her stature had me thinking of princess Puabi. The metaled man moved between me and the lady, but I didn’t stop. It was the least I could do.

The man raised his weapon, and I augmented the skin of the crayfish. He lashed out, and I blocked. His weapon slammed into my forearm, but stopped there. A thin trickle of blood dripped down as I stared into his eyes.

We stood there. I didn’t make to move my arm, and neither did he retract his weapon. As if silent messages were being sent, we stared at each other. After a long moment of silence, he withdrew his weapon, and I continued my walk toward the lady.

As I walked, I released the crayfish essence and connected with the axolotl. It wasn’t deep, but no need to allow the cut to continue when I could regenerate it much faster.

Kneeling, I unstopped the vial and poured it first upon her face.

She gasped as the ice melted from around her nostrils and mouth. Her eyes remained closed, but her mouth opened slightly, so I tapped two small droplets into her mouth. The rest I tried to use sparingly across the rest of the ice, hoping one vial would suffice.

With her life now out of danger, I looked for the man I had previously injured, but then a window crashed, and a nyuki flew in and headed straight for me.

It was coming in too fast.

“Plysky,” I said in a tone of warning as I took a step back.

The nyuki flew around me and landed on my open hand. It’s body stretched from my finger tip down to my wrist.

Detatching the capsule, I pulled out the scroll and a small piece of charcoal. The paper said,

“Had your fun, now is it safe? Or should I flood the floors with termites and bullet ants?”

My eyes widened. Not good.

Yeah, she was still angry. I quickly wrote a response and reattached the capsule. “It’s safe,” was all I’d written.

I always pitied anyone who had to go up against Ku and her bugs. A shiver went down my spine. She played dirty.

I heard footsteps behind me. Quickly focusing upon the bat, I let loose a click. Someone was standing just behind me, their arms at their side. Augmenting the exoskeleton of the crayfish, just in case, I turned.