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He rose to his feet in a flash as his hand sprung out from under his cloak, revolver gripped and pointed straight at the strange being. "You leave him be you bloody voodoo, dead ferrying, Baron Papa Legba shaman demon troll! We're not having any of you today, not one bit! No cigars, no deals for souls, none of that! So you just go on your merry, grim reaping way and leave us be before I put holes in you!"
Ash himself didn't understand half of what he was saying, it was just kind of flowing out of nowhere, likely from delirium. He turned to Otis. "Otis old boy, are we both seeing this creature? Is it the wild desert getting to my brain." He looked back to the strange man, a look of fury on Ash's face now. "Or a war flashback!" Ash shouted in rage as he pointed harder with the gun.
A moment after his outburst, before either Otis or the new comer could say anything, Ash's eyes started to readjust. Now he could make out that the 'strange being' actually looked a lot like a Yybian. "Wait... Are you real old chum? A flesh and blood human being?" He started to relax a bit now, lowering his arm and pointing the gun to the ground a foot or two in front of the Yybal tribesman, to show that man that he wasn't going to kill him, but that he was still ready in case things turned sour.
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***
"Hey, Seru, what happened to M'Kama?" Tackel asked, entering Palavan's room. "I've been... looking for him, but I can't find him. Last I saw he went with you... Oh." Tackel blinked as he looked at Palavan. "You're awake! I thought for sure you were really dead this time, but I guess you fooled us again. Hungry? Thirsty? I can get you something."
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She sat up, her veins still tingling with the sensation of the last remnants of venom, but she looked at Palavan with big eyes, "So it worked, then. Good."
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***
Girthfield frowned as he stared over at the raiders. "We're eradicating no-one," He corrected the newcomers. "Not yet."
From the distance Zambob could be seen emerging on ant-back to meet them.
"Greetings!" The Tryptian called to the man, raising an armoured glove. "We wish to discuss the situation. Would you hold council with us?"
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"Behold, my people," Zambob said, throwing his arms wide as they viewed the massive artillery cannon. "Our fallen star has shed its glory, as I predicted. The wrath of the earth and the cleansing waters will soon be upon us..."
The large army behind him called out in unison, a wordless shout of affirmation, and Zambob nodded slowly. Spurring his ant forward, Zambob began to descend the dune towards the waiting group of Knights and Girthfield.
"Lo, figures of the heavens, brushed by death and painted in steel, form to greet the mad prophet," Zambob said heavily, stopping his ant in front of the group of soldiers and sliding down to the ground. "Council you ask? What need have we of council? You think to pursue a treaty? There is no war here. Only truth and its ever-growing spread over the Rock and its people."
***
Tackel frowned at both comments but said nothing.
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Zambob leaned forward, his eyes bright and intense. "But although I or my followers have no need of a cannon that can destroy a city or an army in a single shot, I would assess the worthiness of those who would have such need. It is my intent to guard the weapon until the signs reveal the one who is worthy of wielding it."
Zambob paused. "Surely you would not refuse me that honor, soldier of the most holy Matran?"
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"But, on the other hand," M'Kama pondered aloud. "If we continue to meander here for much longer, death will be upon us. I don't need to read the future for that," he chuckled, though that reminded him...some of his cards were lost in the cave with the Snake. That would not do. He would have to go back. "You're a phoenix, are you not?" He asked Otis, suddenly. "If you control your magics well, there may be a way in without raising too much alarm..."
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He pulled out a canteen and took a swig of water. "Trying to sneak into Cobran? They'll find out rather quickly about that once one person sees us. And they probably won't be happy." Ash looked back to Otis. "I strongly recommend we use the front door in this case. Better a cold reception than an execution!" He let out a slightly maddened chuckle at the end.
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She grinned, "Welcome to Cobran."
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***
"Representing the Holy Matranical Empire on behalf of her majesty the Empress in her absence, I extend a hand of cooperation and non-aggression," The Tryptian said, raising his hand. Behind him Onyx and the others raised theirs in accordance. There was a stillness, the sand shifting at their feet. Girthfield watched over the interaction, not sure what to make of the new arrivals. He looked over to the dark eyed Galneryus, and then Syra. They were the only three there not representing a land-owning faction. Perhaps the only three there that could be trusted.
The Tryptian stepped forward. "Lord Zambob. Let us dig and retrieve the artillery. After all, your town has had enough of it's presence, no guardian?" The Tryptian's words were directed over his shoulder.
Girthfield rose an eyebrow at the comment. "Aye aye, Sir Knight," He hummed begrudgingly.
The sands erupted with footsteps. The Knights and Zambob's men descended down the dunes toward the pit of buried artillery.
Something was wrong. Something was off.
"Syra," Girthfield muttered, grabbing her arm as they witnessed the ant-riders surround the artillery. Girthfield put her in his shadow, blocking her from the view of the Knights. He stared her in the eye. "If I give you a job can you do it?" He asked.
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***
Back inside Schittle's destroyed walls Girthfield and Syra reached the Knight's ship. The sheriff had been calming the townsfolk as best he could, and Hedon Bad had given them a morbid nod of acknowledgement as they'd passed him. The young traitor had been hard at work, piling the bodies of the dead Remnants by the lawhouse. Only Theory and a few others had survived.
"You see that ship?" Girthfield said, cocking his head to one side to speak down to Syra. "I want you... to break into that ship."
It was a really good idea.
***
Horik walked through the streets of Cobran. The green and blue lanterns illuminated the faces she saw like statues, speaking loudly at first and then in hushed whispers as she passed by. The citizens there came in all colours, all faces and features, so what was it that cast Horik as such an outsider?
Horik wandered down a steep descent, a side-street perhaps, leading to a market, a stairway. The city was labyrinthine at times- you could always see the cave sky above but how to get where was often a problem. Less people this way, less sounds, less whispers. Only chimes... and footsteps, like bare-feet on grass.
Someone was approaching. Horik turned. Down the path after her, between the clay houses in the rocks, a woman approached in a flowing white gown. Her dreadlocks swayed behind her on the ground she walked like a pool of serpents following their masters footsteps. Her skin was a near pitch black, reflecting the light like a marble sculpture. Her eyes were large, inviting, but dark- engulfed in the shadow of the green lantern light.
"A visitor?" She breathed in a deep voice. Calm. Otherworldly. "Come from the newcomers cave?"
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***
"Girthfield," Galneryus intoned, an edge of caution in his voice. "What are you thinking here? I don't trust our new guests in the slightest, but having this girl break onto their ship is only asking for her swift death... unless you have a plan?"
Zambob waved his arms high, as his men began to hum a hymn as they got to work digging out the artillery cannon.
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"We'll be traveling against the current, but I have an idea for that..." M'Kama continued. "The only other thing qe'll need to worry about is what we'll face once we emerge on the other side..."
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After he took a moment to contemplate it, he shook his head wearily. "If we do this, and I end up disfigured from it, I'm going to kill both of you. And as for what's 'on the other side', if it is anything living that isn't a beautiful woman, I'm jamming my gun down it's throat and unloading the whole bloody thing."
He checked the chamber of his revolver quickly, then re-holstered it again when satisfied. "Well, let's get this over with then."
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"A visitor, yes," Horik answered as she looked around the two of them. No one else in sight to confirm this otherwordly woman. "Have you followed me?"
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***
"Let me think for a moment," Otis said, eyes turning up towards the blistering sunlight pouring on them, then back down to the water. He chewed on his lip for a moment, then extended a hand upwards.
"This will be a stretch," Otis muttered to himself. "But it should be possible if I..." Taking a deep breath, Otis focused all of his mental effort and pulled. The effect was physically felt by M'Kama and Ash, as if someone had pushed them, and the sand around Otis buckled as a rush of cool air blasted down from the heavens.
"Stand close," Otis grunted, teeth clenched as he held onto the vacuum hole he'd punched through the superheated atmosphere of the Bright. "I won't be able to maintain this for long. And it's going to get hot, real fast, once we get in that water."
M'Kama and Ash nodded, and stepped in closer to Otis. Otis gripped M'Kama's shoulder and Ash did the same as the man drew his sword and the three leaped into the water. Almost immediately, the freezing air began warming, as M'Kama used his sword to dive deeper into the fountain, following the tunnel back to its source.
Otis panted, sweat pouring from his brow as he tried to maintain the pocket of air around them, his eyes blurring as they descended deeper into the tunnels.
"Maybe... like fifteen seconds," Otis grunted, as the scalding temperatures began to seep into the air. "Maybe less, I'm... losing it."
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Girthfield glanced to Galy. "And the reason its you Syra, and not one of us, my young subordinate, is because they wont recognize you." Girthfield looked at Syra. "You've been a thrall for so long... and there's a great power in that. You can be unnoticed. We're the Guardians." Girthfield gave a sorry smile. "Being anonymous... won't work for this crowd. I can give you the key to that ship, but after that... you're the one they won't notice gone, not us."
Girthfield glanced down the village road where a few of soldiers had gone looking for the guardians, wondering why they'd abandoned the burial site. Girthfield pushed Galy forward, urging him to distract them, before turning back to Syra. "You have a great power... use it."
***
"You're not very hard to follow," The woman said to Horik, her face not quite in a smile but not neutral either. "You seem in search... as all here do. What brought you to Cobran?"
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As Otis encased them all in the bubble and began to ascend down into the boiling doeths below, M'Kama git a better view of the fissures and rocky underwater crags that he had zoomed past before. Otis' shield of air wouldn't last long it seemed as the the child began to ask for aid, M'Kama complied, stating, "I'm going to shift around slightly...stay out of the way of my blade."
He pointed his sword behind them as it to like the violent tide, began to boil and heat up, magma beginning to inexplicably drip from metal. Suddenly the group was blasted forward, launched the opposite direction M'Kama had been shot through previously, Otis guiding them. "Perhaps....I should've mentioned....to brace yourselves!" M'Kama noted as the three of them shot through and emerged in cavernous depths.
"Word...to the wise..." M'Kama laughed quietly, seemingly slightly amused by the tumultuous experience. "There is a great beast in these caves...we would do well to avoid getting it's attention...." he whispered, before suddenly remembering to ask, "You two alright, by the way?"