Snippet #1525251

Kali watched as everyone flowed into the room, stepping in just before the door closed, her arms crossed over her chest. She watched as each of them picked up weapons, all apart from Marlaina who just stood there. She shook her head, a small smile lighting her lips, the Golem was useless; she couldn’t seem to do a thing to look after herself The craftsman had been a dab hand at building her, unlike anything Kali had ever seen before, but he had not had the knack for magic, the silly thing was at this point relying on her owner and the kindness of strangers. She walked across the room, her eyes watchful, she would have to teach this useless lot how to use whatever they chose; she felt little hope. She picked up a pouch full of palm size steal balls and was glad their smith was quite so skilled, these would be what the stupid creatures would be learning from first. Next she headed to a box of leather straps, picking out a strap for the Golem. Her hands were swift, her mind groaning as she watched the others, they were picking things that from the look of it most of them had never touched; where did they come from?

Marlaina stood motionless, only the glowing orbs of her glass eyes showing any sign she was alive. She was taking photos of every single weapon in the room and pilling similar things away next to each other, trying to place what they were and of course placing the chosen weapons next to their owners in her files. Mostly however her eyes stayed on her three friends, Flin, Nox and Kali, trying to see what they might take. She had no idea what she wanted, she had never wanted for anything, never needed anything. She did not like having nothing on, but Kali had told her that she was not to wear clothes, that it was not normal for Golems, was she a Golem? Her hair moved in more gentle ripples now, getting used to being alive, to moving and to having her own thoughts. She licked her lips, she liked the feel of it, though she had nothing more than oil to spread across them, giving them an unnatural sheen. Her teeth clicked and she rolled out three more silver balls around her mouth and nodded to the Captain and reached forward for the jar of clay.

She watched the Golem move forward taking the jar and Kali reached out for the jar taking it from the construction without another thought. She knelt down, turning the injured leg in her hands, the Golem standing there like any of the horses might while being shoed. Tugging her out of the room she went one door down, opening to the smiths. He smiled at her and she felt pride touch her, the man took everything in his stride, just as he had taken her upon meeting her. She sat the creature down, pushing her hair back from her face, opening the jar with a soft pop from the seal. With deft fingers she dug out some of the thick clay, taking note that it was the wrong color for Marlaina, but better than nothing. She pushed into the crack, trying not to flinch as she felt the wires beneath it move under her clean fingers, she could not put the clay deep then. She nodded to herself, now using her clay covered fingers to smooth over the surface, hoping that it would tell her if she went to far. The feel of her new friend was smooth, the surface was only ever so slightly textured and she wondered if she was made in a mold, were their more of her around? Reaching sightlessly to her left she grabbed one of the many semi-clean cloths and wipe away the left over residual.

“Will you heat it Smith?” She asked knowing he would if she asked and pushed the other girl forward.

“Hello Sir.” Marlaina spoke softly, her voice almost human and tilted her head slightly, eyes drawn to the white-hot fire he worked on.

“Good morning young lady, I shall fix you up as well as may, can’t have your clay washing away in the rain, it will have to have a quick bake.” He told her, before turning to Kali. “They tell me you lost another one of my blades last night and that you will be going away. Don’t think I don’t listen to everything that comes through here little miss! There are 5 new ones for you, be sure not to lose them all and a strap to hold them on you as you like.” He spoke softly with knowing eyes, he rarely spoke for so long, being a man of few words, preferring to let his work speak for him. He nodded sagely as he felt along the crack in Marlaina’s leg, before lowering her into a chair and bringing his war furnace out and sticking her leg in it.

“Thank you Sir.” Kali said, picking up her new strap and attaching around her upper thigh with the blade slots on the outside, hooking the support strap on to her belt with ease. Their was not a spare scrap of leather, it had only one belt hole, made for her and her alone. She slotted the light ceramic blades into their four slots and placed the last one in her boot. It felt cold against the flesh of her ankle and the strap around her thigh let her feel the flex of her muscles. She smiled, stretching slowly to see how flexible it was and as ever the Smith had outdone himself in finding such fine things for her. She covered a small laugh with her hand, he had been paying attention, the detailing was done in fine silver, flowers and swirls to match her mother’s own design over the leather. Even the buckle, made to clasp at the front; it had delicate detail that had obviously been designed for a girl, she would have loved it if it hadn’t been so ridiculous. Still shaking her head she moved to stand near the Golem, holding it’s many straps.

“I’m going to strap these on you, I need you to move your hair for me.” Marlaina heard the voice of her friend behind her, ears able to pick up the smallest sound. She nodded, not trusting herself to speak; her leg was on fire. She stared into the flame, she could feel the heat, it seared her, her wires protected from the brunt of it by her ceramics. She supposed this might be somewhat like pain or at least for her, it felt like to much pressure on one part of her body. Still she let her hair float up in the air, ignoring the Smiths gasp of surprise and wide eyes. She soon felt the firm steady grasp of Kali’s hands on her. Leather straps were attached around her shoulders, tightened and leading out across her shoulder blades, around her neck and down her back where the first Sheath sat. Also leading from her shoulder straps was two on either side of her upper body, running down to a strap around her waist and then keeping on down over her seamless hips. There it attached to a wider strip of leather (a belt) and down her upper thighs, strapping around them and giving her two more sheaths. On the belt rested two pouches, though what they held she did not know. She watched as Kali moved away to the other side of the room and picked up a slender short sword and two knives for her thighs.

“Well that’s you about done little miss.” He said gruffly, pulling the furnace away and her leg was there smeared with dark clay, but whole. “You should both be getting back to the Capitan, he’ll have my hands if I don’t get you back on time.” He offered a hand to Marlaina and she took it, standing evenly. Beneath her foot the wood became scorched she was till at an immensely high temperature. The smell of burning wood hit their noses and they all looked down. Thankfully the armory was stone floored. Thanking the Smith they moved out.

Kali came back into the room just in time to hear Leander’s words and anger passed over her features briefly, though they were gone in less than a second, remaining passive. She moved around the edge of the group of people, her black eyes sharp. The tug of her thigh strap reassured her, footfall once more silent in the leather covered soles of her boots. She sniffed the air, something no human did as she did, taking short breaths through her nose, wide set eyes dim and unseeing. How could the woman dream of showing such disrespect, Kali’s hope for comrade in the woman dropped out of the sky and slammed strait through the floor. She smelt clean, not the kind of clean that you got here, no the royal kind of clean, these people, all of them had seen soap in the last two days. The soldiers might see soap once in a blue moon, most of it was kept for the infirmary and even then it was used as little as possible. These stank of it like the royals of old and that did not fit. She glanced over them, where were they from that they thought it was ok to ever say something like that to her Capitan, she wanted to skin the stupid woman. Her body relaxed, dropping a few inches in height as her knees bent, teeth shining between her thick lips.

“Nox, what is happening?” Marlaina asked, moving up to stand next to her master, her hair now still and lose about her. She reached out before her, grabbing up one of the leather strips left out to tie back long hair and tied a black one about her grey tresses, her hair was gaining to much attention. She moved back to what was going on before her, Flin moving forward to join the discussion and blinked her large clueless eyes at her owner. She tugged the leather straps that now looped around her neck, waist, hips and thighs, uncaring of its weight on her, but finding the sensation odd. The room was tense and she didn’t like it, it was not something she was used to. Her eyes flickered to the other people in the room, before returning to her owner and shuffling a little closer, though not close enough to touch, she did not like to be touched. Kali she had let because she was above her, the Golem could feel it, but no one else would. She would readily crush them like the hooded men from the previous night. Her eyes at last fell on the Capitan and stayed there, watching and listening.

“How dare you question the Capitan?” Her words came out a hiss, breath moving in out of her body smooth and swift, itching to draw her weapon. People had been hung for less disrespect to one of the upper guards, let alone someone as high as the Capitan, it just didn’t happen. “If you are given an order you should obey with utter compliance. You should be glad we are protecting you, you could get no higher, not even army officials get protection such as this.” She would know, she had killed many of them over the years, had watched the blood spurt from them. Her kills were not to be made to look accidental; she was to make sure ever soldier in that army knew just what happened when they went against the Empire. She shifted her feet on the floor, a hushed noise coming from the it, her hand left on her thigh, easy as to tell she was egger to fight. She rarely liked women, not since the last one had destroyed her and as a result for the most part she did not let them near people she cared for, let alone her father figures, women were cruel. She silently wished she wasn’t one, she knew she was cruel too, no one should take such glee at slicing up anyone. No one should love carving up someone’s face, watching the life slip from their eyes and then placing the traditional cross she left on their foreheads; once blood stopped flowing. Her killing was privet and was well loved, she was the perfect soldier, she followed orders to the tee.

“The men who came after you were no petty thugs, you barley managed to survive, would you all last with more than footmen?” She glanced at the others now, they had all been thinking it, those hooded men were the least of them. “You were one of the best and you yourself sustained injury that would lay most out for days to heal without special tending, how would you have defended yourself then?” She said to Leander, moved closer to the Capitan and it was clear to see that though she thought and could feel, when given an order she was no more than a dog. Bark dog, defend your master and she would, this man had saved her life more times than any of these people could imagine. She was loyal to those above her and respected this man like she did her own father, whom she loved dearly. Thoughts of her parents were quickly pushed to one side, this was not the time, the anger that filled her was too much. It was not even that they had disrespected her Capitan, but her way of life and everything in it and she prided herself on this above all things. She was and always would be the perfect soldier, after all she had nothing left since Rowan had taken everything from her.