Snippet #1971801

Lesha was in shock, she knew she was being carried, but by what or whom? An animal… no, a man…
Was she dreaming? The emissary tried to speak, but only a spattering of gibberish escaped her mouth as the wall grew closer…

The 4 men carrying the beams had made it halfway up the stone stairs when a mighty groan from above frozen them in their tracks.
“Get Down!” Screamed commander Emberheart as she raced over to the base of the steps.

The ranger had made it back, against fearsome odds; the man had accomplished a feat that those around gapped at, astonished.
And as he crumpled to the ground, so too did the metal sheets come crashing down over that ill-fated section, causing the deaths of 3 town guards and 2 shadowlancers at the top of the stairs.

It was the Commander who had thrown herself over the ranger and his ward as the sky fell. It was she who saved them both…
Where there was death, there was always death.

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A desperate bellow of alarm reached Dulin just as one of the torn pieces from above whipped through the air, grazing the doctor, and crushing 2 people nearby.
The woman awaiting medical treatment, Lady Brigit, sister to High Lord Vincent Valkylin, screamed in terror as the blood sprayed her.

2 more gone in a blink of an eye. What was life but a cruel joke. The man Dulin saved; was he anyone? Did his life matter more or less than any other? Was the jest not his as well? But there was no other voice on the wind to reckon with except death’s. And the jest was his to laugh at that day.

On so many occasions in the past, a laugher unlike his own…

**********

A weeping woman raced to Riona and took the infant from her arms, while another ran up and hugged her tightly. They began vowing to never forget what she had done for them and the baby.

Riona had not just traded one life for another. She had traded a past for a future. It didn’t matter who that man was, or who that child may become. She had saved Hope. The last and best of all things. If not for herself, then for those around her. The two women were overjoyed. It was gratitude unwarranted, even the men around them were looking at her in awe.

Had they not looked into her eyes? How could they not have… perhaps they were too busy looking into her heart. As Elsah had…

Then, as if a miracle, came Sir Nyspar into view.

**********

Elsah knew they’d come. It was madness, but they’d come for her. There had been a type of peace accompanying that thought, even as all was being lost to darkness. What was an elder storm compared to a shadowlancer’s convictions, or a prodigy’s love.

For the briefest of moments she could see Riona’s face…

And suddenly he was there, looming over her as he always had a way of doing. “Lesta fem ooria.” Even the wind could not quell her whispered words. Perhaps it was the tempest obscuring his senses, but in that moment it felt as if the spoken phrase had pressed against the tall elf’s armoured form and passed through his body.

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The Seer could see his ends, the dust and wind were blinding his one good eye, but he could see it. Even under the safety of the wall.
Aliza had been ripped from them like a ragdoll, there one moment, gone the next. He couldn't bare to look in her vacant direction. Wheeling about and with a heavy heart he let his satchel drop to the ground.
The Gods preserve Us Hammon prayed as he slid a shaky hand under the folds of his robes. It was covered in blood when he pulled it out…

The monk staggered and stumbled forward. Then he began moving with desperate purpose. Only one thing mattered now.