Completed The Field of Glory

[Ivan Skender]

His mind raced as he felt the sharp edge of the knife against his skin. He... he hadn't expected such a brusque reaction. In those moments, those precious few seconds after he heard the question, his brain methodically analised each course of action still open to him within a heartbeat.

Telling the truth was completely out of the question. Even if he expressed regret at his actions - something he very definitely did not feel - and attempted to repent, he highly doubted these savages would offer him any chance at redemption bar a burning pyre.

No, he would have to lie his way out of this.

As quickly as he'd decided not to tell the truth, he also ruled out appeasing the Gildan through sweet deception. These people clearly only understood cruelty - his experience at the baths, with Juni, and now with this knife at his throat confirmed this point-of-view - and so, a show of toughness was very much in order.

With a swift movement, his left hand shot up, his fingers grasping the blade of Leah's knife so tightly they drew blood, the sharp edge of the dagger piercing through his skin. To Leah, the movement would be beyond quick; something that happened in half-a-blink, as though his hand had just materialised against her knife.

Tyrian cover or no, Ivan was still an initiate after all. Someone who had honed these reflexes since boyhood.

- "Are you insane?" - He growled, his tone menacingly low. - "You judgemental bitch." - His voice grew more cutting, his growl slowly turning to a hiss. - "Earlier you were lecturing me on how not all Gildans were anti-magic luddites," - Though low, his tone betrayed a very perceptible hostility, as though he was genuinely outraged at the Gildan's insinuations. - "and now you pull a knife on me for this going wrong?!" - His grip tightened, holding the blade in place, and not letting it pierce the skin under his chin. - "Just because I'm a magic user?!" - Though his words dripped with poison, his expression remained inscrutable, shielding him from any suspicious looks from afar.

- "You fucking hypocrite. You don't trust me? Then go and check that whip, see if you find anything then." - It could not be helped, of course, that he went through this delicate situation with a reckless bluff of his own. Ivan knew fully well that, if someone even remotely capable of sniffing out magic, such as the Gildan Detectors, went and took a look at the whip, they'd uncover his lies. His magic did, very much like anyone else's arcane powers, leave a trace... but this was only for those trained to detect such usage. To the naked eye, his powers of decay left a much subtler trace. Corrosion was a natural phenomenon after all, and so, if someone untrained went to take a look at the whip, they would find in it all the regular marks of natural decay, as if the object really had snapped due to usage and time.

Now, Ivan was not really sure whether or not Leah was untrained in detecting magic, but it mattered not. Proficient, not proficient, trust him, or doubt him, it would take the Gildans some time to examine the whip. In that time, the Regulator would lower her guard, even if only slightly.

And that would be the last mistake she'd make.​

 

[Leah Kadashal]

And so this is what fate brought, swift as the manner in which Ollie had grabbed her dagger:

It had been Leah's intention, should Ollie have said "No" with a sufficiently genuine air, to ensure that he would be protected from the investigation which would come; for was his quarry not a Curite operating in secret out somewhere in the Kingdom, while he had the deference to seek Clemency? Yet now, this was not to be. Now, what Ollie had done, was challenge her authority through an attempt at intimidation. What insidious ruin would come, if she allowed for this! She would look weak, but she herself was unimportant in matters as these; more prominently, the Regulators as a whole would look weak, Gild itself would look weak, Jura would appear to be without conviction and its God feeble. The tiniest of cracks in the foundation could well lead to the collapse of the house as a whole. What else would he do, emboldened so by her capitulation?

But Leah had no cause for anything other than to rejoice. Rejoice! For Regel, in his divine wisdom, had saw fit to place her here in this moment. Blessed were those whom the gods tested, and tested in the most rigorous of ways, for they were thus given the opportunity for the highest glories and excellence! Leah knew without doubt that she would succeed here; she would not perish. She already knew her fate, did she not? She could not possibly perish here, because she had yet to confess the truth of her love to him. Yes. She was meant to be by his side, and, as this was yet to happen, this minor ripple with Ollie in the grand tapestry of fate would pass, and she, as was only fated, would kill anyone and everyone who stood in her way, who threatened to stop her.

Hers was the final word on Ollie's guilt or innocence, whether his Clemency was to stand or to be revoked. Ollie's own actions had made such a decision easy. Destined.

Leah let go of the dagger, leaving it in Ollie's grip—while he held it, her Nullifying Enchantment upon the blade would sap his ability to cast his magic. As her hand came down, she made the attempt to touch with her fingers Ollie's breastplate. If successful, she'd place a Nullifying Enchantment upon Ollie's own armor, and then it, too, would weigh upon his magic, preventing him further from utilizing it.

Successful or not, Leah took a step back after letting go of the dagger—Ollie's physicality was not to be underestimated. She drew her rapier in one hand, and took from her belt her own coiled whip in the other.

"CURITE!" she shouted, that one word which would in an instant change the regard of all Gild toward Ollie from ally...to enemy.

Ivan Skender

 

[Ivan Skender]

His lips curled up in a wicked smile. This was, however, not a smirk of joy, nor of eagerness.

It was one of rage.

Fortunately for Leah, her charm took effect on Ivan's breastplate. Unfortunately for Leah, Ivan divined her gambit, as he felt her touch - light as though it may have been - on his armour. As the Gildans scurried forth to meet this new threat, and Leah stepped away from him, Ivan took the breathing room to untie the straps that held his breastplate in place. The metal piece fell to the floor with a bang, removing a crucial boon of protection as it did.

The important bit though, was that he was free from the enchantment.

- "Wrong choice, Regulator." - A dark hue enveloped his hands, the aura of decay quickly materialising as he channelled enough power to turn Leah into nothing more than a pile of rotten flesh.

Alas, it was not to be.

Through the corner of his eye, he took notice of something. He projected his left arm out, the aura suddenly turning into an avalanche of black mist. The display, it turned out, was just in time to catch a crossbow bolt that had been fired at him from across the square. So powerful was his magic, that the bolt was thoroughly corroded before it even managed to hit him, the iron arrowhead turned into brittle rust that fell apart as it collided with his arm.

A look around confirmed he was out of time, as more and more Gildans converged to his position. Kress, they'd been faster than he had anticipated. Bloody vengeance against the Regulator would have to wait.

As opposed to focusing his magic on any specific target, Ivan clasped his hands together. The aura then faded, the magic being sent instead as shockwaves against the facades of the two nearest houses. Here, Leah would once again see Ivan's magical capabilities in full display, as his corrosion magic decayed the stone in a matter of seconds, causing the houses to collapse onto the street, blocking the Gildans from getting to their pray, as stone and smoke were sent scurrying in every direction.

As soon as the dust settled though, the blonde was gone.​

 

[Leah Kadashal]

Leah's whip, augmented so with her Nullifying Enchantment, the one thing which might have prevented the disaster from happening by interrupting Ollie's magic, lashed out too late. It cracked against nothing but air.

Alarm had become general throughout the entirety of the Forum. Some knew what the true cause of the commotion was, having seen with their own eyes the magic which struck at the beating heart of the city. Some knew only that others were alarmed, saw in the anxious eyes and hurried flight of those more proximate witnesses that something terrible had happened—if the thunderous sound of two whole buildings collapsing had not perked their dread first.

The copious dust from the fallen homes was the veil behind which the Curite, the criminal, Ollie of Tyr had made his escape, for Leah found nothing. None of the city guards arriving found anything, nor any of the additional Praetors coming along with them. Calls went out, descriptions repeated, men ran this way and that in their determined search, but ultimately Ollie would outrun the alert, and he would not be found within Gild.

Praetor Bayram Ohmal was one of the Praetors who arrived on the scene in the Forum. The moment he locked eyes with Leah, a sort of vindication sparked in his eyes. Leah heard him clearly over all of the commotion: "I knew it." He then went to join in with others who were frantically investigating the fallen homes for the possible injured or dead.

The search for Ollie (destined to be in vain) continued, and eventually other Regulators began to arrive on scene. One of their number was Regulator Ishmael Devshirmal, a fellow Praetor as well, who knew of Leah's duty as handler and of her status as a Regulator-in-training. He approached her. Stopped her search and asked what happened. Leah gave a quick summary, and then said, "We must continue to—"

"There is no 'we', Leah." Ishmael jerked his head in the direction of the Temple. "Report to the Sanctum. Your presence will be required there."

"After," she said, making to continue her search. "He cannot have gotten far—"

"Praetor Leah Kadashal." Ishmael's tone was no longer polite, and carried with it now a harsh and commanding severity. Simply saying her name so was an order to stop.

And she did. Leah turned around to face him. Their gazes met. And Ishmael said:

"You're done."