Private Tales The March of Progress

[Vass]

Vass wondered if he had ever been this close to a King before. He was pretty sure that the answer was no, but he couldn't have answered truthfully if pressed. "I believe..."

He cleared his throat.

"I believe some of the Red Hundred might be plotting against you sire." The King seemed to let out a gasp, though it wasn't any real shock. A fact Vass could tell by the man's expression. His head shook as he looked to some of the advisors.

"I knew it! The Traitors! It's that commander, isn't it? Yes...I knew it. I knew it!"​

The man seemed to rabble, rave, his words bubbling from his mouth so quickly that Vass had a hard time following them.

"Where is he? Who else? The entire company? It must be..."​

Vass added a stutter to his tongue. "I...n-no sire, not all."

He tried to sound fearful.

"Just some. The Commander has some of the men fooled, but I believe you could..." Vass had to be careful now, he was walking a tight rope. "I believe you could bring some of them to your side. They are good soldiers, good men. More than a match for any elf."

The King seemed to consider for a long while, looking Vass up and down.

"Yes...yes...fetch my horse, and my finest armor. Quickly, and make sure there is enough light. YOU Witches! Make light. I want my presence burned into the sky...I need these men drawn to me."​

 

[Ahsoka]

Ahsoka waited patiently, her eyes never moving from the entrance through which Vass had all but been dragged. Others were beginning to gather nearby. Vass hadn't spoken the words quietly so that he would been shown right away to the King but that meant small groups had now formed to whisper and gossip over what might be a cause of all the fuss. Her ears picked up the word knife-ears and bloody elves more than once which caused her grip to tighten on the bow as her anger was fanned.

Finally, there was movement on the door.

Taking a breath she begun to draw her bow just as a mage stepped out. She'd had known even without the fancy outfit from the amount of magic pouring off her. Then next came an impossibly large figure that had to be being manipulated by the mage somehow to be more imposing and commanding. There could only be one man who it was. This was her chance.

"I will not throw away my shot," she whispered to herself and in one swift movement, stood and let her arrow fly true.

 

[Vass]

The shot didn't miss.

Time seemed to slow. The world itself seemed to stall out. The air calmed. The wind didn't rustle. As the arrow loosed itself from Ahsoka's bow it soared through the air. A flicker ran over it's length, and then with pin point precision it landed directly in the King's throat.

A shout went up.

Panic.

A cacophony of chaos launched into action as the King's hand raised to the arrow that now buried itself in his neck. His eyes bulged out, his hand struggling against the blood that spilled from his river. He tried to speak, shout, but no words came from his lips as the panic took him.

He struggled, pointed to Vass, and then collapsed onto the floor with a heavy thud. Shouts echoed out. Guardsmen, Mages, all of them screaming in a panic.

All Vass could do was laugh.

The raucous sound of his mirth echoed out even as one of the royal guardsmen behind him drew his sword. As the blade swept forward. "GO!"

He shouted.

"Go-" The blade pierced through his chest. Stabbing into his sternum and impaling him in one swift motion. The blood spilled down his chest, cutting off the laughter in an instant, but never wiping the smile from his face.

They had done what they had wanted. They had succeeded. The King was dead, and no army would join his fight.

 

[Ahsoka]

A ball of fire was shot in Ahsoka's direction which she narrowly escaped by rolling herself off the roof. The fire took hold and the thatch went up like... well a bundle of dry twigs. It leapt quickly from there to the next building, the next tent, and soon fire seemed to be everywhere. She hit the ground just as the sword was driven through Vass' chest.

"Vass!" she cried and, loosing another arrow, barrelled forward. She knew, in her heart of hearts, that neither of them were going to escape this. The least she could do was be with her friend when he died. Shoving her shoulder into one man's stomach and slicing the throat of another it didn't take long in the confusion for her to make her way to Vass' side.

She'd already bitten down on that small tablet she'd carried with her what seemed like days ago now.

"It's okay," she said softly, catching him before he hit the floor and lowering him down. "It's done."