Dreadlords The Worth of Our Deeds

[Lumen]

"Well I'm not doing anything I don't want to do," she replied back to Sable with a timid smile. Meatloaf with gravy wasn't a bad option. It was Kristen's tone that caused Lumen to swivel on the picnic bench she perched on. Eyes darted around the girl who was quickly becoming one of her closer friends. She noticed the lack of green apples.

Her stomach may have grumbled in protest with that realization.

Lips parted. "Kristen what's-" tawny-eyes widened further as the man next to her was revealed. She jolted to her feet as if Henk had hit her with one of his light beams. She made no aggressive move but she did slide subtly to place herself between Sable and Zael. As if she needed to protect the Bulwark. But more likely as if she knew the greatest danger of things becoming out of hand was between those two.

Eyes scanned the crowd. Were they alone? Was Zael alone? Was it a trap?

The last time she'd interacted with a runaway and tried to do things peacefully, her life force had been sucked out.

Gaze snapped back to Zael and she couldn't help but stare. Searching his face as if something in it would tell her whether or not he had slaughtered those at Ganfarred Keep. After all she'd seen from him last year. After getting his letter. Was he really the villian now?

Her body language was tense and ready but she made no move other than remaining between Sable and Zael, eyes locked briefly with Kristen's and a small nod offered as if to say I'm with you.

 

[Sable Pembroke]

Peace and quiet rarely last.

Kristen pulled Sable's attention from the brief mention of food he'd shared with Lumen. Even in his current state he could tell that something was wrong. The figure that stood alongside the noble girl...even before he raised his head, Sable's body began to burn. Then he saw the eyepatch. Of course he knew that face. How could he not?

Lumen put herself between Zael and himself, as though she stood any chance of stopping what was about to happen. Sable stood, rolling his shoulders back as he got to his feet. Any amount of mending the two girls had helped provide the towering Dreadlord was dashed apart in an instant. Rage twisted within Sable like a thousand hornets within a threatened hive. Yet he smiled.

He smiled as he pushed past Lumen. He smiled as he stepped closer to Zael. He smiled as he loomed over him and put one of his left hand on Zael's shoulder, leaned down and softly asked,
"Now why would I do that?"

Unceremoniously, Sable buried his right fist as hard as he could in Zael's gut.

 

[Zael Castomir]

If only he had been wearing his armor. Of course, the last thing he expected, or wanted, was to bump into any of the three "Dreadlords" (two Initiates, one Dreadlord, in actuality) which were supposedly combing the town. And now he knew that this wasn't just wild rumors from the Zettal townsfolk, now he knew who those three Dreadlords were, and now he knew intimately how it felt to have Sable punch him right in the stomach. All the breath was sucked out of him in that moment.

And then he caught Kristen's fist to his face.

With a wherewithal summoned by dint of enduring pains of this nature many times over in the Academy, Zael shoved away from Sable and Kristen and gained some space for himself, inadvertently bumping into townsfolk who were passing by behind him and causing them to stumble. He drew his sword with one hand and threw off his cloak with his other. Fuck, he didn't want for this to happen, but Kristen had been adamant about not letting him leave her sight; he could hardly blame her, but here they all now were.

Zael thrust his blade high up into the air, conjured what voice he could in the aftermath of that vicious gut punch, and yelled out to the mostly oblivious civilians all around them, "GET OUT OF HERE!" He alighted his sword with fire, and for added effect made it burst with a loud explosion and a show of curling flame. His concern was more for them than for himself, and he made his effort to clear them away from the premises as best he could. "GO! NOW!"

Confusion and alarm spread in equal measure among the populace in the Zettal produce market, only the nearest to Zael scrambling away as he hoped. The small arena, made of all the encircling civilians, was still around the four of them.

This wasn't going to be good.

Sable Pembroke Lumen

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen, despite all her worries about Sable, did not forget their duty here. So when Sable initiated open hostility against Zael, the best thing to do, she figured, would be to follow up without hesitation, to disable and bring down Zael before this could possibly get out of hand.

So follow up she did, throwing a punch that landed and left a nasty red welt on Zael's cheek. It was a quicker action than even her magic, and upon it she placed her hopes of a swift resolution.

It didn't come.

Zael, resilient as ever, got space, drew his sword and frightened the populace all around them. Kristen drew her sword in turn, raised her porcelain hand to make ready her Chains, her Curses, anything in her power to keep him grounded; Sable might have a trick with his shields, and Lumen had access to Zael's overt weakness; he wouldn't get away this time.

"Zael Castomir!" she shouted. "Surrender!"

Sable Pembroke Lumen

 

[Lumen]

She stumbled as Sable easily shoved her aside. Teeth clenched as that arm in her sling rattled. "SABLE!" Lumen's voice strained as he made his choice. Then Kristen socked Zael. Oof, the girl could punch. But Lumen was already moving quickly even as she was jostled from those scrambling to get out of the way.

One good arm withdrew her mother's shield instead of her sword as she held it up. As she flanked Zael. She moved instinctively to put herself between Zael and the fleeing and shoving townsfolk. But while Zael yelled and fired up his sword, he made no move that she expected him to do.

He could've tried to use some of the citizen's as hostage. As leverage. But he didn't. He was doing the opposite; trying to clear them out.

"Zael, please. Please put your sword down." Lumen yelled above the chaos, a bitter note of sorrow in her tone. Growing up in the Academy she'd always pictured herself going out on missions or fighting on the frontlines. Protecting the Anirians from monsters and those who were evil. Those who wanted nothing but to kill the weak around them for power and wealth and greed.

And yes, Zael had killed.

And yes, he was a criminal of the state.

But by his actions right now? He didn't fall so easily into the cookie-cutter villain. Lumen reached for her magic but didn't use it, yet. She readied an action. If he used that sword on Kristen or Sable, she'd be ready to try and cool it down. Same was said if that fire of his went toward any of the civilians still trying to flee.

 

[Sable Pembroke]

Sable hadn't expected to be backed up by Kristen or Lumen, but here they were, doing exactly that. Good. He'd expected to have to fight all three of them. Some small, rational part of his mind was thankful for that much. The rest of his mind was pure and focused rage. He paid no mind to the townsfolk running by and fleeing all around him. All that mattered right now was that Zael was in Sable's clutches.

"BASTARD!" he shouted as he put a hand in front of his face to ward off the heat of the flame Zael had conjured. "Don't pretend like you care about anyone but yourself now!"

The titan of a man muttered arcane chants beneath his breath and barriers of amber began to conjure in the air before him, as well as in front of his fists. The latter set formed Sable's current favored weapon: arcane knuckle dusters. While he still had his old weapon collection, ever since his mace had been melted by Noel at the Bloody Graduation, Sable had gone without.

"We were supposed to hunt down Kimble together, and instead you turned TRAITOR!"

He charged Zael, barrier first, followed by his own shoulder. He'd pin him to the wall, civilians be damned.

 

[Zael Castomir]

"You know I can't do that, Lu," Zael replied.

Fuck, if only Kristen could've trusted him just a little bit more. He would've kept his word, stayed outside the walls until the goddamn sun went down if that's how long it took for her to convince Lumen (who probably didn't need it) and Sable (who definitely did need it) to come outside peacefully for a heart-to-heart. But that's just not how it went. And he fucking bet that even if Jordis and Cami caught wind of all this commotion, they weren't gonna lift a damn finger to help him...and that was probably for the best anyway.

Sable's voice split the air then. Might've even been louder than Zael's own intentionally loud burst of flame from his sword. Then the giant came barreling toward him, and with the momentum he had going, he wasn't gonna stop.

Fuck!

Even though he just said he couldn't to Lumen, Zael tossed his sword to the ground—the flame went out. He then set to pushing, shoving, and outright throwing as many Zettal townsfolk out of the way as he could. He got three of them before Sable's shield slammed into him, and then he along with the shield and the giant himself went crashing through the crowd of people, shouts and cries aplenty, all until Zael was slammed against the wall of a small warehouse, a wake of battered people behind them. For Zael it was hard stone on one side, Sable's mighty arcane shield on the other.

Zael, only able to look at Sable sideways, strained himself to say in response to the mention of Kimble, "We...still...can!"

Only one way out of this, and he just had to pray to Kress there wasn't anybody directly on the other side of his wall. Zael's back lit up with bright orange light, and then an explosion blew in the stone and Zael, disappearing into the dust thereby created, went tumbling inside the warehouse.

Lumen Sable Pembroke

 

[Kristen Pirian]

"SABLE!" Kristen yelled the moment his disregard for the Zettal townsfolk became clear.

Gods! If only she could have found it within herself to extend a bit more trust toward Zael, to give herself and Lumen time to work on Sable, calm him down, at least get all of them outside the city walls instead of right here in the busy produce market. But she couldn't. She just couldn't. And her concern for Zael potentially betraying his word and escaping, her inability to trust perhaps, had now led to this. Aionus preserve them all.

There was but one course of action now: both Zael and Sable had to be subdued. The first for obvious reasons, the second because he had become a danger to everyone around him. By the grace of Astra, it was true...what stories she heard of Sable in the aftermath of Graduation were all true.

Kristen would not let him become like Edric. Not if she could at all help it.

Sable had Zael pinned to the warehouse wall then. Kristen chanted a verse, and Withering Chains burst from the ground behind Sable, seeking to wrap around his joints, his waists, to hinder him with their debilitating touch. It was then that Zael's explosion made him disappear into the warehouse.

Whether or not she was successful, Kristen shouted to Lumen, "Go! Find Zael! I shall handle Sable!"

Lumen Sable Pembroke

 

[Lumen]

Lumen nearly got bowled over herself and caught in the mighty tidal wave that was Sable trying to smoosh Zael. She'd been behind Zael, afterall. And at first, she thought Zael was going to charge her down. But he surprised her once again.

His sword was thrown down.

And instead of running...was he trying to...yes. He was trying to literally throw people out of the path of oncoming destruction. Lumen immediately did the same. Using her shield, and leaning her shoulder into it, she shoved, as carefully as she could, a path through the townsfolk. Arm behind the shield scooped up a fallen boy who was in imminent danger of being trampled.

Lunging with him cradled against her, she missed being caught in Sable's arcane shield. The boy was crying and trembling when she righted herself and released him. He ran straight for an older woman with her arms outstretched, whom Lumen assumed was his mother. Townsfolk continued to jostle her as they continued to clear the area. Head snapped to Kristen.

"Got it!" She called, thankful for those orders. And fearful of any counter-orders Sable might call, she ducked her head and ran through the people toward the warehouse entrance. Workers were already streaming from the entrance and evacuating. Dusty and smoke-filled air streamed behind them.

Crates were stacked upon crates. It looked like a factory for metal work and stone. At least it wasn't all wood or highly flammable material.

Eyes narrowed as she plowed ahead, shield still up.

"Zael," she called out to the rogue. "Let's get out of the city. Sable will follow wherever you go and I think you know as much as I do that we need to get away from all these people." Their homes. Their livelihood. Kristen knew that, too.

"Can you promise me that?" She walked down another aile, searching for the blond. "That you won't run? You'll let me come with you and we'll just wait?" And she knew he was likely working with others. What if they found him? And her? Would he just turn her over to them if all this happened? Was she forfeiting her life? But did it matter? For these townsfolk, it was a risk she was willing to take.

She paused, knowing what she was about to promise wouldn't be a vow made lightly.

"In return, I promise not to use my magic on you." For good measure, though all of her proctors would argue it being stupid, she put her shield away and held up her one good hand in surrender.

 

[Sable Pembroke]

"We...still...can!"

"LIAR!"

Sable wanted to shout so much more than that. He had no reason to believe Zael. Once, he'd thought the two of them on the fast track to becoming brothers forged in blood, but that wish disintegrated when Zael fled. Coward. He'd crush him for his treachery, he'd--!

"Nnggh! What?!"

Kristen's chains began to encircle Sable, and already he could feel his pressure on Zael weaken. Then the latter detonated the space between them. The barrier Sable had used to pin him absorbed most of the energy from the blast and then shattered to pieces, the pieces sparkling and vanishing back into the aether as the spell failed. It was fortunate that he'd had it up at all, or Zael might've horribly disfigured, hell, even killed Sable.

Of course, the only thing that allowed him to get that far, in Sable's mind at least, were the sickly looking chains of dark-divine magic coiling around his limbs, sapping the strength from his body. More treachery.

Sable coughed as the smoke began to clear, and eyes full of hatred fell on Kristen as visibility returned. He'd been pulled to his knees by her magic, arms yanked tightly down at an angle. What little patience he had for this perfidiousness was based only on their history. His next words came low, more as a warning than a question.
"Kristen...what the fuck do you think you're doing?"

 

[Zael Castomir]

The first sign of Zael Lumen would see, not too long after she had stowed her shield, were hands rising from the end of her current aisle, coming out slowly from behind the shelving. His arms followed. Then he emerged in full, up from his crouch, to stand and face her, hands held up to shoulder level.

"I was hopin you'd say somethin like that."

Hoping might've been a bit strong, but it still suited. His hopes had been dashed pretty hard by Sable's gut punch and Kristen's porcelain fist. He thought this was only going to get worse and worse until it got any degree of better. But Lumen restored that hope Zael thought to be bygone. He had come face-to-face with Fennec at Ganfarred, and, heh, there probably wasn't a worse ambassador from the Gilded Class for him to speak to. At least here in Zettal, thanks to Lumen, there was some sliver of a chance.

Well...before he put his cart before the horse, better not go assuming they were going to make it out of town cleanly. That chance still needed to be earned, struggled for and grasped.

"Yeah. I promise." He gave a little sideways nod of his head. "There's a little nook on the east side of the outside wall. Nice spot for a chat. Or, if you don't trust me that far, I get it: you can pick the spot."

He made a circular motion in front of his face.

"I'm gonna need somethin to hide this mug of mine, though."

Lumen

 

[Kristen Pirian]

"Saving the people of Zettal."

A Withering Chain slithered out from her porcelain palm, twisted and writhed in the air like snake ignorant of gravity, waiting on stand-by if Sable broke loose of the Chains he was presently in.

"From you."

More than contempt, however, the emphasis on the word you was threaded through with anguish. Kristen, not entirely unlike Sable in this regard, had her own compulsion toward duty, and here it was a torment to perform it.

"By the gods, Sable..." she said, "...what you have allowed them to do to you? The honorable man I once knew...did he survive Graduation? Did he?"

Sable Pembroke

 

[Sable Pembroke]

Sable ground his teeth, a vein bulging from his temple.
"'Saving' them?! You're DAMNING them!" he snapped back, his eyes ablaze.

"You don't get it, Kristen. You weren't there. You didn't realize what I did that day, what I should have realized way back then: protecting people means nothing if you don't kill the ones you're protecting them from!" he shouted, equal parts rage and a near desperate plea. "These people killed dozens of our fellow initiates, and made dozens more kill each other. Just the same as how they killed Isabelle! And now Zael is with them, and you're letting him escape!"

Sable thrashed at his bonds even as they pulled him down and sapped at his vitality. He huffed like a rabid beast trapped in a cage. Eyes full of hate and promise bore into his captor.
"Let me go, Kristen. Last warning."

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Isabelle?

The name was swept under the relentless tide of immediacy. Around them they had more room now, but the produce market was still packed with civilians, onlookers (that indelible call of curiosity) watching in various states of morbid fear and interest. The ground around them was clear, but the reassembled wall of townsfolk were all a stone's throw away. They were thinking, surely, Kristen had the incident under control. They were trusting in her. Gods!

"No," Kristen said. "As a sister gives her love to a brother, no, I shall not."

She took in a breath. Voiced a tiny prayer to Aionus:

Allow him to be spared, Lord. This I beg.

And steeled herself for what, dreadfully, was to come.

Sable Pembroke

 

[Sable Pembroke]

Love, she said. How could she do this out of love if she was willing to aid remorseless killers? So blind was Sable to the destruction he had already caused to believe such a farce.

Ḇ̴̤̗͎̃͒͝͠r̶͙̬̱̊̎e̵̯̤̟̿̋̈̚ä̶͔̥́̓͒͆ḱ̴̨̪͍̊͝ ̵͈̻̭͕̊̅̀h̵̨̛͉̣e̶̥͋͛r̷̘͛͒̉ ̶̬̀͂̃͐f̴̪͖̞̦͑̇̊̈́o̴̜͚͈̅̐̑̉r̶͖̪̾ ̶̣̙̺̌̚m̶̰̙̬͉̂e̸̡̺̽͐͜,̶̫͚̘̝̈́ ̶̛̘̖̃̅S̵͈̞̩̮̿a̸̲̒̓̌b̸̛̹ľ̵͉̭͊̉̚͜e̴̬̙͚̾

A long, tired sigh escaped Sable as he slumped forward and fell still, his gaze drifting to the ground. Loose hair, uncharacteristically unkempt for the young titan, fell over his eyes.
"That's right...there was a good reason you weren't at the Bloody Graduation."

Those chains of hers, no matter how foul their touch, now matter how decrepit they made Sable feel...Sable knew they had no bearing over the ethereal. He began to mutter beneath his breath, that familiar arcane chanting he had to whenever he called his wards. Like a second skin, strips of amber light manifested beneath Kristen's binds. Sable whipped his head upwards, his gaze piercing into hers.

"You're STILL TOO WEAK!"

Those words were apparently enough to finish the spell, and the wards began to rapidly expand outwards, seeking to burst the chains that she held him with. Even as the barriers began to give Sable the slightest amount of slack, so too did his thrashing resume.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

"Sable, no!"

But it seemed that entreaties of any sort were firmly in the domain of hope without grounding. Whatever had so driven Sable to this point of (there was no use in avoiding calling what it truly was) madness was powerful indeed, and deep in that trauma, or whatever the cause, was he now. His fixation for righteousness had become warped, and now he had turned cruel and callous.

Gods help him. And may Aionus, may Astra and the whole Pantheon, lend her the strength to subdue him, for such was a far more difficult task than an outright slaying. In either case, she didn't want to see him become a second Edric.

Kristen's Withering Chains strained and then shattered under the outward pressure exerted by Sable's shield. Upon breaking they fell away and dissipated, and that debilitating weakness brought on by their touch could be rapidly recovered from. Now he was free.

Kristen did two things:

She shot out the Chain protruding from her porcelain palm. But it missed Sable by a significant margin...and latched onto the overhanging roof of the warehouse building instead.

She brought her sword up before her, the blade obscuring half of her face, and she began to manifest the will for a Curse, began to shape it in her mind, and she looked to Sable, pointed her sword at him, and her lips opened to utter the words to project the Curse. Would she succeed in speaking it?

Sable Pembroke

 

[Sable Pembroke]

Unfettered and undeterred, Sable stood from where he'd been made to kneel. He'd been right, it seemed; his wards overwhelmed her chains. Now the punishment could begin. His strength was returning quickly, and soon he imagined it would be as though her spell had never taken hold at all.

Sable began his march toward Kristen even as her shot went wide. He ignored the thing, after all, it served him. She'd tied herself to the warehouse behind them.
"Leashed yourself like a dog. Fitting for those who would defend our tormentors."

He drew closer still, his fists balling as amber light once again formed arcane caestuses over his knuckles.
"You could have helped me. Helped me get revenge on the ones that really engineered all this. Finally put an end to the suffering of people like you and me!"
Closer now.
"They killed her, Kristen. Right in front of me! We were children--CHILDREN! And they called us weak and they killed her! Is that what you want? Wouldn't you rather stop them than be like them? Like Zael?!"

An amber-coated hand reached to seize the blade of Kristen's sword, the other trying to snatch her wrist. Somehow, miraculously, a shred of Sable's decency remained. Diplomacy took precedence in his addled mind, rambling and nonsensical as it was. Of course, only the gods could help Kristen if she refused now...

 

[Lumen]

Whelp, he wasn't instantly torching her so that was a good sign. And it looked as if he was surrendering to her as much as she was to him. She swallowed, then gave a quick, sharp nod.

She could distantly hear the sounds of Kristen keeping Sable busy and knew it might not last.

"Your spot is fine."

Was it?

She' d soon find out. If they made it that far.

"Yeah nothing about your face is inconspicuous. No one else gets hurt though, okay? I think there's a back way out of here," she motioned to him to follow. A tension along her shoulders as she more than half expected him to stab her in the back. But she managed not to look over her shoulder...okay besides one time. With her one good arm, she paused on the way, seeing a hook of factory worker uniforms. There were hats and jackets. With her one good arm, she grabbed a hat and paused, holding it out ot him.

"Think this'll be enough?"

There was also one more thing she'd do. With a muttered whisper, she used a simple Academy spell to leave a breadcrumb behind. And she did it in front of Zael so he'd know as well as she that she was leaving a way so Kristen and Sable could track them.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

She couldn't shape and speak her Curse fast enough. And this was due, in large part, to the stress she was feeling, the conflict within her; she couldn't manifest that pure ill-will necessary to enact a Curse because she desperately didn't want to bring harm onto Sable. She had not yet fully committed to it, for such was not easy; he was not yet an Edric, a Bull—

(—or a Zael)

And throwing her off still, the further mysterious mention of...something. Something awful. Something tragic. They killed her...when they were children...when he was taken into the Academy, mayhap.

But Sable was far too close now. He laid a hand on her outstretched sword. Seized it. And if she stayed a moment longer he would have seized her too; so Kristen kicked off to her right as if diving, and then the Chain coming from her porcelain palm retracted at speed, pulling her (for still was it leashed to the warehouse roof), whipping her past Sable even as she felt the giant swiping at her. Kristen flew for a moment and reached the edge of the roof and grabbed hold, pulling herself up and facing about. She had a high vantage now, but her sword was gone due to her carelessness and hesitancy.

"Is that what happened to Isabelle, Sable?" Kristen said. Gods she could only hope she might reach him before he could overwhelm her. With a voice laden with empathy she called out further, "Was she taken, cruelly, from this world, at so young an age? Do you fight for her sake, in her memory?"

Sable Pembroke

 

[Zael Castomir]

Yeah nothing about your face is inconspicuous.

"Staaaahp, I already know I'm good lookin." Despite the circumstances, Zael couldn't help the levity. He didn't say it with bright eyes and a beaming grin, of course, the circumstances did have some say, but the levity was still there regardless. Kristen and Sable, from the sounds of it outside the warehouse, probably weren't going to be in much of a mood for it though...even if they had a good chunk of time to cool down before they came outside for the meet.

He followed Lumen over to the warehouse wardrobe. Craftsman's aprons, rugged linen and leather jackets, hats and caps for those who had to go out into the sun for their day's work. Lumen plucked one of said hats and held it out to him and Zael took it. Tried it on. Canted it slightly toward his eyepatch. Though lacking a mirror, he could just tell that hat wasn't really helping all that much. A little bit, but not what he needed.

So Zael took off his eyepatch. Pocketed it. Yeah, what was under the eyepatch wasn't pretty, but best to hide the strap.

"Cut me," he said. "Or punch me." Kristen got him good on his left side, but, as luck would have it, he could've used that on his right side. "Make it look like I got a nasty injury on my face. I cover it and my 'eye' up with my hand, everyone thinks I'm another hurt bystander, no one asks any questions."

He was aware of that little breadcrumb tracker spell Lumen had uttered, and good on her. All he was hoping for was that Kristen and Sable didn't tear each other apart before said spell became relevant.

Lumen

 

[Lumen]

"Staaaahp, I already know I'm good lookin."

She couldn't help the smallest twitch in one corner of her mouth. ONE corner only. This was the Zael from before. The Zael she kinda knew as an upperclassman. The Zael she'd written to, asking for him to mentor her.

The twitch disappeared quickly into a frown at his request.

Seriously?

Her hand moved to the belt along her hip. She plucked out an ordinary, standard Academy issued dagger. Which she promptly offered to Zael. "Do it yourself." If he wanted to hurt or stab her he could've done it a hundred times over by now.

Once he took it, she'd reach behind her and pluck a bright pink hair tie free from her own blonde locks.

"And here. Don't...it's from Ysobel. She chose the color. You should tie that blond mop of yours up under the hat. That should help, too."

Lumen told herself all this was temporary. As soon as they got outside the city things would change. If Zael broke his end of the bargain, things would change. She was doing what she needed to do to keep those of this city safe. At least, that's what she told herself. Without Kristen to back her up, she'd be in a heck ton of trouble here. She could easily see herself being accused of treason.

And in that moment, looking at Zael, she almost asked him why. WHY Ganfarred Keep? Why all the killing? Why was he on this path? But the sounds of fighting still close by reformed the words on her tongue. She'd hold her hand out for that dagger back and motion for the door.

"Ready?"

 

[Zael Castomir]

"You're right," Zael said, taking the dagger. The unavoidable fact of the matter: there were understandable trust issues here. It was just best if he did it himself.

So he raked the blade across the top of his eyebrow, just deep enough to get some blood flowing. Didn't take much—head wounds almost always looked nastier than they really were. He let the blood leak out and down his face, down his cheek, as Lumen offered up one last piece of the disguise and spoke.

He traded the dagger for the hilariously pink hair tie. Easily taking the second opportunity for levity, he held up the tie and said, "Now you can call me strawberry blonde."

Quickly he bunched up his hair, tied it together, and soon was it mostly vanished beneath his hat when he put it back on. Now came the tense part. Getting out of the town without being detected by the local guard force, or bystanders who could alert the same.

Zael pressed a hand over his missing eye, now with those trickles of blood beneath his palm he looked much the part of someone who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Ready," he said.

And out they went.

Lumen

 

[Sable Pembroke]

Sable growled as Kristen slipped from his grasp. She whizzed by and wound up atop a nearby roof, out of Sable's grasp. With a frustrated roar he turned and threw the sword she'd left behind after her, but as it spun it was clear there was no thought or aim put behind the toss, just fire and fury. It whizzed by her, clattering somewhere onto the roof behind her.

"Yes!" he shouted back, panting and posturing like a mad dog. His reason continued to fight against rage. "They called us weak and killed her in front of me! Made me watch! That's what they want, Kristen, that's what they ALL want. If they don't die, they'll just keep doing it, forever. Gilram, Kimble, and all of their traitors, that's what they WAN--AAAGHH!"
The pounding returned so sharply Sable thought a knife had just been driven into his skull. He fell to one knee, sweat pouring from his brow, eyes wild as he gripped the sides of his head.


B̶̧͈̦͈̎̇͐̚r̶̩̳̻̱̊̓̓͐̉ẻ̷͓̍̄̎̓̍͝͠a̶̢̺̝͙̟̗͎͍͆̈̈́͋̽͝ķ̸͌͋̅̀.̴̻͋ ̸̧̛̙̩͈̤̪͓̍͜Ķ̶͉͉̅́͊̈́͝I̵̢̳̟̓̉̃͆̀̿L̷̥͕̜̈́̽̿̔̆͆̕L̸̨͖̩͋͒̚.̴̧̨̳͖͇̩̟̿̿ ̷̖͝S̵̹̹͋͆̋̾̊̾ ̸̤̘̜̪͈̬̀̌̈́͐͜͝l̷̠̱̈́̀̂͛̕ ̵͖̐̃̉̓a̶͙̋͒̅̽̌̕͝͠ ̸̧̛̩̇̏̅̑̈́͒Ǔ̷͇̃̕ ̶̼̙̣̈́͋͂̇̽͐̕g̴̭̥̞̒̎͌̽̂̈́͘ ̶̤̹̻͉͙͉͚̈́͗H̴̹͔̝̩̬̒́̉̚ͅ ̸̹͊̽̏͑͑̔̽t̵͚̼͚̖̘̽̀̾̌́́͂ͅ ̵̧̤̳̙͇̈́̈Ē̵̞̦̫͈͎̅͗̏̚ ̴̠͓̼̆͠Ṙ̸͙̥͈̹͎͖͍̏̔


"AAGGH, I have to--to make it STOP!"

A new barrier conjured around his fist, Sable punched the ground so hard the stonework cratered beneath the weight of his blow. All the while images of a little girl being torn apart played on repeat in his mind like a sickening slideshow.

 

[Lumen]

“Strawberry blond or not don’t lose that hair tie or I’ll be in deep trouble.” Lumen warned, her mild attempt at levity. Because they both knew that was the least out of all the trouble coming her way that she’d face from this.

It was chaos outside. Townspeople were fleeing in every direction. Behind them, she could hear the distant shouts of Sable. A few of the guard were rushing for the fight. They passed through a square and down an alley. Lumen made sure to stick close to Zael. Her one good arm nearly entwined with his own so she wouldn’t be jostled from his side.

But as the people began to thin out and it became less frenzied, Lumen couldn’t help but uttering the question that had been struck in the back of her throat since the Keep.

“Zael…was it really you? Did you kill all those guardsmen and women?”

She knew she didn’t have to clarify anymore than that for him to know what she meant.

 

[Kristen Pirian]

By the grace of Astra, if they could have just been spared more quiet environs, even if only for a few moments! So loud, so cacophonous and so dire, was their present situation—what with Zettal's produce market in a panic, Zael having gone Aionus-knew-where—that Kristen lamented that she lacked the proper environment to give Sable what he truly needed. Force was the inelegant solution, the broad bludgeon, and its fitting place was as a last resort. Sable's ailing spirit could not possibly be cured by it; only his rampaging body stopped.

Kristen did not go to retrieve her sword, for she wished mightily not to have to use it. An enormous risk (gods, mayhap even a fatal one if she was not careful), but perhaps the symbolic lack of her weapon in her hands could do more for the two of them than that cold steel.

The market around Sable was by now widely clear of civilians, those with their morbid curiosity only watching from afar. The first of the responding Zettal guards were arriving, and when they saw just who was responsible for the disturbance they were stilled by fear and hesitation. They looked up toward Kristen there on the warehouse roof. She gestured to them. Wait. They were quite happy to comply, giving Sable plenty of space. Especially after they all bore witness to his raw might, both magical and physical, sundering the very ground upon which he stood.

"Sable, listen to me," Kristen said, calling out to him in a tone that was nothing short of a plea.

What to say? What to say?? Gods, if they could but have some secluded moment! Peace! Not this chaos!

After a moment where her breath stayed caught in her throat, she just started speaking, putting to words that heartfelt sincerity which was powerful yet unshaped within her breast.

"I mourn for you. For Isabelle, though I know her only through your anguish. And you are right, Sable, we have a duty not only to the Republic but to those we hold dear to oppose the likes of Gilram, of Proctor Kimble, and all those who are of their ilk. Yet more so, we have an obligation to ourselves, that in so carrying out this duty we do not become as malevolent as those we fight against!"

A moment of doubt, small but there: was she even the right person to be espousing this to Sable? She, who knew nothing of the Academy before the Revolution? She, who from this luxurious vantage of her late enrollment could make such judgments and profess such standards easily? She, who had with pure malice in her heart wished naught but evil upon her kidnapper, the warlord Dominic? She, who had with Edric once envied his power, his strength, above all else?

Was she even truly as virtuous as she liked to think herself to be?

Sable Pembroke