09-21-2016, 06:17 PM
War Cry fought staying so far in the lead, so when his steps defiantly slowed, his rider did not resist falling back. Jai was tired of tempering his emotions anyway where disgust smouldered just below the surface. He couldn’t stand to feel the crush of Daryen’s charming grin one more time. The way the man laughed and carried on with his captain of the Guard, it was like the only taint to the day was the humidity. At least Jai could manage pace with Daryen’s focus enough to keep sweat from erupting rivers down his back. Trailing as he was, it was obvious his fellow asha’man would not allow something so mundane as weather to disrupt the ripples to his silken shirt.
In solitude, Jai could more easily make out the double thud of War Cry’s shoes pounding down the grasses. The rhythm was soothing, steady; and Jai was soon as lost to it as he was multiples of four to keep their count. Some understanding filtered through the blanket of ritual then: the appeal to a Razor’s gait. He pat War Cry’s neck in appreciation of the tentative respect bridging their differences to which he was met with a flexing of the stallion’s potential power through the reins. The animal was more well suited than originally believed for Daryen’s parades it seemed. The two were more alike than Jai had realized: hiding their power beneath a flashy exterior. The horse was growing on him, and burn it all, but he couldn’t resist that kind of style for long.
Then it started. His imagination, at first, getting the best of him, reason hoped quietly. Except for the small voice reminding him no imagination conjured that note. He choked back the ache still gnawing his wrist from penning his own fate and tried to ignore the imbeciles further back in the line. War Cry’s ears flipped as though it were the one being goaded, but Jai felt their target as sure as nails digging into his back. The animosity of it pulled the bit in War Cry's teeth. It blackened both of their moods.
Suaya's story showed his ignorance. Going on as he did about outmaneuvering his competition with some creative accounting. Sure, he was undiscovered so far perhaps, but laughably ignorant. Not that Jai was laughing. He would put a bag of gold down that young Lady Sachi could outperform the cocky bastard on pen and paper. At least, she could now, and Jai wouldn't mind watching it be done.
He would put his entire inheritance down, though, that Suaya was the coward who’d dug up the bones buried in Jai’s grave. The level of cipher certainly matched the man's level of intelligence, and dumb enough to not know his own note was a counterfeit to keep up being so obvious. How many times had the man blatantly talked about him in front of his face without Jai realizing it? Ripping his identity to shreds while his accomplices laughed on. Most such times went black with memories half-buried in wine; he couldn’t remember. Multiples of four.
A question floated to the top of that sweet barrel. Proceed with what?
''...golden... fox.''
Jai twisted toward Imaad with fire in his veins. The merchant stared back, and lifted his flask with the taunt.
"Next time I'll bring a cask for you, Kojima. I can always tell a man needing a good drink."
Tamal mouthed something to Nisele. It made her lift a brow and study Jai's menace anew.
War Cry stomped at the sudden tension in the reins as Jai straightened out his stride. Digging around in a man’s personal affairs was bothersome, but the thought of Imaad Suaya’s hot breath drinking in the tavern’s call-sign or his eyes glazing across the names of its guardians, conjured images of his taunts reaching past Jai just to grope the very mirage funneling the hope to continue. And crush it. Just to see Jai writhe with fury.
And he did. It pulsed hot and active as Saidin in the midst of battle. It was there, calling him to retaliate. When next Jai looked back, Imaad no longer played the fool. He knew all that separated him from extinction was the thinning control unraveling quickly from the Asha’man’s grip. What burned most, was he seemed to be asking for it.
“I hope you’re going to crack a smile, Jai.”
He whipped toward the voice, and for a moment saw nothing but interruption. Until Nythadri’s white dress slowly permeated the darkness. Her mirage simmered in fury’s dry heat, staring back with an intensity to match his own. She had an arrow perched at her lip, but the cold sting of reason kept his eyes on her. Only, the Light help her if she had it pointed at Jai’s back too.
His attention was effectively captured for the next few moments. Tight as a raken circling above, witnessing the firefight between Nythadri and the others below. It was the horses, though, which pulled Jai back to reality. Dancing back and forth, the Razor and her Red yipped at one another, acting out the powerplay between their riders. Ominous as was his mood, it was easy to summon the command to steer the stallion back into compliance. When he did, it was as if that was the display of dominance the stallion had been waiting for the entire time and soon went back to ignoring the Red’s intrusion.
”Burn them all.”
Jai grit through his teeth. And he meant it.
”Nythadri? Are you quite well my dear? Butter must not be allowed to run just anywhere else you’ll make a mess.”
Robust laughter joined Nisele’s silvery timbre.
Jai stared only forward. Noting the huntmaster’s shape on the return gallop some distance off. Back from scouting. He'd be there in a few minutes. Daryen and Antony seemed the only ones to care for the actual hunt. Today’s other hunt. Jai swallowed the burn of acid. Was the king that ignorant of his own court!
More voices from behind. ”..tonight’s smell of roasted flesh. I could eat the entire beast myself!”
The slap of Imaad's hungry pats followed.
“Don’t get your hopes up, brother. Kojima there may not have the legs to run down a deer so he can hack at it with that pretty sword of his.”
“Ah! But there you show your foolery! What a sight t’would be! Man and beast. One momentous swipe brings down the creature in a single blow. Slime of hot guts pouring out into the dirt as it writhes, helpless but wait to taste the relief of death. A fatal blow, would you not agree, Kojima?”
Jai went sick with shock. And his hand went to his stomach. He could feel the pucker of a scarline beneath his coat.
His trade. Tar Valon. His friends. How the hell did Imaad find out about that?!
“Light.”
He whispered. And remembered. Raelyn Sedai’s companion. A gaidin, who acted more a soldier, but looked more a civilian. What had been his name? He better look to the Light for protection should they ever cross paths again.
He drew on the memory of battle: when he witnessed the heroism in mankind and found the will to keep fighting for it. The battalion, Lieutenant Tomdry, their sacrifice was the infusion of he needed to survive so awful a Healing. Jai did not survive so to endure listening to scum hijacking their memory for some ploy in their game. Sickness transformed to seething fury.
”...maybe I should shoot down a fowl as back up. Could you roast the bird and float it along with us, Asha’man?”
Tamal rolled. More laughter.
Nythadri scathed a response. ”Don’t waste an arrow, Tamal.”
Jai managed to look low at her wisdom. The birds darkening the horizon were indeed too far, and Tamal was no master. But one graceful pull and the younger Suaya loosed a quiet arrow, and smugly watched it soar.
Saidin rushed in. An avalanche broken from the slopes at the drop of a pin, or the twang of a bow. And Jai spun it. Hard. At every single winged shape he could see. That got Daryen’s attention. He noticed the man glance back, but the channeling continued. Tamal’s arrow hit, straight and true. But no black chunk of bird fell from the sky. It hit a spray of soft pink. Globs frozen in the air soundlessly at their sudden combustion. Then began to fall from their floating orbs like soft rain. It looked a little like cherry blossoms. So sweet an image smoothed the menace of channeling for a moment.
It didn’t last.
His leg suddenly caught fire. A burning grate like skidding across rough stone, ripping the flesh beneath to shreds.
Jai hitched War Cry into a tight circle and there saw the arrow sticking from the ground that had grazed his thigh. It ended with him facing Tamal’s smug threat.
”An accident."
His grin went dark.
“And so is this.”
Jai ignored the commotion which followed. There was only Saidin.
Saidin and Tamal. Only, there would be no more Tamal in a few more moments. He called the weaves.
The next moment fire erupted inside but a skin of ice kept it from escaping. And the ground rushed up to meet him.
Grass. He ripped it out at the root with his pained clutchings. The blow should have shattered the tension, but instead, it fueled a force rising through the pain to make him come up to one knee. Blocked, his mind pounded on the shield barring him from Saidin. He looked between the three channelers. An obsessed hand loosened the hilt of his sword. Now Nythadri’s caged animal showed itself.
“Which of you did it?”
He asked. Roaring with calm. His eyes flickered across the dismounted bodies to Daryen who wagered him with an answer. Shielding a man already channeling would be an extraordinary feat for the women. He was he only one strong enough.
“Doesn’t matter.”
The sword flew into his hands.
He met the warder half way to Tamal. And cleanly rid himself of the obstacle.
Then the world went dark.
In solitude, Jai could more easily make out the double thud of War Cry’s shoes pounding down the grasses. The rhythm was soothing, steady; and Jai was soon as lost to it as he was multiples of four to keep their count. Some understanding filtered through the blanket of ritual then: the appeal to a Razor’s gait. He pat War Cry’s neck in appreciation of the tentative respect bridging their differences to which he was met with a flexing of the stallion’s potential power through the reins. The animal was more well suited than originally believed for Daryen’s parades it seemed. The two were more alike than Jai had realized: hiding their power beneath a flashy exterior. The horse was growing on him, and burn it all, but he couldn’t resist that kind of style for long.
Then it started. His imagination, at first, getting the best of him, reason hoped quietly. Except for the small voice reminding him no imagination conjured that note. He choked back the ache still gnawing his wrist from penning his own fate and tried to ignore the imbeciles further back in the line. War Cry’s ears flipped as though it were the one being goaded, but Jai felt their target as sure as nails digging into his back. The animosity of it pulled the bit in War Cry's teeth. It blackened both of their moods.
Suaya's story showed his ignorance. Going on as he did about outmaneuvering his competition with some creative accounting. Sure, he was undiscovered so far perhaps, but laughably ignorant. Not that Jai was laughing. He would put a bag of gold down that young Lady Sachi could outperform the cocky bastard on pen and paper. At least, she could now, and Jai wouldn't mind watching it be done.
He would put his entire inheritance down, though, that Suaya was the coward who’d dug up the bones buried in Jai’s grave. The level of cipher certainly matched the man's level of intelligence, and dumb enough to not know his own note was a counterfeit to keep up being so obvious. How many times had the man blatantly talked about him in front of his face without Jai realizing it? Ripping his identity to shreds while his accomplices laughed on. Most such times went black with memories half-buried in wine; he couldn’t remember. Multiples of four.
A question floated to the top of that sweet barrel. Proceed with what?
''...golden... fox.''
Jai twisted toward Imaad with fire in his veins. The merchant stared back, and lifted his flask with the taunt.
"Next time I'll bring a cask for you, Kojima. I can always tell a man needing a good drink."
Tamal mouthed something to Nisele. It made her lift a brow and study Jai's menace anew.
War Cry stomped at the sudden tension in the reins as Jai straightened out his stride. Digging around in a man’s personal affairs was bothersome, but the thought of Imaad Suaya’s hot breath drinking in the tavern’s call-sign or his eyes glazing across the names of its guardians, conjured images of his taunts reaching past Jai just to grope the very mirage funneling the hope to continue. And crush it. Just to see Jai writhe with fury.
And he did. It pulsed hot and active as Saidin in the midst of battle. It was there, calling him to retaliate. When next Jai looked back, Imaad no longer played the fool. He knew all that separated him from extinction was the thinning control unraveling quickly from the Asha’man’s grip. What burned most, was he seemed to be asking for it.
“I hope you’re going to crack a smile, Jai.”
He whipped toward the voice, and for a moment saw nothing but interruption. Until Nythadri’s white dress slowly permeated the darkness. Her mirage simmered in fury’s dry heat, staring back with an intensity to match his own. She had an arrow perched at her lip, but the cold sting of reason kept his eyes on her. Only, the Light help her if she had it pointed at Jai’s back too.
His attention was effectively captured for the next few moments. Tight as a raken circling above, witnessing the firefight between Nythadri and the others below. It was the horses, though, which pulled Jai back to reality. Dancing back and forth, the Razor and her Red yipped at one another, acting out the powerplay between their riders. Ominous as was his mood, it was easy to summon the command to steer the stallion back into compliance. When he did, it was as if that was the display of dominance the stallion had been waiting for the entire time and soon went back to ignoring the Red’s intrusion.
”Burn them all.”
Jai grit through his teeth. And he meant it.
”Nythadri? Are you quite well my dear? Butter must not be allowed to run just anywhere else you’ll make a mess.”
Robust laughter joined Nisele’s silvery timbre.
Jai stared only forward. Noting the huntmaster’s shape on the return gallop some distance off. Back from scouting. He'd be there in a few minutes. Daryen and Antony seemed the only ones to care for the actual hunt. Today’s other hunt. Jai swallowed the burn of acid. Was the king that ignorant of his own court!
More voices from behind. ”..tonight’s smell of roasted flesh. I could eat the entire beast myself!”
The slap of Imaad's hungry pats followed.
“Don’t get your hopes up, brother. Kojima there may not have the legs to run down a deer so he can hack at it with that pretty sword of his.”
“Ah! But there you show your foolery! What a sight t’would be! Man and beast. One momentous swipe brings down the creature in a single blow. Slime of hot guts pouring out into the dirt as it writhes, helpless but wait to taste the relief of death. A fatal blow, would you not agree, Kojima?”
Jai went sick with shock. And his hand went to his stomach. He could feel the pucker of a scarline beneath his coat.
His trade. Tar Valon. His friends. How the hell did Imaad find out about that?!
“Light.”
He whispered. And remembered. Raelyn Sedai’s companion. A gaidin, who acted more a soldier, but looked more a civilian. What had been his name? He better look to the Light for protection should they ever cross paths again.
He drew on the memory of battle: when he witnessed the heroism in mankind and found the will to keep fighting for it. The battalion, Lieutenant Tomdry, their sacrifice was the infusion of he needed to survive so awful a Healing. Jai did not survive so to endure listening to scum hijacking their memory for some ploy in their game. Sickness transformed to seething fury.
”...maybe I should shoot down a fowl as back up. Could you roast the bird and float it along with us, Asha’man?”
Tamal rolled. More laughter.
Nythadri scathed a response. ”Don’t waste an arrow, Tamal.”
Jai managed to look low at her wisdom. The birds darkening the horizon were indeed too far, and Tamal was no master. But one graceful pull and the younger Suaya loosed a quiet arrow, and smugly watched it soar.
Saidin rushed in. An avalanche broken from the slopes at the drop of a pin, or the twang of a bow. And Jai spun it. Hard. At every single winged shape he could see. That got Daryen’s attention. He noticed the man glance back, but the channeling continued. Tamal’s arrow hit, straight and true. But no black chunk of bird fell from the sky. It hit a spray of soft pink. Globs frozen in the air soundlessly at their sudden combustion. Then began to fall from their floating orbs like soft rain. It looked a little like cherry blossoms. So sweet an image smoothed the menace of channeling for a moment.
It didn’t last.
His leg suddenly caught fire. A burning grate like skidding across rough stone, ripping the flesh beneath to shreds.
Jai hitched War Cry into a tight circle and there saw the arrow sticking from the ground that had grazed his thigh. It ended with him facing Tamal’s smug threat.
”An accident."
His grin went dark.
“And so is this.”
Jai ignored the commotion which followed. There was only Saidin.
Saidin and Tamal. Only, there would be no more Tamal in a few more moments. He called the weaves.
The next moment fire erupted inside but a skin of ice kept it from escaping. And the ground rushed up to meet him.
Grass. He ripped it out at the root with his pained clutchings. The blow should have shattered the tension, but instead, it fueled a force rising through the pain to make him come up to one knee. Blocked, his mind pounded on the shield barring him from Saidin. He looked between the three channelers. An obsessed hand loosened the hilt of his sword. Now Nythadri’s caged animal showed itself.
“Which of you did it?”
He asked. Roaring with calm. His eyes flickered across the dismounted bodies to Daryen who wagered him with an answer. Shielding a man already channeling would be an extraordinary feat for the women. He was he only one strong enough.
“Doesn’t matter.”
The sword flew into his hands.
He met the warder half way to Tamal. And cleanly rid himself of the obstacle.
Then the world went dark.
Only darkness shows you the light.