Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: li@Data-IO.COM (Phyllis Rostykus) Subject: [Party] Kadrys & Kardia: Trysts in the Dark Message-ID: <1993May14.163203.7331@data-io.com> Date: Fri, 14 May 1993 16:32:03 GMT [ADMIN] Most of this is posted on behalf of Andrea Evans. And it's always a pleasure to work with her. Just well... wow... Andrea is also, presently, having difficulties getting the newsgroup. If someone could contact me (li@Data-IO.com) about forwarding the articles to her through email, I would be greatly appreciative. My admin's a bit.. uhm... pissed at me about forwarding about 30 articles to Australia through a direct link. Opps. > from Andrea: > I'm sure now it _wont_ be fixed before the end of Monday at > the very latest (it's Friday afternoon now). But, even if they DO decide > to get the group back, I may be missing out on all sorts of cool birthday > stuff in the meantime, sigh. > (Me, someone who was bloodywell in at the start, yet! > grumblemumblemutterandotheroldcurmudgeontypenoises) Liralen ---- "Some things are better left unsaid, but they still turn me inside out..." "Why" - Annie Lennox The party was in full swing by the time Kadrys left Krupp and 'Raelf and ar'Elya, and headed over to meet Kardia and accompany her to the square. The entire population of Generica seemed to throng the streets, united in their common intent to put the recent perils of the storm behind them and have a damn good time. The square was hung with delicate paper lanterns and slow-burning firework candles supplied by the apprentices of the Mage guild. These were particularly striking, shedding glittering cascades of harmless sparks, which vanished just before touching anything. The din of conversation, the shouts of laughter and snatches of song, were noticeably loud, even in the open air of the square. Kardia snagged a drink, offered one to Kadrys, shrugged as he declined with a smile and a shake of the head. Her eyes scanned the periphery of the boisterous crowd, and she suddenly struck off toward the edge of the press of bodies, weaving her way through them without looking round, trusting Kadrys would follow. After the heat and closeness of the crowd, the cool quiet of the darkened laneway was like a breath of freedom. Kardia stretched out her arms as if to savour the space, before turning round. She hadn't heard a sound, and was half- afraid Kadrys had chosen not to trail after her. It was hard to suppress a startle when she saw how near he was: he stood almost within arms' reach, a stark silhouette against the multicoloured light filtering down from the end of the lane. As if sensing her stare, he moved around until he was standing beside her, the glow of the distant festivities outlining his face amid the gloom. He arched an eyebrow at her in silent enquiry. "Uhh, guess I've been out of the hustle and bustle of party life for too long. I just wanted some fresh air away from all that..." she jerked her head toward the faint echoes of merriment. A slight grin lifted the corner of Kadrys' mouth, but otherwise he made no reply. Ironic how their recent roles were reversed. Here she was, talking away, while he just _stood_ there, damn him. Prompted by a mixture of annoyance, a sudden need to stir him out of that calm self-sufficiency, and a confused longing, she closed the distance between them, reaching out hesitantly to touch him, one hand stroking the taut sinews of his arm. She raised the other hand to run her fingers caressingly through the mass of raven strands at his brow. She just had time to see the smile fade from his face, his eyes widen with some unreadable emotion, before the voice spun her around. "How _nice_..." The jester stood at the far end of the alley, the end leading away from the party. He was a short, thin man clad in the traditional multicoloured satin motley, a horned cap-and-bells on his head, garish makeup on his face. Kardia would have expected a high-pitched, almost girlish tenor from such a thin frame. But the voice was nothing like her expectations. It was a heavy bass, as deep as the pit of despair. Ominous as thunder, it rolled between the walls of the alley. It had an undertone rougher than cruelty: a rumble like the fall of nations. All of Kadrys' senses screamed to him that this was no mortal. He _had_ to find out what manner of being it was, and what its exact intentions were. Kadrys turned slowly to face it, his movements suddenly carrying the same terrible deliberation of a hunting cat. "Leave us. Now." he purred. The jester sneered. "What, and miss the floor show? Not fucking likely." The jester turned his eyes to Kardia, and he leered at her like a ghoul. "Oh, don't let _me_ cramp your style, slut. I don't mind watching. Just save some for me after you're through with him. No better still, save it all. You're gonna need more than you got." A bright red tongue snaked out to lick his lips, before stretching over to explore one of his ears. Enough. Moving so that Kardia was behind him and unable to see his face, Kadrys faced the creature. The pupils of Kadrys' eyes suddenly gaped like hungry jaws. Blood-red radiance poured toward the thing in motley as Kadrys reached out to take its mind and will under his control, order it to begone. The thing looked into Kadrys' blazing eyes. And laughed. Silently, Kadrys snarled, abandoning the gaze, his muscles tensing in readiness, his hands clenching into fists. And the thing before him _changed_. It stretched and warped grotesquely, immense gnarled muscles bursting through its costume until only rags of satin remained. Its bestial head reared high into the night, horns ripping apart the cap-and-bells, cruelly-edged talons shredding the gloves and boots, gouging the cobbles as if they were soft clay. Kardia stared at this apparition with her other sight. She gasped because it glowed malevolence and all of it shone with power. "Oh, Lord." she said softly and felt Kadrys flinch. She thought it was because her grip had tightened on him, so she let go of his arm. "It's magical, Kadrys. It's not just doing magic, it's *made* of magic." She heard herself laugh half hysterically, "I've never seen anything with that kind of hate..." Kadrys backed away, taking Kardia's arm and turning her away from the monstrosity, trying to shift her anguished stare, break her hysterical fixation on its evil presence. The malice was pouring from the thing now in waves, and he could hear its mocking laughter, as it watched and relished its effect, the way Kardia's knees were slowly giving way under the pressure of its emanations. Kadrys cursed. At the moment, she could hardly stand, let alone run. He would _have_ to hold that thing off, give her a chance to get away. She felt his hand tugging her backwards. Kardia obeyed the tug, knowing that she should be retreating, should be running, but the fear was crushing her down. Then she saw Kadrys as he stepped in front of her. Kardia took two steps back and then two to the side and ran into a wall that she leaned blindly against. She could hear Kadrys' voice telling her something, she couldn't make out what it was with the blood pounding in her ears. She saw his eyes as he turned to look at her, and beheld blackness that pooled there, deep and bewilderingly complex. He turned away. The forces that poured through Kadrys were a reflection of the forces she saw in the huge creature that he ran to confront, and he was running with a speed she'd only ever seen in Alistair. Kadrys' body was afire with power, negative lightning that sank into every particle of his being. That blackness rippled and arced sickeningly, holding Kadrys enmeshed in a web that followed his every movement. Unlike the creature before Kadrys, though, there was the clear, bright form of a being amid the snare of blackness. The brightness was trapped in a barbed net that writhed and twisted, endlessly striving to crush and subdue that blaze within. "Oh, Kadrys." she moaned softly. "What *are* you?" The being that bulked over Kadrys' slenderness flashed and turned, horns and fire, blackness deeper than the night. It blurred, quick as a fish shining in the moonlight and struck. Kardia saw the snap of Kadrys' head as he was hit. He made no sound. She saw the arch of his body as he struck from his legs. The creature was not so quiet. It crunched when he hit and then it screamed, a bellowing roar that rattled windows. Kadrys didn't even pause at the noise. Kardia saw him raining blows so fast that his whole body was just a blur. The thing swiped out with lethal curved claws and she heard them hiss through the air as Kadrys leaped back. He faltered a moment, both hands clutching his stomach. The creature charged him. Kardia saw a dispersal of power like a mist exploding, and then Kadrys was behind the thing and striking. The thudding impact of his lightning blows merging into a single sound, an uneven thrum. The demon turned its back on Kardia and she saw the flash of its claws as it raised them and then she heard a crack like that of a slaver's whip being applied again and again. Kardia ran forward, never knowing exactly what she was going to do, until the shawl around her shoulders was thrown on the back of the creature. The body under her hands jerked upright, screaming, and Kardia found herself screaming with it even as she did her best to destroy it. The shawl glowed with the power it pulled away indiscriminately. Kardia felt it flooding through her, turbulent and scraping against her sense of what her makings did. She pushed with her hands, trying to get the shawl to cover as much of the creature as she could, and she could feel bulk collapsing under her touch. Then she reached pavement, the shawl caught against the roughness of the cobblestones and she found herself sobbing, on her knees. Bright shreds of satin gleamed through the translucense of the shawl beneath her. A light touch on her shoulder and a soft, ironic voice said, "I'm glad I wasn't under there." She looked up into Kadrys' dark eyes. He was all right. She felt a terrible tenion in her snap. She swallowed, grinned a trembling grin up at him that she knew showed her teeth too much. She couldn't help it. Acid and metal on her tongue from the adrenaline that still shook her system. She sat back on her haunches, still gasping for air. His hand left her shoulder. "No, please..." She reached out blindly with her hand and then felt his hand take hers. He wasn't trembling as she was and she felt oddly comforted by that fact. She pulled on his hand for help up and ended up in his arms where she cried until she coughed. She held him close and felt him gently stroking her hair. Kardia buried her face in the hollow of his throat and just stood there with him, trembling. When she could finally trust her voice and breath to speak she waited another moment and her voice still broke when she said, "I'm glad... I'm glad you weren't under there, too." She laughed a laugh that was still a touch high, and then took a deep, shaking breath. "With as much magic running through you, I wouldn't be surprised if I wouldn't have done the same as I did to... that..." "Demon. An evil spirit, lusting for the evils of the flesh. It's unimportant. You defeated it. Yes, you did. It's gone, and it won't be back. Ssshhh now..." he murmured soothingly, his head bent over hers, nuzzling at her hair that flickered with fitful glints of deep brownish red under the moon. The exact red of long-dried blood. Blood. Ahhh, how the hot scent of her rose to his senses.. But he ignored the sobbing of his veins with the cold thoroughness of long ages of control, shut his body's need out of his mind. He moved to step away from her, but it was too late. As he moved, her hands slipped down from his shoulders. Her fingers trailed down his sides, and brushed against rough edges. To her, coming from a world where meat was all but unknown, it was an unfamiliar sensation: ragged damp edges, yielding to her touch. The uneven, fibrous softness of torn flesh. Kardia gasped at the feeling. Her hands tore at the slashes in his shirt. He tensed as if to move away, then sighed and stood quietly as she exposed a torso almost divided by great slashes. The tracks of the demon's gouging claws gaped wide but strangely bloodless. She sobbed and then swallowed hard at seeing the pale shadow of organs, the white of bone, the ripped edges of muscle and rags of skin. Kardia looked at the still face watching her and then down again. Her grey eyes narrowed as the mangled flesh writhed in the moonlight. The jagged edges of the wounds rippled and drew closer, moving with eerie purpose, sealing themselves. Within heartbeats the gashes faded to scars, the scars faded to smooth and unbroken skin. She ran the tips of her fingers against his skin and felt only smooth, hard muscle. The mortal wounds were gone without trace, like a nightmare upon waking. Kardia stared at him. Her features were vivid with the force of her conflicting emotions: her eyes glittering with unshed tears, feverish colour flaming in her cheeks. By contrast, Kadrys' expression was quiet, resigned, his eyes soft with simple, human sadness. Looking at the two of them, you would have thought it was Kardia who had just received a deathblow, Kadrys who was mourning. -- Liralen Li | "Looking down on empty streets, all she can see are li@inigo.Data-IO.com | the dreams all made solid, are the dreams made real." aka Phyllis Rostykus | - "Mercy Street" by Peter Gabriel