Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!spool.mu.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!athena.mit.edu!taz From: taz@athena.mit.edu (Brian P Shea) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [Amaliza] Battle in the Shadows Date: 17 Aug 1993 14:47:58 GMT Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lines: 230 Distribution: world Message-ID: <24qr2u$4kt@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU> NNTP-Posting-Host: ceci007.mit.edu ADMIN: Sorry, about the lag, hope it was worth it! This is a joint post by Mike Wasson (Edwin), Dennis Nichols (Traveler), and myself. Enjoy. The corridor was narrow and musty. They had to duck occasional low ceiling beams, and once Edwin nearly tripped over a loose piece of brick. It was impossible to see further than a few feet ahead, at least for Edwin and Traveler, and Edwin felt the back of his neck prickle. On the open field of battle he had demonstrated, more than once, the physical courage expected of a knight-at-arms, but this crawling through tunnels like a rat was another matter. The corridor opened suddenly onto a cavernous room. Overhead, the ceiling receded into the darkness. Their footsteps echoed hollowly; the floor was hard, like marble. Endo made an abrupt halt, gesturing for the others to do likewise. Both Roger, with his cybernetic eyes, and Endo, with his elven ability to see into the infra-red, could see that this was a large empty room that seemed to have once been an elegant ballroom. A balcony looked out along three walls. The wooden balustrade was a ruin, half the balusters missing or broken and the railing cracked and splintered. The floor was indeed marble, cracked in places and missing tiles, but not dusty, Roger noticed. The ceiling, two stories above, was ornately carved. Endo took a hesitant step forward, sword drawn. He peered around. Nothing. The room was empty. A doorway stood directly opposite the one through which they had entered, and there were several more along the walls and on the next floor, affording access to the shattered balcony. He did not like the set-up at all, but it seemed they had little choice but to cross the room. He motioned for the others to follow. They skirted the edge of the room, keeping under the balcony. Perhaps it was a form of elven intuition, or just a gut feeling, but Endo now redoubled his pace. They were about half-way across the room, past the first door, and still edging along the wall when the attack came. Four hooded, cloaked figures leapt down from the balcony. They landed, crouching, and sprang forward, swords glinting in the pale glow of Roger's katana. Three more followed, and yet three more. Endo immediately struck one dead, and then two others were upon him. He parried desperately, feinting and lunging, trying to use footwork to maneuver himself into a favorable position. They pressed him, forcing him back toward the wall. The others faced opponents of their own. Edwin ran one of his attackers through the gut with his longsword. He yanked it from the body just in time to ward off another blow. Without any sort of enhanced vision, Edwin saw the figures around him as looming black shapes against the darkness. Again a sword flashed; he bore the blow with his shield. Pain lanced up his shield arm from his wrist. He swung. Steel rang against steel. He swung again, and felt his sword make contact with flesh. The air reeked of blood. Roger, like Endo, found himself facing two enemies at once. His heightened reflexes kicked in, and he felt the familiar sensation of the world slowing around him. He side-stepped one blow, parried another. While the first man was still slightly off balance, Roger's katana flicked out, as though with life of its own, and caught the man's wrist. First blood, Roger thought with satisfaction. He stepped backward and continued to parry blows, feeling out his opponents, learning their rhythms. Like a dance. He smiled, breathing easily. The second attacker swung, missed. For a split second he left himself open; Roger closed in, brought his katana in a clean arc across the man's throat. Being in the middle of three pairs of men fighting did not suit Traveler. As soon as the first men had come down over the balister, he had gone into fighting mode. With his enhanced fighting skills he was able to maneuver to a spot away from the other three pairs. His sight was inhibited, being too far from Roger's sword to be able to see anything but shadows, but the shadows he saw caused shivers to go up and down his spine. He had been on the short end of the stick before, but there were entirely too many men to deal with. He shouted, trying to get Roger's attention, but only succeeding in getting the attention of four assasins. As they came towards him Travelers hands flicked out, and two of the assasins dropped in their tracks, with knives sticking out of their chest. Traveler then drew his sword and prepared himself to battle the last two. The two made a fatal mistake, They came at Traveler at different times. The first assasin seemed as slow as molasses to Traveler. He came at him with two swords. The first one thrust at him as a fake the second snaked in as a killing blow. Traveler went with the fake and at the last second deflected the killing blow and ran his opponent through the neck. the assasin gulp once, made a gurgling noise and fell to the ground. Traveler had lost the second assasin, who had moved behind him. Traveler jumped, tucked, and rolled towards the others, in time to receive a slice to the left side of his back. Traveler flicked his hand once more and produced another dagger, which the assasin promptly wore as a necktie. Roger cursed as another pair of figures dropped from the balcony above, landing on the floor with bent knees, swords at the ready. Two bodies already lay in front of Roger, but there had been a price, he bled from several minor wounds. The two assasins warily approached him, swords feeling out his defenses. Roger dodged a thrust from the left while savagely bringing the glowing katana against the right's blade, shattering it, and leaving him with a useless stub. The katana flicked back, deflecting the left, before zooming back and stabbing into the thigh of the assasin on the right. A quick combination finished him off, a thrust to his shoulder followed by a kick to the throat, crushing his windpipe. The man on the left rushed Roger, but he calmly parried the furious attacks, waiting for his opening. Roger realized they had to retreat when yet another pair of assasins dropped from the balcony, their cloaks billowing out as they fell. A hoarse yell of pain came from Edwin, and Roger glanced over to see Edwin run his oppenent through when the assasin's sword entangled itself in the chain mail at his side. Roger parried another series of attacks, and responded with his own series, landing several telling strikes against his two opponents. When Roger glanced back, he saw that Edwin was slowly bleeding from his wound. It was time to leave. The four of them steadily worked towards each other, and Endo grunted between thrusts, "We have to get out of here." "Quick, through that door," Traveler gestured down the room, towards the door they had passed, and the group started to work their way towards it. The companions faced a full dozen assasins now, but were holding their own now that they could guard each others' backs. Edwin grunted with each thrust and parry, and wore a grimace of pain as the blood continued to slowly flow. The group took out another four assasins, and they started to move towards their escape more quickly as the assasins faltered in the face of their skill. Despair nearly overtook the group, though, as another six men emerged from the door they were heading for, cutting off their escape and causing the eight in front of them to renew their attacks with vigor. Traveler suddenly leapt amidst the eight and yelled to the others, "Run!" Traveler was quickly entangled amongst the eight assasins, a whirling dervish of slashes, kicks, and strikes against his opponents. He was giving them time to escape and he was giving all he had, but this burst of fighting fury cost him dearly in wounds and strength. He took out three of the assasins before they had a chance to recover from the shock of being attacked by a single individual. Traveler's voice had left no compromise, and the three broke for the door. Roger felt a cold rage come over him, and he let out a savage cry. "Burn!" The blue glow of the katana winked only to erupt in red and orange flames. Roger dropped to the ground as he reached the six men, rolling into their legs. Three of them dropped to the ground as Roger sprang back to his feet behind the standing three, and his flaming katana left streaks of light in the air, mixed with them were howls of pain and fear from the assasins. The burning blade struck again and again, relentlessy beating down defenses and striking home. The three fell before Roger's wrath, and the smell of charred flesh washed over them. Roger looked to the other three, but Endo and Edwin had dispatched them before they could rise and recover. Roger started to head back to Traveler's aid, but Roger watched helplessly as Traveler was clubbed from behind, sagging to the floor unconscious. "No!" came the anguished cry, but Edwin and Endo hauled Roger through the door, keeping him from wasting Traveler's sacrifice. They slammed the door shut, and bolted it, cutting off pursuit for a time. They ran down the corridor beyond to the sound of hollow thudding as the assasins beat at the door. As they ran, a horrible realization dawned. Traveler had been captured. They raced through the maze of musty passageways, taking turns at random, and quickly becoming lost in the maze of the assasin's coven. They eventually came to a passage that ended in a single door. Edwin chose that moment to collapse, slumping against the wall and sliding to the ground, his hand clasped to his side. Roger hurried to him as Endo tried the door, which was locked. "Can you pick it?" asked Roger. "I have to," Endo grimly replied, taking two slim picks from under his belt, and kneeling before the door. Roger examined Edwin's wound, and saw that it was not serious in itself, but Edwin had lost a lot of blood when he continued to aggravate it during the fight. The run had finally proven too much. There was a soft click, and Endo triumphantly rose from his knees, opening the door with a flourish. "Child's play." He then helped Roger move Edwin into the room, quietly closing the door behind them. Just as they did, the flicker of torchlight lit up the intersection at the other end of the passage. The pursuers looked down the now empty hall, saw the closed door, and moved on. Inside, the three were oblivious to the close call. - * - The room was completely dark, but Roger drew his katana, the blade dimly glowing. His enhanced vision took it from there, sweeping aside the shadows like cobwebs. It was a small storeroom with several casks stacked on their sides against one wall and a huge chest against another. Roger put his katana down on the chest, and knelt over Edwin. With Endo's help, they managed to remove his chain mail and the linen shirt he wore beneath it, revealing the shallow gash along his ribs. Roger examined the casks, and saw that they were casks of wine. He upended one and broke it open. He then tore a strip of cloth from the shirt and dipped it in the wine, using that to clean the wound. It was primitive, but it was all he had. Roger then used the rest of the shirt to tightly bind the wound. As he finished, Edwin groaned and regained consciousness. A wild look came over him, but Endo held him down until he realized who he was with. "Where in the blazes are we?" Edwin asked. "In the coven. Beyond that, who knows," answered Endo. Edwin sat up, and winced. He then sniffed the air, and smiled. "At least there do be something to drink!" He then cupped his hands and drank from the barrel several times. "Ah, much better." Roger and Endo chuckled, and Edwin soon joined them. The mirth quickly died, though, as Roger stated the obvious. "We have to get him back." - * - Dennis Nichols | There is a certain freedom Internet - dnichols@engr.latech.edu| in being completely SCREWED !!!! | Mike Wasson (mwasson@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu) | (setq *std-disclaimer* t) | | University of Hawai'i, in cloudy Manoa | ;; of course! | Brian Shea taz@athena.mit.edu .sig? I don' need no steenkin' .sig!