Much as Brion wanted to help the Politi he knew that Allenel's only hope in Montfort was to look like he was the object of the mages' attack. "Lad, we've got to get you to cover!!" he bellowed and began to endeavor to maneuver Allenel away from the mob scene. The warpiper prayed to the gods of sea and stone that whatever was holding the Politi up would let them through. To Kallin he sent, ::If ye can, man, pull out - now!::
[Allenel/Kallin]
Across the roiling sea of angry people, Allenel saw the mage turn one look in their direction, and briefly the lawyer imagined he could see channels of fire flowing under the surface of Kallin's skin. ::Soon,:: a distant whisper answered Brion. Despite Allenel's resistance, the warpiper continued to hustle him to safety, clearing a path with his shillelagh, John the wainwright bringing up the rear.
<soon>
Allenel shuddered as something touched him, wrapped itself around him, sank itself <in>, and for a moment he wondered whether Kallin So had gone completely mad, and indeed intended to do what Leticia had accused him of.
<no>
Not Kallin, but something acting of its own accord. As Brion continued to pull Allenel away, the threads enveloped the two in a silent, protective weave.
[Rowl]
Rowl grunted as he strained to hold back the roped elephant but even his great strength was naught compared to the massive beast. He and some of the roustabouts had stayed behind when the circus moved on, to shore up the tents according to their agreement with Allenel Gilford and to begin preparation of the new tobacconist shop in Montfort.
A few of the roustabouts struggled with the other two elephants but most had gone to help with the loading and then the fires. The panicked monsters overpowered them all and all three broke loose at almost the same instant, trampling tents and headed straight for the angry mob. Rowl continued to cling to the rope, his heels digging furrows into the ground as he was pulled along.
[Jameson Lewes/Safford]
"Elephants," Safford observed with a faint note of interest, as if the two of them had not almost been overborn by the huge, terrified animals as they charged through the crowd, tossing startled people left and right. "Rawn won't like elephants."
"No, I don't think she will," Lewes answered as he picked himself up, and dodged once again to avoid being trampled by two or three panicked citizens of Montfort. But the elephants, who by now had moved on, weren't of much concern to him. Nor to Safford for that matter, who by now already had turned back towards the crowd and the shifting wall of light. The madman's expression might have been one of joy, or unending grief, as he contemplated the sight before them.
They had found their target, that slim figure with a single ally by his side. With no way to reach him across the rioting mob.
[Brion]
The thundering sound of elephants running brought Brion around and he herded Allenel further out of the way of mayhem.
[Allenel]
<soon>
The shouts of the crowd and the noise of the stampeding elephants faded into a deep humming, a thud that almost, but not quite, matched Allenel's heartbeat.
<soon>
[Jem]
"Roooowllll," Jem called out, pointing towards the burly circus man, who was being dragged behind a rampaging elephant. She leapt forward to scamper after him.
[Amaranth]
"Pardon me," Amaranth said quickly to Darmon and the injured young man who had appeared carrying one of Jem's veils. And dove after the girl as she scurried back into the chaos. And barely missed grabbing one edge of Jem's costume, coming so close that she could feel the silk slide across her fingertips. "Damn it!"
[Geiren/Morrighu/Kit]
Geiren no longer could stand the waiting and he started to draw his sword and move forward. Morrighu's chill hand came to rest on his arm and he was surprised by the strength with which she held him. He turned to look down into worried blue eyes.
The Bean Nighe shook her head, and said, "To fight now is reckless - it would be far too easy for the mob to separate us." Which had already begun to happen with Kit's flight; all Morrighu could hope was that Lucc could find the werefox and get her to come back. She could feel Geiren holding himself in check, his muscles quivering beneath her hand like an animal barely restrained. And it was to her horror that she realized he had summoned the Hunter's Hounds back to scatter the crowd.
The baying of the primal Hounds grew deeper as they changed their coarse and ran towards the mob - bringing with them the bitter feel of deep winter as they passed invisibly through the torn camp.
Kit again heard the hounds as she slipped - in fox form - back into Linnell's tent. The were fox's russett body quivered in horror, but she made herself creep forward so that Paul could note her return.
Then she fled back to the reassurance of Linnell's cold arms.
[Linnell/Paul]
"Soon," Paul told her, stroking one hand over her head as he tied off the
last strands of the weave around Linnell. All there were protected
by Kallin, but Linnell would need an extra layer of wardings to guard her.
Against the sunlight, and against the cold of <between> that would seek
to swallow her.
[Kisa Paevel]
The young woman was still waving her stake
and knife as the elephants came into the mob's view. The sight of
the three rampaging beasts was enough to cause the volatile crowd to surge
forward. Kisa was caught unawares, being too focused on the confrontation
between Cherud and Krelosh. The young woman lost her footing and
fell forward. She crashed into Cherud
and the two of them both ended up sprawled
on the ground.
Kisa lay stunned for a few seconds before she sat up. She reached up to push her hair out of her eyes, and shrieked. Her hand was bloody. She quickly grabbed her side to find the injury, even though she couldn't feel any pain. As she looked, she saw the source of the blood. Her knife was buried in Cherud's back, and he hadn't moved from where he had landed. She crawled to him quickly, praying desperately for him to still be alive.
[Cherud]
Cherud hadn't expected the push forward, or the knife to be shoved into his back. He felt it instantly, and gave a weak, garbled cry as he fell to the ground. Only one thing passed through his mind before his eyes glazed over. {Oreva's right. I *am* an idiot.}
[Kisa Paevel]
Kisa desperately examined the man she had inadvertantly stabbed. As she worked, she silently prayed to the Redeemer for a miracle, but to no avail. She found no pulse at his neck, and he didn't appear to be breathing. Kisa sat back stunned. She looked down at the blood covering her hands and began to tremble. The realization that she had killed a man began to sink in. She clutched herself tightly and stared helplessly at the bloody knife protruding from Cherud's back. "I'm a murderess," she whispered in shock, "I killed him."
[Oreva, Cherud's wife]
Oreva had said before that everybody deserved to act stupid at least once in their lives, and she would rather save her stupidity up for a later time; because it was foolish to use it when one was still young. Even if most stupid things were incredibly childish.
Knowing perfectly well what she was doing, she ripped up her necklace, made of dried red berries. Some of the berries fell to the ground, but she was able to salvage a handful of them. A handful which she swallowed.
[Allenel/Kallin]
<soon>
Shouts of "Murder! The witches are murderers!" clashed with something odd that might have been an announcement for free ale. But Allenel did not notice, nor was he aware of Brion's strong grip on one arm, and John's on the other. Heat filled him, sank into his bones, and a sheet of light slid across his eyes.
<soon>
Fredia had promised soon, and Kallin merely waited, his eyes passing over the fallen forms of Cherud and Oreva, dismissing the familiar figure of Fran. Paul was ready, and Linnell, and the others he shielded behind his wardings. If Lanaera would not open the teleport, he would force it.
<soon>
[Jem]
The angry voices ahead of her bewildered the already nervous girl and with a cry of, "Ama!!!!" fled back to the blond Elf. Throwing her arms tight around her friend and trying to hide her face.
[Amaranth]
"Ooof," Amaranth said, or something like that, as the girl unexpectedly turned and barreled back into her, then clung like a vine. "Not good to be running around," Amaranth choked out around the girl's strong embrace. She would have to ask around to see where Rowl and the elephants had landed ... once she managed to disentangle herself from Jem, and find their way out of the still-growing crush of people.
[Leticia]
The cries of murder cut through some of
Leticia's terror, and she began to struggle her way out of the mob. She
wiped soot and tears from her eyes and stared around for one of the tent
city guards. Or anyone who wasn't howling for blood. She wasn't clear who
had murdered who - and while they did have witches on hand the dressmaker
knew that with a angry mob death
could come from many directions.
She grasped to the problem like a drowning soul grasped to flotsam and began to look about.
Spotting Nicolai - comforting a distraught young woman - the dressmaker called out, "Mr. Paevel!"
[Jameson Lewes/Safford]
The numerous confrontations going on about them at the fringes of the roiling mob might have carried their own elements of human interest. But both Jameson Lewes and Safford focused intently upon the man on the far side of the mob, the one they hunted and could not reach. Safford pushed past the green-eyed girl, oblivious to her presence, staring open-mouthed at the sight of the wardings. Lewes thought the other man might have been about to weep.
[Erline]
The mob was getting totally out of control and the elephants weren't helping. He could see the weave of power around the tents of the one he guess was Kallin So, a member of the Politi. He rubbed a amulet on his chest and sent a direct message to him.
**You do not know me but I offer a way for you to escape and make it seem as if a greater power has had a hand in it. Do you accept unasked for help?**
[Kallin]
The threads jumped a bit in surprise, sending the faintest tremble through the wardings Kallin had wrapped around himself and the smaller tents behind him. Then they snaked back along the direction from which the unexpected communication had come, and whispered back to Kallin
<yes>
and again,
<yes>
::Yes,:: Kallin answered simply, as the mosaic surged under his skin. No other response seemed necessary.
[Erline]
Over head their clouds darkened and started to rumble. Streaks of lightning streamed from cloud to cloud. Erline used a magical item to create the storm. The longer he could remain unnoticed the better. The storm increased in fury and beauty as the sun was bolted out and lightning took its place.
**Be ready! Take everything you want, for nothing will remain when the beam disappears.**
The storm went silent.
[Kallin/Allenel/Lewes/Safford]
Allenel stumbled as the hum aching in his bones quieted, dropping into hushed waiting, the space between heart-beats widening ...
<soon>
Kallin swept the threads together, and cast them <out> towards Paul, who stood within the smaller tents with Linnell and the others.
<soon>
"Soon," Safford whispered softly.
[Erline]
The clouds over head slowly opened and a brilliant beam of sunlight lit the area of the Politi tents. The light was intensified by Erline's magic until it was painful to look upon it from without. As an extra effect the ground started to smoke around the edges of the beam.
**NOW!**
[Kallin/Allenel]
<now>
They waited no longer. If Lanaera would not open the paths, Kallin would make his own, and the threads he spun <out> from Montfort sped from <here> to <there>, folding into <between> and sweeping all within their circle with it. The cold grey opened up, a gaping maw, and the mages spun themselves and all with them
<down>
into ice, and with an echo below the threshold of hearing, the circle snapped shut, and they were gone.
[Erline]
With a sigh of relief that those within were gone Erline finished his casting and everything that did not live was consumed in a flash of fire.
[Safford/Lewes/Rawn Markey]
Not Politi fire, Lewes could tell that from the surprised expression on Safford's face in the split second before the expanding air thrust them backwards, tumbling again as if another set of stampeding elephants had just passed by. The crowd, in the middle of a full-blown riot only moments before, seemed to have frozen in place, shocked into silence. And then the shouting started again ... only this time, in jubilation.
"Redeemer be praised!" Alan Cooper's oldest son cried, lifting one arm over a bruised and dirty face. "The witches have been struck down!" One after another, the remaining members of the mob picked up the cry, and before long the ruins of the tent city echoed with hosannahs to the Redeemer.
The next thing Jameson Lewes saw was the angry face of Rawn Markey as she yanked him to his feet with one solid jerk. "We should have come earlier this morning," she snarled. An already-swelling mark over one brow showed that Rawn herself had met with troubles in the crowd. She surveyed the celebrants with a distinct expression of disgust. "Fanatics. Give me a hurricane over zealotry any day."