to the stables
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 01:47:08 EST
author: teri, stana

Teri followed the footsteps of the grimy theif who forged the way out the
kitchen door and to the stables. She could have closed her eyes and
followed by stench alone- and Teri had the pleasure of being downwind of
him.
She hoped Stana was getting a heavy dose of the smell as well.

The endorphines had kicked in, it seemed- or at least, in the heat of the
moment she wasn't thinking about much else but running, hunched over,
hoping that no one decided to take a chop at her. She could hear the shouts
of
the men in the building, the crash of doors.

The winding path to the stables hadn't been neglected. She almost ran into
the thief as he stopped and shifted grip on his dirk. Stana unslung her bow
and let loose an arrow into one of the soldiers guarding the stable doors.
The sweet sound of the string filled the air, followed by the stacatto of
the
arrow hitting the soldier's shoulder and his sword slipping from his
suddenly
numb hand.

Stana cursed under her breath and re-nocked the arrow. She was pulling to
the
left again, dammit. Underneath those faceless steel helms, it was very easy
not to think of these things as people. That and the endless agony these
dark
studded troops were putting them all through.  She noted, however, that
there
were already bodies on the ground here, evidence that there had been
fighting
outside already.

Without a pause for breath, the wounded soldier scooped the sword up in his
left hand and  joined the other soldier. Letting out a shout over his
wounded
shoulder, the dark-clad man signaled to someone inside the stables.

A horrible scream filled the stableyard as a horse's throat was cut. The
soldiers in the dark leather barely winced as they moved to meet the thief's

sword. Stana felt her mouth dry out and felt an alien shudder run down her
back. Clip had heard that scream.

Teri bit her lip. She felt useless and horribly vulnerable. Her nerves were
shot, and she was floored by her own inertia. "Think, think," she repeated
over and over in her head. She had no weapons, much less knew how to
use  them. Her only power was muddied and raw from the night before. She
cursed her stupidity for drinking so much.

She closed her eyes and then opened them immediately. Closing one's eyes in
the middle of life-threatening danger was not the wisest of options. She
focused, feeling the heat of her frustration, frustration at herself and her

own helplessness, tingling at her fingertips.  She hated how Stana and the
thief had instinctively moved to shield her. She would not think of Shinji.

What could she do to help them? She saw, faintly, as if through a haze, the
cracks in Stana's spirit.  Even the faint coloring she was seeing made
Teri's
eyes water in pain. The willful blanking out of emotion that was carrying
Stana forward was flawed, earing in some places and gone altogether in
others. She could not just sense it, but see it in the too tight mouth and
eyes, the thin sheen of sweat on her face as she released another volley.

*Strength* Teri thought,  looking to the muscled man whose sword caught the
thief's in a flashing arc. *confidence*  she found her knees folding and she

knelt easily on the ground, warm palms against her thighs. *calm*,
*speed*...


She didn't know how much she was doing, but she tried to pull from the
night-shadowed men, pull and throw these things over the two, slight figures

before her.
She would have them, those threads, in her hands and they would slip, or
scratch her palms and she would let go. She needed to hold on to them, to
pull them free. What was fighting skill but a mindset, anyway?

Stana backed up again as Kal leapt forward, blocking a rush to get her. Over

her left shoulder there was an indignant equine howl as Clip erupted from
the
bordering trees, eyes flashing with fury and pain. Without hesitation he
flew
past them, impaling the soldier that had taken the equines' life. The force
of his blow brought the horn midway through the man's torso. Stana heard the

ribs snapping under the Alicorn, and blood erupted from the mans helm. Clip
snorted, lifting a hoof and using it to pry the corpse from him. The body
lay
forgotten as he twirled, launching himself at another.

"Here!" Stana turned, seeing Audion ride up with their mounts. Casting a
doubtful look at the still raging Unicorn, She mounted Agni, and pulled Teri

behind. The
girl gripped hard at her waist, as the Stallion wheeled expertly under the
guiding touch.

Stana thought hard for a moment, then dropped her hands, and the reigns in
them. Agni turned again, lashing out low with his back heels, catching the
man trying to sneak up. Another touch and he was cantering past the thief,
who caught the roferred mount. Stana whistled for Clip, and flicked the
reigns sharply.

But the others thundered past and she slowed, checking the impatient mount.
He chomped briefly on the bit, but obeyed, striding warily. Stana watched
carefully,
when she spotted a pair of ice-colored eyes gazing at her with a hungry
anger. Not just her, but Teri as well.

Without thinking, the bow slipped into her hands, and she nocked the shaft,
staring at that gaze. In it she saw a reflection of everything that she
hated, everything in life that was destructive and inherently evil. In it
she
saw a dim shadow of what she was becoming. As she released the string, the
bow singing sweetly in the
horror night air, she saw a look of acknowledgement in those shadowed eyes.

Then she was spurring Agni away, not knowing if she had missed, but not
doubting that her aim had been on mark.

**
Lieh bit a curse as the arrow slashed through the leather and skin of her
thigh. She ignored the pain and pulled the thin shaft from its home in the
earth. Turning sharply on one heel, she strode back to the common room.

"Burn it," she said, her eyes taking in the home that had given shelter to
the Chosen.
"And we move out," she finished, turning to leave the inn.  She would need
to
attend to her leg after they made camp. Her pale fist tightened around the
thin shaft of the Chosen's arrow; she stopped herself before it snapped.