It is by my order and for the good of the state that the bearer of this has
done what he has done.
- Richelieu
> Even here deep within the Tor they could hear the Storm outside.
> Followers of Orlanth exalted in the sheer fury of the Storm. Broyan
> and his followers had summoned every wind they could find to do
> battle with the Bat and the Storm that had resulted was immense.
> Lightning bolts, thunder blasts and driving rain were mixing with icy
> blasts of snow and sleet. Dry deserts blasts bearing stinging sand
> mixed with hail. Even the stone buildings were shaken. Followers of
> Ernalda and other gods were frightened or rendered near helpless by
> the Storm's sheer fury. Most had fled to the safety of Asrelia's
> Treasury but Scathach the Iron Shrew had collected all the people
> remaining who couldn't withstand the Storm's fury and led them to the
> relative safety of the caverns below the citadel. There they waited
> for the battle to be over. Some had voiced concerns over the
> stability of the Tor itself in such a Storm but Scathach had badgered
> those people into discussing other topics. The people sat and sang
> songs and waited. The grim warriors stood and felt useless since
> they could neither fly nor be flown over to the Bat like Broyan's
> warriors. There just hadn't been enough umbroli available to carry
> them all over. They had been adamant in insisting on some role but
> Broyan had finally silenced them with orders to protect the remaining
> non-combatants and defend the citadel should the Storm fail. This
> they had accepted though they loathed to miss the big battle. The
> Storm was mighty enough to drown out most of the Bat's screeching but
> enough could still be heard to make everyone uneasy and nervous.
> Many saw visions or imagined strange things. Meloise, Broyan's
> leman, was the first to notice the water though. At first she
> thought it was her imagination, the cavern walls often dripped with
> water but when her dress started getting soakedat the hem she
> realized that the water was much more than normal. She cupped some
> and tasted it. It was salt water.
>
> She turned to tell Scathach and the Humakti war leader but before she
> could speak she heard the sounds of magic and conflict. She craned
> her head to see what was going on. Two of the Humakti were engaged
> in battle with long tentacles that were snaking along the floor from
> deeper below the citadel. Their blades seemed to have little effect
> but then one of them changed his magics to a more effective kind and
> shouted out his discovery. "They're undead!" Soon the other
> warriors were engaged in battle as well as sea creatures or perhaps
> the ghosts of them started coming up the tunnel. The war leader
> called for a fighting retreat and they were forced higher up in the
> Tor. As they went the water steadily got deeper and Meloise wondered
> what was going on outside.
>
> Kagrada Rollasdotter urged her ewe higher into the sky. The sky rams
> were in their element. They stayed close together and manipulated
> the lightning to great effect. She had never seen so much lightning
> in one storm before. The mighty bolts they were controlling slammed
> into the Bat again and again and each time tentacles or eyes were
> blasted off or a priest or some other defender died. The wyver
> riders had tried to fly up to the Bat's defense but they couldn't
> stay in the sky. It took all the Ram Riders could do to stick
> together in the turbulent air. Broyan and his band had been on the
> Bat for some time now and the battle had raged all over the Bat. She
> couldn't see what they were doing but she hoped that they finished it
> off soon as time was running out. Too many of the Ram Riders had
> succumbed to a blast of chaos goo or had been sucked into one of the
> Bat's mouths. She chanced to look down and was shocked by what she
> saw. Down below the Tor was surrounded by a Sea. The waters even
> lapped at the new Lunar positions and she could see Lunars battling
> sea monsters, things that couldn't possibly still exist. The Lunar
> fortifications around the Tor had been long washed away. Then her
> attention was dragged back to the Bat. Broyan had done something to
> it and it was much smaller than it had been when it had attacked. It
> shrieked again, so loudly that it could be heard over the Storm and
> she had to cover her ears at the horrible sound. Her ewe fell from
> the sky in its terror and her fall was only stopped by the timely
> rescue of Ortossi Orlkarlmansson on his sky bull. She was horrified
> by the crazed look in his eyes though. He pointed at the citadel.
> She turned to look. The Bat was falling out of the sky! It fell and
> landed on the Beacon. The tall tower of ivory was driven up into the
> Bat's chest and it toppled over the wall of the Citadel taking the
> Beacon and part of the Wall with it. It tumbled down the Tor and
> landed in the Sea with a huge splash. It disappeared under the
> waves. Broyan and his band she saw circling safely in the sky though.
>
> Recovered somewhat Kagrada watched as the waves strained to tear the
> Tor down and do battle with the Storm. Slowly the Storm slowed
> though and as it slowed the Sea started receding. Slowly it drained
> back to whatever Hell it had come from and disappeared. It left
> every plant dead and the ground covered with salt though. Of the Bat
> there was no sign.
>
> Oliver
>
>
>
>
> 'Weni, Widi, Wiki.' I came, I saw, I added to the story.
>
> The WhiteWallWiki can be found at:
http://www.eparsnip.f2s.com/phpwiki/index.php?FrontPage
>
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