At the Top of the Stairs
Six flights of stairs up a dark staircase led into a different dusty hallway illuminated only by a small window at the far end of the room. Elayne looked around, seeming to be getting her bearings, as the female guide through the streets of the Rahad leaned in to give her advice. Several of Mat's soldiers lounged against the walls, keeping a sharp lookout for rats and other things that might not be as pleasant.
Kennedy was kind of eyerolly about the soldiers, but she'd managed to mostly keep that to herself so far. God, she missed her own clothes right about now; she had to keep reminding herself where exactly she'd hidden her knives. Which was to say in a bunch of non-usual places.
"Best sightseeing tour ever," she muttered--through her teeth, which did nothing to keep the sarcasm out of the words.
"You didn't have to come up," Elayne said with a little sniff. She promptly regretted that as dust went up her nose and sent her into a sneezing fit.
"Please excuse our lack of graciousness," Aravis commented tightly. "We're merely working off the precedent set for us."
Elayne gave both girls a rather flat look and adjusted skirts that needed no adjusting--her blue slashed yellow silk looked absolutely ridiculous in a building as ramshackle as this--and took a few steps towards a door that looked like it hadn't been opened in an Age.
Her attention was immediately captured by the sounds of heavy footfalls coming up a flight of stairs they had not taken.
"Probably Master Cauthon's rear guard coming to assist us," she said aloud, but prepared herself to embrace the Source.
The man who entered the hallway with a group of what looked like hired thugs was no one they had ever seen before, but he certainly didn't have a face that would be remembered. He was ordinary in every way except for how he focused like a hunting dog upon Elayne.
He moved faster than any human had a right to be, a smile upon his face as he closed in.
Elayne took on a look of intense concentration as she wove bands of Air as strong as steel and let them loose to wrap around the man in front of her.
She had a moment of goggle-eyed shock to register that the weaves had disappeared entirely before touching him and then she was thrown bodily across the length of the hallway to crash under the window with a sickening-sounding thud.
The man, still smiling, turned to face Kennedy, Aravis, and Mat's soldiers.
It wasn't just Mat's rear guard that had come in with crazy-fast guy, Kennedy realized, a split second before she registered the sound and shock of Elayne hitting the wall. She knew the feeling, and flinched in sympathy, but that was all she had time for before one of the thug-like guys rushed her, and she stepped in to crack him across the jaw with her elbow.
"Yo, Mat!" she bellowed as the guy doubled over, and she brought her knee up into his stomach, hard. "Some freaking backup would be nice here! Move your ass!"
Aravis, who had initially reeled in shock at Elayne's crash until she was forced into action, was using the butt of her scimitar on a man who'd come up behind her. "Mat, get up here now!" she screeched along with Kennedy, rolling out of the way. Not that she doubted Kennedy at all, but she knew she, personally, was too slight to take on anyone this huge without more backup.
Mat's soldiers reacted as quickly as they were able, but against the the gholam (for that's what he was), they were cut down like chaffs of wheat. Running out of soldiers to kill, he turned towards the girls and smiled.
"And something tells me this isn't good," Kennedy muttered through her teeth to Aravis, having dropped the guy she'd been dealing with. She was stubborn, but not unaware of a certain mismatch factor here.
Aravis' attention was on the fairly unremarkable man, and she was keeping her sword out before her even as she backed up. "No, not at all. Today, honestly, hasn't precisely been my favorite as it is."
The gholam moved closer, then struck out, lightning-fast, at Kennedy's right side.
If she'd had anything more than a couple of knives on hand, she might've had more of a chance, but-- kind of handicapped by fighting (as far as she could tell) humans here, and not wanting to make with the killy.
Either way the nondescript guy was way faster than Kennedy was prepared to react to. Dammit, that hurt, and she couldn't quite bite down on the yelp of surprise when pain shot up her side. On pure, unthinking instinct (and thinking fuzzily to herself that if there were vampires in this world and Mat hadn't mentioned that she was killing the hell out of him later, one way or another) she lashed out with the hilt of her knife toward the guy's temple. Or maybe his chin; her aim wasn't so great right now.
Because see above re: ow.
The knife was lodged squarely in the temple of the gholam. He reached up and pulled it out, showing absolutely no ill effects.
The blade was clean.
"That wasn't very nice."
Aravis felt like she might be sick as she watched this, but as Kennedy recovered, she lashed forward with her scimitar, aiming for the thing's midsection. One could not recover so easily when slit from navel to nose, which is what she was aiming for.
The blade penetrated cleanly, but it didn't feel like it was hitting anything solid like bone as it traveled.
With the scimitar still lodged in his body, the gholam reached out for Aravis's sword arm and twisted.
Aravis reeled over, her arm twisting easily in his grip as she let out a shriek of pain and dropped her sword.
She didn't understand why this was happening, or how, but the sharpness in her arm was taking her focus.
He followed the initial blow up with a kick to her knee.
And down she went, her knee collapsing under her as she dropped to the floor. She flailed out with her free leg, trying to disarm him somehow, still.
"Aravis!" barked Kennedy, who'd gone stumbling into a wall (a wall, again) and only just gotten her bearings back. She darted in, scooping up a fallen sword on her way, and-- any compunction about killing blows gone since he seemed to be shrugging them off anyway-- let out an incoherent yell as she came in hacking at the side of his neck.
The yell was probably not her best idea.
And in a move that was just not normal, the gholam turned his neck with the knife still in it and looked her in the eyes.
And then reached out with both hands to dislocate her arms.
It was his favorite trick.
Not normal. Also the furthest thing ever from non-creepy, which was about as effective as slamming right into an invisible wall at freezing Kennedy in her tracks.
This was going to hurt, wasn't it?
Quite a lot, yes, but at least they'd still be attached? Some of Mat's soldiers hadn't been quite that lucky.
There was a really discouraging "pop" noise just before the gholam let go of her arms, then kicked her in the stomach.
Aravis, sprawled on the floor, yelled a hoarse, "Kennedy!" and reached out to try and yank the creepy guy's leg with her good arm. She was disoriented and spinning -- at least, her vision was -- but she wasn't gone yet.
He looked down and laughed and kicked her with his other leg.
That probably wasn't going to help with the dizziness, huh?
Considering he got her squarely in the head? No. Not really. Nor with maintaining consciousness.
Yeah. The kick had knocked Kennedy sprawling yet again, and while she hadn't hit a wall this time it still hurt a hell of a lot.
And between that and the lovely new wave of pain that came from getting both shoulders popped out of their sockets at once (what the hell, creepy Jell-O guy)?
Being conscious was clearly not the in thing in this room.
[OOC: Adapted from A Crown of Swords. Thanks to the amazing brat_intraining and notqueenyet. No thanks at ALL to evil Michael Cera. NFI, NFB, OOC comments will be served pie.]
Kennedy was kind of eyerolly about the soldiers, but she'd managed to mostly keep that to herself so far. God, she missed her own clothes right about now; she had to keep reminding herself where exactly she'd hidden her knives. Which was to say in a bunch of non-usual places.
"Best sightseeing tour ever," she muttered--through her teeth, which did nothing to keep the sarcasm out of the words.
"You didn't have to come up," Elayne said with a little sniff. She promptly regretted that as dust went up her nose and sent her into a sneezing fit.
"Please excuse our lack of graciousness," Aravis commented tightly. "We're merely working off the precedent set for us."
Elayne gave both girls a rather flat look and adjusted skirts that needed no adjusting--her blue slashed yellow silk looked absolutely ridiculous in a building as ramshackle as this--and took a few steps towards a door that looked like it hadn't been opened in an Age.
Her attention was immediately captured by the sounds of heavy footfalls coming up a flight of stairs they had not taken.
"Probably Master Cauthon's rear guard coming to assist us," she said aloud, but prepared herself to embrace the Source.
The man who entered the hallway with a group of what looked like hired thugs was no one they had ever seen before, but he certainly didn't have a face that would be remembered. He was ordinary in every way except for how he focused like a hunting dog upon Elayne.
He moved faster than any human had a right to be, a smile upon his face as he closed in.
Elayne took on a look of intense concentration as she wove bands of Air as strong as steel and let them loose to wrap around the man in front of her.
She had a moment of goggle-eyed shock to register that the weaves had disappeared entirely before touching him and then she was thrown bodily across the length of the hallway to crash under the window with a sickening-sounding thud.
The man, still smiling, turned to face Kennedy, Aravis, and Mat's soldiers.
It wasn't just Mat's rear guard that had come in with crazy-fast guy, Kennedy realized, a split second before she registered the sound and shock of Elayne hitting the wall. She knew the feeling, and flinched in sympathy, but that was all she had time for before one of the thug-like guys rushed her, and she stepped in to crack him across the jaw with her elbow.
"Yo, Mat!" she bellowed as the guy doubled over, and she brought her knee up into his stomach, hard. "Some freaking backup would be nice here! Move your ass!"
Aravis, who had initially reeled in shock at Elayne's crash until she was forced into action, was using the butt of her scimitar on a man who'd come up behind her. "Mat, get up here now!" she screeched along with Kennedy, rolling out of the way. Not that she doubted Kennedy at all, but she knew she, personally, was too slight to take on anyone this huge without more backup.
Mat's soldiers reacted as quickly as they were able, but against the the gholam (for that's what he was), they were cut down like chaffs of wheat. Running out of soldiers to kill, he turned towards the girls and smiled.
"And something tells me this isn't good," Kennedy muttered through her teeth to Aravis, having dropped the guy she'd been dealing with. She was stubborn, but not unaware of a certain mismatch factor here.
Aravis' attention was on the fairly unremarkable man, and she was keeping her sword out before her even as she backed up. "No, not at all. Today, honestly, hasn't precisely been my favorite as it is."
The gholam moved closer, then struck out, lightning-fast, at Kennedy's right side.
If she'd had anything more than a couple of knives on hand, she might've had more of a chance, but-- kind of handicapped by fighting (as far as she could tell) humans here, and not wanting to make with the killy.
Either way the nondescript guy was way faster than Kennedy was prepared to react to. Dammit, that hurt, and she couldn't quite bite down on the yelp of surprise when pain shot up her side. On pure, unthinking instinct (and thinking fuzzily to herself that if there were vampires in this world and Mat hadn't mentioned that she was killing the hell out of him later, one way or another) she lashed out with the hilt of her knife toward the guy's temple. Or maybe his chin; her aim wasn't so great right now.
Because see above re: ow.
The knife was lodged squarely in the temple of the gholam. He reached up and pulled it out, showing absolutely no ill effects.
The blade was clean.
"That wasn't very nice."
Aravis felt like she might be sick as she watched this, but as Kennedy recovered, she lashed forward with her scimitar, aiming for the thing's midsection. One could not recover so easily when slit from navel to nose, which is what she was aiming for.
The blade penetrated cleanly, but it didn't feel like it was hitting anything solid like bone as it traveled.
With the scimitar still lodged in his body, the gholam reached out for Aravis's sword arm and twisted.
Aravis reeled over, her arm twisting easily in his grip as she let out a shriek of pain and dropped her sword.
She didn't understand why this was happening, or how, but the sharpness in her arm was taking her focus.
He followed the initial blow up with a kick to her knee.
And down she went, her knee collapsing under her as she dropped to the floor. She flailed out with her free leg, trying to disarm him somehow, still.
"Aravis!" barked Kennedy, who'd gone stumbling into a wall (a wall, again) and only just gotten her bearings back. She darted in, scooping up a fallen sword on her way, and-- any compunction about killing blows gone since he seemed to be shrugging them off anyway-- let out an incoherent yell as she came in hacking at the side of his neck.
The yell was probably not her best idea.
And in a move that was just not normal, the gholam turned his neck with the knife still in it and looked her in the eyes.
And then reached out with both hands to dislocate her arms.
It was his favorite trick.
Not normal. Also the furthest thing ever from non-creepy, which was about as effective as slamming right into an invisible wall at freezing Kennedy in her tracks.
This was going to hurt, wasn't it?
Quite a lot, yes, but at least they'd still be attached? Some of Mat's soldiers hadn't been quite that lucky.
There was a really discouraging "pop" noise just before the gholam let go of her arms, then kicked her in the stomach.
Aravis, sprawled on the floor, yelled a hoarse, "Kennedy!" and reached out to try and yank the creepy guy's leg with her good arm. She was disoriented and spinning -- at least, her vision was -- but she wasn't gone yet.
He looked down and laughed and kicked her with his other leg.
That probably wasn't going to help with the dizziness, huh?
Considering he got her squarely in the head? No. Not really. Nor with maintaining consciousness.
Yeah. The kick had knocked Kennedy sprawling yet again, and while she hadn't hit a wall this time it still hurt a hell of a lot.
And between that and the lovely new wave of pain that came from getting both shoulders popped out of their sockets at once (what the hell, creepy Jell-O guy)?
Being conscious was clearly not the in thing in this room.
[OOC: Adapted from A Crown of Swords. Thanks to the amazing brat_intraining and notqueenyet. No thanks at ALL to evil Michael Cera. NFI, NFB, OOC comments will be served pie.]