Xilanada - The Four Fold Dissonance/Part 4

A powerful, reverberating blow to the front doors made Xilanada jump, and Sen stepped in between her and the entrance. He watched it carefully and sighed with some regret that their dinner was being ruined like this. He had hoped they would be safe if they remained here, but it looked like that was not going to be possible.

Time to escape, then.

"Come with me, Xilanada," he spoke urgently. "Let's see if we can get out through the kitchens."

"I'll follow you, Sen," she said, and he wondered if she was more calm than he was. Sen reminded himself that there was nothing to worry about here. He was a Dragon-Blooded, one of the Princes of the Earth, and a petty riot however large in scale was not a danger to him, nor to those he protected.

The building shook several more times as they sped through corridors crowded with guests and servants. In moments, they merged into a stream of people, all with evidentially the same idea. As the crowd slowed, Sen cursed under his breath and pulled Xilanada into an adjoining dining room. He waved away the wealthy Guild merchant and his prostitute who were leaping back in their seats.

"We're not going to be able to escape through the kitchens. Too many people already, it'll draw too much attention from whoever's outside. We have to go through the window. Can you climb?"

"I can try," Xilanada said confidently. The tone of her voice was good, but ruined somewhat by the beads of sweat on her forehead and the edges of fatigue tugging at her beautiful face. Sen shook his head, remembering how sick she was.

"How about you simply hold on?" He reached out, offering her his hand, inviting her to take it. Her visage turned warmer, more intimate, and Sen felt his own pulse speed. Amazing, the effect she had on him. Was she using a Charm? Or was it really love? Sen had only been in love once before. But this was how he remembered it feeling.

"Climb on my back, put your legs around my waist and your arms around my chest. Hold tightly. And don't let go." It was a little awkward with the golden dress, but at last she managed. For such a small woman, she seemed to weigh even less than he expected. Through their clothes, her body seemed to scorch his back like a wildfire and it was only with effort that he pushed aside the feeling of her shapely legs around him, the two points of her breasts pressing into his back, the sweet heat of her breath on his neck.

"I'm ready," she whispered in his ear.

"Step back," he advised the merchant and his whore. Nimbly, Sen hopped onto the table, toed his way past the dishes and kicked the wooden slated window frame out. Below them surged the Yellow River, wide and spacious. From here, he couldn't see the conflict on the docks, but he could hear the sound of it, far greater than it should have been in Nexus itself.

"Hold tight, Lana," he urged and his legs crouched as he gathered himself. This was a tricky maneuver he was going to try, even if he were alone. But his Charms should get him by, he hoped.

Two steps and he launched himself out the window. As he gained elevation, he rolled backward even he skillfully manipulated his Essence. Fire exploded forth from his feet, lending him impossible grace as he kicked off the air itself, ascending still further.

The flames died out at once when his booted feet landed on the roof of the Vermilion Wave Upon Paper.

"Don't let go," he said, and he sprinted across the roof, leaving footprints of flickering fire behind as Essence pushed him to Exalted speeds. They crossed the entirety of the restaurant in ten seconds and Sen paused at the edge, looking down and smirked wryly at the spectacle before him.

Everywhere, there was turmoil. The mercenaries were plain in their lamellar armor and short blades all striking in unison. What was less clear was the opposition, who seemed to vary in clothing and weaponry, from the dirt-poor with a broken table leg to a well-off chainmail girded warrior with his guard of ten fighters clad in plate-and-chain.

Some people were down on the ground, bleeding or dead. More were cowering in terror behind one stall or another. Some were being dragged away by the ragtag band of attackers. By Hesiesh, what was going on here?

The truly unlucky part of this situation was that the restaurant was far too far away for him to jump to another building. They could try to swim the river, but with Xilanada's condition, he wasn't confident that she would survive the experience. The water was hardly clean, thanks to the thousands of Nexus' industries that dumped their waste into it.

Not that her taking a sword to the stomach would be healthy either.

Xilanada's body trembled against his, but her voice was steady. "Go ahead, Sen. If you think we can make it to the ground, let's chance it. It looks like they've already broken in. Unless you think we can hide here."

"I don't know how safe the rooftop is. I already see some arrows about." Sen answered. The truth was that he didn't want to hide. Not with her. Sen was a master at the art of evasion and concealment but, just this once, he wanted to do the heroic thing. He wanted to protect her and rescue her, not cower in a corner somewhere, waiting for all the mortals to finish fighting. He was a Prince of the Earth, by Mela!

"I trust you," she said and Sen's heart felt like it grew inside him, cementing his decision. He wanted to look good in her eyes, to fulfill that trust. And he would.

"Here we go," he said and he leapt from the building. It took more of his Essence to land without harm and then he was running, leaving the flame behind him. The heat of spent Essence warmed his skin, welcoming and warning. He had some power yet before his Anima burned to life like an aura, the result of channeling too much Essence. But he only had to get her to safety.

And so Sen ran, and he was excellent indeed as he twisted and turned past soldiers grappling, weapons being swung, bodies falling and pools of blood that threatened to betray a foot looking for steady purchase.

The sound was deafening. Repeatedly, Sen's reflexes were the only thing that saved them and, at times, a swift kick had been needed to open up a hole between the crowds of combatants. Sen had been trained to fight as a Dynast but he had never served in the military, and this level of real melee seemed the more unreal for it.

Perhaps that excused his inattention, but Sen was still shocked when he felt the sudden lift of weight from his back. He spun at once, braking with a heel, only to see Xilanada disappear into the crowd, carried away by several of the attackers.

"Damn you, let her go!" he roared and moved after her. At once, two men drew blades against him. Crimson Laughter, his red jade knife up his sleeve, fell easily into his hand. In one heartbeat, he was inside their reach, and in another heartbeat, the second was grasping their slit throat even as the first fell to the ground from a severed windpipe.

More interposed themselves and more died as Sen's hand dipped into the bundle of throwing stars he kept. The wicked steel would be mostly stopped by leather and was no use against lamellar but these were lightly armored. His stars struck under their chins to deal killing blows, or into gloved hands to cripple their fighting arm. He was Tepet Ajalat Sen, Dynast and Scion of the House Tepet, and these men were kindling to be consumed by his flame.

But despite his knife and his stars, when the path lay clear, Xilanada was gone. Vanished.

A white hand grasped his shoulder and turned him around with unbelievable strength. Sen reacted without thought and three times Crimson Laughter stabbed into the slender woman who had accosted him. His mouth opened in horror, an apology on his lips as she fell back, blood flowing from those wounds to stain the white tunic she wore. Until he saw the blood stop and the woman straighten. She coughed once, grimaced, and wiped her mouth.

Then her eyes met his and held him with a coldly burning green serpentine hate.

"You're faster than I thought. I won't make the mistake again. Raise your knife against me and I'll use your entrails to find the woman I'm looking for!" Her voice was sweetly tuneful, full of a natural vibrato that marked a legendary singer. It seemed a crime against Creation that such a voice could be used to deliver words so cruel.

"I don't have time for this," he growled, shaking off the instinctive dread she seemed to inspire. "Who are you?"

"I am Solitary Coil. And I am looking for the woman whose scent is all over you. ...ALL over you." The words, and their implication, seemed to enrage her even as the assumption annoyed Sen.

"I don't know who you're talking about, but I've only had the company of one lady tonight and we were hardly intimate."

"Fool lizard-blood," she sneered. The strange but derogatory term for one of his esteemed bloodline, something never ever voiced to a Prince of the Earth, filled him at once with a murderous hate. "Where is she?"

"I don't know what you are," Sen seethed. "But you'll have to pass me to find her. I won't let her be endangered by...whatever you are."

"I won't harm her. How could I harm her?" And though this Solitary Coil in her bloody tunic seemed terrifying, Sen thought he heard a note of sadness slip into that harmonious voice. "You don't know how long I've been looking for her. I have to find her, little man," and again her tone grew menacing. "And if I have to get through you to get to her...than that is what I will do."

Crimson Laughter came up as Sen raised his hand. But the crushing grips that seized each of his arms were entirely unexpected and Sen cried out in alarm as he felt more powerful hands grabbing his legs and lifting him from the ground. He looked and looked, and could see no attacker. Spirits?

And then the faint waft of old blood accompanied by a lingering stench tripped the memory in his mind. The Erymanthus', the Blood Apes. Demons!

"Word of advice, little Prince," she said solemnly, and Sen felt his skin crawl at seeing the frenzy that lurked beyond that pale, perfect demeanor. "Leave the woman alone, for your sake as well. Aspiring to one of her station...well, you can no sooner reach her than you can the Sun. And it's a long way to fall when you fail."

Just as fast as she stopped speaking, Sen found himself flung through the air. He tumbled head over feet, over and over, and he rolled, trying to reestablish his balance. He only just managed it when he slammed into the river.