IceAndWave/Retrieval
Retrieval
In which tales are told, capabilities are shown, and a promise is kept...
The 10th Day of Resplendent Air, Realm Year 764
The wounded Diamond has a hunted look in her eyes, her head switching back and forth and starting at even the slightest shadow. The Iceflower Palace, looming large just ahead, should be, Sian feels, a safe place for her to reside for a few days before he can find somewhere better for her to rest and recuperate.
Sian wishes he could do something to reassure or calm her, but touching her would just make it worse.
The guards nod to Sian and move aside to let him pass, but the clatter of their armour makes Diamond jump behind Cassia, somewhat to the young Dragon-Blood's embarassment. She turns, a little owl-like to watch Diamond as she ducks behind. "It's okay... It's okay."
She settles down a little, but remains jumpy as the trio enter Asura's chambers. Perhaps surprisingly she is clothed and apparently engaged in the business of running the kingdom, but she doesn't appear put out by the arrival of the guests, smiling broadly, "Cassia and Sian, how nice to see you." She looks over Cassia's shoulder, "And this is...?"
"Hello, Asura." Cassia steps up to her side to give her a kiss in greeting "This is Diamond."
Asura nods, "Oh. She seems a little... jumpy." She looks at Sian, "Is there any particular reason she's here?"
Sian nods slightly. "I'd like you to take care of her for me. Give her a room, guards."
Asura blinks and frowns slightly, "Sian, I like you a lot, but there are plenty of inns and hostels in the city."
"There are, but none protected as well as your palace."
"Ah. Hence the jumpiness, I take it?" she nods slightly, "Very well, but you owe me something in return..." She lifts an eyebrow archly.
Sian does likewise. "Such as?"
"I haven't decided. Don't worry, it won't be anything dangerous or that would cause friction between you and your lady-love."
"Mm, agreed." He turns back to Diamond, and gestures her forward a little. "You'll be safe here, for now."
Cassia whispers in Asura's ear, "Be careful. The Dead are after her."
Asura starts at Cassia's warning, her eyes wide for a moment before she regains control. "Sneaky Sian. I shall ask for more," she whispers in return, and then gestures for a servant to take Diamond away. "Don't worry, dear," she says, "You're safer here than almost anywhere."
"Thank you." Sian bows slightly to the satrap.
Asura bows in return, "Can I interest you in a meal or some diversions?" The slightly self-mocking tone suggests she already knows the answer.
"Sadly, we will be leaving Tideholme in the near future, so preparations must be made. But perhaps when we return."
"Of course," she nods again, "I eagerly await your return, as always." Exactly who that last remark was addressed to is unclear.
Cassia kisses her lips, "Good bye, Asura."
The kiss is happily returned, "I'll still be here." She strokes Cassia's face softly and returns to her work, a pair of slaves ushering the two Exalts out.
Sian stretches a little as they exit the palace. "Hope Diamond'll be okay."
Cassia nods a little, privately a little more worried about Asura.
Sian looks over at her. "Do you have anyone else to see before we go? Things to do?"
Cassia shakes her head, "Nothing much."
"Then we'll go in the morning, if you like."
Cassia nods, "See you tomorrow morning then."
"See you." He waves, and starts off towards his inn.
Cassia waves, and vanishes into the crowds, returning to her small apartment.
The next morning is marked by the first major storm of the year. Black clouds washed in overnight, and icy rain drenches the streets and houses, forming a hundred waterfalls from overfull gutters. It is a harsh rain, that soaks through clothes and into skin in moments, and leaves Cassia, Aia and, to a lesser extent, Sian, feeling somewhat miserable.
Cassia is miserable for other reasons too, the night she spent alone highlighting just how much she missed Amber, so it is slightly bedraggled and upset Cassia that knocks on Sian's door.
Sian offers her a thicker coat, but was just on his way out, pack and Aia in tow.
Cassia shakes her head, "No ... thank you."
Sian nods slightly. "We'll be going by jikondo again, so that will warm you up a little. Come on." He wanders off towards the outskirts of the city. After having trudged along, through rain that fills the air with a constant roar, to the gates of the city, the three travellers leave the main east road just beyond the walls. Setting up an oilskin shelter, Sian beckons for the girls to get underneath it while he, "asks for help from an elemental."
"Oh, Jikondo." Cassia smiles alittle at that, climbing under the shelter with Aia, looking out into the rain.
Sian spends some time out in the rain, intoning in ancient languages and making arcane gestures. The appearance of the Jikondo is as dramatic as before, a ball of fire bursting through the low clouds, leaving a trail of steam in the air as it arrows towards it's summoner, before settling down for its would-be passengers.
Sian makes the proper gestures, speaks the proper phrases, and has soon worked out a deal with the snake. He gestures to the women to board.
Cassia stands, then helps Aia up and runs towards the flames, the sight of the impressive elemental brighting her spirits somewhat
The serpent accepts its burden gracefully, the aura of fire that surrounds it keeping its passengers dry and warm as it shoots into the sky. Lightning arcs through the cloud as the Jikondo passes through it, cackling arc-birds skirting dangerously close to the more powerful spirit before it bursts out of the top of the clouds and into bright sunshine.
Sian sighs contentedly at that, the water draining away from his clothing and turning to steam as it hits the elemental's wings.
Cassia looks about her, the blues lifting from her in the sunlight.
The hills and valleys of the dark clouds below pass behind quickly, the elemental using its prodigious speed to travel in the direction given to it by Sian, who occasionally checks the Star to make sure that it is correct. He checks for both Venia and Oriel, frowning with worry as the Star indicates them still being together.
Cassia spends her time alternately marvelling at the view, and wishing Amber was here to see it with her.
The sun sketches it long arc across the sky, and it is well past its zenith and heading for the western horizon by the time the elemental dives back down through the murky clouds below. The passage is less dramatic this time, but the Jikondo deposits its burden outside the rain-soaked city of Cherak as requested before departing back into the skies.
Sian steps off, helps Aia down and then rests his eyes on the Star as he moves it back and forth, trying to get a better idea of their location. Gyren's Star continues to say that Venia is somewhere within the city of Cherak, the giant ruby suggesting that she and Oriel are somewhere fairly close by.
Cassia climbs down, watching it go, a little forlornly.
Sian barely notices Cassia, just sort of gesturing to her and Aia to follow as he heads in the direction the Star indicates.
Four guards, miserable in the drenched evening murk, step out of their posts as the three approach. "State your business," one says in a tired voice.
Sian looks up at this. "Simply visiting."
"Are you carrying any heretical materials or other contraband? If you are hand it over, so you don't get fined when you're inside."
"No, nothing. Just food and clothes."
"OK. Well, welcome to Cherak. There are inns and hostelries close by. Don't cause trouble." The sergeant waves his men back into their posts.
Sian nods to the women, and into the city they go.
Cassia follows, looking around the new city.
Cherak seems, from both Exalted's brief exposure to the Realm, to try to ape its archectural style. Wide streets and tiled roofs abound, but there is a refinement lacking from the design here that was subtly everpresent in Othakaar. Unsurprisingly, foot traffic is minimal, the torrential rain keeping everyone indoors who doesn't have a good reason to be outside. And with this weather it is hard to think of a good reason.
Sian pockets the Star, and pulls up the collar of his jacket. "Let's find a place to stay, first, then we can go out after Venia."
Cassia nods, looking around for anywhere that looks inn like and open.
One building, hopefully calling itself the Chrysanthemum Rose, is both close-by and, judging from the light and sound that emit tantalisingly from its shutters, at least halfway decent. Inside, the heat from several fireplaces is ferocious, and the three travellers are soon surrounded in a small cloud of fog.
Sian wipes a bit of moisture away from his clothing before finding the owner and asking for a pair of room.
Cassia looks around the occupants of the main room while she does, drifting over to the fire.
The Chrysanthemum Rose's customers seem to be of the lower classes, as witnessed by their crude laughter and dirty jokes. Cassia draws a few eyes, but they soon return to gossip and rumour, while Sian's efforts to find a pair of rooms are successful. He even manages to get some hot mulled wine and a meal.
Sian is rather pleased with this. Remembers for next time he visits.
Cassia's clothes are essentially dry in a few minutes, the heat from the fire blasting out at a nearly intolerable temperature - for someone who isn't a Fire-aspected Dragon-Blood. She luxuriates in the heat, and in the appearance of the flames.
Food arrives on steaming plates, while a large clay pitcher makes a welcome appearance shortly after, placed on the table by somewhat attractive waitresses, who then disappear to perform their other duties. A loud, and crude laugh from the closest table spoils the somewhat pleasant mood that the appearance of sustenance had created.
Sian gives them an irked look, but settles into his meal and drink, finding it rather delicious.
Cassia eats her food, and looks at the flames.
Another laugh from the table is capped by an swarthy man with black hair chuckling, "Nah, you were right, Dor. She were expensive, but worth it. Shame they have to keep her chained, mind..."
Dor, presumably, replies, "If she weren't chained she'd have eaten your balls, Kug. Them Dynasts are fucking scary."
Sian lifts his eyebrow at the crudeness. He is trying to eat.
Cassia makes a little face.
Kug answers back, "She didn't look that scary to me, leastways not when I was fucking her." He laughs crudely again, "Wish I had another half obol to spare. Wouldn't mind having her again..." He gets up from the table at that, and heads back to the bar.
Sian continues to eat his food for a moment, before frowning slightly, and pausing. "Cassia, did that man say it was a Dynast?" He looks up at her, a horrible possibility hitting him, reinforced by his knowledge of her closeness to Oriel.
Cassia nods, then looks horrified. "...you think?"
"I hope not, but if she is..." They look at each other for a moment, before he pushes his chair back, going after the man.
Kug is busy drinking from a rough cup of cheap beer, uncaring that about a third of it appears to have spilled into his beard.
Sian wanders up beside him, not sitting. "Kug, was it?"
"Yeah," he belches after putting his cup down, "Whatcha want?"
"I couldn't help but overhear... you were talking about a Dynast woman?"
Cassia lets her magic filter out all the intervening bodies, listening.
"I was? Oh yeah, over at Korr's," his dark eyes light at the memory, "Pretty thing. He says she's a Dynast, and you can have her for half an obol."
"What did she look like?"
"Pretty, dark hair," he visibly thinks, "I weren't looking at her face, you know?" There is a crude chuckle, "She's got this tattoo on her leg, I saw it while I saw seeing to her."
"A snake tattoo?" His voice is a bit quieter.
"Yeah! That was it, this long snake running down her leg," Kug looks around, "How'd you know that?"
"Just a guess." He closes his eyes for a moment. "Where's this 'Korr's'?"
"Head across the city from here til you get to a plaza with a busted fountain. Go down the hill from there, you'll see it soon enough. Korr's Fuckery, big sign and everything."
Sian nods slightly. "Thank you for your time." He wanders back Cassia and Aia, not looking very well at all.
Cassia doesn't look well, either.
Sian sits quietly. "And Oriel is there too..." He sighs a little, and looks to Aia. "You mind staying here, look after the rooms? We need to go get her, and I... I don't want you to have to go to a place like that."
Aia looks up at Sian's face, sees something there she hasn't seen in a long while, and nods. "I will. Please... be careful."
Sian gives her a kiss on the forehead. "Thanks. I will." He looks to Cassia. "We should go."
Cassia looks up, and her eyes glimmer, despite the fact she's looking away from the flames now. She nods.
Sian rises, and heads out, not wanting it to be true and Cassia follows him out.
The weather has, if anything, gotten worse. Lightning dances across the sky, occasionally striking the ground with a flash that renders the world in black and white followed by loud and rolling thunder. There are no other pedestrians about, but visibility is almost zero now that the sun has set.
Sian follows the man's directions towards the whorehouse, pulling his coat around him a bit tighter.
Cassia walks close to Sian, the rain hitting her clothing though not wetting it.
Following the directions the two finally come to a large three-storey building, the big sign in front proudly proclaiming it as 'Korr's Fuckery', with crude outline drawings around it for the illiterate. The two enter with heavy hearts...
First impressions once inside the whorehouse are not favourable. Cheap wooden walls don't even attempt to mask the moans and grunts of the patrons, nor the occasional whimper of the workers. A short ugly woman, who was never pretty even in her prime, looks up at the two new arrivals from behind the counter, before saying in a bored and scratchy voice, "Got anyone in particular you want, or do you just wanna quick fuck?"
Cassia keeps the look of disgust from her face, "We heard you had someone rather special here..."
"The Dynast? Yeah, you can have her for a half obol," she looks more closely at Cassia, "We don't normally get girls for her..."
"Well..." Cassia gives her best, rather devilish smile, letting some of the disgust she feels for the place filter through as she flips the half obol piece.
Sian broods silently in the background while this occurs.
A crab-like hand snatches the coin out of the air, and the ugly woman gestures with her head, "Up the stairs. Follow the signs. Be quick, she's popular." She turns to the other visitor, "What do you want? If you're here for the Dynast, well, she's gonna be a bit loose by now..."
"I'm here to see the owner. Korr."
"Yeah? Whatcha got to see him about?"
"Business."
Cassia follows the signs, moving quickly but taking note of who is where along the way. She walks down narrow corridors of poorly fitted timber planks. Gaps in the walls grant fleeting access to sights worthy of a chamber of horrors, the undernourished and maltreated "workers" of the whorehouse obviously little more than slaves as they are abused for pennies.
Cassia keeps her face with a thin smile on it, trying to keep her hands from straying to the place her daggers are concealed. She walks alittle faster.
The woman squints at Sian, "Selling or buying?"
"Neither. Just take me to him." He stares down at her, obviously not in the mood for this.
"OK, OK," she hops down from her chair - shorter on her feet than she was sitting down. She waddles off, "Follow me. You'll likely have to wait. Just got some new whores in."
"Mmf." He does so, a single footstep for every three of hers.
The thunderous noise of rain on cheap glass tries to distract Venia from the drooling drunkard currently sodomising her. It fails at this task, leaving her staring out of a dark window at pitch black sky.
Venia idly chews on her gag, wishing she'd had the patience to wait. She wouldn't have missed the artery on this bastard... though waiting all night with a dead drunk atop her is almost as unpleasant as her normal working hours.
Cassia follows the signs, eventually running into a queue, six strong and all obviously waiting their turn. Faint wet sounds emanate from the room ahead, the flickering light of a lantern shining through the ajar door and granting a fairly explicit shadowplay of events transpiring within.
Cassia walks right past them, letting a little essence seep into her skin, making flames dance within her, eyes black like opals.
"Oi!" one of the men barks at Cassia, "Get back in the queue, little girl."
"No," she says with a simple smile on her face, letting everything she feels for this place and its 'patrons' fill her face. "Do you have a problem with that?" small wisps of smoke bubble off her.
The ugly woman leads Sian down a corridor, ringing with pained squeals and yelps that come from the rooms on either side of the thin walls. The ugly woman knocks on the door and sticks her head through, pulling it to shortly afterwards, "You'll have to wait. He's inspecting." She waddles back down the corridor, leaving Sian alone except for a small stool that has seen better decades and has several unidentifiable stains on it.
Sian nudges the chair out of the way with his foot, and leans back against the wall, not happy with this in the least.
Sian hears a loud yelp of pain through the door, followed by a pleading voice saying, "No. Please don't..." An ugly voice replies unintelligibly, combined with the hard sound of fist meeting face. His eyes flare at this, and he whirls on the door, kicking it open without even thinking.
The drunkard groans hard, a long string of drool puddling on her belly, and he extricates himself before failing to pull his pants on three times. He staggers out of the room and into the corridor outside. He belches hugely, his pants fall down again, and then he collapses to the floor.
Venia vaguely wishes she had names, or at least Cassia's memory, as she tries to decide whether or not it's even worth hunting him down and killing him.
The queuing people look Cassia up and down, eyes wide but not moving, "A Dynast come to fuck the Dynast, eh?" her previous interlocutor says.
"Yes, I know her from before." she keeps the same expression on her face, "I came to see her specially," the smile lifts a little.
"Really?" his gaze turns sly, "OK, we'll let you through if you show us a little of what you've got, eh? Otherwise, the line's behind me."
The door shatters beneath Sian's boot, presenting him with a horrible scene. An ugly, swarthy man (presumably Korr) essentially raping a gagged and naked girl who is bent over his desk, while another girl struggles in the grip of a burly guard - her left eye bruised bloody. A quick glance reveals the kinship between the two girls, sisters.
Sian's tone is cold enough to freeze half the South. "Let them go."
Korr looks up, his face angry, "Who the fuck are you? Didn't Marta tell you to wait? Get out of here, you fuck!"
Sian stares at them for a moment, before slowly and carefully unbuttoning his jacket, placing it over the edge of a nearby chair. He repeats the action with his shirt, leaving him barechested. "I said, let them go."
Korr rolls his eyes, "Deal with this fuck, will you?" he says to the guard, who drops the crying girl to the floor. She whimpers, "Help us, please," to Sian. Korr, meanwhile, has disengaged himself from his latest purchase.
Venia hears what could be a familiar voice outside her hell-room. Something about the tone...
Considering the last familiar voice turned out to be such a wonderful visit, she hardly reacts beyond trying again to spit out her gag, tugging on the chains weaker than ever.
Cassia rolls her eyes, doing her best disdainful Asura look, then unbuttons her blouse, letting it hang open.
The men in the queue eye Cassia appreciatively, one of them rubbing his crotch. "Nice," says the talkative one, "You can go on in. Just don't be too long, I've been saving for weeks to get my chance with her."
Oh, you'll have your chance, Cassia thinks as she turns from them and walks into the room with Venia, kicking the door shut behind her then moving over to the bed, trying not to take in the sight before her eyes.
Venia is a mess. Weeks of abuse and malnourishment have left their mark, her wrists and ankles are red raw from the manacles, and there are the pale outlines of bruises on top of bruises all over her body.
Cassia bites her lip to stop herself from crying out at the sight of it, striding over to the bed. "Venia..." she whispers softly.
Venia just continues to weakly tug, trying not to pay attention to the newest vistor, who is surely here to inflict pain and suffering like all the others. She turns blank, soulless eyes towards the sound of the voice, wondering who it is this time... maybe Asura, for a final triumph.
Cassia lets the fire fade from her face, letting all that fade away, feeling it all drained as she sees the empty eyes, "Venia...what have they done to you..." she reaches towards her face, to remove the gag.
Sian just closes his eyes, murmuring words under his breath, small wisps of essence falling from his lips and coiling around his torso. They seem to pause in their motion, three rings of green energy wrapped around him, before sinking into his skin. A second of stillness, before bark spreads over his skin, three new pairs of arms emerging wherever the rings sank in.
"Dragonshit!" Korr swears, kicking the girl off the desk, "Get him, you lazy-ass fuck!" he yells at the guard, "What do I pay you for, anyway?" He backs away, while the large guard, a mixture of stupidity and fear in his face, moves up.
Sian methodically cracks the knuckles of each pair of hands, bottom to top.
The guard, his eyes wide, starts at every crack, the short blade in his hand shaking. The girl on the floor, leaps forwards and grabs his ankle suddenly, throwing him off balance for a moment.
Sian takes one step in, and a trio of right fists connect with the man's torso, before a fourth catches him under the chin and knocks him into the wall beyond the desk.
The guard slumps against the wall, blood running from his mouth and nose. The girls cry with relief, the older one having taken the gag from her sister's mouth, "Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyou..." they cry.
Sian shhs them gently, a hand passing each one a shirt or jacket. "I need you to do something for me, okay?"
The two girls nod frantically, pulling the clothes on in a vain attempt to cover themselves, and shrinking back from the bonfire of Essence that surrounds Sian. "Wh... what do you need?" the older one says.
"I'm going to put at stop to this, to this place. I'll need you to follow after me and help the other girls, okay? I... can't touch them." He indicates the anima.
They nod again, and the younger one, her face cut from being pushed hard on the desk, says, "What about the guards?"
"I'll deal with them. So can you do that for me?"
"Yes," the older girl says, standing up, "We can." She looks around then, gasping, "He's gone!"
"He will be soon." He stands, finding the door Korr left through. "Let's go."
Venia blinks slowly, a strange mix of relief and horror in her face. To be found like this... She shakes her head as the gag is removed, voice raw and cracked. "Everything they could think of..." She retches. "Luckily, they are not so clever. The collar, please...."
"I..." Cassia realises she doesn't know what to say and she looks at the collar, pulling strips of metal from under her sleaves, starting to work on the lock.
Cassia's hands drift over Venia's body going for the 4 locks on her limbs, the locks opening with barely any effort on Cassia's part. The collar, too, clicks open after a few seconds, and for the first time in weeks Venia feels the Essence that she never even knew was there, filling her, rushing through every pore, filling the room with the smell of almonds.
Venia cries in relief, body wracked as she actually starts to laugh. Her fingers shakily remove the chains from the bed posts, wrapping the ends around her wrists as she tests the weight of them. "Oriel's here... she's been taking care of me. No Gosul, the soul-rotted bastard, but the owner... the guards... that ham-handed pig of a piercer..." She looks over to Cassia. "I want this place in ashes when we're done. Do you understand?"
"...Gosul?!" Cassia exclaims, surprised before she catches sight of the look in Venia's eyes and nods, "It will burn."
The door leads down a narrow passageway, obviously an escape route for the loathesome Korr. The passage opens out into a large open room which is, essentially, a stable where the whores are kept when they aren't working. A dozen or more girls are up and agitated as Sian's footsteps leave little swirling patterns of wreckage on the wooden floors.
Sian grimaces at this, but keeps his anger forced down, turning to the first two girls. "Help them."
The girls rush past Sian, skirting the edge of his anima, and whispering to all of the whores that they see. They gather in numbers, and soon a whole crowd of skeletally-thin slave-whores is gathered around the raging Dragon-Blood.
Sian turns to one of them. "Where did Korr go?"
"Um... he went down there..." she points into the shadows, "I think. We were asleep."
"It's okay. I'll find him. Now all of you, keep back..."
The girls back away from the scary eight-armed Dragon-Blood.
"Good. Now, I won't be much help... that collar drained all my essence, abomination that it is..." She hefts it thoughtfully. "But I can still handle a few mortals. Clear the hallway for me? We have people to rescue, and animals to kill."
The slivers of metal disappear up Cassia's sleeves, her jade dagger and a steel one replacing them as she goes over to the door, opening it. The queueing men outside perk up as the door opens. "Finally!" the loud one's voice is heard, "You've got nice tits, but you took your time in there."
Cassia smiles at him apologetically, then her hands flash one opening his throat in spray of red, the other slicing across his stomach, sending him sprawling onto the other men in the small corridor.
"Whu...?" the first man dies on that syllable, and the remaining customers realise their immediately fatal plight and turn tail.
Venia claps approvingly, slapping a hand out to momentarily caress a fleeing man's face before driving a finger in through his eye socket and slamming his head into the door frame twice. She drops him, and flicks the mess off her finger. "I feel better already."
Cassia looks at her worriedly, but nods, moving through the passageway to the first door, pushing it open. Inside a girl, younger than Cassia by a brace of years, is being harshly used by a man who weighs four times what she does. His huge hands pull at her hair, arching her back up while he pumps into her. Neither one notices the intrusion.
Cassia jabs him the side to make him release her hair, pushing him off and away from her.
Venia is almost as quick, but far more effective, driving her heel into the man's throat and crushing it as she puts her whole weight onto him, kicking him in the temple with the other foot to keep him still long enough to choke to death. "Can you handle the girls? I'm afraid I don't look very reassuring right now."
Cassia blinks and nods, trying to forget the sounds the man is making. One of the daggers vanishes up her sleeve and she extends the hand to the girl, "Come on..."
Venia feels a vague twinge of guilt, and so grinds her heel to tear the vocal cords from where they're attached in the man's throat. That way Cassia doesn't have to hear anything at all.
The girl takes Cassia's hand, her eyes almost black with fear at the sight of Venia avenging herself.
Venia leans away to check, and figures she's spent enough time with this particular one, stepping off and leaving him to his alotted death. Her smile is disturbingly cheery as she follows along behind Cassia, something new and unique for every girl saved to remember. She's had a looong time to think about this.
Sian flexes all of his eight arms, holding them out straight while he intones the words of his second spell. A tsunami rises in the room, with him at the center, skin gone a blue as dark as the ocean on a moonless night, hair whirling randomly in the chaos. The blue tint extends past his hands, and slowly hardens into claws, jagged and far more brutal than before. He looks like a demon, terrifying and powerful.
Some of the girls begin crying at this vision, but the majority shepherd them away from Sian, leaving the path clear for their saviour.
Sian takes a moment to test out the claws, before starting after Korr, scouring floors and walls as he goes.
The path of his prey leads out of the stable and back into the entrance area of the whorehouse. The short ugly woman is nowhere to be seen, and the only people here beyond Sian are Korr, a girl and a man with faintly green skin and black eyes. The latter clicks the catch on his scabbard on and off, a large sword and apparently well-used sword at his side.
Korr holds the girl up between him and Sian and she struggles weakly. He yells, "Get him, Tide. Kill that fuck and you can have every girl here for a month." The girl, Sian realises, is Oriel.
Cassia leads the girls out behind her. "Just stay back." she says to the girl she just saved, before opening the door to the next room.
Sitting on the bed inside is a naked man, the girl on her knees in front of him, choking sounds coming from her as his hands push down on her bobbing head. He looks up, his expression a mixture of anger and surprise...
Venia asks, almost brightly, "Do you want this one? Or do I get to be greedy?"
"...Be as greedy as you like."
Venia nods amiably, walking unsteadily up to the man and giving him a soft kiss, perhaps surprisingly. She holds it as long, jagged fingernails dig into the side of his neck, pressing him back and forcing him to release the girl. Luckily, she is shielded from the resultant spray of blood as venia rips half the man's neck away, shoving him back to vainly try to hold his lifeblood in on the floor. "That's two." She taps a dripping finger on her face, flicking somewhat red hair back. "I didn't really get a tour... but there can't be that many down here."
"This is barely any of them, Venia," Cassia beckons the girl over. The girl scurries over to Cassia, sheltering behind her, away from the blood-drenched Venia.
"And with me tired... I guess I'll have to be minimalist. Or let some go..." Venia shakes her head. "Lets just get going. I want this place ashes in the wind as soon as possible."
"... I'm not firing it with the girls still inside." Cassia says apologetically but firmly.
Venia looks back at Cassia, at least one eye somewhat familiar as she pouts. "I'm not that bad, Cassia. Not even now. They didn't deserve any of this, even if I might have... I've just got a bit left over to give back. We free the girls, we torch the building, and everyone moves on."
Cassia nods, reassured slighty that Venia wasn't completely inhuman. She steps back out of the room, making sure to stay between the girls and Venia.
Venia follows patiently along, leaving a trail of blood behind her, almost wholly not her own.
The passage through the whorehouse is a trip through a particularly dark kind of Hell, and the two avenging Exalts leave a trail of slaughter behind them, gathering the girls in a train as they go.
Cassia leads them down and out, the crowd gathering behind her as she nears the door.
Venia cracks her neck, tapping Cassia on the shoulder and leaving a smear of red, glowing luminescent as Venia's anima flares brightly. "You go on ahead... I have one last person to attend to."
Cassia bites her lip, then nods. "We're leaving now," She announces to the girls behind her. The girls all nod frantically, having gathered enough clothes to keep themselves largely covered from the less blood-stained garments of their "clients". They trail along behind Cassia, many of them visibly glad that Venia has gone.
Cassia leads them out through the side of the building, cutting a large hole in a wall with ease, getting everyone out of the building, and trying to see if the rains are still falling. Only now does she remember to button her blouse up.
Sian stares at her, his expression hardening before he turns back to the green-skinned man, claws twitching as the need to hurt those who have inflicted pain on these girls rises up inside him.
Tide just looks back at Sian, still clicking the catch on his scabbard on and off. He looks over his shoulder at Korr, the catch clicking down, "No. I don't think so." He stands aside, to let Sian through, his shark-like teeth visible as Tide smiles slightly.
Sian nods once, and pays no further attention to him, advancing slowly on Korr.
"You fuck, Tide!" Korr swears at the retreating god-blood's back, before pulling a knife and holding it to Oriel's throat. She struggles, his grip is too strong. "Get back, you bastard!" Korr yells, "One more step and I'll slit this bitches throat!"
Sian stops right there, almost statue-like. "If she dies, you don't. Not for a long time, anyway... I have inventive friends."
"What the...?" Korr shrinks back, sliding around to the main stairwell leading up, "Who the fuck are you?"
"Someone who is not in a good mood." Sian's eyes, surprisingly human, drain all the warmth from Korr's body. At least, it feels like they do.
Korr's face already pale, drains to bone-whiteness, and his hand, at Oriel's throat, wavers slightly, "Why?"
"Take a wild guess." He gestures around with a pair of arms.
The pale, blood-drenched form of Venia staggers into the room, hair matted thick and almost crimson. A sickly green glow surrounds her, twisting and coiling as she stalks her prey. One baleful crimson eye glares out from beneath her hair, the softer green and rose of her lips lost in the contrast of shadows and light.
Korr turns at the sound, his jaw dropping open, "You!" He drops the knife and backs away from Oriel, who crumples to the floor.
Sian lunges in that instant, the claws going from rending weapons to slim and lethal spikes. At least three hand's worth emerge from Korr's back, holding him in place while Sian stares into his eyes.
Venia also pounces forward, hand snapping forward and driving into his chest. Her anima howls as bones slowly crack under her claw-like grip, flesh withering until her hand punches through, closing on a still-beating heart and yanking back. Korr has a moment or two to contemplate Venia taking a bite out of it before he dies. But only a moment.
Sian drops the corpse to the ground with a wet thud, gazing unblinkingly at the Wood aspect for a moment, before the anger fades. "...Venia?"
Venia giggles a little at Sian's face, swallowing and wiggling fingers at him. "Yes, me. I promised him this. Very first time I saw him..." Another bite and chew before she tosses the heart down the hallway dismissively, going to check on Oriel.
Sian blinks, remembering the mortal girl now, and turning back.
Oriel lies whimpering on the floor, a thin line of blood on her throat from where the edge of the blade started to part her skin. She looks up, "Lady Venia?" and then turns to face her other rescuer, shrinking back at the near-demonic, Essence-wreathed silhouette.
Sian blinks again as he realizes this, closing his eyes for a moment and letting the sorcery filter away. The arms go, though his skin is still that watery blue, but at least he is recognizable as Sian now.
Venia shushes her, wrapping arms around her. "It's alright. It's Sian, Oriel. He finally came. It's alright now."
"Sian?" her voice is reedthin, and she turns to look again. "... Sian? Is that you?"
Sian nods a little, crouching behind Venia to look at her. "It's me."
Venia leans out of the way, carefully drawing back from Oriel to let her go to him.
Cassia goes back inside, through the entrance, and finds it blood-spattered, like the rest of the place. Korr's corpse lies unremarked against the wall, his chest torn open. Venia huddles over a girl, Oriel, talking to her, while Sian stands a little aside, wreathed in his anima and having sprouted several extra pairs of clawed arms.
Oriel gets up and rushes towards Sian, wrapping her arms around him and crying, crying for the months of pain she has been through.
Sian fastens his (now-human) arms around her, holding her tightly to his chest. His anima still occasionally rips a bit of clothing or scrapes skin raw, but compared to the damage she's suffered, the hurt is nothing.
Venia sits silently on the ground, smiling sadly at the pair as she tries to gather enough energy for another reaction.
Oriel cries deep, wracking sobs against Sian's chest, letting all the pain and suffering out in a cathartic burst of tears, still holding tightly onto the Dragon-Blood, "Oh, Sian! I had almost given up!"
"I'm sorry, Oriel." It's all he can say, just trying to ease the tears with his touch.
Venia jerkily rises to her feet, looking around and shuffling over to Cassia. "That's everyone. They're all out. Torch it."
The teenage girl holds onto Sian, apparently unwilling to ever let go.
Cassia looks at Sian in disbelief as the arms drop away from Sian, indeed that he has the extra arms in the first place. She turns away from him as oriel reaches him. She gives Venia a hug, then nods, waiting for everyone to get out.
Sian keeps hold of Oriel as he stands, looking past her to the other Dragon-Bloods for a moment, before simply heading out.
The storm has obviously abated sometime previously, leaving a rainsoaked city behind as the first of many girls flee the hellhole that had been their prison. The eastern horizon glows faintly, the first signs of the impending sunrise.
Cassia waits for the last of the girls to get out, listening to the building for the sounds of anyone alive, the walls no impediment before she adds a little more light to the predawn glow, wrapping the flames around her, then letting them free.
The dry timber of Korr's Fuckery lights almost instantly, flames spreading through cracks in the walls and ceilings, running up the cheap, barely-seasoned wood like a living creature, an embodiment of vengeance.
Venia looks back over her shoulder, her eyes only for the spectacle of flames running free through the temple of her downfall. She smiles, encouraging it to burn faster, higher, hotter, willing it to be so. She hardly notices as she wobbles and falls to the ground, all the exertion too much for her.
Sian stands silently, now seeming almost small compared to the blaze, just watching it with tired eyes. He doesn't go to Venia, sensing that his presence would not be good for her.
The crowd of former slave-whores mills around outside the blazing remnants of the brothel, the first light of the dawn playing over the licking flames. Some of them spit at it, others fall down and cry, and still others just stare blankly.
Cassia walks out of the flames after making sure they've caught properly, the fire wrapped around her melting off as she leaves the building, walking over to the collapsed Venia, kneeling next to her in the mud then picking her up "We're taking you away from here," she says quietly.
Venia, for one, mostly thinks it's a good start. But oh, just a start... there's so much to do... She nods weakly at Cassia. "Thank you... so much. Don't know how to say it..."
