Xilanada - Descending Dark Of Past And Future/Part 14

An alarming thud woke Xilanada from her sound slumber.

She slept more heavily in this life than she had in her first but her instincts remained. Even as she blinked the fog away from her eyes, Xilanada rolled out of bed. Sweeping the blanket aside, she moved a little painfully to the door.

At least she was healing quickly. Not as fast as an Exalt might but still markedly better than a mortal should. Was her Mortality Eclipsing Prana failing her? Or was she not trying hard enough anymore?

The door opened slowly and Xilanada moved with it, staying behind it as it stopped just shy of the wall and her position. She peeked around in the deep gloom of the medical infirmary, grateful that her eyes were already used to the darkness and that she was small enough to fit back here now.

Three men came in and she knew they were up to no good. For one thing, none of them carried lamps. For another, they carried thick clubs. It didn't help her suspicions that they made directly for her cot.

Final Starry Night would have laid them out flat. Xilanada wasn't an Anathema, though. Instead, she slipped out through the open door they'd graciously left open for her.

That was a mistake.

Two steps into the hall revealed the shadowy forms of half a dozen other men. One was obvious by the rich trappings of a Merchant-Prince. So the Factor had come personally, had he? He didn't look so tough but the same couldn't be said for his henchmen. Though she couldn't see their faces, they looked like the strong, brawling type. In such a contest, a small woman half their size and less than half their weight didn't stand much a chance.

"The Headmistress isn't convinced by your claim, is she?" Xilanada said instead, hoping to draw him into conversation and stall for time.

"Why do you say that?" the Factor said, sneering at her. Neither he nor his men made any movement toward her though. Not yet.

"You wouldn't be here in the middle of the night, with...those people, if you had her consent. You think even a Dragon-Blooded would be willing to decide against the Guild if she wasn't sure? I'm not your Captive Smile, Factor. If I was and wanted drugs, I'd have gone back to you already. If I was but didn't want to, I wouldn't have offered that test. Think about it."

"Oh, you are her," he hissed. "I don't know why they think you know enough to even find a classroom, much less teach one, but I do know what you're going to do tonight. Tonight, you're going to please me, Smile. Until I'm sore. Maybe then I'll give you what you really want."

"Factor, there are all kinds of reasons why you don't want to be doing this. Tepet Malias isn't going to tolerate someone breaking into his school and he's quite frightening I hear. On top of that, I have friends in this School and they're Sorcerers. They aren't going to let this kidnapping go unchallenged. Do you really want to start a war? Over a single little blonde girl?"

"You are mine," the Factor said. "Mine. I don't give up what's mine, not for you and may I spend a summer in Chaya during Descending Fire if I gave you up for some school teachers. Get her."

So much for stalling. The first came at her and she had to act fast.

Xilanada did a fast pivot and knocked the first down with a nice roundhouse kick. That was so much easier to do when you had hips! Her foot came down and she shifted her weight onto it just in time to catch the second square in the stomach with her other heel.

Both thugs were crawling back to their feet as she stared the Factor down.

"Could your slave do that? Do you think I'm going to give in to you without a fight? Let this go, Guildsman. Let me go. Even a slave isn't worth this much trouble."

"My name...is Auris!" It would have been amusing in other circumstances, that formality offended him where she would have thought the opposite would have been the case. But maybe the two had a closer relationship than she knew. Not anymore.

The rest advanced, pulling clubs from their belts and she moved fast. A quick kick to one's knuckles freed up a weapon. Once it was in her hands, she waded into battle.

Crack, crack, crack! The weight was different but the length was enough like a sword for her to fence with it. Nimbly, she spun the club back and forth, deflecting attack after attack. It took fast footwork to keep them from blocking her in but if there was one thing to be said for this life, it was that Xilanada was even faster than Final Starry Night had been.

Then the God stepped in and finished the fight even as it was getting good.

A debilitating cramp spasmed its way up her spine. In seconds, the pain had turned into full-scale agony across every muscle, incapacitating her with its sheer volume. A club crashed against the side of her head and she found herself on the floor. The pain bled away at last, leaving the throbbing of her head-blow, but she still couldn't move.

Paralyze. Damn that Charm. Damn that Spirit. And the worst of it; she couldn't even talk, much less scream for help.

"Bring her. Put that guard in her cot. To think Seya actually thought one would be enough protection!" The Factor chuckled as only someone enmeshed in an evil plot could. A part of her wanted to make fun of his mannerisms but that would have been easier to do if his plot wasn't working. As it was, she didn't find it the least bit funny.

"Where we taking her?" asked one of the thugs with the Guildsman.

"The Tower," he said.

For several minutes, Xilanada dreaded what was coming. Were they going to the Tower of the Council of Entities? Was this actually a plot by the Emissary? Could they have somehow tied the Skystone and Sundry Destruction Sorcery to the innocent little school teacher at the Six Poses of Lightning School?

She was carried unceremoniously out of the infirmary over a thug's shoulder, down the sleeping halls of the School, and out through the Hall of Audience. The wards should have activated but even now they were silent on the open double doors. Had they found a way to circumvent an admittedly impressive ward design? Or was someone helping them?

Xilanada tensed her body, realizing as she did that the paralysis was wearing off. She managed a deep breath, then another, and then screamed for all she was worth. Naturally, she took a punch to the side for her trouble. Her still-heavy body shuddered in agonizing reaction. Little hurt like a kidney punch!

The streets of Nexus were hushed as she was brought out beneath the night sky. It was cloudy enough that even the waning sliver of moon in the sky barely shed any light. The Factor's body was murky in the darkness ahead of her but...they were taking her to a carriage. She was roughly thrown into the interior, with several thugs and the Factor piling in right after her. Xilanada rubbed her aching side and glared at the Factor.

"Why are you so obsessed with this slave?" she demanded of him. He looked back at her, as if he'd honestly forgotten that she was in the same carriage. No surprise that he had a lot on his mind, what with personally breaking into the Six Poses of Lightning School. An evil gleam lit in his eyes as he looked her up and down.

"She's what I need," he said simply. His meaning was undeniable. "Sweet Captive Smile, so succulent, she always brought me the very best pleasure. You were an expensive purchase, bought from the Guild's own Harlotry. And you've been worth every scrip, even what I had to spend tonight."

"Please," she said, rolling her eyes. "I very much doubt some whore of yours is worth all of this. There are many women who would...serve you, even those who would come willingly because of your position. Tell me the real reason you want me so much."

"Shut up!" he barked at her. "You never used to talk this much and I won't have you starting now. You...are...mine!" The Factor was hissing through his teeth, he was so angry and impassioned. "Here, this should quiet you down. Remind you of old times."

The Factor produced a syringe from his pocket. Elaborately worked in gold and pewter, it would have been a work of art if not for its purpose and the dangerous liquid that swirled in its interior. Xilanada flinched back in her seat at once.

"No, no, keep that away from me!" she pleaded. "I'll be quiet!" It was so unbecoming to be begging like this but what else could she do? She was mortal now and utterly in these people's power. The one thing she still had was a clear mind and that syringe threatened to undo all the work she'd done for the past few months.

"Hold her," the Factor said instead, gesturing at two of his men.

Xilanada thought desperately. They seemed to have made off with her cleanly. If he was prepared to hold her, it might be days before she was found or...never.

Why had Seya sent Sen away? The charming man confused her with feelings she couldn't handle but he would have saved her, kept this from happening. Instead, he was away on assignment, looking for the source of those assassins. No, Xilanada had no one she could rely on now but herself.

Nothing but who she was...and the power she had denied.

Could she unlock it once more? Dare she? Last time, she'd brought down Sorcery that should never have been used in a city. Why hadn't she just lost the power when she'd traded lives? Why was she faced with its temptation?

Staring at the approaching syringe, Xilanada felt the bitter-sweet frustration of doubly-ensnaring fear. On one side of her beckoned the vicious-toothed specter of addiction, the very flame that was burning her up even now. On the other side loomed the glory of a mad Goddess, power she could not be trusted with, power that might catch her up in its insanity and not let her loose this time.

And before her, her path to the future was collapsing across its sides. The syringe's needle pressed into her skin, dimpling it. The hazy liquid would have her, if her Exaltation did not. Both promised ecstasy. Which would be the crueler master, in the end?

The needle pierced her skin. A precursory bloom of something that might be pleasurable in seconds raced through her veins. The Factor's face leered at her and his thugs looked at the syringe with a sullen wistfulness. The drug was rising in her but so was her Anima, the Book Burning By Enlightened Will.

Xilanada sobbed and made her choice.