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Post by Rayl Torien on Feb 15, 2010 23:41:20 GMT -6
The trio rode up past Pherae and into Araphen. The trip had uneventful enough, and Rayl had talked for a brief time about some of his trips, which included his adoption of Spirit and Fang ( Sacaen horse and wyvern respectively), and some of his various diplomatic travels between Lycian states, but nothing too major, just some small things to pass the time.
As they made their way through the main border city to Sacae, some of the populace looked upon him in awe, though the majority were hardly as friendly: The Marquess honestly hated The Paladin's guts, along with his contempt for The Sacaen Mongrels (these being Marquess Araphen's words, not Rayl's, mind you.). Soon when they reached the gate, they were stopped by two soldiers who stepped in their way,
"Halt! You shall not pass, Knights of Pherae."
Undaunted, Rayl rode forward slightly," We are on a diplomatic mission to Bern. We will not let you int-"
"Sorry sir, but you may not pass: Marquess' orders." the guard didn't seem to want to deny them passage, but...orders were orders.
Rayl had Elibe move a few steps forwards, and the guards readied their spears.
"I'm sorry sir knight, but this is your final warning before I will have to arrest you-" "I do not wish to harm you my good man, but if you continue to get in the way of the freedom of all of Elibe..."[/color] he grabbed his new lance from the side of his saddle, as more guards arrived, and the first one looked from his weapon to Rayl's nervously:
" Now are you going to let us through? Final warning."
Rayl could only pray this didn't turn ugly...these were his fellow human beings after all...
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Aevian
The "Before" years
[M:30]
Posts: 114
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Post by Aevian on Feb 16, 2010 0:12:35 GMT -6
If Aevian had somehow heard about the distaste that these people had for Sacaen's, she would feel a bit shamed, being half sacaen , afterall. When they were halted, Aevian took the time and jumped down from Elibe, and quite subtly stretched out, feeling a bit saddle-sore. Why were they being stopped anyways. Aevian peeked around the Paladin and ran her hand along her thigh, right where one of her hatchets were.
"Now now...don't get hasty men.."
Aevian looked with stern, almost controlling eyes.
"My name is Aevian von Diera, Duchess of Bern, do you really want to get mixed up with the aristocracy of my nation?"
She didn't figure this would help the situation, the men seemed to be hardassed, so instead, she pushed further.
"Why can't we go forward? And enough with this 'Marquess' Orders.' Why would the Marquess bar the gates from travelers for trying to leave?
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Post by Rayl Torien on Feb 16, 2010 0:30:34 GMT -6
When the guard mentioned word of her being a dutchess, he paused, but his friend the less honorable one laughed," HAH! What Aristocracy! Bern is under control of Ilia, and even now there is war going on as they slaughter each other over their future! PATHETIC!" he continued laughing as the first guard looked back to them,"Please, Sir Rayl, turn back...I would rather not arrest you..."
At this point around ten guards had moved to the gate, and soon a rather large man, wearing a long flowing, frilled cape, and a hefty crown...they looked of Etrurian craftsmanship: This was The Marquess of Araphen,"HAH! Sir Rayl out for another little ride with the savages it seems! Why do you bother with them?! They are barely even human! Just like brute of a nomad I had killed yesterday! Trying to return to his daughter and wife...probably just trying to escape with some of my treasure!"
Chelsea's father...it had to be...there was rage boiling in Rayl, but he was not going to resort to violence...not yet... "Well met Marquess Araphen, now tell your men to let us through, we are on a important mission." He was playing dumb here, knowing full well the state's ruler was aligned with The Prophet.
The large man grinned," I think not. I never liked you, Sir Rayl. Whenever you were sent to my feasts, you always drew the affection of the women, the respect of the men...you are nothing but a thorn in my side! Once the Prophet rids the world of the savages, It would do him well to get rid of YOUR people as well! GUARDS! SEIZE THE NON-BELIEVERS! KILL THE KNIGHT! But leave the women alive,I'd very much like to...interrogate...them later. Heh heh!" With this the large marquess took off to get away from the violence, as the guards readied their weapons.
The first guard drew closer with his spear, shaking,"I'm sorry sir and ladies, I don't want to do this but-" he was about to attack, but his colleague knocked him to the ground,"CUR! DO NOT HESITATE, THEY ARE EVIL! DIE!" this man then rushed forward with his sword, aiming towards that one woman who claimed to be from Bern.
OOC: Nine Guards (not including the one who was sorta on our side who was knocked aside) versus two people...I like our odds.
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Aevian
The "Before" years
[M:30]
Posts: 114
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Post by Aevian on Feb 16, 2010 0:47:54 GMT -6
Aevian's eyes drew up and took in the plump man that was quite obviously put to words as Marquess Araphen with the help of Rayl singling him out. Could what he had said been true? Bern was in civil war? She knew about the mass of protests against the ruling class of Bern...also against this...Sasuke...a Sacaen like herself, to a degree...but he was in the palace. She hated him personally, even knowing little of him.
Looking to the more calm, sorry soldier, Aevian regarded him with a steady defensive stance, her hand reaching behind her back, grabbing the stock of her axe carefully within her hand, but as that man was pushed over, and this fellow who told her of Bern's peril rushed towards her, Aevian felt like her skin was on fire,s he wanted to kill.
The new steel axe flourished into her hand, and charged forwards to meet the man half way. He was larger, sure, but she was more agile. With a growl, she swung her axe as elegantly as any sword would have been. The Steel axe blade rang out against the sword, and pushed the blade away, then following with a backwards swing, catching the soldier in the side with the long metal spike on the backside of her axe.
Aevian wore a triumphant grin as she recoiled, and puled her weapon back to face the man who fell to a knew, the look of wonder on his scorning face kept at her, and Aevian rocked on her heels, eying around her uncomfortably.
"Savages...we are that to a fault...we're good at one thing, that's for certain...and it's just not your luck that you're going to find out!"
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Post by Rayl Torien on Feb 16, 2010 1:01:31 GMT -6
Rayl gritted his teeth as the signal was given out. He didn't want to have to fight...and in the middle of a peace mission...it was only his great anger of the murder of Chelsea's father that was going to spur him into action. One man, wielding an axe, sprang for Evayl...a man attacking a woman! Who was unarmed! he drew his sword as Elibe reared, the guard in his way moving out of the side in fear before taking off: Rayl would let him live. he charged forward and before the axeman could even prepare to swing towards the troubadour, he found himself swinging a stub that was his arm, looking down to the rest of his detached limb on the ground: still gripping his weapon. This man too began to take off, and it became clear what Rayl's plan was:
He was going to avoid killing anyone: The Marquess could spread news that Pheraen troops attacked Araphen, which could hamper the peace movement greatly, and thus put the whole of Lycia at stake!
Meanwhile, Marquess Araphen watched from a safe distance away, smirking to himself...yes, soon his hated enemy would be out of the way, and he'd have some new additions to his...yeah.
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Aevian
The "Before" years
[M:30]
Posts: 114
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Post by Aevian on Feb 16, 2010 1:33:38 GMT -6
The blood dripped for a moment on the spike of her axe's backside, until the blood dripped off in the few moments, and that man crumpled to the ground. She had no reason to finish him off, she wanted the man to watch her. She hardly had time to reminisce as two men assaulted her next, one with his lance jabbed at her, while the other came in with a sword, meaning to cut off her retreat.
With a startled grunt, Aevian reached for one of her hand axes, and tossed it at the man with the lance, catching him square in the chest, not before his lance ran along her side, giving her a clean cut through her shirt and leather armor. The wound was bearable, but it still hurt.
With one of them down, Aevian wheeled on the other, and caught his blow with the shaft of her axe, holding it above her head defensively with the sword blade still pushing down, Aevian let go with one of her hands, holding the blade still with one, and lacked out, punched the man in the jaw, which allowed her to collect herself as the man staggered back from the blow.
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Post by Rayl Torien on Feb 16, 2010 2:03:21 GMT -6
Pausing to look back over his should quickly, Rayl tried to maneuver himself closer to Aevian as to not be separated, but three of the soldiers had moved up to block them, taking him as the obviously bigger threat...that and Marquess' orders...
PING!
Rayl turned around just to see an arrow snap against the side of his shield. There was an archer on one of the roofs... a smart choice indeed. However, this distraction allowed a man with an axe to jump from slightly higher ground, and knock the knight off his horse, landing with a hard THUD on the cobblestone flooring. moving his head to the side to avoid being run through with a sword, he moved two fingers to his lips and whistled...before the man could realize why Rayl had done so, he felt a sharp pain in his back quarters as Elibe chomped down, giving The Paladin the opportunity to swing his shield up and knock the daylights out of his assailant, before sheathing his blade, saddling up, and grabbing his axe.
...meanwhile, the other two guards began circling the mounted knight, readying another assault.
Marquess Araphen smirked as he had a runner boy fetch him a cooked chicken leg, which he began to chomp down on as people watched the battle with mixed views of either joy or anger. Some of his men had gone down but who cares?! Then a thought came to his head: The Prophet would award him with more fame, fortune, and women than he already had if he killed The Pheraen Knight himself! Thus he had his runner boy fetch him a lance and his thick, custom tailored armor, and the fat lord dismounted from his horse, suited up, and charged into the fray
OOC: Four soldiers out of the fight, one temporarily stunned by Aevian, two circling Rayl, an archer on the roof, one of them ran from the battle, and the fat marquess, who I'd say is of knight class, coming into the battle...just a recap so we know what the situation is.
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Aevian
The "Before" years
[M:30]
Posts: 114
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Post by Aevian on Feb 16, 2010 11:59:03 GMT -6
The stunned man didn't take so long to recover as Aevian had hoped, and with that sword of his, it reared backwards, and meant to cut towards her middle. Aevian gave a small frown as she jumped, and lurched forwards, allowing the sword to just barely miss her stomach.
Continuously, the chime of metal ringing on metal filled the air for constant parrying and deflections of eachother's weapons, until the other man's sword swung down and caught Aevian in the shoulder plating, tore through and settled into her shoulder.
She gave a brief cry of pain, bu then wheeled up with her axe in one hand, and pierced the soldier's armor, sinking her axe into his chest.. With a gut wrenching rip of her axe, she tore it out of the now dead man, and turned towards Rayl, only being able to see the Marquess, and her eyes narrowed on him.
"Marquess Araphen! Death comes for you now!"
The steel axe in her hand began to spin with the motions of her wrist as she meant t charge the man head on. The armor was daunting, but any axe should be good enough to penetrate it with the right mount of force.
With that, Aevian leaped at the fat man, her axe at her side, like a swordsman, ready to strike upwards with her blade.
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Post by Rayl Torien on Feb 16, 2010 15:02:35 GMT -6
Only that blasted archer remained, as did Marquess Araphen, who had just charged in recklessly. As the bowmen fired an arrow for the Bernese woman, Rayl rode in and knocked it aside with his shield, Before grabbing his new lance, spinning it in his hand," Marquess Araphen...I do not want to do this." he had to think about politics here. A Pheraen knight striking down the ruler of Araphen? Yet if he did nothing Aevian and Evayl's lives could be at stake...
...the only thing at this moment that made him capable of what he did next was only to help Chelsea, as he charged forward around the large man, aiming to strike at the man's spine.
Marquess Araphen had been too busy in his thoughts of glory to notice the paladin move around him, but turned as quickly as he could to face him, removing the front part of his armor to use as a shield: this proved to be a mistake as an axe swing sunk deeply into his shoulder, and soon a lance ripped through the now unarmored chest...needless to say the combined strike made the man sink like...well, a very fat rock...the only thoughts of Rayl were the guilt from having to strike someone down in this fight, and for what he would have to say to his Sacaen friend back near Caelin...
Slowly raising his weapon and wiping the blood along the leaves of the bushes nearby, he turned to face the villagers in their awkward silence...which was soon broken as they began cheering: They were rid of a tyrant and maybe they'd actually see their daughters again! The archer slowly got off the roof, seeing as his orders were invalid now that the Marquess was dead, and the kinder soldier from before slowly got up, rubbing his head sorely, and upon viewing the situation, saluted," Hail our new Marquess: Lord and Lady Torien!" in an instant the archer, along with the villagers began shouting 'hail' towards the knight, along with Aevian...although they had not heard of her name before.
"Me? Marquess?" He paused, having not really thought of this possible outcome, so he merely shook his head, and dismounted," I am hardly of the type, my friend." he was being modest, though he did know of politics from serving at Marquese Pherae's side for such a time, however he would use this temporary status for the good of Lycia: " However, the first order of business is to denounce affiliation with The Prophet and not allow any of his soldiers to pass through."
" Of Course!" Rayl held up two fingers, "Secondly, you are to join the United Lycian Forces, and send some troops to Laus, along with a messenger to Pherae." the soldier nodded, and began speaking to the crowds as Rayl turned back to Aevian and Evayl, rubbing his shoulder after strapping both axe and shield to his back," Well, I was hoping we'd be able to sneak through...we'd best head for an inn, then head out at morning..."
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Evayl
The "Before" years
[M:0]
You're gonna need my help!
Posts: 56
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Post by Evayl on Feb 16, 2010 17:23:55 GMT -6
Evayl let out a sigh of relief once the battle ended. She could only avoid the soldiers and try not to get in the way, and that worked quite well. She stood back as the people cheered for Rayl and Aevian, and tried to hold back her immense jealousy towards the axe-fighter. Evayl put on her best smile and waited for the raucous to die down. She nodded at Rayl's suggestion of going to the inn, but something nagged on her mind. "Do you think I should tend to these wounded men, Sir Rayl?" she asked, looking at the defeated soldiers. "Oh, are either of you injured?"
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Post by Rayl Torien on Feb 16, 2010 17:56:22 GMT -6
Rayl continued to rubbed his shoulder," Only sore lady Persep-" he paused," Lady Evayl. Tend to the wounded: we weren't here to fight in the first place and I'm sure they didn't want to either...well maybe save for that one man." he spoke quickly as to let the near name mistake fly by as he continued on his way to the inn, though was stopped by a guard," Milord, the castle awaits.". The paladin looked up at the building, before shaking his head," I'd rather not, I'm not the lord of the castle after all." "But you di-" "I am not the lord of the castle, my friend, you will have to appoint someone just and fair for that."
He watched as a messenger rode off to deliver the news to Marquess Pherae as ordered, before Rayl himself dismounted and led Elibe into a stall at the inn's stables, And stepped in. Despite Rayl's refusal, the innkeeper insisted that the two ( he hadn't noticed Evayl) have their rooms be on the house, with the knight not wanting to take advantage of the offer by informing him of their third group member...oh well he'd just guard the doors...
...just like he had done with Persephone five years ago...
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Aevian
The "Before" years
[M:30]
Posts: 114
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Post by Aevian on Feb 16, 2010 23:20:17 GMT -6
Almost as soon as the fighting began, it was over. Aevian looked like a beast in the end, standing there with bloodied axe, panting heavily with blood covering her clothes and face. She looked ready for more, but with the Marquess dead, well, everyone seemed to step back and surrender. What she wasn't really ready for was the proclamation of the new Marquess. At this time, the 'lady' part of the chant was lost on her, and figured that they had meant for Evayl to rise up to that name.
The only reason she came to that conclusion, was because the girl pretty much acted like Rayl's wife for the entire journey. Slowly, Aevian touched her wounded side. It was still bleeding, but the laceration wasn't life threatening. She reached into her pouch, and began to bandage herself up.
"Atleast it was eventful..."
Aevian eyed the dead body of the -former- Marquess and spat in his general direction. At the offer of healing to be done, she eyed Evayl curiously, wondering if she should take her up on it, but then shook her head in response.
"I'll live, I've gotten worse before.."
Not that'd you'd heal me without some sort of extortion, huh?
Aevian grinned at her thought and proceeded to wipe off her axe on a cloth. Overhearing Rayl speak out against his claim to be Marquess, Aevian gave a mall frown, but proceeded to follow him, she had something to discuss with him on the matter.
Once at the inn, and everything died down to a point, she waited until the innkeeper let them be, before looking up at Rayl unsurely, holding her sore arm.
"I can admire that you don't want to take the position of Marquess for this province, but if you plan to leave, you should atleast have someone put upon the position, so that another Tyrant can't just rise up and take claim. If one does, ridding them of the previous Marquess, however fortunate and coincidental that was, will have been for nothing. Araphen needs a leader."
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Post by Rayl Torien on Feb 16, 2010 23:44:24 GMT -6
When Aevian followed after him, he gave a nod as she spoke," Indeed...I'm not sure if they will just let us waltz away from our positions so easily...I'll probably have to assign a temporary vassal before I can come up with a decision..." he paused as he noticed her injured arm," I'm sorry." he was apologizing mainly because it was always his duty to prevent those with him from being harmed and, well...he'd failed...
He lead Aevian to her room, and gave a bow," Well it would be best if you rested, I'll stand guard at the door."
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Aevian
The "Before" years
[M:30]
Posts: 114
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Post by Aevian on Feb 17, 2010 0:16:41 GMT -6
Aevian nodded in understanding about the vassal, but really, it was necessary to do. Rayl was now needed of these people, but atleast he used this new found position of his to send soldiers to Laus in preparation for his defense of Lycia. Lycia's predicament wasn't quite as high up on her priorities as Bern's was.
Eying him strangely at the apology, she looked to her arm, and chuckled, giving a small laugh and a shrug of it.
"Eh, it's okay, occupational hazard, it'll heal. wounds heal, and scars remain to tell you how lucky you were to survive...it was a pretty lack-luster fight though.."
Aevian looked a bit disappointed, and retired to the room, entering it, and sitting herself on a chair as she removed her armor shoulders, and with that, her entire coat with it as well as her cowl, setting it on the back of the chair as she did, and slowly relaxed back, rubbing her sore, bruised shoulder.
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Evayl
The "Before" years
[M:0]
You're gonna need my help!
Posts: 56
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Post by Evayl on Feb 17, 2010 16:44:21 GMT -6
Evayl stuck around the former battlefield to tend to the soldiers. They didn't say much, although a few did mutter some 'thank-you's. It was awkward, but then again, that was expected. It didn't take long, barely a few minutes, and once she was done Evayl headed off after Rayl and Aevian.
She arrived at the inn just a few minutes after the other two, and had Melyangar taken to the stables. She asked the innkeeper where her companions were, and finally, she found Rayl standing outside of a room. She gave him a polite curtsy and went in.
"That was fun!" she said energetically to Aevian, her face bright. Evayl sat down on one of the beds and removed her boots and jacket. She fell back onto the bed and let out a contented sigh. "I could do this forever, I think. Roaming the land, helping those in need. What do you think?" Evayl sat up, looking at Aevian. "Are you hurt or something?"
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