Duel in Cove (TAC)

[Adunaphel]

Full heavy clouds now darkened the sky. The smell of the rain pelting the earth filled the air as weak moonlight strained through the haze to light the treetops. Tal Shara's hooves sunk deep into the mud of the worn path that led east through the thick forest from Cove. As the ancient cemetery gates came into view, the rider reigned in her steed and dismounted in one fluid movement, leaving the horse to await her return.

The mist dampened her youthful, deceivingly innocent face as she weaved her way between the gravestones, her eyes on the crypt in front of her. Her boots made no sound as she climbed the stone stairs and pushed open the cold metal door with her gloved hand.

She briefly looked past the kneeling figure, his dark hair covering his lowered face, to the grave marker of his parents, as memories of visiting it with him often in her youth washed over her for a moment.

Lightning flashed, illuminating for a brief moment the tall figure as he rose to his feet, towering a good six inches above her petite build. his silver chain mail outlined and defined each muscled limb. he had always outweighed her by at least forty pounds, but she had always had speed on her side. The ensuing clap of thunder heightened her senses and she poised for her attack.

"I knew I'd find you here, Ady", her words dripping honey, "Creature of habit you always were."

"Come for your final lessons, Sera?", he spoke in a dry, deep voice, his eyes still fixed on his parents grave.

Her red hair, now soaked from the long ride in the storm, clung to her neck and shoulders. She raised her kryss and quickly poked him in the ribs with it, taunting him. As the thunder lessened into an ominous rumble the laughter of a lich and bone rattling of undead echoed off the walls.

He parried her first few strikes easily. "You never could fight, little girl!" he laughed, circling the room. Anger flickered minutely across her brow, "I've more than your Knightly training has taught you in my years away from Cove." She lunged at him with her venomous blade, drawing blood, but not striking deeply enough for the poison to set.

"We could have worked so well together, Ady, but instead you fell victim to the hypocrisy of the Virtues...and now you resort to spying on me any my bretheren."

"Hypocrisy?!" he bellowed, his eyes flashing with anger. "What would you know of the Virtues Serafina? You, who would draw steel against one you had loved on hallowed ground!"

"I know that those who fight under virtue's banner use it as a shield. An excuse for their inner darkness,...following blindly...killing the innocent, like my mother, and calling it Valor...", her voice a thin hiss, "Judging and discriminating, like they did my father, and calling it Justice...thinly veiling undeserved pride and calling it Humility...Then preaching these virtues to others...and calling it...Spirituality."

With her last word, he lunged at her. Her boot caught the edge of the plot and she lost her balance, the point of his blade piercing deep into her left shoulder, cutting sinew and muscle. He angrily scooped her up and quickly tossed her to the ground like a ragdoll into the corner of the crypt. She felt the cold stone scrape against her armor as the wind was knocked from her body. She had barely a moment to shake it off before avoiding the swipe of his sword as it sparked off the floor barely inches from her ribs.

"we are not the same, you and I, Ady,...not any longer...". She breathed heavily, catching her breath. As she jumped to her feet she hit him in the jaw with a hard uppercut, kryss still in hand. His head snapped back and he spat blood on the floor.

With a twist of her wrist, she jammed her kryss into the holdbar of his shield, forcing him to release his grip and drop it to the stone. His protection now gone, she easily slammed her blade deep into his gut, twisting as it tore flesh, feeling the warm stickiness of his blood dripping over her hand.

His eyes gre wide and held hers as she wrapped her free arm around him, holding tight to his body. He put his weight on her as the ruthless poison started to rampage through his veins. Their eyes held still, and she saw the growing terror as he came to the final realization that his life was slipping away through her hands very, very quickly. laying his body down across the grave of his parents, she knelt beside him. She felt the hot tears streaming down her cheeks, mingled with the blood and sweat, falling away from her onto the stone beneath. Her gaze still held his still face until all her tears were gone. Closing her eyes she slowly raised her hand, laying her long, thin, fingers on his cold breastplate. She bent her body, pressing her forehead to his and quietly whispered her farewells in his ear.

"Salvation, Ady...I deliver your salvation."

Rising to her feet, she took an ornate silver dagger from her belt...emerald encrusted with a serpent encircling the pommel...like the ones from her fathers Order she used to spar him with as a child...and laid it on the stone floor at his side. She watched his eyes a while longer as the poison worked its way through his system and the light in them dimmer. Then she turned from him and began to slowly walk away, with each step remembering something she had long forgotten...buried away in the back of her mind. Memories of simple days in Cove, running through the forest, being taken against her better judgment the the cemetery, and as she walked between the crypts and stones, a hand suddenly falling on her shoulder...

...But that was before. Before "Virtue" and poisoned everything and stole him away. Her lips curled downwards in a slight grimace as she reached the door, and as she was stepping through the threshold she heard his voice, weak and dying.

"I die in Virtue, Sera..."

She tightened her grip on the edge of the door frame, his words stopping her cold. She turned her head to look at him once more and saw something in his eyes which spoke his undying belief in the Virtues.

She closed her eyes in disappointment, "Damn you Ady, you blind fool..." she swore quietly.

She slammed the door behind her. She quickly crossed the distance to the iron gate, the rain now only a slight drizzle and not enough to wash away the blood from her hands. Stiffly mounting her steed, cradling her left shoulder, she rode off into the forest.

With one last incredible flash of lightning and an ear shattering burst of thunder, the storm ceased, the mist dispersed...and the morning sun shimmered across the quiet graveyard.

[Gaulgorath]

Adunaphel... Did you play SWG?
If... so... Remember Rebecca Taash?

[Adunaphel]

I don't even know what SWG is, haha. Why do you ask? Familiar names?

[Lupos]

Adunaphel. brilliant story. Almost makes me want to get back into UO to do more than refresh my house and get back into roleplaying.

Is TAC a roleplaying a guild?

[Adunaphel]

Glad you liked it, Lupos! If you're interested in reading the rest, (it's a work in progress) you can find it in the Immortal Lords guild board under The Compassion of a Warlord.

TAC = tales of adventure contest