Splinter Angel

Lara ran toward danger. If there existed a simple, objective truth about her, that was it. When Lara heard someone in trouble, she ran to help. It was, perhaps, the only trait of hers that she was unabashedly proud of. It was what had made Tendy fall for her a lifetime ago, when they were both young and wealthy and too important to be allowed to choose who they loved.

Once she'd heard a scream for help from an alley, and she'd run over fine cobbles to the rescue of a woman who'd become her whole world in the time it took to gather her in her arms and tell her that she was safe. Now she heard a scream of fear from the mist, and she ran through shin-deep swamp-muck to the rescue of an abrasive madwoman who'd been intending to eat demonic flesh for dinner. Oh my, but life did have its turns.

With Mabb close behind, his heavy steps throwing up waves of stagnant water, Lara broke through the mist onto a sight that was, in some ways, shockingly reminiscent of when she'd come to Tendy's rescue in that alley. Two forms, sapients of some kind, were trying to pull their legs free of the frozen water trapping them. Norn was on her back, struggling to keep her head above water while at the same time fending off the man straddling her, who was… was he trying to bite her?!

Fuck, Lara thought. Revenants! Lara had fought plenty of revenants before — a few people died in the swamps every cycle — but never three at once. But that didn't matter. Norn, no matter how vile she might be, was in danger, and Lara was right there. She didn't even slow down.

Then she Inspected the three revenants to see just how deep shit they were in, and nothing. Not just no type, no name of the poor sod whose corpse it was, and no Level. Not even the simple [Human] she might have gotten when inspecting a child. No label at all.

Come to think of it, they still looked alive. Starved and generally worn down, like they'd been living in the swamp for a week — or two — but alive. Their clothes were odd, torn, absolutely filthy, and nowhere near appropriate for the wet cold of the swamp; there were odd, bluish crystals breaking through the skin on the arms of the one straddling Norn; but they were unquestionably still alive.

No matter. Whoever they were, whatever was wrong with them, they behaved like revenants. When they looked at Lara and Mabb before they crossed the short distance, there was only hate in their eyes. This wasn't ending peacefully.

"Stand down!" Mabb roared from behind Lara. She herself was less eloquent as she threw herself forward, putting one soaked boot on the side of the lunatic straddling Norn and pushing him off her and into the muck with a cry of "Fuck off!". He immediately began to struggle to his feet, only to be tangled in the net Lara cast at him — they were intended for the damn rodents, but were large enough to slow down a revenant in a pinch.

Off to the side there was a mighty splash, and the water bounced and rippled as Mabb, both hatchets drawn, placed himself between the downed woman and the two immobilized assailants. When she glanced his way, Lara only saw his back, but that was enough. More than seven feet tall and with shoulders to match, his white hair having come loose from the simple bun he usually wore it in, he was a snow capped mountain that rose from the swamp to bar any passage. Lara was suddenly very, very glad that she'd never annoyed him to the point of anger.

"Get up!" Lara shouted down to the Herbalist at her feet, extending a hand while at the same time drawing her sabre. Norn, soaked from head to toe, hacking and coughing and with her face spotted with algae and scum, stared up at her with wild eyes before shuffling away. "I knew it! she croaked. "Rats couldn't do it, so now they sent you! I knew it! I knew you were after me!"

As Lara stared incredulously after the woman, who was retreating toward the netted lunatic, Mabb's voice boomed out. "Lara, we've got trouble! More trouble!"

She looked at him. Then she moved a few feet so she could look past him, taking the opportunity to kick the struggling lunatic back into the muck. She couldn't see anything. Then she listened carefully, and beyond Norn's incoherent babbling and the snarls of the three lunatics was the splashing of many pairs of feet.

They had more incoming.

"Get back to the outpost!" Lara snapped at the deranged Herbalist who still sat in the water. "Run! Go!"

That got Norn back on her feet. But Lara's hope that she might possibly do as she'd been told was quickly dashed. "You won't get my stuff!" Norn shrieked then took off in the direction of the Resting Giant. Not quite toward the oncoming whoever-they-weres, but almost directly away from safety.

The guy in the net was getting up again. The two in the ice were getting loose. Mabb shouted, "Lara! We should go!"

And Lara? Lara shot an agonized look after Norn. She knew she should leave the crazed woman to whatever fate awaited her. She looked in the direction of the oncoming splashes, where figures were emerging from the mist, struggling through the water but showing no sign of slowing; some were turning toward the fleeing Herbalist. Then she told Mabb, "I'm sorry, big brother. Get back to the outpost!" and did what she always did. She ran toward the one who needed her help.

She gave the guy in the net a solid boot to the stomach in passing and took off after Norn as best she could, the water and the muck below it dragging her feet down with every step. Nobody truly ran in the swamp, but Lara had developed a decent technique over the cycles. Together with her solid physical Attributes, she managed some decent speed; not quite as fast as Norn, whom Lara swore must be using Water-magic to help herself along somehow, but certainly faster than the dozen or so crazy people she could see to her left. Most of whom, she saw, turned to follow her and Norn rather than continuing toward Mabb.

Small blessings, she told herself, silently thanking the Wayfarer. When small blessings were all you ever got, you damn well showed some appreciation when they turned up.

And sometimes a great big lug of a blessing came along, and when that happened you cursed them for a fool and silently thanked the universe for dropping you in their path. Not far behind Lara, Mabb called out "Wait!" and took off after her with a noise like a white-water rapids. Guilt gnawed at the gratitude Lara felt at that, because she wasn't exactly surprised. She'd told Mabb what she wanted him to do, but she hadn't exactly expected him to do it, no matter how respectful and considerate he was. All that went out the window when she was about to do something stupid, she knew that full well.

Lara ran toward trouble, and Mabb did his best to keep Lara from getting hurt. That was just who they were.

Up ahead the Giant loomed out of the mist. Norn was visible as a dim figure, slipping and stumbling and still somehow staying ahead of Lara and screaming curses as she went. She'd almost reached the foot of the stone formation when another shadow surged out of the mist from her left, slamming into her with a snarl and sending them both crashing into the water. There were more right behind it and they piled on, forming a gray, writhing mound.

"Norn!" Lara screamed as she pushed herself to move faster. "Hold on!"

"Get her!" Mabb called from behind Lara. "I'll hold them off! Halt, you mad bastards! Stop, or I will stop you!"

Lara doubted that they'd listen. She'd called them lunatics, or crazy, but what she'd seen in their eyes wasn't madness. You had to be somewhat sane to be mad. No, what she'd seen had been the same unthinking hunger for violence as in every revenant she'd ever put down. An unbridled rage and hatred for anything that lived, which only stopped when the creature itself was destroyed.

Lara hoped that it wouldn't come to that. She'd killed before. She'd convinced herself that it had been necessary, and she'd mostly forgiven herself. She was even prepared to do it again if she absolutely had to, no matter the cost to herself. But she really, really hoped that it wouldn't come to that.

She listened to the feral howls of the people chasing them, and she knew in her gut that it was a vain hope. Ahead of her the pile shifted and churned, each of the assailants seemingly fighting the others to be closest to their victim. Lara had seen the first one to attack Norn try to bite her.

Gods, how many of them are there? Lara asked herself as her legs pumped as fast as she could make them. She was almost there, and she could see four at least in that writhing pile. She'd passed at least a dozen more. More in total than the number of missing people, and these weren't revenants. But if they weren't the missing people, who were they?

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That was a question for the Lara of two minutes from now, if she existed.

Lara began to Shape. It was a Shaping she'd practiced over and over since she was just a girl; a quick one, mostly used to fend off surprise attackers or aggressive folk who wouldn't take no for an answer. But it didn't have to be quick. It was versatile. She could vary its effectiveness by how much mana she channeled into it and the distance at which she used it. This time, Lara made it as effective as she possibly could.

Misery Splinter was a cold, wet hell, but that "wet" part had its uses. Swamp water was as rich in Water-aligned mana as any other, and Lara practiced her Channeling rigorously. She took every scrap of Water-aligned mana in range, unravelled it, and spun it into the purest Force-alignment that she possibly could. As she did she let it stream continuously through her Shaping, gathering in the palm of her free, outstretched hand until she was no more than five feet from the pile. And then, when she dared wait no longer, she released it.

Very little of the force recoiled into her, but it was still enough to send her stumbling back two steps. For those unfortunate enough to be on the other end it was a different story. The cone of pure force that blasted out from her hand hit the pile of struggling bodies like… Lara didn't really have anything to compare it to. For a few short moments she could see the muddy bottom as the shallow water was blasted away from her in a dense series of ripples, and Norn and her four assailants were sent flying, spinning and tumbling, even cartwheeling in one case. Lara hoped that it wasn't Norn. She'd assumed that Norn would be at the bottom and aimed accordingly, but there was always the risk that her luck was back to its normal, abysmal default.

She wasn't sure what effect her repulsion Shaping would have at that level and that distance, but she was sure it couldn't be good. Indeed, as the water surged back and the sounds of fighting from behind her demanded her attention, she only saw two of the five bodies move.

One, thankfully, was Norn, though she looked much worse for wear.

The other stumbled to her feet, though she really looked like she shouldn't be able to. Her right arm hung like a long sock full of acorns, and her ribcage on that side was nauseatingly flat. She still tried to move toward Norn.

Lara didn't give her a warning. She let loose with the fastest version of the repulsion Shaping she could, quick enough to be just a gesture, and the mangled woman stumbled and fell. "Stay down!" Lara commanded as she stalked forward, her sabre held ready to the side. "I said stay down!" she repeated, blasting the woman to her knees again as she tried to rise. And then, as Lara offered her hand to Norn, who was finally sane enough to accept help and took it, the broken, bleeding mess still found the strength to throw herself at them.

Lara slashed her sabre left to right as she stepped out of the way, pulling Norn with her. The broken woman stumbled, blood gushing from her throat, then fell and lay still.

Lara had hoped never to kill a living person again, but it was not to be, it seemed. And back the way she had come, Mabb knelt, surrounded by still bodies and with his shoulders slumped. She didn't know if he'd killed a sapient before — he hadn't mentioned it in his story — but it didn't take a genius to see that he hadn't wanted to today.

"Are you alright?" Lara asked Norn tersely, even as she began to drag the woman toward her friend.

"They bit me! Bit me and cut me and scratched me! But they didn't get me!"

"Great." Lara sighed. She was unspeakably angry with the woman. She wished Norn had run for the outpost in the first place, so they could have avoided all this. But at least they were all alive. That was more than she could say for the poor bastards who'd attacked them, but they'd had to make a choice, and, well, Lara would always pick the innocent over the guilty, when she knew where the line was.

As they got closer to Mabb, the state of the bodies surrounding him became horribly clear. Lara hadn't seen him fight. Now she was glad for it.

"Hey, big brother," she said gently. "Are you hurt?"

Mabb was silent for a few breaths then said. "A few scratches. The only wounds are to my conscience. What about you and Norn?"

"Didn't touch me. Norn's—"

"Swamp's never going to get me!" the woman cackled.

"Right," Lara said. "Cuts, bruises, bites and scratches, but nothing that will kill her before we get her to Trislain. We should gather our gear and head back."

"Give me a moment," Mabb said. No please. It wasn't a request.

"Of course," Lara said. "All the time you need." Mabb was rarely this short with her, or anyone, and she knew to take it seriously. If he said he needed a moment, he needed a moment.

They didn't speak as they found the raised line of dry land that was the path. Nor as they approached the Giant — not beyond simple words and phrases as they gathered their gear, and the muttered grumblings of the madwoman whose life they'd saved. They'd need to. They needed to find some way of dispelling the suffocating darkness that hung over them both. Lara had killed five people tonight — she'd only killed two in her life before, and one of those she wasn't sure about. Mabb had slain a dozen.

Lara hadn't received any notifications. She didn't know if Mabb had, but she was scared to ask.

They had a day's march ahead of them, and it was getting dark, but despite that Lara decided to push for the outpost. She wanted to put distance between themselves and the Giant, and when she broke the silence to say as much Mabb replied with a terse, but not unfriendly, "Fine."

Lara and Mabb both had plenty of Endurance from their Classes, but Norn, poor social Classer that she was, didn't. They still pushed the woman until her constant paranoid rambling stopped, and then until she stumbled and couldn't get back to her feet. They camped, then, with no fire and with Lara and Mabb splitting the watch. Norn, paranoid as she was, might do a good job. She might also run off into the mist the moment her two rescuers were asleep.

Mabb took the first watch, which left Lara with the dubious pleasure of Norn's company for the second one. "Don't you need more sleep?" Lara asked hopefully when the Herbalist sat up in her bedroll.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Norn accused. "Well, you're not gonna get me that easy! I've got my Willpower Mult at 2.5! Attribute's at 40!"

"Right," Lara said. She might have pointed out that if she and Mabb suddenly wished to do Norn harm, Mabb could have snapped her neck at any time in the last three hours. That didn't seem like it would get her anything but another rant, though, so instead she asked, "Why? What does a Herbalist need with 40 Willpower?"

"Demons!" the deranged woman hissed. "Them and the Mind-mages. They want my body! But I won't let 'em have it. Been fighting 'em off forever."

Yep, Lara thought as she nodded agreeably. Out of her goddamn mind. As if a Level 17 Herbalist would be targeted for possession — or have any chance at all of fighting it off, no matter what her Willpower was.

They gave Norn six hours, of which she slept maybe one, and then they were on their way again. The woman had recovered enough that with a few short breaks and a mix of soft and hard treatment they got her back to the outpost in one piece, if not much more. Norn had wiped down her cuts, scrapes, and bites with healing potion while Lara did the same for Mabb, but some of the wounds, though minor, looked like they might be getting infected. And that was besides the woman's general exhaustion, which did nothing to help her permanently foul mood.

Lara didn't think much of it; they'd simply have Master Trislain deal with it. A visit to the Healer was standard procedure for any marginally intelligent person returning from the wetlands, anyway. No surprise, Lara thought, that they had to practically drag Norn there.

"I don't trust 'em!" she protested loudly. "Charlatans and perverts, the lot of them!"

"Why the hell would you say that?" Lara asked tiredly. She didn't bother hiding her exasperation with the woman; Norn hadn't interpreted a single emotion correctly so far, so why would she start now?

"I went to Mistress Korli when I was new here, and she wanted to put her hands on me! Ain't been back since. Not going to give 'em another chance, oh no!"

Lara sighed. "That's how it's usually done, yeah. Skin on skin."

"See!" Norn crowed triumphantly. "They're all the same!"

"Yep, sure are," Lara agreed. "Big brother, do you know who this Mistress Korli is?"

"An excellent Healer," Mabb replied. "She left, oh… twenty-five cycles ago. A great loss to the Splinter, but she just couldn't stand it in the end. She was too pure for this place."

"Wait," Lara said, turning back to Norn. "You haven't visited a Healer for twenty-five cycles?"

"You deaf, girl? No!"

Lara was pretty sure that she was the same age or older than Norn. Reaching an Effective Vitality in the 30s when you were barely past twenty years old did that to a person, and that value had only gone up with the years. The fact that the Herbalist looked ten years older than Lara was her own damn problem. But they were getting close to Master Trislain's and would soon be rid of the odious woman, so Lara decided not to engage.

"Hear you loud and clear," she said dismissively as they rounded a corner and Master Trislain's door came into sight.

She'd never seen Norn before, during all her Cycles in the Splinter. Once they delivered her to the Healer, she'd be happy never to see the woman again.