"There are those who have compared various games, like chess, to war. This is a patently foolish comparison. In games, you have control of your pieces, you see what the opponent has, and you can construct and execute strategies to best take out the worst threats to your safety. "War is nothing like this. When it becomes time to fight, you can plan to an extent, but at the ultimate end, there will be you, and someone else. You'd just better hope that the dice roll in your favor, because more often than not, you are not a queen, and he is not a pawn." -- From Admiral Alysander Coucii's address to the graduating class of Bristow academy ---------- Water Dragon Productions and Rocketarian Pictures presents in association with Improfanfic [*] Suikoden: Distant Shores by Illyria and Todd Harper [*] Part 29: Repercussions on the Wind by K. Jeffery Petersen ---------- Six riders met on the hills overlooking the farms outside Bristow. For a moment they stared hard at each other. The only movements were from two of those in Hereshan uniforms; they wrung the reins through their fingers, emitting the squeak of leather on leather. "Lierni," said the young woman between them. "Adele," the woman on the other side responded. "I suppose you justify this--" Lierni gestured vaguely towards the farms behind the Hereshans. "Just like when you left us." That wasn't right, Adele was sure. "I-- I never--" she started. Even if she was merely a merchant with high aspirations, Lierni would know the truth. "Where's Tavia?" One of the men with Lierni demanded. And with that, the peace was broken. Zalura and Sebastian urged their horses forward past Adele. She blinked. Her eyes narrowed. "Kill the men, leave the traitor to me." Lierni pulled her horse around and started down the hill as Adele trotted after her. "Running already, Lierni? At least Tavia had the nerve to stand her ground." "Where is she?" Lierni spat. She reached a small bowl right on the edge of a farm and drew up just short of a fence. "Dead, hopefully. Same as you will be." Lierni regarded her coldly. Adele realized that there wasn't much change in the other woman's expression. "That's the sentence for traitors. Far better than you deserve." Adele's sword let out a ring as she cleared it from the scabbard. "I never really liked you much, Lierni." The other woman's gloved hand tightened. Adele heard a shriek, and a golden hawk shot forth. She jerked back instinctively, raising her sword to block the attack. The impact was soft, yet forceful enough to jerk her wrist back painfully. A blue-white ball of energy began to glow in Lierni's hands. Adele leapt off of her horse and tackled the raven-haired girl. They went down over the fence and rolled to a stop through three rows of corn. Lierni ended up on top. Adele tried to squirm out, but somehow she managed to keep her pinned. Frustration growing in her, Adele struck out with her hand. The butt of her sabre caught Lierni in the ribs. Gasping, she rolled off, clutching her side. Adele got quickly to her feet, but seeing that Lierni posed no immediate threat, she brushed down her uniform. "I don't expect you to understand, Lierni. You have to die." A ragged cough came as a reply. "What?" "I said, so you can conveniently say what 'really' happened." Slowly rising, Lierni continued. "You never were much for accuracy of events." "Says she who tried to rise above her station." Adele dropped into a guarded stance and kept her ears open for another shriek. "You were jealous, weren't you?" "What?" Lierni's normally cool eyes widened in shock. "It fits, you know. The peasant and the merchant, jealous of their betters, run off to play the revolutionary." Adele barked a short laugh. "They call revolutionaries traitors in the history books, after they've paid for their crimes." "You really have no idea what is going on here, do you?" Lierni's voice was bemused, but quickly got back its normal acidity. "I never thought you were stupid. Now I know you're just blind to what's going on." "I'm blind? I know precisely what's happening. You got swept up in something that's going to destroy everything everyone fought for, because your too scared to see the truth." "I'm not the one who ran, coward!" "You disobeyed my orders!" Adele screamed and charged. Her sword stroke came in low and wide. Lierni danced back, but the tip sliced across her thigh. Lierni hissed in pain and thrust out her arm. Arrano swooped over her shoulder, claws raking as it passed Adele. She felt the barest of touches on her cheek. Her free hand shot up to it. Warm moistness oozed through the seams of her gloves. "You're just a pawn, Adele," Lierni said. The screech of Arrano changed in pitch as it curved around for another pass. "You're just a traitor who has to die." Adele stepped forward and raised her sword. "Li!" The shout stopped her short. Both women looked towards it. Two riders were coming down the hill towards them. Neither was Zalura or Sebastian. Adele shrugged and stabbed forward. Her blade cut neatly through Lierni's uniform jacket. The dark-haired woman tried to roll away from the strike, but she was a moment too late. Adele felt harder resistance as the stab continued. As easily as she had thrust, she withdrew. Lierni staggered back a step, clutching at her side. Adele reared back to finish the deed, but a fast approaching shriek threw her off. Instead, she slammed the pommel of her sabre into Lierni's face. The mage crumpled. "Stupid," Adele said, running over her and getting on her horse. "You never could fight well." She wheeled her mount around and galloped off just before the two men arrived. "Go after her!" one shouted. "Reid! What about Lierni?" Smirking, Adele urged her horse along faster. A Malespoir never forgot her mission. A mile away, she heard gallops behind her. She pulled out her sword and whirled the horse around. Two riders burst out on the path and sped towards her. Adele's shoulders drooped as she let out a breath. They were only Zalura and Sebastian. Still... the two men had been still alive to save Lierni. "What happened?" she demanded. Sebastian hesitated. "They... surprised us, commander," Zalura offered. "You are trained Hereshan soldiers. The product of the best military organization in the world. They are peasant rabble. You should not be surprised." Zalura bowed her head. Adele felt the corner of her mouth twitch upwards. Soldiers needed to know their place. Sebastian had a thoughtful look on his face. "What about you, Captain?" Adele felt her eyebrow twitch. He was a good soldier and an excellent fighter, but the man was so dense sometimes. "She would have died, if you two had not failed. Shey may die still. You just worry that you do not fail again." "Commander!" The shout brought all their heads up. Jellyn stumbled upon the path. "Jellyn! Where is your horse?" Adele demanded. "I... could not get to it, commander." She was holding her side, and her breathing was ragged. "How is the traitor? Is Tavia dead?" Adele rode close to Jellyn and stared down hard. "I-- That is-- She--" Jellyn stuttered and looked to Zalura and Sebastian for support. "You failed," Adele said. "I-- Yes, commander." Jellyn looked down. "She is injured badly." "Very well. You did your best." Adele stabbed forward. Jellyn's body crumpled. Adele turned towards the other two. "Do not fail me again." "Yes, commander!" they said in unison. "Should we go finish them off?" Zalura asked Adele flicked her sabre to clean it then resheathed it. "No. We have injured them badly, and they will be expecting another attack." As the three rode off, Adele was glad her hands were gloved, so they would not be able to see her white knuckles as she held the reigns. She was not a pawn. Malespoirs were never pawns. [*] "Tavia!" The shout sounded muffled, like someone was calling into a pillow. That didn't seem like a very wise way to get her attention, though. Besides, she wanted to sleep. "Tavia!" the person called again. It sounded closer, more insistent, this time. Then someone shook her. Why wouldn't they just leave her alone for once? "Tavia!" a third time. She opened her eyes at the shaking. "Reid?" she asked. "What are you...?" Visions of the fight flooded back. She sat up. "Why are you here?" "We came to get you after you rode off." With Reid's help, she managed to get to her feet. "Where's Adele?" she asked. "We met her. She got away." "Fine. We have to go after her." She pointed towards the fresh graves. Reid gasped. "You see? She has to pay for this." He sighed. "Tavia, we can't." "Why not? She's a murderer! We can't let her get away with this!" "Reid! Hurry up!" "What was that?" Tavia looked towards the shout. "Alaric?" "Tavia, she got Lierni." She rushed away from Reid. Alaric held Lierni on his saddle. Her face was all red and her nose looked very broken, but it was the large red splotch on her side that got Tavia's attention the most. "Li!" She placed her hand on her friend's thigh. "She's not...?" "No, not dead," Alarid said. "We stopped Adele in time." "Can you do anything?" "No. We have to get her back to White Cloud." Reid came up to them, leading Tavia's horse. "We'll have to ride hard tonight." He patted the horse's nose. "The horses are exhausted already, but there's nothing..." he trailed off and shrugged. "No, wait. We'll take her to Bristow," Tavia said. "It's closer, and the ride won't make things worse for her." Reid shook his head. "We can't." "They have to have a healer there, Reid." "Maybe... I don't know. But I doubt it. We've been sraping for every spellcaster we could find. If we go there and there isn't one, we won't be able to make it to White Cloud in time." Tavia bit her lip. "Fine." She hoisted herself up on the horse. "Hold on, Li," she said, reaching out and squeezing her friend's hand. Lierni's eyes fluttered open. "Tavia," she said, a small smile creeping up on her face, despite the obvious pain she was in. "I'm sorry for not stopping her." "Don't worry about it. We'll make her pay for this, Li." "It's Lierni." Her eyes closed again. [To be continued] [*] Author's note: I must apologize. I had a lot more planned for this chapter, including a rather complete idea about what was goign to go on at the dwarf island. For various reasons I was unable to get to that. I hope this suffices for people, despite the short length. And, yes, I'm an Adele fan. I imagine that if I write another chapter, I'll end up, yet again, delving into her head. It's good to be back writing fiction and Impro again. Hopefully it'll happen more often now that I've graduated.