Chapter 237: House of Ravens

Chapter 237: House of Ravens

Tala stretched, twisting to one side, then the other as she walked.

She felt a series of oddly relieving pops with each twist. Thats the spot.

She smiled contentedly, then checked her gear.

Three bloodstars rotated around her head and a fourth floated a bit behind the base of her skull.

Between her neck and that fourth bloodstar, her tungsten rod was fixed, vertically in place, moving with her as if attached, though it never touched her or inhibited her movements in the least.

The tungsten sphere, with a bloodstar at its core, rested just in front of her sternum, and the three defensive discs moved around her body in tight, oscillating orbits.

Flow and Kit hung in counterbalance to one another.

Thron was off with an artificer, discussing the white steel that Tala had gotten from the guild hold. Theyd wanted to meet with the man earlier, but hed been otherwise engaged until that very morning.

What can you do, right?

Her elk-leathers covered her nearly completely. She had grown shoes around her feet and a collar reaching up her neck, so that only her hands and head were uncovered.

As she moved, she could feel the tungsten spheres held tightly against her torso sway ever so slightly, but they didnt get in the way.

Tala glanced to the side, where Be-thric was walking beside her. Are we ready?

Eight soldiers of the House of Blood surrounded her and Be-thric as they moved through the streets of the District of Doors.

Be-thric grinned back towards her. Unquestionably.

Tala had been clever with the idea. Most would consider themselves safe within anothers hold.

Be-thric had been meticulous in picking out the specific target. The House of Ravens was a relatively new, minor house, and it had invited several major Houses to this celebration.

Only one had elected to send a representative.

That one major House was a competitor to the House of Blood in several ventures, making the removal of one of their candidate Eskau a worthy move. Even just the taking of her protian weapon would do as much as killing her, arguably more, but they had planned for either eventuality.

Together, Tala and Be-thric had chosen the soldiers to allow for a smooth execution of the strike. A specialized hold-breacher, six soldiers skilled in quick strikes, and a leader who was good at thinking on his feet.

All told, they had likely overplanned, over-prepared, and more than simply Tala, herself, was overkill. Even so, she wanted there to be no room for error.Witness the debut of this chapter, unveiled through Ñôv€l--B1n.

She hadnt particularly liked working so closely with Be-thric in the planning, but it couldnt be helped. If this failed, they wouldnt get another chance for the acquisition of a protian weapon in this manner. They had to make it count. What I do to get back home.

All told, it would require something going incredibly oddly for anything to be a problem.

Even if a true Pillar of the major House was in attendance, or this minor House was hiding someone of true power, there would be issues but not insurmountable ones, no real problems.

If the City Lord is there, and decides to oppose our action, that would certainly do it.

-Well, of course, but thats sort of the point of the City Lord. Anything he opposes, within the city, is a no-go. So, this really isnt any different.-

That was an odd thought, actually. All of arcane society within this area lived under the whim of the City Lord. He could, quite literally, kill them all, and only a few beings in the city could likely even slow him down.

And their opposition would likely cause as much death and damage as the unchecked City Lord, himself, though it would be less directed

In the end, if the City Lord decided to level half the city, those with power enough to oppose him would likely just grab who they care about and move out of the way.

It was just simpler than fighting, not to mention more likely to succeed.

No one really seemed to mind the dictatorship; it wasnt like the City Lord had actually done anything of the kind in living memory for most of the populace.

But he could. And Tala didnt like the feeling of that possibility hanging over her head.

-The powerful always could but worrying about it never helped anyone.-

Thanks for the reassurance

-I dont offer reassurance, I offer reality.-

Tala just sighed.

Her attention focused outward once more as she, Be-thric, and the House of Blood soldiers rounded a corner. Her gaze locked on the entrance to the hold in question. The House of Ravens is in for a bad day. Hopefully, they wont make it worse by resisting.

Their mission was a bit like the whims of a City Lord in that regard. The minor house couldnt stop them, and if they chose to try it would likely go worse for all involved. It would just be better if the House of Ravens buckled down, got out of the way, and hoped to not attract the ire of those above them.

And thats likely exactly what they would do.

The door to the House of Ravens hold didnt stand out from the others around it.

It was a simple red, wooden door, between a black and a blue one. On the upper panel, the minor houses crest, three ravens in flight, seemed to have been burned into the material of the entrance.

There were no guards outside.

There were no defensive fields.

Nothing.

The lead soldier, Ce-annaire, fell in beside Be-thric as he asked, Pillar Be-thric. Which plan do we implement: a quiet entry or a breach?

They had prepared for both, deciding to wait on the final decision until they were on the scene.

Be-thric looked to Tala. Eskau Tali?

Well. Hmmm

-Kick down the door, storm in magic blazing and swords swinging, or knock and ask to be invited in, otherwise we have to stand impotently on the threshold.-

That second one was never part of the plan, and what? Why couldnt we enter without an invitation?

-Superstition? Convenient plot device? Good manners?-

You make absolutely no sense, sometimes.

His hunching made complete sense as well; no one with even half a brain would want to be a focal point in a contest between two major Houses.

Tin-talun was trying to draw the minor house into the conflict, and the poor man just wanted to stay out of it, and not offend the winner, whoever that would be.

Tala smirked. I am Tali, Eskau of the House of Blood. No assault has taken place on the House of Ravens. We are gathering the protian weapons required for Pillar Be-thric of the House of Blood. Such is the way of Houses, as I am sure you are aware. Hey! I didnt have to pull from Tali for that one.

-Nicely done.-

Tin-talun nodded once.

Good. We understand one another. Now, I can kill you and take the weapon from your corpse, or you can hand it over and live. Either way, we will leave with the protian weapon, and this celebration can continue in peace. Your choice will simply determine if you are around to enjoy the festivities or if your hosts have a body to dispose of.

The woman seemed to straighten for a moment, then deflate. Very well.

Shes going to attack me.

-Yeah, thats pretty obvious.-

Tin-talun whipped her hand up and forward. A dagger flew towards Tala, seemingly made of rough stone, run through with molten, glowing cracks. Then have it!

Hey, she attacked before she yelled. Good choice that.

-Not every enemy can be trusted to be a fool.-

Thank the stars for that. Can you imagine how boring a world that would be?

The woman vaulted over the table just behind her weapon.

Tala grimaced, changing Flow to its non-void sword form and striking the lava-knife out of the air.

A void form would have worked better, but using void magics very likely could have just consumed the thing, and they needed it intact. First we finish Be-thrics set, then we can all go home.

As Flow hit the knife, the thrown weapon exploded in a shower of burning rock and molten metal.

The magic defense on Talas elk-leathers entirely stopped the portion of the attack that reached her, keeping her from even minor injury.

Huh, that was incredibly weak. No one else had been close enough to be caught in the minor explosion.

Be-thric was largely unnecessary for this venture, but he had come just in case their intelligence had been faulty once again.

They didnt want a repeat of the bakery incident, with a more hostile person this time.

The guards had accompanied them to deal with the minor house, if necessary.

It didnt seem like they would be necessary beyond what they had already done..

Tin-talun was still advancing on Tala quickly, but Tala was hardly concerned.

The woman reached out, and the fragments of stone and metal came back together in her hand, forming a greatsword.

What a foolish choice for a weapon form. Were practically already too close for it to be an effective shape to fight me. Not that there was really a good choice.

Tala reached out with her will and her magic to switch targets for a pair of spheres, and a familiar crack filled the air as they shot for the ashen woman.

Tin-talun responded incredibly quickly, somehow deflecting both spheres with a single movement.

Huh, shes good with a greatsword, even in close quarters? It still wasnt as versatile in such tight confines. Shes not half as good as Rane.

-Youve not seen her fight. Isnt that a bit of a premature assessment?-

Tala grunted. I can tell. Shell lose almost immediately.

-If you say so.-

Tala shifted her focus back to the matter at hand. You know, Io deflected my spheres, too. They might be more predictable than I thought? Maybe, I should ramp them up, higher in the future

They had slammed into the ceiling above the combatants.

Tala smiled.

She nodded and calmly spoke. Fair warning Tin-talun: Those were more than a single strike projectile.

Tin-talun frowned, watching her warily, but not attacking for the moment.

Tala helpfully pointed up as some dust trickled out of the two broken holes.

The other woman glanced towards the ceiling, seemingly on reflex, and Tala lunged, extending Flow into the form of a glaive. She also willed for her elk-leathers to grow a helmet at the same time.

I do not want to be covered in her.

Tin-talun jerked her head back down and blocked with a somewhat clumsy sweep of her large weapon. Even so, Tala hadnt tried to be overly fast or hard to block, allowing Tin-talun to easily deflect the glaive thrust.

The ashen woman looked thoroughly confused as Tala sprang backward once more. What was the point of that silly misdirection?

Then, the tungsten spheres worked themselves free of the ceiling, and the air cracked once again.

Tin-taluns head burst from a duel impact before the woman could react.

Tala was blessedly protected from the splatter by her helmet. Just as I planned.

She quirked a smile, speaking to the corpse but loudly enough that everyone present would hear. Since you asked: I find that the truth is often a convenient distraction.

After Tin-talun had been tricked to look up once, she had been slower to respond to potential feints or distractions from above her again.

Tala stepped forward and caught the greatsword, pulling it from the dead hands, even as Tin-taluns headless body fell limply to one side.

Tala released her hold on her through-spike, and the illusion snapped back in place, leaving the appearance of a rather unassuming, small, human woman.

Without another word, Tala turned, strode to Be-thric, and presented the sword to him. He smiled and accepted the proffered weapon.

Without any acknowledgement or gesture to the members of the House of Ravens surrounding them in the dining hall, the group from the House of Blood departed, their goal accomplished.