Chapter 41 - Broken Ground (1/2)
Chapter 41: Broken Ground
“I told you already, I can’t let you in! Now go away kid!”
Under a guardhouse built against the wall, Nisha was arguing with the soldier guarding the door
After having followed the instructions of the various soldiers carrying supplies up the stairs, the clae stones separating her froirl had finally arrived in front of the foruard station, which now served as the main headquarter of the defense force
“I already told you! My name is Nisha Dharnas, I have to speak with the marshal Let me in! Now!”
A sround, her frustration piling up, similar to the debris fro with the endless arid weather, had transformed the previously crammed roads in bone-dry wastelands
Tempted to conjure her [Taurith Short Swords] frouard and force her way in, Nisha used all of her willpower to resist that urge, cal once more
“Listen up, brat You are not the first one to try to seek refuge here, but i a noble is a serious crio away, I won’t let you in!”
“Why can’t you understand?! I’ anyone, if you ask the marshall, he will confirm it Just ask him!”
“I’ the latrines for a week because I angered the e and I can’t talk to you anymore If I can still see you after three seconds, I’ll have to use my spear to drive you away!”
I would like to see him try But I don’t have time for this, what can I do to see Luthais?
The door behind the soldier suddenly opened, another man with a decorated unifor the scene occurring in front of hi him to look up at the two verbal opponents
“Lieutenant, what is going on here? What is all this racket about?”
His haughty stature, co nasal voice, drove Nisha to instantly dislike him; but his reaction to the lieutenant’s report surprised her
“Sir! This girl keeps pesteringMarshall Dharnas, she clai as far as to pretend to bear the Dharnas nahter, so I tried to make her leave, but she doesn’t listen!”
“Wow, are you a dwarf?”
Grandpa told me about that species, they are supposed to live in a far away kingdom I didn’t know there was one here
The admiration in her eyes as she looked at the man seemed to have an effect contrary to as intended, as the officer’s eyes started bulging out of their sockets, his face reddening in an unhealthy colour
“Such insolence! Lieutenant, I de any more time, I have never been -”
“Nisha, there you are! You shouldn’t run away like that”
A fe out out from behind Nisha
Turning around, the dragon spotted Lance Corporal Hale and her group of soldiers, still dragging the hand cart
“It’s the eneirl is a spy, kill her!”
The door guard couldn’t say whether the co inside the building, screailance or his misplaced hate due to the dwarf comment
“More eneet the Marshall!”
Nisha herself had no idea as going on, she had only wanted to meet Luthais, that hat she had clearly stated; however she had been suddenly treated like an enearded as a foe too; and it irked her
Confused by the obscure relationshi+ps between the different parties around her and the violent development, Nisha was late to react to the soldier’sa sudden pain The tip of a spear was grotesquely protruding out of it
Ironically enough, there had been no pain when the spear had pierced her back, no sensations had coursed her body before she noticed the iron head, there had only been a slight discomfort
Now that she kneas causing the irritation, the injured girl could feel every rough edge, every bump the smith hadinto her flesh, each of theh her body
Sht, this hurts But I’ve had worse before
In the deepest part of Nisha’s being, the fla her to allow the their ht the overpowering demands, they had to break free and be concentrated on the wound
Regrettably the iron in her flesh was sapping all her strength, herthe wound in vain
With whatever strength she had left, Nisha’s shaky hand reached out to the spear’s handle and infused it with all the h shaft, the stick splintering and crurasp
A burning sensation accompanied Nisha into the darkness
And I only wanted to see Luthais … Sorry Anna, sorry Lydia, looks like I won’t be able to help you anymore
“Prepare to defend the building! Guards, take your positions and – Nisha! Is that you ?! What happened here?!”
That was the last thing the dragon heard before nothingness fully clai senses
Darkness had becoht and even felt at ease hunting under its black cloak; after all she could no longer see a difference between daylight and nighttime
This dusk however felt foreign to her, on looked around, seeking to visualize the bindings that kept her in place
But there didn’t see her afloat Only shadows, as far as the eye could see
No sensations left in her li her inside a s silently, unable to tell if a single moment or an eternity had passed
Eventually, she couldn’t take it anymore and despaired
Help me, please Whoever can hear me, I don’t knohat to do anymore Help me
Grey ravens appeared out of nowhere, circling around Nisha in a feather storm Like leaves in an autuhostly and without a proper outline Suddenly the birds shi+fted andcolors
“Do you know it is the first tiain”
Rippling like water, the darkness parted, akin to a veil, opening a passage for two figures to penetrate the circle
Gabriel! Bael!
“Yes Nisha, it’s us We are here”
Free from her confinement as the ravens had dissolved them, Nisha threw herself towards the welcomed visitors, excited
Within Gabriel’s es slowly returned to her numbed limbs
I aain too But what did you mean by prayer? I don’t think I ever prayed to anyone
Unlike the last tied from the veil did not exactly s, they looked more like echoes of real persons than fleshly apparitions; they were living shadows, featureless; yet Nisha couldeffortlessly recognize the energy circling around the Goddesses
“Prayers can coer, the feeling of thankfulness after a peaceful day, all of these can be taken as a short prayer
You reached out a plea to anyone that , and we answered So here we are”
Downright kindness played on the otherwise expressionless whitethe reason of their arrival
Where a to me?