Curse

Ariovist Lynxkind · Jun 03, 2009, 07:42 PM // 19:42

-Part 1-

‘You did what?!’ exclaimed the normally even-tempered Angel. The only one to ever get her angry was her cousin Jericho.

‘I got kicked out of Nolani,’ Replied Jericho.

‘You did more than just that,’ interjected Astrid, Angel’s twin sister, reading over some texts while sitting under a tree. ‘You get to have your choice of Nolani, Drascir and Ascalon Academies, but you managed to get kicked out of Nolani and black-listed at the others.’

‘Even Necromancers shun you for your tactics,’ added Ariovist.

‘Well at least I have got some work,’ protested Jericho, trying to defend himself.

It had been almost 200 years since House Lynxkind arrived in Tyria. They were Kurzick exiles from Cantha and had been kicked out of Kryta thanks to Jericho’s namesake. Over the years, and thanks to the Guild Wars, their numbers had dwindled. Angel was being groomed to eventually replace her mother as the head of the house, while her twin Astrid was deemed gifted and studied at Nolani Academy, north of the capital, Rin. Their brother Ariovist had been accepted into Ascalon Academy, but studied mainly under Aidan. Today, however, they had been collared by their cousin Jericho to help him do some hunting for Duke Barradin.

‘So there were a few accidents…’ started Jericho

‘Accidents?! Is that what you call them?’ asked Angel, trying not to scream.

‘I heard he almost took Cynn’s head off during some inter-academy training,’ quipped Astrid, not looking up from her book. ‘Pity…’

‘Accidents are accidents, Jericho. Taking aim at a fellow team-mate and almost killing them isn’t.’

‘They were slowing me down,’ Jericho said, casually.’ They would have been better off as a minion for a necro.’

‘You can’t even charm an animal,’ Angel levelled at him.

‘There is a reason for that,’ interjected Astrid.

‘See…’ smiled Jericho.

‘Not even they’re stupid enough to go with someone who is going to get them killed.’

‘Hey!’

‘She’s right you know,’ Added Ariovist. ‘After you killed your Stalker, the only animal you could charm was a Strider, and even they avoid you after you pissed Cynn off that time.’

‘So I cant get a pet like your Mystique or Angel’s Luxonbane or Astrid’s Gamble,’ replied Jericho. ‘I can do fine on my own.’

They heard a rustle from the bushes. Ariovist aimed his bow while Jericho had is prepared. Not looking up from her book, Astrid shot an arrow into the bushes. The corpse of a devourer fell out of them.

‘This is wrong, I need to talk to my teachers about it,’ she said, then she looked up. ‘What’s that noise?’

Angel, Ariovist and Jericho were knocked back. When they got up, a large crystal was buried into the ground where Astrid had been sitting.

‘Astrid?’ said a shocked Angel. Ariovist was the first to gather his wits.

‘There’s more of them,’ he said looking up at the sky. He grabbed his sister’s arm. ‘Angel, we have to get out of here or we will end up flattened too!’

The trio dodged their way through as lage crystals rained over Ascalon and powerful magic started to scorch the landscape. One crystal almost got them, but Mystique was not so lucky. Ariovist looked back for a moment where his pet was, but continued running.

‘We need to seek shelter,’ he said. Putting what he learnt from Aidan to good use, he found a suitable cave to shelter them. Angel found a corner to curl up in, and started crying. Jericho kept watch at the entrance while Ariovist comforted his sister.

‘Angel, you need to be strong,’ he said. ‘Can you be strong, for Astrid?

‘I don’t know…’ she sobbed in reply.

‘Hey, look at me.’ He lifted Angel’s chin. ‘You are going to be the head of the house some day. You are going to have to be strong for them when that time comes.’

‘That time could be now,’ quipped Jericho.

‘Stow it, Jericho.’

‘I am not kidding.’ Ariovist got up and looked out the entrance with him. ‘All of Ascalon has to be copping this, and I highly doubt Serenity and our home would be…’ Jericho and Ariovist were knocked back as a crystal landed near the opening. ‘Okay, that was too close.

‘Rest up, both of you,’ said Ariovist, ‘this wont be over for a while. We will take turns keeping watch.’

‘Wakey wakey,’ Jericho woke Angel, ‘Your turn!’ Angel got up, hoping the previous day was a nightmare. The large crystal at the entrance to the cave reminded her it wasn’t. Then she heard some voices.

‘Looks like we did a good job here,’ said one.

‘Too good,’ replied another,’ there is nothing left to eat!’ Angel recognised whom the voices belong to: The Charr. She walked out of the cave and lit some arrows.

‘You like fire?’ she yelled, causing a patrol of four char to turn around. ‘Here you go!’ A volley of burning arrows rained down on them. Their healer limited the damage, but was unable to counter the fire storm spell that came after.

‘Angel?’ asked Ariovist, as he stuck his head out of the cave. The smouldering Charr corpses answered his unasked question. Jericho looked past them.

‘Oh crap’, he said as he saw the now-alerted warband. Both he and Ariovist started to run in the opposite direction, but Angel stood firm.

‘You want some, come get some!’ she yelled, before her brain caught up to the situation. As the realisation sank in, she turned and ran after the others.

‘Are they following us?’ asked Ariovist.

‘I don’t know and I’m not looking,’ replied Jericho. Angel passed between them and disappeared into a river. They went to jump in after when hands grabbed their ankles.

‘Now!’ shouted a voice. Ariovist looked around and saw Cynn and Aiden letting off spells and arrows. He instinctually joined his mentor in firing at the charr.

‘Cover me!’ yelled Devona as she left the improvised trench.

‘Now this is what I’m talking about!’ smiled Jericho as he joined the fight. Angel looked over the edge, firing some spells and arrows before sending Luxonbane to help Devona. It didn’t take long for the char to retreat. Devona returned, pulling an arrow out of her shoulder.

‘I believe this is yours,’ she said, rolling her eyes as she handed it to Jericho

‘Uh, sorry,’ he somewhat apologised, but she brushed it off.

‘Are you guys okay?’ She asked.

‘Guess so,’ replied Angel. ‘Thanks.’

‘You’re welcome. We have been out looking for survivors. There are a lot of Charr south of the wall at the moment, so wee need to get you to Ascalon City.’ Aidan looked around.

‘No Astrid?’ he asked.

‘She got hit by one of those crystals,’ Ariovist replied before Angel could say anything.

‘My condolences,’ Aiden said, grimly. ‘Let’s get back to the city.’