Saturday, May 4, 2013

Harrison: To Those Who Bleed

The Australian Mage awoke with a groan. Someone was beside him, stroking his hair. It was rather comforting, he had to admit. Kat was there and he was alive and it was all going to be okay. He tried to sit up and an intense pain shot through his abdomen. He fell back with a cry and heard a chorus of mechanical beeps. He cracked one eye open. "Am I in a hospital?"
"Ah, Tony. You're awake." There was a doctor, or maybe a nurse, standing over him. Ekaterina was sat beside the bed, smiling softly. Harrison mouthed 'Tony?' to her, frowning. She gave an apologetic smile. He ignored everything the doctor said and said he understood at the right time, then asked what was going on to Kat.
"Well, that ginger nutter stabbed you and we didn't have a healer, so we brought you to a hospital and now you're vaguely better."
"Vaguely?"
"It wouldn't be a good idea to leave here for you right now." She admitted, eyes downcast.
"We had a job to do! I'm the only one Fred trusts, I have to do it!"
"Trusted, and no, Harrison, you don't."
"I'm the only one who can-"
"It doesn't matter."
"It's important, Kat."
She shook her head. "The doctor said that if you leave you'd die. You can't."
"Bring in Wylie. I have research that really needs to be done."
"Can't you take it easy just this once?"
"Only if you want Mevolent to win."
"We'll help you-"
"No!...Uh, no...it's sort of personal..." She looked a little hurt but didn't press any further. He rushed her to leave him to it once she'd brought Wylie over as discreetly as he could. Again he managed to offend her, but again she made no comment.

-----

Arduous glared at the two men digging the hole at the cemetery. "Hurry up." He snapped, rubbing his arms for warmth. The grave they'd targeted was that of a man named Lorcan Mulrennan, although the given surname was inaccurate. He had been buried with something in his pocket. Something a man in the Czech Republic needed. Bonifac Vada-Kaz was the Grand Mage there now and he needed his power, but it was found firstly that Rasputin was still alive and secondly that the ring was in possession of a dead member of what used to be Mevolent's lower generals, only one of the originals of which still remained.
"Okay, done!" one of the men called. Arduous moved over and repressed a shudder at the sight of the corpse. He was the doctor after all. "Serpine said to bring the body back and all. He's been looking at his notes on resurrection. He wants to run a few experiments, see if they can do things the way his son did with that Baron Vengeous. They heaved the body out of the grave and went hunting in the pockets. One man gave a triumphant yell and held Bonifac's ring aloft. Arduous grinned and gave a sharp nod, helping to guide the men carrying the body into the truck. They sped off into the night, leaving the grave defiled.

Mr Twist walked to the grave the next day. When he saw the state of it, he frowned, deeply troubled, and returned home. Niamh began nattering away instantly.
"Well welcome home. Nice to see you and all. God, that vampire girl we have here is a right madame. Where've you been anyway? You were going to give that bandaged thingy to that Absurd guy, so wh-"
"Absurd is dead!"
She froze. "Wasn't...wasn't he Darren's brother?" Twist nodded. "Oh...I really liked him...he was nice...and a lot more confident than Mr Shadow..."
"I'm going back to Mevolent's castle."
She looked dismayed. "No, Addie! Please no!"
"I have my reasons. Important ones. Niamh, I'm sorry...I'll take the vampire with me if you want. I have to do something...they have Esra's sister again, they've killed each and every one of my friends and now? Now they've dug up my best friend's grave and..." He paused a moment to compose himself. His wife was not talking, a miracle in itself. He didn't doubt the next step would be to physically stop him leaving. He opened his mouth to speak again, but she cut him off.
"My brother's in there somewhere. I liked some of your friends. Mr Shadow, Mr Motionless, Mr Sunshine...they were nice. Charming blokes, treated others with respect...didn't like Motionless' unfortunate choice to join the Church of the Faceless, of course, but they were the best. I miss your friends a lot. I don't want them to be dead. I want whoever killed them to pay. But I don't want you to join that number as well."
"I won't, I promise."
"They might kill you on sight!"
"The way they know it, I was sort of kidnapped as a half-blind guide out of the castle by a massive number of prisoners I had no hope of beating. I left against my will and my return should be welcomed. I'll be fine, I promise."
She enveloped him in a tight hug. "Okay. For Esra, Erin and Darren."
"And Jerry, Abla and Midnight."
"Them too...take the vampire."

------

Daemon stretched with a yawn as Sierra, Robyn and Andeep argued quietly in the corner. They had been in the old Necromancer temple again when she had come to them. She interrupted lazily with a "You girls done yet? Like I said, I'm looking for someone. I need to find him urgently."
Sierra fixed a glare onto her face. "You have some nerve, Scaroe."
"Uh huh. Anyway, Austin's a friend of mine, he's got that nasty charm thingy, you wanted to destroy it. You help me, you get something out of it."
Sierra frowned. "Where do you think he's gone?"
"There were a couple of other Necromancers. English. We think he was taken by them. I think they were from the same temple as him."
Andeep frowned. "The blonde guy with the magic coat?"
Daemon smirked at the description and nodded. "Yeah, growing a beard as well. Smells really bad. Seen him recently?"
The redhead shook her head. "Uh, no...not since he and his friends attacked me and Rob..."
Sierra sighed. "Okay...so...Robyn, you're a Necromancer. What do you know about those in the English temple?"
She shrugged. "A Crystalline Noon is High Priestess. Utter cow. Hate her. I know where to find her right now."
"Excellent. Daemon, it certainly looks like we can help you."

-----

Hibernia, Scaramouch and Ekaterina returned to the hospital to visit Harrison, have a conversation with him. They stepped through the front doors and it seemed oddly deserted and there was an unpleasant smell hanging in the air. Hibernia mumbled something about feeling sick and she and her sister went to find the loos. Scaramouch ambled up to the front desk, leaned over and saw the bodies. His eyes widened as he stumbled back. He opened his mouth to call to the girls but thought better of it. If the killer was still there, they would find him and know the girls were both there. Instead he backed away from the corpses and went in the direction he thought the girls had gone. He reached an intersection and wasn't sure which way to go, so went to see if Harrison was still in his bed.

Hibernia and Ekaterina had found some more bodies anyway. It seemed every patient, visitor and worker there that day had been brutally murdered. They were moving quietly and cautiously.

Harrison wasn't in his bed and Scaramouch was able to recognise some of the corpses marks. Harrison had killed some of these men. It was the same smooth yet brutal method Fred had used.

None of the bodies was Harrison. He had disappeared. He was gone when he was still seriously injured, risking his life for an unknown reason.The girls joined him, noticed Harrison wasn't in his bed and stated they hadn't seen him among the bodies. "This is not good." Ekaterina mumbled, "Not good at all." She could feel the power in the room. They all could. Massive levels of power remained here. Massive levels of power and lots of blood.

((Nemone was looking at the members of 1D and realised she would never ever be able to choose between them if she ever had to. Also Harrison mystery. I bring him back in and instantly get an idea for an epic storyline.))

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