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#27 Ba’Kyl

Ba’Kyl was laying on the ground of a cell in the Mac’Fay’s guild hall, unarmed and bound. He was tired, weak, and he didn’t know what more he could invent so his jaillers would just kill him. If he failed his mission, he would disapoint his master and even death wouldn’t be enough to wash away the shame. He had to manage it… Now, his sins were confessed to his people and to the Theocracy. He had to die for his master. He didn’t sleep, anymore, didn’t eat either, didn’t even think. Why would he think of anything but his beloved master’s request anyway? He had taken his fear and his anguish away… he had taken his feelings away. He owed him much, and he knew tomorrow would be the end of this inner peace. His medication wouldn’t be effective anymore. He’d be imperfect. A tear ran along his cheek, ran along his jaw, and he cursed himself for not thinking of any plan B. He had believed his Zoraï prosecutors would kill him after hearing the truth but no! Obviously, his mind wasn’t good enough to take everything in consideration. He banged his head on the ground, remembering what the N’ASA researcher had told Luth…

Zorroargh had said Marauders were sneaking around in Avendale. It had to be his master and his friends. He had to get out, to meet them somewhere. He begged that they let him out so he could breathe, feinging claustrophobia. He fought his bounds like a Karavan bathing in a lake blessed by Ma’Duk, taunted his jailers to push them to violence, trying to find a weakness into this cage they kept him in. He was checking the patterns of the MacFay, testing them… One of them would be his tool. One of them would take him out. He had to calm himself, to breathe, to find a solution…

He was alone in the hall when Thalyna appeared in the room where he was. She was probably there to take a shift guarding him. He explained to her he was caged for his own safety, because he was suicidal and he had been in a bad position. He told her he was grateful to those trying to help him, told her he wasn’t worthy of it, but being between four walls was turning him even crazier than he was before. He begged her to have pity and let him walk outside, even if only for a few minutes. The Tryker was Young, but wary all the same. Luth wouldn’t imprison someone without a good reason. She told him she suspected he wanted to kill himself and that it wasn’t a good idea. He told her he didn’t even have a weapon, that he was too weak to try anything –and it was true. His waxy face, his empty eyes said enough about how bad he felt physically or mentally. She hesitated, but took him out…

Ba’Kyl bowed to her and, slowly, followed her outside…

#28 Kigan
The marauder had been perched on the crest of the hill for a few days, already. Avendale had been built close to one of the numerous natural barriers in the country, great for protection, but also one that offered a splendid view to those who could climb it.

Ki’gan was sitting there, observing the city, sunk in a deep silence. In his mind, time was racing at an incredible speed while he was endlessly following every single movement of the inhabitants, especially those of the MacFay clan. Few people knew this quiet, patient face of the powerfull warrior. A hunter concentrating on his prey, he kept on waiting…

The day seemed to be uneventful. The Trykers were moving along the bridges and quays of the city, loud laughters arose from the bar. Suddenly, a homina appeared around the Karavan porter. She was a MacFay, he knew. She slowly walked up to the building where their guild hall was and entered.

Hidden in the heights, the Zoraï was intensely watching the entry. It was unlikely the prisonner would show himself, but… moments later, three people came out of the building. Two more Trykers were with the homina. Ki’gan opened his eyes wide, electrified by the sight. It was him. It was his only chance to do it.

Leaving the torpor in which he was, he just jumped down the cliff, sinking his sword in the bark to slow down his fall. Landing on the sand, he ran to the Halls.

He pushed many people around, but his path didn’t cross any guards’. He was quickly getting closer. Even before the Trykers were aware he was there, Ki’gan sprang from a bridge and sank a dagger in the prisonner’s brains. Something poped inside his head while the slain body was crumbling under the much heavier weight of the one who had done the deed.

Consumating his murder with an intense rapture, Ki’gan rose up slowly, cracking some more bones as he claimed his blade back from the skull of his victim. The weapon was smoking in a strange fashion.

« Done! » he screamed in an exultant shout.

The two MacFay screamed and the bravest of the two tried to attack him with some powerfull sorcery. He quickly rooted her into the ground.

« Don’t hurt yourself, child, you’d better stop that! » he mocked her.

« I’ve been waiting on this moment for days. You let him out. You were not careful enough. You can tell Luth he lost… »

The hominas charged him, together this time, but he evaded them effortlessly. He threw the poisonned dagger at the feet of one of the knocked out bodies.

« Keep the dead body and the knife. I’ll see you soon. »

Seconds later, the guards were there, but it was too late. Ba’kyl was long dead and his murderer was far away…

#29 Feylin

Fey-Lin had heard of Ba’Kyl’s capture by a message from a MacFay. She went to Avendale with Laï-Poko, meeting with Osquallo and Anonyma on the way, going to question the criminal.

He was obviously raving mad and so self centered it was hard to believe such a homin did actually exist on Atys. He had abducted a Young Zoraï so he could… test drugs on her. Just because she was vulnerable. Barbary really knows no bounds.

This MacFay who begged him to speak seemed overly compassionate. Osquallo was speaking to her harshly, which didn’t seem to be the right way to help her gather her wits, but Fey-Lin didn’t intrude. There were more pressing matters to attend.

Once Ba’Kyl had admitted he let his prisoner go at the Psykoplas’ Mound, after druggig her with some unnamed substance, it became clear that he could help them no further. The criminal demanded to be putt o death. Of course, they didn’t grant his request.

While Fey-Lin was preparing to go to the Knoll of Dissent, a message came in from Riditch. The Border Guards he met had seen the Zoraï, traveling alone towards the Hidden Source. They didn’t think much of it because the Tryker wasn’t with her.

She had to mobilise her partners. Many Izams took flight to find them.

#30 Luth
When he learnt of Ba’kyl’s assassination, Luth went mad with both grief and anger. Someone disobeyed him. He had forbidden Ba’kyl to be left out of the Hall. Exhausted, taking advantage of the fact Luth was traveling on behalf of the clan, the prisonner had taken advantage of the gente souls of the clan’s cousins. The horrid Kigan, from the Black Saps, had shred the life away from him.

Ba’kyl was under MacFay protection. Killing him meant declaring war upon the MacFay. Luth wouldn’t know any rest until the accursed Kigan lay bound at the feet of Justice. The temptation of ripping the life seed away from his head was strong… but by Jena and Elias, he was a homin and Luth wouldn’t fall prey to his own thirst for vengeance.

Before any other thing, they had to honor Ba’kyl’s life, reminding people that pain didn’t justify taking all and any action. A message of hope, a lesson to be learnt.

Luth took up his pen, preparing for the funerary sinking of Ba’kyl. After this task, he clothed himself so he could celebrate Atharius and Thalyna’s mariage.

Life goes on, thought Luth, a tear running down his cheek.

#31 and #32 : voluntarily omitted by translator.

#33 Zorroargh

Zo’ro-Argh was exhausted.

For days now, he’s been running everywhere without ever taking a break.
First, Tepsen and his incredible invention, and his even more incredible message.
The things lost arond in the Lakes, too, and the tryker scientist’s « yubo », the Hodoo’s cubes he swore to find and give back to the guild.
There were all sorts of threats hovering at the border of his senses, threats he felt without being able to rationally define. He was just as sensitive as a spiderweb with an unseen fly stuck in it. Messages like those of Daomei and Luth could only make him wary –just like that terrible meeting with the Kwai marauder did, when he was sent to check on the case of a mad Tryker.
It could be a portent, an omen of things to come, that Enotacim offered to teach the NASA in the ancient martial arts… that could be of use to some pacifist homins like it had been to certain monks.

He was back in Avendale because of an izam asking him to conduct an autopsy.

Before reading that note again, he threw down a pile of messages awaiting his attentions. It wasn’t all that easy to keep your things orderly when you were nomadic.
One of those letters caught his attention, one with his Zoraï friend’s handwriting on it. He would never dare let Fey-lin know he was late reading letters from her, letters that gave him so many indications that just made him feel he was right to be affraid.

Where had he met this Kigan? Was it from when he went with the expedition to save Kai’kyo? Was it during one of those mystical investigations of the White Zoraï? Or during the process of that sad junkie held prisonner by the Zoraïs? His trials to save another long time friend, Ki’atal? Or was it through Laofa, his coworker at the ASA? Weird… he had already met Alric, his boss, but the face of that one didn’t let any lasting feelings in Zoro’s mind. If they hadn’t been on opposite sides, hem ay have found him sympathetic… but Kigan? He had seen him only for a moment but he did remember. Kigan could freeze his blood in his veins. He was more terrifying than being alone to face the darkest night. The worst part was… his face reminded him of a friend.

He packed his memories with his waxed packs and swam into the lake. At least, he never had any armor to move around.

All of a sudden, an idea flashed through his brains. He turned on his back so he could at leisure think while looking at the stars.

And if the Goo was something else? If the goo was « forbidden » because it could be used at great risk? He swam again… then stopped. Ideas and memories flashed again in his mind, quickly and disorderly.

« Is it wise to autopsy one who’s sap contains goo? Contamination would be possible… »
« Tepsen managed to destroy the goo by using a pressure chamber. »
« It’s not the drug that makes you sick, it’s the lack of it. »
« What had he meant when he said the Powers were part of it? »
« The withdrawals makes you a slave. »
« Tepsen is mad. »
« Kigan knew the results of the experiment for sure. Why take the risk of being in Avendale? What was he really looking for? »

Zo’ro-Argh had just arrived in Avendale when an Izam greeted him to let him know he was to depart for Yrkanis immediately. On dark water, more purple and darker than on the land, a Kwai was wandering in the misth. Up there, over the canopy, the stars were bright and some were falling down on Atys.

#34 Fey-lin

She was waiting along TowerBridge’s road for the investigators –and also for any able hand who would like to join them on their search for the captive Zoraï. One after the othewr, they joined her. Investigators, friends of theirs, some totally random people.

When enough people were gathered, Fey-Lin sumarized the recent information : the abducted Zoraï’s been led to the Psykoplas’ mound, where she was drugged and let to sort out what to do for herself. The border guards said they’ve seen her wandering north, alone, probably towards the Hidden Source. They decided to search the ground around the Kitin’s nest, close to them. Some were pretty upset at the thought of venturing into the Marauder camp. The Amazon Mystica took the east side, the others went to the west, seeking traces of somebody passing by.

After a few incidents with the animals living around and the kitin patroling the area, the group constitutde of Fey-Lin, Laï-Poko, Bardor, Synthax, Zo’ro-Argha, Ingfarah, Diwu, Daomei and Chen-li discovered a few tents and a charriot on the north-western side of the nest. Very little time was needed to gather that this discovery led them nowhere. When the amazon joined them, they had nothing to report but the hard to escape embrace they had received from overly affectionate kinchers.

They couldn’t deny anymore that it was more than likely they’d have to get to the marauder camp. Bardor and Feylin first, the got up the ramp and the camp of the ennemies of hominity.

Ingfarah had managed to climb up the walls, but some of them were spoted before they any could join her on the other side. They didn’t have much choice, but to get to the front door and hope they could parley.

Zo’ro : You can see I bear no weapons.
Kigan: You can see she’s not bound. She’s here because she wants to.
Acour : Come, come, we won’t eat you. Well, not right now anyway.
Kigan : Xiaomei, I think those people want to kidnap you.
Zo’ro : We don’t want to kidnap her.
Fey : Xiaomei, that’s your name?
Xiao : Don’t come close!
Kigan : You heard her! Don’t come close!
Fey (extending her hand to Xiao) : Come with us, kai’bini.
Xiao: No, I want to stay here.
Fey: I’m sure your parents, somewhere, are dying for you to come back.
Xia: I don’t know you.
Kigan (looking at Fey): Don’t be too hard on her, she wanna stay here.
Acour: Ingfarah, how nice to see you again.
Ing: I’d like to tell you the feeling is shared. Could be under a different sky; opinions and principles are personal and don’t dictate affinities.
Kigan : We’re not slavers, but freedom fighters.
Fey : You’d like us to believe you, wouldn’t you?
Zendae : Why do they encircle us?
Lai : It feels like a trap, doesn’t it?
Yanee : If they wanted to trap us, they wouldn’t need to speak. The trap would swing shut, not delicately.
Kigan : You know you can’t use force here. I give you one full minute to try whatever you will.
Fey : Xiao, you can come back to your people.
Ezek whispers in Xiao’s ear: You’re free. Do whatever you will.
Kigan: And if you take her, it’ll give us a good reason to take and burn Zora, won’t it?
Xiao: Will you people protect me?
Laï : Of course.
Ing : Take her out, quick. It’s going to turn ugly.
Kigan: Sure you want to take her? It could be a trap!
Yanee : We know it’s a trap, Kigan.
Kigan: I give you 60 seconds to leave. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5… 60.
Chaos and mayhem errupted. The marauders kicked them out of their camp, but didn’t pursue them nor finish the dying. They gathered on a deserted outpost not so far by, and resolved to question the rescued prisonner no further that night.

#35 Zo’ro-Argh

Dear friend Fey-lin,
I’m sorry I was away for so long, but I had to check on something. You will forgive me when you understand. I give you here my hopes and theories.

I’ve known Tepsen for quite a while and just as Krill does, I have the same clan name he does. I have always suspected he was family to me.

He says he doesn’t believe he was, but I’ve often had the impression he protected me.

You may remember the first few meetings of the N’ASA, when I kept on appearing and vanishing while attempting to decypher some of Tepsen’s notes. I am under the impression he keeps an eye on me, and also that he keeps an eye on some of us. You realise what it means? We try to make him come, to find him, but he’s in fact besides us whenever he wants to. How can he be invisible, though, I do not know.

On the other day, when we were at the marauder camp and I’ve realised things weren’t going our way, I’ve just followed my instinct and tried to distract Kigan and his people so you could find the best strategy. I was relying on Tepsen at the moment. I think I was right. I wonder if I’ve been usefull, I hope I was.

Of course, I think you will understand that I can’t tell you anything more about it. I will have to add, though, that I do not have to fear any kind of torture there is. Any kind there is.

#36 Fey-lin
Once in Pyr, by the Kami’s grace, Lai-poko, Xiao-mei and Fey-lin prepared to travel to Zora. Fey-lin requested a few moments to rest and send a letter by an izam. Xiao was curious, but didn’t seem to be suspicious. Once the izam was on his way, the three hominas took the road.

In their path lurked no unforeseen trouble before the jungle’s backdoor to the desert. However, the other side was an altogether different story. Fylish (the Torbak) and Kipuckas barred their way, but didn’t do so for long –or passed their way without seeing them.

Skirting Desertstock by the south to avoid getting too close to the goo, they entered Zora and soon met with the Amazons, who have already gotten there by their own means.

They went to the bar, where Fey suggestet that Xiao had a taste of Pe’Psy-Coka, drink that she accepted to taste out of curiosity. Everything was fine.

Fey’s letter was asking for a remedy, made out of purified sap by the Kamis, the same kind of potion Lenja the demented was taking to help her fight the Goo infection she was subject to. The barman gave it to Xiao, who couldn’t tell the difference with Pe’Psy-Coka.

After a serving, Xiao felt ill, her head aching. Fey-Lin was observing her with attention.

Xiao : I’m under the impression two people are warring through my head… I don’t feel irght.

Fey-lin felt slightly uneasy. Nobody knew what were the Goo proportions that went into that drug, but they thought it would be less tan what was inside Lenja’s body, so the Goo could be eliminated by the homina while the effect was suspended by the remedy. Would the rest of the components of that mixture keep any noticeable effect? Fey was wary of that, especially since no one else knew what was happening inside Xiaomei’s body. Slowly, memories were starting to thug in Xiao’s mind.

Fey : Remember, you are in Zora. Concentrate on this place. Fuulao ké.
Xiao : I’ve been… a long time ago. Before I met with a scary Tryker.
Fey : We learnt about5 it, too late, alas. We couldn’t reach you before…
Xiao : Before what? I don’t understand what you’re talking about.
Fey : He brought you to the Verdant Kingdom. Don’t you remember following him on that road?
Xiao : I remember a pink mist… lots of pink misth.
Ingfarah (just coming in the bar at that moment) : Pink misth…?
Fey-lin, nodding : Yui, you came close to the Goo and its… vapors, is that it?
Xiao (stomach churning) : Yes. He was so completely obsessed with the goo. I think we passed through the Grove of Umbra. He needed to meet with someone in the Lakes.
Lai-poko : Who was it?
Xiao : I do not know.
Fey : Could you see him?
Xiao (holding back her tears): Yes, from afar. He was a Tryker, I can’t say anything else about him. I don’t understand. What did I do to him to deserve this?
Lai : Nothing, XIao. You’re not guilty of anything. He’s a mad criminal. What he did to you is just unfair.
Xiao : Yes, but he’s still running free. He can do it again, anytime he chooses to.
Fey: Him? No, he was murdered. This Tryker he met, he’s still unknown.
Phao-zhu : He spoke of his daughter to a MacFay.
Xiao : No, that is impossible. He was behind me in the camp, the other day. You’ve not seen him?
Lai : He would have simulated his death at the hands of Kigan?

Ing : It’s very hard to simulate your own death without making your dead body disapear at some point.
Fey : Wait, you’re talking about you’re abductor, Ba’kyl? Or the one he met in the Lakes?
Zendae : He’s been immersed, I think, following the Tryker funeral rites.
Ingfarah : Xiao… your abductor was behind you when we came for you?
Xiao : The one who brought me to the camp, whatever his name is, is still there, Ingfarah.
Fey : But… Ba’kyl had testified he did it… I guess he’s the Tryker the kidnapper met. The real one is one of the marauder from the Black Sap (Sève Noire)! They persuaded Ba’kyl to surrender in his place, to be captured. That’s why they killed him, so he wouldn’t break and say it. But how could they convince him?
Xiao : The drug…
Lai : Ba’kyl was brittle, unstable. The marauders are expert manipulators.

Xiaomei put her face in her hand, shook her head. Fey-lin comforted her as well as she could.

Fey : You have family here?
Xiao: No, nobody.
Fey: We’ll take care of you. We need to make sure whatever you took has no more effect on you. The best would be for you to stay under observation, close to a healer. Did they tell you anything about what they gave you?
Xiao : They told me it would wake me up… and it made them laugh to no end.
Ing : It just sounds like the Black Sap itself.
Fey (focusing on Ingfarah) : What do you know about the black sap?
Ing : I know that I spent the eight years of the swarm on the bark. I didn’t get to security with all of you through the rainbows.
Fey : It means you spent that time with that marauder clan, doesn’t it?
Ing : Not really. If I had done that, I’d probably have drunk from that sap, and very few can come back from it. All of the Tears (Larmes) stayed behind during those years. We fought at the side of the marauders when we had to retreat into the Prime Roots, but staying with them until the end probably would have meant we’d have ended up being part of them. The Tears ended up treading their path alone in the end.
Fey : You chose wisely. I had hoped the loss of Ki’yume would have made the black sap vanish to, but it seems they still need and use it.
Ing : There are reasons for which so many of our numbers turned to marauding. Some of us never came back… entirely sane… from those height years of hell.
Fey : I’m sorry.
Ing : You shouldn’t. I say how things were, I’m not expressing regrets.
Fey : I am sorry because all of the corrupted souls become a danger to Atys. Tell me, maybe you know some Trykers who are part of the clan.
Ing : Acour, for sure. Osrik. Most of the clan is of Matis birth, I have to say.
Ingfarah’s lips twisted in bitter, slightly angry way.
Ing : Ezek. But this one is a recent acquisition for them. The other two are old timers –from before the swarm.
Fey : Why did they let you go, XIao?
Xiao I remember a conversation. They said I’d be of use to them once back among my people.
Fey : I guess it means they were planning on feeding it to you again once you were here. You’ll need to stay here, in the city, where we can protect you. There is no place where you can hide forever, but there are means we can take to help you hide. Stay close to a healer, learn what you can of his trade. Grow strong, but don’t grow lonely; cultivate the company of people who can and desire to protect you.

They found her a place to stay, new clothes, and as close to a new self as they could. Fey-lin went home to prepare some chaï, for her and Xiao-mei.
Looking at the slaveni leaves slowly sinking in the scalding hot water, she thought of what Xiao had said, and what she could figure out of it. She brought a cup to Xiao, honneying it a bit, then came back to write a letter to Luth MacFay.

#38 Xiao-mei
The Jungle… its mysteries, its secrets, the mystical feeling one couldn’t help but notice floating in the air. Xiao was happy to be back among her people, even though her tormentor’s shaddow felt like it had the substance of reality.

A few days earlier, she had met a few troubling people. It all started with that Zoraï with the weird name… Kyo-shin Zamurato. What did his parents think about when they named him? She decided his name would just be Kyo. He told her he’s been hired as her personnal bodyguard, but had refused to give her the name of the one who had hired him. From the moment they met, he followed her everywhere, day and night.

The Young Zoraï kept on training like nothing happened until a second Zoraï, just as weird –or even weirder!-, came by. His name was Krokwai and he told them he was the leader of a local tribe. They talked together for a while and very son, he told her he had secrets to get rid of the poison. She couldn’t help but stare at him, wondering if there was something to be learnt from that homin. She decided top lay dumb, to entice him to speak, and simulated interest in what he had tos ay. Flattered by the homina’s interest in hiw chosen subject, Krokwai told her about the remedies his Clan had invented and proudly showed her a vial.

Xiao-mei’s sap froze in her veins. A purple vial. She did her best not to show how scared she was, asked if his tribe occasionally sold those to strangers. Krokwai told her it never happened, that you had to show yourself worthy of it. Xia attempted to learn more of it, but didn’t manage to. This knowledge was for members of the tribe only.

The homina was thinking about how she could pry the details out of him when a third Zoraï walked up to them. His gait was proud and tall, an ironic smile hovering at the corner of his mouth. Just then, a Matis lady who was close to them joined the group, obviously unhappy with the presence of the last of them.

- Who are you? What are you doing here?
- They call me the Devourer of Hope. Nice, isn’t it?
He turned to Xiao and asked her :

- Do you remember me, Xiao-mei?
- No. Should I?
- No, it’s just perfect like that.

She was in way over her head in such company. The Matis was demanding the newcomer leave the Jungle at once, and the Devourer of Hope was demanding that Krokwai never approch Xiao again. Krokwai was lost, and the more he expressed his loss, the more threatening the newcomer became and the more twitchy the Matis became. Xiao was the unwilling spectator of a show she just didn’t understand, trying to follow the developements from behind Kyo’s shoulder –who just wouldn’t accept the possibility of an unobstructed path between the Devourer and his charge.
Placid lake becoming quicksilver, the Matis assailed the Devourer of Hope… who dispatched her effortlessly. Kyo turned to Xiao and shouted :
- Run! Now, to Zora! Quickly!

She didn’t need him tos ay it twice. She went as fast as she could, glancing once behind to see her probably hopelessly outmatched bodyguard doing his best to protect her… to protect the young Zoraï who felt like the harbinger of chaos.

She hid close to the entrance of the city. Close to people, close to guards who could protect her, shivering in fear, listening to sounds she could only imagine. Nobody seemed to have pursued her.
She decided to come back and check on her protector… hoping he was still alive, and now happy he’d been there.
She found him slightly wounded, but still in one piece… mostly. The other one was nowhere to be seen.

The day had been a tad too harsh for her taste. She had to tell Fey-lin about it. Her wisdom would guide her, and maybe she knew of some of those people.

Xiao-mei lay on her bed, looking at the roof, thinking on the events of that day. The bodyguard surging out of nowhere, the master of poison, the protective Matis, and that terrific Devourer of Hope who seemed to know her, but that she didn’t remember.
There was a strange attraction to the powerfull presence of the blue fighting machine. But that isn’t something she’d tell Fey-lin. She wouldn’t like it.

#39 Krokwai

Krokwai was finishing the repairs on his armor, bathered from an unfortunate encounter that left him quite biter. On a day the Amazons didn’t see him, he had to be caught by Spinah and a torbaks pack! Well a pack… the beast was huge anyway. At least as huge as… he shook his head, prefering sweet oblivion to hard memories.
He had work to do. There was the prospect of a new recruit. And he knew he had impressed her! He nearly managed to convince her to join right at first, that much was clear. Without those bothersome interferences, she’d be one of them by now. He scratched at his mask. What was that big Zoraï’s name again? The one so full of himself? He said something that sounded important, but Krokwai couldn’t remember what.
Anyway, a new homina into the tribe could count as another of his accomplishments, but he would have to make sure there wasn’t too much trouble between his hominas. They’d all want to be with the chief, it was just normal.
Suddenly, he wondered if it was such a good idea to give Ilaho a mission such as keeping an eye on that particular potential recruit.
Putting on his armor, he took the road towards the Kipees mound and ended up at the Giant’s Hand without really understanding how. « They should build some roads in that mekking jungle! » he roared. And then, he ran, because Spinah was around.