The First War Mage: City in the Sky

Tulip sat in a room with hundreds of Elves filling it wall to wall, the chaos of everyone evacuating the city had dragged her into here. She had to hope that Brimrose knew that she was in here, and that Brimrose would even care about that.

She knew Kirin was hopeful about the Elves, but Tulip had just seen and heard too many things with them involved. So many people who ‘disappeared’ just to be blamed on the Elven slave market.

She looked up for a moment as the whistling winds began to pick up, and for a moment the building felt almost like it was shaking from the wind, her eyes traveled the room. It was absolutely packed with Elves everywhere, barely a few inches between everyone.

Looking down at her hands Tulip couldn't help but wince, they only had enough time to get her out of one of the shackles, the one that had sat around her neck. She could still feel the red, raw rashes from where the metal had been sitting for the better part of a month. She was promised attention from healers, but everything went to chaos so quickly that the Smith who was working with her was separated, pulled away from her and elsewhere into the keep.

The Elves in the room around her were alight with muttering, most were asking questions of what was happening. Every so often a booming bell would ring out, so loud that it felt like it was shaking the room with its echoing boom. Yet it barely outdid the furious whistling of the wind battering against the walls that seemed to be threatening to cave to its threats.

“I need to go find Kirin…” Tulip muttered to herself, she pushed against her legs to stand up. Looking around the room, it was hard to tell where the door she had entered from was, the lights were dim, the candlelight being blocked by so many bodies that it was near impossible to see. She could feel her heart pounding with adrenaline, something felt off within the building, whether it was the pressure, ambient mana, or the amount of Elves setting her off, she couldn’t tell.

She started walking towards one of the walls, it was the furthest from where the whistling threats of the wind emanated from. Once she got closer to the wall, and further from the center of the long shadows it became much easier to tell where she was going. And eventually her eyes locked onto the frame of a door, barely able to be made out from the metal hinges reflecting the dim lights.

Guards sat in position on either side of the door, none of them looked like the silver clad guards that worked directly for Brimrose which left Tulip concerned, they watched her with annoyed glares as she approached, tilting the pole arms that sat in their hands to block the door.

“Get back in there, slave.” The putrid hate that sat upon the guards tongue as he hissed the words towards Tulip left her to wince and recoil.

She was more than a little annoyed by it as well, her immediate instinct drilled into her by self important Nobles was to demand if they knew who she was. But of course they didn't, and her titles meant nothing here. Not like she would even throw her title around back home either.

In response Tulip raised her arms, hands open while her shackles jingled upon her arms. She stepped away, finding a spot to sit not too terribly far from the doorway. More guards were inside of the room, many seemed to be moving through like they were taking a head count. But she saw a number of others in chains pulled to their feet and pulled to the side.

She leaned against the wall with one leg folded under the other which sat bent with her foot planted on the ground. After the furious statement of the guards several Elves looked her way, and the majority had glares and sneers painting their faces.

Like a glare of superiority over someone who couldn't fight back, it made her feel sick to her stomach. But it also sent a thought through her head, ‘was this how Kirin felt for all those years?’

She couldn't know without asking her, and it felt wrong to even think about doing so. How could just a few weeks of being chained compare to the majority of one's own life.

The noise of her own thoughts kept Tulip distracted from the fact that the bell suddenly stopped. The ringing booms no longer sat shaking the building, it sounded like the wind stopped as well. The silence was more deafening than the loudest screams she could have ever imagined.

“What the…” Her thoughts became words, and it sent a cacophony of murmurs to echo like waves through the room that had fallen silent in an instant. She could feel her heart racing even further, something wasn't right here, and she needed to find Kirin, now.

She pushed herself to stand, approaching the door with hands raised to show she wasn't a threat.

“Please, I need to get through- Miss Brimro- Agh!” She screamed out in pain as her vision went blurred. One of the two guards slammed the flat of their blade into the side of Tulip’s head like a bat. Her ears were ringing, her head was spinning as stars filled her vision and darkness covered the peripherals.

“Do not speak Her Highnesses name!” The guard shouted with pure hate marking his voice. “You filthy slaves have no right to speak that name!”

“I, am not, a slave.” Tulip hissed out in response, each of her words emphasized as she was breathing through clenched teeth, tight gasps that kept the stinging pain down, warm liquid crawled down the side of her head where the skin broke just above her ear.

Slowly, Tulip dragged a foot under herself to start standing back up, Her eyes moved over, locking onto the guards face that hid behind the thin cloth headwrap that many of the guards wore over helmets.

“You wear shackles, you are nothing more than a slave thinking they are worth anything.” The guard took a threatening step towards her, lowering his pole arm down, the blade poised and threatening her clearly. “Anything other than the pitiful coin an ugly one like you would give.

“You stand against me only to try and feel some worth. Are you willing to threaten your own wellbeing just out of an absurd hatred? Are you willing to accept the punishments that could come back to bite you just because you thought I was lying?” Tulip hissed out as she stood up. Her glare, her crimson glare settled upon the Elves green eyes. She could see him taking an anxious gulp, somehow her glare always did that to people, even when she was little.

“If I'm nothing more than a slave, what do you have to lose by letting me through? If I'm not a slave then you have everything to lose by running me through.” She continued, her breathing still ragged from the pain, her fists were clenched, her aching mind racing as she watched the Elf reaffirm his grip on the weapon.

“Stand Down!” The other guard shouted, he shifted his weapon to lower the first guards down. “Let her through you idiot, if she is just a slave the other guards will handle her.” He continued, the panic in the first guard's eyes only increased, he was shaking, he was scared. And that, by default, scared Tulip equally so.

But she also had to wonder, why was he scared? What was happening that had the guard so terrified? She couldn’t think further as a flash of movement caused reflexes to scream through her body.

The blade plunged forwards despite the second guard trying to lower the firsts, its aim was precise, but even with her head screaming Tulip had good reflexes. Plus it was easy to tell how someone was about to move by just watching their eyes.

She sidestepped around the edge of the blade, with the shaft coming so close as to rub against her shirt. She had to suck in a breath and grab the Polearm, locking it firmly under her shoulder and between her elbow and forearm giving her a strong grip on it.

“Let, me, through.” She emphasized her words again, her eyes, with that same threatening shine she could always remember from her father, burned into the Elven Guard, luckily when Tulip let his Polearm go he stepped back.

The second guard was now watching her, curious, and now equally on edge. Murmurs shuttered through the Elves sitting around the room, and both guards stepped back. For a moment Tulip thought she would be let through, but the guards lowered the weapons, aimed at Tulip.

She could feel her heart beginning to race, and her mind already running wild only seemed to accelerate from a run to a dead sprint. She couldn’t possibly be put at more of a disadvantage, or not easily at least. She focused on the Elves for a moment, the eyes of the two guards looked off almost, like they were distant, not entirely focused.

Her dominant hand slowly opened, she was ready to summon her blade out of her ring if the guards made a move, she needed to get through, she had to find Kirin.

“Stand down now!” Both of the guards shouted in an unnatural unison, both of them took a step with their right foot in the lead, landing on the same beat. Just as she was about to step away to try and find another way out, the wind began howling again.

A furious noise so violent and filled with hate that it left everyone frozen, like the screams of a Banshee filled with the hate of the dead it began furiously pounding against all surfaces of the building.

And it all fell silent for a moment again, until a massive BOOM echoed across the building sending a shock so violent that it knocked Tulip to her knees. The Guards similarly fell over, but now was her chance.

Tulip clenched her teeth down, her mana began moving, she could already feel her wrists lighting on fire as she launched for the door. Her hand reached out, touching the edge of the handle, sending the door swinging open, only enough for her to get through.

And then it slammed shut behind her as another shockwave rocked the building, and the wind returned again. Her eyes moved down, her wrists were bleeding, but she had to keep going.

“Stop her! Catch the Slave!” The guards behind her shouted through the door, the volume was terrifying, and unnervingly they both screamed it in perfect unison once more. She didn’t have time to stand around, she had to keep running.

Her mana began its retreat back into her body, her wrists felt like they were on fire. Parts of the metal were red hot on the outside, her teeth clenched so hard to prevent her screams from escaping that she worried her teeth would shatter.

But she kept running, she made her way deeper into the keep while the wind only grew louder. Her mind was racing even through the pain, what was happening during this storm?