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Arden · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 720 Location: Oklahoma

Rebecca snorts a laugh and wraps both arms around Wyatt now that her rifle was in the holster across her back. She throws Eric a smile over her shoulder as they ride off. She feels lighter then she has since they got here now that Eric is going to do what he can for her Shadow 'family'

"Told ya there wasn't anything to worry about," she says to Wyatt. "He's always liked ya, ya know. Probably already planning the Church of the Unicorn wedding we'll have ta have when this is all over."

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 3:06 am Post subject:

Wyatt smiles, turning his head back to see hers. "Hmm, guess you'll be wearin' a dress again, then, huh?" He winks at her.
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Arden · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 720 Location: Oklahoma

She wrinkles her nose. "Probably somethin' long and frilly. But you bet I'll have boots on my feet." She grins. "Have to get a white hat made special. Good thing you have a nice ass; you're in danger of bein' put in tights. Zach'll definitely have to be brought in for that."

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 6:41 pm Post subject:

Wyatt chuckles and mumbles loud enough for Rebecca to hear, "Ain't no way I'll be caught dead wearin' tights... Fancy pants is one thang, but..."

Here the landscape looks fine and what the two of them are familiar with. Demon says, There is an opening into Shadow here. Should I take it? It is there, beyond this rocky hill.
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Arden · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 720 Location: Oklahoma

She looks up from teasing Wyatt and eyes the surroundings. Yes. We need to movin', much as I would like to linger.

Rebecca flips back her duster and draws her pistol. "Get ready. It was a rough trip in. Out might not be any better."

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 3:34 pm Post subject:

Demon follows the path and behind the rocky outcrop little of the landscape changes, but Wyatt and Rebecca are familiar enough with the surrounding regions that they both notice drastic differences as to what they could have hoped for.

First and foremost, is a vast plain, the usual vegetation and seven machines, broken down and fallen in their chase with her cousins, spread apart at regular intervals. They form a neat trail leading to what they notice next. The Black Road.

In the distance is a broad section of the road, several miles and heaps away from where they ride. Demon continues the way the others have gone, that much is clear. Whether intentional or not, Finn may have left a way for her to make it to Greymoor, should they stay separated or unreachable.

Wyatt concentrates on his surroundings, quietly. All else is quiet and unmoving, vast vistas of nothing. No stray lad animals, though a group of vultures circles around a section of the Black Road.

...

As they ride closer to the road, they see bodies of more than a dozen soldiers strewn around, all of them dead. Finn's work again. The man is an artist of butchery and carnage in spite of himself. No matter how much of a hurry he seems to be in.

At least he avoided crossing this road... It is like a bad omen working its way through here, Demon says.
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Arden · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 720 Location: Oklahoma

Anywhere else the butchered bodies wouldn't have bothered her; but this was far too close to home, and far too wrong for this neck of the woods. Her free hand clenched into a tight fist.

Children. They're just children in those things, subverted by those damned bastards and that twice accursed Road. They deserved far better then they got. Everyone tainted by that thing deserves better. Tempted though she is to see who was in those machines, she resists it. She probably knew them, and that is just going to break her heart and make her even madder then she is already.

It's bad omen for everybody.

"It's one thing to hear reports about things like this," she says quietly to Wyatt. "It's another to see it, isn't it? I hope you never have to fight the mad things that come off the Road. That mess in Cimarron, that was mild compared to what it is in other places."

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 3:40 pm Post subject:

Wyatt is taken by gloom and simply answers, "Massacre, destruction, death... It's war against all civilization."

He is quiet for a few moments as Demon avoids approaching the dead soldiers, going around Faylinn, Finn and Kade's original path, veering right.

"So, all of these worlds are being attacked by one enemy?" Wyatt asks, looking at the dead soldiers lying to their left.
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Arden · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 720 Location: Oklahoma

"Yeah. They all come from the Black Road." Rebecca hugs him reassuringly before continuing confidently. "But, hey; we'll beat 'em. It may look bad now, but it'll end, and we'll win. How can we not? Our side's got Dad, and Finn, and us, and a whole herd o' folks you've only heard us tell stories about. My Dad's faimly's got some stubborn, and powerful folks. Of course, most of the time they're too busy tryin' ta one up each other, but I reckon when push comes ta shove, they'll do what's right by Amber, and that'll take care of everything else."

"It's like when you and Zach are fightin'. Actin' like ya can't stand ta be in the same room. But if someone messes with Zach, whoo boy. It's ass kickin' time. 'Nobody picks on my brother but me', as the sayin' goes. No one messes with Cimarron without my leave, and Dad's arrangin' a lesson ta show 'em that right now. No one messes with Amber without getting the brunt of our ire. These bastards, they'll see that by the end."

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 7:00 pm Post subject:

"I rightly hope so... Hey, yer dad ain't a a walkin' target or anythin', right? I mean, if Amber is this army's ultimate goal, won't they pay extra attention to Cimarron if it seems important to him?"

They continue on, riding hard, Demon warning Rebecca of upcoming changes when he crosses Shadow. Demon seems to handle Wyatt, Rebecca and the heavy load of their gear with ease. Rebecca spots the trail left by her cousins and what looks like the footprints of several dozens more people. More soldier bodies and machines along the way... More machines here, which seems to indicate that they slowed down in these parts.
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Arden · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 720 Location: Oklahoma

Rebecca shifts uneasily at his question. Her father was the King of Amber, afterall. She has to trust that if things start to go sour, he'll leave or call someone. "I don't know," she says after a moment. "With luck maybe they'll think since we all left, it's not that important. I love the place, ya know I do. But it's the people back there that are more important ta me then any piece of land. Everything else can be remade if we have to."

"How're ya holdin' up, Wyatt?" she asks, changing the subject. " We can change places and you can grab a nap while we ride. Won't be the first time."

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 7:44 pm Post subject:

"Yeah, probably... I know what ya mean, we can always come back and rebuild."

"I think I'll stay awake, I'm not feelin' tired. Ya can take the reins if ya like, that's fine, little wife," he turns his head to grin at her. "Honestly, it's kinda strange, all of this, ain't it? Weird machines, ranches in crisis, Zach's malady and recovery, you proposin' ta me and now the world just got a lot bigger and dangerous... Yet, there's tha spark ya left and something in me just feels really good an' happy. I mean, I ain't tryin' ta be romantic about it, ya know, but it ain't all that disturbin', knowin' that we can fight all this side by side."
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Arden · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 720 Location: Oklahoma

She leans up and kisses him. "I hadn't intended for ya to get dragged into this. But I know what ya mean. I've missed ya. More then I expected to if I'm gonna be honest about it."

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 7:02 am Post subject:

Wyatt leans back up a bit, finally responding to the way she has been close with him. He grows quiet for a time.

Long discarded iron chains lay about, and they can spot where her cousins lingered, probably long enough for Finn to give prisoners orders. Demon goes by fast, but footprints indicate children, women and men among the prisoners, who ranged in the dozens, perhaps over a hundred.

...

Demon warns Rebecca of another shift, and a few strides later, a storm is unleashed on the horizon. It kicks up great clouds of dirt twisting up into the lightning clad skies. There is rain many miles down the road. The Black Road is smaller here. Thinner and twisting around local landmarks, rocky canyons, dried river bed, flatlands with natural cave systems.

They see lights inside the storm that do not extinguish. Fires perhaps. Something arcane or at least unnatural to the regions of Shadow Rebecca is familiar with.

The distraction abound here, yet the machines lay at regular intervals again, but after several more miles of riding, she sees it. Then Wyatt does as well, while Demon barely glances, concentrating on the way up ahead.

A great big ditch has been dug up by magic and about two hundred bodies, refugees, prisoners, or whatever else these people were, laying in a mass grave...

The storm is spreading across the Black Road, passing freely through it and about the landmarks of this place.
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Arden · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 720 Location: Oklahoma

Closing her eyes, Rebecca buries her face in Wyatt's shoulder and murmurs a prayer for the fallen innocents. If they had the tools and the time, she would have insisted on stopping and burying them proper; it was just respectful to do so. But they have neither, and at least these souls are free now of the madness around them. All that was left are these shells, sad as they are.

She sighs and turns her gaze to the skies and the storm. It is as magnificent as it is alien and deadly. She wonders how much time has passed along this trail since Finn and the others made it; she is puzzled by the lack of fresh enemies in the areas they have passed through. Not that she minds; despite his assurances to the contrary, she isn't convinced Wyatt is in top form with as little sleep has he's had, and Demon is proving what a gift he is, but she'd rather he had a moment to catch his breath before they reached Finn - who was surely in a fight. She hopes so. She desperately needs to bust some heads herself after this trip.

Do you feel we're close, Demon?