Fanfic:Lucian's Arches

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Lucian's Arches
Author(s)
  • Andrew Spencer
Character(s)
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Lucian stepped through the shimmering Arch and for a moment he neither existed nor thought, then he was standing in an office, his office. His confusion continued as he realised that this was neither an office that a Soldier of the Tower would use, nor a Captain in the Andoran Lancers, and then things made sense, as he saw his reflection in a mirror hanging from the wall of the office.

It was a face he recognised, rough and strong with a scar down the right cheek, and a bronze beard that framed his strong face, a face that had been in the service of the Queen of Andor for more than two decades. For a moment though he could have sworn he saw another face over his own, it was his face from his youth, but one that didn't match up with any of his memories, but he put it out of his thoughts after only a moment of contemplation.

He knew where he was, he was standing in his study in his manor in Shienar, a home that he shared with his family, not his brother or parents, like his families ancestral seat in Andor, but his family, his wife and two children, the light of his life.

Lucian turned as he heard the door open and a small smile graced his normally severe features, he knew who it was. It was his wife Lady Asmira Caeren, the woman who had cared for him and brought out a side of him that he didn't know was possible.

"Husband what are you doing secluding yourself away from our guests, on your own birthday no less?" her voice was soft and warm, holding a hint of laughter, almost as if she had heard a joke that no one else knew.

Lucian didn't respond to the question he just stood back and looked at her, taking in her long, silky smooth, shimmering black hair, and her flawless figure, even after giving Lucian two beautiful children, twins a boy and a girl. Even after years of marriage he couldn't believe, firstly how beautiful that she was, and secondly that she had loved him enough to accept his ring.

Asmira noticed that her husband had not said anything, but taking in his small smile and relaxed features, and smiled in return. Lucian simple opened his arms and Asmira strode over and embraced him tightly.

Lucian breathed deeply and caught the faint smell of flowers that hung in Amsira's hair and said "What was that about guests? You entered the room and as always you had my full attention."

His wife just smirked and said "Flattery will get you everywhere my love, except out of mingling with your social peers, so while I go and say goodnight to the twins, you have enough time to go and talk to the horde downstairs mingle, chat around see the familiar faces and then come up and read to the twins, you know how much they look forward to it."

Lucian nodded his head and let his wife go "I know, well the quicker that I go the quicker I can talk to two intelligent people" he moved towards the office door when his wife's voice reached his ears.

"Lucian, wear the jacket" he turned around with a pained expression on his face and he saw her hold out the hated garment. In actual fact it was a rather nice jacket, cut in the Andoran style, it was made out of deep red silk with silvery-white piping running along the sleeves and chest, with two white rampant lions meeting on the breast, but unfortunately the jacket also happened to bear wide gold epaulettes and glittering gold braid, typical of that worn by and Andoran General.

"If it will make you happy I will, but I wore that jacket for twenty-five years of active service, I don't see why I have to wear it again."

The unfortunate response was that at least he would know that the jacket both looked good and would fit him well.

So donning the unwanted garment, and again at his wife's insistence, his sword he descended the stairs and went into the main dining hall where there were more than one hundred guests who had gathered to celebrate the day of his birth, something that he wasn't completely happy about, he would have preferred to spend it with his family.

It was then that everything seemed to go from light and laughter, to darkness and slaughter, dark shapes burst in through the windows and the doors, people began to scream as they were cut down where they stood, or tried to flee.

Lucian had killed three trollocs before he had realized he'd even draw his sword, the weapon that he had prayed never to draw in anger again had already killed three of the man-beasts on reaction alone. Then the most horrifying sound he could possibly imagine pierced his ears, the sound of a woman screaming for help, his help, in his wife's voice.

Taking off at a sprint he ran to the stairs, bloody sword in hand, taking them three at a time, it seemed to him that he had never taken this long to get to anywhere in the manor the whole time he had lived within its walls.

'The way will come but once'

A strange voice echoed in his mind, a voice that was both strange and familiar at the same time, creating a most uncomfortable feeling in his chest. Rounding the final corridor he saw his wife shielding his two children, placing herself between them and the trolloc in the room, he saw her realize that he was there, and a flicker of hope appeared in her eyes as she called to him for help.

When he saw a silvery archway appear to his left, meeting her eyes she knew what he was going to do, and with her dying screams echoing in his ears he threw himself through the arch.

Second Arch: What Is

Lucian appeared and for a moment he didn't know why he was riding a horse through a city, but then it all came back to him, he was accompanying a Tower delegation to the High Lords of Tear, he was one of the few learning ranks that was riding a steed at the moment, mainly due to the fact that he had visited the city in his youth, and the White Sister who was leading the delegation wanted to capitalise on his knowledge, and that he knew some of the High Lords by sight from when he had been in the city with his father and brother on business.

He glanced around with a rueful smile, there was practically nothing that was different about the Tear that he was in now and the one that he had visited all those years ago when he was younger. Except there appeared to be a certain degree of tension that hung in the air, the people were glancing over their shoulders, not meeting each other's eyes, and the greatest sign that there was something wrong, there were guards on the streets, almost as though the city was expecting an attack, an attack from within.

The smile slid from his face as they approached the impressive structure of the Stone, standing strong at the centre of the city, the Stone that had stood untaken since it was built, until it was taken by the Dragon Reborn when he claimed the Sword that is not a Sword from the centre of the Stone.

The delegation was not as large as it could have been for a mission of this importance, four Aes Sedai and Asha'man and their Warders lead by Mirriana Sedai, three Dedicated and an equal number of Accepted, and then finally a scattering of Novices and Soldiers accompanied by a small detachment of the Tower Guard.

They met with the High Lord Myam and escorted inside, the party were shown to their respective rooms and allowed time to prepare for the large banquet that was being thrown in their honour.

Lucian had taken longer getting ready than he normally would have, he couldn't stop thinking about the signs that the city was not functioning normally, the scared citizens, the presence of the guards, and the strangely fearful expressions of the face of the High Lords that he had seen as he moved through the Stone.

Suddenly the Warder that he was walking with stumbled and fell against the wall, if this was any other man than a Warder, Lucian would have thought that the man had simply stumbled, but Warders didn't stumble. Grabbing the man's arms Lucian helped him to sit on the floor and heard him utter one word before he passed out "Trap."

Lucian's eyes widened as he realised that something had gone terribly wrong with this diplomatic mission, so with that thought he loosened his sword and ran in the direction of the dining room, when he got there the scene was one that he would not have imagined in a hundred years.

All the Aes Sedai and Asha'man were on the floor holding their heads as if in pain, he was about to move from his secluded corner by the door when he heard the voice of the High Lord Myam begin to speak.

"Lopelia Sedai we have complied with your every wish and I hope this confirms our intentions to remain on good terms with the true Tower."

It was then that a woman with the cool calm, and ageless beauty of an Aes Sedai entered his field of view; she may have been called beautiful, except for the fact that her face bore an ugly aloofness along with a sneer that looked like it might be a constant expression for her. She wore a daring red silk dress that showed an impressive amount of cleavage, but instead of ensnaring his senses, as seeing another woman in this garment would have, Lucians blood turned to ice. Only one kind of White Tower Aes Sedai would be sent to ambush a delegation where there would be Asha'man, a Red Sister.

The Aes Sedai slowly began to move around the room, taunting the men and women from the Grey Tower that were lying on the floor, when Lucian noted something that might give him and his fallen companions an advantage. The past that the woman was taking would take her within two feet of his current hiding place, if he acted quickly enough eh might be able to incapacitate her, or kill her if the situation called for it, and if he was the only channeler left standing after that confrontation then he may be able to salvage the situation enough that he could get the fallen Aes Sedai and Asha'man out of the Stone.

He slowly began to inch his sword out of the sheath that hung at his left hip, bringing it out as silently as he could, even though the fallen Grey Tower members were making a bit of noise as they moaned in discomfort, and the res sister was still talking, he did not want to take the chance that he was going to be heard. At the same time he also calmed his thoughts and sought out the elusive seductiveness of saidin, although he hoped that he would not have to use the male half of the true source.

Suddenly when the Aes Sedai was nearly in front of him he saw a flicker of silver out of the corner of his eye, a flicker of silver that was down the corridor that he had come up from, a silver archway.

'The way will come but once'

It was then that he knew he would have to make a decision, help the others, or run for the arch, snarling in desperation he hurled himself down the corridor, the cries of shock ringing in his ears, as he passed through the glittering archway he felt the searing heat of fire behind him, and knew if he was a second slower he would be dead.

Third Arch: What Will Be

Lucian's eyes flickered open and the first thing that his mind registered was the pain that he was feeling, from the centre of his shoulders all the way down to his feet. He was lying under a pile of rubble, rubble made from stunning Grey marble.

Embracing the power Lucian channelled a flow Air and shifted the rubble off himself, standing up he brushed as much of the remaining dust from the front of his black silk coat as he could. Twisting his neck slightly he heard a 'crack' and sighed in relief, there was nothing he could do for his back right now, which meant that he would need to take another trip to the Yellow's again.

He could hear sounds of violence echoing down the empty corridor that he was in; it was then that he noticed the bodies. There were bodies strewn all over the floor, resting up against the walls, all of them having died in some form of horrifying manner. Asha'man and Aes Sedai lay where they had fallen, their Warders, and those of the Learning Ranks who were nearby lay still as well. Blood coated the walls and the floors, laying in arterial spurts and still puddles on the floor, Lucian had seen such slaughter before, and he could recognise Trolloc work when he saw it.

Moving down the corridor he saw more of the same blood and gore littered the once clear floors of the Tower, bodies strewn haphazardly where they had been killed, and he felt the rage build up inside him, wanting to be let out, to unleash the terrifying destructive power of saidin and cleanse his home of the filth that now defiled it, but he resisted, just.

Glancing to the right he caught sight of himself in a mirror, the Sword and Dragon pins of an Asha'man still glittered on his black coat, even though it was covered in dust and blood, but his face was still the same, ageless and strong, the cold blue eyes staring out at himself were filled with the promise of vengeance, the green chord of the Green Ajah signified both his vengeance and purpose and allowed him to focus on what he must do.

Taking a deep breath he took control of saidin, he had no sword hanging at his side, the sheath conspicuously empty, the Power filled him, filled him with fire, light and death, all in a molten torrent ready to be unleashed upon his enemies at a moment's notice.

He could hear voices coming down a side passageway and hid in an alcove, when he saw them his heat lifted slightly, there were two Asha'man, Jorgin and Burke, both fellow members of the Green and their Warders moving down the hall, crouched as though they were expecting an attack, moving out in front of them he got their attention.

"By the Light Sitter Lucian, we thought that you had fallen when the Darkspawn passed the third floor" said Jorgin obviously surprised to see the tall form of Lucian Caeren alive, battered and bleeding, but alive.

Lucian smiled at the younger man "It takes more than a few Trollocs and falling masonry to kill me brother, as you should know, now tell me what have I missed?"

"Sitter, the Trollocs are lead by a Halfman, they are systematically moving throughout the Tower slaughtering all they can find. I have never seen this kind of discipline from Darkspawn, something is driving them, something more than the fear of a Halfman" said the taller of the two Warders, although he was talking to Lucian, his eyes never stopped moving from corner to corner.

Lucian nodded, from what he had seen before he was incapacitated the Warders estimate seemed to indicate that there was an unseen power controlling the invading forces, most likely there was a traitor in the Tower, something that no one in the Tower wanted to admit, but the evidence seemed to indicate something of the same nature.

Before anyone of them could react, or make any plans as to what they were going to do, there was an explosion that blew out the wall at the far end of the corridor, and in poured in a veritable horde of Trollocs lead by three Fade's, for a single moment Lucian's blood turned to ice 'How in the name of the Light are we going to defeat this horde, never mind defeat let's just survive' he thought to himself before he channelled fire and burned as many of them as he could.

Dozens fell, but dozens more took their place, the three Asha'man fought as a unit, killing those that the defending Warders missed, but soon they were pushed back to an intersection in the corridor, only to find more Trollocs coming down from one direction, one of the Warders had fallen, his Asha'man was grey faced but still fighting, and their situation was about as bad as it could be, when he saw the arch.

It was to his right, and he knew that he had to go through, but he didn't want to, he was a Sitter of the Tower, he had a responsibility to get these men out of here.

'The way will come but once'

As the unheard voice echoed in his mind, he hesitated for a moment, it was then that a Trolloc got past the final Warder and filleted open the Asha'man that had just lost his Warder, hot blood spurted everywhere, slathering Lucian in a wave of crimson. It was this that seemed to galvanise Lucian into action and sprinting down the corridor, the hot breath of a Trolloc breathing down his neck, and then he was through the arch surrounded un a silver light that consumed him completely, and his final thought was that 'Maybe this is finally over.'