[i]Some time ago.[/i]

The boots of the Blowfly made soft clacks on the cobbled road as she moved, echoed by four others and the melodic hoot of Pumps. Far from the usual cracking retort of a sprint leading the loping black masks of the Watch. No, Tauga would do this slowly. She was determined to do that. [colour=antiquewhite][i]No need to scare them off. We're not here to kill.[/i][/colour] This was a time and place to be happy. The celebration of the return of Énas Amartia was in its second... Third week.

Celebrations were nice. Tauga's goggles flicked out over the faces of the men and women who glanced at her and the Rotflies at her side, taking knowing looks before slinking into the shadows as if it was on their way. [colour=antiquewhite][i]Festivals are good.[/i][/colour]

It was a dream come true, really. The God-Emperor had returned to his beloved City. The whitemasks had been conquered, enslaved and brought home single-handed. Food was plentiful and wine ran freely, and every day was a carnival. [colour=antiquewhite][i]It's nice. It'll just keep on getting better. Accidents happen at carnivals, like they always did.[/i][/colour] Pumps fluted a high note at a cluster of murmuring drinkers and Tauga's hand flicked to her khopesh.

[colour=antiquewhite][i]Things are back to the way they're meant to be.[/i][/colour]

Coloured lanterns ahead bobbed in a breeze, the massive bonfire ahead shining. The crowd closed up again in the darkness behind them.

Oyur tapped Tauga's shoulder and requested permission to light a torch. Tauga nodded and watched her jog to one side, following her with her tendrils, the crowd parting only minimally for the Rotfly alone. She came back. Tauga exhaled. Etti shrugged his shoulders restlessly.

The three of them left the light of the fire. The sound of revelry was still distinctly close.

A wandering tentacle picked up the source of the scent they were looking for nearby and they moved in.

Eleven revellers were standing in a semicircle facing them. Their eyes were clear and without shame. At their feet, stripped and tied and bleeding from the face, was another Rotfly. Hair matted with blood and oil. Oil everywhere, puddled in the road.

The bonfire. They'd been feeding it all night. It was far too large.

Pumps whistled happily.

Tauga lunged, her scalpel flying from its sheath, the Rotflies moving to back her. At least three of the culprits drew swords of their own and Tauga forced her way through their number, splitting the group to single them out. They'd avoided her swings, but Etti had been a trained soldier and pressed into them as they moved, wounding one and killing another as Oyur flanked a man with a sword. 

Obsidian sickles scythed out, Oyur ducked under a slash and Tauga opened the man's side. They still weren't running. Oyur's long-honed instincts drove her back into the fray and Tauga followed the swordswoman's lead.

The torch flashed, pressing them back, and Tauga moved, her footwork clumsy but fast. Oyur stepped into the panic she made and picked off revellers with measured blows.

Wounded fell beside the dead and more came up. Tauga felt Etti being pressed further away from them as he fought. Oyur's torch wasn't alone. Unnoticed, the carnival had grown louder. Had moved closer.

Around them, the streets were being blocked.

The masked figure flicked a pocket in her shoulder and threw Amber at the closest part of the mob, the vast fox-tail exploding into the mass of knives and bared teeth, but the maddened people of Xerxes had planned for the Blowfly's antics, and Amber recoiled at their torches, unable to leap into melee. A flung rock hit Etti and he took a shoulder wound.

Everywhere was people- Crushing press of muscle and hate with lethal intent, swarming over their blows.

[i]Crash.[/i] Screams. [i]Crash.[/i]

The Bludgeon took off, underside painted with blood. An instant later, another side of the crowd was pulped. Madness reigned. Tauga grabbed Oyur by the waist and leapt into the sky, Amber flowing around her ankle and around them like a cloak. The noise was left behind in a rush of cold air.

She could hear Oyur's heart pounding through her mask. She could see the pyre below. She could taste oil.

[center][h3]* * * * *[/h3][/center]

[i]Moments later.[/i]