Penny

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The Sinful Stars

Annika felt immediate relief as they stepped into the consecrated space of the chapel. The familiar iconography soothed her troubled mind and she went immediately to the altar and knelt, ignoring the startled looks of the attending acolytes. Closing her eyes she began to pray working herself through the litanies of purification she had been taught by her Estakonic tutors. The calming effect of the pray settled over her slowly, quelling the influence of her Dark Twin. Ever since her psychic gifts had emerged she had struggled to keep them under control and even with years of training, they still sometimes threatened to overwhelm her. She couldn't have said how much time had passed when she finally stood, but the ache in her knees suggested it had been no short period.

Feeling renewed she walked back down the knave to where Orion stood in conversation with the bound Ragnar. The Vuldrock appeared calm despite his bonds, evidently his faith in Orion's promise to protect him was stronger than Annika's own. His ice blue eyes narrowed as she approached, warning Orion of her quiet progress.

"Sister?" the knight asked as he turned his handsome face to her.

"I thought that, as we are in a church, it might be a good time to hear your confession," she told Orion. She glanced toward the door where a pair of armed guards slouched in the shadows, rifles slung across their chests.

"Afterall, it is best to face the future with a clear conscience."

The Sinful Stars

Annika followed in Orion's wake as the approached the city. The ranks swelled as neighbors ran ahead to warn their kin and friends until the column of civilians stretched out and was lost to sight in the trees behind them. The forrest grew thinner and more cultivated as they walked
and the rough trail grew into a true road. At length the gleaming walls of Tolth came into view and many of the peasants, having never traveled so far gasped at the size and beauty of the place. The walls of Tolth were of a white material that resembled marble. It wasn't truely a stone, but rather a ceramic that had been cast by the Engineers of the Second Republic. Despite years of war and weather they remained as pristine and unmarked as they day they had been cast. Annika wondered what it must be like for the peasants following them, to know that the slim margin of their existence was, probably even now, being ransacked and destroyed by Vuldrock raiders. What wasnt consumed would be carried off or torched, and they would return to land stripped bare of generations of work. She glanced sidelong at Ragnar who seemed perfectly at ease with the situation. Perhaps such things were natural and proper within his world view.

"Hold!" shouted a guard as they came insight of the walls, his voice tinny and distorted through a loud hailer. Orion halted and the colum slowed to a stop also. Minutes rolled by in silence save for the muttering of peasants and the clink of metal on the walls. Annika could well imagine the captain of the watch being roused, and then consulting his superiors in turn. At last one of the vast gates began to grind open and a file of soldiers tramped out, each wearing the livery of Rochfort and carrying automatic rifles at high port. In the middle of the group was a nobleman of indifferent merit who looked as though he had just been roused from his bed.

"What is the meaning of this," he called more or less in Orion's direction.

The Sinful Stars

The father, a muscular looking man with a salt and pepper beard hurried toward them. Annika struggled to keep her mind focused, following the paths of Estakonic mediation to keep her away from her dark twins influence. The farmer looked nervous, as well he might, to see two obviously armed strangers coming out of the woodlands. They might not know there were Vuldrock raiders about, but no one could have missed the noises of weapons-fire during the night. The farmers eyes darted between Orion and Ragnar, paying little attention to the slender woman who made no obvious threat.

"Jacquen, take your brother and go inside," the farmer instructed. A girl who had, until that moment been concealed behind a low wall of mossy stones stood up looking indignant.

"But papa.." she began to object.

"Now girl," he snapped, and something in his voice precluded further argument. THe girl grabbed the boys and headed towards a low stone hut roofed with sod.

"What brings you to these parts sir," he asked Orion respectfully. He was clearly afraid, but he wasnt willing to give up an inch on his own farm.