The Roster
July 28th, 2006 by Salem
Chapter 41 - The electric light lit streets were quiet. A single cat runs across to a rod iron gate and slips between the bars to hide in the bush on the other side. A dark figure runs as quietly as possible to a street lamp and opens an access panel. Inside, the person turns a switch and the lights on the street fade until they are dark. The sound of horse hooves grows as several carriages start to move through the darkness. One by one, figures jump off the moving carriages. Some figures use keys to enter the gates and fences that line the street. Others run up the ungated walkways to the doors of the many homes. There were nine carriages on the dark streets. Inside one of the homes, a maid in her nightgown runs up to a door in answer to a soft knock. She opens it to find a Lysts Palace City Police Officer on the other side standing in darkness. “Ma’am,” greeted the officer, “by order of the PCPD, you are to make sure no one leaves this residence no matter what happens until told otherwise by an officer of the PCPD. Do you understand?” The woman nodded her head, “Yes.” in response. “Now go and lock all doors and windows,” ordered the officer before turning to run back up the walkway.
The officer returned to the carriages and gave a hand signal. Other officers did the same thing when they returned. A man dressed like a detective, ducks his head in the fifth carriage where Captain Waller was sitting inside. “The block’s been secured and all the men are ready,” said the detective. “Give the signal to start infiltrating the Tyrann residence,” ordered the Captain. The detective pulled his head out of the carriage and waved his fist in the air for the other carriages to see. The right side carriage doors open and ten uniformed male and female officers from each carriage pour out and quietly move to the gate of the Tyrann Mansion. One officer used a passkey to unlock the gate while other officers reached in with oil cans to the hinges. The gates slowly open without a sound until the officers start to move into the courtyard with a few carrying heavy metal beams and others with ladders. The lead officer gave a hand signal and had one group head around the left side and a second group to head around the right and rear of the mansion while his group headed straight for the front door. As they got closer to the large residence, the officers pulled out their muskets to have them ready. Other officers lifted their musket rifles to a ready position.
The detective climbs into the carriage with the police captain, “They’re inside.” “Remember, I want Detective Pacer captured as well as Mr. Tyrann. The others in the report are to be considered dangerous,” said the Captain. “But wasn’t Detective Pacer all the way in Cragorus?” asked the detective. “Pacer stole a Blade from some people who live in the Cragorus valley. The Blade allows the user to instantly appear anywhere they’ve been before. There’s a good chance he may be here,” said the captain. An officer comes up to the door and says, “We’re ready.” The captain gives a large exhale and looks down at the printed report. “Do you want me to give the signal?” asked the officer. The captain runs through the plan in his head again. “Captain?” asked the officer. “Sir?” called the detective. The captain snaps back into consciousness as if he was waking from a dream and quickly says, “Give the signal.” The officer jumps off the step of the carriage and fired his musket in the air so that the officers at the back could hear it. At once, officers start to crash into windows and bust through doors with the beams and climb up the sides of the large home with ladders. The police move from room to room kicking open doors. “Police! Hands up!” yelled the officers as they moved from room to room and up the white marble staircase with gold trim in between the twelve foot tall solid gold statues of a young Terra, Caretaker of land and rocks, and her sister Yeager, the Caretaker of sky and clouds.
The lead officer still standing outside, shoots his musket into the air to send in the second group. Officers on the roof and on the balcony crash through the second floor windows and two of the three skylights. “Room clear!” called an officer at the back. “Clear!” called two more officer in the main access hall. “First floor clear!” yelled another officer. The lead officer taps a female officer on the shoulder. She runs out of the gates and pasted the police carriages to the streetlamp with the circuit breaker and turned the street lights back on. Other officers drive torches into the ground around the Tyrann Mansion and lit them. The captain and the detective exit their carriage and head for the large home. Officers could still be heard yelling “Clear” as each room is checked. A tenth carriage marked “PCPD Philosophers’ Lab” arrives and goes through the gates to park near the mansion’s door. Men in white lab coats and carrying cases follow the captain into the home. “Servants’ quarters is clear!” yelled a female officer. An officer runs up from the basement level and yells, “Body! We have a body!” The captain, detective, and philosopher investigators run to the officer and followed him down to the basement. The police had turned on the electric lights. A male officer with two females were standing around looking very stunned. In the corner was an open crate with a very old body inside. The philosophers quickly went to work trying to extract what evidence was still around. “Who is it?” asked the captain. “It looks to be Mr. Rex Tyrann,” replied one of the police philosophers. Another philosopher looked up and said, “It is too early to know for sure but given the decomposition, this man has been dead for at least two years.” The captain turns to the detective, “Send a message to Detective Lagan. Have her return to the Department. Tell her we found Rex Tyrann. He could not be questioned and was found innocent by reason of being dead for at least two years.”
The Blade Masters were busy washing their clothes in the washer and dryer in the Raptor home and taking turns bathing in the shower before it was time to leave for Corsair. Salem was busy making firefly rounds for her gun. “So that is why the C’Tan couldn’t use that black GunBlade,” said Dark. “Yes. In order for the GunBlade to fire ammunition, you’ll have to put ammunition into the GunBlade to begin with,” said Salem. “That gauge looks to be for a shot gun,” said Dark, “I have a ton of shotgun ammunition in storage. Come with me to make sure you can use it.” “Pawn, stay here with the equipment,” ordered Salem before leaving with Dark to the storage hill. “Great team you gathered,” said Dark, “But I would like to know more. Where did you meet them, what is their background, why you chose them?” Salem went through her head, “Well, first Selene and I decided that it was about time some of the Blades in the Temple needed to find masters. We chose five to represent earth, water, wind, famine and war. The five of the eight elements that make this planet.” “I see,” replied Dark, “So it was the Blades that chose the members.” “That is correct. It was the best way we could think of for getting a group together to help us find the KingBlade,” said Salem, “Selene’s Blade represents the element of Pestilence and my GunBlade is representative of fire. When we were leaving the Temple, the GullBlade that we choose to represent wind exited Pawn’s ThievesBlade’s void and made it’s choice. You know all there is to know about Christina’s background. We raised her at the temple and she trained for years to become a Blade Master. She takes to heart the religion of the Blades and tries to attend mass every Sunday.”
The two arrive at the storage hill and Dark opens the door for Salem to walk into. “Who was chosen next?” asked Dark. “Well, of course we had to go get Death and his ScytheBlade to represent himself,” said Salem. “Yes, I know all about Jarody,” said Dark. Salem stood back while Dark looked for the ammunition and said, “We then left the Dead Swamp!” “Is my rock still there?” interrupted Dark. “Yes, it is. The writing on it is still as clear as the day it was written,” said Salem, “We were heading to the Capital city of Boneham but we had to make a stop at a trade town named Barter. Emhril was the owner of the inn we stayed at and we had a strange time when the EarthBlade decided to choose him. It was soon after the HealthBlade chose his eight year old little girl, Haiku.” “So you have other Blades with you other then the five you took?” asked Dark. “Just the usual support Blades such as the LightBlade, SwitchBlade and KeyBlade. We were not planning for the HealthBlade to choose a master,” said Salem. “What is Emhril’s background?” asked Dark. He inherited the Bill’s Miller Tavern and Inn from the last owner,” said Salem, “He was married to a women who had escaped from the forbidden country but the shogun who had enslaved her sent men to eventually hunt her down and kill her. They succeeded and so Emhril is left to raise his daughter Haiku, who believes that her mother has only been taken away and hopes for her return.”
“Here they are,” said Dark pulling out a large chest. Dark opens the chest and Salem is amazed at all the boxes of ammunition. Dark opens a box and shows Salem the shiniest shotgun bullet and casing Salem had ever seen. “How did you make this?” asked Salem “I didn’t. All of these are from earth,” said Dark, “Machines make the ammunition there. This is what’s called an armor piercing bullet. These should help.” Salem takes the bullet in her hand and feels the smoothness of it. “Who joined next?” asked Dark. “It turned out that there was a warriors competition being held in Barter. We decided to join the other spectators and watch the competition named the Tagi Challenge,” said Salem, “That was where we met Vivien Leblanc. She was in a full body suit that looked as if she jumped into a tar pit and climbed out. Vivien was fighting General Carcass in the competition and lost. We later caught up with her at the Bill’s Miller where the MirrorBlade chose her. She is the only survivor of a vampire clan I am sorry to say was wiped out by you.” “I know. Blue told me. I was very angry then and that happened at the wrong time. Had I been given some time to calm down from what was happening to our own, things would have happened very differently,” said Dark. Salem puts the box of twelve gauge armor piercing bullets back and closes the trunk.
Dark and Salem take hold of the handles on each side of the trunk and they start to carry it out of the storage hill. “Eventually, General Carcass won the Tagi Challenge against Zealot and David,” said Salem, “Zealot is actually an old friend of ours from the Temple. He trained at the Temple of the Blades and graduated with the highest honors breaking records that Selene and I had set. It was a very large disappointment that a Blade did not choose him at the time. Zealot took it as a sign that he needed to learn more. So he traveled from temple to temple learning every form of fighting there is and even some magic. It was after they met with Rex Tyrann as he awarded the first place prize to General Carcass when the SabreBlade finally chose him.” Both Dark and Salem were quiet as they carried the heavy trunk back to the home. Pawn was still outside laying next to the bullet making equipment. “Pawn, put this in your void!” called Salem as soon as she saw him. Salem and Dark put the trunk down and move out of the way as Pawn scampered to them and began to examine the trunk.
“The last member of the group was chosen by the TsunamiBlade at the same time the SabreBlade chose Zealot,” said Salem, “David was competing under the name Wayne Marcus. Of course Selene and I knew he was David Koror. We had known him as a baby. It was not until we boarded the TidusBlade where he admitted that he was David. He has yet to give an explanation but what we have heard, David had ran away from the TidusBlade to travel from port to port as a Sea Hopper, calling himself Wayne Marcus and traveled with pirates. He was a member of a pirate crew when he took part in the event.” “I see,” said Dark. Pawn opened his ThievesBlade’s void and took the trunk in. “Malodor Regis was also an unplanned member but the newly built MobilBlade had chose him to be it’s master. I would have to wonder if it was fate that caused this to occur. He was invaluable during the Lysts Downs Equestrian Grand Prix when we were about to leave for Hellion,” continues Salem, “It was on the TidusBlade where Detective Lagan and Detective Pacer joined us to investigate the attempted murder of David and the Lysts Palace Captain of the Guard, Raphael. Finally, Mage Khet joined us as an escort while we are in this country.”
“I see,” said Dark again, “How about the large wolf like animal?” “That is Sturmer. Zealot will not call Sturmer a pet. He feels that Sturmer is more like a companion,” answered Salem. “And your pets?” asked Dark. “Pawn is my ferret. He’s been with me for three years now and is the perfect master for the ThievesBlade. As you have seen, the ThievesBlade allows Pawn to take and store any soulless object regardless of size into an alternate dimension we have named the ThievesBlade’s void,” said Salem, “Selene has had Rook the falcon for just as long. Rook’s TalonBlade gives him the ability to life heavy objects with great ease. He can grab onto the MobilBlade and fly away with it. Finally we have Knight the owl. Knight is the master of the ShroudBlade. This Blade allows Knight and anything he is carrying to become invisible. Combined with his natural ability of silent flight, Knight is perfect for sending messages from behind enemy lines.” “This Knight, can anyone use him to send a message?” asked Dark. “Yes, as long as he recognizes that you are a member of our group, he will take your letter where you want him to go. But of course you know of the air message network.” said Salem. “Yes, No one knows who created it but a person could send a letter by bird to like the Palace of Lysts. That bird will not actually go all the way to the palace, it will stop at an aviary first. From there another bird will take the letter to one of the capitals aviary and then a third bird will take the letter to the Palace City aviary where a royal approved bird will take the letter to the palace. It’s a one of a kind system but it has it’s flaws,” said Dark. “How is that?” asked Salem. “There is no security with that system,” said Dark. “Knight is invisible. Who is going to intercept an invisible bird?” asked Salem. “That isn’t what I mean. Anyone could use Knight to send a letter. Is there a way to tell where Knight has been or to who and or what he delivered a letter?” asked Dark. “What are you getting at?” asked Salem. “I believe that one or more members of your team may be moles for this Powerful Master,” said Dark. “That cannot be. In fact that would be impossible. There is no way to predict who will be a Blade Master, leave alone a master to one of the Blades we have chosen,” said Salem. “I am not real sure of this Salem, that’s why I will not name anyone yet,” said Dark, “But from what I’ve seen, there is a very strong possibility. Let’s keep my feelings secret for now.” “I understand Dark,” said Salem as she began to put her bullet making equipment away.
Mage Khet exits the home and walks up to Dark and Salem, “Well since you’re going to Corsair, I’m not needed anymore. So I’ll take the Hoofar’s note and start heading back to the Hoofar’s Palace.” Dark looks at Mage Khet while RedRaptor comes up behind the palace mage. “I’m sorry Khet,” said Dark, “But I’m afraid we can’t allow you to return to your Hoofar.” Red grabs Mage Khet and hold him by the arms. “But! WHY!?” yelped Mage Khet. “You’ll return to your Hoofar and tell her about us. We can’t have that,” said Dark, “So you’ll have to die.” “DIE?! But I have things I have to do back at the palace! My ROY!! ROY!!!” yelled Mage Khet. “Do you have to kill him?” asked Salem. “There’s no way he’ll agree to stay with us while we travel to Mount Obelisk and to wherever we need to go,” said Dark. “It’s your decision,” said Red, “Agree to travel with the Blade Masters and live or refuse and die here.”