Storm of the South | Self-Paragraph
If you thought about it, this really wasn't much of a mission for Sidjay. Sure, a storm would rather go unnoticed at night and no one could really track it down to someone specific, if Sidjay was sneaky enough not to get caught. But the night really wasn't much of her prime time and being undercover, trying not to get any attention was about the opposite of what she usually liked to do. The Knights she would tell about her mission afterwards might give her some credit, but Sidjay wished she could show some of the Mancers that it was her doing, maybe get someone to tell a story about her. Oh well, one can't always have what one wants.
Usually Sidjay liked to get a good amount of sleep, if there wasn't something better to do. Drunk people were great to be around unless they got grabby or aggressive, but Sidjay made sure never to drink with people who couldn't handle their alcohol. As a human, she was of the race that probably got drunk fastest, so she stuck to her beloved wine, one, or two, or three glasses. Some of the Knights got themselves really, really drunk at night and even drank a little bit before the dawn of each battle, only this way they could handle the images that burn into their minds.
Sidjay had listened to them drink and laugh and yell and puke until eventually it all turned into different kinds of snoring. Today she couldn't sleep until she had fulfilled the mission King Karadas had given her personally, which was a great honor really. Laying on her field bed, in the big tent her Compan was sleeping in, she listened to everybody sleeping.
Somehow, it was really nice. After one or two hours she knew the different between Kelt and Samual's snores or Johnus deep breathing, that was interrupted by soft grunts. She could hear how restless Jeiramay slept and how Migwa softly murmured in her sleep. Everyone slept differently, but it really was cute to listen to all of their different ways and breathings. As soon as all of them where deep enough, Sidjay sat herself up. It surely was around midnight, there was no light in the tent but a slight shimmer from where the moon seemed to shine through the linen. Which would probably be Sidjay's main problem – the darkness outside. On top of that, even if she had a few looks on a map already, her mind had not really given too much care to any detail, as usual. It would work itself out, it always did!
Slipping out of her sleeping bag, her feet touched the floor in a smooth movement, as Sidjay tried to be as quiet as possible not to wake anyone. The cold of the ground greeted her harshly and she pulled a face, but had to go through with this. It would only be colder outside, but since she had to be quick and unseen, she wouldn't be able to rely on her armor or fur or anything that would immobilize her further. All she'd wear today was her dark leather armor, the armor the Knights got from Jewantes School. It was said that their magic was armor enough, but in Sidjay's case that wasn't too true, so she asked a smith she liked to make her unique armor. The leather suit was put on easily, a thick leather jacket being the only thing to warm her tonight. Even her sword would have to stay here for tonight, its metal was too bright – tonight there would be no fighting.
The cold air outside made her short hair fly around and Sidjay lightly stroked it behind her ears, then she got ready to jog. At least as long as there was hardly any snow and she was close to the Knight quarters she could make the travel a little bit faster. Sidjay could almost feel when she got out of the quarters. It was a lot colder, there was snow and no tents held the wind from blowing in Sidjay's face, armed with a million microscopic razor blades. The Southern Wall was still quite a bit away and Sidjay made sure to walk a good bit away from the wall, so no one could spot her. Thus her walk took extra long, especially since she had to try and walk in the footsteps that had been pressed into the snow during the battles. At least it wouldn't be as easy to track her, should something go wrong at the tower. It war harder than Sidjay had thought to make out footsteps in the dark and a few times she had moved a bigger cloud away from the moon slowly enough so it looked natural, but a lot faster than it would have been. Sidjay needed all the moon light she could get tonight.
Very soon, Sidjay started to feel lonely already and she started walking regularly, until a rabbit or whatever little animal might still be awake at night ran away from her and she noticed that she had walked her own way and swayed a lot in direction of wall. Then she'd need to walk over her own steps again, making them bigger than they actually were. Walking for this long at night got Sidjay to think. Made her realize how much she liked light and sun and warmth and how much she disliked being alone, all things she already knew, but never had felt the need for any of these things. Johnus was a Dark Magician, he was at home when it was dark, he could handle it. Johnus and Sidjay were opposites in quite a few things, but that was why they worked so good together. Just like Johnus and Kelt did, too. Thinking about two of her favourite people made her think a lot more positively again and she sped up her walk.
Her mind kept to people she had met, soon a big tower appeared in sight distance and Sidjay slowed down again. Up until here was the easy part, now she'd have to stay close to anything throwing a shadow, anything that wasn't as bright white as the snow, even dried out puddles of blood did the deal. She just had to get close enough to create the storm. It disgusted Sidjay a little, to crawl through the blood of who knows who it was, but assignment was assignment. Although she did wonder why King Karadas had send her into this mission all by herself. After all, she and her brother had worked together before and it had been glorious, even if Johnus had have a few problems with Sidjay being a little more carefree than he would want her to be. Together with him this mission would have been the easiest thing. Right tomorrow before and after battle Sidjay would steal her brother from Kelt, who hogged him most of the time and would spend a little time with him.
Having a look around when roughly 200 meters away from the tower, Sidjay quickly went to a pile of bodies that had been put over each other. It seemed to soldiers, since it were so very many, but the cold and the snow kept them from rotting too fast and the smell of death was bearable. Again, it was horrible, but a part of war and Sidjay's soul was strong enough to bear it. Otherwise she would have never become a Knight. The important thing was that the war would end soon and this was one step closer to actually ending it. Now filled with a little pride, Sidjay noticed that the bodies actually made a good hide-out, since she could still just lie down next to it and pass for one of those poor souls.
There were three men or woman on the tower, that was giving away the light of a big fire. The fire actually burned into multiple directions, leaving Sidjay to think that maybe a fire magician might be with them, but she didn't know. She would have to destroy this tower now, including the people in it. One of the bodies seemed to stare at her with glassy eyes and Sidjay couldn't but be distracted by him for a minute. Her hand already at his forehead to close his eyes, the moon suddenly seemed to intensify and shine a little more light at the face of the dead. He was young. Young enough to be a son, not even old enough to marry or have children. They didn't look like the Goodland soldiers, they looked like the people Sidjay fought and killed.
Her hands as high as the pile made it possible she curled her fingers into fists as slowly as possible, all pointed right above the Tower. She would have to work very slowly so it all looked natural, but this time the night worked for her. As long as she'd keep the thick dark cloud a bit away from the moon, it would be very hard to see it against the night skies. Looking behind her shoulder there was no one but the dead watching her. A lightning or two should do the deal, there was fire on the tower and it was partially made from wood, it would burn and crash. Her back started to tickle, so did her sides. The dead were watching her. Especially the young soldier had his eyes on to her, but this time they didn't look glassy. They looked sad. It gave Sidjay the creeps.
At least she could release the rain to get the fire out and then still give away the lightnings, Sidjay thought and her fists opened and released pouring rain over the Southern Watch Tower. Since it was dark, they couldn't see that the thick rain was only around their area, only pouring from this one big cloud that Sidjay kept raining down on them. The fire instantly went out and now they didn't have any more light. They weren't much of a danger to Sidjay, now she could just get it all done and over with. But somehow, Sidjay couldn't. Hadn't she already killed so many today? Wasn't the battleground full of piles staring at her? Swallowing hard, there was one second of hesitation, until Sidjay decided to do this her way. A king had power over his kingdom, but no one had power over lifes they weren't willing to end themselves. Twisting her right hand, she pulled a little windhose down from the sky right into the tower, sucking the three right into it and send the hose into the city. They crashed against the roof of a house, at least from the sound of it. Instantly, Sidjay released two lightnings into the tower, who almost exploded into the wood and stone. Then another, that broke the tower down to almost half its size, so it broke together like weak wood in a campfire. Right after having fired the last lightning, Sidjay let her now free hand glide over the back of the young soldier's nose, closing his eyes and run further away from the wall, then back to the quarter.
She hadn't been spotted. That was the only thing her mission had said. Yes, it was obvious that the windhose had been handmade, that she had saved the three, if with a few broken bones and puking from the ride, but she hadn't killed them. It was obvious that the storm wasn't natural, but Sidjay hadn't been spotted. She wouldn't kill more than needed and she wouldn't bow to the King if he told her so. Her back felt save and the wind felt like whispers of gratitude.
