Snippet of Lightning Strikes verse
(In which Lightning meets Cor. ... Yeah not sure how that’s gonna turn out honestly. XD)
...
She was just smoothing over the last gashes on the torso of a child when she sensed someone pushing their way through the crowd toward her with anger rather than the reverence that had settled over the majority of the crowd. She looked up and gestured for them to take the child away, then rested her hand warily on her sword. She was not in the mood or best condition to fight, but if it came down to it, she was pretty sure she could take out whoever it was before they became a problem. The crowd parted way and a man came into view with a woman on his heels. The woman looked neutral, curious —if stressed— as she looked around at the reverent crowd.
The man was here for a fight.
Lightning slid to her feet and ignored the slight tilt of the world before it righted as the man came to a stop in front of her. He was in a uniform like the other soldiers, but they were all saluting him, and his aura was dangerous, honed and experienced in a way the others were not. Their superior then, probably of a very high rank. The man had a sheathed sword clenched in one hand as he glared at her, “Who are you?” He barked, “And who were in those vehicles the Messenger carried away?”
“My name is Lightning,” she answered as she rested a hand on her sword hilt warningly, “who wants to know?”
The man’s eyes flashed dangerously, but the woman behind him softly intervened, “He is Cor Leonis, Marshal of the Crownsguard, Sword of the King.”
Lightning raised an eyebrow, annoyed and tired and not in the mood to deal with officers, “Where were you when the Citadel was coming down around everyone’s ears, then?”
For a second she thought he was going to draw his sword on her from sheer fury, but the fury was only in his eyes, and his face stayed stone still, “Following the orders of my king. You were in the Citadel during the invasion, but you’re not a Crownsguard or a Kingsglaive. How do we know you aren’t with Niflheim?”
Lightning scoffed, “Right, because a Niflheim agent would definitely be taking the time to heal refugees of the enemy nation they just attacked.”
“Answer the question. Who were in those vehicles and why did the Messenger remove them from the city?”
Lightning eyed him and wondered if he was trustworthy. The captain fellow had proven a traitor. It wasn’t impossible that he was one too. Not in the mood for subtly, but also not wanting to start a panic, Lightning huffed and jerked her head toward the gate, “Not here.” Without waiting for his response, she turned and started walking for the city exit. If this turned to a fight, she wanted to be away from the civilians. Especially in her tired state. She would either get hurt or she would lose her temper and overpower a spell, and she didn’t want the citizens to get caught in the fallout. The people parted way for her with whispers and reverent bows, and behind her, she could hear the Marshal and the woman following her. She didn’t go too far, just out of the city and off to the grass on the side by the wall. There was a few hundred yards worth of ground here, not as much as she wanted, but apparently this city was on an island, and the road itself turned into a bridge leading to the mainland after only a few hundred yards of grass and dirt outside the wall.
Once they were reasonably out of earshot, and far enough away a fight … probably wouldn’t reach the civilians, she turned to face them, “How do I know I can trust you with that information?” The Marshal’s eyebrow went up in skepticism and Lightning scoffed, “The captain- Drautos- tried to stab us in the back. How do I know you won’t do the same.”
The man’s jaw went tight and the woman’s eyes widened. The Marshal’s hand was white knuckled on the sword sheath, “Captain Drautos would not betray the crown.”
“Yeah well, he did.”
“And I am supposed to take the word of a complete stranger on that?”
Lightning scoffed, “A complete stranger who just spent the last-.” She looked up at the sky, blinked when she realized it was around noon. She’d been healing since dawn without stopping, no wonder she was so tired, “Five or six hours helping your civilians and soldiers when I didn’t have to.”
