Bouquet ~ Twenty Seven
Nov. 29th, 2006 06:16 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
annarti.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
yrae
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Hibiscus folded her arms and rested one shoulder against the door frame, her face regaining composure. At Flannel Flower’s words, she could see the slightest element of fear creeping into her eyes.
‘I haven’t been Hibiscus in months.’ Her voice was higher and lighter than her strong frame belied, but she still managed to sound fierce. ‘Frangipani sent you.’ It was a statement, not a question.
Flannel Flower inclined her head slightly, feeling more confident now that Hibiscus had shown weakness. ‘I’m the Silrona connection,’ she said smoothly, ‘Flannel Flower.’
Hibiscus cocked an eyebrow. ‘How unflattering,’ she said flatly. ‘How much am I worth, then?’
Flannel Flower flowed to her feet, glistening silver krises spinning in her fingers. She didn’t take a step closer just yet though. ‘Twenty thousand shiny gold coins, a home base somewhere warmer than Silrona—possibly this very home, in fact, only with less snakes. And of course, the full list of every flower in dear Frangipani’s bouquet.’
Her target was nodding with quiet satisfaction as she listed her potential rewards, and both eyebrows shot up at the last. ‘You’re making them your targets too?’
Flannel Flower snorted. ‘Please. I want Frangipani.’
Hibiscus nodded again. ‘I approve.’
‘I thought you might. You’re willing to join if you like.’
She shook her head this time. ‘I prefer to work alone.’
The Suzan shrugged and sighed with lament. ‘How disappointing.’ She raised her daggers and set her feet into a fighting position, her eyes now completely devoid of fear. ‘I should hope you’re as good with a pair of daggers as you are with your bow, Hibiscus.’
A sly grin spread over Hibiscus’ lips, mirroring Flannel Flower’s own. Not taking her eyes from Flannel Flower’s, she reached slowly behind the door frame, and there was a scraping of wood as she pulled out a drawer.
In barely the blink of an eye, a lash of silver sliced through the air, but Flannel Flower was quick enough to whip her kris up to clang into the flying dagger and set it off course. Almost instantly, another dagger came flying, and a third, before she realised that Hibiscus was actually throwing kitchen knives.
She grinned as she almost idly flicked the knives away. ‘Oh, come on, Hibiscus. You’re worth far too much to go down like this.’
The knife-throwing assassin paused, another knife at the ready and a vague look of confusion on her face. The confusion was replaced by gritty determination and she disappeared back through the door, returning a minute later with some real daggers. Impressive blades, Flannel Flower noted, but they weren’t krises.
She nodded her approval, spun her krises again and lunged forwards, one blade aimed at Hibiscus’ neck, the other ready to dash away any attack that Hibiscus tried.
The other assassin threw up both her daggers in a cross to stop Flannel Flower’s potentially lethal blow, dashing the wavy blade aside before reaching out to catch the second and make an attack of her own, swiping for Flannel Flower’s stomach.
Flannel Flower danced back and lashed out with both krises to discourage any attacks while she caught her footing once more. Despite her rash attempts earlier with the kitchen knives, Hibiscus was talented with her daggers. She treated them each as different weapons, but she knew exactly where each of them were and could defend both of Flannel Flower’s krises whenever she struck out with them both.
Flannel Flower gritted her teeth and lashed out repeatedly, her wiggly blades moving too quickly for Hibiscus to do anything but defend. Slowly but surely, she managed to get the assassin to back away, though she had a very strong defence. She wasn’t going to let up until her back was firmly against the wall, and with the home ground advantage, she knew exactly what was behind her.
Though she initially felt in control, Flannel Flower realised when Hibiscus backed away from her into the hallway that she was in fact the one being shepherded. Hibiscus was leading her through the house to where she felt she would be most comfortable.
The Suzan backed up just slightly; The Sinazi noticed and gave half a grin. She spun on her heel and darted into a room leading off from the hall, her open back just out of Flannel Flower’s reach.
The room Hibiscus had chosen was the art room, with the sea snake’s aquarium on display in the middle and jars of venom on the rear wall.
Flannel Flower held back a few choice expletives and lunged again for Hibiscus as fatigue began to take hold of her joints. She hadn’t had a chance to practice properly with them lately, not with another person to parry with, though it seemed from her target’s expression that she was feeling much the same.
She managed to finally manoeuvre Hibiscus into the corner, where her arms weren’t as free to move. She lashed out and instead of clashing against steel, her blade caught on the flesh of her target’s fingers.
Hibiscus yelled out in pain, instinctively dropping her dagger so that Flannel Flower was able to kick it back behind her, out of reach. The blade grazed the sole of her bare foot, since she didn’t dare look to see what she was doing. She cursed herself as she slipped on her own blood and tried to catch her footing.
Hibiscus bared her teeth and braced herself against the wall, then kicked out strongly with her right foot, her remaining dagger brandished with the threat of a wounded animal.
Flannel Flower stumbled back with the force of the kick, unable to catch herself before she crashed heavily into the table supporting the sea snake’s aquarium.
Glass shattered against her back and arms, and a wave of water washed over her, but none of this was as painful as the shock in her right leg as it bent under the weight of the table and its collapsing aquarium.
Hibiscus’ defiant yell—or was it her own cry of anguish?—washed the black flowers of pain from her vision, and it was instead filled with a very angry assassin, one blade in her hand.
It was almost instinct that lifted Flannel Flower’s krises to ward off the offending blade. She lunged up and forwards again, clenching her teeth to keep the pain away as she whipped both daggers in a crossed motion.
There was a sharp pain in her forearm, but one dagger met with resistance, and she yelled out in agony as Hibiscus’ dead weight fell on her, crushing her leg further still.
The room fell suddenly quiet. The only noises were Flannel Flower’s ragged breathing, interspersed with moans of pain, and the sea snake flapping in the corner.
Flannel Flower winced and bit her lip as she heaved the dead assassin from her person, then dragged her leg out from under the wreckage of the aquarium.
Already it was turning frightening shades of blue and purple around her shin, and she hissed through her teeth as she poked at it, fighting back the black flowers on the edge of her vision. She rested back on her hands to catch her breath, watching the sea snake as it flapped around in the puddle of water in the corner, trying to get purchase on the polished floor. It looked helpless as a fish out of water, though less erratic, less frantic.
She frowned as it finally dawned on her what she was looking at, and she began twisting around painfully to see if she had been bitten anywhere. She couldn’t find any puncture wounds from the snake, but there was the scrape on her foot and the cut on her forearm from Hibiscus’ daggers. Did the assassin dip her daggers in the snake’s venom too, as she did her arrows?
Flannel Flower didn’t want to stay around to find out. She knew all about sea snake venom from the investigators’ reports.
She braced her hands on the floor and looked at her swelling leg, took a few short sharp breaths and grimaced as she launched herself onto her feet.
With another scream of agony, she collapsed into the puddle on the floor. She had to get to a healing house within the next half an hour. That was when her muscles would start to go stiff and spasm beyond her control. Her arm and grazed foot would start hurting, probably enough to overshadow her leg, her vision would blur, she’d become short of breath and finally choke herself to death.
She shook her head and braced her hands on the slippery floor. That wasn’t going to happen. She was still alive, and broken leg or not, she was going to make it to a gods-damned healing house.
She forced herself to take a deep breath, almost to prove to herself that she hadn’t succumbed to the poison just yet, and began dragging herself out of the room and down the hallway to the open front door. She’d passed a healing house on the way here, a few minutes walk up the hill, and headed in that direction.
Every now and then her arms gave way or her leg stabbed at her with renewed vigour, making her screech out again and collapse on the road. Every time, it took her longer to pull herself back up again and keep crawling forwards.
With the healing house in sight, she could feel her arm muscles stiffening, but she told herself that was purely because of the strenuous ‘walk’ she was putting them through. She didn’t take her eyes from the healing house’s welcoming green door, forcing her arms to keep forging on to take her there.
Finally she was able to collapse on the doorstep, her whole body a mass of aches and pains that she could hardly feel anymore. Fuzzy shapes that were once people came to wrap their arms around her, and finally she could let herself relax.
I'm going to have this thing finished tomorrow, just you watch me >D 5k in a day? Easy as. I did 4.5k today XD
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Date: 2006-11-29 04:52 pm (UTC)The only thing that could have made that more delicious, would be if in irony the snake bit its mistress and killed her =3;
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Date: 2006-11-29 04:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 06:49 am (UTC)If I had any ponderings in this chapter, it'd only be that there seemed to be a teensy bit too much thinking and realising and reflection going on in the middle of the fight. Some shorter, sharper sentences might make it seem faster towards the climax.
Hibiscus’ defiant yell—or was it her own cry of anguish?—washed the black flowers of pain from her vision
-- I really liked that. I'm going to treat it as anguish. Poor, loopy Hibiscus and her snake. :(
Now I'm going to eat my dinner, thank you so very much. XD
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Date: 2006-12-01 09:06 am (UTC)*takes notes on board for future fight scenes*
YAY foodage XD I got left over tandoori lamb~ X9
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Date: 2007-02-15 10:40 pm (UTC)lightly; The Sinazi <- no capped t. ^-~
she hadn’t succumbed to the poison just yet <- See? I told you it was a bad idea to be noble in that profession.
That. Was. Bloody MARVELLOUS. It was! *envies muchly* (You can too write fight scenes! Teach! Teach!)
no subject
Date: 2007-02-16 11:48 am (UTC)