Blue Fire 7

Blue Fire 7 is an encounter in Kingdom Aflame.
==Enemies==
* Royalist Militia Soldier (Blue Fire 7) (180 Gold, 180 XP, 180 Energy, 3 HP)
* Franz the Executioner (250 Gold, 250 XP, 250 Energy, 1 HP)
==Transcript==
===Introduction===
Franz pushed the iron-shod door open and entered the temple of Mathala. Its vast main chamber was crowded. Scores of the city's children sat on the long benches, surrounded by empty expanses of old, unadorned stone. Someone must have had the good sense to take the tapestries down. But nothing could be done about the huge stained-glass window that dominated the upper portion of the wall behind the altar. The goddess stood there in all her gigantic glory, bloody sword held high, while tiny worshippers slaughtered their foes by her ankles. Blood dripped from her blade, each droplet a little piece of glass, bright as a ruby. Her champions had their heads upturned to drink them as they fell. Franz grimaced. But the goddess of war's shrine was the largest in this part of the city, and the safest place for Ralmarthan's young.
Corolina, the schoolmistress, stood beneath that gory display. A large book rested open against her left arm, while her right index finger ran along the lines of text as she read.
"Each day Terracles toiled in a field to earn his bread. He worked the land alongside the other peasants, and when the heavens grew dim he walked home along the road which led past Lord Eurymachus' orchard. Sometimes he would pluck an apple from the branches which overhung the path, and eat the sweet fruit as he made his way back to Pella."
Some of the children listened with rapt attention. Others had their heads bowed and hands clasped in prayer. A few were sleeping, heads resting on the laps of older siblings. Aged priests and priestesses of every deity who claimed a presence in the city wandered along the aisles and whispered kind words to those who wept or trembled. Franz hoped the gods were watching.
A little girl looked round. Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened in a shrill, piercing scream. Other children turned to see what was happening. A hundred eyes locked on Franz -- followed by half as many shrieks.
"Franz!" Mayor Tarringan appeared from an antechamber. She ran over to him. "Your mask!"
He groaned. Even with all the chaos, all the madness of a settlement under attack, how had he managed to forget? Franz tore the hood off his head.
"It's okay!" Hortensia said. "It's..."
"It's Franz!" a small boy shouted. "Franz from the Dreaming Daughter!"
The cry spread around the room, and the screams lessened. Clerics bustled along the rows to tend to those who were still distraught. But now most were just staring, openmouthed.
"He's the executioner!" a girl said.
Franz tried to smile the same warm, beaming smile he used whenever he handed out sweets to the kids gathered by the door of his pub. Hortensia sighed and pulled him outside. She glanced down at the massive axe which leaned against the arched entrance. Its blades were stained, painted with the blood of more people than he cared to count.
"At least you remembered to leave that here," she said. "What's wrong?"
"Our people are getting pushed back. The rebels will be here soon. Captain Zenora said to tell you. The children... Even the rebels wouldn't... Would they?"
"Perhaps not. But when an army has its blood up, there's no saying what might happen. We have to get them out of the city."
"How? The gates are-"
"There's a secret passage in my library. Taerwyn's waiting there -- she can open it. I'll have the clerics take them to her."
A voice roared across the square.
"Death to Crenus! Death to Crenus!"
Franz swore. A rebel was charging down the street, towards the square, waving a mace above his head. At least half a dozen others ran behind him, trying to catch up. Clamoring militiamen moved to head them off.
"It's too late," Hortensia said. "We have to bar the temple doors."
"Take them to the passage," Franz said.
"They'll break through before we can-"
"No." He pulled his mask on and hefted his axe. "They won't."
The executioner strode across the square.
***
"Death to Crenus!"
The man leapt from the alleyway, two-handed sword drawn back for a mighty slash. Nevis cried out and leapt away. Yaealina snapped a kick into the swordsman's groin. He staggered and dropped to one knee.
"We're rebels, you idiot!" Ryli said.
The man groaned something that might have been an apology. Nevis and his friends continued down the street, leaving him kneeling. The boy wondered how many other mistakes had been made that night. The thought sickened him to the pit of this stomach.
"We've pushed all the way to the square!" Chumgrak said. His green finger pointed to the end of the passage. Warriors were clashing in its mouth, in front of a big, open expanse.
They broke into a run.
===Conclusion===
"Go!" Hortensia said. "Go!"
She moved between the child and the distant spectacle, tried to block her view as best she could. But whatever the girl had glimpsed was more than enough. She turned around and ran with the others, joining the stream. Some of the clerics stood beside the mayor to help screen the combat. Others bustled alongside the children, leading and ushering.
Hortensia Tarringan glanced over her shoulder. What she saw made her gasp, and she could no more have looked away from the raging battle than she could've pulled down the moon. She went towards it with slow steps as though in a daze -- leaving the children to the priests, who were already shepherding the last of them out of temple doors.
She'd heard Franz's stories, the tales of his adventuring days. He shared them over the Dreaming Daughter's bar with anyone he could inflict them upon. And she'd seen him drive his axe through criminals' necks, into the headsman's block. But until that moment she'd never seen him fight.
It was horrific, appalling, and magnificent.
The tall, bare-chested executioner stormed through the melee, wielding his weapon in attacks so swift it might have been weightless. And when they struck... Hortensia shuddered. The big blade hacked a gnome's arms clean from his body, sent them sailing away in an arc, still gripping sword and buckler. Franz's next chop split a dwarf's skull in two.
Ralmarthan's headsman bellowed his challenge and swung the axe with tireless hands. Hortensia Tarringan wondered if the carnage he wrought could ever be scoured from her brain, or if it would haunt her nightmares till the day she died.
***
"Stay back!" Chumgrak said.
He took hold of Yaealina's arm.
"Let go!"
"As someone proficient with the same weapon that gentleman's wielding, I assure you that you don't wish to enter the fray. You'd be cloven in twain before you could make use of those exquisite daggers."
"I can..." Nevis said. He held up his sling.
"You want to fire into that mess?"
The boy stared at the whirling melee, where rebels and Ralmarthians clashed, and knew the orc was right. For all his skill, the bullet might find a friend just as easily as a foe. Again Nevis thought of the idiot with the two-handed sword, and pondered terrible things.
"Then what-" Yaealina began.
"I think we both know the answer to that," Chumgrak said. He lifted his axe, coughed, and shouted. "Chumgrak kill!"
***
Franz grimaced when he saw the orc. He knew his chosen weapon as well as he'd once known his wife, before death had parted them and he'd found his way to the hood. He'd wielded it as weapon and tool. Adventurer, warrior, and executioner. He understood all its grim and ghastly power. So he knew that when two strong, fearless fighters clashed with them, throwing their destiny into mighty cleaves without yielding or giving ground, doom would fall upon one or both. There would be no fencing, no fine parries and ripostes. Only death.
He hazarded one quick glance behind him. The children were gone, herded away to the secret passage and safety. His work was done. And if he was lucky, he'd make sure no more of his people added their blood to the redness that glistened on his enemy's blades.
Franz and the orc faced one another for a long moment. Then they shouted their battle cries, charged, and swung.
The universe froze. Franz grinned. So did the orc.
Then both of them fell, with blood gushing from their chests.
Category:Kingdom Aflame