Oeilvert Teaser
“Oy, Oeilvert!” A voice called, cutting through the pain. “You dead?”
“Not yet.” Oeilvert grumbled, rolling over and squinting as the sunshine piercing through the forest canopy peppered her eyes like visions of angels dancing above. Jean looked down at her from the hilltop she had just tumbled off of. He smirked now, cocksure as he always seemed to be. Proven alive, to him the fall was just another silly mistake the new waif made.
“I know you’ve a girl-crush on the boss,” Jean called down, playfully taunting his comrade. “But our orders were to await her here.”
Oeilvert sighed as she pushed herself back to her feet, not wishing the lecture. Her boss had been late to rendezvous, and this was no everyday mission. She worried what could be afoot and had decided to push forward, for doing something was always better than doing nothing.
“I’m going on ahead!” she called out, turning from her comrade and jogging deeper into the forest. “Catch up, Jean!”
“I am your superior you know!” He called back, shrugging at the blatant disregard for order.
“Don’t care!” She chimed, not stopping to look behind.
Leaving Jean to find a less immediate way down than she herself had taken, Oeilvert raced deeper into the forest, heading towards the bulk of the action. The trees suddenly gave way and she burst out into an open area in the center of the forest, one of the cliffs on either side of the great gorge that ran its way across central Lilenne-Évrant, the scar of the great war that split the nation into two.
Two men lounged here, dressed barely more like soldiers than a common peasant, they were still recognizable as the muscle of the heretical rebellion. They sprang, surprised, into action upon seeing an agent of the state appear before them. One raised his musket, barely 5 yards from Oeilvert, she slid right, the thunder of its firing bringing a ring to her ears that she would feel for hours after. Dodging the blast, she sprang up, kneeing the solider and kicking him away. The other soldier charged with a hatchet, swinging wildly at her as she backpedaled and desperately dodged his flurry.
She rolled away, standing back up and drawing something from either side of her. Whipping the dagger she drew in her right arm at the soldier, she hit him in the side of his chest causing him to flinch. Lashing her left arm like a whip, the telescopic baton in her hand extended out. She rushed at the soldier, swinging the baton t full-strength with both hands, bludgeoning him in the face and sending him to the ground. She ripped her dagger out of his flesh and turned back to the musket soldier.
She hadn’t been fast enough, he just finished reloading and had her in his sights. Without the element of surprise she wouldn’t be able to dodge a shot at this range again. She stood stoic, hoping the maiden above would grant her a miracle. A shot rang out and Oeilvert briefly awaited pain. Instead the soldier dropped, a hole having been ripped through him. She looked around, unsure of her savior. Somewhere nearby and unseen gunner stood up and walked away.
A rumbling noise removed the urgency of solving that mystery. The target had entered view. Beneath a swirling swarm of airships, a mechanical beast bigger than a city block poked its head out of the gorge, its spider like arms spiking into either cliff-side as it slowly lumbered in her direction.
The airships fired a barrage of bullets and shells at the thing, but barely made a dent as it fired rune cannons back at them, occasionally setting one of the ships ablaze and bringing it crashing catastrophically back to the earth. The heretical machination was pushing towards the holy city and the regular army seemed to have its hands full just staying afloat in the general vicinity.
Oeilvert stood in awe at the cliff’s edge. She stared at the approaching monstrosity. A marvel of engineering for sure, but a terrifying force of destruction even still. The thing drew near, the pointy spindly legs would soon be landing where she herself stood. The legs could pierce her from head to toe without breaking stride if she didn’t pay enough attention, but the risk was one she would have to take to board the thing. Surely this is where her boss must be; the endgame of the mission.
The legs began hitting close enough that the earth beneath her feet trembled mightily, nearly robbing her of her footing. Above something exploded, one of the ships had scored a direct hit to the leg’s joint. Something glimmered and raced towards her. Oeilvert fell backwards as a giant brass gear smashed into the earth, wedging itself mere inches from her feet. She breathed heavily, laughing at the fright she had just been given. Her expression flipped as the full effect of the hit became apparent. Above her the now disjointed leg creaked as it separated from the rest of the machine and fell towards her.
She screamed profanity into the air as the leg smashed into the ground cleaving a huge chunk off of the cliff and sending it plummeting into the gorge with Oeilvert aboard for the ride. She leaped from the rubble towards the machine’s center, falling a long ways and smashing into one of the upper platforms. With a sickening snap, her right leg bent in ways humans never imagined a leg should bend. She cried out in pain, but was nevertheless happy to be alive.
After gathering herself she crawled to the edge of the platform, her eyes beginning to water from the intensity of the pain she had found herself in. She peered down below and found the operating platform. She had reached her goal in the least helpful way possible. Below her stood two very important people. The first was the bearded leader of this heretical sect: one Dr. Cornelius Mathews. The other was Ramona, her boss. The two stood at odds as if the thing would turn to blows at any moment.
Oeilvert was relieved to find Ramona here, for it meant the crisis was as good as averted. Few could match her in combat, and this aging man-of-science definitely could not count himself among those few.
“I know why you are here.” Ramona stated casually as if she was addressing an old acquaintance. The doctor smiled back. “This isn’t for the church. You are here for me.”
“Smart lady.” The doctor replied in a condescending tone. “I see why they made you head of your order.” The doctor grinned again before continuing. “But are you the maiden’s attack dog, or are you just one of her bitches?”
Ramona scowled and twitched her fingers. Oeilvert knew she was ready to draw her blade. Things were about to be over in a flash. Ramona sprang to action as Oeilvert had suspected, but to her surprise the old man was just as quick as her boss. As the scene settled, Ramona found herself stumbling backwards with a hand-cannon wound to the chest, whilst her foe slouched over dead, a blade sticking out of his side. Ramona hobbled backwards, the heels of her feet teetering over the platform’s edge.
Oeilvert looked on in horror as her boss fell backwards to the gorge’s floor. Ramona looked up, seeing her subordinate staring down at her. Surprise took over her face, a look that would be burning into Oeilvert’s mind as long as she lived. She crawled over to the ladder leading downwards, clambered onto it and slid for what felt like miles before tumbling onto the lower platform. Lifting herself up using the edge of the operations panel, she scanned the thing hoping to find a way to stop the mechanical beast’s rampage. She did, pulling a lever and bringing it to a standstill. That done, she fell over and peered over the edge to find her boss.
Ramona lay on her back upon the ground, life clearly having faded from her eyes. Before the full force of emotions could hit Oeilvert, a man emerged walking casually upon the gorge’s floor. He was well dressed, handsome, and as young as Oeilvert herself. Yet something was wrong with him. He seemed almost alien in his perfection. His looks and movements missing the multitude of tiny flaws and eccentricities that deemed one truly human. She wasn’t sure what it was, but his presence was chilling.
He stood over Ramona’s body, smiling and saying a few unheard words. Then to Oeilvert’s horror he drew a knife, bent down, sliced a hunk of her flesh off and placed it in his mouth. She gagged at the sight, but could not look away. For as the man began to chew on human flesh, a swirling vortex of magic linked him and the corpse. A whorl of black and red magic pulsed, looking almost as if energy was being stolen, as if it was being transferred from Ramona into him. When the magic stopped, Ramona’s corpse was left looking pale and shriveled, like it had been left in the sun for weeks.
Oeilvert gasped. She was an agent of the church. She was a slayer of evil, an assassin and a soldier, but she had never seen magics like this before. The man craned his head to look up, as if he knew he was being watched. Oeilvert pulled her head back in fear and lay flat upon the platform, staring at the sky trying to process the situation. Within a minute she found bravery again within herself and looked over the ledge. He was no longer there. All that remained was the desecrated corpse of a servant of god.
