A Hard Rain is Gonna Fall: Sorrel & Kavel on the Battlefield

Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son
And what did you see, my darling young one
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin'
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin'
I saw a white ladder all covered with water
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall
Bob Dylan

Written with the skilfull Andy Davy (Kavel)

Sorrel walked aimlessly through the wreckage of the Dawnlands all day after battle was done. No-one would tell her how Silvia died, so she didn't know what she was looking for. The stretcher bearers were busy and got used to her stopping them, just to check.

She had seen so many others search this way and had never really understood why. When soldiers fall, they fall. She had seen so many deaths it almost became a statistic. Even comrades... she might search for valuables to return to loved ones if she had promised to do so, but she didn't see a person lying before her. Just a mass of flesh. Now, at last, she understood. She wasn’t looking for a dead body. She was looking for Silvia.

"Kavel look," Kruger pointed towards the human warrior checking the dead, "she's over there."

You won't find her, sister... Kavel thought to himself, and breathed in deeply through the nose and exhaled out the mouth. Kavel was aware he was feeling nervous and had anxiety about approaching Sorrel.

"Go on brother. You must talk to her," Kruger said supportively.

"... Yes. You are correct. Come at least say hello with me, and then if you want, you can go back to our brothers, and I'll come join you later."

"Okay Kavel." The two goliaths walked towards Sorrel. As the goliaths’ feet brought them closer to their destination, Kavel called out, his voice not nearly as loud as it normally would be "... Sorrel."

Sorrel froze. The voice she had been waiting to hear. And yet dreading to hear. She doubted she could hold herself together in the face of his kindness. She looked up at the sky, took a long, slow breath and turned to face the two giant warriors. She tried to speak, but the words would not come.

Instead, she ran and flung her arms around Kavel, burying her head in his chest as she always had before when he came just as she needed him most.

Kavel reciprocated Sorrel's hug, but he was a little slow in doing so, and cautious. What if she blames me for not saving Silvia? For not following her? Is my mind losing its strength of focus, and I am captured by worry, imagining the worst? Kavel could not realise at the time, that his questioning was evidence that he had indeed become a prisoner to his own thoughts. Kavel was not able to step outside of his mind and notice his emotions as they occurred. No, he was experiencing them without the benefit of being able to detach. "Sorrel... I am so sorry... I should have stopped her from flying... or I should have been the one on the end of the spell... But... I did not save her..."

Sorrel didn’t let go of Kavel. “Brother please. Don’t you dare blame yourself. I should have been there if anyone should. But we didn’t kill her.”

She pulled away but left her hand on his forearm. “Guilt does not bring anyone back nor does it avenge their death - it just stops the guilty from living and from speaking about what happened.”

She paused, took a deep breath and looked straight at him. “And Kavel, I don’t know what happened to her. I need to know. Can you tell me? And tell me without blaming yourself? Because she was a stubborn, determined woman who would do what she did no matter what. I tried 15 ways to keep her from Hell but failed. So, tell me, my brother, how did she die?”

The giant of a man stood with his face titled to the side, unable to look fully at the woman he was scared would blame him for Silvia's death. It was a relief to hear her think well of him and dissuade him of a misplaced guilt. Kavel's feelings on the matter would not disappear easily because of a sound argument. But, for the moment, it was the support he needed. It had done something. Kavel still couldn't quite look at Sorrel, but he was truly grateful to hear that she didn't blame him.

Kavel's head tilted slightly back towards his sister, yet his gaze remained grounded, as he nodded, "... I am glad you have said what you've said." Kruger placed his hand on Kavel's back, and Kavel reached out and touched the hand Sorrel placed on his forearm with his other hand, "okay. I will tell you what happened Sorrel."

Kavel chronicled everything he could remember for Sorrel. Silvia giving him a hug before the battle commenced. The way Silvia used her talents to obstruct an attack meant for Kavel, and then following up with a couple of trident thrusts of her own to his attacker.

Kavel explained having the Fly spell casted on him and Silvia, and then the moment where Silvia advised him to finish the dragon as she flew off towards the centre of the horde by herself to kill the general.

"... I still think I should have grappled her back to the battlement floor in front of the dragon. Or at least I should have... it was the Disintegrate spell. One second she was there, and next only Shadowclaw remained... Sorrel, I could have been hit twice with that spell and remained intact. It's not fair."

Sorrel's face set like stone. "Disintegrate..." she whispered. Her hand fell from Kavel's arm as her legs gave way and she sat on the charred earth. She sat in silence for a long time, her eyes closed, then raised her head.

"This changes nothing between us, my brother. She flew off towards the centre of the horde by herself to kill the general. If you had grappled her in front of a dragon you would have killed her and yourself. And that I could have never forgiven - to deny me my brother when I needed him. But I do not accept the use of that spell as an honourable act of war. The filth that rake flesh with magic that foul have abandoned any rights or respect. First Faust, then..." her voice broke, and she fell silent again.

"I cannot cry for her," she said finally. "The tears will not come. I cannot mourn her until she is avenged. And she will be..."

She clambered to her feet and regarded Kavel and Kruger. There was more sorrow in their faces, in the slumped stance and weary eyes than just pity for her loss. "Where are Tim and Sampson?" she looked between their faces. "Where are the Iron Strong bros?"

Both goliaths blinked a slow blink. Kavel turned his head to face Kruger's, and then placed one of his hands on Kruger's shoulder - it was Kavel's turn to provide the support. Kruger explained to Sorrel how the three Ironstrong took up defensive positions inside the southgate entrance. Any gith that managed to get through the adventurer’s line of defence on the southside was theirs to intercept, which they did for as long as they could.

Kruger held his own with a great axe alongside his goliath werewolf bros. But Tim and Sampson, as werewolves, dealt the most punishment to the gith, and so received the most until they could take not one more sword slash and carry on breathing.

Kavel and Kruger stared forward and breathed through any betraying involuntary shake their body performed. But the trickle of tears down their faces were unhidden.

Sorrel held her hand over her heart and bowed her head in the warrior’s mark of respect. She stayed silent, her head bowed, for some time then raised her head, placed one hand on Kavel's shoulder and one on Kruger's.

"I was lucky to have known warriors like that," her eyes filled with tears, more for her sorrow at Kavel's suffering than Tim and Sampson. She had known them just a little and, though she respected any warrior who held that undefensible gate and attracted the brunt of the enemy's anger, her heart was touched by her brother's pain.

"I hesitate to say this - I don't know what you think - but the moon touched are beloved of Selûne. I would be honoured to arrange a memorial service if it was not out of place. The goddess would admire their courage and, if they wanted, offer their souls a place in her home."

Kavel and Kruger looked at each other and nodded. "Thank you, Sorrel," Kavel responded, "that would be nice. Me and Kruger discussed making some changes to Kavel's Corner to honour them, too."

Kavel took in a couple of deep breaths and exhaled. A heavy weight had been lifted from his chest. Although the pain of losing his brothers was fresh, he no longer carried excessive guilt for not stopping Silvia from her actions, even if he did still feel he should have done something, anything differently. Kavel breathed deeply in and out one more time and looked at Sorrel. "What will you do now sister? You will tell me if you need anything, yes?

Sorrel smiled. “Brother I have never needed to tell you if I need anything. You always arrive just before I think to ask. But if there is ever a time when your psychic powers fail you, I will ask. And I hope you will do the same. That in the middle of battle with a dragon threatening your life you would fight to save Silvia…” she stops at the emotions overwhelm her. “At some time in my life I must have done something good to deserve you.”

She smiles sadly. “Nathalie is lucky indeed.”

Kavel returned the same smile and hugged Sorrel. "I will stay with Kruger for a few days but will be back in the city soon. I'll come check on you then.”

Sorrel walked towards Fort Ettin, but kept turning to watch her brother as he talked to his last remaining Iron Strong bro. She marvelled at how, as he struggled with his own loss, his concern was for her. Her life was full of darkness, and it had ever been so. That this time was different was thanks in no small part to this mighty goliath whose enormous muscles were tiny compared to the size of his heart. "There are few like you in this world Kavel Castiron," she whispered.

All the same, she was still Sorrel Darkfire. For her dreams to come true her enemies must eat shit and beg for mercy.

Times may be tough, but then she was a fucking nightmare. And at times like these, nightmares were exactly what was needed. She’d had her boot on the throat of Hell before. Beating dragons, Githyanki and even her own demons into submission was what she did for a living.

Surviving is ugly work and here she was - so hideously alive it was terrifying.

She looked towards the site of the battle and the waves of Githyanki dead. There were nowhere near enough of them. Her eyes glinted in the sun.

“Start running, bitches."






(Shout out to Trista Mateer courtesy of the mighty Lykksie)