Regicide Round 1 Part 3 - Ensemble

Part Two

His fingers slipped across the strings, and he began to chug out an intro.  Andrea blinked, the music was...  unlike any she'd ever heard a guitar make.  The smoke from the room seemed to swirl around him.  He had no intention of giving up the Omnisymphonic, or his paycheck.  These two might just be with those Vel Vitrum folk.   Who was this Caddoc anyways?

"...Stop the rock."

"What?"  He didn't seem to be talking to her or anyone, but it hardly sounded like singing.

"Stop the rock."

The music began to pick up, the smoke making a ball-shaped storm around him.  Her daggers were in each hand.  No matter what he was doing, she could easily handle it.  Felix lazily tapped his foot.  He could snap off a shot right now if he wanted, but the music was...  interesting.

"Stop the rock."

"Are you just going to say one thing?"

Uriel looked up at her with a smirk, "Stop the rock, can't stop the rock!"  With that he suddenly barreled into her. Her daggers came up and hit...  the tempest of smoke as if it were solid.

"Shit!  FELIX!"
"You can't stop the rock!  Stop the rock!"  He just plowed onwards, knocking her aside with unseen force.  She quickly found her footing just as Felix fired.

The bullet bounced off the smoky wall, and Uriel turned his attention to the gunman,  Rushing towards him, playing the guitar and singing, "Stop the rock.  Stop the rock, can't stop the rock.  You can't stop the rock, can't stop the rock.  You can't stop the rock, can't stop the rock.  You can't stop the rock, can't stop the rock.  You can't stop the rock, can't stop the rock.  YOU CAN'T STOP!"

Felix was able to fire and reload twice before Uriel plowed into him, taking out the wall of the tavern as well, into the cool night air.  He continued his charge down the road, Felix and Andrea left behind.  Andre came out of the hole, shaking her head in disbelief, "Okay, now I believe the report about him taking out five guys.  It felt like a boulder plowed into me."

Felix picked masonry and wood off his coat, "What the hell was that?"

Uriel's voice rang out, "Check that paranoia!"

"He's coming back.  Look, I was able to jab him a moment before he started playing.  I'm willing to bet that instrument lets him do that."

"Alright, Andrea, how do we get him away from it?"

"We let him play.  Wait until the song is done, then knock it away."

-

Uriel came charging back up, a few lines into the song and nearing the end.

"...Stop the rock, can't stop the rock you can't sto-"  The song ended abruptly.  Uriel quickly strummed the strings, trying to get another song.

A gunshot rang out, knocking the Omnisymphonic from his hands as it shifted to it's travel form.  Uriel only had the song in his mind, the girl with the daggers was upon him quickly, knocking him to the floor.

"I'll admit, that was a neat trick."  The blades moved in an arc, "However, when dealing with vets like us?  We figure things out."

"You did?"

"Come on, it's obvious.  But you aren't getting that instrument back."  Felix had reappeared from the ambush, scooping up the omnisymphonic, "Ah, it's light."

Uriel cleared his throat, his mind racing, "Tonight, I'm gonna have myself a real good time, I feel alive."

"What are you on about now?  Are those really going to be your last words?"

"And the world, I'll turn it inside out, yeah.  I'm floating around in ecstasy, so don't stop me now.~"

As soon as she heard the tune in his voice, Andrea frowned, "Going out singing, huh?"

"Don't stop me 'cause I'm having a good time, having a good time!"  Uriel got up, causing her to jump back.

"I thought we took the instrument!"  Felix gripped the weird guitar as Uriel's coat pillowed from wind being...  kicked up by his acappela song.

"I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky, like a tiger defying the laws of gravity."  The bard jumped, carried through the air as he landed in front of Felix, his hand lashed out and tore the omnisymphonic away, "I'm a racing car, passing by like Lady Godiva!  I'm gonna go, go, go there's no stopping me!"  With that, he seemed to shoot down the street, brushing up papers.

"Okay.  It's him.  The instrument is just for the music.  He's got magic."

"And whatever he sings about just appears?!  That's crazy!"

"But he needs to keep singing.  And he was singing all day in that bar.  A guy like that?  He's probably out of energy by now."  Andrea began running after the bard, Felix close behind.

-

Uriel panted, leaning against the wall.  What was with this place?  Why did people want to gang up on him?  He hated actually having to fight, and all this singing was taking it's toll.  He couldn't even finish the last song.

Footsteps behind him caused him to quickly look for somewhere to hide.  Still the alleyways were dark, and who knew what lurked inside.  The girl came up first, Uriel held up his hand, "Stop!  Stop!"

Just the sheer audacity caught the former bandit off-guard, "What?"

Uriel panted, "I can't go on like this."

"No shit.  That's why I'll kill you now."

Uriel clung to the grip of the instrument, hoping he could talk out of this, "STOP!  You can't."

"Why?  You look out of breath to me, and if you can't sing or play, then I think I've got you beat."

"Because...  If you do it, I'll sing 'Die Motherfucker Die.'  I only need one breath to do it."  He glared at her.  It was entirely a bluff.  He couldn't just cause people to die.    Wounds?  Yes, lethal ones?  sure.  But outright killing by singing about killing?  Not happening.

"You saw that whatever I sing about happens."

"How fast?"

"Nnng?"

"How fast will it kill me?"

"H-half a second.  First word in the song.  Your pal dies in one second."

Andrea considered her options.  She and Felix didn't even want to be here.  Loyalty to the throne was going to be a death sentence, and leaving was a death sentence if they got caught.  If.

"Hey, kid.  Since we're at an impasse, how about a deal...  My friend and I, we don't need to be here."

"So..  Why don't you just leave?"  Uriel coughed.

"That's the thing, we get hunted down and killed."

"Oh, so...  You want me to pretend to kill you?"

"Oh, they'll find out eventually, but we want to be long gone, understand?  So here's what's going to happen..."

-

"Amazing."  The two had managed to get past the city walls with nary a guard, all of them preoccupied with a rampaging monstrosity Uriel was singing about.  Well out of town, the duo were free to take the next ship out, anywhere but here.

"Well, it's going to be a while.  Might as well have some fun, right?"  Felix Hound grinned at his partner, who gave a similar look back.

"We've all the time in the world, now."

-

The next day the tavern damage was obvious, as were the gun marks and daggers.  Uriel, the bard, remained, weaving a song about a duo of assassins who had met their untimely end in the tavern, in a duel with a great beast.  The song had spread like wildfire, including their deaths, as the assassins were lovers, and one vainly had tried to save the other.  The damages showed, and the guards had reported such a beast, seemingly made of stone, breaking through the city gates and into the wilds.

Caddoc was, naturally, furious.  Uriel's reputation for truth in his ballads had led to one conclusion:  Felix and Andrea were dead, and Uriel killed them somehow with a monster he'd conjured up.

"How?!  Nobody said anything that he could call forth monsters!"  The captain of the guard paced, confused and angry.  Sure the loss of those thorns were a relief, however...

"My, what's wrong now?"  Kleine poked his head in, carrying a gift of some sort under his arm.

"You know damn well what's wrong.  That bard of yours killed two of my soldiers!"

"From what I understand, a monster killed them."  Kleine shrugged, smiling, "And I heard you disliked them anyway."

"I'm onto you, Berceuse.  Whatever you're planning, I'll stop it."

Kleine laughed, "Caddoc, I think you're on a wild goose chase.  Besides..."  He leaned into the room, "Have you never heard of a distraction?"