[RPG] [Dwi][PeL] Alanna Anaris ~ Dark Dreams of a Dark Lady

[Timothy Collett]

The city rises before her, no longer sparkling white, but ruined and  
blackened. Around it lie the dead, by the thousands and the tens of  
thousands. Above the city flies a yellow and black banner.

Alanna looks upon the sight, appalled. "How did this happen?" she  
murmurs, turning to her aide, Elisa. "Our defences were strong...my  
plans were good...I made sure all the angles of attack were  
covered...my beloved Ikalak, how did this..."

Her voice trails off, as she looks at Elisa's face, and sees her  
eyes. There are no whites, no irises, no pupils—only a vast starry  
expanse, of seemingly limitless depth, and in the center of each, the  
silvery halo of a lunar eclipse. Not-Elisa's mouth curves up in a smile.

"This happened because of you," she says. "This happened because you  
were too weak: because you held back. Because you were too caught up  
in being the 'Bright Lady' to protect the city you supposedly loved.  
And look there!"

She points toward the city, and Alanna turns and looks. A crowd of  
soldiers in yellow and black are pushing and shoving a figure toward  
a gallows—a figure with very familiar golden hair.

"Look what the reward of the Bright Lady is to be!"

She laughs, a throaty laugh, resonant and echoing...and suddenly  
stopping, the echoes fading over several seconds as Alanna turns around.

The city rises before her, no longer sparkling white, but ruined and  
blackened. Around it lie the dead, by the thousands and the tens of  
thousands. Above the city flies a blue and red banner.

Alanna smiles. "We may have taken heavy losses, but we defeated them,  
didn't we, Elisa?" She turns triumphantly to her aide. "The  
Sandalakian snakes threw themselves against our walls—they cast down  
our towers—but we slew them by the score, and...now..."

Her voice trails off, as she looks at Elisa's face, and sees her eyes 
— vast starry expanses, of seemingly limitless depth, the silvery  
halo of a lunar eclipse shining out of the center of each.

"Yes," the resonant voice coming from Elisa's mouth replies. "You  
won. Congratulations, Alanna, 'Bright Lady' of Ikalak. And how did  
you win?"

"Our strategy was superior! Our defences were strong! I made—"

Elisa cuts her off, "No. You won because you were more ruthless. You  
won because you showed no mercy. You won because you let nothing  
stand in your way!"

Confused, Alanna turns back to the city, where a cheer is going up,  
and she sees a very familiar golden head in the centre of the  
jubilation. "Well...yes, if we had let such petty concerns stop us,  
we would have..."

"So, Alanna, is that what the Bright Lady of Ikalak should be doing?

"Or have you been a better servant...to me?"

Alanna turns to her again in dawning horror...and her eyes are caught  
and held by those bottomless star-wells, those silvery haloes of  
eyes. Those eyes crease in a smile and another laugh peals out,  
everything else but the laugh and the lunar eclipse dissolves into  
darkness.

Alanna awakes with a gasp, the echoes of a woman's laughter still  
fading.

Her aide, Kyra, is by her side in a moment, a lantern in her hand.  
"Lady Alanna, are you all right? Did you have a nightmare?"

Alanna puts her hand to her face, brushing back a lock of golden  
hair. "I—I...I'm not sure, Kyra. I don't remember...never mind. Help  
me get dressed, will you, Kyra? The old scars from Sandalak are  
stiffer than usual this morning..."

--

"99 times out of 100, a hero is someone who's hungry enough and cold  
enough and tired enough not to give a damn.  I don't give a damn!"
—Hawkeye Pierce, _M*A*S*H_

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