The Death of Etta

[Amy Vaughan <amyv@houston.rr.com>]

May be slightly insulting to Harks...*grins*
Bon appetit!
You enter the battlefield, coming up from the south, across a smooth
terrain flanked by boulders.
On the Battlefield, Fittstim enters from the south.
Battlefield -- Erzurum (Malarca Secundus)
        The valley floor is bordered on one side by a steep cliff of red
sandstone with darker, purple stripes and undulating shadows and a small
CAVE, and on the other side by a wide, flat RIVERBED that winds like a
pale ribbon along a boulder-strewn course. The field is relatively flat,
hardpacked earth scorched to a barren dusty plain by the hot sun and
hotter flash from the recent devastation in the city. At the north end
of the field a low bunker surrounded by boulders and black slate is
half-sunk into the ground. The bunker's wide face looks recently
repaired, cracks hastily patched with plascrete. The cliff juts out
here, and the bunker effectively cuts off access to the ruins of Erzurum
beyond, forcing unwelcome guests to by-pass the main road and go around
the long way. At the south end of the plain, near the mouth of the
canyon, shallow graves have been dug for those horses and men caught in
the crush when the tents were blown down. On the landing pads a pair of
ornithopters, windows shattered and wings hopelessly tangled and warped,
lie frozen in their death throes where no-one has had a chance to cut
them apart for salvage. Overhead, the sky is a scorched dirty grey, and
a the silvery crescent of Malarca Prime looms dimly on the horizon. The
air is hot and dry and there isn't a green tree or bush in sight. The
ragged remains of the Palace sit atop the cliff, glorious onion domes
shattered, bony superstructure clutching at the blackened sky.
Players:
 Etta                                  Sin'Vaari
 Fittstim
Exits:
 North <N> leads to Harkonnen Bunker -- Erzurum (Malarca Secundus)
 South <S> leads to Bajazet Encampment -- Erzurum (Malarca Secundus)
Etta just looked at you.

Sin'Vaari is standing on the battlefield, approximately 10 meters from a
large pyre.

Fittstim walks in patiently and greets Sin'Vaari.

     Long black hair tumbles in curls past her shoulders and down her
back, and surrounds an oval face with high cheekbones and dark eyes
fringed by thick lashes. She is tall, lithe, with long legs and the
grace of a dancer. She appears to be in her mid-twenties and is dressed
in an emerald green and gold fleck tunic that clings to the curve of her
breasts and narrow waist, and a pair of deep, rich maroon trousers, also
silk. Over the tunic is a black half-jacket and on her feet are a pair
of embroidered slippers. The scent of roses and jasmine clings to her
warm skin.

Sin'Vaari nods to Fittstim.
You say, "I heard there was to be a cookout."
Fittstim grins.
Sin'Vaari chuckles.
Etta has just arrived, escorted by the usual retinue of guards.
Fittstim turns to see Etta arrive and nods at the guards.
Sin'Vaari grins and says, "Ready to pay the piper, Harkonnen?"
Etta smiles weakly, "Such a pleasure to see you, too, Lord Rivest."
Sin'Vaari walks to the guards and dismisses them, escorting Etta himself
to the pyre.
Fittstim sends the guards away, quite confident in Sin'Vaari's abilities
and not wanting to insult him by suggesting that he couldn't handle one
Harkonnen.
Etta walks slowly toward the pyre, commenting softly, "It's a hollow
revenge, Sin'Vaari. I will be dead, but you will continue to live with
the knowledge that you can be duped by a pretty face.
Sin'Vaari walks beside Etta and replies, "That is one lesson that I
learned from you, Harkonnen. I will live with what happened, but know
that I shall never make that mistake again."
Etta laughs, "And every woman you meet, every woman you desire, will be
suspect. You will never be able to trust...or love...again. That is my
revenge."
Fittstim frowns, but continues to watch silently.
Sin'Vaari grins and says in response, "I love only one thing now, Etta.
And know that your only legacy has made me stronger that I have ever
been."
Etta sighs, "Let's get this over with. I'm too tired to continue
bantering with you."
Sin'Vaari walks Etta up a small platform and ties her to a stake set in
it's center.
Etta tries to control her trembling hands, but isn't very successful.
She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly as she gazes around at
those assembled to watch the show.
Sin'Vaari steps off the pyre lightly and grabs a torch from one of his
men. He turns to face Etta and says, "Lady Etta Karposzev, for your
crimes against myself and my House.....I hearby condemn you to burn in
flames....until you die."
Etta watches the torch as it approaches the pyre, expressionless and
silent.
Sin'Vaari stops short and says, holding the torch in one hand, "Any last
words from the condemned?"
Etta looks as if she's about to say something...probably vulgar, but
decides against it and merely grins and shakes her head, "no."
Sin'Vaari throws the torch onto the pyre, a mere few feet away from
Etta. It catches quickly and begins to set the wood ablaze.
Fittstim watches, feeling the heat of the fire on his face.
Etta closes her eyes and begins gasping as the smoke and heat rise up
around her. The flames lick at her feet and although she tries not to
scream, the scorching heat quickly becomes more than she can stand.
Sin'Vaari stands silent, watching the fire grow.
The screaming continues only for a few moment, until the smoke and
flames deprive Etta of air and she falls unconscious. The flames quickly
consume her clothes and hair, and soon after her skin begins to blister
and blacken under the relentless fire.
Sin'Vaari grins at the spectacle and says, "Oh, what a lovely day it is,
when a Harkonnen dies a horrible death."
Fittstim hrms, "This type of death was too honorable for a Harkonnen
like her. She should have been thrown to the dogs. At least that's what
I would have done."
There is a soft hiss as the moisture that was Etta's body is consumed by
the fire and only her bones are left, encased in a skin of ashes and
those are carried by the smoke into the air, dancing like morbid black
butterflies.
Sin'Vaari smiles and says with a sigh of relief, "It is done."
% :looks toward Sin'Vaari.  "So it is.  What will you do with the
remains?"
Fittstim looks toward Sin'Vaari. "So it is. What will you do with the
remains?"
Sin'Vaari replies to Fittstim, "Leave them for the vultures."
Sin'Vaari turns and begins walking to the Bajazet Emcampment, not saying
another word.
Fittstim grins, "At least that is fitting for a Harkonnen.
Fittstim watches Sin'Vaari leave and shrugs, thinking to himself. He
summons the guards, and after a few minutes they return with fresh meat.
He sets up the meat on spiked poles to attract vultures. He begins to
walk away, but turns and sneers at what is left of the Harkonnen.


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