Meeting Points - Tyrannicide - P. A. Nolte

Apologies for all the late entries recently, and thanks to Grant for posting The Orient Express' Why? for me in a pinch.  Hopefully things will be smoother sailing from here on out.  At least for a little while.  And, in case you missed them, my entries for Ashkan Honorvar's Heroes and The Orient Express are now live, so go read them!

1/ A hooded figure in black leather armor whispers hatefully into the Archduke's ear as he presses the monarch up against the railing of his oration balcony.  He is simultaneously plunging a jeweled dagger deep into the Archduke's gullet.  The blood gushing from the wound stains the white and purple vestments of the former ruler of this world.

Myrgos: For my sister...

2/ Myrgos withdraws his blade, pulling back to stand in full view.  He is a drow, flanked by a large man with red hair wearing full plate, a woman barely visible under a midnight blue cloak with the hood drawn, and a kentauride with short cropped hair and tribal brandings up and down her exposed arms.  The redheaded man cradles his large hammer, the cloaked woman stands still as a statue, and the kentauride has an arrow nocked, but not aimed.

Farrar: Is--  Is that it?  Is it over?

Violca: No. Not yet.

3/ Profile.  Close.  From within her cloak, Violca has drawn a handful of dust, raised it in front of her face, and is blowing it towards the unsteady figure of the Archduke.

4/ He backs up, tripping and about to plummet to his death over the rail.

Archduke: No! Not like this! Not--

5/ The Bazaar.  The speck of the Archduke's body can be seen as it falls from the balcony.  The multitudes watch on in silence.  The tyrant has departed this world.

Caption: "Take my life, but take it in vain, as an innocent's, and pray to your God that the blood you shed today may never be visited upon you."

6/ Myrgos.  Sneering.  He spits from the corner of his mouth.

Myrgos: Good riddance.