Home
[50%] 
The air, having hitherto occupied itself with the leisurely combustion of the ragged claws of wood that once made up the city gate, fled almost instantaneously as everything around it trembled with a wild blue flame. Streaks of ice danced through the vacuum before causing everything around it to explode inwards, obliterating the gate and most of the wall around it, showering the plaza with sparks and debris. A dozen horsemen crashed through the dust, flying over the rubble and landing awkwardly among the boulders while fragments of their own defences fell around them. Several horses fell, having trapped ankles between rocks or unable to gain a purchase on the polished stone but their riders immediately rose and rejoined the assault. They screamed, brandishing swords and flinging bolts of light at random. Shop fronts erupted in plumes of fire and the cobbled streets branching off in all directions were torn apart by gashes of lightning. Flags and banners decorating every surface were completely shredded or flung away by the sudden displacement of air as everything around them burst into flames. The bards could see no enemy but could only assume that the flashes of cerulean from within this writhing mass of dust involved their deaths. The onslaught must have lasted for some thirty seconds and was nothing more than the muffled glitter of blue accompanied by a deafening, continuous roar as the place was torn apart.
"Halt!" cried Mati.
The noise continued - and it seemed for a second that it would never stop - until a thick silence slowly descended as buildings hastened to collapse. The place darkened, returning to an orange half-light as the open fires gave the place a crooked luminance. A few gentle orb lights flickered into existence among the ranks of bards. Their faces were drawn and their eyes jumped between partly shrouded silhouettes of a broken door or window, and the blank expanse before them, not quite knowing which scared them more.
"Clear this dust."
Someone murmured and the dust began to shift, scraped away by two faint, trembling gauntlets. The first things they saw were corpses. Mounds of green flesh were stretched out upon the cobbled square like broken building blocks - an arm, or a head, was awkwardly settled next to a different corpse or just on its own, separated from all the others by a long red streak. Sightless eyes looked out from rotting sockets, and many of the corpses were covered with blood that was noticeably different in colour to that which was issuing from them now in great volume. There were hundreds of them and a huge lake of thick, frothy blood began to form around them. Someone vomited but the man to Mati's right roared with laughter. He turned to the man behind him, who was extremely pale and involuntarily eyeing the yellow puddle beside him with his mouth clamped firmly shut.
"Hasn't he any men to bring against us? I'm beginning to think that we've been besieged by some petty Wight rather than the enemy Orcworm hunts for. We must have decimated two hundred of these vermin and there's not another in sight!"
Mati cleared his throat.
"You know as well as I do, Krios, that we have barely scratched the surface here" He removed his gloves. "That was his doorbell and we just smashed it with a hammer."
"Well then," Krios chuckled, "We'd better get moving before his welcoming party arrives to see what all this fuss was about."
"Aye. To push directly to the tower would make us vulnerable to flanking and in all probability result in being surrounded. We need to split into three parties and clear this entire side of the city. I will lead the central party. Krios, take the left road down through and gardens and to the bazaar. Cut across and meet us at the tower."
He turned to a rider who stood several paces apart from the rest, looking at the bodies. The man turned to him and bit his lip.
"Press their right flank, Ranger, and try and break through first. Orcworm is entering through that district and may need support if he can't slip by. In addition, we'll need to secure the ordinance stored there. Those barracks carry enough weapons and charms to supply an army, and if they haven't yet been discovered it's important that you secure them. Wards, bolts, shields - use whatever you have to. We'll worry about removing them later."
They split into three parties and arranged themselves at the entrances to each road, having picked their way across the bloodied courtyard. The sickly man, riding with Mati, gave a small cry and began retching. He doubled over, writhing in pain and sobbing until he managed to remove his gloves and press a glowing palm against his throat. He continued with his eyes set firmly on the street beyond, seeing mangled flesh only in the periphery. Mati pulled his gaze over to where the boy had been looking. It was a woman, lying on her face with several bones exposed from where their attack had burnt off the flesh. He started in horror but noticed bite marks, scattered along her neck and naked back, right down to her hips which were scorched and scaly. He saw the blood, soaked into her hair and flaking from her temple. His horror was slowly washed away by a rising grief. They had not killed her, yet the abhorrence of her deathbed was apparent. He moved away to draw behind the boy as they approached the entrance of the main avenue. He stretched forward to tap his scabbard with his boot and was startled when the boy turned his hollow eyes towards him. Mati smiled.
"I must know your name if we are to ride in such intimacy, young sir. How are you called?"
The boy pulled back on his reigns so they drew level.
"Kalantigos, sir. My friends call me Kalan."
"Then I would be privileged indeed to call you Kalan in a time and place such as this. Where are you from?"
They had begun into the street by then and were riding behind two other bards. Neither looked at each other while they spoke, but constantly checked themselves, pushing swords from scabbards and watching the road ahead of them. The roads were completely empty.
"I'm a son of Acheron, sir. I would've thought my pale complexion had given it away, though -" he looked at Mati and laughed nervously. "most of us seem to have a distinctly northern pallor today."
Mati was about to answer when the screaming started. It was off to their left and it echoed hideously between the buildings. It was difficult to tell whether it was human or not - most likely both. A faint light began to frame the buildings and at this one of the two bards, who had also stopped at the commotion, suddenly jumped forward with the intention of flinging herself into the maze of alleyways separating them. Mati leapt forward and snatched her reins, choking the horse as he pulled it round with such force as to snap the neck of a weaker beast. The bard threw herself at him over the reins, her eyes wild. Mati seized her wrists and held them high above her shoulders as she writhed in his grasp. He put his face close and stared into her eyes.
"Pray hard and he'll die with you in his thoughts; fight hard and he'll live to love you again, but I swear to you now if you do anything so foolish as that you will both die horrible, painful and useless deaths. When I let you go you will do your utmost to save his life -" the ground trembled "by unhesitatingly doing exactly what I command you to. There is no other way for us to get out of here alive. They are the masters of their own fates now, as we are of ours. Am I understood?"
She nodded and his hands brushed her tear-streaked cheeks as he released her and went to snatch up his reins.
"Then go! Go as fast as your lives allow! To the tower, go!"
The horses skittered across the cobbles as they leapt into a gallop and all hell suddenly seemed to break loose around them, as though they were in the eye of a storm. The sounds of battle erupted from both sides now, and Mati heard a cry he felt sure belong to the ranger as he flew past an alleyway a second before it was cut off by the thick-walled apartments. A stray bolt arched over the houses from one side of the city and hit a roof above their heads. The tiles shattered above their heads as they fell, revealing a faint sapphire mesh that stretched about each one of them with each impact, save one which missed Kalantigos' head by a foot.
"Shield boy, shield!"
They flew onwards and with each yard the sky seemed to grow brighter, with broiling rivers of fire rushing ever faster between the gargantuan coal-black clouds. The other bard in their party, a man, turned to face Mati. He had a look of concern on his face and his mouth was open as though to ask a question when there was a brief, barely noticeable movement in front of him. It looked as though the air had been instantly compacted and immediately released, and it was nothing more than a flicker. The man slid of his horse as it leapt over a collapsed wall and he skittered along the cobbles, slamming into a wall. The others skidded to a halt and drew their swords casting wildly around for any sign of an enemy. The man had begun to scream - blood was seeping through his fingers as he clutched at his waist. Mati caught sight of the next flicker a moment before it would have killed him and, swinging his sword around to face it, was thrown off his horse in a shower of sparks. He instantly scrambled up, clutching his sword with both hands.
"Dismount! Dismount!" He span around, and then back again. "Swords drawn, form a circle. Back to back, now!"
They dismounted and did exactly that, leaving the horses standing awkwardly in the street while a battle raged around them and their comrade say bleeding against a flower shop façade. There was another flicker and the girl's horse collapsed, blood pouring from its neck. She had barely the time to cry out before Mati's too crumpled to the ground. Kalantigos leapt forward to save his chestnut horse, little more than a pony, which bemusedly stared at the corpses that crouched around it. Mati bellowed in frustration, seeing the flicker again a few feet from the boy's head. He turned to dodge it, having heard Mati's shout a second too late and gasped as a blade - visible for a fraction of a second - flashed across his back. He fell forward, but the wound wasn't deep, and he was able to scramble back. They hauled him up and he leant against them heavily, staining their tunics. It was silent for a moment and they suddenly recalled the wounded man, who was fiercely holding his wound and staring at them with unveiled terror. His eyes widened and he began to scream at them for help but it was only a moment before his eyes rolled up and the sound died in his throat. A curtain of red began to descend from his throat and his hand fell from his first wound, allowing it to bleed freely.
"Stay vigilant! If you see anything, even the tiniest of movements, make sure to block it. There's only one of them."
Someone chuckled but there was no distinguishable point from which it came. There was a heavy sigh, and something smashed against the girl's shortsword almost knocking it from her hands. The person giggled.
"Oh, I give up. You're certainly all far too skilled for me to kill - how will I ever win?"
A man appeared about 10 metres away, wrapped in a jet-black cloak with his hood drawn. His cheeks were pinched and white as snow, similar in colour to the small sharp teeth that were constantly bared in a gruesome smile. His eyes were bright red and he held a dagger in one hand, along with some sort of instrument in the other. It was a compass. Mati hissed through his teeth.
"Rykleos."
The man chuckled, and raised his hands in greeting.
"Surprised to see me back?"
"Halt!" cried Mati.
The noise continued - and it seemed for a second that it would never stop - until a thick silence slowly descended as buildings hastened to collapse. The place darkened, returning to an orange half-light as the open fires gave the place a crooked luminance. A few gentle orb lights flickered into existence among the ranks of bards. Their faces were drawn and their eyes jumped between partly shrouded silhouettes of a broken door or window, and the blank expanse before them, not quite knowing which scared them more.
"Clear this dust."
Someone murmured and the dust began to shift, scraped away by two faint, trembling gauntlets. The first things they saw were corpses. Mounds of green flesh were stretched out upon the cobbled square like broken building blocks - an arm, or a head, was awkwardly settled next to a different corpse or just on its own, separated from all the others by a long red streak. Sightless eyes looked out from rotting sockets, and many of the corpses were covered with blood that was noticeably different in colour to that which was issuing from them now in great volume. There were hundreds of them and a huge lake of thick, frothy blood began to form around them. Someone vomited but the man to Mati's right roared with laughter. He turned to the man behind him, who was extremely pale and involuntarily eyeing the yellow puddle beside him with his mouth clamped firmly shut.
"Hasn't he any men to bring against us? I'm beginning to think that we've been besieged by some petty Wight rather than the enemy Orcworm hunts for. We must have decimated two hundred of these vermin and there's not another in sight!"
Mati cleared his throat.
"You know as well as I do, Krios, that we have barely scratched the surface here" He removed his gloves. "That was his doorbell and we just smashed it with a hammer."
"Well then," Krios chuckled, "We'd better get moving before his welcoming party arrives to see what all this fuss was about."
"Aye. To push directly to the tower would make us vulnerable to flanking and in all probability result in being surrounded. We need to split into three parties and clear this entire side of the city. I will lead the central party. Krios, take the left road down through and gardens and to the bazaar. Cut across and meet us at the tower."
He turned to a rider who stood several paces apart from the rest, looking at the bodies. The man turned to him and bit his lip.
"Press their right flank, Ranger, and try and break through first. Orcworm is entering through that district and may need support if he can't slip by. In addition, we'll need to secure the ordinance stored there. Those barracks carry enough weapons and charms to supply an army, and if they haven't yet been discovered it's important that you secure them. Wards, bolts, shields - use whatever you have to. We'll worry about removing them later."
They split into three parties and arranged themselves at the entrances to each road, having picked their way across the bloodied courtyard. The sickly man, riding with Mati, gave a small cry and began retching. He doubled over, writhing in pain and sobbing until he managed to remove his gloves and press a glowing palm against his throat. He continued with his eyes set firmly on the street beyond, seeing mangled flesh only in the periphery. Mati pulled his gaze over to where the boy had been looking. It was a woman, lying on her face with several bones exposed from where their attack had burnt off the flesh. He started in horror but noticed bite marks, scattered along her neck and naked back, right down to her hips which were scorched and scaly. He saw the blood, soaked into her hair and flaking from her temple. His horror was slowly washed away by a rising grief. They had not killed her, yet the abhorrence of her deathbed was apparent. He moved away to draw behind the boy as they approached the entrance of the main avenue. He stretched forward to tap his scabbard with his boot and was startled when the boy turned his hollow eyes towards him. Mati smiled.
"I must know your name if we are to ride in such intimacy, young sir. How are you called?"
The boy pulled back on his reigns so they drew level.
"Kalantigos, sir. My friends call me Kalan."
"Then I would be privileged indeed to call you Kalan in a time and place such as this. Where are you from?"
They had begun into the street by then and were riding behind two other bards. Neither looked at each other while they spoke, but constantly checked themselves, pushing swords from scabbards and watching the road ahead of them. The roads were completely empty.
"I'm a son of Acheron, sir. I would've thought my pale complexion had given it away, though -" he looked at Mati and laughed nervously. "most of us seem to have a distinctly northern pallor today."
Mati was about to answer when the screaming started. It was off to their left and it echoed hideously between the buildings. It was difficult to tell whether it was human or not - most likely both. A faint light began to frame the buildings and at this one of the two bards, who had also stopped at the commotion, suddenly jumped forward with the intention of flinging herself into the maze of alleyways separating them. Mati leapt forward and snatched her reins, choking the horse as he pulled it round with such force as to snap the neck of a weaker beast. The bard threw herself at him over the reins, her eyes wild. Mati seized her wrists and held them high above her shoulders as she writhed in his grasp. He put his face close and stared into her eyes.
"Pray hard and he'll die with you in his thoughts; fight hard and he'll live to love you again, but I swear to you now if you do anything so foolish as that you will both die horrible, painful and useless deaths. When I let you go you will do your utmost to save his life -" the ground trembled "by unhesitatingly doing exactly what I command you to. There is no other way for us to get out of here alive. They are the masters of their own fates now, as we are of ours. Am I understood?"
She nodded and his hands brushed her tear-streaked cheeks as he released her and went to snatch up his reins.
"Then go! Go as fast as your lives allow! To the tower, go!"
The horses skittered across the cobbles as they leapt into a gallop and all hell suddenly seemed to break loose around them, as though they were in the eye of a storm. The sounds of battle erupted from both sides now, and Mati heard a cry he felt sure belong to the ranger as he flew past an alleyway a second before it was cut off by the thick-walled apartments. A stray bolt arched over the houses from one side of the city and hit a roof above their heads. The tiles shattered above their heads as they fell, revealing a faint sapphire mesh that stretched about each one of them with each impact, save one which missed Kalantigos' head by a foot.
"Shield boy, shield!"
They flew onwards and with each yard the sky seemed to grow brighter, with broiling rivers of fire rushing ever faster between the gargantuan coal-black clouds. The other bard in their party, a man, turned to face Mati. He had a look of concern on his face and his mouth was open as though to ask a question when there was a brief, barely noticeable movement in front of him. It looked as though the air had been instantly compacted and immediately released, and it was nothing more than a flicker. The man slid of his horse as it leapt over a collapsed wall and he skittered along the cobbles, slamming into a wall. The others skidded to a halt and drew their swords casting wildly around for any sign of an enemy. The man had begun to scream - blood was seeping through his fingers as he clutched at his waist. Mati caught sight of the next flicker a moment before it would have killed him and, swinging his sword around to face it, was thrown off his horse in a shower of sparks. He instantly scrambled up, clutching his sword with both hands.
"Dismount! Dismount!" He span around, and then back again. "Swords drawn, form a circle. Back to back, now!"
They dismounted and did exactly that, leaving the horses standing awkwardly in the street while a battle raged around them and their comrade say bleeding against a flower shop façade. There was another flicker and the girl's horse collapsed, blood pouring from its neck. She had barely the time to cry out before Mati's too crumpled to the ground. Kalantigos leapt forward to save his chestnut horse, little more than a pony, which bemusedly stared at the corpses that crouched around it. Mati bellowed in frustration, seeing the flicker again a few feet from the boy's head. He turned to dodge it, having heard Mati's shout a second too late and gasped as a blade - visible for a fraction of a second - flashed across his back. He fell forward, but the wound wasn't deep, and he was able to scramble back. They hauled him up and he leant against them heavily, staining their tunics. It was silent for a moment and they suddenly recalled the wounded man, who was fiercely holding his wound and staring at them with unveiled terror. His eyes widened and he began to scream at them for help but it was only a moment before his eyes rolled up and the sound died in his throat. A curtain of red began to descend from his throat and his hand fell from his first wound, allowing it to bleed freely.
"Stay vigilant! If you see anything, even the tiniest of movements, make sure to block it. There's only one of them."
Someone chuckled but there was no distinguishable point from which it came. There was a heavy sigh, and something smashed against the girl's shortsword almost knocking it from her hands. The person giggled.
"Oh, I give up. You're certainly all far too skilled for me to kill - how will I ever win?"
A man appeared about 10 metres away, wrapped in a jet-black cloak with his hood drawn. His cheeks were pinched and white as snow, similar in colour to the small sharp teeth that were constantly bared in a gruesome smile. His eyes were bright red and he held a dagger in one hand, along with some sort of instrument in the other. It was a compass. Mati hissed through his teeth.
"Rykleos."
The man chuckled, and raised his hands in greeting.
"Surprised to see me back?"
Last edited by thebadhatter on 2011-07-15, 03:44; edited 8 times in total
