Completed Kenne deinen Feind

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

The parry was swiftly met with a riposte. Catching the blade in his crossguard and twisted up. Moore’s sword was trapped, and the tip of Eberwolf’s longsword was in front of Moore’s face. Until Moore was tackled, he had been close to disarming him or breaking the sword he held. Once on the floor, Moore was vulnerable, and true to his word, Eberwolf spared him. Taking the sword from him, he struck Moore’s temple with the pommel of his own sword. Moore was temporarily out of the way.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Moore's body gave a sharp shudder, the sound of the pommel against his skull nauseating to Heike's ears and stomach. The sudden stillness of his body a degree more so. And, when she loosed her grip on Moore's legs and saw the tips of her claws blooded by digging in just a bit harder than she wanted, she felt as if she were going to be sick.

You're a good man. And through my failing I have caused another good man to fight you. I am sorry. Forgive me.

Heike closed her eyes and took in a breath. Let it out. Her body did not need the air to live, but her mind needed the old motion for calm and composure.

There would be time for dealing with her grief and regret later. Now it was of the utmost importance to get out of here, before her presence caused another good man or woman to come to harm.

Heike patted at Moore's waist, feeling for the key to the shackles. Found it. Quickly got to work unlocking them from her wrists and her ankles and her waist as she said, "Can you drag him into that cell. Please."

A gesture of her head to her right, indicating an adjacent cell whose door was not broken. Moore would come around soon enough, but if he were locked in a cell it would easily buy them enough time to escape. Moore would be found at a sufficiently later time by another Hunter, freed from the cell long after Heike and Eberwolf were gone, and all would at last be fine.

All, with the possible exception of one thing. That which Heike would attempt to avoid at all costs.

Heike ditched the shackles and raised the large hood of her simple brown robe and glanced up and down the dungeon hallway. Said to Eberwolf, "Do you know the way out? I'll follow you." A hesitation, then she added, "And...could you do the talking? If such proves to be necessary."

If circumstances conspired to their benefit, she and Sir Eberwolf could quietly leave the dungeon hallway and the Keep and then the Fortress as a whole without further incident. Possible. The early hour of the day was on their side, as was the small number of Hunters who even knew of the library incident and had seen Heike's general appearance.

Yes, it was possible.

And, for once, Heike hoped. Truly hoped.

Sir Eberwolf Kinniger

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

Following Heike's instructions he pulled Moore into the adjacent, empty cell and locked the door, with Moore's weapons outside of it of course. When she pulled her hood up he understood the plan before she even spoke, if it could be called a plan, more like an objective. Either way he could handle it He nodded in affirmation and said, "follow me, I have a horse in the stables. We get to him and outside of the gate we're home free. Also, if it's of any consequence, I saw the Red Headed woman crouching by a tree just outside of the castle. And no it wasn't to answer nature's call, I think that she might have hidden something. Should we check it out before we depart for good?"

 

[Heike Eisen]

A horse. Heike loved horses. Of all the duties she had to attend to as a squire--the arduous, the menial, and the frustrating--working in the stables with the horses was the one that she enjoyed without caveat or reservation. She had not ridden a steed since becoming afflicted. They, horses as well as essentially every other kind of animal, now maintained a general aversion to her. Perhaps with Sir Eberwolf's familiar presence to keep the horse's instinctual fears at ease, there would be no complications with his mount in this regard.

And, pertinently, Eberwolf had seen Kyla. After she'd jumped out of the window (if only Heike had noticed this earlier, the window. So much could have been averted). Perhaps she had discarded the book? The only reason she took it was for Heike's sake, and then...the situation changed, by Heike's doing. It seemed reasonable that she--presumably having no use for the book herself--would prefer to be rid of it. There was no downside to merely checking, following up on what Eberwolf had seen, given that this was outside the bounds of the Monster Hunter Fortress.

And it didn't need to be said that this was the only chance Heike had at obtaining whatever knowledge the Monster Hunters retained on her strain of vampirism. There was no way Heike would try to infiltrate the Fortress again, after all that had gone wrong this time.

"Yes. We should," Heike said. "Kyla had the book I sought on her person. I must at least see if this is what you saw her hiding there."

Heike hid her clawed hands in the sleeves of the robe she wore in that same monk-like fashion as she had before.

"Let's go."

A pause preempted her first step.

She added, "I thank you, Sir Eberwolf."

Even if I have caused you to come into conflict with the good men and women of the Monster Hunters. Unfairly brought you to make an enemy of a man who in any other context would have certainly been a brother in battle against the wicked. You deserve better than the mere gratitude I can offer; you deserve never having to do these terrible things at all.

And Heike was ready to follow Sir Eberwolf's lead.

Sir Eberwolf Kinniger

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

With Heike's confirmation on another objective to complete before they made their break for the edge of Hunter territory, he nodded. Eberwolf couldn't help but feel sympathy for the vampire woman, someone who clearly hated what it was she was forced to become and still kept her oaths to a now extinct Knightly Order. It was this train of thought that brought him to a possible conclusion, although he would withhold the proposition until after they had fled to freedom. Sheathing his sword, a slightly more difficult task for a longsword because of its length, he took the lead. Then she spoke to him.

"There is no need to thank me for doing what any decent man would do." He says. "I did no more than what was expected of me."

And so he had to navigate through this strange castle. There were always two possibilities with a castle of this magnitute, it could intentionally be labrinthine, or it could be straightforward and simple in its layout. Each of these had their own ups and downs but those were irrelevant. He assumed that it would be the former not the latter, as attacks from monsters was likely rare and everyone within who was ready to combat such things already had spent several months learning the castle's hallways and chambers. So he had his work cut out for him. The best thing for him to do was to act like he belonged there, which to everyone else he did, and that would deflect attention, but he wasn't the best actor. He might be able to acquire directions to the stables and the gates from one of the inhabitants, but that could be risky if done too late. The best option was to acquire instructions early, and get out quickly, how to do it was the real trick.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike kept her head down. Dutifully following behind Sir Eberwolf like a servant to a lord perhaps, a priest alongside a paladin maybe, an adviser to a captain by chance. Any of these things would be welcome assumptions on the part of any Hunters who saw them.

And they were seen. The hour was early, of course, not even a hint of color splotched in the sky outside to hint at a coming dawn, but the various halls of the Fortress were not entirely devoid of people. Every now and again a Hunter would pass by ahead, appearing briefly from one end of the hall and crossing their path and disappearing around another corner. A door might open behind them and close. A Hunter or two came down the candlelit halls toward them, minding his or her business, a muttered word of greeting or mere acknowledgement.

No alarm from any of these passing Hunters. No suspicious glances. Only those who had been in the library--who presumably were still in said library--would have known at a glance about Heike. The other Hunters, very likely, had all the reason in the world to believe that the Monster Hunter Fortress was unfailingly secure. Their foes mostly being unintelligent, non-sapient, and savage, and the Fortress located within the already fortified city of Elbion, why wouldn't they believe this to be true. Such worked in Heike's favor.

A slight breeze. From up ahead and around a corner in the hall they walked down. The cool night air. The outside.

"There," Heike whispered. "Next left."

A breeze meant an open door: somebody having recently exited, or entered. Likely wouldn't matter. They'd been able to keep discreet and unremarkable thus far.

Outside, the courtyard. A rather large courtyard, awfully open, but out there the stables and Sir Eberwolf's horse and the Gate and beyond that they would be free.

And her presence wouldn't cause any more Monster Hunters to come to harm.

Sir Eberwolf Kinniger Kyla Scathach

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

With his usual stride, fast but unhurried, he and Heike were out of the fortress in minutes. Finding the stables with his horse, Thunder, waiting for them, still armored and saddled. He was an immense, powerful and majestic beast. His hooves were broader than Eberwolf’s knees, and almost twice as tall. First he would help her mount, then he would mount behind her. Thunder was impressively calm despite her presence, he was evidently tensing, but not for flight, his intelligent but not quite sentient gaze looking directly at her. He was a beast bred for war, he would not run.

Once both of them were mounted, he prodded the spur at the back of his greave into the mail of the horse’s flank, no pain was felt, but he understood his master’s command and began to move forward slowly, a calm walk. They moved through the open portcullis, and not too soon either. Not long after they turned the corner, the alarm was sounded. Moore had been discovered. He hurried to the tree that he had remembered seeing the woman hide something by, and allowed her to dismount and investigate.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Mounting a horse while wearing a robe was...well, as difficult and impractical as one would think it to be. Heike stole a few glances around the stable--best that no one see her claws now that they were so close to escaping--and hiked up the bottom of the brown robe, allowing her legs a better range of motion. With Eberwolf's assistance, she was on the horse.

Heike's still heart almost melted when the horse had looked at her. Looked at her and didn't immediately take flight and gallop away. She had almost forgotten what it felt like to ride a horse, the memories in her muscles sparking to life as she sat in the saddle, all the familiar motions. It was wonderful.

And out they were going. Out...out...with no clamor or disturbance sounding behind them...out toward the gate and its portcullis. The tired sentries just giving them a pair of nods in acknowledgement. And...done. Out of the Fortress and taking the turn away from the connecting entrance to Elbion and out into the surrounding wood.

The tolling of alarm bells seemed to follow near immediately in the wake of their egress, the very same that sounded during the incident in the library.

Heike cast a glance back at Eberwolf over her shoulder. Normally she might have taken it in stride, made a joke and offered up a sly smirk, but the nature of the situation put a damper on her wry whimsy. She said simply, "Close."

They rode Eberwolf's warhorse around the periphery of the Fortress walls, coming up to the spot Eberwolf had in mind. Heike dismounted once by the tree indicated by him; it was some distance away from the shattered window of the library, yet still, this relative proximity brought a fair bit of disquiet. Heike wanted to find the book if it was, in fact, hidden by the tree, and get the hell out of here. Partially for her own sake, mostly for the sake of the Hunters.

Heike's eyes pierced the darkness of the pre-dawn morning. All the world a colorless collage of whites and grays and blacks, save where the fire lights from the Monster Hunter Fortress brought illumination and thus color up high along their walls. And she saw the message carved into the tree, carved perhaps with a knife or other implement.

And, more importantly, she saw the book. Leaning up against the tree. Eberwolf had been right. But, also, Kyla had intentionally set it that way, not simply tossed it aside. The manner in which the book was place, the message carved into the tree...Kyla, despite Heike's sudden and unexplained departure from her company, had done this for her. She felt touched, and also a mild anguish that she couldn't properly show her gratitude.

Heike held the book--carefully, so as not to damage it with her claws--and mounted the warhorse with Eberwolf's help again, her claws making this a challenge as well.

"Do you have a place nearby where you're lodging? In Elbion, or otherwise?" Heike asked. "I would very much like to distance myself from the Monster Hunter Fortress. Then I can search through the book with some peace of mind."

Sir Eberwolf Kinniger Kyla Scathach

 

[Kyla Scathach]

The message read thus. “I understand your in a hurry.” But as she pulled the book away from where it leaned on the tree a further scrawl could now be seen.

“But we need to talk.” A figure would sprint towards them as left. Kyla’s tattoo glowed as she sprinted out of an alley she had been waiting in close by she followed the sound of horse hooves in the lonely night before coming out of an alley slightly in front of them.

A black streak passed over her as her terror hawk yanked Heike from the horse before circling around and landing by Kyla protectively.

If she succeeded the Kyla would run at her full sprint.

“Don’t try anything knight or she’ll kill your horse and then you. She can crush your head whether you have a helmet or not!” Kyla called out in warning before tackling a hopefully still recovering Heike.

Providing the knight heeded her warning she would oIn Heike down with her massive strength. Vice like hands gripped her shoulders and her legs straddled her not allowing them to brace up.

“I think I deserve an explanation as to why you let me stick my neck out for you and get you the only thing you need. Yet still didn’t earn your trust enough to think I couldn’t get us out of there safely. Yet you trounce out of there empty handed with someone like him? The nerve.” Kyla would scoff.

“So apologize and I’ll let you go and be off with yah.” Kyla said knowing full well if she had successfully neutralized the knight she didn’t have long before he’d try something and Kyla didn’t need any more blood on her hands. Especially not a knights blood.

“Obviously you do anything stupid and Mimi is going to take your knight friends head off and leave Both of you in pieces for the monster hunters to find.” Kyla warned as she rifled through Heikes various pockets. As she opened one something fell out.

It sparkled in the moonlight. A necklace... Her eyes went wide as she looked from Heike to her sisters necklace on the ground.

“W-where did you get that.” She stuttered before her eyes lost all emotion.

There was no anger or hatred in her facial expression or tone.

She drew a long hunting knife before grabbing Heike by the neck and slamming her into the nearby wall of a house that lined the street. Her knife ready to shove right into her heart.

“Where.” She said in a chilling calm tone that had chilled so many bones in her days as a ruthless bandit leader.

Her expression was devoid of emotion but her hands and eyes betrayed her as tears slowly leaked from behind the chill of the gaze.

Her hands usually steady gave to trembles.

“Is she dead..” Kyla asked finally. Like a word that tore her throat to pieces to even have to ask. The true question that’s answer could truely break her fragile heart and mind.

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

she followed the sound of horse hooves in the lonely night before coming out of an alley slightly in front of them.

Upon seeing the woman come out in front of them he immediately reached across to draw his longsword, it was a little awkward, but pulling the sword up and over across his chest presented a point directly over them, which meant that the bird would impale itself on it should it try to grab Heike, only he was a little too slow to draw, and Heike was wrenched from in front of him. Sword out, he readied himself to charge.

“Don’t try anything knight or she’ll kill your horse and then you. She can crush your head whether you have a helmet or not!”

"That depends on whether or not I kill her first. A long, sharp stick of metal tends to hurt when it invades a creatures heart, and the great thing is, I just have to wait for her to come to me, and she'll impale herself. Let her go, there is no need for vengeance or violence here, but I have promised her her safety from any and all harm, if you pose a threat to her, one of us dies here." He spoke calmly and without anger, he knew what he was capable of and killing an oversized bird was well within his abilities. He saw the wild woman in action and knew that she was fast and strong, so he would have to find a way to use that against her. perhaps he could use a similar technique, let her impale herself with her own strength by letting her come to him, and having a sharp point presented to her when she arrived. It would have to be last second, but it could work.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Herr Dieter would have been shaking his head. Vigilance, vigilance, vigilance: that was his watchword. And Heike, for the dual reasons of wanting to acquire the book and distance herself from the Fortress as quickly as possible, allowed haste to supplant said vigilance.

She had ignored the message. Just took the book and mounted the horse and thought only of getting away.

Cue the imagined head-shaking from Herr Dieter as some large...bird-creature plucked Heike clean off of Eberwolf's warhorse before the knight had a chance to impale it. A rough landing, with the back of her head bouncing off of the hard ground, ensured that any recovery from the fall would be delayed.

Heike grimaced, rolled slightly, tried to sit up, only to be flattened by the woman herself, Kyla. Pinned down by the very same. And Heike did not resist or attempt to struggle free. It was a thin trust, verging on dangerous wishful thinking, but Heike believed that Kyla's mere presence in the Monster Hunter Fortress attested to a certain kind of character--let alone Kyla's willingness to protect her back in the library. Kyla's rifling through her pockets was...questionable, but it did not override Heike's primary wish: to keep Kyla and Eberwolf from fighting one another over this.

The woman was angry. Understandably so. She wanted an explanation (difficult to give, with so much happening at once) and an apology--also difficult to summarize, given her oathbound necessity to speak the truth and the complexity of her feelings on the matter. But she would have to try to be succinct.

Heike lay there, wide open, saying to Kyla in an attempt to defuse the volatility after Eberwolf had made his stance clear: "I do not regret what I did. The Hunters are good people. You are a good person. And I could not abide my presence causing a tragic conflict. I am only sorry to have caused you pain, Kyla."

She wanted to tell Eberwolf to stand down, to stand down no matter what happened, but she knew that he would not. Maybe such telling would not be necessary, if Kyla accepted what Heike said and moved on. But her explanation and apology had a strained economy of words forced by the lack of time.

Then Kyla found something. Something Heike had held on to for a while, for months since the incident at Rennegast's Tower. Held on to for the purposes of safe keeping, not entirely certain that returning it to its proper owner would have been the wisest move. Another volatile situation, that, dealing with the custody of Ferelith.

And Kyla had some connection. To the necklace. To Ferelith.

Heike was picked up and slammed. A knife held to her chest. And the first thing she did was look past Kyla and speak firmly to Eberwolf, saying, "Stay your blade, Sir Eberwolf. Stay. Your blade." Beneath the steel in her tone, a desperation couched in futility. She feared that Eberwolf would not listen, as previously assumed, that his honor would compel him to act. But she had to try. She had to.

To Kyla, her voice and her words careful and deliberate, "Ferelith is not dead. She is imprisoned in Alliria, but alive. I speak the truth insofar as I know it."

It was all she could do. All she could say, with the shortness of time in the precarious moment. If it was not enough, if Kyla's aggression escalated, then Eberwolf would undoubtedly react (perhaps do so regardless). And if the confrontation became an outright battle between them, Heike had but one sure option. One poor, lacking option, the very same that had stoked Kyla's anger to begin with.

But Heike would not harm either of them herself. She had already infringed severely on her Oath of Justice with Moore. She would not do so again.

Sir Eberwolf Kinniger Kyla Scathach

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“You need to do better than that.” Kyla said with a grunt.

Her grip tightening both around her foes neck and the blade she held. Her eyes narrowed but not in a menacing way.

She was searching for lies in her words.

It was only a moment before her grip loosened and she sheathed her knife. Hand resting on the handle however as the other around her vampiric foes neck fell to her side.

“But it’ll do for now. I’ll help you get to where you need. But in exchange your telling me what you know about where my sister is. And if I find you lied and have a hand in her death.” She paused wiping her tears. Her eyes hard and twin flints threatening to spark and set her red hair ablaze.

“I will cut you down.” She whispered. “And your armor clad guardian angel won’t save you. No offense.” She said glancing at the knight.

“Offense to you.” She said nodding to Heike before drawing back to a respectable distance if anything to keep the knight as off edge as she could. If all agreed she would continue.

“Now that we seem to be allies......of sorts..Go to your lodgings. I’ll follow you from the shadows. Pick off any early search parties in pursuit.” She lined out. Before glancing at Heike.

“Not kill em by the way..Though a few might wake up with a throbbing headache shouldn’t be any worse than an average night of hard drinking for them.” She said pointedly.

“Now be off with you.” She’d turning and seeming to melt into the shadows as the side alley she had came from devoured her figure in its darkness.

“And I’d hurry if I were you two.” Came her disembodied voice from the shadows depths as the alarm bells continued to toll. The city guard would soon be roused.

A sharp whistle pierced the air as the terror hawk flapped it’s wings with a small nod to the two before shooting into the night sky and disappearing.

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

Seeing the fight resolved almost as quickly as it began, he was willing to listen, but wasn’t about to stand down just yet. Helping Heike back up into the saddle he brought them to a less known but respectable tavern, and quickly arranged for a room. After putting Thunder in the stables he joined Heike in the room.

“Any idea when she will show up? I have a hard time trusting her.”

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike sighed when the hand clutched about her neck slipped away. Had breathing been a necessity, the woman's vice grip would have been far more alarming, but Heike was nonetheless relieved when it was loosened and her poor answers proved partially satisfactory.

Sister. So Ferelith was Kyla's sister. Heike could only speculate on how the two of them got along with one another, and this left the reception of the full truth in question. Kyla...might not be thrilled to learn of Ferelith's activities. Or she might harbor an understanding of a sort. Or she might view Heike as being in the wrong--unlikely, but possible. Whatever the case, the tears acted as a guarantor of an intense reaction of some manner.

Offense to you.

Heike said nothing.

Pick off any early search parties in pursuit.

Heike immediately lifted her hands in a No, Don't sort of gesture and made to protest, but Kyla headed her off. Heike would rather have no harm come to any of the Monster Hunters or city guardsmen on her account, but there wasn't anything she could do to stop it from happening; not without applying a measure of force on Kyla herself, an option that was presently off the table.

The world isn't bound by your oaths, Heike. Only you are. Move on.

Kyla's avian beast took flight, the Fortress's alarm bells continued to ring and undoubtedly interrupted the slumber of more than just the Hunters resting within, and Heike--not willing to stay longer than needed--she accepted Eberwolf's help back into the saddle and rode with him.

* * * * *​

Eberwolf's room in the tavern.

A small candle on the table lit the interior in a soft and meager glow. Modest cloth curtains sheltered the inside of the room from the window and all things on the other side of the glass; unnecessary as yet, only the very faintest hint of dark blue intruded on the black sky, the rising of the sun still a good deal of time away.

Heike--the simple brown robe she had worn during her infiltration discarded on the floor--sat in the simple chair beside the table, not on the bed. The book lay on the table before her. And here Heike discovered another obscure frustration stemming from her affliction: her claws made it quite difficult to turn the pages of the book effectively and without damaging the paper. Like in many other instances, Heike had to resort to pinching the pages between the flats of her fingers instead of her using the pointed tips.

Eberwolf came back from the stables. Shut the door behind himself and asked about Kyla.

Heike looked up from the compendium. Said, "I don't know. And--" she thought for a moment, "--I understand your concern. But she is very much like you, Sir Eberwolf. Both of you--she was and you are--willing to put yourselves at great risk for my sake. I..."

Feel myself undeserving.

"...only want peace between the two of you."

She was going to look back down at the compendium, to continue her search through its voluminous pages for her strain and the accumulated knowledge thereof, but the moment seized her.

And she felt compelled to add, her tone gaining a slight edge, "And peace between your Duchy and the Monster Hunters."

Sir Eberwolf Kinniger Kyla Scathach

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

With a sigh, Eberwolf dared go so far as to place a hand on her shoulder. His steel clad fingers intended to bring comfort. “You are a very pure minded individual Miss Heike, I wouldn’t guess that you were a vampire of any sort based on your mannerisms. I imagine that you made fine knight. I cannot cure you, but I might be able to help you in some small way. And at the same time, give the Hunters one less big job to take care of. I understand your desire for peace, and in respect to that, I’ll leave the Hunters alone after this. However, peace is not yet possible. I came to the fortress for knowledge on how to combat vampires on an army’s scale. Not far away from my home, Castle Kinniger, is a fortress garrisoned by vampires and their thralls. I would like to extend to you an offer, to join my father’s crusade against them. We could use your help. And not only that, we can shelter you from those who would do you harm, specifically the hunters. And since we have a great deal of criminals, we could also see to it that you are fed. It isn’t the best option, only the best that I can offer without my father’s open permission.”

 

[Kyla Scathach]

A knock at their door. “Sorry to intrude you two. By all means take your time to untangle yourselves from each others loving embrace and get decent..” Came the sarcastic tone of someone annoyed from the door. “Open the damn door.” Kyla would continue. Once the door was open she’d brush passed who ever answered. “Finally..” she said sitting in the simple chair with a groan.

An arrow was sunk into her left shoulder.

The shaft brushed the back of the chair as she sat causing a noise.

“Oh...” She said with a soft chuckle. “Guess he was a better shot than I thought.” She said pulling the shaft free and examined it with a look of approval. Wiping it on her already blood soaked shoulder sleeve she slot it into her own quiver.

“Would’ve been easier to just kill em.” She grumbled pulling off her chest plate with another soft groan. She now sat in only a white chest wrap and her pants and boots. Her tattoo glowed softly as her arrow wound closed. Bruises and obvious fractures littered her body speaking of many hand to hand engagement.

Not trusting sword or shaft to not prove accidentally fatal it seems she opted to get physical.

A rib poking from a massive bruise that ran from her lower ribs to her stomach told the tale of what was undoubtedly a club swung by someone massive.

Her tattoo identical to Ferelith's though red and covering her left side rather than right.. from the tip of her head to the tip of her fingers and down her stomach to undoubtedly her toes. Her tattoo continued to glow as her bruises began to fade.

Her rib glowed the same soft red. If the eye was keen it would see thousands of small intricate runes carved into every available inch of it before it snapped back inside her. Her gaze never faltered however as she leaned forward.

The light of the room revealing a large tattoo and the only other one on her body.

Running across the back of her shoulders was a pack of eight wolves swarming a pile of chests of gold and corpses. A red wolf larger than the rest led the pack.

A smaller blue wolf was by her side. Her maw and blue coat covered in blood. The rest were black. A name over each head except for the red wolf where there was simply a crown in place of a name. “Gunhild” was over the blue wolfs.

“So. How did you come to possess this.” Kyla said pulling out the necklace. It sparkles in the dim light. “And what of Gunhild...I mean Ferelith..” She said with a tired sigh.

The sigh of a sister tired of nights of worry. A tiredness that reached her eyes. This was a woman who had grown into such far too quickly.

She glanced at Heikes belt.

Her eyes roving over the insignia. She knew that symbol.

”Oh..I see. We had a few run ins with your lot towards the end. Your one of those golden blade knights..or..were..” She said as she glanced up from it meeting Heikes yellow eyes and reminding herself of her temporary allies affliction.

“So this is about that job..nasty business....Herr Dieter still missing his left thumb?” She asked. “He relaxed when he ran me through the first time and I bit it off. He’d be older now.. Bet he teaches vigilance now doesn’t he?” She said with a slight smirk.

"Bunch of sloppy gold sword swingers that lot. Hunted us for a while." She said harshly a cocky smirk. “But I guess everything catches up with you no matter how fast you run. Wouldnt be surprised if i was on a few of your own wanted posters sir knight." She said glancing at Eberwolf.

She sat forward but made no move to display she intended to cause violence. She simply looked haggard. Plagued by the kind of exhaustion no rest could cleanse from her mind.

The kind of exhaustion that sank into ones soul and spoke of guilt ridden weight unwilling shoulders bore by necessity rather than choice or willingness.

"I suppose you'll want to take me in then..I won’t resist but not before I learn of my sisters current state." She continued. Clasping her hands together she waited for restraints. If they were placed or not on hand she would simply continue.

"Im sure you've fought my sister, and I assume you understand how fighting me would end poorly. So i suggest you speak truthfully and avoid any unpleasantness that will follow if you try to take me before I know what I need. to." She said with a grim smirk playing across her expression despite the sadness that seemed to hang around her neck like a weight.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike did not mind Eberwolf's hand upon her shoulder. Relished, in fact, the warm contact; such pleasant rarities were to be cherished, and even such a simple thing as a friendly touch had been made rare in the wake of her affliction.

And she was quite glad to hear that Sir Eberwolf would leave the Monster Hunters to their mission without interference; Moore was an abrasive man--certainly deadly to Heike--but she was certain that he was doing good works in the world, ridding Arethil of the scourge of vampirism. It would not have been just for Eberwolf's Duchy to wage a war on the Hunters for merely fulfilling their righteous mandate.

Eberwolf, as well, had an invitation. A call for aid. Against vampires.

Heike brightened up, smiling with a brimming intensity, and said with a swelling chest, "Yes, Sir Eberwolf. I will join this crusade against these vampires. I should like nothing more than to see them all slain, dead beneath our feet."

Yes, Heike had her own engagements to attend to: investigating the fate of the Golden Blade and possible survivors of Reikhurst, following up on any pertinent information learned from the compendium, hunting down the vampires of her own strain. But she could always make time to kill other vampires, to kill those who were kin to the monsters who destroyed her home. And perhaps, given what Eberwolf had said about combating vampires on an army-sized scale, Heike could use this practical experience in her own struggle; the vampires who had sacked Reikhurst came as a kind of army, had they not? This was an opportunity too prime to be ignored.

Heike flipped another page in the compendium. Said, "It might just be that we could find useful information in this book to leverage against the vampires infesting that fortress--if we know their strain."

Another page flipped. There was time to pour over the book, to find both the information on Heike's own strain and the strain infesting--

A knock. Kyla, voicing a salacious comment, on the other side of the door. Heike glanced up at Eberwolf, then stood and crossed the room to the door. She knew Eberwolf had a difficult time trusting Kyla, but Heike did at least owe her the tale of what happened to her sister. And so she opened the door.

What Heike saw--simply put--shocked her. Hell's fury, what had Kyla gotten herself into? She was on the verge of asking, Are you alright?, but it seemed Kyla was all but oblivious to her own injuries, only now noticing the arrow in her shoulder. And the partially exposed rib was...concerning. Heike and Eberwolf had made it to the tavern without incident--and why would there have been, they were well ahead of the few people who even knew what happened in the Fortress--but it appeared as though Kyla fought half of the nighttime guard force in Elbion.

A noticing: solely clad in that white chest wrap, Heike could see the similarities between Kyla and Ferelith. The mirrored tattoo, identical perhaps, save for orientation and color, and the apparent magic glowing within it.

Gunhild. Hm. Heike didn't think that Gunhild, the name on the necklace, was Ferelith herself. Her mother, a sister, a friend, a mentor, a lover, but not another name. Whether it was her real name or a nickname was unclear, but another name it was. Heike was about to tell the story, of Gunhild/Ferelith and the adversarial nature of their meeting in Rennegast's tower, even had her mouth open...when Kyla spoke again, having noticed the insignia of the Golden Blade dangling from her belt.

Your one of those golden blade knights..or..were..

"I still am," Heike corrected.

And, as she listened, what Kyla said changed everything.

Heike's expression slowly sank from receptive to surprise to condemnation. Standing beside Sir Eberwolf and facing the sitting Kyla in the chair, Heike gradually shifted her footing to a wider, combat-ready stance.

She said, "Sir Eberwolf, you were right. I was wrong. Draw your sword."

He did not trust her, and his intuition had proved sharper than Heike's own. And she still had a hard time believing it: Kyla, this woman who had acted so selflessly back in the Fortress library, was the same person who had taken Herr Dieter's thumb. Bit right through the metal of his plate gauntlet, as the story went. And suddenly all of those wounds that dotted Kyla's body took on a more sinister quality.

Heike raised up her claws. Kyla said that she wouldn't resist, but--with the timely mention of Herr Dieter--Heike resolved to proceed with the utmost caution.

To Kyla: "Yes. For the maiming of Herr Dieter Roth, I am obliged to pursue justice for this crime. And though I cannot speak to these other 'few run-ins' you have mentioned, perhaps the punishment served on account of Herr Dieter will impart at least some just retribution for your guilt unspoken."

Heike thought briefly. Captain Bronmarch of the Allirian city guard was the one man she could turn to in this matter; not only did he have the resources, but he might well have the knowledge of other crimes that were Kyla's doing, if she was as notorious as she let on. Hm. Ferelith. Made sense now, how she ended up doing questionable mercenary work, with Kyla as a sister.

And Heike told her the story, saying, "I was investigating the theft of volatile arcane catalysts from the College of Elbion. This led me to a wizard's tower, where these catalysts were being taken. Mercenaries had been hired to protect this tower, and your sister Ferelith was one of them. You are right, Kyla; I did fight your sister, and it was not easy. But she yielded, and it was upon my honor then that I would provide reasonable care to her while she remained in my custody. Her necklace had fallen from her possession during the fight, and I feared some manner of enchantment upon it that she could use to overpower myself and my comrade. So I kept it."

She paused, briefly.

"I apologize. I should have returned it to her stash of personal items once I brought her to the Allirian prison. I realized too late my mistake."

And Heike just had to ask. Perhaps Sir Eberwolf was wondering too. It was not an everyday occurrence that a guilty woman simply confessed to her crimes and offered herself up for the appropriate punishment.

The puzzlement was plain in her voice. "Why would you do this, Kyla? Just come to me and admit these things and submit yourself willingly?"

Sir Eberwolf Kinniger Kyla Scathach

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“I’m tired Heike.” She said after a moment. “I’ve run my whole life from what I did when we were starving orphans.” She leaned back with a grimly amused chuckle at the vampires reaction to her confession.

The chuckle only deepening if Eberwolf did indeed draw his sword.

“What would you even do with that exactly?” Her grin widening to a mirthless smile. Holding out her hand her other moves to her knife.

Moving so quickly it was barely a glint of the steel blade before it was already sheathed again. She wiggles her fingers as they fell off. Her entire hand s fingers cut off at the knuckle.

Blood sprayed for a moment before new fingers grew from the bloody stumps like new trees. In less than a few seconds her fingers were returned to their normal state.

“I grow back see? Now sheathe your blade child before I bend it around your neck and kick you back home and your father catches you playing in his armor.” She said with a warning glare at the knight.

“If I wanted you both dead there were plenty of people back there that would’ve whole heartedly supported me switching teams.” She scoffed, but kept her word and while annoyed didn’t seem aggressive.

The vampires last question seemed to hit a nerve.

“Don’t speak to me of the why. Leech. What I do I do for my own reasons.” She growled keeping her hands clasped together.

“You could never understand atoning for sins you committed when you were young, starving and abused. Me and Ferelith were the last survivors of our tribe in the spine. Orcs over ran us in the night. We were slaves, sexual toys, and gladiators for them. When we escaped we didn’t know what else to do but turn to the blades that had kept us alive in the pit.” Her anger seemed to dissolve as she sank back into her seat.

Her muscle relaxing. “I had hoped the bandit life would help us gain money quickly given our lack of education and family. we were often ran off from smiths before they even gave us a chance to speak even with my exceptional smithing skills they wouldn’t have a half starved urchin as an apprentice let alone a girl. So one day instead of asking for a job at the smithy we robbed him. We made enough selling his knives and mugging those who wouldn’t buy them with them to have a room in an inn and eat well. My sister was protected and cared for I made sure she was...She was all I had left..” Regret creeped into her eyes as she continued.

“I did whatever I had to to keep her cared for and safe...and in the end I failed her. I was no example of what to follow, but I was too young and blinded by bloodlust, greed and my own illusions of vengeance to notice she was watching. And copying. I was her older sister. The one our mother entrusted to protect her namesake.” She said. Her voice quivering but in the slightly breaking tone of true grief.

So Gunhild has been her mother’s name as well. A name Kylas mother and Ferelith shared..

“So the least I could do is be with her while she pays the price for a having a sister that taught her nothing but the path of violence and destruction she followed to a life of pain and death.” She said.

Looking like she had aged 2 years simply speaking of her past and present.

“So there is your why leech.” She spat once more, her vigor only slightly returning.

“Any other questions? Or can we just get on with this.” She said with an annoyed glare at the vampire and knight. It wasn’t like her to be so honest.

Thinking of her sister alone in some hole she helped dig to toss her into just really ate at her soul.

Made her irrational.

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

The chuckle only deepening if Eberwolf did indeed draw his sword.

“What would you even do with that exactly?” Her grin widening to a mirthless smile. Holding out her hand her other moves to her knife.

Moving so quickly it was barely a glint of the steel blade before it was already sheathed again. She wiggles her fingers as they fell off. Her entire hand s fingers cut off at the knuckle.

"I don't need to kill you, driving it through your stomach and the door would do plenty to help our purposes. It would be even worse if you were to heal around it. You think yourself invincible, and that is the attitute that will end up proving you the fool." He says calmly. "Besides, as I said earlier, if you pose a threat to Heike, I am honorbound to face you in combat regardless of the threat to my own life."

“Don’t speak to me of the why. Leech. What I do I do for my own reasons.” She growled keeping her hands clasped together.

“You could never understand atoning for sins you committed when you were young, starving and abused. Me and Ferelith were the last survivors of our tribe in the spine. Orcs over ran us in the night. We were slaves, sexual toys, and gladiators for them. When we escaped we didn’t know what else to do but turn to the blades that had kept us alive in the pit.” Her anger seemed to dissolve as she sank back into her seat.

Her muscle relaxing. “I had hoped the bandit life would help us gain money quickly given our lack of education and family. we were often ran off from smiths before they even gave us a chance to speak even with my exceptional smithing skills they wouldn’t have a half starved urchin as an apprentice let alone a girl. So one day instead of asking for a job at the smithy we robbed him. We made enough selling his knives and mugging those who wouldn’t buy them with them to have a room in an inn and eat well. My sister was protected and cared for I made sure she was...She was all I had left..” Regret creeped into her eyes as she continued.

“I did whatever I had to to keep her cared for and safe...and in the end I failed her. I was no example of what to follow, but I was too young and blinded by bloodlust, greed and my own illusions of vengeance to notice she was watching. And copying. I was her older sister. The one our mother entrusted to protect her namesake.” She said. Her voice quivering but in the slightly breaking tone of true grief.

A hint of pity entered his heart, made him hesitant to face the woman in front of him with the intent to harm her. After her explanation, instead of a proud, ruthless warrior, he saw a sad, regretful little girl. One he'd have been tempted to comfort if not for the situation in which they found themselves. He spoke calmly, and with a tone that would comfort them. "If it is at all possible, I will do what I am able to ensure that you and your sister are put together. I cannot guarantee success, I can guarantee effort."

 

[Heike Eisen]

Kyla certainly shared the arrogance Heike had seen in Ferelith. Perhaps it was, as Sir Eberwolf alluded to, a perilous overconfidence, sharing that in common with her sister as well. For Heike and Szesh had managed to overpower Ferelith, bringing her--with no shortage of difficulty, it must be said--to yield. Exsanguination seemed to be the key.

But thankfully, nothing came from the posturing. And that was good. It was, to put it mildly, not ideal to fight in so cramped a locale and with innocent people in all the adjacent rooms.

And Kyla, with something between irritation and outright anger, admonished Heike for her inquiry. But answered anyway.

Here, in listening to Kyla's story, a sort of echo of the tiny bubbling of resentment Heike had felt when Sir Eberwolf had spoken of the ease in which he had become a knight. Only now, the roles were reversed, and Heike recognized quite clearly that she was the fortunate one in relation to Kyla, the one who had an undeniable level of ease and comfort. Heike's childhood in Reikhurst had been wonderful: she had a loving family, no shortage of food to eat, no worries that could not be resolved by her parents or by her community. An implicit assumption, in those younger days, that this was how life was like for all children.

Yes. Kyla was right. Heike could never understand atoning for sins committed in the young days before womanhood. Not truly. While Kyla and Ferelith were slaves and sexual playthings and gladiators and starving and turning to banditry by brutal necessity, Heike, meanwhile, was likely at home having a delightful dinner with her family or playing in the common gardens with the other Reikhurstan children of her neighborhood or pretend marching down the King's Avenue as the Knights of the Golden Blade did every year. She did not know sin in the way Kyla and Ferelith knew it, the only parallel the conflict with her affliction now, but even this she endured with the benefit of having twenty-nine years of life experience.

But the law was the law. Blind to circumstance. Though this was not without its own sense of justice. Kyla and Ferelith had been starving, yes, they were desperate and possibly had no other choice, yes, but still they had robbed that blacksmith. Him, and many others. They had deprived him and these others of their rightful possessions and meager (or perhaps not so meager) wealth, and that was a cold fact. While Kyla and Ferelith's suffering was tragic, it did not give them license to visit deprivation and suffering on others.

Hence, their punishments. Kyla and Ferelith did what they had to do when they were young, and now they would endure what they must as adults. Their motives were not explicitly wicked or malevolent, but a just reckoning had caught up with them regardless.

And Kyla, it seemed, accepted this with grace.

If it is at all possible, I will do what I am able to ensure that you and your sister are put together. I cannot guarantee success, I can guarantee effort.

Heike, now relaxed in the wake of Kyla's story and her willing demeanor, added to this sentiment, "I turned over Ferelith to Guard Captain Bronmarch in Alliria some time ago. I will do the same for you, and I believe it well within reason for you to be placed within her vicinity inside the prison."

"I will also speak to Captain Bronmarch on your behalf, and tell him that you submitted yourself willingly and peaceably into custody. To what extent he takes this circumstance into consideration is his own personal discretion, but he is a good man."

A slight pause. And Heike said softly, "You may care nothing for my sympathy, Kyla, but nonetheless you have it. I am truly sorry to hear of the terrible things you and your sister have suffered."

Heike felt an urge to embrace the woman, to show her a small act of kindness, to encourage the notion that things could get better. But she did not. Such would be improper conduct between lawful custodian and guilty charge. It was not that Heike was forbidden to treat Kyla with said kindness, but it remained that a degree of appropriate separation must be maintained.

Heike went to the table and collected the vampire compendium. Said to Kyla, "Restraints will not be necessary."

And, given Ferelith's strength, restraints would have been little more than ceremonial. In any case, Heike and Sir Eberwolf could escort Kyla to Alliria, where her just punishment under the common law of the land could be met. After, Castle Kinniger's vampire problem could be addressed, as Heike had sworn herself to do.

Sir Eberwolf Kinniger Kyla Scathach

Spoiler

(((OOC: If neither of you have anything pertinent to add immediately in the tavern/inn room, we could have a small final scene: a night at camp during their travel, and Heike can finally have an opportunity to find the knowledge she's been looking for inside the compendium; and Eberwolf and Kyla's reactions to it.

If you do have something pertinent to add, when can do the campfire scene later, once everything in the tavern/inn room is resolved.)))

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

Spoiler

I have nothing to add to this scene, if Kyla does not either, then go ahead.

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“Keep your sympathy and pity. It’s wasted on those that neither want it nor have use for it.” She growled.

Glaring at the pair of them. Her emotional barriers falling down with out her notice as she was lost in memories sprang back up seeing the looks her now captors gave her.

“I protected you and got what you wished. And I helped you protect your charge, up hold your oath and escape cleanly.” She spat venomously at each of them in turn. “And my reward is to find the woman I protected threw my sister in some Allirian shit hole and plans to do the same with me, A knight that doesn’t trust me despite my actions, offers me something he has no power to grant and on top of all that pile of orc shit is the pity of two knights that think themselves fit to lay judgement.” She barked.

A harsh laugh escaping her lips at the sheer irony of her situation. “So keep your sympathy leech. I have no use for the useless sympathy of some monster.” She said callously. Looking to Heike when she commented no restraints would be required.

“It usually puts people at ease even if it won’t actually restrict me.” She said with a shrug. “Let’s be off then. My patience wears thin for those like the pair of you.” She said waiting for one of them to go through the door first undoubtedly so the other could follow behind her.

 

[Heike Eisen]

DURING THE JOURNEY TO ALLIRIA

NIGHT AT CAMP​

The small campfire crackled. Heike did not need to eat, but Sir Eberwolf and Kyla did, and the fire would cook any small game caught or heat up other travel rations; this, and the warmth was a comfort to all three of them. Heike as well didn't need to sleep, making her the ideal night watchwoman.

Not that it seemed necessary in Kyla's case. The woman, despite her voiced grievances against both Sir Eberwolf and Heike back in Elbion, had been remarkably cooperative thus far along the road to Alliria. The resentment ensured a certain degree of mildly unpleasant silence as they journeyed, but this was without question the best state of affairs. Her drive to see her sister or for penance or for both kept her weapon sheathed, and Heike respected that.

The campfire encapsulated the three of them in its soft bubble of flickering orange, keeping the night pushed back.

And Heike sat with her back against a tree. She had the vampire compendium out (which she would need to toss back into the Monster Hunter Fortress, once she returned to Elbion in her own time). She flipped through the pages, taking care to scrutinize each section on the various strains. There were some illustrations here and there, some newer and some older, pages left mostly blank near the end of sections wherein new and updated notes from Hunters could be added. A number of these newer notes were signed --JM. Not surprising.

Heike struck up a light conversation with Sir Eberwolf as she continued to peruse the pages. Said, "When did the vampires come to infest that fort near Castle Kinniger? Have they have been more..." She thought of the most appropriate word, "active, or have they been more reclusive?"

If they were active, it seemed to Heike--as bad as it sounded--the better circumstance. Better, only because if the vampires were reclusive, they were likely up to something far more insidious than simply prowling for blood. That old saying came to mind about the devil you know versus the devil you don't, and yes, the devil Heike knew was far more predictable than the devil she did not.

Sir Eberwolf Kinniger Kyla Scathach

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

Heike struck up a light conversation with Sir Eberwolf as she continued to peruse the pages. Said, "When did the vampires come to infest that fort near Castle Kinniger? Have they have been more..." She thought of the most appropriate word, "active, or have they been more reclusive?"

If they were active, it seemed to Heike--as bad as it sounded--the better circumstance. Better, only because if the vampires were reclusive, they were likely up to something far more insidious than simply prowling for blood. That old saying came to mind about the devil you know versus the devil you don't, and yes, the devil Heike knew was far more predictable than the devil she did not.

"It's not a fort, a fortress, a citadel of adamantine strength that had been a stronghold to my forefathers many centuries ago, and better at repelling seige than any other fortress I've come across, and with those vampires locked in there with their thralls to guard the wall during the day, it has become even more impregnable. The vampires are active, but not in the normal sense of they come and raid a village at night, drink some blood and go along their merry way, no, They have gone through and eradicated entire villages, taking the townspeople with them, except for a few of those who were able to resist long enough to be slain, and those who were captured as defenders were placed on spikes, dead or alive. We've had to start sending men in afterwards to end their misery, as it is reported that the men and women impaled often take a week or more to die. All the while they have been busy, repairing and improving the old walls, and mounting ballistae and catapults on top of it. They even have a great deal of iron mines, and all through the day and night smoke rises from the fortress, and the sound of metal being hammered echoes around the valley. Them and their thralls are armed and equiped uniformly, with good armour and better weapons. It is as though they intend to invade. It has gone from attacking villages to army scale battles all throughout the duchy. My father, Remmond, is desperate, so he sent me to the Hunters to learn about ways that we might repel the vampires, and put an end to them. We've been constructing counterweight trebuchets and arming legions of men with halberds and plate armour with warhammers as their secondary weapons. We've been able to hold them at a stalemate up to now but it needs to end and soon, so we are gathering forces wherever they might be found for an invasion into their territory. Your help should prove invaluable."

 

[Kyla Scathach]

A boot would come flying in their direction. Hitting a boulder next to them hard enough to leave a large crack running up it “Good luck with that.” Kyla growled.

“The duchy is in much danger! What could any of us do!? Just shut up and let me sleep or your newest worry is going to be how to get there with no legs.” She warned icily her red eyed glare cutting through the night before she rolled back over where she was curled up next to the fire.

She would block out the rest of their conversation as she drifted off into sleep.

..........................
Her dreams were unpleasant ones. “You failed me sister.” Fereliths voice found her in her dream over the screams of her people’s slaughter. She heard her mothers cries of anguish.

Her fathers roars of descent before the blade fell to his neck. “Now all of this was for nothing. You simply delayed my death. Drew it out longer. “N-no! I..I did what I thought..” Kyla said as the scene faded. Now only her mother or who she knew to be her mother stood in front of her where she lay in the cell they had thrown her in all those years ago.

“I trusted you child to protect your sisters and you saved neither. How could you betray the memory of you parents..your people by allowing the line of those who protected them to be stamped out..abused...and debased by the manner you lived your life. You useless..disgraceful..hateful little child.” She spat her words building around her as every statement cut Kyla’s heart like a heated blade.

“Mother..I..wait!” Kyla said as her mother’s image grew distant leaving her in her cell. The sounds of pain and suffering only growing louder as it had in her youth. Sleeping through the screams as her people were tortured for days before allowed to die. “Come back please!” She yelled as soon her mother’s image faded leaving her alone in her cell as the screams were all she could hear.

“Don’t..You..” she pleaded. “DON’T LEAVE ME HERE!” She said in a scream of desperation and fear.


Her eyes snapping open as she lunged forward. Knife in hand, she stopped. Cold sweat covering her body. “I can..I..” she said glancing around. Her breathing matching the pace of her rapidly beating heart.

She would glance over at Heike who was undoubtedly still awake. How much had she heard? Ferelith used to tease her about how much she spoke in her sleep..and after a dream like that she was sure she had been quite vocal.

“What are you looking at?” She would huff regaining her composure slightly enough for a blush of embarrassment to flood her cheeks.

“Don’t you sleep? Creepy leech..” she spat defensively trying to batter away any questions or concern that might be aimed at her with sheer abrasiveness.