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Heike listened to Sir Eberwolf's summary of the situation in his Duchy. And it was grim. Heike had equated the force of vampires that had sacked Reikhurst to an army solely by virtue of their unprecedented numbers and coordination. But this was worse. Much worse. These vampires threatening Castle Kinniger seemed an army in the exact sense of the word, replete with weapons and armor for their forces and actual siege equipment for devastating support.
It is as though they intend to invade. It seemed safe to Heike to revise that statement to: Their invasion is imminent, those army scale battles the precursor. What could be prompting vampires, of all creatures, to be so bold was anyone's guess.
And yet, had not a host of vampires destroyed Reikhurst? For reasons unknown, but destroyed her home all the same? Yes, vampires had the capacity to be so brazen.
She and Sir Eberwolf were but two people against this arrayed force of the wicked. But she would endeavor to make a difference. To do what it took to expunge this threat.
"I will see it done," Heike said, her voice a blacksmith's finest steel. "All of these vampires slain, the fortress purged, and your lands at peace."
Kyla, quite evidently, had been woken by their talk, as a boot went sailing past the two of them. Heike just glanced at Sir Eberwolf, shrugged, and turned her attention back to the vampire compendium.
And later, with many more pages turned such that Heike was past the middle of the book, she noticed a description of a vampiric strain that caught her attention loosely at first. Then clutched it tightly.
The Slaughtern strain, Characteristics: Yellow eyes, pale skin,living undead, elongated claws, hardened bones, magic immunity dampening. Weak to fire and light magic, no weakness to iron or silver. Direct sunlight not lethal--paralyzing on contact with flesh.
Heike's eyes lit up. She whispered, nearly hissed with her suppressed excitement, "Sir Eberwolf, I've found it."
So this was the strain of vampires who had conspired to sack her home. Strange, she knew of a...oh, right here. Heike read further and saw what she was thinking of, the origin of the strain's moniker, the town of Slaughtern, further west along the Sayve/Bystra from Reikhurst. She'd been there before. A few times, actually. How could...
Oh. The first noted appearance of the strain was between 500-600 years ago. The strain and the vampires had originated there, but not stayed. Not gone too far, either.
Heike read more. Skipping over parts she already well knew through her own experience. There was a scribbled note at the bottom of one of the pages, making a correction to the sentence: The Slaughtern strain vampires, due to their magical immunities, are highly solitary, likely--it is theorized--because ancient vampire lords have difficulty in keeping control over them due to this. And the correction succinctly stated: Not true! Organized!
Heike turned the page. And stopped.
Recently added, perhaps within the last ten or fifteen years, was a section on the strain's supposed leader, whose name was unknown by the author but provided was a sketch based on an account by a surviving witness. And it was not who Heike had always thought it was. She saw the sketch of his profile, and recognized it instantly, for all Reikhurstans learned young the line of twenty-one kings who had come to rule Reikhurst. Yes, she recognized the face sketched in the book, for it was the same as she had seen on a painting within the once mighty Citadel of Reikhurst itself.
He was Jürgen Kaiser. The Third King of Reikhurst. Gone missing along with his family some four hundred years ago.
Here, one of the greatest mysteries in Reikhurst's history, laid out before her in terrible clarity.
"How could...how could this...? He was a king..."
Heike's eyes trailed further down the page and saw this, a note much more recently added within the last two to four years:
He holds The Bloodstone.
* * * * *
As soon as Heike's eyes crossed that last portion on the page, Kyla burst from her sleep with a surprising fright, a knife in hand. Heike lowered the book, tensed, glanced to Sir Eberwolf, but it quickly seemed unnecessary. Kyla had not over the course of the previous nights turned hostile, and tonight was no exception.
If anything, she appeared flustered and irritable rather than outright aggressive.
Don't you sleep?
"It doesn't come easily," Heike said. A statement reinforced by what she had read and what she had seen in the compendium.
Heike closed the book. Glanced to Sir Eberwolf again. Perhaps he would want it, to do as Heike had done and search for information on the strain (or strains) of vampire he and she would be fighting against in his Duchy.
And after.
After.
Her enemy, He who had taken from her everything and everyone she loved, awaited.
And at last she knew his name.
Sir Eberwolf Kinniger Kyla Scathach
It is as though they intend to invade. It seemed safe to Heike to revise that statement to: Their invasion is imminent, those army scale battles the precursor. What could be prompting vampires, of all creatures, to be so bold was anyone's guess.
And yet, had not a host of vampires destroyed Reikhurst? For reasons unknown, but destroyed her home all the same? Yes, vampires had the capacity to be so brazen.
She and Sir Eberwolf were but two people against this arrayed force of the wicked. But she would endeavor to make a difference. To do what it took to expunge this threat.
"I will see it done," Heike said, her voice a blacksmith's finest steel. "All of these vampires slain, the fortress purged, and your lands at peace."
Kyla, quite evidently, had been woken by their talk, as a boot went sailing past the two of them. Heike just glanced at Sir Eberwolf, shrugged, and turned her attention back to the vampire compendium.
* * * * *
And later, with many more pages turned such that Heike was past the middle of the book, she noticed a description of a vampiric strain that caught her attention loosely at first. Then clutched it tightly.
The Slaughtern strain, Characteristics: Yellow eyes, pale skin,
Heike's eyes lit up. She whispered, nearly hissed with her suppressed excitement, "Sir Eberwolf, I've found it."
So this was the strain of vampires who had conspired to sack her home. Strange, she knew of a...oh, right here. Heike read further and saw what she was thinking of, the origin of the strain's moniker, the town of Slaughtern, further west along the Sayve/Bystra from Reikhurst. She'd been there before. A few times, actually. How could...
Oh. The first noted appearance of the strain was between 500-600 years ago. The strain and the vampires had originated there, but not stayed. Not gone too far, either.
Heike read more. Skipping over parts she already well knew through her own experience. There was a scribbled note at the bottom of one of the pages, making a correction to the sentence: The Slaughtern strain vampires, due to their magical immunities, are highly solitary, likely--it is theorized--because ancient vampire lords have difficulty in keeping control over them due to this. And the correction succinctly stated: Not true! Organized!
Heike turned the page. And stopped.
Recently added, perhaps within the last ten or fifteen years, was a section on the strain's supposed leader, whose name was unknown by the author but provided was a sketch based on an account by a surviving witness. And it was not who Heike had always thought it was. She saw the sketch of his profile, and recognized it instantly, for all Reikhurstans learned young the line of twenty-one kings who had come to rule Reikhurst. Yes, she recognized the face sketched in the book, for it was the same as she had seen on a painting within the once mighty Citadel of Reikhurst itself.
He was Jürgen Kaiser. The Third King of Reikhurst. Gone missing along with his family some four hundred years ago.
Here, one of the greatest mysteries in Reikhurst's history, laid out before her in terrible clarity.
"How could...how could this...? He was a king..."
Heike's eyes trailed further down the page and saw this, a note much more recently added within the last two to four years:
He holds The Bloodstone.
* * * * *
As soon as Heike's eyes crossed that last portion on the page, Kyla burst from her sleep with a surprising fright, a knife in hand. Heike lowered the book, tensed, glanced to Sir Eberwolf, but it quickly seemed unnecessary. Kyla had not over the course of the previous nights turned hostile, and tonight was no exception.
If anything, she appeared flustered and irritable rather than outright aggressive.
Don't you sleep?
"It doesn't come easily," Heike said. A statement reinforced by what she had read and what she had seen in the compendium.
Heike closed the book. Glanced to Sir Eberwolf again. Perhaps he would want it, to do as Heike had done and search for information on the strain (or strains) of vampire he and she would be fighting against in his Duchy.
And after.
After.
Her enemy, He who had taken from her everything and everyone she loved, awaited.
And at last she knew his name.
Sir Eberwolf Kinniger Kyla Scathach
