Fable - Ask Terse Words

[Eleanor]

The lit torch collided with Eleanor's right hand a millisecond before Edric pulled her away. The torch skimmed the tent they were walking by and the fabric caught slowly. Neither waited to see if it went up in flames or not as they moved towards their main goal - the supply tent. Once they had arrived, she went through the front flap and caught a few boxes on fire before dropping the torch into an open box and exiting the tent.

She felt like her heart was about to burst out of her chest and all she saw was red. She wanted nothing more than to kill anyone or anything that got into her way. She felt like she was on fire as the camp burned around them. Ella looked over at Edric and really saw him for the first time. They were kindred spirits of chaos and spite who wanted nothing more than to watch the world burn.

The world at the moment was this camp that sought to destroy an ally and it was already well on the way to burning completely. She took her dagger from her belt and held it up, "shall we cull the leadership some?" All trace of calm had left Eleanor. She was running on anger, instinct, and years of training now. She wanted them to suffer.

 

[Edric]

Chaos had bloomed within the center of camp now.

It was spreading like a disease. Flames catching on adjacent tents, men and women rushing around with buckets of water in a desperate attempt to stem the tide. It would have been a beautiful sight had they not been in the midst of it.

The two Dreadlord Initates moved through the camp as quickly as they could, Edric's heart racing as they dodged small crowd. All the while Edric shouted, calling towards those who passed them by and sowing more seeds.

His head rolled towards Eleanor as she posed her question."Fuck it."

He said with a gnash of his teeth.

"Let's cut the head off the snake." There was still an army, and there would still be one tomorrow. Even with all this fire, even with all this destruction, near ten thousand men made up this camp. They would undoubtedly be discouraged, but still here.

Perhaps without their general they would lose even that impulse.

 

[Eleanor]

Edric wanted them to go to the top rung of the leadership ladder and Eleanor was with him all the way. They would have more luck breaking down the morale here by taking out the general versus taking out some lower leadership.

They were in some luck as the moved through the camp as fast as they could. The general usually had the largest tent that sat away from everyone else slightly. The two of them were heading straight towards it, but by now any element of surprise was gone. Ella's mind was racing through their options and she was coming up blank on the safest way in and out.

They were going to have to fight and she was practically vibrating with excitement now. "There is no element of surprise, what is the plan?" Ella's voice was clipped and no nonsense as they continued their quick pace.

 

[Edric]

Edric counted eight guards.

There wasn't any way to avoid them, and he knew trying to peel them away from that tent would be all but impossible. His lips thinned, eyes never pulling away from the massive tent as Eleanor asked her question. "Easy."

It would be anything but.

"We make a little distraction." He looked at her finally. "Or rather, you make a little distraction."

One of the knives slipped from his belt. "Think you can throw this into the furthest guards throat on my signal?"

They still wore the same uniform as the enemy, and they had to use that. If she could kill the guard standing at the left most tent post, Edric could roll from there.

 

[Eleanor]

Eleanor eyed Edric, "I am going to need you to stop using the word easy on this mission." Her words were an admonishment but her tone was full of sarcasm. He needed a new word that wouldn't automatically mean everything would be the exact opposite.

She took the knife that her fellow initiate offered and nodded. That was easy. Throwing knives and hitting her targets had been one of the first things she had learned and it was her most used offense as well.

Edric looked ready for his part of the plan, whatever it was. So as soon as he gave the signal, she threw the knife at the guard he had indicated. Her already outstretched hand guided it to the guards jugular.

Ella say him reach for his neck and try, unsuccessfully, to breath. The blood was already pouring from his neck and he gurgled before falling to his knees.

 

[Edric]

Edric moved to the side of the tent opposite Eleanor.

All around them the clamor of what was going on could still be heard, yet the eight guards did not budge from their positions outside of the tent. He doubted that the General was sleeping, not after all of this, but more likely than not the man had elected to stay put.

It was a guess, but a good one.

Edric stepped into place, moving just enough to be where he needed to be. Then he motioned to Eleanor.

Within a heartbeat the knife soared through the air, catching the guard he had indicated directly in the jugular. A spurt of blood sprayed outward, casting onto the floor ahead of the man. "ASSASSIN! ASSASSIN IN THE CAMP!"

His voice bellowed.

"HE'S HEADED INTO THE GENERAL'S TENT!" As he called out the remaining seven guards seemed to almost instantly turn, rushing into the massive tent.

Edric lingered for only half a breath, glancing towards Eleanor, and then rushing into the tent.

 

[Eleanor]

These men really were idiots but she was not going to complain when they all rushed into the tent to protect their general. They were going to be upset in a few moments, but then they'd be dead soon after.

Eleanor had already been pulling her knife pouch open as she moved to the tent. One of the thin throwing knives was already flying towards the furthest guard to the right as she entered.

She grabbed another and let a vicious smile form on her lips. Close quarters, five guards, and a general. This is what she lived for.

 

[Edric]

Edric stepped into the tent.

There was no weapons in his hand, nothing that spoke of him as an enemy. Yet the six men remaining within the tent all seemed to know the moment he passed through the threshold. The ring of swords leaving scabbards echoed out, stances changed.

All of them stared at him. "You're looking the wrong way."

Edric said with a smirk.

A pulse seemed to run through his entire body, his muscles stretching, growing. It was a ripple of pain that soared through him, the pull of his magic reaching out towards all six of the men. Their faces changed, they could tell something was wrong, but it was already too late.

With inhuman speed Edric burst forward, rushing the first of the guard and catching his sword arm before it could even properly raise. A loud snap echoed out as he broke the man's bone, the blade in his hand falling free and then stabbing through his abdomen as Edric caught it and spun it back.

Then chaos broke loose.

 

[Eleanor]

Between the two dreadlord initiates, they had brought the tent guards number from six to four in a matter of moments. Edric was moving to the next guard as Eleanor extended her hand and pulled the sword from one of the guards hands. The guard looked down in shock at his empty hand as his blade landed in Ella's.

She didn't take more than a millisecond before the blade was flying through the air and burying itself in the guards heart. The look of shock that he had transformed into horror as the pain shot through his body and death came to claim him.

Three more and the general. By this time the general was on his feet with his own sword held his in strong grip.

 

[Edric]

Blood sprayed left. Then it sprayed right.

The tent became little more than a graveyard. Bodies fell to the floor, tumbling to the ground and laying as little more than a remnant of what they could have been. By the time Edric and Eleanor were done there were only two remaining.

A general, and his last guard.

"You forgot who you were fighting." Edric's voice echoed through the tent, his face half splattered in blood. "This world isn't yours. This city isn't yours."

Slowly he stepped forward. "No matter your numbers. No matter your armies."

Fingers gripped blood slick blades.

"It all belongs to us." His gaze stared into the eye of the general, flickering briefly past him. "Right, El?"

 

[Eleanor]

During the chaos, Eleanor had moved her way through the tent with each kill. She now stood silently behind the general as Edric spoke to him and his last remaining guard. She was splattered with as much blood as Edric was and her right hand held the dagger as she prepared to slit the generals throat.

"Right, El?"

Eleanor grabbed the general by his hair with her left hand and pulled his head back as her blade slid across his exposed throat. "Right," her voice was low and deadly. She let go of the man as he gurgled once and then fell to his knees. She kicked the body forward into the dirt.

The single guard remained between Edric and herself. She could only imagine the terror he felt in this moment and it brought her a glee she did not know she possessed.

 

[Edric]

One man remained standing.

One little guard.

His general was dead. His fellows were in utter chaos. Edric could not even imagine the emotion that was raging inside of him, the fear, the anger. All of it. The very thought of it was so foreign, so adjacent to what he even thought was possible.

"In the next life." Edric began, his hand reaching up. "You'll know."

Fingers began to curl, slowly twirling into a tight fist. "Don't fight us."

As he spoke the words seemed to weave into the air. Panic spread across the man's face, and fear drained into his eyes. Horror dawned in his face as muscles and flesh tightened, as life fled him. Edric's magic drew upon his very soul, and silent scream echoed from his mouth as his jaw fell open.

With a sudden jerk the guard fell onto the floor. His body a desiccated husk of what it had once been.

Edric stood upon it, eyes closed, a reverent smile upon his face.

 

[Eleanor]

Eleanor knew what Edric could do but she had never actually watched him literally drain the life from someone. It was like a sick and twisted artwork that she did not want to look away from. She looked down at what was once a human body and then up at Edric, who stood over it with a smile and closed eyes.

"Magnificent," she said softly with her eyes still on the killer in front of her. She lifted her shirt to wipe the blood off of her face and hands before wiping her dagger clean.

"I think we should probably deliver that message now. It was so nice of us to deliver a demonstration as well as the promise of aid. So thoughtful." She chuckled.

 

[Edric]

Edric let out a long breath, his entire body seeming to shake.

It was rare, nowadays, that he took the entire life of a human being. It was almost something to be celebrated, the power that now flowed through him. He felt as though he could do so much. Fight a dozen men, tear apart any foe.

The strength was nearly indescribable. Edric almost seemed to buzz, ready to jump at the nearest target as Eleanor stepped towards him. "Suppose we should."

Edric said, casting a glance over the corpses within the tent.

His gaze flickered over the General's body, then drew over the desk in the corner of the room. Slowly he took a few steps forward, reaching out with a soft touch to wipe some of the blood from Eleanors face.

"If we can make it through the rest of the camp without killing anyone else." A prospect which now seemed all but impossible.

 

[Eleanor]

Eleanor froze when Edric wiped away some of the blood she missed with her shirt. His touch was surprisingly gentle and she was intrigued by the sensation that ran down her spine. What the fuck was that, she thought to herself.

She huffed at the prospect of making it through the camp without bloodshed. This was the most fun she'd had in a very long time and she was ready to kill anyone eho got in their way.

"I am absolutely positive that we won't be able to. They're going to learn today. Sadly, it's the last lesson they'll ever learn." Ella smiled at Edric before stepping away and heading towards the front of the tent.

 

[Edric]

Edric turned on his heel, watching as Eleanor walked away towards the slip in the tent that would serve as their exit.

A broad grin passed across his lips.

Fingers reached down, picking up the long curved blade which the General had clutched even in his dying breath. The sword spun within Edric's palm, and then settled as he began to follow after Eleanor. Outside the chaos they had sowed was still reigning.

Fire's spread throughout the entire encampment.

Men and women went rushing around every which way. Some carried buckets of water, others simply did their best to quell flames where they saw them. The discord surrounding them served as a cloak, the two Initiates moving under the shadow of chaos.

"Hey! Where's the ge-"​

A guard rushed over towards the two of them, his words cut off as Edric swiped the scimitar over his throat.

The time for talk was over. "Get to the wall."

He called out to Eleanor as they rushed forward.

 

[Eleanor]

Eleanor heard Edric yell at her to get to the wall and she nodded as she moved at a much faster pace than earlier. They had, indeed, left this camp in absolute chaos and it was beautiful. The fires had spread so much and the little bit of water was doing so little. How sad, she chuckled to herself.

She saw a man running at her and she immediately reached for a single throwing knife. She was not so much concerned with making sure they were dead at this point. Permanently disabled was an outcome that she would accept. Her knife left her hand as he drew closer and found it's target in his heart. He took a few more steps before falling. She realized then that she was going to have to requisition a whole new set of throwing knives after this mission. She was down to seven now. She had not been able to retrieve three of them.

The wall loomed in front of them now and she could hear Edric behind her.

 

[Edric]

As they reached the edge of the encampment Edric dropped the scimitar onto the ground, his hand coming up to quickly tear away the uniform coat still hanging off his shoulders.

The two Initiates rushed into the no-mans land between the Camp and the Wall. Several flickering torches suddenly stopped high above them, The City Guard coming to a stop as they watched the two figures run closer to the wall.

"Can you get up there?" He shouted to Eleanor as they ran.

Though a fire still ravaged the encampment behind them, the whole of the enemy army was not yet dissuaded. While most were occupied with quelling the chaos Eleanor and Edric had caused, some took notice of the two fleeing students.

It was not long before arrows flew through the air, arching directly towards the two Dreadlord Initiates. One landed just inches from Edric's foot as they sprinted towards the wall.

 

[Eleanor]

Eleanor dropped the blood splatted uniform coat at the same time Edric did. Last thing they needed was to get killed by the people they were trying to help because they were mistaken as enemies. She nodded at her partner as she ran and flung her hands out in front of her. Stones started to slip out to create a makeshift ladder for her to climb up and she absently wondered how Edric would get up the wall. Perhaps he had another way or perhaps he would use her stone steps.

Ella heard the arrows start to whiz past them and a couple came too close for comfort. She jumped as she got to the wall and her hand easily found her first protruding stone and she pulled herself up to the next. She was extremely grateful for the extra upper body exercises that she had been doing lately.

She was almost to the top when she felt pain slice through her left thigh. It flared through her body, but her adrenaline allowed her to pull herself up and over the parapet. She rolled as she hit the stone of the walkway where the guards now stood ready to attack at a wrong move or word.

 

[Edric]

Edric didn't have any magic to force the stones of the wall free.

He didn't have the ability to fly or any such things. All he had was his own magic.

The young Initiate rushed forward as quickly as he could, his boots kicking into the dirt as he drew closer and closer. Arrows landed around him, slicing through the air and threatening his life. He ignored them all, closing his eyes and taking a breath as he bounded forward.

Edric kicked off from the ground, and then he reached out.

He didn't care at what he grasped, at whom he drew from. Guards. Enemies. Friends. All that mattered was the power he could consume.

His muscles pulsed, flexed. He could feel his skin grow taught, his fingers flex, and then he reached out to grasp the wall. Stone was reduced to powder as he slammed into the barricade, his fist digging into the heavy mortar.

With an erratic strength Edric began to climb the wall, creating his own footholds within the wall with the borrowed strength of both friend and foe.

By the time he reached the walkway above it was not he who was tired, but the guards who had begun to surround Eleanor. A weariness clung to their features, swords shaking within their hands, knocked arrows straining in their bows.

Edric swept onto the walkway besides Eleanor, his eyes wild, gaze flickering. "Step...back..."

He demanded breathlessly.

 

[Eleanor]

By the time Edric had joined her on the walkway, she had sat up and tried to stand before landing back on her ass. The arrow that had hit her thigh would have simply grazed her it it would have been two inches to the left. She cursed and broke both sides of the arrow shaft in half, wincing at the pain. Of course, she would make it through the entire enemy camp with a few minor wounds and get an arrow to the thigh right as they were about to reach safety. Fucking bullshit, she thought in irritation.

She pulled the rest of the shaft out and immediately used her very limited healing magic to stop the bleeding and close the skin around the wound. The muscles and tendons were, unfortunately, on their own. The pain was also there to stay, as well. Eleanor used the wall to help her stand and she stood there next to Edric with most of her weight on her right leg.

That wince and the help to stand was the only weakness she would let anyone see.

 

[Edric]

Edric peered at the soldiers, most of them looking as though they were about to fall. For a brief moment he wondered just how he'd taken so much from them, but then he realized that wasn't it at all.

Most of these men were ghosts of themselves.

Their faces were gaunt, their muscles slight. This siege had been dragging on, and the soldiers of Vel Anir were beginning to show signs of that. These men were starved, tired, and likely on the brink of sanity. A frown touched Edric's lips, and then he motioned towards Eleanor. "We're Dreadlords."

Almost anyway.

"We need to speak to the Governor, immediately." His voice was steady, firm.

One of the guards looked over the two Initiates, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank the gods. Pol, go tell the Captain, quickly."
​

Edric's brow raised slightly, but shook his head as the youngest of the guards rushed off down the wall. The others lowering their weapons a second later.

The initiate shook his head, turning to Eleanor. "Are you alright?"

He asked quietly, mostly to spare her the indignity of the guards hearing him.

 

[Eleanor]

The soldiers were quick to believe them and jump into action. Eleanor was thankful that they were not going to have to play the convincing game with these men. Pol ran off to get the Captain and the others relaxed. They looked so tired and she felt slightly bad for them. Only slightly.

She looked up at Edric when he turned to her and nodded. "Yeah, it's just going to hurt for a while. Bleeding is stopped so no problems." She crossed her arms over her chest as they waited for the young guard to return. She would probably favoring her wounded leg for a few months, but that wouldn't stop her from training and being the best she could be. In fact, as long as Edric kept his mouth shut, no one even needed to know about the arrow. She would go visit Chasmine for some medicine if the pain became too much to handle.

A thought crossed her mind while they waited and she chuckled quietly, "did you think about how we were going to get out of here?" She didn't think their original route would be an option now.

 

[Edric]

Edric glanced down at Eleanor, eying her for a brief few moments before he slowly turned back to the encampment beyond the wall.

One could see how the fire had spread, and yet...it wasn't enough.

Eleanor and Edric had carved a path through the Camp, carved destruction where they had gone. It was obvious, from the top of the wall, but it simply wasn't enough. The city itself was encircled by the enemy, and the gorge of flames sat only in a fraction of the camp.

They had dealt their foe a wound, cut a gash within their side. There was no arguing that. Yet they had killed hundred when they were facing thousands. They had cut off the head of a snake, but from here...the whole thing appeared more like a Hydra.

For some reason, in that moment, despite all they had done Edric couldn't help but feel small. "To be honest."

Edric said quietly. "I hadn't thought that far ahead."

 

[Eleanor]

Ella closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead with her fingers as she laughed. She hadn't thought that far ahead either, but she knew that she didn't want to be stuck here. Although being stuck here with Edric wouldn't be the worst thing. She could have much more annoying company. "I hadn't thought about it either, Edric. Fuck."

She heard footsteps and saw the young guard returning with what she assumed was the Captain. The older man looked as haggard as the others and she could see the signs of stress clearly on his face.

"You both can follow me," he said in his best commanding tone. Poor guy didn't even sound that commanding. He turned on his heel and started towards the archway that he had entered through. Ella started to follow him, assuming Edric would be next to her shortly.