Fable - Ask The Blooding

[Nazara]

Yrial - Central Savannah

Nazara hated the sun. It wasn't the sort of hated born of weather, the kind you complained about because you got sweaty or because you tended to over heat. It was hatred born of the fact that the sun could fucking kill him if his flesh was ever marred.

That was why he was so glad for the night.

Most militaries abhorred night time. It was when ambushes were most likely, when people thought they could stalk forward and hide their intent. For the Regiment it was different of course. Half of them could see better in the dark than during the day. A skill that Nazara himself shared, and one that he intended on using tonight.

Slowly he stepped through the Camp, glancing around the small fires that had been lit and peering in the distance where Yrial's massive sandstone walls were lit by lanterns.

The Kha and his army had laid siege to this city for nearly three weeks now. Each time they had tried to enter it the defenders had savagely fought them back. Losses were almost insurmountable, and before the arrival of the Regiment the great Kha had nearly decided to break the siege and give up. The Winds of Change were on his side however, and Nazara and the others had offered him a victory.

The man had been weary at first, keeping them at bay, but after the fifth attempt today The Kha had offered them free reign to do as they pleased. Desperation setting in. For a week they had been pent up, sitting, waiting, and now they would be unleashed.

Finally he came upon the fire that he had been searching for, the one that contained both his newest recruits. Slowly he squatted down nearby the flame, never feeling the touch of it's warmth. "Not terribly interesting, is it? "

He mused as he glanced between them.

 

[Felice]

It was boring. Was this what all wars were like? Why did nations want to go to war all the time if this was all there was? You could sit around and cook awful smelling meat by a fire at home.

From the sidelines it looked like some awful tug-of-war with one side gaining an inch only to be pushed back promptly and then the tide would turn all over again. Before you knew it you had a few dozen dead upon the savannah with no gain by either side.

Boring. "Yeah, it's insufferable," she said without even looking towards Nazara.

The worst part was that it had been a week since she'd eaten a fresh meal. Two nights ago she managed to settle for a recent corpse but it just wasn't the same. As soon as the cap'n released them upon the soon-to-be losing side the very first mortal she slew was going straight into her stomach. Her mouth salivated just thinking of it.

Initially the concept of consuming people was gross. But after you try it one or two times it's not so bad. You feel really great afterwards but she was pretty sure that was because of the contract.

Her eyes made contact with the boss, even though he insisted he wasn't a boss, and answered him seriously. "I'm ready whenever you say the word." Night time would be the perfect time to strike. The living were afraid of the night almost as much as they were afraid of things like her.

 

[Harlowe]

War was nothing new to Harlowe.

She had fought in dozens over the past ten years and had died in one. The easy manner of small camp jobs like cooking or tent pegging as they waited for the go ahead to attack was the first bit of normality that she had encountered since the Change and she seized a hold of it with both hands. Her comrades at arms still unnerved her and so she had sought out a lonely fire to tend to her blade only to be joined by another.

Every monster smelt different. It was something she was growing used to with her heightened senses though Orin had warned her that it would take years for them to be less intense. She would have to settle in to the centuries, or so he had said, before bright lights didn't burn or the sound of a racing heart didn't make her salivate. Felice, Harlowe thought as she slid the whetstone down her blade in slow rhythmic movements, smelt like rotting honeysuckle.

The demon smelt like scorched flesh.

She knew who it was before he spoke and without looking up, probably would have known a mile off if the wind had been right.

"Battles are mostly waiting," Harlowe said in that soft, quiet voice of hers that wove about the senses like black silk then dragged the whetstone down her blade once more.

 

[Nazara]

"That is true." He mused for a few moments, looking at the fire for a brief moment.

He had forgotten long ago what the heat felt like, what warmth felt like. His eyes closed, and he took what most would have thought of as a deep breath. A smile touched the lips of his mask, his hands extending in an odd mimicry of humanity.

"But." Nazara said. "We are done waiting."

Black eyes slowly opened.

"I am taking you two into the city." He said, glancing to Harlowe for a moment before he looked over towards Felice.

There was a small, if not smug, smile on his lips. Both of them were the newest recruits to the regiment, and both had been chosen by him. There was always an unspoken competition to those who could wield the contract, an unspoken rivalry.

If your recruits performed well you 'won'.

"The Kha wishes for this siege to end." Nazara mused. "And I think we can do that tonight."

 

[Felice]

"Waiting? People leave their loved ones behind to go and wait?" The vampire sat next to her was new as well. To hear Nazara tell it they were rebirthed a few nights apart. She had wanted to ask the vampire if she ate people too but the other woman was far too intimidating for that sort of question.

Felice hadn't been inside of a city since her first death and that was after a lifetime of cities being all she knew. Although, when she really thought about it she had never been in a besieged city. Judging by the screams and the wailing she heard every night it was unlikely that the city would be recognizable to her.

She'd never been some warrior or killer in her old life she'd merely just struggled to scrape by. One thing she was pretty good at though was following orders. "Aye, you say you want the siege to end then we'll end it."

Long strands of fiery red danced in anticipation, one length of her hair pushing down against the earth to rise her to her feet.

In life she'd been weak and destitute. In her second life she could rip creatures apart without breaking a sweat. That kind of power was exhilarating. "Is there a plan or something?"

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe opened her mouth to correct the other woman and then shut it again. What was the point in explaining it? She would learn soon enough for herself. Instead she went back to her rhythmic sharpening of her blade. It had been a small blessing that when they had taken her body from the field they had brought her sword with her too. It was the only bit of home she allowed herself now and every time she used it, she could convince herself she was doing this for them. Her family. Her people. Her real kind.

"As you wish," the vampire said neutrally. It made sense. As the red hair began to writhe with life Harlowe gave the girl a sidelong look before lowering her gaze to her lap. Every part of her wanted to shake this other woman and ask her how she could be so ok with what had happened to them. Instead she kept her mouth shut and packed away her cleaning instruments.

"I saw a good spot along the wall which would work well for entering," it was lower than the rest and from what she had been able to tell a part of the wall which was patrolled less frequently due to the marshy land in front of it. The land was no good for the Khas thick armoured men and horses but for three monsters?

 

[Nazara]

"The north side?" He asked with a smile.

These battles were almost routine for him now. Nazara had been with the Regiment for so long that he could not even remember all the wars he had fought in. They seemed almost endless in a way. His eyes closed, and he nodded his head.

"The three of us will slip over the wall." He told the two of them. "Then we will find our way through the city streets to the Palace."

Nazara glanced at the two newly born monstrosities. "I believe they call the leader of this city a 'Shah'. He is our goal."

His gaze jumped to either of them.

"We will have to be silent until we reach him, yes?" Nazara asked the two of them.

 

[Felice]

Felice's eyes went wide as the detail of this plan came out and a sly smirk enveloped her pale face. Saying, 'yes,' to the contract was the best decision she'd ever made. There were some drawbacks, sure, but most of this was so exciting and new.

And best of all she finally belonged somewhere. Was apart of something that wasn't just survive for another week.

"Sounds like a great strategy to me." There was the obvious problem that tactics or warfare were new concepts to her. But you have to fake it until you make it. She'd gotten to slay a few lone travelers on the road as she adjusted to her new abilities and she was certain that after Nazara and Harlowe witnessed her in combat they'd be more than happy to have her as part of the team.

A chin dipped downwards when Nazara looked in her direction, signaling her understanding.

"Silent. Easy." Lips scrunched though as she recognized just how they were going to end the siege. "Wait, we're gonna kill the guy running this whole shebang?"

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe nodded once to Nazara's question then lowered her eyes once more; she was always conscious of how the fire made them more red. She had like the perfect statue as Nazara detailed their plan and only then did she nod again to agree to the silent concept and wondered how Felice would manage to keep her mouth shut. The girl was a fountain of excitement and enthusiasm. Harls would even be tempted to bet that that was the oddly sugary accent in her unique scent. Yet, despite not sharing the girls level of energy, the vampire did crack the tiniest of smiles for she remembered what she had been like when she had first joined the army.

"Cut off the head," she said slowly in her thick accent and made a chopping motion with her hand against her palm. "Then the body is useless. It is the same with armies. Without leader, the men scatter," unless of course there was another ruler the army could rally behind. Then it might be a little more problematic.

"Why are you going to such trouble to save lives?" Harlowe frowned in obvious confusion. They were monsters.

 

[Nazara]

Nazara blinked. "Why would I waste lives If I don't have to?"

He didn't particularly care about the Kha's army. If he wanted to throw life after live at the walls of this city then that was his prerogative, but Nazara did care about those who were within the regiment.

Those lives he wanted to preserve.

"You, my children." He glanced at the two girl. "Are precious, and I would not like to replace either of you so soon."

Bemusement crossed the Demon's expression.

Despite what many would assume, it was not easy gathering new recruits to the Regiment. Particularly in a battle like this one. "If we kill the Shah, resistance will crumble. Then we'll have the run of the city."

A smile touched his lips, offering up the implication.

 

[Felice]

Wow. Felice thought, that vampire is smart. She must’ve been a professor or something in the old life. Well, Felice knew she was a warrior so maybe a warrior professor. Those probably existed in whatever place her weird accent came from.

Then Nazara spoke and mentioned that they were precious? She’d never been called ‘precious’ for more than a single night.

”Run of the city?” Her words were equal parts anticipation and curiosity. It sounded like an all you can eat buffet but she also hadn’t consumed prey she slew herself in at least a week. She didn’t even know if she could eat more than one serving at once.

Was this part of what the regiment was about? Killing for the sake of killing? Felice wasn’t sure if she agreed with that, at least so far as basic morality went, but…

If that was what she had to do in order to be apart of this little family then so be it.

 

[Harlowe]

Nazara continued to destroy every preconception she had of the regiment. It would be far easier to hate her lot the Gods had dammed her to if they were all bloodthirsty and rampaging monsters, seeking only to destroy, murder and rape. Instead she had increasingly discovered they seemed to hold themselves to a higher morale standard than many human armies. As long as they were paid they did the job with the force it required, nothing more and nothing less.

Still, she shuddered at the implication of his smile. Unlike Felice she has not been able to bring herself to feed from a human. The memory of being one was still too fresh.

"Let's get this over with," she grimaced and stood, sliding her sword back into its scabbard and stalking off towards the Northern Wall.

 

[Nazara]

"Eager, aren't we?" Nazara teased as he stood up.

He offered one last empty glance towards the fire, half wishing that he could feel it's warmth. Lips thinned for a brief moment, and then he shook his head as he turned away and motioned for the two baby monsters to follow along.

"This way." He called to them. "Try not to scare any of the Kha's soldiers."

Nazara chuckled. "They seem to have the disposition of kittens."

That wasn't rare when it came to the regiment meeting ordinary folk, particularly during the night. Most preferred to avoid them all together.

"I think the only thing that scared them more than you eating them." Nazara began, already laughing. "Is the thought of one you trying to bed them."

 

[Felice]

Boots scrunched in the topsoil as Felice practically skipped to follow behind the other two beasts of the night. Harlowe was quieter than she, more reserved. The harionago dared a glance at the vampire as they paced forward.

She'd only heard horror stories of vampires and always assumed they didn't exist. Would be an interesting sight to behold whenever the action really kicked off.

"If they're so easy to frighten then it's no wonder we're needed." Her voice was dismissive and cold. Only soldiers she'd interacted with had been city-guards running her off when she pilfered fruit. That was one thing she missed about her mortality. In this form fruit tasted like molded socks.

A singular eyebrow lurched, and a tress of hair followed suit, at his mention of bedding one of the Kha's men. Now that she was a mighty monstrosity she would never need to use her body to scrape by. Never again.

Instead of showing her disgust she simply giggled, "if only they could be so lucky."

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe did not share the other twos apparent merriment at such an idea.

She folded her arms over her stomach and walked stiffly as though she were still not used to her body. Truthfully she wasn't. It felt lighter than what she was used to and she was conscious of the strength in her muscles and bones. If she tried to go fast she went too fast so every step was a deliberate thing and a tiring one too.

"They only know what they have heard in stories," she said softly though her attention seemed to be on their surroundings than the conversation itself. To get to the wall they had to walk through the Khas camp and the sights and smells were like a homecoming for Harlowe. It was shadowed by the fact conversation died as they approached. Soldiers watched them warily as they went and more than a few clutched at religious icons or muttered something under their breath. Harlowe bowed her head and hid behind the curtain of silver her hair provided for such a thing.

 

[Nazara]

Nazara couldn't help but chuckle to himself some more as they continued on.
"Aye they know the stories."

If one person in an army knew something, than the rest of them knew it too. That was a fact of soldiers; they were the worst kind of gossips. Nazara could remember that from his life before as well, how people had always sang and whispered as often as they could.

"But." He began. "The true fear comes from what they don't know."

Nazara shifted as they slowly began to reach the outside of the camp.

There were stakes put into the ground before them, painted with white caps. Range-finders for the Trebuchet, he knew, but it would do the enemy no good against the three monsters. "Is that the part of the wall you mentioned, Harlowe?"

He asked, pointing towards the lowered section.

 

[Felice]

Felice tensed up at the religious icons some of the soldiers held. She witnessed Harlowe lowering her head and speculated as to whether she'd be just as at risk. A simple totem to some god wasn't a threat to her but Felice had gotten the long-winded speech from some woman with a nest of snakes on her head about blessed objects or silver being especially dangerous to her. Felice had to repeat it back to her thrice because of how little attention she had paid initially.

Luckily, most of those trinkets seemed like pawn shop rip-offs made of wood rather than the genuine thing.

A hunk of low wall could be seen off in the distance along with a punch of stakes in the ground. She guessed they were for pitching tents or something though why you'd want a tent in the middle of a battlefield was beyond her.

Not knowing exactly what to say to impress her two companions the redhead looked at Harlowe in anticipation. Are we just gonna charge across this and climb?

 

[Harlowe]

"Yes," Harlowe sighed, casting a glance back towards the camp over her shoulder nervously. Newly born vampires were easier to kill Orin had told her. Though perhaps dying wasn't a bad thing, she was still undecided as to whether or not she had made the right decision saying yes to life. Orin could wait another few centuries for another vampire.

She was pulled out of her melancholy when she turned back to notice Felice staring at her. She flinched.

"What? Are you expecting me to turn into a bat or something?" She scowled.

 

[Nazara]

Nazara let out an amused chuckle. "That would be a neat trick."

The Regiment had a few changelings among the ranks, though most of them were sent off to act as scouts and spies. They were useful in battle, but even more useful away from it. Many thought that they were just brutish monsters capable only of fighting, but such assumptions were only used to exploit the unwitting.

He flickered his gaze towards Felice for a ment, empty eyes staring at her before she looked back towards the other recruit.

After a second more he just shook his head and motioned towards the walls. He pointed towards a ditch that had been dug to the left of the wall. It was a failed sapping attempt which had been thwarted when the Shah and his army had filled the trench with Oil and lit it on fire.

"We'll follow the Trench to the wall. Keep low." He told the two of them. "Then climb over the wall and make our way to the palace."

Easy enough really.

At least from his perspective.

 

[Felice]

”You can turn into a bat!?” Vampires were so cool.

Though Nazara's chuckle and comment made her realize that she said that in jest. "Oh, yeah, that would be neat." Obviously vampires couldn't turn into bats. That must've just been a myth told back in Cerak to scare kids.

Felice nodded at the order and was a bit relieved to run through the trench, hopefully unspotted. She knew that regular arrows couldn't kill her, according to the folks in the regiment who gave her an orientation, but she was warned that it'd still sting something awful. Sneaking through a trench sounded like a much better, less painful, plan than a blind charge.

"See you two on the other side," her voice was low. Or at least, lower than usual as she assumed it was already time for them to be quiet.

Her mane coiled around itself and shrunk up towards her shoulders as she arched her back to begin the slog through the ashen ground. As she stepped into the entry of the trench she dared a glance at the imposing wall, even the "lowered" part of it was intimidating.

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe wasn't sure whether to laugh or scold further. It was a myth she too had grown up with and had briefly wondered when they had told her what she was. She couldn't really blame her for not knowing, Harls had no idea what she was after all. There seemed to be creatures in this Regiment she had never even heard of, though they suited the nightmarish vibe the group gave off perfectly.

Deciding mute was best this close to the wall the newly-made Vampire jumped in to the trench. Or rather, several meters along it. When she landed she ground her teeth together in annoyance; she still couldn't judge the amount of effort that she needed to apply in order to cover small distances. So she waited for the other two to catch up then carried on. Now they were moving and getting on with the job, she found herself relaxing in to more of her 'old' self.

It wasn't long before they reached the lower part of wall and Harlowe's eyes carefully tracked along the stonework. She looked it over twice and then, nodding to herself, sprinted for the wall moving too fast for the human eye to keep up with. In seconds she was in the shadow at the base of the wall, deep grooves in the mud where she had had to slam on the breaks to keep herself colliding with it, and then she started the climb.

Swift, effortless, graceful. Harlowe was up and over in a blink.

 

[Nazara]

Nazara stopped alongside Felice as they reached the sunken part of the wall, looking down at her for a brief moment before glancing up towards Harlowe.

There was a natural advantage to those of the regiment that had been recruited from the battlefield. They already knew the way of things in war. Tactics came more easily to them, and it seemed that was more than true for Harlowe.

"Follow her tracks." Nazara said, noting that the Vampire was leaving marks within the wall as she climbed.

The young Vampire had still not learned her own strength, and the limestone wall was soft enough that her strength crumbled the stone as she climbed. He offered Felice a smile, and then his body seemed to suddenly snap into an abyssal smoke.

A roiling black wisp rushed passed and over Harlowe, re-materializing on the top of the wall into Nazara himself.

"What the fu-"​

The Guardsmen that had been standing just to the side of where they climbed tried to cry in his shock, a blade of pure black protruding through his chest before he could scream. "Shh."

Nazara whispered as the blade was ripped free.

"Now is not the time to scream." The Shade said as he waited for his companions, letting the corpse fall to the floor.

 

[Felice]

It was like a blur. One second the trio was at the base of the wall and the next Harlowe was gone. Felice hardly even noticed what happened until the boss pointed out the tracks. Indents barely discernible along the face of the stone.

She stared up, mouth agape. ”Whoa, she’s quick.”

But by the time the words came Nazara had vanished. She’d be the last to get to the other side and into the city at this rate.

Her hair uncoiled itself and draped downwards, extending past her knees until it collected into two long separated strands. The two tendrils straightened before curving and forming hooks on their ends. It wasn’t subtle but it certainly would get her up the wall.

One hook barreled into the limestone, spewing stoney viscera in every direction. The second lock of hair tore in just a bit higher and the impassioned beast soon found her rhythm.

True, her ascent was slower but she worked her way up to the summit where she found the vampire and the shade waiting.

 

[Harlowe]

Blood.

Noise, sights, smells - everything in the world seemed to suddenly fade into the background. All she could hear was the slowing pulse of the dying man and all she could smell was the scent of his life as it drenched the stonework. Orin had warned her of course but nothing had prepared her for the force of the need hitting her so violently.

Harlowe lurched forward. Her eyes seemed brighter and her fangs sliced into her own lip but then, at the last minute, she stopped herself by grabbing a hold of the battlement. The stone crumbled beneath her hand as though it had been made of sand as she practically hurled herself against it.

"No, no, no," she hissed to herself, willing that part of her back into its box.

 

[Nazara]

The sword in his hand disappeared into the same black smoke as before, his head turning to find Harlowe ripping off a piece of the sandstone battlement.

"Breath." He told her quietly.

Nazara did not experience the cravings that many of the others had. He did not hunger for blood or crave the taste of flesh. Many had described the feeling to him, how they struggle with it. For him though it was something else. His fate as a monster was all too different than theirs.

The Shade watched Harlowe for a moment, keeping half an eye on everything else around them until Felice made it up the expanse of the wall.

Would she have problems in the city?

The little vampire had been fine in the Kha's camp, but that was before she'd seen blood. The last thing he needed was for her to go into a frenzy.

At least not until they reached the palace.

"Let's go, quietly." He told the pair. "Focus on what's ahead."