Fate - First Reply The Fate of Us All

[Edric]

Not the first time he had been called a barbarian, and he knew it would not be the last. An almost wolfish grin spread over his features as Ralene offered her quiet threat in his name, his head cocking to the side and weight rolling on his heels.

He knew his role here.

A long breath flowed into his lungs as Elspeth made her demand. Eyes flickering for a brief moment to his companion before he offered his answer. "We'll leave this town better than we found it."

Edric said simply. A cold edge clinging to his tone.

"Pack your things." He repeated. "We're leaving tomorrow night."

There wouldn't be any more waiting, he decided. Tired of Wissburg. Tired of the games, the intrigue. The questions still hanging in the air.

Tomorrow they'd play their own game.

 

[Samantha Black]

"That wasn't what I was expecting..." Ralene remarked quietly as they made their way back through Wissburg, heading home to the smithy under the light of the moons.

Elspeth Sirl hadn't been impressed with their lack of plan, but she put up no further fuss about the end goal of her departure from the town the next evening. Ral had to wonder if that's what she would have ended up like had she not been born with her gift of magical powers. Would she be some noble girl trying to make a difference for the less fortunate?

"You know the strangest part of everything?" she gave a glance to Ed with a half smirk, "She doesn't look anything like Eli."

 

[Edric]

"Maybe her mom fucked a Virak." The comment was short, sharp.

Something about the whole meeting had gotten Edric on edge. He was tired of this town. Tired of the games that they had to play while they were here. He felt like he was standing on the very cusp of a cliff, as though he were about to leap off some great ledge.

It made him tense. Terse. "I'm going to kill them at the barracks tomorrow."

He said, his voice plain, calm with a slow simmer beneath.

"The Captain, priest, whoever else shows." Edric didn't offer a single glance towards Ralene. "Whoevers left can play with the bodies, and we'll slip out after dark."

Kill anyone that stood in their way.

 

[Samantha Black]

Ralene only knew that Elias had a sister and nothing beyond that, so perhaps Edric was on to something there. Not that it mattered, of course. Her failed attempt at lightening Ed's mood after watching it sour more and more throughout the evening was mostly expected. That didn't excuse his loose lips while they were out in the open.

"Hey," she hissed at him, grabbing his arm to get his attention away from his rapidly unwinding mood, "I'm going to be at the Barracks tomorrow, too, remember. And we have no idea what's in there. It could be full of the missing kids for all we know. We need a better plan than just kill everything in there and run."

 

[Edric]

Edric bristled. "I'm tired."

Both of them knew that he wasn't made for this. The subtle games. Playing at being someone else. Pretending at a life that wasn't his.

He was a hammer. A solid, thundering piece of equipment that was built for one purpose alone. It had been almost a week now, more than that since they had come to Wissburg. Every day he pushed his instincts down. Every day he denied himself.

It was getting to be too much.

He stopped, leaning in close to her.

"I'm a step away from ending this whole city, Ral." Edric hissed, his voice quiet enough that most would have mistaken it for a lovers breath. "Kids, Priests, whatever the fuck."

The words tasted bitter on this tongue. "They'd be better off dead in this place."

 

[Samantha Black]

Blue eyes keened on him as he rounded upon her and Ralene squared up to the taller Initiate without hestitation. A bear facing off against a tiger, they'd been described as before during fights. For the first time since they'd arrived in Wissburg, she found herself annoyed with him. Deeply annoyed.

"No," she hissed back at him, "I'm not going back and reporting that you lost your shit because you were tired from a week of undercover work and couldn't keep it together. You're better than that, Ed. You've been through much worse than playing nice for a few days. Innocents are not permissable collateral damage."

He might recognize that from the revised mission briefings after the Revolution. No more were Dreadlords meant to work in a mindless, monstrous manner that they had once been given free reign with in the years prior.

She broke her gaze from his only for a moment to check that they weren't being followed or watched before looking back at him, "You even said so yourself - some of these men might be in there against their will just trying to stay alive. There's a better way to do this where the assholes that are behind it get theirs and the innocents get their lives back."

 

[Edric]

Edric's jaw set. Ralene would see the flash of rage move over his face, flicker over his eyes. Her fingers tightening on his bicep just in time to feel the flex of his muscle.

Every fiber of him wanted to tell her to go fuck herself. Every inkling he had wanted to lash out.

To simply mark this place as another grave upon the map. To make Wissburg as little more than a story of dead. Those within it falling to the wrath of an unknown death. The will of a force of nature. Left as little more than husks.

His finger whipping towards her face a moment late. "You have the word."

Edric's words were a bite. A wolf chomping at it's prey.

"One chance." A 'click' rang as his teeth bit together. "Good men, bad, I don't give a shit anymore Ral. I'm worn thin. I'm done."

Tired. Petulant. Whatever way you wanted to describe it. "I know you think me more, but in this place I'm not much above any other murderer."

He said plainly.

"I'll let you call the shot." Edric remarked. "But no matter what, we're leaving this fucking city tomorrow."

 

[Samantha Black]

The more Edric's temper boiled, the more Ralene hardened against him. She was prepared to deal with that temper of his here and now, just as she was always prepared to deal with it any other time. Did she want to make a scene and blow their cover less than an hour after acquiring their target?

Hell fucking no.

Did a small part of her want to beat the ever-loving snot out of him and try to replace it with some sense? Absolutely. But it wasn't a difficult battle for her to master, and she did so with a stoic resoluteness that stared, unflinchingly, right back into his threats. This was why they sent her with him and not someone else. Edric needed a level calm to balance out his manic moods. Someone that would temper him and bring strategy to his rage. Someone that wouldn't take the bait of his threats and escalate a bad situation into a dire one.

"Good," she said finally, releasing his arm and adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder as she turned and continued on the way back to the smithy, "make sure you're wearing that amulet tomorrow."

 

[Edric]

Edric grunted in response. "Wouldn't dream of forgetting."

There was no sarcasm to the words.

They still had no idea what was causing these people to fall into line, and Edric had felt his fair share of mind bending magics. It was, pretty much, the only thing that could put a stop to him. Best to keep what protection he had.

Especially in this place.

Their terse conversation ended, the two Initiates headed back to the smithy. Bedding down for the night not soon after.

When dawn came Edric was already up. The amulet looped around his neck, trousers thrown on, no shirt yet draped over the rest of him. He frowned slightly, looking into a cracked mirror and inspecting the bruises and cuts still adorning him.

Fingers pressed at one of the marks, lips thinning as he probed the bruise.

 

[Samantha Black]

Ralene was loathe to go to bed angry, so she didn't. By the time they'd reached the smithy she'd already pushed their little discussion from her mind - at least, whatever emotional response had been attached to it. Completely disregarding Edric's brittle state of mind would serve no purpose other than to lay landmines in their plans if she wasn't careful. But she refused to lose sleep over it, and so slept soundly beside him as she had done all previous nights.

Ever the early riser, as soon as Edric began to stir he would not be alone in doing so. Ral quickly dressed and moved to prep their horses - tacking them both and tying them out off the backside of the house where they would be out of sight. Their supplies and things she'd previously hidden under the floorboards beneath the bed were moved up into the open rafters overhead, pushed just far enough back with the other home supplies to be otherwise unremarkable.

By the time she returned from the smithy workshop with her tool belt and leather smith's apron hanging from her neck, she found Edric poking at one of his bruises in the mirror. Ral gave him a look of consideration for several drawn out moments before approaching, "Is it strange," she said began quietly, unwilling to break the solitude of the morning with unecessary edge to her tone, "having them for days like the rest of us always do?"

 

[Edric]

Edric gently pressed his finger against the bruise. A jolt of pain shivering up his side.

"Suppose it is." He remarked quietly, fingers falling away from the bruise and returning to his side.

"Proctors used to try to make me keep them." Edric said as he turned, snatching his shirt from the chair besides him. "But I'd wake up in the morning with fresh skin and everyone else tired."

Ralene would know that of course, she had experienced it.

When he'd first come to the Academy his magic had been an automatic thing. Like taking a breath. A constant drag and pull. Never enough to kill or even hurt, but slowly draining the vitality of those around him. Learning to control it had been one of his first lessons.

He glanced briefly at the mirror, the marks. "They're not so bad though."

A shrug rolled over his shoulders as he slipped on his shirt. "I've never much minded pain anyway."

 

[Samantha Black]

She remembered those earlier days, back before Ed had some form of faculty over his abilities. When most others were scared to be near him, she couldn't recall the same fear. Ral more remembered a vaque sense of curiosity and jealousy - at that age they were all discovering their true callings in magic and learning to harness their powers. Her own had been less defined than many of them. While Edric was stealing energy and life from others to fuel his power, or Noel was harnessing nearby metal to her whims, and Henk was bending rays of light ... Ralene had struggled to find her own niche and purpose.

"I remember that," Ral idly tied the smith's apron at her back, "would have loved to see you carry bruises and wounds like this back then. Can't say I'm too keen on it, now. Something about it just doesn't sit right with me."

 

[Edric]

Edric glanced at her for a moment.

He wondered why that was. Wondered if any of the others felt the same. Ralene was undoubtedly the second closest thing to a friend he had among the others. Noel was more of a rival, and the others? The others teetered back and forth between hating him and...whatever the fuck else there was.

Probably helped that he and Ral had fucked a few times now.

After a heartbeat more he turned away from her.

"Maybe just not used to it." Edric said finally with a grunt. Taking a step and scooping up the lump of iron that he'd been using in the training yard. It was barely a sword, but he'd never been one for pretty weapons anyway.

His shoulders rose in a shrug. "Let's get going, yeah?"

 

[Samantha Black]

"Maybe," she replied. It was a fair point. Seeing Ed with bruises and wounds was a bit like seeing a dog with scales instead of fur. Just felt weird. Unreal, even. Ral didn't intend to look any further into it, so she welcomed the suggestion to leave and pushed off from where she'd been leaning against the table.

"Oh - wait. Come here," moving to stand at his front, Ralene lifted her right hand and placed it on his chest, smoothing her palm down until she felt the shape of the amulet beneath his shirt. With a slow, deep breath, she stared at the back of her hand, brows batting in a silent hope that what she'd made for him would work as intended and not prove to be just an ornament.

Ral closed her eyes, slowly inhaled, and spoke the activation words, "BETHUND KVORD."

From the back of her skull a strong glow of heated red light shone through her hair. She could feel the arcane energy pour across her skull like someone cracked an egg over her head. It seeped like static energy, tingling across her scalp and over her mind. In the blackness of behind her eyelids she caught a flash of red. She felt a faint fog lift from her subconscious.

Under her palm, the mirrored but simplified runic equation glowed hot against his bare skin, expressing a similar sensation to Edric as she presently experienced.

When it passed, Ral withdrew her hand from his chest and looked up at him, "For me the spell lasts a little more than an hour or two, less if it's actively having to protect my mind or clear effects of influence. I can usually tell when it wears off but I'm not sure how that amulet will work for you. If I'm not nearby and you think you need it reactivated, try clearing your thoughts, concentrating on it, and speaking the words with intent. Bethund Kvord. Pronunciation and intent are key."

 

[Edric]

There was a flicker of heat, a touch of warmth that ran over his chest. Her palm sat flatly across his chest, and Edric held firm as Ralene channeled her magic.

It was funny.

A year ago he would have grabbed her by the throat, offered a threat, maybe even snapped her neck. Such violence would have come second nature to an intimate touch like this. Trust little thinner than a branch along a tree.

Yet now? Now he didn't even think a second time over her.

It wasn't trust, not really. He couldn't have described what it might have been. Perhaps a simple measure of understanding. A length of rope he'd extended because of their long years of understanding.

Was that trust? Edric honestly could not have said. "I've always been great at clearing my thoughts."

He lied.

"I'm sure we won't be far apart." Edric remarked, not knowing the truth of what lay ahead of him.

Unconsciously he touched the necklace at his throat, and then slowly stepped away from Ralene.

It was time to go. Time to face whatever the fuck else Wissburg was about to lay ahead of them. They had been here for more than a week, assigned to this task for more than two. It was time to break the routine. Time to go home.

 

[Samantha Black]

THE BARRACKS

Arriving just before dawn, Ralene parted ways from Ed at the main entrance and after some direction headed off to the lower entrance where Captain Gilheed greeted her. He was seated on a bench with a mug of coffee in one hand and a half-eaten piece of bread in the other, "Weren't expectin' you till after breakfast," he remarked sleepily.

"I like to get my day going early," she replied, "always more to do than I planned anyway."

Gilheed nodded and raised his cup to that, "Never enough day to get it all done, eh? Well I can't have you showin' me up. Let's get you started, c'mon."

With a grunt the man pushed himself to his feet, downed the rest of his coffee and set the mug on the bench, then lead her inside with the rest of his bread in-hand. "You'll be working in the cellblock today, out back. The last Blacksmith was halfway through this project before ...well, before he couldn't work on it no more."

Ralene slowly inhaled at that last statement but nodded, "What's the work?"

"The iron gates for the last few cell blocks. Need you to repair 'em and get 'em hanging again. We've got a workshop area in the training yard just outside the block entrance all ready to go for ye'. Still set up from where he left off. Should have everything you need."

Another nod, Ral then gave him what she hoped could best be taken as a look of trepiditious concern, "Are there ... criminals in the cell blocks, Sir?"

Gilheed smirked, "Just some drunken slum scum from a few of the outlying villages that were causing problems. Few bandits that tried to rob our supply caravan. Nothin' you need to worry about. I'll have two of my best men posted in there while you work. Got a young lad from the southern farmstead here to help you with the heavy liftin', his name's Andin."

 

[Edric]

Edric stood in front of the main entrance of the barracks.

The training sword on his hip felt heavy. The piece of metal settled around his neck felt even more so. He did not know why. He did not understand it. The weight seemed almost like it was about to topple him. A reminder, perhaps, of who he was.

A warrior. A killer.

Held back by those whom he knew were better.

Lips thinned for a brief moment, fingers drawing idly over the hilt of his sword. Edric knew what he was, at least he had always thought he did. Yet over the last year things had changed more and more, by the day, by the hour.

Who was he really?

"You the one they calling in?"​

A soldier stepped up to him, his uniform surprisingly crisp and clean. He looked at Edric as though he was a moron.

The Initiate's lips thinned. "Aye. The Cap-"

"Head on in, theys waitin for you in the back office."​

Edric frowned for a moment, and then nodded. His hand reaching out to push open the doors as he stepped inside.

 

[Samantha Black]

"Andin," Gilheed grunted as he ducked through the low entrance doorway to the cellblock, "where are ye, lad?"

"Here, Sir," the young man stood up from where he'd been waiting. He was tall and broad-shouldered, perhaps a bit younger than herself if Ral had to guess, but stout enough he could have passed for an Initiate if he was standing in the Academy.

"This here is the new blacksmith, Samantha Black. She's your new boss for the next few days."

Andin blinked at her as she approached and then sheepishly dithered on the spot, "Oh, uhm, pleasure to meet you Missus Black."

"Just Sam," Ral replied, holding out her hand for him to shake, "no Miss. Appreciate your help with this. Don't expect those gates will be very willing."

"The two yer fixin' are back here, Sam," Gilheed waved her toward the back of the cell block to the last two cells.

Ralene followed after him, her eyes briefly skating over the faces of both posted Guards and those blackened and bruised and battered faces peering out from within the cells she passed by. When she got to the end what she laid her eyes on gave her pause. Both cell doors were mangled beyond belief. One appeared to have been blasted open, a portion of it completely seared away in the curious shape of a circle. The other looked as though it had been rent with great and violent force.

She wanted to ask, and the question damn near fell from her mouth, but she quickly clomped her gaping jaw shut and let her expression do the talking.

Gilheed heaved a sigh, chomped the last bit of his bread, and stood before the latter gate with his hands on his hips, "Werewolf did that," he replied, "son of a bitch killed a dozen men before a Priest put him down."

 

[Edric]

Edric flickered one last look over towards where Ralene had gone, and then stepped through the double doors of the barracks.

A part of his mind almost immediately kicked off with that sense of danger. He felt as though he had just stepped into the cave of a bear, as though a thousand eyes were watching him all at once. He couldn't quite help the raising of his hackles.

Fingers rested on the hilt of his blunted sword, a reminder that he could at least defend himself in some way if he required it.

A slow breath filled his lungs as he stepped inside, gaze flickering from wall to wall as he walked a long hallway. At the end sat a pair of double doors. Beyond it he could feel the flickering of two lives, pinpricks of Vitality that rested beyond.

Fingers unfurled, and slowly pushed the doors open.

"Ah, there you are young man."​

The voice came from a man dressed in the robes of a priest. His features were soft, though his eyes contained a hint of conniving malice. Edric could see the intent behind his gaze. the posturing for power, the greed that lay within.

"Please, please do come in. We've been told much about you."​

As Edric stepped inside the other man remained quiet, his body adorned with full-plate mail. His tabard a symbol of Anirius...but strangely changed.

"I'm not sure what there is to say about me..." Edric said, fingers still clinging to the hilt of his sword.

"Oh don't be modest now son, we've heard you're quite the swordsman."​

 

[Samantha Black]

"Well," Ralene rubbed at her chin as she looked between the two cell gates, a play of being mystified by what she was looking at when really every single alarm bell in her head was going off, "I'm no werewolf, Ser, but I'll see what I can do. May take me a few days, truth be told."

"I can give you two," replied Gilheed.

I can't even give you one, Ral thought to herself as she nodded to him, "Straight away, Ser."

She watched Gilheed take his leave out the same way they came in and heaved a long and heavy sigh, "Right... Andy was it?"

"Andin, Miss," the farmhand replied.

"Let's get these off their hinges and out to the yard."


Didn't take them too long. The hinges were at least mostly intact, and the ones that weren't had been peeled off their base. The first one, that rendered by the alleged werewolf, she carried outside with the help of Andin and set over in the workshop area to get a better look. Upon closer inspection she found a familiar sight: handprints embedded into the iron. Ral ran her fingers along the iron bars and fixed them into the imprint, finding that, curiously, it was not much larger than her own.

She'd done a similar feat several times before when testing the limits of her magically enhanced strength. But this did not look to be the imprint of what one would expect from a werewolf. There were no claw or fang marks. This looked like the work of a man, and not even a particularly large one at that.

"That's pretty frightenin', ain't it?" ask Andin.

"Well is sure as hell ain't normal," she agreed and pushed off to get the second gate.

Stepping back into the darkness of the cell block, Ralene took her time to walk down the long hall and get a better look at the people inside the cells. None of them looked especially fearsome or troublesome. If anything, they all looked bedraggled. Many of them seemed frightened. She frowned and pressed on, reaching the second gate and moving to place her hand on it.

A shock of arcane essence flashed within her mind and she recoiled from the gate with a hiss.

"What's that? You alright Sam?" Andin trotted down after her.

Ral gave the gate a wary look, massaging at her hand with the other and nodded, "Yeah, grabbed a sharp edge is all. Best wear some gloves for this one."

 

[Edric]

”I don’t think so, Ser. Least not yet.” Edric tried to inject a bit of fear into his voice, a bit of awe.

He knew that in this place he was supposed to be a farm boy. A man like the one standing in front of him was impressive, remarkable, perhaps even a bit terrifying. It was something he tried to keep in mind. A fact which he attempted to put forward in every word that he spoke out loud. ”Donric said I had potential, but it will take me time to get there.”

A frown touched his face, but the man did not seem the least bit dissuaded.

“Yes, but potential is easy to realize when surrounded by the right people.”​

Edric looked at the man in plate-mail, wondering what his part in all of this was supposed to be. His eyes were hard, his gaze reminding the Initiate of some of the Proctors back at the Academy. A frown touched his features, and slowly he nodded his head. ”Donric is a good teacher.”

He said, trepidation injected in his voice.

“That he is, but I have something else in mind for you, and I think you’ll find it quite…enticing.”​

As he spoke, Edric suddenly felt the medallion go cold against his chest.

“We want you to join the Ordus Templar Anirus. The Knights of Anirius. We want you to fight for your city, and your god.”​

The more the man spoke, the colder the medallion became.

By the time the Priest’s words finished, the metal against his chest felt like ice.

 

[Samantha Black]

Gloves donned, Ralene and Andin moved the second gate from the cellblock and out to the work area near the courtyard. Far enough removed from the conversation between Edric and the Priest, she had yet to feel any indication of mentalism magic nearby.

"Andin, get the fires lit in the kiln and forge. As hot as you can possibly make it," she directed him and waited until he stepped off to do just that before turning her attention back to the gate.

The gate itself didn't look suspect. It was nothing but a normal iron gate. Double beamed and reinforced to keep the tough criminals and beasties inside. All save a werewolf, allegedly. But this gate's wounds were not caused or created by physical rending. This one's gaping hole looked as though someone had blasted a cannon ball through it ... but the curious thing was it had to have been from inside the cell.

She could make excuses or piece together likely scenarios for why it was that way all day, but Ralene's instincts told her she was being lied to. This gate had lingering arcane magics imbued into its metal that could have only been left behind by an arcane blast from a very powerful mage.

...or Dreadlord.

"Amazing, isn't it?" a voice of a man approaching from behind her gave Ral a slight startle and she mentally cursed herself for not noting the sound of his footsteps through the courtyard gravel.

"S-sir?" she tried, unsure of how to address a what appeared to be a Priest. He was dressed quite differently from the ones she'd seen about the town, dealing with the sick and the new folks brought in. His was a Knightly dress and countenance, though he wasn't wearing full armor. Larger than any of the Guards she'd worked around, she had to wonder if this was what Edric had been referring to.

"What beasts such as werewolves can do. Gilheed must have told you the story..." he came to a stop beside her, arms folded at his back and an amiable gaze fixed upon her.

"Oh, yes Sir, he did. How horrible that must have been. The Captain said it killed a dozen men?"

"The Captain can exaggerate at times, but we lost a few," he smiled easily, "but a few is still too many."

Ralene frowned and glanced over at Andin who was busy at work getting those fires going, and nodded to the man, "I'm just glad I can be of some help around here, Sir. Fixin' horse shoes and gates might not be much, but if it's what's needed I'm happy to be of service."

"As are we," he replied, "I understand you told the Archbishop you also craft weapons and armor. Is that true?"

"Aye," she nodded, then glanced to him, "but nothin' that would suit you I'm afraid. Never got a whole lot of training on it. I can make the basic things. They'll do the job but they won't be pretty."

"Every smith starts somewhere," the Priest went on, and that was when she felt the first racing of static over her scalp that sent her proverbial hackles flaring, "but with the right people around you, you could be making the finest armor and weapons we've ever seen."

 

[Edric]

Edric moved like a viper.

There wasn't a hint of hesitation, a glint of pause. The medallion against his chest was meant to protect his mind, the cold that it wrought a mark of what was going on. He wasn't the most studied Initiate, he wasn't the smartest, but he wasn't a fucking idiot either.

He knew what was happening. He knew that Ral's magic was protecting him, and that every second wasted was another tick on the proverbial clock. Another second where his 'wife's' protection ebbed away from him.

So he did what came naturally. Leaned in the instinct that the Proctor's had stoked and prodded for a decade. He lashed out. His magic lashed at the two men in front of him, grasping, dragging their life away. His muscles tensed, and he jumped forward.

The man in armor reached low, grasping for his sword, but Edric's hand was already there.

An elbow struck the Crusaders throat, the sound of snapping bone and ruptured flesh echoing out as he tumbled backward in a clatter of steel. Edric was upon him, his hand grasping the side of his neck, a snap calling out as he wrenched his head violently to the side and broke his spine.

Seconds later the echo of steel drawing from a scabbard called out.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?"​

The Priest shouted, his confusion echoing in the trapped walls. Steps calling out as he backed away from Edric.

Against his chest Edric felt the Medallion turn to ice. The metal so cold it threatened to burrow into his flesh. The sword flickered in his palm, turning, gripped as a centurion would a spear.

"ANIRIUS DEMANDS YOU KNEEL! THE GOD DEMA-"​

Before he could finish, Edric threw the sword. It's tip skewering through the priest's throat, pinning him against the wall. Blood spurting from his open mouth, desperation clinging to his eyes as death throes wracked his body.

 

[Samantha Black]

She did her absolute best to mask the expression of wary threat that crept onto her face. Samantha Black wouldn't have any idea what was happening to her, and it was best to play along in order not to raise suspicion. "Well," she itched at her head a bit, squinting into the sunlight as she looked to the man, "that sounds mighty grand for a small town smith like myself. Always dreamed of making fine things like weapons and armor."

"We are eager to support the dreams of our loyal citizens and craftspeople," he Priest replied, "the great Anirius provides for his flock. All you need do is ask."

That sensation of static continued to grow more intense and she knew, without any flavor of doubt, that what she had witness during the repair of the Smithy had been exactly what they suspected. Whatever magic employed to bring people within the fold was powerful, too. It was on par with Proctor Harkenov's mind attacks, and that was a woman who should have become an Archon had it not been for a mishap early on in her career.

"Thank you Sir," Ral replied, "once I finish up these gates I can get a list on what the Guard needs and set right to work at the smithy."

"Oh you won't be working for the Guard or the town," the Priest waved the idea off as if it were preposterous now, "we'll bring in smiths from neighboring villages to fulfill the mundane tasks. You and your husband ... Orin was his name?"

"Aye," she nodded, and something about the mention of Edric gave her a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"You're both on to much bigger and better things. The Knights of Anirius welcome you both to the fold. We'll have you out of that hovel and into much nicer quarters soon enough. Tell me," and then he moved forward and put his hand on her shoulder and she felt a sudden surge of foreign arcane energy run up her spine and into her skull. It took every ounce of her self control not to immediately lash out at the pain of the Priest's power colliding with her own runic ward.

The Priest blinked, at first surprised by it, then mildly offended he was being deflected by a teenaged girl, then the slithering greed of intrigue cross his gaze as something seemed to click and his grip tightened on her, "...who are you?"

The gig was up. There was no excusing or lying out of this. Her reaction was immediate: grabbing the hammer from the back of her toolbelt and introducing the working end of it to his face. She spared no expense of the strength used, and watched it smash into the bridge of his eyes and nose, caving in the frontal brow line with such force that the handle snapped in her grip.

 

[Edric]

For a few seconds Edric let his chest rise and fall, eyes closing as he let out a long breath.

"Finally." He whispered to himself.

The violence was almost a release. A spring that had been tensed for days on and before finally letting go. Fingers pulled into fists, and a small smile touched his lips as he slowly opened his eyes and stepped towards the dying Priest.

Still struggling, still pinned against the wall Edric moved towards him. "Your god, Isn't mine."

Fingers wrapped around the hilt. "Nor is it my mothers."

Edric didn't know why he said the words, but they felt right. A justice laying within them that he couldn't quite place. With a sickening wrench he pulled the blade free from the priests throat, blood scattering over his face as he turned.

Senses focused, reached out.

He searched through the pin-pricks of life that surrounded him, the sparks of vitality that were there for him to pull from. He reached out, looking, searching, and then finally found the one familiar to him. Ralene, surrounded by another, blacker spark.

Edric turned on his heel, and immediately headed towards his companion. Ready to cut through whatever stood in his way.