Completed The War of The Kinniger Duchy

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

“Good. We’ll be back before too long. If we aren’t we’re dead” he said with crossed arms to the necromancer Keia Merrenia.

The necromancer, still in a small iron cage, smiled, “Don’t be gone too long. I can’t wait to meet your companions. I hear one of them is your new girlfriend. What happened to the little red bird you had with you last time?”

Her throat was seized harshly, and she was lifted from the ground, Eberwolf’s armored hand having shot through the bars. “You have one concern here, and that is your job, nothing else. Do your job right and you’ll be released from your prison, muck it up or try to betray us, and there won’t be any force in heaven or hell that could save you. Am I understood?”

She, choking, could only nod. Her throat was released and she fell to her knees, gasping for breath. Eberwolf turned and left for the mess tent to get a quick meal. Upon seeing Kyla enter, he took his food elsewhere. She’d made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with him and he’d respect her wishes. He took his small meal to his own tent, and ate there.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Kyla sat down on the opposite side of the tree. Such was for the best. And then came from Kyla something Heike thought she would never hear, especially not to her.

I apologize.

Heike listened to what Kyla had to say. Stayed quiet, and did not interrupt. Heard the clinking of glass together as the vials (as yet unseen by Heike) were laid down on the ground. Then Kyla got up and walked away. Heike had not said anything, but when she too rose up and went around the tree and saw the vials and picked them up, she would've liked to at least have said Thank you.

The full accountability of a man or woman. Acknowledging the good, punishing the bad--this was the Reikhurstan view of things. Though Kyla had done what she had done back in Bryn's cave, having the strength to make the effort of amending her ways was admirable. Heike could only wait to see if this effort was carried forth to fulfillment, or if Kyla would eventually commit a transgression that would damn her to execution. She was a woman with agency, Kyla was--as all people were in the Reikhurstan view. The choice was hers.

Just then, Heike could hear of Sir Eberwolf's return. And return he had...with a cage. There inside, a small and pale-skinned woman. Fragments of their conversation carried across the distance, enough for Heike to know that--yes--Eberwolf had done what she thought he had done.

Heike slid the two vials Kyla had left into the slots on her belt and started toward Eberwolf. Changing her course as necessary as he departed from the cage and went into his tent.

* * * * *​

Heike pushed open the flap of Sir Eberwolf's tent and entered. Stood there by the entrance for a moment. Stood there and just looked at him. Only the ambient sounds of the waning day outside, the quiet of the tent's confines inside.

And Heike began to shake her head. A slow motion. Stopped.

Said low and firm to Eberwolf, "I will not be party to this, and I am morally repulsed by your decision."

A pause.

"Work with the necromancer if you wish."

Another pause. And a hard, unbending gaze.

"But I will depart from your side and your cause if you do so."

Sir Eberwolf Kinniger Kyla Scathach

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

Heike pushed open the flap of Sir Eberwolf's tent and entered. Stood there by the entrance for a moment. Stood there and just looked at him. Only the ambient sounds of the waning day outside, the quiet of the tent's confines inside.

And Heike began to shake her head. A slow motion. Stopped.

Said low and firm to Eberwolf, "I will not be party to this, and I am morally repulsed by your decision."

A pause.

"Work with the necromancer if you wish."

Another pause. And a hard, unbending gaze.

"But I will depart from your side and your cause if you do so."

When the flap was opened she’d see a small statue of what had some resemblance to a man. He wore no clothes, had broad, shark like teeth, three long, serpentine tongues, twelve arms and four legs. In each hand was a weapon or a bone of some sort, most notably a sword and a skull. Eberwolf held up his hand for her to wait, as he sat cross legged in front of it, almost as though in meditation.

when she finished her statement he said to her. “Do you not believe in redemption, Heike? I do. My people, do. We believe that anyone, no matter how low they’ve sunk can be brought back. I have to believe that, not only for myself, but for you, your lover Ferelith and Kyla. All of us have done things that are unworthy of even peasants, and yet we have done them all the same. Kyla has done things, terrible things, yet I believe that she may be redeemed of these sins. So has Ferelith done things worthy of only demons, and yet she seeks forgiveness for these, and I see no reason why she cannot warn said forgiveness. I believe that the necromancer, even she, may be forgiven her sins, I am simply giving her the chance to do so.“

”I could easily say that I will not be party to working with vampires, because the lot of them are nothing short of evil. And yet, I gave you a chance, and I gave Ferelith a chance. Do not pretend to be so pure as to judge anyone for their sins, you are far from pure, as am I. So do as I did, and give her the opportunity to prove that she can be better. If not, you are welcome to leave at any time. You are no prisoner here. And Ferelith has done enough to earn her freedom in my eyes. So if you do leave, tell me where to send her, and I will do so. Neither of you are perfect, but you definitely need one another. So go if you will, and tell me, where do I send Ferelith so that you two might be United once she is freed?”

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike listened patiently to all that Eberwolf had to say. When finished, she made no immediate reply. She lifted up one finger and took off the gold ring and lifted up the other finger and took off the silver ring. Placed both in the palm of one hand and walked forward.

"I hope that you win your war against the vampires," she said, laying the rings provided by the warden in Allirian prison down on the ground beside Eberwolf, "and that you forgive not a single one of them."

Heike turned.

And left his tent.

* * * * *​

Heike went to a secondary tent. Took off the armor that belonged to the Kinniger Duchy and set it down neatly inside. Straightened out her coat and adjusted her belt and raised her hood again to guard against the last few rays of sunlight in the evening.

Heike left that tent. Searched around the camp briefly and found Kyla where she had gone to prepare her meal. Went to her. Stood nearby, yet not too close.

And said, "I am no longer your warden."

She blinked. Let it settle.

"Sir Eberwolf intends to work with the necromancer. I will not, and so I have annulled my word to him on moral grounds."

She was not here to make Kyla choose a side. No, she would not force her to do so. Heike wanted the answer to only one question.

"Tell me. What chance do I have of rescuing Ferelith alone?"

None, Heike presumed. Ferelith and Kyla both were dreadful foes to face in combat, full of terrifying strength and vitality--nigh unkillable. And Bryn was sure to have a large cohort of fighters just like them. Even the best-case scenario of seizing the perfect opportunity to snatch Ferelith from their clutches and run seemed a thing as ephemeral and untouchable as a dream, dispelled upon waking.

Kyla Scathach Sir Eberwolf Kinniger

 

[Kyla Scathach]

Kyla seemed to take the information in stride. Sinking her teeth into the bird she gestured for Heike to sit. Regardless of if she heeded the invitation Kyla would sigh.

“Your a smart girl. Why ask questions you already know the answer to?” She said simply. Her brows knitting as her gears began to turn. “The way I see it..We go together.” She began as the gears began to fully turn. “I can get us to my sister. If this I have no doubt. My sister will not prevent that. It only benefits her.” Her hands bridged as she looked Heike directly in the eye.

“The trick will be getting out. If that I am confident. But it is a chance I’m willing to take if you are. Understand that death should not hold you back against these people. It is far preferable than being taken alive. If we do die..I trust the knight to keep his word.” Kyla finally finished.

The sun finally releasing its grip on the sky as it finally slowly began to give way to night fall. “Our time is short. We should be off soon” was all she spoke as she finished her meal.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Kyla offered the spot next to her, but Heike did not sit. Almost physically could not, such was the turbulence of tense emotion coursing through her; this in regard to what had just transpired with Sir Eberwolf, and what was soon to transpire with Ferelith.

Heike was no longer Kyla's warden, so it was improper for her to be off with Kyla alone...yet Heike would not turn down her help. Now that Heike had forgone Sir Eberwolf and the forces of the Kinniger Duchy, it was her only true chance at rescuing Ferelith. Her alternatives were all vastly inferior, and all sure to be too little and too late.

So be it then. If all went well and Ferelith was rescued, both she and Kyla could be returned to Sir Eberwolf's watch to endure the remainder of their levied service in the Duchy's war. And it would be all Heike could do to wait, keep apprised of Ferelith and Kyla's status via Captain Bronmarch, and wait some more.

If all went well.

"Under no circumstances shall I be taken alive by those monsters," Heike said. Such had already happened once, with the Slaughtern vampires during the sacking of Reikhurst. Not again.

Not. Again.

The last light in the sky was a blood red. Fitting.

We should be off soon.

"Very well," Heike said. "You know that place. I will follow your lead."

Kyla Scathach Sir Eberwolf Kinniger

 

[Kyla Scathach]

Kyla nodded. “Very well.” She then moved from the mess tent to her own tent. Once inside she would look over a letter she had been writing.

Her tent was well kept. Every thing set in its place and organized in a way that left a feeling of being unlived In. If Heike decided to follow her in a gust of wind would slightly push a sheet of parchment from its stack.

Kyla seemed to notice this instantly and pushed it back to its proper place. A large departure from Ferelith’s generally messy and almost hedonistic avoidance of keeping anything clean after it reaches her hands.

After seeming to be pleased with it she would strip off her armor and clothes in general changing into dark pants, and her usual chest wrap.

Then seeming to forgo pulling on her boots she would strap two nasty looking knives to her belt. One on her hip and the other behind her on the back of the belt. Silence was key here, and she would be no better off in full armor if things went south. She didn’t need it anyway. She glanced at Heike seeming to gesture for her to do the same.

“Armor is noisy, I would strip off anything that isn’t a necessity.” She said seeming to acknowledge the fact the vampire would need to remain covered and protected being somewhat more fragile by Kyla’s standards even if she was quite durable by normal humans.

She would stack her things in the tent neatly. Once done she would set the letter on top of the gear and they would set off. Much of the journey back was quiet. Kyla was on edge with every snapping twig or upset rock of gravel, but she still took a short moment as they drew near to their old camp.

“We will move quickly and quietly. Step where I step once we are beyond our old camp. Alexi prepared a few traps no doubt. I can smell that drows presence was here. Knife ear smell isn’t something you can just wash off....” She commented darkly before seeming to glance at Heike.

It was odd how often she forgot Heike was anything but a vampire. A woman twisted by a horrific disease. Much as Kyla had in a way. A woman that had had dreams, and aspirations...and that had had a family..

Maybe that was what her sister saw in Heike. The same way she saw Kyla herself as more than a cut throat bandit leader.

She saw the woman. Not the monster. Perhaps there were somethings she could learn from Gunhild.

 

[Heike Eisen]

They were off. Following in the wake of danger.

Heike had surmised the dismal chances of success trying at this alone. And it was likely that those same chances were only slightly less dismal now that Kyla had joined in the effort. Yet it was this or essentially nothing, with the ruling out of Sir Eberwolf's aid.

She did not know the sheer number of foes from Bryn's Ilk that they could expect to face. It was likely that Kyla herself did not know. But they did not need to face all of the scum under Bryn's command; all that needed to be done was to rescue Ferelith and get out. Yes, of course it would be preferential to see all of those villains driven into the dust for the atrocious acts they had committed, but between just the two of them--Heike and Kyla--that was something not feasibly achieved. Something for another day, perhaps.

That said, the precariousness of their situation acknowledged, Heike knew she would need to temper her stinging desire to free Ferelith with the grim acceptance that it just might not be possible between the two of them. It would do Ferelith no good if Heike and Kyla died here. It would do Reikhurst no good if Heike died here. This rescue attempt was currently balanced on a razor's edge, and any disturbance thereof, anything that tolled the bells of alarm in Heike's mind, ought to be heeded.

We will move quickly and quietly. Step where I step...

Heike gave a small nod. Her eyes already were piercing through the vestiges of dimness that were sliding into proper darkness, seeing the night world as a scale of bright whites and drab grays and small pockets of black--all of it with the clarity of day, save the draining of color.

Quiet and alert, Heike would follow after Kyla.

Kyla Scathach Sir Eberwolf Kinniger

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

Eberwolf was standing with his commanders around the table with the map of the enemy camp that the trackers had drawn for them. They were discussing strategy when a soldier came in and said, “My lord. The woman, she’s left. The sentries spied her running off into the forest with a second woman, we think it’s the vampire.”

Eberwolf looked at the soldier then down with a thinking expression.

“And, we found this in her tent.” The soldier says handing him a letter.

Eberwolf took the letter and told his commanders, “have the men ready to march within the hour. And get the trebuchets.”

The commanders saluted and ran to get their men ready to march. Dismissing the soldier Eberwolf went to read the letter. Unfolding it he read.

Once the letter was read. He put his helm atop his head, and went to lead his men to siege.

 

[Kyla Scathach]

Soon they were at the cave. But rather than going to the entrance Kyla directed her to the right of the entrance. The going was slow and Kyla was having to stop and disarm some traps while others she simply avoided.

“Some she sets up as alarms. She uses a different wire.” Kyla said suddenly plopping to the ground and gesturing Heike to do the same. Once she was out of harms way Kyla would cut the wire and three crossbow bolts would fly from different points. One even whooshing over their heads at a height that would have struck them even if they had been crouching. Standing again Kyla finally came to a small opening.

A small tunnel just large enough to crawl in.. barely...a disgusting stench accompanied the questionable fluids flowing from it. “Waste dump. Dont think about it.” Kyla said casually taking the lead and hoping in. It would be a crawl that would feel like an eternity to Kyla. Luckily the stench was foul enough to completely eliminate her sense of smell and it was manageable towards the end. Finally they came to the end.

“Let’s hurry up and dump this. It’s disgusting”

A mans voice. “Better than what the other guys got. They have the cargo to load up. I pity the guys tasked with that. I heard she ate a guys ear and pulled his head off. With her bare hands no less. Miles told me himself.”

“Your full of shit.”

“Nah! She one of them. Like Miles and that drow that hangs around Brynn..how else could-grk!” He was cut off as he had turned to dump the barracks chamber pot only to be treated to a hand grasping the top of his head and pulled him head first into the tunnel. Bracing his hands on either side he stalled his movement and that turned out to be his fatal mistake.

He almost was able to scream before his head was ripped from his body.

Almost.

The chamber pot clattered to the floor as his body hit the floor with a wet thud.

Kyla kept moving drawing her knife she threw it with an expert flick of her wrist. It flew through the air like an angry steel hornet burying itself in the other mans throat as he fumbled for his sword. He slumped to the ground with a gurgle.

“Shit...” Kyla cursed then glanced down at her body. “No pun intended..” She said with a sigh. “Help me dump them down the hole.” She said jerking her thumb to the headless corpse as she pulled her knife from the others neck before pulling him over as well.

“I was hoping to run into people much later than this. Our time will be short.” She said opening the door and peeking outside only to be greater with silence.

It seemed they were still undetected at least for the time being.

..........................

Dear Sir knight,

Do not think me fickle in my ways. If your reading this then you have gone through with your plan to use the necromancer.
While I know your heart pure my own beliefs will not allow me to follow you in this endeavor lest it cost me the afterlife my people are promised.

However.

I also find it fitting to explain myself in a way I can never seem to face to face. What we were is possible to be again. I was harsh. But I believe what I said. It was ill timed and ill advised.

Though when this conflict is over I would still like you to visit me. We can talk more at that time. With my sister safe and your sword hung until needed again.
Yours

 

[Heike Eisen]

Filthy. Rank. But necessary, this godawful crawl through the refuse tunnel. Heike--cursed at present with an enhanced sense of smell--wrinkled her nose before the crawl had even properly begun. She pulled up her mask for what little it would be worth, then doggedly set about crawling after Kyla. Her stomach churned hard enough on several occasions that she thought she might be sick, yet the unlife that had claimed her body seemed content with the bubbly sounds of suppressed retching and the harsh contractions of her abdominal muscles. Should all go well here in the rescue, Heike was determined to see to the washing of her clothes and bathing of her body after her departure.

As the first one out, Kyla took care of the two sentries by herself. By the time Heike was out and up (the coloration of her pants and shirt and coat revoltingly altered in foul slicks and streaks across them) they were dead on the ground of the small refuse room.

Help me dump them down the hole.

Heike nodded. She went to the man slain by the throwing knife. Careful not to exert herself, to conserve blood and only use human-level strength, Heike grabbed the dead man under his armpits. Her claws dug into flesh, and she hauled him backward and shoved him into the slanting refuse tunnel.

Not using the strength available from her affliction...it reminded her of the virtuous struggle to better herself when she was mortal. When power was not so easily accessible, when it was limited to the confines of her own human body. How she longed for that again. The chance to give up the vile strength afforded by her affliction in return for it. Abdication not of a crown, but of abhorrent might.

And her thoughts sparked a question.

After disposing of the two corpses, Heike glanced to Kyla and whispered, "Are they not...like you? Will they stay dead?"

She didn't know how else to succinctly phrase it. But re-growing one's head seemed well enough to be phrased as 'coming back from the dead.' Though it did stand to reason that not all who dwelled in this lair would be like Kyla or Ferelith or Bryn. Surely there were normal people. Servants--either forced or willing. They who were not enhanced.

In either case, Heike stacked up behind Kyla as she opened and peeking from the door.

Kyla Scathach Sir Eberwolf Kinniger

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

(army will arrive during their confrontation with Bryn. Go ahead without me until then.)

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“The wolves are the only ones that will be difficult. Look for this.” She said gesturing to her back tattoo. She slipped into the hall way waiting for Heike to follow. They met little resistance as they made their way deeper into the tunnels.

The rotation of guards was easily avoided as simply as slipping into the shadows of alternate tunnel arches. Finally coming to a row of thick metal doors Kyla walked down the row. Finally coming to one with a large dent bowing it out of shape causing it to seemingly sag outward.

“I’m guessing this is the one..” Kyla said glancing about. “Keep a look out.” She said producing a lock picking tool and kneeling in front of the lock. She tinkered with it for a few moments before cursing.

“These were always tricky..Maybe if I..Damnit..” She cursed again pulling the tools from the keyhole and wiping her brow before going at it again with a will. The clunking of Heavy armored boots on stone began approaching them. Two pairs. Standard guard.

“Deal with them.” Kyla hissed “and check for keys.”

 

[Heike Eisen]

Further in.

And it was fortunate that Kyla had decided to come along for this daring (perhaps foolish) venture. Otherwise, provided in such a scenario that Heike could even find a way in, she would be figuratively fumbling around in the dark.

The row of metal doors they came to in the tunnels. And Kyla's guess was as good as any, seeing no other outward sign of identification or distinctions save the damage on the door she had chosen. She pulled out a lockpick, Kyla did, and Heike's brow furrowed slightly in consternation. How...so just how long had Kyla been in possession of that since Alliria? Nevermind. It was little of Heike's concern now, and the concealed tool would potentially prove useful here.

Deal with them, and check for keys.

Heike gave no nod this time--merely stalked silently into position at the edge of the corner from which the sound of approaching bootsteps was coming. Armor was a problem, and the familiar rattle of it greeted her before the sight of the patrol; it would ensure a level of clamor no matter what.

And she waited. Waited.

The first pair of guards came around the corner and Heike jumped in front of the man closest to her and chopped into his helm with the knife edge of her hand, exerting herself for strength and denting the helm inward to a degree. The hollow whine of taking a concussive blow to the head ringing in the man's ear, he stumbled into the wall which Heike had waited behind and collapsed to the floor. The remaining three men, the pair behind and the single, all locked onto Heike with alarmed eyes. The pair in the back drew weapons, but the single never got the chance--Heike jammed her claws through the open slits of his helm's visor. She held the dead man for a moment, using his armored body as a shield as the last pair bobbed on their feet, trying to get a better angle for a strike. One of the men drew in a breath to shout something, and Heike shoved the still-warm corpse of his fellow into him, and the man and the corpse tumbled to the floor in a clatter. The last man standing took a swing with his sword, Heike burned more blood to duck under in a flash, and she emerged from her crouch behind him--grabbed his helmed head and wrenched it back and plunged her claws into his visor as well. She cast his body aside and went to the man she'd hit with the corpse, stomping a foot on the wrist of his swordarm and crouching down and driving claws through his visor as well; small jerks of the man's legs, mild protests against death, and then he was still. Heike finished by likewise stabbing the concussed guard through his visor as well. By the end of it, blood dripped from the index and middle fingers of both of her hands, mixed with the slimy remnants of ocular fluid and small chunks of brain matter.

Heike took a breath. A thing her mind wished that her body still needed.

And she went about searching for a possible key or ring of keys. Patting the belts--and pouches affixed to them--of the fallen guards.

It would be seen if the commotion from the fight summoned more trouble.

Kyla Scathach Sir Eberwolf Kinniger

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

The armies were approaching. The pieces of the trebuchets weren’t the only things to be carried. Barrels of oil were also brought, and a number of shovels too. The full force of the Trackers, coupled by the three headed warhounds that were signature to Eberwolf’s armies, and the emblem of his army’s standard, cleared the forest of enemies mercilessly, if they had regenerative properties like the Scathach sisters, the three headed hounds had a regenerating snack, which they were overjoyed about. But that wasn’t the only way to dispose of them permanently.

Eberwolf directed that the trebuchets be arranged in a spread, so that they might bombard from many angles. They carried no torches, and the main army hung back to set up the siege engines, and even began to prepare a battering ram. Meanwhile, the Trackers got to work digging eight wide, deep pits, twice as deep as a man was tall, and ten times as wide, these were filled with the oil, it was these that would put regenerating enemies permanently out of commission. Barbaric, horrifying, gruesome and punishing. Regenerating enemies would burn for longer until there was simply nothing left to regenerate, or their magic ran out. And their screams would be most helpful too.

Another gruesome thing about Eberwolf’s battle tactics was that he and his men had a habit of collecting enemy heads to be launched over the walls at their still living comrades. He’d use this first, the people guarding the camp’s wall, be it wooden palisade or stone, would be struck by relatively small but horrific projectiles, before exploding spheres of fire battered the walls into submission.

If they were to come out and fight, Eberwolf’s linemen would pick them up or pin them down with their poleaxes, and as the line slowly advanced, those in front would go back while those in back moved forward, and the enemy would be thrown into pits of uncompromising conflagration.

Eberwolf knew where Heike was, and he’d show her exactly what it looked like when he showed no forgiveness.

 

[Kyla Scathach]

“They made it to her.” Alexi said as Brynn tented her fingers pensively. “And the trap?”
She asked with a slightly raised eyebrow as the drow responded with an eye roll. “What do you think..” She said with a deadpan expression.

“Fair enough.” Bryn said with a dismissive wave. “Make sure the evacuations are complete and leave the outside hires to guard what’s left. Everything important is already gone anyways. The dukes brat can have his spectacle of macabre.” Brynn said before standing from her throne and drifting into the shadows.

“Deal with them when the trap is sprung.” She said “bring me the masked one as well if you would.” Alexi nodded and drifted into the shadows as well the throne room of the lair now empty as it had been before being brought back into service.

“Keep it down will you!?” She hissed at Heike. The vampire ignoring her as she dispatched the guards.
“I think...I almost have it.. Keys?” She asked glancing from her work to check in the vampires progress. Should the keys turn up Kyla would use them gratefully. If they were not she would struggle a bit more before it finally clunked.

“There we are...” Kyla said pushing open the door. It was dark save for a small candle perched on a small table pushed up against the wall.


Ferelith laid on a stretcher. She was stark naked and while healed the sheets and robe laying next to the stretcher were drenched in still fresh and caked dry blood. She had been through a lot. But...Her skin.. her eyes..

“What did they do to her...” Kyla said her hands tightening into fists. Ferelith’s eyes opened slowly.. the blue as stark as ever. That was when she started to scream.
Kyla quickly tackled her cupping her hand to her mouth as she struggled and writhed in agony.

“They don’t ever use anything to dull the pain. It just waits for you until you wake. She’s feeling it all at once now. Hold her feet until she stops kicking!” Kyla begged as her sisters strength made her difficult to hold. After it subsided Ferelith finally stopped thrashing. Slowly Kyla removed her hand. “H-heike..” Ferelith lunged for her love. She shook slightly as she held the woman as close and tightly as she could. “Don’t ever leave me again..” She said with a choked back sob sitting in the back of her throat. After they had their reunion. (All the while Kyla giving a few eye rolls as she moved to get up off the stretcher. That was when a click occured. Kyla’s eyes widened. “Run!” She said as enchanted chains sprung from the wall the stretcher had been pushed up against.

A long hooked spike pushed from the wall spearing Kyla in the middle and pulling her back to the wall. “Gah!!” She grunted isn’t pain as the chains pulled taunt pulling her further onto the spike. “Go!” She yelled

“Ill catch up!” Ferelith nodded. “She’s right..” She whimpered.

“She will be here soon.”

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike had roundly ignored Kyla's hiss--perfect silence simply was not an option. The search for keys did not bear any fruit, but it did not matter, as the clunk that signaled the success of Kyla's lockpicking efforts sounded before Heike could even say as much to her. Heike didn't bother to do anything with the bodies. Just left them. Their time in this wretched place was rapidly coming to an end anyway, and there was none to spare on hiding the corpses.

Heike entered the dark room after Kyla. Eyes first falling upon the bloodied sheets and robe, then sliding over to see Ferelith there upon the stretcher. Just as her (blue, so wonderfully blue) eyes were opening.

Kyla lunged to keep Ferelith quiet, and Heike--after the quick explanation from Kyla--lunged to hold down Ferelith's ankles. She had to wait a second for the right opportunity, for she was intensely wary of slicing into Ferelith's flesh by grabbing at her too haphazardly. And Heike had to lean all of her weight into holding Ferelith down, trying not to (but suspecting that she did have to) exert herself and burn blood just to have the strength to keep Ferelith's own strength in check.

The thrashing stopped. And Ferelith rose up (by the Reik crown, she was cured) and embraced her. Heike clutched her as well, gloved palms against her naked back and with claws flexed upward so as to not risk harming her.

Don't ever leave me again..

The words were painful to hear, and mostly so because Heike knew that she could not promise such a thing. Knew that she would being doing so in the very near future, so was the result of her disavowing her commitment to the Kinniger Duchy's war. But such hard admissions could be said once they were free and clear of Bryn's cave.

For now, Heike said, "We came for you, Ferelith. We came for you." They disembraced, and she added, "And now we need to go."

Almost as if those very words had summoned misfortune itself, the click sounded and Kyla gave a shout and Heike scrambled back from the wall. Seemingly within two blinks of the eye Kyla found herself impaled on a trap and chained. Somewhere in the back of Heike's mind came a bitter satisfaction that Kyla, having tried in a sense to sacrifice Heike, was now being made by circumstance to sacrifice herself such that Ferelith could go free. This feeling wordless and dark.

There was no time. No time for anything save immediate egress.

"Keep right behind me, and don't stop!" Heike said--near exclaimed--to Ferelith. She just had to trust that Ferelith was ambulatory enough to run, and to run fast.

With that, Heike bolted. She ran with inhuman speed and reflexes that came from the Slaughtern strain, each step burning a bit more blood in her body, each exertion of her muscles powerful but draining. Her hair and her coat flowed out behind her, both like flags caught in a whipping wind. Down this hall, down that hall, retracing the path she and Kyla had come. If the patrols were not already alerted by something else, it might well be that the lightning flashes of Heike briefly appearing and disappearing in an intersection of tunnels, turning this corner or that corner, would catch their attention. But it would not matter. Not if they could get out.

Heike came to the refuse room--the very same she and Kyla had come into the cave hideout. And she shouldered open the door and burst into the room.

Ferelith Scathach Sir Eberwolf Kinniger

 

[Ferelith Scathach]

Ferelith nodded slowly. “Oh of..of course.” She said relying on her instincts she followed every twist and turn at the fastest speed she could manage at the moment. Something tickled in her brain. An instinct. A warning.

She tried to pull her love back but Heike’s momentum was too great and in her weakened state She was pulled along only to have the door shouldered open.

“I wouldn’t move.” A woman blocked her path. The drow. Alexi. The one setting all the traps. Her graceful elven feature twisted into a perplexed frown. But more importantly two wrist crossbows were loaded and ready.

“This isn’t what I expected. You were supposed to be the one wriggling in the cells right now..” She seemed annoyed at her miscalculation.

“At this point I think you know I can’t let you pass.” She said moving into a ready stance. Two hunting knives clinking on her hip ready to be drawn.

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

Their siege was ready. He was about to order the assault when someone came up dragging another man behind him. His mouth bleeding profusely.

"The dogs caught scent of people fleeing. We managed to nab this one." The Tracker said.

Eberwolf spoke, "chain him, her will talk eventually. And be sure to gag him. We don't want any unnecessary complications."

"Yes sir." From there the man was dragged away.

Eberwolf gestured to the signaller. He let his horn sound.

The trabuchets let loose. And burning projectiles were launched at the encampment. And the slaughter began.

The ram emerged, and it approached the main gate. Eberwolf walked behind it. Intent on being the first into the fray. His fury slowly but surely overwhelming his self control.

The gate burst, and the ram pulled away. Eberwolf strode through the destroyed doorway, and his sword swung with vicious speed, cutting any fighters he encountered in half, or most of the way.

The dogs followed him in soon after, those who weren't rounding up stragglers, and the gladly ate those still standing. His men followed after, the tramping of armoured feet announcing their arrival. But only a portion moved forward, the rest were held in reserve as backup and a place to retreat to if things went south.

 

[Heike Eisen]

I wouldn't--

The drow had hardly even spoken the word I before Heike leaped into action. This done without any regard or consideration for the drow nor her words, for there was nothing that she could say that would sway Heike from her course. Parley was not an option. The drow woman's presence here, as part of this heinous cabal of villains, assured her guilt and rendered any discourse worthless--especially when Heike and Ferelith were as pressed for time as it was.

The way out was there. Right there. They needed only to incapacitate this foe--and quickly--and escape was theirs to grasp.

Heike, in a fluid motion after shouldering open the refuse room door, jumped at a shallow angle toward the wall on her right. Twisted her body in the air and planted both her feet and a single hand on the wall for a split second and springboarded off of it. Sailed like a crossbow bolt armed with ten claws toward the drow from the side, seeking to rake all ten of those claws into the drow's back as she flew by and landed by the opposite wall.

Such unorthodox angles and methods of attack were enabled by the physical prowess granted by the Slaughtern strain. Never did a moment occur to Heike when she was human that she might combat a foe in this manner. Thus the devilish bargain: if she wished to rid herself of her affliction, she needed to use its unnatural strengths to survive long enough to do so.

Ferelith Scathach Sir Eberwolf Kinniger

 

[Ferelith Scathach]

“Shit!” The drow barely fires a single bolt before the claws raked her. Cursing she would attempt to seize the vampire and fling her back in front of her with incredible strength. “Heike!” The Ferelith cried out still too weak to aid her. Should the grab be successful Ferelith would throw herself to catch the flying vampire and land roughly.
“Stupid leech!” She hissed drawing her one for her long knives with a single hand.

The other clutching at her wound.

As it healed.

“She’s one of the wolves!” Ferelith warned trying to struggle to her feet. “If you get her down bite her. Like...” Ferelith whispered quickly.

She didn’t finish but the message was clear. Like she had done to Ferelith herself at the tower.

Above them the mercenaries were slaughtered by the armies above.
The sounds of the conflict unable to reach them

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

Eberwolf seized a still living mercenary by the front of their chest piece and slammed them against a nearby wall. “Where are the prisons? You will tell me or you will find out what happens when a human is cooked alive.”

It was the look in his eyes that could be seen through his helmet, a look of wrath that did not belong on the face of a mortal man. It was this hateful, vengeful gaze that told this man that the one asking the question was being kind with his threat, and that he would do far worse without a second thought. It was the look in his eyes that made the mercenary fear him far more than he feared his employers.

He got what he needed, and so he granted the mercenary the quick death of beheading. And from there he marched to the prisons, accompanied by ten of his soldiers. It was there he would come across the cell where Kyla had been harpooned, if she was still there.

 

[Heike Eisen]

And here the problem with such an unorthodox method of attack. Despite coming in from a strange angle, despite doing so quickly and fluidly, the hard fact remained that Heike--lunging off of the wall and going airborne as she did--had a trajectory. A predictable trajectory that she could do nothing about once committed to it.

So the crossbow shot tore a chunk of flesh out from the side of Heike's neck as the bolt sailed by, and she was grabbed before she could land and tossed into the wall beside the refuse room door. Or would have been, if not for the intervention of Ferelith. Heike slammed into her and, for what meager cushioning Ferelith's own body offered, was spared the same against the hard wall.

Down on the ground, Heike--dazed--felt the wound in her neck with her palm, blood oozing out in the lazily Slaughtern way. It was not grievous--her head wouldn't go rolling off of her shoulders from a sudden jolt--but it wasn't minor either. A crossbow bolt-sized half-circle trench had been carved through the side of her neck, exposing sickly red muscle underneath. Her spine was intact, her throat and her arteries--this last of the least importance in her undeath.

And already the damage Heike had done to the drow was gone. Hers gone, and Heike's would remain throughout the duration, even beyond it, until she could sleep. The drow was one of the Wolves, it was true. Heike had barely managed to defeat Ferelith back at the mage tower, and this was with Szesh's help and after Ferelith had plummeted off the full height of the tower. It did not bode well.

Heike considered just telling Ferelith to escape while she fought the drow. Ferelith was naked and unarmed; though she did have all of the formidable capabilities the drow had, even in such a state. She decided against it. Together, they might be able take down their foe, and take her down fast.

Heike sprang back up to her feet.

Kicked the fallen chamber pot on the floor toward the drow's face. A misdirection, like a feint in a sword fight.

And Heike rushed in after the pot. Not aiming for the knife itself, but slashing at the drow's wrist to render--if temporarily--the hand that held the knife unusable. Heike might even get away with damaging the wrist crossbow to some extent should her claws fail to find flesh. And disabling the drow's ranged options could enable a safe retreat down the refuse tunnel--better than staying here, where as time ticked on the drow gained more and more advantage.

Ferelith Scathach Sir Eberwolf Kinniger

 

[Ferelith Scathach]

“Don’t play games with me!” The drow said batting away the pot only to yell in pain as the knife dropped from her limp hand. “ahh!” The wrist was already healing as she swung anyway. Even the useless hand carrying enough force to take off Heikes head. “Don’t touch her!” Ferelith caught the hand. She had followed Heikes feint coming to the drows blind side as she was focused on the vampire.

Rage burning in her eyes as she simply yanked the drows arm off with a sickening pop and wet tearing of flesh. The drow let out a scream so ear piercing it was almost physically painful to hear. She clutched her bloody stump as she fell back.

Her head slamming into the stone edge of the refuse tunnels entrance. The stone cracked along with the back of her skull as Ferelith tossed the arm aside. “Fe-Ferelith...” Alexi struggled out one of her eyes was already starting to look in the opposite direction. Brain damage was evident.

“After all..we..” Ferelith stalked over to her. Blood covering her pale skin glistening in the darkness of the cavern.

“You made your choice.” She growled. Her eyes cold and I feeling as she placed her foot to the defenseless drows head and crushed it. Using the force to carry the edge of the stone through the rest. Alexis body spasmed for a few moments before going still. Ferelith glanced at Heike.

Her blue eyes held nothing in them for a few moments. This was the Ferelith of old. Something was pulling her back. In that glance there was something deeper.

Someone knowing the path they were heading back down, and looking to the anchor that held them. Her love for Heike. For others that had hurt. This moment seemed to carry some weight even if seemingly insignificant and unspoken in her mind.

 

[Sir Eberwolf Kinniger]

Eberwolf walked with stomping strides that carried him a lot faster than he normally walked. His zweihander was far too big to be used in such a small space, so he sheathed it on his back, and from his hip he drew his one-handed messer sword. He looked into each of the cells he passed and had his men work on freeing and escorting whomever they found back to the line of waiting reinforcements. They weren’t to be instantly trusted, but they weren’t to be killed either.

So eventually he found the impaled Kyla in one of the cells, a hooked spear through her gut and linked to the wall with some kind of rope or chain. So he went in, “I see you’ve been having a lot of fun here.”

So with his sword he chopped the tip off of the harpoon and pulled it from her back. “Did you get her out?”