79th Day of Ash, 122nd Year of the Age of Steel
“One isn’t enough to get us through whatever this is.” The Weaponmaster was saying, tightening the strap on her gauntlets. They were all clad in deep black with their typical armor over it. Sabrione wore a deep cowl with a face covering. Masagh wore his cloak’s hood pulled far over his head.
The five Knights of Creth crouched around Sabrione, listening to her briefing. They were like five inky shadows in the night. It was a cloudy night fresh from a storm. The ground glistened with rainfall threading between the cobbles.
“We need more Moonstones, because apparently they just started popping up and and the only tool we can use against these damn shadow beasts.” Sabrione continued, now checking her belt pouches. “That little rat turd of a dragon shard Masagh’s been hogging isn’t enough to protect the Compound so mother dearest wants us to go give some Imperium a beat down and take theirs.”
Glancing up at the cloudy sky Masagh frowned. “No Runes unless this clears up.” He said, trying to move past the dig at him.
“True. Not an auspicious night for it.” Riah muttered. She had replaced Vasile when his head was taken nearly three decades past.
“I guess we will just have to use our winning personalities, then.” Masagh said, flashing a humorless grin and curling his fingers around the hilt of his sword. “What’s the plan Weaponmaster?”
“We want to hit something with enough importance it will have guards, guards with moonstones, but not so guarded we lose our heads in the process.” Sabrione began, now rubbing her chin with a finger. “We go to the Relay Hub. Now remember, we aren’t trying to be heroes here. You do just enough damage to get any stones they have. Then we piss off back home.”
“And what if they have those other stones, the sun light ones?” Especially asked, grimacing at them all. Sabrione glanced down the empty street.
“Then please jump in front of me, Calliope. Now get a fucking move on.” She motioned Cleon and Masagh forward. He moved, keeping low and quiet.
They slunk their way towards the Southside of Gel’Grandal. The Imperium couldn’t be bothered to post any of their real strength in the Northside. Not when all their real treasures were south of the river. They spotted a few patrols, but did not attack. None of them seemed to have the dragon shards they were looking for. One did have the more richly colored Dawnstone. Masagh pressed himself low in the gutter of a side street as they passed.
Eventually they crept out onto the wide promenade next to the Rosenholz park. The foliage of the park was dark, coating the grassy floor in mystery. Masagh kept his eyes in that direction while Cleon watched the front.
“The skies are clearing a bit.” Riah said hopefully.
He glanced up. Sure enough the moon shone through the grey clouds like a pool of silver. He was about to comment on it when he caught motion in the periphery of his vision. He crouched and held an arm up to stop the others. Could it have just been a breeze through the trees?
“I think it was just-“ His words fell away as his gut lurched. A pair of wide horns emerged from the park’s darkness about thirty feet from them. They were attached to a massive head. A cat-like body slunk from the shadows, dark eyes staring at the group. The thing was comparable to the largest horse Masagh had ever seen in size. Then as he watched three more shadow things emerged, these all looked like some sort of jellyfish from hell. Hooked tendrils curled and hung below floating shadowy bodies bristling with spikes.
The moon shone above.
“Shadows in the park!” Masagh barked, drawing his claymore with one hand and fumbling with the Moonstone with the other. He threw his sword into the air and cast the Dancing upon it. The naked blade caught the moonlight as it flew. It was joined by the others as they all sent their swords at the large cat-beast. The blades sunk through it and disappeared with no effect.
So the weakening influence of the Moonstone didn’t extend that far. Masagh summoned the blade back to himself. The weapon slipped through the shadow of the cat-beast even as the things charged the Knights. Masagh instinctively rushed forward with the tiny Moonstone raised. They would all die a gruesome and unavoidable death if he didn’t get the stone close enough to matter.
The cat-beast obliged him by veering directly to him. “Come on you bastard.” Masagh muttered under his breath. When the thing was no more than ten feet away he cut low at the thing’s legs with his Dancing claymore. The blade slid through the shadow flesh and the beast tumbled with a snarl. Masagh dove out of the way.
The chaos of combat raged around him. Masagh could see ghouls sprinting about, dodging shadowy tendrils. He lifted the Moonstone above his head and ran towards the tree line. He heard the sound of someone running nearby, soft and silent. He turned, hoping to see Sabrione or one of the others.
The cat-beast was giving chase. Masagh willed the Dancing blade back into his hands and held it up. Gathering his aether he tried to invoke the Transmuting. Blending the stone with his blade would probably destroy it, but it would allow him to slay the shadows easily. They could not survive with just the one. As the sword began to shimmer, though, the cat-beast pounced.
It dove low and brought the horns up. Masagh felt a pain erupt in his lower gut and he was suddenly thrown into the air. He felt the lashing of tree branches across his body as he soared through the foliage. His blade flew out of his hand and clattered amongst the branches. He hit the ground hard and gasped in pain. His vision blurred and his head pounded. The deep ache in his gut kept him from moving. He groaned and focused on his breath. The rotten entrails in his gut were exposed and ichor dripped onto the grass.
Gathering his strength he was able to turn over and pull himself up onto the trunk of the tree. He leaned against it and vaguely raised the Moonstone. He tried to focus on his claymore, seeing it wedged in the leaves and branches above. Willing it to return to him, he made a valiant effort in ignoring the cat-beast that was once again stalking near him. It watched him with hunger in its gaze, shoulders dropping and rising with its steps.
The moon was not shining on him, though. The sword remained too far to touch. Masagh pulled the larger of his two daggers free. When the beast charged he raised it weakly in his hand. The thing pounced and he struck down with the dagger.
He felt his hand deflected off the things flesh, tearing a superficial wound. Then the dagger sunk into the grass and the beast was on him. The jaws gave the impression of great strength as they wrapped around the arm that held the dragon shard. Then he felt the flesh tear as the fangs sunk in. It jerked its massive head and with it went his arm from the elbow.
Masagh cried out in pain and his vision faded.
Perhaps he was dead, he certainly saw a light. A silvery gleam floated in front of him. Perhaps there was some god who claimed the souls of the ghouls. But no, he could not be dead. The hunger still ached within him, now more than ever. He blinked.
The moon, it had again come free of the clouds. He could retrieve his sword and continue the fight now. Masagh lifted his head and looked around. The grassy field was silent now, the shadow beasts nowhere to be seen. His arm lay twenty feet away with the Moonstone gleaming next to it.
Another corpse had been strewn across the grass. Black clothing and armor, one of his companions then. Gee could not tell who it was, but they were definitely dead. Their body had been split down the center and their head removed. The pieces seemed to have been tossed yards from each other. He was alone.
Alone save for movement down the road. With an effort he turned his head. A group of twelve Imperium guards approached at a wary trot, holding torches and weapons. There was no sign of the other three Knights or the shadow beasts.
Masagh looked again at the moon, his mind racing to combat the dull lethargy born of his grievous wounds. He had only minutes until the patrol reached him. Probably brought by the noise, they would be looking for survivors. If they found a conscious ghoul they would just gut him. What was more, the moon might disappear behind shadow again and doom him to that fate before they got here.
He managed to roll over. His belly hitting the grass sent blossoms of agony through his form. He ignored it. Masagh pulled himself around the trunk of the tree and with sluggish movements freed the cobra totem from his belt pouch. With only the one hand now he closed his eyes and put all his energy into the transformation.
The agony of it was just another layer to harmonize with the wound in his belly and the loss of his arm. Masagh became the cobra, albeit with the sizable loss of his tail, as the Imperium patrol spotted the maimed corpse of his companion. Masagh ignored them, inspecting his surroundings. There was a hole in the base of the tree next to the one he had been leaning against, perhaps a gopher or mole had dug it recently. Masagh slithered his way to it, every movement a new agony.
He reached it even as the Imperium patrol reached his severed arm. With relief Masagh slid into the tiny tunnel and curled up on himself. He wound his body around his wound and settled his head at the entrance of the tunnel, looking out at the patrol. Finally he allowed himself to let his chin rest on the earth and focused on his breathing. He had, at least, avoided death by Imperial execution tonight.
But what of the others? Who was his slain companion? They were a tight knit group, having trained and fought together for at least a pair of decades. The loss of any ghoul was a crippling tragedy, but the loss of a trained and runed sworn…
An Imperium soldier bent and picked up the head, turning it to the light. Masagh saw the face.
Calliope.
Their words were lost on him, but it didn’t matter. Calliope was dead, maybe Sabrione and Cleon with her. Riah had been the least experienced of them. If the rest had been vanquished, surely she had too. He felt the weight of exhaustion taking him as his thought wandered between his companions. Masagh slithered deeper into the tunnel. If he lost consciousness at the entrance and the sun rose, he would die.
In the depths of the animal tunnel the cobra fell into a deep and fitful sleep.
Calliope Vereni
Knight of House Creth
6th Frost, 302 Age of Sundering - 79th Ash, 122 Age of Steel
