Post by godly on Oct 12, 2009 21:47:24 GMT 10
Valeria stopped in front of a pair of large, utilitarian doors on one of the higher levels of the castle.
‘What is the condition of our captains? All I know is that they’re all out.’
Shifting uneasily Valeria hesitated, refusing to look at Azerial, ‘Makoe is dead, ripped apart by a troll, Vilner won’t last much longer, he was gutted by a group of goblins. Balthor and Xane are unconscious but they’ll live.’
With a sudden movement Azerial shoved the doors open, they with the walls with a loud crack, making Raize’s surgeon jump.
‘Make it quick General,’ the mercenary said. ‘The Zerantel have broken through, and I need to station the men.’
The older man struggled to sit up; his face was haggard and pale, his hair limp, he looked a great deal like a re-animated corpse. ‘Being in command displeases you? Maybe you will like more in a moment,’ he paused, letting a coughing fit pass. ‘Instead of twenty thousand gold Kirr, as I promised I will give you the entire contents of the treasury, forty thousand gold Harthons and more than three hundred-weight in silver.’
Azerial folded his arms, and tallied up what would be required to transport that small fortune, Valeria on the other hand was wide-eyed with shock, ‘Valeria ready three deep-bed wagons and a team of mules for each, along with a canvas sheet to cover it,’ she scurried out of the room and Azerial looked at the older man once more. ‘Now what else did you want.’
‘What makes you think there’s something else?’ Raize wheezed.
‘You could have sent a message telling me of the revised payment.’
‘The runners could have not told you, taking the money, or at least some of it, for themselves.’
‘You could have written it down, besides you would know what is going on at the moment. You wouldn’t have disturbed me if you didn’t have a good reason.’
Raize bowed his head slightly conceding defeat, ‘You’re right; I have something that needs a guardian. In the armoury you will find a rack of half finished spears, the entire thing is false, I had it built to conceal a small room.’ He stopped again as his body was wracked with another coughing fit, more violent than the last.
‘Inside it,’ the dying man continued when he regained his breath. ‘Rests a relic that fell from the sky several hundred years ago causing some natural disasters.’ He paused once more as Valeria entered again.
Valeria opened her mouth to speak but Azerial motioned for her to be quite. Then for Raize to continue, ‘When we examined the area where the thing fell and found a sword, with a blue blade, strange runes on the blade, the hilt wrapped with platinum dragon hide. We had a mage examine it, why he examined it with his mind I’ll never know; but when he did, the probe lashed back and shattered his mind, the poor man turned his own magic on himself and obliterated himself. Men have tried to wield it but they have all fallen mad and it’s taken dozen of soldiers and archers to kill them.’
Azerial could see where this was going, ‘Let me guess, you tried to destroy it? How many mages did you lose?’
‘Three arch-mages,’ replied the old general, his voice heavy with regret. ‘And a blood elf sorceress.’ Azerial winced at that, blood elves, although aloof and by all reports, dangerous and dark creatures are the most powerful magic practitioners on the planet.
Running his fingers through his hair Azerial thought about the implications of what he’d just heard, then his singled something out, ‘How did a blood elf come to be here?’
This time the surgeon answered. ‘A patrol found her more than a century ago, wounded and running from something. We treated her and she started to live here, yet we never found out what was chasing her.’
‘Done,’ said Azerial. ‘But you need to live a little longer. Here,’ he pulled a vial out of a pouch on his belt and tossed it to the surgeon. ‘It’s not the antidote but it’ll give me the time I need to make it.’
He then turned to leave but the surgeon’s call stopped him. ‘Don’t worry about the antidote, the bolt did too much damage.’
‘Just stay alive and co-ordinate the defences then’ he said as he disappeared through the door.
‘Do you think he’s strong enough, to get it out of here?’ the surgeon asked. ‘It won’t let an unworthy warrior wield it.’
‘The sword is sentient?’ Valeria said sharply.
‘No,’ answered Raize, his voice stronger after drinking the contents of the vial. ‘It can however choose it’s wielder, or so the sorceress said, and I believe her. She probably knew what was going to happen to her and still she tried, I regret asking he to do it.’
Valeria was about to reply when an explosion rocked the entire citadel. She rushed to the eastern window, the direction from which the blast came, and at the break it the wall rose a tower of smoke, blackened and broken body parts littered the crater from which the smoke issued.
Then she realised, Azerial had slammed that axe into the ground there! ‘What is it?’ she heard Raize call, but she didn’t answer.
Backing away from the window, her eye’s wide, she stammered out a reply, ‘A mage, he’s a mage too. Who is he? What is he?’
Raize, with help from the surgeon walked to the window, his jaw dropped at what he saw and muttered a prayer to the goddess of war Jethira-Ankir.
‘A Xenkain, he has to be a Xenkain,’ the old man muttered, remembering something he’d heard long ago. ‘Gods help us, if he is I may have killed us all.’
Snapping out of he daze she looked at the old man, ‘A Xenkain?’ she asked stumbling over the strange word. ‘What’s a Xenkain?’
Rubbing his eyes Raize looked at her, assessing her. ‘A Xenkain is a half dragon, at least they were several eons ago, and even then it wasn’t exactly true, I spent years digging up texts on them and aside from that I came up with only a few things.
‘Firstly they were on average ten times stronger than a human, ten times faster and unless killed, immortal,’ the old man’s eyes stared at something far away. ‘Singularly they were more powerful in magic than blood elves, however it was said that they refused to work in harmony thus, thankfully, they didn’t have as much power as they could have. Apparently it also took time for a young Xenkain to come into his or her own physical and magical power, according to the records I looked at it was something between twenty to forty years from the age of five, and finally the entire race was almost universally evil.’
A chill ran down Valeria’s spine, that last pronouncement had terrified her. Never had she felt this close to death,
‘What is the condition of our captains? All I know is that they’re all out.’
Shifting uneasily Valeria hesitated, refusing to look at Azerial, ‘Makoe is dead, ripped apart by a troll, Vilner won’t last much longer, he was gutted by a group of goblins. Balthor and Xane are unconscious but they’ll live.’
With a sudden movement Azerial shoved the doors open, they with the walls with a loud crack, making Raize’s surgeon jump.
‘Make it quick General,’ the mercenary said. ‘The Zerantel have broken through, and I need to station the men.’
The older man struggled to sit up; his face was haggard and pale, his hair limp, he looked a great deal like a re-animated corpse. ‘Being in command displeases you? Maybe you will like more in a moment,’ he paused, letting a coughing fit pass. ‘Instead of twenty thousand gold Kirr, as I promised I will give you the entire contents of the treasury, forty thousand gold Harthons and more than three hundred-weight in silver.’
Azerial folded his arms, and tallied up what would be required to transport that small fortune, Valeria on the other hand was wide-eyed with shock, ‘Valeria ready three deep-bed wagons and a team of mules for each, along with a canvas sheet to cover it,’ she scurried out of the room and Azerial looked at the older man once more. ‘Now what else did you want.’
‘What makes you think there’s something else?’ Raize wheezed.
‘You could have sent a message telling me of the revised payment.’
‘The runners could have not told you, taking the money, or at least some of it, for themselves.’
‘You could have written it down, besides you would know what is going on at the moment. You wouldn’t have disturbed me if you didn’t have a good reason.’
Raize bowed his head slightly conceding defeat, ‘You’re right; I have something that needs a guardian. In the armoury you will find a rack of half finished spears, the entire thing is false, I had it built to conceal a small room.’ He stopped again as his body was wracked with another coughing fit, more violent than the last.
‘Inside it,’ the dying man continued when he regained his breath. ‘Rests a relic that fell from the sky several hundred years ago causing some natural disasters.’ He paused once more as Valeria entered again.
Valeria opened her mouth to speak but Azerial motioned for her to be quite. Then for Raize to continue, ‘When we examined the area where the thing fell and found a sword, with a blue blade, strange runes on the blade, the hilt wrapped with platinum dragon hide. We had a mage examine it, why he examined it with his mind I’ll never know; but when he did, the probe lashed back and shattered his mind, the poor man turned his own magic on himself and obliterated himself. Men have tried to wield it but they have all fallen mad and it’s taken dozen of soldiers and archers to kill them.’
Azerial could see where this was going, ‘Let me guess, you tried to destroy it? How many mages did you lose?’
‘Three arch-mages,’ replied the old general, his voice heavy with regret. ‘And a blood elf sorceress.’ Azerial winced at that, blood elves, although aloof and by all reports, dangerous and dark creatures are the most powerful magic practitioners on the planet.
Running his fingers through his hair Azerial thought about the implications of what he’d just heard, then his singled something out, ‘How did a blood elf come to be here?’
This time the surgeon answered. ‘A patrol found her more than a century ago, wounded and running from something. We treated her and she started to live here, yet we never found out what was chasing her.’
‘Done,’ said Azerial. ‘But you need to live a little longer. Here,’ he pulled a vial out of a pouch on his belt and tossed it to the surgeon. ‘It’s not the antidote but it’ll give me the time I need to make it.’
He then turned to leave but the surgeon’s call stopped him. ‘Don’t worry about the antidote, the bolt did too much damage.’
‘Just stay alive and co-ordinate the defences then’ he said as he disappeared through the door.
‘Do you think he’s strong enough, to get it out of here?’ the surgeon asked. ‘It won’t let an unworthy warrior wield it.’
‘The sword is sentient?’ Valeria said sharply.
‘No,’ answered Raize, his voice stronger after drinking the contents of the vial. ‘It can however choose it’s wielder, or so the sorceress said, and I believe her. She probably knew what was going to happen to her and still she tried, I regret asking he to do it.’
Valeria was about to reply when an explosion rocked the entire citadel. She rushed to the eastern window, the direction from which the blast came, and at the break it the wall rose a tower of smoke, blackened and broken body parts littered the crater from which the smoke issued.
Then she realised, Azerial had slammed that axe into the ground there! ‘What is it?’ she heard Raize call, but she didn’t answer.
Backing away from the window, her eye’s wide, she stammered out a reply, ‘A mage, he’s a mage too. Who is he? What is he?’
Raize, with help from the surgeon walked to the window, his jaw dropped at what he saw and muttered a prayer to the goddess of war Jethira-Ankir.
‘A Xenkain, he has to be a Xenkain,’ the old man muttered, remembering something he’d heard long ago. ‘Gods help us, if he is I may have killed us all.’
Snapping out of he daze she looked at the old man, ‘A Xenkain?’ she asked stumbling over the strange word. ‘What’s a Xenkain?’
Rubbing his eyes Raize looked at her, assessing her. ‘A Xenkain is a half dragon, at least they were several eons ago, and even then it wasn’t exactly true, I spent years digging up texts on them and aside from that I came up with only a few things.
‘Firstly they were on average ten times stronger than a human, ten times faster and unless killed, immortal,’ the old man’s eyes stared at something far away. ‘Singularly they were more powerful in magic than blood elves, however it was said that they refused to work in harmony thus, thankfully, they didn’t have as much power as they could have. Apparently it also took time for a young Xenkain to come into his or her own physical and magical power, according to the records I looked at it was something between twenty to forty years from the age of five, and finally the entire race was almost universally evil.’
A chill ran down Valeria’s spine, that last pronouncement had terrified her. Never had she felt this close to death,
