Death, Death was everywhere. It was all around him, it was upon the very soil where the bleeding carcasses of beastmen lay; it was all over his bloodstained, battle damaged armor and his axe which dripped with fresh, crimson gore. It was in the very air as well, fouled as it was by the charnel stench of his former prey and it was in the very Winds itself. The one upon the Winds was very different though, it was not the raw, sickly sweet corruption that one would associate with Yenlui, Chaos. It was a refined thing, one of a cold and beautiful weave of the Aethyr.
A mage was nearby, Khorieus Alatanrieth realized. And a powerful one as well he noted as of belonging to one who could draw upon the Purple Wind of Shyish, a practitioner of the Lore of Death. It would not be unusual if the human Empire had sent one of their battle wizards to this place as for many weeks the beastmen hordes had ravaged the realms of men. He himself had been fighting the foul things for more than a month now.
And what a glorious campaign it has been. Never has he slaughtered so many in such a relatively short period of time, to slay both the pathetic and the mighty, to face horrors which would drive a lesser creature towards insanity and slay them, it was here in this land where he glutted himself upon the carnage of war. He was glad to have chosen Elthin Arvan as his destination, had he gone to New World, he would have missed such bloodshed for the euphoria he felt at the moment was what made it all worthwhile.
He felt the Winds stir again, a powerful spell was cast. If the Imperials needed aid, then they would have it, for too long he had hunted alone since the woodland kin of Laurelorn had cast him out. It would be good to wage battle with different elements and tactics which could only be found with fighting along with allies, crude as they may be.
His legs carried him swiftly under the shadowed eaves of the forest where shafts of light from the noon day sun occasionally broke through the darkness. He believed that now he would be in the region the Imperials called "The Great Forest" which in ancient times when the Asur ruled this land, it had been called Loren Lacoi. He felt the rush of Shyish once more, his keen ears picked up an echoing wail, one of a soul which had been forcefully torn from its body.
Following the patterns of the Winds, the Chracian finally found what he sought. Upon a well maintained cobblestone road of dwarf-make, he was surprised to find a lone human woman who was clad in dark, loose robes of the deepest purple. Her black hair wildly blew as if it were caught in a gale, in her hands she carried scythe of pure Shyish to which she wielded in a surprisingly elegant and dance like pattern. All around the wizard were the shriveled bodies of beastmen and mutants, each looking as if they had been dead for years.
Surveying the area, the wizard was surrounded and outnumbered, but she was not outmatched. She danced and spun with a surprising degree of grace which intrigued him, he watched as a trio of Bestigor's tried to rush the wizard, only for the human to wave her right hand which launched a trio of black bolts of energy. When the three bolts struck, the Bestigors howled in agony as their bodies withered into dried husks in mere seconds.
There were still more of the beastmen and the High Elf did not wish to miss out. Commanding his axe to ignite, the ancient weapon burst into white flame and he rushed forwards to the road and towards the wizard. Roaring the name of the Bloody Handed God, his hands gripped the handle of his axe which trailed behind him, a beastman gor whose attention was upon the human turned its head to the Asur, it did not have time to register the blazing axe which cleaved its head from the upper and lower jaw.
Adrenaline from his previous skirmish was renewed by a fresh bout; he roared his laughter as the murder-lust was upon him. He cleaved an ungor's legs from its thighs and he backhanded the face of another one with his gauntleted fist, he felt the satisfying crack of bones as it was knocked away. He parried the thrust of a crude sword before decapitating its owner.
Fighting at the edge of the herd whose attentions were now drawing towards the Chracian, he needed to make sure that the beasts do not surround him and that he would have a clear escape route if need be. He focused on making wide, cleaving swings which would strike as many opponents as possible, he blocked, dodged and parried the clumsy attacks of the beasts with as much as effort as he had done with his attacks. With a swipe of his blazing axe, two more beasts fell and were quickly trampled by their kin.
Feeling the rush Shyish once more, he saw several of the beasts in front of him wither into dust. Briefly glancing to the woman who now was standing her ground with her left hand weaving arcane patterns in the air, he saw the Purple Wind gather around her, likely preparing for a mighty spell. With a loud shout the woman thrust her scythe forwards and a large globe of darkness burst forth from the tip, the globe swiftly flew over the heads of the beastmen, it exploded above them like a fireball hitting its target and it began to bathe the beasts in entropic energies.
Khorieus watched in satisfaction as more beasts withered into dried husks. He noticed his rings began glowing and he was forced to take a few steps back as the dark energy of the spell began to reach out him. As the last of the beasts stopped moving and the miniature sun dissipated, he looked to the mage who now leaned heavily upon her scythe of bone which was no longer infused with Shyish. At a closer look he was surprised to see that the dark metal of the scythe's blade was a jagged thing of an all too familiar design, a piece of cursed Druchii-forged steel. The ivory shaft of the scythe he noted looked to be carved from sturdy bone of an ogre's spinal cord and held together by dark metal.
Dispelling his axe's fire, he stowed the weapon away and he walked towards the wizard. The woman looked to him and nodded, he saw her reach into a satchel on the side of her waist and remove a blue-bottle, likely containing an alchemical elixir. The wizard swiftly gulped down the elixir and she looked to him wearily. Standing in front of the wizard who did her best to straighten up, Khorieus gave her a polite bow to which the woman returned the gesture.
'Well fought, Wizard of the Amethyst Order' Khorieus commented in Reikspiel.
'And to you as well, Son of Ulthuan' the wizard said tiredly in a quiet and whispery voice which carried with it an unnatural chill.
At a closer look, Khorieus noted the pale flesh of the woman was more of a deathly pallor, her eyes were the color of grey, and her long black hair had settled upon her shoulders. He guessed by her face that she must be of middling years or even older; of course Khorieus was no expert in telling age with humans. He had to admit that despite her corpse-like appearance, he found her to be a bit attractive in a cold yet crude sort of way.
'Do the armies of Ulthuan march within the Empire?' the wizard asked with curiosity, the Chracian noted the wizard did not seem in awe of him in the way most humans seem to be when meeting one of his kind, it was refreshing really.
'They do not as far as I know' Khorieus replied, remembering a similar conversation a few weeks earlier. 'I am simply a lone traveler, hunting beasts and offering aid to the allies of Ulthuan' he added none too honestly.
'It is good that you lend your strength to aid The Empire then, Son of Ulthuan' the wizard said in an appreciative tone.
Khorieus nodded politely and asked 'And by what name may I call you Frau?'
'Rosalind Amsel, Battle Wizard Lady of the Amethyst College' the wizard introduced herself with a curtsy.
Raising her pale left hand which bore a ring of silver which was shaped like a serpent devouring its tail as it was wrapped around a circular amethyst stone which glowed with arcane power. He noted the Wizard Lady also carried other pieces of silver jewelry such as a delicate Torc of skeletal design, a serpentine circlet upon her brow, a pair of simple ear studs upon the lobes, each item was embedded with amethyst stone onto it, each one radiating with sorcerous power. Khorieus gently took the wizard's hand and kissed it, remembering what passed for etiquette among humans.
'Khorieus' he said as he introduced himself politely 'Lord of the House of Alatanrieth'. The Lady Wizard nodded, for even in times such as this, certain proprieties must be upheld, especially among allies. 'What brings you here then Frau Amsel?' asked the elf.
'As a Battle Wizard of the Empire, it is my duty to answer the call to war' the Lady Wizard replied 'The beastmen hordes which have just ravaged the northern realms are still a considerable threat' Khorieus nodded, he understood for he had seen at firsthand the wanton destruction caused by the beastmen, what he had seen had only served to further fuel his hate towards the children of chaos.
'Surely, the threat has been diminished though?' Khorieus asked
'Indeed' The Wizard Lady said 'but there are still pockets of the creatures which still pose a threat if they were to unite. One such group of beasts is gathering around a large camp to the south of here'
'Really?' Khorieus asked with a hint of eagerness 'Have you seen them with your Spiritsight?'
'I have, yes' the wizard confirmed with a nod.
'Then I offer my aid in exterminating the vermin' Khorieus said as he hefted the grip of his axe over his right shoulder and he extended his left hand to the Wizard Lady.
The Lady Wizard took his hand and shook it in a surprisingly strong grip, whatever effects of the Elixir she had drunk seemed to now be taking effect and woman began to look more revitalized. 'Together then' she said with an appreciative look on her face.
Now traveling through the brush of the Great Forest the Lady Wizard had at first led the way, but after Khorieus began spotting the tracks of the beastmen he had insisted to take the lead. While the Lady Wizard's skill in moving quietly left much to be desired Khorieus was a bit surprised to find that the wizard had more or less been able to keep up with his pace. Eventually the tracks of the beastmen became clearer; once more Khorieus would find the barbarous idols and piles of dung the foul things would often leave as markers of their territory.
Equipped with his bow while his axe was stowed upon his back, Khorieus heard a rustling from the leaves of the trees above. His palms began to itch and he simply trusted his instincts, raising his bow up he saw swift movement among the canopy. Swiftly grabbing an arrow from his quiver, he drew the string and fired an icy arrow into the canopy, he was rewarded with a loud shriek as a pale skinned body with black leathery wings upon its back and furry digitigrades legs fell to the earth.
'Harpies!' He called to the wizard who reacted quickly and began drawing the Winds of Shyish as words of power began to escape her lips. The high-pitched shrieks of the feminine beast-things filled the sky as a flock of six of the things descended upon Khorieus and Rosalind. Swiftly firing another arrow, he saw the projectile strike the neck of a harpy which crashed onto the ground; the remaining harpies were only mere moments away.
Leaping to his right with his shoulder hitting the ground, he rolled away to avoid one of the diving she-beasts. Feeling the release of the buildup of Shyish, Khorieus saw a volley of dark purple magic missiles fly towards the Harpies. Three of the creatures were struck by the missiles and they began to wither into heavily malnourished skeletons which crashed into the ground with bone shattering force.
The two remaining harpies swiftly fled from the two, their loud shrieks filled the air were followed by the distant roars of more Beastmen. Firing another arrow which struck one of the harpies in the spine, Khorieus took careful aim at the last one but could not get a clear shot due to the trees. So much for catching them unaware thought Khorieus, looking to the wizard who nodded to him, she pulled out another elixir which had a yellow bottle and began to drink it. It did not take long for them to hear the roaring of the beasts which began to come closer to them.
'Do you have a plan?' Khorieus asked as he glanced to the Lady Wizard. The woman tossed the bottle away and she reached for another one which was orange in color to which she offered the Chracian. Graciously taking the bottle, Khorieus drank the elixir and after a moment, he began to feel a greater degree of strength coursing through the muscles beneath his flesh.
'Kill every single one of the beasts and send them screaming to their dark gods' The Wizard Lady replied coldly with grim determination. The wizard then began whispering words of powers and in her left hand, a ball of dark energy began to appear with tendrils of the same energy began to flail about. Looking out to the forest with bow and arrow raised, he saw the oncoming horde.
First hearing, and then looking to the air to see the shrieking harpy which had escaped them earlier, the elf released his arrow and flew into the she-beast's right eye. Drawing another arrow and pointing his bow at the thundering sound ahead of them, he saw six roaring Centigors burst forth the brush. The Centigors wielded crude sharpened sticks which resembled spears, they whooped and hollered and shouted crude things at both Khorieus and Rosalind.
Releasing another arrow, Khorieus swiftly put another arrow to his bow-string and fired, he did so again and again in rapid motion as the Centigors swiftly closed the gap. One beast fell with three frozen arrows upon its chest, another fell with after its throat had been pierced by two more. Stowing his bow and equipping his axe, Khorieus roared the name of Khaine as he charged forwards to meet the remaining Centigor charge.
The Centigors laughed and bellowed at the elf that assailed them, one of them, a leader of sorts roared orders to its kin who disengaged from their path with the elf. The other beasts acquiesced and the Centigor leader pointed its spear at the Chracian. With a swift thrust aimed at Khorieus head, he ducked underneath the spear and buried his axe into leader's left hind leg.
The Centigor roared in agony as the elf's axe severed one of its legs. The Centigor stumbled and crashed into the forest floor and the elf was quickly upon it, his axe crashed into the side of its horned head. The Ithilmar axe cut through the Centigor's horn and was firmly lodged into the area of beastman's brain which should have been behind its eyes. Placing his right foot on dead Centigor's head, he tugged and pulled out his axe.
Looking to the remaining Centigors, he saw one already lay dead, its body a shriveled corpse. He saw the wizard was surrounded with Aethyric Winds which formed a sort of mystical armor around her. Tendrils of dark energy emerged from her left hand; the tendrils had wrapped the remaining two Centigors as tightly as chains of steel, the beasts in questions looked to be in a daze of sorts. The wizard closed her left hand and the centigors began to spasm and convulse as bloody foam began to appear in their mouths and their eyes rolled back. The remaining two Centigors simply dropped where they were and remained unmoving.
Nodding to the Lady Wizard in approval, Khorieus faced the direction of the oncoming horde of beastmen. Already he could see that there were several dozens of the foul things coming towards them, once more he felt the rush of the purple wind as the wizard began casting her spell. Switching to his bow again, Khorieus sighted down upon a rather burly specimen of a gor and he released an arrow which struck it between the eyes.
Firing more arrows into the herd of beastmen, he tensed his legs to run and make this a hit and run fight. As more beastmen fell to the Chracian's arrows and the buildup of energy from the purple wind intensified, he heard the wizard shout the end of her spell and a massive orb of darkness appeared above the beastmen herd. A Purple Sun of Xereus! Khorieus realized, to his delight he watched several of the beastmen petrify into lifeless crystalline statues; his respect for the wizard's skill improved for such a spell would be difficult pull off with such alacrity.
Looking to the wizard who began to lean heavily upon her staff, she began to look weary from the spell. She looked back to him and said 'I shall be fine, Son of Ulthuan', she then whispered more words of power and her scythe was soon wreathed with Shyish.
Although many of the beastmen were slain by the Purple Sun, there were still others which survived and strong nerves as to not run after the death of so many of their kin. Charging towards them were several more beastmen, these ones Khorieus noted were the stronger and hardier ones, good he thought for he appreciated the challenge.
Firing more arrows, Khorieus soon realized that the beastmen would be upon him soon, looking to the wizard who readied her scythe in an aggressive stance; he knew the wizard meant to meet the beastmen head on. Swiftly switching back to his axe, Khorieus spoke the command words of his weapon and the white fire ignited.
'Are you prepared, wizard?' Khorieus asked as he glanced back to the woman.
'Even unto death' replied the wizard. Khorieus roared the name of the Bloody Handed God and led the charge to the remaining beastmen with the Wizard Lady right behind him.
Cleaving a Bestigor in half and with his axe and parrying the strike of another, the Beastman which had just attacked him was swiftly cut in the stomach by the wizard's scythe, its gory entrails spilled out into the ground. Khorieus noted that with each foe slain, the Wizard Lady seemed to become more invigorated. He wondered if it was part of the Death magic which had infused the scythe or perhaps if it were an enchantment placed upon the Druchii forged blade itself.
Khorieus was impressed with his newfound strength and vigor from the wizard's elixir. Each strike of his axe required less effort for him to cut deeply into their flesh, each blow he had blocked and parried were as if snotlings were trying hit him with sticks. Cutting a gor's legs from underneath it and bringing his axe down upon its chest before it even hit the ground; Khorieus felt nothing but savage joy.
The wizard had proven to be quite skilled in close combat. Just as he had seen her earlier, she moved with an unnatural degree of dance-like grace which was surprisingly almost elven to Khorieus eyes. She moved quite easily in her dark purple robes, the hem of which made it even seem that her feet never even touched the ground. She focused more upon dodging attacks rather than parrying, each strike from her spinning scythe left many of beastmen bloody and clutching their ruined bodies which would wither in mere moments. He also could hear the wizard whispering words of power as she fought in a cold and determined silence.
An aura of magic surrounded the wizard, the Chracian noted that a number of the beastmen seemed to even slow down and weaken as they came close to the human. Hardly caring for the beastmen's weakness and the other spells which began to afflict them, the elf focused upon the slaughter at hand. Khorieus slammed his blazing axe into the face of a Minotaur. The burning weapon embedded into the minotaurs snout, the beast roared in agony as the fiery blade chopped through its nose, mouth and tongue as the intense flames caused the juices in its brain to bubble and boil
As the minotaur fell, many of the beastmen soon lost their nerves. They began to void their bowels as they fled from the elf and wizard, both of whom had slaughtered so many of their kin. Khorieus then felt the Winds of Magic stir once more, it was not the refined and cold thing of Shyish, but now it was the wild and dangerous raw energy of chaos itself. Following the patterns on the Winds, Khorieus saw a Bray Shaman pointing a skull headed staff at them, the Shaman roared foul curses in the Dark Tongue and Khorieus heard the familiarly slow rhythm of footsteps, there was something coming at them and it was big.
Feeling for the vibration he looked in the direction from where it was coming and he saw several trees getting knocked down. Emerging from the tree line was a massive four horned cyclopean monstrosity with massive jagged teeth the length of swords. Its body was covered in crude tattoos and it was clad in a loin cloth with several items attached to it. A Cygor he realized with anticipation, a worthy foe he thought.
The wizard did not look as thrilled as he was and she blanched even more at the sight of the monster which fixed it baleful eye upon her. Swiftly casting a spell, Rosalind pointed her scythe at the Bray Shaman and a wraith like creature with a voluptuously feminine form burst from the top of the scythe. The wraith swiftly flew towards the shaman with its arms raised in a loving embrace.
The shaman tried to mouth a counter-spell but the wraith was upon it before the beastman could finish. The Wraith caressed the Shaman who began to scream in agony, the Cygor which had been summoned shook its head and its single eye blinked, likely it had broken whatever spell the Bray-Shaman had over it. The Cygor then picked up the Bray-Shaman with its massive hands, the wraith flew around the Cygor but it seemed to have been repulsed by it, likely by the creature's resistance towards magic.
The Cygor opened its slavering maw and it bit down on the Bray-Shaman's head and spraying blood all over its chest, it eagerly devoured the beastman's flesh and bone, desiring mainly the shaman's very soul. As soon as the beast finished, it looked back to the Wizard Lady with a hungry look, the wraith continued to harmlessly claw wail and shout what Khorieus thought was the language of Araby at the Cygor. The cyclopean monster ignored the wraith and it roared loudly before lopping off towards the wizard.
Khorieus roared the name of his homeland he charged the Cygor, he felt the thundering steps of the beasts as its hooves crashed into the earth. Trees were knocked down or broken by the beast's stride its mouth slavered hungrily as it drew closer to the wizard. Pulling out his knife with his left hand as he ran, Khorieus scrapped the blade upon his battered breastplate and its protective runes began to glow brightly, the monster quickly fixed its hungry eye towards the elf and thrust its right arm down to grab him.
Leaping forward and barely avoiding the Cygor's hand, Khorieus rolled under the legs of the monster and he swung his axe one handed with his right towards the monster's left thigh. With his now alchemically enhanced strength, the elf drove his burning axe deep into the Cygor's flesh which should have been as tough as the imbued steel of a Chaos Champion, it howled in pain as the Ithilmar blade burned its flesh from within. Swiftly ripping the axe out, the Chracian saw the monster raise its left leg, leaping forward again, he evaded the drop of its hoof which crashed into the earth with the force of a bolt thrower.
Not giving the beast time to realize that it missed, Khorieus was swiftly upon its right leg. He felt the Winds of Magic were upon him and the wizard began imbuing the elf with her magic. Already his movement became faster and his axe's white fire was mixed with the entropic energies of the Purple Wind. Swiftly sweeping his axe up which was still held in his right hand, he struck the back of the monster's right knee and it roared in pain again as it tried to strike the high elf which tormented it.
With centuries of experience in hunting and slaying giant monster, Khorieus danced and spun around the Cygor's legs as he continued to hack and slash with his axe. The beast went into a frenzy which furthered it recklessness, its flailed with its arms and tried to kick or stomp on the elf which seemed to continuously dodge its attacks while the shade continued to torment it. Eventually Khorieus knew that he should finish this, running to the back of the beast, he leapt upwards with axe and knife in hand, his weapons plunged into the flesh of its back and the elf began to climb.
The Cygor flailed around wildly as it tried to shake the elf off while Rosalind Amsel now focused on trying to harm the monster with her spells. Already she felt exhausted from the effort, she hoped to Morr that the elf would kill this thing for she would rather prefer for her soul to enter the God of Death's gates over being consumed by this Chaos-born horror. The shade summoned from the Caress of Laniph spell continued to harry the Cygor which had proved to be a useful distraction at least.
She then saw the elf climb to the top of the monster's head, his right hand tightly held onto to one of the Cygor's many horns while in his left, she saw a sliver of shining metal, a dagger or a knife most likely. The elf then roared the name of the Bloody Handed god and plunged the shining sliver into the Cygor's eye, it howled in further agony as the elf impaled its eye and spraying blood and optic fluids all over the elf. The elf then retracted his left arm and he began to plunge it into the eye, again and again. The elf then tore the Cygor's eye out as he continued to roar like the great lions of distant Ulthuan, Rosalind heard the dark laughter of the Shade which took delight in the torment of the creature which had stolen her prize.
The elf swiftly swung his left arm of which was still stuck in the Cygor's eye into one of the beast's horns. He firmly skewered the eye into one of its horns before pulling out his left arm which was now spattered in blood and optical fluids. He then went back to the Cygor's vacant eye and he plunged his knife into the creature's very brain. The Cygor's screams turned into a whimper, it fell upon its knees and the elf was quick to position himself on the back of its head. The Cygor then slumped down, its face hitting the bloody ground with a tremor.
The elf then reached for his fiery axe which was lodged into the back of the Cygor, between its shoulders. Wrenching the elegant weapon which she had dispelled the Wind of Shyish from, its white fires were extinguished and the elf brought his axe down upon the Cygor's neck. Dispelling the shade, she waited until the elf thoroughly decapitated the monster, the elf dragged the head along with him; she saw the elf was smiling with a look which she found rather infectious.
'That certainly went quite well' the high elf said rather good heartedly
'Indeed it has' Rosalind said with a mix of relief and a bit of surprise for it certainly had gone more smoothly than she had thought possible.
'Will you continue hunting these beasts?' the high elf asked curiously.
'No, I must return to the Colleges of Magic in Altdorf' replied Rosalind.
'I shall accompany you then' the elf declared. 'My armor is need of repairs and I am sure the embassy of my people can help me find a smith'
'Then I will be glad to have your company, Son of Ulthuan' replied Amethyst Wizard with a formal bow. The elf gave her another grin and the two went back to the road, leaving the Cygor's severed head behind for the crows.
And to Altdorf they went, to the very heart of Sigmar's Empire.
To Be Continued in: Shadows of an Empire