Chapter 1
A scream let out into the cold moonless night, thick with fear and a final moment's desperation. Another terrified screech ripped through the swirls of mist surrounding the city, this one with more innocence...a child.
"Dear God, what are they doing?" Jahoni turned into preparation to go out of the solace, but slowly, realization of the hopelessness around him shook him still.
As long as they don't find this, we'll be okay. We're safe...stop worrying... Somehow Jahoni knew that was a bitter lie, he was only deceiving himself. But if he didn't do something he would have gone insane. He looked around the cavern and inspected the refugees they'd saved. Jahoni was the captain of a small squad of De'Tohren Warriors. The foursome–Jahoni, Esven, Lintaek, and Plethin–ran from house to house on the way to the cavern they were now in, gathering as many survivors as they could from the wreckage left in the wake of the first wave of attacks.
Most were still shaking in fear from the sites they had seen that night. Jahoni wasn't sure exactly what they had seen, he and his squad had arrived after the first assault, but what ever it was had certainly left its mark. All were deathly quiet and refused to talk for the most part. The only expectation had been the Healer who volunteered his precious energy for the wounded, some of which were missing limbs and others whom had deep gashes in their flesh. Jahoni could only imagine what had happened to them. To his right a mother stood tending her frightened children. The blood smeared hand print and tear stains on her cheek hinted at the death of the children's father. Behind her a dwarf stood in line for the healer, a large wooden shard was noticeably stuck in his right calf; he wasn't going to be of much use. The battleaxe on his back, though, had etches and scars from a good number of battles. The hilt's uniquely made metal said he must have been one of The Honored. The Honored were a group of battle dwarves who in particular throughout the race were widely known for their ferocity in battle. Maybe he wasn't so useless after all, Jahoni thought hopefully.
The line for the healer was an assorted few that stretched across the cavern in a semicircle. The most unnerving being in the room though was not the blood stained victims, but rather the unscathed lone child who sat directly across from Jahoni on the other end of the room. Next to the child lay a sack with a circular shaped object stuffed in it, probably some sort of food. However there seemed to be no one else here with this child. The troubling part was that he was staring him in the eyes constantly; the reflection of the small human's feelings seethed through his eyes. Rage, and pain, but no fear. No fear…
Breaking the stare, Jahoni looked at the cavern that was hiding them. Very few knew of these caverns; they had in fact been very lucky to have been told of them by their commanders. King Lasten I had found them when first designing the city of Nus'We. He formed certain buildings over their entrances in which the occupants would be trained protectors and trusted secret keepers. Unfortunately, it seemed the enemy had weaved their way thick into the Nus'Wein government: all of these buildings had been taken over right away. Now, cramped and uncomfortable, Jahoni sat wondering what Gods they must have on their side to have found this cavern without a siege waiting for them.
Interrupting his thoughts, a shriek came from above, a shriek that was most certainly not human. The bloodied crowd hidden beneath the ground fearfully gazed at Jahoni and his squad Quietly the warriors finished preparing for the future battle, knowing if the creatures who had taken it upon themselves to wipe the city clean found their way in, they would all stand little chance of living without some sort of miracle worker.
Another mind piercing screech erupted from above the wooden door separating the cavern and some sort of hellish creature. The mother behind the warriors cried out in a moment of fear when her child grabbed her leg. Her voice was clearly audible through the barrier and instantly the sound of claws ripping at wood was let loose. She fell to her knees and her children hugged her in fear. Jahoni signaled for the other three warriors to unsheathe their weapons as he did his own long-sword, but the clawing stopped abruptly...
Footsteps ran from the north exit of the home toward where the creature was standing and a Nus'Wein soldier's battle cry let out as the clank of metal against metal rang through the cavern. Jahoni started to open the wooden hatch when he heard sword slide across sword and flesh tear, accompanied by a clearly human gasp of pain. With a crash, the refugees heard the body thrown to the side. The monster started to rip through wood once more.
At last, once the warriors had waited just long enough, they threw the latch open and tackled the first thing they saw. A flash of red light sent them sprawling away from their target. Esven rolled to a crouching position with his great battle axe held high, and ran back towards the target. It wasn't long before his mind registered what was in front of him and time seemed to slow as he looked in shock at the beast he had decided to chase.
There in front of him, standing over five feet on all fours, was a huge, winged beast he had only heard of in tales of the Elders...a Treppansteed. Its thick coat of rock solid scale-skin quivered over a mass of muscle ready to break the steel in his hand in half. Red glowed from its sunken eye sockets as it hunched over the refugee's barrier; the long deadly claws curled around pieces of the broken latch as its long wings spread out. The Treppansteed threw the now broken latch aside and pushed its wings to pull it face front with Esven. It shook its mane of long, thin, bony spikes and gave a grotesque screech. Esven turned and ran for his life, hoping and praying a teammate would come to his aid.
By now Lintaek and Plethin had tag-teamed into a common De'Tohren battle position and were closing in on the Treppansteed. The bottom level of the mansion they were in was separated by a wall into a large ball room and a complex of smaller rooms.
That wall was only fifty feet away …
Forty….
Thirty…
Twenty…
Just as the beast was about to leap into a glide to pounce upon the cornered in Esven, Lintaek dived through the air with two rapiers. One of Lintaek's rapiers found its mark in a wing and the other in the beast's back. Unfortunately for Lintaek, he had not accounted properly for the strength of the skin on the beast's back and the rapier slid off, merely frustrating the Treppansteed more as it stopped running and looked to its left, noticing the hole in the wing. With a quick push of the wings, flicking Lintaek's rapier away, and a tilt of the head, it had shifted position. Now it was focused on Lintaek with the red flaring from its eyes. It strafed to the side with another beat of its wings as the De'Tohren swordsman attempted a stab with his remaining blade. Letting loose another scream, the Treppansteed rapidly contortioned its body to change directions and used its swinging momentum to accelerate as it rammed Lintaek in the chest.
"Glauscin tina tuo!!!!!"
Plethin had cast his spell with the precision that De'Tohren kytan users were famous for. The Treppansteed's speed turned against itself as it slammed into the elastic like kytan barrier Plethin had just cast into being. The beast was sent sprawling in the opposite direction, unable to maintain control of its momentum. Strategically waiting in rendezvous' position was Jahoni, whose long sword was prepped and ready for the kill. The Treppansteed, flailing to recover from the bounce, ran right into the trap: Jahoni's sword was able to penetrate the tough skin as it flew into him, killing the beast.
Jahoni roughly pulled the sword out of the Treppansteed's chest and cleaned off the black ooze of blood from his weapon. The blood started steaming as he wiped it off and he watched drip to the floor. By the time he was finished the team had assembled around the body. Looking up, he saw their disgruntled looks and knew what they were thinking. Where had this thing come from? Treppansteeds had been extinct for hundreds of years…
Jahoni looked around making sure there wasn't another beast and gave a command, "Lets head back to the cavern, we need to protect the survivors." They stealthily made their way back to the cavern and proceeded to look for another covering to the entrance.
"Hey Jahoni, how's this?" proclaimed Esven loudly into the expanse of the ball room to Jahoni after several minutes of searching. Jahoni stopped conversing with Plethin and looked across to Esven. The huge axe-man was holding up a dented table with most of the legs broken off. Back across the ball room Plethin whispered into Jahoni's ear and he nodded. A second later Plethin whispered into Esven's ear from behind.
"We must be quiet if we wish to survive much longer in this situation. Jahoni said to make sure it fits and we'll use it." With that, he stepped back into the shadows and appeared back by Jahoni all the way on the other side again.
"Dang, I'll never get use to that," Esven quietly said to himself with a shiver as he easily lifted the table and wandered over to the entrance. He gently placed the table over it to check its dimensions, and seeing that it did fit he sat the table down, half closing the entrance.
In the mean time Lintaek scaled the walls of the mansion to watch for any enemy sentinels. With long leaps he jumped from side to side of the roof. There appeared to be no other Treppansteeds or any other kind of enemy. They all seemed to have moved on according to the smoking buildings several blocks away. He buzzed a mental message to Plethin through the jeweled transmitter on his wrist explaining the situation. Several seconds later the jewels glowed slightly as he received a reply telling him to come back inside. The kytan formed jewels on the wristband made a connection to Plethin who could use his own kytan abilities to receive and transmit messages. This was one of Plethin's most well known creations and had earned him his rank in the De'Tohren forces. They were lucky to have such an apt kytan user.
Lintaek climbed down the outer north wall of the mansion and climbed into the ball room like a spider through a window. He jumped down the slick wall of the ball room with little effort, landing noiselessly next to a distressed Jahoni. Looking around the room he saw nothing out of the ordinary for the most part. Plethin was over by the entrance to the cavern preparing a spell to conceal their location and Esven was down inside the cavern somewhere making sure the survivors where healthy. So why did Jahoni look so distressed?
"Lintaek… Do you see anything else in this room besides us?" ask Jahoni suspiciously.
After scanning the room once more he replied, "No Captain… Why do you ask, do your eyes see something mine don't?"
"No Lintaek, that's exactly what's bothering me."
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you-" and then it hit him. There was something missing. "The Treppansteed… Its body, it's gone!"