The Cowardly Myrddraal
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Chapter 1
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Safe Space
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The shadow space was dark. There was no light source inside the space yet everything that was within it could be seen clearly. This never had concerned the Fade, it just assumed the Great Lord had made it this way. There wasn't really anything inside the space anyway except for the Fade and the carcass of some furry animal.
The shadow space was small at roughly three metres squared but this had never been much of a problem, for the Fade only used the space to escape tricky situations and as a temporary safe space in the past.
This time it was different. The Fade had been surviving alone in the shadow space for weeks. It didn't know how much longer it could hold out inside. It sighed dejectedly and hunched its shoulders.
With a voice that sounded like a snake slithering over dead leaves it said, "I really don't want to leave yet. It's safe here."
It turned to the animal carcass laying on the floor nearby. The Fade had caught the animal a few days earlier when it had taken a tentative step outside.
This beast had jumped out from behind a tree and started barking and making noise. The Fade had reacted instantly out of fear, it had only wanted to silence the beast but had mortally wounded it.
The Fade had immediately returned to the shadow space but it brought the beast for fear of the locals finding out about its presence. The beast hadn't survived long.
Nothing lived long inside the shadow space. Be it a plant or animal or even general items, most things that were brought into the space would be beset with decay and eventually worn down to nothing. Living creatures tended to last a bit longer but still couldn't persist in the shadow space for very long.
The beast had made whining sounds for a day or so before becoming silent.
With a sound like bones crushing the Fade grunted. It didn't have eyes like most animals, its forehead from its cheeks to its scalp was a pasty white the same colour as maggots, yet it faced the rotting animal carcass and felt a sense of contentment. It felt less alone in the space with the animal carcass there.
Of course the Fade's equipment was not affected by the same decay that assaulted other items in the shadow space. Its clothing, boots, armour and Thakan'dar forged sword were immune to the decay. The Fade didn't think much about this. It was this way for all Myrddraal.
Yet even with the space the current situation was difficult for the Fade. The Great Lord had been defeated and the human armies were laying waste to the Blight, slaughtering every last shadowspawn. The hunters that were employed used the One Power with terrifying efficiency.
It didn't understand the reason, but when the Great Lord was defeated the Fade suddenly couldn't travel within the shadow realm, yet it could still return to this safe space. It knew it couldn't stay in here forever. There was a limit to the time it could spend inside the shadow safe space. Eventually it would have to leave to recharge. Yet it didn't want to leave. It was afraid to leave.
Before when the beast had started barking the Fade's mind had gone blank in shock. It had frozen solid and stared at the beast. The beast hadn't been very big but it was very loud. This made the Fade afraid of attracting the local humans. This fear of the humans was rational as far as the Fade was concerned. It would be the end of it if the local humans found out that a Myrddraal was nearby.
The enemy were many. The enemy were everywhere. The only way the Fade could survive was to hide inside its safe space, and it did just that.
The Fade knew it was different to other Myrddraal. Most Myrddraal felt nearly no emotion and would fight against innumerable odds fearlessly. The Fade would never be willing to do that.
As far as it was concerned it made no sense to take on opponents that were much stronger than it. -It was better to retreat and hide and plan a more effective strategy.
The Fade also looked different to other Myrddraal. Its head, rather than being a lumpy collection of folds of skin was smooth as if it were human. It had issues with trollocs in that when the trollocs would look at the Fade, their eyes would not hold the terror they had when they watched other Myrddraal. It forgot how many times the trollocs had ignored its commands!
Eventually the Fade decided to work by itself as a scout and messenger, observing the towns of humans from its safe space.
It monitored the surroundings from inside its safe space now too.
It was possible to monitor the area around where it had entered the shadow space. There wasn't much to see. There was a forest and a clearing nearby. Besides a couple of birds and rodents there had not really been any movement.
Until now.
A small girl was standing outside. She had entered the forest from the nearby clearing and had walked within range of the Fade's shadow space. The girl had blonde hair in twin tails and a children's summer dress with short sleeves and a hem that stopped mid-thigh. She placed her hands to her face and was shouting.
When sound entered from outside the shadow space it became distorted, like hearing something from underwater, it also seemed to slow down. The Fade was used to this however and could still make out what was being said.
"Rockie! Rockie, where are you? Rockieeee!"
A hissing sound escaped the Fade's lips and it grimaced in fear. She was going to attract attention.
Everything outside seemed to move in slow motion when viewed from inside the shadow space. It watched as she walked as if moving through water to a place a couple of metres from it. The girl shivered and rubbed her arms with her hands. She looked around anxiously.
The Fade jumped and immediately looked away, tracking her from the corner of its awareness. It didn't understand why the Great Lord had given the Myrddraal such a weakness! Looking at anyone would immediately make them uncomfortable and more alert.
The girl walked a few metres into the forest showing her back to the Fade. It gripped the hilt of its obsidian sword.
"Rockie! I'm sorry Rockie I won't shout at you again, I promise!"
The girl looked down and her shoulders started to tremble.
Who was this 'Rockie?' the Fade wondered. It licked its lips, there would not be an opportunity like this again. It could jump out of the space and run its sword through her heart and drag her body back before she could utter a single scream.
Suddenly its skin started to itch.. the One Power!?
It watched the girl raise her right arm. It gave off a cool blue light. No not her arm, she was holding something that glowed in her hand.
She could channel! The Fade grimaced and took an unconscious step back. It looked around the immediate area but nothing had changed.
After a few minutes the girl lowered her arm and her shoulders started to tremble again.
"..Rockie" she whispered.
The Fade stood speechless. That blue light was the most incredible thing it had ever seen. It had never seen such an enchanting light before. Not from the Chosen nor any other shadowspawn. It reached a white hand towards the girl.
A shadow moved within the forest snapping the Fade's attention away from the girl.
The forest was reasonably bright because it was only a couple hours past noon, but there were still places that could provide decent cover to anyone with a little hunting skills. Yet even those places could provide zero cover against a Myrddraal.
The Fade exhaled sharply making a noise like a rake being pulled over dead leaves. There were around a dozen humans closing in on its safe space. Had she deliberately tracked the Fade and brought a hunting party to kill it?
It gripped the hilt of its obsidian sword. The most important target was the girl. Taking out channelers was the most important thing in any close engagement, but for some reason it couldn't agree with its combat experience. Ever since it had seen that blue light the little girl had changed in the mind of the Fade.
Even if she was a channeler and even if she had brought these humans it would try and avoid injuring her. It didn't really know why it thought this but it felt right. It would attempt to avoid harming her.
After a while a group of five men wearing mismatched armour approached the girl from the forest. The Fade had operated as a scout and was familiar with most combat units deployed on the continent but these men didn't appear to be proper soldiers.
The men looked combat hardened with dark skin and hair, every one of them had a short bushy beard. They bore no emblem or family house, no flag or other identifier. The men wore loose clothing under their armour and had curved swords at their waists.
The girl had noticed the five men and stood on guard. She quickly wiped at her face before turning towards the men.
All the men wore wide smiles as they walked towards the girl showing yellow-brown teeth. The girl took half a step back and brought a hand up to her mouth in disgust before regaining her resolve and correcting her posture.
The girl seemed to consciously make an attempt at appearing civil, she raised her head and spoke to the soldier standing in the centre who seemed to be the leader of the five. "This forest is the property of the town lord, my father." She seemed to gather some confidence as she continued, "May I ask what business do you have here?"
The bearded man in the centre had an astonished expression on his face. He looked around at his men including the ones deeper in the forest. They all grinned showing their brown teeth.
The leader's expression changed quickly as he stared coldly at the young girl but he remained smiling. "The young miss is a lady? My.." He glanced around at his men again, some of whom burst out laughing. "Is this how you treat soldiers of the Dragon's army?" His eyes had a glint as he turned to the girl with an expression of feigned indignation.
"W-Well i-is that so. M-My father has also supported the Dragon. H-he is a loyal follower of t-the Dragon." The girl stammered. Her voice became quiet at the end.
The leader turning to his men and asked, "Ham, Ed, do you think her father is a loyal follower of the Dragon?"
Two men in the group shook their heads while smiling viciously. "Not a chance Boss. No way would a real Dragonsworn be impolite to the Boss."
The leader turned back to the girl who was looking at the men resentfully but her face paled when she heard the word "dragonsworn." She eventually raised her head and spoke indignantly, "M-My father is a good and honourable man!"
Boss-san's smile remained on his face as if he was used to this situation and he casually held up a hand.
Immediately the rest of the group approached from the forest with their hands on the hilts of their curved weapons. The girl looked around in shock as they surrounded her.
The Fade hissed. The local lord's daughter! It was glad it hadn't killed her. If she had disappeared the entire town would be involved in searching for her and they would likely recruit channelers.
So these were Dragonsworn the followers of the 'Prophet,' the puppets of the Chosen. The Fade's lips stretched back from its teeth in a half-smile, half-grimace.
If the girl died by Dragonsworn hands would it really concern it? It grimaced. Why would it concern it? It had never thought about human life having value before, but then it had never been in a situation like this before.
It wanted to see that pale blue light again.
The girl raised her head indignantly but her voice trembled, "Sir, r-remove your men i-immediately. Do you know who I am? You could be hung for less!"
The little girl was a full three heads shorter than the leader, her chin would barely make it above the leader's sword belt. She seemed to realise that this was not a good situation and her confidence waivered as she drew in on herself.
Boss-san swaggered over to the girl and looked down at her. He scratched at his beard while he stared at the girl. "Do you know what we do to the enemies of the Prophet?" He asked in a voice like the drawing of a blade. "There are many enemies of the Prophet may he be blessed in the Light. We have found them in every village and town."
He grabbed the girl's chin and lifted her face towards him roughly.
"I say who are the enemy of the Prophet." He stared at the girl's face but she didn't say anything. The colour drained from her face and her mouth moved but no sound came out.
The leader let go of her chin and gave a cruel laugh. "No one will come looking for you. Mo, Ham!"
Two of his men immediately replies, "Yes!"
The leader looked at their hungry expressions, the whites of their eyes were opened wide and were very pronounced against the dark tanned skin. Their fervorous expression was strange, the Fade had never seen Darkfriends with such an expression of unadulterated zeal.
The two men got to work and started kicking the ground and throwing down items. The Fade recognised some of those items. Pieces of trolloc weapons and armour, even a section of Myrddraal chain mail!
Boss-san glanced at the young girl and spoke in a calm voice. "These are things we scavenged from the battlefield. If anyone comes looking for you they will think shadowspawn came by. If they come to our camp we will say that we fought with the same shadowspawn."
He grinned showing his brown teeth. "No one will come looking for you. Do you finally understand, mi lady?"
The girl was sobbing, tears were running down her face. She pleaded in a weak voice, "P-Please Mister, please let me go. I won't tell Papa, I won't. I just want to go home."
Mo looked over and grinned, "You sure won't tell anyone, mi lady." He said while giving a mocking salute and laughing. Ham and Ed also laughed.
The leader looked around and chuckled, "What d'ya think, boys? I don't think she'll last as long as the previous one.. but she's a lady! How many of you can say you took a lady?" They all laughed. Some started shouting, "The Prophet," and "The Prophet is great!"
He looked back at the girl and grabbed her arm before he said in an icy tone, "We're all going to take our time with you."
The girl stared at the leader's face in horror and shook her head continuously. She struggled against the leader's grip but it was a futile effort. She started to panic and cried out, "Papa! Mama! Help! Papa!"
The leader casually backhanded her with his gauntlet and she went limp, he released her arm and she fell to the ground.
One of the men asked, "Hey Boss, maybe we should look around a bit? Maybe we can find another one before we return. It's been a while since the men had company, they'll get resentful if she dies before they had their turn."
The leader spat at the girl. "Then they can use it as an example to work harder!" he roared. "If they work harder then they'll be rewarded with all the women they want. Virgins even!"
The other men laughed. The Fade could hear one of them mutter in disbelief, "Virgins? What kind of fool'd believe that?"
It was true that the Aes Sedai held considerable political power on the continent and if a bandit army started to enslave young women, that local lords would likely invite the White Tower to help subjugate the criminals.
The leader shoved the unconscious girl onto her back with his boot. Ham and Ed held her arms and started to undo her dress. Boss-san grinned and knelt down between the girl's legs and pulled the hem of her dress up to her waist.
The Fade was beside itself with distress.
If these Dragonsworn were allowed to continue, the local lord would raise the entire populace to search out and destroy the shadowspawn he thought had killed his daughter. They would very likely find the Fade even if it hid inside its safe space.
Its lips were drawn back in a snarl and a sound like raking dead leaves was made as it breathed deeply.
The Dragonsworn leader had pulled the girl's undergarment down to her knees and Mo, Ham and Ed held her arms and legs. All the men were watching the leader and girl with carnivorous expressions.
"The Prophet is great!" one of the men shouted, his crazed wide eyes contrasting with his dark tanned skin and black beard. The other men standing around repeated the chant with the same crazed expression, "''The Prophet is great!''" "''The Prophet is great!''"
It was now or never, the Fade decided. It wouldn't have got involved if they had just left quietly, but instead they created trouble with the local lord and even implicated shadowspawn in their crime! Yosh!
It drew its obsidian Thakan'dar forged sword, it gave off a metallic noise as the cursed steel cut against the sheath. The Fade pulled the hood down low on its head -it didn't affect its ability to see- and tensed its form.
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Mo watched as the Boss roughly pulled the girl's undergarments down and lifted her legs. Mo squatted down by the girl's head and held her legs. Ham and Ed were holding her arms tightly but from what Mo could see there was no need. The Boss had knocked her clean out.
Her face was on its side and there was a large expanding red mark on the side of her head. That's gonna be painful when she wakes up, he thought with a chuckle.
He wondered if what the Boss said earlier would appease the rest of their group.
The boys were awful temperamental especially when it came to the lack of women. The Boss always had the first time with the companions they found and it created no small amount of resentment among them.
If the Boss made clear that the 'Prophet of the Dragon' said they'd all receive virgins in the Light it might convince them.
Thinking wasn't something he expected from the boys, he only expected them to know how to cut down peasants who didn't do as they were told. What the Prophet said was law and none would dare contravene it.
He decided to talk to the Boss about it later. He thought it was a good idea.
Without taking his eyes off the girl's face the Boss moved his hands quickly to untie his sword belt and trous. He looked up catching Mo's eyes and grinned, "This'll be the first lady I had, Mo. I'm gonna take my time with her." Mo laughed.
Something quick and dark moved in the corner of Mo's vision, he turned his head to the side and at that moment a wet sound came from the Boss. Mo glanced at the Boss and immediately gave a yell and stepped back and fell on his behind.
A long black sword was sticking out of the Boss' face. The leader's body was still kneeling, held up by the sword, his arms hung down at his sides. The sword was pulled back and the Boss fell forward onto his bloody face in a dogeza-like pose.
The shadow moved and Ham and Ed went down with huge gashes in their necks. Mo continued to crawl back on his hands and feet whimpering. The Dragon has come! The Dragon has come to punish them!
Like a snake the shadowy figure managed to get behind three of the boys and before they could all turn around it slashed at two cutting through the eyes of one and severing the spine of another. The one with the ruined face fell to his knees covering his face with his hands.
The third managed to bring his curved sword up in time but he was no match for the cloaked man and only managed to deflect two of the shadowy figure's slashes. Then the figure managed to appear behind the man and grabbed his head with one hand and drove the black blade through the man's neck and into his brain.
The group were unprepared to be taken on by a competent swordsman. They had only planned to snatch a few girls and bring them back to the camp. The men stared wide-eyed in shock and retreated a few steps, hastily readying their weapons.
Almost as if it weighed nothing at all the cloaked figure brought its blade down in a smooth motion and the body that was impaled by the obsidian blade slid off and flew a couple of feet.
The figure was now standing in the centre of three corpses holding his long black sword. He wore a hooded black cloak around his shoulders with the hood pulled down over his face.
He turned to face the remainder of the group and their eyes widened in fear. The boys' hands were trembling and their curved swords were shaking. The cloaked figure's hood was drawn down over his face but they could see him smile as he stood there watching.
The only sound was from the drops of blood falling into a pool beneath the obsidian blade. Not a single animal called in the forest as if even the birds feared the cloaked figure.
With a rasping voice like a file running over rough rock the cloaked figure spoke, "Where is your 'Prophet' now?"
A more senior member of the group shouted, "No enemy can win against the Prophet's army!"
It seemed to motivate the others as they started shouting, "None can win against the Prophet's army!" "The Prophet is always victorious!"
With a roar two men charged at the cloaked figure.
In an instant the cloaked figure seemed to blur and one man was severed nearly in half at the waist and crumpled in a heap causing his comrade to fall over his body. The cloaked figure immediately brought its blade straight down into the fallen man's head.
With a wet noise he moved the blade around a bit, creating an even larger hole while he watched the remaining men.
Mo couldn't believe this was happening! How could one man best so many?
He watched as the senior, Sam, moved forward carefully. Sam had spent many years as part of a regular army and had more experience than the rest. He watched the cloaked figure carefully while walking to the side trying to draw the figure's attention his way.
The cloaked man followed Sam with his head, not moving an inch besides his neck and then suddenly lashed out with the obsidian blade. Sam deflected the attack but another attack followed, then another.
Sam had to dance back from the cloaked figure but there was now a long gash on his thigh and another on his forearm. He grunted and spoke to the cloaked man in a deep voice, "I'd never have thought to find a blademaster. Can I know the name of my opponent?"
In a voice like a rake being pullet over leaves and stones the cloaked figure said quietly, "I have no name."
The blood drained from Sam's face and his sword started to tremble. "It can't be.." He whispered.
At that moment the remaining one bolted for the forest looking to escape. Mo watched in a daze. He would run straight to their camp to gather reinforcements.
That didn't happen though.
The cloaked figure walked towards Sam and in a half-hearted gesture swung its obsidian blade and severed the crown of Sam's head clean off. Sam stood for a moment twitching before his body fell back.
The figure became a blur and reappeared to the side of the runner. In a flash he closed the distance and hit the runner with a downward slash of his word and at the same time body-slammed the runner into an old tree.
There was a loud cracking sound as the runner hit the tree. The runner slid down and didn't move.
Mo looked around in panic. They're dead? They're all dead!
No one moved in the forest except for the cloaked figure. Was this the Dragon? Mo had heard rumours of the Dragon punishing Dragonsworn who broke the law. The Dragon was a black demon in Mo's eyes.
The cloaked figure swung its blade in a mechanical way, shaking the blood off and turned towards Mo.
Mo froze as terror enveloped his mind completely, it was overwhelming. His vision narrowed and he watched as the shadowy figure walked towards him.
Had he seen this walk before? Could it be..
Mo immediately planted his forehead in the dirt in submission and cried, "Please Great Master I also serve the Great Lord. Please don't kill me!"
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