The smell of ashes and death surrounded Yasmine as she walked amongst the ruins of the town with bow and arrow at the ready. The buildings of the settlement had been reduced to charred wreckage like the previous ones she had seen, the snow upon the ground was also blackened with patches of blood here and there. It did not take long for the former Badlands Rangers who now wore thick furs under a somewhat tattered grass green cloak to find the bodies of those who once inhabited this place.

Crows pecked at the scorched flesh of men, women and children as their bodies were impaled upon great wooden stakes and put on display around a desecrated statue of some woman who certainly did not look like the Lady of the Lake, Shallya, Rhya or any other goddess she knew of. Despite having seen many horrors like this in the Border Princes and elsewhere in her travels, it was something which she found difficult to either forget or get used to. She then heard the heavy footsteps of her companions and she could imagine the rage the burned within him.

The thick dirty brown cloak which her companion wore did little to conceal the bulk of his armour and at the bottom of his garments; she could see the golden boots which he probably didn't even need to wear.

'Isfet…' came the long, dry whisper of Yasmine's companion.

'You know, I was really hoping that none of those bastards were here as well' spoke the Ranger and her companion silently continued to survey the ruined town.

For days they had been tracking the ones responsible for these massacres and from what Yasmine had gathered from the people of this foreign land who spoke a strange form of Breton and some other language which she did not understand, the ones they hunted were barbarians called Avvars, or something like that. The mayor of the last village they passed claimed the barbarians were never as violent as they were now but in her travels across the Old World, Yasmine knew all too well what madness could drive men to such depravity.

A sudden movement from one of the ruined houses instantly drew the attention of the Ranger and in a blink of an eye, she had an arrow knocked and ready as her companion drew his heavy twin blades. A gasp and a whimper was heard from the ruins as a small figure peaked its head out and quickly went back into hiding.

'I think it is a child' said Yasmine to her companion with some surprise and a bit of unease for the few survivors they did find had either been driven mad or left behind by the barbarians to suffer a slow and excruciatingly painful death which they probably thought was amusing.

Lowering her bow and arrow, Yasmine called to the child and received no response. She tried again and when she heard nothing, she looked back and nodded to her companion. The Ranger silently crept towards the ruins, the years of surviving close to the Badlands had taught her to be skilled in the way of tracking and stealth.

When she got close to the ruins, Yasmine heard a pained, child-like voice speak 'go away!' Peeking out from behind a blackened column of wood, she partially saw a child of indeterminate gender whose left eye looked to the Ranger with fear. 'Please, you must go away' the child then said with desperation.

'Hey, it's all right, shh' said Yasmine as she attempted to calm the child 'Are you hurt? Is anyone still alive?'

'You must go' repeated the child whose face was soon fully revealed to Ranger as disgust and horror suddenly began to well up within her. The right side of the child's face was horrifically burned with pieces of bone that were sticking out.

'Rhya's Teats!' swore Yasmine in horror as she took a step back.

'Please go, before the bad men come back' said the diseased child and she heard the soft sound of boots crunching down upon snow. Quickly looking back to her companion with an alarmed looked, she saw his hooded head sweep around in search of their ambushers before a thrown axe slammed into his chest.

Her companion staggered back but was hardly harmed as his magic armour took the blow and he quickly regained his footing as several of the murderers responsible for the massacre came into view. They were savage-looking, fur clad man who covered themselves in soot and ashes as bloody skulls dangled from their belts. They were mostly equipped with axes and spears which looked to be of an excellent craftsmanship, blasphemous sigils and runes were etched upon their bare flesh or equipment as they spat and hollered at them in some foreign tongue, Yasmine even noticed how more than a few of them had ritualistic scars or tattoos that formed all too familiar sigils which were painful to look upon.

Yasmine's companion then pulled back his hood to reveal the golden hawk-shaped war mask which covered his withered features and he dramatically cast aside his cloak. The ancient warrior whom Yasmine had been travelling with was equipped with a heavy suit of golden scale armour that was decorated with symbols resembling a hawk in flight. The few pieces of moldering ancient bandages that could be seen on his limbs was the only indication of her companion's true nature for more were wrapped around his body, beneath the armoured scales along with the gauntlets and greaves which he wore.

'I am Rahkan-hotep, barbarians!' roared the ancient warrior, one of the dreaded Tomb Kings of distant Nehekhara as he raised one of his twin glaive-like blades towards one group and shouted 'let justice in Phakth's name be done!' The glaives ignited with golden fire which supposedly only did so when those who were black of heart were nearby. The barbarians savagely roared the name of some foul deity and they rushed to Rahkan all at once.

With axe raised high and spears aimed towards Rahkan-hotep's body, the Tomb King sprinted towards the closest of them with unnatural speed as he reconfigured his weapon by attaching both ends to one another. One barbarian thrust his spear forwards and Rahkan-hotep easily swatted it aside with the top blade of his weapon before the bottom one swung up and cleaved the barbarian from groin to throat.

A barbarian roared and charged towards Yasmine who coolly faced her attacker with an arrow knocked and before the man could swing his weapon, the Ranger loosed an arrow that struck him in the throat. Quickly drawing another arrow, Yasmine sighted down on another axe wielder who attacked her and she fired an arrow that hit the man in the gut but still he kept on coming. 'Merde!' hissed the Ranger as she dropped her bow and drew a pair of heavy bladed short swords which were quite capable of cutting through orc hide.

The barbarian swung his axe towards the Ranger who ducked under the attack and she stabbed her blades into the meat of his thighs. The axeman roared agony before Yasmine quickly pulled the short swords out delivered a pair of reverse gripped, upwards slashes that ripped her foe's lungs and heart. Quickly backing away from the man she killed, Yasmine had heard the roaring voice of a spearman who lunged at her with the point aiming towards her gut.

With the short swords still held in a reverse grip, the Ranger swung her left blade in a backhand and the blade caught the spear-tip, pushing it aside. Using her attacker's momentum against him she switched the grip of her right blade and she drove it under the barbarian's lower jaw where it sank into the flesh, tongue and up into the roof of the upper jaw. With a good tug and a kick, she freed her blade from the corpse and found no other barbarians to be attacking her as the rest were focused on Rahkan-hotep.

Blood stained the snow around the Tomb King as men died with each sweep of his burning weapon. Such was the skill of Rakhan-hotep that he expertly parried the attacks of the barbarians and with each riposte and count-attack, a body fell with throats slashed, bodies rent and heads or limbs severed. As soon as the fighting began, it was already over for the small group of barbarians who attacked them were killed to the last man and silence descended upon the ruined town once more.

'Are you harmed?' asked the concerned, dry voice of Rahkan.

'I am all right' answered Yasmine who had been a veteran slayer of greenskins for sometime before she even met the undead warrior.

'This is not all of them I believe' spoke the Tomb King as the flames on his blade extinguished and he moved to reclaim his cloak. Nodding to her companion, Yasmine then looked back to see where the child had been but found the youth to be nowhere in sight. She began to call for the child, saying that it was safe until she found the tracks upon the snow that led out of town and further into the cold.

'Come' spoke Rahkan-hotep towards the Ranger 'we must not allow the trail to become cold'

Doubting that the undead warrior even got that pun, Yasmine reluctantly obeyed as she followed Rahkan-hotep. She looked back once last time to try to catch a glimpse of that burned child and ultimately, she found nothing before rejoining her companion. The Ranger swore that when both she and Rahkan-hotep found where these barbarians lived, she would make them pay for the fell deeds they had done.