Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I hoped that you liked the last one and like this one as well, as always I own nothing.
Skaven! Karl's lip curled in disgust, he remembered them from when he had been with Brother Werner in Averheim. He remembered their stench, their chittering and he remembered all the harm that they had done and had attempted to do. But what were they doing here? When he had faced them in Averheim they had been attempting to start a civil war, that he could understand, but Helmsburg was a village in the middle of nowhere. What could they possibly gain by attacking this place? He had no idea and he did not like that.
Rising to his feet he began to leave, running plans through his head as he walked. If the Skaven here were like the ones in Averheim then they were most likely hiding underground somewhere. He would have to see if he could find out where, he might be able to strike them there. Whatever he did he had a feeling he would most likely be doing it alone because while before he had allies in the fight here there only seemed to be the town guard and he had serious doubts about their ability to fight the foul creatures. But what if they were too many for him to deal with on his own? He was healed from his wounds but, as recent events had made abundantly clear, he was not invincible and he could not fight overwhelming odds. If there were too many he would need help, but there was no one here to help him, he was alone.
As he tried to think of some way to overcome this problem he suddenly heard a noise, the house was not as abandoned as he had thought. He stifled a curse, how had he missed this, was he losing his edge? He could deal with that later, for now he had to deal with whoever was making that noise. He altered his nose enough to sniff the air, the smell was definitely human, and it smelled of incense and fear.
"I know you're here!" A voice cried out, it belonged to a man and was slightly hors. "In the name of Sigmar show yourself!" Reassured that he could take him in a fight if it came to that Karl moved toward the sound of the voice.
The man was of medium height and build with blue eyes. His head was shaved and he wore the robes of a priest. In his hand was a one-handed war hammer. His eyes were filled with weariness and fear, a fear which clearly had been eating at him for some time. He had the look of a man who had been living under siege for some time, it seemed that the troubles besetting this village had taken a considerable toll on the village priest.
"Who are you?" The priest demanded, raising his weapon to aim its head at Karl, thus creating a barrier between himself and Karl.
"My name is Karl Father," Karl said, making sure his hands were open and visible to ensure that the priest could not mistake him for a threat in anyway. The man seemed to be on edge and he did not want to do anything which might provoke violence. If Helmsburg was anything like most villages there would likely be a distrust of strangers, the last thing he wanted was to get on the bad side of the village priest.
"I came into town today with Sister Bess. I met her on the road as she was coming here. I needed help and she gave it to me. I felt that I had a duty to make sure that she got here safely." At his words the priest relaxed somewhat, but he kept the war hammer between the two of them.
"That does not explain why you are here, in the Schmidt household." He stated, his voice still tinged with suspicion.
"Some might call me a mercenary," Karl said in reply; "I was in Averheim some time ago and a monk of Verena hired me to help him with an investigation there. When I heard what was going on here I thought that I might look around and see if I could not be of some help." At his words the priest scowled.
"I do not hold with gods other than Lord Sigmar." He gave Karl a suspicious glare; "You are a good Sigmarite are you not?" Karl could guess from the man's tone that any answer other than one in the affirmative could result in things becoming very unpleasant very quickly. Hastily he pulled out his emblem of Sigmar, making sure that the symbol of Ulric remained hidden.
"See Father, I am indeed a loyal servant of our lord Sigmar." This seemed to mollify the priest as he at last lowered his weapon, much to Karl's relief.
"That is good, for this town is indeed in much need of help. The sickness and the disappearances, truly we are being tested." Sensing that a sermon was on the way Karl moved quickly to head it off.
"Indeed, you have indeed seen troubles of late Father. Tell me," he said, gesturing to take in the whole of the empty house; "Were all of the disappearances like this? With the whole household gone without a trance?" The priest looked somewhat annoyed and taken aback, he clearly was used to people giving him more deference than what Karl was giving him. To his credit he seemed willing to overlook any perceived disrespect in the village's best interest.
"Yes, all of the others have vanished without a trace, as if they vanished without into thin air, truly the forces of darkness are at work here, we have sinned and brought down the wrath of Sigmar upon us." Karl had his own opinion on this but he had a feeling that bringing up the Skaven would not be a good idea. He remembered what Werner had said, that most people did not know about the rat-men and did not take kindly to those who claimed that they existed. Plus, the priest clearly wanted to see divine punishment in their current situation and where Karl to disagree would probably result in Karl being branded a heretic. Instead he tried to keep his questions on track.
"That may very well be Father. Tell me, have these disappearances happen at a regular pace? Every night, every other night for example?"
"No, they just seem to disappear, with neither rhyme nor reason. But can there really be any making sense of divine punishment by mere mortals?" Karl was getting frustrated, every piece of information came with a sermon. He had to know, so he determined to try one more time.
"Tell me Father, were all of those who disappeared around the village all living next to one another?"
"No, that was what frightened the people so, the seeming randomness of it all. In their fear many have abandoned their homes and fled here, as if the walls of this place are capable of defending them from the wrath of Lord Sigmar."
"Indeed," Karl said, nodding vigorously, eager to agree and cut the interview short; "Thank you very much for your help. If you would excuse me I must continue on with my investigation." He made the customary bow and hurried from the house as quickly as he could. Once he was back outside he took a deep breath and set out, he needed information and that meant finding the tavern. In every village, no matter how small, there would be a tavern and where there was a tavern there would be people with alcohol-loosened tongues.
He headed toward the center of the village, where he figured the tavern would be located. Despite the sun having gone down, a signal in any town for the day labors, gossips and idlers to gather at the local watering holes, there were few people on the streets. Lifting his head slightly Karl sniffed the air, he could smell the fear he had been expecting, but there was more. This was not a smell, more like… a feeling of tension in the air. He could not quite describe it, it was like the whole tow was waiting for something to happen and was on edge till it did.
He at last found the tavern, a large building with a sign of a cow hanging with a noose around its neck. Surprisingly, there was no light or sound coming from within. Coming up to the door Karl found that the down was lock. On was a large piece of paper nailed to the door. Though he could not read the words on the paper he recognized the red waxen seal at the bottom, the twin-tailed comet symbol of Sigmar. He was standing there trying to figure out what it meant when he heard a voice behind him.
"If you're looking for a drink friend, I fear that you will be waiting for some time." Karl turned to regard the source of the voice.
It belonged to a tall man who appeared to be a few years older than himself and dressed in the clothing of a traveling tinker. He had reddish hair, which seemed to be thinning and that was not the only thing thinning about him. He had the look of a man who had recently lost weight, more than was healthy. He was leaning on a staff and was favoring his left leg. He also had smell of sickness…no, not sickness, but something was definitely wrong with the man.
"Why will I be waiting for a long time?" He asked, eager to avoid having the man becoming suspicious. The man shrugged and grunted in an unhappy manner.
"Ask the good Father," the man replied in a highly sarcastic manner. "Father Fredrick has declared that the town is being punished for its sins and that repentance is needed. Part of that repentance is abstaining from sins of the flesh. And since the good Father has decided that the tavern is a center of said sin he had it closed."
"That is indeed unfortunate." Karl commiserated with the man.
"You're telling me," the man said, excitement rising in his voice. Clearly this was something which had been irritating the man and he was happy to have someone new to complain about it to. "I myself am a traveling tinker. My leg broke and I am stuck here till it heals, thank the gods it is almost healed enough to travel, as I am now denied the only sources of passing the time in a halfway decent manner."
"Sources?" Karl asked.
"Yes, in addition to the tavern being closed Father Fredrick has declared that whoring is also a sin and he and the Scourges have driven them from the streets."
"The Scourges?" Karl asked, the man rolled his eyes.
"You know how it goes, things get hard, something goes wrong and suddenly people discover that they poses a streak of piety. The Scourges are a pack of locals who have suddenly discovered said piety, they wonder the streets looking for anyone engaging in any activity that they deem sinful, which is just about everything. In fact, I would recommend getting off of the street before they catch you, they start moving around sundown." With that the man turned and began moving away.
"Thank you," Karl said after the man's retreating back. "What is your name by the way?"
"Johan, Johan the Tinker." After the man had departed Karl headed back to the temple of Shallya to check on the priestesses.
The town being small he was able to return to the temple before it was totally dark. They had clearly eaten their meal and were saying prayers before the alter. Not wanting to interrupt them Karl waited patiently at a respectful distance till they finished. When they rose and saw him they offered him a late dinner, which he declined, the wolf would not be satisfied with brown bread and vegetable soup and he intended to spend the night in the forest and he was sure that he could find an animal or two to eat. As he turned to go he turned back to the Sisters.
"I met Father Fredrick and Johan the Tinker, who told me about the Scourges. Are things really as bad as they say?" Sister Margareta sighed wearily.
"Father Fredrick is…a good man, at least he tries to be. But he is inclined, in my own opinion, to fanaticism and self-righteousness and it seems that the current troubles have made these traits even worse. The people here have always held him in awe, him being a priest, and now because of the fear they have been swept up in his zeal. The worst are the ones who call themselves the Scourges. For the most part they are people who have lost loved ones to the sickness or wish to make for some sin or other that they and their families may be spared the current troubles. They go around enforcing their version of morality on anyone that they feel is violating it." She sighed in exasperation; "As if these people do not have enough trouble already. I've had several people come to me for healing after running afoul of them, I think that the people are almost more afraid of the Scourges than they are of the sickness.
"As for Johan the Tinker." Sister Margareta paused for a moment, a look of slight distaste coming over her face. "I know that I shouldn't, but I must confess that I do not like the man. There has always been something about him, something slippery. He calls himself a tinker, but in truth he is more of a confidence man. He is always claiming to have some plan to make a quick fortune and I am more than a little suspicious that he is a thief and a follower of Ranald." At the mention of the god of thieves both of the Sisters shared a look of distaste which Karl did not understand but he decided that he did not want to risk their ire by asking so instead he bowed and departed.
As he made his way through the town the sun had gone down and, as the village lacked lighting, everything was pitch black, forcing Karl to shift his eyes to allow him to see. He was heading towards the wall with the idea of jumping over it, the wall not being very high when he heard the sound of someone coming. Remembering what he had heard he had a feeling that he did not want to meet them. Hearing them coming closer he ducked into an alleyway and hunkered down and tried to make himself small and quiet.
Soon, accompanied by flickering torchlight, came a group of men. There were five of them, dressed in plain brown robes belted with rope. They had shaved heads and two of them had designs of sort cut into their foreheads, they all carried clubs and looked eager to use them. Despite their pugilistic attitude none of them had the look of professional bullies like Karl had seen in the streets of larger cities, these men had the look of frightened men whose fear had turned to aggression and they were now looking for something or someone to unleash that aggression on. Fortunately, they did not see Karl and continued past him down the street. Karl, for his part, waited for several minutes till he was sure that they had moved on before he emerged from his hiding place. The near meeting caused him to go at a far slower pace, keeping to the shadows and keeping his eyes and ears open for more of the Scourges. These precautions proved to be wise as he was forced to hide from several more groups of them before he reached the palisade which surrounded the village. Fortunately it was not very tall, feeding muscles into his legs he sprang up and, grabbing the top of it, heaved himself over and dropped down onto the other side.
Setting off in the direction of the home of the Zuriner family, whom Sister Margareta had said was the family closest to the village, Karl set off at a steady lope, he doubted that any Skaven were still there, but he wanted to conserve his energy just in case. Keeping his pace steady it took him the better part of an hour to reach his destination. The house looked exactly like all of the farmhouses Karl had seen, a one story log house with a thatch roof and a similarly constructed barn. Both of them already falling into disrepair as the forest moved to reclaim the farm.
Karl smelled the air, there were lingering smells of Skaven but the smells were fading, Karl was alone in the place. Never the less, as he approached the farmhouse Karl could not shake the feeling that he was being watched. The door hung open on rusting hinges and Karl went inside. There was a thick coating of dust over everything and the stink of disease was everywhere. Karl was surprised that the place had not been burned by the villagers, perhaps they had not wanted to linger long enough to do the deed. In addition to the smell of Skaven there was another smell, half hidden by the smell of the rat-men, it was familiar but Karl could not place it.
Walking around to try to jog his memory Karl saw that the place had been damaged by more than passage of time. Furniture had been overturn, chests opened and articles of clothing had be scattered across the room. Bedding had been ripped apart and scattered across the room. Getting across the room to the bedding Karl placed his face next to it, altered his nose and inhaled deeply. The smell of Skaven was there, as was the other smell.
"So," Karl said as he rose to his feet; "The Skaven brought the smell with them and they were looking for something, but what?" When he had faced them before they had had goals that he could understand, to start a war and weaken rivals. But these people were only farmers and peasants, there was nothing for them to gain by molesting them as far as Karl could see. Though perhaps he just wasn't seeing it, he really did not know much about the creatures, for all that he knew they had a motive that made perfect sense to them and completely eluded him. What could it be? It frustrated him, it seemed that the answer was just on the edge of him finding it, but every time he almost got it the answer slipped away and it frustrated him. After looking around for a while longer and finding nothing, he left the ruin. He briefly considered going to the other farmhouses but then discarded the idea, it was unlikely that there was anything more to be seen at them than what he had seen here, the passage of time and decay had most likely destroyed any evidence.
Now that he thought about it, there did indeed seem that the farm was decaying faster than normal it seemed. For a moment he felt his gut clench in fear, remembering the Carnival of Chaos, and feared that something like that was here. But no, he reminded himself as his heartrate slowed down, while he could smell decay and the stench of Skaven the smell of Chaos was absent. Though, wait, that smell that he could not identify had something of the stench of Chaos about it.
"So, they are connected to Chaos in some way. But what?" He still did not have the answer to that. Still mulling it over, he began the joinery back to the village. He made the journey back without incident, scaled the wall and made his way back to the temple without running into the Scourges, though once again he was forced to hide several times to avoid confrontations. By the time he reached the temple both the patients and the Sisters had all gone to sleep, not wanting to wake them he found a corner, curled up and went to sleep.
The next few days were passed in uneasy quite. It was as if everyone in the village were holding their breath and waiting for whatever was to happen next to happen. Karl could feel it, both from everyone around him and from himself as well. The Skaven were out there and he was sure that they were planning something but he could not for the life of him figure out what it was that they were planning. He found himself wishing that they would do whatever it was they were going to do, at least that way they would be in the open and he would have something to work against. He tried taking his mind off of the problem by working around the temple, the roof needed work badly and while he was not expect, the Sisters said that they appreciated it. Despite their kind words he could not stop thinking about the situation. Elsewhere in the town things continued to get worse. The Scourges, desperate it seemed to find the cause of Sigmar's displeasure, had taken to breaking into the homes of people they deemed suspect of being the responsible for the current troubles, people who did not attend the priest's sermons and those suspected of loose living, in the hope of catching them in the act. After Sister Margareta protested to Father Fredrick these raids came to a halt, but she expressed her fear to Karl that if things did not improve soon they would begin again, or something even worse.
Unfortunately, things only got worse, not better. Two more families disappeared from their farms and while Karl found more traces of the Skaven he was no closer to finding and link to all of the attacks. The other farm families who had not already abandoned their farms did so now and flock into the protection of the village walls. Personally, Karl doubted that the walls would do anything to slow down a Skaven attack but he kept these thoughts to himself. To make matter worse, a fever of some kind broke out among the villagers and farmers and within two days claimed several lives. Villagers began to grumble that the farmers had brought it with them and some were calling for the refugees to be driven out.
Karl found himself going out of his way to avoid Father Fredrick, he was afraid that the priest might blame him for failing to stop the attacks. Nights brought no respite. Ever since he had become a werewolf he found it harder to get to sleep at night, the wolf wanted to roam and hunt, not sleep. This was made worse by his frustration caused by his inability to find a solution to the questions that plagued his mind.
As he lay in his corner one night, the sound of someone moving around caught his attention. He tensed, fearing an attack, when he realized from their smell that the person was Sister Margareta, he had not realized that she had left the temple. While she attempted to be quiet, her efforts were for not and she woke Sister Bess.
"Sister Margareta," Sister Bess said in a startle voice; "You startled me. Where did you go?"
"I went to see Johan the Tinker." Sister Margareta replied. "He has taken ill and I went to check on him. Indeed, he has not been looking well since he broke his leg but I fear that he has caught whatever it is that is going through the village, though I cannot be sure as he would not let me treat him. I fear that he will not make it."
Karl lay there stunned. It was not the news that the tinker was sick that was startling, many had fallen ill in recent days. Rather it was a memory that the mention of the man's name brought to the front of his mind. The smell, the one from the farm that he could not place, the smell was the same as the one he had smelled on Johan! Karl did not know how or why, but somehow the man was connected to the Skaven, which meant at last Karl had something solid to work with and a source of information! Making sure not to alert the Sisters he slid his cloths and boots on and crept silently from the temple.
As he moved through the streets he cursed himself for not making the connection sooner, perhaps some lives could have been saved. He also cursed that he did not know where the man was staying, which forced him to take the slower rout of backtracking Sister Margareta's scent. Fortunately, with the Scourges having essentially forced everyone indoors at night, there were few smells overlaying hers and following it proved to be of no difficulty.
The trail led him to a small house which was little more than a hovel near the wall. Even from a distance Karl could smell the stench of sickness coming from it and underneath that, the smell that he had been trying to place. He did not want to knock on the door, apart from not knowing what the man's involvement was, he did not want to risk alerting the Scourges and having to explain himself, fortunately there was another way in. The place had a single window, which naturally had no glass in it. It was a tight fit but he just managed to squeeze through feet first.
He did not appear to have alerted anyone with his entry as no cry of alarm was sounded. The stench of vomit nearly made him gag. The darkness in the room forced him to shift his eyes to allow him to see. The place consisted of a single room, a table and a few small chests. In the corner was a bed made of a heap of straw with a blanket thrown over it. In the bed was Johan, the top of his head just sticking out from under the blanket. He must have heard Karl as he approached his head emerged and he regarded Karl with blood-shot eyes.
"Who's there?" He croaked out in a raspy voice, clearly not recognizing Karl in the dark. "Who's there?" He said again, fear entering his voice.
"It's Karl, you warned me about the Scourges by the tavern."
"What do you want?" Johan demanded, anger replacing the fear in his voice.
"I need to know what your dealings with the Skaven are."
"What are you talking about?" The man demanded weakly.
"Don't lie to me!" Karl snapped; "I know you are dealing with them and that they are the ones who are bringing the sickness to the place and that they are also behind the disappearances!"
"I don't know what you are talking about!" The man said again, the fear back in his voice.
"Indeed," Karl said, the skepticism in his voice; "I think you do." He turned away from the man and sniffed around the room till he found what he was looking for, the source of the smell that he was looking for, it was emanating from one of the small chests.
"Get away from there!" Johan rasped. Karl ignored him and, exerting his muscles, broke the lock off and looked inside.
A way of wrongness hit Karl as he looked into the box, within lay an object of some kind. It was three bars, each about eight inches long, laid across each other to form a triangle. Karl did not recognize the material that it was made of, it gave off a kind of greenish glow that hurt Karl's eyes just to look at it. As he slammed the lid back down, noticing as he did so that the inside of the box was lined with lead. A noise behind him caused him to turn around.
"Get away from that!" Johan screamed, lunging from the bed and coming at Karl. As the blanket fell away from him Karl recoiled in shock. The tinker's fingers had grown together to form scaly flippers with long claws growing out. Johan used these to lunge and clawed at Karl.
Karl's body took over and he instinctively threw himself backwards out of reach of the mutant's attack. This helped to shake Karl out of his surprised stupor and focus his attention. He dropped the box onto the ground and reached for his swords and cursed as he realized that he had not brought them with him when he left the temple. Casting about looking for a something that he could use as a weapon he failed to see a stool behind him and he tripped and fell backwards. Fortunately, the former tinker's mutations apparently failed to improve his ability to see in the near-darkness and he flailed about in the darkness looking for Karl. Karl, for his part, took advantage of this and, walking on his hands and feet, put a safe distance between himself and his opponent. Once he obtained this he scrambled to his feet and considered his options.
He was not overly eager to touch the mutant, he did not want to risk the mutant carrying sickness like the ones he had faced before, neither could he risk taking on his wolven form in case others came, drawn by the noise. He had to act fast before that happened, he needed answers and he knew that he would not get them if the villagers tore the mutant to pieces, additionally, he needed to get that chest and whatever that thing inside it was out of the village. He had no idea what it was but he was certain that it was what the Skaven were after. He did not know what he was going to do with it but he was sure that he had to get it away from the village.
Taking advantage of his superior vision in the dark he grabbed something from the floor and threw it. Johan turned towards the noise and sprang, there being nothing there he crashed into the wall, stunning him. Karl dashed forward and landed on the mutant's back, using his legs to pin its arms while he grabbed the thing's head with his hands.
"What is that thing in the box?" He demanded.
"I don't know." The mutant panted out. Karl responded by grabbing the mutant's hair and pulling it back, making the peddler cry out in pain.
"What is it!?" He demanded again.
"I don't know!" Johan wailed. "I was passing through a village and a man there had it. I didn't know what it was but the man was doing his best to keep it hidden so I knew it had to be valuable. When he left the village, I followed him till we were away from the village, slit his throat and took it. I stopped here for a few days and then all this started to happen and I was trapped here. And then my hands…" Here he broke down and started crying.
Karl stared at the man. He wanted to pity the man for what had happened to him, in some ways it reminded him of what had happened to him. But it was not the same, Johan had killed a man and had brought this upon himself and not only himself but all the people who had disappeared and all those who lived in fear in the village. Anger overwhelmed any feelings of pity. Deciding that he had gotten all that he could from the mutant he sprouted claws on one of his hands and ripped Johan's throat out.
Allowing the body to drop onto the ground Karl rose, grabbed a rag and wiped the blood off. He turned towards the box and picked it up. Leaving the hut he made his way back towards the temple, his plan was to gather his weapons and leave the town. He was not sure how he was going to get the Skaven to follow him but he would have to find a way, he didn't know what he was going to do after he got them to follow him but he was determined to get them away from the village. He was so focused on trying to come up with a plan that at first he did not hear the sound of the gate guard raising the alarm, then the sound hit.
"FOES, FOES! TO ARMS! TO ARMS!" The man cried, terror filling his voice. Seconds later the sounds of blows landing on the gate.
Cursing freely, Karl shot for the temple to get his weapons. All around him people were beginning to come out of their houses, confusion and fear on their faces, a fear which was growing by the second. Just when the fear seemed to have reached a fever pitch it got worse.
"Look there!" Someone shouted. All eyes turned to follow a pointing arm towards the wall. There shadowy figures with red eyes were clambering over the wall into the town. The sight sent the villagers into a panic, people ran about screaming in terror. The Skaven took advantage of the confusion to dash about the humans, cutting some down and bearing others to the ground and beginning to drag them off. Karl was to dash off after one such when the rat-man's skull was split open.
"CHILDREN OF SIGMAR! WITH ME!" Father Fredrick called out, swinging his weapon in an arch to crush the chest of another opponent. With him were a number of the Scourges. They may have been fanatics but in this case it worked to their advantage. With cries to Sigmar they threw themselves on the Skaven, completely ignoring wounds dealt by the Skaven weapons they bore a number of rat-man to the ground with their weapons and bodies.
Unable to use his more powerful form, Karl pushed his way through the swirling mass of combat, determined to get his weapons. He shoved bodies from his path, not sure if they were friend or foe, in his effort to get through. Despite his strength it seemed to do no good, the battle seemed to have spread throughout the entire town, the gate it seemed, had not held long. In spite of these difficulties he eventually made his way back to the temple, though even here there was fighting. Several of the Scourges and a number of towns people and refugees where struggling against a mass of the rat-men. The invaders had numbers on their side but the humans fought with the fury of fear long suppressed at last let out. Karl took advantage of this and attacked from the rear.
Snatching up a rusted curved blade from one of the bodies he began to slash at the backs of the Skaven as they pressed on the defenders. In their excitement and due to the sounds of battle they failed to realize that he was there and he cut down half a dozen before they began to notice him. At last they did and some of them began to turn to face him and he began to find his going to be much harder. They were faster and more agile than a human, having already faced them before Karl was not surprised by this. Fortunately, these did not seem to be as formidable as those he had faced before, being nowhere near as well trained. Indeed, they seemed to lose heart as soon as they realized that they did not hold all of the advantages. By pressing hard Karl was able to break through to the other defenders, unfortunately they did not seem to be any more organized than the attacks. No one was in charge and they seemed to have no idea on how to organize a resistance.
He made his way into the temple and gathered his weapons, unfortunately he did not have any powder for his pistol so he just thrust it into his belt. He was hampered by the fact that he had to keep ahold of the box, if the Skaven were willing to mount such an effort to get it back then it was clearly important that he keep it from them. Just then cries of alarm came from the entrance to the temple.
Rushing towards the entrance he detected a smell, a foul smell, and instinctively held back. After a moment the cries turned to chocked gasps and then they went silent. After a few moments the smell dissipated, then he heard the sound of approaching steps, and they were not human steps. Not wanting to engage them until he knew what he was up against, he hid himself in a corner and waited. After a moment six or seven figures came into view. They were Skaven but different from the ones that he had seen earlier, they wore heavy robes and their heads were covered with masks of some kind. These masks seemed to hamper their vision and sense of smell as they gave no indication that they either saw or smelled him and they continued on past him.
He waited a few more moments and then continued on toward the entrance. The defenders were all dead, they lay scattered about, their faces swollen and blood seeping from their eyes and noses and the all were clutching at their throats. To his horror he saw both of the Sisters among them, they clearly had been treating the injured and had fallen victim to whatever weapon that using. There was clearly nothing that could be done here. The same could be said for the rest of the village as well, the sounds of battle had ceased, replaced by a few isolated cries and the sounds of triumphant rat-men. The battle had clearly been lost and the only thing that could be done would be to ensure that they did not get whatever it was that was in the box. Thrusting his swords into his belt, clutched the box to his chest and took off running. Fortunately, the Skaven had not placed any guards near the broken down gate and he was able to get out of the village without incident.
He had no idea where he was going, he just knew that he had to get as far away as possible. Leaving the road he ran into the woods and he kept running, occasionally making random turns in an effort to foil any attempts at pursuit. Inside of him the wolf howled in protests, it was the predator, it would not run from rodents. Karl paid it no mind, straining his ears in an effort to hear any pursuers but he heard nothing. In spite of this he kept running through the night, stopping only when he saw the sun coming up. Not wanting to sleep on the ground he scrambled up into a tree and slept on a thick limb about fifteen feet off of the ground. He only meant to rest for a little while, but once he made himself comfortable he suddenly realized how tired he was and fell into a deep sleep and did not awaken until well past noon.
When he did awaken he was stiff and sore from sleeping in an awkward position, he was also hungry but he did not want to stop to find something to eat. Even inside the box he could feel the item. While his regeneration would hopefully protect him from mutation, like what had befallen Johan, he did not want to test that theory and wished only to be rid of it as soon as possible, so he clambered down from the tree and set of, this time going at a steady lope as he was no longer so fearful of pursuit.
As he went he considered his options. While he certainly wanted to be rid of the thing, he had no idea how. He did not know how to destroy whatever it was and he certainly could not just throw it away and leave it somewhere. He would need the counsel of someone who needed such things and he could think of only one such person, Marx. He really did not want to go back and face the wizard after the fiasco with the vampire until he had caught the thing, but dealing with this thing took priority over anything else.
The problem was that he had no idea where he was, nor how was he to get back to the capital. Not having any idea what else to do, he picked a direction and started walking in that direction. He walked for the rest of the day and near nightfall began looking for somewhere to rest and also for food as by now he was ravenous.
As he conducted his search he became aware that he was being watched. Spinning around in a circle he sniffed at the air. There were two of them, one ahead of him and one behind him. Wait, there were more, at least a dozen farther out and drawing closer. He was going to try to get a look at them before he made contact when suddenly the ground came alive. Root burst from the ground to wrap around his arms and legs. Yelling in surprise and anger he struggled to break free and was about to shift into his wolven form and break free when his attackers came into view.
There were about fourteen of them. Two of them, who appeared to be the leaders, were wearing robes of green, brown trousers and were both barefooted and held staffs. The rest of the party had the look of woodsmen and all of them had bows which had arrows nocked and drawn and pointed at him. Seeing that any resistance would result in being perforated with arrows, Karl ceased his struggles and went still. The older of the robed man came up to Karl and picked up the box that Karl had dropped when the roots seized him. Looking at it suspiciously he opened it just a crack. He quickly slammed it shut and glared at Karl.
"Where did you get this?" He demanded in a gravelly voice.
"I found it." Karl replied not knowing who these people were and not willing to give away any information till he knew they were. The man's snort of derision was a clear indication that he did not believe what Karl had said.
"Indeed, people naturally just find items made of warpstone lying around every day, most natural thing in the world." He snorted again and his glare grew even darker. "I am Thomel, magister of the Jade Order, and I will have the truth from you." Karl thought for a moment and then decided to tell the truth, while leaving out a few details.
"I was in the village of Helmsburg when it was attacked by mutants. A man had found this and brought into the village and the creatures were looking for it and I decided to keep it away from them. So when the village was overrun I took it and escaped it the woods. I was trying to decide what to do when you found me." Thomel looked at Karl hard for a moment. Then, seemingly satisfied, he muttered something and waved his staff and the roots released Karl and returned to the ground.
"Very well."
"Are you sure he can be trusted?" One of the woodsmen asked, still looking suspiciously at Karl.
"I sense no corruption in him." The wizard replied. "And we have greater concerns."
"The destruction of Helmsburg Father?" The younger robed man asked.
"Indeed Linus." Thomel answered him. "It is possible that the mutants who destroyed it may be a forward force of the invaders. If so then their numbers and reach are both greater than we have believed. We should move quickly."
"What about him?" One of the woodsmen asked, pointing at Karl.
"He will come with us. It will give him the chance to remove any trace of doubt of his innocence." This seemed to satisfy the others and they took off back into the woods. Thomel motioned for Karl to follow and, not sure what else to do, Karl followed.
They traveled at a quick pace, the men clearly knew the woods around them and the two wizards seemed to glide through the woods and Karl was prepared to swear that roots and branches moved out of the way for them. Though Karl could smell and hear nothing they all remained on alert, scanning the area for threats. Karl wanted to know what was going on but his attempts to find out only resulted in curt orders to be silent and he gave up the efforts. At last they came to a hidden camp. There another dozen or so woodsmen who were clearly waiting for Thomel and those with him to return. There were some raised eyebrows when they saw Karl, but Thomel assured them that it was alright. He announced that he and Linus had a task to perform and they departed, taking the box with the item with them.
After they had departed the men set about preparing a simple meal of bread and dried meat. By this time Karl was so hungry that he barely managed to mumble out a simple thanks before wolfing the proffered food down, along with some offered water. Though he was still curious about what was going on, he waited till those around him had finished their own food before asking the man nearest him, whose name was Heinrich, what was going on.
"Beastmen." Heinrich replied, spitting to the side in disgust; "They have been emerging from the forests for several weeks now. At first they were in small groups and restricted their attacks to isolated farms, but now there are enough of them to make a proper army and are moving toward several towns and villages. We have called for help and they say that an army is being assembled at the city of Volkelberg, but we have no idea how long it will be before it arrives. So we have gathered together to harass the Beastmen till the army arrives."
"Who were those two wizards?" Karl asked.
"He told you, he is Thomel and his son Linus. They are wizards of the Jade Order. I'll admit that I don't know much about wizards and don't normally have much use for them but those two are alright. They have saved more than one harvest from being ruined by frost or blight and keep the rest of their weirdness to themselves they also know a bit of healing so they have been helping to patching us up and keeping wounds from becoming infected. Those cursed creatures often coat their weapons with their own filth and several of us would have died or lost limbs if it had not been for those two." After that the man moved to get some rest and Karl decided to do the same.
He was awakened near sundown by someone shaking him. Looking around he saw that all of the others were awake and gathering their weapons. He also saw that the two wizards had returned, though he saw no sign of the box. Seeing that something would be happening soon he quickly rose and gathered up his weapons.
"The scouts have spotted a foraging party of Beastmen." Heinrich told him in a low whisper; "They seem to think that they have driven us from the woods and we are going to show them that they are very wrong in thinking this." There was a grim smile on his face and Karl felt his own pulse quicken and inside him the wolf growled in anticipation.
They set off at a quick pace through the woods. Karl was not sure how long they moved through the woods till the leader held up his hand and the party halted. Careful not to be noticed, Karl sniffed the air. He could detected to stench of the creatures and it seemed to be growing stronger. Without a word the men began scrambling up the trees and Karl followed suit. He placed himself about ten feet off of the ground and waited. He did not have to wait long.
A band of about thirty Beastmen came into view. Only one of them had horns and was clearly the leader of the band, whose other members were all shorter and lacked horns. They failed to see the humans above them as they continued along on their way. As they passed along beneath them Karl saw that many of them carried short bows and several carried dead deer and other game animals.
"NOW!" Heinrich shouted.
The men all loosed their arrows and Beastmen dropped as the arrows found their marks. Karl had been offered a bow but had declined as he had no experience with the weapon. Instead he drew his sword and dropped down, landing on one of the creatures breaking both his fall and its back. He managed to impale a Beastman on each of his blades but found no other targets. The few Beastmen who had survived the first volley had broken and run. Before they got very far, the wizards summoned branches and roots which seized and crushed them or dragged them under the ground. As Karl had been the only one to have left the trees, there were no casualties among the humans.
"Well done boys." Heinrich said after the absence of casualties was confirmed. "We showed them that they will not have things all their own way in these woods and we are not beaten yet." They then departed and set out back to their camp.
Author's Notes: Well there you go. As I said, it was recommended that I make the chapters longer, was it worth the wait and would you like this to continue? I know that it may not have looked like that things did not go very well or exciting for him but things will pick up in the next one. Till then please pray for the two pastors in Sudan who may be sentenced to death for their faith, the woman in Pakistan facing the same problem the Americans held abroad, the sick and all those who need prayer. Bye and may Jesus bless you.