Chapter 70: Extinction Level.
Adem was standing on the upper deck when he saw the carrier bird come in, it aggrieved him having to rely on such primitive forms of communication and technology in general really but it was all she could do with the bloody savages really.
The little avians were at least fast and surprisingly smart being able that they were able to find a laying target that was moving through the sky at a decent pace given the limited technology, he guessed at least he should be grateful for that.
The comms officer read the message attached to the little avian's leg before placing it back into the aviary and turning on his hoof heading right for him, Adem already knew by the hard and rather nervous look on the man's face that he was not going to like what he had to report.
"Go ahead comms officer give me the bad news," he said as the man halted and saluted him respectfully.
"Yes honoured blessed one, the report states that the pirate mercenaries that we hired to capture the ship failed, the vast majority of their fleet was wiped out by a strange weapon fired from the enemy vessel that incinerated both ships and crews alike, out of the attacking fleet only one ship survived the attack and that is barely with most of their crew lost, the mercenary pirates are refusing to deal with us further due to the fact they have taken such heavy losses and are in fact demanding that we compensate them for such," the comms officer said in a clear but obviously nervous voice.
"COWARDS!!!" Adem bellowed slamming his armoured fists into the guard rail with such fury that he broke clean through the polished wood splintering it.
The fury in Adem's heart very nearly caused him to reach out and tear the comms officer's soul from his body but it was not this man's fault he was simply the one whom the task of bearing such bad news had fallen to.
No, the fault lay with those good-for-nothing pirates, all they'd had to do was slow that ship down and capture it, it should have been an easy task given their fleet size, but no they were defeated by one little alien with a fucking oversized pop gun.
"Do you wish me to send a response my lord?" the comms officer asked nervously and Adem turned to glare at him.
"No I will send a response to them myself, one they will not soon forget, they will learn very swiftly why it is not wise to make demands of a true son of Velona," Adem spat and with that, he turned and headed for his quarters.
He found Wesirai there training in the large room off their quarters and she stopped as he entered drawing herself up into a bow, "Continue with your training my apprentice there is something I must do and I do not wish to be disturbed if any come looking for me you are to deal with their needs in my stead, understood?" he said.
"Yes master," she replied and then continued with her training swinging her huge sword at targets made of shadows that looked like Beldon and humans alike.
Now the ritual that he was about to perform was an incredibly useful but tricky one, it was called Shadow Stepping and his former teacher had informed him that it was an ability that only the strongest and most dedicated of Nightmare Assassins managed to achieve, it was also very draining on the soul so it tended to only be used as a last resort to escape fate, it was also why they didn't tend to use it in battle as the cost left you momentarily vulnerable and this only increased with the distance you covered.
But given Adem's mood and current inclination he had other plans for its use, he also had an idea about how he might temporarily mitigate the cost of said skill, but the first thing he needed to do was prepare a soul anchor.
This was not a ritual he enjoyed in any measure as it violated one of the core beliefs of all Velonans including those simpering idiots of Clan Lunara, but even they would not violate this tenant, to all Velonans their blood was sacred.
To Velonans their blood and the power carried within it was a sacred bond that not only tied them to each other but to their home, it was a rare mixture of elements that gave it an almost electrical purple glow, it bound all Velonan species to one another, all the sentient subspecies of his home shared it, it was the in that bound them.
So to any Velonan to use your sacred blood in such a way would be akin to sacrilege, but at this point in time Adem did not care, all he cared about was sending a message that none of those cowards would ever forget.
So the first thing he did was set a small pot onto a small heater before filling it with tallow wax, which was a mixture of fats and a stabilising wax to allow it to solidify into any shape it was moulded into.
Once the chunks melted he took a knife and cut his palm to make his bright purple blood flow which he squeezed into the liquid changing its colour to a deep brown with purple streaks and swirls.
Once this was done he poured the mixture into a tube that had a wicked string fastened to a stick atop of it to make a candle, he rapidly cooled and set by pouring water into the bowl surrounding the tube which rapidly leached the heat out of the candle and set it.
Once the procedure was complete he took the newly moulded candle out of its mould by opening the clasps and then he set it on the floor into a small circle he'd drawn with his own blood, now came the next step.
Once the candle was affixed to the floorboard by melting the bottom just enough to stick it to the floor Adem focused on the candle forcing a small part of his soul to resonate with the blood within the candle and the circle, as his energy and aura began to coalesce with the part of him which resided within it the blood glowed faintly and the candle sprung to life igniting itself and trapping the black smoke like aura within a bubble of energy that it produced.
This was the anchor that would allow him to find the ship again when his job was done, his own soul anchored by his blood and the energy of the flame would guide him back here, now it was time to teach these fucking cowards why you never make demands of a true Nightmare Assassin.
Now this trick only worked if you had already once visited a place, it would not work if you had no idea where you were going, it was the knowledge of the place and its shadows that gave the Nightmare Assassin power over it, for what most denizens of the light would never understand was that all shadow was connected, just look at space itself, one big endless shadow that connected all things.
Adem reached out and touched the shadow of his room, as he reached out with his mind and soul he felt the place he wished to go, he saw it in his mind's eye as if he was currently standing there right now, a meeting room within the pirate's base that was located atop of a mountain where they berthed their ships, high in the clouds where no kingdom could find them or see them, but he could.
As he reached he felt the shadows reaching out to him, it was like he was pushing his hand through a cold liquid treacle, like the whole fabric of reality became a thick viscous liquid, one that with enough force of will and power of soul one could push right through.
Like stepping through a smoked glass mirror Adem stepped through the liquid shadows feeling his soul energy being leached away as he moved until his foot emerged back out into the light on the other side, the Shadow Step was complete, he was inside the pirate base, now came the fun part.
It took a moment for Adem to catch his breath as no matter how many times you did it a Shadow Step always had a price to pay for the one who took the step, but this time he was not going to be the one who paid it, this time it would be the cowards who had failed him who paid it for him.
Almost immediately Adem heard voices from what felt like two rooms away and he drew his long ancestral blade which thanks to the Dark Seed had now been twisted into a blade of shadows, a true weapon of the darkness itself.
Summoning his strength Adem opened the door and stepped out into the corridor where he was instantly greeted by two large Beledon dressed in what was obviously naval leathers and cotton shirts, they looked rather surprised to see him, it didn't last long.
Adem flashed forwards so fast that to them he would have appeared to be a purple streak appearing in multiple places at once, not that it mattered because as his blade punched right through the ribcage and heart of the first one he leapt up onto the second one and grabbed his head.
"Your soul becomes my power," he snarled and reached into the large man's mind filling it with pure fear which gave him the time he needed to siphon off the energy of the man's dying soul which was struggling to be free thanks to having his throat cut by Adem's dagger.
He was so practised at this particular ability that his Soul Tear had become something of a legend among other Nightmare Assassins because he could perform it so quickly, plus then there was the special ability his sword had that helped in that matter, it could littraly tear the soul out of any it killed holding it like a battery ready for its master to feed on.
He rode the big Beledon man's body down as it crashed into the deck pulling his black glowing sword from the chest of his companion on the way down before rolling forwards and leaping up to kick the door from its hinges.
The huge wooden door folded inwards under the force of this darkness-powered strength of his, it snapped in half like a rat trap snapping shut and flew into the room taking one Beledon right off his seat at the commander's table as he caught it right to the face.
"Surprise mother fuckers time to face the price of failure!" Adem snarled as the ten Beledon jumped to their hooves in shock at his appearance, the eleventh was currently on the floor still currently chewing a door.
"You!! What the fuck are you doing here!?" the commander yelled pointing his large cutlass-like sword at Adem.
"What you savages thought you could fail me and then make demands of me!? Did you take a nice long drink of a fresh cup of fucking stupid this morning?" Adem snarled stepping into the room fully and summoning the power now granted to him from the stolen souls which felt like black fire burning through his veins as he felt the anger of the souls at being torn from their bodies and denied their rest beginning to burn like hot lava in his veins, this was the power of a true Soul Tear, turning not only the energy of the captured soul into fuel but their anger of the injustice of it as well.
"Who the fuck are you...?" the commander began to yell but Adem had heard enough, he flashed forwards towards the closest Beledon who just happened to be a very large woman with a fully black pelt, he slashed her knees out causing her to fall and using her weight to pivot him he quickly stabbed her right through the back and the heart tearing her soul from her body as he did.
He felt the power and vigour of the new soul adding to his own power as it stacked atop of the already stolen ones, before the husk of her now lifeless and soulless body had even gone halfway to the floor Adem was moving again, now leaping up onto the table and kicking into a knee slide along the highly polished wood as he did.
To his energized mind it was like watching the world through an incredibly powerful slow-motion lens, the scrambling Beledon looked like they were barely moving as he slide forwards, so not a single one of them had any kind of chance of evading the stabs from his sword as he slid and as each life was lost to his blade another soul stacked into the inferno of soul energy that he was currently burning within him until he slid to a halt right before the commander.
The man's already massive dark eyes went as wide as dinner plates as he saw his entire cadre crash down dead to the floor around him, that's when he glanced down and saw Adem's blade tip at his throat and Adem gave him a wicked smile.
"I think now that simple and savage brain of yours might have fully cottoned on to how badly you have fucked up now hasn't it?" Adem snarled in a silk-soft voice that contained the echoes of the souls he was using to fuel his power, it was the voice of the damned legion, a rather powerful psychological tool when used right because nothing scared an enemy more than when you spoke to them with an echo of their on friends and loved ones voice woven into your own, it left them in no illusion of what was happening to their most beloved ones and that they were now damned and denied their rest.
"W-W-What are you!!?" the commander gasped staring at him in disbelief.
"Me? I'm a devil made flesh, I am the fear that haunts the dreams of the weak and the pitiful, I am vengeance made flesh and given form, I am the anger and fury of those too weak to embrace their once held power, I am a Nightmare given face and form, I am a true Velonan son and you will bow before my pure blood rage savage of you will feel the sting of my rage before you to fuel my vengeance!!" Adem bellowed with all of those voices all at once right in his face making the huge man fall to his knees in a crouch and bow with a terrified whimper.
"I-I-I'm sorry my lord please forgive me!" the commander whimpered in a terrifying voice as Adem began to flood his soul and mind with fear.
"Forgiveness is not given it is earned and it has a cost of its own savage, now tell me are you willing to pay it?" Adem asked stepping down from the table to stand before the cowering man.
"Y-Yes anything! I'll do anything I swear!" the man stammered as the fear truly began to take hold of his mind.
"Good now hold out your arm," Adem said and the man did so with confusion written on his face.
Adem grabbed hold f it and using some of the stolen power of the souls fueling him currently he used the darkness of his aura like a flame burning right through man's fur and searing a mark of pure shadow onto his arm and before he could even scream he lanced him with his sword pushing the blade just deep enough into his chest to nick his heart.
The commander's scream stalled in his throat as his eyes were swallowed by inky black shadows from within before clearing back to normal, "From this moment on you are my soul puppet, you will follow my orders without question and should I feel the need I will tear your should from your very body no matter how far you are from me, from this moment you belong to me, heart and soul," he said and the commander looked down at his chest to see the wound bound up in shadows leaving a large black stain on his chest that matched the perfect black handprint on his arm.
"H-H-How..." he began and Adem squeezed his fist shut making the man collapse onto the floor clutching his chest as if a hand made of pure shadow was squeezing his heart right inside his chest.
"Yours is not to ask why savage, yours is to do and die, it's that simple, question me again and I'll crush your heart and take your soul and you'll join your brothers and sisters as nothing more than fuel for my vengeance, no more useful than a log on a fire, do you understand?" Adem said releasing his grip.
The large man panted and clutched his chest with fear painted all over his face, "Y-Yes master," he said and Adem nodded.
"Good, finally you understand your place and one day you will truly see it when I return with my brother and sisters to my beloved Velona and pitch the cowards of Clan Lunara into the sea of black the proud sons and daughters of Clan Ruara will require strong backs to rebuild our beautiful home, this is your fate in the long run savage, a beast of burden for your betters, embrace your lot in life and you may even find a solace in that burden, but for now you will send everything you have left after those cowards in that ship you let escape and no matter where they go or where they hide you will hunt them down, I do not care where the go or where they hide you will find them and you will kill them understand?" Adem snarled.
The commander nodded, "Y-Yes master," he said solemnly making Adem nod approvingly.
"Hire every mercenary and lowlife you know of and do not worry about the cost it will be covered, just get it done," Adem said and with that, he turned and reached out into the shadows of the room he focused his mind and closed a hand around the candle on the other side then with a hard yank he pulled himself through the shadows back into his room aboard his ship.
Pulling a double Shadow Step really drained Adem and he could feel the energy from the souls he'd torn fading rapidly, even those stored in his sword were failing as this ability truly did use an obscene amount of energy to use though it was as both his ex-teacher and the Dark Seed had explained to him, there was always a price for power and only those willing to pay it were those worthy to wield it.
Thankfully the souls of the weak fallen fools he'd dispatched managed to mitigate most of the cost as he drew the energy from them and released the useless pitiful shades to roam the realm to take their torment out on whoever caught their attention.
As Adem looked into the dancing flame of the candle a thought struck him, he wondered just how many souls it would take to make a round trip from here to Velona.
Going one way across that kind of distance was incredibly draining and would almost certainly leave the Nightmare Assassin on the brink of death but a round trip would almost certainly kill them without pulling the souls of the weak to mitigate the cost, but then what was the purpose of the weak if not to assist the strong in achieving their goals in whatever way they could, it wasn't like their pitiful lives truly meant anything anyway.
That was a teaching of the Dark Seed that truly resonated with him as it was so close to the principles of Clan Ruara that it was almost scary, in fact a part of him actually wondered if indeed one of the Clan's founders was a Nightmare Assassin in the service of the Dark Seed.
As he blew out the candle and took it from the deck breaking the seal as he did the blood that formed the bonding agent to the deck burst into flames burning the symbols into the wood as the connection was broken.
Adem decided to keep the candle as one never knew when they were going to have to make a round trip jump these days, suddenly his comms system bleeped in his ear and he pressed his wrist comp to open the line.
"Go ahead," he said.
"Sorry to call you on short notice boss but the ship's sensors have just picked a possible complication to our plans," the voice of his loyal first officer and trusted friend Arex said.
"What is it? What have you found?" Adem asked with an anxious feeling bubbling in his stomach as if he knew the words that were going to be spoken.
"Sensors have picked up a large ship has jumped into the system, so far they haven't detected us and we are running silent using a nearby mineral-rich moon and its asteroid belt to scatter their sensors but it looks like the enemy you have warned us about might have just decided to crash the party, this ship is armed to the fucking teeth," Arex said.
Adem snarled angrily to himself, "Clan fucking Mason," he growled.
"Yeah I think that would fit, the ship fits the description of one of their heavy cruisers that you gave us, this thing is packing some serious heat boss, as well-armed as we are I don't think we'd win a slug fight with them even if we caught em with their pants down," Arex said.
Adem snarled again as he knew his first officer was right, as powerful as their ship was it was not a match for a Clan Mason heavy cruiser as he'd seen first-hand what kind of firepower those things could bring to bear if they needed to, fighting these guys head on was not the smart play as much as he hated to admit it these fuckers were incredibly good at what they did.
As much as he hated him Adem had to acknowledge that the fucking God Slayer and his whore of a Yautja had done a very good job of training their Clan for war, he'd seen first fucking hand how hard these fuckers hit on Raptoria as they'd cut through the fucking Scalathor like a hot knife.
It felt like chewing a mouthful of gravel to him to acknowledge their strength and their ruthless efficiency but against an enemy like this is where smarts and cunning came into play and there was nothing Adem was not if it wasn't cunning.
He'd survived these fucking fools twice already coming within a hair's breadth on Raptoria where he'd been close enough the see the shine of their armour, but he was determined not to let the self-righteous fools stand in his way to freeing Velona from the clutches of the weak idiots running it, his home would be free and it would be strong and Clan Mason would not stop that!
"So what's the play boss?" Arex asked.
"How many of the savages have been transferred aboard for transport?" Adem asked.
"We've pulled about another hundred of them, the rest were picked up by that creepy fucking Yautja who knows you about two days ago so that's about a thousand of them already underway, but if you are about to do what I think you are that will mean we're leaving quite a number behind plus we haven't finished deploying yet," Arex said and Adem snarled and smashed his fist into his desk splintering the wood.
"How much longer to get them all deployed?" he asked.
"Well if we focus all our efforts on it we can get it done in a day maybe two which given the size of this system should be enough time as there's no way those fuckers will be able to scan every planet here for their people in that time, plus we've deployed scattering pods into orbit which will disrupt any sensor reads they try to get off the plant's surface, they won't be able to tell its inhabited let alone that their people are down there, should keep them out of out quills long enough for us to slip out under their noses," Arex said and Adem nodded approvingly to himself.
"I knew there was a reason I liked you, my friend, you're just as sneaky and cunning as I am, get it done, as much as I want to hurry this along so we can get moving to Velona it does not pay to piss off the Dark Seed by disappointing it," Adem said.
"Yeah from what you've described to me it doesn't sound like an enemy we want to make," Arex said.
"You have no idea, my friend, you have no idea, ok get it done and if you detect any moves towards the planet prime to initiate and send a shuttle for me, until then we proceed as planned, at the very least it will keep these fuckers too busy to come after us," Adem said.
"Got it over and out boss," Arex said and with that, he closed the comms leaving Adem to his thoughts.
If Clan Mason was here it was only a matter of time before they zoned in on their people, hopefully, the scattering pods would throw their sensors off enough so that they did not detect the debris from the old human ship in orbit otherwise this planet would be the first place they would check, either way, he had to step up his time table because as much as he would love to kick the self-righteous fuckers right in the teeth, only a fool underestimated Clan Mason and he was most certainly no fool.
Adem decided to meditate to recover some of his lost energy and focus but before he could truly settle in there was a soft knock on the door and he snarled at the disturbance but he sensed that it was Wesirai bringing him news by the nervousness behind the heavy wood.
He opened the door and found his large nervous looking Beledon apprentice standing there looking at him, "I am sorry for the disturbance my master but I have been informed that the renegades have docked in the northern territories and I believed you would want to know as quickly as possible," she said.
He growled but nodded, his apprentice had done the right thing as this was information he did want, "Very good apprentice, get everyone ready as I assume we are not far from our own destination ourselves by now?" he said and she shook her horned head making her large flame red braids swing from left to right in time with her head.
"No my master the crew inform me we shall be arriving very soon," she said.
"Very good, get everyone ready as I do not wish our departure to be delayed," he said plainly and she nodded.
Only two hours later they were on the ground once more and moving on foot, the northern territories were vastly different from the south with everything having a distinct harshness to it.
Even the people of the North seemed to have it, their fur while coming in a variety of colours was long and thick just like Wasirai's which was obviously to deal with the far colder temperatures of these harsh lands.
The sky was grey and the rain continually pelted down on Adem's armour as he rode along on the steed he had been provided upon touching down, he had ordered a carriage to be prepared for him as was only right for someone of his station but their early arrival had meant that it had not been ready so rather than delaying their departure he had simply opted to ride upon one of the provided reptile creatures they used as mounted beasts.
As he and his knights rode along displaying the banners of their patrons he could see the disdain in the eyes of the people around them but he did not shy from these looks he simply fed back more disgust and animosity in his own look and if someone particularly caught his eye he fed a healthy dose of fear into their soul for them to deal with, but now he had a lot more thing on his mind the clock was ticking and he was on a tight timeline.
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"Welcome to the true Northern territories where people and food are as tough as they come," Ava said as the group trooped out of the small port town of Medonican.
They had opted to dock at this much smaller port town rather than the main port due to their problems of having bounties on their heads, the group had decided it would be the smarter play to slip in rather than rattle a lot of sabres and march right into the largest port in the region as it was simply asking for trouble.
"So how far from here do we have to go?" Jay asked.
"Oh it's a good couple of day's march from here but with any luck, we should make good time though I can tell you now the weather is going to a be a rather big issue, this freezing rain is what we call a Northen welcome, it only gets worse from here, this is kinda why I insisted on us bringing heavy-duty cold weather gear and these rain slickers," Ava said gesturing to the oiled scale poncho that she and indeed all of them were wearing over their armour.
"Beledon from the north are rather easy to spot as their fur grows much thicker and longer than the rest of us, just like if you go far enough south you'll encounter the southern short furs who basically look like their patterns are part of their skin their fur is so short," Ketra joked.
"Indeed but up here the cold and the elements are our enemies which is why I insisted on bringing that wood drying kiln as well the extra whetstones as the density of the wood up here has a real habit of dulling wood cutting blades to the point where they are as flat as Ova's arse," Ava said jokingly making the large Beledon woman snort loudly and swish her tail in indignance.
"My arse is pretty far from flat I'll have you know plus it is one of my beloved human's favourite features, tell me Blessed Knight Ava how many handsome humans do you have slapping against your arse every knight while you bray to the Gods giving thanks for them?" Ova shot back with an evil smile which made Ketra snort a laugh as her Blessed friend scowled.
"Well last I checked we only had two to begin with and you all but sat on one of them to the point I thought we may end up having to make a stop along the way to get a blacksmith whip us up a wrecking bar to pry him out from between your cheeks," Ava shot back sourly.
Ova simply snorted in triumph, "Though you said my arse was flat?" she said making Ava baulk as she realised she'd trapped herself with that one.
Ova turned and hoisted Xao into her large arms and making their armour clank together, "And I do not fear the cold because my hot blood will keep my beautiful human warm and trust me despite their size their blood and their passion is hotter than a summer forge fire, is that not right Ketra?" Ova said shooting a look at her friend to deflect it onto Jay who felt his cheeks warm enough to actually start steam rising from his helmet.
"Indeed," Ketra said with a chuckle.
"I rest my case," Ova said gesturing to the steam rising off Jay's helmet.
"Perhaps I should have ordered more humans rather than ponchos then?" Ava said with a chuckle and Ova put Xao down who staggered about in a drunken circle for a moment before his blood returned to his brain after being squeezed up and down by his big Beledon lover.
"You wish," she said with a grin.
"More than you know," Ava said in a quiet voice that both Ketra and Jay caught.
"Don't worry sister I'm sure there will be more of them to go around when we finally manage to help my beloved one make contact with his people and who knows maybe for your assistance and loyal service to his cause maybe they might even let you pick out one for yourself," Ketra said light-heartedly but also with some hope to it as it was obvious that Ketra really did both sympathise with her friend as well as care about her.
"One can hope sister, one can hope," Ava said with a smile.
"Don't worry Ava Clan Mason has plenty of boys of all races to go around though we don't just give our love to anyone you know, like any good thing in life we must be earned, but do that and you will have love for life because the love of a Clan member never fades, from the moment it is won till the moment you cross into the Eternal Hunt it will burn as bright as any star in the sky and even beyond those pearly gates," Jay said proudly as he reached up and patted Ketra's rear playfully making her tail shoot up in surprise and she snorted at him in slight annoyance.
"Sounds good to me little one it really does," Ava said with a smile.
"Honestly this place kinda reminds me of the northern territories of my own planet, the Grand Matriarch leads hunts up there every year as a kind of tradition for all the new-blooded Hunters to face off against Snow Breachers, our conservationists keep an eye on their numbers and when their packs grow too big for the rest of the local fauna to maintain balance between predator and prey they summon her and she leads the hunt, its a place that is as miserable as sin, fucking snow and ice as far as the eye can see and if you take your armour off you'll freeze to death in less than a single minute," Jay said shivering as he remembered his own snow hunt.
"What are these Snow Breachers of what you speak?" Ava asked and KEtra's face suddenly lit up like a light bulb as she searched through Jay's memories that had been given to her during their transfer.
"They remind me of Blenders! Just a lot bigger and nastier by the look of them," she said and Jay glanced at her.
"What's a blender?" he asked but it was Ava that answered.
"A large arachnid species that lives in the forested regions, they are called such because they have a talent for being able to blend in with their surroundings, they cover their hide in a sticky web and then spend hours attaching pieces of foliage to it so that they can blend in with it, I've seen them using their fangs to strip the bark of trees so they can stick it to their hide before wrapping their ten legs around a tree trunk and flattening their bodies to basically become invisible, they are ambush predators and can jump tremendous distances," Ava said making Jay shiver, he fucking hated spiders.
"Lovely," he said sarcastically.
"Not so many of them up here due to the cold, no up here we have to contend with Swoopers and Clickers," Ava said making Jay look up at the mention of the word swoop.
"And what are they exactly?" he asked wondering if he even wanted the answer that that question.
"Swoopers are a kind of flying rodent but about as large as you are, they are black on top and white underneath so you can't see them against the clouded sky, they swoop down and hit you in the chest biting you to inject a paralytic venom before dragging you up a tree to drink your blood at their lesuire, really nasty little buggers, Clickers are a giant insect that lives in caves and are totally blind, they navigate by using sound hence the name, they can run really fast and are armoured like a little walking armoured catridge but they have a seriously nasty bite, the only way to kill em is to flip em over and stab em in the belly where there's no armour because trust me your blade will not go through their plates, a lot of the clans and indeed the nomad tribes up here use their plates to fashion armour and it's said to be stronger than the best steel a blacksmith can produce by quite a margin, but the off set is the weight, its a lot heavier and not very flexible," Ketra said.
"Oh fucking joy," Jay said and Ketra gave him a massive toothy grin.
"Welcome to the north my love, welcome to the north," she said.
