Shadow Hawk – will do x
Raven – Play Onimusha 2! It's the best one of the lot! x
Tom – Sorry for keeping you waiting x
Rose – Glad to see my review annoyed you enough that you felt you had to throw it back at me ha! x
Darth – yay! x
Julia – Creative licence, they now had a time machine in secret at the end of Onimusha and if that don't work…creative licence people! x
Rahab the Fish – Creative licence! x
xXx – Thanks! x
Chapter 3
Kain sat in his room. He read and re read the report that Raziel had brought him. An entire village had been razed. By whom they didn't know but one of the human towns had been burned to the ground, no survivors left and stranger still, many of the bodies had vanished.
"So this is where you got to?" Meg strutted into the room and threw herself down on the sofa opposite Kain, "You never were one for celebrations." Kain didn't answer, watching as Meg kicked off her boots, "What?" she asked, "What's the matter?"
"One of the human villages has been utterly destroyed," Kain replied, passing her the report. Meg lay back on the sofa and read the paper. Kain reclined on the sofa, watching her expression change drastically.
"Typical," she muttered, "Bloody typical. The day we actually secure the empire and eliminate the last of the human threats, this goes and happens."
Throwing the paper to the table, Meg rose and started putting her boots back on. "What are you doing?" Kain asked. Meg brushed her hair back behind her ear, looking up at her sire,
"I'm going to scout," she said. Kain shook his head, but she stared him down, defiantly, "Don't look at me like that. You know that I am one of the fastest riders in Nosgoth. Besides if anything happens then I'll just teleport out."
"You can only teleport short distances," Kain pointed out as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Meg smiled at his over protectiveness,
"I'll only need to teleport far enough to get away from whatever did this and then I can ride the rest of the way. Besides Nosgoth is under your control, I'd hardly be hard pushed to find somewhere to recover if something happens."
Kain opened his mouth to protest but realised that she was right. She saw that she had won and laughed, "I won't be long," she assured him, "and I won't stick around if there's trouble."
Kain rose and lifted one of the swords that hung on his wall, he held it out to her, "Take this," he said. She took the sword and sheathed it on her back,
"Anything else?" she asked, she checked herself, making sure her daggers and her sword were secure. "Nope, right," she kissed Kain on the cheek, "I'll be back before you can miss me."
Kain watched her leave and then went straight to the window so he could watch her ride off out of the sanctuary. She was oddly excited about this but she was normally overly excited after a celebration and on a night such as this she had every reason to be happy.
The overlord kept his eyes on the gate beyond his window waiting for his daughter to ride out. There was a knock at the door and he sensed Raziel enter. The firstborn son went to the window beside his sire and looked out with him. Together they watched Meg ride into the fast approaching sunrise.
"How did she take it?" Raziel asked, curiously. Kain shrugged,
"Megara is just…Megara," he replied. Raziel nodded in agreement, his sister was indeed one of a kind.
"I have summoned council for tomorrow, my lord," Raziel informed him, "My brothers and the firstborns will be present." Kain nodded his approval but said nothing. There was nothing to say. Raziel began to feel uncomfortable but ignored it, turning to his sire and bowing himself out, leaving his master to his thoughts.
Meg didn't reach the outskirts of Razielim until well into the day. It had been a pleasant day for riding, the clouds from the Turelim furnaces blanketed the sky and suppressed the heat leaving the climate cool yet not cold neither was it too hot. Deciding that she would have better luck proceeding to the ruined city by foot, she resolved to leave her horse in one of the bastions that overlooked the northern part of Raziel's vast territory.
"Who goes there!" came a shout from the watch tower. Meg had to stand back from the wall to look up and see to whom it was she spoke,
"Megara!" she called back, "I'm on my way to Durnacht!"
There was a silence but her vampiric ears could hear the watchman speak to another present in the tower. They muttered between each other for far longer than polite protocol allowed but eventually they replied, "Durnacht has been destroyed."
Meg rolled her eyes, "I know! That's why I'm going, now in the name of Kain…" she didn't have a chance to finish her sentence. Another vampire had entered the tower, his strong voice rang out among them all,
"Open the gate!" he commanded, though his voice hinted with some impatience to the incompetence of the watch. Meg smiled to herself and rode through the now open gate to be greeted with one of Raziel's first sons Maret.
He was flanked with other Razielim officials, all of whom bowed to her as she passed them, slowing her horse to barely more than a slow trot.
"My lady, Megara," Maret announced, bowing before her, "Forgive us for keeping you waiting." Meg swung herself off her horse and dropped down beside them, waving a hand dismissively. "You are going to Durnacht, correct?" She nodded her reply. Maret dismissed the other Razielim who again bowed themselves from her presence and walked alongside her as she led her horse into the hold.
"I wish to leave Seska here," she gestured to her horse, "I'd probably have a better chance of going unnoticed if I went by foot." Maret looked concerned but not surprised at her suggestion and altered their path slightly so they headed towards the stables.
"Durnacht is quite a distance from here, it's about two maybe three hours walk," Maret informed her, leading her into the stables. Meg shrugged,
"I'll be alright," she took Seska into the stable and let her loose to wander with the other horses and finally eat some well deserved food after their long journey.
"Would you like someone to go with you my lady?" Maret offered, but Meg held her hand up before he could continue,
"You know me better than that," she laughed, "besides it's always strategically correct to scout alone." Maret nodded and followed her out of the stables,
"If I do not return by night fall you will send a message to Kain?" she asked, but she already knew the answer.
"Of course," they reached the bastion's gate, where Maret suddenly became uncomfortable, "Uh my lady?" he called as she stepped out into the outskirts. Meg looked back, "Is it…is it true about yourself and Azrael?"
Meg laughed, expecting his sudden call to be something important, "Yes Maret, it's true."
"Oh," the red haired vampire looked slightly disappointed, "I'm sorry my lady…you were so happy together."
Meg nodded, "We were happy together," she told him, placing the faintest possible stress on the word 'were'.
"Good luck my lady," Maret bowed, watching the vampire move with unnatural speed across the landscape toward the ruined town.
Back at the sanctuary, the brethren and their firstborn sons were waiting in Kain's conference room awaiting the arrival of the overlord and Raziel. It was not Kain's custom to keep people waiting, usually it was he who had to wait for the others to arrive. The mere tardiness of their master was enough to concern the gathering and they knew that this was not going to be a follow up meeting regarding the dominion of Nosgoth.
The council were muttering among themselves, trying to imagine why Kain was late and what the meeting concerned. They didn't have to wait long as Kain swept into the room, with Raziel following faithfully behind him.
Kain took his place at the head of the table which had a full map of Nosgoth displayed upon it. He gestured for the council to move closer and they all took their respective places around the picture.
"This is the Razielim city of Durnacht," Kain announced, pointing to the small town that stood far north to Raziel's most northern watch tower. Zephon narrowed his eyes, it was common knowledge that Zephon always disputed Raziel's claim to that particular city. If it were even the smallest bit further north Kain would have ruled it in Zephon's favour and the city would be his.
"Durnacht was attacked last night," a few eyes flickered towards Zephon, though he seemed as shocked as the rest of the vampires, "all the humans settled there were killed and from what we know the majority of the city was razed."
Kain allowed the implications of this to settle before he continued, "We have sent a scout to gather more information, but for the moment you are all to put extra patrols on every human city until we know what we are dealing with. These three towns here," he pointed to the three human plots that were closest to Durnacht, "are to double their guard effective immediately, I shall summon council when I learn more from the scouts. Dismissed."
Without waiting for the others, Kain was the first to leave, again followed by a dutiful Raziel. The council were too stunned to move. The attack was one thing, but Kain's behaviour was quite another. He swept in and out of council disclosing only the slightest information. Usually Kain would spend hours in council discussing strategies, possible outcomes, in an event such as this he would have gone through every cities defence structure and found a way to improve it. The vampires looked among themselves when Dumah spoke,
"The lord has commanded we increase patrols," he paused and looked at his brothers, "We should see to it immediately." His brothers nodded in unison and slowly they dispersed from the room.
"Where is Meg?" Kain asked, returning to his chamber window so he could overlook the gates and search for any sign of his daughter. "She should have reported in by now."
"Maret is the commander of the northern watch, I will contact him immediately and ask what he knows," Raziel replied, even though Kain's words were more thoughts to himself rather than voiced concerns. Kain nodded without looking back at his son and waved his hand to indicate he approved. Raziel bowed, though it went unnoticed and proceeded to find his firstborn so they may make contact with the commander.
Unbeknownst to the rest of Nosgoth, Megara had only just reached the city though she had smelled the flames burning for miles away. By the time she had reached it the majority of the buildings had been reduced to smouldering ash with the rest still burning though not fiercely.
She moved through the towns streets, making sure she didn't disturb anything and taking extra care not to stand on anything which could give her position away. As she moved through the city, she realised that the destruction was less, more buildings had survived, some of them untouched by the flames or the carnage that had destroyed the rest of the town. Some of the finer buildings still stood, though there was something different about them, even if she couldn't quite figure it out.
There was a quiet stillness about the town which disturbed her slightly and then she realised what was bothering her. Despite all the chaos and destruction there wasn't a single body. It was as if the humans had vanished when the chaos set in without a trace.
She was slipping round a corner when she heard something move behind her, something had stepped on a piece of wood, the sound echoing through the stillness. In an instant she had turned, the sword drawn from her back as she faced her pursuer. She looked around until she saw them…them! There was more than one and all of them were glaring at her. Meg backed off slightly, but held her sword firmly, determined to fight them if need be, "What the hell are you?" she breathed, but never received an answer as the one of them lunged at her.
TBC