A Wolf with a coat of Darkness – chapter 8
I do not own ASoIF/GoT or Warcaft/WoW
Rated M for everything wrong with the Cult of the Damned and the Scourge (including but not limited to cannibalism, human experimentation, murder, rape, slavery, torture, sadism)
An important note: I went back to the first chapter and changed up a few lines in the beginning concerning Sansa and the Stark's status, altering the point in which Sansa disappears. TL;DR, she disappears shortly before the start of the main story.
Even with their knight complete, the two girls did not put it to use. They were afraid. Should they escalate things, everything would quickly get to an actual fight and despite the massive presence of the steel colossus, the two were afraid of such end. They were taught a lot of things, but they were not fighters. Even with that book that they had read, the one given to them by the librarian on tactics, an actual battle was not something that they wished for.
And so, the giant remained, hidden away in one of the houses as the two girls continued on with their daily lives. Only now, a new fear was constantly brewing within them. What if someone was to discover him? Were they allowed to create him? Did they break any rules? In the end, they could easily claim it was all simple practice. No one knew they had planned to use him to escape. But would that be enough of a lie?
Slowly, over the course of a week, the two became paranoid. They felt as if they were constantly watched, every step of the way. On their way to classes and back. Within the school. While they ate. While they slept. Even their dog, the brave Sir Boo would sometimes stare and bark at random corners of their house. Despite their desire to gaze at their creation, the two decided in silence to stay away from that house, only ensuring mentally that it was still there, still active.
Any plans for a second giant were quickly squashed by this feeling, the duo finding themselves almost paralyzed at times. One morning, Sansa could have sworn she saw a yellow pair of eyes in a darkened corner of the house, a vague humanoid shape barely visible, shrouded in darkness. On the rare occasions that they did not have this feeling of been watched, the two spoked in hushed whispered of how they should leave immediately.
The very next day, they began putting their second escape plan into action. In alchemy and sorcery, the two silently began taking what ingredients they could find to create the portal. Crushed gems, sometimes even whole ones, basic chalk, Kingsblood, Liferoot, Goldthorn, Purple Lotus. They tried to smuggle them in secret, stuffing small amounts in their oversized sleeves and in between book pages. Upon returning home, they swiftly dumped them deep within the two chests filled with books and pretending that they did not exist. There were days when they did not feel that presence and then, there were days when it did not leave, sometimes even for days on end.
As they devised their escape strategy, whispering to one another as they pretended to sleep, hugging each other, the days slowly passed, the end of what they imagined to be the third month approaching. The intensity of things only grew the more they progressed. Even in sorcery, there was the occasional dark spell thrown in. Death Coil, Mind Blast, different cursed and hexes. They also learned of Auras, invisible fields that a person projects around them, empowering their allies or damaging their enemies. The information just kept on piling up.
Between this increase in information, their paranoia, the secret creation that they kept and their preparation for an escape, the two got less and less sleep. More than once, one had fallen asleep in class, requiring rescue from the other in the form of an elbow to the ribs. So often had that happened that the two had learned how to awake "gracefully" and not produce any sound of been startled.
The final stretch was perhaps the most painful. They had all the ingredients they needed, everything. They just needed to prepare. When things escalated in the school, when Flesh craft started requiring living subject, when Soul manipulation started going beyond putting spirits into weapons, it was then that the two decided enough is enough.
They laid awake at night, waiting for the intrusive presence to disappear. Their dread only mounted with each passing night that it stayed. Did it know? Did it know that they were about to escape? They remained awake well past midnight, hugging each other, pretending to sleep, sometimes shedding tears as they relived the horrors of the day in their minds, yet surrendering to the night when they saw that it was not going away, the past day's weight and the expectation of the next beckoning them.
This went on for days and after the two of them had spilled even more innocent blood did the cold presence finally give them peace. The two tried every type of ward and sensory spell that they were taught, trying to detect anything, making sure they were along in their dark home. Without lighting any fires or candles, the two began their preparations.
In the dark did they rummage through the book chests, pulling out all ingredients. As Sansa swiftly crushed and pounded into a mortar what they believed they would need, Myranda tried to pack everything that they had. All their spare clothes, her knife, Sansa's staff, all their books, even the two pillows given to them by their three now gone friends. The two book chests stood side by side, what failed to fit inside remaining pile up on top. The little girl went to pick up the skull of the granny, gently placing it on the chests, all the while casting cautious looks out of the window, careful not to step into the moonlight that entered through. So great was their paranoia that they moved on their toes around the room, their footsteps soft, their tiny pup companion following both of them with confusion in its eyes.
The soft crunching from the mortar stopped, drawing the gaze of Myranda. Their eyes met, a sharp nod passing between the two. As the two of them shivered in the winter cold of the unheated house, they cut their palms and let their live blood fall into the mixed ingredients, the previous bone-white mixture becoming dark-red, almost brown in color.
Another quick sweep. Nothing, they were still alone, atleast they hoped they were.
Dipping her fingers into the mixture, Sansa began to drawn the circle to the best of her ability on what she thought to be the most even of spaces on the ground. All the while, Myranda was looking around like a startled deer, altering her gaze between inside and out, her eyes occasionally making out the forms of the sentry skeletons in the distance. For a moment, it looked like Sansa might not have enough mixture to finish it, but she managed, if only just.
When she did, the two of them stood in silent wonder, their eyes shifting between the circle and each other, a silent question remaining in the air.
'Are we really doing this?' as Sansa stepped around the circle and went to put the bowl on the table, a very familiar presence returned. The cold presence of been watched. Their wide frightened eyes met once again before the two of them looked outside of the window where two very distinct yellow slits were looking straight at them. An ear-piercing scream rattled their heads, mind-numbing cold piercing their flesh. Sansa stood frozen in fear, unable to tear her eyes away from the two orbs in the window, the brave sir Boo growling and barking in unholy anger.
Myranda was the first to act, raising up a ward, the young girl somehow figuring that it was a soul that was looking at them. She tried the spell for capturing souls, only instead of pulling, she attempted to push. The window of their house shattered, letting in a cold gust of wind and snow as the vague figure was shot across the lake, ripples forming across the surface in its wake.
The two stood aghast, unbelieving at what had just transpired. Almost in trans, Sansa made her way to their now expanded window, Myranda coming to stand next to her. To their horror, they saw the skeleton sentries turn as one, their hollow eyes looking directly at them before charging in swift strides, brandishing their rusted weapons. Panic overtook the two girls, both taking steps back as the skeletons approached. When they were but moments away, a rumbling stopped the animated bones in their tracks.
One of the walls and plenty of the roof of the nearby house collapsed, their knight stepping out. The undead measured up each other for but a moment, no sound safe for the occasional screech as the rusted armor pieces of their creation rubbed against each other. And then their knight let out its battle cry.
A horrific mix of a scream and a metallic screech echoed across the lake surface before their knight charged. It swung its massive sword with but a single hand, splitting a skeleton straight down the middle as if it was paper, the force of the strike kicking up snow as it landed. Its free hands met the skull of another skeleton, dislodging it from the rest of the body. As the still flailing bones fell to the ground, the knight stomped on them, a sickening crunch resonating.
Sir Boo also joined in the fight, grasping a still-animated hand within its might jaws, wildly trashing it around, trying to kill it. The two girls snapped out of their shock and fear before setting to work. The two of them dragged in their chests into the circle, quickly scanning the room to make sure they had taken everything. Or at least, as much as they can take. A momentary lull in the fight outside allowed them to take a peek. Their two guardians stood proudly in the small pile of bones, looking defiantly down the road that led towards the fortress and the school.
Quiet descended.
The two girls stood, shivering in cold, shock and fear, their eyes constantly moving between the road, the pile of bones, the two warriors and the circle in the room. And then Sansa heard it. In the distance. Barely audible, yet definitely approaching them. A very familiar sound. One that even to this day, months later, still occasionally gave her nightmares.
The gurgling of ghouls.
That was enough to snap the duo into action. Sansa was the one to start chanting, Myranda running to grab sir Boo while ordering the knight to enter the circle as well. Bright blue light began to rise from the circle, illuminating the house, the girls momentarily blinded from the sudden change in light. Closing her eyes, the red-head continued to chant, standing in the middle, the two chests either side, the knight behind and Myranda infront.
The sounds outside grew in volume as the heart beats of the two increased to match. Myranda clutched the puppy in her hands, forcing her eyes to remain on her friend, her mount ajar in a silent prayer. Despite herself, she looked towards their broken window only for her brown eyes to meet the golden ones of a ghoul as it prepared to jump towards them.
And then, everything became white, weightlessness embracing her.
She was laying on something soft. A strange sensation tickled her exposed right arm. An old forgotten sound reached her ears. A bird's chipping. Plenty of it. All around her. She lazily opened her eyes, the blur in them taking some time to clear. Her first thought was green. She had never seen such vibrant green. Such beautiful green. In the cold north, it was only a dark, dull green. The green of pine trees. And the last few months, there was no green at all. Only shades or orange and brown. Shades of death.
In between the branches, far, far over her head, she saw the blue sky. A clear, soft blue sky. Not the diluted one from the Plaguelands. She took in a deep breath, her lungs rejoicing as the clean, fresh air caressed her insides before letting it out in a slow pleasure, sinking into the soft ground. Yes, ground. She was laying on the ground. So unbecoming of a noble. So….good.
She relaxed for a few more minutes before forcing herself to a seated position. Her blue eyes gazed upon her surroundings in wonder as tears fell from them. Everything was so beautiful. So perfect. The grass, the trees, the sky. She ran her exposed hand over the grass and moss, feeling the touch, smelling the freshness. The life! She took in blades of grass and simply held them, gazing at them in disbelief as her breathing quickened.
'We did it! We did it!' she wanted to shout, yet found she had no voice. Not far from her, toppled over near a tree stood the two chests and the few items they had stacked on them. As a gentle wind ruffled both the branches above as well as her hair, Sansa removed her hood just in time for a ray of sun to pierce the tree canopy and illuminated her face, if only for a moment. Gentle snoring made her look to her left, little Myranda curled up as she hugged the dog, the creature sleeping with its mount open and tongue lulling out.
Having turned to face her, she gently stroked Myranda's face, moving a hair out of it before whispering:
"We did it…!" in happiness and disbelief. In her periphery, she saw their knight.
Turning to him, the giant was not far away, standing tall and unmoving, the large sword planted in the ground and grasped with both hands. So much like a statue was he that a bird was on his shoulder plate, jumping up and down, singing the whole way. After a few more gentle caresses towards Myranda, Sansa rose fully to her feet, slightly wobbling as she did so. Her entire body burned, her muscles ached. Her stomach hurt in hunger and exhaustion. Casting a look around, momentary horror seized her as she saw a ghoul, the girl pulling her arm back and trying to ready a spell despite her exhaustion. Just as she was about to pool energy into it, she saw clearly.
The ghoul was already dead. Cut up into several pieces, half of its body crushed. Silently thanking the giant, Sansa moved around the destroyed undead, her eyes remining glued to it for several moments before turning to their surroundings.
They were in a forest…somewhere.
She had tried for Winterfel, for Westeros, but truly, she did not know where they were.
But it did not really matter.
The nightmare was over. They were not in Caer Darrow. They were no longer part of the cult. The red-head closed her eyes, letting the smell and feel of the forest overwhelm her. Letting the fresh air caress her skin. Hearing the sounds of birds and the song of the wind within the trees.
They were…free.
Warcraft III players should be able to tell just exactly what was watching them.
Shortest chapter so far and the end of Act One...I guess?
Thank you for reading.