Author's Note: I'm sorry about this one taking so long, I briefly got stuck halfway through it and I decided to review the actual story a bit there I started working on something else to try and clear my mind. I hope that this chapter is somewhat pleasing to read and I think that somewhere around 2,500-3,500 words is a good goal for chapter length but feel free to let me know what you think.
The knights had forced the remaining villagers into the village square with the plan to execute all of them. Suddenly a chant came from the depths of the forest, a chant that seemed to grow louder and closer with every moment. "Vras, Vras, Vras, Vras, Vras, Vras," then from the forest came thirty pink-tinted humanoid creatures riding even stranger creatures that walked like a wolf but was three quarters the size of a horse, its head was rounded and it had a flat snout with a row of razor-sharp fangs with a pair of larger fangs on both jaws. The creatures were a gray color everywhere except their underbelly which was a tannish pink color, on all four paws were five digits with black claws. From the middle of the group of creatures came a creature that was very different from its fellows; this one had skin that was nearing the color of charcoal, it wore a tan hood that showed its ghastly face and its glowing eyes. This creature wore a pair of bulky metal gauntlets and boots, it had a skirt made of some kind of leather, it had several tattoos of a sword across its body, and at its hip was a serrated sword that had black mist coming off of it with sparks of red energy fizzling out in the mist. The creature was riding a pure white creature that was almost twice the size of the others and it had various spikes protruding from its flesh, the most noticeable of them being the ones that surrounded the creature's head like a mane. The creature then pulled its black blade out of the ring sheathe that kept the blade holstered, the creature then half turned to its fellows who had stopped their chanting it then spoke in a gruff and harsh voice."Kill the tarks, but leave a few alive." With the order delivered the other creatures let out a roar or possibly a cheer and they dug their heels into the sides of their horrid mounts. Their mounts let out snarls and growls before charging at the knights, a few of the creatures leapt onto the knights and bit deep into their flesh, some of them bit the arms or legs of the knights while others went for the throat or head. One of the strange riders who had a crude glaive and a large wooden shield charged at one of the knights and impaled him upon the glaive using the knights flailing legs to strike several other knights before whipping the glaive around to dislodge the knight. The riders continued to cut down the knights either by killing them or by incapacitating them, usually with non-lethal wounds or wounds that would be lethal but were survivable for the next few minutes.
The fight was going poorly for the knights as their forces were whittled down one by one, then the death knight arrived. It slew four knights before they even knew that the death knight had entered the village. The knights, by that point, had given up on the delusion of winning this battle and were now contemplating whether they should surrender or retreat. Their decision was made for them when a figure in an elaborate robe with a red and green mask spoke up from about twenty feet above the battle at this figure's side was a woman who was cloaked from sight by her large plated armor. The robed figure commanded the death knight and the strange creatures to stop and then addressed the knights. "If you surrender, I guarantee your safety." The knights almost simultaneously threw down their weapons, once they did this the strange creatures got off their mounts and pushed/dragged the surviving knights into a line and another twenty of the creatures came out of the forest each one had a bulky crossbow with blades on the frame of the bow. The blackened creature got off its mount and with its free hand, it saluted the figure who gave a small nod.
"I assume the master is going to be along shortly." The creature said in a relaxed tone as if the slaughter that it had just participated in was a daily chore that it had to do. A fact that unnerved the knights further, and the mention of this creature's master.
"Obsidian stayed back but he should be along shortly." Almost instantly after the figure said this a shrill and piercing shriek came out of the forest. The shriek echoed through the air and turned the knight's hearts and spines into ice. Then out of the forest came a green fireball with thin, uneven stripes of black blemishing the fire. The strange creatures began a new chant as the fireball grew closer. "Zot, Zot, Zot, Zot, Zot, Zot," with this chanting however the creatures slammed their weapons together, against the ground, or against their armor. The fireball finally reached the ground and where it would have landed there was now a new figure who was in a kneeling position, at his appearance the creatures let out a thunderous cheer, many waving their weapons in a manner that was akin to an excited child with their favorite toy. Even the blackened creature joined in the cheer, although rather than waving its weapon it simply raised its blade like a trophy before bowing as the new figure stood up. The new figure looked at the blackened creature, the mask that the new figure wore covered everything and bore a faint resemblance to a face with a crown upon its brow. The new figure wore armor, with a trio of blades on each forearm, that seemed to absorb the light around it. The armor was so dark that the only way the knights could tell that it was armor and not the figure's skin was that each piece of the armor was outlined in gold. On the new figure's back was a tattered and torn purple cape that ended just past their knees. Over one shoulder was a sword and behind their back was a shortsword.
The new figure spoke to the blackened creature but its voice couldn't be of the land of the living, it echoed and shuddered without any natural reason. "Is this all of the knights?" The blackened creature seemed unaffected by its master's voice and replied with pride and joy coating every word.
"Each tark has been accounted for master! There are a total of six of them available for questioning and another twelve that might be suitable for raising." The blackened creature said as it slightly puffed out its chest while looking at its master almost in an expectant way.
"That would be nearly half of the invading forces captured and over half have been slain. Well done Mogg." The new figure said as it gave the blackened creature now known as Mogg a slight nod which caused it to grow a smile on its face, showcasing its mouth full of sharp fang-like teeth. The new figure then walked towards the six knights and refused to say a word, all that could be heard was the steady THUMP of the new figure's boots against the dirt. The new figure stopped only a few feet away from the knights and spoke to them while pacing the length of their line. "I am Lord Obsidian and these orcs are my army. You all know how quickly they decimated your forces and I wish for you all to know that I am far more deadly than my soldiers are. I will make you all a deal, tell me what you know and I will let you go. But be warned, if you waste my time, if you lie to me, if you try and deceive me, I will hurt you until you beg for death. Now, do you all understand?" It took only a few moments for the knights to let out a quick confirmation which inspired a round of laughter from the orcs. Obsidian spoke once more after the orcs had their fill of laughter. "Who is your leader?" Obsidian paused for a moment before adding, "or who would qualify as a leader amongst yourselves." After several moments of silence, one of the knights leaned forward and pointed to a knight without a helmet.
"He is, please I have a family!" The knight begged as Obsidian walked forward towards him, Obsidian shushed him before putting his hand against the knight's helmeted head instantly foreign memories flooded through Obsidian's mind, then they stopped coming. Obsidian removed his hand from the knight's helmet and flicked his pointer and middle fingers at Mogg who nodded and walked behind the knight who ratted out his superior. Obsidian spoke once more in a voice that was calm and even.
"As did the people of this village." The knight was going to ask what Obsidian meant by that but he was interrupted by Mogg slitting the knight's throat so all the knight let out was a wet gurgle as his blood shot out of the wound. Mogg then gave the knight's back a kick which sent him sprawling to the ground, where he weakly struggled before going limp which caused the orcs to let out a cheer.
"You said you'd let us go!" One of the knights shouted as they moved to stand up, but the crossbows were instantly aimed at the knight.
"I let him go to meet his gods. I have not broken any part of my deal." Obsidian said as he walked calmly away from the corpse of the knight and towards the knight that the now corpse had pointed out. Without a word Obsidian laid his hand against the new knight's face and once more was flooded with a lifetime of memories, when Obsidian pulled his hand away this time a red handprint was marring the knight's face, it was the same shade of red as a sunburn. The handprint was raised slightly as if the skin had been pulled with the memories. The knight groaned slightly as his head swam from the memory dive. Obsidian then placed his hand against the handprint once more only this time the goal was different. The knight opened his mouth to scream but stopped as he felt something inside his mind, it was a feeling that was similar to a spider crawling up your back only it was everywhere and all around him. "You will serve."
The feeling was then joined by a whisper in the back of his mind with each moment the whisper stayed, facts that were once steadfast beliefs became lies, his loyalty to the Slane Theocracy, the Cardinals, the Six, they all were wiped away and replaced with devotion. The whisper was louder now and everything else simply fell away all that was left was anything Lord Obsidian could use. "I will obey you, master." The whisper was telling him to serve his new leader, lord, master, and god; Lord Obsidian an order he was now happy to follow. The rest of the knights whimpered in fear as he said this, they had all heard stories of mind control but seeing it in action was more terrifying than any story could achieve. The dominated knight's eyes glowed an unnatural green and his face had a glowing green handprint that was of the same shade as his eyes both of which were quickly fading without a trace of the glow ever being there.
"Who ordered this attack and for what reason?" Obsidian asked as he stared at the dominated knight.
"We are under the leadership of Nigun Grid Luin, the leader of the Sunlight Scripture. Our purpose in this village is to draw out the warrior captain of the Re-Estize kingdom, Gazef Stronoff. Once he is far enough away from the capital and reinforcements, Captain Nigun and the rest of the scripture would assassinate him. We are wearing the uniforms of the Baharuth Empire so that if any survivors escaped our attack they would have nothing to tie us to the attacks." The dominated knight said in the same tone one would use to comment on the weather. Obsidian simply nodded as the knight's memories swam inside his head.
"How many members of this scripture are waiting for this warrior captain?" Obsidian asked as he began to form a plan inside his mind.
"Nearly twenty-five magic casters are waiting with Captain Nigun. Each is capable of summoning angels to fight for them and Captain Nigun hinted at having a holy artifact that was to be used if the angels failed to slay the warrior captain." The dominated knight answered again and Obsidian turned to the other figure who had been speaking with the villagers while Obsidian was busy with the knights.
"I believe that these captains deserve to meet us face to face, don't you?" Obsidian said with a slight chuckle which the other figure replied with a nod of his head. "Now to get ourselves some insurance," Obsidian said as he placed his hand on another one of the knights' heads and began to dominate the survivors.