Steel, Fire, Honor and Ruin
Chapter 2
the dark ages bite…seriously
/ooooooo\
Maria held her Runefang up and pushed back with all her strength as the Archaon towered over her. She couldn't stop his sword from inching toward her face so Maria angled her own blade down and stepped aside, avoiding his strike. The two swords slid against one another in a shower of sparks.
Taking a step back, Maria swung her Runefang in a wide arc at the Archaon's chest. Having lost his shield moments earlier in the fight, the Archaon held his own blade in front of him to take the hit, but with Maria's charged with biotic power when their swords touched all the energy was released right into the Everchosen. The blast of power staggered him back.
Off balance he wasn't capable of stopping Maria from gathering her strength and launching a warp into his chest, but before the attack hit he was able to raise a hand engulfed in chaotic purple balefire and directed the flaming ball at Maria.
With the warp impacting his chest the Archaon fell down to a knee. He stared unbelievingly as the chest piece of his armor was finally weakened and a spider web of cracks appeared over the enchanted black metal.
At the same time Maria tried to avoid the magical ball of fire as she focused her own magic and was engulfed in a black fog, but the balefire struck her before the spell could take effect and it hurtled her back out of the black cloud where she then landed flat on her back. Only the rune enchanted gromril armor she wore saved her from the mutating effects of the fire.
"Ow…" Maria coughed as she tried to catch her breath. The sky above was beginning to darken and a deep roll of thunder could be heard off in the distance. It had to be quite a storm headed there way for it to be heard over the roar of battle.
She rolled over and got up to her hands and knees as she watched the Archaon stand with little difficulty.
"Aren't you even getting tired yet?"
"You are a skilled opponent," was his reply as he began to approach her. "But this fight has gone on long enough."
But before he even got half way, a tremendous shriek coming from the direction of the neighboring Drak Wald Forest grabbed his and Maria's attention. Maria got back to her feet and stared in astonishment as a giant creature with an unmistakable wing span flew over the forest and toward the battle.
Maria blinked. "You have got to be joking…" She turned to the Everchosen and shouted in annoyance, "I was kidding about the damn dragon Archaon!"
The Archaon stood unmoving as he stared at the approaching creature. "It's not one of mine," he growled back.
Confused Maria looked back to the forest and watched as the dragon flew ever closer. Behind it the clouds seemed to condense and darken almost unnaturally, and the creature itself began to come into focus. Soon Maria could make out the dragon's profile.
The rotten and decayed silhouette of an undead Zombie Dragon, reanimated from death by the fell powers of a powerful Vampire Lord, flew over the forest's edge and crashed into the rear lines of the combined Chaos army; throwing man, beast and monster into the air. Then, directly behind it, countless legions of zombies, ghouls, and skeletal warriors stepped out of Drak Wald Forest and marched forward and into the battle; with clouds of flesh-stripping bats descending from the sky in the thousands.
The army of the Vampires had arrived.
/ooooooo\
Four years prior…
Location: Parravon, territory of Bretonnia... and still hostile...
Day 1
A pressure on her shoulder shook Maria out of her impromptu nap.
"I'm awake, I'm awake…" she grumbled. She blinked a few times to try and clear her vision in the bright sun and when that didn't work Maria brought a hand up to rub her eyes.
Only she couldn't lift her hand because her wrists were still tied behind her back and when the fact she was restrained registered in her mind Maria jerked fully awake, attempting to sit up straight but ended up just losing her balance on the trotting horse.
"Ah – Oh crap!" She kicked out as she slid backwards over the side of the saddle.
A strong hand grabbed her elbow and stopped her fall. Maria blinked as she looked up to see Vincent the Grail Knight with an amused smirk on his face.
He pulled her back up onto the saddle. "Good afternoon."
Maria squinted up at the sky. "It's noon already?" she moaned more than asked.
"We have reached the city of Parravon," Vincent informed her. "I reasoned you'd want to be awake for this."
Even though she had been granted a few hours of dreamless unconsciousness, Maria was still utterly exhausted. Her neck ached from the constant bouncing of the horse she rode, her stomach growled demanding to be filled, and the bright sunlight of the midday was rapidly reigniting a headache.
And all of this was just the icing on the cake of the completely crushing realization that she was still on this strange and baffling world.
Maria was still riding with Vincent, a Grail Knight she remembered because that seemed to mean something to these people, and they both were still in the column of soldiers under the command of Baron Letard, aka 'crooked-nosed maniac'.
But instead of marching through fields of grass, Maria now noted they were all on a wide gravel trail, and on both sides of this… road, such as it is, was farmland. Wooden cabins with straw roofs periodically stood out from rows of various crops and Maria could see people out in the fields tending to their harvests with the aid of their domesticated horses, donkeys and the like.
None of these farmers were dressed much differently than the very soldiers that marched alongside Vincent's warhorse. The only notable differences being the soldiers were armed with wooden shields and steel swords, while the farmers had their rakes and hoes.
At that very moment a group of colorfully bannered and adorned knights galloped by Maria and Vincent, their barded horses raising dust and pebbles as they went. She followed them with her gaze and finally looking ahead down the gravel road Maria saw what could only be the city of Parravon slowly approaching.
But it wasn't the stone wall easily twenty feet high that stretched out nearly a kilometer in either direction that caught her immediate attention.
"Vincent, I have a question," Maria said still looking ahead, her headache only growing at the sight.
"Is that an honest to god castle?"
/ooooooo\
When Vincent finally guided his horse through the city's gate, Maria was again left speechless at how primitive everything was. The buildings within the city were at least constructed out of stone and mortar but their roofs remained either wood or straw, and none of them seemed to climb higher than two or three stories. The road they traveled never became anything more than gravel covered dirt.
But it was a city. A medieval city.
Homes, shops, markets... an actual blacksmith hammering away at oven-forged steel... and citizens going about their daily routine as the column of soldiers slowly began to disperse away as the men-at-arms went back to their homes and families.
At least thirty minutes had passed since Vincent and Maria had passed through the city's outer gates and only the mounted knights remained. Over fifty horses trotted together as they reached a second stone wall encircling the castle located in the city's center. Maria was amazed to see a dramatic transformation in the scenery as the knights entered the outer courtyard. Surrounding the castle was what appeared to be another, smaller, cleaner, and far richer, town. All the building were stone, the road transformed from dirt to cobblestone, and every citizen here was garbed in flamboyant and colorful clothes.
"Talk about a separation of the classes," Maria murmured to herself as the knights now began to dismount.
"Did you say something?" Vincent asked.
"Nothing," Maria replied as Vincent stopped his own horse and effortlessly dismounted as well. He held up his arms and caught Maria as she slid off the saddle and set her down beside him.
Instantly there was the sound of a dozen swords being drawn as a number of knights slowly approached Maria.
"Stay calm and do nothing to provoke them into killing you," Vincent quietly instructed her.
"Yeah, because I'm real threatening standing here bruised, starved, and hands tied behind my back," Maria shot back. Behind the encircling wall of guards another horse trotted up carrying her biggest fan out of the bunch.
"Escort the prisoner to a cell," Baron Letard ordered as he glared down at her.
Vincent took a step in front of her. "Fair treatment until judgement is passed Baron."
Letard just sneered as he steered his horse away.
Maria watched him go and couldn't help rolling her eyes at the Baron's attitude, which probably stemmed from a need to compensate for something he obviously lacked. But she really didn't want to start anything so she stepped around Vincent and willfully joined her armed escort.
As she was led toward the impressive entrance to the castle a large shadow streaking across the grounds and eventually passing over her stopped Maria, and in turn her guards, as she looked around and then finally up. What she saw made her jaw drop as the shadow met its caster which had rapidly descended to the ground, and then galloped across the courtyard with flapping wings outstretched, and rider pulling back on the reins.
"Holy crap…"
The two knights behind Maria put their hands on her shoulders and pushed her forward as she reluctantly lost sight of the creature and turned to Vincent in shock.
The Grail Knight had a satisfied look on his face. "You didn't think Parravon had the Pegasus on their banners for show did you?"
/ooooooo\
The "cell" was a twelve by twelve foot stone walled room on the ground floor of the castle with no window and thick bars locking her in. Maria had been stuck here for over an hour, been given two buckets of water to try and clean the mess that was her face, hair and armor, and was just now sitting on the ground next to the bars, leaning back against the wall and staring at her wooden plate handed to her by Vincent that had two pieces of what looked like dried meat and a roll of bread.
She picked up one of the pieces of meat and looked up to Vincent standing on the opposite side of the bars.
"Eighty three Collectors, one partially constructed Reaper, thirteen rats, one giant rat, and nearly twelve hours later and my first 'meal' consists of jerky and stale bread." She dropped the piece back on the plate with a deadpanned look, "My body is literally wasting away, but no, this is fine, thank you."
Vincent was still in his armor and the sound of metal scratching against itself as he folded his arms over his chest plate echoed in the dungeon.
"I can take the meal back if you wish it," he offered with a shrug.
Maria scoffed as she placed the plate on the ground next to her. "Oh, I'll eat it. But I will literally be burning more calories just chewing this food compared to what I'll gain from digesting it. I just want you to know that as I sit here alone with only the burning torches for company and await the judgment of an asshole primitive, all while I ponder the repercussions of just blasting my way out of this place without a care in the world."
"You're certainly capable of doing just that if you wished," he said as he stared down at her. "I'm curious to know what's stopping you."
Maria laughed lightly as she let her head fall back against the stone wall.
"Are you being serious right now? In the span of twenty-four hours I have led a team of the galaxy's most unlikely heroes through a mass relay no one has ever come back from… fought the genetically modified remains of a race over fifty-thousand years old… stared into the literal eye of a machine whose sleeping counterparts are responsible for carrying out galactic level extinctions without mercy or pause… been killed fighting against those same machines for the second time… all before being dumped here on this world…"
She looked back up at Vincent with a weak smile.
"Why am I still sitting in this cell? Because I am absolutely, positively, terrified of what tomorrow is going to bring…" She then picked up her wooden plate and eyed the pathetic meal as though it were a feast, "…and I know I'll be able to survive it better with food in my belly, and with reliable intelligence on this strange, freakish world."
Maria picked up one of the pieces of jerky, and after a quick sniff, bit off half. After a few seconds of chewing she looked back up at the Grail Knight.
"Tell me a story Vincent."
/ooooooo\
Two hours later and Maria had finally had enough.
"You have got to be kidding me?!"
She was standing in her cell, one hand holding a mug containing a weak fermented beverage eerily similar to beer, her other hand running over her head and getting tangled in the mess of knots that had once been her hair. Prisoners of Bretonnia were apparently, and unjustly, denied access to combs…
Vincent took a heavy drink from his own mug before looking back at Maria. He had spent the last two hours filling Maria in on everything he knew about the Old World and she had done an fairly good job of heeding his hard gained wisdom, only interrupting him with stunned looks and vehement denials of what he was telling her being even remotely possible every few minutes or so.
Vincent just smiled with that cocky, sage-like smile of his, that was rapidly grating on her last nerve. "Which part are you referring to this time?"
Maria scowled at his expression. He was enjoying this all-knowing-teacher lectures the dimwitted-student thing just a little too much.
"All of it!" she exclaimed as she tried to wrap her mind around everything she was learning. She paced her cell, "You join up with the army of your homeland, Bastonne, at the age of sixteen. Five years later after being given a knighthood you encounter another Grail Knight on the field of battle and become so awed by his battle prowess you resign your commission to embark on a journey to find, the Grail and the 'Lady of the Lake'?
"Driven by visions and the need to find the Grail you then spend the next forty years of your life on the road, travelling hundreds of miles, encountering unseen enemies and new empires, fighting for honor and preforming good deeds, until you finally make your way back to your homeland of Bastonne, without success but still determined to complete your self-imposed quest.
"A week after entering the lands of Bastonne you encounter the remains of a merchant caravan that had been slaughtered by… Beastmen, you called them…? Merchants slaughtered by Beastmen, who you track down, fight single-handedly, and eventually kill, but not before suffering a fatal wound from the last creature.
"After forty years of wandering the world you lay bleeding out on the ground of your homeland when suddenly in a brilliant flash of light the Lady appears to you and grants you her blessing and the honor of drinking from the holiest of artifacts, the Grail. When the water touches your lips your wound is immediately healed, your body rejuvenated, and your spirit strengthened. Your journey ends where it began and you kneel before the Lady pledging your eternal loyalty to the Fey Enchantress and all of Bretonnia until your dying day. From that moment on you are a Grail Knight; a living legend and hero to your people."
As she finished, Maria stopped her pacing and simply stared in shock at Vincent, who calmly took another swig of his mug.
Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Vincent just shrugged.
"This isn't funny," Maria snapped back. She stared at the ground, "This is not even close to being funny. Giant rats, Elves, Vampires… Daemons?! These things don't exist! Magic doesn't exist!"
Vincent nodded back, seemingly in agreement, "Then how did you come to be here? How do you explain your battle with the Skaven Grey Seer?"
Maria started pacing again as she racked her brain for some sort of answer to that question. "Reaper manipulation… Miranda screwed up putting me back together… brain tumor from space radiation…" she mumbled as she paced.
"Did you, or did you not, see a Pegasus land in the castle's courtyard?" Vincent asked her.
That ended up forcing a smile on Maria's face as she thought back to the winged horse she had managed to catch a glimpse of before being led to prison. "That was pretty cool," she said. Downing the remainder of her drink she held her arm through the bars of her cell, handing the empty mug back to Vincent. "How many Pegasus… Pegasus's, Pegasi... does Bretonnia have?"
"Pegasi." Vincent shrugged, "I don't actually know. Not every territory of Bretonnia has the wealth or experience to care for the majestic creatures. A Pegasus is stronger, faster, and more difficult to master than even the mightiest warhorse, and their habitat covers only the steepest and harshest slopes of the Grey Mountains bordering both Bretonnia and the Empire. Parravon is one of the view territories whose army holds an entire knightly order of the winged beasts."
"So where were they at the battle earlier?" Maria asked in confusion. "As far as I could see, Baron Letard and the rest of you were all screwed until I showed up to scare the rat-men off."
Grudgingly, Vincent nodded, "True, we were heavily outnumbered, but the fault doesn't lie solely on the Baron's shoulders. Duke Cassyon rules this territory and he, along with the bulk of Parravon's army headed south to reinforce the besieged lands of Quenelles. All two hundred Pegasi, including the Duke's own mount, went with him. There are only a dozen of the winged horses left here to help patrol the borders of Parravon."
Maria frowned. "No offense, but from what you've told me, Bretonnia's seen better days. The Skaven, the Beastmen… maybe all your Dukes and Barons should look to securing their own borders and safeguarding their people, not proclaiming innocent maidens of daemonic sorcery and threatening them with death. Especially after I helped you guys out."
Again Vincent could only nod in agreement, but he leveled a serious stare back at Maria. "War is the way of life here in the Old World. Evil is everywhere and its power is on the rise. The Skaven haven't launched an attack of that size in a generation. And the Beastmen hordes normally avoid gathering in such large numbers for fear of gaining the attention of Bretonnia's knights.
"I'm afraid Maria that you chose a most inopportune time to arrive on our world."
/ooooooo\
As the day went on and the hours passed by, Maria forced herself to do nothing but sit down and try to relax. Eventually Vincent had returned and offered her a second small meal which she ate quickly and without complaint, and listened as he informed her that the Baron had sent a Pegasus Knight to try and contact Duke Cassyon and the Parravon army. After finally completing a head count of the survivors, it was found that the Baron had lost nearly half of the soldiers that had been left behind to protect the city. A deeply troubling realization since now the Baron could no longer risk leaving the capital to protect the nearby settlements from ravaging Beastmen hordes.
Hordes that were suspiciously on the rise and moving in broad daylight. Vincent had just returned from escorting another group of refugees whose village had just been destroyed by the savage creatures.
"So what makes Beastmen attacks during the day so suspicious?" Maria asked.
Vincent tried and failed to hold back a scowl.
"Those diseased mutants are cowards by their very nature. Its only when they gather in the thousands that their courage is mustered; and by that point the armies of Bretonnia have already noticed and marshalled to drive the filth back into the forests.
"The attacks happening now are too well coordinated, too well prepared, and too well timed to not be suspicious. There are Beastmen who surpass the primitive intellect of most of the rabid horde, but not many, and even fewer of this caliber…"
Vincent trailed off as he just stared back at Maria still sitting in her cell.
"What?" Maria asked, confused.
"There are only two possibilities," Vincent said as he came to some sort of a conclusion. "The first, that you are actually a demonic entity, and are somehow using your powers to influence the Beastmen during our moment of weakness."
"Which I'm not!" Maria quickly replied, alarmed at his reasoning.
Vincent raised his hands in assurance to calm her. "I know that. Your disturbing armor aside, I know you are not a demon. I'd be able to tell if you were. But the Baron and his men won't just take my assurances. They've already seen you use strange magics and you did fall out of thin air onto the battlefield. My rank can only protect you for so long. Therefore, there must be a second reason to explain the rise in Beastmen attacks, but for grace of the Lady, I pray it cannot be so."
He gripped the hilt of his sword and squared his shoulders.
"To protect Parravon, and save your life, I need evidence to support my theory. And I cannot find that evidence from within this city." He gave her a nod and turned to leave. "Stay here and don't do anything to provoke the Baron. I'll return in a few hours, and hopefully with answers."
Maria gave him a wave. "Good luck."
/ooooooo\
Strange enough even with the scenic view of nothing but blank stone walls, after spending hours in the cell Maria eventually fell asleep. But a sleep all too quickly interrupted.
She woke up to the sounds of bells ringing. Even from inside the castle's dungeon the sound was muffled but rapidly growing as it seemed more and more bells began to ring. As she got to her feet and moved to the bars of her cell, Maria expected to see or hear someone, but minutes passed and no one arrived and the bells outside continued to ring.
Weighing her options, she paced the bars of her cell trying to decide what to do next. Vincent had advised her to stay put, and there wasn't any reason to assume something was wrong, but her gut told her the chorus of bells wasn't a good sign.
Just before Maria was about to free herself, a trio of knights came jogging down the passageway, their armor loudly echoing against the stone walls. They stopped directly in front of her cell and each drew their swords.
One of the knights used a key to open the bars, with the other two stepping forward to block the opening.
"Baron Letard has ordered we give you one chance to call off the Beastmen horde attacking Parravon," one of the knights exclaimed as he aggressively pointed his sword at Maria. "So here's your chance demon. Order those creatures to stand down or we kill you here and now!"
Okay so now you know there's an army attacking the city, Maria reasoned out. But how are you going to explain to them you're not involved?
The knight with the sword pointing at her head took a step into the cell forcing Maria in turn to take a step back.
"I don't suppose any of you understand me?" Maria asked hopefully with her hands raised into the air, but already guessing the outcome.
None of the knights reacted other than sharing a look of confusion over her words. The knight who had unlocked her cell reached for one of the torches lining the wall saying, "It's wasting our time. Just run the thing through the heart and I'll burn the body just be sur-ack!"
The knight suddenly dropped his sword and the torch as reached for his throat and fell to the ground, a small knife jutting through the back of his neck and spilling blood. The knight next to him had only enough time to turn to look down the passageway when a knife struck him in the eye. He fell, dead before even touching the ground.
"What's going on!?" the lead knight shouted as he turned away from Maria and rushed out of the cell. He stood in the hall with his sword raised and managed to deflect a third knife before it struck him in the head like his fellows.
With the knight's attention fully focused on the unknown assailant he didn't notice Maria slip out of the cell and end up standing directly behind him. Looking over his shoulder down the dimly lit corridor she could just barely make out a figure hugging the wall and shadows.
Whatever it was, it was only visible to Maria because the cloak it wore to cover itself was an even darker shade of black than the shadows it seemed to be trying to meld into to. It leapt from the dark spaces between the torches and down the corridor towards them, hurling another knife through air.
To his credit the knight standing in front of her did an admirable job deflecting the thrown blade, but unfortunately their assailant knew its craft, sending a pair of knives high and low. The knight caught the high blade with his sword but the low blade sunk into his hip just between the armor.
With a grunt from the pain, the knight's life was quickly ended by another pair of knives impacting his head. He fell to the ground in a heap just like the pair before him, and suddenly Maria was alone with the figure.
But the shadowy mass didn't attack her right away. Maria saw a glint of torch light against metal as the figure pulled out another knife from beneath its cloak, but all it did was take a few silent steps toward her. That's when it finally entered the torch light and Maria saw a brown, elongated snout and hairless tail. She was facing another one of those rat-men.
Her pistol and submachine gun had been confiscated upon her arrival at the castle so Maria was preparing to stun the skaven with an overload from her omni-tool, when suddenly another knight rounded the far corner sword in hand and came sprinting down the corridor.
"Behind you!" Vincent's booming shout filled the hall. But Maria quickly realized he wasn't shouting at the skaven, he was looking directly at her.
So she spun on her heel with her hands up and raised a biotic barrier, just in time for another rat-man with curved daggers in both its paws to bounce off. It squeaked in surprise and shock falling to the ground in a heap. By the time it recomposed itself and got back to its feet it was greeted with a cryo blast to the face.
As the skaven's head shattered when it struck the ground Vincent was shouting at her again. "Look out!"
Maria felt two heavy thuds in her back and was then tackled face first into the ground. But the shadow-enveloped rat didn't stick around and instead leapt off her. Getting her face out of the dirt, Maria just managed to catch a glimpse of the skaven's tail before the creature vanished back into the dark and further down the dungeon.
Vincent was beside her in moments. "A pox take those blighted things…" he muttered as he kneeled next to her. Before she could rise he placed a hand on her back. "Don't move, not yet."
She stopped but asked, as calmly as she could, "Why can't I move yet?"
"There are a pair of daggers sticking out of your back." Vincent answered.
Maria blinked. "Oh…" and after a moment, "Can you pull them out please?"
"Apparently I can," he replied as she felt two light tugs. He then offered her a hand and they both got to their feet. Maria brushed the dirt off her face and armor as Vincent gave her a once over with a critical eye. "Your armor, however strange, is far stronger than I would have believed it possible of being," he commented as he looked from her armor to the two daggers still in his hand before dropping them to the ground.
"Well, if there's one thing Cerberus is good at its building a quality suit of armor." Maria then gave him a cheeky smile. "You wouldn't believe how well this thing hugs a body." Before he could reply she asked, "What were those things? Some rat version of an assassin?"
"Be grateful they weren't a pair a full-fledged skaven assassins," Vincent responded seriously as he turned and began leading her out of the dungeon, "you and I may not have survived the encounter. No, the skaven you killed was a night runner, no more than an apprentice in terms of skill. And the one who fled was a gutter runner, members of the skaven death-squads. Far more dangerous than the common night runner and most likely the one who led the infiltration of the castle."
He stopped at the door leading back into the main castle floors only to glance out and check the area before waving Maria on. There were several people hurriedly passing through the castle halls that Maria could see, and none of them a heavily armored knight. Most were too rushed to care about her and Vincent. Disturbingly, when Maria finally did see a group of six knights, they were laying on the ground in a pool of their own blood. Evidence of the skaven infiltrators at work.
"Those bells you are hearing are alerting the city to the Beastmen Warherd assaulting the main gates," he continued. "Nearly a thousand of the beasts have gathered together in the attack. All the remaining knights and men-at-arms have been called to defend Parravon. The three sent to retrieve you were dispatched by Baron Letard as a last-ditch effort to disorganize the Warherd."
"Which I'm not capable of doing from inside a cell… or at all really," Maria said dejectedly.
Vincent nodded in agreement, his jaw clenched. "You are not to blame for the attack. When I left the city to find the proof I needed, I travelled back to the village that had just been razed. The main herd of beastmen had gone, but among the bodies littering the ground, I found a knight with a dagger in his chest and a skaven night runner impaled on his sword. Proof the skaven were playing a part in the attacks… and most likely the ones spurring the mutants on until their numbers gathered enough to lay siege to Parravon. I arrived back just before the Warherd, and rushed to the castle when I learned of the Baron's plans for you."
By the time they reached the castle's entrance it was easy for Vincent to just move Maria to his side and hide her behind his armor. It was late in the evening and only a sliver of sunlight remined to glow gently over the medieval city. Thanks to the chaos from the attack all the knights still in the courtyard were busy putting on their armor and mounting their horses. That didn't stop Maria from sticking her head past him to get a better look at the two unbelievably impressive pegasi in the center of the courtyard. From the urging of the knights, both creatures accelerated to a full gallop, outstretched their wings and effortlessly took off into the air.
Maria stopped with her jaw dropping as she watched the pair fly off toward the battle at the city's gates; which forced Vincent to double back after he continued on and left her standing in the open.
"Let's try not to linger, shall we?" he said grabbing her arm and pulling her along. "It's only a pegasus."
"Maybe for you," Maria protested as she tried to keep eyes on the winged-horses for as long as possible. He ended up leading her some ways down the castle's edge before they came to a stable. It was completely empty except for a pair of horses, one of which Maria recognized the barding and colors as Vincent's own. The other horse was unarmored and had a pristine black chestnut colored coat.
"What are we doing here?" she asked. Vincent was busy checking over the second horse's saddle and bags. "Are we going to join the battle at the city-gate? I haven't regained all my energy yet but my omni-tool should even the odds and then we can show the Baron that I'm not your enemy."
Vincent shook his head as he grabbed a rough grey blanket off the stable partition and handed it to Maria.
"I will be joining the battle," he explained focusing back on the horse. "You in the meantime will be escaping through the southern city-gate, and leaving Parravon for good. Some of Parravon's knights are gathering there in an attempt to flank the Warherd. They'll be too busy to stop you."
"You're kidding, right?" Maria said with a laugh. When Vincent didn't reply, she shook her head. "I am not just leaving. Not when the city is under attack. I'm a soldier, a damn good one, and no offense but a hell of a lot more capable than any one of Parravon's knights, especially Baron Retard!"
"Baron Letard," Vincent corrected.
"That's what I said," Maria quickly shot back. "I'm not leaving."
To her surprise, Vincent just gave her a smile, and put an armored gauntlet on her shoulder. "I'm humbled to know you would fight for the lives of those who distrust you, but unfortunately it doesn't matter at this point. The Baron will blame you for this attack, and no evidence I present will save you. I can't directly stand against the Baron, he has the backing of Parravon's Duke, and I can't allow him to kill you because it goes against my code of honor. At this point all I can do is help you escape before the situation escalates further."
He pulled the horse forward and held the reins in his hands. "Parravon has been attacked in the past by far larger armies and held with far fewer men. It will be attacked again in the future. You don't need to worry about the city."
Maria held her ground, holding the blanket to her chest and crossing her arms. "I can't leave. I didn't even get my pistol and submachine gun back yet."
Vincent reached back to one of the bags on the saddle and gave it a pat. "I smuggled your weapons out of the castle vaults. Both are packed in the bag."
"Even if I took the horse I wouldn't know where to go," Maria countered. "I don't know anything about this world."
"You are a survivor," Vincent replied. "You'll manage. Head south and east keeping the Grey Mountains to your left. Eventually you'll reach a well-travelled road that will lead to a pass through the mountains and directly to the Empire city-state of Nuln. The Empire is one of, if not the, most advanced nation in the Old World. If there is a way for you to get home, the journey starts there."
"And a journey like that is going to take a few days," Maria said trying again. "I don't have any provisions."
Vincent tilted his head back to the saddle. "I packed enough food into both saddle bags. Ration it wisely, and just in case, you should be able to restock at any of the inns located along the road."
Before she could even open her mouth, Vincent added, "Food you will be able to purchase using the money I also packed in the bags." From the look on Maria's face he just smirked, "I'm guessing the coins may seem primitive to you, but it should be easy enough to decipher their intended worth."
At this point Maria was struggling to remain unimpressed with his diligence. "Well all this talk of me leaving is moot, since I'll never be able to make it past the knights gathering at the south gate."
"That is why you have this," he stated matter-of-factly, taking the blanket from her hands and unfolding it. Maria had no idea what he was doing until Vincent found the middle and then pulled the whole thing over her head. There had been a hole in the center and now Maria found herself wearing the whole thing like a poncho. Thanks to its size, it covered her armor all the way down to the knees.
He then reached back and picked a simple hat off the saddle horn that was grey and had its left half pinned up. He took it, gave it a dusting, and then put it on her head. Only a few inches of blonde hair were now visible. Her costume, however modest, did an admirable job of hiding her true identity. Plus it was nearly dark so that helped a little too.
Maria was now standing in a stable wearing collector armor, a blanket, and a hat, all with the intent to escape a medieval city with the aid of a knight in shining armor to avoid a death sentence from the evil Baron… at that very minute it all hit her at once and she felt ridiculous, but nevertheless sincerely touched by Vincent's help.
"Now up you go." Vincent easily hoisted her up onto the saddle and took a step back when she had settled. With a nod at the whole get-up, he seemed satisfied.
And now she was sitting on a horse. No doubt a galactic first for all Alliance N7s and Citadel Spectres… and a personal first. Maria held the reins in her left hand and had a firm grip on the saddle horn with her right.
Completely overwhelmed, Maria tried to express her thanks to the one person on the entire planet that had so far been her friend. Instead it came out as a nervous laugh.
"I don't even know how to ride a horse."
For the first time Vincent had a full smile on his face as he laughed with her. He stepped back up to the horse and explained while he showed her, "Keep both feet secure in the stirrups… never let go of the reins… and basically pull back to slow down and give the reins a snap to speed up."
On the saddle horn he put his hand over Maria's. "Always stay calm, always stay alert, expect the unexpected… and trust the horse, its probably smarter than you."
Maria laughed again and suddenly found herself wiping at her eyes. "Thank you, Vincent. For everything."
"Safe journey maiden Shepard," Vincent said proudly. "I hope you make it back to your home one day." He stepped back and waved an arm, "Now go. May the grace of the Lady be with you."
So with a snap of the reins Maria got the horse out of the stable, and started toward the city gate.
/ooooooo\
Getting past the knights gathering at the south gate turned out to be easier and harder than Maria imagined.
Easier, because while one had recognized her and threatened a chase, Maria had already sped her horse up to a full gallop and easily raced past them all. Honestly, she realized that the only reason they hadn't committed to running her down was probably thanks to their city being attacked.
The hard part of her escape involved the horse, literally between her legs, not comprehending the simplest of her commands and continuing to sprint off into the growing darkness of night. Through no fault of her own she had dropped the reins and was now hugging the horse's neck, hanging on for her life.
And she had lost her hat…
"I said stop! Stop!" she shouted as the horse continued on, bouncing her in the saddle. Daring to glance over her shoulder she couldn't even recognize the path behind them. Parravon was long gone, and she was now getting deeper into a forested area. The road had rapidly shrunk to no wider than a Kodiak drop shuttle.
"You're supposed to be the smart one between us!" she shouted again as she risked her life by letting go and grabbing for the reins flapping against the horse's chest. Finally, her fingers wrapped around one of the leather straps and she pulled back as hard as she could.
The horse whined in protest but it quickly lost momentum giving Maria a chance to sit up and pull harder back on the reins with both hands.
But she pulled far harder than she realized and not only did the horse come to a stop, but it reared up, catching her off guard, tossing her off the saddle and to the ground flat on her back.
"Owww…" With a pained groan, looked up and watched as the horse leisurely walked a wide circle and came right back to her, nibbling at the grass.
She was breathing heavily from the ordeal and leveled a glare at the horse. "This is why… the Systems Alliance Marines… doesn't have a MOUNTED DIVISION!"
Much later Maria was walking down the road and leading the horse by the reins. She had no idea what time it actually was, but luckily it was a clear enough night and the planet's moon was high in the sky and providing enough light for her to see the road. It had at least been a few hours since she had left Parravon. And after a sizable yawn she acknowledged the fact that she would be spending a night alone in the woods.
Stopping in the middle of the road she looked back at the horse. "Do we go left, or right?"
The horse stared at her but eventually lost interest and looked to the left.
Maria shrugged. "I guess we go left." So she led the horse off the road and started to look for a section of grass that looked comfy enough to sleep on. After a hundred feet or so there was a small clearing in the trees and Maria decided she had found as good a spot as any.
She tied the horse's reins off on a tree branch, taking care to leave enough slack for the horse to eat more grass or whatever the horse would do while she slept, and then she finally dug through one of the sacks on the saddle and pulled out her phalanx pistol and locust submachine gun. Giving each weapon a quick once over she reattached them to her hip and instantly felt more at ease.
Sitting down on the ground she leaned back against the same tree she had tied her horse too, and looked up at the night's sky...
"Well that's a new one," she said with a sigh. Now in the small clearing Maria could see stars, the moon, and nearer the horizon, a second more scarred and jagged moon the same size of the first. But the best part, it was green. The second moon was green. Practically glowing, now that Maria studied it, a sickly, bright green.
Booting up her omni-tool Maria activated the stellar cartography program, and held her arm up at the night sky so the tool could do its scan. It was a mode all Alliance soldiers had installed on their omni-tools and it contained every known star constellation mapped out in the galaxy. In just a few minutes a soldier could not only pinpoint what world they were on but where on that planet they were actually standing.
Its scan done, Maria lowered her arm and stared at the readout. Officially, per her tool, her location was as listed.
System: Unknown.
Planet: Unknown.
"Okay," Maria swallowed and tried to keep the feelings of panic from overwhelming her. "Not a problem," she continued with a shake of her head and forced smile. "All this means is I'm not getting the scan I need to find my position. Every system mapped out by every race in the galaxy is on this tool. So obviously, all I need to do is wait for this planet to continue to orbit its star and eventually I'll get a scan of a star formation that's registered."
Maria's smile vanished when she heard what she had said. Because to get the data she needed, that meant spending no less than a full year on this world… scanning the sky, once a night, every night, for as long as she was here. Just to get an idea of where she was in the galaxy.
… and then there was getting off the planet…
"One problem at a time," Maria said with a deep breath, as she shut down her tool. "I guess that means we'll be spending a lot more time together," she added looking over at the horse. But with a wince she quickly looked away, "Oh, gross!" The horse was busy urinating on the ground.
Maria moved further around the trunk of the tree and tried to get comfortable. "Well at least I now know you're a Steven and not a Stephanie."
/ooooooo\
Location: South of Parravon
Day 4
Days 2 and 3, Maria spent all her time on the road keeping her horse at a brisk trot. It seemed a speed the horse was accustomed to for great lengths of time and Maria could say she was covering a fair amount of ground with each day passed. By the third day Maria had reached a point she could see a growing range of mountains off in the distance to her left. Most likely the Grey Mountains Vincent had told her to follow. Her nights had been the same as the first. She would find a quiet place just off the road, tie up her horse and then commence her new nightly ritual of scanning the night sky with her omni-tool, hoping that she would eventually discover a star formation that was familiar.
She hadn't yet…
But while day 2 and 3 had been uneventful, day 4… day 4 turned out to be something special.
Because after fighting for hours inside the Collector Base, fighting horned rats capable of shooting green lightning and giant rats with arms the size of tree trunks, being unlawfully assaulted and then detained by an idiot, then traveling on a horse for days… now Maria had finally caught a break.
She had found a river.
Maria had been giving the horse a break and walking along the road when she stopped and listened, hearing what she thought was the sound of water over rapids. Walking off the road for a way, Maria quickly arrived at the shore of a slow flowing river with crystal clear water.
She took the time to remove her horse's saddle, finally giving him a day without it, and then was instantly out of her armor, shedding her tank top and shorts she wore under it, and dove into the cool water with a joyful shout.
After a completely reasonable amount of time of Maria bathing, swimming, splashing, swimming some more and generally being absolutely happy over being clean again, she had eventually washed her clothes and even given her armor a dunk in the water. Which then gave her a perfectly good excuse to do nothing but lay on the grass in the sun and wait for her clothes to dry.
It…was…amazing…
Ultimately, her warm afternoon disappeared as the sky clouded over and a cool breeze swept over the grass, and Maria realized she'd have to continue on. After getting dressed back in her clothes and snacking on some of the jerky Vincent had packed for her, it dawned on Maria that she may have been a little hasty in her rush to jump into the river.
On her left was the horse, on the right sitting in a heap on the ground was the saddle and riding equipment, and in the middle stood Maria as she chewed on a bit of jerky.
The horse stood unmoving, trained to wait patiently as its rider got it ready for travel, but Maria ran a hand through her hair and scratched her head looking over the gear. Almost reading her mind, the horse just stared at her and blinked slowly.
"Steven, I'm not gonna lie," Maria said as she looked over the gear. "I can disassemble and reassemble my pistol and submachine gun in record time with my eyes closed, but this stuff…" She bent down to retrieve her blanket and pulled it over her head to stay warm until her armor dried fully.
"We may be here a while."
/ooooooo\
Though it may have taken two or three tries, Maria had successfully saddled up the horse and continued to ride south keeping the Grey Mountains on her left. Her beautiful morning had depressingly turned into an overcast sky and cool breeze. Her armor was capable of keeping her comfortable in extreme temperatures be them high or low, but her nose was getting cold.
The weather had changed more by the time the sun began to set, and after it had gone completely the air seemed to have gotten colder. Maria was about to look for a place to call it a night when she stopped the horse in the middle of the road and suddenly realized she could see her breath. But what worried Maria the most was the how. She hadn't traveled that far, and certainly not enough to drastically change the climate.
"Come on, let's get off the road and hunker in for the night," Maria said as she tried to guide the horse. But instead the animal just whined and stomped its feet. Trying again, Maria clicked in her heels and pulled the reins, but the horse ignored her, shaking his head and whining again.
Concerned at his behavior, Maria stopped trying to guide the animal and rubbed his neck with her hand. Taking the time to examine the horse, Maria could see his eyes were wide and his ears were both turning left and right as if he were trying to pick up on something. He stomped his hooves into the ground again and took a few steps backwards. Maria wasn't an expert but she knew a scared animal when she saw one. Something was wrong.
She looked around into the dark but with the overcast sky there was very little moonlight to help illuminate the road. If there was something out there, she wasn't going to see it before it saw her.
Maria hopped off the horse and reached for her pistol. As the phalanx expanded in her hand, the horse whined again and Maria noticed the animal's ears were facing directly ahead. She spun around raising the heavy pistol, holding it with both hands, as she watched another group of horses come slowly down the road toward her.
There were a lot more of them than Maria felt comfortable encountering on the road at night. Maybe a dozen were visible, but it sounded like there were more further behind this first group. The horses were armored and they were being ridden by knights also in full armor. How they managed to get so close without her hearing them only made her uneasy. The fact they were still making very little noise unnerved her even more.
With only a few meters between them the unknown knights finally came to a stop without a word.
Okay, first impression time, Maria thought with a cringe. Let's try not to screw this one up.
Replacing the pistol back on her hip, she stepped in front of her horse and took a breath.
"Hello," she began with a small wave. "Do any of you happen to know the way to Nuln and how long it should take to get there?"
Two knights were slightly ahead of the group. It was hard to see in the dark but one was wearing a heavy, dark red suit of armor with sharp and jagged edges and a helm that had spiked wings coming out the sides. The other was wearing a black suit that had gold outlining the edges and a dark cape draped around his shoulders that flowed out across the horse's back. He wasn't wearing a helmet but Maria couldn't make out his features in the dark.
The knight in the red armor spoke first. "She's not Bretonnian. What language is that?" His voice was deep and he sounded angry.
"I recognize northern accents," the black armored knight replied. "But look at her clothes, specifically the armor underneath that blanket." His voice was sharp and resonated with cold intelligence. And he had noticed her collector armor from just the small wave she had given.
The red knight leaned forward in his saddle. "Well she's not an elf, we would have known if they were pursuing us, and she's certainly not Imperial."
"No, No, I'm human," Maria spoke up quickly, excited that they may have understood her, "and I'm not Bretonnian or Imperial. I'm just on my way to the Empire city of Nuln and could use some directions."
"What is your name, my lady?" the black knight asked.
"Maria Shepard," she answered, still unsure if they understood her or not. But she quickly got her answer.
"Maria Shepard… I don't recognize the name," the black knight said slowly. "And you journey to Nuln? Brave to be traveling the roads this hour of night, and all alone." The tone of voice he was using put Maria on edge, but more because he sounded genuinely curious.
The red knight sat up straight in his saddle once again. "A vagabond on the road, but not an unsightly one. She has a capable quality about her." He seemed to come to a decision and nodded once. "She'll do."
The red knight dismounted from his horse as the black knight let out a sigh. "Is that wise? She has the winds of magic about her. And I didn't recognize the weapon she held earlier."
The red knight scoffed. "The winds are undisciplined, and no mortal weapon can harm me." He then started toward Maria.
"Just make it quick Walach," the black knight then said with bitter resignation. "We are on a schedule."
Maria looked back and forth between the two knights as the one in red approached. Her hand was already reaching for her locust.
"What's going on here, exactly?"
The red knight answered her. "I am going to savor your blood and then kill you," he said with menacing intent still marching toward her.
Maria blinked with the red knight still feet away. "Just to be clear… you said you wanted to 'savor my blood'?" she asked.
"Indeed."
Maria nodded at his reply, and in an instant had her locust in her hand and pointed directly at the red knight's chest. Her finger pressed the trigger…
…and froze a hair's width from firing when the red knight raised an outstretched hand directly back at her.
Maria had no idea what was happening, but her entire body had frozen. Literally frozen. She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. It felt as if all the heat from her body had vanished and even the blood in her veins had iced up. Her eyes were wide in panic as she fought with all her strength to pull the trigger and kill the knight standing directly in front of her gun.
She was already choking for air and had fallen to her knees when the red knight reached her. He stared at the submachine gun for a moment before simply plucking it from her still fingers and dropping it to the ground. With an armored gauntlet, he grabbed her by the throat and lifted her limp body back up, and then punched her in the chest so hard she actually flew back out of his grip and past her horse.
Any wind left in her lungs was forced out by the red knight's unforgiving punch. She was laying on the ground gasping in pain and in need of oxygen. Tears were in eyes. Maria had never been hit by one person so hard in her entire life. She tried to focus on creating a biotic field in her hands but nothing was coming from the effort.
The red knight had walked over to her again and picked her up once more by the neck. Maria tried to talk but nothing escaped her lips and she could only stare hopelessly at the knight's helm as he pulled back and then threw her meters through the air directly into the nearest tree.
Her back slammed hard into the tree trunk, and then she fell to the ground. Whatever had kept her frozen vanished as suddenly as it had begun when she rolled across the ground. Maria swallowed a lung full of air only to scream it out again in pain. She sobbed on the ground with the pain in her chest and back hitting her full force. But as much agony as she was in, Maria tried her best to simply get up to her knees and fight back.
The red knight didn't give her a chance. He kicked her chest just to keep her on the ground a moment longer before he grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her up against the tree trunk.
Maria tried to push his arms off her but he but he wouldn't accept any resistance on her part. He only let go of her shoulders so he could punch her across the face, splitting open her cheek. But he didn't stop there.
The red knight hit her across the face again, and again, and then punched her in the chest once more. When Maria folded over from the assault, he simply grabbed her by the throat and held her up so he could strike her other cheek just as savagely.
He only stopped punching when he was satisfied Maria was just barely on the edge of consciousness. Still holding her by the throat against the tree, he leaned. "It seems I missed judged your character. No matter, this will be over in moments."
She tried again to focus her biotics but her concentration shattered when the red knight lifted his free hand up to his helmet and pulled it off revealing a bald man of middle age with several scars crisscrossing his face.
But Maria stared in horror as the man transformed into something more monstrous. His skin paled white and pulled back tight against the skull. A prominent nose shriveled away to almost nothing leaving a decayed hole in the flesh. Hair fell away until only a few long strands covered his head, and his eyes sunk into his skull while his mouth…
His mouth remained the same, except for two teeth that rapidly grew in size and sharpened to needles.
"This will only hurt a moment," the creature said with an evil sneer, as he twisted Maria's neck in his hand and leaned forward toward the exposed skin.
Maria screamed in absolute terror when she realized what he was about to do, but was unable to do a thing to prevent the man from reaching her neck and biting down on the skin drawing blood.
However her scream died away when a feeling quickly spread out across her entire body. She was beaten, bloody, and in more pain than she had ever felt, but now all of it suddenly melted away. Maria didn't understand any of it but she no longer cared.
She felt calm. She felt at peace. Whatever had caused her so much pain hardly mattered to Maria any more. This feeling was all that mattered. And if it would go on forever than she would live out the rest of her life in complete bliss.
But the wonderful feeling began to fade when the red knight lifted his face from her neck, a heavy frown visible and covered with her own blood.
He stared at her in confusion and licked his lips. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked her harshly, tightening his grip around her throat. "What are you?"
Maria shook her head and cried as the terrible pain began to return to her body. She didn't want the pain, she wanted the bliss. But with the pain came clarity. The fog in her head cleared and she began to remember what had happened. She turned her head as much as she could against the man's grip, looking right into the eyes of the creature that held her.
And then shoved her phalanx pistol against his temple and pulled the trigger.
Maria leaned heavily back against the tree as the grip around her neck loosened. She stared at the half a head the red knight had left as it stayed standing in front of her, before falling to the ground in a heap. Through trembling breaths, she couldn't stop the terror from creeping back up inside her and she aimed the pistol at the corpse and pulled the trigger a second time, blowing away the remainder of the creature's head with the act.
But that last act was all she could muster. The pistol fell from her grip the same moment she collapsed to the ground.
The last thing she saw before passing out was a pair of black armored boots walking toward her.