Steel, Fire, Honor and Ruin
Chapter 20
hunter and hunted
/ooooooo\
Location: Bissendorf, town of Ostermark
Day 60
Maria Shepard stood stock still in the open doorway to the tavern that apparently also doubled as a witch hunter sanctuary. Commander Schaeffer and all his cronies had stopped eating and drinking to stare right at her. The instinctive urge to fight or run flashed through her mind but was dismissed just as quickly. Witch hunters could be ignorant jerks, but they were still a recognized authority within the Empire, filled with men who put their lives on the line to fight monsters. And if she ran, they'd just chase her down, because only guilty people ran.
Maybe she could play dead? The image of her swooning and all the witch hunters jumping to their feet to cradle her limp form and fan her face with their big hats filled her mind. Hmmm, not likely. These men didn't strike her as the type. Now she imagined them all kicking her while she was down.
She was stuck with only one real option left. Maria let the door close behind her. Here goes nothing.
"Commander! This is last place I expected to find you."
She wore a weary smile as she crossed the tavern straight to the witch hunter's side. Nice easy steps, not too fast, nonthreatening. Maria glanced down at the half-full mug in front of his seat. "This yours? Is it beer? Never mind, doesn't matter to me at this point."
She picked up the mug and downed what remained of the beverage in a single swig, nearly gagging as she finished. "Oh god, what did I just drink?" Looking around, Maria caught the eye of a startled woman wearing an apron and carrying a tray of mugs. Had to be an employee.
"Excuse me? I need another two mugs of… this, and a full plate of whatever you're cooking in the back, please."
The woman just gave her a nod as she walked stiffly away, shooting concerned glances over her shoulder. No doubt worried whether the place was about to erupt in gun fire. She could join the club; Maria was flying by the seat of her pants here.
Quickly looking around, Maria grabbed the only empty chair from the table behind her. She positioned it at the new table and dropped heavily into the seat. All the witch hunters were giving her very confused looks as she leaned forward and rested elbows on the table and her face in her hands.
She looked up at the form of the Commander now standing above her and gave him another smile with a shrug. "Sorry about stealing your drink. I'll pay for the second. You just have no idea how crazy the last few weeks have been for me."
Now all the remaining witch hunters (the ones seated at her table that she could see at least) were utterly stumped. First a strange blond walks into the tavern alone and freezes at the sight of them. Then their boss gets to his feet looking all angry and growls at her. In response this strange woman smiles and starts to chat him up, while stealing his drink in the process, and finally just takes a seat and joins them.
She could visibly see the gears come screeching to a halt within the heads of a few of them. All that was missing now was a little drool falling from their open mouths. Commander Schaeffer's anger upon seeing her had also visibly lessened but his eyes stayed sharp. He knew this was a trick, he just didn't know what its true intent was.
"You were supposed to be on your way to Ulthuan," he said again.
With a groan, Maria leaned back and hung her head over the chair's back, running her hands through her hair as she did. "Do you have any idea how difficult that actually is?" she asked looking up at him as he still stood over her. "Believe me, I'm trying."
Schaeffer finally sat down in his chair next to her. He leaned slightly toward her, one arm rested on the table, the other bent at the elbow and resting on his hip, hidden below the table. Most likely palming the pistol she had seen strapped there.
The brim of his hat hung low enough to partially shield his eyes, giving them a more sinister quality. His face and jaw hardened. "A journey dozens of traders make regularly every year? Tell me how it's so difficult."
Whoa, this guy had his 'I'm cold and dangerous' stare down pat. It nearly had Maria sweating. Too bad for him both Saren and Matriarch Benezia had glares that would have made his whimper and hide in the corner; and she had survived them both.
Maria's eyebrow rose. "Uh, Marienburg happened, for one thing. I'm sure you heard the city was attacked by the dark elves. I was there. My boat was sunk thanks to a sea-hydra, so not only did I have to swim back to the port, but then I had to fight off a black dragon and the dark elf ridding it!"
The server returned from her trip to the kitchen and set a plate down in front of Maria along with a pair of freshly filled mugs. Maria thanked the woman as she pushed one of the drinks in front of Schaeffer. But then her eyes locked on her plate and her mouth began to water.
"Holy shit, is that grilled corn on the cob?" She picked up the ear of corn and quickly peeled back the layers of the husk. Once free the bright yellow kernels steamed in her hand. "I haven't had this in… wow. In a park, near where I grew up, a festival was held every summer. A stand sold grilled corn on the cob – it was amazing. The family that worked it was incredibly nice. Before I was old enough to have any money of my own there was an older sister that always snuck an ear to me for free." She took a bite, wincing a little as the hot juices spilled in her mouth, but it did little to stymie her enthusiasm.
"Oh my god, I don't even care there isn't any butter or salt." She closed her eyes as she took another bite, enjoying the familiar taste of something so simple but something that meant so much to her as a child. One of the rare good memories she had living on the streets.
Corn just never reached the same level of flavor unless it was grilled. Alliance cooks cared more about efficient intake of nutrients than anything else. They never had grilled corn. And for whatever odd reason it was just one of those foods you couldn't find regularly available outside of the Sol system. The galaxy didn't know what it was missing out on.
A cold voice cut through her personal heaven. "I did hear about the raid." Maria opened her eyes to see Schaeffer still giving her his hard stare. "What happened after the attack?"
She put the ear of corn back down on her plate, next to what looked like half a chicken. Breast, wing, leg. Add that with the corn and these people clearly understood what a full plate of food meant. Maria felt like heading back and giving the cook a hug.
She picked up her mug and sipped. Her cheery feelings evaporated. The food might be good, but she had to be drinking some of the poorest, most watered-down beer she'd ever had in her life. Trying to hold back making a face, she put the mug back down and reached for the chicken.
"If you know about Marienburg then you know they closed the port," Maria said as she tore off the wing. "No boats to Ulthuan until the High Elves chase the black ark and its fleet away. After surviving the black dragon, I found out that the trade was headed north to Dietershafen. So, I got myself a horse and made the trip to Nordland."
The wing was already stripped of meat. She grabbed for the leg next. "Along the way I was ambushed and assaulted by beastmen and nearly crushed by a minotaur. Just before reaching Beekerhoven I got mauled by a pack of undead wolves. The same night I rode through their gate the city was attacked by vargheists. I helped the guards fight them off."
Done with the leg, Maria picked up the ear of corn once again. She talked in between the little bites of heaven. "After a quick talk with Theodoric Gausser, I reached Dietershafen just before the trade did. With the Elector's blessing, the harbor master was kind enough to help me find a boat. Two days later I boarded a wolfship and off we went. A week later we somehow ran aground on Albion. There I met a vampire. He knocked me out, took me prisoner, and killed the rest of the wolfship's crew. A fight between the undead, beastmen, and the giants of Albion broke out, and it was during the chaos I jumped through a magical portal and landed back in Reikland during another battle. It was only a couple of days ago now, and despite the Reiksmarshal and Supreme Patriarch being there, it was a slaughter. We barely won. You'll probably hear about it in the next few days when the news gets here.
"After I introduced myself to Kurt Helborg and Balthasar Gelt, the Supreme Patriarch invited me to join the army on the march back to Altdorf. Before we got anywhere someone snuck into my tent, hit me over the head, kidnapped me, and dragged me all the way out here to Ostermark. I got hurt a little, took a few days to heal, and escaped last night.
"And now… here I am. Stroke of luck walking into the same tavern as all of you. I'm not staying in Bissendorf long. Just enough to resupply and see if I can catch a ride along the river. Hey, do you know if they have any ferries that run the river's length all the way back to Nuln?"
Sadly, her cob was now devoid of fresh golden kernels. Maria chewed the last bite slowly, savoring every last second. It was a crime that she'd be tasting her ick watered beer after dining on that little treasure. At least she had a chicken breast still waiting.
And for some odd reason no one had answered her question yet. Around her at the other tables the witch hunters had fallen back into their own hushed conversations, but her table remained quiet.
Maria looked around to see the all the witch hunters seated at her table staring back with blank looks. The big one seated directly on her right looked like he had suffered a stroke as his mouth hung open. Wait a second, he looked familiar too.
Maria smiled at him. "Captain Jakob! Sorry, didn't see you when I came in." Maria's smile swept back to Schaeffer as she pointed a thumb over her shoulder. "Why didn't you tell me you brought Jakob along? Rude not to say hello."
The commander gave her a long stare as he sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. Finally, he said, "After destroying a portion of the university's library back in Nuln, you arrive at Marienburg just as a significant fleet of dark elves appear and sack the port. You survive a black dragon, miraculously, and then travel north, all while facing threats from the undead. You board an Imperial warship and are the sole survivor of the crew, who have been slaughtered by vampires. Vampires you have encountered not once, but twice now, after the incident I uncovered occurring at the dreaded Blood Keep within the Grey Mountains. If I guessed what… kidnapped… you in Reikland, the answer would ultimately be another vampire, am I right? So you traveled across the Empire, away from Ulthuan and your intended destination, in the care of the vampires and their servants. Just last night you left their camp, without incident, all on your own, and happened upon the one tavern within miles that I'm eating at. In other words, not escaping, but scouting for the undead."
Now Maria was the one gaping. Her chicken breast forgotten. "T-that's not even close to what I just said!"
"Your Reikspiel has gotten better," he said.
Maria narrowed her eyes. "Thank you."
"I suppose it would be hard to spy on Imperial settlements and citizens if you can't even speak the language."
Maria's jaw dropped further. "That's not fair. It's not my fault I've had bad luck since landing here."
"Bad luck?" Schaeffer shook his head slowly. "Shepard, not even someone cursed by Ranald has luck as bad as yours. Are you honestly trying to play off everything that's happened to you as simple luck?"
"Yes!" she shot back. "My life is complicated. You just have to roll with the kicks and punches and be ready to jump back to your feet and return fire. Preferably, with a grenade launcher."
"Mm-hm." Schaeffer still sat in his chair giving her his hard-ass stare. Maria tore her eyes off his and attacked her chicken breast with renewed zeal. If things kept going in this direction, she'd need the calories.
A thought struck her midchew. Hold on, she said grenade launcher and the commander didn't even bat an eye. Did that mean these people knew what a grenade launcher was, and they had their own version of it?! Holy crap… and here she thought that shotgun-like blunderbuss was impressive.
Where could she buy one? She'd like to see the look on Markos von Carstein's weasel face the next time they met, right before she blew it into tiny little pieces.
"How much of what you just told me is true?" Schaeffer then asked her.
"All of it," Maria replied. She had omitted a few details, but she hadn't made anything up. It would just upset him if he did learn the truth anyways, so, in reality, she was doing him a favor.
She started nibbling the edges of the chicken bones to get the last of the meat "You ever follow up on the skaven assassin that tried to infiltrate the library?" she asked. Sometimes the best defense was a good offense.
Maria knew she struck a nerve as the commander's expression soured. He ground his teeth together, while looking as though he was deciding whether to answer or not.
"The sewer-jacks sent after the rat never came back out," he growled. "I put together my own team and followed them down. An hour of searching and we found their bodies. Another hour after that and we found the skaven's bolt hole carved into the sewer's rock wall. We sealed it.
"Three days later there was another incident at the library. A student was found with his throat cut near the same place you fought the assassin. The papers concerning Nuln's foundries were missing."
Maria dropped her stripped chicken bones on the plate. "So the skaven are still a problem for Nuln. I told you that wasn't the last you'd see of them. Now they know everything they need to know about the foundries. It's a significant security breach that never should have happened in the first place. Nuln supplies more of the Empire's artillery than any other city. You even said that yourself."
His eyes hardened on her again. "Yes. Funny how even then you were able to comprehend the true danger we were in. A relative newcomer to the Empire, who couldn't even speak in complete sentences."
Ugh! Maria could only glare back at him. This guy had a one-track mind. Everything bad that had happened was her fault. She was the brilliant mastermind behind the Empire's future downfall. What the hell did the witch hunters of the Order of the Silver Hammer actually get taught within the Iron Tower? Obviously it was all 'gloom and doom', and 'blame everything on witchcraft and helpless maidens'. Freaking Neanderthals, the whole lot of them.
Staring down at her plate, Maria was disappointed to see all her food was gone. Everything except for her mug. It was a coin toss to whether she even wanted to drink the rest of the liquid down. Of course, with the food gone she had run out of time. Now came the moment of truth.
There weren't any towels or napkins laying around, so Maria licked her fingers and then put her dirty brown cloak to good use finishing the job. She sat back in her chair, sucking in a deep breath and blowing it out slowly.
Her eyes rose from her plate to meet Schaeffer's. "Now what?"
His eyebrows came together. "Excuse me?"
"May I go?" Maria asked. "Am I free to leave, or are you going to try and arrest me? Not that I'm saying I'd go with you if you tried to arrest me again, I'm just trying to be polite here."
"You still heading for Ulthuan?"
"Yes. Obviously, it's going to take a little longer to get there now…"
Schaeffer didn't look completely satisfied but he also didn't appear ready to pull out his sword. "Fine. Get out of here. Bissendorf has a ferry that travels down the Stir to the Stirland capital of Wurtbad. From there you can catch another to Kemperbad, where you'll join the Reik. There's no reason for you to go further south to Nuln."
"I don't have to go through Nuln?" Maria asked.
"No." He smirked. "When was the last time you looked at a map of the Empire?"
Maria held back a scowl. "I was going to buy a new one after I finished eating." She could have slapped herself. As a soldier this was an inexcusable mistake. She had been so busy just trying to put distance between herself and Vlad that she had missed the smaller details. After she got her hands on another map, she was going to staple this one to her chest.
Schaeffer picked up his mug. "You are free to leave Shepard. I'm not happy with that crap you just spat out, but I've got bigger problems to deal with." He took a drink. "Pay for your meal and get out of here."
Maria stared at the commander. He didn't look like the kind of person who would shoot her in the back when she turned away. That made him slightly better than the other witch hunters she had met.
"Okay." Maria picked up her own drink and swallowed down the foul liquid. "Can I ask, what ranks a bigger threat than me?"
Schaeffer set down his mug, holding it in both hands. "Those vampires that seem so interested in you. Some of them made their way through Stirland. Killed a patrol of over fifty well-seasoned knights from the Order of Sigmar's Blood. I'm following them."
Maria set her own mug down. "How do you know it was vampires?"
"Wounds on the bodies. Orcs smash and beat on their victims. Goblins use poison arrows and knives. Beastmen prefer to bite and tear. That covers most of the threats we face. But these knights died in battle. Sword against sword and lance and lance. This means they fought humans. Traitors in the employ of vampires."
"But how do you know its vampires?"
"Because I examined the bodies myself." Schaeffer looked at her while pointing a finger at his right eye. "Some of the knights were stabbed through their helmets. Blades aimed through the slits in their helms and right into their eyes. A normal man can't make that strike. The knights fought humans, but I know at least eight of the order were killed by a vampire."
Maria looked around the tavern. "Fifty trained knights are killed, and you put together a band of seventeen witch hunters to hunt them down. I know confidence is a requirement for the job, but this is pushing it."
"My orders are to investigate first," Schaeffer replied. "But I'm expected to take action if it is deemed necessary." He shrugged. "The closest bolt hole would be Mordheim, but our order patrols the ruins once a year. I don't expect to find much. If anything, the vampires already crossed the Stir into Sylvania."
Maria stared into her mug. These guys were headed into Mordheim? Vlad and his Drakenhof Templars would slaughter them all in seconds.
"You really think you can kill a vampire that took out fifty knights?"
"I've killed vampires before, Shepard. They are tough, and near immortal, but they have their weaknesses. Silver blade, silver bullet, wooden stake… it doesn't matter to me. I'll hunt them down and drown them in holy water. Their souls are already forfeit. I'm just putting an end to their cursed existence."
All these men were ridding to their deaths. Even worse, their lifeless bodies would be raised to fight again. Maria was looking into the eyes of a dead man. Could she let them go without a warning? Could she sentence these men to death?
"Don't go to Mordheim," she said, just barely a whisper.
Schaeffer paused with his mug halfway to his mouth. He looked back at her and Maria saw the exact instant he put it all together in his head. His fury was pulpable. The commander slammed his mug back onto the table, spilling some of the drink and making everyone else jump in their seats.
He surged to his feet. "Jakob, I want our men and horses ready to move out now. I need to talk to miss Shepard."
Schaeffer grabbed Maria's left arm and her sword wound flared in pain.
"Ow! Schaeffer!"
His grip only tightened as he hauled Maria to her feet and started pulling her around the tables and his men, toward the back of the tavern. He dragged her through a door and Maria found herself in the kitchen. Two bewildered cooks standing around stone fires watched them pass as Schaeffer found another door, yanked it open, and then threw Maria inside.
Maria stumbled, clutching her arm. Schaeffer slammed the door shut behind himself and now she found herself alone with the witch hunter inside a narrow pantry and closet of sorts. A stack of flour bags on her left. Broom and bucket in the corner. A single lantern hanging above them barely lit the windowless stone room.
"Damn you!" Schaeffer nearly shouted. He tried to pace the width of the closet, but it was three feet at most. His fists clenched. He seriously looked like he wanted to hit her. "I was going to take you at your word! Allow you to leave! But here you are making deals with the enemy! You are going to tell me all you know, right now, or I'm going to make you talk with all the tools of my order at my disposal! Sigmar as my witness I will make you talk!"
Maria was still rubbing her arm. "Is this a bad time to tell you I've been trained to resist interrogation?"
He angrily pointed a finger up at her. "You –" but then stopped suddenly. He looked confused. "What's wrong with your arm?"
Maria rolled her eyes. "I told you I was injured. Four days ago a sword was thrust clean through my arm. I'm okay but it's still sore."
Schaeffer's face softened, but only for the briefest glimpse and then his anger was back in full force. "Tell me why I shouldn't storm Mordheim right now."
Maria stayed quiet for a moment. She couldn't break her promise to Elize, but she didn't want these men to just go off and die.
"You're clearly an intelligent man Schaeffer, I shouldn't have to spell it out for you." She had been on Albion. She had been a prisoner of a vampire. She falls back into Reikland and then gets kidnapped and taken this far into the Empire.
Put two and two together before things get worse.
Schaeffer exploded. He pulled off his hat and threw it to the floor. "Fifty knights are dead! Stirland has two patrols missing, another thirty soldiers! I suppose you had nothing to do with their deaths, or did you?!"
"Of course not!"
Schaeffer closed the distance between them until he stood inches from her. "Then you are going to tell me everything you know! Now!" he shouted.
"I can't," Maria ground out. Come on you big dumb oaf, figure it out.
Now he looked like he would stab her. Or maybe shoot her. If it came to blows Maria would have to fight her way out of the tavern. She'd have to use her biotics. It would get messy.
Schaeffer spun back around and picked up his hat. "I don't have the manpower to leave someone behind to watch you, and I can't trust the local guards to be capable of holding you. Congratulations Shepard, you luck out again." He dusted his hat before putting it back on his head, and then leveled her with a hateful glare. "I see you again, at any time or place, and I'm putting a bullet between your eyes. Get your ass onto Ulthuan's shores. No more detours. No more excuses."
He put his hand on the closet door. This was it. She had to convince him somehow.
"I killed Walach Harkon."
Schaeffer stopped.
"That's why the vampires are interested in me," Maria hastily explained. "It's why they were quiet while I was in Nuln. I was travelling through Bretonnia and the Grey Mountains, ran into a group of vampires, and managed to kill Walach Harkon."
"You killed Harkon?" He didn't look convinced. "Walach was considered one of the greatest swordsmen in the world. He was an ancient, powerful, thousand-year-old fiend. I know of entire Knightly Orders who have fled the field of battle upon his arrival."
"It wasn't in a fight. He used some magic on me, beat me up, then sunk his fangs into my neck. I put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. After he fell, I shot him a few more times for good measure. His skull and brain were pulp. He's dead."
Schaeffer let go of the door and turned to face her. Now that Maria had his attention, she just had to guide him to the right conclusions.
"I was in no shape to travel afterward. The surviving group of vampires took me to Blood Keep. That's where those rumors you heard came from. I thought I broke out of captivity." She shook her head and sighed. "As it turns out, they just let me go. Looking back on it I should have seen that sooner. But there it is. That's why the undead have been hounding me ever since."
Schaeffer rested his hands on his hip. "Who did you talk to inside Blood Keep?"
Maria nearly sagged in relief. Now they were getting somewhere. "There was one vampire. I didn't know his name, but everyone referred to him as Count or Lord."
Schaeffer nodded slowly. "Fine. Now what does all this have to do with Mordheim?"
"I can't tell you that," she replied.
Schaeffer's eyes narrowed. "Can't or won't?"
Finally… took him long enough. "Don't go to Mordheim, Schaeffer. Yes my life had been complicated since coming to the Empire, but I promise you, I'm one of the good guys. All I'm trying to do is get to Ulthuan, and I would never put an innocent person in danger just to further myself. Please trust me on this."
It was quiet in the small closet as the two of them stood staring at one another. The single lantern hanging above their heads cast everything in a soft orange glow. Schaeffer rubbed his stubble with a gloved hand. He took a step away from the door.
"I didn't earn my position because I trusted strangers, Shepard," he said, his eyes still hard and unforgiving. His left hand visibly gripped the hilt of his sword. "How many vampires are in Mordheim, right now?"
"I can't tell you that."
He took another step toward her. "How many mercenaries do they have?"
"I can't tell you that."
"Why are they camped out in the ruined city?" Another step closer.
"I can't tell you that."
He stood only a foot from her. The brim of his hat nearly touched her bangs. "How powerful of a vampire is this Count?"
Maria caught her eyes before they checked his sword. "He rode beside Walach Harkon as an equal. How powerful do you think one of their kind has to be to do that?"
"You know his name, don't you?"
Maria nodded slowly.
"But you can't tell me, can you?"
She shook her head.
His face twitched. Maria was fully convinced he would pull out his sword in the next five seconds.
"You ride into Bissendorf looking fresh," Schaeffer said, his voice low and full of menace. "Clean clothes. Clothes that don't have the same wear as your cloak. I could accuse you of collusion with the enemy on those facts alone. You say you had a sword run through your arm, but a wound like that would have cut the muscles. You shouldn't even be able to lift the limb after only three days."
Maria stared at him. "I'm a fast healer."
"I want a name, Shepard. Now. Who is leading the vampires? Why are they in Mordheim? What are vargheists doing in Nordland? Why are there reports of undead wolves in Middenheim? What in Sigmar's name has been going on since you left Nuln?!" he finished with a shout.
Maria swallowed. "I want to tell you, but I can't." Schaeffer threw up his arms and turned away.
"I nearly died in there! I'm sorry its inconvenient to you – just put yourself in my place for a second here!" Schaeffer faced her again. "I was kidnapped and held by vampires against my will. I killed a powerful vampire lord in self-defense and now Queen Neferata herself knows my name! Vampires are watching my every step! Five minutes ago, I don't say a word, and you all ride off for Mordheim to become the next meal for the vampires! I just saved your life!"
Great, now she was shouting too. Maria took a breath.
"Look… I did what I did to survive. I made a deal with them. I don't talk, they don't kill me. And they also threw in some new clothes so wouldn't be stuck in a blood-soaked uniform. Put your petty judgements aside and realize that all I'm doing right now is trying to keep you alive."
"Why?" he growled.
"Oh, I don't know, you idiot! Maybe because no one deserves to be turned into a zombie! And as far as the witch hunters go, you're at least competent enough that you found a chaos worshipper back in Nuln. The Empire can't afford to lose you."
Maria was breathing heavily as she stood in the small dusty closet glaring at back at Schaeffer. She had tried to keep her emotions in check but failed miserably at this point.
How hard was it to keep someone from jumping into a volcano? Apparently, it was more difficult than she thought. Why had she opened her mouth again? Something about saving his sorry ass?
With an audible huff, Schaeffer pulled off his hat and ran a hand over his head. "How do you even know that name?"
Maria frowned. "What name?"
"Queen Neferata," he clarified, holding his hat in hand. "There are only two dozen people in the Empire that even know she exists and isn't just some fable from ancient lands. I've hunted vampires for decades but was only informed of her existence after earning my rank within the order."
At least she could tell him that without breaking any promises. "After I made the long and dangerous journey from Marienburg to Dietershafen, I was stuck in the city for a few days as a ship was prepared. I was approached by a female vampire who represented the Queen. We talked. She told me the Lahmian sisterhood wasn't responsible for the vargheist attack. Didn't want me holding a grudge if I suspected them."
"You do a lot of talking with the vampires don't you?" He waved a hand through the air, cutting her off before Maria spoke up. "What's it been, almost two months now? You speak Reikspiel as though you were born to it."
Maria shifted on her feet. "I'm good with languages. Always have been." She shrugged. "Helps when you're stuck around people who speak nothing else. And I practice a little every night before bed."
"You're good with languages. You heal fast. You survived vampires that have probably murdered tens of thousands by this point in their lives, and you ate half a chicken and an ear of corn in less time than it takes for most to set out the plates.
"While we're here is there anything else I should know about you?"
They say honesty is the best policy. 'They' obviously never had to face down an irate witch hunter. Screw it. She wanted the commander to trust her.
"I'm learning how to control one of the winds of magic."
His shoulders sagged. "Which one?"
Maria closed her eyes and concentrated. The winds weren't strong here, but she felt them. It took only a few moments of thought and she felt the air swirl around her right arm. Opening her eyes, Maria raised her right hand and saw ribbons of black smoke wrapping around it.
"The lore of shadow. The wind of Ulgu." She couldn't help but have a small smile as she watched the smoke dance between her outstretched fingers. This was still so surreal.
"Can you do anything with it?"
She pulled her eyes from her smoking hand to see Schaeffer watching her carefully. She cut the connection to the winds and the smoke drifted away to nothing. "Not really, no. I can vanish and appear somewhere nearby, but that's about it so far."
"You learned how to vanish into shadows…" He looked her up and down with a wholly baffled expression. "Why haven't you used that power while we argued?"
Maria met his gaze. "Only guilty people run. Why haven't you tried to kill me yet? You have the authority to do it."
His face hardened. "Because I'm not a murderer, and all the evidence I have against you is circumstantial." Schaeffer suddenly smirked. "I've also never met a fiend who sulked after scarfing down a meal, then ask if they could simply leave."
Maria bristled. "I didn't sulk."
"It was a sulk. Trust me." Schaeffer put his hand back on the door handle. "Your life is too exciting for your own good. Don't ever give me a reason to doubt your innocence Shepard." With that said he simply pulled open the door and left her in the small closet.
Maria watched his back disappear through the kitchen. Did she get through to him or not? She hoped she did. But he was a Commander, same rank as herself. Something told her it would take more than one person's warnings of danger to keep him from his duty.
She ran a hand through her hair as she sat on a stack of flour bags. Her face fell into her hands. Commander Schaeffer of the Order of the Silver Hammer. She had actively avoided him back in Nuln, but now it somehow bothered her that she didn't even know his first name.
Why did that even upset her?
"You alright miss?" someone called from outside the closet. Must be one of the cooks.
Question of the year, that. "Yes. Still alive at least."
"Good ta hear. You plannin' on coming out soon?"
Can't a woman take a second to hide in a closet in peace? Maria lifted her head from her hands. "That depends… anymore grilled corn out there?"
/ooooooo\
Location: Wurtbad, provincial capital of Stirland
Day 63
Spending what little coin she still had Maria booked travel for herself and her horse on a barge sailing down the river Stir. It took two full days of travel on the waters, passing by a number of towns and small cities along the coast. Some they stopped at, others they passed by, entirely at the discretion of the captain and where his business was, but they never lost more than an hour of time at each.
Now Maria found herself in Stirland's capital city of Wurtbad, a full third of her journey back to the ocean coastline complete. Horses were great, but rivers were the highways of the old world.
Maria walked Jerri through the busy stone streets of Wurtbad. The horse had spent the last two days down in a hold with several other horses and a mule, so Maria wasn't in any hurry to just jump onto another boat until her horse was able to stretch her legs.
Wurtbad was an interesting city. Many of its brick buildings boasted bright white painted walls with green or red tiling on the roofs. Even the smaller dwellings, whether they be brick or timber, went out of their way to paint over the rough natural siding with solid browns or tans. Such backdrops of color managed to make the city feel far wealthier and more well-off than it truly was.
Maria was a city-kid, and her eyes caught the things Wurtbad's citizens had tried to hide. Stirland was considered the poorest of the Empire's provinces. A fresh coat of paint on the outside couldn't hid every sore spot. Most of the buildings Maria passed showed signs of disrepair. Quick patchwork and jerry-rigged solutions were preferred to serious investment of more silver and gold.
Still this was the capital. While the populace was hesitant to put valuable coin back into the infrastructure, they were perfectly happy spending it on themselves. The city's markets were busy. The streets well-traveled. While Stirland lacked the natural minerals to make it a center of industry, it did have its own unique exports. First and foremost, was wine. Stirland's vast vineyards produced some of the Empires best wines, all of which were shipped through the capital, and sold off to the far corners of the old world.
A curious geographical feature also helped put Wurtbad on the map. The city was famous for its hot spring baths. All the best inns had some. The most extravagant and famous, The Golden Eagle Inn, was a favorite for visiting dignitaries and passing diplomats.
Wine and hot springs. If Maria was to find herself stuck in a city for, well, let's at least say another day, Wurtbad wasn't the worst place to be.
But, of course, all of these things cost money. And she had little. As Maria walked her horse down the midday streets with the finely dressed of Wurtbad's mercantile elite surrounding her, she felt her palms itch as her eyes started darting around for easy targets. Unlike Nuln, she wasn't even dressed as a visible witch hunter. Just another random citizen. Pickpocketing would never get easier than this.
She stopped in the street and her hand dropped onto her sword. Her fingers toyed with the hilt as her mind wandered.
With her collector armor in the hands of the Empire and most likely being pawed at by the Supreme Patriarch, Maria found herself in a unique position she had never experienced before as a soldier. As an N7 her entire career had revolved around special operations. Hit the enemy hard. Destroy vital infrastructure. Then vanish without leaving a trace. Mostly against pirate and terrorist targets. Not always.
But she wasn't fighting people armed with automatic weapons and missile launchers. Here there were cannons and muskets. Crossbows and knights. She still had her phalanx and locust. She had her biotics. Most importantly of all she still had her omni-tool.
And a few days ago she had started to learn how to control magic. Magic, of all things. It was only a matter of time before she started pulling rabbits out of hats.
What did she need a sword for? This was free money strapped to her hip.
/ooooooo\
The big burly smith with way too much back hair examined her sword.
"Not bad," he said, handing it back. "I'll give ya two silver for it."
Maria raised an eyebrow. "Two Silver?"
The ape-man shrugged. "Most ya'll get. I can sell it for four. I need to make a profit."
"Thanks for the offer." Maria slid it back into the scabbard.
Thanks for nothing you cheapskate. But its not like she hadn't expected this. She turned and started to leave the blacksmith's shop.
"Alright, alright," he called out behind her. Maria stopped and turned. "I'll give ya two silver and six pennies."
So two and a half silver. If she flipped him the bird he'd just be confused because that gesture didn't exist here. Instead Maria left his shop and started for the next one down the street.
/ooooooo\
Maria tried not to stare. She really did. Focused on everything, anything, else surrounding her inside the blacksmith's shop. But it was sooo hard. Why? Because a muscular man wearing a smith's apron was holding her sword and kneeling on the ground so his boss could examine it. A man with a grey beard that reached his belt, a smoking pipe in hand, and a pair of spectacles on his hooked nose.
Oh, and he stood roughly three feet high if she was being generous.
He wasn't a dwarf. He was a Halfling. A species of miniature humans who never grew past a normal human's waist. There was a territory of land within Stirland called, The Moot, where a vast majority of their people lived, independent yet wholly dependent on the Empire. The Halfling's leader was called the Elder, and he even held the title of Elector, getting to vote on who the next Emperor would be. Thanks to their size the halflings were physically weak and contributed next to nothing to the military except for food and further provisions. The Moot was the breadbasket for the neighboring provinces of Stirland, Averland, and even Wissenland. The Halflings were recognized Imperial citizens.
If they just didn't remind her so much of leprechauns, then Maria would be handling this better. She kept picturing him wearing green and jumping around in a dance.
Her runaway imagination was finally reeled in when she watched the small man wipe the back of his hand across his forehead with trembling fingers. Hm. That was interesting.
He looked up at her from under bushy eyebrows. "You show this sword to anyone else?" he asked. His voice was deep and completely at odds with his small size. She had to hold back a burst of laughter at the ridiculousness.
"A few people," she shrugged. "You're my fifth shop."
"Ah. Wise girl. Always get a sense of the markets before diving in." He smiled up at her, a little too wide. "Wise, smart girl. How long have you had this sword?"
"A little over two days. Haven't even stabbed anyone with it yet."
The halfling laughed. A very exaggerated, loud laugh, and Maria watched as he elbowed the blacksmith's chest kneeling next to him. The bigger man immediately joined his boss and forced out his own laugh.
"And funny too!" The halfling already had a hand wrapped protectively around the sword's blade. "Wise, smart, funny, considerate girl! So glad to have met you on this fine, fine day!"
Wow. What was so special about the sword? At least she was guaranteed some money.
Maria smiled down at him. "You can drop the act. How much for the sword?"
The halfling's cheery smile vanished and in an instant he was all business. He adjusted his spectacles. "I'll give you eight gold crowns for it. Not a penny more."
Maria barley kept her jaw from dropping. Her best offer so far had been twelve silver coins, and she had seriously considered taking the offer. It took twelve brass pennies to equal a silver, and it took twenty silver shillings to equal a gold crown. This little guy had just dropped a mountain of coin in her lap. She'd be a fool to keep looking for a better price.
But only a sucker takes the first offer.
Maria pretended to think on it. "Twelve gold crowns."
The halfling narrowed his eyes at her. Awww, the little guy was being trying to intimidate her. "Look here little missy! I said eight gold crowns and not a penny more. Don't try haggling with me now. You won't find a better offer."
"I don't know. I think I can."
He looked outraged. "You walked in here without even knowing what you had, and now you're trying to swindle me! What nerve! What audacity!" His outrage turned to admiration in a blink. "I like you. Ten gold crowns. Final offer."
Whoo! "Deal." She leaned over and shook the man's small outstretched hand. "So what's so special about the sword?"
The halfling had marched over to a tall desk and took the five stepped stairs in front of his chair before sitting. He pulled open a drawer and started counting coins.
"That sword, my pretty miss, belonged to the Elector Count of Averland's eldest son. Two hundred and thirty-four years ago the orcs came rampaging down out of the mountains and started stomping toward the Moot. The son, a Julius Leitdorf, was given command of a portion of the province's army and sent to aid the Stirlander's in repelling the foul-bellied green monsters."
Having counted out the coin he jumped out of his chair. "Julius Leitdorf led the combined armies and fought back the savage greenies, saving the Moot and our people." He handed the coins over to Maria and beckoned her back over to the sword. She followed him to where the blacksmith had already started cleaning the blade.
"Look here, on the metal," he said while pointing a finger. "Those tiny scratches there. See them? Now on the other side there's more. Right there, see?" He stood up and proudly puffed out his small chest. "Those are the signatures of both our ruling Elder and Julius Leitdorf. They marked the blade with their names."
Maria squinted. She was slowly learning how to read, but nothing what she saw even slightly resembled letters. She glanced up at the blacksmith, but the man just rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders.
"Are you sure?"
The halfling smiled widely. "Dead sure, little missy! See, they both scratched their names in after the battle, during the celebratory feast. Both were flat drunk! Barely able to hold the nail as they tried to make their marks. Stories say there was another round of drinking after they succeeded. No one expected them to stay conscious while they were trying, you see."
He smiled down at the sword. "The next day after the feast the orcs attacked a second time, surprising everyone. Julius Leitdorf's head was cleaved off his shoulders by a nasty big orc in the first charge. He was so hungover they say he could barely ride his horse, but he went out to battle all the same. The orcs were driven off for good the second time, but they took the sword with them as they retreated through Sylvania, and back to the mountains, never to be seen again."
What an ending. "I'm… sorry?"
The halfling just smiled up at her. "Don't be. We still tell that story as a cautionary tale to our youngsters. Never drink more than your capable of handling. Or at least don't drink before a battle. Or if it is before a battle, be sure to have someone else around to fight for you. Julius should have known better. Oh, what a poor, poor fool. But at least I have our Elder's name on this sword! I can sell this for a fortune to a collector back in the Moot! What a stroke of luck for me!"
The little guy cackled madly to himself as he stroked the sword with loving fingers. Maria glanced back up at the blacksmith. He shook his head with a sigh, mouthing the word 'halflings' to her, as though that explained everything.
Well at least she got her gold. And returned a 'valuable' relic in the process. Nothing better than a win-win, no matter how strange it might be.
/ooooooo\
To just walk through the front door to The Golden Eagle Inn you had to own your own castle, said castle had to have a minimum number of servants, and the castle had to have a square-footage so large you could walk from one end to the other without seeing your servants if you didn't want to.
So, Maria did not stay at that inn. She instead handed Jerri over to the horse chauffeur, walked into Wurtbad's second best inn, and booked a room for the night. With all the added bonuses that were included. That was how, four spent gold coins later, she found herself in her current predicament.
And she couldn't have been happier.
Maria sunk deeper into the steaming bath until the water touched her chin. After the beatings she had endured the hot water felt absolutely, positively amazing. The ceramic tub was so big she could stretch out and relax with a foot of space still separating her from the edges. Around the room were several scented candles, filling the air with the gentle smell of lavender. Water from the hot springs had been drawn up by a pump beside the tub. The whole set-up was ingenious so paying patrons could relax within the privacy of their own rooms.
She reached out of the water for the wine glass that sat on the small table beside the tub and sipped. She had been told it was an excellent wine, but honestly, she wouldn't have been able to tell the difference if it had been fruit juice.
Didn't matter. The point was Maria was being pampered and enjoying every second of it.
There was a knock on the door to the small bathroom. Outside was the rest of her expensive suite.
"Come in," she called, setting the wine glass back down.
The same woman who had first drawn Maria's bath opened the door and stepped inside carrying a tray with another full wine bottle and a fresh glass. She walked up to the tub.
"Miss Shepard, I hope the bath is still to your liking?" she asked, taking Maria's first glass and setting down the new one.
"Amazing, thank you," Maria replied with a smile, watching the woman pour the next wine.
"I am so glad to hear it. I'm happy to say your masseur is prepared for you outside, but only when you're ready."
"Masseur?" Maria looked at the woman.
"At your service," a man's voice answered from the doorway.
Both Maria and the other woman looked up. Maria's jaw dropped as a man who could only be described as 'herculean' stood in the doorway. His shirt and pants had obviously been made a size to small, so nothing was left to her imagination. His body looked like it had been artificially sculpted to fit the picture definition of pure strength and masculinity.
He rubbed his hands together with a perfect smile above a square jaw. "Take your time my lady," he said, then disappeared back into the room.
After staring at the empty doorway for a few more seconds Maria remembered how to talk. She glanced up to the woman standing beside the tub, who had also been biting her bottom lip.
She sat up in the tub. "I think I'm ready now."
The woman retrieved a towel for her. "Excellent choice miss Shepard."
/ooooooo\
Maria awoke with her hand already wrapped around the phalanx under her pillow. Her pulse quickening and her senses already sharpening. Something was wrong.
She cracked an eye open and looked out the window. Still dark out. She must have only been asleep for a few hours. Not a good sign. After the bath, wine, and incredible massage, she should have slept through the night and well into morning.
Maria kept still in her bed and just listened to her surroundings for nearly a minute. Nothing. The inn she was staying at was too big. Four stories high and filled with long wings of rooms. She was somewhere in the middle of the third floor. If a strange noise hadn't jolted her from sleep, then what had?
Pushing back the covers Maria slid softly to her feet and padded over to the window, careful to stay out of direct sightline of the glass, and then peeked out. Her grip on the phalanx tightened.
That wasn't there before…
Outside the inn, running through the entire street and rising into the night sky, was a shimmering translucent sheet of silver. Her best description would be someone had raised a see-through curtain in front of the inn. A quick glance left and right revealed the curtain traveled down the street until reaching the ends of the inn, and then wrapped around the sides of the building.
Someone, or something, was working to surround the inn with a magical wall. Maria must have unconsciously felt the winds of magic being manipulated while she slept and that's what had woken her up.
Turning away from the window Maria shucked off her sleeping shirt and began to get dressed. Trouble was coming her way and she'd rather not face it half-naked. She just finished pulling on her boots and belting on her weapons when she felt a pressure change in the air and her ears popped. She jumped back to the window and looked around to see the shimmering wall reach all the way up into the night sky. It must have closed around the entire inn.
On a hunch, Maria concentrated and reached out to the winds of magic. Before she felt them as the barrier was being formed. Now there was barely any magic in the air at all. Just a trickle, and it slipped away as she tried to grab at it.
Well that pretty much cinched it. The inn was under attack. And what was special about this particular inn right now?
She was staying at one of its rooms.
A dark shape in the night caught her eye. One second it was flapping through the sky, the next it was plummeting through the shimmering curtain, and right for her window.
"Shit!" Maria fell to the floor as the window and surrounding wall shattered, raining glass and wood on top of her. The dark mass continued through her room, catching the edge of her bed, bouncing off the floor and finally crashing through the door and into the hallway outside her suite.
Maria brushed the debris off her head. The lamps keeping the hall alight also lit up her attacker, as the shape rose up onto its legs, shaking its grey fur covered body. Bat-like wings bent back so it could stand up on front talons and narrowed head with bright red mane of fur running the length of its back.
The vargheist's blood red eyes locked on her. It opened its fanged maw and screamed back into the room.
Maria shouldered her locust submachine and let the weapon scream back in kind.
The bullets tore into the vargheist's body. The creature shrieked in pain but scrambled forward, its front claws digging into the floorboards. Maria fired again sending a second three-round burst into the starved and mutated vampire, this time splattering its skull and brain to pulp. The body slid and came to a stop at her feet.
Maria waited half a second with her locust still trained on the body to ensure the undead creature was truly dead this time, then rolled back up to her feet. She surveyed the damage to her room. Giant hole in the wall. Door off its hinges. One of the bed's legs had been broken off, tilting it at an angle.
"Can't even get a single night to relax," she sighed.
A second shriek in the night had Maria turning to the hole where her window used to be right as another vargheist came flying into the room, and right into Maria. The two of them crashed along the ground until Maria found herself out in the hall, crushed under the vargheist's weight.
A claw swept across her back, leaving scorching lines of pain in their wake. Trapped under the vargheist Maria activated her tech-armor. The flash-forged armor plates bought her a moment of reprieve as the vargheist's fur burned from the contact. She rolled over, pushed the locust directly into the creature's chest, and opened fire.
Blood sprayed onto Maria's face and boiled away with a hiss as it landed on the tech-armor. The vargheist screamed as the rounds bore straight through its body. It leapt off her with a flap of its wings, blood pouring out the fist-sized hole.
Maria sat up as she watched it flail in pain. Before she could even finish it off a third vargheist flew through the hole in the wall and landed inside her room. Its horrifying screech filled her ears as it launched itself straight at her.
Maria's locust was up and firing but the vargheist was committed. Its full weight smashed against her, knocking her arm back. The vargheist was bleeding from a dozen wounds, but none of them were fatal. It snarled in her face, then opened its jaws, wide enough to take in her whole face. Which was clearly its intent as it lunged forward. Maria twisted away at the last second only to have the vargheist's terrible fangs bite down on her shoulder. The other vargheist had managed to recover and chose the same moment to jump on her as well. Its jaws clamped tight over left leg. Like the undead wolves the vargheists went mad as they tried to tear her apart, teeth and claws sparking against the tech-armor.
And then with an electrical discharge, the tech-armor failed.
The burst of energy burned the faces of the two vargheists. The one biting down on her shoulder reared back in pain. The other still on her leg, consumed by its bloodlust, ignored its scorched fur and sunk its finger long fangs into her left thigh.
Maria screamed.
Still biting down the vargheist swung its neck pulling Maria by her leg. Her back smashed against the wall. Maria cried out again as she felt the razor-sharp teeth carving into her leg. The pain was so intense her head was swimming. Locust still firmly in her grip, Maria aimed the weapon in the vargheists general direction and held down the trigger.
Her leg was finally freed from the creature's jaws as Maria riddled its body with bullets. The vargheist shrieked as she kept up the barrage. Its body jerking in agony, blood soaking its grey fur.
In that instant the other vargheist attempted to charge her, so Maria just swept the weapon in its direction. The rounds shredded its chest as the vargheist swept its wings out, filling up the hallway, and stood up on its back legs. Consumed by pain and madness the creature shrieked down at her even as Maria brought the submachine gun up its torso and blew apart its face and jaws. The now headless monstrosity collapsed stiffly onto its back.
The locust suddenly fell silent with an awful, familiar, tell-tale 'click'. Maria felt strangely detached from herself as she watched the red-hot thermal clip eject from the weapon and fall to the floor. Still steaming from the trapped heat, the clip rolled a short distance on the wooden floorboards, marking its path with a small trail of scorched wood.
"FUCK!"
Maria put a hand on the wall and struggled back up to her feet. The agony from her left thigh was near blinding, but as a friend of hers once said, rage is a hell of an anesthetic. She finally stood, leaning against the wall and all her weight on her right leg.
"Fucking fuck!" she shouted again. The second vargheist's body shuddered and the creature let out a pitiful cry. Considering it was the starved remains of a vampire, it could probably survive the dozens of bullet wounds if given enough time.
Maria pushed off from the wall and hobbled into the middle of the hallway. She stood over the body of the wounded vargheist, raised a glowing blue fist, and then launched a powerful warp directly into the thing's face. The blast of biotic power left nothing but a hole in the floor, and the last of the vargheists went limp.
"You goddamned pieces of shit!" she shouted down at the body.
Maria could barely stomach looking at her locust, instead shoving it into the small bag belted at her hip. She managed two steps before she collapsed against the opposite wall. The amount of blood now covering the hallway was very alarming, even more so because a lot of it was hers. Her left leg was soaked, with a puddle growing inside her boot, and the back of her shirt stuck against her skin. She needed a crap ton of medi-gel, but of course this primitive dirtball didn't have any on hand.
She leaned against the wall. "All I wanted was one night of relaxation. Just one night." Maria looked around the hallway. "And how am I the only one awake after all that!" she screamed at nobody.
This was absurd. The number of rounds she had just fired should have woken the neighboring blocks, not to mention those staying at the inn.
Four men rounded the corner at the end of the hall. Three held swords while the fourth was armed with a crossbow. They stood about twenty feet away and surveyed the carnage.
Maria threw an arm up. "Well that's great. Just four guys. Yup, that would have been enough." She sighed. "Whatever… one of you a doctor? I'm bleeding here."
None of them moved, except to stare her down as though she was the most dangerous thing in the hall. Which she was, obviously, but as far as they knew a woman had just survived an attack. Where was the chivalry this age was known for?
Her shoulders sagged as two women wearing modest dresses rounded the corner behind the four men and stepped between them. Both were incredibly pale skinned. One had black hair pulled bag into a loose bun, while the other had curly brown hair that cascaded down her back. They didn't react to the dead vargheists, and Maria would swear both took a deep breath savoring the metallic scent of blood filling the hall.
"You said the spell would knock everyone out," the black-haired woman said in a chiding tone.
The brown-haired woman shrugged, indifferent. "We knew this was a possibility with her. We will just have to finish the job ourselves. It's not like it will be all that difficult at this point."
Right. They were vampires. The ones who sent the vargheists, and who constructed the shimmering magic wall surrounding the inn.
"Kill her," the black-haired woman commanded.
The three swordsmen ran for her. Maria reacted quickly, drawing on her biotics and launching a powerful burst of power down the hall. The energy picked the three men up off their feet and threw them back into the two vampires. Instead of catching them the two women just sidestepped the thrown bodies of their servants letting them fly right past, nearly taking out the one remaining guy holding the crossbow.
The brown-haired vampire visibly sighed. "If you want something done right…"
The vampire brought her palms together as her eyes went black. She spoke a single word Maria didn't understand before thrusting both her hands out. Two black lances shot out of her palms like a pair of thrown spears.
Maria instinctively formed a biotic barrier in front of herself. The black lances of magic struck simultaneously, breaking the barrier but not piercing it, and forcing Maria to stumble back a step. She grit her teeth as her left leg flared with blinding pain, but at least she remained standing. Her head reeled from the effort.
The vampire smiled showing her fangs. She reached down, tore off her skirt, and then sprinted at Maria.
She was ungodly fast. Maria barely had time to raise her hand and send a warp flying into the woman. But before the biotic ball of energy struck home, the vampire raised her palm and intercepted it, no visible damage to her skin as the energy washed over her.
Maria felt the vampire's hands close over her shoulders, and the next thing she knew, she was thrown through the air, her back slamming against the wall. The back of her head snapped against the wood with enough force to leave an indent. Her vision swam as the vampire gripped her throat tightly, holding Maria's weight up with the single arm.
Maria pushed back against the blackness encroaching at the edges of her vision as she struggled to breath in the vampire's iron grasp. The vampire hissed as she raised her free hand up behind her. Maria panicked in her grip. The vampire's hand was a swirling mass of the same red hued smoke Maria had seen Markos von Carstein use to strip the living flesh off a giant.
"Time to die," the vampire sneered, right as she thrust her hand directly onto Maria's chest; the smoke rapidly flowing out to wholly encompass her body.
Maria screwed her eyes shut as she felt the awful icy chill of the necromantic magic washing over her. She felt it pass through her clothes. She knew she breathed it in as she fought for every breath. She could feel it as it touched her beating heart, the singular terrifying moment stretching on for an eternity.
And then her heart kept on beating.
Maria opened her eyes and found herself completely unharmed. Her body was still whole. The magic hadn't stripped the flesh from her bones. She stared into the surprised and confused eyes of the vampire holding her and knew she was still very much alive.
With her very next heartbeat Maria pulled the silver dagger from the sheath at the small of her back, and with all her strength thrust the knife into the side other woman's skull. The blade sunk to its hilt.
The vampire's grip on her throat relaxed. She stilled, with a soft gasp of 'oh' leaving her lips as the side of her face the silvered blade had pierced turned black. Maria yanked the blade free as the vampire crumpled to the floor, a puppet with its strings cut. She stumbled over the body, favoring her leg.
Silver meet vampire brain. The gifted dagger had already saved her life.
A scream of grief and rage filled the hall. Maria turned to see a woman with a monster's face already beside her taking a swipe with a wickedly curved claw of a hand.
Time slowed down. Maria saw the claw pass by her throat as she fell back from the sudden attack. In the same moment Maria sent a brutal wave of biotic energy into the black-haired vampire's chest, sending her careering limb over limb back down the hall.
Maria landed flat on her back, a scream of pain dying in her throat as a red-hot poker was thrust into her hip and another was dragged across her neck. She slapped her free hand over her throat and felt the blood seep around her fingers. Risking a glance down her body she then spotted the crossbow bolt imbedded into her thigh. The fourth guy the two vampires had brought with them had apparently decided to finally take his shot.
A small part of Maria's brain was enraged. Another part sobbing at the injustice of it all. A third lamented the wasted gold coins when she had decided to spend nearly half her newfound wealth on a night being pampered.
A fourth drowned the rest out, screaming at Maria to get her ass in gear. The part of herself that kept her alive during her times on Earth and pushed her to become the best soldier she could be. Maria had now been shot, sliced open, and her leg savagely mauled. She had lost an obscene amount of blood and was still bleeding. Medi-gel and trained medical personal were light years away. She was going to be dead in the next few minutes unless the current status quo drastically changed. The realization helped her keep focus.
Holy shit. She really was going to die unless she got out of the inn and found help.
Maria's head fell back against the floor. She rolled to her side, replaced the dagger in its sheath at the small of her back, and then gripped the crossbow bolt. She counted to one, then yanked out the bolt. Traditionally this is the last thing you wanted to do with these types of injuries, but Maria was bleeding so much already that one more open wound wouldn't matter, and it hurt more cutting up her insides. Better to simply get rid of the distraction.
"Bitch!" The black-haired vampire Maria had sent flying was back on her feet. "I'll rip your head from your shoulders!" The man with the crossbow was nearly done reloading.
Maria rolled over so her left arm was free and pointed at the vampire. Before the other woman could react, she was sent convulsing back to the ground with an overload charge. Good thing the brown-haired vampire was the magic user between them.
She had lost nearly all feeling in her left leg at this point so getting to her feet was a chore. Maria basically fell back into her room right as the crossbowman shot another bolt into the floorboards where Maria had been laying a second before.
Now back in the room where it all began Maria put her mind toward a single goal. Gathering enough of the winds of magic so she could teleport herself to safety. Or at least a few city blocks at a time until she fell into Wurtbad's garrison. Soldiers who could defend her.
The only problem was, it wasn't working. The winds remained weak and barely there to Maria's amateur attempts. She looked out the hole where her window used to be and saw the silver curtain of magic still shimmering out in the street.
But she had killed the vampire responsible, hadn't she? Shouldn't the magic curtain have died with its caster?
Maria rolled her eyes. Yeah, because with all her nothing of proper magical knowledge and training that's exactly what should have happened. Well, if the magic couldn't find its way to her, then she would go to the magic.
She pushed through the pain, which was lessening at this point, never a good sign, and stumbled for the huge hole in the wall. Maria pulled on the last of her strength as she collapsed over the ledge and fell the three stories to the street.
The landing hurt. She couldn't cushion the impact with her biotics as much as she would have liked. The good news was with the harder landing Maria had bounced and rolled a fair bit closer to the shimmering silver wall.
She started to crawl, dragging her leg behind her, when she heard another person fall to the street. Footsteps approached from behind.
"Mannfred didn't warn us just how troublesome you'd be." It was the voice of the black-haired vampire. "Cunning bastard… must have slipped his mind. Betraying the Queen is no small thing. Our reward had better be equal to the effort."
Maria reached the translucent silver curtain but stopped short of passing through at the vampire's words. She had said 'our' effort. Our meaning plural, but Maria had already killed her partner.
A new voice from outside the shimmering curtain had Maria looking up the street. Another woman stepped out from the night.
"Mannfred is the heir to Sylvania and his mystical knowledge far surpasses that of his aging sire," the woman said calmly, her hands clasped gently in front of her dress. "Our own power will only grow when we join his side and help guide our kind into the new era."
As Maria lay bleeding in the street the pair of vampires unhurriedly walked forward until they both stood above her. She had the silver dagger, and at least her phalanx still had a thermal clip, but considering her injuries, the outcome of the fight wasn't in her favor.
It was too much of an effort just to keep her head up so Maria let it drop until her forehead rested on the cobblestoned street.
"Just so I know who's responsible for this," she started to ask, not sure if she was buying time or just putting off the inevitable, "when you say Mannfred, you're talking about the Mannfred von Carstein? One of Vlad von Carstein's heirs, the last Count of Sylvania, and the last vampire to wage open war against the Empire?"
"The very same," one of the women replied. "He sends his regards. This wasn't personal, you understand. Its just that when Vlad takes a fancy to something its in Mannfred's best interest to see that something claimed for his own… or outright destroyed."
Don't I feel special. Maria swallowed down her panic.
"History says Mannfred died in battle."
The woman scoffed. "Humanity is often wrong about our kind."
Maria looked up at the newcomer. She was beautiful in a creepy perfect kind of way. "Every vampire used to be human. You lot seem to forget that fact pretty quick."
The woman smiled, her eyes going black. "Perhaps, but now we are more. So much more."
A sudden breeze blew across the street, though it wasn't a breeze Maria felt on her skin, but rather inside her mind and body. The two vampires paused to acknowledge its abrupt rush over the street as well. The winds of magic had surged to a point Maria had felt it blowing even as she was stuck behind the magical barrier.
With nothing to lose and everything to gain, Maria thrust a hand forward, so it passed through the shimmering silver curtain, and focused her mind. The power now flowing through Wurtbad was staggering. It took Maria a precious second to just come to terms with what she was feeling. It was beyond anything she had experienced so far, rivaling the power of the beastmen's stone circle.
Her momentary shock passed. Maria focused and grabbed it all. All the magic in the street, all the magic in the city, she took it all and let it pour into herself. The power burned her mind. It hurt. But pain was nothing when compared to certain death.
Maria shut her eyes and filled her mind with the single consuming thought of the one place on this world she had felt even an ounce of something approaching safety. The sound of two vampires snarling in unison, along with a faint but deep rumble of laughter, was drowned out by the roar of magic, just as Maria felt an agonizing pull.
Then she fell.
/ooooooo\
Location: Nuln, city-state of the Empire
And she landed hard.
Her head was splitting. Her vision spotty. The last coherent thought in her head was, danger. She was in extreme danger and she had to defend herself. Maria could barley identify her new surroundings, but she could see solid black shapes moving in front of her and hear people shouting.
Threats. She was surrounded.
Maria's hand swept down to her belt as she struggled to a kneeling position. It was the simplest thing, but her hand couldn't find its way around a weapon. Fingers weren't working properly yet. That would probably happen when she yanks a bunch of magic into her head and then attempts something crazy, even by her standards.
Blinking a few more times and her eyes started to focus.
Maria found herself kneeling on a table that was rapidly turning red thanks to a growing pool of blood. Her blood? Yup. The stabbing pains proved that. She was injured thanks to… vargheists! And vampires!
She had spent the night in Wurtbad, got ambushed by vampires and vargheists, fought her way out, and then used the magic and one spell she knew to teleport across two Imperial provinces so she'd retreat to a safe place to hide and heal up.
Namely, the hidden safehouse built behind the stables used by the Valantina crime family.
The black shapes standing around her solidified into people with semi-recognizable faces. She smiled as she remembered the face directly in front of her.
It was the face of the man named Paul, one of Antonio's enforcers and someone she had worked closely with during her stay in the city.
Paul's mouth moved a few times before words came out. "Maria? Maria Shepard? Is that you? By the gods, what happened!?"
Maria shrugged. The effort nearly knocked her out. "Hi Paul. Wurtbad… vargheists… vampires… lots and lots of vampires." She tasted blood on her lips as a river began to flow out of her nose. Her ears also felt wet. The room began to spin as things went sideways.
"Help please."
And then she fell one more time, right off the table.