(I do not own LoK, etc.)

SALLY

Chapter 10: The city of Meridian

Seven hundred years? Propelled a drastic amount of time into the future, Sally could see, no; feel the corruption in the air. What had happened that so drastically altered Nosgoth in this way?

Had all of them not experience bizarre things of this nature before, their minds would have rejected the possibility completely. But the evidence was more than clear. Neither of them was in control of this situation that was clear. The former Sarafan himself suspected they never had been, now more than ever.

The city of Meridian was a ghastly dank place. A maze of streets and back allies, all clocked in shadow. The soft veil of the night gathering over the world like a wave preparing to sweep over them all.

Banners of the second Sarafan crusade fluttered everywhere, that cross like symbol on a blood red banner; although a lot of them had either fallen away or torn. Very few humans walked the streets, and those that did seemed to have the common sense to stay mostly out of sight. But what was most disturbing about this metropolis was it's size. This district alone covered acres of ground. Nothing came close to comparing to it before. They were from a simpler time, of small huddled villages and towns: warm taverns with a tankard of mead at the ready.

Kain, the vampire who had taken it upon himself to lead their small band seemed to know where he was going and eventually he leads them all over the rooftops to an abandoned shop in a decay street. A rotted sign with the words: Blue Lady, 'Curious' flapped in the wind outside.

"This will do for now." The vampire stated, leading them down into a surprising amount of underground stone chambers beneath the establishment, giving one last look through a few last empty rooms, as if confirming it was abandoned. "You should wait here Janos." He told the ancient vampire.

"And where are you going?" Janos asked wearily, settling himself down by the side of a wall, using his large black wings to keep himself warm.

"I have business else ware." Kain replied, sheathing the Reaver across his back. "You and your…" He paused to give Sally and Ewoden a sideways glance. "Friends; should be safe here for a time." Without another word, he vanished, disappearing into the midst of a translocation spell.

With little to no knowledge of this new time, they had little option but to follow his advice. This Nosgoth was new to their eyes and wandering around without foreknowledge of events was dangerous.

The city stank. It was an appalling smell that almost made the former Sarafan want to gag. After some investigation, Ewoden discovered that it was rising from large grate over a sewer pipe leading downwards in one of the chambers. They were all used to small settlements, dingy taverns and dirt floors. This more advanced age of metal and stone seemed alien and strange.

"I never thought, after so many years that you would still be alive." Janos began wearily.

"When we left to find the Scion of Balance, you had only recently been murdered." Ewoden replied, giving the interior of the now deserted sanctuary another look around. "Something happened to the Order after they took your heart, in our time it was dying away." The ancient chuckled.

"It seemed to have made a come back." He gestured towards the world around him. "As for my heart…" He began, before Sally held out a hand silencing them both. Through their shared link in the Whisper Ewoden could sense that her sensitive vampiric hearing that picked up something. Janos stopped and looked thoughtful as well, as if he could hear the exact same thing. It took a moment, but eventually Ewoden managed to pick it up as well, the familiar sound of marching feet clad in armour. By the echoing sound that made it's way from the corrupted world outside.

The sound Ewoden only associated with a large band of Sarafan Knights. The marching endured for another few moments, before beginning to dissipate, vanishing into the silence. The former Sarafan let out a small sigh.

"One of us should probably investigate that." Sally muttered, brushing a few strands of blonde hair out of her eyes. Janos shook his head.

"Kain's plan should be followed. We should wait here until he returns." Ewoden chuckled to himself, folding his arms.

"IF he returns." The vampires character was certainly in question. He didn't seem the friendliest of people at least. The suspicion that he had gone and dumped them here while he made off in some other direction seemed more than probably. Hours began to pass and every now and then, they would hear more and more patrols. All sounded like at least a dozen men in armoured boots, marching to a beat drummed out by someone up front. A standard Sarafan marching drill. "Have we heard five groups by now, is it the same bunch walking around in circles?" Ewoden asked, leaning against the nearest wall to the outside with his ear pressed against it. Sally shook her head.

"The first ones didn't have a drummer." She pointed out, a frown set steadfast on her face. "I'm going to have a look." That ignited worry in the former Sarafan, worry that despite his best efforts leaked over his end of the Whisper. He had heard at least two dozen men up there walking around, and if they were all Sarafan Knights they would try to kill her. She smiled at him, flattered by his petrified concern for her well being and at the same time pushing over reassuring thoughts and emotions to him.

Her thoughts told him that she would take the greatest care. She would only be gone for a moment, just to see what was happening. Once she had that information, she would return right here.

"Keep the Whisper open." Janos announced, his own highly tuned vampiric senses allowing him to ease drop on their private conversation. "That way, if you get in any trouble we can come to your aid as quickly as we can." That came out as he intended it to, as an order rather than a request. When an ancient vampire gave you an order, even a pacifist like Janos, you obeyed it without question.

She could sense that Ewoden was still not happy about it, but he let her go, handing her Havoc; one of his Axes to defend herself with. She'd expected the weapons to unbearably heavy, but in fact this weapon felt as light as one of her throwing daggers.

Sally began her recognisance by remaining hidden in the shadows of the abandoned shop above, watching out the window. There were indeed a lot of Sarafan knights outside, all arranged in a stand platoon formation. But these knights were nothing like the lightly armoured warriors of their era. The knights of this time were clad in armour so thick is looked far to heavy for them to physically lift it. Those at the front had the largest armour, with large paring shields on each arm and an almost ridiculously large broadsword strapping to the underside of the one on their left hand side. Their helmets had a red duo of plume arching forwards, a large steal mask protecting the lower half of their faces. A long red flowing cape, with their order's symbol on it flowed out behind them. The other knights were less glamorised, but never the less their armour was sufficiently different to the warriors Sally had been used to seeing.

They patrolled the streets in ranks. When they came across a human they demanded it's alliance of it. If the answer wasn't the almighty Sarafan, they cut them down then and there. Sally saw it happened. One man with a back bone stood up to them and called their order nothing but fascist regime. The interrogating knight didn't hesitate, he simply withdrew his broadsword and ran the unfortunate through.

Those that did swear alliance, they took with them; knocking on the doors of buildings that looked like they could still house people. By the time they began to make their way to the Wharves along the river, trailing alongside them at sword point were at least two hundred humans. All of them looked ragged and tried, some obviously not fed for days.

Sally watched from the roof stops of a building. Waiting for them were several war ships and fraters, all barring the Sarafan banners. From here, it looked like the knights were evacuating the populace, but this looked more like a round up than an evacuation. Crates were being loaded onto cargo vessels, all full of seized items taken from the Upper city. The Sarafan warriors had strip mined the district, taking anything of value and leaving the buildings themselves to rot.

"Rejoice my brothers." A voice from the ships proclaimed. Everyone, including the Sarafan knights looked up. Standing at the top of the gang way was a man clad in a pure white robe, three golden belts were wrapped around his waist and torso and one over his should, a hood heading over his head concealing the upper half of his face. He had the hair and beard of a grey old man, but he had a strangely well built body underneath his clothes. "The mercy of the one god has delivered you to the light, from the dark that dwells to the north." The crowd of humans looked nervous. They'd heard all this before. The Sarafan had been preaching this exact same thing before and they'd gotten from them was two centuries of dictatorship. "These ships will safely bare you to the east, to the province of Willendorf. There you will remain safe from the vampire menace, until the master conquers the monstrous Kain." That word sent hushed whispers throughout all of them. Kain was a name all of them knew. "Come, now we take you home." The Sarafan knights all drew their swords and began herding the reluctant citizenry onto the boats, some with the edges of blades pressed against their backs. "Do not resist my friends." The old man added quickly when it began obvious the crowd. "This is the will of god, who smiles on us and under his watchful eye we will be delivered to salvation." This guy took preaching to a whole new level, Sally thought to herself. Ewoden agreed, he'd heard his Order do some motivating speeches before; but his man excelled.

Janos wondered why all the people were being forced to leave. Willendorf was hardly suited for such a population. With the Sarafan's record taken into account, there had to be some ulterior motive.

"Perish in the light fiend!" A voice shouted and Sally knew instantly that her position was compromised. Before she could react, a Sarafan Warrior clad in full armour rose up in front of her, flying on a pair of whit angelic wings made of pure light it seemed and not just any light, sunlight!

Their very presence burned Sally and she recoiled back to the far wall, trying cover herself; her skin beginning to blacken as rays of white fell over her.

"SALLY NO!" Ewoden nearly screamed down the Whisper. Reaching for one of her daggers, Sally cast the weapon directly at the Sarafan who had not been prepared for it and the blade sank through the armour and into the flesh; blood oozing out through the cracks in the metal. He screamed and descended towards the ground, the glow from the wings died down. Still blinded, Sally desperately tried to escape. Even before she could two more angel like Sarafan came seemingly out of nowhere, their wings burning her light never before.

Cornered light a animal, she desperately lashed out with the Axe Havoc at anything she could see but the light was no much. It burned, she could feel her skin begin to smoulder; thick smoke rising from her arms and legs.

Then, as everything went dark all she heard with a brief rush of a translocation spell engulf her body before she blacked out.