Chapter 25

KAIN

Perhaps they thought it poetically fitting, or maybe they just trying to spite me. Whatever the cause and reason, they had succeeded in arousing my anger. There are very few places in Nosgoth I considered special, even sacred. I had been laid to rest in this crypt and as far as the world was concerned this was where the Nobleman from Coorhagen known as Kain died and the place where my quest and new life as a vampire had begun. Tolerate the intrusion in this place I would not.

I was tempted, then and there, to drop the elemental disguise of darkness and emerge into the sight of the guards and watch as they chocked on the blood oozing from their necks. The temptation was indeed very strong. But no, I would not claim what I came here for that way. Dead men tale no tales.

As hard as it was, I willed silent the anger and continued on deeper into the mausoleum. More guards in light loose fitting animal skin armour stood at every corner but I sighted no more Druids.

Being in this place felt more like de-ja-vu than any part of my journeys into the past thus far. I had walked these same corridors a millennium ago and very quickly, I found the room in which it had all begun. The stone coffin was still there the lid ajar, still in the same position I had shoved it when I emerged. Untouched for centuries, I stood there staring at it, memories and feelings of that near indescribable moment coming back.

I was used to being a vampire by now but to a human the change is near overpowering. The heightened senses all screaming at oneself, the pounding of your heart in your chest and most importantly; the burning hunger. I could remember the new sensation as precise as if the experience had occurred yesterday.

"I hate this place." A voice from up ahead in the corridor stated; the sound echoing off the enclosed walls. Remaining to the elemental clock of darkness, I inched closer. There was movement at the end of the passageway, limp dimly by a fiery torch. "It's dark, damp and the people here are just plain weird."

"If the gold's good, who cares?" Another asked. From here I could make out two more of the guards. One was large and muscular with the armour on his left arm missing and the other was small and thin and hadn't even got armour on. All he had to protect himself with as an iron long sword at his side. "We do our job, we get paid. Who cares about the working conditions?"

"I do. Think I've caught a cold. My nose is all blocked up." The larger of sniffed loudly, whipping his nose on his sleeve before sneezing.

"Ya Pansy." The smaller one sighed with a hint of disgust in his voice. "What sort of mercenary for hire are you supposed to be?" The larger guard blew his nose on a piece of clothe he'd taken out from his pocket.

"Even the best of us catch colds from time to time." He replied stuffing it back. "It's been an hour hasn't it?" The smaller guard glanced up at the torch, judging how far the fire had burnt through the wood.

"Nah, another couple a minutes I guess. Why? You got some urgent appointment or somethin'?" The larger shook his head as silently I worked my way past them. I could easily dispatch both without any effort whatsoever, but that would alert the Druids and other guards to my presence and I wasn't prepared to reveal myself just yet.

"Nah, just gotta go for a wiz."

Evidentially my crypt was just part of a large underground necropolis that stretched a good way south. From the carvings on the walls at various points I determined that this had it's origins in ancient times, a burial site for humans who lived with the ancient vampires and Hylden. Why here? I kept asking myself. Why would the Druids choose such a place to set themselves up, so far away from their Sarafan allies? What could possible have drawn them to this region?

"Nothing got past us, I'm telling you this old crypt as dead as it always was." A voice from around a stone corner angrily said and I stopped to listen.

"You had best be right." Another speaker stated. "You just make sure you do your jobs while we do ours. We're nearly all gone. Wait for half an hour and then make yourself scarce." There a pause, followed by a loud churning as a pair of stone doors opened up. "May the eye of god be on you."

"Yeah whatever." Still hidden with elemental darkness, I made my way around the corner to face a dead end. The corridor ended abruptly just in front of me in a colossal yet strangely plain stone door jammed shut across my path. Standing guard was a single man. His armour was made of ordinary leather with bracers of brass. A long iron broadsword lay in a scabbard at his side. A single piece of dirty clothe was tied around his face across his nose.

Slowly I eased my way past him and once I was behind the man, I reached around and grabbed him. Before he could cry out I cut off his air supply by wrapping my arm around his throat. As he struggled there turning blue I read his mind. It had bothered me since I got here that the Druids had chosen such a place so isolated to conducted their affairs. From what information I could pick from this dull intellect, I learned that their order had chosen this place as their hideout because of it's close proximity to the Pillars of Nosgoth. They needed to be close to them, but why? This guard wasn't privileged to that information but from he had been able to overhear both the Druids and the Sarafan Order were working together on something that involved the Pillars, something they believed would bright them ultimate victory over the vampires once and for all. What could it be?

The guard didn't even gasp as I slide my talons through the back of his throat. He couldn't they were blocking his wide pipe. Silently he crashed to the ground and lay there, his blood slowly staining the stone.

Ignoring it I turned to the door. This hadn't been here when I was here last. The Druids without a doubt lay beyond it and having past all the guards that could alert them I had no more need for stealth. I cancelled the influence of darkness and became visible again. Telekinetically I called the Soul Reaver into my hand and grasped the hilt I slashed once at the stone.

With a loud crash the door caved inwards in a spray of brick dust.

In the chamber beyond was clearly a crypt chamber of some kind, a large central arena in the middle with a pair of curved stairs leading up to a large arched door on the far end. The ceiling curved upwards into a single point in the centre. Mostly it was empty, apart from the two Druids waiting for me. They were dressed as I observed them before, ceremonial purple robes with antler headdress like that worn by their founder.

"The devil!" One of them shouted, raising his arms up into the air, the swift recital of incantations on his lips even before he'd finished his exclamation. Sliding through the air in mist form I approached him, the Druids fire ball passed right through my being doing me no harm. I solidified before him and without a single word slid the Reaver through his chest cavity. The tip of the blade lanced out his back and he coughed up blood, convulsing before falling limp on the sword.

His companion screamed and ran trying to back a break for the stairs leading up to the doorway as fast as his robes would allow. Nimbly I picked him up using telekinesis and dragged him back towards me, kicking and screaming. His antler headdress fell off revealing him to be an old wrinkled man with a short beard. Desperately he clawed at the floor, scrambling for something to latch onto. He stopped when the tip of the Reaver hit the floor next to his head, gaining his undivided attention.

"Now, old man; I'm going to ask you some questions." I told him, picking him up by the front of his robes. "And if you wish to walk away alive I suggest you answer them truthfully." My lips pulled back over my fangs and I allowed him to get a full view of the sharp incisors.

"Yes, yes! Whatever you want, just don't hurt me!" He whimpered pathetically. A rather shameful display but what I was hoping for anyway. Usually when I wanted to get information I simply read the minds of others, but this one was different. Perhaps it was the location or the fact he was out of his mind with fear but whatever the cause I found it difficult to pull any information out of his brain. I was going to have to rely on old fashioned intimidation for this one.

"First of all, why do the Druids alley themselves with the Sarafan order?" He muttered inconsistently for a moment before my grip tightened. Their alliance needed to be explained. If the Princess of Willendrof was correct then they had been rivals until recently. I wanted to know why they made the alliance at all.

"We were ordered to." He replied simply with fear induced tears running down his cheeks.

"Who by?" I asked him staring him directly in the eyes.

"Grandmaster Sabre." The old man gibbered. "After the Sarafan lord was killed, he forged our alliance with the Sarafan. Handed them the sword..." Sabre was the one responsible for the alliance, and if he was a puppet of the Elder God then clearly this was orchestrated. But the question still remained…. why? Why would Druids take any interest in Sarafan affairs at all?

"What sword?" He demanded. "What sword did he give them?"

"Now that would be telling." A voice stated. Glancing up, I saw another Druids standing at the top of stairs glaring down at me. Unlike the other two, his robes were bright white and the antler headdress was gleaming gold, engraved with red runes down either side.

"Master Aurora!" The old man yelled out. "Help me please!" The Druids aloft simply held up his left hand in response and instantly a bolt of powerful magic screamed from his fingers and struck the old man. I let go and backed off as he screamed, his hair and robes burning away to near nothing. His skin followed, followed by his flesh piece by piece. His throat dried up and turned into ash, silencing his cries before he collapsing into a pile of blackened powder on the floor.

"You'll get no more information from him Kain." The high ranking Druid stated lowering his hand. "My name is Aurora, I'm second in command of the Druids of Bane under Grandmaster Sabre by the way."

"Charmed." In muttered dryly with narrowed eyes; tensing my hand around the hilt of the Reaver sword. "Are you here to fight or gloat?" I couldn't see his eyes but underneath the show his headdress produced I managed to see a thick smile.

"I've no interest in fighting you Kain, and as for gloating, I'm not as conceited and arrogant as Sabre." Aurora waved his hand in the air as if to dismiss some notion he was adopting. "The man's too overly religious for my taste. Well, at least he is now. I can remember when all he was interested in was hunting."

"He appears to have merged the two interests." Aurora paused to consider the statement before chuckling.

"That he has. You're an acute observer." I sensed not hostile intentions in him but that only meant he wasn't going to attack me physically.

"I don't suppose you're going to answer me questions as…" I gestured with my head to the old man's cremated remains on the floor. "… he no longer can." Aurora shook his head crossing his arms inside his robes.

"Oh Kain you should know better than that." I didn't think so. Well, if he was wasn't going to tell me willingly I'd just have to take it by force. I reached out telepathically to see into his mind and was struck down hard by a barrier around his brain that not only prevented entry but retaliated. "Sorry vampire." He tapped the side of his head with one finger. "Druids of certain rank and higher have glamour spells placed upon them to prevent noisy telepaths from going where they're not wanted." Gripping the Reaver in both hands and annoyed by the failed attempt I leapt at him reaching out with telekinesis to hold him in place. Not only did he shrug off the attempt to hold him down but he danced around my swings with inhuman agility.

The Druid backed off through the doorway at the top of the stairs and into a second smaller chamber. On the far end was an arched golden circle that was clearly of ancient vampire origin. It even had an energy orb on the right hand side powering it. It was a transporters gate, used the ancient to move from one settlement to another quickly. "Please don't tell me this is this extent of your skill. If you're meant to be Sabre's challenger at the time of election, I think this is going to be a little too easy." Aurora told me backing off out of sword reach, his foot steps so carefully and expertly placed it appeared as if he were gliding.

"Time of Election?" I repeated facing him. "And just what pray tell is that?" His face suddenly bore a very genuinely surprised look. In fact he looked stunned by my asking.

"You…you mean you don't know?" He asked, before bursting out laughing finding the whole notion incredible amusing. I growled at him. "Oh, this is a delight. Not only are you unimpressive in skill but you're still I the dark about the destiny we all rush towards?"

"I can estimate it has something to do with wgt your lair is so close to the pillars." The Druids stifled his laugher but coughing, placing a hand in front of his mouth.

"Oh, perceptive as well as an acute observer." He clapped lightly. "But since you've discovered us here, we've been forced to move our operations elsewhere. All my kinsmen have already left through the gate. They were quite put out with the decision. A lot of them really wanted to try and kill you." He gestured to the ring behind him. "I am all that remains."

"Then you will be the one to answer my questions." I stated angrily reaching for him with talons outstretched.

"I think not Kain." He told me with a smile, clicking his fingers. Instantly he was surrounded by a white glow. The beginnings of a translocation spell. "Goodbye vampire. We'll meet again soon. Although I doubt you'll enjoy the encounter." He stated before he faded away completely into nothing. The man was gone before I reached him, the white haze vanishing with him.

Some of my questions have been answered, only for more to take their place. This constant search for the truth was beginning to tax my patience. Now I knew for certain it was the Elder God responsible for this alteration in history, although I had still not ascertained the why. I had had a small glimpse of their plans, and they involved the pillars and whatever this… 'Time of Election' was. But still I was for the majority in the dark. Looking up I glared at the gate, hoping that I could activate it to go after the Druids, only to find the orb allowing it to function had been cracked and compromised. The glow inside was gone. The item was useless as was the gate without one. Aurora must have stayed behind to destroy it to make sure I did not follow before teleporting himself away. Ensuring I did not find out about their ultimate intentions before they were ready.

I could sense that guards the Druids had left behind approaching, attracted by the sounds of battle. Infuriated by the escape of my quarry, I simply waited for them. Bolting in through the collapsed door they met their end in a blaze of red.