Sorry it's been such a long wait. My computer has been playing up and I haven't been able to do much because of it. Not only that but I'm also starting to pick up Prime Mover again. But here it finally is Chapter Seven.
Remember: I own nothing except Briar and the brays and if Code Masters or Triumph Studios want to use them, they can.
Legacy of the Overlord
Chapter Seven: The Return of the Red Hood
Quaver's Ditty
There was a girl from Hills so Mellow
Whose blood sent the townsfolk screaming
But now the girl's become a Lady
She'll start her evil scheming.
------ LoO ------
The weather was perfect, the sun was shining bright on the virgin snow and covered the trees in gold as the dawn chorus was in full swing. There was no indication of what was about to happen; of what was making its way up to the surface world. For the Glorious Empire there would be no warning.
Four years had passed since her first attack against the Empire, four years since saving Ox, who was now a fully grown wendigo of great strength and firm loyalty, four years since she took up the mantle of the Overlords. She had withdrawn from the surface world for those many years, gaining strength, training her minions and brays, breeding her dogs so the pups could be mounts for her minions, improving her own strength and finesse... plotting, scheming and searching for the locations of the other minion tribes. And now, Briar once again stepped out into the great ice cave that hid the surface entrance to the Netherworld as her dogs and a small force of minions and brays rose from the hot depths of the Netherworld with her, eager to set out for their Dark Lady's bidding.
She was tall. She towered over most other women and she was stronger than most men thanks to her heritage, her armour was much more menacing now as Giblet had been able to experiment and her armour was very ornate, with minion and bray motifs gave the iron plate armour a feeling of being carved from rock. Of course, her trademark red cloaks, including her powerful Cloak of Shadows, gave her an air of fear.
After an accident involving a raid on an Empire camp to get resources and lifeforce, she had been minorly wounded and had smeared some of her arcane blood onto the beautiful unicorn cloak. It had been like a sudden memory, like something she had forgotten and had then proceeded to complete the powerful artifact. Mortis had been so proud of her.
Her arm guards and guantlets were strong and thick since she had a tendency to use them to use them as shields, blocking the blows from her opponents before striking out at them with her custom made katana-like sword, called Ruffian, again decorated with minion and bray decals. Her mask, which had gone through many designs over the past years, also had the minion and bray decorations carved into it and had been gilded with gold in the groves caused by the engraving process. As the deep, rich red light from the lava reached her mask and shone from the gold on her mask and armour, the decal of a rose flower with its stem wrapped in a velvet ribbon could be seen on the right cheek while her vivid blue eyes peered from the eye holes as the nineteen year old scanned the surrounding cave. Some minions who had been placed on guard at the cave approached. "Da' Lady approaches."
"The Master? Oh, the Master, the Master. Yay!"
"Out of way Gribble," Rasp said from the back of Jagger "Dark Lady got things to do." Pushing the younger minion out of the way so Briar could walk on.
"You are most correct Rasp." Quaver said standing on top of a barrel of stolen food from a recent raid on a camp. "Today our Dark Lady will seek out the reds, we can finally begin to rebuild the Dark Forces! The minion hordes will once again claim what is our Master's!"
"Yeah! Come Dark Lady! Follow! Follow!" the minions shouted running ahead of her, the dogs barking and tails wagging. She jogged to keep up hearing the thundering feet of Ox behind her. They didn't stop until they reached a large open area where the minions had put up scaffolding to make sure the ice cave didn't collapse, to one side was a minion gate dug out by minion digger when they began to build the scaffolding some years ago, when Gnarl and the others had first found the surface entrance to the Netherworld.
"Dark Lady, way blocked." Torn said as Jagger, who he was riding, tried to dig at the large amount of snow that had been driven into the cave by Nordberg's chilling wind the other minions climbed up onto the snow drift to try and dig a way for their master.
"Ox, you know what needs to be done." Briar said calmly and watched as the albino wendigo walked past her. He was wearing huge plates of armour over his arms with studs and spikes on them, custom made by Giblet and his crew in the Foundations, as a means of making his already terribly destructive punches and arm swipes even more destructive. He made easy work of tearing down the blockage of ice and driven snow, unfortunately casting poor Quaver down into the pit. Shame, he was quite a favorite of Briar's.
"Hey, help me out! I want to be on the field of battle, the roar of the beasts, the smell of the minions!" She should have remembered, however, that Quaver had a strange way of getting out of near death situations. But she had better things to do than help a minion climb out of a pit and she led the way to the outside as Ox made sure there were no more drifts in the way.
Soon enough the bright Nordberg sun was shining on the areas of Briar's armour that were not covered by her cloaks. In the distance she could see the recognizable twin peaks between which Nordberg Town had been built but it would take the better part of a day to reach the town on foot.
Besides, Briar had no plans to go near the town yet, she wanted to find the Red minions first before tackling the Empire forces in the town since recent reports by minions and overheard gossip from the Empire soldiers about 'red demons' being seen in the vicinity of a cave needed to be investigated. If the reports turned out to be nothing at all, so be it, the brown horde was strong for now and the occasional raid against small camps could only do so much for the brown's boredom levels, fighting between minions in the Netherworld was escalating and they needed to take their agitation out on the Empire.
Briar looked out over the nearby snow flats and felt her elegant brows cross when she saw igloos and fires at the very base of the small mountain which hid the entrance to the Netherworld. Although it was unlikely the hunters would come to the mountain since they were probably interested in wolves and the seals but they were too close for Briar's comfort, they would have to be 'convinced' to move their camps elsewhere. Having wasted enough time looking at the situation Briar led her horde down the thin ledge that led to the coast as it was the only place that could be reached at this time of year, the winter snow would have blocked the other paths by now and she could use the excuse to collect more lifeforce for her minions. It should be the fur seals breeding season now.
She heard the calls of the young seal pups as they lounged on the snow banks and the minions began hissing with hate at the 'furry rats'. For some reason all minions absolutely detested seal pups, saying their big eyes could see into your soul and so they had to be eradicated from the face of the world; Briar didn't know if any of it was true but that didn't matter, all she cared about was the lifeforce the young seals had. When she gave the minions the command to kill the seal pups on the snow banks her forces wasted no time in attacking, with the bray shamen casting slowing spells on the surprisingly nimble pups to give the minions chance to catch the furry critters before they escaped into the sea. Ox stayed with Briar, his bulk wouldn't help here but he could have a little snack on a couple of the carcasses when the minions finished them off, the blood soon drenching the snow and the lifeforce flowing to the gem in Briar's gauntlet. Some of the minions were skinning the seals and throwing the bloody pelts over themselves as grotesque attire. Laughing and giggling like kids the whole time.
As the minions continued to cull the seal pups, Ox discovered another snow drift and after finishing his snack of skinned seal, used his huge strength to batter a way through for his Dark Lady and her warriors. Coming face to face with a human male wearing thick fur coats and leather boots on the other side once he dusted himself free from the snow, a hunter from the looks of him and he rubbed his hands together, muttering something about 'piles of gold' as he approached the perplexed wendigo with a club. Having killed the seals on that stretch of beach Briar had followed Ox to see the hunter come up to the albino.
"Hey! What'd you want?" the hunter said in a gruff voice.
"What do you think you were going to do with my wendigo?" Briar asked calmly approaching with the minions and brays following. Her dogs and their respective riders walking by her side, having long been considered sort of bodyguards to her. Behind them were other minions mounted on their pups, they would still need to find some wolves however, much of her horde were still unmounted. The hunter grinned widely from the fur lining his hood, strong in the belief he was the superior in this matter.
"I have a permit from the Empire to hunt on these lands, this is my wendigo! I saw it first! Get lost! Go get your own!"
"Very well, try and take him." Briar said, the minions and brays watched wanting to see what Ox would do to this insolent arsehole that would dare talk to their lady like that. The hunter delivered a swift blow with his club to Ox's abdomen, the huge tundra animal just looked at the hunter then to the area of his chest where the club hit; he didn't even feel the blow. But it was the act of actually hitting him that got Ox angry. The hunter, realizing he had probably bitten off more than he could handle began to back off, but Ox wasn't letting him off that easy. The wendigo's roar made Briar's chest vibrate and the minions cheer, the first of Ox's blows flattened the hunter and the Dark Lady heard several sickening cracks, the second hit probably wasn't nesscary, but it sent the limp body flying into the air as Ox roared after him. The wendigo calmed when he turned back to face Briar and bowed his head.
"Ox go and see what ahead, perhaps more hunters?" with that, the huge albino creature sauntered off as the minions went to kill some more seal pups and some protective mothers. Briar let him go, it would take more than a bunch of hunters armed only with clubs and spears to do any significant damage to the hardy wendigo.
"Brilliant Dark Lady, the minion hive down here is near overflowing with lifeforce!" Gnarl's voice sang in her head.
"The tower needs to be repaired and I have to grow my hordes, start the repairs now Gnarl and expect to have more minions by the end of day, have the strongest begin training for the army." Briar explained whistling to call the minions and brays back to her, carrying on along the ice sheets.
"Of course, Mistress, I'll assign the new boys tasks as soon as they're with us." Gnarl's presence in her head disappeared as the old brown leader left to execute his master's will.
It was not long before the Overlord and her small horde heard the sounds of chaos at the small camp Briar had seen from the thin path on the mountain, seems like Ox had discovered the camp and was softening up the hunters for them. The horde charged with Briar leading and the brays starting their chants to slow the hunters down and give the browns even more strength than they possessed already. Ox and Briar didn't need any enchantments.
"Tear down the igloos, make sure they don't come here again!" Briar ordered and immediately the minions began to tear and hack at the snow blocks and Ox just pounded away at any nearby igloos, working their ways like fire across a wheat field to the other igloos and freeing any wolves they found trapped in cages. It seemed that wolves had been the main animal species these hunters had been after, and reading one of the Empire permits she had found on one of the hunters she could guess why. Her raiding parties had always used wolves and now the Empire was seeking to have the wolf population in Nordberg culled to avoid more casualties and stolen resources. Again, Ox went off on his own as the battle began to calm down and the hunters lay at the Dark Lady's steel covered boots.
"Shepherd! Look! Lifeforce!" a bray called from the back of a newly mounted wolf (the minions had taught the brays how to tame the wolves to improve their hit and run tactics in raids). Tossing the permit to the snow Briar saw the largest gathering of baby seals she had ever seen... she could almost smell the blood and snow, and quickly led her forces across the ice sheets hoping to catch the seals before they saw the danger. A trio of mother seals were the first to be targeted by the minions and one was easily dispatched by Briar's sword before she went to help a group of her minions who had overturned another of the mother seals. Briar was about to thrust her sword into the adult seal's head when a voice called out that did not belong to her minions or brays.
"Stop this barbaric slaughter at once!" Briar and the horde froze, seeing a relatively large ship had sailed up along the ice sheets without anyone noticing it until the sailors had called out. Three thin humanoid figures jumped down to the ice, dressed in colourful leather armour and forest green clothes. Briar realized with some indignation that they were elves.
"Damn tree huggers." The Dark Lady thought to herself still holding her sword aloft to plunge into the mother seal, who seemed just as stunned as the Overlord and the brown creatures holding her still.
"I am Florean Greenheart and these are the Soldiers of the Sanctuary! Sworn protectors of the Sanctuaries and all creatures of magical nature!"
"Wood elves, the worst damn tree huggers of all." Briar added to her previous thought, rolling her eyes which had once more gained their magical blue glow. The elves that had jumped down from the ship and the few that had remained on the deck gasped at the revelation.
"You're a magical creature too! What a beautiful glow, never seen karma like that before though." one of the elves to Florean's side said.
"It looks like light magic, very powerful at that, Dude."
"You should come meet Queen Fay, she'd... "
"Jareth! We cannot bring this monster before the great Queen Fay. Look, at what she's doing..." Briar and her horde... even the mother seal had stopped struggling, were still too dumbstruck to move. The baby seals had returned from fleeing to the sea, thinking that danger had passed.
"But those eyes are beautiful." Jareth argued "She can't be doing these despicable things."
"Aren't they in for a shock. Ha ha!" Gnarl's voice said in her head, he must have got back from sorting out the new minions. "I've sent some minions out to collect the seal carcasses. Very tasty are deep-fired seal dumplings, Mistress... well you know already having tried some."
"In a situation here Gnarl."
"Oh... right, sorry Mistress."
"I'm sure there's a perfect reason for this misunderstanding." the third elf said, looking hopefully at Briar. Briar's arms were getting stiff, so she plunged her sword down, killing the mother seal. The elves were heartbroken but not Florean was galvanized into action.
"That's it! Charge soldiers, protect the fluffy ones!" Briar's forces were one step ahead and were already hacking away at the nimble elves. Florean was the only one able to reach it back to the ship which promptly sailed away, leaving Briar and her small horde to continue culling the seal pups and stripping the two dead elves of their clothes, armour and weapons. Gnarl was very pleased, unlike the newborn minions who had to take the long way back down to the Netherworld carrying the dead seals.
------------
Briar's forces continued following the path around the mountain, following the coast, killing seals and hunters and demolishing one other hunter camp along the way. Grubby, the leader of the minion diggers was able to create a minion gate so Briar could call some more backup but so far her warriors were proving efficient and none had been lost, injuries and new scars were present of course even on a few of the brays who had got a bit too close to the action. After a few more hours of walking and the occasional jog they had come to yet another hunting camp, this one much bigger than the other two they had demolished and Briar knew this was probably the base camp for the hunters in this whole area, once this camp was destroyed the hunters shouldn't be back for a long while.
"Lady Briar," Ox's deep, growling voice gained her attention as she watched the hunters mill around the igloos, secure in the belief that they were safe in their base camp. "Ox have plan to trick Pointy Ears." She took her eyes from the camp and turned her full attention to the large wendigo staring down on her.
"What's your plan?"
"Ox trick Pointy Ears into taking him to Sanctuary, Ox look for firey minions before Briar gets into Sanctuary."
"That wouldn't be a bad idea Mistress. While you and the horde find a way to get in, because it's unlikely the elves are just going to let you walk in after that little fight on the ice sheets, Ox can find the Red minion hive and all you would have to do is take it to the nearest gate." Gnarl said, having heard the wendigo over the link he and Briar shared via her mask and the Netherworld.
"Yes that is a good idea, do you think you'll be able to find the sanctuary though Ox?"
"Ox already think he found Sanctuary." the wendigo said, making Briar's eyebrows rise under her mask. "Many year ago Ox found big cave full of green plants and very warm, Pointy Ears were there too and many magic creatures. Cave actually not far from here, in small wood." Briar gave the idea some thought, trying to see if there was anything that could go wrong. So long as the elves hadn't seen Ox with her it was a good plan, it was worth a try at the very least.
"Okay, you go ahead Ox and see what you can find, be careful though," Briar warned as the large animal walked in the direction of the hunters' camp "elves maybe tree huggers but they are a little more dangerous than humans." She and the horde watched as Ox caused a little mayhem and chaos in the camp before she led her horde in a charge. The hunters were totally unprepared for their attack since they had only been concentrating on the albino wendigo. As the minions, brays and their wolf mounts tore down the igloos and freed yet more wolves from cages, Ox continued. The wendigo reached a pier where the hunters had moored their sealing boats and seeing the elves ship in the distance he called out. His distress call reaching the sensitive hearing of the pointy ears and watched as they maneuvered their ship closer, he turned to see his Lady had destroyed the camp and had made her way to the same pier he was on. From the elves point of view it looked as if she had cornered him.
Perfect, the elves would think she was trying to kill him.
Briar guessed his plan too and drew her sword from its protective sheath as she summoned a fireball in her free hand, the minions looked confused but followed the lead of their Overlord.
"Were my comrades and the fluffy ones not enough?" came Florean's annoying voice once again "Hurry! Hurry, come here boy!" Ox jumped onto the ship, almost capsizing the vessel but was able to sit in the center of the ship and avoid it sinking. "As if we didn't have enough problems with the Empire, without you trying to expunge us. Come now, back to the Sanctuary!" The ship sailed off with Ox in its grasp.
Some people thought wendigos were stupid, little better than animals, but Briar knew the truth in that they could be just as clever as humans, or Ox was just an exception to a rule, she did not know many wendigos. Either way the plan was working perfectly, she and her horde could focus on other things.
With Ox fulfilling his plan she could only wait unless she could find the cave he had told her about. He said it wasn't too far from here so if the minions searched hard they should find it. Briar carried on letting the fireball disintegrate in her hand but although she was strong in the knowledge that Ox wouldn't let her down, she was a little worried for him. He had become a very good friend during her exile underground and many times had helped her practice her sword skills.
The minions and their master came to an area of forest which had been cleared recently, Briar could smell the fresh cut wood and strong fires.
"Where trees gone?" Gloob asked, looking at a nearby stump from Grim's back.
"Someone's been logging this area." Briar explained, which was strange because this little artic woodland was too insignificant to warrant such a decision, even by the greed of the Glorious Empire. She halted her forces when she saw a collection of hunters with Empire soldiers creating a flaming blockade at the entrance of a cave. The minions, brays and their canine mounts hid behind small foliage and the larger tree stumps while Briar listened from the safety of some nearby scaffolding.
"Hurry it up! This cave is invested and the Captain wants the entrances sealed." An Empire soldier barked out at the hunters throwing logs and branches onto two flaming pyres. "They want us to hold this entrance before they send in the legions to destroy the elves stronghold."
"Looks like we found the Sanctuary." Briar smiled behind her mask and her glowing eyes intensified as she gave her warriors the signal to creep forwards from their cover and attack, the brays began their quiet chants, the great roar from the burning fires covering their haunting words. Briar, however, called upon another fireball, backed away from the scaffolding and threw the powerful burning magic at the makeshift tower sending the soldiers and hunters into disarray. The minions were in their element.
"Bash! Bash! Bash!"
"For the Dark Lady!"
"For the Great Shepherd!" It was over in a couple of minutes and before Briar even had the chance to engage any of the confused humans the minions were already stripping their corpses of gold and weapons. Seeing their master head into the cave the minions and brays rushed after her, most of them losing their wolf mounts who were frightened of the still burning pyres. Only Grim and his extended pack continued to follow into the darkness of the cave.
------ LoO ------
It was dark, damp and the sounds of insects and other small animals crawling and scuttling over the walls and on the rock and stone over head could be heard clearly given how loud the echoes were in caves. It was only the glowing gem set into Briar's guantlet and the glowing eyes of her and her horde which gave this small tunnel any light but despite the glow it wasn't powerful enough to expel the darkness more than just a few feet in front of them. As they went deeper in, Briar could see dim, glowing light just a little way along the passageway and the sound of male voices accompanied it. With surprising stealth for a horde of thirty they moved on, getting close to the fire light and Briar was better able to hear the conversation.
"Oh, do hurry up! I have a warm oil and a plate of Quail's eyeballs to attend to."
"Filthy fat bastard." Gnarl said outraged "Everybody knows you never eat quail eyeballs near heat! It spoils the flavour..." the old brown minion continued to rant as
Briar pushed him from her mind so she could listen in on the conversation the Empire Governor was par of. His conversation was held by a battalion Captain that Briar could vaguely remember from the night they forced her from Nordberg, recognizable by his golden armour and pot belly. The first speaker who had got Gnarl ranting about the etiquette of food; Briar would never forget.
He was fatter than the last time she had seen him, obviously the cold was having no effect on him. Borius; the one who embodied the loss of her second home, the loss of friends... good friends. Most people would have charged, most would've damned the consequences and plunged a sword straight into the enormous flab of the Empire slob. But Briar was not other people. Borius and the captain were with a whole Empire battalion, the soldiers appeared wounded but they still had their weapons and Captains kept a firm grip on their soldiers' morale.
"Of course Borius, I thought you would like to meet the... brave survivors, who tracked the magical creatures to this area." The Captain seemed nervous about introducing his Governor to these 'survivors'. "And these are just the lucky ones." Shifting her weight a little Briar was able to get a better look at the soldiers. Most were covered in bandages while some had got only some bruises and cuts, a group of men looked completely unharmed, though one was waving his arms around like wings.
"What's up with you, Maximus?" a fellow unharmed soldier beside him asked.
"No, from now on I am called 'Miss Trixibelle Buttercup Fairy'!"
" ... ... Have you been at that Nordberg Eggnog stuff again?"
"You must all come and visit me when I move into my mushroom house." Briar liked reading and many times she had read Gnarl's books on magical creatures from cover to cover and to her there was only one species of magical creature strong enough to cast such high level of confusion magic, but was benign enough to make Maximus near harmless; a pixie. But she had seen first hand Nordberg's eggnog have a similar effect too.
What was this Sanctuary? Nordberg was cold, pixies could only live where it was hot.
"SIC, Species Identity Crisis, it's a terrible thing." The Captain explained in dismay. "While the elves were retreating they left this strange artifact behind." the men in the battalion shifted around for a bit and Briar was able to see that they had been concealing a statue. It was a beautiful, intricately carved statue of a woman wearing a heavy robe covering her from head to foot and in the woman's hands was a large, shiny, black gemstone. Probably jet or perhaps obsidian "We have no idea what it is, but it was well guarded."
"Well make sure it doesn't eat anyone, then bring it to my town hall."Borius ordered, his pudgy hands pawing at the statue's gem. The Captain began to arrange the battalion and they lifted the statue, following the gold armoured Captain and Borius further into the caves. They had left Trixiebelle and the other uninjured men to guard the area.
"Mistress, we can't let that statue get into Borius' fat fingers!" Gnarl all but screamed down their link. The statue had already disappeared from sight and on Gnarl's frantic order, Briar charged from her cover as did her horde who jumped down to the same level as the guards, catching them unawares. 'Trixibelle' screamed girlishly as Briar's sword, Ruffian, slipped through a gap inbetween his ribs, piercing his lungs. The minions were already overwhelming the other guards by the time Briar had pulled her sword free and cut off his head in one smooth motion, dashing his dream of a mushroom house along with his blood on the cave floor.
"Gnarl, what's going on? What's so important about that statue?" Briar asked allowing some of the minions to swap armour and weapons with the dead corpses.
"That statue is actually a relic, it is very important to us minions but was stolen many thousands of years ago. It rightfully belongs to us anyway. It's a tribute to your ancestor, the Great Sorceress who called the First Minion to serve her son, the First Overlord.
Due to absolute centuries of being worshiped by minion-kind it gained a magic of its own and is now powerful enough to act as an arcane link straight to Hell! If Borius or those soldiers damage the statue then it could cause an explosion to rival that of the Great Cataclysm!"
That would be bad.
Briar didn't want the people pf Nordberg to become like those in Mellow Hills or the rest of the Kingdom of Belmna. Breaking into a sudden run to catch up with the battalion the minions rushed after their master, following her deeper into the caves until they came to a large natural chamber, eroded out by an underground river ran through it. In the middle of the chamber was the statue, surrounded by the bodies of the soldiers who had been carrying it; Borius, the Captain and some of the men were no where in sight; whatever happened here must have caused them to leave the statue as it was. As Briar and her forces approached she saw a group of gnomes slink away into the darkness of the cavern's shadows.
"That went easier than I expected." Briar said to herself. "Gnomes alone couldn't have done this much damage..." Briar thought, feeling Gnarl nod his head in silent agreement. "Make sure this isn't trap, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Empire used there own men as bait." Briar ordered several nearby minions. She recognized them as Frog and Wex, the third was one of the newborns and probably didn't have a name yet. They scurried off to do their master's bidding.
"At least we have the statue back, after a good couple of thousand years I imagine the minions are going to be very happy to have their tribute statue back. Naturally, the Sorceress became a sort of Goddess to the minion tribes with her descendants as her messengers and saints. To us, Dear Mistress, you are a living holy artifact." Gnarl explained as Briar watched her minions pawing and hugging at the black, Netherworld statue; the brays just observing the statue unknowing of its importance to the minions. The jovial mood shifted in an instant when Briar rounded to the river, drawing her sword and pointing it at what looked like a tree on the other side of the river. The horde thought for just a minute that maybe their master had been wrong or was just being a little jumpy, until the tree moved and they were able to take in more of its features.
"Welcome to the Sanctuary, creature of Light." It was a dryad, and she seemed to have some sort of trouble with her eyes because the plant-woman was squinting at the female Overlord. As the dryad came closer to the start of a fallen log which acted as a bridge across the river other magical creatures came to join her, pixies, fairies, elves, unicorns and more dryads came to stand on the other side of a makeshift bridge made from a fallen tree, the pixies, fairies and a couple of the elves were squinting in the same way as the dryad. "We did not mean to spook you, you can put down your sword." The dryad said in a patronizingly gentle voice.
"I think you need to look closer, I am no creature of the Light'." Briar said, Gloob, Rasp, Gash, Pummel and Torn along with some of her minions had picked up their weapons and had come to stand by her to protect both her and the statue.
"How can you say you are not a user of the Light, when your whole being is exuding it, only our precious Queen glows as brightly." The dryad said, many of the other creatures behind her nodding their heads and vocally agreeing with the tree woman.
"That 'thing' is nothing like our precious Queen!" Briar could feel Gnarl roll his eyes and sigh in exasperation as Florean's voice rang out from further up the river. "Do not let her in dryad, she is a menace to all that is fluffy and adorable, like this poor fellow here." Florean said, pointing to the huge form of Ox, still with his spiky armguards and a secretive smile on his face. Behind her mask, Briar's own face split with a smile of her own when Ox pretended to yawn and sent an elf tumbling into the river. The dryad and the other gathered creatures did not look convinced by Florean's words.
"How can you say this about her, what proof do you have that she attacked the wendigo. She is exuding light, perhaps even more so than our Queen, and you say she is the one who killed your warriors some time ago."
"Yes dryad, she was the one who gave the order to those goblins there to slaughter those lovable seal pups and my brave men. She must not be allowed in, as Queen Fay's lieutenant, I order you to block the bridge!"
The dryad and the other creatures looked at him in disbelief, but after a while the dryad used her roots to cut the bridge off and the creatures slowly left, still uncertain about the young woman on the other side of the river. Ox remained behind and looked intently at the dryad and then to his Mistress; she shook her head, she needed time to get ready before assaulting the Sanctuary and so Ox followed the creatures away from the river.
"Come Mistress, lets get the statue back where it belongs." Gnarl said, letting the revelation of light magic in Briar sift through his mind. "Our furry friend will be looking for a way for you to creep in, no doubt." The Overlord gathered her small force and when she ordered for the statue to be taken with them the five strongest in her horde, including a large black, male bray, lifted the statue and with guidance from the others followed their Mistress through the tunneling caves. The close, almost sickly heat from the inner chamber giving way to colder air.
------ LoO ------
It was night by the time the horde reached fresh air again and even though it was biting and the horde began to shiver the blowing wind was energizing and welcome after the stuffy heat and air of the cave. Briar removed her mask to breath in the fresh, relishing cold air and the have the wind nipping at her face.
"Squeak!"
Briar looked down, her sharp eyes and elegant face coming to stare at a congregation of common gnomes at her armoured feet, chattering wildly in their high voices and mousey-like language. "Squeak squeaky squeeze, squeak!"
"My Gnomish is a little rusty, Mistress. What about you?" Gnarl asked, only able to catch a few words from the tiny creature.
"Enough." the Overlord said, continuing to listen to the tiny magic creature.
"Hmm... he says that the statue we retrieved from the dead battalion belongs to them!" Gnarl said, translating the gnome more from habit since the previous Overlords had not bothered to learn any other languages like Briar had.
"Typical gnomes..." Briar said over their link. The stunned horde watched as the tiny creature jumped up and down in what looked like absolute rage.
"He wants you to give back the statue or he'll declare war on you!... Or he wants you to marry his pet doormouse?"
Briar sighed deeply "You really do need to brush up on our Gnomish, Gnarl. He said he is prepared to forgive the theft if I agree to marry his Queen, called Doormouse."
"That would be... interesting."
"Not really, gnome Queens reproduce by absorbing magical energy from stronger magical creatures. Apart from this Queen Fay we've been so much about, I'm the strongest magical being in the area." Briar explained with pride lacing her voice.
"As it should be, Great Mistress."
The gnome who had been arguing with Briar had grown impatient from waiting for her response and charged at Briar's armoured shin, a bad idea since the minions had drawn their weapons and the brays were already mumbling the start of their enchantment spells. All the nineteen year old Overlord felt was a slight thud against the iron armour. "That's clearly an act of aggression, M'lady. Stomp 'em!" As the horde surged forwards screaming and with the brays chanting and striking out with their own staffs and swords Briar's eyes took on their glow and her heavy foot came down upon the hapless gnome who had charged her. Bones crunched and muscles and blood squelched loudly under the iron protecting her feet and all the five individuals of her horde who were carrying the statue had to do was follow her along the path covered in blood drenched snow and decapitated gnome corpses. The normally fleet footed gnomes were rendered helpless since the brays were enchanting them with 'slow'; one of the hordes' favorite enchantments for its enemies. All the minions had to do was run the little creatures through with their weapons, some minions even stealing the iconic caps. The minions with the most gnome kills at the end of a mission (as the minions called the little excursions with their Overlady) was given the much coveted title of Gnome Gnasher. Briar didn't even bother to draw her sword, the minions were too quick in killing the pesky little pests for her to stick her sword in anywhere.
A second group of gnomes was waiting for them near a bridge Briar remembered led to Nordberg Town... just beyond the bridge was where the Empire had placed the catapult on the night they forced her from the town. Nostalgia kicked in as around her the horde charged the gnome forces, which fared just as well as the first group that had tried to challenge the Overlord. Briar just thought about the people who she remembered from the town, the children she and Kelda had been sent to collect on that Midwinter's Eve and the mayor as he was forced to turn her over to the Empire; the look on his face was something that had always stayed with her as she grew older and stronger in the Netherworld. She prayed the years under the Empire had not changed them, not like those of Mellow Hills.
"Hold on a little longer, I'm coming."
"Pardon Mistress? That was a little too quiet for my ears."
"Sorry Gnarl. Just thinking to myself."
"Oh right. The horde awaits you Mistress." Turning to look Briar saw the horde had indeed finished with the gnomes, leaving nothing but corpses and blood. Her five minions and dogs, along with Ramrod, were stood besides her, diligently awaiting new orders.
"Across the bridge!" Briar barked to her horde who obeyed immediately "Hopefully Grubby, or one of his diggers, can find a place to dig out a Netherworld Gate near the town." She led the way, using the smoke from the town chimney's as her compass. They soon found themselves at the place where the catapult had been placed and Briar held back her forces when she saw people, some were obviously Empire soldiers.
"Midwinter's coming soon." Briar signaled her horde to back away a few paces as she walked forwards, sticking to the cover of nearby trees and the shadow it provided from the moonlight. The speaker was a Nordbergian who was cutting wood with a friend.
"Pah! They'll be no Midwinter Feast for us. Stuffed widgeon! Borius is eating us out of Nordberg!" the other male said, loud enough to show his distress while being quiet enough so as not to draw the ears of the guards. "What the hell's a widgeon anyway?"
"Some sort of small bear, perhaps."
"You think if we put a pig in a wolf skin, Borius would notice?"
"He eats so fast I doubt his eyes focus well enough to see what he's eating anyway."
"All right for some, I've had to give up all my rations to my poor little girl. The Empire are eating us out of house and home, and they tell us there's a food shortage? Have you seen the amount of seals of the ice flats recently?" the second man explained and Briar felt her eyebrows scrunch together behind her mask. The Empire was starving the Nordbergians?
"At least we have people looking after us."
"Looking after us as we starve to death." Briar had heard enough she waved her hand and the horde followed her into the clearing.
The eyes of everyone fell onto the horde and mostly onto the tall figure dressed in intimidating armour and an expressionless mask who was leading them. The Nordbergians were filled with cautious awe, the glowing eyes clearly said this person was magical and they briefly wondered why the guards weren't attacking. But there was something... familiar about this figure... something, strangely safe, but extremely powerful and near cruel as well. The few guards in the area were unsure of what to do, the figure wasn't attacking, wasn't giving orders and the sheer feeling of intimidation pouring from the figure was weighing down their weapons and shields. The figure turned to two men who had been cutting wood and revealed to the awestruck crowd that this tall figure was a woman.
"The widgeon is a bird similar to a small chicken." she turned her glowing eyes to the guards and that's when things went crazy.
Briar drew her sword with a responding and clean 'shing' and the horde charged forwards towards the guards, most of the Nordbergians fleeing in fear, but one of the woodcutters remained nearby, looking at the battle and the sword skill of the female warrior.
She was like a dancer, her sweeping arcs were graceful and she was faster than she should have been with that armour on; the guards fell like stones to her feet, suffering severed throats and pierced hearts, the few reinforcements that came to aid them were overrun by her servants and died gruesome deaths by a multitude of blunt weapon blows to the head and severe slashes and cuts, leaving the soldiers to bleed to death in agony so the minions could focus on other guards. It came to the last guard, surrounded by the minions and entrapped in a circle with their master, he watched the blood of his comrades fall to the snow in drops from the tip of her blade and he threw his own weapons to ground, raising his hands to the cold air. Briar walked closer to him and encircled her the clawed fingers of her guantlet around his throat, he was shaking and his eyes filled with fear as the glow from her eye shone off his helmet. He was fairly young, her age maybe, probably a year or so younger. His youth would not save him.
The air became electrified as the Overlady tightened her grip on his throat as she drew out his soul, for a brief time he struggled, but the calming, sweet poison voice of the Dark Lady claimed his ears and her minions laughed and giggled over his plight. Death would be better than this, what the Lady would do to him; even the browns knew this.
The ground rumbled as Briar let go the guard's throat and before her eyes just behind her gathered horde Grubby emerged from the ground and behind him came a burst of Netherworld rock which formed itself into a gate. A blue glow emanated from it and shot into the sky like a beacon. The brown minions jumped into their nearby gate and the brays filed through the main gate, the statue with them.
The woodcutter was still nearby and he dared take a step forwards, he knew those moves, he was sure, they were so familiar. He had once been a member of the special force Nordberg Town had once paid for to tackle poaching and he remembered Briar, a young girl who had very adept at the sword. Called herself a shepherd or something. This woman couldn't be her, the Empire had said they had killed her the night they had attacked the town. She had been such a friendly young girl, very pretty. For a moment nothing happened and then she removed her mask. Her striking blue eyes were sharper, gone was the softness of youth and now the elegant lines and curves or a mature young woman had replaced it. He could see under her red hood, a trademark she had always worn, he could just see the silky strands of jet black hair. "Hello again, Hans." she said in a smooth but now recognizable voice.
"... Briar?" his tone was unbelieving but underlined with hidden hope. She just smiled and replaced her mask. The young guard followed her with glassy eyes to the gate before she turned to him.
"Take this sword, " she instructed, handing him a sword she had taken from one of her attackers, he took hold of it "put the tip to your chest," he did so " plunge it through your heart." As the young guard crumpled to the snow Briar disappeared into the blue light.
Remember I'm always on the lookout for plot ideas, I'm hoping to turn this into quite a long story. So please, even if they seem very silly, or even as good one-shots, I'll take in everything.