Disclaimer:
Feeling a little more worthy, but for some reason, I still do not own any of the below.
Thanks to my two reviewers! I have taken your advice on board. )
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Everything ran like clockwork. Turel's anal-retentive attention to details and demands for perfection were paying off. The two hundred humans were transported to Melchiah's area as the sun set. The chains they were in were purposely weak and able to be broken. The escort guards were purposely Zephonum fledglings, who could be over powered easily enough. There were only ten of them, after all. The excuse that was given to the guards was that 'everyone needs this kind of experience at some stage. We trust you'. Obviously a lie, but a Fledgling never spoke back to an older Vampire. Let alone Zephon, who was the one who gave them this order in the first place!
As they entered the frontal courtyard of Melchiah's territory, one of the humans found that the hinge of his shackle was rusted so badly that a knock in the right place would break it. Now, this particular design of shackle was actually not used anymore. The reason being, that if one of the bolts were lifted out of place to release a prisoner, all of the bolts lifted, releasing all of the prisoners. And the human with the rusted cuffs was one of the more intelligent of his breed, so he was quick to 'stumble', knocking his shackles hard on rock on the ground. Sure enough, the hinge of the cuff broke. That was followed by the sound of rust grinding on metal as the bolt slid out of place. The man jumped up, grabbing the rock he'd broken his bonds on and hurled it at the head of the nearest Zephonum. The vampire hissed in agony as the rock cracked his skull right open. Meanwhile, the other humans found themselves free also. And within minutes, all hell had been let loose. The Zephonum were quickly disposed of, leaving the army of Melchiah to attempt to contain this threat. And for the Melchiahum, a group of two hundred angry, healthy human men was actually a threat, sad as that was.
The humans grabbed anything they could use as a weapon and quickly formed in to quite an impressive fighting force. Impressive for 'cattle' at any rate. Already, quite a few of Melchiah's troops had been taken down. Melchiah himself remained in his inner sanctuary, as ordered by Turel. He was not to emerge with is elite warriors until the Razielum had arrived. The only thing Turel had left to Fate with this plan was the element of surprise and that it would be on their side. If Raziel's second in command, Zenith, got even the slightest hint that this was anything other than what it was being made out to be, there was going to be a massive problem. Waiting with Melchiah was Ephor, with two hundred Rahabum. Rahab himself was laying in wait at the East entrance to Raziel's territory, just out of sight and down wind. Their signal to join the fray? When the screaming started...
A single Melchiahum broke away from the battle, a spear rammed through her shoulder. Half the flesh missing from her face. And not in the normal way, either. It had been torn off by a human, and due to the...weakness...of Melchiah's brood, the healing process was going to take a couple of hours. Morf (yes, she was mocked for her name) knew well enough that the nearest territory to hers was that of the Great Lord Raziel. And he was the eldest of the Lieutenants. The strongest. So it just made sense to get to him for help. She was incredibly weak, however. But she was not as alone as she thought...one of the humans saw her run off. Saw her duck through the iron gate and take off down a long tunnel. The human also knew where that tunnel led, so he grabbed a sword from the festering carcass of a Melchiahum solider, and ran after her. He'd have caught her, if it were not for interference by Turel. He and Kain had been watching everything from the high cliffs that overlooked Melchiah's area. They saw the rotting vampire break away. Then the human follow. With a sinister smirk, Turel raised his gloved claw, focusing. It was a little harder to perform his gift from such a distance, but his Lord and Master was right beside him so any form of hesitation or mistake was just not going to happen.
As the human pushed his way through the gate, he found himself confronted by a massive wall of stones. Floating in mid air. Turel was defiantly creative. The human took a couple of steps forward, only to have one of the stones go flying at his skull, making contact between his eyes. Yelping in pain, the human jumped back then turned to get back through the bars of the gate. As his back was turned, all of the stones fired at him. Hitting his head, arms, back, legs, heels, the nape of his neck. One overly large one shattered the man's elbow, but he still managed to get to the bars. As he tried to squeeze himself between them, they began to squash him until the cracking of his ribs could be heard. Blood frothed at the man's mouth for a moment, then his head fell limp. Nobody else was getting out of that gate anytime soon. Turel felt a light pat on his back. He looked over his shoulder at Kain for a moment and for once, felt a fatherly connection with the fearsome vampire. A brief smile was passed between the two, before Turel took off across the cliff tops to meet up with Morlock and his own army near the Southern entrance...Everything was running perfectly.
Morf arrived, panting and near death, at Zenith's feet not ten minutes after escaping. And that was one hell of a run for any vampire. Even the elder ones normally took at least twenty minutes at a decent pace. Zenith listened to what she had to say honestly quite shocked that any group of humans would be this brash. He and Raziel were very simular in the fact that they both had a ridiculous nobility complex. After he'd heard all that Morf had to say, Zenith ordered half of the Razielum fighting force to depart to assist their brethren. Morf made things sound far more dire than they actually were. And it wasn't planned that way, either. It was a mix of her blood loss, love of exaggeration and the fact that it really did seem like "one thousand human warriors!" At least to her it did, anyway. Once she'd said what needed to be said, she finally allowed the sweet blackness to over come her. Her body turned to an ashey husk in minutes...
Less than five minutes after Morf arrived, Zenith and his men were heading out. Moving at quite a speed, too. Even though they were laden down with weapons and armor it would not take them long at all to arrive at Melchiah's. Just as planned. On arrival to Melchiah's lands, the sight that greeted Zenith and his men was shocking. Even for a vampire; bits and pieces of humans were scattered everywhere. Blood was soaked in to the ground, making the once firm dirt a disgusting mud. A little further up, the fighting continued, however that wasn't that caught Zenith's attention. The scent of a certain Vampire Lord caused him to turn around. Behind him stood Kain. Soul Reaver in hand. Behind Kain stood almost the entire force of Dumah's army and half of Turel's. Zenith gulped. This was defiantly not what he was expecting...
It was easy for Turel to get in to Raziel's Keep. It wasn't like the Gateman was going to turn away Lord Turel. He may not have been the most optimistic of vampires, but he didn't have a death wish. Once Turel was in the gate, he used his Dark Gift to propel the Gateman from his post, right on the Morlock's waiting sword. The shocked look on the Razielum's face made Morlock's day. He pushed the corpse from his weapon and led the charge of Turelum and Zephonum in to the Keep. As half the army of Raziel was out of the Keep and the other half were unprepared, overwhelming them was a far simpler task than Turel had expected. Once the Rahabum joined them, it was more a slaughter than a battle. The fledglings were easily mowed down, while the elder vampires were easily out numbered. It was almost too easy, until Turel ran right in to Raziel's commander (one position under Zenith), Kaile. The Razielum narrowed his golden eyes, drawing twin swords from his back. There would only be one reason for a full-scale attack like this...Raziel was dead. That vengeance that Turel mentioned? This would be it...
Zenith was quick to draw his battle axe. Normally it wouldn't be much of a match against the Soul Reaver, but in Zenith's hands it could actually pose a threat. Kain insisted that he alone handle Zenith. Needless to say, nobody argued with him.
"Degenerate!" Zenith hissed, he and Kain both slowly circling. The other vampires crowded around them at the moment actually forgetting that they were meant to be tearing each other apart. "You killed my Master!" With that oh-so-obvious statement out of the way, Zenith charged at Kain, swinging the axe at Kain's stomach. Ducking out of the way, Kain landed a hard wack from the butt of the Soul Reaver on Zenith's neck, causing him to fall to his knees, dropping his axe.
"That blasphemous traitor? He begged for death..." Kain taunted. He didn't have to play this game. Zenith was down and still a little disorientated. Kain could end it now. But Kain was never known to be kind or merciful in anything that he did. Ever. He watched Zenith's face screw up in utter fury and just laughed. Kain even nudged Zenith's axe to him with his feet. Blind with rage, Zenith grabbed his axe and swung it, while he was still on the ground. It actually connected with Kain, cutting his left wrist. Only slightly. Kain licked the blood up before kicking Zenith in the face. Rolling backwards, Zenith managed to push himself to his feet, using the momentum. Once up, he moved a clawed hand to his nose, which was off centre a little. Cuts on vampires healed almost instantly, but things like broken bones took longer. Having no time for that, Zenith jerked his nose back in to place, no show of pain. He just wasn't feeling it right now. Kain took that time to come at Zenith with the Soul Reaver, ready to run him through. Very quickly, Zenith used his axe to direct the Soul Reaver's tip to the ground, allowing himself to get out of the way, however he underestimated Kain and his ability to recover from something like that. Before Zenith knew what was happening, he felt two claws rip in to his back, right through the armor and flesh. The pain was mind numbing, causing him to throw his axe down, screaming horribly. Because they were in a valley, it echoed. Kain pushed his claws in to Zenith's back harder, until he found what he was looking for; taking hold of the newly formed bones coming off Zenith's spine, Kain yanked them out. The already haunting scream got much worse, as Zenith fell to the ground. Kain dropped the bloodied bones by Zenith's face. They were nowhere near as developed as Raziel's, but the point is, they were there. Gasping for air, Zenith's blurry vision focused on the bones. The blood on them. The nerves attached. He had no idea they were even there! Nor did he know what they were for. He hadn't seen Raziel after the transformation, after all.
"They are the beginnings of wings..." Kain informed, before treading on them with his large feet. They crunched loudly. Zenith grimaced, looking away. "Looks like you're a traitor, too..." Kain murmured, sounding so satisfied. Zenith knew nothing after that. The Vampire Lord had plunged the Reaver in to his skull, ending it. There was silence all around him for a moment, before a Razielum screamed a war cry and lunged at a Turelum. Everyone soon realized what they were there for, and chaos began. Ephor and Melchiah were soon there with their men. Kain, though, had teleported himself to Raziel's keep. Time to see how Turel was doing.
