- Posting Speed
- Speed of Light
- Writing Levels
- Douche
- Preferred Character Gender
- No Preferences
In the Great Hall of Tavark, all vices were in spring. The Heroes Hearth gave ambient light to the rapists, a dozen men with women snatched from their homes. What once were screams were now sobs or stoic silence, as shadows tore and writhed against each other. The show was watched by the square of feasting tables, where more men ate and drank. The food stores of the city had furnished a banquet and the tables overflowed with bones, fruit husks and spilled ale.
Choicer men inhabited the corners and continued their own delight, sending blows and kicks against their victims. Perhaps the soldiers who had resisted, or the elders of the hunting houses. Whoever the sufferers were, they seldom screamed. The raiders attacked them like bags of meat, venting the frustrated years.
Wrath, Lust and Gluttony. As for Sloth there were those in the opposite corner, strung out on pews and snoring away their troubles. The shifts were fast and hard, men coming in from the walls to snatch a few hours sleep before returning to their duties. For Greed there were footfalls in the cellars below, as treasuries were raided and possessions plundered. By the staircase down, Envy blossomed in the convicts who picked amongst the spoils, selecting new armour and weapons.
And for Pride, there was the demon at the heart of this hell.
Eimund Rath slammed the elder to the wall, holding him by throat and shoulder. "Why didn't you look for me, Grumond?"
His victim, a white-bearded hunter, still had the muscles of his youth. He strained with the Raider Captain and returned defiant scowls. "You went into the sea against all warnings, Rath! Your fate was your own!"
Eimund slammed him again. "Two years on the ocean, watching men die, watching madness root. We screamed for our home, Grumond. Why didn't you hear our screams?"
"You're mad, Rath!" The elder spat in the invader's face. "When my sons return from the south, they will crush this rabble."
Eimund drove his armoured knee into Grumond's gut, doubling him over for a savage headlock. "Let them come. I'll burn this city to the ground if Horrikson's army cross me. Mark my words."
"Soul-cursed wretch! I'll see you hang..." The elder's insults were lost as he choked. Eimund seized his tunic, swung him out to arm's length, then shattered his nose with a gauntlet punch. Grumond fell and a pair of raiders moved in to seize his arms.
"Chain him with the dogs." Eimund adjusted his gauntlet and paced towards his throne, catching sight M'Vae and Durael entering beyond the hearth.
"M'Lord this one has joined our cause. He was with another who attacked ours and I don't believe he's from Tavark, he may know of outside forces amounting against our city."
Eimund lifted a tankard from his throne, guzzling blood red wine as Grumond was dragged away. Only when he finished did he look at Durael and note the tan of his skin, the leather of his sheath, the fur cloak on his shoulders. "A Kaustiran? The desert rats are spreading." Laughter came from the tables, and was soon replaced by wary stares. The raiders did not stop eating; but neither did they look away from Durael. "What is your business in my city, Kaustiran?"
Straddling the paladin, Suvius watched and listened as the Orden Oath was spoken. A smile, sad and sickly, played upon his features. At the finish he placed his dagger on Darin's lips, and raised his finger to his own.
"Ssssssssh." Again a tear, from his glazed eye, emulating the man beneath him. He whispered like a childish secret, "The words on my lips were never in my heart. I lied, my lord... such lies... in the evening and the morn. But at night, in the witching hours, I spoke my true vows."
He craned his head to the window, as if speaking with the sea. The dagger pirouetted on Darin's cheek. For moments there was silence before Suvius began shushing the paladin again and stroking through his hair. "My poor lord will not remember. How could he? All those books we gathered in the Orden library, saved from the wastes, rescued from bandits, plucked from burning homes and dead sages. We tried to return them, didn't we? The Brotherhood always tried to return the treasures their enemies seized. But not this book." He tapped the dagger on Darin's cheek, nose and brow. "Not that one little book I spirited away. I read and read until flesh and page were one, till the ink was in my brain and the dust in my lungs. Every night, while the brothers snored."
He reached around Darin's head and squeezed the slick flesh of the parasite. Its tendrils tightened, and the paladin was delivered into pain once more.
"We should not question God, Sir. No, no. I found Him in the book. And Eimund found Him on the island. And He told us both the same thing. To burn the abbey. He howled the words as he shook Darin's skull. "BURN BURN BURN!"
"Ssssssssh." Again a tear, from his glazed eye, emulating the man beneath him. He whispered like a childish secret, "The words on my lips were never in my heart. I lied, my lord... such lies... in the evening and the morn. But at night, in the witching hours, I spoke my true vows."
He craned his head to the window, as if speaking with the sea. The dagger pirouetted on Darin's cheek. For moments there was silence before Suvius began shushing the paladin again and stroking through his hair. "My poor lord will not remember. How could he? All those books we gathered in the Orden library, saved from the wastes, rescued from bandits, plucked from burning homes and dead sages. We tried to return them, didn't we? The Brotherhood always tried to return the treasures their enemies seized. But not this book." He tapped the dagger on Darin's cheek, nose and brow. "Not that one little book I spirited away. I read and read until flesh and page were one, till the ink was in my brain and the dust in my lungs. Every night, while the brothers snored."
He reached around Darin's head and squeezed the slick flesh of the parasite. Its tendrils tightened, and the paladin was delivered into pain once more.
"We should not question God, Sir. No, no. I found Him in the book. And Eimund found Him on the island. And He told us both the same thing. To burn the abbey. He howled the words as he shook Darin's skull. "BURN BURN BURN!"