Divine Inheritance: Chaos

Kable glanced between Raven and Voltair, his eyes squinting in suspicion. Something about both of their excuses to being late threw Kable off about the situation. Like a small, piercing drone in the back of his head. They clearly knew each other, even if they didn't realize it so much themselves. They were like two sides of the same coin. Kable pushed the thought to the back of his mind when Voltair inquired of they would be joining groups.

"Can we really expect to trust you guys? I mean, we were all just trying to kill each other barely ten minutes ago."

_____

Lucius raised his sword to charge back into the fray when the hair on his arms stood up. He felt a static charge through the air and surge through him. Lucius knew that feeling. He spun around just as the lightning bolt tore open the sky. It surged over the generals head and crashed into the city.

"Sir!" One of his men ran up. "Sir, could that be?"

"Yes." Lucius replied somberly. "That was Princess Jaxx."

The soliders eyes widened. "Sir, I think I misheard you. Did you say..."

"You heard right, boy." Lucius turned his head to the army behind him. "Looks like we need to storm the city for our Princess before those barbarians find out who she is. Who's with me!?" Cheera erutped from the crowd.

 

The Barbarians heard the worlds of Marcus loud and clear. All fighting stopped, there were many whispers and faces left bewildered at the warriors demand. A death wish for sure to challenge the great Ilda Ironside, Valkyrie of Death... The battlefield was silent, except for the echoing sound of drums and chanting from over the hills. The Barbarians slowly began to part as a woman clad in armor walked through the sea of massive warriors. A slow pounding of swords and axes against shields began as she made her way to the front. The storm overhead moved with her, clouds as dark as night hovered high above where she walked.

"A truly brave warrior, or a foolish one at that..." Ilda said as she gracefully continued to walk towards Marcus. "I am the great Ilda Ironside, conquerer of empires, bane of gods, siren of men, and your executioner on this day." She said with a smirk across her face that was stained and dripping with blood that surely was not her own. She raised her hand and all the pounding of drums and chanting stopped, the cold frigid wind became still and all was truly silent. "I already fought your General Lucius, and while he was a fun enjoyment to spar with, I doubt you are on his level, but I do commend for stepping up to the challenge! Prove your worthiness to be called a warrior and I shall let you live till another day..."

Ilda raised her sword and shield in a defensive stance, they both were stained and dripping with blood. "Disappoint... And I will slaughter you and steal your soul and condemn it for all eternity..."

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Everything had happened so fast that it left Oryx's head spinning, and his beard with little streaks of static going up and down it. Oryx collected himself after a bit, the assassins had no more motivation to fight it seemed, go figure of course, they were assassins and only loyal to themselves. Oryx picked himself up off the ground and noticed that the two shield-maidens were gone!

"WE LOST THE LOVELY PRINCESS!" He exclaimed, being a little late to the party he didn't realize that everyone already knew that. "We better figure out what castle she's in, because I am definitely not fitting my big arse down any more pipes." Oryx said as he sheathed his Svellbane and his fire powers disappeared.

 

Lucius stood silent as the barbarian told Lucius of his demands. The locke of hair and the Darrem seal sat at his feet. Once he was done, Lucius lifted his chin. "I will accept your terms, but only because you are foolish to think you can negotiate with Emperor Atticus."

Lucius grinned madly and turned to walk away. He stopped short and turned back. "Atticus will rain hell upon you and everyone you hold dear, barbarian. So pray to whatever gods you worship. You will be meeting them soon enough. Enjoy burying your chief." Lucius gestured to Haldor's desecrated body atop the city walls before he picked his sword up and walked away. His men, after some hesitation, followed with him.

"Sir, why are we leaving? We almost had them!" One of the soliders spoke up, anger seeping into his voice.

"They were more behind the ealls. "Lucius explained. "There's no way they would've been able to take the Princess without a large group of them. So we give them what they want.

"Alert Emperor Atticus immediately. Tell him that by bizarre circumstances, the barbarians have captured Princess Jaxx and demand his presence. Also inform him that we require reinforcements, as we plan on holding out here."

"Yes sir!" The solider ran off to perform his instructions. Lucius looked back to the city. It angered him to move back, but with Jaxx turned sudden hostage, Lucius couldn't risk her life in a daring halfassed attempt to take the city. He needed a plan. And more able bodies.

---------

Kable nodded, understanding what Raven was getting to. They were enemies, no way around it. They would continue to be enemies until this war was over. He watched Raven walk back to Merrick and Tess and he turned to the others. Oryx was late to the conversation, Paige was still unconscious, and Voltair looked like he was gazing off towards Raven and the group as they departed. Suddenly, they were alone.

"Well, now we need to find our own way to Lilith. If they reach the girls before they do, otherwise they'll have Lilith and we'll be out of a job and a country."

 

Paige groaned, before sitting up while holding a hand to the back of her head where Tess hit her and Raven healed her. "Owww." she complained "I must have a hangover. I know that bitch did not hit me hard enough to give me this bad of a headache." she said, still smiling in spite of her annoyance with how easily the assassins had been able to get the best of her. She looked around, a bit surprised to see that the assassins and Jaxx were gone already. She also noticed the massive hole in the ground from Jaxx's bolt. "Oh man." she pouted "I missed the whole thing, didn't I?"

 

Ilda inhaled a deep breath and created a thick ice wall in front of her with a strong exhale. She noticed that Maximus was moving to her left side so she threw her shield on the ground and jumped on it and with her free hand sprayed a trail of ice and she began sliding on it, gaining speed as she moved along it. Moving to her right out from behind the wall and in a circle motion to Marcus. She wanted to keep her distance from him for the moment, to test his ranged abilities as well as get a better reading of the warrior. As she slid on the ice in a circle, she inhaled and exhaled again a massive breath towards Marcus.

The barbarians on the hill observed as Marcus and Ilda had begun their duel, the fighting on the battlefield had mostly stop to watch and see who's leader would prevail. The opportunity to take the city had come. With a large war cry a massive number of reinforcements came barreling over the hill and straight towards Carmilla Sar.

On the other side of the battlefield, adrenaline began pumping in the barbarians as they saw their brothers and sisters come rushing over the snowy hills. Another loud cry was unleashed and the barbarians rushed the other army with renewed ferocity and determination to slay their enemies. However they were not foolish enough to be directly caught in the duel of leaders, for it was a death wish certainly.
--------------------------

Oryx gasped and was taken back by such words from Kable. He was quick to scold the man, “I say bite thy tongue lassie! Even in complete darkness hope breaks through like a fluttering candle, and I say for all that darkness that surrounds that simple candle, it does not hold the might to extinguish its burning passion!” Oryx had given his word to join Lilith on her mission to save her kingdom and he was going to see it through.

Pulling his sword and sliding one finger down the flat side of it, glowing blue runes appeared. “I have pledged my blade to the lovely warrior princess Lilith, by the words inscribed on this blade I am to uphold my loyalty to any I pledge its steel to! Should the lovely Lilith Newgate fall which will not come to pass on my watch, then I shall pick up her burning candle and turn it into a blazing sea of fire against this wicked emperor!” Grabbing the hilt with both hands he slammed his sword into the ground and a massive shockwave was sent out binding Oryx’s oath to Lilith. The runes on the sword glowed brighter and hummed softly.

 

Kable knelt down beside Paige, checking her head. "Well," he said. "You shouldn't have a concussion with that thick skull of yours, but you should take it easy. And in answer to your question, here's a brief run down. We fought two assassins, Voltair and Raven showed up late, and the two princesses vanished somewhere towards the east. Usual nonsense."

Kable turned back to Oryx, startled as the behemoth slammed his sword into the ground. He saw the runes on the sword glow like a dull fire. "Oryx, I admire your commitment. But we have to figure out what the hell we're going to do about this. Lilith could be anywhere to the east at this point. We should start heading that way now." Kable turned and offered his hand to Paige to take and help her up.

 

"Y'all never fail to disappoint." Voltair sighed as everyone ignored his explanation as to where Jaxx was. He almost looked like he was about to start rambling to himself as he headed towards the approaching Gerik and Claire.

"Hey. You know you shouldn't be so apprehensive around me. The fighting has stopped." Voltair spoke as Gerik tensed up a bit and his hand twitched towards his sword.

"What happened?"

"Aww you know, the usual. Jaxx caught up to Lilith and they tried working out their problems. But given that the two of them have the combined emotional capacity of a moody twelve year-old, Jaxx let her emotions get the better of her and accidentally sent herself and Lilith away. Which you can see from that big hole in the ground."

"Jaxx did that?" Claire asked.

"Yep." Voltair smiled as he crouched down to Claire's eye level. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Claire." She replied before Gerik pulled her back closer to him.

"I see. Cute kid you have there." Voltair spoke as he stood up. "Claire, could I possibly bother you do to me a tiny favor and go over to Raven? There's something I would like to talk to Gerik about really quick."

"Why?" Claire asked before turning up to look at Gerik.

"It's fine Claire. Go on. I'll be right there." Claire nodded with a bit of confusion on her face before hurrying off towards Raven. "Okay. I assume everyone else is out of earshot. What do you want?"

"Admittedly I wouldn't normally take the time to tell you this, but I might as well since you've got a kid with you. It's about Jaxx. Jaxx ended up accidentally taking herself and Lilith to the middle of a war zone. I can only assume you want to keep Claire safe, so you should know what to expect at your destination."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Why should an innocent little girl be punished by the whims of conquerors or power hungry emperors? I know you're suspicious of me and you have no reason to trust anything I say. But I give you my word that what I'm telling you is the truth. So keep what I said in mind if you're truly concerned for Claire's safety." Voltair walked away after that and Gerik headed towards Raven in silence.

"So you were saying we need to hurry Kable? Let's see..." Voltair put his fingers to his lips and whistled. Four black horses came running up to them. "These should suffice. They won't get tired and will quickly get us to the mountain ranges to the east. Once we're there I'll get us over the mountains."

-----

"I don't care if you don't need my help or don't trust me. You're not in a position to be so prideful." The voice berated Jaxx as Lilith was waking. It was silent as Lilith and Jaxx talked to each other.

"Man you two take the fun out of things. I was totally gonna remove the shackles and let you two question how they suddenly came off. But instead you had to go do it yourselves. Which, by the way, alerted the guards outside. They'll be here right about..." Before the voice could finish the cell doors were forcibly opened, the guards opening up to see the cause of the chains breaking.

 

Tess had looked at Merrick with a scowl on her face when Raven had walked passed and nodded to him. Merrick picked himself up from the ground and offered a hand to Tess. “She must still live” He said as she pulled herself up. “Damn her! We’ve done our part. What does it matter if she still lives?” Tess seethed at him “Let’s just go!”

Merrick sighed aloud and took one last look over his shoulder at the group they had been fighting only moments ago. The valkyrie was beginning to wake and Merrick brought his hand over his chest where her blade had nearly ended him. He looked over the group as a whole and spat before turning back to Tess, “Come” he said putting his hand on her shoulder and directing her in the direction Raven had set off in. “We should at least talk to her before we leave”

*

No one had spoken since Tess and Merrick joined Raven as she walked away from the group. Tess’s constant frown let both of them know she wasn’t happy with the current situation. A suitable distance away from the others Raven turned and began speaking to the two. After handing the ribbon to Merrick she was drawn away by the appearance of Claire.

“Let’s go Merrick” Tess said as Raven stepped away. “We know the dangers of the desert and if that’s where the guild is we can end all this. Don’t give me that look!” Tess said grabbing the scruff of his shirt and stepping close to him. “Let’s. Go.” “We’ll see if the princess is alive” Merrick responded looking her in the eye. She clicked her tongue in annoyance and let go of his shirt pushing him away from her. “It’s on the way” Merrick said straightening his still torn top. “It’s the opposite direction!” “We will see if she lives, maybe help her and then be one our way” “Fine” Tess said her scowl deepening.

* * *

Finnan sat in the large wooden chair. He was alone in the vast hall that served as the meeting point of the former occupants governing body. Finnan sat in that large chair head resting on his fist still covered head to toe in the dried blood of the battle fought. It had taken quite some time for him to come down from his blood rage and even then his rage hadn’t fully subsided. One of the men made the mistake of talking to him as he had shoved open the great wooden doors to the hall. He had been rewarded with a broken nose for his trouble and the other men dragging him out closed the doors and left him. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed since then but he had control of himself again.

One of the doors slowly opened and a single man walked in slowly but confidently. Head held up eyes looking directly into Finnan’s. “My King” he said bowing slightly as he reached him. “Preparations for rites are nearly complete. It took quite a number of men to bring King Haldor down, but we managed” he said chancing a smile. Finnan simply stared at him. “Yes, well” He said face becoming straight again “The daughter of Atticus is in the dungeons along with the other prisoner. They are under guard and in a weakened state” Having finished his report he stood there silent watching Loch. Silently waiting to see what he would say or do.

After a moments tense silence Loch stood from his chair and stepped down from the small dais that the chair was on stepping close to him. “Sihtric” he said coming within an inch of his face. “You are either very brave or very stupid” he said slapping the man on the shoulder with a smile. All at once Sihtric seemed to relax. “Come, I wish to see our latest arrivals before the ceremony begins.”

*

“My King” one of the guards said as Loch and Sihtric approached the cell door. “Let’s see ‘em then” Loch said nodding at the door. The guard opened the door and stepped inside followed by Sihtric, Loch and the other guard. The site they met left the guards quite stunned. The three men stood and watched Loch waiting for a reaction. A small smirk tugged at his lips. “Restrain them” He said. The three men moved forward to restrain the two.

 

Loch simply sidestepped as his guard came flying towards him. He landed with a thud into the men behind him and the crumpled in a heap. Neither Sihtric nor Loch moved. Sihtric was keeping his eyes on the two girls in front of them, slightly impressed with the skills they had displayed. Loch’s smirk had turned into a smile. A somewhat disturbing image as he was still covered in old blood. There was a moment of tense anticipation as neither of the parties made a move. The men behind Finnan had recovered. Two of them had re-entered the room standing beside Loch while the one had gingerly made his way up and out of the dungeon.

It soon became evident that there was a lot of commotion going on at the entrance. Not long after the noise began armed men and women began assembling into the cell armed to the teeth in their battle gear with weapons drawn. When the room threatened to become too crowded, men waited at the door as to ensure that each warrior could fight without being impeded by their own allies. Say one thing for Loch’s army, say they were well trained.

“Tell me Sihtric” Loch said once the room settled. “Who do you see in front of you?” “My King?” Sihtric responded unsure of the answer Loch was looking for. “Who do you see in front of you?” “The daughter of the emperor” He answered almost as a question. “Right” Loch looked directly at Lilith “Tell me, how many daughters does the emperor have?” “One” Sihtric answered with a smile. “One” Loch said his own smile growing. “Kill the giantess” Sihtric took a step forward drawing his own weapon. “Oh and Sihtric” He turned to look at Loch. “Try not to kill the emperor’s daughter”

The men began advancing on the two girls, weapons beating of breastplates.

 

Loch paused as the smaller girl spoke. His men had stopped advancing and were waiting for him to act. Turning around he walked past Sihtric and stood inches away from Raven. He stood quite a few feet taller than her and he had to look down to meet her eye. She stared back at him either confidently or defiantly, Loch couldn’t tell which. But then he didn’t much care. His grin turned into a wide smile looking more akin to a snarl. He turned his back to her seemingly to leave when he turned with a sudden movement striking Raven through the face with an open palm. The slap caused her to fall to the floor. “Go through you?” Loch snarled at her through gritted teeth. “If I wanted it you’d both be dead in a moment” He added as he kicked her in the ribs. The hit lifted her from the floor and sent her back into the cell wall.

The giantess who was supposed the emperors daughter moved towards Raven. “I wouldn’t” Loch warned while bringing his arms back stretching and cracking his neck. “Not if you want her to live that is”

Loch nodded his head towards them and the guards moved in. “Make sure their restraints are reinforced” Loch said turning away again. “And put them in separate cells. You don’t want a repeat of what just happened” Loch said to Sihtric. The man nodded his response. “We’ve a funeral to attend” He said making his way out of the dungeon.

 

Kable walked over to the horses, inexplicably drawn to them. They neighed softly and looked him dead in the eye. The demon inside purred again. These are dark beings. Kable thought to himself. He then turned his head to Voltair.

"I'm amazed you could call just beautiful creatures into existence." Kable hoped onto the horse everyone else did the same. He turned the horse to face east and it immediately obeyed him. "Then we better ride fast. Those mountains are no joke."