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🕑 Added 2024-03-08 06:05:37 +0000 UTC2k words.
“But… need to gaze at stars to see moon!”
“You know what I mean,” he muttered, though he wasn’t quite certain she actually did. Still, he couldn’t pass down her volunteering to take first watch, closing his eyes and letting his dreams take him.
-xXx-
The forest was only a brief respite, the patch of woods ending after less than an hours walk, Roderick and Skyseeker delving back into the bleached, exposed ground of the hills. The wind was steady, cooling his left side, the absence of any other sound filling Roderick with the urge to make small talk with his peculiar companion.
“Just how far south are you planning to go?” he asked, the pair mounting another hill. He looked out to the horizons, there were no other armies in sight. “All the way to the border? Further perhaps?”
“No discussioning of mission,” she replied, sliding down the other side of slope. No longer was she tailing behind like before, the rat woman matching pace to Roderick’s immediate left. It seemed she felt a little more comfortable around him since the ambush, and Roderick couldn’t help but reciprocate. She really was taking their deal to work together seriously. To think the Commander’s word, a fellow man, was more easily broken than a Skaven’s…
“Come now, not even just a little bit?” he asked. “I won’t be travelling south forever, our paths will diverge at some point. I think we’d both like to know when that’ll happen.”
The Skaven tilted her head in consideration, chewing on a nail as she thought. It took her a few minutes, but she eventually made up her mind, jabbing a finger in Roderick’s face, or at least tried to, her short stature meant she barely reached his chest.
“Swear to secrecy!” she demanded, waving her digit. “Rick-rod not tell schemes to anything, or I’ll give you rematch… When you next sleep-sleep!”
“You have my word,” he pledged, more intrigued than he cared to admit.
“Don’t want your wOrD. Want your treat-treats. Keep for collateral! Hehehee!”
“Very well,” he sighed, reaching into his pack. He held out a parcel of beef jerky, the Skaven snatching it out of his hand. She ate half of it then and there, stuffing the rest away on her belt.
“Mission takes me beyond-over man-thing lands,” she began, confirming his suspicions. “Tilee-place first of many things to skitterleap. Next come wasteylands, then not-man-thing lands! Goal lies there!”
He assumed the ‘wasteylands’ she referred to were the Border Princes to the immediate east of Tilea. From what he’d heard of that place, her word for it was quite appropriate. He asked her what a not-man-thingwas, the Skaven hesitating for a moment.
“Not-man-things… are not man-things!” she answered, as though it should be obvious. “No pinkish flesh like Rick-rod, skin like chewed bones, is chewed bones. Sallow-things with eyeless eyes, teethless teeth. Hideous!”
“And you want to go to their lands?” he asked. “Why?”
He was ready for her to stop her story short, but she pressed on.
“Big relic-thing hides in not-man-thing lands,” she explained, hopping over a rock, then waving her arms for emphasis. “Relic, huge device, this big! Capable of anything! And more!”
“Sounds like a powerful weapon,” he mused. “What is it?”
“Relic-thing! Arcane!”
“Yes, but what does it look like?”
“Ahhhhhhh… big! And… large?”
“You’ve no idea, do you?” he asked, Skyseeker grumbling a no that he almost missed. “How can you hope to find this relic, if you don’t even know what it is?”
“I know-know!” she insisted. “Grey Seers gifted vision from Great Horned One, say not-man-things hide strongest magical items beneath sands. Very powerful, handy things! What else do Skaven need to know?”
“How about its location?” he suggested. “Surely you don’t plan on looking through every inch of desert for this thing?”
“I do not look with eyes, stupid,” she snarled. “Horned Rat will guide me-me, enhance intuition! Magics will carry on wind itself! Draw me like rat to meat-flesh!”
“You’re attuned to magic?” he asked eagerly. Roderick had studied the art of sorcery and spells, but he’d never managed to conjure even a single spark, and had dropped the pursuit long ago. Surely this rodent wasn’t magically adept? “How? Don’t tell me you’ve got an academy in this Skavenblight of yours?”
“Always aware of the Warp!” she answered. “Feel it in fur, in head, in daggers! Feel more-lots when I get close to relic, yes-yesss!” she added with a villainous cackle.
Intriguing, her kind called magic ‘warp’, was that another, perhaps inferior form of magic? Perhaps it had something to do with this warpstoneshe was always going on about. Of course, she could just be trying to deceive him, but she seemed confident in her ability to track down this precious relic, and there was little else but to take her at her word.
“What do you plan on doing with this ‘relic’, if you find it?”
“First, I will flaunt it!” she said, pausing to wave her arms in demonstration. “Right in faces of everything that wronged and doubted me-me! Then, I will return to Skavenblight, and put-place relic in the paw of most unholiest Lord. With his incalculable brain cells, the relic-thing’s power, and my efforts, Clan Mors will rule Council of Skavendom! Will have no need to spray fear-musk as Gnawdwell’s greatest breeder! No rat-thing would touch-grab my fur then!”
“This must be a great relic indeed, if it can make your Lord rise to the top so quickly.”
“Horned Rat only share strongest devices of magics!”
“If that is so, then why’d this Lord send you alone to retrieve it?” he asked. “You’d think every rat would be after this relic.”
“But they are!” she replied. “All Great Clans scurrying for it, why Rick-rod think rat-things skittering through Tilee-place hills?”
“Ah, so that’s why they’re so many vermintides round here,” he mused. “Pity the Commander didn’t get to hear you say that, thing’s might’ve turned out differently…”
“Commoner? Where commoner?” She waved her daggers around like she was stabbing ghosts. “Hate commoners. And eavesdroppers!”
“Easy, just talking to myself, there’s no one here,” he insisted, but Skyseeker ignored him, scanning the horizons for movement, even lifting a nearby rock and looking beneath it. When she was sure they were not being eavesdropped, she finally put her weapons away. It was a marvel she hadn’t yet cut herself on those corrosive blades, the way she handled them so viciously.
“So every Clan is racing for this thing?” he asked, Skyseeker nodding. “How do you plan on staying ahead of them all? Your armies move swiftly, keeping pace by your lonesome won’t be an easy task.”
“Strength in isolation!” she said. “Can scurry at own seed, nap when I want!”
“Now that just sounds sad,” he replied, giving her a pitying glance. “Not to mention wrong. Where you rely on sneaking and deception, scrounging for your own food, these vermintides have no such limitations. They can march night and day, you’ll fall behind eventually. Why not cross the Apuccini Mountains?” he suggested, raising a hand to their east. “If you’re planning to pass the Border Princes next, as that’s the only way to go after Tilea, cutting through the mountains will save you a lot of time.”
“Instructions say to keep water to right… or was it left?” Skyseeker mused, biting down on a claw. “No, right is right. Mountains too much effort anyway, going south much simpler.”
“Not to mention you wouldn’t have me around to nick all my rations.”
“Ludicrous! Earned every scrap of food. Why Rick-rod so interested in journey-mission?” she asked, jabbing a finger up at him. “Which Clan hired you? Clan Eshin? Sent you to learn my plan-schemes? I knew it!”
“Why would I be a spy for some Skaven?” he asked. “Unfortunate as it may be, the most dealings I’ve had with your kind is with you, Skyseeker.”
After a moment of staring into his soul, she relaxed, Roderick noting she’d once more put a hand on her enchanted dagger. “Keep it that way-way,” she muttered. “My schemes are not for any ears but mine! Keep fat mouth shut.”
“You have my word.”
“And your food!” she chuckled.
They continued on for a ways in silence, cresting another hill, seeing more vast, empty flat land stretching out before them. Although he was glad to finally know Skyseeker’s intentions in this place, the implications of her mission troubled him. Tens of thousands of rats were moving to seize this relic, that had to mean it was important to them, not just superstition, and his duty demanded that he stop such a powerful artifact from falling into Skaven hands.
Yet he couldn’t convince himself that Skyseeker was a malevolent creature. She was a menace, certainly, pinching his dwindling supplies whenever she could, but she had looked out for him during the ambush, and had trusted him enough to share information on her mission, trust he had to admit he was starting to reciprocate.
A small part of him still remained vigilant, however, the possibility this was all just an elaborate ploy on the Skaven’s part could not be denied. Still, there was still time to figure her out. Not much, but enough.
-xXx-
They spent another night out on the hills, picking up their journey in the early hours of the next day, so as to spend more time walking when the blaring sun hadn’t reached its full strength.
As they climbed another hill, the wind blowing back the ornate plumes of his helmet, Roderick was met with a welcoming sight. To their immediate south, the land was as ridged and bumpy as the land to their north, but with one discernible difference – he couldn’t see the grass. Treelines sprawled across the uneven horizon, bright flowers adding a healthy splash of colour to the sight. Parts of the vast canopies parted in thick lines, hinting at lakes and rivers twisting away into the meadows. There were even a few smoke plumes trailing up into the clouds, implying households or settlements.
“We’ve reached the far side of the hills,” he announced, turning to his companion. Skyseeker was trailing behind him a little, as always when they were on the upward slopes, but his words fuelled her with a rush of speed, the Skaven barrelling up to the peak, raising a furry arm to shield her eyes.
“At last!” she cried, then promptly collapsed to the grass, thoroughly depleted of energy.
“Don’t rest just yet,” he said. “We’ve still got two, three more hills to go. Come on.”
He offered her a hand, the Skaven shooting his glove a frown as she reluctantly pulled herself to her feet, giving him a wide berth. She started down the hill, Roderick’s turn to trail behind as she took off at a brisk speed.
“Rick-rod!” she snapped after a while. “Need information on south Tilee-place. How far-far till end?”
“The end of the peninsula you mean? It’s a long way yet,” he replied. “There’s at least a dozen settlements in the fields between here and there, and beyond them is more untamed woodland. Further than that is… I’m fairly sure is another plain that hugs most of Tilea’s southern edge.”
“Another!” Skyseeker wailed. “How big?”
“Big enough to make these hills look like child’s play. You’ll have your work cut out for you.”
She groaned like an overworked peasant, her initial speedy descent now replaced by a notable drag of her feet. “You think crossing a whole country would be easy?” he asked, catching up with her. “I’m surprised your Lord didn’t give you a mount or something to help you along.”
“Tried to take four-legged-thing,” she reminded him. “Man-thing’s fault I have to skitter so far!”
“Hang on, you killed my horse, you fool! You’rethe reason we’re both baking our rears off in these hills.”
“Semantics!”
He brought his hand to his face, the chainmail links digging into his forehead as he sighed. “Whatever, no use dwelling on it now.” He followed the Skaven up the next incline, pausing halfway up the slope to rest. He drew his canteen, arching it all the way up to reach the last few drops clinging to the bottom. When his eyes drifted over the clear blue sky, he saw something flit across the sun’s bright aura, momentarily casting him in shadow.
“Wait,” he muttered, squinting into the glare. Skyseeker stopped, peering at him through her opaque goggles.
“What is it?” she asked curtly, her neck bending at an odd angle as she followed his gaze. “Is that… Uh oh…”
Comments
DE
Griffons back, heck yeah! Stories going great so far! Also, love the semantics line lol
