Chapter 71: Sadistic Sovereign

Subject: Knight Eris Location: Arlcada Territories - Count Kylant's Mansion Knight Eris strode through the heavy wooden doors leading into the count’s mansion. She was met by the grimace of guards, whose weapons were drawn. As soon as they recognized the knights, their expressions changed. That’s right. They should be afraid. They lied to agents of the Paragon of Judgement himself. More than that… they used her. Eris gestured for the guards to clear out, and they hesitated before stepping aside. However, they did not entirely abandon the hall. Just the on-duty interior guards alone outnumbered the knights three-to-one. They were well-equipped, but they couldn't hope to stand up to Shroud's best. In fact, only the Guild seemed to train comparable fighters. Too bad the Guild wouldn't use them against people. Blightbeasts were inferior prey. Fragma took the lead while the squad ascended finely carpeted stairs to the pristine upper floor of the opulent mansion. She gently rapped on the door to Count Kylant’s office. “Go away! You people should know better than to interrupt me right now!” he shouted through the pair of heavy blackwood doors. One of the guards standing beside the door shifted uncomfortably in her armor. The Hexknight smiled sweetly before responding. “My apologies, count, but my knights and I really must speak with you.” There was the muffled clatter of a chair tipping over, and several heavy steps thudded over toward the door. It swung open to reveal the heavyset count, forehead thick with sweat. Whether the result of hasty exertion or of nervousness, Eris didn't know. “Oh! My dear Hexaline Knight, Prane's holy arbiter herself. You’ve returned. Do come in.” She opened the door. And skipped inside with a dangerous level of cheerfulness. Her knights glanced at each other and began to prepare themselves for whatever order their lord might give. “Sorry for that rudeness. I haven’t been in the best mood lately, what with that business going on.” Fragma leaned closer to the count, who had righted his chair but remained standing. Between them was an ornate wooden desk, adorned with the government’s hexagonal patterns. It emphasized his sizable backing in the Shroud, especially local to Arlcada proper. “I’m glad you’ve brought that up. I’ve returned to ask you… just what is going on out here?” The tubby man was sweating profusely and tugging on the sleeves of his well-stitched collared shirt. He misinterpreted the Hexknight’s question, perhaps intentionally. “You really found none of those wretched creatures in those unholy thickets? Did you even look?” His tone and his expression was not accusatory. He seemed to be pushing extra hard, clinging to his story. “Oh we looked, and do you know what we found? You should, seeing as you told us you’d been monitoring the supposed cult situation for some time now. When we got back, we even questioned some of your meek workers. The only thing on their mind was the Nexwarren.” “Nexwarren?” the count asked, genuinely unfamiliar with the word. “Spinners. You should know, considering they’ll be here soon.” He jumped back and turned clumsily toward the window, nearly tripping over his unwieldy, meaty legs in the process. “Are they here?! How do you know?” Fragma pivoted and circled around the flustered man, making a show of look around the room and then out the window at the shanty town beyond. The difference was night and day. “It seems you’ve been wanting to develop this land for some time, despite the out-of-control infestation. You finally did, ignoring many warnings that the area wasn’t safe.” “I don’t know what-” he huffed. “That could only mean you have some sort of strategy for dealing with the creatures, yes? You must. Only an incompetent lord would leave their people to be picked off by such creatures. Did you know they don’t outright kill prey they deem incapable of defending itself? It’s much more efficient to slowly feed from them, taking only what life they need, when they need it. Painfully. Horrifically.” The Hexknight was possibly speaking the truth, but none of the knights had enough experience with the creatures to judge the validity of the claim. “What? Why are you telling me this?! Don’t waste time… You need to get out there and save us!” Count Kylant stabbed a finger in the direction of the window, eyes wide and panic breaths ragged. “Don’t be so humble, Count Kylant. We will take care of the cult we agreed to handle, which I believe may be hiding out among your own people, rather than in that forest teeming with spinners." Fragma stared out the window. Those subhuman workers of yours have already been enlightened, and they are enthusiastic in their efforts to aid our investigation. We also extend support to any of your guards who wish to temporarily vacate their posts and join us, in the interest of making this investigation speedy and merciful. We will, of course, protect those that do from any spinners that happen across us. The buildings out there are as well fortified as your mansion, but we will do our best to make do.” She spun around and her knights followed her out of the room, leaving the frightened count helpless and speechless. Once they had left the mansion grounds, with the few guards that had agreed to help them, she shared some words with the group. “Begin herding the workers into the most defensible building you can find. They should have had enough time to gather their meager possessions. Make sure you pick one that’s far enough away from the lures.” That's right. They'd placed spinner lures within the settlement. Lucrue addressed their lord. “I mixed them as you ordered. If there are any Wounded living in the area, and the are mobile, they’ll be unable to resist that concoction. Tunnellers too, and of course most of what we’ll be up against are the Crawlers. You ready for this Zelarra?” Zelarra would be the most useful, when numbers were great, and preservation of surrounding buildings uneccessary. “I think I’ll need to break out the cooling tanks for this fight. Whatever building we use for the workers, we should pick one far away from the others or it’s gonna’ burn down.” She stated this matter-of-factly, like there was nothing she could do to prevent herself from setting her surroundings aflame. That was Zeal for you, as zealous as the day she joined the squad. More zealous, perhaps. “Noted. Not one of you has voiced any concerns about this. Feel free to speak your minds, no judgements.” They were nervous, but they were also eager to follow orders and excited for the fight ahead. No one would mourn the count and his remaining guards. They’d be a valuable distraction while the knights fought the expected onslaught. One of the guards briefly asked if there was any advice on how to kill the spinners. He was a recruit, too fresh to understand that doing so would mean death for one as weak as him. "Oh, you won't be out here. You'll be inside, making sure the barricades hold. Keep the spinners from entering the building and you'll have earned my forgiveness." The guards gave a nervous salute. It was a different variant than that used by knights, reminding each of the knights just how fragile those around them were. “Well, then. Gods protect us and all that silliness.” Eris saw her lord’s savage smile and felt chills of pleasure. It was starting again. They were going to be busy paying tribute to the only god they believed in: death. Subject: Knight Eris Location: Arlcada Territories - Count Kylant's Settlement “Do you all know the plan?” Eris shouted to the frightened crowd. No one answered. They were terrified. Not only because they feared the spinners swarming beyond the walls, but because knights weren’t usually people you wanted to meet in your daily lives. Eris couldn't blame them. If only they knew how Fragma operated, I wonder how they’d feel then. Even we don’t know how this is going to shake out. “By the authority of the Paragon of Judgement, heed our words and obey them.” “Y-Yes my lord,” a brave woman volunteered. “A cartemi,” Lucrue noted. He patted her petrified furry head. She forced herself not to recoil in fear, standing strong. That earned her a bit of Fragma’s respect. Two of the knights watched on silently. This exchange was of interest to them. People were selected from the crowd based on any particular specialized knowledge they had, and they were given “This will be a trying time, but your responsibilities are simple,” the Hexknight declared. “You will obey and you will endure. To those of you who have been entrusted with emergency treatment duties, make sure you are ready if we need them. Hopefully we won’t be in any serious need, but I anticipate times when we will want to seek shelter with you. If you survive this, I promise i’ll give you a present.” “What about the cultists?” A male faron tasked with aiding in medical treatment asked. He’d been trying to bring himself to tell the knights something about that topic for some time now, but he didn’t seem ready. Eris didn’t blame him for withholding, and his input wasn’t exactly needed at this point. Fragma had already made up her mind. “What about them? Rest assured that people who are undermining the authority of Shroud will pay.” “And the guards?” another asked. “Won’t they be here?” The human who’d asked this didn’t look like they actually wanted the guards to be there. Rather, he looked like he preferred they remained at the count’s residence. He was asking because he was curious which it would be. Conditions here must have been hard. It's pretty easy to guess what's been going on, looking at the conditions they're living in. None of them volunteered to come to this dangerous place. As if to confirm this, the few guards who'd agreed to help cast their eyes down, unwilling to look at what they'd been a part of. “These volunteers here have agreed to protect you all with their lives. If anyone is to die, it will be them. The other guards will do their best too, but their test is separate from ours." She had used dramatic language to make it sound like the guards would be fighting on the frontline with the knights, when that wasn't the case. Fragma did this because she only wanted to offer protection to the ones willing to risk their lives for the civilians. And the only ones that had were fresh recruits and one veteran. It looked like the lone veteran had been fighting an equally lonely losing war with his morals. He'd jumped at the chance for self-sacrifice. "We will see Cleanser Prane’s judgement announced by the end of this engagement.” Just as Fragma said this, a low hissing sound alerted them to the presence of a ‘Wounded’. The guards ushered the civilians indoors, and the knights barred heavy doors before donning their helmets. These spinners, as their names suggested, had some event in their lives that somehow crippled them. Rather than allowing themselves to be devoured by their brethren and have their biomass reincorporated into the brood, they'd adapted and evolved. Depending on the wound, each one fought differently. The lights preceding dusk reluctantly clung to the buildings and the surrounding walls of the settlement. These were not the metal walls of the nearby city, but a temporary wood and stone construction. They would do little to withstand the determination of the spinner onslaught. Eris swept the area until she sighted something moving in the shadows growing beneath the interior of the closest section of wall. Adjusting her stance, she prepared to engage the yet-unseen threat. “May I have it?” she asked, awaiting Fragma’s response. First blood was a gift, and the knights would appeal to their lord for permission. "Indulge, my knight," Hexknight Fragma replied. With permission granted, Eris broke away from the squad and readied her axe. The hissing grew louder, drawing her in, until finally it stopped abruptly. She still couldn’t see her prey. Eris’s eye caught sight of a transluminous black fang just in time to bring her axe up to block it. The Wounded was not alone. Strangely, this one seemed to prefer travelling as a pair. Perhaps these spinners had been injured at the same time and evolved to cooperate for their food? The rebuffed spinner scuttled to the side while its partner went around the other way. Any guard would have their hands full dealing with just one Crawler, let alone the more dangerous and aberrant Wounded variants. None of Eris’s allies moved to assist her. Turning slowly, she could see them looking elsewhere disinterested. They were more concerned with any other spinners that may have made it over the walls. They were eager to engage prey of their own. That was the Chaos Knightmare way. Eris kicked her leg back and then charged forward, abruptly catching one of her foes off guard in a wild, weighty swing of her axe. The axeblade met flesh with a meaty *squish*. The wounded shuddered in rage and pain, but it did not back off. That was the biggest thing that separated one of these from a Crawler variant. Having tasted defeat and a near-fatal wound once, subsequent brushes with death were opportunities to relive the nostalgia. Can a spinner experience nostalgia like we do? Eris wondered, but a flash of movement stole the thought away. Here it comes. A blood-curdling shriek deafened Eris’s ears as she spun to block the second wounded’s fangs once more. She cut a hasty and dangerously shallow slice, low at this second’s targets right legs. Quickly now, to the other side. And so she continued this split battle, gradually whittling down her targets until she could finally finish them off. And finish them off she did, hacking them to pieces until she was satisfied they would not rise again. She jogged over to the other knights, cleaning gore from her blade and checking the fittings on her armor. One of her comrades yawned. Another nodded casually. She expected these reactions. If that fight was enough to hurt her, they’d never survive what had already come. The vanguard of the brood was scaling the walls.