They had conquered and already set up their hold over the
harpies mountain of Grimskull weeks ago, yet still they were finding hallways
and passages that had yet to be explored. Captain Greennorn grumbled as he
walked down one of the many hallways left behind. He had with him a small
contingent of six men; they were investigating the disappearance of the last
group which had been sent down here. The
group stopped suddenly the sound of metal scratching across metal filled the
corridor alongside with an inhuman blood-curdling howl. One of the men spoke up
in a wavering voice, “That’s no harpy…”
“And how the hell do you know that?” Greennorn challenged
him, “Harpy screams change all the damn time.”
“Sir, no offence,” The soldier spoke up, “But it’s been over
a month since we started the fight with those bitches. Ain’t ever heard a scream
remotely like that one from ‘em.”
Greennorn growled, “What the hell’s would it be if it wasn’t
a bloody harpy though? Hm? It’s just starved and crazed harpy. There ain’t
nothing else in the mountain.”
“Sir,” A different soldier spoke up, but froze as the
scratching sound filled the hallway again. Once it passed, he spoke back up
cautiously, “The locals tell tales of terrifying forces that live in this
mountain, kept content by the harpies offerings.”
“What?!” Greennorn shouted at him, “What sort of absolute
nonsense is that? I’ve never heard a single tale like it in these parts!”
“You haven’t left the mountain since we finally drove out
the harpies.” The solider responded, “The locals are starting to get concerned
that these…sprits will seek vengeance on
us all.”
Greennorn shook his head, “And you honestly believe them?
You...you believe these tales of the supernatural?”
The men slowly looked around at each other for a few a
seconds. They all jumped as the grotesque howl filled the air around them
alongside a loud THUD coming from
farther down the hallway. They men all immediately started to nod their heads
vigorously. “Sir, yes, sir…” they said
in unison warily.
Captain Greennorn quickly drew his sword and turned to face
down the hallway. “Whatever this beast is, we will slay it!” He shouted out,
“Nothing can escape the taste of Garathian steel!” He knew his men weren’t
convinced, but they at least were trained well enough to follow him as he
charged down the hallway. Greennorn had to close his eyes and focus on not vomiting
as he ran into vile sight that painted the room.
His men’s corpses were torn and scattered across the whole
room. The stench of death permeated the atmosphere while blood ran across the
walls, floor, and even the ceiling. He heard slight movement to the far side of
the room and quickly spotted a soldier laying on the ground that was barely
alive still. As Greennorn ran over, the soldier shook his head at him, “Run…”
He said in a weak rascally voice, “We’ve…we’ve….awoken…” A bright flash of
light enveloped his soldier stopping Greennorn moments before he reached the
man. Just as suddenly as the light had appeared, it was gone, along with the
soldier that it had covered.
Greennorn looked back as his small group who were all
standing there shaking in their boots. “S-s-sir!!” One of them shouted
terrified pointing at a wall. Greennorn stared at the wall in utter disbelief
as blood slowly started to form into letters.
I DEMAND BLOOD
Greennorn blinked a few times and very quietly whispered the
words, “I demand blood-“ Right as the ‘d’ in blood touched the top of his
tongue a supernatural force threw him across the room slamming his back against
one of the walls, while an explosion of bright light filled the air. Greennorn
fell down to the ground in a state of shock. His breathing was shallow and
staggered. His vision, blurry at best, saw only streaks of light and shadows
flying across the room. His hearing was functional enough to still comprehend
the inhumane human shrieks of unfathomable fear and pain as his small party of
men was torn to pieces from whatever force lived here. Greennorn haphazardly
crawled across the room to the entrance, oblivious to the pain that he was in
while ignoring the slaughter going on around him. He never looked back once as
he drug himself across the ground as quickly, and as far, as he could before he
finally collapsed. Laying on the cold stone floor he gasped for his breath for
only a few long seconds before unconsciousness encased him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Greennorn gasped for air as he woke up. His eyes popped wide
open and he immediately tried to gauge where he was, which was certainly not
the floor that he had passed out on. He lay on his back in a bed that was
raised up from the floor. He could not recognize where he was, and he slowly
started to enter a state of shock and paranoia as he fought against his
weakened body to get up. “Captain Greennorn!” A male suddenly shouted as he ran
across the room to make sure Greennorn did not get out of bed, “Some of the men
found you in the tunnels! You’re in the medical ward, captain!”
Greennorn tried his best to calm down as he focused on his
surroundings. Slowly but surely he was able to recognize the familiar emblems
on the banners alongside with the human craftsmanship that they had been working
on. He calmed himself down and relaxed back into his bed, “Where’s my second…?”
He asked the healer.
“Right here you bloody oaf.” She responded as she walked
through the door into his private healing quarter. “Damn glad to see you’re
finally up.”
“There was…there was…” Greennorn sought for the words he
wished to describe his encounter.
“We know.” She responded grimly, “Its spread. We lose men
every day to this…spirit.”
“Gods...” Greennorn whispered to himself, “Any…any idea on
what it is?”
“Nothing solid, sir, but there’s quite a few rumors that
have swept through the men.”
He grumbled to himself and nodded at her, “What are they?”
She looked at him curiously, “Thought you didn’t believe in
the supernatural world?”
“I didn’t and I damn well don’t want to…” He took a breath,
“But that’s all we got to go off of…and from what I encountered…”
She nodded at him, “That’s fair. Long story short, villagers
seem to believe that the harpies had made a deal with this spirit. They get the
freedom to live in these tunnels in exchange for…well sacrifices of some sort,
most likely of their own kind. Now that this spirit isn’t getting its
sacrifices…well it’s…slaughtering us.” She shook her head, “Every time it
strikes it’s the same. Tears our men apart and demands more blood. Our men used
to investigate when they ran across one of those sights, but those who did
never returned to tell us. Now they just immediately come back to me and
report.”
“How long have I been out?” Greennorn asked her.
“Week and half.” She told him, “You were bashed up badly.
Healers tell me you’re lucky to be alive.”
“Week and a half…” He whispered in disbelief. “How many have
we lost?”
“We’re past one hundred.” She said swiftly, “Look, captain,
I know the King sent us here specifically for taking this mountain…but I think
maybe we should consider leaving it.” Greennorn opened his mouth to speak, but
she quickly cut him off, “We’ve got no idea how to combat this spirit and we’re
losing men every day. Honestly, if we don’t leave…I don’t expect it to be long
before we get deserters, in massive amounts. The men are scared shitless.
You’ve been out for awhile, you don’t quite know what it’s like. I do…and I…I
agree with them. We should go. We aren’t going to get slaughtered just so the
king can have a bit more of the jade mines freed up. The harpies never clashed
with the villagers before this, maybe with some luck, if they come back they
can quiet this spirit.”
Greennorn closed his eyes and took a deep breath. King Lance
would be furious if they left this mountain, but she was right, if they stayed
then they would die. He thought over the consequences he might face for pulling
out and how he would try to defend himself for a long time before finally
making his decision. He sighed heavily and looked back at his second, “Get the
men out of here. This many lives ain’t worth it.” He paused for a second, “Once
I’ve been moved out I’ll write the letter to the King.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It didn’t take the humans very long to clear out of the
mountain and the harpies immediately moved back in once the humans had
completely left. Callie, Rede, Walker, Shade, and Gorgos met with the harpy
princess on her rightful throne. She nodded at them gracefully as they bowed
before her, “I cannot thank you five enough for what you have done for me and
my brood. I had feared that it would be the end of us, yet here we are, back
home.”
“Your warlocks were of invaluable help.” Shade told her, We
couldn’t have done it without them.”
“The humans very well might try to return.” Rede warned her,
“I would not be surprised if King Lance simply sent in a new, more loyal,
unit.”
She looked at him, “We have considered this, and have decided
to collapse the entrances that lead to the villager owned mines. With some luck
that shall help deter him. Also, we will make sure that we are ready for a war
should it come to us.”
Walker chuckled to himself slightly, “Never thought I’d be
saving harpies. Get to add this to my list of ‘what-the-fuck’ things that I’ve
done.”
She smirked at him, “As promised, you shall have free
passage through the barrens.” She nodded
at her guards and they came up to the party handing them each a small talisman
in the shape of the harpy Queen’s crown, “This shall mark you as friend of harpies,
anywhere. You have done my brood a favor and I hope that in the future you may
commune with other broods civilly as well. This shall help immensely with
that.”
“This…is a great honor, your majesty.” Shade said politely
as he bowed again.
She smiled at him, “I think saving my clutch from death
deserves a great honor. You are welcome to rest here as long as you wish.”
The party looked across each other for a few seconds before
the all nodded in agreement, “Maybe for the night, but…” Callie spoke up for
them, “Well, we’ll see. Thank you again.”
“No,” The Princess smirked, “Thank you…truly.”
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