The Duskhaven Carnage
The mist hung heavy on Duskhaven, turning the distant light of Hysh into a pale, milky white. Darker shapes flittered through the ruined buildings, murmuring lies and half truths. Laelanyel waved them away. As much as she would have loved to listen to Ulgu's voices, time was of the essence. There, in that ruined city, she had to enact the first part of the long ritual that would have returned her palace to her. The derelict Wizard's Mansion sat on a crucial node on the Realm's faylines and it was there that the Caengans were escorting her.
On the edge of town, the Erebusia Gate pulsed, scattering a clutch of shadegheists away. The Cleavermaws stepped into Duskhaven's gloom, green sparks fizzling around Mogrum's head and silencing his crew's mutterings.
The briny waters of the harbour bubbled, revealing the Sunken Gate and the Gloomfen Hunters came to protect their territory.
The Hunters advanced quickly, loosing a hail of arrows that fell Engrin. A winged she-aelf plunged screaming on Tark and darted away before Aef-Grimnir could retaliate.
The Cleavermaws cheered as they broke onto the square outside the Wizard's Mansion and saw the Fyreslayers fell.
Purplish will-o-wisps fled from the square as the three warband faced each other.
The Gloomfen Hunters launched a concerted attack. The Melusai and Kinerai charged under a covering salvo of arrows and a clutch of orruks fell before the Khainites reached their lines. The Blood Sister that slithered her way to Aef-Grimnir found the Runefather's axe waiting for her.
Mogrum blasted ghostly green fires at Durbak and Laelanyel. The Berserker fell, leaving the Saih open for the orruk charge. On the other side of the Wizard's Mansion, their mates ganged up on the Melusai.
Aef-Grimnir roared his war cry and fell upon the orruks surrounding Laelanyel.
A thunderous explosion from the ogor's gun sent the aelf and duardin scrambling for cover, giving Mogrum and his lads the chance to secure the Wizard's Mansion.
Laelanyel screamed in frustration, her anger giving form to the Tidecaster's fears.
Then she and Aef parted to engage the orruks.
The Hunter's Reavers run to avenge the fall of their leader. Loosing arrows as they charged, they fell on the embattled Aef-Grimnir and took him out.
Laelanyel and Mogrum battled it out among scattered books and broken vials. The Weirdnob grinned through the Saih's barrage of solid illusions and in response leached away some of her life essence. His bladed staff lashed out sending the aelf sprawling on the floor. The brute prised the screamshawed bone hanging from Laelanyel's belt and booted her unconscious body down.
The Reavers loosed point blank on the orruk holding them and leapt up to face Mogrum.
From the broken flagstones where she was laying, battered and bruised, Laelanyel saw Mogrum dispatching the two Idoneth. The screamshawed bone clutched in his meaty fist, haloes of orange, purple and grey energy swirling around him, Mogrum bellowed in triumph.
Her hopes to reclaim her ancestral home dashed, Laelanyel felt a surge of hate mounting inside her. The orruk would squeal for the rest of his miserable life, she just needed a little more time...
Through darkness and light
Laelanyel opened the casket her shadegheist had recovered in Wortbad and stared once more at the scrimshawed bone. She could feel dormant energies in it, but for all her skills she had been unable to rouse them. That was why she was now taking her Arh'khaladh to the Piremoor. There, among the ruins of the Temple of Khazla, she knew she would have unraveled the the bone's secrets. With a thought, she sent her shadegheist to lay a shroud of illusions to fool any pursuing orruk, then motioned the Caengan forward through the Realmgate.
The Caengan stepped upon the fireheath, the burning energy of Aqshy mingling with the sparks emanating from their ur-gold runes.
Laelanyel drifted among the shattered pillars of the Temple of Khazla. Those broken stones were of no use to her. She needed to be on the central dais.
She could see it in the distance. And what she saw displeased the Saih. The Gloomfern Hunters were there, their Tidecaster deep in a summoning trance.
The air in front of the Shadowflames condesed quickly into two tiny spots. One of utter darkness, the other of blinding light, orbiting around each other. They quickly grew in size, two Geminids of Uhl-Ghysh.
The Gloomfen Hunters moved forward loosing a hail of arrows. Most fell armlessly on the fireheath, but one found its mark on Tark.
The Geminds spun wildly, flames leaping from the Piremoor to meet them. They traced a course over the Caengans. Aef-Grimnir and Durbak fell to the ground, their minds ravaged by the sudden alternation of lies and revelations.
Engrin withstood the magical onslaught, but he had not been spared. Doubts still lingered upon him and his axe moved slowly, leaving the Hearthguard Berserker at the mercy of the Gloomfen Hunters.
Seething with rage, Laelanyel darted forward and fell a Reaver before he could claim the duardin's soul.
The Tidecaster closed onto the Geminds and bound them to her will.
As the assault of a Melusai brought Laelanyel to her knees, she realised there was no hope in fighting. She let the shadow magic coursing through her body loose and took the Arh'khaladh away.
Whence the Blood Flows
Again, Laelanyel stared deep into the Umbral Spellportal. It showed her a Burning Head raging not far away from where the Abhorrant King held his court. She knew the orruks' simplistic greed would drew them to it. And she would have been there...
The Kinless sat the spellforge ready to cage the Burning Head. Of course, not until she had helped the Cleavermaws in getting closer to it, taught Laelanyel. Suddenly, Drevakh Xosh stepped out of a pool of shadows. He nodded at his mistress, then cocked his head towards a point in the distance.
Laelanyel's gaze followed the direction. As she expected, the Cleavermaws were closing in. By the low rumble of what they considered wispers, she knew they were arguing on matters they could not even understand.
Then unexpected movement caught her attention. To any aelf, there was no doubt that the shapes silently approaching from the east were a hunting party from Gloomfen. As for the group coming from the west, even the dullest of the lesser races would have recognised the colours of a Murderfist warband.
Although the Bloodwarriors seemed bent on storming the Gloomfen hunters, two of them prodded their Flesh Hound and advanced towards the Shadowflames.
"Kinless! By your oath to me, hold the orruks! Drevakh, with me!". The Caengan took their position waiting for the orruks' assault. In a blur, the two aelfs were amongst the Murderfists.
Laelanyel and Drevakh danced around the heavily armoured warriors, inflicting many painful wounds but not killing them. Why not taking some pleasure, thought Laelanyel as she vaulted above the raging Hound. And then the Burning Head was amongst them, consuming the Khornates in an heartbeat.
The Cleavermaws smashed their way through the Kinless and moved to cut Laelanyel's retreat.
Drevakh Xosh leapt into a pool of shadows and came out of it amongst the Murderfists.
Laelanyel smiled under her miststeel mask. The Khornates were no longer a problem and the Cleavermaws were right were she wanted them, on the Burning Head's path to the spellforge. She leapt onto the staircase of a Dreadfire Portal and with its energies bound the endless spell.
As their Tidecaster rose a rusty key high, the Gloomfen hunters loosed a hail of arrows against the melee in front of them. The ground itself swelled in a mudslide, dragging Drevakh Xosh away moments before the arrows hit home.
Freed from the Tenebrael Shard's menace, the Murderfists raged forward. The din of Khornate axes on aelfish steel echoed through the oppressive woods. The tang of freshly spilt blood filled the air. On both sides, warriors fell.
Laelanyel felt a growing pressure in the air. Something that had rarely come to the Harrowmark. The rabid gaze of Khorne was drawn to it. The Mistweaver let go on the Burning Head and retreated into the woods.
