The Tattooed Woman Pt. 05

"Oh shit..."

Azure's eyes went wide, and her voice was like a whisper from the grave as she hissed, "Revenant!"

She took a pace forward and whipped her sword in a vicious arc, slashing across one of the walking dead, it staggered and hissed but the creature continued to grab at her. Ducking under the grasping hand she rolled forward and kicked another shambling corpse aside as she cried, "Captain, it's a fucking Revenant! Phylactery! Smash its phylactery!"

Lashelle followed and slammed her blade into the body of one of the monsters that had risen behind Azure reaching to grasp at her silver hair. The creature turned and punched her, smashing its fist into her with such force that she staggered backwards with a grunt. If not for her mail the blow would have crushed her chest like an egg. The Orc by her side shoved her out of the way and grasped the creature, hauling the flailing thing over its head with a roar and hurling it bodily into two of the others, spilling them to the ground in a writhing tangle of limbs.

The winded Dark-Elf looked up with a bloody grin as the Orc hauled her to her feet, "Thanks."

Outside Tallis and her two Orcish companions had waited in the dark for what seemed an eternity to the young Dark Elf. She quietly muttered the occasional curse in the musical Eldar tongue as she crouched impatiently in the shadows, eagerly clutching her blade.

The sabre she carried had been a gift from her mother when she had been selected by the Captain to accompany her on this raid. Longer than the typical shortsword her kin carried it had a fistguard of steel, its blade was engraved with morbid runes and the dark metal gleamed in the moonlight. Her mother, who had always seemed so distant and cold to her, actually smiled as she freed the scabbard from her side and held it out to the young woman.

"Take this blade Tallis-Mora, it has served me well for centuries and I now gift it to you. I have trained you as best I could girl, and if I have seemed harsh or cruel at times, then know that such is our way, for in our world only the hard and the strong prosper, while the weak serve, and I want you to thrive my daughter!"

Her mother had bent to buckle the blade to Tallis' side with her own hands before standing to regard her, "There! Armed and armoured as a true daughter of my house should be. Mind your Captain girl, listen to her and learn well."

Tallis was confused, "B... But I thought you despised Captain Ashunara?"

Her mother had laughed, a crystal sound that Tallis had seldom heard, "Oh, I do, she's an annoying cow of a woman who vexed me for many, many years, but I know the devious witch is skilled and canny nonetheless, and despite my ire, I love the irritating bitch almost as much as I love you girl. She is my baby sister after all."

Tallis had been almost stunned when her mother had wrapped her arms about her and pulled her close, holding her tightly for a long moment before pushing herself back and raising her eyes, now once more as cold and dark as they had always seemed.

"Now go Tallis-Mora. Serve well and bring glory to my house." She turned to walk back into the manse and her parting words came back over her shoulder.

"Do your duty young Tallis, or don't come back."

The cries of combat and battle from the temple caused the young Dark Elf to rise from her hiding place and she would have stepped from the shadows but for the massive hand of the nearest Orc. It rested gently on her shoulder, and she looked up into the gleaming yellow eyes of the creature and nodded in thanks.

The greenskin grinned down at her and flexed the muscles of its shoulders and arms as it tightened its grip on the leather wrapping around the haft of the bearded battle axe it carried and readied its shield.

They didn't have to wait long.

Across the well-trimmed grass of the cloister, the doors of the kitchen and infirmary slammed open as ungainly figures shambled forth into the darkness, and Tallis swallowed her fear.

The unquiet dead were walking.

Figure after figure emerged from the gloomy interior of the buildings until more than a dozen of the corrupted things could be seen. They lurched and shuffled forwards, moaning and gibbering as they came, seemingly drawn unerringly towards the entrance of the temple.

Tallis whispered urgently, "If those bastards get in behind the Captain there'll be Hell to pay!"

The Orc grunted quietly nodded and spat.

The young Dark-Elf grinned back at the creature as she fumbled an object from her pouch, "Oh well, who wants to live forever eh?"

She nudged the Orcish archer by her side and tapped her skull and pointed at the shambling figure nearest to the temple door. The Orc grinned and its bow creaked as the creature drew back on its limbs. The bowstring sang and the viciously barbed arrow flew across the cloister to slam into the back of the shambling thing's head, punching through its skull as though it were an overripe melon. The monster staggered at the blow and fell, but Tallis grimaced as it twitched hideously and began to rise.

As one, the other walking corpses turned slowly towards her.

Two more barbed arrows slammed into the chest of the creature as it rose to its feet. Each punched into the body with tremendous force, penetrating the ribcage and sending the thing sprawling, and each time it slowly, clumsily rose to its feet.

The Orc snarled a curse and tossed aside its bow readying its axe and shield as the monsters closed.

Tallis waited til a few had grouped together and let fly with the object in her hand. Her aim was true, and the glass orb smashed amidst them, spraying the nearest with alchemist's fire that immediately ignited. The sticky liquid burned with a blazing orange intensity that was far hotter than mere 'flame' and two of the shambling things collapsed flailing to the ground as the magic that bound them was burned away.

The young Dark-Elf gave the nearest Orc a ferocious grin as she reached for another orb, "Well, looks like fire works just fine."

She hurled the orb directly into the chest of one of the shamblers and fire exploded across its body. The thing reeled back a pace, before it slumped to its knees, and slowly pitched forwards unmoving.

The remainder of the things crashed into the shields of the two Orcs and their strength was prodigious, driving the green-skinned warriors back as they battered at them, snarling and flailing with club-like fists. The Orcs fought back with unbridled ferocity, screaming warcries as they swung their axes, cleaving skulls, smashing ribs and hewing off limbs even as they were slowly, inexorably driven back towards the gate.

Tallis flitted between the two Orcs, using their shields for protection as much as she could as she parried and lunged. The blade of her sabre was like a razor, loping away the hands that gripped at her. The fighting was a chaotic swirl of fists and axeblades, punctuated by snarls, screams the sounds of impacts battering on shields and the meaty chunk of heavy blades biting into flesh. A hammer-like fist caught her a glancing blow that sent her sprawling and one of the draugr that had already been felled by an axe blow that had severed a leg crawled forward to flail at her. Screaming in both rage and fear she desperately fended off its steel-like grip as she punched at it desperately with the fistguard of her sword. Feeling a touch on her boot she risked a glance, and shrieked all the louder as a severed hand gripped her, trying to claw its way up her leg like some vile malformed spider.

Inside the temple Ashunara rolled to her knees, spat a mouthful of blood and fumbled for her sword. Her head was ringing like a bell, and it felt like she had been kicked in the face by a mule. Looking up she saw the cowled figure cackling like some demented madman as it fended off Nyx with the smouldering tip of its blackened iron rod while it clutched an Orc by the throat and effortlessly held it aloft as the creature choked and struggled helplessly.

"What the fuck was Azure saying?"

Snarling with rage the Captain sprang like a cat, leaping onto the thing's back and stabbing at its neck with her shortsword. The dark steel blade sank repeatedly to the hilt in the creature's flesh but it only giggled all the merrier as it spun about, trying to shake her off like she was some dogged rat.

Baring her teeth she wrapped a hand in the cowl about its neck and kept stabbing

Its voice burned her as it spoke, "Every wolf suffers fleas. T'is easy enough to scratch!"

The thing hurled aside the Orc in its grasp and reached for the Captain, as it did Nyx darted under the swinging iron rod and stabbed her sword into its crotch, twisting the blade savagely. The monster snarled and swung the iron in its hand catching the Sergeant a glancing blow to the shoulder that tore her mail and spilt the woman to the floor.

Seeing links of gold glinting under the robes about the thing's neck Ashunara tugged, revealing a thick golden chain that held an ornate medallion with an orb of amber at its centre.

A single word burned through the Captain's mind.

"Phylactery!"

A claw-like hand gripped Ashunara's face with fingers of steel and the creature hissed at her, "I think not Captain."

The grip tightened inexorably, and she groaned in pain, flailing helplessly with her sword as it felt like her head would burst.

The wounded Orc took a two-handed grip of its axe and with a bellow slammed the blade into the things back with enough force to stagger it, and with a scream of rage and fury, Ashunara stabbed her sword through the medallion, ripping the amber gemstone asunder.

The creature shrieked in agony and its body flexed so violently that its spine cracked and Ashunara was hurled aside. She rolled over the altar and bounced off the far wall, landing like a cat. Throwing her silver hair back she looked up at the whirling madman with a wolfish grin and held up the golden chain with its cleft medallion, "Oops."

The monster lurched towards her, and she lightly tossed the medallion to Nyx, who dangled it like a prize. As the thing turned to blindly reach for it Ashunara darted forward and sliced her blade across the back of its heel, severing a tendon. This time the blade bit, and black blood flowed as the thing shrieked again.

The Dark-Elves grinned at the sight, "Aha!"

Some folks say that Dark Elves are evil and vicious through and through. Of course, this is not wholly true, not wholly anyway, but anyone watching the next few moments would have been forgiven for being thoroughly convinced it was an absolute indisputable fact as Ashunara and Nyx danced about the creature, as they mercilessly sliced it to ribbons like a pair of smiling, dark-skinned, silver-haired demons.

In the end, the monster begged. It didn't help.

As each slice bit into its flesh, the creature lost its will, its power and focus waned and it began to fear. As it faltered so did the things it controlled, some flailed wildly at all within reach, some wandered aimlessly, crashing into walls and stumbling, and some simply collapsed into quivering lumps.

Howling and shrieking to the last the thing finally slumped to the floor, covering itself with its cloak and whimpering as the Dark Elves cut it to pieces. Finally, it lay still, a shapeless, bleeding thing that rotted and stank as Nyx prodded it gingerly with the toe of her boot. Finally, she looked back at Ashunara who leaned against the altar breathless and panting.

"Okay, just what the fuck was that?"

Azure limped into the chamber almost carrying Lachelle. Both looked more than half-dead and sported multiple cuts, bruises and abrasions, but their mail had held, and they would live.

"It's a Revenant of some kind, mayhap a Lich or Corpsmonger. Some fucking thing kept alive by necromantic arts and feeding on the living."

Azure slumped to the floor while Lashelle leaned against the altar and grinned at the Captain, "I want a fucking pay rise."

Nyx looked them both over, "A pay rise? For one little Revenant? Give me a break. Why when I was a lass, we would..."

Ashunara, Azure and Lashelle spoke as one, "Oh shut up!"

The grinning Sergeant moved to the Captain and gripped her face, holding her nose between her thumbs, "Sorry boss, this might sting."

With an audible crack that made even Azure wince, she straightened the woman's broken nose before passing her a flask of healing draught, "Don't take more than a swallow or two, that's a nasty crack on the head you have there, don't want you falling asleep on us Captain, you might never wake up."

Ashunara nodded, but muttered instructions even as the Sergeant treated her face, "Azure, if you're able.. Ow! Fuck me Nyx, have a care! Azure, go see if you can find Tallis."

The scout nodded and rose, resting a hand on Lashelle's shoulder for a moment before she moved off into the darkness.

Tallis lay sprawled flat on her back on the paved floor just inside the gateway. She stared blankly up and felt so utterly exhausted that she couldn't bring herself to move. The fighting had been desperate at the end. The shields of her two Orc guardians had been smashed to bits under the flailing fists of the undead, and they had gone down under the battering, kicking swinging and roaring defiance, fighting to the last, but still, they had been gone down.

She had ended up rolling about the ground with a foul creature wrapping its fingers around her throat. The creature stank and its strength had been incredible. Her sword had been kicked from her grasp in the melee and she recalled pulling her dagger and stabbing uselessly at the thing as it inexorably strangled her.

She gasped for a breath that wouldn't come as the fingers tightened, and her vision blurred as she struggled and fought for her life, knowing she was losing.

Without warning the creature collapsed on her like a puppet that had its strings cut. She lay under the stinking thing gasping for breath, with tears running down her face before mustering the strength to roll the corpse off her.

Her entire body felt like one gigantic bruise, and she was sure that her arm was broken, she hurt so much she couldn't even be sure which one. She clenched her left fist and a flare of red-hot agony almost made her scream, "Aye, that's the one."

Tallis sensed movement as an Orc pushed its way out from under a pile of bodies, it growled as it slowly, painfully rolled to one knee and then using the wall for support pushed itself up to its feet.

The battered creature spat a mouthful of blood and teeth, before looking about and bending to pull an axe from where it was embedded in the skull of one of the stinking corpses.

The creature pulled away a few more bodies before finally reaching to drag its companion up onto its feet and pushing the axe into its grip. The second Orc grinned and then pitched forward flat on its face.

She would have laughed if it didn't hurt quite so much.

"You look terrible."

Azure spoke from the shadows, and Tallis groaned, "You should see the other guy..."

"I'm sure. Can you stand?"

"Come back tomorrow, I'm just going to lie here a while if that's all right."

The scout grinned, "Ha! No shirking recruit, up you get."

Tallis rolled onto her side with a moan of pain, "I hate you."

Azure looked about at the many mangled and burned corpses sprawled about the place and whistled quietly, "Looks like you had a little trouble?"

"Just a bit."

The scout moved closer, "Here girl, let me see that arm, pretty sure it shouldn't be twisted like that."

The young Dark Elf groaned as the scout broke an arrow and pushed the shaft between her teeth, "Bite down girl, this will hurt, I'm sorry."

Tallis whimpered in agony as Azure straightened the arm and used a second arrow as a splint, binding it tightly with strips of cloth and leather from her pouch. The scout held a flask to her lips, "Drink this, it's the last of the healing potion."

The recruit gratefully took a swallow but pushed the flask away before taking any more, "G... give the rest to the Orcs, I'd be dead without them."

One of the Orcs approached and looked down at her as the thing pushed the flask back to her lips, "Drink."

The greenskin bent to pick up her sabre and held it up for Azure to see and tapped the blade, "See? Blood of enemies. Little Darkling fight okay. Not beg, not run, did good," it grinned, "still very small though."

Back inside the temple Ashunara knelt next to Lashalle, gently cleaning blood from her face with a wetted cloth. Nyx poked the body of the creature a few more times before taking her sword and with a grunt hacking its head off with a few brutally efficient blows. She casually tossed the grizzly bundle out into the main temple before turning back to her Captain with a grin, "Just to be sure."

The Captain grunted her agreement before turning back to her hurt companion, holding a waterskin to the woman's lips, "Still with us Lash?"

"Hanging in there Captain, a sore fight that one, but I'll live."

"Good girl Lashelle, glad to hear it. Besides," she smiled down at the woman, "I'd miss your cooking."

Lashelle coughed and grinned, "Ow, oh fuck. Don't make me laugh Captain, my ribs hurt too much for that."

Ashunara passed the woman a silver flask, "Here, have some of this, humans call it potcheen they say, and it's not so terrible," she grinned as the soldier tasted the stuff with a wince, "not too bad, eh?"

Lashelle laughed, "Tastes like it was fermented in an Orcs loincloth, Captain. But... Well, it's better than no booze at all."

The Captain grinned, "So, you and Azure eh?"

The woman blushed so prettily she looked a hundred years younger, "Captain, please, t'is nothing, no more than a passing fancy for sure, it's just... well, you know, just that she's ..."

"Stunning?"

The younger Dark Elf actually giggled, "Aye, that she is," she gripped her commander's hand, "please, do not forbid Captain, I know we shouldn't, but it won't interfere with my duty, I swear it."

Lashelle was as good a sword as any she had commanded in the past. Some said she was soft, but Ashunara knew better. The woman was as hard as she needed to be, but there wasn't a cruel or vindictive bone in her body and there were none more loyal. She patted her on the shoulder and gave her a warm smile, "She's obviously smart enough to recognise a good thing when she sees it, Lashelle. As long as I get an invite to the Proaulia I'm glad for you both."

A call from the back of the chamber drew her attention and she gave the woman another encouraging smile as she rose. Nyx was at the rear of the chamber examining a trap door set in the floor.

"Probably leads to the catacombs Captain, or perhaps a wine cellar if we're lucky, don't monasteries in the northern isles brew their own drink?"

"You'd drink something in this poisoners web?"

Nyx grinned, "Well if it's bottled and sealed, I might be inclined to brave it perchance."

The door was heavy but lifted easily enough to reveal steps down to a long vaulted chamber with arches leading off to either side. The stonework looked smooth, and it had a sense of age or even antiquity. There were no lamps or candles lit and the darkness might have been oppressive were not the eyes of the Fay capable of penetrating the gloom as though it were a sunny day. Nyx spat in disgust, "Catacombs, no booze I guess damn it."

Ashunara paused, drawing her blade silently as she tilted her head to listen, "Do you hear that? Off, up ahead, sounds like weeping."

The Sergeant drew her own blade and drifted into the shadows on one side of the chamber as the two moved forward like prowling cats, with eyes glittering and pointed ears twitching.

Up ahead a figure could be seen suspended from a hook in the ceiling by a rope noose tied around her neck. It appeared to have been a young human female, dressed much like those they had seen earlier, her face was bloated in death but bore no signs of the poisoning that marred the other corpses. The whimpering came from beyond an archway to the left of this grizzly decoration.