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The Doomed Bastards: Reckoning (story complete)
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<blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3861953" data-attributes="member: 143"><p>Chapter 283</p><p></p><p>THE DEAD HORDE</p><p></p><p></p><p>The dawn was just starting to brighten on the eastern horizon as five nebulous, insubstantial forms drifted down out of the sky toward Albrith. The town proper was cloaked deep in shadows, dominated by the black slash that cut through its center and formed a wound upon the earth. </p><p></p><p>The ghostly figures descended and drifted over the southern edge of the town. The place was silent, without even the chirping of a bird to disrupt the stillness. </p><p></p><p>Albrith was a graveyard. There were not many bodies visible in the air, the occasional limp form crumpled in a doorway, or a bloody limb jutting out from a ruined building. Bloodstains here and there. They might have been taken as lingering remnants of the original disaster that had struck the town, but the five <em>wind walking</em> over the place knew better. </p><p></p><p>The travelers drifted to the ground near one of the larger, more intact structures and took on substance. Allera was the first to fully materialize, and she rushed toward the open door of the building. Dar was right behind her, <em>Valor</em> bare in her hand. </p><p></p><p>“Allera, wait!” </p><p></p><p>He ran into her just inside the entry, frozen, pale. </p><p></p><p>The chamber was an abattoir. Blood covered the walls, dark splatters that continued to trail thin lines down the long wooden planks, gathering in pools that merged in shallow depressions in the floor. Most of the furniture had been smashed; there was enough left near the door to suggest that a barricade had been hastily erected and defeated there. Scattered amidst the chaos were... <em>remains</em>, not enough to call bodies. Bones could be seen, starkly white; many of them had been split to access the marrow within. There was one intact body not far from the door, lying on its belly, its gray flesh hacked with crude cuts. </p><p></p><p>“By the gods,” Dar said, affected despite the many terrible things he had seen in recent months. He took Allera and forced her toward him, turning her away from the grisly scene. Behind him, he could hear Nelan voiding his stomach. He took Allera out. </p><p></p><p>The other two were outside. Letellia, and Yanis. The sorceress and the ranger looked pale. Yanis still looked a bit bewildered, but he came to attention as Dar fixed his stare on him. </p><p></p><p>“Check out the surrounding area for tracks or other signs, but don’t go far, and don’t leave sight of this spot.”</p><p></p><p>“Aye, general.” The ranger saluted and started looking around. </p><p></p><p>Yanis Ophilio had been a last-minute addition to their company. When Nelan had come to the palace compound, just a few hours previous, he’d brought a warning of the Demon unleashing another attack upon the world of Men. With Tiros still out at Trajaran, Dar had found everyone looking to him for guidance—a position he was not pleased to be in. Nelan’s sense of urgency had been contagious, and he’d inisisted that a dire threat had emerged at the ruined town of Albrith. He’d prayed to the Father for guidance, and had been granted the power to transport himself and four others on the winds to the region to determine the nature of the threat. </p><p></p><p>Nelan had wanted to leave at once, but he’d agreed to Allera’s suggestion that they seek out Letellia’s aid. Honoratius was still at death’s door, but the young sorceress had proven her own talents in Rappan Athuk, and they might have need of an arcanist against the still-unknown threat. Shaylara, however, was nowhere to be found, and ultimately Dar decided that they couldn’t wait for her to turn up. He sent a rider on a fast horse to warn Tiros at Trajaran, and left further orders for the leaders of the Watch and the Fifth Legion outside the city to prepare to face battle. Yanis had been in the wrong place at the wrong time; they’d needed a scout, and the ranger had been a tracker in the Border Legion. He’d survived the debacle at Southwatch only because he’d come down with pneumonia in the long forced march that Dar had led from the camp in the Galerrs. He’d been assigned to help with training duties for the new Watch, and Dar had all but grabbed him out of his bunk, ordering him to get his gear and get ready for battle. Now he was finding himself having to deal with things alien to his experience, such as <em>wind walking</em> across two hundred miles of terrain to explore a dead town. </p><p></p><p>“What is it?” Letellia asked. </p><p></p><p>Dar opened his mouth to respond, but Allera beat him to it. “Ghouls,” the healer said. </p><p></p><p>“How many?” </p><p></p><p>Dar looked around. They sky was starting to brighten incrementally, and he could now see the deep claw marks that cut into the threshold of the door to the building where the last survivors of Albrith had made their ineffective stand. </p><p></p><p>“Many,” he said. </p><p></p><p>Nelan emerged from the building, his face grim. “We don’t have much time,” he said. </p><p></p><p>“General!” </p><p></p><p>Dar turned to see Yanis hurrying over. “There were a lot of them,” the ranger said. “They headed northeast. It won’t be hard to follow their trail.” He pointed in that direction. Even from a few hundred feet away, Dar could see the marks made by the undead horde as it had left Albrith. Their own route here had been indirect, as they’d followed the River Nalos before turning south along the trade road. The path chosen by the undead had been more direct. </p><p></p><p>Northeast. Straight toward Camar.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lazybones, post: 3861953, member: 143"] Chapter 283 THE DEAD HORDE The dawn was just starting to brighten on the eastern horizon as five nebulous, insubstantial forms drifted down out of the sky toward Albrith. The town proper was cloaked deep in shadows, dominated by the black slash that cut through its center and formed a wound upon the earth. The ghostly figures descended and drifted over the southern edge of the town. The place was silent, without even the chirping of a bird to disrupt the stillness. Albrith was a graveyard. There were not many bodies visible in the air, the occasional limp form crumpled in a doorway, or a bloody limb jutting out from a ruined building. Bloodstains here and there. They might have been taken as lingering remnants of the original disaster that had struck the town, but the five [i]wind walking[/i] over the place knew better. The travelers drifted to the ground near one of the larger, more intact structures and took on substance. Allera was the first to fully materialize, and she rushed toward the open door of the building. Dar was right behind her, [i]Valor[/i] bare in her hand. “Allera, wait!” He ran into her just inside the entry, frozen, pale. The chamber was an abattoir. Blood covered the walls, dark splatters that continued to trail thin lines down the long wooden planks, gathering in pools that merged in shallow depressions in the floor. Most of the furniture had been smashed; there was enough left near the door to suggest that a barricade had been hastily erected and defeated there. Scattered amidst the chaos were... [i]remains[/i], not enough to call bodies. Bones could be seen, starkly white; many of them had been split to access the marrow within. There was one intact body not far from the door, lying on its belly, its gray flesh hacked with crude cuts. “By the gods,” Dar said, affected despite the many terrible things he had seen in recent months. He took Allera and forced her toward him, turning her away from the grisly scene. Behind him, he could hear Nelan voiding his stomach. He took Allera out. The other two were outside. Letellia, and Yanis. The sorceress and the ranger looked pale. Yanis still looked a bit bewildered, but he came to attention as Dar fixed his stare on him. “Check out the surrounding area for tracks or other signs, but don’t go far, and don’t leave sight of this spot.” “Aye, general.” The ranger saluted and started looking around. Yanis Ophilio had been a last-minute addition to their company. When Nelan had come to the palace compound, just a few hours previous, he’d brought a warning of the Demon unleashing another attack upon the world of Men. With Tiros still out at Trajaran, Dar had found everyone looking to him for guidance—a position he was not pleased to be in. Nelan’s sense of urgency had been contagious, and he’d inisisted that a dire threat had emerged at the ruined town of Albrith. He’d prayed to the Father for guidance, and had been granted the power to transport himself and four others on the winds to the region to determine the nature of the threat. Nelan had wanted to leave at once, but he’d agreed to Allera’s suggestion that they seek out Letellia’s aid. Honoratius was still at death’s door, but the young sorceress had proven her own talents in Rappan Athuk, and they might have need of an arcanist against the still-unknown threat. Shaylara, however, was nowhere to be found, and ultimately Dar decided that they couldn’t wait for her to turn up. He sent a rider on a fast horse to warn Tiros at Trajaran, and left further orders for the leaders of the Watch and the Fifth Legion outside the city to prepare to face battle. Yanis had been in the wrong place at the wrong time; they’d needed a scout, and the ranger had been a tracker in the Border Legion. He’d survived the debacle at Southwatch only because he’d come down with pneumonia in the long forced march that Dar had led from the camp in the Galerrs. He’d been assigned to help with training duties for the new Watch, and Dar had all but grabbed him out of his bunk, ordering him to get his gear and get ready for battle. Now he was finding himself having to deal with things alien to his experience, such as [i]wind walking[/i] across two hundred miles of terrain to explore a dead town. “What is it?” Letellia asked. Dar opened his mouth to respond, but Allera beat him to it. “Ghouls,” the healer said. “How many?” Dar looked around. They sky was starting to brighten incrementally, and he could now see the deep claw marks that cut into the threshold of the door to the building where the last survivors of Albrith had made their ineffective stand. “Many,” he said. Nelan emerged from the building, his face grim. “We don’t have much time,” he said. “General!” Dar turned to see Yanis hurrying over. “There were a lot of them,” the ranger said. “They headed northeast. It won’t be hard to follow their trail.” He pointed in that direction. Even from a few hundred feet away, Dar could see the marks made by the undead horde as it had left Albrith. Their own route here had been indirect, as they’d followed the River Nalos before turning south along the trade road. The path chosen by the undead had been more direct. Northeast. Straight toward Camar. [/QUOTE]
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