The Man at the Wall
Author: kazgar the angry
Needs Formatted
Prologue
After weeks trudging through the desolate wastes of the desert, three figures finally reached the mountain range that marked its edge, they were now down to their last dregs of water and hoped to find a stream soon. Slowly the dry golden sands started to change in color with patches of green sprouting out through it. Up ahead they could see the beginnings of the tree line that would hopefully offer protection from the sweltering heat, this encouraged them to quicken their pace, ignoring the pain in their feet that had long ago lost their shoes, the clothes on their backs in tatters as they had ripped them off in order to cool down. As they got closer to the dark green of the trees they could begin to hear to sound of water gurgling it's way though the undergrowth. Thinking of nothing else they ran towards it and dropping to their knees beside a small stream they cupped the delicious water in their hands and drank it down through parched cracked lips, feeling it slide down their throats, dropping their faces into the cool water and then playfully slashing each other before stripping what remained of their clothes to jump in the stream and swim around..
After they had drank their fill and scrubbed the desert dust off their bodies with soap root found growing on the edge of the stream they washed the remains of their clothes and hung them on bushes to dry. Morta the tallest of the three turned to the others 'days almost upon us' he said 'we need to find shelter!'. Skuld his brother with his straight long black hair, even darker still after being washed, stood up and after looking around ' we should be able to find some dry wood to use, I'll see what I can locate whilst you and Febrill see if you can rustle up a bit of food for us. 'Why am I always the one who has to go rummage around in the undergrowth for rats and weasels while you sit here nice and warm' groaned Febrill, the youngest of the three. Standing there naked with her small hands curled up in fists and her arms straight down by her sides, her brothers could do nothing but burst out laughing. 'Sis, you know you are the best hunter of us, only someone as small as you can crawl under the bushes and flush out what we need to survive this, and while Feb is the clumsiest he is also the best at getting a fire out of nothing' Morta said grinning from ear to ear, his thin lips stretching over his teeth, showing the elongated canines that marked their kind.
Vampires all three, with pale skin stretched over their tall thin frames, Morta at nearly seven feet was the tallest of them, his black hair tied tight back from his forehead with a leather thong at the nape of his neck leaving it loose down his back, his long fingers ended in nails that were as long again and sharpened to a vicious point. Skuld wore his hair loose and flowing down to the base of his spine, he hadn't left his nails grow as long and didn't feel the need to sharpen them in the manner of his brother, instead his affection was towards his teeth, into which he had inserted colored gemstones and the tips of his canines encased in a diamond sheath that gleamed in the flickering light emanating from the fire he had just got started. He stood six inches lower than his brother but was still taller than their sister, who at just under six foot had always be the brunt of the jokes in their clan. Unlike most women Febrill had taken to shaving her head and only kept the hair on her crown, tying it with a leather thong high on the top of her head and leaving it fall down over her shoulders and covering up one of her breasts leaving only its pert nipple peaking out through it, the other she left bare.
All three were marked with a series of tattoos flowing over their bodies that marked them as highborn vampires, those that had been born of noble families and not been created from the masses of humans that still roamed the lands. The tattoos also showed what training they had and what achievements they had earned in the various wars between clans.
After Febrill had returned with a modest amount of small wildlife, they sat quietly and devoured the food even crunching the bones to avail of the marrow contained within. 'What are we gonna do in the morning' Febrill said lying there staring up at the sky, 'We have just washed off all the skin protection gels, and we didn't have time to grab more from the stores, without it we're dead anyway and there needn't have been reason to run!!' . 'Don't fret sis' Skuld muttered as he rolled over to face her, 'we'll find shade before dawn, these mountains are riddled with caves and we will reach them before the light arrives'
'Well if you two have enough energy to keep chatting, then we might as well make a start towards those hills then ' growled Morta, 'fill those skins with water from upstream and lets get going'
Chapter 1
He sits there staring blindly, seeing nothing, Remembering things long forgotten, His dreams a jumble of reality,
'THERE' They run towards where Morta points, jumping over bushes and ducking branches, the horizon behind them changing from black to a pale violet color as the sun starts its accent, shades of peach and gold start to infuse it as they reach the cave mouth, diving into the darkness as the warm sun crests the edge of the landscape behind them, feeling it on their backs they rush through the cave to the back hoping to find a place that it cannot reach. The golden light streams in through the entrance, FEBRILL screams as it's touch reaches her back, hands reach out, grab her and drag her down behind an outcrop of rock, 'that bloody hurts' 'wow that was close' says Skuld holding her tight to him as the light hits the back wall of the cave sending shadows playing over them. turning her over he looks at her back 'you'll be okay in a while, just won't be having any fun on your back for a few days' playfully slapping her on her bare behind.
'get some sleep you two' Morta slides over towards them keeping his eyes on the light above him, glittering with the dust that their swift entrance had thrown up 'we have to move on as soon as the sun departs again.
'easy for you to say' mutters Febrill to herself as she lies on her stomach, her head resting on her arms, as she closes here eyes it all comes rushing back to her.
'BREACH' someone shouts, 'NORTH WALL', the sounds of gunfire deafens everything, five days the siege had been going on, every night the alliance of eastern clans had been attacking, sending waves of humans to the base of the walls, dying in their thousands as they attempted to plant charges to bring the walls down, while the vampires leading them looked on from a distance, their own humans manned the walls in defense, dropping rocks and anything else heavy they could find to knock them back. Someone had found a cache of oil and had poured that over some and thrown down a flaming torch setting them alight. this sent them scurrying around setting those nearest them on fire also. A few of the humans nearest her on the wall started laughing. 'Get to that breach' she screamed at them, shoving one over the wall to fall atop three more humans attempting to push a ladder up. 'bloody humans thinking this is fun'.
Running towards the north wall, jumping from roof top to rooftop, another explosion sounds ahead of her and the darkness is lit up as flames sprout up towards the sky, human body parts falling down as blood is sprayed around by the winds. Looking into the distance she can see black shadows suddenly stream down from the mountains, ' Their coming' she shouts, feeling a presence at her side she turns to see Morta standing there covered in blood
' wish you'd use a gun or something, this is gonna get messy',
'i'm okay with my knives, just as long as they don't have any snipers we'll be fine'
'yea well just be careful'
'any sign of Skuld?'
'he's skulking around somewhere, you know him'
'yea I know, probably down in the middle of all their humans, just waiting for one of his 'right moments,
Screams of dying humans penetrate the night air, the smell of blood thick and almost distracting her from their current situation, the siege had been dragging on now for over 5 nights and until the sudden breach ahead of her, she had felt that they would manage to hold on.
'Dammit Morta, where is the rest of the clan!, don't they realise how long it took us to build up this city and that if we lose it the war will go against us?' 'Yea they know, unfortunately they all got called off to another zone and this now seems to be an alliance between a few clans determined to see us wiped out' 'well i don't fucking care, they should have sent at least a few to help out, dammit!!'
'alright, lets just get to the breach and see if we can hold them off til morning, at least if we can do that we have some chance'
As they got to the hole in the wall they could see the bodies of humans mingled with the still burning rubble, the smell of charred flesh in the air that was thick with dust. the eighteen foot high wall had been taken down by a massive explosion leaving a gaping wound in it, through which now streamed hundreds of humans tattoo'ed with the marking of the other clan. Dropping down into their midst, Morta was a blur, his knives flashing in the light from the fires surrounding him, as he darted through the humans slashing all around him. the humans could not even see what had happened to them as they felt his knives slashing across their throats, ripping up through their chests, all they could do is scream and die.
Febrill jumps onto the edge of a wall close by, pulls out her mini machine guns and lays down a spray of bullets, cutting through the humans, the lucky ones get hit in the head killing them instantly , others ar no so fortunate as the bullets rip across their bodies, opening them up and sending them flying through the air back over the rest trying to gain a purchase on the rubble.
Suddenly she senses something behind her and spinning round she unloads a clip at the shadow that moves quicker than any human could.
Chapter 1.5
'Scum' the shadow screams at her as it lashes out with a fist that connects with the side of her face, rocking her head to the side. Her vision blurs slightly and she feels her cheek bone cracking. Another fist punches her in the stomach, doubling her over. As she falls forwards a hand grabs her by the hair,
'Bitch - I think I might have a bit of fun with you before I end your miserable life'
Febrill looks up through bleary eyes at a vamp she doesn't recognize, for the first time feeling real fear. He throws her to the ground, smashing her skull against a piece of rubble, stunning her even further, she can feel herself slipping down into unconsciousness.
' don't die yet bitch' kicking her across the ribs ' not quite yet hehehe!!!'
She levers herself up onto her elbows and spits in his face as he leans down closer, leering at her. Angrily he raises his hand to punch her again, when suddenly his face changes from one of pure anger and malice to one of shock and bewilderment and as she looks at him his back arches and his chest is pushed forwards as a blade appears through his clothes, blood gushing out of the hole. Suddenly a smiling face appears over the strangers shoulder,
'having fun down there sis' her brother Morta smiles even more as his reaches down a hand to help her up as the body of the other vamp falls down over the edge of the roof, disappearing into the crowds of humans fighting below.
'thanks' 'Anytime sis', 'c'mon - lets get out of here'
Suddenly a large shape looms over them 'Febrill, Morta where's your brother??' 'Kazgaroth sir I don't know' gasps Febrill 'he should be around here somewhere'
Kazgaroth stands 8 feet tall, one of the largest vamp she has ever seen, unlike most vamps he keeps his hair short and has a full beard which covers his face up to his high cheekbones. his massive body belies the gracefulness with which he moves. Putting an arm around Morta's shoulder and a hand on Febrill's, he looks down at them both ' Find him as I have a mission for you ' 'M'Lord??' They both stare up at him in shock. ' A mission in the middle of a battle??' 'Morta if I didn't like you I would kill you for questioning me' 'Yyyess sir' Morta stammers out, visibly shaken by the request ' the battle is lost, the citadel will be destroyed and most of your brethren will either be killed or taken into slavery!' Kazgaroth, grips her shoulder tighter - ' I want the three of you to go out and found a new clan' , 'find a new home for those who might escape from this and when you get strong enough, free those who don't'
'but sir! what about you??' ' Febrill my dear, I built this city from scratch, when I arrived to this spot there was nothing but stone and sand, I will never leave it while there is blood lowing through my veins, but now it is you and your brothers time to go '
' no sir! we won't leave you' Morta says as he pushes himself up to his full height, coming up to below their leaders shoulder, 'Yes you will and you will protect your sister, this is my final orders to you' says Kazgaroth pushing them both away from him 'NOW GO!!!!!!!!!' he shouts at them his deep voice booming across the night air
