Slaves to Darkness 02 (The Blades of Chaos)

by Warhammer

  'And besides,' said Ursula, emptying her own pint pot and then grinning. 'Drinks are free tonight!'

  The gods indeed left them to their own entertainment that night, and the next day and for two days more. They each took a private room at the Haggard Fox, slept late, rose for lunch and wiled away the hours resting. Ursula ventured into the merchant quarter to spend some of the money she had earned, and also visited the temple of Sigmar to spend a day in thanks.

  On the fourth night, the gods were not so kind. An insistent tapping at his door, just after midnight, woke Ruprecht. He opened the door a crack and saw Ursula standing there, a figure behind her in the shadows.

  'Let us in.' she hissed, pushing at the door.

  Ruprecht stepped back and allowed her to enter. Behind her came Khemen, Lady Halste's Arabian aide, his face creased with worry.

  'What's wrong?' Ruprecht demanded, closing the door behind them.

  Ursula thrust a scrap of crumpled paper into his hand and he smoothed it out to read it. The message was scrawled in uneven lines:

  Come at once, all is not good,

  Lady Halste

  Ruprecht looked at it, then up at Khemen and then back at the note.

  'The lady gave you this to bring to us?' he asked. Khemen nodded quickly.

  'She bid me to bring it to Ursula.' the Arabian replied. 'She has been preparing for her ceremony all day, and at dusk called to me. She looked in a terrible state. Her eyes were distant, haunted. She trembled as she wrote it, and her voice was slurred. She has been imbibing certain sacred potions and burning blessed incense, and I fear that perhaps they have poisoned her or worse.'

  'How long ago was this?' Ruprecht asked, crossing the room to grab his shirt and jerkin.

  'Several hours.' admitted Khemen, wringing his hands together. 'I am afraid that I stayed for a long while to make sure she did not need my assistance, and was scared to leave her. Noises started to come from her chambers and I hurried here. I have a carriage waiting to take us back. You must help her!'

  Ruprecht then noticed that Ursula had her sword belt buckled on.

  'We have to make sure Ulfshard is safe.' she insisted. 'I think our good lady might have deceived us after all.'

  'Then why the note?' Ruprecht replied, pulling his shirt on over his head and tucking it in. He reached under the bed and pulled out his hammer.

  'We can get answers later.' Ursula said, opening the door. 'We'll meet you downstairs.'

  Ruprecht stood idle for a moment after they had left, his mind still befuddled with ale and sleep. Grabbing the pitcher of water he upended the contents over his head, gasping at the touch of the cool liquid. Less dazed, he pulled on his boots and hurried after the other two.

  The double doors shuddered constantly and red light spilled beneath and between them. They could hear a hissing noise and occasionally banging from inside the chamber. Ursula drew her sword in a shaking hand, but Ruprecht pushed her to one side and stepped forward.

  'Stay back.' he warned, looking at Khemen and taking hold of one of the door handles. The metal felt warm to the touch.

  He twisted the handle and pushed, but the door yielded no more than half an inch. Pushing harder, he managed to open the door a little more, smoke drifting through the opening. Grunting with the effort, he threw his weight against it, but the door would shift no further.

  'Lady Halste!' Ursula shouted, banging on the door. 'Lady Halste!'

  'Do something, I beg of you,' pleaded Khemen, tugging at Ruprecht's jerkin.

  The Talabheimer raised his hammer and dealt the door a shuddering blow, splintering the wood, yet the doors still did not move. Grasping the hammer in both hands, he swung back for another strike.

  Before the head of the hammer landed, the doors flew inwards, slamming against the walls inside.

  The scene inside was like something from a nightmare. The floor of the room was covered in intertwining geometric shapes and symbols, which burned with a dark red light. Thick black smoke hung in heavy clouds across the ceiling, roiling with a life of its own. Faces appeared and disappeared, burning eyes staring down cruelly at the room's occupant.

  Lady Halste was standing at the far end of the chamber. Or so it seemed. But after a moment Ursula realised Lady Halste's feet were several inches off the ground and she was suspended by curling tendrils of energy. The magical force twisted around her legs and arms, passing through her flesh.

  In front of her, spinning gently, Ulfshard hung in the air, blade pointing down over a nine-pointed star, the light of the pommel-stone dimmed and wavering.

  Ursula gave a shriek and ran into the room.

  'Don't break the...' Ruprecht began, lunging after her, but it was too late. Ursula's foot scuffed across one of the warding lines and red fire splashed into the air. The lines of flame flickered, dimmed and then disappeared.

  'Look out!' bellowed Ruprecht, following Ursula into the room, hammer at the ready. Behind him, the clouds coalesced around the doors and slammed them shut, blocking out Khemen, who could be heard frantically beating on them.

  The dark miasma split above their heads, separating into four distinct clouds that slid along the ceiling and down the walls. Spilling to the floor, they raised up, and glowing eyes appeared. The smoke formed long arms either side of a snake-like body, and claws of flame sprang into life. The inside of the room was like a furnace, and Ruprecht felt sweat dripping from him, but the blistering heat did not stop the chill feeling that crept along his spine.

  Their smoke-bodies coiling and twisting, the ifreet advanced on the pair, their cruel hissing laughter sounding in their ears. Circling slowly, the daemons came closer and closer, and Ruprecht and Ursula were forced to stand back-to-back, turning also to keep them in sight.

  With a sound like the crackle of an enormous bonfire, the spirit-creatures attacked, flying across the air, their claws blazing.

  Ursula lashed out at an incorporeal hand with her sword, but the blade passed through without effect. The creature's talons tore into her arm. There was no blood, no laceration, but burning pain flared through Ursula and her flesh blistered and peeled at the unholy creature's touch.

  Ruprecht ducked beneath the swipe of another claw, ineffectually trying to ward away the ifreet with the head of his hammer. Cursing, he tossed the weapon aside and wrenched free his necklace, thrusting the charms and amulets into the daemon's face.

  A piercing wail resounded around the chamber and the ifreet fled to the far corner of the room. Its retreat had left an opening and Ursula leapt through the gap towards Ulfshard. One of the ifreet sensed her plan and sped after her, wrapping its coils of smoke around her throat. The touch seared her inside, choking her, but she ignored the pain and dove forwards, her hand closing around the hilt of Ulfshard.

  The pommel of the elven sword blazed into glorious life, filling the room with blue rays of light. Azure flames rippled up the length of the blade and Ursula swung Ulfshard at the creature that was grappling with her. The smoke ignited with blue fire, exploding outwards in a ring of flame, another agonised wail filling her ears.

  The other daemons gave panicked shrieks as Ursula stalked across the chamber towards them, the glowing blade raised above her head. Runes and sigils on the walls crackled with energy as the creatures tried to escape, hurling them back with small storms of red lightning.

  Swinging Ulfshard in a wide arc, she cut through two of the fire-daemons, banishing them back to their incorporeal realm. The last took no longer: trapped against the door, she thrust the elven sword between its fire-rimmed eyes, driving the blade into the wood of the door itself.

  Ruprecht retrieved his hammer and ran over to Lady Halste. She was still floating in the grips of the magical bindings, her eyes glazed, mouth lolling stupidly.

  'Bring the sword here!' he called desperately to Ursula, who was looking at Ulfshard as if seeing it for the first time. She stood there for a moment, dazed, until Ruprecht shouted her name again.

  She walked up to L
ady Halste and raised Ulfshard, preparing to cut through the daemonic tentacles. Before she could do so, the lady's eyes flickered open and she flinched backwards from the blazing sword.

  'No!' she hissed, throwing her arms up to protect herself, floating back out of reach of the magical sword. 'Ursula, don't!'

  Ursula checked her blow and lowered Ulfshard, stepping after the retreating noblewoman.

  'Listen to me,' Lady Halste told them between gritted teeth. 'The daemon almost took me. It will be back! Use Ulfshard. Break the Tzakheein star! Finish the ritual!'

  Ursula hesitated, unsure what to do. Ruprecht guessed the lady's meaning and nodded at the nine-pointed star over which the sword had been hovering.

  'There,' he told her, gesturing with his hammer. 'Plunge the sword into the star.'

  Ursula's glance at the lady was answered with an emphatic nod, and Ursula turned, reversing Ulfshard so that she held it point downwards in both hands. Closing her eyes, she thrust the magical sword into the floor.

  Nothing happened for a moment.

  Then the sword exploded into a miniature blue sun, flinging Ursula and Ruprecht to the ground. In the sapphire light, an outline could be seen surrounding Lady Halste's body like a wavering halo. It stretched up to the ceiling, a massive winged beast with four arms, its muscled body becoming a twin-tailed snake. Nine horns sprouted from its long, goat-like head, and it snarled, baring teeth each as long as a dagger.

  The light from Ulfshard pulsed rhythmically and the shimmering daemon-form began to waver. Patches of blue light began to merge, burning away at the djinn's essence. Spreading like a flame across paper, the energies of Ulfshard ate away at the daemon's ethereal form as it writhed in desperation.

  As the djinn disintegrated completely, the light from Ulfshard imploded in on itself, pulling back into the blade. It raced as a crackle of energy into the lines drawn on the floor, illuminating the tracery of interweaving figures. Almost faster than the eye could follow, sparks of power raced around the mystical diagram, converging on Lady Halste.

  Ursula pulled herself to her knees but was knocked flat again as the energy collapsed into the floating noblewoman in a blinding flash. Lady Halste was hurled across the room, skidding across the boards until she thudded against the wall beneath the shuttered window.

  No one moved. The floorboards smoked gently with thin grey wisps. Khemen's thumping intruded on Ruprecht's numbed ears. He heard Ursula moan, and pulled himself up so that he could see her. She lay on her back, her hands covering her eyes. Lady Halste lay immobile where she had been flung.

  Using his hammer as a staff, Ruprecht pushed himself to his feet, and took an unsteady step forward. His entire body felt weak, his limbs drained of all strength. Ursula stirred, rolling to her side and gulping down a rasping breath. Her clothes were singed, and her skin was red. It was then that Ruprecht noticed wisps of smoke coming from his beard, and felt the rawness of his own flesh.

  A laugh began to echo around the room. It was a chilling sound, full of scorn, and Ruprecht glanced around to find the source. It was coming from Lady Halste.

  She floated upwards and tilted forwards until she was upright, an aura of power flowing from her skin. She landed gently on tiptoe. Her face was twisted in a cruel sneer, and her eyes had become balls of flickering white light. Her long hair waved around her head like a nest of vipers, whipping back and forth.

  'My dear Ruprecht, my dearest Ursula,' Lady Halste said in a voice that resounded like metal scratching on stone. 'I would be totally lost without you.'

  Ursula uncovered her face and looked at the noblewoman. Crackling energy played around the enchantress's fingertips.

  'Without you, I could never have completed the she'al akra,' Halste continued. With a glance at the doors, they opened and Khemen stumbled in. 'And the ever-faithful Khemen.'

  The Arabian looked up at his mistress and his eyes widened in terror. He turned to flee, but Lady Halste's voice stopped him before his first stride.

  'Leave and you die!' she snarled. 'Stay and you might yet prove useful.'

  Khemen turned back and flung himself to the ground, laying prone in acquiescence. He began to babble in Arabian.

  'Too late for prayers, Khemen,' Halste said with a wicked smile. 'Too late for much of anything for all of you.'

  Ruprecht took a faltering step forward, hammer raised, and Halste lashed out with her hand, bolts of white energy leaping from her fingertips. They struck Ruprecht in the chest, hurling him backwards to the floor, the hammer flying from his grasp.

  'For years I never believed it possible,' Halste said, floating forward, her toes sliding across the floor. 'My sorceries combined with the essence of djinn. I despaired, I really did, of ever seeing the days of my glory.'

  'What glory?' said Ursula, hauling herself to her feet. 'What could you have never done?'

  'What you see now,' Halste replied, spreading her arms wide and spinning gently through the air until she faced them again. 'They said I was too young, too inexperienced for the she'al akra. Well, I have proven them wrong. Oh, it might have gone awry at first, but now see me! Eleven years I have paid the price of my earlier failure. Eleven years that creature lived within me, a parasite on my life force. Now it is gone, I am free, and its power is mine to command.'

  'It was all a lie, after all,' groaned Ruprecht.'You used us!'

  'Not at all, my dear,' argued Lady Halste. 'Much of it was, but not all of it. My name, well it certainly isn't Halste. I am Jasmina el Al, of Copher. That's in Araby, if you haven't already guessed. That creature, that hideous thing, broke free during a summoning and invaded my spirit. So, yes, I was possessed, that part was true. I just didn't tell you the part about needing the sword to kill the daemon, leaving me with its power.'

  'Is that what Gerhardt discovered? Is that why you killed him?' demanded Ursula, tears welling in her eyes. 'Murderer!'

  'No!' Jasmina seemed quite shocked at the accusation. 'It was the djinn that killed him, not I. The same as it was the djinn who gave Khemen the note summoning you. I could not control it all the time, and it has been trying to escape, to take its power with it. Though I lived with it inside me for eleven years, I could feel its own torment, confined within this mortal, well once-mortal, body. If you think I was desperate after eleven years, the djinn was willing to sacrifice itself to escape back to its realm. It was trying to attract attention to me. It would have seen us both slain so that it might escape this existence. Luckily, your appearance seems to have saved me in the end. If you hadn't wielded Ulfshard I might never have regained control.'

  With a roar, Ruprecht leapt to his feet and bounded towards Halste. She spun and flung her arms forward, fingers splayed. Magical lightning erupted, coruscating across the man's body, but he forged forwards. Halste snarled and bolts flashed from her eyes, smashing him from his feet. He lay in a crumpled heap, twitching spasmodically. A movement to her right swung her towards Ursula.

  She was too late.

  'Have your sword!' spat Ursula, plunging the blade of Ulfshard into Jasmina el Al's chest, driving the blade through until it burst from her back and the hilt stopped against her breast. The enchantress lashed out instinctively, her daemon strength sending Ursula crashing to the floor. El Al dropped to her knees, eyes fixed on Ursula, burning with hatred. She stayed there for a moment and then fell sideways. The fire in her veins burned brightly. The energy consumed her flesh and a few seconds later Ulfshard clattered to the ground leaving a circle of ash where the sorceress had been. Its pommel-stone glowed fitfully.

  Ursula struggled to her feet, feeling broken ribs grinding inside her, and staggered to Ruprecht. He was unconscious but alive. Sitting down next to him, Ursula laid her head on his chest and passed out.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Awakening

  Marienburg, Early autumn 1711

  Ursula felt a soft mattress under her back and a heavy blanket across her chest. Opening her eyes, she could see a white ceiling from which hung a si
mple, wax-stained chandelier. Her whole body ached and her skin felt as if it were on fire. Turning her head to look around, pain spasmed from her neck to her spine, and she shut her eyes and groaned aloud. She heard the shuffling of feet and the creak of a door opening.

  Opening one eye, she saw a short woman leaning over the bed, her head cowled in a white hood. As she bent closer, she saw a pendant of Shallya hanging around her neck.

  'I can see you're awake,' the woman said in a clipped tone. 'Don't move too much, you'll smear off the burn ointment.'

  Ursula nodded gingerly and lay her head back on the soft pillow. Now that the priestess had mentioned it, she could feel the touch of the cooling lotion across her face and arms.

  'Ruprecht, my friend...' Ursula said.

  'He is also alive, and he woke this morning, but he is sleeping again now,' the priestess told her. 'An unusual man, by any standards.'

  'What do you mean?' asked Ursula, wincing with pain as she sat up. There were six beds in the small whitewashed chamber. She could see the bulk of Ruprecht under the covers to her left. The bed to her right was empty, as were the three laid in a row on the opposite side of the ward. 'Where is everyone?'

  'The count has asked that you be kept alone here in our temple for the time being, while you recover.' the priestess said. She laid a hand on Ursula's forehead and gently but insistently forced her head back onto he pillow. 'You must rest. When you have regained your strength, you will be given the answers to your questions, I am sure.'

  'One thing,' Ursula said as the sister of Shallya turned to leave. The priestess stopped and looked back at her. 'Ulfshard. What happened to the sword?'

  'I do not know anything about a sword, I'm afraid.' the sister told her. 'You were brought to us with nothing but the burned rags you were found in.'

  Ursula opened her mouth to speak again but closed it when the sister scowled and raised a finger to her lips. Without another word, the priestess walked out, quietly closing the door behind her.