"Ugh, this is why I hate your kind, you filthy thran," Buruz growled. As soon as the words left his mouth, a bipedal creature emerged from beneath a mound of ashen dirt. Its large black eyes thinned as it bared the teeth contained within a wolflike mouth. It stood over three meters tall, and its strong musculature showed through scattered pieces of crude armor held together by the dried entrails of its victims.
"And what do you know of my kind? Clearly not enough to avoid my trap," the thran grinned maliciously. "You hegraphenes are always looking down on us even though we serve the same master," the thran spread his arms. "Then why trap me?" Buruz asked. "You'd ask me that before knowing my name? I don't think you're in a position to be rude, brak," the thran grimaced.
Prideful and annoying as ever, Buruz thought.
"Fine. Tell me your name. I will listen," Buruz sighed. "I am known as Snaagmud Grayeater, Leader of the Grayeaters," Snaagmud said proudly. Buruz gave him a tired look as he sighed. "Very well, Lord Grayeater. What do you want from me?" he asked bluntly.
"I want you to tell me what you're doing this far from Pyrdredd. As I heard it, Lord Gravar all but sold you off to Lord Volzuk," Snaagmud grinned wryly. "It's none of your business what I'm doing here," Buruz shook his head. "Oh, but that's where you're wrong, Puppet of the Mage," Snaagmud began wolfishly. "Lord Volzuk employed us to keep watch over the regions outside the citadel to make sure that no one would interfere with his plans," he said wryly.
Shit, how long has he known? Buruz felt unease swirling in his stomach.
"It would seem he was right to assume that you were all far too meek to rise against him on your own. He knew you would try to recruit allies since that mage he's had in his claws has served his purpose," the thran laughed. "Unfortunately for you and your kind, we are here," he signaled, revealing another score of thran emerging from the ashen dust.
Buruz's brow furrowed beneath his faceplate. "Fine, if that's how you want to do this, I guess I'll oblige," he said, forming a short dagger with his kataki to slice through the leather snare around his foot. Dropping onto the floor, he dashed for the one immediately to his right, reforming the kataki into a long spear which he then thrust directly beneath the elongated jaw of the first thran. The second swung for him from behind, which he ducked beneath, severing the large claw from its wrist with a reformed blade.
He launched himself into the air with a spin to gain enough rotational force to sever the head of the second thran, landing just beside the fallen head as blood gushed from the arteries. Three more tried to attack him at once as he tried to chase down Snaagmud.
The first strike landed squarely in the middle of Buruz's back, launching him through a few trunks of dead trees. While he wasn't severely injured due to his armor, the impact still shook him to his core.
Damn it, did Niashin know they were out here? Buruz thought, quickly getting back on his feet to side step another thrusting blow aimed at his head.
He reformed his sword into an axe, supporting the haft with his shoulder as he dragged the blade along the thran's arm, severing it at the shoulder. Without looking, he carried the momentum from the axe into the flesh just behind the thran's knee, severing its leg and causing it to stumble. Its head was just at the correct height to be split in two by the axe before Buruz moved on.
The other two launched their attacks at the same time, their elongated steel-like claws desperately seeking their targets. Buruz deflected each of their strikes with little effort but could feel himself getting pushed back. Worry set in when he overheard Snaagmud's call for more to swarm him.
There's no end to these bastards. Alright then, Athar, I hope you were right about this, Buruz thought, remembering his friend who'd given him the augmentation tincture.
Within a flash of mana, Buruz's body was encased in solid violet mana, acting like additional armor. Pushing some of his own mana into the added armor, he spawned two more arms, each of them holding kataki blades aloft, of his own making.
"Not a bad trick, but you can't keep up with all of us," one of the thran growled, swinging an arm as thick as a tree trunk at Buruz's gut. The two constructed arms stopped the blow entirely, sending out a shockwave that kicked up a cloud of dust. "You thought that was a neat trick, I was born in this ash," the hegraphene grinned, immediately disappearing from sight.
"What? Where is that little armored brak? Find hi-..." the thran's voice cut out as his head fell to the floor with a soaked thud. "Shic!" the other thran called out. "Damn you, brak; I swear I'll find and kill all your little frien-..." his voice, too was stopped as blood poured from his temples and his eyes rolled into the back of his wolf-like head.
"No need; I'll find yours," Buruz grunted as he pulled the kataki spear out from the other side of its skull. His eyes were coated with a thin sheen of kataki to prevent the ashen dust from ruining his eyesight.
I still see sixteen of them, including their leader. I don't know that I can take them all head on, but I have to do something before Nexis gets notified of those in the mountains, Buruz thought as his eyes flicked left and right, calculating the distances between them.
He sent out a few pulses of dark mana, kicking up the ashen dust beneath their feet and using the dead trees as cover to move in closely. "I smell you, brak," Snaagmud shouted. "Your little tricks won't work on us," he continued, removing a sword forged from a hegraphene's chestplate from its scabbard.
What? How did he…? Buruz thought, noticing the familiar glint of kataki beneath the gloomy sky.
His anger swelled, and he quickly disregarded Niashin's training. Fueled by nothing other than rage and hatred for the thran leader, he sent out a much larger pulse of mana, engulfing the remaining thran in the ashen dust, forcing them to struggle for breath.
Corpse after corpse writhed in his wake, the thin dust growing muddied with the sheer quantity of blood and entrails. Each one was cut down using a myriad of weapons formed from his kataki. A severed head here, a pile of writhing limbs there, a stump of a torso over yonder; each one of the remaining thran was felled uniquely, demonstrating Buruz's prowess as a warrior when the dust began to clear.
His eyes, now shining a bright violet, pierced the thin veil of dust between him and his final target; his silhouette slowly stepped forward through the mist of his rage as his target quivered in fear.
"H-How is this possible?" Snaagmud asked with a quivering lower jaw. "I tried to warn you that my purpose out here was none of your business, but you didn't listen," Buruz growled, flicking the last specks of blood from his sword on the freshly felled corpse. "Snaagmud Grayeater, let this be a lesson to you and your clan never to cross the Iron Plume Clan again," he continued, raising his sword out in front him him in challenge.
"Hah! You think this little stunt of yours will stop my clan from getting revenge on you?" Snaagmud challenged with false confidence. "No, but after I'm done with you, they'll be sure to second-guess it," Buruz growled, disappearing from sight again.
"You fucking brak! I'll have your h-..." Snagmuud's lower jaw fell out from under him, spilling blood onto his muscular chest and patchwork armor. "I'm sorry, were you about to say head?" Buruz asked coldly, using a pair of formed daggers to gouge out his target's eyes.
A gurgle spawned from the thran's throat as dark red blood bubbled from its exposed trachea. Wordlessly, Buruz also severed both its legs, sending them into the nearby trees with the amount of force in his strikes. Another gurgle rang out before its arms were severed as well, flopping lifelessly to the floor.
Before a third gurgle could be voiced, Buruz grabbed the lifeless arm at his feet and rammed the long claws up through Snagmuud's gut, revealing the tips of his fingers out from within the gaping maw. "Who's the puppet now?" Buruz walked away, leaving the lifeless corpse to fall flat on its back.
I've wasted too much time and energy here, and there's no telling whether the other thran clans will be nearby. I should move more cautiously, he thought, briefly glancing at his surroundings.
After allowing himself a few moments to catch his breath, he redirected himself back to his original direction of travel and proceeded onward. The forest eventually thinned, allowing him to see much further than before. The black stone mountain towered before him with its light coating of ash, giving it an almost snow-like appearance.
As soon as he left the forest, he began to search for the subtly marked rocks that would help him reach where the other hegraphenes were waiting for Kalia. Each runic marking glowed dimly as he approached it, signifying that it recognized him as a member of the Iron Plume clan. It faded as he passed the first, while the others lit up and faded sequentially as he passed them as well.
I'm glad they put these here. If I hadn't heard about this technique from Niashin, I probably never would have found this place, he grinned as he reached the last marker.
Like Gwili's bandits on the Rhydian Pass, the hegraphenes slowly emerged from behind the stones that lined the small path. It was no more than a few meters wide, but the hegraphenes had left it that way to help prevent discovery from a distance.
"Where's Niashin?" one of the hegraphenes asked from behind a rock. "He's training the others. He sent me here in his stead to deliver this to Kalia," Buruz removed the satchel and held it out for the others to see. "What is this?" the hegraphene stepped out from behind the rock, staring curiously at the leather. "A gift of untapped potential from Ardrin meant for Lady Kalia, Lady Ysevel, and Thoma," Buruz grinned.
But where are they?They should be here by now, he thought, feeling the sense of urgency begin to overwhelm him again.