362Please respect copyright.PENANAvfkn3HdFI2
“How do you endure it?” Letifer asked, gesturing to the cloaked warrior’s now bandaged wrist, as the two trudged away from Belfennse.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAuOv6FGp1oP
She answered him, “I may choose to ignore my pain when I see fit, but to be spared of it completely is rare. It is a rarity you possess my lord.”
362Please respect copyright.PENANAlDGoBLXRkB
As the two trudged on, Letifer asked, “Why do you call me that?”
362Please respect copyright.PENANArgQ8XfLxwR
“You are a knight, are you not?” The woman in the cloak responded.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAAwcCSAKBDZ
“I was a knight. In the time when I was anything besides a dead man.”
362Please respect copyright.PENANAX8EyCeBcfV
She turned to him, “You are the same man now as you once were. That is why they hunt you.”
362Please respect copyright.PENANAzY5rNCVCxk
“I am no different than the Rott-Kin.”
362Please respect copyright.PENANA5yqbYvmwli
“The Rott-Kin are returned as beasts, my lord, driven only by hunger and the will of their master. Your will is your own, so too are your desires.”
362Please respect copyright.PENANAhaNoRE932D
There was a moment of silence following that.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAMgm904Nn6D
“Should you insist on my former title, by what name do I know you?” Letifer asked.
362Please respect copyright.PENANA3SnjPDLwCC
The fighter was silent for a moment.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAYAKLE4r2xf
“Halyenne.” she answered.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAkS6RVIl5aU
Letifer responded, “In that case, Halyenne, perhaps you could disclose our destination.”
362Please respect copyright.PENANA1x5EPh4duz
“I was tasked to deliver you to Fereldin, where my liege awaits us.”
362Please respect copyright.PENANAPn2yz6ncxY
“Your liege?” Letifer asked.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAfvweYs3Plh
“You will meet him in due time.” Halyenne answered.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAH3kWf6SLNq
“I suppose I’ll have to take your word.”
362Please respect copyright.PENANAJHtSH0DPRN
362Please respect copyright.PENANAqh17KxALm9
____________________________________________________________
362Please respect copyright.PENANAKomUDjRYXQ
It was rather an unsuitable place, for his purpose. It was dim, and cluttered. And it was certainly no boon, that Aleric had practised this art scarcely through the decades past.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAZZqyAilbqu
He’d received word from his hand, which now, was a rather ironic title. Word of success, yes. But also of a need for labour. Labour that he now commenced.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAk2mPMoaYs3
Upon the table in the Inn’s wine cellar was a mound of red and pink, standing like a beaten down mountain. Beside it was an assortment of bones. When practised correctly, sarcomancy was a powerful tool, capable of great things. It had served him well in ages past. And as he moulded the flesh, kneading it with his hands, his mind wandered to the great fields of gore. Streams of blood in the orange sand, flesh hewn and torn from the bone.
They plagued him through his years, and likely they would continue to do so, long after the end. For he’d learned in his time, that death is rarely the end. There are far worse fates, but none better.
He spent days on it, after all it was his passion. Carefully analysing the measurements, adjusting for the possible insertion of bones, and of course, refining the porcelain.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAPDNP66Ggio
But bodily sorcery was not his only talent. He was a man of science, to some degree. Specifically, that of the mechanical, and chemical sort. The frame was built of steel, and would remain rather durable. Having inserted it into the product, Aleric decided to add an additional boon to the design: a layer of leather, shallow in the flesh, to protect the essential structures even further.
362Please respect copyright.PENANA1ZUmtF6dXF
It was a day after the product was complete, that she did finally arrive, with their quarry in tow. He went to meet them, in the dead of night, where those who ever watched would be blinded, if only a slight bit. He knew it to be a fool’s errand, having known full well that they knew of his dealings in the dark, though he feigned ignorance. No, it brought him a certain comfort, going about his deeds in the shadows. Like a lad, hiding beneath a quilt. A false sense of security, that deep in his mind, was known to be folly.
362Please respect copyright.PENANA5nfE91hmbs
Thus, he strode out to meet them in the shadowy streets.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAkzFeGAoLs9
____________________________________________________________
362Please respect copyright.PENANAFNOnezBLJz
362Please respect copyright.PENANAURlseEO7Ao
“My liege will meet us here.” Halyenne stated, as she and Letifer stopped within an alleyway, having discreetly entered the capital city of Malekott.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAjT4CPDyGJE
“Good.” he spoke softly, having nothing more to say.
362Please respect copyright.PENANApEtdQJ19SR
The face of the shadow was one he found oh so familiar. It was strange, actually. Many who live speak of feeling a warmth in the comforting glow of the light. Just as he now, could feel the dark. There was no warm glow. Nor was it a frigid grasp, as he’d felt in his final moments. Rather, it was lukewarm, to a fraction of a degree. So much so, that he could not discern where his hand would end and the air began. It was as though he were a part of it, like he’d melted into it. A single drop of water in a black ocean. And for that, he felt an iota of pity for the living. They had their warmth, yet he needed none. He had his waters.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAFXnpjFEG5x
It was then that the footsteps echoed in the remains of his ears. And so too, did a voice.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAb9v6jTwUnc
“Halyenne. A relief it is to meet your arrival.”
362Please respect copyright.PENANArJZ28zn7lv
Letifer knew this voice. It was raspy, and almost groaning. Yet also dignified, and soft-spoken. It was the voice of the Earl Dascule.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAsnt41fXZvS
“My lord.” Halyenne responded, taking to a knee, “It is my honour to bring you Sir Letifer of house Mourse.”
362Please respect copyright.PENANAfFQNSEqxgd
Letifer was quick to join her at a knee. Though the laws of life no longer ruled him, the laws of the living did. And some part of him deep within sought to maintain even an iota of chivalry. In fact, it helped him to retain his sanity. To know he had not lost whatever of himself remained.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAkPhWO1ElMl
“Sir Letifer. You are well met, and I am glad to find you in safety.” The Earl stated welcomingly, as he turned to the phantom.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAPr7nBbaVCi
As Letifer stood to greet the man, he quietly stated, “Not but Letifer, my liege. I am no lord.”
362Please respect copyright.PENANAsnacPUoHSr
The Earl turned to him, “A knight falls, and is remembered as just that. Even through death, he is a knight even still.”
362Please respect copyright.PENANA2guDneNWpx
“As you wish, my lord.”
362Please respect copyright.PENANA1ig70tU3Ee
“With all respect due, my liege,” Halyenne began, “I would suggest moving to somewhere more private.”
362Please respect copyright.PENANAFTBJDyReMc
“Quite right.” Dascule replied, “I’ve made arrangements of course. Come, follow.”
362Please respect copyright.PENANAZ6qvyGBbBJ
The Earl led the two through the cobblestone streets, blackened under the blanket of the night, but infrequently illuminated by the crescent moon, and the occasional smouldering flambeaux. Until at last, they came upon an inn, not a light in the house.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAeftQqz6ILw
Taking the still dimly glowing lantern from the post outside, the ageing vassal led the two into the alleyway beside the inn, where lay the entrance to its wine cellar.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAm06npbpGsT
Once inside, the Earl lit several torches, illuminating the casks of wine upon the shelves. In the middle of the room was a blood stained table, with cots located near the walls.
362Please respect copyright.PENANA1b5uVZ8UCG
“Now, we’d best begin work on that hand.”
362Please respect copyright.PENANAT2bSCfk9gn
Letifer watched for the next hour, as the Earl unwrapped a severed hand, and began the process of sarcomany. It was something that he had not seen in his living years, as far as he knew. It seemed a painful process, as well. Having to peel back the flesh, in order to attach the steel frame to the bone. The only sorcery Letifer seemed to witness, was the seemingly magical ability to sustain such pain. That was before the wrist had been stitched. It was then, that Dascule began his true art. It was then that by some dark ways, the flesh melded together, which seemed a painful process in itself. The flesh, grinding itself on either end of the stitch, as though it were a link of worst, only to swirl around the bone with a sickening and audible sound. Eventually, the grotesque deed was done.
362Please respect copyright.PENANArs0zo0HAyo
“I do apologise that I was unable to procure organic matter for the bone structure. But, the steel should be more durable. Should you desire, we may be able to replace it, once Lucretia arrives.” The Earl explained.
362Please respect copyright.PENANApcVefWDffE
“My thanks to thee, my lord.” Halyenne replied, as she experimented with the movements of the new appendage, “You sent word to the Lady?”
362Please respect copyright.PENANAngMQsZFOOz
“Indeed. Now, I really must be going. I’d hope not to raise suspicion in my absence.” Dascule stated.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAM0MElTtG9I
“Of course,” Halyenne responded, “Discretion is a rather precious commodity as of late.”
362Please respect copyright.PENANAS51VUxX7pd
Letifer had no words for either of the two. He simply lay there, upon the straw cot. Hoping desperately for the sleep that would never come. The sleep he hadn’t had since he fell.
362Please respect copyright.PENANAp5Yb54fRt5
362Please respect copyright.PENANAzPLIZuvd4c
ns3.143.111.52da2