Jekkala approached Deneghra and Asphixious before giving a half-hearted salute, making her contempt for her 'superiors' clear.
"We found yer scholar in a small village jus' north of here, 'oled up in a church o' Morrow. We got some information out of 'im but..." She motioned to a dismembered corpse, little more than a head and a spine. "Me girls 'ad a bit too much fun with 'im."
"Jekkala, you and yours are near useless." Deneghra despaired of the Satyxis sometimes, but aside from some Mechanithrall, they were all she had.
The War Witch sighed to herself. "Alright, I'll see what I can do..."
---
Zaal strode through the camp, casually observing as the paingivers lashed a titan, enjoying the aura of pain and power that emanated from the great creature. He gestured to the robed Skorne behind him.
"The Titan is scared, it is in pain. It is more powerful now than it will ever be in nature." The Extoller he was addressing nodded. "But that is the Mortitheurge's art. We care about these." As they kept moving, Zaal motioned to a unit of Praetorians as they drilled, fresh from Makeda's army and ready for combat, their blades flashing in the sun with the precision of warriors born.
"...These are the heroes that will make our Extollers great."
---
Kaya led her Druids to a grove with a naked Khadoran chained to an altar.
"In times of peace, I would rather allow these to breed naturally, but..." Laris began to whimper as the young druid solemnly offered the man a drink. Gasping, he accepted it, gulping it down.
"Why... Why are you doing this?"
"We found you scouting our domain. You may not have known, but ignorance is no excuse."
"Then why... Did you give me drink? Why keep me alive?"
"I didn't give you a drink." He stared at her for a second, completely uncomprehending before he screamed in pain, his bones snapping and reforming, his muscles growing and shifting, his muzzle elongating... "...and I would never do this to one of my own." The new Warpwolf broke free of the chains and, with a lunge, tore a druid apart with new and infinitely sharper teeth before Kaya could fully bend it to her will. Newly cowed, it took up a branch and started wielding it like a blade, warily keeping the humans at a distance. Kaya looked up at it, surprised.
"Interesting..."
---
The Greylords forced several Winter Guard into a chamber of the Khadoran fortress that even Irusk didn't know existed. The men were cowards, traitors, deserters and overall embarrassments to the Motherland. Zerkova looked them over, sickened at what she saw, but with a renewed hope for her forces. She would give these men a second chance to serve their country. She would give them a second chance to be great. As one broke down into tears and tried to flee, the chains around his legs forced him over, and one of her greylords struck him with his staff.
The lead Greylord started unlocking and opening several lead-lined chests and, if she heard the whispers, she gave no sign. The traitors flinched and cried as they had chains strapped to their wrists to stop them simply dropping the swords they were equipped with, all in the cause of reinforcing the Greylord's army.
She would make them great.
---
In death, the archaeologist had proven more useful to Deneghra than in life. Still, he couldn't tell her what he just didn't know, and the remnants of his body had been retrofitted by the Necrotechs as a new Mechanithrall. Still, she had a name, something to look for, and the locations of the burial sites of some of Llael's greatest heroes. As she broke into yet another tomb and began an incantation to fill another ancient warrior's remains with the power of the Void, she allowed her mind to wander over her goal in this god-forsaken country.
The Silent Child. What power it would bring...
