Suffer Not, Kyliska

Novae awoke on the cot, her eyes half-lidded as she took stock of her situation. She had scheduled herself for a double shift of guard duty within Sunfire Estate to ensure that the guard patrols were operating efficiently. Between patrols she'd had two hours to catch a quick nap; more than enough time for the veteran soldier, and she had gone to one of the rear armory rooms where cots were set up for commanding officers and extra guards to rest at such times.

For a moment, she lay perfectly still, her entire body tense as if listening to something. She was not sure why she was awake, but over her many years of battle she'd developed almost a sixth sense for anomalies around her. She knew better than to mistrust her honed experience, and so she lay perfectly still as if still asleep, trying to sense what had triggered her concern.

Perhaps it was the strange silence that had descended over the corridors beyond the small armory room, or maybe it was the unusual chill in the air that seemed to flow from beneath the door. Regardless of the source, the longer that Novae waited, the more sure she was that something was amiss. She ever so slowly began to move her hand beneath the thin blanket that covered her, her eyes still mostly lidded as if in sleep.

There was a slight shuffling sound outside the door to the armory room. It was the only warning that Novae got before something large kicked the door in, sending the wooden barrier to swinging wildly and banging against the doorframe. A dark silhouette filled the doorway for just a moment before it took the shape of an armored warrior charging across the room, a two handed blade held high and glowing with foul blue magics.

The attacker, a death knight, got the surprise of his unlife as he brought his runeblade down to slay the 'sleeping' captain. Even as the blade descended on his supposedly startled and helpless victim, Novae was already moving, one arm tossing the blanket aside as her other arm brought her sword up. She braced it with both hands and met the blade with her own, parrying it across her armored chest.

The death knight stumbled backwards as Novae thrust her blade upward, forcing his runeblade away from hers. Like a cat she slid sideways out of the bed, one leg sweeping low and knocking into his, causing him to stumble further and flail away from her. It bought her the time she needed to get to her feet, and she grinned as the fight began in earnest.

Death knights were extraordinarily powerful opponents, with magically augmented strength and a host of deadly spells available to them. Even still, Novae's undead opponent found himself surprised as she gleefully began wailing away at him. What she lacked in strength compared to him, she made up in sheer rage and agility, her blade striking at him again and again and forcing him to parry the blows rather than take the offensive. After a few moments of this, his armor had begun to look worse for wear and he'd been forced back several feet across the room.

Realizing he was losing, the death knight charged forwards, shoulder checking his lighter opponent and sending Novae crashing into a wall. Her armor made an awful squealing sound as it crashed into the hard surface, and the death knight followed up by thrusting his blade directly into her face.

Unfortunately for the death knight, Novae was not really harmed within her steel carapace, and she dropped down below the blade as it slammed point first into the stone over her head. With a grin on her face she swung her blade hard, slamming it into the death knight's leg and sheering through the armor. The creature tumbled sideways, black ichor spewing from its armor as it fell over, and Novae gave her opponent no respite as she whirled around, her blade intersecting the creature's neck as it fell, beheading it.

As her undead opponent fell to the floor, lifeless at last, Novae smiled, stabbing her blade's point through its armor and into the space where its heart would be. She then rose and brought one of her armored boots down on the creature's skull over and over until it was crushed; it never hurt to be thorough when dealing with the undead after all.

With her task complete, Novae wiped her blade on the creature's cloak and sheathed it before looking him over. She frowned as she realized he had no insignia on him to identify who he was.

"No emblem of the Ebon Blade, no scourge-stone," she murmured. "Not a Knight of the Ebon Blade, and not a random scourge attack. Undead assassin. It's the only answer."

With this in mind, Novae reached out to a nearby weapon rack, taking a wickedly bladed halberd from amongst the other weapons and proceeding into the hall. As she had already suspected, the hallway was filled with a cool mist from the use of recent necromantic magics, and she could see several crumpled forms laying on the floor along the way. Worse, some of the lanterns in the garrison area had been extinguished, and further down the corridor she could see shambling guardsmen who had obviously been turned into the undead moving slowly along. Beyond them, another dark, armored figure was continuing up the hallway.

Novae gave the situation little thought, a grin crossing her face as she began her charge, her pointed weapon extended in front of her. She dashed through the slowly moving, newly created undead, roughly shouldering them out of her way as she ran. Ahead of her, the target of her wrath had only a moment's warning to turn and see her approaching before the full momentum of her charge drove the pointed end of the polearm through his sternum, pinning him to the wall.

He tried to speak, black ichor gushing from his mouth as he thrashed against the constraining force of the weapon in his chest, but Novae didn't really care to hear what he had to say. The death knights had entered her garrison area, had slain her men, and they were going to die. It was that simple really. With a brutal twist she yanked the weapon free and then plunged it into his neck, sidestepping an attempt by the creature to bring its blade up to slash her.

"Always remove the head, that's what we learned back in the city," Novae murmured cheerfully, twisting her weapon again and doing just that. She retracted the long handled weapon and then deftly spun it around her torso, using the pole to increase the momentum of the weapon's head until it whirled around her. The bladed edge struck several of the slow moving zombies at neck height, and three more corpses fell to the floor. Novae abruptly stopped the weapon's spin before jabbing it forward into the chest of the last zombie, dropping it amongst its companions and leaving her alone in the silent corridor atop a pile of corpses.

Her head jerked up as she heard screams coming from a nearby stairwell, and she knew instantly that the attack was far from over. She dashed past her victims, running towards the sounds of fighting and yelling ahead. As she passed through a doorway and into one of the estate tower's main spiraling staircases, she caught a glimpse of her guards battling what looked like two more death knights and a number of house servants that had been turned into zombies. The death knights were fighting to prevent the guards from moving up the stairwell, and alarms immediately triggered in the back of Novae's mind.

She grabbed one of the nearest soldiers, a sergeant, and barked orders at him, "You have to get this stairwell clear NOW! They're going after Lady Sunfire! Go down to the eastern garrison and if it hasn't been compromised, bring that entire force here. You're in charge until I return. I'm going to try to circumvent them before its too late!"

Even as the soldier nodded, the tower was rocked by a distant explosion. It seemed that the attackers had begun to do battle with Biara's apprentices, meaning that they were further up the tower than Novae would have preferred. It was clear that they had made much progress by killing and then raising their victims as quietly as possible, slowly filling the lower floors with undead. Before the sergeant could leave, Novae grabbing him by the arm one more time, "Nevermind what I said. Go and get the Blood Knights. We're going to need holy magic to clear the lower floors. I'll be with Lady Sunfire!"

With that Novae dashed away, leaving the beleaguered guards to their battle. She ran into a room stemming off of the main corridor and passed through it to the balcony beyond. This particular floor was only the second story of the structure, and she looked up above, seeing the lights of Kyliska's chambers far above. The tower face was smooth plaster and would be impossible to climb without a rope.

Or handholds.

With a grin, Novae tossed her polearm away, reaching to her belt and pulling a pair of brass knuckles. She slipped them on and then began to punch a hole in the wall. Satisfied with the damage after a moment, she grabbed, punching another hole above the first, slowing moving her way up the side of the tower handhold by handhold.

***************************************

Kyliska was in dire straits, and she knew it. The enemy had come flooding through her doors on the heels of Astariel, and awoken her from a troubled sleep. Not one to be unprepared, Kyliska had grabbed a sword that she kept near to hand at all times and had pushed the young Sin'dorei child behind her, bravely standing against three death knights as they burst into her room. The corridors beyond were filled with the sounds of fighting and the echoing clash of blades as the assassins made their attempt on her life.

The death knights had tried their magic first of course, bathing half her room in a frigid cold and attempting to slash into her with death magic. Light flared, burning away the spells and shielding Kyliska and her young charge. Wearing only a nightgown and standing on the frozen remains of her bed, Kyliska struck back, her Light lashing out and burning one of the unholy creatures to ash as it filled him with her power.

The other two death knights surged forwards, their blades rising up to meet Kyliska's, metal clashing against metal as she struggled to maintain her footing while barefoot on the frozen sheets. Although Kyliska would not surrender, her arm began to ache almost immediately from the sudden use and she knew that she couldn't hold them long. She parried blow after blow, being forced back with Astariel clinging to her calf as she desperately tried to defend herself, her undead Sin'dorei opponents grinning beneath their black helms.

When Astariel was pushed into the headboard and let out a squeal, Kyliska knew that it was over; she'd run out of room to retreat, and her opponents knew it. The advanced slowly on each side of the bed like predator animals, stalking their victim. They brought their blades up, prepared to deliver the inevitable blows.

Neither of the attackers could ever have anticipated what happened next. From seemingly nowhere, Kyliska's bedroom window shattered inward, an armored form tumbling through the shards of glass and landing with a metallic clamor in a heap next to the bed. From the broken glass a Sin'dorei rose, the grin on her face in stark contrast to the bits of glass sticking out of her skin here and there. Almost gleefully she roared, her blade coming up and forcing one of the death knights to turn in a hurry to parry what would have been a lethal blow.

It was his undoing. As he attempted to fend himself off from the Kyliska's unexpected reinforcement, Kyliska's blade slid into his back, holy magics burning a fiery trail through his heart. The undead creature screamed, the noise cut short as Novae's blade beheaded him, spattering dark ichor across the floor and bed.

The second death knight growled and shouted, one of his companions in the hallway turning towards the sound and then pointing at Novae. Dark magics wrapped around the warrior, yanking her across the room and into the corridor beyond. The death knight in the hallway smirked before slamming the door shut, leaving Kyliska to her fate.

"I'm sorry Lady Sunfire, but I'm afraid that victory will not be yours today," the death knight growled, hopping lightly onto the bed and advancing on her. "Fear not though, you will still walk this world as one of us, a puppet controlled by our strings. We will ensure that House Sunfire is run the way it is supposed to be run."

He lashed out, his blade connecting with Kyliska's hard enough to make her cry out from the pain in her wounded arm. She grit her teeth, shaking her head, "I'll never serve you. I don't think you know who the fel you're dealing with. I'll fight you to the end."

The death knight laughed, grinning, "But if you do that, then I will kill the child as well. Surrender now to the inevitable, and we'll let her live."

Kyliska paused, her eyes widening in horror as she felt the little girl gripping her left begin to panic. Memories flashed through her mind of the girl's first death, of the death of her own unborn child. Her blade wavered in her hand, her voice bitter, "You wouldn't..."

"We will," the creature hissed. "Surrender now and spare her your fate. Unless you wish her to be one of our slaves in undeath."

Kyliska's mouth opened and closed, searching for the right words even as the creature advanced. Just as she was about to answer, the door to her bedchambers exploded inward, the wood splintering from a blow that had been delivered from the outside. The shattered barrier fell inwards and crashed to the floor, exposing the corridor beyond.

Novae stood in the doorway, a grin on her face. She and the corridor beyond her were entirely spattered with gore and black ichor, the evidence of a brutal massacre that had just taken place in the narrow space.

Not a drop of it was Novae's.

With an almost lustful sigh, Novae stepped over several severed limbs that were in her way, taking care not to slip on the blood that was everywhere, her footsteps making an almost final booming sound as she walked into the suddenly silent room.

The death knight blinked in surprise, completely taken back by the sight of the gore-covered warrior. His eyes widened as she pointed her blade at him, her free hand beckoning him as if to dance. He growled, whirling to bring his blade up, the weapon spinning towards Kyliska's throat.

It was met in the air by Kyliska's blade, her face contorted into rage, her eyes blazing with the power of the Light. Golden wings seemed to sprout from her back as holy Light flowed around her, "I hope that whoever created you can hear me right now. I hope that they can understand that they've failed, and that I will not suffer fools and assassins. My sister may be gone, but the enemies of House Sunfire need to realize one thing."

She whirled, bringing her blade around and into the death knight's side. He tried to parry and his blade shattered as holy Light surged through the paladin's weapon. He gasped as the blade tumbled from nerveless fingers, Kyliska standing over him in nothing but her nightgown, but armored with the Light itself nonetheless.

"I'm Lady Sunfire now. As my sister used to say to her enemies before they died, my will be done."

Kyliska brought her blade down, the holy weapon slamming into the death knight's helm and shattering the metal and the skull beneath. The creature howled once as it was burned to ash, the dust-filled armor tumbled away and off the bed with a clatter.

The room was still, with only Kyliska's panting breath making a sound. She looked up and Novae met her gaze, two almost identical grins breaking out as they stared at one another.

"That was fun," Novae purred, flicking blood from her blade before sheathing it.

"It was....it really was," Kyliska said with a smirk. "It's going to be even more fun once we find out who was responsible, because they are going to wish they had never been born."

Novae's grin widened and she brought a hand to her heart, saluting Kyliska orc-style, "As you wish, Lady Sunfire. Your will shall be done."

Kyliska grinned and set her blade down, picking up the frightened eight year old that was still clinging to her leg and watching as her guard captain turned and left, leaving a bloody trail of boot prints behind her. It would take a while to clean up, but whoever had just attempted Kyliska's assassination had made a critical mistake. The attack looked like a scourge invasion, and in Eversong that meant that she had the right to requisition more troops from the city to see to the defense of their ancestral forests.

Someone was going to pay once those troops were trained.