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English
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Published:
2019-03-17
Completed:
2019-04-03
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3,320
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3/3
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4
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31
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Shades of a Shade.

Summary:

What happens at night when Kerillian slips out of the keep to indulge the darker parts of her craft of death.

Chapter 1: Shades at Night

Chapter Text

Kerillian sat quietly in the branches of one of the many trees that clung to the base of the mountain that the Keep sat upon. She was utterly unmoving as though carved from the very wood of her perch, a shadow against a backdrop of night. The Shade was waiting with the patience borne of centuries of stalking deeper and darker forests than the one she currently sat in. Much as she thrilled in the killing of Skaven and Pact-Sworn with the others it didn't give her time to draw things out as much as she'd like, to really draw out the death throes of her foes. And if the others ever did find out about her darker inclinations, especially Saltzpyre, she was sure they'd exile her at the very least or attempt to burn her at worse. And that would be a shame because for once she didn't hate this group. She wasn't fond of them and she certainly didn't like them, but she didn't hate them and wish for their immediate deaths as she did with every other mayfly or dwarf she encountered. And so here she was, sat in a tree at the base of the mountain while the rest of them slept and waiting to unleash the more grisly proclivities of a devotee of Khaine.

A noise caused her to take hold of her bow, a Hagbane shortbow she had crafted herself in between missions for Lohner, and nocked a poison tipped arrow. She smiled to herself as the Skaven patrol blundered into view below her. Sneaky as they were and as good as their night vision was, they were no match for a centuries old Asarai in the forests. They chittered to each other as they walked through the trees, clearly looking for some clue to the location of their enemies castle. Well they wouldn't find it tonight and if they did they wouldn't return alive with the information.

The first arrow flew, sinking into the arm of the lead clan rat. They stopped in their tracks and began looking around for the source of the mystery arrow, all except for the stricken Skaven who sunk to his knees as agony began to eat its way through his veins. Kerillian had purposefully hit him in a non-lethal area so that the poison would kill him instead, slowly and in immense pain. The rest of the patrol noticed and began to chitter in fear and set about looking for their attacker with increased fervour, right as another arrow took a ratman in his unprotected back and he began scrabbling to pull it out as he shrieked in pain. Kerillian silently flitted across the branches of her tree and lithely leapt to another, loosing an arrow into the leg of a third Skaven fighter and being rewarded with the shrieks of agony she craved. Another arrow and another clanrat went down, writhing as black poison set his nerves alight and slowly choked his lungs with blood. Another arrow, another writhing Skaven and Kerillian was moving across the branches to another tree. There were still a dozen clanrats left, torn between finding their attacker or fleeing. Well Kerillian wasn't going to give them any choice at all, their only option was to die. Another arrow shot from her bow to bury itself in an unprotected thigh, the screams of Skaven agony drowning out any slight noise Kerillian made as she leapt from the trees, handaxe bared and glinting slightly in the light of Morrsleib. She landed next to a small cluster of the invaders and swung the small blade in a vicious arc that cut the leg from one clanrat and thumped upwards into the guts of the one next to him. Intestines spilled to the floor and blood sprayed as the Shade split the skull of the third skaven before the first had even hit the floor. The Skaven went into full panic now as they tried to desperately catch a glimpse of their killer, scrabbling around the forest floor desperately clutching weapons and backing into each other. One clanrat went down after bumping blindly into another who lashed out in an equally blind panic and gutted his comrade. Kerillian finally let out her first noise, a bitterly cruel laugh as her short handaxe swept upwards and cleaved a Skaven right between his legs and upwards until the blade jarred against rib bones. She drew it back out the corpse with a wet slurp and backhanded the blade across her next victims throat. It felt so good to be able to kill uninhibited and with as much cruelty as she desired. Yes she despised cruelty against innocents or those unable to defend themselves but the Skaven were neither of those and deserved every drop of pain she could give them and then more besides. It also felt good to fight and kill without being slowed by her mayfly comrades or being worried about them blundering into the path of her blades. More than once she'd had to turn aside a killing blow intended to kill some elite enemy or pack of rabble as her companions rushed in to her 'aid' and flailed about with their crude weapons. But that was why she was here, a little gentle exercise in the form of unrestrained and uninhibited killing.

There was only one clanrat left now, the rest shrieking out the last of their lives in agony or already still in death. "Run." Kerillian whispered and the terrified clanrat did just that. He sprinted as fast as he could away from the elf-thing that had so casually slaughtered his patrol. He hoped he could make it back to the safety of camp or even to another patrol. Perhaps a Stornvermin patrol was nearby. His heart raced as panic filled his mind but hope crept in as he smelt the distinct aroma of larger furry bodies in armour. He saw the glimpse of the prayed for Stormvermins and sprinted faster towards them, surely they could protect him from the deadly elf-thing. Something struck him the back and he fell to the floor, hope dying in ashes in hi heart as agony burned it out and he shrieked loudly as blood filled his lungs and pain filled everything else.

Beneath her mask Kerillian was smiling a smile that would make even a Rot-helm flinch back a step or two. Let them know the death of hope as she had. Let them know pain as she had. Let them know fear as she had. She fired another poisoned arrow at the lead Stormvermin, sending it flying past his shield and into his shoulder. He looked down at it for a moment and gave a chittering laugh at the arrow before breaking it and tossing the shaft aside. Kerillian's smile stayed in place though her foes couldn't see it. The Stormvermin charged and Kerillian stayed still. The shielded Skaven suddenly stopped as the poison took delayed effect in his larger and more robust form. Blood frothed from his lips and his chittering laugh became a shriek of agony. He dropped to his knees as agony filled his brain. The remaining four Stormvermin lifted their halberds and charged, shrieking a high pitched war cry as they came to strike down this arrogant elf-thing. Kerillian moved to meet them, her handaxe flashed and an arm was sent spinning away into the night still clutching a halberd. Another flash of elvish steel and a helmet was shattered and the brain beneath split like an over ripe fruit. Kerillian pulled her magic about her and vanished from sight, leaving two very confused Skaven staring at the spot she had once occupied. The expression on one turned to stupefied puzzlement as the Shade reappeared behind them and sank her axe into his neck, leaving him to rumple into a welter of blood. The last Stormvermin gave a mighty swing of his weapon as he spun to face this deadly elf-thing. Kerillian ducked the blow and sent her axe upwards, the blade cutting through the Skaven's neck and sending his head flying the opposite direction of his body. The first Stormvermin struck down finally stopped screaming as he drowned in his own poisoned blood, leaving Kerillian to stand alone once more in the silence of the forest at night, surrounded by her bloody handy work. Her smile remained fixed as she headed back to the keep to clean up and rest a short while before the others arose. She was sure Khaine would be pleased by tonights work.