Luciana Henriette: Dark Sister! Chapter 8: Slaying the Darkness

  • FROM THE JOURNAL OF GHORBASH "THE IRON HAND" GRO-DUSHNIKH

    I’m not going to go into what I have to do to pick up Lucy’s trail and find Movarth’s lair.  Suffice to say that I do, and once inside, I follow the trail of fresh kills until I find myself in a dark tunnel, approaching a well lit and richly decorated main chamber.  Inside, a man sits at a table laid out with a feast, and counts his money. To my left, a raised scaffold leads to a side chamber.  Lucy crouches overhead, silently observing the scene. 

    I nock an arrow and draw my bow.  The bow makes just the slightest creaking noise.  The vampire freezes in mid count, listening carefully.  Lucy glances at me quickly.  She opens her mouth and shouts, and suddenly she’s standing on the table, practically in Movarth's lap, scattering his pile of coins and stabbing him through the heart.  He struggles; she picks him up, does something and the life just drains out of him.  She throws down his limp corpse on the table like a pile of old clothes.  She sways and shakes for a moment, then crouches down to search his pockets.

    It takes me a moment to get over my shock at what I’ve just seen. I have no idea what she just did to him.  It’s like she out-vampired the vampire.  What’s more, I can see by the way she trembles and feels her way across the body that she’s still blinded by the blood rage, yet she is able to focus enough to carefully search the body.  Do I even know this woman?

    I put away my arrow and my bow, tip-toe in, and wait until I see her shake off the rage.  “Well, I feel completely unneeded,” I remark.

    She looks down the table at me, concern mixed with annoyance.  “That’s not it at all.  I need you.”

    “What for?” I ask.  “Obviously not for fighting. Near as I can tell, all you need me for is to be your pack mule.  Maybe cooking.”

    She stands up and walks down the length of the table toward me, kicking Movarth’s macabre feast of body parts and sweet rolls out of her way.  “I don’t need you to fight for me. I don’t need you for a pack mule.  I don’t need you to cook.”  She reaches my end of the table and jumps down.  “I just need you.”

    My heart melts, and I gather her into my arms. “I need you, too.” We leave it at that for a moment and just hold on.

    "You're more a jackass than a pack mule," she says. 

    “Ha ha.  But there’s still a problem.”  I tell her.  She’s listening, so I continue. “I can’t have you protecting me! What kind of orc would I be if I let my wife have all the fun?  We’ve got to be an even team, or this marriage is never going to work.”

    She sighs.  “I see that. I want that. I just don’t want to lose you.”

    “Life’s a gamble and there’s no getting around that,” I reply.  “You just have to accept it.”

    “Do I have to like it?” She grumbles.

    I almost answer, but she’s joking, so I chuckle instead.

    A furtive movement in a side passage catches my eye.  Before I can reach my weapon, Lucy streaks across the room and skewers the vampire there—a female--picking her right up off the ground and dropping her.  She glances back at me in chagrin.  “Sorry!”

    I shrug and grin, trying to make it look like no big thing.  “It’s OK.  Follow your instincts!” We roll the body.  It’s the woman from the village, Alva.  We search the rest of the lair, top to bottom, looking for anything that could link this coven to the Dark Brotherhood—journals, armor, robes, weapons, anything.  There’s nothing. In fact, Movarth’s journal rules the possibility out.  Disappointed, we head out, not sure where to look next.

    The ghost of the little girl meets us at the entrance.  “Thank you for setting my papa free.  I can go to sleep now.” With that, she’s gone.  Thank Malacath!  She was a very sweet girl, but when you’re dead, you’re dead, and you should go away!

    “That’s good, right?” Lucy asks.  I nod and smile.  “And we’re good?”  I nod and stroke her cheek to prove it. Satisfied, she turns back toward Morthal, where our room at the inn is still ours for a few more hours.

    I’m lying though about everything being good.  It’s good that Lucy understands we need to be equals. The problem is: how can I be an equal with someone that can do the things I just watched her do? 

        

Comments

5 Comments
  • Guy Corbett
    Guy Corbett   ·  March 14, 2012
    I love this setup at the min. A male Orc being outshone by his wife in battle would be a very bitter pill to swallow I just hope it doesnt cause them problems down the round. I love that you used such an array of the different skills and powers to deal wi...  more
  • Batman
    Batman   ·  March 14, 2012
    haha nice! i forgot about the Nightingale powers.
  • Piper Jo
    Piper Jo   ·  March 13, 2012
    She used Whirlwind Sprint to jump from the platform to the table before he could get up, then went into battle rage and at the same time used power Nightingale Agent of Strife, which is a super powerful health drain.  I had faced this same bad guy with Ba...  more
  • Batman
    Batman   ·  March 13, 2012
    haha, great chapter piper :D the banter between these two is really great to read.
    by the way what was the shout Lucy used when she killed the vampire? it sounds wicked.
  • Piper Jo
    Piper Jo   ·  March 13, 2012
    This will be it for a while.  I know it's not really an ending, but that's appropriate since we have no idea what happened to Babette. I'll post again if we get any leads.