Introduction
Welcome back to Maledicturs Terra. This is a Chain Story between myself and @lex-zaiya, meaning that we each write the parts alternatively.
If you have not read Maledictus Terra Book 1: Mortis Custos yet, it starts HERE at Part 1 and ends at Part 101 HERE. At the end of the Part 101 post you will find links to all 101 Parts!
Maledictus Terra Book 2: Sanguifex started HERE with Part 1 and ends at Part 111 HERE
The previous part by @lex-zaiya can be found HERE.
Part 40
He fell from the trees. All was in shadow. There was but the faintest whisper made from his passing through the air that could not be heard over the rustle of the wind in the trees.
The Townsman had run from the shadows they had perceived traveling back home from the local pub. Those shadows had herded the man precisely to this location.
His feet connected with the man's chest and he kicked sending himself backwards to land in the dirt. The man was now on his back, struggling to breathe.
Darius could have killed the man. The fall could have shattered his collarbones if he had placed his feet differently. Or he could have simply snapped the man's neck.
But he was not allowed to damage his targets to that extent. The more whole the body, the better. He lunged forward. Usually he would have had his dagger out, but the Cold One had seen fit to Gift him something more dangerous.
A claw of bone ripped out from the skin of his fist as he struck forward. He did not even mind the pain of it anymore. This claw was cone shaped and straight, like a quill. It was solid bone.
The spines and claws that burst from his body were always the right shape. He just had to think of it or need it.
The claw punctured the horrified Townsman's chest and speared his heart. He was dead in an instant.
"Come." Darius commanded and one of his Shadow Disciples came to collect the body. The woman left without a word. She knew that the body was to be taken to The Corpsemaker.
Darius took a running leap into the trees again. He made his way to the edge of the Town again. He was not even sure what the place's name was. River-something? Something-river? It did not matter.
What mattered was his careful picking apart of the population. Not all of it. Just for a time, like a farmer tending his crops. This Town would yield a certain amount of bodies.
Too many deaths and disappearances and the Town's Guard and the local Magister or Mayor would become concerned. Then orders of Knights, soldiers and mages would be sent to investigate if it was bad enough.
Thus stragglers, homeless children, and town drunks were a prime target. Never missed. Then after that a few quarrelsome persons, usually eliciting suspicion in Townsfolk who had problems with those he made disappear.
Sometimes he even got lucky and orchestrated an execution, the victim framed for a murder Darius committed. Once, he had sparked a bloody fight between two passionate families that hated one another. Seven had died that night and none of their bodies had ended up in their family crypts.
Those bodies were now shambling around the countryside near the Temple of the Cold One, to his glory and to the glory of His chosen Prophet. Temolach.
Just thinking of the Prophet's name sent shivers of excitement down his spine. It pushed him to a fever, wishing he could find at least one more victim to add to the army of death.
They had taken two dozen from this town already. As many as they should normally be able to. Tonight was the last night here. After this, they would leave and go to the next location.
Thus, he had to make it count.
He went to the other side of the town from where he had stalked his last victim. There was another inn that had a pub. This one was frequented by miners who worked a local iron mine. There were also those that worked in the forge, smelters and blacksmiths.
He liked this sort of prey. They made for big and strong undead soldiers.
He fell to the ground out of the treeline and with a flourish, his night black cloak turned a dark green. The bone claw retracted into his arm and the wound it left rapidly healed.
He walked out from the shadows and headed into the pub. It was easier to observe his targets from inside and get an idea of who might be likely to fight or murder or be murdered. While he was there, he got to enjoy the comforts of the living.
He took his cloak off his head as he entered the building and he was greeted with warmth and noise and music. There was a musician to the side of the room's only hearth. He had revealed his face which he knew would look ordinary to anyone looking. The Town was large enough that everyone did not know everyone else and there was even a large amount of travellers passing through the Town or selling their wares there and then moving on. So nobody would be suspicious.
His features were rugged, his black hair a fashionable length and his short cropped beard accentuating a strong chin. He flashed the barmaid a smile that had her blushing as he gently placed a few coppers on the counter.
"Beer please." He said to her.
"Sure thing." She said. "That's too much though. You are over-paying if its just for one beer. Short, if you want two."
"Keep the change darlin'." He said with a grin. "I used to wait tables myself. That's your tip."
She blushed furiously and put a large foamy mug of beer before him. "Thank you so much!"
He nodded to her and went to find an empty table and chair for him to sit and watch the musician play. He had his eye on some large men who seemed to be in the process of competitive drinking.
Miners and Forge workers. It could be a rivalry. Excellent. If they lost their temper at one another then maybe he could add at least two more bodies to tonight's count.
Darius settled in and waited patiently.
The musician was reaching the end of her set. She put her lyre away and collected a fee at the bar and bid the room farewell.
Darius did not have to wait long. The big men were already very drunk and without the distraction of music their bad tempers at one another began to flare. There was a brief fistfight between a tall blacksmith and a burly miner and their friends and the barkeeper had to restrain the two men from getting too serious.
The Barkeep began lecturing the men. Darius knew what would come when he had finished his tirade. A chair had been broken, they would need to figure out who would pay for that and then they would be sent home.
Darius would be waiting.
He went out into the darkness. It was later but a Town this size sometimes had people awake at all hours. He walked over to the other side of the street and slipped into the shadows. Almost as a reflex, as he put his cloak back over his head, it turned from green to black.
He put his back against the wall and waited.
"So it is you." A voice said suddenly. Bright and musical. He recognised it instantly. He whipped his head around, a dagger in hand from his belt. No good to use his God Gifts for nothing.
The musician was standing in the shadows of the building to his left. She had been standing so still, he could not believe that he would have missed her. She was holding something bulky under her arm, he assumed the lyre.
"What do you want?" He demanded.
"You've been watching those men." She stated.
"They are noisy men, they had a fight when you left. Everyone was watching them."
The woman was silent for a short while. "Yes, but you are out here. You are waiting for them to come out. You have been... studying them. You are hunting them."
"A strange accusation." Darius tried to sound casual.
"You were there a few nights ago when someone else went missing from town, you..." He did not wait for her to finish the sentence.
He did not know who she was, but she had figured him out somehow. He had thought that he had been careful. He charged forward, flowing across the street like spilled oil, blade in hand.
Another body to add for the Cold One.
Something shone as it came down from his right hand side from above. He turned just in time to see a body dropping, much as he had done to the Townsman earlier. Only, Darius was not a simple villager. He dodged the mace that struck out at his shoulder.
They wanted to take him alive.
That would be their mistake.
He slashed out with his dagger, the man had missed and could not raise his weapon in time. The attack cut into the man's arm and the mace tumbled to the floor. He slashed again and again, the man had his arms up and cried out as the blade cut into them.
His attack was cut short as something bit into his arm. His dagger clattered to the ground. He stared at the metal spike that was embedded halfway though his forearm. He glanced as the woman, still too many paces away as she was reloading the hand crossbow calmly.
The man before him looked like he might tackle Darius.
He had to use it now.
A scything talon burst out of Darius's uninjured forearm and he cut the man deeply across his chest. The man stared in disbelief at the wound that Darius had caused.
He followed up quickly with a strike across the man's throat. As he fell, two shadows arrived beside Darius. The woman's crossbow was ready and one of the shadows blocked the bolt that she sent directly to Darius.
"Damn you.... monster! This is not the last time fiend. Mark my name. Letulah Molder. I shall have my vengeance."
Before Darius or his servants could react she threw something on the ground and there was a blinding flash of light that made Darius night-blind for a moment. When that had cleared, there was a lot of smoke.
"Take the body." Darius ordered as he ripped the steel bolt from his arm. "We leave now. She found us out."
"Should we not find her right now?" His one servant asked.
"It might be another sort of trap. She was able to hide from me completely. We have no idea what else she can do. The risk is too great and it would be foolish. For now, we retreat back to Stredita."
"Yes Master."
Darius led his followers out of town. Their pace was slow, careful and observant.
Letulah Molder. He would need to find out who she was.
And there we go! I did not forget about Temolach and his servants! Darius is another new character, one of the Master Acolytes from the Temple in Part 22
Back to @lex-zaiya to decide where to go from here!
Thank you for reading!
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