Vardysil
My tale takes place in the city of Vardysil.
There are some who say that Vardysil was a town of pirates, low-life’s, and rogues. They may be right, but all I know, is that for me, it was Home. Ten years ago I was nobody, a small plain girl-child, being raised by a whore in a small pirates den. Then one day, I found Karden, a Priest washed upon the shore during a terrible storm. I cared for him until he became well, and it was he who took me, and indeed our entire village under his wing. He offered law and safety to those within who followed his laws. To me, he gave a name, and taught me in the ways of his Lord. When I turned twelve, my brown hair was turned silver by the Witch Goddess, and my Master in the Priestly Arts gave me a new name, Kira, which meant “kissed by the Gods” in the language of the Celestials of Heaven. Then one day, that all changed, when the Fire Lord, the Night Lady, the Fallen Paladin and Eternal Children brought their forces to our city.
It began in the early dawn hours, when even pirates finally draw home to their beds and berths, and the moist breath of the Goddess has fallen to earth, creating dew and making rock slippery. Even guards, tired of continuous rounds began closing their eyes, and sleeping, only to deny it loudly when the Night’s Commander shook them awake.
In that still dim light of pre-dawn, there was movement though… the movement of many bodies over the cold, moist plains. Hundreds of bodies, human, goblin, and even a few bone-white dead crawled inevitably towards our sleepy hallow.
The scouts arrived first, tearing into the defensive caves lining the walls. Helped by two silent and Moon-cloaked Halflings, also known as the Eternal Children, many of the sleepy guards never even had a chance to call the alarm, their death throes covered by a magical silence. Other scouts took out even more, although nowhere near as stealthily as their smaller brethren.
Finally though, the Night’s Commander found the first of the dead, and then the next one only ten feet away. Raising his Bull’s Horn to his lips and blowing mightily into the ever-brightening sky, the rest of the wall guard awakened and came to attention. Now that the scouts were found, the rest of the guards did not go down so easily and the scouts were forced to run. Following their enemy so closely as they fled, our guards were startled to find an entire army waiting for them at their front door. They were not surprised long, as the remaining scouts fell flat, and allowed the archers to take care of the following guards.
However, the warning had gone out, and all the town’s fighters had recognized the code for Attack, and Prepare at the Gates. Unfortunately, even this proved inaccurate as deadly daemons appeared in the centre of town, killing everyone, the innocent and armed in their quest for chaos. Led by fearsome creatures, half-vulture, half-man, they were able to cause much death before individual captains forced their retreat, their minion daemons transmuted by magic to no more than a puff of sulfur and logic. Upon being told by their companions from the centre of the attack upon their women folk and whores, the fighters and pirates battled side by side, for once, valiant and together. The battle was turned through the quick wits of a young tiefling ship captain, who caused a magical darkness to descend from the heavens and cover the humans attacking us, and much damage was done to the Butchers of Vardysil. The tiefling grew bold at the sight of humans fallen to attacking each other, for in the butchers need for fresh blood, the darkness hid friend from foe and our mages created more sounds of battle from within their ranks. They killed each other with ruthless efficiency. However, our hero’s boldness proved to be his downfall as a bugbear female came out of the darkness, armor shining evilly in the dawn light. He looked at her with distain, until her armor reflected the sun’s rays into his night-blessed eyes, and as he cried out in pain, the creature stabbed him through the heart with her bastard sword. However, the damage was done for that day, and the front was not only held, but the force repelled from the mouth of our home.
Ragged cheers went up as the pirates saw their enemies routed and fleeing into the wasteland of the dead. Too soon, their hopes were dashed upon the walls, as the wild creatures of Rock and Sea began attacking the town itself, the bound spirits of my Master gone mad with his death and killing us instead of helping to defeat his enemies.
The smaller ships had nowhere safe to flee to as the spirit of Water created whirlpools to sink them, with deadly results… Even the sahuagin had nowhere to flee to, and were dashed upon the sinking ships, until the water ran red with their Blood and tasted of Iron. The creature of Rock, destroyed much of the docks, and killed many of our innocents, destroying everything in its madness. Finally, and with terrible losses, the creatures were dispelled and were returned to the planes from which they came.
Looking for guidance from my Master when the Spirits changed sides, it was me, a young woman with stark silver hair, who found my Master Karden’s body being looted by strangers. Hiding my hair under my cloak’s hood, I hid in nearby shadows, watching as my Master’s Murderers, laughed and joked as they stole his most precious possessions from his cold, stiffening body. My nose detected the scent of the Grave hanging off an arrogant flame-touched lordling and I noted, from where I hid, the kindness in his eyes as he healed a woman of such dangerous cold beauty that her hair drew in the light, rather than shining in the suns brightness. I would have killed the abominations then, but my Goddess called out to me, and bade me wait, for to attack these killers now would have resulted only in my death. I also noted a Dwarf in shining armor, notable only in that I had met this dwarf before in my Masters company, when we last had traveled to the Sea Barons to buy another seasons safety for us. He also smelled of the Grave, and as he looked around one last time, determined to pick my Master’s body dry of anything of value, I attempted to hide further in my shadow as his cold, dead eyes passed over my hiding spot. I needn’t have bothered. Uplifted by their gory deed, they hardly even spared the area a second glance as they vanished with the aid of a powerful magic that I had previously only heard of spoken in the bard’s tales of hero’s long dead.
Later that day, I attempted to force myself into the Men’s war meeting to tell them of what I saw, but without my Master’s authority behind me, I was laughed at and driven out. The respect of yesterday disappeared as they saw only yet another terrified woman, helpless in her supposed panic. Outraged, I cursed them and strode into the darkness. There I was approached by an agent of Hell, a Woman with the wings of a Raven. I must admit, in my anger and grief, under the warm darkness of my Goddesses time of power, I bought my own safety by telling the angel where the commanders slept. The angel carried me out, and then returned to the remaining commanders rooms. To the ones she visited, she promised Salvation in her flesh, but delivered only death. I was satisfied in my revenge. The rest I learned from the few survivors I later found, when I returned nearly a month later to atone for my crimes and pray for the dead.
In the morning, the few left with experience leading the men, worked their remaining forces into a frenzy born of desperation, and they fought like rats forced into a corner, attempting to defend their home. Their victory and the respect in their enemy’s faces uplifted them, and yet, even with this win, through my actions of the night before, their fate was sealed. Men in danger become selfish animals, and more than a few attempted to flee through secret tunnels to safety. Others fled in what boats they could secure in the darkness, hoping that the few ships blockading them in could not catch them all. Now like Rats abandoning a sinking ship, they paid with their lives as they were overrun.
Their slaughter was carried out with a fervent abandon. Any woman who could not flee fast enough was thrown to the ground, brutally raped by men who felt that this victory was won at too high a price. Men who still had life and intelligence gleaming in their eyes were put to the sword… Through all this, their conquerors rode, like angels of death, sparing those they deemed worthy and delivering it to those who resisted. In one case, the Fallen Paladin in his brilliant armor brutally killed four of his own men, who were playing at breaking a child’s bones, while he hung shrieking from dislocated shoulders. The child’s only crime had been a thrown rock, in an attempt to save his mothers honor and life from the invaders.
The people that remained were demoralized, beaten and then transmuted from free folk to inhuman dredges fit only to be counted up and sold like cattle. To a select few, a respite was offered in the direct service of their Flame Lord and the Night Lady. Children alone were offered a chance to keep their humanity, found in the eyes a single gruff Dwarf who remembered only too well his prior goodness. He offered them a home within his walls, to become creatures of evil serving him and called it salvation, and to a few of the slavers, paid to keep them safe from harm until they were no longer children.
And through this, two Halfling bards (the Eternal Children) traveled, noting the rapes, deaths and people made into dogs by dehumanizing treatment. They covered all with a song of heroes and evil pirates dead, covering the smell of decaying flesh in a perfume so sweet, that the tale would flow from the lips of bards for generations to come. One tale was even offered to the Song Goddess, patron of Bards and Knowledge and was approved by her priests as a true account.
But I know the truth of that day… How “heroes” decided that a town be destroyed and my Master Killed with no thought to their victim’s pain… I am Kira, the Silver Shadow, and it is I who will make certain that the true tale of lives lost, and loves destroyed is never forgotten.
Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this story and would like to comment on it, please follow the link… I would love to hear what you have to say.
© B.A. Matthews – 04/June/2010