It will all make sense later... There were knights, and then there were knights. The first were overfed, egotistical Lords and Barons who had never lifted a finger in all their life. The second were hardened veterans of war, much like the ones tearing apart Bralterakus' army below him. "Damn!" the heavily muscled brown haired human cursed. "Sound the retreat!" A klaxon blared out from the five or so airships floating above the battle. The horde of armoured knights paused unexpectedly as their enemy turned and fled. "Come on, a little more..." whispered Bralterakus' heavy weapons specialist, who had been given the honour of joining him on his prize airship, the reckoning. Bralterakus turned towards him. "Do we have some genius stratagem that stops us using Tr23??" "No, but our troops are nearly out of range-" Bralterakus fixed a nearby dial by mashing his fist down on it. "DO IT! Or else I'll do it and you can take the fast way down to the ground." "Y-yes sir." The heavy-weapons specialist flicked a small green switch and then a large red one. "It will take a few seconds.." Bralterakus moved to near the window. One, two, thr- The ground beneath the knights erupted with fire. Even through 20cm of solid steel, the heat warmed Bralterakus' face. "Was this the decisive victory we needed? he asked his general, Griik. "No. This was a defeat disguised as a victory. I think you need to speak with our employers, Bralterakus. They dont seem to have any idea of strategy..." After the 3 hour flight back to his main base, he was bored. So instead of waiting for the reckoning to land on his island, Bralterakus strapped on his combat armour and stepped out of the hatchway. His warpstone-powered jump pack flew him quickly into his docking cave, and dressed as he was for war, no-one even tried to stop him. The three sisters were in his guest room, waiting for him. Good. He shrugged off his armour and dropped it on to a slave. He would later find it in his apartment, and probably clean as well. As he approached the room, he began to hear shouting. Time for an entrance. He rammed into the door, smashing it almost clean off its hinges. Stepping over the mangled remains, he basked in the sudden silence. The first one to recover was Emily. She was tall and slim, dressed in a regal purple dress with her ginger hair combed (for some reason) all over to the left. She stepped forward and sneered. "You have no right to- Bralterakus stopped her by grabbing her face and using it to move her out the way. Yeah, maybe it was out of order, but she had just sent 15,000 of his soldiers to their deaths. If she or her sisters got uppity, he felt he was owed a little disrespect. He left her - gasping with shock - and moved towards the most reasonable of the three. "Emma, you and your sisters have just lost me a battle. Explain." "uh... Emily thought-" "yeah, it was utterly my idea. Nothing to do with you at -" "SHUT UP! Emma, continue" "Emily thought that your general was a stuck-up snob and decided to take over from him. She told the men you said she could." He needed to leave. If he stayed he would lose all control and then that would be eighty million ur-gold down the pan. He had to... uh... oh yes, the delivery. Bralterakus growled at Emily, and turned his back as he stalked off. He walked round in a big circle at the bottom of his warpstone mine. He had three on the island, and he made a fair bit of cash selling it to the Skaven, and he also used it to power his machines. Well, almost. He used refined warpstone, almost a third more powerful, half more stable and 100% less radioactive. Dumb Skaven, they never had wondered how they had differed from other rats. They had realised that the burrows nearest warpstone veins, were the ones that gave smarter, more strong ratlings. They had linked it with their god - in the end, everything was linked with religion - and had assumed that it was a perfect material. Fast forward 40 years of enforced evolution, and the Skaven were born. Those smart little walking vermin had even started using it for tech, although none of their machines even came close to his battlesuit. It was... -A jump-pack in the rear (because flight) -Impact gauntlets (fearsome weapons, able to knock a minotaur on its bum) -Impact shins (gives a landing a deep whump, also knocks over human sized things, also power kicks) -the Helm of Doom (gives immunity to poison gases and some spells that affect the mind) -Magic Shields that blocked even mortal wounds (they wore down over the course of the battle, sadly) And heavy armour everywhere else. It was his greatest creation, bar the "moonsuit" so-called as he wanted to launch a mission to the Chaos Moon to harvest theoretic "cosmic warpstone". This suit would be launched into the air via as much explosive he could buy. Ah, what was the point? He couldnt distract himself much longer. Sooner or later, the rage would escape. Anyway, the heirs. There were three, Emma (black long hair, quietest of the three), Emily (red short hair, bossy and permanently annoyed) and Aletea (brown medium-length hair and very friendly). Each different, as the current ruler of Brettonia had split them up at birth so he could keep the throne. They had found each other, raised a lot of cash, and approached him at a tavern. They were each about 20, were unskilled with a weapon and weren't very strong. Nor could they sing well. They were brave - at least when they were all together (well, they had to be, they had approached him in a tavern) and supposedly clever, although he was seriously beginning to question Emilys intelligence. Wait, why had he left? He had had a reason... Oh yes the delivery of weapons. A dwarf named Jason (quite an unusual name, dwarves tended to name themselves stuff like Neckslasher Shinkicker or Swordsmelter aledrinker) was delivering a bunch of knives and axes for his military campain. He had to accept or else Jason would feel honour bound to assault his island. And Jasons ship was so weird and unusual destroying it would be a pity. Rumour had it he had once been attacked by pirates, but they were so incapacitated by laughter he could just sail past. Yup, Jason was in a foul mood when people mentioned his boat. Aargh! Bralterakus had got sidetracked again. He set off towards the docks on the south of the island. Like most other things , it was underground and in a cave. A supervisor in an orange shirt and dungarees hurried to him as he strode past. "Bralterakus, we have fixed a shield flaw in your armour. It appears to have been draining power from the vrocabulix instead of the onagerianous source we installed. By swapping the helix and carrier wires, we-" "Fabulous. Thank you. Please, not the full data now. File a report. In laymans terms, you have..." The supervisor sighed. "The power output is increased." "And this translates to..." Bralterakus rolled his hand, inviting a basic explanation. " You can power-thump and fly at the same time. Should be useful against dragons and eagles. Also your shield can deal with water up to 500m deep while allowing jump-pack capabilities. I know waterproofing was one of the first refit requests you made." Bralterakus nodded, forgetting about Jason the dwarf for a second time. "Bring it to me." After half an hour testing his new improved armour, a niggling suspicion began to gnaw at him. What had he forgotten? Oh god. The dwarf. Bralterakus kicked off the floor, his impact shins lifting him and easy 12m before his jump-pack engaged. Deciding that to wait was to be rude, he tore through a couple of gantries, his shielding lighting up green but nothing else happening. Wow, this was fast. He would have to be careful not to -Thooom. He pounded through the roof of his cave, disengaged his jump-pack just slightly over the safe drop height. He hit the ground, and his shielding dropped to about a third left. Wow. This was going to be potent on the battlefield. He saw the great blue caterpillar far away - it wasn't exactly a caterpillar but that was the closest description it could be given. It was damn big as well. It was gargantuan. It might not be very beautiful, but wow. Wait, he was two hours late as well? Hah. The goddess of luck was watching over him. He welcomed Jason into the cave/dock. Bralterakus approached him. "Jason! My friend, I havent seen you for... wow, it must be months! Hows the wife? How are the kids?" "They're fine. Haven't seen you for a while either. Down to business. You have 900 warriors who need weapons. Give me the gold. Bralterakus. You do have the gold?" Bralterakus smiled. "But of course. Slave! The gold!" And the business was about to conclude when Emily walked onto the dock. Shit. Dwarves have a massive sense of honour - if anyone lies or betrays them they either kill them immediately or they write their name in the book of grudges and kill them later. This arrogant heir was going to ruin Bralterakus' profitable arms trade. "Slave, delay her. Kill her if you must. But don't allow her to reach the dwarf!"
that is ny favourite line! Truly amazing! This side story is fantastic! Not sure where you're going with this but definitely want more if it! I also want that armour!
I just started doodling a hand yesterday and it leapt into my head. Sadly it will have to break - otherwise Bralterakus will never have any major threats.
Emily stalked towards Bralterakus and Jason. She looked like she wanted to pull him apart limb by limb. Bralterakus looked at the slave hopefully. It stepped in to her path. "Let me through." Oh no. Kingspeech (or in this case Queenspeech) could bend the will and twist the loyalty of any single individual. Unless you happened to be wearing a certain Science-magik helmet. Although, this did prove their blood was royal. The slave stepped away, allowing Emily to walk straight past. "Jason, would you excuse me a minute?" Jason, cut off mid speech, looked disgruntled but nodded. Bralterakus had long ago found that the easiest way to impress a human was to do something they viewed impossible. He stepped past Jason, and hefted a coach-sized container of weapons and began to walk with it directly towards Emily. If she doesn't listen, I could always squish her. Ha, if only. He was next to Emily now, and had to play to her ego. Even if that meant lying to her face. "My queen," Bralterakus murmured "I apologise for breaking your door. I believed you under attack from mourning friends of the soldiers. You may have my accommodation untill your door is fixed. Please walk with me so that I can explain further my plans for the campaign to regain your highness' thrones." He could see in her face that she was intimidated. But, like almost every ancestor she had, she refused to back down. " You should be sorry.And I will not walk with you. We will take your accommodation. And those 15,000 soldiers died because the enemy was strong, not because my tactics were weak. It will not happen again, my tactics shall-" Bralterakus was sorely tempted to drop the weapons cache on her, but he decided simply to stop listening. She had too much gold to kill. Wheeling around, he looked for Jason - oh god he was right behind him. "Bralterakus, what is this about 15,000 soldiers? You promised you had soldiers for the weapons." "Heh. Um, she is.. just a serving wench who- "A serving wench?!" She swung at him. Bralterakus went to block, realised that his armour would throw her across the room, and headbutted the punch. A crunch, then a scream. Her hand was broken. Then he was grabbed from behind. "You lied to me!" Bralterakus wasnt too scared - it was only a dwarf. Then he felt his armour being crumbled away. Bloody dwarves with those metalworking skills. Ducking out of the armour, he kicked it backwards, knocking Jason off his feet. He tore off his helmet and tossed it at Emily. Then he turned and ran. He could easily have killed them both, but for some reason he felt vulnerable without his armour. They caught up as he climbed out of the hole in the roof. There was nothing on the islands surface except rocks and one huge steel windmill that was vital to his islands warpstone supply. He twisted like a snake and barely dodged the whirling pickaxe. Really? And dwarfs moan about racist pictures that only ever show them with pickaxes. Shut up sarcastic me. That pickaxe almost got us. Focus on the fight. Bralterakus kicked out one of Jasons legs and would have grabbed his neck but the pickaxe brushed the tip of his ear and he was forced to retreat. We came close, but not as close as he did. For Gods sake, shut up. Look, Emilys conscious again and she brought the other two. I need to block everything. Aletea kicks - Bralterakus stomps hard on her knee, dislocating it Emma hangs back - she's by far his favourite heir. Emily goes to grab his hair - Bralterakus grasps her wrists and shoves her into Jason. Adrenaline. Time slows. He sees Aletea sobbing slowly and collapsing, Emma moving to comfort her. Emily sprawls slowly backwards, hate filling her face. And Jason tumbles off the side of the island.
Bralterakus dived forwards, reached for Jasons hand - he caught him. Then a tremor through the entire island shook him and he let go so he could grab a rock and steady himself. Jason didn't scream as he fell, he was eerily silent as he tumbled towards the ocean. Then, with a roar, the ocean sucked itself away into the horizon, giving Bralterakus and Emily (who was sneaking up behind him to try to push him off) a great view of the gory death. Emily vomited all over Bralterakus' shoes. He kicked her in the face, and she fell backwards, yelping. Why has the ocean pulled back? Earthquake plus ocean gone equals tsunami. Get inside the windmill. You see, on the northern horison, that line of silver? Yeah. See how its slowly getting closer? Bralterakus climbed quickly to his feet, grabbed Emilys wrist, and dragged her into to the windmill. He tossed her unceremoniously on the floor, and grabbed a nearby plastic tie to bind her unbroken hand to a metal pole. He stuck his head back out and roared "Tsunami! Get inside!" Aletea gave a frightened sounding sob and began trying to crawl into the windmill. Bralterakus grabbed her, crunched her leg into the right place, and, after a few seconds to recover from the scream that had nearly deafened him, gently placed her next to Emily. Wait, ones missing. He stuck his head outside, and glimpsed Emma, kneeling and shivering and still staring at Jason. Or, the messy pile of meat that had once been Jason. Fabulous. She's in shock. He darted to her, wrapped her in his arms and lifted. She was light, and cold. She needs to warm up. Keep her attention off Jason, and try to warm her up. Oh no, is this the start of getting a conscience? I dont want one. Go away. He sprinted back to the windmill, and slammed the door shut. Thank god it was all waterproofed. Not a conscience, a profit-sense. Emily will calm down when she realises that you kept her sisters alive. And she has lots of money. A profit sense? Really? I would rather have a conscience than have jokes like that in my head. Fine. I'll warm her up and distract her. "This island was part of my inheritance," He told Emma as he searched for a blanket. A huge clang and a crumbling noise distracted him for a second then he continued. "None of this was on here, except for this really old, abandoned windmill and a beached metal boat. I combined the two, and lived here for a couple of years, while I built up my cave system and began to trade in mercenaries." He found an old, warm woolen blanket and draped it across her shoulders. "I haven't seen this blanket in years. It was my blanket when I was young, and it came here when I did... He continued talking to her, amusing at times, and all of it sounded like truth. He told her about his parents, both were standard bearers for a Lord, both killed in battle. He told her why he had gone into the business of mercenaries, and how and when he had intended to leave it. He spoke about his pets, and even his secret victories for other factions. " After the tsunami has gone down, what we'll do is find poor Jasons boat. Then we'll resupply and just walk to... I think the empire is safest for you, what with you being heirs and all. I have stakes in the Fleshmarket there, so I can find you a couple of loyal bodyguards. I'm going to leave altogether, find a ship to some gold-heavy, far off land and set up there, selling warriors to expeditions and reaping the benefits...." She was asleep. She had been asleep for a minute or two, but he had kept talking to keep her relaxed for a bit. He carefully shifted Aletea away from Emily, and made sure all weaons and knives were out of her reach. An hour or two later, he became aware of a slow drip. The viewport was still partly underwater, but it was draining fast. He could see it dropping. Also, he heard a distorted screech as Emily tried to grab his arm with her broken hand. Aletea jerked awake and scrabbled away from Bralterakus, uncomprehending fear in her face. She recovered after a second, but didn't move back to her spot. Emma woke up, stretched, and noticed Emily. "What the hell, Bralterakus!? Get her out! Why is she even there?" Bralterakus drew a knife -one of many he had appropriated from his stashes around the windmill - and stepped towards Emily. She took a step back. He stepped forward again, and she could go no further. He levelled the knife at Emily. "Are you going to attack me again?" "N-no." A hint of defiance flared in her eyes again."Not unless you start it." His face remained blank, but he lifted the knife and slashed it down. Her bonds broke. She stepped forward into his personal space, chin up, glaring. "You will fix my hand," she spat "Or else... I won't tell you where the money is." Bralterakus cracked a smile, then chuckled, then began to roar with laughter. This was intimidating to Emily, and she stepped back, cradling her broken hand. Bralterakus realised he was scaring her, and slid to the side, allowing her past. Slowly, the laughs subsided enough for him to talk. "This would be the money you brought for my services? The money you split between your mattresses - yeah, that maid you entrusted was on my payroll. Wait, you thought-" he chuckled "-never mind. Well, that paper money is gone now, ladies." Emily came to the wrong conclusion, and came at him. "Wait!" He dodged a punch. "I didn't take it!" He caught her foot when she tried to kick, and twisted and lifted it. She now faced directly away from him, and couldn't kick him as she'd fall over. "Look! The porthole! There's no water, is there? No. Because it flooded my cave system. God, the caves were humongous by themselves, but on several occasions we burrowed into Skaven tunnels, or magma tubes. That oceanfull of water could be anywhere. And the focal point of all that water was-" She worked it out for herself. "The bottom, centermost cave - our cave! The safest cave, you said!" Bralterakus gave her a sad smile."You've lost almost as much as me." Her face crumpled and she howled.