Warp Token Update

2k words

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“Rick-rod!” she called, fearing the worst, but the armour must have taken most of the attack, Roderick staggering to his feet a second later. The statue seemed drawn to Roderick, perhaps seeing him as its biggest threat, or recognising him as a skeleton but with flesh. Either way it was ignoring her, giving her the perfect chance to strike.

As the statue advanced on him, she scuttled in from behind, keeping clear from its line of sight as she approached. It was so tall, its immensity only accentuated by its slow, calculated steps. Fear gripped her, memories of being chased by the gryphon coursing through her mind – she was but a rat before the feet of giants, what could she do?

It took another lunge at Roderick, her mate dodging out of the deadly arch. She could not let herself be afraid now. She had a friend to protect, a reputation to uphold. What would be the point of completing her mission if her one true ally died now, on her vigil?

Swallowing down her panic, she darted in, daggers raised high as she approached its right leg. She formed an x in the air as she slashed it across the back of its calf, the corrosive points drawing green lines across its chiselled leg. She had summoned al the strength she possessed, but even with the help of warp power, her blades had barely scarred its ebony hide.

While the attack seemed superficial, it had drawn the construct’s attention, the statue turning its gaze from Roderick to her, Skyseeker thankful that her goggles were obscuring the panic in her eyes. It bent its long legs, bringing her tiny body into range, holding one of its swords out horizontally and bearing it down on her, giving her barely enough time to react.

She leapt into the air, the statue’s arm swiping beneath her feet, Skyseeker reaching into her cloak ass he felt the air crack below her. Her paws gripped a pair of warp stars, and she thrust her arm out, landing in a crouch a moment later. Her thrown weapons glinted in the light as they travelled, lodging themselves into the statue’s muscular stomach. Such an attack would have sent most Skaven to their deaths, but the construct didn’t even react, evaluating her with its long, animalistic skull of a face.

Keeping itself slightly crouched, the statue charged her, holding its arms out wide and crossing the distance between them rapidly. There was enough stone on the statue to make up the façade of a small building, Skyseeker dodging for her life as its blades came at her from above, the statue intending to skewer her on the spot. Her back met the pavement as she rolled aside, the giant swords impaling inches into the ground and showering her in yellow sand.

As the construct yanked its weapons free, Skyseeker pressed the advantage, screeching a war cry as she raised a weeping blade, slicing the statue down the length of its forearm. Perhaps she was mistaken, but she thought she saw its stone hide flex like muscle as she cut it across the wrist. Was this thing truly made from stone, or flesh? Perhaps both?

There was a sudden movement to her left, the hilt of a golden blade coming straight for her. She tried to move aside, but she was too close, and the statue caught her in the stomach. She arched through the air, her lungs emptying of air as she was sent sliding across the courtyard.

She clutched her ribs as she struggled to her feet, a flare of pain pulsing up from beneath her paw. The blow had broken something inside her, but she had little time to worry about that now, the statue walking towards her, its gate stilted, slow. It was always lightning quick when its swords were in range, but came off as slow and sluggish otherwise, the contrast in speeds throwing her off from guessing its next move.

Skyseeker righted herself, her eyes darting to the side. Roderick was charging in, holding his greatsword like it was a lance, one hand clutching the blade tightly. He drove the point of his weapon into the statue’s thigh, as it was the only thing he could reach. She expected his attack to glance off, the statue’s armour resistance to even her corrosive blades, but instead, the tip of the sword slid into the stone, Roderick voicing a snarl as he thrust with all his strength. It only sank a scant few inches, but that was more than what she had done, and it proved the statue wasn’t invulnerable.

“Don’t slash, stab!” Roderick exclaimed.

The construct made no sound, but if its skull had eyes, they’d be full of fury as it redirected its attention. It swiped with both its swords, Roderick pulling his greatsword free and ducking away, taking up a defensive stance in the nick of time. The statue didn’t morph into another attack, but rather turned on the spot as before, using its own momentum to chain into another cleave from the side.

Roderick countered, slashing the massive swords from below, sending them sailing overhead. The effort must be putting massive strain on his body, but the construct afforded him little chance to dodge. It harried him with furious blows, forcing Roderick onto the defensive, backing him up towards the passage they’d come down from.

He backed up out of its reach, panting beneath his helmet, the statue ever silent as it kept him on the retreat. It tilted its wrists, lowering its swords until the tips glanced the ground. With a pronounced step, it lifted its swords off the ground, raising a curtain of sand and stone with it. The blades emerged through the falling sand, not obscured enough for Roderick to see them coming, the human stepping clear.

Rather than follow through, the statue pirouetted, coming to an abrupt halt with its back turned to Roderick. It lifted its arms above its head, bringing the hilts of its swords together and twisting. There was a loud, locking sound, and suddenly the two weapons became one, the statue holding the double-bladed staff as though it was some sort of holy relic.

With a speed that shouldn’t be possible on such a giant creature, the statue whirled on Roderick, thrusting its staff out one-handed. The conjoined blades gave it the range it needed to catch him across his chest, the impact of metal-on-metal echoing through the crevasse, Roderick sent skidding across the ground.  

“Rick-rod!” she called out. The statue unlocked its conjoined weapons, bringing its two swords back to its chest, holding them in a cross just like the first time they’d seen it. Yelling out, she charged the statue down, lifting one of her daggers high and placing her other paw on the hilt. She threw all her weight into the strike, aiming for the back of its right leg. Just as Roderick advised, stabbing proved better than slashing, her blade sinking up to the midpoint into the stoneflesh.

The leg began to rise up, lifting Skyseeker along with it before she let her dagger go. Before she even touched the ground, the statue’s three-toed foot turned, and it planted hard against her front, kicking her away like an errant pest.

She felt like she’d been struck by a hammer, once again sent flying across the courtyard, her journey coming to a painful halt as her back hit the stone fountain. Skyseeker tasted copper, spitting out a wad of blood that had formed in her throat, wiping her muzzle as she snarled up at the statue.

Between it legs she saw Roderick was slowly getting to his feet, recovering quickly despite the statue’s surprise attack. He had the armour to protect him from the worst of a blow, but all she had was her flimsy cloak.

She was an easy target, sitting there in a daze, but the statue’s stilted gait afforded her precious moments to scurry away, Skyseeker leaping into the fountain to create distance. The construct severed the fountain top with a swipe, chunks of stone raining down on her head. She scurried out of the bowl, the statue ploughing through the fountain like an enraged ogre, smashing through all that stood in its way.

“Over here!” she heard Roderick call. “Come on!”

The warning wasn’t for her, the statue turning around on the human, able to hear him despite its lack of flesh. He flourished his blade in a challenge, the statue possessing enough intellect to see it as a challenge, bringing its attention back to him.

Once more it interlocked its blades, forming a towering staff. With its free hand it reached down to its leg, pulling the weeping blade she’d lodged in it free. There was no blood on it, just a thin layer of coating dust. She felt a pang as the construct formed a fist around the dagger, the sound of crunching metal reaching her ears. It opened its giant hand, letting small shards of green metal fall between its fingers.

It lunged for Roderick, but he was ready for it, dodging out from the path of another long stab. He had the stamina and the strength of a warlord, but she could see he was tiring, and she doubted a being made of stone was limited by energy. If the fight came down to attrition, they would both be dead.

She wanted to rush in and help, but she was now down a dagger, and attacking it head-on again would only add to her growing wounds. She needed to exploits its weaknesses, attack it when it least expected, but what could she do?

Her eyes were drawn to the spot her weeping blade had penetrated its thick hide, creating a small wound. They could only reach its legs at this height, which would only reward superficial wounds at best. If they wanted to hurt this thing, they needed to reach its torso, or the head, but the statue was careful to keep itself upright as it duelled with its tiny, human adversary.

Her gaze flicked to the side, then up. The walls of the crevasse were not smooth, but full of gaps and divots, withered away by time and heat. She grinned as a scheme began to formulate, Skyseeker slotting her dagger into its scabbard as she took off in a run.

“Rick-rod!” she exclaimed. “Keep stone-thing busy!”

The construct must have though she was coming in for an attack, unlocking its staff and swiping a sword at her like a giant cleaver. She dropped into her butt, extending her legs out and sliding over the pavement, right between the statue’s long legs. She scuttled back to standing, rushing past a confused Roderick.

“What are you doing?” he called. “Where are you going?”

“Lure stone-thing this way-way!” she said, gesturing with a paw. “Towards that wall! Don’t worry, there is madness to my methods!”

“Okay!” he replied, his faith in her causing her heart to flutter despite the circumstances. Every movement caused pain to shoot up her spine, but she ignored it, the sounds of the duel subsiding a little as she approached the wall.

She picked the sheer façade on the left as her choice of approach, reaching up to clasp the lip of the lowest sandstone block. She hugged the brickwork like a pup clutching its mother, Skyseeker gritting her teeth as it added pressure to whatever rupture lay in her stomach.

She scaled one layer of blocks, then another, and soon the ground was a harsh fall below her. She didn’t need to go all the way to the top, just enough to enact her plan. Ten or so meters should do it.

The heat combined with her prior exertion caused her progress to slow, her heartrate rising as she heard the clanging of crossed swords somewhere beneath her.  Each delayed second added to the chances Roderick would slip up, make a mistake.

She was almost too afraid to look, worried that as soon as she peered down, that would be the moment Roderick would perish, but she summoned up the courage to see that he was following her plan, backing up towards the crevasse, the statue putting the pressure on him.

The construct afforded him little time to recover, always switching from duel-wielding its swords, to joining them in its deadly staff, always keeping the human guessing to where the next attack would come from. Just a little closer, that was all she needed…

She gripped the block with one paw, turning away to watch the pair draw further into the passage. Swords the size of fully grown Skaven sliced though the air, Roderick raising his greatsword to block. The curved blades should have cleaved through Roderick’s steel, but the Imperial weapon held strong, clanging metal ringing out as they clashed. Roderick tried to hold fast against the blow, but he was fighting the strength of a literal statue, and he cried out as the construct leaned forward, prying his weapon out of his hands through force alone.

The weapon rattled across the ground, the sound drowning out over Roderick’s shouts as the statue hit him with an upward slash of its sword. Rather than bounce off his armour, it sliced clean through, starting from below his arm and ending dangerously close to his neck, the metal rending in twain.

She shouted his name, never hearing herself so scared before, her eyes going wide as he stumbled into his back. The wounds hadn’t killed him outright, but they’d obviously pierced flesh. If he’d been any closer, she’d have watched him perish right then and there.

Unarmed and wounded, Roderick could barely scramble away as the statue advanced, locking its weapons into its staff once more. It planted its feet to either side of him, raising the staff above its head, preparing to kill him just as it had done to the orcs surrounding them. She was out of time, she had to act now.

Casting her sense of self preservation aside, she let go of the wall, using her feet to propel herself into freefall. For a horrific second she thought she wouldn’t make it, that Roderick hadn’t brought the construct far enough into the passage for her to reach. She was going to splat straight into the pavement next to him!