Warp Token Update

2k words

***

“Yeah, man-thing words never are. E-Except yours, Rick-rod,” she added, wiping her muzzle with a paw.

He chuckled at her sheepishness. She had always made it clear humans were inferior to her intellect, but now that he’d shown her a world of affection, she was as flustered as any young damsel, her attempts at flirting clumsy, but no less appreciated.

Once he was close enough to the ground, Roderick stepped off the net, his sabatons splashing into shin-deep water. Breakers curdled with foam pulled him towards the shore, the wolfship’s shadow looming away for a dozen odd meters.  

He offered a hand to help Skyseeker down, the two making for the shore. She had to practically leap over the water to keep up with his paces, the Skaven holding up her cloak by the hem so it didn’t get too wet, Roderick bending down to catch an eyeful of her exposed butt.

They reached dry land after a few moments, Roderick feeling so small measure of comfort at the fact. After days of living on a rocking ship, walking upon firm ground was a treasured reprieve, even if this world was one of mystery and danger.

The sight to the right was the same as on the left – the curving beach stretching out and away until the haze of distance obscured it, the shore losing its slight curve the further away it went. The way ahead rose into a few scattered pairs of jagged cliffs overlooking the shore, the rock clusters as bleached as bones.

There were no pathways or roads, Roderick’s feet sinking into the sand as they navigated the slope, the sound of the breakers easing off into the backdrop. When they emerged onto one of the overlooking cliffs, Roderick turned around to survey the wolfship, now far below and small enough to be covered by his arm. It had been reversed into the shore, likely as a means the crew could make a hasty getaway should anything come attacking – from the shore or the sea. He hoped it wouldn’t’ come to that, he did not want to be stranded in this place.

“Ocean is so… big-big,” Skyseeker mused as she joined him, her lenses clicking as she admired the view. “Never left Skaveblight’s under-tunnels before Great Lord chose me-me for mission, and now… Can’t even see Skavenblight anymore, even with goggles…”

“You alright, lass?” he asked.

“Yes. Wait, no. Maybe sorta,” she finally said, glancing up at him. “Is hard to believe I made it to not-man-thing lands at last. Feels like I’ve scurried over threshold of the world! Found a whole new place to conquer and claim!”

“Technically we’re still on the same continent, but I know what you mean,” he said, the cool sea-breeze cooling his face. “We’re further from our people than ever, even Sigmar’s voice is weak in these sands. From now on it’s just us and the natives.”

“Just how I like it,” Skyseeker said, smirking at him. “Now the only man-thing I have to deal-deal with is you. And you’re a pawful let me tell you.”

“So where to?” he prompted, gesturing to their flank. Beyond the cliffs was leagues of sand in all directions, the landscape broken up in places by steep ravines and cresting sand dunes, with strange bright green flora sprouting up randomly throughout the desert, the closest of which too far for Roderick to get a better look at. “Wilfred said only a magic user can find the artifact, so which way are we headed?”

“Showtime,” she chittered, closing her eyes as she cracked her knuckles. “Need to focus, man-thing, so please shut mouth for a second.”

He stepped back as she raised a hand, her features scrunching up in concentration. After a few lingering moments, she tilted her head, as though she’d heard a noise, yet the only sound in Roderick’s ears at that moment was the wind.  What did this psychic connection with the relic feel like, he wondered, if that was how best to describe it? A pull in the air, along with whispering voices as Wilfred alluded too? Perhaps he should ask at some point.

Eventually she opened her eyes, then jabbed a finger down the cliff face. “That way!” she chimed, then she stopped, considered, then moved her hand slightly to the left. “I mean, that way! Warp sight says relic is there!”

“Then lead on,” he replied. “This time, I will follow you.”

“Really-Really? That makes me pawleader!” she announced, placing her hands on her hips proudly. “First champion of Lord, then clawcaptain – temporarily – and now pawleader. Is there nothing Skyseeker can’t do!?” she shouted, her voice echoing into the distance.

“I like your confidence,” Roderick mused. “but let’s press on, I’m sure Wilfred’s wondering why we’re just standing here.”

“Bye Wilfred!” Skyseeker yelled towards the ship, waving her hand, then waving it harder after a short delay, leading Roderick wonder if the wizard might have returned the gesture.

They turned their back on the shore, moving down the slope and into the awaiting desert. Once they were shielded from the sea breeze, the true might of the heat bore down on Roderick, his brow already wet with moisture beneath his helmet. Wilfred had warned him the heat would be like no other, Roderick praying their journey through these lands will be swift.

At the bottom of their descent, the dune began to slope upward, the path ahead never quite flattening out as they pressed on further inland. The sand was slippery beneath his feet, his pace slowing as he sank inches into the ground with each stride, leaving deep footprints in his wake. He couldn’t imagine pulling a wagon or other vehicle through this place, so how did the locals navigate this place? On foot alone?

Skyseeker was a little better off than him, clad only in her belts and cloak, her wide feet allowing her to spread her insubstantial weight over a larger area. The added supplies she carried made her a little clumsier than usual, but she voiced no complaints aside from the occasional mutter of disapproval. It didn’t need to be said she preferred to travel light.

It didn’t take long before they navigated their way closer to one of those plants he’d spotted before, the pair stopping beside one such specimen to examine it. While it looked like a plant, it wasn’t like anything Roderick had seen before. It was as tall as two men, with squat limbs like those of a tree, its green body covered over in a layer of spikes. A purple sunflower sprouted from its top, the blend of bright colours perplexing to say the least.

“It’s hard to imagine anything growing in this place,” Roderick mused, noting that clusters of similar plants could be seen in every direction. “Bet Wilfred would have loved to study them.”

“Can we eat it?” Skyseeker asked, tilting her head.

“I wouldn’t risk it. We have rations, no need to live off the land just yet.”

They left the strange, tubular plant behind, and proceeded deeper still into the desert, wisps of sand kicked up from the gale obscuring every direction they looked with thick sheets of brown dust. They journeyed in silence, but eventually Skyseeker was the one to break it.

“Urgh, forgot how much walking everywhere suck-stinks! Where’s relic already?”

“You tell me, you’re the one who can sense it.”

“Carry me, Rick-rod,” she said, stopping and peering up at him expectantly.

“Carry you?” he echoed. “I’m already hauling most of our supplies, now you want me to carry you as well?”

“Aw please?”

“I’m not your pack mule! If you think I’m going to lug you around like royalty you-”

“Will let you breed all over my face-face if you do~!”

“Well you don’t weigh that much. Up you get.”

He got to a knee, gesturing at his pack, Skyseeker skirting around until she stood behind him. She looped her hands around his neck, placing one foot just over his rump, the other on his shoulder as she began scampering up his body.

She giggled as he stood back up, the laughter trailing into a distauted yelp as she almost toppled over him, Roderick quickly taking her by her legs as she hung them over his shoulders. Now sitting on his neck, she lay her hands on his helmet, clutching the plume for balance as he set off, her silky thighs filling the sides of his vision.

“Good view up there?” he asked, Skyseeker giggling as he jostled her into a better position.

“Sure-sure, fine view of sand, sand and… wait! Nevermind, is just more sand.”

“I pray it’s the only thing we see out here,” he muttered, working up a sweat as he crested the next dune.

-xXx-

Roderick alternated the next few hours between piggybacking Skyseeker and letting her walk beside him, the desert heat faltering as the sun began to set. Nothing had accosted them during their travels save for a few hardy reptiles toughing it out in the baking sun, such as snakes with patterned scales and large scorpions who blended in with the sun-bleached rocks.

“Sun’s about to go-leave,” Skyseeker said from atop his shoulders. “Move east, my new man-legs, see some rocks we can use to camp.”

He’d passed her a compass Wilfred had packed for him, Skyseeker quickly learning the cardinal directions so Roderick could get an idea of where they were going. The relic was straight south so far from the shore, but Skyseeker was directing them a little further west each time she attuned into her ‘warp sight’. He wasn’t worried about getting lost, however, he had faith in her abilities.

The shelter she mentioned soon manifested in the form of a rock cluster, one that should provide ample cover from the elements. He set Skyseeker down once they reached it, Roderick taking a moment to sit down and rest his legs.

“Pass the steel sticks,” she chimed, digging a small pit in the sand nearby.

“Firestarter,” he corrected, passing it to her. They had passed a thorny brush some time back, and had collected its branches for kindling, the Skaven setting about making a small campfire.

As she struck the two pieces together, Roderick head something that sounded like trundling wheels, and he looked out over the dunes, the task made more difficult by the waning sunlight. After a few moments, he shook his head, fetching a piece of salted fish from his pack.

“Ah-ha!” Skyseeker announced, finally driving a spark onto the kindling. “Behold, Skaven fire. Not as good as warp fire, but still.”

“Good work,” he said, tossing her a piece of fillet. “didn’t have to help you at all there. You’re a fast learner.”

“Rick-rod doesn’t have to flatter me,” she giggled as she chewed. “know that I’m brilliant – plus we already mated. Speaking of which, believe that I have a Skaven promise to fulfill…”

She leapt on him, nuzzling against his face, her whiskers brushing his cheeks. He laughed as she pawed at his chest, planting her knees in the sand on either side of him as he brought a hand to her jaw.

Her joined her soft lips to his, but before he could introduce his tongue, he heard that sound again, Roderick tilting his head to the side, straining to listen over Skyseeker’s sloppy kisses as he glanced out at the sands. There was something out there, something below the dune they were currently sitting on.

He pushed Skyseeker away, the Skaven blinking at him in confusion. “R-Rick-rod? What’s wrong?”

“Stamp out the fire,” he urged. “Quickly!”

She turned, bringing her heel to the campfire without hesitating, petering out the flames with a few extra hits. The pocket of light ebbed away, leaving them in near total darkness.

He pulled Skyseeker closer, bringing a finger to his lips in an unspoken request for silence, the Skaven nodding her understanding. He moved his finger to point down the slope, and she slowly followed it with her eyes, her breath catching as she saw it too.

Lurking out in the dunes was a construct, a cart to be more precise, held aloft by a pair of bronze wheels, and sitting inside it was a figure. They were thin, but unusually tall, the glint of silver telling him they wore a metal helmet upon their head. They wore some sort of orange sash about their chest, everything from the stomach down obscured behind the cart’s rim.

The cart was being pulled along by two horses, but something about their shape was off-putting, but Roderick couldn’t tell what. They watched, transfixed, as the figure raised a long whip, the crack echoing across the desert as they spurred the horses into action, the cart moving a little closer towards their dune.

As it drew closer, Roderick’s eyes widened in alarm. The sound of clacketing bones overthrew the noise of the turning wheels, his gaze drawn to the horses. The animals had no flesh to speak of, no muscle, no sinew, even their eye sockets were lacking flesh, yet they carried themselves briskly at the driver’s behest. They snorted and tossed their heads every which way, stamping hooves of ivory into the sand.

The figure in the cart was likewise fleshless, a skeleton made manifest, cracking his undead wards with his whip to spur them on. Roderick could make out its slack jaw, grinning even in death, its empty gaze scanning the sands with a malice that shouldn’t be possible on a rotted corpse.

The chariot altered course, brushing the incline that marked their campsite. Roderick reached over his shoulder, taking his greatsword by the hilt, Skyseeker copying the gesture as she gripped her knives. They held a collective breath as they watched the undead creatures skirt the dune. It could obviously see, but how clearly? What manner of creature had the power to animate it?

He feared they would have to do battle with the skeleton, but then the chariot altered course, making for an adjacent dune. Only when he could no longer hear its wheels did Roderick release the breath he’d been holding, Skyseeker’s tense little body releaxing as she followed suit.