Warp Token Update

2k words

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“Skyseeker! It’s me, lass!”

She blinked, a dark shape poised above her drawing into focus, her weapon trembling inches from its face, the voice’s odd accent sparking recognition. Her heart beating like a drum, she turned the flat of her left dagger, the magical glow of the weeping blade lighting the grizzled features of a man-thing.

“It’s just me,” Roderick said again. His gauntleted hands were on her shoulders, and now he raised them, his movements slow and cautious.

“S-Stupid man-thing,” Skyseeker gasped, taking in a sharp breath. “Never interrupt a Skaven’s nap time!”

“You were screaming,” he explained, his eyes flicking to her dagger as she lowered the blade. “Came to the point I couldn’t stand listening to it anymore. Are you alright?”

She swiped her weeping blade into its sheath, missed, then dropped it on the grass in frustration, pressing the balls of her paws into her eyes. “What’s time?” she asked, ignoring his question.

“Couple hours into my watch,” he said, turning his gaze skyward. “Dawn’s a way off yet.”

Her lower muzzle dropped in disbelief, Skyseeker sweeping her snout across the campsite. A few resilient embers still flickered in the circle of stones, the managed flames waving in the air. He wasn’t lying, barely any time had passed, yet she felt even more tired than before. How did that make sense? She’d slept, hadn’t she?

There was no breeze shaking the surrounding leaves, but Skyseeker still felt a shiver roll through her as she tried to compose herself in front of the man-thing. Nobody was allowed to see her like this, not even him.

“Must have been one bad dream,” Roderick mused, holding out his canteen. “Drink?”

“Never said nothing about dreams,” she snapped, accepting his container and taking a measured sip. “What’s man-thing phrase? Ah. I am fit as fiddles. Dreamless fiddles!” she insisted.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s your prerogative,” he said, leaning on his hands as he settled in nearby. “But, we man-things believe there is wisdom in dreams, that they can act as heralds for good or bad tidings. Discussion is often the best way to find out which it is…”

She looped her arms over her knees, glancing up at the sky in thought, the way all the galaxies and planets spiralled through the black canvas distracting her. Despite her brilliant lies, the man-thing was seeing right through her, and she had an inkling he wouldn’t stop until she told him what he wanted. Perhaps it was best to get it out of the way now, rather than let him revel in his little victory for any longer.

“Fine! Skyseeker not dreamless fiddle,” she admitted. “But dream wasn’t dream. Dream was memory.”

And then she told him, leaving no detail spared as she recalled the nightmare from its steady beginning to its horrific end. Roderick didn’t say a word at all, the man-thing doing little more than leaning in as he listened.

When she finished it, ending with her fate sealed in the ratwife’s paws, he sat back, his neutral expression replaced with a sad look as he glanced at her. “I... I’m sorry, Skyseeker. To be taken away like that… I couldn’t ever imagine.”

She cocked her head. She’d expected him to probe for more information on the breeding grounds, the most strategically important asset in every Skaven Clan, or perhaps ask her how she escaped the clutches of the ratwife, but instead his first words were an apology?

“Why Rick-rod sorry?” she demanded. “Man-thing wasn’t there, man-thing probably pup himself when dream happened.”

“I was the one who brought up the subject of our parents,” he explained. “Should have known better. You did tell me about the role females serve in Skaven society.”

She said nothing, idly picking at a tuft of grass between her feet.

“Can you remember what happened after you were taken?” Roderick pressed. “That Skaven who grabbed you wouldn’t have made escape easy. That is, if your comfortable talking about it?”

That last part only added to her confusion, but she did her best to ignore it.

“Ratwife didn’t really find me,” she explained. “Brain tried to tricky-trick! Gave false reality, but I knew-know better! Ratwifes gave up after time, never found my masterful hiding spot. Stupid rats not know that I was breeder, so didn’t look hard enough! When safe, pup-me scurried deeper into pits, used the deep-dark shadows for hiding.”

“But, you were a pup, how on earth did you survive?”

“Man-thing forgets I am craftiest rat!” she snarled, shooting him an annoyed look. “Plenty of eating-things in pits, just have to follow nose! Nothing as good as parentrat’s sustenance – worms close second – but every scrap gave strength, bring Skyseeker closer into assassin! Not long before paws found rusty dagger in rubbish pit. Took first assassining when feet-paws started working!”

“I’m not sure whether to be impressed or sympathetic,” Roderick replied. “Did you ever return to the pit? The one with your mother?”

She averted her eyes, wrapping her hood tighter around her face.

“No. Well, once,” she began. “Not know how much time passed, but was sneak-sneaky enough to avoid detectioning. Worked way-way to breeding pit edges. Saw parentrat from afar, same place as time she dropped me over edge. She was… bigger,” she muttered, her tail trailing off as she sulked onto her side. “Ratwives had made her so fat, paws couldn’t even lift off ground. Punishment for letting pup-me free. Wanted to go down, take off breeder mask, but… paws wouldn’t let me.”

“Do not lament, lass,” Roderick said. “there was nothing you could do.”

“I was so… scared,” she said in a quivering voice. “If just been a whisker more brave, might have saved parentrat.”

“Being afraid isn’t a weakness,” Roderick replied. “only fools don’t listen to their fears. And you’d have been a fool indeed to go back there. Imagine if you’d been caught! Your mothers’ efforts to save you would have been wasted had that happened. You did the right thing.”

She didn’t reply, clenching that tuft of grass hard enough to sever the little stalks.

“… I too, have lost people I cared for,” Roderick continued, Skyseeker’s ears twitching in his direction. “The bonds we form in battle often break the hardest, and I’ve lost as many brothers in arms as I’ve fought in wars. I know it pales in comparison to what you went through, lass, but I know what it’s like to lose someone close to you. Had my own share of nightmares back when I was a lad.”

“What did man-thing do about them?” she asked.

“Took solace with family, friends, those kinds of people.”

“Not have any of those around,” Skyseeker sulked.

Without warning, Roderick scooted closer, extending an arm towards her shoulder. She pulled away, squeaking in surprise.

“W-What are you doing?” she hissed, baring her teeth as he frowned at her.

“Is it not obvious?” he asked. “You have at least one friend on this mission, lass.”

“What, warpstone?” she asked, raising a brow. “Not see warpstone since Skavenblight.”

“No you idiot, me,” Roderick clarified.

“Ahh…” she sighed, clarity draping over her like a cloak. “But, no wait! Man-thing is… man-thing. Skaven can’t be friends with man-thing! Unnatural!”

“And us working towards a common goal is natural?” he asked back, Skyseeker shifting uncomfortably as she tried to think of a response.

“You… want to be Skyseeker’s friend?” she whispered. She realised she was breathing hard, an odd swimming sensation developing inside her chest. By the Horned Rat, she was making herself look bad! She needed to get a hold of herself.

“I-I mean,” she corrected. “Rick-rod will be Skyseeker’s friend! Yes-Yes! Be grateful that you have such a cunning companion!”

He chuckled, and this time when he reached out to her, she didn’t move away. She could have broken, bitten, severed, or done any number of violent things to his limb at that moment, but she let him come closer. Even as the fur on the back of her neck brushed out, her instincts to defend herself rising to the front of her thoughts, she shoved it all back, tensing as his fingers brushed her shoulder.

From the outside she looked like she was trying to hold her bowels in, which was an accurate assumption in some ways, Skyseeker’s fear-musk wisping out as his palm settled against her fur. Not know what to do with her arms, she held her paws out at awkward angles in front of her, her whole body feeling like it had just been encased in cold ice.

“You should get some rest,” Roderick said. “My watch isn’t quite over yet.”

“N-Not feel like sleep anymore,” she muttered, not quite sure what to do with herself in this precarious position.

“If the dreams come again, I’ll wake you,” he assured. “You’ll need your sleep for when it’s your turn to keep an eye out.”

“Man-thing,” she began, wringing her paws together. “Why would you-you comfort me? Tried to sneak attack you, made your four-legged-thing got to early sleep… done nothing but get in Rick-rod’s way. Efforts in mission have been negligible.”

“You don’t earn someone’s compassion through what you can offer them, don’t you see that?” he asked. “Look at your mother. She didn’t save you from those pits because she thought you would give her something in return. She did it out of the goodness of her heart, as anyone would.”

“No Skaven would ever do… this,” she said, gesturing to his arm.

“Would you like me to let go?” he asked.

After hesitating for a few seconds, she shook her head, the sensation of being this close to him making her too lightheaded to talk further. Roderick had brushed aside every chance at leaving her behind, or worse. Instead, he’d used the opportunities to comfort her and show her kindness. It didn’t make sense! And the fact that her genius couldn’t discern his actions also didn’t make sense, her brain curdling with pain as she started thinking too hard.

What was this peculiar feeling overcoming her? She found herself relaxing in Roderick’s proximity, her heart beating so hard she feared it might jump straight out of her chest and into the campfire. She should be showing this man-thing her tenacity, not melting into a puddle before him. He’d told her he wasn’t attuned to magics, but he had to be lying, it was as though he’d cast some sort of spell on her.

She slid her butt over the dirt until she was laying down. Roderick made to move away, but she seized his weird paw with her own (superior) one. “Wait!” she exclaimed. “Will man-thing… stay with me? Just for tiny moment, while I nap?”

“Very well,” he said, putting his back to the grass beside her.

“Not like I need Rick-rod’s comfort anyway!” she added. “Stupid man-thing assumes incorrectly!”

His reply was a soft chuckle, Roderick propping his head up with one paw, his other curling over her bicep. Her gaze locked firmly to the heavens, as did his, her tail flicking in agitation as she tried to ignore the heat his body was putting out. She felt compromised, hearing the Great Lord Gnawdwell scoff in disgust as he spectated her from afar, but at the same time it felt so liberating to be this close to another.

After five minutes or so, she felt the touch of sleep, her eyes slowly shutting. A part of her worried that her dreams would come back, but the night scrolled by without further interruption.

-xXx-

“What a sight for sore eyes,” Roderick said, his shadow trailing out in front of him, mirroring his movements as he held out a hand. “See that, lass?”

“Don’t be stupid, Rick-rod,” she chided, pointing a claw at her goggled face. “Skyseeker sees all with gift!”

The endless carpets of woodlands had abated a few hours prior, the green and beige landscape stretching far into the west, its stopping point coming into view at long last. Rising above the shallow hills was a wide, flat stretch of stone, an imposing edifice rising some hundred odd meters into the sky. Battlements lined the peak of the obstacle in regular intervals, the fortified turrets standing out against the blue backdrop. She reached up and bloomed the image using her goggles functions, her sight bringing her far closer to the object. Notches and grooves had been sliced into its surface, forming bricks larger than her whole body. Upon closer inspection, she noted the edifice gently curved away to the left and right, the bastion forming a rough semi-circle of protection.

Rising up from beyond the wall were several strange shapes, Skyseeker picking out sloped rooftops and tall, domed structures, a couple of which were draped in colourful awnings. The haze of distance made it too difficult to pick out much more detail, but she thought she could see figures patrolling between the watchtowers.

“What Rick-rod know about Portquagmire?” Skyseeker asked, the man-thing setting off towards the wall.

“Portomaggoire,” he corrected. “and very little. I imagine civilised folk will be more welcoming than the mercenaries out here in the country, but we should still be cautious either way.”

“Welcoming enough to let me walk paw-feet into city?” Skyseeker asked. “Marvelous! Mission easy-peasy!”

“Ah, almost forgot about that,” Roderick said, glancing down at her. “The gates will be guarded, and if word has reached Portomaggoire about the Skaven invasion, which it likely has, they’ll be inspecting anyone who comes through. Assuming the city’s still open to visitors of course. You might be able to pass off as a dwarf –  keyword being might –  as long as you don’t speak, and we find something to cover you up.”