Warp Token Update

2k words. Bit more expository this time round. Might be changed when all is said and done. Hopefully I can get back into 2k words every few days soon. Thank you all for your patience.

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“Until you told me about your mission, I assumed all these vermintides were just coincidence that they’re happening now of all times, but I see it’s not just the Empire who’s after the relic. If the Skaven sensed its presence, then surely other pwoers have as well. Wouldn’t be surprised if the whole continent is trying to stake a claim on this artifact.”

“You want relic thing!” she said again, her brain so ingenious that it couldn’t process such a bonkers claim, no matter how much she repeated it.

“Sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, lass,” he said, her ears perking up as he continued. “Wasn’t sure whether or not I could trust you… or how you’d react.”

“No apologising needed,” she murmured. “I wouldn’t tell me either about task-mission. Horrible at keeping secrets, as man-thing know-knows.”

He spread his arms out wide. “Well, you have them all now, Skyseeker, for better…. or worse.”

He fell silent again, and she felt a strange tension permeate the air between them, his expression similar to the one he wore when she first proposed her deal to him. Every bone in her body should be demanding that she slay this rival for even thinking about taking the relic from her. She could almost hear Lord Gnawdwell and the Horned Rat pleading her to murder him with her weeping blades. She may very well have done these things without a second thought several days ago, but her conflicted mind stayed her hand.

She could not slay him, he was an ally… right? Was he really an ally, if he wanted the relic too? He had treated her with kindness, had given her food without expecting anything in return. Foolish as those acts may be, it made her feel guilty for ever thinking of doing the man-thing harm. She ran a paw down her muzzle, burrowing her claws into her fur in an attempt to reach her stupid skull. Even with her immaculate intelligence, she found herself stumped. For the first time since her mission began, she didn’t know what to do.

“Man-thing always bringing problems!” she complained, throwing her paws up in frustration. “Lord’s quest was simple! Go to desert, get thing, bring back. Now brain filled with confusion!”

“They say plans never survive contact with the enemy,” Roderick replied. “Not to suggest I’m you’re enemy, of course. Bit of a conundrum, isn’t it?”

“I have plan!” she insisted, Roderick tracking her as she paced back and forth. “I will have plan!” she corrected, stuffing a thoughtful claw into her mouth, then spitting it out with a grumble. “Argh… don’t have plan.”

“Perhaps… I do,” he suggested, Skyseeker urging him to go on. “Why not pool our efforts? We’re both after the same thing, it’d make sense that we’d have a better chance of claiming the artifact if we joined forces.”

“Rick-rod want to… share relic?” she asked, the muscles in her jaw turning to mush. “Preposterous!”

“We’ve worked together well enough so far, haven’t we? Why not take it a step further? I have the means of which to get us to the desert quickly, you’re attuned to magic, skilled with a blade, the relic would be as good as ours. Besides,” he added, grinning behind his helmet. “We wouldn’t have to say our goodbyes if we kept travelling together, would we?”

Skyseeker used the dials in her goggles to zoom in on his face, the man-thing giving her a quizzical look as his image bloomed. She could see tension in his eyes, as though he was expecting this revelation of his to end in violence, though he was not reaching for his weapon. Curious. If this was all just another trick, like she suspected, he was playing the part well.

She dialled her goggles back, considering his offer, the fact that she was on the receiving end of a deal a nice change of pace. Despite having no notion of the relic’s properties, Skyseeker had an inkling that it was not something that could be shared with another. The relic was for one set of paws, to be used by one, and she would do anything to make sure that one was her – and then paw it off to Lord Gnawdwell right after, of course. Still, his intent was to help her, and she knew that his word could be trusted.

“Man-thing… makes good point,” she admitted, not elaborating which point had convinced her more. “Not that Skyseeker needs ANY help getting relic!” she hurriedly added, holding up a claw. “Perfectly capable! But, new deal-pact wouldn’t hurt… Very good-good, Rick-rod. I accept!”

The man-thing sighed, his relief palpable as he flashed her a small smile. “Thank Sigmar. You took the news better than I’d expected. Thought we’d have a little repeat of our fight all those weeks ago,” he said, confirming her suspicions that he’d expected a very different reaction from her.

She rolled her eyes at him, giving his plated arm a punch. “Why would I attack man-thing? Lose source of treats if I did! And questions!”

“Thought you didn’t like all my questions?” he asked, smirking at her.

“Rick-rod questions… exemplified! Speaking of which, have own question. Man-thing said you have quick way to deserts? Elaborate.”

“Knew you’d be interested in that,” he chuckled. He lifted a finger to the west. “There’s a place not far from here, a port city. A ship there can take us straight across the seas to the shores of the desert.”

“A ship? Don’t have to hoist-hoist sails, do I?”

“You’d have to put some effort in,” he replied, Skyseeker sagging like melting wax at the suggestion of work. “Don’t be like that. We can always walk the rest of the way through this country, if that’s your wish.”

“Take ship any day!” she said, straightening up again, giving Roderick a shove when he just gave her a strange look. “Well? What man-thing waiting for! Move tail!” she ordered, skittering off in the direction he’d indicated. “Secret mission needs plenty-lots of haste!”

“Then let’s make it so,” he answered, hurrying along after her, the sun beating across the stretches of land they had yet to cross.

-xXx-

“Rick-rod never told me how it has ship in place full of enemies,” Skyseeker began, speaking over the noisy crickets infesting the wildgrass surrounding her, the annoying insects evading her sight even with the goggles’ help.

“You remember how I said I was imprisoned for a time, before my exile?” he answered, everything from his neck down obscured by the campfire between them. “Well, I would have rotted away in the dungeons for many more months if not for an old acquaintance of mine who’d caught wind of my plight.”

He stared into the flames, light and shadow highlighting the ridges and bumps in his alien face. Night had come quickly after spending another afternoon of traversing the country, with their shadows stretching long behind them, and the setting sun dead ahead.

“Sound like useful ally,” she noted.

“More than that, Wilfred’s a part of the Wizard’s Conclave, a druid to be precise. Tried teaching me how to wield magic a few times. Failed on every account. My hands were born to hold steel, not staves, that’s what he told me. It was from him I learned about the artifact, or relic as you call it. Told me he sensed it on the winds, or something like that, and managed to strike up a bargain with the Emperor himself. If we could bring the relic back to the Empire, my position as general, and the people’s faith in me, would be restored. Naturally I accepted.”

“Didn’t you say Empire Lord would take you back when you learnt lesson? Lesson about… leaning things?”

“I… may have twisted the truth a little there,” Roderick admitted. “Learning to put the needs of others before my own was actually Wilfred’s parting advice, just before I set off for the border of the Empire.”

“Still haven’t told me how you have ship, Rick-rod.”

“Right. It was Wilfred’s idea,” he explained. “While I journeyed south, he would stay in the Empire for a time, gathering what support he could for our expedition into the deserts. He would sail south, and reconvene with me in the city of Portomaggiore – where you and I are currently heading. I had planned to arrive in the city much sooner, take it easy for a few days, but after the ruckus you Skaven have caused, and that damned mercenary who swindled service out of me, it seems he’ll be doing the waiting around.”

“Why man-thing walk instead of taking ship?” she asked. “You like killing paw feet?”

“The Emperor couldn’t let me go walking about the Empire freely, not after promising the people I would be punished. There would have been outcry, not to mention several individuals looking to put a dagger in my gut. The people needed to see my exile firsthand, and thrusting me into the Vaults was the only way to satisfy them.”

“This… Fredwil,” she began, changing the subject. “He your protector? Parent?”

“What?” He blinked. “No, no, he’s not like my father, polar opposite in fact. He’s more of an old friend, literally and figuratively.”

“Polar opposite? Your parentrat wasn’t old?”

“I mean to say, that my family isn’t all that impressed with magic users.” She asked him why, the question making him laugh. “Odd story, that. When I was a lad, this traveller happened across our vineyard one day. He claimed he could make our next harvest the biggest one to date, for only a handful of gold coins. Business wasn’t exactly booming, so my father took him up on the offer, thinking it would be a steal. The stranger took out this pouch of dust, sprinkled it on the crop, then told us to wait, beating quite the hasty retreat as he did.”

“Then what? WAIT!” she exclaimed. “I want to guess! Guess crops died painfully?”

“Nope. In fact, the next yield was the largest my parents had ever seen in their lifetimes. Spent more time harvesting than we did planting. Spirits soared, nobody could believe how lucky we were, at least until the moment I decided to take a bite of one of the grapes.”

“Bad?” she asked.

“Lass, it was like chewing into a pair of soiled underpants. The charlatan had been true to his word, but the cost of the bounty was its quality. A more vile berry you could never imagine, I can still taste its putrid vapour even today.”

She snickered behind her hand. “How much did deal cost you?”

“More than we’d like to admit. Father had said it was a steal, but technically it was robbery. To say my family has never been fond of magicians since is an understatement. Perhaps that’s why I can’t understand magic. Bloodlines, you know?”

She would have liked to meet this charlatan, he seemed as sly as a Skaven, probably was one, only a rat could devise such an ingenious scheme.

“What about you, Sky?” Roderick asked. It took her a moment to understand that he was referring to her. Shorthanding her name seemed like a stupid way of speaking, but she didn’t comment on it. “What’re your parents like?”

“Not know much about dad rat,” she said, hugging her knees against her chest. “Only theories. Strongest rats are only ones allowed to breed a breeder. Had theorised it could be Queek himself! Fur as dark as mine-mine!”

“You’ve never met your father?”

“And never plan to! He’d sell me to warlords for favours if I ever did! That’s what I’d do-do!”

“And your mother? Know who she is?”

She clutched at her legs a little tighter. “Mrmm… perhaps.”

“Well do you, or not?”

“I… not know,” she answered. “Not know how things in man-thing lands work, but breeders spend no time with litterpups. That ratwives job! Ratwives slaves too weak to serve warlords,” she explained.

“I could never imagine a life without knowing who my kin are, it must be terrible.”

She wasn’t sure how to answer such a remark, so she just shrugged. He caught onto her change of mood, offering her an apology as he dropped the subject. He was getting good at reading her body language, a little too good, perhaps, not that it bothered her very much. Which, ironically, did bother her a lot.

“My turn on watch, isn’t it?” he asked, Skyseeker watching him stand. “Get some sleep, lass, got a long day tomorrow, but hopefully the last one we have to spend in these woods.”

“Where you going?” she inquired.

“To fetch some more firewood. Back before you know it, don’t worry.”

“I won’t,” she whispered when the man-thing stalked off into the wilderness, Skyseeker settling on her arm as she curled up on herself.