Warp Token Update

2k words

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Through the hatch was a short step ladder lead down into a dank cellar, Skyseeker placing her hands on the edge, leaning her face through the gap, her upside-down view swivelling as she examined the underground area. The space inside was perfectly square, the walls made from the same bricks as the watchtower, the rom between them barely wide and tall enough for a man-thing to stand in.

She took a sniff of the musty air, immediately sneezing it back out. This would be a perfect place for a secret supply cache, but she smelled only dust, saw nothing more than an empty shelf in one corner and a barrel full of rusty weapons in another. What kind of slave builds a watchtower with no stash? She’ll never understand these surface-dwellers.

“Find anything?” the man-thing called from behind, Skyseeker pulling herself upright as he walked up to the archway. “I swear if I see you stuffing your face, I’m going to start shooting…”

“Nothing but smelly weapons,” she said, turning to face him. “Why lock trappy-door if no- Eeeek! Behind you-you!”

“Seriously? You pick now of all times to pull that trick on me? I should…”

His words faltered as a piercing screech echoed across the plains, the same as the one she’d heard back in the grove, but far louder. The man-thing eyes went wide as he turned on the spot, following her pointed finger, or perhaps just following the noise.

There was something high in the sky, cruising just beneath the cloud layer, a little dark dot that swayed from side to side. It could have been just her eyes playing tricks, but she could swear it was getting bigger with every passing second.

“By Sigmar…” the man-thing murmured, his voice wavering. The dot was starting to take shape, Skyseeker spotting a pair of flapping wings stretching out of the sides of an elongated figure. There was no tricks, it was lowering to the ground with every beat of its massive wings, and it was coming in their direction.

“Inside!” the man-thing snapped. Before Skyseeker could react, he kicked her square in the chest, his metal boot thwacking off the bandolier of knives strapped to her sternum.

She slammed face-first into the opened trap door, glued to its slanted surface for a second before she tumbled through the hatch proper. She tried to grab the ladder to brace herself, but she missed, tumbling down into the cellar like a sack of grain.

She bounced once as she descended to the paved floor, her limbs crumpled around her torso in unnatural directions, her tail draped over the rise of her hip like a dead snake. Her neck twisted with an audible crack as she watched the man-thig follow her down, reaching over his head to pull on the trapdoor. Darkness shrouded the cellar for a moment before the man-thing held the trapdoor up a little with his hand, leaving a tiny sliver through which he peeked out of.

“Stupid man-thing!” she snarled, sliding a weeping blade out of her sheath as she pulled herself from the ground. “Hit me-me, will it? Now my turn!”

“You were in the way,” he shot back. “Now be silent, or it’ll hear us!”

“I’ll be silent… WHEN YOU DIE-DEAD!” she growled, baring her teeth. “Man-thing not hit Skyseeker and live!”

She jabbed her blade towards his chest, the glowing edge reflecting off his metal suit, but her hand was suddenly swatted aside, and before she could even blink, she was staring down the barrel of his handgun.

“Finally giving me a reason, rodent?” he asked, his gauntlet creaking as he applied pressure on the trigger. “Just when we’re starting to get acquainted? How-”

He was interrupted by a monumental quake of the earth, wisps of dust falling from the ceiling as something thundered to the ground outside the tower. Whatever it was, it was big enough to block out the light almost completely…

The creature that had descended from the skies repeated its call, and though this would be the third instance for Skyseeker, she had not been able to appreciate its volume until nw. The sound was so raw and powerful she felt it more in her lungs than heard it in her ears, the bestial screech igniting a primal fear she did not know existed inside her.

Any courage she’d built up over the last few days drained out of her, not unlike how the fear-musk was squirting out of her glans in that moment. Forget the man-thing’s gun, she’d never felt more terrified in her life, and she promptly displayed as much with her own verbal call.

“Eeeek!” she screamed, her weeping blade falling from her trembling fingers. There was a sudden pressure on her muzzle, her eyes bugging out as the man-thing reached out and seized her mouth in his hand, her cry cutting off with a choking sound.

She would have killed him then and there for laying a finger on her, but in her haste to stab him she’d forgotten her blade was currently on the floor, and all she could do was slap at his metal chest plate in vain. She paused in her flailing as he brought her closer, her fur bristling as their foreheads practically touched. He lifted his gun, Skyseeker tracking it with her eyes as he pressed the barrel against his lips – a universal sign that one should be quiet.

The screeching creature ended its call, as though it was taking the man-thing’s advice, Skyseeker hearing the discernible snap of a beak from beyond the hatch. As one, she and the man-thing slowly turned their heads upwards, the chains linked to the trapdoor jingling as the monster out there began to move. More dust fell from the ceiling, the quaking ground growing more violent as the creature drew closer to the tower.

There was no outside light slipping in through the hatch now, the monster must be stood right in the tower doorframe, Skyseeker’s ears twitching as she heard a raspy inhale. She didn’t dare even blink for fear of being discovered, a flimsy wooden square the only thing hiding them from the monster. The man-thing was no less anxious, a grim expression on his face as he stared at the hatch, clamping down on her mouth all the while.

That sound of a clicking beak again, coming from right above the trapdoor. For a horrible second she thought the hatch would flip open, and she’d be pulled into the maw of whatever beast was out there. More dust rained, Skyseeker closing her eyes and bracing herself, but the hatch didn’t move. Instead she felt the ground shake again, the quaking subsiding as the creature backed off from the tower, allowing a little bit of sunlight to flood back into the cellar. Was it gone?

For a few minutes neither she or the man-thing dared to move, until the latter decided to lean closer, peeing into the outside with narrowed eyes. When he wasn’t immediately devoured by the beast, Skyseeker deemed it safe enough to resume batting at his hand still holding onto her muzzle, voicing her complaints through groans and squeaks.

“Not a sound,” he warned, his voice a whisper. “quiet as a… well, rat.”

Skyseeker nodded as much as his tight grip would allow. After a moment, he slowly released her, Skyseeker shoving him away when she was free, finally able to breath in man-thing-free air.

“Smelly, stupid man-thing!” she hissed, waving a hand before her nose. “No touch-touch! Take fingers for recompense!”

“What, was I supposed to let your screaming give us away?”

“Not screaming for fear!” she complained, hoping he couldn’t detect her musk filling the cellar. “Screaming for… pain-hurt! Man-thing attacked me, broke deal-pact!”

“Uh-huh. That why you wailed like a girl? Thought Master Assassins were supposed to be quiet?”

“How quiet will man-thing be with blade in chest?” she quipped back, reaching for her other dagger. Their argument reached an abrupt end as the monster outside took another rumbling step, the man-thing all but ignoring her as he returned to looking out the hatch. Not wanting to be left out, Skyseeker clambered up the first rung of the step ladder, pawing at the man-things face to make room. His skin was oddly smooth and fleshy, the pads of her fingers gliding across his cheeks with almost no resistance. He was warm, too, his heat contrasting pleasantly against the softness of his body. How strange.

Realising she was touching this creature for a little too long, she gave his face a push with her palm, the man-thing grumbling as she peered through the gap in the hatch. Her curiosity of what the beast was had overpowered her fear of it, but when she looked outside, she began to wish it hadn’t.

Through the tower archway stood two pairs of digitigrade legs, covered in a luscious coat feathers the colour of the sunset. Each leg ended in four black toes that more resembled meat hooks than anything, with a fifth, shorter toe protruding from above the heel. Each foot was as large as Skyseeker’s torso, splayed out to distribute its mass over a wide area, and a lot of mass there was indeed. There was more strength in each leg than in Skyseeker’s entire body, the muscles flowing beneath the feathery coat like a liquid as its owner shifted on the spot.

The legs trailed up into sets of backwards-facing knees, then to thighs as tall as the man-thing. For all the monster’s brawn, there was something elegant about the way it carried itself, planting its feet almost daintily upon the ground, its smooth movements contrasting against the colossal weight it carried around.

As it turned, something long and thin swept from right to left, Skyseeker nearly dropping off the ladder in surprise. It was a tail, its length rivalling that of the breadth of a doomwheel, as thick around as her arm at its tip. Like the legs, it was covered in fine feathers, each the size of her claws, the tip of it fluffed with a dark bulb of fur.

Aside from this appendage, Skyseeker could see no more of the beast beyond its steely thighs, and somehow that was worse than actually witnessing the creature. A creature of that size could swallow her whole if it was so inclined.

She winced away as the beast suddenly lifted its front paws off the ground, a great gust of air roiling her fur. There was a flap of monumental wings, and suddenly the monster’s hook-like toes left the ground, the creature screeching from somewhere high above.

She and the man-thing slowly turned to look at each other, only now realising how close their faces were. She dropped off the ladder with a sound of disgust, the man-thing stepping away at the same time.

“W-What by the Horned Rat’s tail, was that?” Skyseeker demanded, careful not to raise her voice too much.

“A griffin,” the man-thing answered, sparing a glance at the hatch. “and a pretty damned big one at that. Guess that explains what happened to the olive grove.”

“Man-thing know much-much for foreigner,” she mused.

“We’ve got griffins back in the Empire,” he explained. “Majestic beasts, they are. Seeing a wild one is a rare, though dangerous honour.”

“Dumb feather-thing didn’t catch me-me!” she proclaimed.

“Would have if I hadn’t been here,” he replied. “you froze up like a statue. Griffon almost had you for supper.”

“N-No!” she stuttered. “Was thinking of escape plan-scheme, needed to focus!”

He rolled his eyes, Skyseeker picking up her dropped dagger. He was right, of course, she’d been paralyzed the moment she’d laid eyes on the griffin, and she’d have been doomed had the man-thing not acted. No matter how hard she tried to spin it, his role in saving her was undeniable. What was the word Skaven used to voice gratitude? Perhaps she should use it now…