The two sides of the coin
My name is Alazen Dabinal, son of Carel of Dailenar, servant of the most reverent Imperator Octavius IX, Inquisitor to the most sacred church of Merin, bane to the unholy blight of Acheron,defiant to cadwalonian assassins, defeater of the barbarian hordes of Bran-ô-Kor and His most faithful servant. My life light burns in His name, and in His alone. I live to serve His cause and this is my path.
I've lived most of my life in my birth town ......... and it has always been thus. These are odd times though, and a twist of destiny has brought me on this unworldly desert, in the middle of nothing, with the trying, brutal sun upon my brow, and the hellish glow of the sand under my untired feet.
Blessed be Merin for the trials he places in my way and blessed be his trust in this lowly servant.
This is my accounting of my travels to this place of heathens and monsters. May my deeds be smiled upon by His goodness.
Day 1
Our caravan, consisting mostly of unfaithful traders, has been making good progress in the last few days and, blessed be He is His greatness, we will reach the other side of the desert in a few days. Ilirion, our war band’s sergeant and a well respected Hunter of Darkness, has proceeded with tries to open the heathen eyes of our guides, speaking of His Greatness. I hope he will not lose his patience with their untouched, blind minds.
Day 3
Our progress has been halted by an incident. A holy wonder took place amidst us this night. One of the unfaithful, that defied Ilirions blessings, was found dead. We could not find a visible cause of Death other than a big Merin's cross, that brand marked his face. Ilirion wants to spend this day reading of His most holy scriptures to the comrades of the deceased, to save their lives and souls. Blessed be Ilirion's goodness and patience.
Day 4
I was woken up by Filas, our band's corporal and a skilled duelist. She claimed that our guides had disappeared during our last night. When I inspected the area in front of my most humble tent, we found Goran, one of our Lancers, dead; his throat was cut, next to his night watch post. With clear and calm heads we decided to gather our baggage and travel the rest of the way alone. We prayed to His Holiness and thanked our beloved Imperator for this trial. Ilirion humbly spoke a blessing for the heathens' souls to Merin. United we voiced a pray to forgive their errors and light their path to His most holy truth.
Day 5
We realized today that something or someone has been following us. Denalion, our thallion scout, could not find any hint of our followers. We decided to keep moving and suspect that we will need another 3 days to cross this desert.
Day 6
Denalion has not returned from his scouting this morning. May Merin save his faithful and humble soul. We decided to pray for him united this night. Belas, one of our Lancers, saw on a dune far away from us a figure resembling a human. Due to the heat and the distortion of the air he could not be sure what or who it was. He and Belerton set out to make certain that it wasn't our lost comrade. They have not returned yet and we fear that they will not at all. May Merin guide their immortal souls to his domain and judge them fairly. We will pray for them as well tonight.
Day 8
I do not know if these, my humble writings, will ever be found or read, but I feel the obligation to his Greatness to document my comrades' deeds. We have been deviously attacked by strange looking humans. I suspect they are the most hated Dirz we have always talked about. We were resting for our supper when we heard their unholy noises. Like a child's whine combined with the creaking of a metal contraption two of the biggest beings I have ever witnessed charged into our camp. Thus attack the cowards of this world that have not been touched by His benevolence and show no courage or faith. The huge beasts ravaged our poor comrade, Filas, tearing her, one leg in each beast's possession, in two pieces. May her torment have an end in Merin's embrace.
While these bulks of flesh attacked my comrades, more of the filthy, unfaithful fiends joined in. These in form a bit smaller, but in appearance as disgusting. Men with metal claws reaching out their backs, shrunken heads on huge bodies, men with an unnatural number of appendices wielding weirded swords. They attacked us in strong numbers, cleaving, maiming, impaling and screaming in glee and unholy joy. My comrades fell one by one, their blood staining the hot sand. I gave my best, Merin be my witness, to help them. I tried saving their lives but I failed. Merin forgive! I failed and standing alone facing a still strong army of Dirz atrocities- my men valiantly felled a lot of these weirded men but not enough- I had to flee.
I am hiding under a small rocky outcrop. I have naught to eat or drink and I seem to have been wounded by a crossbow bolt. I hadn't realized until I reached this poor safe haven. That's when I saw the blood on the sand.
I can see something on the horizon. I think they are coming. Merin damn their souls. Pray I will make a good stand, oh you holly Father. Bless me with your courage! I lay my soul unto your hands.
"Ah, my Belisarius Clone has returned. Very good. Approach P-1345. Give me your report." said the man at the table. His mouth was filled with a meat looking substance and while he spoke spittle sprayed to his servant as he approached. He bowed and a rumbling voice sounded strongly through his metal helmet.
"My liege. We encountered a small war band of Griffons near the southern desert exit."
"Griffons?" the man's enthusiasm was accompanied by a mouthful of his course, downed with some wine. In a watery voice he requested with a honey sweet smile. "Do tell! Do tell!"
"We were traveling back from you errant my liege, when one of our crossbowmen, returning from a scouting tour, reported a small trader’s caravan. He reported that it was accompanied by heavy armored personnel. It was not possible for him to distinguish what we were facing though. After punishing him for his sloppy work, we decided to take a look ourselves. For two days we followed them and we were able to determine for sure that it was a griffon war band consisting of an inquisitor, two thallions, one hunter of darkness, ten lancers and three duelist women.
On the first day, there was a huge commotion in their band. One of their trader guides was apparently found dead and the hunter of darkness was screaming to the rest ordering them to repent and follow the true way!"
The clone halted with his report and let the laughter of his master die down. "Ah!" the master sighed, panting for breath and resting a hand on his belly. He downed a generous gulp of wine." How amusing! These griffon puppets are such a laugh!"
"Liege?" the clone bowed his head.
With a dismissive movement of the hand holding the wine goblet the man said: "Yes, yes! Go on!"
"Well that night the traders killed one of the night watch and fled. We caught up with them very quickly and questioned them. They mentioned that the Griffons were heading to L'ereb Dan'nass!"
"Where they now? Do tell! That is very interesting." The man paused and stared at his servant. After some time, losing his patience he requested: "Don't stop! Go on man! Tell your story!"
"Well we questioned the traders and they claimed that their comrade was probably killed by the hunter of darkness for not listening to his ravings about their god. After questioning them..."
"The fresh bodies you brought?" the man questioned.
"Aye!" The clone nodded.
"And I heard you even brought their animals. Very good p.... ehm... p-1345!"
If the clone was filled with pride for this, he did not show. Neither did he show his disappointment for his master forgetting his name. He merely bowed his head and commenced.
"The next day the Griffons completely lost their temper. A lancer was whining all the time and the hunter of darkness was screaming curses to the traders from the top of his lungs. They even cursed their Imperator! There was a big confusion for quite some time. The inquisitor, he seemed to be their leader, was quiet all the time, standing in front of a huge, luxurious tent, not caring to strengthen his comrades' morale it seemed. That or, as p-4567 claimed, he lost his courage as well."
"Spare me your opinions, p-1345" snarled his master.
"Forgive me my liege!" The clone bowed his head.
"And stop bowing all the time!" The man banged the table with his fist.
"As already mentioned, my liege, the Griffons were in disarray!" The clone said, apparently unimpressed by the outburst of anger. "They then fell to their knees wailing or praying.
Two days later we met one of their thallions. Our clone Dasyatis stopped him from reporting back tearing him to pieces. We brought these...pieces with us as well. Later that day two lancers followed his destiny after pleading us to spare their lives. Killing these three meant for us that they would now know that something is wrong so we decided and the next day we attacked in full force. It took us very little time to break their morale and defeat them.
I turned toward their leader but he had already fled. He didn't even last the first moments of the fight. One of our crossbow men had managed to wound him though. We followed the blood trail and found him hiding under a rock some hours later. The coward tried to run away again but to no avail. We caught him and while he pleaded for his life, one of our Dasyatis had lifted him by the neck, the coward wet hit robes. We started laughing but then out of nowhere he snatched a knife and plunged it in our Dasyatis' head, right between the eyes. I don't know where he had his courage from all of a sudden but he was still no match for us. After one or two breaths he was dead. We then returned to you as commanded." The Clone stood upright waiting for a dismissal. With a slight gesture it came and he left the chamber.
The man rose from his chair. He walked over to a tapestry showing a historical scene of the Dirz exodus, when the first of them battled the valiant griffon holy warriors, to gain their freedom. The deed seemed less imposing to him for a moment. He turned and with a smile he thought of his new raw materials and he walked out of the chamber.