Skeinhast awoke with a start, a hand over his mouth muffling a startle as a face leered above him, silhouetted by a crimson moon.
‘I’ve waited a long time for this you scum, I want to see the life drown out of those pretty little eyes of yours….’
Skeinhast stuck the intruder, right through the ribcage with the knife in his hand.
Skeinhast screamed into the night, ‘To arms! They come in the night like the cravens they are!’ Suddenly the night exploded into a chaotic frenzy, with swords and spears clashed all around. ‘Does the night itself come against us?’ he thought to himself. Around him shadows streaked, barely visible warriors striking at his followers. In front of him one of them fell to a scarlet blade, and he saw a man, covered in feathers and ash. ‘The damned Cabal….’ he thought to himself. They had obviously been tracked through the wastes, and these damned creatures had snuck in for the kill in the dead of night. From the darkness ahead of him came a ruffle a feathers and darkness, as a Shadow Piercer dropped down from above. ‘How many of you craven fools are there?’ he growled.
‘Is that really what you desire your last words to be?’ the shadow spoke, and she streaked towards him, trailing shadow, her scythe coming down without a glint in the moonlight. Skeinhast deflected the blade only at the last moment, the figure was just so fast, it flowed into the shadows around him, whipping around, striking from every which way, and he barely made each save. He certainly couldn’t keep the duel up for much longer, and it had barely started. Without notice the shadowy figure appeared on a ledge above him, the moon’s light finally giving her shape. ‘Dreamwalker, you have become a pitiful opponent, what has happened? Why do you flag so much? I wonder, do you hold back on me…?’
‘Shut your beak, foul one,’ Skeinhast called up to the woman, ‘make your move, let us be done with this cowardly attack!’
‘No…. no I shall not. Not while you treat me so. Not while you refuse to dance.’ A cloud passed over the moon, and in the momentary darkness the figure disappeared. The rest of the cabal also seemed to melt into the background of the night, some even leaving mid-strike, leaving their close-to-death opponents both confused and furious.
A lone raven squawked in the night, as he looked down at his bloodied hands, glinting in the moonlight.
‘Dreamwalker…?’