Tl’uk, Old-blood and leader of the army of Xlakana, had led the combined forces of the Xlakana and Chotec down the Blade Tooth Mountains. The army moved swiftly, but he knew that they were not fast enough. Even now, as they made their way through the foothills, the Desert of the Sun in the distance, he knew that they would be too late, that at least some of the Valley was in-flame, or corrupted. He growled to himself, guards about him taking up the instinctual affirmation with their own snarls, and the skink that approached them faltered a little as he approached. The scout had word, they had been approached by worshippers of Khaine asking to convey information to the leader of the army.
Her name was Cassandra Warbreaker, and she and her cult had recently clashed with a Mawtribe that they had found lying in wait for Xlakan’s army.
The battle had taken place not a day ago, within a canyon the force had just moved through. Both the Daughters and the mawtribe, led by an ogor going by the name of Gutrop, had made the arduous journey over the mountain range. The Daughters in search of the rumour of mighty relics lying in the Desert of the Sun, hoping one of them to be a fragment of Khaine, the ogors, as far as Cassandra could tell, merely because hunger dictates action. The Daughters had tried to sneak up on the Ogors lying in wait, but scouting parties on either side had found each other. And so as the witch aelves attempted to rush the ogors, the mawtribe turned about, with their burly build and hunger in their bellies, they were capable of catching the daughters before they could make their move. Gutrop himself was particularly prideful, ready to chop some meat for the boys. However, in the nick of time, Cassandra herself, ever unlucky enough to find battle where she does not want it, sprang her ambush and with the strides of a Sphiranx, caught the ogor charge head on and in one fell swoop, dealt a crippling blow to Gutrop that sent him back to the mountains. Stuck in the midst of the Ogors, she managed to survive the onslaught, even if she was bloodied and broken.
Tl’uk had listened to the description of the battle, and looking at Cassandra’s wounds, believed her to be telling the truth. That being said, he warned the Witch Alef to stay away from the Desert of the Sun. The secrets there were not for her, and although he would let them go now, if they found the aelves poking around where they should not, he would be forced to take action. Cassandra, clearly angered by this, curtly walked away from Tl’uk and his forward party with but a nod. Tl’uk could feel it in his bones that that had not been the last they would hear of Cassandra, yet they owed the aelf, and they did not have the time to get mixed up in a skirmish here anyway.
The secrets of the desert were still just that, secrets, for now.
___
It was a day later when yet another Terradon messenger flew down from the sky to land near Tl’uk. Yes, war really had come to the Northern Valley. Stormcast had even arrived in the North, how they knew what was happening Tl’uk did not know, and yet, by the sounds of the reports, he should probably be happy. The forces of Sigmar had split their forces, the greater force went north of the Eversong Village in an attempt to prevent a known army of Skaven from polluting the river there. A small strike team went south of the village, in the hopes of thwarting any force that decided to come that way. The reports in front of Tl’uk indicated that they had made the right decision, as they found Skaven sneaking past the village on the river itself, and attempting to use a temple on the curve of the river to their advantage. The Stormcast struck hard at the Skaven the moment they could. The battle was fast, and brutal as the forces of Order sent the foul creatures to their doom before they managed to secure their objectives. That being said, the army to the north of Eversong had not been so lucky, ambushed by Flesh-eaters, they hadn’t had the numbers to combat the surprise attack, and stop the Skaven from polluting near the village.
And it was not the only report of Skaven polluting the rivers. Reports indicated that the Skaven near Tlacopan had also been successful in their attempts. They had clashed there with the Sylvaneth of the forests, but it had been too late. The Skaven had now successfully poured their foulness south of the Temple of Tzunki. The Tlacopan forces had stopped it from happening north of the city, but with the pollution flowing down from Eversong it had been for naught…
The Lustrare River did not run clear.
Thankfully, the report had not ended there. Someone out there had stopped the Skaven on the Huron. Initial reports make out that it was a man by the name of Herwig, or Hermin, or something, that had thwarted the Skaven. Rat ogors, hundreds of skaven, and only a handful of men, had been found dead in a number of spots along the river. Whoever this Herwig was, he knew what he was doing, and had seemingly been successful where others had not. The Huron was safe because of this warden of the river, and Tl’uk nodded to himself in appreciation of the man.
___
It was yet another day when the latest reports had flown in, again mixed. It seemed as if Tzunki had been defended by a previously unknown force of Deepkin. Reports indicated that the odd Aelves had clashed with the singular Kaz Ryzar, an Ossiarch Bonereaper that priest-politicians in Tzunki had suspected would arrive demanding a bone-tithe. Prince Orphon Sorthus, who led the Deepkin, had since made his way into Tlacopan proper and now, apparently, stood side-by-side with the Seraphon of the valley while they combated this new threat to Lustrare’s waterways.
But, as if Tl’uk was denied even some good news without bad, he was given information that he suspected would be as bad as the poisoning of the River. The downed Thunderdon in the Evergrowth plains had been released somehow. No one quite understood how it had happened, rumours indicated that it might have been some Beasts of Chaos that were involved, other rumours seemed to show that Orruks had been seen nearby. Needless, it was confirmed now, the Thunderdon had been released and was now terrorizing the plains, black ooze polluting the lakes and riverways nearby. The last bit of news made it seem like it was heading away from Arborvale, but towards the Huron.
Tl’ul let out a massive roar at this final mark against his pride and honour. Those around him roared with him as the army marched all the more faster. The Seraphon would break these absurd attacks. They would protect their lands at all cost, and Tl’uk himself would pile high the deaths of their ancient enemy.
