Sapphire Skies

The Governor had been rambling as she ate, and ended his little rant about the city and his plans that would never come to fruition with some story about how his grandfather always dreamed about making this city stand out and finally be recognized by the world, maybe even one day becoming the seat of a small kingdom. When she asked that he shook his head "Oh no no, never have the gnolls been so bold as to actually attack the city! As you know sadly they do target travelers and caravans from time to time but normally Gnolls in these parts are just hunting Axe Beaks or fighting with the local Orks"

She nodded. Logically, she wanted to present the concept of a human-gnoll alliance to stand against the Orks and other threats that could eat a small city such as this alive. But she knew that would make no sense, coming from a newly escaped prisoner of the gnolls. Besides, who had ever heard of such a bizarre pairing? The humans would certainly never tolerate being seen as equals. The gnolls had made the wise choice of giving themselves to her first, and so the humans would have to get the short end of the stick in this equation.

In truth, the gnolls were more useful to her at this point anyway. They were more...malleable, eager to learn, and certainly more mobile. Caeriadne decided then that after crippling this city's physical defenses, she would debilitate its political infrastructure to send its leaders crumbling to the ground, but not completely enslave or rid herself of every human inhabitant. Logically, this man would have to die, she knew. She could never risk a division of new and past loyalties if she were to rule this place. But perhaps there were other pawns in the game that could be molded to be more subservient to her command, and they could be given the chance to survive and play a useful role under her newly established rule.

"That's good," she said simply to the governor with a weak little smile that made her look as vapid as any witless peasant girl might.

He smiled at her in a pitying way, like he was sad she was so dim and such a plain old peasant, like it was some kind of thing she couldn't help she was just born a peasant and had a peasant's mind. "So my dear, have you had your fill? Will you lead my men to the last place you know the Gnolls were? It would be best to get this unpleasantness done soon so you can take up residence in our growing little city!"

She nodded hesitantly. "I suppose the sooner we get it over with, the better, right? Will they just...kill them all?..."

"Most definitely my dear, it's no good to have a tribe of bold Gnolls near a growing settlement, and who knows! Maybe killing the dim monsters will make a name for our little militia! Ha Ha!" He seemed almost excited for the chance to kill these Gnolls and increase his renown.

"Good," she replied. "I don't know how I could rest knowing something so wicked is out there. I'm...I'm ready, but..." She frowned, thinking. "Do you have a spare...sword?"

He smiled and nodded "Ah yes, this would be a loan of course, you need to give it back. But give me a few minutes I will fetch my fathers long sword! I have never been able to even attune to it, it is a magic item you see, let alone use it. So I hope it serves you well in this. I shall return my dear!" He rans off with a slight waddle in his step to go and retrieve this sword for her to borrow.

Holy hell, this guy was stupid, Caeriadne couldn't help but think as she stood there waiting for him in the market square. She tied her hair back in a loose bun, securing it with a blue ribbon from the sundress. She wondered just what kind of magic this sword would have - if any, at all, since humans were so predisposed to superstition and rumors. As she stood in the market square, she caught herself sniffing idly at the air, catching a waft of...what was that? That metallic smell. Something she knew. Something she...wanted.

He comes back a few moments later, and as soon as he hands it to her she can feel magic, though it will take at least a day to attune to her and awaken. Until then it is just a very above average long sword, probably of elvish make.

"My father was a friend to an elven smith named Ilithan, who gave him this blade after fighting a great battle against a group of Hill Giants. May it prove more useful in your hands for this one outing than it has to me. Would you like to go meet the Militiamen now? They should be gathered at the gate."

"There are Hill Giants near here too?" She feigned discomfort and fear, but really, this interested her greatly. She decided not to pursue it any further right now. She took the blade in her hand, feeling the weight and balance instinctively. She held it down at her side, quickly pretending to be an untrained commoner.

"Yes, I-I'm ready...thank you." She started to head towards the gate, faking a nervous gulp.

"The Hill Giants went up near the dwarven hold of Blaze Hill years ago at this point, no need to worry my dear."

When they got to the gate an arrangement of 25 men stood ready to move, they had basic leather armor with well made but simple buckler shields. Some had spears, others had short swords. The only one with more advanced armor was the guard she met earlier, Silus. He was on full plate armor with a wall made long sword and long shield.

He walked up to her and smiled "Glad to see you are feeling better Sara. Don't worry, I won't let anything hurt you."

"Thank you. Silus, right? I'm...I'm kind of nervous about this," she half-laughed. "I guess I should be. I'll just stay behind you, if that's alright..." She was ready to go, or at least as ready as she could be.

She knew that this man in plate armor would be the biggest threat to her gnolls, and she intended to stay close to him. Very close to him.

His face seemed to flush slightly, he was a young man and cleaned up she was quite a beautiful human being as her Gnoll Arrak was so keen to point out. The young man did not man allowing her to stand close behind her as they set out. The sun was in the middle of the sky and was beating down on them as they walked, every minute brought them nearer and nearer to the ambush point.

She followed a step or two behind Silus, pretending to be jumpy and afraid. In reality, she was slowly concentrating, building up a psionic spell that specifically had his name on it. She decided not to speak as they walked - she didn't care to get to know any more of her potential targets any more than she already had. She had more than enough to work with, and didn't wish to complicate things any further. The old woman should be a few good miles out on her way to Briar Hill by now, she thought.

As the miles passed, Sara watched the sky and the grasslands in front of them. She wondered what Korrok, Arrak, Ular, Groo, and all the others were doing right now...if the ambush would start with a hail of arrows and javelins, or with a battlecry as they rushed them from within some patch of trees or the crest of a sloping hill. She stayed at the ready, prepared to jump into action at any moment. The scene played out in her mind. She was ready.

They started to follow a path in the grass subconsciously, a path she didn't remember seeing. The gnolls must have gone through some serious effort to part down the grass in this area to make it seem like a well traveled game trail or something. Just then something occurred it wouldn't affect her but there was a flash of light that should have blinded her, bit it seemed to just pass over her. Standing in the middle of the path was Korrok, her cleric, he was Gnoll Shaman.

And then it happened, a loud cacophony of sound erupted from the tall grass surrounding them as Gnolls launched themselves out of the grass with speed and ferocity, their sharp claws digging up dirty and grass behind them as they slammed and tackled into armored guards immediately going for the knock out if they could.

All the sounds combined wit the flash of light was a perfect ambush for these humans, it was disorienting, frightening, more organized than anything they would have expected from a group of Gnolls without direction.

Humans were falling quickly, either being knocked unconscious, being tripped up by Gnolls with sling shots from the grass firing stones that seemed to burst with very basic nature magic like tiny little bombs.

Caeriadne was prepared for the sudden shock of the ambush and acted accordingly. She snapped forth towards Silus, gesturing with a raised hand and unleashing her charged psionic attack directly at the back of his head if she was able to get at him in time. It was intended to either temporarily paralyze him by freezing his voluntary muscle movements, or at least jolt his neural system enough to drop him to the ground without permanently damaging his psyche...much.

Overall, she saw the attack as swift, brutal, and most significantly - efficient. A soft sapphire hue glowed from Caeriadne's eyes as she swung her blade up and at the ready in a defensive stance amidst the cacophony of combat. It was a sound she had known for so many ages, but now, it was real again. She relished in it, studying the newborn battlefield with a rapidity that could make the disoriented human guards seem dull-witted by comparison. She waited until the initial burst was over, trying to anticipate any signs of resistance from any guards playing 'hero' so that she could quickly stomp the dissent and restore complete and total control to her side of the game.

Silus was about to start retaliating when her psionic attack slammed into his skull, she could here him cry out for a moment before he felt to the ground, armor, shield and sword clanking to the hard dirt beneath them. He wasn't moving, hopefully he was just paralyzed and she hadn't gone over board.

None of these guards were playing hero, they were dropping to fast to even try and fight back effectively. The gnolls were far more efficient than anyone would have guessed. She could see that three humans had been killed so far, but that's it. One of them had been ran through the stomach by a spear and left to bleed out like a stuck pig, another had his throat slashed, and the third she witnessed. Ular, the gnoll with the daggers, jump up and managed to land on his head, riding him for a few seconds like a horse before burying the daggers into his eye sockets up the hilt killing the man instantly.

Within minutes it seemed only two guards were still fighting, two younger man back to back, with shields up and spears out poking at the Gnolls which had formed a circle around them, trying to keep them away. They looked absolutely terrified. They looked to be about 16 and 19 years old.

As Caeriadne watched the controlled carnage unfold, she turned her attention to the two younger men. She signalled for the gnolls to stop attacking and lower their weapons.

"Blades down, everyone. No more blood has to be shed. You - " she pointed to Ular, and then down at Silus. "Watch that one. The rest of you, disarm the ones that have already yielded." She stepped towards the last two young guards with her blade down and one hand up, palm-out, in an open gesture. "Stop fighting. You've lost. Drop your weapons now, and you have my word that you will not be hurt."

Ular walked over to Silus and sat on him with his blades on either side of his neck, if he tried to get away he would decapitate himself.

The two men looked at her confused and scared "W-What!? Whats going on? You were captured by them, we were gonna kill the Gnolls and be heroes, what have you done!?" The younger one yelled.

The older of the two was going to keep going but just dropped his weapons and looked at the younger one "Yelling isn't going to help...not with someone like this." He just sat down and let a Gnoll tie him up with no resistance. The younger one seemed frozen with fear, he couldnt drop his weapons even if he wanted to.

"These gnolls have..." She was going to say 'harmed no one' but as she looked at the three massacred bodies, she quickly revised her statement. "...have been searching for a safe place to call home. They mean no harm. I am their leader, and I have decided that instead of killing everyone in your town and taking it by force - which we could have done just as easily - I would spare the bloodshed and offer you the option to negotiate with us instead."

She was no longer the wayward lost peasant girl; she now maintained all the presence and stature of a seasoned military veteran. She spoke calmly but with authority and power. It was clear that she was not speaking to these boys as equals, but more like a ruler to misguided subjects.

The terrified boy was shaking but after a few minutes he managed to drop his spear and shield and slowly sit himself down to let a gnoll tie him up. She could tell by the look in his eyes this was probably his first time fighting, and he couldn't take his eyes off of one of the dead bodies, the one still standing up, stuck on the spear. It was an older body, a man in his fifties perhaps, and he resembled the terrified boy rather closely.

Caeriadne noticed this exchange. Fantastic, she thought. Probably the poor juvenile human's uncle or father...that would complicate things. She hoped she could avoid killing the boy.

She calmly stepped across the ambush site to the impaled man. Respectfully, she angled the spear gently and laid him down to the ground so he was lying on his back and then removed the spear, laid it aside, and knelt down to pass her hand over the man's face to close his eyes.

"Korrok," she said as she stood up. "Have the deceased taken aside. And do it respectfully," she added, "and cover them until we can give them a proper burial."

She stepped back in front of the group of newly taken human prisoners, addressing them slowly, her blade still held down at her side non-threateningly. "I am Caeriadne. I will take your city as my own, but let no further harm befall your people if you do not fight me. Anyone who resists will be killed. Anyone who cooperates will live in peace. If there are any of you who wish it, speak now and I will grant you a merciful death. Otherwise, kneel and swear fealty." She waited.

Korrok did as hew as told, moving the bodies into the grass, covering them up with some extra blankets the Gnolls had, so they blended into the grass, hopefully that would keep any wandering animals from trying to take a bite of the deceased bodies.

Some of the humans were tied up so kneeling was something they couldn't do effectively, but they tried. All but one of the humans knelt. Silus was still paralyzed but he could speak now and he said with a angry, betrayed tone "Who are you really? How could you side with these Gnolls? How do you lead them? If you expect me to bow, you better explain yourself." Silus was fearless, he'd be useful if he was actually planning on bending the knee.

"I am Caeriadne," she repeated herself calmly. Her eyes glowed a pure hue of mesmerizing, penetrating sapphire. "I am a force more ancient than you can comprehend. The gnolls are wise beyond your human ways, and have recognized my power. I will lead them to a better future, just as I will for all beings who will rightfully follow me. You have the choice of doing the same, which is not an opportunity you will have again." She looked him dead in the eye - bold, unwavering, relentless.

When he saw her eyes, his eyes went wide. He was a smart one, he had heard the legends, heard the ancient tales. "You're...By all the gods, you're a dragon, aren't you?" He asked with a sense of awe.