On Hold

I’m suspending these stories for a bit. We’re moving! The Primus has his own citadel under construction, same old Grimcrotch domain but more room for the crew. So follow me on Twitter @Grimcrotch, occasionally I send out a preview link but it doesn’t last very long! 😀

Dinky’s Heroes Pt. 4

Along with the shipment of several crates of Grim’s sour mash sent to the blood legion imperator Ruinbringer, the primus sent along a radio made by Poppler Swizzlestix as well. He didn’t know if the range would be great enough to pick up anything from the front in blood legion citadel, but thought the device might be appreciated if it did work as intended. It was still a primitive device, but useful in certain circumstance.

Coming up on a cliff face between Liberation Dell and Simurgh Timberland, it seemed quiet, almost too quiet. ‘Hold up here,’ Dinky leaned in to Lefty’s ear and said above the engine, riding on the same tank next to Ironpaw. ‘BEEEYOOP APDAT, WHOOAH!’ Lefty hollared, motioning a circle above his head & making a fist, then slamming on the brakes, the other tanks stopping next to him. Dinky turned to the charr next to him with a skeptical look and raised eyebrow; Lefty looked at him, popping the eternal cigar stub back into a huge grin on his flat mug and puffed away.

They could hear the fighting off to the south, it sounded like things had picked up in a big way. Shredskin and a few soldiers had begun recon to the west, circling their crew. Suddenly she yelled ‘INCOMING!’, with gunfire being seen and heard, pointing to approximately two dozen flame legion lead by two smoke shaman coming from The Toughstone direction to the west, bullets ricocheting off trees and rocks, dirt kicking up all around them.

‘Half circle the tanks in front of this cliff!’ Dinky ordered, motioning where and jumping down, the engineers and thieves running forward to lay cover fire for Shredskin’s return. Mid fight, the radio they brought came to life making noises; no one knew what to think but Grimpaw Grindgear, who grabbed it ducking gun and arrow fire and listened. ‘Li….ank, it’s Big Ta…, what…..or loca…?’

Area where Dinky and some of the 12th Battalion were pinned down by flame legion, between Liberation Dell & Simurgh Timberland

In Blood Legion Citadel, imperator Ruinbringer’s new communications officer struggled to understand what he was hearing, it sounded almost like code in between breaking up. He sent a soldier to get Bangar to hear it himself. The imperator ran up to the radio, ‘What’s going on?!’ he ordered. The officer replied, ‘I don’t know, sir, they just started speaking. Sounds like some kind of code but it keeps breaking up, hard to understand.’ Ruinbringer leaned down to the radio, ‘You said you knew how to communicate last night, what the hell kind of communications officer don’t know how to communicate? Give me that!’

Grimpaw transmitted: ‘Big Tank, this is Pyro One with Little Tank. We’ve got two maybe three flame warbands found us at the circle cliff between Liberation Dell and Simurgh Timberland. We need to get rid of them before they alert their buddies on the other side of this rock. Over.’ Poppler Swizzlestix had caught up to the Primus as he was moving out to the northwest toward Highland Thaw; between he and Grim, they were able to piece together through the broken signal that things were heating up with Dinky and they may need help soon.

Listening to the broken exchange on his radio up north in blood legion homelands, the imperator exclaimed ‘Liberation Dell? That’s at the north wall of Fireheart Rise, behind them all! Who is that?! Who cares about the other legions, with blood legion like this we HAVE no enemy!’ He turned to a guard, ‘Soldier, get my warband, we’re going to Fireheart Rise!’

His ‘warband’ consisted of his warband, and five more warbands, a battalion, as imperator guard. That didn’t include the rest of the huge army he kept at the citadel as residents in the blood legion homelands.

‘Poppler, go to legionnaire Wrathclaw and tell him I want the 12th to head toward legionnaire Dinky near Liberation Dell, right now, and I will be with them shortly. I have to make sure the others  with us are on the mark here before I leave. For your friend Grimpaw GO, NOW!’ Poppler snapped to a charr salute, ‘On my way, sir!’ then turned and sprinted toward the six war wagons and nine tanks in the distance. Grimcrotch strode toward the centurions of the 1st, 5th and 7th battalions; secure the soldiers in Onager Bivouac first, he was sure they needed help.

‘Lefty’ Ironpaw war wagon driver, Wrathclaw warband, 12th Battalion

Bullets and arrows kept ricocheting off the cliff to their back, but Dinky’s crew stayed defended behind the tanks returning fire, with Lefty and his other two drivers unloading two gatling guns and a flame thrower, holding the axe fiends and other flame legion melee troops at bay or simply killing them. Ironpaw sat with his head poked out of the hatch, shaking with the recoil of his huge machine gun and yelling, ‘YEAAA, YOU WANT SOME?! COME GET SOME!! BLOODY 12TH YOU FOUND, BIG MISTAKE CUBS, HAHAHAHA!!’

Flame legion bodies ripped to pieces from the three tanks, the few trees not burnt to stumps were cut in half; ammo in the gatling guns was so incendiary when it bounced off boulders behind the flame legion, the shower of sparks caught fire to everything including rocks and dirt around them. Dinky began to laugh, turning to look at Grimpaw, who was doing the same while shaking his head. He didn’t even have to shoot anything, every time he tried and drew a bead, his target fell over already killed by a tank.

Shredskin was smiling as she crouched behind a tank with several soldiers. ‘Who did Wrathclaw get him from again?!’ she yelled to Dinky. ‘Don’t know, but I’m glad we found him, haha!’ he replied. While they were laughing and talking, the tanks were keeping up steady fire, with Ironpaw the only one with his head out in the open, still yelling at flame legion. ‘COME ON CUBS, I THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE TOUGH OUT HERE!! STAND UP AND FIGHT, QUIT DYING ON ME!! HAHAHA!!’

A minute later the bullets and arrows stopped bouncing off the cliff behind them, so Dinky stood up to look around; there was literally nothing there but fire, a couple of flaming stumps, and body parts. ‘Alright Ironpaw, you can stop!’ he yelled. No response as the gunner kept firing. ‘DAMMIT IRONPAW, I SAID YOU CAN STOP!’ he yelled, popping Lefty in the back of his head; when the other tankers saw his gatling gun stopped, they did too and climbed out. Grimpaw, Shredskin and the other soldiers moved out to scout the area again.

Ironpaw climbed out of the tank, jumped down then turned to Dinky & saluted, saying simply ‘Woofwoof!’, stoking his stub, and still with the huge grin.

Dinky’s Heroes Pt. 3

‘Get those mortars started, Fyon, we’re about to move out!’ Dinky said loudly, just short of a yell into the radio. As the broken reply came back, ‘You got it, Dinky!’, arrows and bullets began to whiz by them occasionally; they’d been spotted near a bare spot in the flame legion front line where the legionnaire’s group planned to move forward. Suddenly dozens of shells from the remaining 12th battalion staying behind rained down, forcing the enemy that didn’t die to scatter in every direction to their rear.

‘Stay low and tight, do not stray, do not chase after rabbits! Am I clear!?’ he yelled over the explosions ahead. ‘Clear, sir!’ came the reply from everyone. ‘Alright, move out engineers, tanks then soldiers! For Blood Legion!’ He drew his sword raising it high, and was given a loud ‘BLOODY TWELFTH ‘OORAH!’ in return. Trotting forward as they ran behind the tanks with engineers scouting for mines ahead, he noticed several stealthy charr hugging the ground come in from both sides.

One of them trotted up to him pulling off their mask. ‘What are you doing here, Shredskin?’ he asked as they continued their run through the front line. ‘Commander Grim told me to carry you, make sure you didn’t get any boo-boos,’ she said grinning, playfully slapping his shoulder. ‘Bah, I’m gonna kick his tail when we get back! Alright, get up there and help the engineers clear for the tanks, we don’t have many and I’m sure Grindgear could use a hand.’ She saluted, motioned in a circle above her head then pointed in front of the tanks.

About one hundred yards in, when it was clear they had passed any mines, Shredskin and the engineers dropped back letting Lefty Ironpaw and his three tanks lead. It seemed the bare spot they had found to enter, was bare because it was populated by weaker flame legion. When the mortars rained down, they scattered completely from the area near Sweltering Canyons, with only the occasional potshot incoming to Dinky’s crew.

What they didn’t see behind them after they sped through were those flame legion that scattered, seen by their commanders, being killed on the spot for running and replaced by hardened vets, some of whom followed them.

Heart of the mess in Fireheart Rise

Grim didn’t like anything about sending Dinky and many of the 12th on this mission; he trusted his best friend, but he thought his legionnaire took on more than he could handle this time. They were headed into the heart of flame legion territory next to The Baelfire, the flame legion citadel. The scrolls pointed to a nondescript cave hidden by a boulder to the north the entrance.

Radio calls came in left and right from all over the front, ash and iron needing blood reinforcement, and no word from those in the far northwest near Highland Thaw. As he thought of the mess, a plan of action formed in his head. He sent a runner with a message to Brimstone saying he was needed at the front to hold the line. Grim wasn’t the kind with a desire to sit at the rear and direct large groups of charr to their deaths, he wanted to be in the fight, promotion or not.

As soon as the runner returned with the Tribune’s reply stating he was on his way, the primus centurion got on the horn and told Fyon the Wraith to gather Wrathclaw and the rest of the 12th left behind at his command post on the double, they were going to crack some skulls, enough of this sitting around. ‘You got it, sir!…I mean, uh, Grim!’ came the reply, a huge grin heard in his voice.

In the meantime while waiting, he received word many of the iron legion war wagons and tanks, having been grouped in a large push past Forge Plains headed toward Cozen Desolation, were sitting ducks for a massive flame legion mortar, trebuchet and catapult bombardment from the nearby cliffs; two thirds were taken out of commission or destroyed in the wide open field. ‘Where do they find these charr, and who does the promoting…’ he mumbled, shaking his head.

Ash legion had several successful guerrilla attacks destroying supply and ammo dumps behind the lines, but that’s what they do, they weren’t made for heavy attacks. And from the looks of it, no matter how much heavy iron they had, neither was iron legion.

Primus Centurion Grimcrotch discussing Fireheart Rise flame legion offensive with Tribune Cantia Fatestealer of ash legion

The tent flap whipped open and the tribune strode in, ‘What’s going on, Grim?’ he said. The primus centurion spread open the map of the region on his crate desk and began; ‘We have four iron legion battalions here in the east, the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 7th. A lot of their heavy armor was just wiped out. Don’t know exactly what they have left yet but it looks bad. I’ll give you four of my war wagons and a handful of tanks if you need them, but they need backup yesterday, at least soldiers, to take out that massive number of mortars, trebs and cats in the cliffs on either side of Cozen Desolation, here and here.’

‘Probably be a good idea to get ash on that right away until you can reinforce iron. We need a two-pronged push toward Keeper’s Sanctum and Cozen as soon as those cliffs are cleared of flame legion. We can hold them once we get to the water’s edge. Between the three legions communications are like pulling fangs, so I have no word on any flame numbers at Sloven Pitch, so watch your tails once you get out that way. Meantime, get ash on top of Burnt Hollow and Switchback Canyons, take out any siege or mortars and snipers.’

‘Push anything left of ash and iron through Switchback, I’ll send the 2nd and 4th blood to reinforce them, with the 6th in reserve. Once we get the canyons locked up flame has only one way out here to the northwest at Highland Thaw. Thaw had some norn rangers and Kodan taking nasty bites out of flame, but I don’t know how long they can last. The 2nd iron has held off flame from Mangonel Cavern last I heard, but it’s been a while, the situation might have changed. And we had an ash battalion with a Vigil company in Onager Bivouac here, but there’s only one way in or out and, again, I haven’t heard anything from them, either.’

‘I’m taking our 1st, 5th, 7th, and 12th northwest toward Mangonel to meet up with ash, iron, Vigil and the 2nd & 4th blood near Icespear’s Shelf and The Toughstone. Just keep them busy, sir. As I sweep east I’m taking out their entire tail end, push them into me and I’ll chew them up like a meatgrinder.’ Brimstone nodded then looked up at his newest primus centurion; he was grinning, the normally slight green flame licking the edge of his pupils since his return now engulfed them.

‘Well what are you waiting for, soldier? Get out there before I beat you to it!’ the tribune ordered with a determined grin. Grim saluted then turned, whipped open the flap and began shouting orders. Good thing he’s on our side, Brimstone thought smiling, as he too left the tent and began shouting his own.

Grim didn’t tell him his massive push at the back end of Fireheart Rise was straight for Dinky and the rest of his battalion, no one else knew he was out there going for the lost Claw of the Khan-Ur gemstone.

Dinky’s Heroes Pt. 2

Burnt Hollow had never been so full of charr soldiers; legionnaires and centurions from blood, ash and iron legions mainly. Most of the Vigil had moved west to Rustbowl to protect the east Frostgorge Sound entrance and to do what they could for Highland Thaw. It was getting a pounding, and would have already been taken were the Norn not teamed with Kodan doing some very devilish things to the flame legion with a massive ranger and pet army.

Mangonel Cavern to the north had a good sized defense contingent with the 2nd iron legion battalion and plenty of supplies, keeping pressure on the north flank of flame legion attacking Highland Thaw; every time flame legion dragged boats to the water to attack the village the 2nd ran out, set fire to the boats and wiped out the force. But it wouldn’t be long until flame got smart and went directly after iron in the cave.

Onager Bivouac had an ash legion battalion with a Vigil company and were relatively untouched at the moment, but swarms of flame legion were right outside, was only a matter of time before flame began to move in. East of the Bivouac from Switchback Canyons to Scorchlands and Ebbing Heart Run, and north from Cozen Desolation & Victium Moors, everything was in flame legion control and they kept pressure on pushing south.

When Grim first heard of the size of the flame legion offensive, he ordered every engineer under his command to start building wireless radio sets, with Grimpaw Grindgear and Poppler Swizzlestix in command of manufacture, beginning with one for each of the warbands in his batallion, while three warbands set up a larger assembly line for more near the gladium sector of Black Citadel. Then he was called north to Blood Legion Citadel by imperator Ruinbringer and left legionnaire Dinky in charge until his return.

Tribune Brimstone ordered the 12th to the front, so Poppler decided to stay and run the radio manufacturing operation with every engineer left that could be spared, all of them learning advanced electronics as they went along. Probably for the best he did, as Grimpaw or other charr supervising would not have had the patience it took to turn out the sets on the scale needed in a reasonable time. Not that it wasn’t frustrating for him as well; several nearby training dummies took the brunt of his off time ‘cheerfulness’.

West Fireheart Rise, flame legion offensive map

‘Are you sure that’s what this is, Dinky?’ Grim scowled. ‘From the information in these scrolls, boss, everything points to exactly that. But we have to move now. If we don’t and iron or ash find out about it and get there first, or even flame legion, you and I both know there is no guarantee what might happen. At least with Brimstone we will know what to expect.’ Dinky set the scrolls down on the primus centurion’s makeshift desk, an upside down crate next to a rock.

Grimcrotch picked them up and glanced over the scrolls, having already read them in depth. If the code translations were correct, the now extinct dwarves had found a gem that was missing from the Claw of the Khan-Ur, and buried it somewhere behind a rock face at the back of Fireheart Rise while being chased from the area by flame legion.

If ash legion found it, they could hold it ransom and start up infighting among the charr legions, and the order brought about since rebellion from flame legion could fall apart. If iron legion found it, Smodur could claim the Claw was rightfully theirs; ash legion would revolt, and blood legion very well might too since tribune Brimstone held the legendary sword Sohothin, and he had the best chance among charr to remove a major threat, the Ascalon spirits. Without Brimstone’s sword, fighting them may never end.

Tribune Brimstone already held the sword of Sohothin, a major weapon in bringing their homeland of Ascalon back under charr control by putting the human spirits to rest. If blood legion recovered the lost gem from the Claw of the Khan-Ur, Grim and Dinky both knew the tribune was a warrior, but would be sensible enough to bring the legions leadership together to negotiate a reasonable compromise for all.

Primus Centurion Grimcrotch and Legionnaire Dinky discussing new events in Fireheart Rise

But something didn’t feel right about this in the back of Grim’s mind. He hated politics. It was probably the only other thing he genuinely did hate besides flame legion, it was a strong word. Politics were nothing but empty words unless you backed them up with action, and soldiers died from empty words. To him, a politician shouldn’t even exist, only doers. Gather to decide what needed to be done, then do it, simple.

Grim sighed, ‘Alright, Dinky. Take the warband and whoever else you think you’ll need from Shredskin, Wraith and Wrathclaw. Only what you think you’ll need. Keep it tight, no one says a word. Memorize these translated directions then burn them. But remember this, we can’t leave the front to bail you out if we don’t know you’re out there, understand? No one can know of this but us.’ The primus centurion scowled again, raising an eyebrow at his life-long friend.

Dinky slapped Grim on his bicep, saying with a smile ‘You got it, buddy. Come on Grim, you know me better than that. If anything you’ll need my help before we need yours.’ He saluted his newly promoted primus centurion, then trotted out to round up a crew. His first stop was with Lefty Ironpaw of the Wrathclaw warband, the grizzled war wagon driver with no fear. At all.

‘I have something I want you to do for me, Ironpaw,’ Dinky said. ‘But it’s not with your wagon, just a few tanks.’ Lefty rolled out from under his war wagon covered in grease holding a wrench. ‘Like what, sir?’ he said, quickly standing at attention. ‘At ease soldier…’, then Dinky went on to describe the mission without going into what he thought was for his knowledge only.

‘Through the flame legion front lines, to attack something behind them, you say?’ He was already grinning. ‘As much as I’d rather have my heavy metal here, sir,’ he reached over to pat his wagon he affectionately called The Doombringer, ‘I suppose I can’t turn down something sounding this crazy. Count me in.’ Dinky then went on to have him find two more drivers he trusted, and to make sure the three tanks were ready to go when he called it. Almost time to roll…

Dinky’s Heroes Pt. 1

Inspired by the movie Kelly’s Heroes

The shabby disguises couldn’t last long. Walking along at a good clip right in front of them, these guys are really stupid, he thought. Darkness helped, but any flame legion coming close would notice them right away. And this enemy shaman they captured, with a pistol in his back, could hollar or try to run, depending on how loyal he was. Either way he would die, and Dinky was counting on him not wanting that.

Mere feet away, flame legion ran back and forth trying to stay organized, grabbing supplies and hoping to get moving out before the combined iron and blood legion forces came close enough to overwhelm them. There was already heavy mortar fire raining down nearby. A large camp, but it seemed the bigger the flame legion force, the more disorganized they were.

Torches lit the area not very well; as a flame legion soldier walked past Dinky and his two soldiers, one holding a gun to the shaman standing stiff as a board not even looking around, the enemy glanced, then turned and saw through the legionnaire’s disguise. ‘HEY!’ he yelled and pointed at them. Dinky and the soldier with the pistol each grabbed the shaman by a shoulder and the four ran off into the dark, ducking out of gunshots with bullets plinking off his shield, toward cover in the darkness and safety nearly a half mile away to their forward line.

Centurion Grimcrotch had ordered the wireless radio Poppler Swizzlestix and Grimpaw Grindgear made for their aborted rocket flight, to be made for each warband in his battalion. Most times communication was shakey at best, non-existent in others, but it kept them from risking valuable soldiers lives running information across the battlefield for the most part.

‘Stop dropping your mortars on our position!’ The soldier yelled into the microphone angrily to the forces in the rear, ducking at the sound of a shell exploding nearby. ‘You can’t hear me?! The reason you can’t hear me is because you’re firing the mortars on YOUR end, and they’re dropping here, on MY end. Flame legion isn’t here, WE’RE here!’ He threw down the microphone and turned at Dinky, the two soldiers and the flame legion shaman entering.

Fireheart Rise south and Blood Legion Homelands north-east

In the barn, Dinky stopped in the light when they entered to read a scroll he took from the flame legion shaman, eyes growing wide. ‘We have our necks stuck out here, sir. We’ve had alot of probing going on, it might be a good idea to regroup before flame legion gets brave and tries something stupid. They might just get away with it having few soldiers here with us at the moment,’ legionnaire Fyon the Wraith said to the his boss. ‘As much as I like a good fight, an outnumbered death doesn’t sound very appealing.’

‘Alright get everyone out of here, I’m going to stick around a while with my new friend,’ he said, motioning to the captured shaman. ‘Tell Grindgear to hang about, I may need him in a bit.’ Fyon saluted and ran off to relay the info. The Wraith, Grim and iron legion warbands left, Dinky stayed behind pushing the shaman into a chair.

‘We’re going to have a little talk, shaman,’ he said, pouring sour mash into a tin cup and handing it to him, ‘drink up.’ The enemy turned away, saying ‘I don’t drink.’ Dinky stood and drew his sword, slamming the blade tip into the ground next to him, then sat back down and leaned into his face snout on snout, baring his fangs. ‘I said drink.’ Realizing he had no choice, the shaman forced it down and burst into a coughing fit, nearly choking.

Two hours later Grimpaw Grindgear and his asura friend Poppler Swizzlestix were the only things between near constant flame legion probe teams and Dinky, with his now smashed flame legion shaman commander, so they decided to make a break for it and get back to the warband south. Dinky and Grimpaw each took a side and began to carry the drunk out.

A few yards away from the barn, despite the engineer turret packs dropped behind them for defense, the buzz of arrows and bullets whizzing by grew thicker; a bullet pierced the drunk shaman’s head, then an arrow speared his back. They dropped the now dead soldier and trotted off, Dinky having taken the scroll case off his belt before he began interrogation.

Newly promoted Primus Centurion Grimcrotch, preparing his armor to move out

Imperator Bangar Ruinbringer had ordered centurion Grimcrotch to the blood legion citadel north of the Blazeridge Mountains, upon his return from the Durmand Priory with Rafka Firemane. During his trip there the flame legion, angry at the centurion’s infiltration with only one other soldier and killing over fifty of their number along with one of their high commanders, launched a massive attack on the allied legions posts in Fireheart Rise. It was a mess, and tribune Brimstone was livid at not having his right paw charr available.

Things were getting done on the front, that was not a problem, the leadership of Grimcrotch showed in his subordinates with his absence. But there was not as much of an effective offense as the tribune would like without the centurion. And having to work with iron and ash legions made things kind of unorganized; crossed orders, miscommunication and just plain infighting held back the potential, and a swift hammerstrike is what he preferred.

Upon his arrival at the blood legion citadel, the imperator welcomed the centurion and told him to have a seat. ‘First things first, centurion. I want ten cases of your sour mash delivered to me here. I can’t keep traveling so far south just to enjoy a good drink, hehe…’ He chuckled. Grim grinned, ‘I’ll be sure to get on that as soon as I return, sir.’ Ruinbringer then waved the centurion to his feet.

‘Second, I’m ordering you to take the promotion to Primus Centurion you turned down at our last meeting, refusal is not an option this time.’ The imperator stepped toward Grim, focusing on his eyes. ‘Something looks different about you, primus…’ he said seeing the slight green flames in his pupils, then waved it off. Grim saluted smartly and replied simply, ‘Thank you, sir. I’ll try to live up to your expectations.’

Ruinbringer then updated the new primus centurion on the goings-on in Fireheart Rise since his departure from Black Citadel. The imperator brought out his maps and discussed the current situation, then they went over offensive possibilities, the primus assuring the imperator his subordinates would do fine, but that he would need to leave soon to join them, and Ruinbringer agreed. Things were heating up again, just how Grim liked it.

Wayfaring Mercenaries

‘No, put that one over here,’ the cub pointed to a small pile of sand with several sticks poking up around it, speaking to Grim, ‘he has to defend.’ The centurion made an ‘Ah, I see’ look, then strategically placed the stick figure where he thought it might defend the pile of sand best.

Still building the toy fort defenses, the cub spoke while digging a trench around the walls. ‘I thought old soldiers don’t play any more.’ Grim sat back and looked over the dirt and stick fort the cub made, then turned to see in the distance some guards attacking an Ascalon rebel. ‘Let’s just say the charr definition of ‘play’ changes when you get older.’

Several more cubs came to the play fort after seeing Grim sitting and speaking with the little one. Most went to the fort and began making stick figure soldiers, or poking sticks into the ground to make walls. One came over to Grim and simply stood, looking at him; Grim stared back. The cub spoke up, ‘What happened to your eyes?’

After glancing and doing double takes looking at the soldier, a few of the cubs came over by Grim and also stared at his eyes…there was a slight green flame inside his pupils. ‘Nothing,’ he said. ‘Build your fort.’ They slowly turned away while still staring, until one tripped as he walked. That broke the tension and they all laughed, making fun of the clumsy cub.

Grim near False River Valley, Lornar’s Pass

The last few months were strange. Memories of his simba flooded back again and again, both the good times with her, and bad with his sire. A few days after he walked away from the godforged hellscream corpse and his simba’s image, he finally spoke and thanked Rafka Firemane for staying with him in the cave they went to in south Fireheart Rise, but ordered her to go back to the warband.

‘I’m sorry, sir, but I will have to refuse this order. I don’t understand exactly what happened to you back there, but you are my commander, I will defend you with my life. Do what you must.’ She drew herself up to her still rather small but solid height, defiant chin held high. Grim put his paws on hips, staring deep into her rebellious eyes, then sighed, shaking his head.

‘Alright, you can stay.’ The next two months the centurion took her on an exploratory mission to all of known Tyria he had been to, excepting a few western territories like Orr, both discussing and trying to understand what happened in Fireheart Rise, Grimcrotch telling Rafka stories of his life as a cub. If his future assistant was to be that, she would need an education.

For the first six weeks they stayed at the Durmand Priory, Grim ordering her to read all she could on record of charr history and the ancients. She could always come back for more later, the amount of information stored there was immense, but he wanted her to have a good general background of their world now.

Meantime he searched the records for anything even remotely similar to what happened to him in Fireheart Rise. Daylight hours found a huge table covered with books, ledgers and scattered papers & scrolls. On nights when the priories weren’t bringing him several candles at a time when those he had were burned away, he was out searching the old dwarf caves for…he didn’t even know what he searched for.

He let Rafka sleep nights that he roamed the snowy caves, she needed to be in top shape mentally every day to learn and retain the information she took in. She was a very bright cub, but still naive. He reminded himself she was to train more with legionnaire Elexus Shredskin when they returned.

Rafka Firemane in a big, new snowy world, Lornar’s Pass

Arriving back in Ashford Plain from Iron Marches when Rafka’s map surveying was complete, it was a lackluster entrance….until they neared Champion’s Rise and the centurion’s pet Death came sprinting up to him and deliberately bumped into him several times, as if angry he was gone so long. ‘Now what in the world are you doing out here, boy? You’re supposed to be in your pen, hehe. Come here, I missed you, too.’

He reached down and gave a friendly scratch to the soft underbelly of his life long pet, then they continued their walk toward the Citadel, until seeing several flame legion trotting toward them. Grim stopped and held his arm out stopping her, and motioned Rafka to look. ‘One, two, three…’ he said. On three, they both turned and fired, he with his axes, she with her pistols. After everything they had endured the last few months, Rafka didn’t bat an eye at the local riff-raff, a very good sign, Grim thought.

They ran into Dinky and Elexus a bit further on, spoke for a moment, then he ordered them back to work while the centurion and thief continued toward the end of their journey.

‘Thank you, sir.’ She said, as they entered the doorway of the Citadel, the guard saluting smartly and saying ‘Welcome back, sir!’ Grim casually returned it, then replied to Rafka, ‘For what, soldier?’ She got quiet for a moment, gathering her thoughts, then said ‘For showing me I have so much to learn. Staying here near the Citadel and not experiencing the world would have been so boring. Uh, no offense, sir.’

He chuckled. ‘Take your time, absorb it slowly so you remember it. A good warrior has a balance of knowledge and skills. You have both, but also need more of both, that’s why I’m assigning you to train more with legionnaire Shredskin. There is no better pistolier in all of Tyria.’ She stopped and turned to him, ‘Then why did you take me to Fireheart Rise with you, and not her? Uh, sir…’

He waved off the casual reference, ‘I already have confidence in you 100%, I wanted to see you under pressure. She has done a great job in your training up to now, you simply need to hone those skills. Now, go get some sleep in your own bunk, take a few days off. I’ll let you know when it’s time to rejoin us.’ He snapped a smart salute to his warband member. She returned it, replying ‘Yes sir!’, and trotted off toward the Canton, while he headed to Rytlock Brimstone’s office and the inevitable grilling coming for being gone so long…

Meet The New Boss…

In the back of Hero’s Canton, where Tribune Brimstone had ordered Grim’s secure room for weapons be built, he also ordered a pen for his ranger pets to be added. There was no lack of cubs volunteering to care for the centurion’s animals. In fact things kind of got out of hand; huge groups of cubs running around for food, water, taking pets for exercise etc..

But when they started having races in mid Canton, Grim had to put a stop to it. So in order to make it fair for all, every day a small group could volunteer. On this particular day a cub noticed something strange about how the centurion’s pet Death was acting; it kept digging out and running to the entrance of Black Citadel, weaving back & forth and chirping as they do, no matter how many times he took it back to the pen.

‘The damndest thing, eh?’ legionnaire Fyon the Wraith replied scratching his head, when the cub finally said something after chasing the centurion’s prized devourer around all day. ‘Tell you what, cub. Go find legionnaire Dinky, I’ll bet he can help you with this one.’ The cub ran into the canton, found then told him what was going on, so Dinky and legionnaire Shredskin went to have a look.

It was growing dark. They checked the pen first but it was gone, so they took a walk toward the Citadel entrance. A torch burned in its holder on the wall next to the opening facing the dead duke’s tomb, Death in the doorway right outside, weaving back and forth. ‘Every time the cub takes him back to the pen, it comes running back out, sir,’ the guard told Dinky, shaking his head. ‘I’ve been on duty seven hours, was doing that when I got here.’

Dinky nodded as they walked out next to the animal, looking first down at it, then up along the viewable horizon, sniffing the air twice. ‘Hmm,’ he said quietly to himself. He had a fair idea what was going on but wasn’t positive. He turned to Shredskin, ‘Get two barrels of my whiskey, some firewood to last ’til dawn and a ton of meat. We’re parking it out here tonight.’ She saluted and ran off to round up the 12th.

Since Grim and Rafka faded into the night after killing the godforged hellscream in Fireheart Rise, no one had seen them for months. No one believed they were dead, but it certainly was mysterious, Dinky thought. Something happened out there only those two saw…

After a while the 12th battalion, camped outside the fortress wall, had tents set up and supplies for the night. Grimpaw Grindgear and Poppler Swizzlestix the asura, were showing a few other engineers the inner workings of their particle beam handcannon, a few grunts fought barepaw, others cleaned and sharpened weapons, many sat around fires and told stories, laughing eating and generally getting loaded.

Several hours later, the legionnaires were sitting around a campfire discussing why they were out there. ‘The centurion’s pet Death,’ he thumbed behind him, ‘keeps escaping from its pen and coming out here. I have a feeling it knows more than we do about what’s going on with Grim.’ Dinky scowled staring into the fire. The centurion’s pet was near the doorway, weaving back & forth and tittering, facing off into the darkness.

——

‘And it senses something. What, I don’t know, so I thought I’d bring the 12th out here tonight on the off chance he comes back, this way.’ He pointed off into the dark distance. The other legionnaires nodded, then turned toward Death, curiously watching the animal.

At dawn, with no Grim & Rafka, they went back to work for the day after packing up the camp. A cub was assigned to keep an eye on the devourer and feed it. The next four days were the same. Early evening on the fifth day, Death stopped weaving by the doorway, held his antennae up to the air turning them as if smelling or sensing something, then the cub watched it take off down the trail toward the dead Duke’s grave and beyond.

The little one ran back to the Canton to inform Dinky, and again he and Shredskin walked out the same doorway, stopped for a moment as he scanned the horizon, and sniffed twice. ‘Come.’ he said to Elexus, and they walked down the worn path, past the tomb. Passing Temperus Point fort, Dinky shaded his eyes and scanned the darkening horizon again.

In the distance near Charr’s Triumph, he saw what looked like two shadowy figures slowly coming closer, then they stopped. When they did, Shredskin tapped Dinky on the bicep and said ‘Uh Dinky…’, and pointed off to their right. Five flame legion were moving in on the figures. One of them held out their arm to stop the other. Suddenly the two shadows turned, one throwing two axes, the other unloading two pistols, all aimed at the five flame legion.

Grim in Hero’s Canton upon his return

They dropped. One shadow that threw the weapons went to retrieve them, then they turned back toward the trail with what looked like the escaped devourer Death running in circles around them and tittering loudly. Dinky and Shredskin began to walk toward them, meeting them in the middle of the field. ‘Grim?’ Dinky said, still not sure.

‘Who do you think it is, the Duke?’ the centurion said smartly. Pulling off his Whispers mask, the green glow in his eyes was gone, but something was still different about them. ‘What are you two doing out here?’ Grimcrotch asked. ‘Looking for you. Death has been coming outside the city for days now, I think he knew you were coming back.’ Grim bent down to pat his pet on the shell, ‘You knew I was coming, eh boy?’ He reached over to pick up a snail crawling on the ground, cracked the shell and gave his pet the treat.

‘Do you have your flask on you, Dinky? the centurion asked. ‘Now what kind of question is that?’ he replied, reaching into his armor and tossing the container to his superior. Grim uncorked it and killed the full bottle, exhaling loudly and handing it back. ‘I needed that, you’ve earned your keep for a month. Now get back to work.’ As he said it the pupils of his eyes flared tiny green flames. Dinky and Shredskin both saluted smartly and replied in unison, ‘Yes sir!’ with huge grins, then turned and trotted off back to the city.

‘Meet the new boss…’ Dinky said to Elexus, running along and looking at her still smiling.

‘Same as the old boss,’ she replied, with an equally big grin.

Resurrection Pt. 3

In the dark, they crouched next to the burned stump of a tree looking around; so many roaming flame legion, Rafka thought, pupils black taking in the area. Grim reached into his jacket and pulled out his flask, uncorked then nudged the thief, offering. She declined, so he tipped it up and finished it off, a silent exhale as he corked the empty bottle and returned it to the inner jacket pocket.

When the centurion had told her ‘…when you see the sky raining fire, we’re close’, he wasn’t kidding. The sky really was raining fire here, materializing somewhere above and keeping the ground and any plant life black and burnt. There was almost nothing for them to hide behind, only stumps to hug and the occasional boulder. ‘Now you know why I wanted you here, not Dinky,’ he whispered.

Rafka nodded. Though she thought legionnaire Shredskin with more experience would have been a better choice, legionnaire Dinky certainly would have gotten them into trouble right away with his heavy gear. Grim motioned silently to Rafka, pointing across Keeper’s Sanctum; take them out, quickly and quietly. If you can, drop them behind a rock so they aren’t discovered soon.

She nodded again and moved out to the right, the centurion moving off to the left, both with daggers drawn.

Three dozen or so dead bladestorms, axefiends, and shadowblades later, the centurion came up behind her from out of the black, tapping her on the shoulder and motioning her back toward where they started next to a boulder. ‘Good job, we have our backs cleared. Now things get interesting.’ He pointed up toward the cliff base about one hundred feet away, a small fire barely visible with what looked like at least three soldiers roaming nearby.

They quietly trotted up to the cliff, left of the fire, backs hugging the face then in a crouch, they silently moved along the wall then stopped, Grim touching Rafka’s arm lightly then nodding off to her right; a flame legion stalker sitting on a boulder in the dark sharpening a small blade. He nodded to her then made a slit throat motion.

She backtracked a bit to circle around the stalker to the opposite side. Her thief instincts kicking in, she disappeared from even Grim’s view as he watched the stalker’s head get yanked back, at the same time as a huge gash appeared and an artery squirted blood ten feet away. She pushed him off the giant rock away from view of the fire, then returned to the centurion.

Surface of Keeper’s Sanctum, Fireheart Rise

Grim then motioned for her to move out in a half circle around the fire, eyes open and to take only one target out at a time, quietly. She moved off with a nod, he went forward slowly and cut three throats, dragged them back toward the cliff then returned where they separated. Rafka had killed four herself, then returned as well.

He then tapped her bicep and pointed, their main target, on the other side of the fire near some crates, speaking to a smoke shaman and another stalker about thiry feet away. He silently motioned for them to throw their blades at the same time, pointing at his head. Grim sheathed the dagger he kept out and pulled an axe.

1….2….3 The axe flew at the smoke shaman and two daggers shot at the stalker, the shaman’s head split with the axe stuck in as he toppled, the stalker’s head gushed blood falling over, knocking down another crate stack. ‘I’ve been expecting you centurion,’ a deep throaty voice growled.

As he turned, what Grim thought was a flame legion shaman while he searched all these years, he saw was actually a godforged hellstorm. The hellstorm raised his arms, motioning in a small army of flame legion from the darkness, weapons drawn and waiting word to attack. Grim and Rafka looked at each other in determination, then around them in silence.

‘You’ve made quite a name for yourself, centurion,’ he said. ‘You have most of my compatriots nervous at hearing you are on the attack, I commend you. I’ve created quite the monster in you.’ At that, a commotion began at the rear of the flame legion ranks, silence except for the sound of their armor and weapons falling to the ground.

The rest of the flame legion turned and met their death at the hands of some shadowy figures, who then stepped forward led by a knee-high figure in Whispers gear, the asura Manikk, from Burnt Hollow. A small army of Vigil soldiers in heavy armor fanned out behind the group back some forty feet, commander Skullbash shouting her soldiers into position, stepping toward the light and saluting Grim, then returning back to the dark and guard duty around them.

‘You may have command of your battalion and can tell them not to follow, centurion, but the Whispers don’t answer to you…yet.’ He smiled and gave his best version of a charr salute, then they all stood watch as Rafka pulled both pistols and darted up next to the lone hellstorm, both barrels aimed at his head.

‘Well,’ the godforged hellstorm resigned himself to saying, ‘it would seem I’ve run out of options you little maggot. You could have been a legend in my flame legion army, what a waste.’ Grim stepped over and pulled his axe out of the dead shaman’s head, wiping it off on his corpse. ‘Sit down,’ the centurion told him. The hellstorm kneeled and sat back on his haunches, the two staring at each other in silence for a moment.

The centurion remembering his simba’s ghostly image…

‘If I hadn’t run you would have killed me as your soldiers did my simba, but you did me a favor killing my worthless sire, as I would have done that myself eventually. I suppose I should thank you, you saved me the effort. And we both have a lot of blood on our hands. But as for you,’ Grim tossed his axe in the air with a spin, catching it as he said, ‘I’ll see you in hell.’ And with a roar he slammed the blade with years of built up fury into the godforged hellstorm’s head, splitting it completely in two, the edge buried down deep into his chest.

Rafka still stood off to the side, mouth agape, pistols dropped, watching as a strange blue smoke began to rise out of the hellstorm’s chest opening above his twitching corpse and began to form into a strange ball shape above. Inside the ball of smoke a figure took shape, a female charr from chest to head. Grim stood wide-eyed but still ready for a fight, watching warily.

The Whispers and a few Vigil soldiers in view saw and heard nothing and wondered what was going on, as Rafka’s eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped open even more at the ghostly voice of the smoking figure she heard say, ‘You’ve grown quite handsome, my cub. And I am very proud of you.’ The figure seemed to smile slightly. ‘Simba?’ Grim said, bewildered.

The only ones who could see and hear what was going on were Rafka and the centurion, the others stood around wondering among themselves. Rafka, still wide-eyed, began to tear up knowing Grim had never known her beyond a young cub. ‘Yes, my cub. The souls of those killed in our camp were taken into the hellstorm. Every time he heard you searched for him, he grew more fearful.’

‘And every time he grew more afraid, I grew stronger. You truly frightened him with your beheading his soldiers alive at Incendio Templum; as he grew afraid, I grew stronger and began to force his fear on him every day, then every hour, he could not escape. He truly had a tormented mind, and will have a tormented soul.’ Grim tried to focus and see the smokey vision with more clarity, but his tearing up didn’t help.

‘I must go, cub. You have freed me, but I have something of yours for you I have been saving all of these years. All of the rage, strength, clarity, order, and kindness the hellstorm saw in you was drawn into my soul. Now I return it to you. CRUSH THEM!’ At that she made a fist, eyes glowing green in an angry face, then went back to a slight smile and reached out, a paw barely formed under his jaw with blue smoke before evaporating. Her image disappeared, but from the center of the blue ball a beam shot out into Grim’s mouth and eyes with the sound of a freight train in a wind tunnel; he fell to his knees leaning back, arms slightly raised out to the sides.

Dinky with his legionnaires and the 12th ran up from beyond the Vigil soldiers and got to the Whispers surrounding them when Rafka, still teary-eyed, whipped her pistols around and pointed both at them, shouting ‘STOP!’ Rathgaar Firemane ran to the front of the group afraid for his cub, full of wonder and wide-eyed as well.

A moment later the beams and noise faded, and the blue ball of smoke evaporated. Rafka put her paw to her mouth saying quietly ‘Oh my!’ behind it, as Grim stood with glowing green eyes, turned and began to walk back south, silent and staring beyond them, through the group of soldiers. Dinky said, ‘Uh, Grim….’, then got quiet. The Whispers and Vigil parted for the centurion as well, and he disappeared into the dark. Rafka, crying now, ran after him to make sure he was alright, wherever her centurion went.

Resurrection Pt. 2

‘This way,’ Grim told Rafka quietly, ‘we need some newer info.’ The stealthy two trotted across the blackened barrens to the west, being chased by wild carrion devourers, embers, minotaurs, vulture raptors and anything else that spotted the odd creatures running through their territory. What a busy place this was for the wildlife of Tyria, Rafka thought.

They rounded the bend of a cliff face as it began to grow dark. ‘Quick, in here!’ A shadowy figure stepped out from behind some bushes and trees to motion the two toward a dimly lit opening in the cliff face. A heavily armored charr with what looked like Vigil gear stepped out behind them and began swinging and chopping at the creatures following behind with a roar.

Rafka peered down the entranceway but still couldn’t see much. ‘You must be new here, soldier. This is Burnt Hollow, an ash legion/Vigil camp. And at the moment we have a lot of Whispers traffic as well.’ She lit a torch, ‘Welcome back centurion, it’s been a while.’ Grim turned toward her, ‘Yes, it has. How are you holding up here?’

‘Nothing has changed. With only one way in or out, we always have so many weapons here that an enemy trying to attack would be decimated.’ Rafka looked back toward the entrance as the Vigil guard entered with a vulture raptor corpse & two devourer carcasses and held them up, ‘Dinner!’ The ash legion female grinned and motioned into the cave, ‘Come in, we’re about to eat.’

The ash soldier saw Rafka’s wonder and read her look, ‘We love visitors. Not for the company, but because we don’t want to hunt for food, so we wait for you to bring animals following you in and kill them. Might be lazy, but we like to call it “efficient”.’ Rafka grinned and Grim chuckled, and the two soldiers joined in with a laugh walking back into the large spacious cave.

Mid Fireheart Rise, location of flame legion shaman’s camp near Keeper’s Sanctum

After settling in removing masks and weapons, the centurion and Rafka sat down to eat, jawing with the soldiers about local goings-on and their future plans for the area. Afterwards Grim and Rafka sat down with the Vigil commander Trinmaw Skullbash and local Whispers members with information about the area where the flame legion shaman’s cave was located.

‘It’s not so much a cave, sir, as an indent into the face of a cliff. I don’t know what you did to make this particular shaman so afraid of you, but this guy goes very far out of his way to not leave footprints, including very few soldiers the last few years, when we looked around at your requests to find him.’

‘At the moment, last check he only had about ten guards, but seems to think he’s safe so he’s been there a while. We would have killed him already, but he hasn’t been involved in any shenanigans, and we all have known he was a target specifically named by you, so we left him alone.’

Grim nodded, then did a double take looking at her. ”Shenanigans’?’ he said with a grin, then the tent erupted in raucous laughter, the rest of the soldiers in the cave turning toward it, wondering what was so funny inside what they thought was a serious discussion going on. After they settled down, everyone wrapped up the conversation, and the centurion & Rafka prepared to move out.

They shook paws with their Whispers and ash legion compatriots and thanked commander Skullbash, who said ‘Good luck, centurion. General Soulkeeper sends her well wishes, and says to tell you “FOR BLOOD LEGION!”‘, relaying the general’s salute. Soulkeeper’s former status as tribune in his legion was a powerful thing, and both the centurion and Rafka returned it smartly.

Centurion Grimcrotch in his Whispers gear near the flame legion citadel gates, Fireheart Rise

After leaving Burnt Hollow and rounding the cliff to the east, heading north they ran into several wild carrion devourers. The centurion’s pet salamander drake he named Spanky snapped its head around, keeping in sight every creature around them. ‘Remember when you joined me near the Citadel as a cub and said you thought Death didn’t look so tough?’ he asked Rafka.

‘I kind of remember, yes sir, but I’ve since taken your word for it. It was quite a while ago.’ Grim pointed to a nearby devourer and said, ‘Go attack that one.’ She pulled both pistols and trotted toward the creature, firing them at the same time. For every one bullet that hit, three were ineffective. But not for bad aim, because they did hit. The three that were ineffective simply bounced off the devourer’s hard shell.

After the initial attack the devourer charged Rafka just before she dodged, and it knocked her back on her tuckus, then scurried underground and back, away from her, the only sign of where it moved was small trail of rocks in a line pushed up. It then climbed up out of the ground and fired two poisonous clouds at her, then darted off to the side as Rafka dodged and fired again.

The creature was hit a few more times, but all the devastating shots that would have killed another creature by now weren’t effective, and again it charged Rafka to attempt a knockback. But this time she expected it and was ready, holstering her pistols as she dodged and pulled her daggers, charging the devourer and jamming them under the creature’s shell, ripping it apart.

Grim chuckled, ‘Good job, soldier. Now you know why I have one. It’s not too intimidating to look at, but when enemies think they can take you and think you have a weak pet, they fool themselves with underestimating both targets. You have an automatic advantage.’ Rafka trotted back toward her commander, sheathing her blades. ‘I’ll be sure to give Death a treat when we get back for underestimating it, sir.’ she said grinning sheepishly. He patted her on the back, ‘Ok, let’s move out, we’re almost there.’

Resurrection Pt. 1

Inspired by the song Resurrection by Halford

‘Are you sure she’s ready for this, sir?’ legionnaire Elexus Shredskin asked her centurion, a wondering look appearing on her face with the question, ‘I’ll be glad to join you.’ Grimcrotch put his longbow away, bent down to open his chest holding the Whisper’s gear he kept, dual legion axes and a belt of daggers along with the unique armor.

He pulled out the armor and replaced what he had on, then began to arm himself with the weapons, belt first, strapped it on from right shoulder to left waist & adjusted, then holstered the axes before closing and locking the box. Moving past his legionnaire and stepping toward the door, he patted her on the shoulder on his way out, saying ‘Lock up when you leave, soldier.’

His legionnaire gave a smart salute, with her voice fading as he left, saying ‘Good luck, sir.’

As a cub, the night his camp was attacked with his simba, sire and the rest of them killed by flame legion, Grim had made it his mission to not only destroy all flame legion, but to find the one flame legion shaman responsible for ordering the attack. That night he returned with tribune Brimstone to wipe out those attacking, but the one responsible was alerted and ran off, avoiding death.

Even in the fahrar with Dinky they would sneak off in the night to search, he as determined as Grim to exact revenge. For several years off and on, word would get back to him of a location of the shaman, only for them to get there to find they had moved on. The last definite word he had was in the defense of Monger’s Sink campaign, but his paws were full and he couldn’t get away.

Now once again, word had come back through his friends in the Whispers; there was a cave near Keeper’s Sanctum in Fireheart Rise where the flame legion shaman was holed up, and it looked like a mostly permanent base. With no pressing business to tend to at the moment, it was time to finish this, for his simba and himself.

He informed the tribune of his plans, who wished him luck and ordered the rest of his battalion to be held in reserve on instant call-up if needed. ‘You can’t do this alone, Grim,’ Dinky said. ‘Both of us have searched for this low life since we were cubs, you can’t keep me from finally finishing him off with you.’

Grimcrotch held up his paw, ‘This is personal, Dinky. I appreciate your help but I have to do this without you. I am taking Rafka with me because I may need the stealth of a thief; you charging in there and going crazy could get us killed.’ So it was decided. Grim put on his Whispers gear, gave Rafka their uniform, pistols and dagger belt, and prepared to move out.

South Fireheart Rise

Entering Fireheart Rise and leaving Sati Passage moving west, past Pig Iron Mine south of the lake on the trail, it was pouring down rain. They stopped near Buloh Crossing and looked around, Grim for the first time in a few years, seeing nothing but blackened ground and a flaming tree stump wasteland, Rafka wide-eyed for her first visit. ‘What happened here?’ she asked.

‘Flame legion,’ the centurion replied. ‘Make sure you are ready to go, soldier. This is as close as it gets to being their territory in our land; those near Ashford Plain are rookies, we kill them too fast for them to get experience. The pros are up this way, they have nothing but time and numbers here. And the cave is dead in the middle. When you see the sky raining fire, we are close.’

A blood legion scout from the Crossing walked up, handing Grim a flask, ‘Howdy centurion, care for a nip?’ Grim chuckled and reached into his uniform pocket to bring out his own, ‘Have some already soldier, but thanks. Try this.’ The scout put his away and took the centurion’s flask, ‘Big draw, scout. No nip. You’re Blood Legion.’ The soldier tipped back the flask and nearly choked.

‘This is firewater, sir, wow!’ he barely stammered, afraid to breath. Coughing a few times then forcing himself to handle it in front of his superior, he squeaked out another ‘Wow’, shaking his head. ‘Hehehe…’ Grim laughed quietly, taking back the flask. The centurion tipped up the container and drank in half, then exhaled loudly, and turned to Rafka handing it to her, ‘Have a nip.’

‘I…I don’t know if I should, sir,’ she replied, unsure of what it would do to her reflexes on an important mission with her commander. ‘It will loosen you up. You won’t be drunk, but will move more fluidly. If it would hurt the mission I wouldn’t offer it to you.’ She nervously grasped the bottle and took a sip, handing it back as she bent down coughing after swallowing.

‘BAHAHAHA!’ Grim and the scout both laughed. The centurion reached over and gave her a friendly pat on the back, taking the flask, corking it and putting it away. ‘It’s ok soldier, I sometimes forget this formula Dinky and I came up with is geared for us, high octane.’ Rafka squinted and said in a raspy voice, ‘It sure is, sir.’ Grim patted her on the shoulder again and chuckled.

Entering Fireheart Rise flame legion territory…

Death, the centurion’s carrion devourer pet, seemed antsy, darting back and forth nearby, tittering loudly and facing toward a large rock face in the distance, both tail barbs high and pointing menacingly. ‘Ah, yes my little friend,’ Grim said, ‘I nearly forgot this is where I found you as a hatchling.’ The centurion squinted toward the rock, and could barely see the outline of another devourer along the ground, his pet’s agitation.

‘Come here…’ he said, mouthing some clicking noises, a sort of calling command. Death ran up to him then turned back to face his enemy in the distance again, weaving. ‘It’s alright, we aren’t here for them. I wouldn’t make you fight your own kind,’ he said, patting his little friend on his shelled back.

‘Take care out there, sir. If the land and creatures don’t get you, the flame legion sure as hell might. Thanks for the whisky centurion, come back in one piece for us.’ The scout saluted smartly, then turned back toward Buloh Crossing and his patrol around the camp. Grim nodded and gave a short salute. ‘Alright soldier, if you are set let’s move out,’ he told Rafka.

She nodded and said, ‘Ready sir.’ She patted down her belt to mentally count her daggers and clips, ran a claw across the handles of each pistol for reassurance. They crossed the blackened ground northward in silence, soon out of sight of the Crossing and avoiding the creatures. Around a giant rock hill near Forge Plains they came up on flame legion territory.

A river of lava flowed around a hill, black burnt tree stumps were all that stood out near Cozen Desolation. Grim stopped and put his paw on Rafka’s shoulder then pointed in the distance: patrolling flame legion.