Originally Posted by assassin

Continued

------

Veng lay on the mangy pelts that were his bed and stared blindly at the cavern ceiling. Lorric had found this place. At the back of the cave water flowed from somewhere underground, his own expertise in building allowing the life-giving liquid to trickle into a small pool. He hadn’t felt the need to leave here while there was still water; he’d already learnt how unmerciful the desert was and didn’t want to risk his life to the uncertainty of finding more. So he’d stayed here for three years.

Only a year of Lorric possessing his mind, but he’d learnt. I'd use "learned" here Whether he wanted to know or not, he discovered just how vicious he could be. Another two years of solitude had gone by before Klara had entered his life. At first, the moss-green raptereon had just been another target to steal supplies from, but it turned out she was something different. A Roguess, a woman who wanted to be with Rogues and knew how to handle them. Now, three months later, she was still here.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, the pleasantly husky voice warming him. Klara could easily promise the world with a single word. “You’re not your usual attentive self.”

Along with ways to kill, Lorric had taught him how to rape. After the god had gone, Veng swore he’d never take a woman unless she wished it. Klara was the only woman he’d been with since, but the relationship they had just didn’t feel right. It seemed hollow, like they were only together for the sex.

“Well, aren’t we?”

He twitched at her voice, not realising he’d spoken. “I’m sorry.” The words were devoid of any regret that he may’ve Sounds better as "may have" hurt her feelings.

“Doesn’t matter.” She shrugged, a bare shoulder lifting free of the pelt that shielded them from the gnawing chill of the night. “All men eventually tire of the same woman.”

“You’re not mad?” he asked, surprised she’d take such knowledge so well.

“No.” A finger ran up his arm to draw invisible pictures on his shoulder. “One thing I must ask before I go.” She waited for him to nod before continuing. “What are you?”

“Excuse me?”

“Your blood is not pure,” she pointed out. “The gods declared no raptereon shall be taller than five and a half feet. I don’t know how tall you are, but you’re beyond that.” The hand that had been on his shoulder reached up to touch his jaw. “You have elongated canines while the other teeth are all the same size.” Fingers danced up to his cheek. “Amber eyes.” She leant back into the pelts. “You’re completely hairless with dusty-brown skin, three digits where there should be four.” Her hand waved towards his feet. “And two talons where there are usually three or four.” Aha - so thats what he looks like

The description chilled him more than the air ever could. It sounded as if she’d just described a trexen. With the humans tinkering and adding walfre, it could’ve been possible, but he doubted it. Trexens had been extinct for over a millennia. “You know humans made me. They put walfre blood in.”

“Walfre?” An eyebrow rose when he nodded and he could see the disbelief in her green-gold eyes. “If they can add walfre, what’s to say they can’t add trexen?”

“Because there still are walfres and trexens are dead?” He smiled. “You know our history better than I do.”

“Maybe not living trexens, but what of bones? Surely they could’ve taken this DNA you speak of from that.”

Veng was silent, he didn’t know if what she proposed was possible. He doubted it. What would be the point of bringing back one man out of a long-dead species and mixing it with walfre genetics? Even if he had dozens of children, the blood would be thinned by the mother. “No,” he said, shaking his head.

“If you say so.” Klara let the topic fall with a shrug and rolled towards their clothes. Amongst the material was a small pouch filled with dried ahoka flowers. It was that pouch which she grabbed and rolled back. This sentence reads awkwardly. I'd leave out the "and rolled back" “Here.” She removed one of the tan petals and placed it in his mouth as he tried to speak.

A haze slipped over his mind, cloaking the question he was going to ask. He was Vengeance, the mighty and invincible Rogue. No one was greater than him. Annoyance flooded him as he looked around the cave, seeing it for the hovel it was. He deserved far better than this. His might required a palace. A fortress.

“A place like Rogue Rise?” Klara purred.

He smiled. Yes, a place like Rogue Rise.




It rose out of the sand like a wart on the smooth surface of the desert’s skin. Nice imagery Outside, the red stone still retained its natural shape, with windows and a few balconies being the only exception. Rogue Rise was certainly no palace, but it was an excellent fortress. Centuries before Veng had been born, this mountain had kept the combined armies of two kingdoms at bay. Access had been more restricted back then than it was now, Don't think you need these extra words with the only way in and out being a small cave-like entrance that had since been widened. Water flowed deep in the stone monster’s belly, in pools of both hot and cold. All that was needed for those that lived here was food, an easy commodity to come by as caravans were frequent and never more than a week away.

The ease of life here made Veng wonder why he’d been avoiding the place. His mind free of doubts and emotions, what Klara planned for him to do didn’t seem all that difficult. March up to the entrance, declare his intentions to become their leader and fight any who objected. As the woman had pointed out, he was taller than everyone else and Lorric’s fighting techniques had always served him well.

Veng considered the entrance as he moved closer. The expanded width of the tunnel was capable of letting three average men to Extra word exit at once, possibly four men at a pinch. If anyone did object to him taking control, then he wasn’t going to have the luxury of fighting one-on-one skirmishes. His stomach fluttered at the idea and he found himself looking forward to a fight.

“People of Rogue Rise,” he began, loving how his voice carried so beautifully on the still air. Spots of colour appeared at windows and balconies as curiosity got the best of those inside. “I am Vengeance and I come before you to declare my status as your king.” More heads appeared in the windows. “If anyone objects, I’ll be more than happy to discuss my reasons.”

It didn’t take long for protesters to answer his challenge. Veng nearly laughed as the men appeared from the gloom of the tunnel before him. Out of all the dozens of inhabitants Rogue Rise supported, only five dared to defy him. Of those five, three were raptereon and one had the wings of a fire-breather. It was that man that spoke.

“In all the years Rogues have walked this great desert, no one has claimed the title of king and we are not about to fawn over the first man who thinks he can demand such a status.” Veng admired the copper-scaled man’s arrogance, but he couldn’t let the winged raptereon rant on. Apart from the fact it wouldn’t set a very ferocious image, the man was already starting to bore him and he was impatient for the brawling to begin.

Seeing that he’d have to start this fight himself, Veng drew his beltknife and casually threw it at the only wolena in the group. The blade struck its target, driving itself into the fawn chest right up to the bone handle. Fur darkened to the colour of mud as the wolena collapsed onto ground almost as golden as himself.

Veng’s impression about the winged raptereon proved to be right. The man spewed fire at him before the wolena had finished falling, the flames burning blue at their source. He hadn’t been expecting such heat and flung his shadow-given wings before him, shielding his body from the blast. Skin crackled as the flames hit, briefly showing the delicate webbing of veins. The smell of burning flesh gagged him, but even though he could see his wings’ bone structure, he strangely felt no pain.

Running out of air, the man stopped his fiery assault. Veng grinned when the others gasped as the wings began reforming, black skin unmarred as if the attack had never happened. Not much could harm a shadow, so why would shadow wings be affected? Hmm, this sentence doesnt work for me - what about "so why should shadow wings be different"...?

Not wanting to let the opportunity to Extra word. Weird - last time I was saying you had words missing... pass, Veng used their shock to rush forward and slam his claws into the fire-breathing raptereon’s throat. The man’s gurgling thrashing broke the stunned looks and, almost as a unit, the last three men attacked him.

The fight was brief and bloody, but it wasn’t only their blood that was spilt. Veng lost the last foot of his tail to one of the remaining raptereons while trying to stop the other from tearing his throat out and a katess from disembowelling him. It was a small sacrifice to make and the man screamed wonderfully once Veng was able to finally dispatch him.

“I knew you could do it,” Klara said as the The sentence sound better without this word silence fell over those he’d slain. He faced her, amazed at how alive her gold-green eyes were.

Now the threat to his life was over, his body reminded him of his injures. Spelling alert! "injuries" Scratches and punctures were all over his chest and stomach, but it was his tail that screamed at him. He groaned and wished he could rest where he stood, but showing a weakness now could prove fatal.

“You need healing,” Klara said, digging into her pouch and withdrawing more ahoka flowers. “It’ll take the pain away.” She all but prised open his jaws to force the dried petals into his mouth.

True to her words, the pain was washed away as soon as the petals had dissolved on his tongue. Invincibility returned to replaced awareness. He was Vengeance, he was unstoppable. And he had finally come home.




The chamber was deep in Rogue Rise and was cool even at midday. Veng didn’t want to think of how stifling the room would’ve been otherwise, not when he had to share it with a dozen people.

“The punishment isn’t severe enough,” Yardain said. At fifty-three, the green-skinned raptereon was the oldest among the Roguesses and her opinion carried more weight than any amount of Rogues. Mmm, sounds odd. What about "more weight than all of them put together"? “I don’t even know why we’re discussing this, he killed a Roguess and that act demands his death.” In the fifteen years he’d lived in Rogue Rise, he’d normally agree with Yardain. The punishment of death kept the brutal loss of life to a minimum.

Before Veng stood the accused man and, like many of the men and women here, he was raptereon. His grey skin looked almost silver under the glow of the torches, contrary to the dullness of his black horns which captured the light and held it. “As I already said,” the man objected. “She tripped, before I could even touch her, and cracked her head on the wall.”

“Injures Spelling "injuries" occurring during any interaction with Rogues are limited to minor cuts and bruises,” Yardain said, quoting the oldest law these people had. “Anything above that is to be punished.” The man’s violet eyes glowed as he glared at the old woman. Veng thought it just as well that the raptereon wasn’t a fire-breather despite his appearance.

“Accidents can happen, Yardain,” Veng said, the first word he’d spoken since this impromptu trial had started. He really did feel as if he should just give in to the old Roguesses wishes and let the man be killed. The world wouldn’t care if it had one less Rogue. “Every death isn’t the fault of someone else.”

“Then let’s call all the deaths ‘accidents’, shall we?” she snarled, baring yellow teeth at the man. “We’d make this place no better than out there.” Her hand waved towards the desert that lurked beyond the windowless walls.

The door opened, permitting entrance to a young woman Veng knew very well. The spotted katess had only recently joined the growing gang of Roguess Did you mean "roguesses"? and was an excellent thief, but five years ago she’d been passing through the desert with her father’s caravan. The merchant suffered a raid that went horrible Should be "horribly" wrong, Veng Should be a stop - you have a comma had later found the young girl, Laccindy, at the site and brought her here. She’d thrived under the care of the Roguesses as well as forming a strange bond with Veng. He doubted he’d ever know why she called him uncle, or even when it had begun.

“There’s a Rogue running round saying that he saw a contanihian Flyer sniffing about the human wreck.” Her words got the attention of everyone in the room. Contanihians rarely left their forest city, let alone use the ancient bird-like crafts that Veng was pretty sure were nothing more than spaceships. Their technology was strangely limited, but he wondered how many other artefacts they had been able to acquire after the fall of the empire two millennia ago.

While the news of strange crafts entering the desert was enough for some, Veng wondered what they could possibly want with human technology that no longer worked. It tweaked his curiosity too much and he decided that when this trial was over, he’d fly to the human craft and see what had occurred there.




Knowing for years where the wreckage lay, it still took him a week to fly to the spot. Now here, he looked down at the rusted steel of the human ship – the aerial view gave the craft a tubular look – and wondered why he’d come. He no longer felt like he could relate to the innocent boy that had lived there. Fate seemed to have chosen a different path for him. Veng was sure the humans were long dead, from old age, if nothing else. The idea that divine intervention drove him was sickening, but it seemed odd to have such an urge in his soul.

He landed and entered to discover the place a jumble of computers pieces ? Did you mean "computer pieces" or Computer's pieces"? and broken furniture, even the metal desks had been snapped in two. He pressed deeper into the main laboratory, surprised to discover the broken remains of two humans. The desert heat had already begun the decaying process and the features were no longer distinguishable. Of the other two humans, he found nothing, not even a scent of where they’d gone. He carefully backed away from the bodies, the stench of rotting flesh finally threatening his stomach. Somehow, it seemed fitting that all he remembered of his childhood would be in ruins.

Turning to leave, he spied the I think "a" would be better here sharp flash of light glittering against something small, but his memory couldn’t remember anything overly shiny in that part of the ship.

He picked his way through the depressing rubble and found the flash was a diamond amulet hanging from the shattered remains of a lamp. Despite the common myth, Rogues knew what precious materials looked like; the lower caverns of the fortress overflowed with gemstones of every type imaginable and he’d learnt Again, I'd use "learned" here. Personal taste mind you how to identify them.

The white gem had an inset of ruby carved in the shape of a roaring raptereon, but there was only one place where he’d ever seen such a creature with sabre-like teeth before and that was in a mirror. Inset into the rubies ‘eye’ was a small piece of amber, the same deep colour as his eyes. Already disturbed by the comparison, Veng turned the amulet over and felt a coldness run down his spine as he saw the word ‘Koral’ inscribed in the Thadra text. Someone had known he’d been here once before, someone important. It brought back memories of the humans before he’d fled. Memories of the pale-skinned, red-haired woman that had raised him.

Tying the amulet round his neck, Veng turned back to the pile of ruined computer pieces. He hoped that somewhere amongst the rubble was an explanation of what had happened here and why.

------