Lanius Souldread watched with glee as the recently enslaved humans were dragged to their carts. Some were resisting and brutally put to death as to deter other slaves from rebelling. Fathers and mothers were torn from their children and separated. A large commotion alerted Lanius and immediately looked over.

“Please! Ye may have us but please let our children go! They’re innocent!” A pathetic couple of humans, likely parents, pleaded. Lanius walked over to them with his heart beating with pure excitement.

“It’s precisely why we can’t afford to let them go because they’re innocent.” He relished they’re pitiful stare and licked his lips. He looked at their children and noticed that they had three daughters and two sons. “They’re more fun to play with when they’re young and naïve! I’m sure several lords back in Naggaroth would enjoy your daughters as their sex slaves.” Lanius focused his gaze on the eldest daughter. “What’s your name dear?”

“E-Ella.” She squirmed as the dark elf planted his hands on her shoulders and slowly moved downwards.

“Ella. Ella. Beautiful name and it looks like your well endowed down here.” He continued to grope her breasts until one of the sons broke free from his corsair’s grip. The young man ran towards him and tried to throw a punch towards his neck but was stopped.

Lanius gripped his wrist and twisted it causing it to break. The young man howled in pain which brought about a feeling of ecstasy. Yes! That’s it! Keep screaming! He walked over to the defiant son and kicked him over and over again in the chest and stomped on his damaged wrist. Lanius signalled his corsair, that failed to subdue the boy, and abruptly punched him right into chest and penetrated his lungs. “I don’t need weaklings in my fleet! Someone who can’t hold a pathetic human and a boy at that shouldn’t be in this fleet!” He signalled to the other corsair and was satisfied when he saw him trembling. “Take this boy and make an example out of him. Make sure to hold him properly otherwise…” He pointed to the dark elf, drowning in his own and blood and desperately trying to breath.

“Y-Yes Dreadlord! Your will is my command!” The corsair roughly took the writhing young man and stood him up and guided him towards the middle of the two posts. He spread his legs and tied them to the posts and did the same for his arms. He smirked as the young man screamed in pain again as he intentionally tightened the rope over his injured wrist.

“Looks like you have a strong son! It’s a shame that he openly defied me. An example must be shown.” He paused to let his pitiful siblings and parents beg.

“Please! He’s done nothing!” The mother shrieked.

“Take me instead! I should bear all the responsibilities that me foolish son did!”

Lanius clicked his tongue and wagged his fingers. “No can do. The rules are explicit are they not? He’s now a slave and subjected to Naggarothi laws. He defied his capture and must be punished. The moment he escaped from him,” he walked over towards his dead subordinate and kicked him. “He ceased to be innocent. However… I’ll let your son live if you… You know what, I’m feeling very merciful today. I’ll let your son live without any conditions.”

The family heaved a sigh of relief and slumped back down in the ground.

It’s always fun to inject hope into your victims before breaking it down. Their face of dread, fear and betrayal is… Is delicious! He ordered one of the scantily dressed witch elves. “That boy over there. Give him a hundred lashes with that whip. Make sure his family sees and tell one of the sorceresses to heal him if he’s close to dying. I promised to keep him alive and I’m a man of my word.”

The witch elf smiled in delight. “Gladly, Dreadlord.”

He looked over to the dozens of slaves again and smiled. They should make my family rich! Perhaps now we can have our mines worked on. Who knows what lies beneath there! The Dreadlord then realised that most of them wore thin clothes. That’s not good. They would die of the chill before reaching my- father’s domain! Mayhap, I should hire necromancers for undead labour. He rapidly shook his head. No. Too expensive. These humans will do.

“Tell a company of Darkshards and hunt some game out there in the forest. Tell them to focus on animals with fur. We might as well make use of their repeater crossbows.” He said to no one in particular and yet his orders were dutifully carried out as a faint trail of purple-black mist faded out. Looks like Doloren is doing her job. Having a sorceress greatly talented with the Winds of Shyish is very useful. The ‘Death speaks’ according to her. He chuckled at that and continued watching the brutal whipping and was delighted as his clothes were torn and shredded. Blood leaked through the gaps and poured like a fountain. He couldn’t resist giggling as his family watched on with horror.

A group of scouts with several sorceresses ran up to him and controlled their panting. Lanius noticed their eyes and facial expressions. They were panicking. They were scared. Of humans? Humans did this? He shook his head in disbelief. “What’s going on?”

The sorceress carrying several skulls around her belt stepped forward and wiped a sweat in her forehead. “Dreadlord! I have grave news! The Asur are aiding the humans! A huge army of horsemen have been partially hidden by mist and magically grown trees. Because of that we didn’t spot them in time. They should be here within half an hour!”

He laughed at that and It seemed that he wouldn’t stop. The Dreadlord couldn’t believe his luck. First, a new human colony ripe for the taking has popped up in the middle of nowhere and, now their ill-bred cousins have managed to join in the fight. If I present their heads and maybe enslave some of them surely, I could earn favours in Malekith’s court! My family would rise and maybe have Malekith’s ears! Perhaps, he could listen to our plea! The Blood God, Khaine, is truly favouring me right now. He grinned as he faced his subordinates, “Don’t be afraid! Khaine is with us! This is our opportunity to prove ourselves to Malekith! Stand ready and steadfast and order the troops to mobilise. Order the Darkshards in the forest to stay where they are and ambush those humans.”

Slaves were quickly carted of to their ships and their eager guards quickly mobilised and resumed marching towards a slight hill. An army of black armoured elves set out for glory, wealth and more slaves.

Lanius trained his eye and noticed what his scouts saw. Mists that came out of nowhere that seemed magical. A huge undergrowth of fauna that seemed to stretch towards the horizon. Looks like the Asur and humans have brought people well versed in the Winds of Ghyran. He harrumphed and snickered as he predicted their doom. Doom for the lucky. You need to be alive to be unlucky.

Suddenly, a huge group of horsemen, carrying those horrible sulphur weapons, leaped out of the shrubbery and cleared the mists surrounding them. They wheeled about and fired their weapons which caused enormous damage to the dark elves’ front lines, as the round slug penetrated their shields and dark ithilmar armour. Yet the Druchii marched on as the hidden darkshards loosed several volleys towards the imperial horsemen.

Several of them had their horse shot making them fall to the ground, with many having their legs crushed and neck snapped. Some were lucky as the bolts bounced off their steel armour and regrouped for another volley. But not all were able to regroup and a full company of corsairs leapt at this opportunity.

Unexpectedly, spider webs were formed in the sky and rained down towards them and making them grind to a halt. Net of Amyntok! Those humans can be resourceful. Several volleys of lead later and the company was reduced to a few dozen and few already routed.

Lanius watched and despaired as he bit his lip. We really need to lure those horsemen skirmishers in! “Order the darkshards to fire upon those humans.”

“But Dreadlord! We still have some of our corsairs there!” Annoyed and furious, Lanius, unsheathed his sword and beheaded his disobedient inferior.

“My orders are absolute! Never question me! Now shoot at those humans!”

The darkshards hefted their repeater crossbow and loosed several volleys within a minute. The bolts hit friend and foe alike in their hundreds.

“Men of the Empire! Take out those crossbows!” A man with a ridiculous feather on his helmet shouted.

They charged his darkshards causing a few druchii to fly away due to the sheer force of the horse. But they managed to hold their formation and drew their daggers and started hacking on their horse’s knees and pulled the humans off them

More and more horsemen charged into Lanius’ front line and towards his crossbowmen and knew it was time. He noticed a woman with white hair and beautiful green eyes, wearing barely any clothes appeared in front of him. “Doloren, you know it’s time.”

The sorceress nodded seductively towards him and started to chant. The purple winds of death were gathered within her palm and she propelled it towards the sky. She continued chanting as the movements of the winds became more rapid.

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Suddenly, the air cracked as the purple mist descended across the battlefield. The fighting raged on despite it. Seconds and minutes passed when a huge purple, crystalline orb was formed out of thin air. Humans and druchii who touched it were sucked into their doom for eternity. Vast numbers of men disappeared but the rest continued fighting.

Lanius tried to stop his eyes widening. He tried to calm his breathing. But it didn’t work. He didn’t expect that the humans, he looked down upon, would continue fighting despite their huge losses. They did not waver as they peppered them with bolts and leeched their spirits. Several dozens of them suffered the fate of Bjuna and coughed out blood as they died laughing. He picked his nails and started biting them. “Dolores, what should we do?”

“Looks like this battle is lost Dreadlord.” The Sorceress pointed towards the forest as it revealed hundreds of humans on foot carrying halberds and more of those dreadful guns. “We already have our spoils. More slaves to be sacrificed and put to work to our mines. We should retreat in the sea. We’re unstoppable in the sea.” She wrapped her arms around him and bumped her chest in his direction.

“Signal a retreat and fetch me my Cold One!” A beast as large as horse with razor sharp teeth and reptilian eyes were brought to him and he promptly went on top of him and rode him. “Let’s go Razor.” He kicked the Cold One’s side and spurred him to run. It’s a shame we haven’t managed to go deeper and capture some loot in ‘New Altdorf’. But this will do for now. Those humans wouldn’t have won if it weren’t for our treacherous cousin’s magics.

He looked back as sparks of lightning were roasting his fleeing troops and he winced. Something was odd here. Magic like that weren’t typically strong enough to cut down hundreds. Dozens maybe, but not hundreds. He wondered if there was a wandering Loremaster within the Asurian ranks. Whatever he is, he must be very strong. I was unfortunate to encounter someone so powerful when it’s my first time reaving. Is this Khaine testing me? He sped away towards the ship and encountered a group of slaves walking slowly. Infuriated, he galloped towards them.

Razor spontaneously snapped at a slave and tore his head off and quickly gulped it down. Lanius didn’t bother to steer him away and wanted to use Razor’s predatory instincts to good effect. He trailed them and was satisfied as they sped away. He killed another one just for fun.

“Dreadlord Lanius, you shouldn’t be killing them when they could be much more useful. I could’ve sacrificed them.” Doloren said.

“Those humans are literally on our heels. If I didn’t do that then they wouldn’t start running.”

“Did you really need to kill that woman? The second one.”

“Why not? She was slow and old. She had no uses.”

“She could’ve been sacrificed as a gift to the Witch King Malekith.”

“Well she’s not now. Let us not discuss any of this.” He said with irritation seeping in his voice. They boarded a huge purple ship decked with hundreds of Reaper ballistae. “Train those Reapers towards the humans. They should be getting here soon. And set sail!”

“We still have hundreds of our men out there. Are you sure you want to do this?” Doloren warned him.

“Yes, I’m sure! Fewer people to pay.” Lanius said triumphantly and looked towards his men, that didn’t manage to board on time, with disgust. Those lowborn curs expected to be paid and saved when they couldn’t even defeat humans! They weren’t even fast enough to retreat!

“If you keep doing this, you’ll develop a bad reputation. From rumours- “

“Rumours? From who? Those weaklings that are about to get slaughtered? They’d be dead by the time they start yapping.”

Doloren rolled her eyes and stared down towards the water. “It looks like its too late. But your remaining men may start spreading something.”

He clapped his hands. “Oh, from them? Don’t be worried. They will have a large piece of the share of loot!” The Dreadlord intentionally shouted and was heard by a few ships. Many overjoyed druchii wooed in awe and raised their fists into the air. “There. Done. You should put faith in me sometimes. I may be only a century old, but I know my things around here. You do don’t need to keep – “

Something passed by and hit the water next to them causing a large spurt of water to appear.

What the! He looked over towards the horizon and noticed ships bearing red griffon flags appeared and started to bombard them with unknown projectiles.

A projectile hit the upper decks and removed several people’s legs off then it stopped as it collided with the mast. Lanius and Doloren ran towards the impact and noticed a round, slightly dented, ball the size of a head. More of them were shot towards them as splinters of wood rained upon them.

“Get down, Dreadlord!” Doloren tackled his liege to the ground and shielded him.

Shocked and dizzy, Lanius attempted to survey his surroundings. An unstoppable ringing deafened him as he pulled Dolores off him. Large scars decorated her back with bits of wood sticking out. He shook her by the shoulders and shouted her name. He ignored his soldiers panicking and the general chaos of the ship and focused solely on her. The person that protected him from abuse coming from his father. The only one that has ever stood up for him. He howled in despair as she refused to wake up. For the first time ever, he felt despair. He used to give out despair but now he’s receiving it.

Tears came streaming down as he carried her body and walked towards his cabin. Miraculously avoiding lethal projectiles and wooden chips flying about.

Thwunk! Thwunk!

Hundreds of Reapers retaliated and loosed hundreds of spear length bolts towards the human ships. Most falling way ahead of the offending ships. The captain of the ship saw this and gritted his teeth. “It’s no use! We’re not in range! Unfurl the sail and get out of here!” Dozens desperately climbed the roped ladders and did what their captain told them to. They braved the lethal projectiles as it came whistling past them. Feats of bravery and valour that Lanius would notice but this time he didn’t.

He focused on his lover as he laid her down on his table and started to wipe the blood off her back and picked the wooden chips off. The grief-stricken man carried her and put her on his bed. He stripped her of her remaining clothes and admired her beauty. He caressed her white hair and sniffed it.

Lanius hurriedly took of his clothing and joined her dead lover.

One last time. He cupped her cheeks and kissed her lips. His tears blinded him, yet he could clearly see her. He felt her toughening muscles and mourned even more. She was truly dead. You shouldn’t have died for me. I’ll come back and murder anyone who did this to you. I swear to Khaine, I’ll come back. I’ll kill every human I see.

Unbeknownst to him, a powerful gale with a purple tinge started to propel his ship forward.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Admiral Hofstein observed with pride as his ship unloaded a whole broadside against the dark elf ship. Sinking it within a few minutes. Survivors, with the distinct knife-ears, were shot on sight. No mercy was given to these freaks.

He looked over and noticed some ships were getting away. Especially the ‘Ark’ ship. It seemed too small to call it that, but it was the biggest ship in this reaver party. He correctly guessed that their lord wasn’t that influential or rich due to the size of his flagship. “Wave the flag for squadron Heldenhammer to advance and cut those ships off. Focus on the small ships and sink them. We’ll board the big one. It’s likely that ship has our people. We’ll rescue them!”

A burst of approval from his crews caused them to salute. A group of men waved flags and the order was quickly relayed.

A barrage of ballistae bolts, numbering in the dozens, narrowly missed them. That was close. “Captain, those bolts were quite close. Please stay away from them.”

The burly man with an eyepatch in his left eye slightly smiled. “Admiral, they should not hit us. Their range seems to be nearly four hundred yards.”

“Ours is a mile. More than twice theirs. Please utilise it well, Arnold.”

Arnold huffed and turned his back from his superior and rolled his eyes. “Admiral Audric, I’ll try to manoeuvre Aver’s Might, so we don’t get hit. I promise that much.”

“Good.” Another sharp broadside caused his spine to tickle. Now this is what I like about being in the sea. The vibrations from cannons as they shoot out huge slugs of cannonballs. More enemies of the Empire sinking to Mannan’s graveyard!

“Don’t shoot the bigger ships. We’ll board it instead.” He looked around the battlefield and was overjoyed when most of the galley and caravel sized ships were sunk. Now, there were galleon sized ships that needed to be boarded. We’re going to lose a lot of people, but we may save hundreds of my people from a life of slavery! Sigmar bless us!

The Imperial Lustrian Fleet advanced towards the reaver fleet with many of its upper decks empty of people.

The dark elves sensing the opportunity loosed hundreds of bolts and most of them harmlessly landing on the upper deck.

“It’s fortunate that they don’t have anything that could sink our ships.” Audric said when he swiftly ducked down as a bolt pierced through his cabin roof. That was close. Too close. I rather like living. He scurried down to the lower decks and saw the standard imperial boarding formation. Handgunners to the front to soften the enemy and breakthrough their ranks. Swordsmen in the back to exploit the breakthroughs!

“We’re approaching an enemy ship! Handgunners take your position! Swordsmen prepare your boarding planks!” Captain Arnold shouted.

Dozens of gunner fire filled the sides of the ship with smoke. Dozens of dark elves fell like scythe cutting though wheat. The swordsmen hoisted and pushed the planks towards the adjacent ship and climbed on. Arrows riddled them, causing some to fall to the sea and drowned as their armour pulled them down. With years of practise, most raised their shields on time and charged.

The dark elves put a valiant defence of their ‘galleon’, but defeat was inevitable. None were spare and all were put to the sword. They rushed down the lower decks and freed up dozens. Families with children were a prioritised for evacuation. Some freed men who volunteered to join and picked up a repeating crossbow and fired it to other elves down the ship.

Similar situations were happening all around the sea. Hundreds were rescued with only dozens dying.

Audric swung his broadsword and cut the elf’s arms apart, separating it from his crossbow and gave him a quick thrust to the throat. You should be lucky that you had a quick death. He spat at the handless corpse and prayed to the group of flayed humans right beside it. Scum of the earth. Flaying a child! That ‘Dreadlord’ needs to be burnt at stake for his crimes! He watched the rest of the engagement and blindsided the numerous imperial victories. He glared as he solely focused on the ‘Ark’ ship. With numerous cutters and galleons chasing it.

The imperial ships aimed several careful shots towards the upper decks to disable or damage the mast. Despite how many masts they’ve taken down, a large gust of wind seemed to propel it. With waves forming, carrying the ‘Ark’ ship at a greater speed. It slowly sped away and left behind the imperial ships.

Hofstein slammed his fists into the railings and raged. Justice hasn’t been done! He gritted his teeth and reluctantly cracked a smile. “Don’t kill the survivors. For these deviants shall be burnt in a stake for committing these foul crimes!” He pointed towards the skinless family and his men roared with anger. Some vomiting and crying.

Justice will be done. I swear to Sigmar it will be done.