The rats walked through the vacant street with wonder. They had seen their castle with its refined etchings and ornate floors, but it did not compare to this vastness of space. Where they expected houses to be two dimensional walls with holes leading to concealed spaces, they found unique shapes and spaces, aged in their own particular ways. Built by man, not magic.
Wearily, they perused a doorway decorated with old rotten wood, unhinged from its post. They entered living quarters betraying subtle signs of life. A stone oven was visibly built into a wall, steps leading to another area and cracked, unidentifiable object sprawled across the nearly perfect flat flooring.
It evoked a sense of wonder.
It evoked a sense of dread.
Bart wondered if the dread was stronger. It looked to him like people really lived here, although whoever built these houses, these homes, must’ve been gone for a long time. Amethysts words lingered. People. What would they be like? Was this where the lizards lived? Did this mean Clementine was right about their slaughtering? He felt sick to know he could meet whoever lived here soon enough. He dreaded doing what they did to the things they met.
Curious, Brynn traced her fingers along the slightly porous walls as she scaled the stairs to the upper floor, following a peculiar smell. She found a room similar to the one below. Even here the flooring was shaped out of stone, and she wondered how this structure was built. The wonder soon made place for a different intrigue. The corners of the room were filled with carcasses, stripped of any meat. She could see rats and lizards, broken and dispersed. She picked some up, letting the bones rattle about as she turned them around in her hands to look at them. They were clearly old, though not very, and she wondered what would eat so precisely as to strip a body of its meat so thoroughly, without ripping and breaking the skeletal structure of its prey.
Her contemplation was disturbed by a high-pitched scream. A piercing screech of terror.
She would argue to have found the predator in question.
Or vice versa.
Hurrying down the stairs she found Bart, sword drawn and bloody, in front of two floored bodies. Behind him Amethyst had pressed herself against a wall. She spotted Brynn.
‘Brynn! You came!’
‘Of course, you were screaming.’
‘Haha, that wasn’t me.’
Another shape moved into the building and shot at Bart, only to be intercepted by his nervous but swift blade.
‘EEEEKK!!’
She realized she had not been thinking clearly. Anyhow, bodies on the floor, and more tried to push their way through the doorway. She picked her magical bow from her pocket, let it grow to a decent size and drew an arrow from her satchel. Within one smooth moment she nocked and loosed an arrow, piercing through about three shapes, lodging the corpses into the wall behind. This seemed to scare of the assailers, giving her a moment to look at the accumulated bodies. They wore a brown fur, but clearly walked on two legs.
She jumped down the stairs and jogged at the bodies that lay on the floor.
‘This can’t be, Brynn.’ Said Bart, hairs raised and terror painted on his face. ‘They shouldn’t be here. They shouldn’t be, and they look wrong. Brynn, I’m so confused.’ Tears seemed to well up behind his eyes and Brynn took a moment to take him by the shoulders.
‘Things are only gonna get worse buddy. You can’t fall apart on me now.’
She could see though the magical shadows, misting up from his enchanted armor, how the little rat pulled his lower lip stiff and gave her a nod.
She turned around sniffing to regard what was happening. Just how many of these creatures surrounded the building while they were distracted? Talking about which, she kicked one of the bodies on it’s back. It was breathing shallowly, its chest heaving and falling slowly as it drew in strained breaths through its pink nose, covered by brown patchy fur. This was a Ratman. There were more Ratmen in this cave. She noticed how ugly it was as she heard a loud crash from above.
Down the stairs crawled half a dozen brown Ratmen, covered in dirty rags, carrying large fangs and claws, carved into knifes. She drew another arrow as she looked at the door and nailed another group of them trying to enter the room.
Ironically, with all the corpses nailed to the door, there was no escape for them. The room continued to fill with raggedy bandits from the stairs. Their black eyes seemed menacing around their unkept appearances. Their fur was either too long in places or it was missing, implying wounds of the past. Their teeth were crooked and sharp. Their clothes fitted around them like dusty cloth. And they were all around them. They were rats in a corner.
Brynn put away her bow and drew two knives from the belt around her waist. Amethyst drew her own, if uncertain. Bart shakily held his sword and shield in front of him, fur raised.
The savages looked at them.
Stared them down.
Growled and hissed and spat.
All hell broke loose when the first jumped. Bart screamed as his sword ran it fully trough and the other rats jumped in unison. Landing on all the rats in some fashion. Knifes bounced of Amethyst her armor as she cried and swung her knife to small effect, and she fell on the floor. Brynn threw herself at the attacking rat, cutting through its neck with deftness enough to roll into another with her blades whirling. Amethyst pushed the bleeding corpse off her in a frenzy and in front of her she could see the large shadowy back of Bart, who caught two rats in front of her with his shield arm to run the blade through. He pulled it out and swung the limp bodies in the crowd, landing them in a group of hissing rats. Another one tried to slip through, but Amethyst had been pushed in a corner of the room and Bart sword had an easy reach to cut through the beast as it leapt. Quietly Amethyst wept as the Bart took the onslaught.
Brynn had jumped in the fray. She was screaming and shouting as a whirlwind of blades killed and killed. Blades broke her skin, but every small cut was traded with death, and she grinned as she delivered it. If anything ever felt true, it was this, it was death. Slowly she passed by knifes and spears to move herself onto the staircase, stopping any inflow of the rat soldiers. A dozen Ratmen growled at her loudly with blazed anger as she stepped her foot down on the first step.
‘Get your fucking balls here so I can cut them off and jam them down your throats!!’
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
The rats looked ready to take their challenge but loud screaming from outside took their attention away. Suddenly focused, they looked one way, and the whole room emptied itself through the upper floor. Brynn roared, taking down as many of the savages as she could while they tried to escape the room onto the staircase.
The space emptied itself except for the three lone rats and the corpses in the doorway. Brynn’s eyes looked bloodshot, and she screamed in rage, throwing one of her knifes into a hanging corpse, nearly splitting the skull clean in two.
Bart was breathing heavily, and his arms felt heavy. He dropped the sword and shield as he witnessed the raging stalker, and turned around to find a half frozen, petrified Amethyst. She was crying. He had to be strong. He crouched down to her. She started swatting him weakly, but he took her arms and pulled her up, taking her into a hug.
‘I need you to be strong, Amethyst. We need to safe our friend.’
She struggled weakly. However, she was no match for his strength and surrendered, leaning into him, weeping loudly.
‘I fucking warned you! I told you this would be a shit show!’ Brynn was raving in the room, manically ripping bodies from the doorway, and throwing them on the ground. ‘Get your shit together. The only way on is through these fucking ruins.’
Amethyst was too taken aback to notice anything, but Bart saw Brynn as she turned to them. He saw the terror in her eyes. She wasn’t ready for this to happen. She was trying, nonetheless. He nodded to her, ripped himself loose from Amethyst, and took his sword and shield from the ground. By the time he led Amethyst to the exit, Brynn was already done clearing the doorway.
They exit the house.
---
During exploration and adventuring, the Lizardmen take up three-man squads. These formations provide the mobility and flexibility needed to maneuver through the winding tunnels, while limiting the needed resources to sustain the group, enough so for the labyrinth to provide.
During raids they forsake this, spreading themselves to the width of the tunnels, pointing their spears forward while taking up larger, heavier shields. They push forward steadily while six bowmen walk behind, protected by a rearguard of another six soldiers.
No stragglers can escape the onslaught.
Xass strains the grip on his sword while he walks behind the nervous bowmen. He knows the importance of his position, but he can’t help but be aware he will be the last to enter fray.
Bronq and Phath carry themselves with a similar tenseness. In any other situation, this would unsettle Xass, but he knows they long for the same thing.
In these tunnels it remains calm, but in the distance, he hears the early signs. A lone echoed shout. The sound of metal. Sudden monstruous growls, closing in and disappearing just as suddenly.
In the distance he can see the light at the entrance to the ruins. The intel says the rats are living there, in one of the lost cities. The ghost cities, spread about the fifth floor. Xass remembers how back in school at the royal libraries of Palax Major, the scholars told him all about the Elden Lizardmen who populated these cities in the past, laying down the early fundamentals of modern society.
He scoured every book regarded the subject. Never did he find proof of early Lizardmen settlements before their capital. He now feels the harsh environment of the fifth floor and concludes again how the scholars lie. No lizard clan can live here. Not without each clan member having a blessing of fire or flames.
The light comes closer, and staggers as he sees the spear bearers in front of him bracing themselves against some kind of impact. A wet sound is accompanied with panicked growls. The whole squad has made a short halt, but steps into motion again. Carefully he steps over the two rat corpses.
This is the first time he sees them, just like it’s the first time he sees the ruins. The rats live there now. Who lived there in the past? On the third floor the Lizardmen are waging war against the Orcs, who are showing an unprecedented understanding of organization and strategy. They were believed to be beasts in the past, but these recent developments are shaking the established notions of sentience. It is becoming more and more clear to Xass that something else built these old cities. Someone else.
They step into the light and disbelief is short-lived.
The sight of intricately build streets and structures is obscured by blood and the still bodies of rat and Lizardmen alike. Xass grits his teeth as it becomes painfully clear what is of importance.
The soldiers bellow at the orders of the chief, and methodically the spears are driven forward. With ease they take down rat after rat. It feels just, but Xass wants to draw blood. If the army is this efficient, he will not get a turn. Not a single soldier is falling so far, and the shields take each impact, blocking every sullied weapon.
They step forward through the old street.
Xass steps over the corpse of a Lizardman, seeing the bronze scales rip apart to expose pink flesh. He looks back at it and its bloodshot eyes look back at him, betraying intense fear. He looks back at the formation pushing forward, striking down rat after rat.
Something irks him, there are too few rats. How are there so many Lizardmen lying about, dead in the street. Why are these Lizardmen even there? Their Squadron is the only one posted by this entrance. Why does that dead soldier look so scared?
‘Something moved over there.’ One of the archers mutters.
Xass looks for it, and realizes the archer is talking about the roofs of the buildings. A thought claws at the back of his head. He tries to disregard it. They can’t do something like that, he reassures himself.
Yet he stares at the rooftops, and within seconds sees it too. He shouts just in time for the other soldiers to take notice. Over fifty rats look down at them from the rooftops, like a dark mass. Weapons in hand, grinning murderously. Through strong military reflex the squadron rearranges itself to face the new threat, crowding thinner together, over half of the spearmen pointing up their weapons to catch any jumpers. The archers start loosing arrows, striking some of the enemy in an early assault. Xass and the chief rally up their soldiers to be ready for the ensuing melee.
A feeling of pride overshadows the fear and confusion. He is the reason why they stand ready to intercept this surprise offensive straight on. He holds his sword tightly in two hands. His black tunic feels cold on him, shivering with the wild movements of the magical golden threads. The threads seem almost fearful to him, but Xass disregards it for excitement. His Excitement.
All rats huddle close together on the rooftop. He can see how they crawl over each other. The savages stare down like a large shadow with a hundred beady eyes. When suddenly, within the middle of it, shine two red lights. A moment suspends as he stares into them and feels the anger and rage whirling within them. A chill runs all the way down through his tail as a red mist seeps from the behemoth, growing darker and thicker between them. A red damp cloud, almost sentient, descends upon them from above obscuring all the blue light shining from above, growing, obscuring even the rats, covering them in darkness.
Within the depths of him, he know he needs to blow it away. Carrying his soul to his throat he bellows a loud bang, echoing through the large space. Yellow flames light up the street with thick heat as the leave his fangs and fly through the red cloud to the ceiling. Like a large golden snake, it pierces through, and he sees the black mass of rats through the hole left by the flames.
He sees all hundred beady eyes have turned red. What is left of the mist descends around them. The rats start screaming and grunting and growling. A cacophony of rage ruptures his ears. He steps backward in fright and bumps into one of the archers.
‘AAARRGHSSAAGHGGHHH!!!!!!!’
The screech is so close to him, so loud it makes him gasp, and his whole body stiffens. All the tension grabs him as the lizards around him start screaming and screeching, but he can’t stop staring at the red eyes facing him down, swirling around him in hypnic motion. He can feel all the rage they feel for him. He can feel all the knives they want to stab through him. He can feel. He can feel. He can feel his heart beating rapidly as he sees formation fall away from the corners of his eyes. Around him the squadron moves about frantically thumping him around until Phath grabs him by the shoulder and steadies him.
‘Boss, we need you to settle down.’
Bronq steadies himself next to them.
Xass breathes quickly and shallowly and tries to break himself free, swatting about his sword, but the strong arms hold him tightly in place. The certain eyes of his soldiers capture him, and he manages to steady himself. Steeling himself shaking only on the inside. He nods at his comrade.
Managing a quick look around he sees some of the soldiers running away in frenzy. The soldiers that are still there have mostly broken formation, looking confused and fearful. Nobody knows what is happening. Except for maybe one man.
The chief grunts as they look at the big black mass covering the rooftops.
Xass catches his heart in his throat, feeling the residue burn.
‘This will be a disaster.’ Says the chief.