//------------------------------// // Even LESS inspired chapter title HO! (part 2) // Story: The Blacksmith, The Soldier, The Fool and The Cat // by Cheshire //------------------------------// The gryphon Warmaster shouted orders at his troops. The rain poured from the heavens. The wind howled, as if in pain. The windswept plains of the battlefield almost bled misery and death. And here, stuck in this nightmarish hell, was a scared gryphon. Barely a full-grown male, but barely out of his teenaged years. The soldier's knees clanked together in his armour, causing his commanding officer to shoot him a wary look. "Sergeant!" the captain boomed, "What is the meaning of this?" "I don't understand Sir, what do you mean?" He replied shakily. "Your armour is jangling, Sergeant! Care to explain?" "Sorry sir. It's my first deployment on 'The Plains'... I'm scared sir." "Your first..." The captain facepalmed an armoured claw into his forehead with an audible slap, sighing at the same time. "Fucking rookies... Alright, come with me. I have a job for you." "Sir, yes sir!" The Sergeant followed the Captain into his tent, wherein a group of seven or so unicorns stood at attention, sharply saluting the Captain. The tent was sparsely furnished, as were all military tents, a simple desk and a bunk, along with a footlocker containing the Captain's personal belongings. "Sergeant, these fine stallions here are looking for candidates to test a new spell, meant to desensitise troops to the horrors of war." The captain gestured to the unicorns. "Given your current state of nearly wetting yourself perpetually, I believe that this is an opportunity that you cannot afford to pass up if you wish to serve here." "Sir, it would be an honour to me to undergo this experiment," the sergeant replied "Very well. Sign here." The gryphon picked up a quill lying on the desk and attempted to sign his name. Curiously, the ink disappeared as soon as it touched the page. "No sir, we need something a little more substantial than ink," one of the unicorns said. "Well, what would that be?" the Sergeant asked. "We need blood, sir." The gryphon stared at the unicorns blankly. Had they truly asked him to sign his name in blood on the page? What was this experiment? "Don't worry sir," a unicorn stated. "We only need a drop. Anywhere on the paper is fine." Worried for what was to come, the gryphon bit the flesh on one of his talons, blood seeping out of the wound. He quickly let it drop onto the page before covering the wound. The page briefly glowed before the letters disappeared, leaving only the drop of blood and two simple words. Words that inspired fear from the gryphon. His name, etched in blood. Whirlwind Storm. ---- The group moved with haste to the address given to them by the clerk. Ponies and gryphons alike moved out of their way, knowing their serious task. News travels fast in small towns. When they reached the home of Violet Fritter, they immediately saw something which made their hearts leap into their throats and their stomachs churn. The door to the house looked to have been blown completely off its hinges, blasting wooden chips all over the interior of the abode. The windows on the first floor were broken, a slight smattering of blood coating the razor sharp edges. Quickdraw scanned the area surrounding the house, quickly noting the dead body of a diamond dog, partially hidden by the bushes, and what appeared to be part of a talon from a gryphon. While the stallion was observing the surroundings, Storm took it upon himself to attempt to figure out what happened. He looked at Dizzy, who's face had turned serious, for permission to enter the abode. She nodded slowly, her eyes hardening at the grim sight. Cheshire jumped off the gryphon's head and headed towards Dizzy. Storm entered the home through the battered remains of the front door. Almost immediately he saw signs of a struggle. The floorboards were marred beyond repair, pieces of the door had impacted on the floor with enough force to impale themselves into the thick wooden boards. Claw marks could be seen, the deep lines starting at the stairs and leading to the back exit. Storm headed upstairs. The scene on the second floor was even worse than on the first. Blood covered at least a third of the room, though he couldn't tell if it was Violet's or not. One thing was certain though, Violet Fritter could pack one hell of a kick. Teeth, most likely from a Diamond Dog, were scattered around the room, blood coating the tips. There were feathers lightly blowing around in a breeze coming in from the broken window. Furniture looked as though it had been thrown around, splintered and shattered. The sheets on the bed were torn and bloodstained. A sickening stench permeated the room, causing Storm to gag. "Damn..." The gryphon whispered. "This is one fucked up crime scene." The gryphon was quickly dragged out of his thought process when he heard a sharp whistle. "You find anything?" came a shout from below. Storm couldn't place his claw on it, but something in Quickdraw's voice sounded off. "Not really," he replied, dismissing the notion. "Do you want to come up and take a look?" "Yeah, alright." The sound of hooves coming up the stairs reached the gryphon's ears, followed by the sound of a door opening. "Damn... Fritter really made a mess out of whoever attacked her, eh buddy?" came a voice from behind the gryphon warrior. A voice that was most definitely NOT Quickdraw's. With one swift movement, Storm drew his broadsword Bothynus, swinging the tool of death in a tight arc towards his potential attacker. The blade came to a rest millimetres from the throat of a dark brown unicorn stallion. "Whoa, easy there big guy. I'm just the messenger." The stallion backed away slowly, attempting to levitate the sword out of the vicinity of his neck with great difficulty. "Damn, why can't I move your sword?" "She's made of Arcanite. Now, start talking. What did you do to my friends?" The gryphon demanded. "Nothing, I swear!" "You lie. Now talk, or I get to see what the inside of your stomach looks like." The gryphon hefted his sword lightly, nicking the stallion's throat, causing blood to drip from the wound. "I get it, I get it!" the stallion wailed. "Look, all I know is that right now, your friends are being dragged through underground tunnels to be held as slaves." "So it was Diamond Dogs?" "Yes! Please, I've told you what you wanted to know, just let me go!" Storm grunted, lowering his arcanite blade, only for the stallion to fire a blast of magic into the gryphon, flinging him through the wall and sending wooden shards raining on the pavement below. Shit, Storm thought. Alright, let's just get this over with. As the gryphon pulled himself up off the pavement and grabbed his sword, the stallion who had blasted him waltzed out through the front door, a wide smirk plastered on his face. "And the dogs said you guys looked tough. You haven't even put up a fight." Storm laughed. "You think that just because you got in a surprise attack, you've won?" He laughed again before his face fell, growing dark. "You couldn't be more wrong." Storm pumped his wings, launching himself towards the stallion while swinging the broadsword in a wide sweep. The stallion momentarily forgot the magic-nullifying effects of the blade, attempting to stop its deadly motion. He failed. The sword sliced into the stallion's face, cutting out a large chunk. Bothynus followed through completely, slicing like a hot knife through butter, resulting in the stallion's eye exploding in a shower of blood and gore. The stallion reeled back, screaming. As Storm reached the height of his follow-through, he twirled the blade, bringing it back in a thrust. The blade pierced the stallion's stomach, slicing right through to the point that the broadsword was hilted in the stallion's gut. Storm wrenched it free, grimacing at the sight. "Well would you look at that. Your insides are disgusting, just like you," Storm spat, wiping the stallion's blood from his face. "Well, that's not very nice of you to say. He was my favourite," came a new voice. "And you had to go and gut him like a fish. Oh well, he can be replaced." Storm whirled around, trying to find the source of the voice. A sudden sharp pain in his skull flared and all that followed was darkness.