FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"HRU-GAAAH!"

" Come on put your backs into it!"

"HNG-GAAAH!"

" I want that cart full before the bell tolls, come on, one last push!"

"NNNRR-RRAH!"

The sounds of monsters grunting and heaving rang through the inner quarry. Glistening bodies laden with sweat from fur and scale, the foul horde scraped and clawed at the walls with pickaxes that clanged and tinked in rippling echoes. Dark brown strata where black obsidian shone through with rough-hewn marble in its natural state. A group of lizardmen toiled away with cleaving strikes of their axes whilst occasionally looking back to see their foreman striding back and forth, the grand golem Gobanz clanking his empty feet across the hard earth. Faces became clouded in dust and grit, axes sang a symphony of sediment across the length of the great circular cavern, beasts of every size from the smallest fire wheels grinding their flames to the great hulking beasts of minotaurs and gangly demons that clawed the stone apart with huge cleaving strikes.

All throughout the mine the same could be heard and seen, different shapes and sizes all becoming one sea of soot that blended in much to Gobanz's joy. From beneath his mask he gazed upon those who worked, those who silently endured amidst those who struggled with their best. Unity and order with efforts rewarded in full as more and more minerals were piled onto carts. Soon the bell rang from far over the hills as the beast called out:

" ENOUGH! Work is over, that was an excellent haul this night!"

Sighs of relief and high-fives were heard as the mob of beasts took their axes and the last chunks of mineral towards the minecarts in the centre of the grand circular cavern. Chanoch's face was coated black next to his colleagues as the giant peered across his workers as a motley crew of lycanthropes, zombies, nagas and demons classique.

" You have all done exceptional this week, in fact I believe we have achieved twice our quota so you are all adjourned for the next six days."

"WHOOOO!"

"AWHAW YEAH!" cries of jubilation came from smog-faced werewolves and lizards.

" Return our haul and tools to the castle and you shall be dismissed for now. Thank you again for all of your work."

"Thank you mister Gobanz sir!" said the miners with a proud salute.

The long journey home was made easier by a song being chanted amongst the workers, led by Gobanz as he smiled at the joy from his minions who barked and yipped and hissed a fearsome canter that would haunt the hills of the Carpathian peaks for centuries to come. Locals who had heard the songs knew that none should ever approach the foreboding mountains, for it was when the orgy of violence and death would commence as children would disappear from the streets to become sacrifices for the dark lords of Satan. In truth it had always been a song of Dis to celebrate the end of the working day, a poem of sorts that fiends would cry for a healthy night of work and peaceful sleep.

"Gohhhh-morrrr-aaaaah, Gohhhh-morrrr-aaaaah

Weeeee march dooooown tooooo Inferrrrnoooo

Limboooo siiiiings of virtuuuuues looooost

Heaaaathens cryyyyyy for their God loves none

The winds of lust they toss and turn

Cerberus he hungers more

Cardinals smiiiiile at Pluto's punishments

So we fight on the River Syx

Emperors burn in flaming tombs

Suuuuiiiiciiiiide feeds our hearts and souls

Innnn theeee woooods where the corpses swiiiiing

Gooood aaaabaaaandons the lovers of men

Ride on the wings of our dear Geryoooon

Seeeee politicians cry when they've been caught

Thieves and counselorrrrs, and perjurers amore

Allllll shall become the Council of Brimstone

So we desceeeend, into Cocytuuuuus

Praiiiiiise be to Cain and his bloodlust rank

For his wrath had spilt, the first stones of blood

Soooo we have buiiiilt our home from his

Alllll that has beeeeen shall become Man's sin

ALLLL THAT HAS BEEEEEN SHALL BECOME MAN'S SIIIIIIIIN!"

Their laughter rang out as a horrid cry of screeching howls and wretched ululations that frightened dogs and made children sob in their sleep. But there was joy in their hearts not from criminal deeds but from hard labour's fruits as they pushed the minecarts further along the trails that had long since been abandoned by mortals who knew this place was cursed. Having taken the mine for themselves the beasts of Dracula's castle had toiled and birthed the fruits of minerals to strengthen their new home with fine marble and obsidian, as well as any other precious minerals they managed to gleam from the caverns. The tracks had been reformed by demonic engineers who simply added large stone gates of blasphemous figures to where the tracks began and ended, teleporting the entire crew from the exit of the mines to the underground of the castle. There were also mines beneath the castle where bedrock was torn through for more materials, but the group Chanoch was with had been tasked to go further for their riches. The wormhole that sucked them through the gates in a cosmic fire pulled their souls briefly from their bodies before reassembling form as they pushed their minecart through.

"Ugh," shuddered Zhao, "I can't get used to that feeling."

"I can't get used to not having breasts," said Ravinder walking beside, "is this how you men feel every day?"

"I cannot tell you dear," said Karam wrapping his tail round hers, "I can only say that the soot on your face has done nothing to diminish your beauty."

"HAH, hmhmhmhahaha, ohhhh you terrible charmer."

"How come you never say that stuff to me?!" cried Lihua at Chanoch.

"I'm not your husband," he replied pushing the cart.

"And why not?! She leaned against the cart making it harder to push. "I'm young, I'm fit, I can run and climb where you can't!"

"No."

"Oh come on Noch, you an' me, fightin' and pickin', you take out the guards, I climb in through the window, you could even piggyback me!"

"Enough Zhao," said Matthieu pulling her off the cart, "you only want him because you do not have him, like any thief thinks."

"Wha-I am OFFENDED, why the fuck wouldya say that you donkeyfucking shit?!"

"Because the only things you want are the things that other people have, like a thief."

"I am not just some basic criminal, I am a PROFESSIONAL!"

"A professional thief is still a thief."

"So a professional murderer is still a murderer hmm, hmm like you mister crusader?! Chopping the heads off arabs, you know you'd have been crucified to FUCK if you weren't a knight!"

"I would yes." The French reptile shrugged. "I am not going to hide from the truth I now see."

"Oh how conveeeenient," she said moonwalking up beside him, "you going to renounce your sins, eat some biscuits and wine to wash down the cockmilk that priest fed into ya-DHHFFFF!"

She suddenly felt the backhand of Chanoch smack her down hard to the floor as he kept pushing.

"Thank you," said Matthieu smiling.

"Wh-WHAT THE FUCK?!" she shouted staggering back up behind them. "If I start bleeding I'll make you pay for it!"

"With what?" cried Ravinder. "Chanoch never has any money on him!"

"Much to my chagrin," said Karam with exaggerated slap to the head, "how am I supposed to practice my sales patter when he is poorer than a Roman?!"

"You can't win them all my love. But you have won me." She smooched him on the lips as his tail went stiff with excitement. "And I think that was the best bargain you ever had."

"Ohohhhhh now YOU are the terrible charmer!"

"I learned from the best," said Ravinder winking at him, "or perhaps did YOU learn from the best?"

"Hmhmhmhmmmmm..." They gave each other a smooch. "Ravinder Jandhu your words continue to trap me."

"That is not the only thing I can trap you with."

"Uuuugh," sneered Zhao, "can you just not do this schmoozy crap when I'm around?"

"Put your hands over your ears and turn away then."

" I see you are adjusting well."

Gobanz strolled up besides them with heavy steps as they stood firm in walking pace as if about to march.

" Are you well Chanoch?"

"Yes sir," he said bowing, "thank you."

" No thank you, you all have done marvellous work this week. I am actually here to borrow monsieur Seraine for a quiet discussion if you please."

Matthieu nodded and walked off with him as they went to a small nook and spoke in hushed whispers. The group tried to move in closer but Gobanz raised his hand and spirited up a forcefield that prevented any sound from passing both ways as Zhao kicked the carpet.

"Oh come on! What the shit's so important we can't hear?!"

"Well considering you have a mouth that runs free like a wild pig," said Karam swinging his arms to loosen them.

"WHAT, FUCK OFF KARAM!" She shouted shoving him back. "You wanna talk back to a thief that can make your merchandise disappear?!"

"Yes because I have Chanoch guarding my wares and he is not so fooled by your trickery."

"You kidding this guy's a golem!" said Lihua pointing up at his face. "He's slow as hell he can't catch me and if he tries to swing at me I can dodge like tha-E-ECHHHKH!"

She felt the scruff of her neck being hoisted powerfully by the giant lizard, choking and gasping as she tried to kick at his blank expression before he dropped her on her ass.

"You were saying?" said Mr. Jandhu with a smirking bow.

"I-i was just letting him!" she flustered with a jump back up. "Just to get him all confident, he needs it!"

"You could certainly share that confidence," said Ravinder with hands on her hips, "you're a Chinese Croesus."

"Who the fuck is Croesus?!"

"Steal more books for once and you'll find out."

"Do not steal the books," warned Chanoch with a hard finger on her head, "I will kill you."

"Wow, okay." The smallest reptile backed off with a leer at him. "You sure escalated the fuck out of that."

"To be fair the books are our most valuable resource," said Mrs. Jandhu clasping her hands, "they are to be enjoyed by everyone in this place."

"I know I know, I wasn't gonna steal them, YOU suggested it why didn't you finger HER big guy!?"

"I have a husband for that thank you."

"HAH!" Karam chortled with a clap of his hands. "Hmhmhahaha, my god Ravinder!"

"What, is that not the truth?!"

"Yes but you need not be so blunt about it, we have Chanoch already for bluntness in our group!"

"Except for his sword naturally."

"Which one?" said Lihua wiggling her brows.

They all laughed except for Chanoch who stood grim and imposing above them. Soon their commander and Matthieu had finished their talk with the forcefield disabling as they rejoined the group.

"Everything alright?" asked Karam.

"Yes," said Matthieu nodding calmly, "we were just discussing matters concerning the other officers."

"What you up for a promotion or something?" asked Zhao jutting forwards like a rooster.

"No, but as your captain I am privy to certain information."

" Of which we cannot always share," added the armoured beast, " you are all dismissed until next sunday so please, enjoy yourselves and stay out of trouble."

"Yes sir."

The iron giant walked off as the lizardmen went towards the mess hall to fill their stomachs. Curry and meat bowls by the dozen with a sumptuous garden of vegetables stretching across the tables as they picked and ate whatever they managed, knowing any food leftover would be recycled as rotting food for those with such vulgar tastes. Demons bantered and hovered past skeletal waiters that kept serving food with new plates and orders rolling whilst swishing their immaculate coattails behind them. After dinner they all headed to the library to rest and read up on their current favourite books. Ravinder took out the "Records of the Great Historian" by the Chinese astrologer Sima Tan; Karam read up on the "Book of Dede Korkut" from ancient Turkey; Zhao was soon entranced by the great epic "Beowulf" whilst Matthieu became engrossed by Emperor Constantine VII's "De Administrando Imperio"; and lastly Chanoch found himself burying his snout within the works of Prudentius' "Psychomachia".

"It's kinda weird how you guys write," said Zhao, "but yanno, you got some awesome stories over in Europe."

"The fantasies by which we were fed upon," said Matthieu flicking the page, "become an entire new world to those such as you. In turn when I read the works of Genshin I too was in awe of the legends that I am unfamiliar with that I am sure you are all too knowledgeable of."

"Well that's more Japan but, yeah I get what you mean. You seem to like those old reference books more though?"

"I do indeed."

"You ever heard of this guy called Sun Tzu?" She her book with her thumb inside briefly. "He wrote this incredible book called 'The Art of War', it's fantastic, I read it once and uh, I don't get the war stuff much but-"

"I too would vouch for that book!" cried Karam boldly. "It is not just useful in war but it can also be applied to business strategy and how it encourages both diplomacy and the bonding of nations for future relations to prevent further conflicts."

"So it is a pacifist's guide?" asked Matthieu raising a brow lengthening his scarred cheek.

"No no it speaks of planning in all sorts, including that of battle by theories that can be used, but also applicable to other fields!"

"Hmmm...I will read up on it after this."

"What is your book about?" asked Ravinder licking her thumb and flipping the page.

"It is a foreign policy manual that a Roman emperor made for his son. Constantine VII was a very methodical scholar, and it explains well how to balance the various cultures within the Roman empire to appease everyone, from magyars to saracens."

"Wooooooow that sounds-PLLLBT!" Zhao made a fart noise with thumbs down. "You can't just read some good epic or something, what's the point of reading something that's just a...i-instruction manual?!"

"I like reading manuals," said Matthieu without looking up from his book, "unlike some I enjoy learning new things, historical and future things."

"You last read a fucking manual on agriculture, like SERIOUSLY?!"

"Yes, and it was also by Constantine VII, it was very useful about learning how to raise a farm, horticulture, cultivating olives for oil."

"You want to raise a farm?" Chanoch looked up only once to turn his head to Matthieu.

"Yes," he turned his head back to him, "there was an entire section about the management of bees that was actually very fascinating."

"Bees? For, honey?"

"Yes you can raise them to make honey for you."

"...my grandmother used to make honey."

He leaned back in his seat with a heavy sigh as the room became heavy all of a sudden. They started to look in different directions nervously avoiding any talk that could lead to further upset until Matthieu leaned over to pat his leg.

"When I have my own farm, I shall make you some honey and if you like I can teach you how to make some yourself."

"Really?" he asked plaintive.

"Why yes of course."

"Wait when you gonna get a farm?!" asked Zhao almost accusing.

"I am planning on getting transferred," explained the Gaullic lizard sitting back up, "I...well, I was not planning to mention this yet but I am making an application to move to the Phlegethon unit."

"Wha?! But that's like, all the way down in the southeast Carpathian!"

"Yes, we are growing a plantation for crops and I registered myself to be a farmer for the task. I wanted to do that when I retired from the crusades."

"Pffft, a knight retiring to be a farmer, whoever heard of THAT?!"

"I think that is a wonderful idea," said Ravinder standing up with book to her chest, "you would make a fine ploughman Matthieu!"

"Thank you Ravinder. Would you like to come along too Chanoch?"

"I...I am not sure," mumbled Jarogniew looking downwards.

"You do not have to apply now, perhaps later once we have established our crop sets."

"Alright. Thank you."

"AND I can sell the crops!" said Karam standing up next to his wife. "Or perhaps I can find some fertiliser to sell TO the plantation, this is a wonderful idea!"

"And I'll do nothing!" cried Zhao throwing herself back into her seat. "Because I am not a loser who works their ass off for nothing!"

"Instead you are a loser who works to BECOME an ass for nothing."

"HEY, fuck you!"

"HHhhaahahahahaha!" they all cackled at her frown except Chanoch who smirked faintly.

"We were a close group," said Chanoch in his patient's bed, "Karam and Ravinder were together always, every plan they had involved some sort of trade."

"I see," James nodded scribbling names and basic descripts, "was this Ravinder also a trades seller?"

"No she was a medic. Zhao was a thief, annoying but feisty. Had a lot of energy, always got things for us that we needed. Matthieu was our captain, he was a sheriff who taught me many things."

"And those were all the people that you assisted in desertion?"

"Yes," the lizardman nodded. "Except Matthieu...he was not around at that time."

"Why?" James scooted closer on his seat. "Did he not agree to the plan or was he promoted to his farming unit?"

"Something happened. The next year, 5167 I was in the church, cleaning with Matthieu because our master was coming to inspect it."

"Your master?"

"Dracula. Lord of the Night."

"How are you faring dear Chanoch?" asked Tabris hovering behind him.

"Good," muttered Chanoch scrubbing harder.

"You have been doing tremendous work for our chapel, I must thank you again for this."

"It is fine. I like keeping hands busy."

"The devil makes work when idle yes? I suppose in this case you are working FOR-oh never mind regardless I am very grateful for your diligence. Mister Seraine how are you faring?"

"Very well," replied Matthieu cleaning off a statue above them, "I am astonished for how much grime these busts can gather."

"You should see my bust," said Kael snorting in mid-flap alongside him, "Tabris never keeps his hands off of it."

"Kael belay that talk, this is not the time!"

"Awww you know you love it cherub." He swooped down beside the dominion and smooched his beak with a hard grope to his rear. "I think we're all ready for the big reception."

"Not so fast," tutted Tabris with a waving finger at his snout, "did you clean out the bells?"

"Yeeeeees mother."

"Do not chide me, cleanliness is next to godliness!"

"So why do we have soap in THIS place?"

The demon-croc pulled a wide smirk that reached the length of his entire face, much to the angel's annoyance as his orb gleamed with greenish-red. Chanoch was polishing the marble floor on his hands and knees with firm dragging knuckles against the cloth until he could see his own face mirrored within. Matthieu was above him on a pulley system carefully smoothing out the grit that had gathered up in the statues' crevices, gouging the eyes and patting down the arms with a wax-coated cloth until the pre-Renaissance sculptures shined like the faces of newborns.

"Just because we are abandoned by God does not mean we have to debase ourselves with filth, we are not like Beelzebub."

"He is right," said Chanoch continuing to scrub, "look after yourself."

"Well I appreciate the concern but my cockliness is next to THIS godliness!"

"AAAAH!" The angel shivered from feeling a hand pull up his ass. "G-god's TEARS Kael you are the worst!"

As the two entities teased each other the rest of the church continued on with a grand project to scrub off every nook and cranny they could reach. Gargoyles, fiends and angels flew across the great cathedral in systematic organised groups until the length and breadth of the place was gleaming the falsest light one could mimic from the grace of God. Stained glass windows became brighter than before as ghosts carefully cleaned the coloured panes with the softest touches, swords possessed by phantoms scrubbed the rafters clean of bird droppings and grime whilst a hoard of imps steam-scrubbed the carpets on the stairs that lead to the higher echelons of the chapel.

Chanoch and Matthieu worked largely in the foyer where the light of stained glass bathed upon their backs. Rose-coloured fractals gleamed across the

faces of statues, their smiles Romanesque with unflinching eyes of blind insolence to God himself, turning their faces from the light and shunning with their hands in various postures as if about to perform a dance of satanic virtues. Hours passed, from top to bottom the place was sparkling and all they had to do was now wait for their master's presence. Angels lined up with demons as ghosts and swords hovered next to lizardmen and small rogueish imps gripping their spears where fire flickered out occasionally like oil rigs burning out.

"Nervous?" asked Matthieu beside Jarogniew.

"No," he replied with hands behind his back.

"You have never met the lord of this castle personally until this day."

"He is a man."

"Vampire," corrected Seraine with a slight lean.

"But still a human body," noted Chanoch, "I have seen worse."

"Have you?"

The Polish beast said nothing. But his face became tighter as Matthieu nodded in understanding.

"He is a good man. Despite what you have heard."

"What would I have heard?" asked Jarogniew with a slight turn.

"He is the Lord of Vampires," shrugged the Gaul, "what else do you expect to hear?"

"Hmm."

"Here he comes."

The doors soon opened with a grand sweltering mist of blackest fog and red mist. Thunderous sounds followed behind it as the room shook with seething power, the bells trembling with fear that all creatures felt in their very souls that made them balk and cower instinctively from the door. Some of the larger demons even started sobbing, quiet but noticeable with tears down their cheeks as the chapel became frigid all of a sudden. Walking behind the fog were three creatures. The bird-beast holding a spear and the giant bat that Chanoch both recognised from his first days in the coliseum, along with the phantom of Death who floated like a mourner's veil with scythe in hand. Before their eyes the dark vermillion mist took the form of a cloak as something vaguely human appeared from within. A gaunt face of thin beard that tapered from his chin, his eyes were darker than the storms of Hell and his skin resembled tombstones in its hard pallour.

His walk was lithe with infinite strength, despite his lean posture and tight suit he had the most threatening aura Chanoch had ever witnessed in any creature he had met. Violence and sorrow followed this man's wake, this thing, this anomaly that darkened the marble behind him when shadows followed his every move like servants bound to his feet. His cloak did not move naturally with any wind, flapping like the wings of demons before wrapping tightly against its owner's body to resemble a cowl prepared for the rituals of night. Each step he took echoed throughout the chapel as even the statues shivered around them with a primal terror that all understood. It was the nightmares of children. The dark caverns and the howling beasts of ancient man's first steps into the world. It had always been there since mankind was born, that fear of the unknown. It had just never been given a form until now. A form to which all creatures kneeled to, including the angels and demons apart.

"The chapel may soon have an extension to the cloisters," began Death floating beside him, "I have spoken with the arbiters for when the castle shall change."

"We have concluded it was 'when' and not 'if'?" said Dracula with a calm voice.

"Indeed. I present to you our prime emissary of the chapel."

"My lord." The angel bowed with his severed kness touching the floor. "We are so very honoured that you would grace us with your presence."

"The pleasure is mine," he bowed curtly, "what is your name, dominion?"

"Tabris, my lord."

"Ahhh...I remember you. Hmhmhm, a fine wedding that Saint Peter himself would have fainted from."

"O-only through your grand piety, my lord!" Tabris blushed with delight and hands clasped in prayer. "You offered my partner and I so much more than love, for you gave us a home and acceptance amongst those who were damned as us."

"You have done well with this chapel," the master looked round at the arches above noticing the spick-and-span, "more spotless than the Virgin."

"Thank you my lord. May I present to you our patrons who so toiled to respect this house?"

"Indeed, lead on sir Tabris."

Carefully floating just above the ground the angel introduced his lord to each and every one of the staff awaiting him. Even Kael remained stoic and obedient without showing his teeth in a tender smile and bowed with respect. But something made Chanoch even more nervous than the approaching vampire. He looked towards Matthieu and saw his face had turned pallid, his knuckles tightened to the extreme and the slightest gulping motion.

"Are you...alright?" he asked quietly.

"Yes," croaked Seraine, "just focus on him."

"You are frightened. Of him?"

"Yes. That."

He knew he was lying. He had no time to question him however when he felt the icy touch of Death forcing him to look back towards his master, a soft whispering cloak of black as he stood straight to his fullest. Despite the fact he clearly towered over him, Chanoch felt weak before his master of the castle who stood fully at 6'4'' despite the cloak's deceptions. His voice was an eerie calm like the eye of a storm, husky but quiet as if it could suddenly roar with a moment's notice.

"What is your name, soldier?"

"Chanoch...sir."

"Be that your sword I spy upon your armaments?"

"Yes."

"May I see?"

He offered his hands which slipped free from his cloak, as Chanoch felt a terrible threat from the entourage when Death looked upon him with cold empty sockets that told him to do exactly as requested. He carefully stepped back to slip off his sheath and knelt to offer it to Dracula, the master lifting it from his grasp using a dark magical state with hand raised to unsheath the blade carefully from its baldric. Without touching the blade he turned it in his magic grasp, noting its sheen and sacred glyphs.

"This is an exceptional weapon...who gave you this?"

"My father," said the lizardman bowing his head, "it is...our family's sword, my liege."

"I have rarely seen a soldier of your rank with such a fine blade. Forgive me for the odd request, but I was curious."

The lord gently returned it back to him as Jarogniew reattached the baldric to his waist.

"When did you first arrive here?" he asked Chanoch.

"The year 5068...sir."

"Five-oh...ah, of course, your calendar, so that would be 1308......did you come from Gdansk?"

"...yes."

His face became a grimace of fear when he felt Dracula's hand upon his shoulder. His voice however was strangely tender, one that reminded him of his own father.

"I am sorry for your loss. What happened there was but an atrocity."

"...th-tha...thank you, master."

"I hope that you have found new friends and, perhaps some form of peace in our ranks."

"I...I-i have."

"Are you saying that only for the sake of fealty?" He spread his hands with a gentle flap of his cape. "We are all but God's children who have been abandoned by His means, you can speak frank. I would not want any of us to feel unwelcome if we are all to fight for the same cause."

"I...do not know," he gulped nervously with a tense blink, "I have friends. They are good to me. But I feel...I have betrayed my family."

"I see. Have you renounced God?"

"I...I-i-...forgive me, sir, but I have not."

"No. It is fine." He smiled like the monk bracing himself for execution. "I too was once but a child who could not bring himself against his father, it is only natural to feel such when He has long indoctrinated you since your conception. I wish I could offer you words that wouldst make a balm upon your heart, but I do not think I can. I can only offer our home to be yours in turn and how you shall always be welcome amongst us...so long as you respect us and not undermine our efforts."

"No, sir. Thank you."

"Look after your sword. It is more than just a blade."

The count nodded with these final words and walked on to speak with Matthieu. There was a moment of silence between them as Seraine tightened his lips, his legs twitching at the knees.

"And what is your name, soldier?"

"...Matthieu Seraine, master."

"Ahhh." His hand went to his shoulder. "Legally I am not allowed to speak on the matter, you understand yes?"

"Yes, my liege."

"I only hope that justice will be served. How long have you been with us?"

"I was recruited in 1244 from...Jerusalem."

"Ahhhh. Yes, the siege that ended the Sixth Crusade, so you are a Frank."

"Yes, my liege."

Dracula nodded whilst Chanoch looked towards Matthieu, his eyes leering without turning his head. But one look from Death forced him to stare straight ahead stiff as a corpse.

"Then allow me to be...frank, with you, hmhm."

He leaned close towards Matthieu's ear. Whispered something. The reptile stuttered with a face white as a sheet, and fell to his knees in a horrified grief. For the first time since his arrival Chanoch saw the tears of his captain, sobbing to a tremendous cry that all of them ignored for the sake of modesty. The Lord of the Night walked past his sobbing form as did Death and his servants who looked once at Chanoch and nodded respectfully. He could not stop, his tears continued flowing against his will as he slumped forwards and screamed into the marble. No one said anything.

"I never knew what Dracula said to him," explained Chanoch with a heavy sigh, "but I feel it was the beginning of the end for him."

"What do you mean?" asked the lemming shifting his legs.

"...I am thirsty, may I drink something?"

"OH, yes of course one moment."

He swiftly headed out the room to pour a glass of water. Chanoch took a moment to himself to make a quiet prayer whilst he was absent, sighing morosely as he stared up towards the ceiling. The light of fluorescent low-energy bulbs gleamed in his eyes with a slight sting as he pondered on its source.

"Here you are," James returned with a glass of water.

"Thank you," the patient drank up in a gentle gulp, "mmmh...strange fire."

"Oh, that is electricity," explained James peering at the bulb, "the people in this place use electric power for essentially everything!"

"Really? Electric...we had some things in the castle powered with that, but not lighting. We had torches."

"I know some tribes back in my realm used electricity," replied the lemming scratching his head, "but not mine, we are rather rustic in our ways."

"What ways do you have?" asked Chanoch leaning against the side of his bed.

"Well we live in small houses, huts practically of stone and wood, we craft things by smitheries, we have books in a library and practice our magic, but most everything we have is operated by both fire and water."

"How long have you been a mage?"

"Oh, years now since I was...nine, ten perhaps?" The scribe tapped his pencil to his chin. "Master Durai, you have not met him yet formally but he taught me everything and he is wonderful."

"Matthieu taught me many things," said Chanoch rubbing his head, "not as master, but as a friend of superior rank."

"Yes, you were telling me about your friend Matthieu, what happened?"

"It was...thirty-one years after I met Dracula. I was promoted to captain, Matthieu was lieutenant-colonel. We were on a mission, Gobanz was not leading us because it was a special assignment."

"What was special about it?" asked James scribbling things down in preparatory.

"Gobanz sent us out to dispose of enemies, reconnaissance, or mining crystals. He was our general, but Malphas needed a group for special ops so he chose us. Expendable. We went to a village."

"I hate this," muttered Ravinder, "why do we have to do this?"

"Because we are dogs of war," said Karam trudging upwards, "regardless of who we serve, we are still fodder for the blades."

"Gobanz never saw us that way," said Zhao rubbing her sleeves, "he always made us feel like we mattered, not this-"

"Shut up," warned Chanoch, "he can hear you."

"He's a fucking crow not a bat."

"He is a marshal, we must respect him."

"None of us like Malphas let's stop pretending this isn't bullshit."

"Enough."

They stopped as Matthieu turned with a brazen finger towards Lihua.

"You are part of this army, you must obey whoever our commander is."

"He's NOT my commander, not even yours."

"For this mission he is. He requested us to join his unit for this excursion and we must comply with the will of our superior."

"Also because he outranks Gobanz," said Mr. Jandhu adjusting his waist, "much as he tried to protest he had no place to stop Malphas from taking us along."

"It's still bullshit," said the thief crossing her arms with a sneer, "he fucking killed your friend Verderonne don't you hate him for that?!"

"Verderonne made his choice," said Matthieu turning his back to her, "a poor one yes but it was his choice regardless and I did everything I could to help his case for how long it took."

"I only hope Ruissel has found him again in the underworld," said Ravinder with clasping hands to her chest.

"No. Traitors do not enjoy such luxury."

"They...they do not?"

"No, they are turned into monsters even more debased than we, he has become a serpent left to guard the underpassage like every other wretch."

"A-are you serious?!" gasped she stepping back. "One of those...awful bonedragon beasts?!"

"A punishment eternal," added Seraine sighing, "their bones reformed into an aberration to serve, their powers of free will taken from them to become nothing more than slaves of the damned."

"Holy shit," muttered Zhao clenching her fists, "so...wh-what happened to Ruissel?"

"He is in the underpassage too. He personally requested to transfer to that section so he could refind his friend. I hope that he did...I did everything I could."

They said nothing more as they continued climbing the mountain, separate from the rest of the creatures that moved in their own various units accordingly. Four squadrons including themselves marched up the hills beneath the dark Romanian night, claws and talons crunching into muddy stones underfoot as frigid slopes threatened to send them slipping back. Except for Malphas who floated effortlessly above the ground like an angel of death, his black wings silent and his white beak shining below the half-moon scape.

"Halt."

The forces stopped upon a small cliff as the crow-demon stood upon its precipice. The lights of two villages stretched below them and reached out towards the southern fields, spanning a good twenty square miles of a modest settlement. From the mountains above they waited as Malphas shuddered his wings to become four ravens that croaked and flapped across the sky, gently hovering upon the breeze that swept cold from the Carpathian mountains. Silence for eternity as the horde of wolves, lizardmen and lesser demons waited behind him until his ravens flocked back to him. His cold skull beak nestled against their faces, chittering little sounds only he understood from gravelled throats.

"There is a legion of knights in this place, Teutonic order, the last remnants from the Ottoman campaign."

He watched his ravens dig into his chest, stabbing through his feathered hide and absorbing back into his being before turning to his troops.

"The Burzenland is their last vestige from the remains of their infighting. Let us teach them that our master does not tolerate intruders belligerent. We cannot kill every civilian, just the soldiers and those of status so as to keep them simple and blind, and then we shall offer them our services of protection from God's accursed light. Alberti."

"Yes sir." A werewolf bowed clad in Venetian armour.

"You advance directly to the north village in front of us, frighten the citizens and bring the soldiers to your position. Fhorvin, your unit shall destroy the seat of their government and plant their council's heads upon the spikes."

"As you wish sire," said a lesser demon of dark green wings.

"Mohr, you join me skirting east towards the edge of the village, we shall use the river to trap them in. Seraine."

"Yes sir." Matthieu stepped forwards.

"Your team divert to the western reach to where the church is. Destroy it, and kill every member of the clergy with their parts scattered across the ruins."

"Wh-what?!" The soldier balked stepping back.

"Let us begin." The crow-fiend turned back towards the village. "Mohr and I shall leave first to set our positions. Then Alberti, Fhorvin and lastly Seraine so as to give the clergy time to retreat to the church and cower-"

"No."

The marshal turned his head with a slow creak of his skull.

"...what?"

"I will not...do this," said Matthieu gritting his teeth, "I will not kill those of the church."

"Are you...questioning me?"

The great wings of Malphas loomed before him with fearsome grace and hollow eyes that burned an unflinching threat into his

"You dare question your superior, lizard?"

"I cannot defile a house of God, not any of them or any faith."

"I do not care what you cannot do. That, is but God's kindergarten where He introduces his chains of bondage, without a church the people here shall see the truth, blinded not by His ego."

"I do not care what YOU think, I will not become an iconoclast!"

"Become? BECOME?!" The monstrous raven shrieked upon his face. "Have you forgotten why you are part of us, infidel? Did you forget the sins against your pathetic kind that you committed in Jerusalem?"

"I have not, that is why I will not do this again. I will not pillage that sacred house through which these poor people have nothing but to turn to."

"Trapped within a tomb of love and trust that they call marriage?!" barked Malphas lurching over him. "For the sin of women to be childless, for the sin of husbands to be without wife, you would allow those who suffer such indignities, to not free them as widows from their incarceration of GOD?!"

"No."

Matthieu pulled his sword from his sheath and tossed it onto the dirt. The crowd of beasts shook with breaths astonished at such insolence and for a moment there was silence. The raven took Matthieu's sword up into his hands and slowly tightened his grip. The blade shook as his talons cut into the steel without bleeding a single drop before it snapped completely in half. Before any of them could react, Malphas plunged the broken tip straight into Matthieu's stomach as he cried in shock, followed by the shattered hilt that drove violently into one of the lizard's knees to crack the bone and send him falling to a kneel.

"A-AAAAAAARGH!"

"I. Do not tolerate such insolence."

"AAAARRRRGH!"

"Especially not from a lizard that confuses freedom with treason."

"Then...k-kill me," he spat blood trickling from his lips, "you are nothing but a sadistic bastard, I know you enjoy this."

"You could not possibly understand me, degenerate."

"I know you well enough. I know you...enjoyed watching me struggle to help my friend that you sentenced...robbed his mind of all free will and lording it over me!"

"He made his choice." Malphas pulled the soldier's head up to face him. "Twould appear your heart is still human and frail-ugh!"

Matthieu spat upon his beak with a thick snort of blood from his throat as the soldiers gasped at his insolence. The marshal shook with barely-contained rage as he backhanded him across the face, almost bowling him over to leave a gouging wound upon his cheek.

"Is that...all you have?" chuckled Seraine with bloodied teeth. "This is MY choice...now kill me, like you wanted."

"Oh, fear not, I am not going to kill you. He will."

He pointed to Chanoch as everyone backed away. The tallest of the reptiles shook his head fearfully as Malphas stepped towards him.

"What is your name? Answer, that is an order."

"Ch-..Chanoch."

"Are you going to disobey me too? Hmm?!" He looked over towards Karam, Ravinder and Lihua. "You? Perhaps YOU?"

The crow walked in a single pace in front of them, slowly stroking each of their faces with deathly-cold feathers.

"Is your entire unit about to disobey me?"

"NO!" cried Seraine struggling to turn his head. "N-no, leave them I chose to do this myself, THIS IS MY CHOICE!"

"In that case they should have no issue with following orders from their superior, yes?" He turned back to Chanoch. "You. Take out your sword."

He kept his hands against his sides quivering through this knees.

"Take, out, your sword, NOW!"

He felt his arms become stiff beneath the shrieking gaze of Malphas. The raven tightened his neck with crimson eyes and planted his hand on Chanoch's shoulder. He felt a gentle creak, his spine suddenly weakening as Malphas' fingers became burning black flames.

"Do any of you reprobates even KNOW who I am?"

The reptile sputtered and moaned with gentle spasms twisting through him, creeping anguish that clawed through his mind as his eyes rolled back and his legs turned weak in the midst of his first heart attack.

"I am but a great prince of Hell, once second in command to Satan himself. I can take your body away from you. I can destroy your thoughts and desires, your mind a blank slate upon which nothing shall be written, and with that I shall rend your body to become a prison FAR worse than the Pharaoh of Egypt made your people build."

"GH-gghhrlllk...h-hrrrghk!"

His arm became numb, his speech started to slur and he felt his throat closing up in a violent strangled scream.

"If you wish to fight me, son of Moses, then you should have fought better than your family did whom those wretched dogs in the village SLAUGHTERED!"

"_A-A-aAAAAAAAGH! GH-GHRRR KLLAAAAAAAARGHH! _"

"Now."

He released Chanoch's shoulders who leaned forwards with a screaming cough.

"Take out your sword and kill this traitor."

Struggling to pull himself up he grabbed for his sword and winced with shaking fist. He unsheathed his blade as Malphas forcefully turned Seraine round to face his unit, growling in agony as his shattered knee scraped into the dirt. The Jandhus braced against each other as Lihua cowered behind them, watching Chanoch be forced to stand at his side as executioner.

"If I do not see his corpse upon the earth in three minutes, I shall kill you and the rest of your unit for treason."

"N-no, no d-don't DO IT!" cried Zhao.

"Matthieu," whimpered Karam, "why...why did you do this?"

"I-i cannot...forgive me," gasped Seraine with bleeding chest, "I cannot bring myself to do this again...please."

He looked up towards his soldier.

"Kill me."

"But," he gasped with quivering blade, "b-but, I-"

"Do it. I deserve this. Not you, not any of you. I shall let God judge me."

"You shall not," said Malphas putting his foot on Seraine's back and forcing him to bow painfully, "you shall be judged by ME, not your paltry excuse of a creator."

"D-do it, DO IT CHANOCH! KILL ME!"

"I-i do not, want to-"

"THAT IS AN ORDER, SOLDIER! I will not let this unit die because of me now KILL ME!"

"Ch-chanoch." The voice of Ravinder cut through his thoughts as he turned. "I...I do not want to say this. Please, do not make me say it."

"R-ravinder...no-"

"Please...do what he says. Let his last order be that."

Tears grew upon their eyes as the other units watched in a fretful awkwardness. Demons flapped their wings gently, the whimpering of wolves became mutters of discontent that Malphas silenced with a look to them. Chanoch stared upon his friend whose nape of the neck was exposed fully to him. He tried to raise his sword, but he struggled everytime to do so always faltering with a gasping choke.

"One minute."

Malphas kept his foot upon his subject's back, claws digging through the old armour and raking through his scaled flesh as Matthieu winced.

"H-here are my last words...to all my friends, my unit...I...forgive you."

He watched the earth before him turn wet.

"I-i forgive you, all of you, whatever happens after this...I...f-forgive you."

"Thirty seconds."

"Chanoch...I have taught you everything I could. Please...remember this."

"Twenty seconds."

"Always...protect your friends. No matter what may come...protect your friends at every cost."

"Ten."

"Don't...d-do not make...the same, mistake as me."

"Five. Four. Three. Two-"

"_RRRRAAAAAAA AAAAAAARRRRGH! _"

His sword came down with a single KRAKK. There was a puddle of blood beneath Matthieu's body as Zhao screamed in horror. Ravinder started sobbing. She felt Karam's hand pull her close to look away from Matthieu's head rolling slightly down the hill. Chanoch could not move, watching his sword carving through the neckstump of his friend and superior, seeing the blood drip in thickened clots on his blade as he looked to his hands. It felt like a dream, like he was watching someone else take control of his body. His heart burned with an insufferable ache as he clutched his chest and softly collapsed to his knees.

"Good boy." The marshal patted the soldier's head. "Now you are the leader of your unit, and so now you obey me."

He grabbed Chanoch's head viciously pulling it backwards to stare his cold beak into his eyes.

"Destroy, the church and everyone within. If I see one vestment unbloodied on the breeze I shall make certain you and your friends are but permanent fixtures in the prison of eternal torture. NOW!"

He threw him forwards against the dead Matthieu before placing his hand upon the corpse's back and wrenched a small wisping orb of pale gold that crept along his arm with a soft terrible scream of whispering death. Matthieu's soul faded to its cage within the raven as he turned towards his troops.

"We march, we fly, we dissect this village and destroy the last remnants of the Teutonic Knights for their folly in their liege. FORWARDS, FOR DRACULA!"

Night upon Crizbav was cold and tremulous with activity. A small garrison of knights had based themselves in the fort that had become the original foundation of the village commune. The locals were nervous about the foreigners with Germanic emblems, but seeing their pathetic state bedraggled and battle-worn from an exhaustive campaign they took pity enough to house them. The streets were turning empty as farmers returned from the fields, the lights of houses glinting like a pool of stars beneath the moon which blinked from the clouds.

"Tis good to see that again," muttered one voice.

"Hmm?" A knight turned to him.

"No moon on a night is bad fortune, sire."

"I thought you were a monk, not a vagabond who listens to trees."

"Jest my words all you want you know I am right. God gave us the moon for a reason, it was to light our path in the darkness."

"If that is true why did God even give us the night?"

The knight leaned against an old wall in white armoured padding, crossing his arms at the foppish scholar who sat before him poring over an elaborate book.

"Not all animals were created to suit the day," explained the civilian, "for they tend to the world at night and care for it when creatures of the day are asleep. It is a natural balance for every animal and plant feeds and nurtures the earth, and if every animal went to sleep the same time, why the world wouldst surely wake up to a barren waste!"

"And the moon helps with that?"

"Do you not understand why October is the harvest month? That is when the moon is brightest, so as to give the farmers more light to tend to their crops in the solstice!"

"If that is true," the knight pushed himself from the wall and swaggered past the monk, "then why is the night longer in winter, why not have it the same every day of the year?"

"Because the snow must come," he explained with clear finger raised, "the cold must settle in and allow the rebirth of trees and life. The trees are but extensions of the earth, they never die they are simply reborn anew, but in order to do so they must have died first."

"Hahaha, does that make the Son of God a tree?"

"Well technically if you have read the Parable of the Vineyard yes."

"Hmph...well I suppose that answers tha-"

"OR the Parable of the Fig-tree when his branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves-"

"Alright, scribe that be enough!" The soldier huffed and laid down onto a cloth bed. "Would that I were back in Colchester-"

"OH really I hail from Thatcham myself, never been to Colchester!"

"Well if you do, pray do not look me up. I retire to bed, wake me when the moon collides with your skull."

"You asked and I answered you...hhhmph."

He watched the guard sleep off with a snort, standing up to head over to the church as he hiked his red gown around himself and crossed through the street. People didn't understand him, nor could he understand them in their slavic tongue but they all understood the cross hanging from his neck and gave courteous bows to him. The moon scalped its sheen off the tip of his head, shorn at the top to leave a halo of hair around his pale head. He wasn't especially attractive with his jowled cheeks and puggish nose but the robe ecclesiastical gave him a certain light that helped blur this to his fellow humans. It was something his mother had always said to him. "A priest is always handsome even when his son is not". It was something he took to heart as he stepped over the periphery of the church.

It was a modest building of white with red roofs and an Orthodox emblem where a small painting of Christ hung above the door, which was normally guarded by a simple iron gate of spikes. The belltower loomed above him with old weathered paint peeling off in spackled bits, and the place itself was only large enough to house perhaps forty parishioners in cloistered pews. A squadron of soldiers were stationed nearby in one of the houses they had commandeered, bantering amongst themselves with flagons of mead and portions of bread.

"AH, father Adrian." The monk stepped in to see the head of the clergy in Orthodox black. "How is the night faring?"

"Dim," said the bearded priest, "we are settling in to sleep, do you wish to join us?"

"I would yes, thank you!"

"Again, my apologies for the spartan decor of our house."

"Now now father it is not the size of the house that matters. It is the size of its hots and when God is the host of every house, that house remains great regardless of its construct."

"Hmhmhm...indeed." He turned to grab his book from the pulpit and retire to a nearby door. "Regardless we can only offer one of our pews."

"That is fine! In God's light I am always warm at heart."

The monk gave a bow and sat up into a pew of his choice, bringing up his knapsack and placing it beside him to become a makeshift pillow.

"Can I just say how thankful I am to see people round here knowing Latin?" he said to the priest. "You would not believe how many people do not even comprehend the most basic tongue of the Lord Himself!"

"Not all of us were so fortunate to learn the Church's means," said the priest yawning, "especially when they are not so able to extend to our borders."

"But you can speak it like I do!"

"Because I was fortunate to be schooled in Macedonia. I have been translating the Bible from Latin to our dialect."

"OH! I-i see, well that is most magnanimous of you father for those ignorant of the blessed word-"

"Ignorant is not what I would call it. Disadvantaged."

"Right. A-anyways, I-"

" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

"WH-WHAT, WHAT IN THE NAME OF-"

" NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Violent screams suddenly burst from outside as the church woke up in a fright. The whole village was alight with confusion and fear as soldiers mustered with rattling swords and shields luring the monk outside with fateful curiosity. Thunder and fury rent through the air as the shrieking howl of demonkind came upon them, villagers fleeing to their homes as the garrison headed straight to the north with one flock keeping close to the church like nesting doves. Fire began to swarm through the air in a series of small blasting volleys, shattering upon houses and streets to let the flames gather and surge in pockets of smoke. From all above they could hear the sounds of black wings swooping across the roofs, cackling with manic glee and sadistic grins upon the poor populace.

"GET THOSE FIRES DOUSED!"

"ON YOUR FEET THEY'RE COMING FROM THE NORTH!"

"O-oh, GOD!" cried the monk cowering behind the door. "F-father stay inside!"

"What is happening?!"

The voices of the church workers clamoured behind him, a small gaggle of nuns in plain Christian cloth cowering fearfully from the sounds of death.

"I-is there an attack?!"

"Demons, they have come to the village!"

"OH, n-n-no, no!"

"What do we do?! I-i am not ready, I CANNOT DO THIS!"

"ENOUGH!" The orthodox priest barked before them like a military chief. "Ana, Madeline, come with me we shall gather the women and children to take them here."

"Y-yes...alright."

"Gregory, stand guard at the door and wait for us to."

"Wh-what?!" cried the monk. "ME?!"

"YES YOU, now keep this door open no matter what you do, understand"

"Y-yes...yes, perfectly."

The father headed out with his assistants into the street, tongues of smoke lashing across the air as he called out to the nearby squadron that armed themselves close. There were also men both young and old from the village who wielded spear-tipped staffs and swords, pitchforks and sickles as a home-made force.

"I NEED HELP, WE HAVE TO BRING THE PEOPLE HERE!"

"My orders are to protect the village," said one soldier coldly.

"THE PEOPLE ARE THIS VILLAGE!"

"The village is but a garrison and nothing else, priest. If you choose to brave the fires to bring people back, you do so alone."

"WHAT?! What manner of coward are you that you speak for God but you will not even raise your sword to defend us?!"

"Speak to me with such words again priest and you will join our fallen brothers."

The soldier pushed him back with a hard finger much to his disgust. But the townsfolk stepped past as an older man in his 40s bowed respectfully.

"We'll help you father of course."

"Thank you Florin." The priest bowed in return before giving a dark look to the knight. "At least SOME still remember what it means to be a Christian."

"If any demons come they die," retorted the soldier creaking his neck, "my orders are to destroy God's enemies above all else."

"Fine. Florin are you prepared?"

"We have already planned this," said Florin gripping his scythe tightly, "I've given orders to my workers to lead the women and children here."

"Lead on then!"

They spread out in small defensive groups, hurrying from house to house and bringing out as many of the civilians that they could. Old, young and female residents were taken with vigilance to the church, which never rang its bell for fear of alerting the monsters to its presence. In the north side of the town the fighting was intense, werewolves snarling and clawing through the guards with an almost playful demeanour in never exerting their fullest force. Their primary goal was to distract, not to destroy as they slashed across limbs to wound and bleed without killing as long as possible, cracking swords in their teeth and gouging through shields with ruthless punches to frighten the men of God. Those who tried to escape to the east and south were met by a calamitous approach of fiends, namely a horrendous black crow the size of a human that raked their eyes completely out of their sockets and allowed them to wander screaming in blindness, sobbing for their friends and beloved as the raven smiled beneath his beak. He watched the civilians run to the northwest, or at least try to, some of them having become trapped in their houses and unable to flee for the wolves at their door and demons at the window, scratching and howling at the walls to terrify them even more whilst those still able to fight would be cut down in swathes. But the church had even worse matters to deal with.

"HERE THEY COME!"

The cries of a soldier alerted the small garrison near the chapel to a force of lizardmen from the western bank. Four of them, two with daggers and one giant of a beast with a great broadsword to match as they saw the priest heading back with a small number of civilians. The street was in chaos as wood and steel scattered throughout the cobbled stones from wagons and houses that had crumbled beneath the flames.

"QUICKLY, HURRY INSIDE EVERYONE!"

The soldiers spread themselves out in a line of thirteen men to barricade the demons' entrance to the village, along with a further group of seven villagers armed with farming tools that shone in the light of the harvest moon. Behind them twenty people including the priest and his assistants ran straight back into the church where Gregory hurried them in. He took one look at the lizardmen and screamed throughout the entire thing until everyone was in and they closed the door, barred with iron gate. Chanoch stepped forth towards the knights who stood defiant in their surcoats of white with black cross and Germanic script underneath. Chanoch recognised that symbol clearly from the day his life had ended. Gdansk. Always Gdansk.

"DEMONS!" barked the knight in command with sword raised before them. "IF YOU DARE TAKE ONE STEP TOWARDS US THEN YOUR MISERABLE LIVES SHALL BE FORFEIT!"

"What do we do?" muttered Karam.

"We fight," said Chanoch gripping his blade calmly, "they are soldiers, we must kill them."

"B-but, what about the church?!" cried Lihua.

"We fight the soldiers first, now march, Karam you and Ravinder take the right side of the street."

"Alright," said Mrs. Jandhu.

"Zhao, stand by me and guard my back, I need your speed."

"But the CHURCH what abou-"

"SHUT UP!" He turned with violent roar almost forcing her back from his strength. "DO AS I SAY, OR ELSE!"

"Y-YES, YES SIR!"

"FORWARD! ADVANCE!"

The reptiles stepped forth with one aggressive stomp, showing their intent as the soldiers stepped forth in turn. With brazen battle cry they charged towards the four beasts as Chanoch walked towards them calmly. Gripping his sword firmly he swallowed the hate he felt upon seeing that cursed symbol, the Teutonic Order that haunted his dreams and came to life upon this wretched night that he lost one of his closest friends. He found himself wanting to blame them for everything, snarling with tightened teeth and eyes burning a crimson stare for all they had done, everything he had known of them from two of the most tragic nights in his life so far. But he was better than that. He wanted to be better than that. He struck against the first soldier that charged upon him with a zweihander in a clashing of blades before he punched his face. A mighty blow that crunched his skull inwards as the shattering of bone creaked around his entire fist, forcing the soldier to fall with shrieking coughs of blood from his burst palate drooling sputum on his tongue.

The second soldier to die came from his left who tried to swing his sword up high to cut into Chanoch's neck, but the lizard beast turned with a huge swipe of his tail to knock him down and waited for his opponent to get back up. The knight cried fury with a cleaving strike that the beast would dodge before slamming his foot hard into the shield that knocked him down once again. Another human tried to attack him with a spear from behind but Zhao was ready, ducking underneath his polearm before swinging out a rope beneath her sleeve with a dart of bladed steel on the end of it. The dagger plunged into the man's stomach without warning as he yelled in shock, feeling the cold metal shank his stomach until Lihua pulled it wide open like a slab of pork. His sputtering groans vomited upon the earth as the dart whistled back to her with a trail of red behind it, snatching it to slip it back round her exposed arm where the rest of the rope was stashed.

Chanoch waited for his opponent to expose himself as the human timed his thrust pooly, punishing him with a grab and hard wrench of his protective shield to leave him exposed. He tried nonetheless, brave but foolish as he swung his single-handed sword with both hands for greater strength, cracking sparks across Jarogniew's blade as he blocked with unwavering fealty. But the soldier was too predictable in constant diagonal swings and soon Chanoch would end his fight by angling his sword enough to deflect it straight to the ground and grab the poor knight's throat with one hand to lift him up. His screams were cut short by a violent snap before the lizard hurled him to the ground head-first in a meaty crunch, splattering half his brain matter upon the streets before soldier number four had come to him, roaring with an axe.

"_DIE YOU WHORE OF SATAAAAN! _"

The human came with a horizontal sweep, powerful enough that Chanoch backed off rather than try to block it as the soldier came rushing forwards with colossal swings. The lizardman circled around him, keeping his eyes focused on him to allow his companion to slide up behind him and slash the back of his knees with dart in hand. Roaring with anguish the human swung with bowed legs bleeding and backfisted Zhao hard across the face, sending her down as she combat-rolled swiftly back up to pincer the knight between her and Chanoch. The soldier's legs were falling, struggling to stay upright from the blood loss as he waited for them to strike, swinging one mighty circle of screaming fury to try and kill at least one of them. Chanoch dodged below the axe whilst Zhao sent her dart in wide half-circle arc to wrap its rope round the soldier's neck, viciously choking him briefly as he grabbed for his neck instinctively. He was but prey to Chanoch who simply lunged forwards and impaled him upon his great sword, piercing through his spine and cracking his back with one single thrust.

" GHRRRRRHHAAAAAGH!"

During this the Jandhus took on a group of six men as Karam brought out his weapon, a curving short sword that dipped at the end as he rushed towards two sword-wielding men. They tried to chop him twice in a cross-strike but he slid fast across the dirt and spunkick himself upwards with a handstand, smacking both their heads with scratching claws and dismounting with a hard thrust of his arms to twirl and slash into one of their throats. Blood sang across his blade as he immediately thrust his sword behind him just past his waist, viciously gutting the man at his back as he twisted the blade inside his flesh. Ravinder stood against a man with a spear who lunged with vicious intent, stabbing repeatedly as she strafed and spun like a dancer out of its path whilst wielding two triangular daggers with a hand-grip below each blade. She struck the spear tip away from her with a spinning force before rushing straight towards the soldier who tried to whallop her with the staff, but she swerved underneath to strike it with her katar blade and unbalance the soldier even further. She plunged both daggers into his stomach to weaken his body as he staggered with a bloody yell, before she stood up fully to slice his throat with one dagger and thrust-punch the other into the open wound, almost completely decapitating him.

The remaining three soldiers before them teamed up with two broadswords and a poleaxe that charged at the Jandhus with bloodthirsty rage. Karam called out to his wife as she rushed towards him, grabbing her waist and spinning her round to hurl her hard above the invading threesome. Clustered together they were unable to turn as fast when she began punch-stabbing two of them repeatedly with reckless abandon, puncturing their backs to become a wall of blood as her fists flew like a murderous boxer, sending them stumbling forwards with weakening steps and leaving one broadsword-wielder left to face against her husband. With desperate cry he swung towards him as he backflipped out of its range, watching the human bullrush with low-sweeping cut that he leapt over in an aerial dodge to the side and hurled his sword towards him like an axe. The curved kaduthala thunked straight into the man's face, splitting his nose in half and his eyes even further apart as he shuddered a gargling shriek when his tongue tasted the bloody steel. He dropped his staff and fell to his knees beside his dying companions that Ravinder killed swiftly as she could with a single piercing stab to their skulls, whilst Karam wrenched his sword free from the third man's head.

Three soldiers remained before the lizardmen, backed up by the farmers to make up ten as they rattled their sabres and sickles incensed with fear before they charged en masse towards the beasts. The soldiers went first as Jarogniew came against a man with axe and shield, cracking a giant swing upon the axe to shatter the man's arm and break his wrist, before driving his elbow straight into the human's face to burst his nose in a blinding pain and crunch his face inwards with an even harder punch. A farmer with a sickle got lucky enough to come close to Chanoch and slash frantically at the lizard's arm, carving a piece of skin off as he turned with bitter sneer on his face. The harvester froze not sure what to do as the beastly swordsman adopted a classic stance for combat, inviting the human to fight. He took one swing of his sword towards him to see what he would do as the farmer went for his knees, ducking underneath and almost stumbling fully onto the floor. The lizard only had to step back and stomp his clawed foot upon the back of the human's head to crush him like a grape.

"BASTAAAAAAARD!"

The horrid screech of a farmer with pitchfork came from behind him as he turned with spinning cut by instinct to crack against the instrument, bending the forked tips upwards at a sharp angle from the force of his blow to render it completely useless. But the youth was undeterred as he tried to thwack him instead, the lizardman blocking with just his arm at the trembling swings and awkward angles that he tried to hit him with. He soon had enough and grabbed the pitchfork, wrenching it behind him to pull the human forwards and thrust his entire sword straight into his chest.

"A-AAAAAAAARRRRRGH!"

"You should have stayed home."

Why did he say that? He was surprised at himself for saying it and became slightly fazed by his words before pulling the blade free from the young man's broken ribs. Zhao and Karam were facing against two farmers with scythes that sweeped in giant coordinated cuts keeping their distance from each other. She nodded to Karam as she pulled out her rope, muttering a plan as he understood and went for the man on their left. The scythe spun with tremendous strength as Jandhu leapt over it once, then made a hard slide to kick against the farmer's leg at the same time Zhao rushed to the right and fwipped her rope out at the blade's crooked staff, yanking it hard towards the other scythe-wielder and driving the sharp curve into his stomach. Screams of horror and a brief moment of betrayal stopped his advance, leaving him open for Karam to come from behind and chop his head halfway off with a deep cut of his kaduthala, pulling it back out to cut down upon the other defenceless ploughman.

Ravinder found herself against one soldier with a huge war axe, along with another older farmer who had a short sword and a wooden shield. The knight came forwards with a monstrous chop, crashing upon the cobbles with a star-smashing spark as Ravinder swerved to charge him. But the farmer was surprisingly on point as he leapt over the axe's hilt and thrust his sword in mid-air towards her, forcing her to deflect with her katar and receive a scratching gouge across her face and shoulder. The farmer became more confident as he viciously swung his blade against the lizard's katars that parried his cutting sweeps, sometimes pushed back by the wooden shield to try and knock her off-balance. She saw through his tactic and pretended to do so, staggering a feint as he came forwards with victorious lunge but she smiled and spun hard on one foot with regained balance, pirouetting out of his path and striking the back of his head with her foot to follow with two vicious thrusts to the man's kidneys now impaled upon her blades. The soldier with the axe swung for her with such force that he ended up cutting through the farmer's body in a destructive blast, chopping through his shoulders and decapitating him bluntly whilst she dodgerolled underneath the crimson rain. Blood soaked her head as she dove and tucked her body in to be like a cannonball against his legs, smacking on his foot to throw him off-balance and allow him to fall upon her exposed blades pointing upwards. He died from the force of gravity when he felt his lungs become gouged through his back, bleeding upon Ravinder's body until she threw him off.

Two of the farmers fled, dropping their weapons and running to the church pleading desperately to be given sanctuary as the monsters eviscerated the last of their group. Chanoch stood before the last one who dared to fight him, a boy no older than 14 who shook his bastard sword before him.

"G-GET BACK! GET BACK YOU BASTARD, I-I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU!"

He walked forwards with broadsword at the ready. He raised it in preparation to strike as the boy staggered back.

"_GET OUT OF MY VILLAGE! I...I-I WILL SEND YOU BACK TO HELL, I SWEAR TO GOD I-A-AAAAGH, AAAAAAAAAAARRRRGH! _"

He fell back onto burnt broken beams that had fallen from a house roof. His leg was torn through with a huge spike that drove up just above his knee and turned his entire pantleg red. In his screeching agony he had dropped his sword and impaled as he was he could not reach far enough to grab it. Chanoch stared upon him as he felt something snap again.

He was better than this, he thought. But he wasn't. Seeing the boy gasping below him with a spike through his leg, he saw someone else completely. He struggled to remember his face, back when he was human. But it looked like this boy, he was sure of it. Brave foolish boy who thought he could save his home with nothing but a steel pick. He knelt upon the wounded body after sheathing his blade, legs on either side as he stared blindly upon him. The youth said nothing, shuddering, praying silently in his head for God to come save him. He knew that look. Chanoch always knew that look. He wanted to say sorry. He wanted to plead mercy to let him live.

Instead he raised his fist. Then brought it down upon the boy's face. He coughed and cried from his burst eye and cracking jaw before the lizard raised his fist again and brought it down once again. He was blind now. That was a small mercy he could give.

He raised his fist. He brought it down once more.

He raised his fist. He brought it down once more.

He raised his fist. He brought it down once more. No one would stop him. They were too afraid when Chanoch started growling, snarling with some bestial hate that grew inside of him. His hand was getting sore and his fingers became red, but still he raised his fist and drove it deep into the sanguine puddle that had once been the head of a 14-year old boy. Chanoch started crying. He raised his fist and watched his tears drip into the broken skull. He brought it down into the fragments of bone and felt them twist deep into his knuckles. He raised his fist. He saw his own reflection.

He punched even harder. He saw his face once again and punched even harder. He saw his face once again and punched even harder. He saw his own face becoming twisted and split by the broken cobbles of the streets and still he kept punching harder. Then he started to scream.

"_WHYYYY!? WHYYYYYY!? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!?! _"

His scream shook throughout the village, echoing above the fires that blazed and crackled everywhere that he looked turning the streets into a blood-orange hue. He stopped, eventually, and looked back towards his unit of three people. They stood in fearful silence as he turned towards the church.

"...carry the bodies."

"Wha-what?!" asked Ravinder.

"Carry the bodies. Take them into the church, not all, just some of them."

"Why?"

"That is an order, now do it."

"...yes, sir."

The chapel had been locked off with an iron gate, but that only delayed the inevitable by another seventeen seconds. Chanoch simply grabbed the bars and began to pull with all his might, heaving a monstrous groan as the iron creaked and twisted gently in his fingers. His arms bulged with straining muscles and thick veins beneath the scales as he snarled with gritting teeth until the hinges finally snapped, pulling the entire gate off its frame and hurling it across the street. He drew his sword and stepped into the house of God where twenty people cowered in the pews. Children cried next to their mothers who tried to shush them with gentle prayers as the priest stood before him at the pulpit, watching the lizardmen carry corpses into the place. The Bible was in front of him, his hand resting upon it blessing his congregation as his assistants stood on either side, four nuns praying in unison with a simple triptych of stories behind them showing the Garden of Eden, the Exodus of Moses and Christ's crucifixion unto the world.

"H-hoh...hoh God, God please, spare us-"

"O sweetest spouse of my soul, Jesus Christ, desiring heartily ever more with thee in mind-"

"Let no earthly thing be so nigh to my heart as thee Christ Jesu-"

"I love thee with all my heart, with all my mind and with all my might-"

Throughout the small church people prayed the same prayer. They all knew it well by heart, enough that eventually their voices became one cowering tremble that echoed their words exactly. Chanoch raised his hand to his unit behind him, bading them silent as he waited for the humans to finish. Once the chapel had turned quiet, the priest spoke with a gentle voice and lowered his tone.

"Have you come to kill us, beast?"

"I have orders to burn down this church," said Chanoch coldly.

"May I ask...why, you would do this to us?"

"Because I was ordered to, by my superior."

"So you are nothing more than a mercenary. Just like the soldiers you carry on your backs."

"Yes."

"You speak very well for a beast," said the father.

"Demons understand every tongue."

He walked towards the priest who stood fearless against his advance, the nuns cowering from his tremendous height over them as his nostrils flared slightly from the smell of incense.

"Give me your clothes."

"Wh-...wh-what?" stuttered the priest off-guard.

"Your clothes. Vestments, all of your holy clothes. Give them to me."

"Why?! What is this?!"

"Because I am not going to kill you."

The lizardmen behind him looked up at him with shock as did the rest of the congregation. The priest however was confused and clasped his hands nervously.

"And...why should I believe a demon's word?"

"Because I swear on the name of Elohim."

He knelt before the pulpit as he drew his sword and placed its point against the ground with hands grasping the hilt. The Christians gasped with a dissonant rumble as the priest recognised the words upon the fuller of the blade.

"You...that, is...you are one of-"

"Was," said Chanoch. "I now serve the master of the night, Lord of Vampires but I am my own beast still. I choose not to kill you."

"But...then if you choose that, why not leave the church be?!"

"Because my friend disobeyed our master for refusing to and now he is dead. I do not want to take the life of a holy one. Give me your clothes and vestments, and I shall spare all of you."

"...alright." The head of the church clasped his hands with a firm breath and turned to his people. "All of you with holy garments and symbols of our church, hand them over to him."

"Wh-what?!" cried a nun clasping her cross. "Th-that, you are submitting to this THING?!"

"This 'thing' has still rendered his humanity intact, he unlike the other monsters has shown us mercy and respect for God."

"You cannot trust him, look, his sword is bloodied with satanic writing!"

"THAT IS THE LANGUAGE OF GOD'S OWN SON!" barked the priest. "If you cannot even recognise that then you have no right to argue with me. Your garments, now!"

There was muttering in the ranks of tremendous upset, an insult borne from arrogance but the priest's strong unflinching posture soon rendered them to submit as they disrobed themselves best as they could. Shrouds, habits and vestments were given unto Chanoch as a plan was made between him and the priest. After this the priest began to muster his flock and led them through out the back door, whilst the lizardmen took the clothes off the soldiers's corpses and dressed them up in the saintly garments before burying them beneath the pews. They would hurriedly bring in more bodies from outside to fill the empty spaces as people carefully filed out the church.

"Go west from the village," said Chanoch calmly, "hide in the mountains but avoid the river, my superior is searching along it."

"Alright," said the defrocked priest wrapping himself in an old cloak, "I...I do not know if you were sent by God or not but-"

"I was not," said Jarogniew shaking his head, "I was sent by evil. But I will not obey it."

"So that...that means that even in the darkest depths there is still light within the hearts of good people...even the ones turned into beasts." He raised his hand to bless Chanoch's head. "God be with you, my son-"

"No." He grabbed the priest's hand carefully pushing it away. "I am not your son. I am no one. Now go."

The church was soon emptied of all inhabitants, scurrying away into the night through the western forest and fading into the mountains. Chanoch struck the lamps and allowed the fire to spread throughout the wooden seats. The reptiles left and watched the place burn within minutes at a startling rate, lashing tongues across the rigid stone and crawling up to the belfry. The son of God's image began to melt and curl into a black mist of decay. Flames became hotter as they ate at the mortar holding the stones as the tower began crumbling. The bell dislodged and so began to fall with a heavy clang, solemnly crying its final song as the building caved upon itself. The smell of rotting flesh and roasted wood permeated the length of the street.

"I cannot believe we did this," said Ravinder clasping her bloodied hands, "I...I am proud of you Chanoch. Matthieu would be proud of us for what we did."

"Doesn't matter if Malphas finds out what we did," muttered Zhao, "then we're all supremely fucked."

"Then we have to make sure he won't," said Karam patiently nodding. "We should make a pact, a blood oath of some sort."

"Wait what?"

"To make certain that we never tell what we did on this day. They will understand, call it guilt."

"I agree," said Ravinder cleaning her hands of blood, "let us promise from this day forth that we never speak of this night again, not to anyone or each other."

"Yes." Chanoch put his hand out before them. "We are a unit. We fight together, we defend each other."

"Agreed," said Karam putting his hand on top.

"Agreed," said Ravinder putting her hand on his.

"Fuck it why not," ended Zhao with her hand on last, "so...is that it?"

"Well I was expecting us to draw blood off each other or something but I think enough has been shed today."

"Yeah...listen, Chanoch." She turned to look up at him. "I never really figured you out, and I still haven't...but, I trust you. After this I trust you with my life."

"We all do," said Karam putting a hand on his waist, "you have proven not just to be a good captain, but also a good friend as well."

"Wait...did you hear something?"

They heard the sound of flapping wings briefly as they looked around each other fearfully. A large bat seemed to flutter from beyond the church and with it a rather skeletal corpse underneath its feet.

"They already feed," whispered Karam rubbing his eyes, "nnnnnngh...I guess we are done at least-"

"heeeelp! heeeeelp someone!"

"Wh-what, who is that?!"

"Is that..." Zhao Lihua stepped forwards, "someone still in the church?!"

She rushed forwards by instinct to find a hand reaching out from the burning wreckage. Trapped beneath a pile of mortar near the doorway she called Chanoch over as he pulled apart stone and the heavy door itself to lift off a bedraggled monk's body. He looked up and immediately recoiled in fright with a horrid scream as they pulled him up.

"N-NOOO, NOOOOOOOO PLEAAAAASE!"

"SHUT UP YOU SHITFACE!"

"U-UNHAND ME YOU FILTHY DEGENERATE!"

" QUIET!"

The voice of Chanoch burned into the ruins with frightening strength that even the air turned silent briefly. The monk fingered his cross tenderly cowering before the lizardman.

"Who are you?" asked the captain.

"My...m-my name is...Gregory. Gregory Armistead."

"Why did you not leave with the others?"

"O-others? ...you killed them surely, th-they are burning in the church, you monsters!"

"Why are YOU here then?" said Chanoch prodding his chest hard.

"I woke up, I was...I-i fainted from all the fighting and I ended up in the alcove behind the door. Oh G-god please, spare me, if you could not spare the others then please spare me!"

"Excellent."

They felt the dark wind of Malphas loom behind them as Gregory screamed, backing off to almost burn his back against the rubble.

"Finally your kind learn obedience. What is this thing?"

"He survived the fire," said Jarogniew turning to face him, "we were about to deal with him."

"Hmmm..." The raven looked past them to see the fire roaring as he strode forwards to grab the monk's clothes. "How did you survive then, christian?"

"I-i fainted," mewled Gregory, "I-i saw the beasts approach...when I woke up I was...th-they were all...I could not even recognise them anymore...p-please, please spare me!"

"Hmmmm...perhaps. IF you are willing to make a deal."

"A-ANYTHING!" The monk fell upon his knees and bowed with purest submission. "I-i will do anything, I-i will even renounce my faith, anything you wish just PLEASE don't kill me!"

"Hhhha ha ha ha...pathetic." He planted his clawed foot upon the monk's balding head. "But I enjoy pathetic, it suits you christians well to whore yourselves at the first scent of a pure being...naturally how else did you become one of His 'flock' in the first place?"

"I, I-i recognise you as f-far superior, my lord, my sire, please, let me...LET ME SERVE YOU!"

"Really? Hmmm...would you sign a contract adhering to this?"

"YES ANYTHING, ANYTHING!"

"Very well."

The raven pulled forth a scroll from his darkest aethers as he muttered a spell of binding. The lizardmen had seen this exact scroll before from different demons and different places. The language was different but the process was the same as Gregory read upon an elaborate script in his own Middle English that he understood clear as day.

"Do you understand the contract?" asked Malphas with a tedious sneer from his beak.

"Yes...y-yes, I...I understand and it is may I say sir QUITE the exceptional penmanship-"

"It is magically invoked you dunderwhelp, now I ask again, do you understand the contract?"

"I do. I understand."

"Then sign it, if you so choose."

He offered forth a quill as Gregory's fingers shook over the dotted line. He looked to the monsters behind the crow as if searching for a voice to stop him. But his mind faltered beneath the gaze of the eternal rook as he scribbled his name finely across the line. The moment he finished he felt his body lurch something terrible. He dropped the quill as the scroll plunged into his body, paper separating his flesh and wrapping round his heart like a serpent's touch. They had all seen this before and cringed watching the human suffer the same as he stuttered and bent his body low.

"WH-WHAT-A-AAAAGH! WHAT IS THIS?!"

"Your humanity," said Malphas coldly, "that is what the contract stated yes."

"N-n-no...no, wh-what is happening, WH-WHAT'S HAPPENING TO MEEEEE?!"

Gregory began to dry heave as his stomach contorted against itself, folding over like paper as the scroll slithered throughout his body and crept underneath his skin tracing out his veins. He felt as if a million papercuts were severing his insides as he screamed harder, blood dripping from his throat and soon his eyes once he felt the vile parchment shoot up to his brain.

"_A-AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH GOD FORGIVE ME! GOD FORGIVE MEEEEEEEEEEEEE! _"

His flesh began to turn cold as his fingers creaked with grinding leather, snapping and bending the bones within as they became longer and more scaled in texture. His legs became cracked and lengthened as he fell to his side, seeing them stretch with toes melting into one and forming three large beastly digits with purple claws at the end of them, his hands mimicking the same as he cried and sobbed even harder. His screams began to change to a rasping hiss as his cheeks bulged out, his nose pulling downwards to meet his lips pulling outwards as if someone were trying to rip his face in half. His back pushed out longer as his clothes became tighter on his frigid skin, his hands a tepid green as his ears pushed back inside their holes with the crackling of his skull. It was the longest seven minutes he ever knew in his life and when it was finally over, he looked up at the cruel raven that loomed like Death.

"Ugh. Truly pathetic." He walked away from Gregory much to his shock. "Another worthless beast from an equally worthless soul."

"Wh-whargh...ghhrrrrkh...m-my voice. My voice, wh-what happened to my-"

"Shut up." He turned towards Chanoch with accusing point. "You, take him with you, he is your problem now."

"Yes...sir."

The lizardmen bent down to pull up Gregory onto a pair of unsteady huge feet as he felt something constantly lashing back and forth behind him that kept throwing his balance off as he whimpered at them.

"Wh-what...what are you going to do to me?"

"Nothing," said Ravinder, "it will be alright...Gregory was it?"

"Y-yes...yes I...m-madame."

"Come with us. We will help you get adjusted to your new state."

"My...m-m-my...h-hoh."

He stared at his body. Then his hands and lastly his feet. He started to cry, throwing himself into Ravinder's arms and sobbing like a wounded dog much to Karam's annoyance that he tried to mask. They slowly took him back to the north, over the mountains as they joined the rest of Malphas' group and returned to the castle.

"We never spoke again about that day," said Chanoch locking his fingers together, "Gregory never knew the truth and never liked us for it. Ravinder was the only one he liked because she was nice to him."

"And this Malphas never knew?" asked James whittling his pencil down to the last nub.

"No. Not even Gobanz knew."

"What did he say about...Matthieu's execution?"

"He was furious. He demanded an inquiry, but Malphas usurped him. I do not regret what I did, if anything I felt it was...justice."

"What you did?"

"The reason why I am hunted." He looked straight through the scribe's heart. "I killed Malphas."

"You...hhhhohhh talisman's grace that..." the lemming slipped back in his seat with a hand clapped to his face, "so that is why they are after you so vehemently."

"Yes. I am sorry you are involved in this."

"No, it is fine I want to...I want to help you but you DID just confess to murder."

"It was self-defence."

"B-but, can we prove that even?!" the lemming blustered.

"That is up to you," said the defendant looking down. "You said you were defending me."

"I did, I...no, I am, I am defending you yes, a-and I came prepared too, see?!" He stood up calmly and showed his blunted pencil off. "Look, that was the second one I had to use for our rapport, I still have two more!"

"Hm..." Chanoch smirked slightly as a tickle came from his throat. "You are prepared yes. Thank you."

"I would like to hold off on our discussions until after dinner, if that's alright with you."

"Yes," he nodded, "I am hungry too."

"I can get you something then, and THIS time I will have it made just for you, no more stealing sandwiches."

"Yes. What meat do you have?"

"Well I can ask and then come back," said James making his way to the door, "I shall be your waiter AND your attorney this day!"

"And my nurse as well?" asked the lizardman clasping his hands. "You are dressed like one already."

"Haha, really you think so?" The lemming swished his hem to glide behind his feet. "I have never actually been a nurse, except that one time my mother was ill and I tended to her when I was fourteen."

"Good. You will be my nurse then."

"Oh...w-well, nurses DO feed their patients so I uh, that is not untrue I suppose...alright, I will be your nursing attorney then mister Chanoch!"

"Hhhhmhmhmhm," his voice rumbled with a deep chuckle that made the lemming blush, "yes, that is good then."

"Alright, I shan't be a tic!"

As he headed off James pocketed his notes and pencil to make his way to the kitchen. His thoughts constantly toiled around Chanoch's life and made him more determined than ever to take on the case. He only needed to learn one last piece of the puzzle before the trial would begin in two weeks time.