The Lost God’s Fate: An Expeditionary’s Tale- The Mission

Chapter 1: The Mission

Casius loomed in the alleyway next to the Lysian Military garrison. He was a large man. Being an Ox morph, it comes with the territory. Casius was an imposing figure to say the least, his two large horns shot out of his head like two pikes adding an extra head of height. He had a pale white hide that made him stand out in the dimly lit alley-way. Casius had wielded his large two handed sword 'Force' for several years now, giving him formidable upper body strength. The weapon in question was a simple enchanted silver-steel great sword. The weapon was magically enhanced with the use of two gems. A ruby imbedded in the hilt and a sapphire in the cross guard. The enchantment meant the weapon would never rust or bend in the extreme weather conditions of the north. That particular little enchantment had become quite useful of late. Casius didn't know precisely how it worked but he was sure it generated its own heat when it was cold and cooled itself down when it was hot. The blade always seemed to feel warm to the touch up north and sliced clean through his enemies, almost cauterizing them. He wore his thick Torka hide winter clothes as did most of the population of Icebreak, the fortress he'd come to.

The great ox had always disliked the cold. One time in his youth it had snowed in his village, a rare sight in the central province. He'd played in it all day and caught a bad cold rendering him useless for the next week, he never made that mistake again.

Casius was not an admirer of beauty, he preferred function. It was this reason that had brought him to Icebreak fortress. The great stronghold of the north had never been under siege by an enemy and successfully taken. The bastion was built from the hollowed out remains of a mountain. What had hollowed out the mountain, none could say. Nevertheless the fledgling Lysian Monarchy had established a military presence here and had held onto it ever since. Although hollow, the mountain was thick, it was near impervious to any kind of missile attack from the outside. Every entrance had adamantine gates and was guarded around the clock. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. The entire fortress was surrounded by a frozen lake. The only way to get to the stronghold was to cross half a mile of slippery ice that could fall from under you at any time. The military patrols knew where the ice was thickest and escorted civilian convoys to and from the fortress. The only problem Icebreak had was the limited space the mountain provided. Attempts to extend the fortress's living space had come to no avail. Immigration controls were tight here and there were strict regulations on the amount of supplies coming in and out. It was quite possible for the stronghold to be starved out. This had never presented a problem though because of the nature of the winter weather. Any army would freeze out in the tundra before the defenders even felt their first hunger pain. Hence Icebreak was one of the most feared strongholds in the known world. It had never been taken and it was unlikely to ever be...

Casius liked the fortress. It felt tough and old. Defiant.

After admiring the fortress he decided it was time to get on with business. The city inside the mountain was large and mazelike. Tunnels threaded in and out of the mountain walls while Talesian made structures jutted out from the floor and were connected with fragile rope bridges. He hated the bridges. They were too perilous and rickety for his tastes.

Casius stepped out from the alley-way into a bustling street. The crowd was to be expected, the fortress was a busy place. He weaved his way through the throngs of people to the garrison reception. It was a short walk to the solid stone building. The garrison looked exactly the same as all the other stone buildings except for one major difference, there was a flag on the top. All the structures here had a worn down look. They were made of faded grey stone that was encrusted with frost from years ago when it was built. They all had simple decorative patterns running along their roofs, but that was as far as the aesthetics were willing to go.

He reached the entrance and strode in.

As Casius entered the garrison lobby he took note of the surroundings. A brown rabbit morph clerk sat by a wooden desk in the centre of the lobby. Stone pillars jutted out of the ground in an attempt to keep the floor above from collapsing. Wooden stairs reached out on either side of the lobby clutching at the floor above in an attempt to haul themselves out of the damp. There was mould and dust here, the garrison hadn't been cleaned in a while. That usually meant something was up. The room was only sparsely populated. Runners dashed around here and there, a soldier walked around idly on patrol and office staff chattered in hushed tones.

The ox approached the clerk, "Is Marshal Tulang in? I was told to meet him in his office." He knew the Marshal was in, he didn't need the clerk's help at all but he stuck to protocol.

The rabbit looked up in response to the deep voice. The poor clerk looked dead on his feet, maybe he'd been up all night. The clerk rustled some papers and replied, "The Marshal is upstairs, head up the left staircase and enter the second door on your right. It should have his name on a plaque."

Casius hesitated for a moment, there was a slight quaver in the rabbit's voice.

"Is there something else?" the rabbit asked. His voice sounded off, almost like he was nervous.

This clerk looked a little shifty to Casius but any ox morph was an imposing figure. Rabbits tended to be nervous all the time but this one looked too tired to be nervous. "No, just thinking it through in my head," he replied and headed to the staircase. He decided he was trying to read too much into it.

The floorboards groaned under Casius's muscle as he climbed. They were damp and eroded from the extreme cold. The weather took its toll on the fortress structures even though they were inside the mountain. He found the familiar corridor of wooden doors all leading off to offices. This part of the garrison building was more of an accounting office that an actual garrison. He found the Marshal's office, clearly marked by a plaque and entered.

The room was spartan. A dark wooden office desk sat in the centre of a cold stone room with dark wooden chairs and dark wooden bookcases, laden with uncountable books. The Lynx morph Marshal sat behind the desk, he looked like he was watching the ox intently. He was dressed in a hooded whitened Torka hide tunic and loose trousers, standard issue for the military in this region. A blue and gold stripe ran down his shoulder signifying rank.

Casius preferred that outfit to all the chainmail and linen the Lysian military forces in the south had to put up with. The only disadvantage was that it wasn't as armoured, but who was expecting an attack in the middle of the strongest fortress in the north?

"Ahh Casius, please sit the others will be here soon," the Marshall addressed him.

Wait, others? He didn't work with others. He worked alone. The Marshal and Casius had an agreement. He worked alone.

He took a seat and snorted at the Marshall, "I work alone, I thought we had an agreement?" he asked.

The Marshall shuffled uncomfortably, "Oh I know Casius, you made that point very clear on your last visit. I'm afraid though there are extenuating circumstances however that require several more expeditionaries."

Casius tried to speak up but the Marshal cut him off, "Remember you may be an expeditionary but you still take orders. This is one of those times where you'll just have to play nice."

"Sir I..."

"Not optional son and that's final."

Casius glared angrily at the Marshal. He'd always liked Tulang. He was willing to put military strategy over political aims unlike some of the generals he had heard of. It was for that reason Casius didn't protest further. It was also for that reason Casius had enrolled as an Expeditionary under Tulang.

Expeditionaries were not your standard military personnel. Expeditionaries were highly skilled members of the Lysian Monarchy's military whose combat skill was too good to waste in a front-line battle. Expeditionaries were given the most dangerous missions. They were a bit like mercenaries, they had their own equipment, their own rates and although they reported to a commander they were very independent.

The Marshal knew what needed to get done, Casius did it. If the Marshal didn't have any work for him, then Casius moved somewhere else.

The door opened again and two girls entered the bowl of tension. A stoat and a snow leopard. An odd pairing to say the least.

The snow leopard was wearing light robes over a Torka hide coat and breeches. She hovered around nervously. Casius guessed she was rich if she could afford such new clothing. He also smelled the slight shimmer of magical energy. The snowboard was a mage, and a powerful one too.

The stoat had a light wooden round shield strapped to her back and a sheathed iron short-sword that looked master crafted. She wore a Torka hide tunic and breeches. Casius didn't know who the Stoat was but she looked more battle-hardened than her friend.

"Ahh excellent, Maddie, Alissa, this is Casius, please sit down." The Marshal ushered the pair to the other two wooden seats. So, this is who I'm going to be shackled with is it? Casius thought to himself. The two girls took their seats in silence. The mage looked nervously at her companion and received a comforting smile in return.

"Right, now, to business," The Marshal started. "A few weeks ago we got a runner from a village up north asking for a mage to come to a remote village in the north. He said they'd found a ruin or something, but anyway. Naturally we sent a small force with a mage back only they found the village swarmed with No-furs. They only just got back yesterday and the mage reported strange magical energy coming from the village."

Casius noticed the two girls, Maddie and Alissa, holding hands. They were quite subtle about it, it seemed almost natural. The slight movement wasn't subtle enough to escape his notice however.

The Marshal continued, "We want you to head to the village and find this artefact, if it's still there, and asses which way the No-furs went. Clear?"

Casius nodded, he knew not to ask questions.

"Where is this village?" the snow leopard piped up, "What's it called?"

The Marshal took a breath, he seemed a little annoyed. The snow leopard mage was clearly a rookie. "The village is called Raitan village, it's up the north road towards the Frilled glacier and past the Savage Crags in the snowy wastes." He flicked his tail as he saw the mage's unnerved expression. She had a reason to be unnerved, that was No-Fur territory. "Don't worry, we're sending Casius here to keep you safe."

The mage didn't seem at all relived at that news.

"Alright, the clerk downstairs has your provisions. Dismissed." Tulang waved them off and drew a piece of parchment and a quill.

The companions rose and saw themselves out in silence. As they descended the stairs Casius was immediately plied with questions by the Stoat, "Hey, so you're Casius huh? How long have you been an expeditionary?"

Casius didn't like conversation too much, they were expeditionaries, they weren’t paid to talk. Still, no harm in answering her question. "Yes I'm Casius, been an expeditionary for five years. Been in the military for ten. You?"

The Stoat looked rebuffed, "Two, I'm Alissa by the way, maybe you've heard of me?" She asked, trying to gain back some imagined loss of dignity.

"Nope, I’m afraid not." The three expeditionaries reached the lobby and approached the desk clerk. "Hey, the three sets of provisions for Casius, Maddie and Alissa," Casius ordered.

The rabbit jolted into action and went off to a nearby supply cupboard. There was something odd about the way his eyes looked very dull. There were no ear flicks or tail twitches either.

"So, you've spent a long time up north then haven't you? Any interesting tales?" Alissa asked.

"None that I want to share right now," Casius replied.

The rabbit returned with, no sacks of provisions.

"What's wrong? Can't you find them?" Alissa chimed in.

The rabbit kept coming toward them with it's dead stare. Something felt very wrong to Casius. "Hey are you..."

The Rabbit drew a small crossbow from his coat and fired a bolt directly at Casius.

Casius stepped to the left with lightning reflexes, the bolt missed the ox by a hairsbreadth. It was one lucky dodge.

Alissa drew her short sword and Maddie raised her hands. Blurry arcane symbols dotted the air around the snow leopard’s paws.

Casius shouted at the clerk, "What in the ancestors...?" he was cut off by another bolt. This one hit him right in the chest punching through his Torka hide clothes like paper.

Alissa charged but the rabbit moved out of the way with a graceful bound. He drew a knife from another coat pocket and ran towards the mage slashing Alissa in the foot as he went.

She screamed in rage and turned to pursue only to see the assassin get hit in the face with Maddie's bolt of lightning. The assassin jolted backward and fell to the ground with a flat thump.

The stoat smiled at the snow leopard. There was definitely a connection between the two.

Casius grunted in pain and forced himself to his feet. "Don't suppose you're any good at healing spells too?"

As it turned out Maddie was good with healing spells. The bolt did little damage to Casius, it did more hurt to his pride more than anything else.

The strange rabbit assassin was in fact not a rabbit at all. The guards had gathered around the body and revealed to the companions the truth. "See here," the guard said, pointing to a line of stitch marks on the rabbit's shoulder. "This thing's a No-Fur, watch." The guard took a knife from one of his comrades and tugged at the stitching. Thread by thread the stitches were cut. He looked at the two girls with a crooked smile, "The more sensitive of us had better look away," he said. The guard then dropped the knife and started peeling away the skin. Casius had seen this No-fur trick before, the girls though, were in for a surprise. The guard tore open the hole and revealed the dead No-fur underneath. The barbarian had been wearing the rabbit's skin like a suit.

"That, that's a No-fur..." Maddie stammered.

The Guard snickered, "It sure is, well done little mage, you just killed an assassin."

Maddie didn't look too pleased about that. "But, but, it's wearing someone's skin," she exclaimed.

Casius shrugged, "Crude but effective."

Maddie staggered and was caught by Alissa. "I think I’m going to be sick." And with that she wandered off into the street with Alissa to throw up.

"Huh, Rookies," Casius chuckled to himself.

The guard stepped away from the body as heralds arrived to clean up the mess. "I'll get one of these to grab your gear, why don't you take care of your friend." He suggested to Casius.

The ox snorted and followed his two colleagues outside. He found Maddie bent over in an alley-way defiling the pavement with fresh refuse. Alissa was patting her on the back making soothing noises in an effort to comfort her. Casius just stood there on guard, adrenaline still pumping from the fight. After Maddie had finished the two girls turned to Casius.

"I'm sorry," muttered the mage. "It's just..." she shuddered, clearly disturbed at the fresh sight of death.

"Are you going to be ok?" he asked unsympathetically.

The snow leopard nodded but still looked slightly queasy.

"She'll be ok," Alissa interjected. "She's just not used to seeing dead bodies, it'll pass."

Casius grunted in reply. They had better get moving soon or they'd miss the lake convoy. "Let's grab our things and be off," he said before stalking back inside the garrison.

If the mage wasn't used to the sight of the dead then what had they been doing for the past two years?