Changes
Disclaimer: Legacy of
Kain belongs to Edios and
Rating: PG-13 – For mild references to violence.
Part: One of One
Set: During BO2
Authoress note: Random
ideas have to go somewhere I suppose. Vorador muses in the cabal.
For all my
reviewers, who without I would have surely given up a long time
ago.
Changes
{Vorador}
It had
been years since anyone had even contemplated a rescue mission.
The cabal
had not been a huge success this was true but it had managed to keep this small
handful of vampires alive and had even in some cases caused the serefan some
grief. He had contemplated leaving the city many, many times but every time
something had stopped him. The serefan, his fledglings, the sleeping guardian
of balance who had until recently resided in the slums.
It was
true the serefan were here, but now-a-days the serefan were everywhere and at
least here they knew where to go and where not to go to avoid them; they knew
where the risk would be less and where hunting was safer. In a new place they
would not have this information and so the risk would be greater. Also here
they had some small chance of disrupting the serefan enough to actually make a
difference in the balance of power. Vorador smiled to himself, that chance was
getting bigger all the time since Kain had woken.
The cabal
had been here two centuries now and hadn’t been able to do a fraction of the
damage Kain had done in the last few nights. It was embarrassing, he was
supposed to be the father of vampires, he knew this city well now, knew where
the weaknesses were and he hadn’t been able to do anything like what Kain had
done. Kain who was little more than a fledgling, and had the serefan running in
panicking circles already. With a sigh Vorador put his pride to the side, it
was something he had had to do a lot lately, but he had learned quickly that
pride is not as important as he once thought it was. Now the important thing was
surviving, and hopefully doing some damage in the process.
But still
it stung that he was not the one to do it.
Yet Kain
had always seemed to be capable of the impossible. Already he had done so much
he had made it alone through the slums and smugglers den, no small deed for one
who did not know the way. Vorador shivered he had once slept for a great length
and he remembered waking feeling weak and half mad from starvation. Kain was
not the most stable person at the best of times and it chilled Vorador to think
of someone being on the receiving end.
Faustus.
Faustus
had, while not being a perfect solider had some uses. He’d been fast and his
wit had always been sharp. He would never be the kind to hunt for glory but he
could fight when the time called for it. He wouldn’t have stood a chance
against Kain, even weakened and half mad as he had to be at that point.
“Lord?”
the voice made Vorador jump, he turned and saw one of his elder fledgling
leading a weary bishop into the cabal. The fledgling removed the tattered
blindfold from the elderly man and turned away leaving the Bishop and the
vampire alone together.
“I am relieved
Kain got to you in time.” Vorador spoke blankly to the elderly human; the
bishop seemed to fiddle with his clothing for a moment before laughing quietly
“As am I
Vorador.” He smiled a little “and I am glad you had sense enough to bring me
here, to safety.”
“I would
not call this safe.” Vorador sighed, “We will have to move again soon.” It
would be the third time this decade but the Serefan were close to sniffing them
out once again.
“Tell
“No he was
. . . is new to our ranks.” He smiled, the bishop smirked at him
“Please Vorador
I am no fool.” The bishop smirked, the expression did not suit the man “I have
been to the keep many times myself, I have seen the paintings,” he laughed
quietly again “and I know you, you are safe by nature you would not send a
fledgling into the keep on a rescue mission, you know him well as I do.”
Vorador nodded
”yes, he
is more than he seems, but tell me as you say you have been to the keep many
times, do you believe he will succeed.”
“You
should know that better than I but I can say he seemed determined,” the bishop
answered @and he was well able to take care of himself from what I could tell.”
The man was shaking now with exhaustion and Vorador gestured to a fledgling
hovering by the doorway to take the man somewhere he could rest.
Kain had
been shaking also when Vorador had spoken to him, the weakness biting at him.
It sounds ludicrous but after a sleep that long the best thing was rest, he was
going to burn himself out. Vorador shook his head, what if he burned out before
he could get them both out of the keep, he could lose his strongest ally and
his current favourite.
Umah had
long been a favourite of his, but after the battle he had lost so many that she
became his sole favourite. She had been barren as a human and as a result she
had been beaten and left to die in the gutter. When he had brought her a new
life he had known he would always have a soft spot for her, he had after all
given her everything he could. She had been broody for a long time before the
war, and she had gotten into the habit of adopting Vorador’s fledglings as her
own; as a result Vorador had kept her out of the fighting and instead had used
her almost as a surrogate.
After the
battle she was the logical choice to guard Kain in his comatose state.
Unfortunately it had a set back Vorador had not foreseen, she had babied the
boy. She acted like a mother, which in effect was what he wanted; he wanted her
to feed and protect him but not to start literally thinking he was her ‘baby’.
He had then had to retell the stories of Kain, playing up upon the fact of his
ruthless nature and his . . . mild insanity, his lack of remorse and conscience
when it came to killing.
He
strongly doubted that Kain would tolerate Umah following all over meridian
cooing at him. Vorador couldn’t help but smirk to himself remembering a time
before the last battle when Kain had been wounded, Vorador had tired to aid the
injured fledgling but had been thanked only by having claws racked across his
chest, in the end Kain became somewhat faint from blood loss and Vorador had
clipped him on the jaw knocking him down. Yet clearly what Kain lacked in
common sense he made up for in raw strength, any other fledgling Kain’s age or
even those a good deal older would never had made it home with such an injury
let alone have enough strength to claw at him.
The idea
of Umah getting hurt for simply trying to help the ashen haired fledgling did
not play well with Vorador, so he had tried to make her see what would happen
if she continued to baby the balance guardian. One of the fledglings he had
placed on the rooftops to watch for Kain returning approached him slowly now
getting his attention. The emerald vampire raised his head and stared curiously
at the fledgling only to be disappointed when the child shook its head at him.
There had been no sign of Kain yet. Vorador sighed and let himself slip back
into his thoughts, no one had ever infiltrated the serefan keep, a few had
tired but all had died, it wasn’t surprising really the place would be crawling
with guards. And yet he had sent a weakened Kain into the keep, he thought this
over briefly, did he really have that much faith in the fledgling? Did he worry
for Umah that much? Was her knowledge really as useful as he hoped? Was he that
angry at the Serefan that he willingly loosed his most lethal ally on them?
So many
questions, why had he done it? In truth he had not really expected Kain to even
get to the bishop. The upper city was tightly watched, the humans feeling the
pinch of oppression as keenly as the vampires. He had known Marcus would be
there, the upper city was Marcus’ territory; the elder vampire rested his head
in his hands. The stories he had told Umah of Kain’s ruthless nature were true
but was he any better? He had known Marcus would be there and he had sent Kain,
he knew Marcus would be little trouble for the balance guardian; he had
willingly sacrificed his own child simply to land a blow the serefan would
feel. It hurt to know so many had to die before the serefan Lord would even
blink.
The
serefan lord was truly a monster of epic proportions but then Kain to was a monster,
a slightly smaller one but a monster non the less.
Who would
he rather have rule, the Serefan or Kain.
The
question wasn’t really a question at all, all he was doing was trading one monster
he didn’t understand at all for another, another he could understand at times, and
he wasn’t arrogant enough to believe he could completely control Kain but he
knew he could nudge him in certain ways. Yet at times the guardian would do the
complete opposite simply because he disliked being nudged. Childish and deadly,
a very, very dangerous combination. Vorador shook himself and tired to sense
how old the night was, he had last spoken to the fledgling as he entered the
Serefan keep and that had been at least three hours ago, they had had a good
slice of the night left at that point. But now with no word and only a fraction
of time remaining Vorador was truly beginning to worry. But what else could he
do, he couldn’t send any one in there after them.
“This
whole thing was insane.” He snapped standing, he should have accepted the loss
of his favourite however damaging it would be to him, he should have accepted
the loss of her information and he should not have sent Kain in. For now he
stood to lose everything, even without the information Umah had discovered as
long as Kain still stood with them they would have a fighting chance, but if he
died in that place trying to find her . . . Vorador growled at himself and was
about to turn to leave the room when power filled it.
It was
familure to him, he recognised it instantly but still it surprised him. Umah’s
teleportation power filled the chamber. The light grew brighter and the air
grew thicker until many gasped and one even fell to her knees. But then just as
suddenly as it appeared the power faded and in the fading light stood a
battered and bruised Kain holding an unconscious Umah to himself the way a
mother would her child or a husband his bride. Neither image fit well with
Kain. But he had brought her back; he had brought Umah back to them and
accomplished the impossible yet again. The serefan keep had been infiltrated
and Kain had aided one he did not need to. Maybe Vorador was wrong.
Maybe he
wasn’t a monster after all.
End chapter
Authoress note: this felt kind of jumbled to me
but I hope you like it.
Please review.