02x02 - Eternal

[bunniefuu]

Be gone, Neve.

What else is there to say?

We failed.

At least he's dead.

Better that than letting him escape.

Better still if we had taken him alive.

I have led you badly of late.

But our next hunt will be different.

Aye. Let our quarry squirm like...

A shrask eel.

Do they squirm?

Very much so.

One of those, then.

They will not escape our grasp.

I am not worthy of your faith, old
friend.

These days I... Enough self -pity. I
must answer to Lord Carthelon.

Without knowing it, she is escaping your
guardianship.

No thanks to you.

You should be holding her dangerous
memories in check.

You need not remind me of our bargain.

Evidently, I must.

A much greater power than mine has hold
of her tides.

I cannot prevent the deluge much longer.

And if you wish to speak of our terms,
what of your pledge?

What of the treasure you promised?

You will have it.

But if need falls...

Tides turn, Wolf of Sigmar.

I begin to wonder if this prize is worth
the price of pain.

We both know the value of such a soul.

The fault is mine and mine alone.

I am ready to relinquish command.

You are where you need to be.

It is my most profound
wish for that to be so.

It is not a question of wish or doubt.

It is the will of Sigmar.

We all have pasts, Black Talon. We all
cast shadows.

But we are not our yesterdays. That is
Sigmar's gift to us.

The blessing of his great forge.

But what if I...

Neve, is it your place
to question Sigmar's choices?

I would never presume.

And yet you do.

Do you imagine your past is darker than
any other soul now clad in Sigmarite?

That your half -remembered darkness

is bleaker than any of the
burdens the rest of us carry?

What if it is?

Darker than all others?

Tornus knows his past, my lord.

I do not. Shouldn't I know the sins that
once stained my soul?

You are

wise.

I have my moments.

This will be a good hunt.

You still have the scent?

The flow around that sigil is no
stranger to me now.

It is blood in the
water, tainting the tide.

How close will you need to be to detect
its presence?

Closer than I desire.

So be it.

We are Sigma's hunters.

It's his blade.

It's a wound.

Our foes can run.

but we will bring them down.

They can hide, but we will drag them
into the light.

No one escapes the sons and daughters of
the Storm God.

Your flight is over.

Still another.

Then our hunt has just begun.

How many of you are there?

We are merciful, but
our mercy has its limits.

Take your mercy.

Burn it before me.

What do I care?

When the gods you serve come for your
soul, you may find that you care deeply.

You may find that you wish you had
turned to Sigmar for protection.

Protection?

Where was Sigmar's
protection when it mattered?

Sigmar is blind to the
tears of the grieving

and deaf to their cries for vengeance.

If it is how he wishes, so be it.

There are gods who hear the calls for
revenge.

There are no answers for you on my
tongue, nor in my heart.

Those you hunt, we do not know each other.

How did you get into the city?

Simple.

Easy.

Shadows.

You hear it too?

The darkness, it whispers, tells us
where to go, what to do.

What did it tell you to
do in Hamahal Aksha?

You took me before I knew.

You have nothing. You know nothing.

The whispers will become a murmur, a
roar, a scream.

And you know nothing.

We are not closer to the truth.

Perhaps. Perhaps not.

She told us more than she thought.

However many agents of the
enemy are in Hamahal Aksha,

they do not yet know what
they are here to do.

Which means...
We have time.

You think she spoke the truth?

We must assume the worst.

Multiple targets.

Protection must be arranged.

But for where?

Where they can wound
the city most grievously.

The ports. The granaries.

The reservoirs.

The realm gates.

If the realm gate falls... Then,

Hamahal, Aksha, and Gyra fall with it.

Neither side of the city can survive
without the other.

And if we lose Hamahal,

we lose all the settlements beyond
our walls that rely on the city for aid.

The prisoner carried nothing
more lethal than a dagger.

Tainted they may be, but how could any
of them hope to destroy a realm gate?

The mark of ruin runs deeply.

I cannot divine its full nature. It is
shrouded in impenetrable depths.

But I sense its vile strength.

Its potential to drown us in ruin.

So where does that leave us?

I will speak with Lord Karthalos of what
we have learned.

And what we dread.

Then we hunt anew.

Hardly worth your attention,
Great Aeternus.

It is the attention of others it will
draw, and their attention matters.

Their attention?

Or hers?

You are fortunate that I like you,
Therion.

Otherwise, I might gouge out your all
seeing eyes.

Ride out, my warriors.

Burn what stands and bleed what moves.

We need nothing but
the brand of our passing.

So it begins.

I have received word that the stronghold
of Ajiricus burns.

And one of the main trade routes, the
Hamahal, lies closed.

All they left behind was their mark of
ruin.

It must be a distraction.

The target is important, but not
important enough.

Agreed. The enemy means to turn our eyes
from the threat already within the city

walls. So we ignore the attack.

What about the townspeople? Hundreds are
dying and the loss of such a trade

route. We may lose thousands more.

It is too late for a Jiricus.

Our forces in Hamahal are stretched
thin.

Every blade we possess is on the city
streets.

No one can approach the target sites
without being examined for the sigil.

A great many mortals are being butchered
in the wildlands beyond the city walls,

my lord. And they die in the God -King's
name.

We cannot further deplete our garrison.

Hamahal must be our priority.

However... Distraction or not, there may
be clues there regarding the nature of

our enemy.

You see the truth of it.

Go, Altrus.

Spread out. See what
you can find. But be careful.

Nothing is as it seems with this foe.

Have no fear.

I'll k*ll the rest and then...

In this, all merit to you.

Defeated so easily.

He should never have chosen you.

By what right does such a creature as
you judge Sigmar's chosen?

Sigmar?

What do you hope to gain from this
skirmish? The city is too well defended.

I am not here to discuss Ham -Hal.

I think he's all ready.

I am here for you.

And you are here to meet your past.

My past.

I know you can sense it. There in the
shadows.

It does not matter. But it does.

We are your past and your future.

Velachor awaits your return.

Velachor.

The realm gate.

No.

She draws close.

And what sweet misery it will be,

when he sees the fractured weakling you
have become.

Remembrance is fealty need.

It cannot be.