He blacked out during the flight due to the pain, and when he awoke, it was to due to another flash of severe pain as he was dumped into some old ruined building. The Green never spoke a single word, it just leered down to the broken Red, then walked away. The Red tried to speak his thanks, to ask where he was. But all that came out was a wheeze, as his ravaged back screamed in agony.
It was impossible to say how long he laid there. He passed out countless times, once he even tried to stand, but the infected gaping hole began to fester, he was going to die. Die a disgrace, die as a failure, he was going to die alone.
That was somehow worse, did he not have a single ally to look for him? Did nobody even care? The Green must have, it did save him after all. But it never returned, though he also understood why. That was their way, you lived because you were strong. You died if you were not. He was strong, but even this was proving too much for him. When he fell to unconscious again, his last thoughts were, it might be for the last time. But he was roused soon after, not by pain, but by a touch. Someone was here, but he was too weak to do anything about it. He fought to gather strength, to awake and deal with this invader...he instead passed out.
When he woke some time later, he felt surprisingly better. The agony was there, but it was more muted. The constant throb and sting of infection had faded as well, he wondered if his body had just shut down, his senses deadening the pain to let himself just give up. When he opened his eyes , he saw no avatar of the Queen come to take his soul, no Kin looming over him to give him a final death, but a female, a Munthrek, of all things.
He didn't know if he should feel saved, or insulted.
The munthrek (human) woman turned out to be an accomplished healer, and it should be pointed out, a persistent one. She never left his side until the infection was stopped, and kept returning to see to his recovery. During the visits she would speak of current events, give him some form of drugged tea to ease his comfort, and perhaps surprisingly, he found himself enjoying her visits.
She took no 'side' in this war, and when asked why she came, her answer was simple "What they did to him was wrong." He questioned if that was enough of a reason to come to a monster, alone, but as he regained strength, he found he no longer cared. He came to like the woman, it was a shame she was a munthrek.
Word came to him that he was being sought, so they moved him to the Iron City to recover. A strange choice at first, but he could not deny the security of what was still a relatively unknown place. Nor could he really deny the appeal of the Bath House the woman chose for him to stay in.
He was almost content, he still felt a need for revenge, a need to know what was going on with the mysterious Kin army that arrived. But he needed to recover, to learn how to walk, let alone fight without his wings. But that would be sped, perhaps too soon, when word of the Northern Feywood fight was brought to him by the healer. There was another battle, and he wasn't there.
The news became worse, not only did he miss the fight, but the islands 'Defenders' routed the army, the Green Army. The one who saved him, the one he never got to thank, was gone. And he wasn't, even, there.
When the woman next arrived, she found him in his glimmering Dragon Plate. He ignored her protests of being too soon, but they were few, she understood. He had to go and rejoin the fight, to find these Kin, to not allow another slaughter by the islanders defenders. Or at least, he had to try. He had no idea where to start, he had one name, Bloodwinged. But where this hulking Kin was, he did not know.
If he could not 'find' the Bloodwinged. He would do the next best thing. He'd wage his own war, pay back the Greens death with more from his own hand. Then, perhaps, the Bloodwinged would find him.
The two of them had been meeting often, mostly due to the pair both lingering at the outer fire of the Watch. There he also met the Watch officer, Liekki. A Red Kin, like himself, but there was far from any sense of kinship between them. She had seen other Kins before him, and they were often ones the female ended up detesting. Vaurin was fine with it, he sought only willful followers, he would not force anything between them.
Vaurin spoke that when he first met the Bloodwinged, the massive Kin was in the company of other winged orcs. That lead he and the Tiefling, to the Bagnorn. They were not received with welcomed arms, but their coming must have been expected, for they were not attacked.
The huge Kin eventually came, and before such an imposing beast, Vaurin felt a touch of shame he stood before the Bloodwinged, wingless. The Bloodwinged was orc, and Kin, so Vaurin would not show weakness. While within he felt 'lessor' he would stand proud. And it seemed to appease the beast, but only to a point.
The Bloodwinged challenged Vaurin, to prove he could still fight and not be a blight to his bloodline. He was to take Rhan and a contingent of Bloodwinged's elite winged soldiers, and with them, attack Hamley.
Vaurin took the challenge eagerly. Not only to prove himself, but to seek retribution for the loss of the Green Kin he failed to protect. The Tiefling was also keen to see battle, so with the winged orcs, they flooded down the mountain to the small walled village.
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The defenders must have seen them coming, for they stood outside the walls with a small force of the islands 'hero's'. Most any other raiding party would have paused at this, likely even retreated. But what the defenders did not know, was that this was no simple orcen raiding party. They were Kin, and with an Abyssal warrior at their side, the raiders crashed into the wall of defenders.
The hills rang with the sounds of clashing metal, and soon, the sounds of the dying. Like the attack in the wastes, the defenders just did not appreciate the power they faced, nor the brutality of the attackers. To the dismay of those who watched from the walls, the attack became a rout. Soon, all that stood outside the village were the raiders. And blowing out a plume of dragon fire, Vaurin, the Tielfling and many of the winged orcs, watched as the gates began to blaze.
They could hear the defenders within fight the blaze, and regroup to counter attack. It was clear the raiders welcomed them, but one orc came to Vaurin and spoke that they were done. The Bloodwinged wanted to test the defenders tactics, to know their numbers, and more than likely, wanted to know if the wingless Vaurin could still fight.
The blood within Vaurin pounded in his chest, the draconic bloodthirst was ignited and was not easily doused. He thought to belay that 'order', to continue the fight until every single munthrek was destroyed. But the point was made, the Kinarmy had its revenge for the death of the Green.
And more importantly, at least to Vaurin, he proved that he was back.
Vaurin looked up at the shout, all around him the Bagnorn orcs were in a frenzy to meet the attackers. These orcs have seen many a siege from these defenders of Hamley, far too many times the Order proved to be the victors when they met.
Whatever the reason, the Keepers decided to lay waste to the orcen stronghold. Vaurin smirked when he heard there was only two. "Brazen" he thought, and drew his bastard sword to lay in wait for the attackers.
Except two became one.
Apparently the human split off to attack another part of the fortress, leaving only the elf to continue the attack. "Fool" Vaurin spoke aloud, and around him the orcs grew blind with bloodlust. Except, it seemed this elf wasn't as dim witted as Vaurin first thought. This elf was clearly a master of the spear, and all who faced him, fell in heaps around the skilled elven warrior.
What the elf did not know, is that a Dragon was waiting for him.
The elf charged into the fortress when the gates fell, his spear impaling the heavily armoured orcs as if they wore nothing but cloth. Then, from around the corner came Vaurin. The elf was too focused on his orcen prey, he did not register the red dragon that bore down upon him. The red dragonkin did not join the attack, he did not step beside the orcs to offer an united front. He came on fueled with inner fire, fueled with draconic rage.
It was over before the elven Keeper could even understand what happened.
Hefting the elf with one hand, Vaurin turned to the orc priest "Where is Bloodwinged?" The orc did not even comment, a bewildered hand just pointed to the distant portal, a portal that Vaurin always wondered about. As he approached the lightning wards dropped, and Vaurin stepped inside with the Keeper dragged behind him.
He entered heat, glorious, unrelenting heat.
He entered the domain of the Bloodwinged.
The entire area was ablaze, this was not a room set on fire, it was as if Vaurin stepped into the plane of fire itself. And in the middle, atop a massive throne, sat the beast, the Bloodwinged. The air seemed to boom with the laughter of the giant OrcKin. Apparently Vaurins delivered 'gift' appeased the winged beast, and Vaurin felt pride swell in his chest.
Two things happened that day.
The Keeper felt pain no mortal should have been able to bare, as the Bloodwinged tossed the elf into a pool of flames. There the elf was forced to suffer the flamed torment, often the elf passed out from the pain, just to be awoken and forced to burn again. Eventually the Bloodwinged felt the lesson was learned, and with a curse cast upon the elf, the Keeper was flung out to be taken and unceremoniously dumped down the mountain.
Vaurins pain was no less insufferable. For the Bloodwinged beckoned the Dragonkin forward, then tore his armor open with his bare hands. Vaurins back bulged with the adolescent wings they re-grew upon his back. Over time they would eventually tear the skin open, it was a passage all Kin bore, when they ascended from their mortal form into that of a full blooded kin. But the Bloodwinged would not wait that long.
Instead, Vaurins scaled skin was torn open as easily as his armour by the taloned hands of the beast, then his wings were pulled free. The Bloodwinged spoke that the Queen of Chaos would want his bloodline shown, that Vaurin was born again, in literal fire.
[ The Island of Thain ]
Xorvintaal