Kell's Legend

Falanor. A barteringtool for the Engineers, and for The Army of Iron in the fast escalating conflict, the accelerating invasion. “Help me,” mouthed Alloria, and Anu saw then, saw the swirl of madness deep at Alloria’s core. She was putting on a proud front; but they had nearly destroyed her. There was only so much a human mind could endure.
    Anu coughed, and again something changed inside her. She felt as if about to vomit, and instead, heard a heavy thunk. Part of her machinery changed. What was wrong with her? What had the bastards done to her?
    She looked up. The world seemed…different. Almost black and white, and diffused, as if seen through a fine shattered mirror. She felt strength flood her system, like nothing she had felt before. She felt iron wires merge through her muscles, felt her heart swell, felt new claws springs from her fingertips, delicate and gleaming with silver. Silver fangs flowed through her hollow jaws, molten at first but solidifying, and new vampire fangs sprouted from her teeth, replacing the holes where her fake vachine fangs had been forcibly removed. Everything became acute; she could hear the snowfall, the distant flutter of birds in pine, the creak of rock in the Black Pike Mountains, distant avalanche falls, and she could smell the albinos, a certain metallic stink like that of insects, and Vashell reeked of sweat and shit and piss, and Queen Alloria even more so, and she could smell the resin in the timber jetty and the oil on the albino soldier’s swords, she could see the hairs in their nostrils, taste their sweat oils in the air…and Anu smiled.
    She lifted herself to her full height, and took a deep breath, aware her new vachine fangs gleamed silver…an impossibility, for pure silver was a poison to vachine. But now she knew. She knew her father had made her different, created something…unique, when compared to every other vachine in Silva Valley. He had been experimenting with advanced vachine technology. And she had been the template, the upgrade, using the finest clockwork in a non-parasitic fashion…and that’s why she could not imbibe the blood-oil narcotic; she did not need it. All Anukis needed to survive was…
    Blood. Pure blood.
    Ironically, the sign of the impure.
    But in this context, a technological advancement.
    Her eyes glowed, and she sensed Vashell move and he gathered the chain, his movements slow and bulky, lethargic almost, and Anu lifted her own end of the chain and she pulled. Vashell was jerked from his feet and Anu leapt, a blur of speed, her claws slamming through the chain with a tinkling like ice chimes. Vashell stumbled back, going for his sword, but Anu whirled the length of chain around her head and it slammed Vashell’s face, knocking him from his feet with a grunt. She took the collar in her hands and wrenched it apart, bolts pinging across snow.
    The albinos tensed, drew their own swords and Anu walked towards them. She heard Vashell lift his weapon, could smell his bloodlust rising and mission or no mission, instructions or no instructions, he was going to kill her and to hell with the consequences.
    The soldiers, elite warriors of the Army of Iron, charged.
    Anu leapt amongst them, swayed back as a blade hummed over her, and her fist lashed out, talons smashing through black iron breast plate and through the albino’s chest, exiting with his heart in her fist. She tugged him in close, as her claws shredded his heart in a blur, and she withdrew her fist with a schlup sound. Even as he fell, she flicked sideways, rolling in snow, grabbing the second albino by the head and twisting violently. His neck snapped with a crunch, and she took his sword, hurling it across the clearing where it speared the third albino through the throat, pinning him to the barrack wall. He struggled, gurgling, refusing to die, his hands scrabbling at the blood-slippery blade.
    Anu turned, ignoring the cowering blood-spattered form of Alloria. She stared at Vashell, who was approaching with the fluid grace of a perfect vachine warrior. She smiled, and ejected claws and fangs.
    “You’re going to taste death, bitch.”
    “After you,” invited Anu, with a smile, and they leapt at one another, clashing in mid-air, bouncing from each other as Anu twisted, avoiding Vashell’s claws and her own cut a line down his flank, through armour and clothing and flesh, and a bloody spray spattered across the snow. They landed ten feet apart, crouched like