#29c The Ballad of Lord Voltaire: Part II
PART II - GLADIATOR
Foolish Voltaire’s evils three.
His artless evils three:
He swelled the ranks of the Raptured Court,
Provoked the wrath of a Khornate Lord,
And their course did not foresee!
In Varanspire the Soulblight knights appeared.
But Lord Voltaire disguised them by his art.
They sought the Lord of Chaos called Moh'sheh,
Discovered he was now a Daemon Prince
And tracked him to his brutal fighting pits.
Voltaire approached the mighty Prince of Khorne
Presenting him the bestigor he’d caught:
A tribute paid for his blood-thirsty sport.
Moh'sheh was not deceived by mystic crafts
And saw the soulblight knight for what he was.
“I know your crest of old you vampire spy:
This is the Order of the Blood-Drenched Rose!
Why come you here O foolish knight of death?
Would you feign die in these my fighting pits?”
But Lord Voltaire perceived this daemon Prince,
And thought what bargain he might strike with him:
“Long years ago our Order fought for you:
One called the Paladin led noble knights
Against some mighty foe you wished cast down.
The Order knows not whom he fought that day,
But only that he was victorious.
And yet his mighty victory was marred
For he was sorely injured in his mind.
“If you would tell me whom he battled with
And - if he lives - where now this cur yet skulks,
Then I will fight to entertain your mob!
But if I overcome your champion,
Then you will set me and my good knights free.”
Moh'sheh the Prince of Khorne was much amused
And thirsted ever for the sight of blood.
“A gladiator you aspire to be?
I like your terms! For what’er you may learn,
You’ll never leave my fighting pit alive!
“Your Paladin was paid to fight with me
Against the cannibals called Blisterskin.
They gave good sport and many skulls were claimed!
Their leader was defeated by your knight,
Deranged Archregent, worshiped by his ghouls,
Sawl Gizzardspittle was the name he claimed.”
Prince Moh’sheh grinned his wicked, greedy smirk.
“So now our contract needs to be fulfilled!
A warrior of Khorne I’ll pick for you,
To offer to the Blood God your vain skull!”
Lord Voltaire’s pact was sealed and so Moh'sheh
Revealed to him the whereabout of Sawl.
And in return the vampire lord went down,
Contender ready for belligerent foe.
Into the fight pit rode the questing knight.
The floor was stained with blood and strewn with bones.
Around him towered walls befouled with gore,
And crowds were calling out that more be spilled.
Then suddenly the gate before him shook.
Now Moh'sheh’s champion would be revealed:
The gates were opened to the masses’ cheers
As through them stepped the Prince of Khorne himself!
The Lord Voltaire knew this was peril great.
But hesitated not and fast as dark
Spurred forth his steed to charge the daemon prince
With all the violence of his Soulblight heart
And slashed with sword and bit with vicious fangs.
Prince Moh'sheh’s face was frozen in surprise
For he had come to entertain his crowd!
A jeering speech he had prepared to give,
Yet scornful words stayed frozen on his lips
As down upon the blood-drenched mud he fell!
The cheering crowd fell silent in a breath,
And in the calm before the storm, Voltaire,
His nightmare’s hoof upon the fallen prince,
Called out to Slaves to Darkness all around,
“Are you not entertained?”
Foolish Voltaire’s evils three.
His artless evils three:
He swelled the ranks of the Raptured Court,
Provoked the wrath of a Khornate Lord,
And their course did not foresee!
PART III - IN THE HALL OF THE BLISTERSKIN
EPILOGUE - TIDINGS TO BARFUNWELTZ
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