#77 Rose Guard of the Bloody Pilgrims
Lunaghast the ghost moon of Shyish bathed the military cemetery in its pale light. In the deep shadow of the Cenotaph, three female forms moved among the gravestones. Here lay the most decorated soldiers of the Glymmsmen, those who over the many years of its defence had made the ultimate sacrifice for their city. The most loyal and heroic had of course been taken by Sigmar himself to be reforged upon his Anvil of Apotheosis, but after them, these were Glymmsforge's most honoured dead.
The earth at the foot of one of the gravestones was stirring, the turf splitting and bursting open as a skeletal hand emerged from the soil. As the women standing over it continued to mutter and gesticulate, another arm emerged, pulling up behind it a grinning skull and fleshless ribcage. Moments later, a full skeleton stood before them, filthy with grave-soil, a greatsword hanging limply from its metacarpals. It was clad in scraps of rusted armour and the decaying remnants of an ancient uniform.
The Bloody Pilgrims completed their spell. Paule Weiß turned to Anya: "So, that is how we disable the protective wards of the Sigmarite priests. Next we make the reanimated carcass presentable, for we are the Legion of Blood, and the honour guard of the Saviours of Barfunweltz must reflect the glory of their mistresses."
Anya looked at Tes who raised an eyebrow behind Weiß's back. Anya was so glad Tes was here. It was irritating enough that Lady Beauvoir treated her like her daughter, but Weiß seemed to regard herself as Anya's governess. To be fair, the old vampire had taught her a great deal of necromancy, from the reanimation of rotting deadwalkers to the fine art of deathrattle manipulation. But did she have to be quite so patronising? Why was mysterious Tes the only member of the coven who treated her as an equal?
Copying Weiß, Anya quickly perfected the art of not only raising the dead Glymmsmen champions, but of restoring their arms and armour to a respectable state. Tes worked hard too, and before long a shining throng of deathrattle Grave Guard was arrayed before them: gleaming skeletons incongruously resplendent in gaudy Glymmsman uniforms bedecked with plumes of feathers.
"The Rose Guard!" declared Weiß, eyeing the skeletal troopers approvingly, "Her Ladyship will be pleased - a military escort befitting our great Legion and worthy of the Bloody Pilgrims."
Since her ascension to the Throne Behind the Power, Lady Beauvoir was striving to further enhance her status. In the past her coven had made use of the deadwalkers of the Reformed Society of the Sanguine Rose, but such ‘wet dead’ were now deemed rather uncouth by the matriarch of the Bloody Pilgrims.
Paula Wieß turned to her coven sisters: "Teresa, kindly teach Anya how to make them fight. I shall return to the Manse to assure Lady Beauvoir that her instructions have been followed."
Comments
Post a Comment