Karoy of the Second Sun, Chapter 1
This is an undercooked first draft, but reading it over had me grinning, so I decided to share it as-is for now. The sexual politics are a little cringe and need tweaking. I was reading Elric when I wrote this, which I bring up mostly because you should read Elric.
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"Wake Karoy of the Second Sun, for you are dying!"
Karoy stirred, aware of the scent of smoke and unfamiliar incense. The dim purple striations that seeped through his blinds fell upon a lithe, feminine figure standing over him. Karoy's hungover brain tried to remember bringing a girl up to his room last night, it wouldn't be the first time that Drunk Karoy did so without telling Sober Karoy, but he was certain he would have recalled sharing a bed with a priestess of the Temple of Ash and Lamentation.
Karoy lazily lifted himself on his elbows and willed himself to focus on his visitor. She was tall, made more so by the conical headdress of her order. Her grey and red robes draped elegantly, accentuating her shapely figure rather than hiding it. Her eyes were circled with heavy grey paint and glimmered anxiously. Karoy decided he would definitely have remembered sleeping with this woman, and that she therefore was an intruder.
"What the fuck are you doing in my room?"
The priestess' eyes widened, and she bowed awkwardly. "Forgive my intrusion Karoy. I am Ulirobi the Fallen Star, my order has need of your legendary prowess."
Karoy sat up fully, his head swam. This was one hell of a hangover. He swatted in the girl's direction. She took a step back and nearly tripped over his boots.
"Go wait for me in the tavern then. I need to sleep."
The girl timidly took a step forward, "Sleeping is probably a bad idea for you right now."
Karoy's head let him focus as enough to pick up details, one of the priestess' hands gripped a brass bowl of sickly green paste, the other a long, silver needle, his arm burned cold and numb. Looking down, he saw a dark grey splotch radiating from the centre of the pain.
In a second he was out of bed, a roar escaping him as he lunged at the woman, his red hair trailing like the flame of a waving torch, the sheets falling away from his naked body, revealing the chiseled and scarred landscape of his weathered skin. In one motion, he dashed the needle and bowl from her hands and in another, slammed her against the wall.
"What did you do to me?" He snarled, inches from her face.
Ulirobi blanched and struggled to find her words. Karoy caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror across the room and winced at the battle-crazed naked berserker menacing a terrified woman of the cloth. He slowed his breathing, coiled his rage. He backed off a little, though he kept her pinned to the wall.
"What did you do to me?" He repeated, this time his voice a steady whisper.
"The Temple of Ash and Lamentations requires your services oh mighty one." Ulirobi's voice shook, but her eyes held his. "Our enemy, Scoss Under Scorched Skies, seeks a relic of our ancient past, the Head of Saint Conjanji the Waymaker, which must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands -"
Karoy put a finger to the priestess' lips, and calmly and deliberately asked "What. Did. You. Do. To. Me?"
Ulirobi stared at him defiantly, "I have gifted you with a dose of Drossbella poison to hasten you on your journey. Once you retrieve the saint's head I will administer the antidote. If you fail to do so before nightfall, you will die."
Karoy's eyes and nostrils flared, but he kept his anger coiled, "I have an alternate solution. Why don't you give me the antidote now so I don't use my dying breath to slay you and every one of your pointy-headed sisters?"
The priestess' voice was without malice, "I don't have the antidote, it is well guarded within our temple. Also, Drossbella quickens when exposed to certain musical note, and our order's novices are equipped with prayer bowls tuned to the poison's frequency. You would die before you crossed the threshold."
Karoy felt his self control slipping, envisioned the snapping of a neck and a limp body falling to the floor. He took a step back to avoid following the impulse and sat on the bed, head in his hands. Ulirobi took a full breath and slumped down against the wall, her pale cheeks burning red as her fear of death gave way to her embarrassment at her proximity to his nudity.
He looked up as she averted her eyes. He grinned wickedly. "You're not far from a novice yourself are you? I shouldn't think a funerary priestess would be so unsettled by the sight of a naked man."
She winced at the barb, but kept her peace, still averting her eyes.
Karoy laughed, "Did you draw the short straw? 'Which of our sisters will sneak up on the famed slayer of men and poison him in his sleep?' Does your order solve all of its problems in so precarious a manner?".
Ulirobi glared up at him, her grey-framed eyes shining. "Karoy of the Second Sun, I come to you in desperation, will you help me or will you die?"
Whatever answer Karoy might have given was cut off as a heavy iron hammer smashed through the small window's shutters and cracked against his jaw, knocking him out of bed to sprawl across the floor. The hammer, tied to a sturdy rope dragged back to the window, its hooked back digging into the windowframe. Ulirobi screamed as a second hammer flew in, digging into the wood inches from her ankle. Karoy was back on his feet as the third hammer flew through the window, which he deftly caught and quickly hefted upon the rope, pulling hand over hand like he was hauling in a crab trap. As they cleared the sill, the cloaked figure which clung to the line had an air of terror to them despite the blank ceramic mask which obscured their face. Karoy leapt at the would-be assassin, and, letting his rage lose, brought a fist up into their chin with a satisfying crack. A shove sent them tumbling limply down three stories past their climbing fellows to smack mask first against the unforgiving cobbles below.
One of the other climbers tossed a glass sphere at Karoy's face and when he swung to bat it away, it burst into a cloud of shards which stung his eyes, skin and nostrils. The berserker staggered back, clawing at his face long enough for the assassins to enter the room, jagged short swords brandished.
As he regained his sight, Karoy looked past the aggressors to the sky and saw the bright, red star that was his namesake crest over the horizon. He chuckled and swung the dead assassin's hammer by its rope, first in a short circle to test its weight, then in a wide arc.
The hammer connected with first one, then the other of his attacker's jaws, sending one sprawling on the ground, and the other staggering back. He dashed forward, stomping the sword hand of the one on the floor and bringing the hammer down on the head of the one still standing, bashing that sword to the side before it could come up into his guts. The masked assassin regained composure quickly, lunging in to stay close to the berserker, their blade aiming for an expert jab between Karoy's ribs. Karoy barely parried with the hammer, and dove over the bed to retrieve his storied broadsword Wyrmsplitter. The assassin had a moment of pause regarding the maddened, naked warrior equipped with his favoured weapon. A quiet gurgle from their dying comrade whose own blade now stuck out of their throat thanks to Ulirobi's quick action, though the girl crouched in the corner, revolted by what she had done.
Karoy sang a prayer of death to Wyrmsplitter as he advanced on the remaining assassin whose blows were dashed aside and who was driven back to the window with each step of the warrior. Karoy savored the moments of wearing down his opponent, Wyrmsplitter's dance finding the holes in the assassin's form before running them through.
Karoy took a moment to catch his breath then drew Wyrmsplitter out of his opponent's chest, grunting when he realized the sword had embedded into the stucco behind them. "I'll need to tip the landlady well today. Give me a moment to pull on some trousers and I'll take on your quest, it seems we have the same enemies regardless of my decisions."
A golden glint caught his eye just in time for him to duck out of the window. The metallic projectile narrowly missed his ear and embedded itself in the bedframe. Karoy ventured a look out the window and saw a lanky, dark-cloaked figure with a pale face and a flared, reptilian collar standing atop a building across the square. The man met Karoy's eye and grinned.
"Master Karoy!" Ulirobi shouted. He spun in time to see the golden dagger as it plunged into his shoulder. He grabbed the hilt and yanked the blade free, only for it to yank itself from his grip and dart for his neck. Karoy grabbed the assassin's blade to parry the dagger's thrust, sending it spiralling through the air, only to streak back towards him. He dashed to the side at the last moment, smacking the small blade off balance again, but without a wielder to counterattack, he was unsure how to gain an advantage.
"We need to get out of here." He dashed the dagger away again, feeling a sting in his shoulder more acute than a simple stab wound. More poison, wonderful.
"That may be complicated!" Karoy glanced up to where Ulirobi was throwing all of her weight against the door, struggling to hold it closed. She shrieked as a jagged shortsword burst through the flimsy wood next to her head.
"Window it is, gah!" Karoy ducked backwards as the dagger slipped past his guard and narrowly missed his eye. With a grunt he swung at the projectile's hilt, speeding it past him to embed in the wall. Picking up an assassin's hammer, he closed on the blade and with two strokes, drove it deeper.
"Get ready to run!" He grunted, pulling the bed from the wall and getting behind the headboard. He glanced warily at the dagger, wiggling back and forth, struggling to free itself. He noticed for the first time the coiled, striking snakes that made up its hilt and the sizable ruby set in its pommel.
"Now!" Karoy pushed the bed towards the door with all his strength as Ulirobi scampered out of the way. The door swung open just enough for an assassin's sword arm to swing through just in time to be slammed in the door as the bed collided with it. Ulirobi clumsily hoisted herself backwards out the window, gripping the frame with white knuckles. Karoy set his foot against the slain assassin and pulled Wyrmsplitter free, keeping his eye on the dagger. Once Ulirobi was out of the window he quickly hoisted himself through, being careful not to catch his exposed manhood on the grappling hammers.
Several onlookers in the square below had noticed the priestess clinging for her life to the ledge of the building and they pointed and gasped at the naked man climbing out beside her. He grabbed one of the ropes and offered his arm to Ulirobi. He heard the door shatter behind him and leapt before she had quite grabbed him securely. In the moment before sliding down the rope he thought about how much he wished he was wearing pants.
As he slid down to the street below he looked up at the figure on the rooftop who regarded him with a scowl. Good, at least his enemy was also miserable.