The war had been a massacre. Human soldiers and castle-forged steel were no match for daemon flesh and cursed weapons. The unholy hordes swept through the countryside destroying settlements and besieging cities, leaving devastation and despair in their wake.
Finally their seemingly unstoppable advance was stalled at a remote abbey where one woman chose to take up the sword and fight back against the rising darkness, inspiring and leading her companions to do the same.
"Hold the line! Right flank, prepare to fall back to secondaries on my mark. Archers, loose!" Sister Augustine cried, her voice carrying over the din of the battlefield as every soldier followed her orders.
The battle had been waging since dawn as the daemon horde surged up the mountain pass leading to the abbey. Luckily the terrain was on the defenders' side; the thin, winding path forcing the enemy to come at them piecemeal rather than being able to stage an all-out assault, which would've led to a swift victory. As the sun slowly slipped past its zenith the troops were beginning to tire, only their faith in the Living Saint keeping them going.
Across the valley the unholy commander watched closely. A necromancer with pale skin and deep set eyes watched, his scrying lens capturing every detail of the battle as wave after wave broke against the abbey's defenses. With a growl of impatience Azul brushed the lens aside, smashing it to the ground as he turned away from the scene. "This battle should've been won easily. Why is it so difficult to rape and pillage one group of nuns!?!" He screamed, gesturing wildly at his cowering minions. Not one dared to answer, their eyes darting between each other waiting for someone else to be the bearer of ill tidings.
Stomping into his tent Azul dropped onto his throne in despair, his face twisting between anger and fear as he pondered what the Overlords would do when they discovered his failure. "Pull them back. There's no point in losing any more troops today." He snarled at his attendant, "We need to find another way to break their wills."
"Mi'lord..." The attendant mumbled cautiously as he leaned closer, "We do have... other options..." He continued, gesturing over to the robed figure standing just inside the entrance to the tent.
Rising in his seat the necromancer eyed the newcomer suspiciously. "And who do we have here? Some new sycophant, with yet another brilliant strategy to help win the war?" He asked peevishly, waving his hand to dismiss the robed stranger.
"I am no sycophant, mi'lord." A voice said, its tones dripping like honey into Azul's ear. Immediately he felt his heart quicken, and his 'attention' was aroused. Peering at the stranger more closely he watched as she pulled back the hood on her robe to reveal... he wasn't quite sure. Somehow whatever he was looking at left the impression in his mind of intense beauty, but even as he stared at her Azul wouldn't have been able to actually describe what the woman looked like. "The Overlords have learned of your... predicament and have asked me to attend to help ease your pressures."
Azul licked his lips, wondering exactly which of his pressures this vision of beauty would be willing to ease, and whether he could spare the time from the battle to explore all of them. "And how exactly, my dear, would you do that?" He asked, trying to sound relaxed with a cracking voice.
The woman, and if nothing else Azul was certain she was indeed a woman, stepped closer. Her body moved like a well-oiled snake within her robes, with all the right curves gently teased beneath the fabric with each step. Everything she did seemed designed to arouse and seduce, and Azul was more than happy to be her plaything, for now.
"I'm here to take care of her." The stranger said, her honeyed tones becoming even more sensual for a moment as she seemed to savour the anticipation.
Azul was taken aback for a second, unsure if he'd heard his guest correctly. "Her?" He asked in confusion. "You mean the holy bitch?" Waving his hand towards the tent's entrance he gestured across the valley to where even now Sister Augustine was rallying her forces as the daemon army retreated back down the mountain pass.
He didn't mean to laugh, certainly not as loudly as he did, but Azul couldn't contain himself. "That pious whore won't succumb, I've already tried. My best incubus couldn't make it past their sacred walls."
The stranger leaned closer, the front of her robes falling open just enough to give the necromancer a brief flash of what was hidden beneath. The memory of a smile insinuated itself into his memory as the beautiful, clouded face rested a hand's breadth away from his. "I think you'll find I have my ways."
Suddenly pulling away the woman turned her back on Azul, quickly flicking her hood back up to cover her face as she stepped towards the entrance. The necromancer pulled himself together, suddenly aware just how entranced he'd been with her beauty, but still completely unable to explain exactly why this had been.
"Prepare your forces." The stranger said, her voice suddenly filled with steel. "They will be needed again in the morning."
With that the woman was gone, leaving Azul to ponder just what had happened in the last few minutes. Waving his attendant over he gave the orders to have the troops properly ritualised and bound afresh for the following day. As the minion vanished to take care of matters Azul began to wonder just what the Overlords truly had planned for the abbey, the 'Living Saint', and for himself.
