((Disclaimer: Some chapters from this long tale are written by myself, by other members of the Clan, and former members of the Clan))

Story I - The Rise of Adharca Cathair

Prologue - The Gathering

(Auorix slides his polearm back and forth across his thighs as he sits by the fountain in the Noble district that had been the location of many changes in his short life)

Your road has been long Auorix Engel, and may yet come full circle on itself before your time here is over...as closed a loop that is possible at the least.

(Helm heavy, Auorix unstraps the chin guard and lifts it off of his head to rest at his side at the fountain. The lines of stress evident near his eyes and face)

You have endured many trials and tribulations in your pursuit of doing what you thought was right. Some has been successful...other decisions may not have been.

(Some children run up the stairs heading north towards the Noble's villas. Auorix pauses in his thoughts a moment to watch them play what ever form of combat they are imitating with sticks)

Contact Kemena, Aurelius, Hrothgard, Tereska, Karone or Kyzafi for further information.

The man strides angrily past the many guards of the sweltering compound into a burnt-red chamber of the fortress half as old as time. It is time for her to be given another dose but right now he needs her awake and at least partly able to talk. He lifts the slight body of the young woman in blue, growling into her face as her fugged mind and eyes try to focus on his mohawk.
I have something I need you to do woman.
Blinking and mumbling, the only clear words she gets out are Rel.
Oh, you're about to talk to him, my dear. He slaps her hard across the face. Dagger point under her chin to quell her struggles.

-sharp-

Neverlin’s horse took one last burning breath, and then died of exhaustion. 

The cherry-black steed neighed pathetically in death throes as it tripped over its own legs and began crumpling in a heap at the foot of the red brick fortress.  As the corpse of his warhorse collapsed, Neverlin leaped from its saddle like a panther and alighted nimbly on the blood stained granite steps leading up to one of the many undisclosed lairs of Nox Eternus.  Without braking stride, he landed and stalked coolly up the long familiar staircase.   

Aurelius stepped into the alley, the door to the Green Man creaking quietly shut behind him.  He'd participated in many a war council in many a tavern, from the clouded rankness of the Salty Dog to an unnamed tavern, more a barn, in Brandoc Village.  He'd seen alliances come and go in his time as a mercenary commander and the Company he lead had fought for or against most of them.

But this war council had been different.  Throughout all the turmoil and strife of these last few months, the King's Guard of Poitain had always been the unlikeliest, yet the staunchest, of friends. 

26 Hekatombion, Pictish Wilderness

More than a week has passed, and barely any sign of life in this jungle outside of the beasts and green and rock and dirt.  Oh yes, the rocks and dirt are alive; this revelation came as a great shock to my senses when I would witness time and time again their sudden movement.  I fell asleep on a great boulder two nights ago only to awake with it missing when my eyes reopened.  How this was even possible is far beyond me, and the soil which was the mother of these great trees surrounding me, whose massive arms formed a canopy to which only scant rays of sunlight pass through, moved and shifted and crawled with millions of insects.