Destruction

[Luidaeg Phrikborne]

Niri​

​

Approx. Two Years Ago​

[member="Aoife Ironborne"]​

Luidaeg's coven of thirteen descended from the skies in a flurry of movements, their dragons carrying them over currents of air. Cackles could be heard among the women riding their mounts, long hair moving wildly around their heads as the descent took place, the look of hunger and sadism unhidden from faces that so often appeared so innocent and sweet to others.

But there was nothing innocent or sweet about these thirteen women, each more beautiful and more deadly than the one before her. Their screams were known on this planet very well, screams that made children wet their beds and parents need to choose between pulling their offspring for safety or leaving them behind to first fend for themselves.

Anath, Luidaeg's battle dragon, roared beneath her, and Luidaeg grinned, her lips reaching almost from ear to ear. Her twelfth and thirteenth had been scouting the new settlement for weeks now, carefully taking down notes. They knew the layout, they knew where the important people were, they knew of numbers, and they knew of future prospects.

The settlement belonged to none other but the Court of Winter. An old court who for centuries believed to have had the upper hand with all that had to do with Niri politics. But the Witches did not care. They did not live beholden to the endless laws and rules of the Courts. Four of them there were on their planet; Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn. Winter was often rumored to be the most brutal one among them, but Luidaeg, in all her years, had never seen them as anything beyond angry kittens. Just like the rest of the courts.

The Phrikbornes were not the only ones that had set their eyes on the settlement either. The Heiress had heard that others were there as well; her thirteenth had reported noticing Steelbornes as well, and Luidaeg had almost beheaded her for missing the Ironbornes and Silverbornes that she knew were there as well. Her thirteenth was lucky that her leader was in a good mood; and that she knew that it would be a few different covens from a few different clans that would be attacking.

When it came to the aerial attack, she knew the Phrikbornes were first; but that did not mean that the others could not have attempted an earlier rise and were not busy on the ground. It was a shame that battle dragons could not breathe fire; Luidaeg would have loved nothing better than to torch the entire settlement, see the little people run around like match sticks in complete and utter panic.

At least she would get to feast upon their fear.

"Kill them all!" came the order, and phrik fangs and claws settled into place.

They would leave none alive, save for potential Witchlings.

 

[Aoife Ironborne]

[SIZE=9pt]As the sun dipped below the horizon Aoife’s plan finally fell into place. Of the metal borne witches Aoife was probably one of the most cunning as well as one of the most tactically minded. She had heard news from her spies that she had placed as sleeper agents in several settlements in strategically important places, those being the ones where the most potential witchlings were located. On this day in particular she knew that several other covens were to attack one of these villages and she did not want to miss the fun involved in destroying a settlement.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]As soon as her coven of 13 was ready to begin the raid they set out, the plan was to make their way to the outer edges of the settlement, she knew all the important targets in the town as well as the position of the potential witchlings. So their first goal was to stir up as much chaos as possible, she wanted to see this settlement raised to its foundations. Their first move was to set fires in the outer edges of the settlements. They set them simultaneously as Aoife gave a howl. Within moments the fires had spread to several buildings around the original targets, in essence they had created a perimeter making sure none would escape. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]As soon as the original fires were set there seemed to be more witches than before. The Steelborne had joined the assault, all metal claws and fangs were on display as Aoife made her first kill a woman much to old to be a witch she spotted a coven flying over head, this was going to be fun[/SIZE]

[member="Luidaeg Phrikborne"]

 

[Luidaeg Phrikborne]

[member="Aoife Ironborne"]​

Blood flowed like the rivers of Harmaggon as the witches loosened themselves upon the settlement, the screams of adults and children sounding like music to her ears. Luidaeg's own face was covered in the crimson fluids, running down from her phrik teeth to her neck and dipping below her clothes. She did not drink the blood; while she knew of certain Witches who relished upon the taste and feel of it, she felt no need for that at all, finding enough comfort in the feeding of the flesh of baby boys when the time and ceremonies were right.

Her long blonde hair had become a crispy red-brown underneath the blood as well, and her eyes shone with the madness of power as she stalked through the streets, searching for her next victim. No longer was she on her battle dragon, Anath, having preferred to let the beast roam free as she worked her violence and magic on her surroundings.

Twice, had she almost killed another witch. It was maddening, the rules they all had to live by. Someday, when she had ascended upon her throne as the Mother, she would change the rules. No longer would murdering another witch make one a witchslayer, not in the awful way it was meant among the Metal Borne. Under her reign, killing the witches of other clan would be a mark of pride, a badge of honor, proof of the others' weakness.

It was only the sound of a baby's cry that made her pause in her path of blood. Luidaeg blinked and then squinted, allowing her magic to lead her to the source of those screams. By what her scouts had reported, there ought to be no babies remaining, not after the witches had rounded them up earlier, unless…

"Hello there, little sweetling," she coed as she entered the wobbly hut and found the infant in its crib. Her voice was soft and sweet as sugar, but her eyes looked at the child with raw hunger. It was not the flesh she coveted though. It was a potential Witching herself. "What are you hiding beneath your swaddles?" she asked in the same sweet voice, her sharp claws running vertically along the baby's chubby stomach, ripping the fabric aside yet leaving the skin unblemished. "What are you hiding?" Luidaeg purred, revealing the prize beneath.

A girl! A Witchling!

Smiling, the petite blonde wrapped the baby up in her blankets and picked her up with care, her metal claws moving back into her body, now no longer posting a danger to the little thing.

"She is not yours to take," came the voice then. Luidaeg looked up, her pale eyes befalling on a witch she did not remember seeing before. Yet there was no doubt about what she was; the golden teeth, the golden claws.

"Who are you, Goldborne? I do not recognize that which you would call your face," she hissed, holding onto the baby, her new Witchling, as though her life depended on it.

"I am that Witchling's mother," came the answer, and then the raised arms, as though that was enough to take the child back after having abandoned it to the settlement.

Luidaeg looked around with a gasp as realization settled in.

"You are not the Witcling's mother," she said carefully, "You are the baby's mother. You abandoned your Clan and coven, didn't you?" The memorabilia on the walls. The scent that she could now sense. The mother had been living there for a while. The mother had other children. "Where are the others?! How many Witchlings are you hiding, wench?!"

 

[Aoife Ironborne]

[SIZE=9pt]Aoife loved nothing more than the fiery heat of a battle, though this was not what many would call a battle, most would call this a massacre but the small witch did not see it that way, she saw it as justice being served to those who deserved it. Aoife had taken the chaos that unfolded before her as a chance to get to a place of power, she climbed one of the buildings near the center of the town, this was one of her favorite things to do, taking just a second to survey the action around her, she saw 3 of her coven members retreating having taken witchlings with them, this was good for that was the main point of this raid on the settlement.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Turning to her left she saw a good deal of the steelborne making their way up one of the main streets taking no prisoners, the sheer number of bodies they left in their wake was impressive. The light of the moon and the flames glinted off of their claws and fangs as they ripped through each person all while making their way toward the center of the settlement.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]It was then that Aoife sensed the interesting situation happening a few buildings away from her, she knew it was a quarrel over a witchling, she also could tell from the signatures that an heiress of the mother was involved, knowing the type of person this certain witch was about the rules she also knew that the other witch must have deserted her coven, it was then that the Heiress sprung into action, springing her way across rooftops til she got near to the building, she saw a window which led to the room where the confrontation was happening. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]With this knowledge she would take a running start and leap from the roof going through the window her teeth and claws on display as she slashed the traitor behind her knee dropping her to the ground for a moment “Get the Witchling out of here I have this” She said as the two began to fight [/SIZE]

[member="Luidaeg Phrikborne"]