[Nippur] One Hell of a Randsom Note

[Erik Vrell]

Everything was going horribly wrong. Erik had intended to get the bandit leader on the ground, then quickly put him down when he was there. What he hadn't anticipated was his lizard having a prehensile tongue, and he certainly didn't intend for the bandit to get back on his mount. Two of Erik’ chains wrapped around Skull-Face’s lance, simply preventing it from goring the psychic as he defended himself. The other four were being used to, unsuccessfully, attempt to loosen the tongue binding Erik. He tried everything he could think of, lashing the tongue, binding it, stabbing at it, but it was simply too thick, and covered in a layer of mucus which prevented the barbs from doing their work.

The psychic saw Sand Hawk emerge from the fallen carriage, the freed hostage with him. Erik had never been so glad to see the bandit, and a plan seemed to fall into place as he came out. 

“Sand Hawk!” Erik cried telepathically. “I need you to get ready to fight this guy.” 

“Huh, what?!” Sand Hawk thought back, evidently not expecting to hear Erik in his head.

“You’ll see.” The psychic said, before retracting his chains and allowing himself to be pulled into the lizard’s mouth.

“Erik!” Sand Hawk cried, but there was nothing he could do. The psychic was yanked into the beast’s mouth and swallowed down, moving into the dark depths of its throat. The lack of air immediately struck at Erik, but could do little once he reminded himself that as a prime, he couldn't suffocate. 

“Here goes nothing.” Erik thought to himself as he summoned a wisp of psi, illuminating the fleshy cavern in faint violet light, and drawing Mageslayer.

Outside the lizard, Skull-Face laughed heartily at the swallowed New Babylonian.

“Didn't stand a chance! Guess the King’s army is all talk, eh? Okay, who’s next?” The bandit lord boomed, swinging his frenzied mount around to Ash and Sand Hawk, the pair anxiously preparing themselves for the beast to charge them. Instead of rushing the pair, however, the lizard halted, twitched for a moment, before dropping to the ground.

“What the hell are you doing?” Skull-Face roared, nudging his mount before realising that the monster had been killed. “Wha?”

The bandit lord stared at his mount with shock as he felt a cold breeze brush his ankle. Realising that cold breezes don't just appear in the desert, Skull-Face looked down just in time to see a violent-tinted hand wrap itself around his leg. The bandit cried out in horror as another hand reached out, followed by an arm, followed by the amethystine silhouette of a head. Two orbs of light shone out of the blank face where the eyes would be, staring accusingly at the bandit.

“I have you now…” The emotionless voice of Erik droned in his head, seemingly accompanied by faint, unintelligible whispering. The priest’s phased form hauled itself out of the corpse, before materialising next to Skull-Face. 

“What are you?” The bandit lord said, somewhere between scared and furious.

“I am one of the faithful.” Erik said, levelling Mageslayer at Skull-Face. “And it is my duty to judge the unfaithful such as yourself.”

The bandit lord swung his lance at Erik, the psychic too close for the weapon to be of any real use. Mageslayer slammed into the lance again and again, the jousting weapon just managing to block the swing each time. Erik was gaining ground, however, and just as Skull-Face was able to block a swing towards his throat, the priest sent his booting slamming into the man’s stomach. The bandit stumbled backwards before plummeting off the back of his fallen mount, landing face up in the sands. Skull-Face scrambled to his feet as Erik jumped from the lizard corpse, Sand Hawk and Ash blocking the bandit’s escape. 

“In the name of King Gilgamesh, God on earth, I declare you guilty of high treason.” Erik said grimly. “The punishment; death.”

“I'm not done here.” Skull-Face growled, finding himself far enough away from the psychic to put his lance to use. “That gold loving snake will give me his crown, or watch every last prime in that bloody city get torn apart until I get it. Guess who’s first!”