From the darkened corner of the barn, a low laugh echoes at Kane's words. A laugh of pure malice. And a figure steps forward into the shadowed circle of light. A familiar face. Gwent, a Hunter like you, another of Taggart's students. You have shared wine with him, battled alongside him many times.
But this is Gwent changed by evil. Surely this is Gwent who has afflicted with the most terrible of all curses that can befall a Slayer... into the darkness.
"Alive? Not anymore, Kane." the thing that was Gwent mocks.
Khom-Bei grips his hammer tightly again. "You would be wise not to make light of this, Gwent. I would peel your skin from your body while you beg for mercy to find those responsible."
Kane lashes out at Gwent without another thought. He swings his flaming sword at the throat of the laughing Gwent.
The flaming sword flares in the darkened barn, blinding you all with its glare for a moment. Then it arcs down on the Vorghol.
Gwent is in mid-laugh when Kane's swift blow catches him by surprise and opens up an artery in his neck. Cold blood spurts out, soaking his armor and cloak, but the former Hunter keeps laughing. "Kane! That sword of yours...how could I have forgotten!"
He holds a hand to his neck, and licks the blood off his palm. Then he draws his own sword... you remember it well. A sword of Thundering. The sound of its striking rattles a foe's teeth and terrifies him.
Still laughing, Gwent springs forward. "I had no idea there was so much power in a Vorghol, Kane!" The thing has Gwent's voice, and his look, but none of his warmth and manner. Gwent was a skilled flute player, but Vorghol cannot make music or art of any kind. He is pure savage bloodlust now.
Kane ducks under Gwent's careless blow.
Thragga is enraged. Blind with fury, he seizes up his axe from the ground with a roar and charges Gwent.
Gwent moves like lightning, falling back from Thragga's blow with a sly laugh. His cloak flutters about him as he moves. "Thragga...slow as an ox, as usual!"
Khom-Bei steps forward and touches Thragga lightly on the shoulder; "Great Father, aid your allies in this fight!"
A glow suffuses the furious Urag warrior and he redoubles his efforts to strike at the dodging Vorghol.
Kane cries, "I hope you like the taste of your own blood!" then thrusts his sword at Gwent.
Gwent turns to dodge, but Kane slices him as he turns. He's still laughing. Kane's flashing sword slices at Gwent's armpit, laying him open there, spilling cold dark blood. But as you watch, the famed Vorghol vitality is closing the wound at his neck.
Gwent's dark eyes flash red and he lunges at Kane with a mad laugh, trying to seize him in talons grown very long. Gwent's arms pinion Kane to the wall.
Kane feels the the Vorghol's claws rip into his neck and lets out a shriek. Gwent licks Kane's hot blood from the opened vein. Kane weakens and dizzies in Gwent's grasp as the blood flows.
Thragga hacks at Gwent with his axe.
Still clutching Kane, the Vorghol twists out of the way of Thragga's axefall. The blade shears clear through a wooden beam in the barn.
Khom-Bei spreads his arms above his head and bellows at Gwent: "By the Great Father, be gone!"
Gwent smiles a fanged, bloody grin at the Northerling, unmoved by the shaman's rebuke. "Great Father indeed. You're next, Khom-Bei!"
Kane backslams Gwent into a barrel, jarring his grip loose but not completely.
"Kane!" the Vorghol hisses, Kane's blood running down his chin. "If only you could taste the blood!"
Kane presses his sword up against the Vorghol's belly and thrusts it forward. "The thing I really hate about you Vorghol is you never know when to die!"
Gwent laughs and seizes the fiery blade in his bare hands, twisting aside, but Kane manages to keep his grip on the hilt. Then Gwent grabs up his own sword from where it lays nearby and lunges at Kane.
"Join me, Kane, Khom-Bei, Thragga! My lord Lorn has shown me the way, and I will show it to you, as well!" Gwent cries.
Thragga is roaring and howling by now, the sound in the barn is deafening. He cuts again at Gwent in a vicious swipe.
Gwent parries the Urag's axe.
Khom-Bei steps back slightly and bellows at the Vorghol once more: "By the Great Father, I command you to be gone!"
The thing called Gwent is about to lunge at Khom-Bei, but he suddenly recoils before the shaman's invocation. The Great Father has now heard Khom-Bei's call. Gwent shudders and glances towards the door of the barn.
Kane says, "The Gwent I knew was a good man--pity he is now subjegated to the likes of this Lorn. This is a thing I will remedy!" then thrusts his sword at Gwent's throat yet again.
Thragga races up from behind Gwent as Kane strikes in front. He is swearing in Urag-ta now, having lost his Common Speech in his rage.
Kane misses, but Thragga's blow lays open Gwent's scalp, and the bloody flap hangs down over the Vorghol's face.
Gwent hisses at you all, like a trapped animal, and races for the exit, into the rainy night.
Khom-Bei turns to the fleeing Gwent and points a finger at him: "The Light of this world shall follow you to your grave, Vorghol!"
The light of the sun itself suddenly intrudes into the darkened barn, dazzling you all with its glory. A beam lances from nowhere and envelops the cursed Gwent in fiery fury, in the entry to the barn.
Gwent howls and wails in agony as the sunlight catches him. His skin crackles in the intense sunlight. You shield your eyes for a moment in the blinding radiance.
Kane races up and strikes at Gwent.
Gwent, too stunned to respond, catches Kane's blade in his kneck.
Right behind Kane, Thragga charges Gwent, great axe slicing down on Gwent's skull.
Thragga's blade shears off part of Gwent's skull and face, spraying the Urag and Kane with cold vampiric blood. Gwent topples, falls, slumps at Thragga's feet, but does not lie still. A Vorghol is not killed when its vitality diminishes...only a wood stake can do that. "Fragga..." he says, face a shambles. "Well hit, well hit..."
Gwent narrows his eyes at you as he looks up. You recognize something of the old Gwent in his voice. Perhaps it's the agony of having half his face sliced off. "Do it.." he tells Kane. "Save her."
Digging beneath his cloak, Khom-bei produces a tapered stake and yells; "Kane, catch!", as he tosses it.
Kane looks into Gwent's eyes and says, "Rest now my friend." Then drives the stake into Gwent's heart.
Gwent looks almost grateful, before his red eyes cloud over and his body turns to dust in an instant. Then he is gone.
Thragga is soaked with sweat, panting from his exertion. He lets out an animal howl as the rage leaves him.
Khom-Bei stands close to Kane and holds his hands out toward the big Hunter. "Great Father, heal your servant." A healing light glows from Kane's injury as the edges of the wound heal.
As Khom-Bei assists Kane, Thragga asks, "What did he mean...save her?" He looks up at the hanging bodies of Taggart and Irian.
Khom-Bei says, "If you will take them down, Thragga. I must rest tonight, but I may speak with them in the morning."
Kane says, "Haven't you noticed who's missing?"
Khom-Bei says, "I am sure that Taggart would have died before he would let them take his child. She is missing and he is dead. I will try to speak with Taggart in the morning."
Kane says, "I thank you and your Power Khom-Bei. But I do not believe there is time for that. We must hunt will the trail is still fresh."
Khom-Bei grins a toothy grin. "And all the living and the dead thank you for your efforts, Kane."
Thragga lifts his axe. "We burn them now, Khom-Bei. They have been killed by Vorghol and I will not see Irian rise as Gwent did."
Two quick strokes of the axe and the mutilated bodies drop to the floor of the barn. Thragga crouches over Irian, cradling her bloody body gently to his. She is the only woman who could get away with pinching his cheek.
Kane helps Thragga lay the bodies out on a pile of hay.
Khom-Bei kneels next to Taggarts mutilated corpse and speaks softly to his former mentor. "You will not go unavenged. Your name shall be carried on the wings of eagles to the ear of the Great Father. The Dark Ones will fear you now more than in life."
Thragga nods grimly as Khom-Bei says his prayer.
Kane says, "We will all miss them my friend, and they shall be avenged." He hands a lighted torch to Thragga and gives a nod towards the hay.
Khom-Bei stands and steps back; "Walk free in the company of your ancestors, Irian and Taggart."
The rain has stopped and the twin moons burst through a rent in the clouds, silver light shining down through a crack in the barn roof.
Thragga stoops and lights the hay, then steps back and turns to go without a look over his shoulder. The dry hay catches quickly, the flames licking at the bodies of the old couple.
Kane takes one last look then heads for his horse. It will be a long night ahead.
Khom-Bei turns and walks silently from the barn, mounting his pony and holding the reins tight-lipped. "Lead on, Kane, there is much to be done."