Usid sat upon his new mount, the creature still skittish in the field, not yet battle hardened, but well trained and eager. His bow rested at his side, a quiver of arrows, both sharpened bone and explosives, slung over the back of his stark bone armor. This was the moment that everything had been leading to. The combined forces of Usid the Swift, and Nyzai the Clever would descend upon the Ignorant Ones. So it had been planned, anyways.
Usid had made other plans. His clan, his family, had been pushed around since he had been born. Rabbit-eaters, vermin, scavengers fighting for the scraps of their brethren. It had made him angry. It had forced him to become strong. Strong enough to fight for what was his. Fight to take the resources to survive. For his clan, his family, to raise themselves up.
Then came The new Whisperer. The first Usid had known in his life. He spoke of glory, of conquest, of unworthy foes to be hunted, their land taken. Through him, Yzzayt had at last recognized Usid's strength, and given him more. Yzzayt had deemed fit to Choose him, to empower him and make him one of the heralds of their invasion, to cut off the supplies to the Walled City, and to take any prisoners to Yzzayt's Abyss.
Now, the storm grew in the distance as he prepared to battle at their side. To free those whom he had escorted into their chains. But first... the ambush. Nyzai's scout had come to confirm his readiness, and he had dismissed him. "We will do our part. Tell Nyzai to begin her attack." He had said.The storm overhead was gathering, giving Nyzai her perfect weather for the ambush.
Nyzai was ever a hated rival. She deserved whatever fate she was dealt. So did Usid. But that would come later. For now, he rode out on his raptor ahead of his clan, turning to address them. Tizza stood nearby, watching, and giving him a supportive smile. Something had changed between them, and he did not know what, but it made him feel strange. Uneasy, but... happy. In a way he did not quite understand yet. She made him feel stronger, and right now he needed that strength.
"Riders! Hail!" He called out from his mount. It was enough to get their attention. He would often call them to battle, he was one of the chosen after all. "Riders of Usid. My people... my clan. Today is a fateful day, and Usid requires all of your strength, and courage."
"We prepare now to ride. To support Nyzai, the Clever. To destroy the Outsiders from the Walled City!" His riders glanced at one another. He had not asked Tizza to identify which were traitors, only to ask them to be ready. Now he would test them. All of them. "But, this is not what we will do. No... no."
The warriors began to murmur amongst themselves. It was unlike Usid to waiver in the face of bloodshed.
"Usid has seen the strength of the outsiders. Many of our clan have already died to that strength. Usid has spoken to Sister Louma as well, another child of Yzzayt, who saw our lives, and chose to return to the Outsiders. Some may say blasphemy... but she said the true blasphemy was upon the head of our Whisperer." This brought many more murmurs of uncertainty. The rumors of what Louma had said in the Prominence that day had spread quietly amongst the ranks of the Saur, but few dared speak them aloud, certainly not within earshot of a Chosen, yet now Usid himself dared to raise that uncertainty.
"I am a Chosen of Yzzayt. Yzzayt's blood and strength are in my body, to be taken when my task is done. I do not know why Yzzayt Chose Usid... I thought it was because Usid was strong! But physical strength alone is not what Yzzayt requires... Now, perhaps, Usid must be strong in other ways. Usid must trust that he was chosen for a reason. I must trust that in this moment, Yzzayt stands with me. Stands with us! And that there is another way. I will not ride for the Whisperer... I will ride for my Clan, as I have always done. I would ride for a new strength ...I would ride with the Outsiders... but I shall not make this decision alone... will you follow me?"
There was a contingent of cheers, Tizza amongst them. It was a greater number than he imagined it would be, but not everyone. Some seemed confused, and a few stepped forward to pledge themselves to Usid, no matter where he led. He was one of the Chosen, yes, but more importantly he was one of them.
One voice spoke up, a female warrior, glancing about in uncertainty, "Usid... some want peace, yes. But you lead us to turn our backs on our home? Even if The Whisperer is wrong... if we do this, we can never return."
Usid frowned, and reached down to his belt. He raised up a blade, caked in dried blood, the blade that he had been forced to slay one of their own with, "Saiza has already died. Saiza died to free Sister Louma, held against her will, to spare our Sister from the Abyss. It was not enough to kill a traitor... the Whisperer forced her own to do it. Forced Usid to kill... or be killed. We are expendable. We already have no home there... if we ever did." He brought the knife back down, stowing it back in his belt. "Any who wish to go, I will not stop you. But consider, with everything you know, the mercy of the Whisperer to those who return. If you do not fail him now, you will. And Saiza's fate shall befall us all. But it shall not be Usid holding the blade. And I cannot promise the Whisperer will make your deaths as quick as Saiza's." His voice had fallen to a whisper by the end, his throat feeling dry.
It was enough for several of the dissenting voices grew quiet at this. The Whisperer's temper was already well known. Sister Louma's banishment was a testament to that. Some of them had been sent with Saiza to oversee her transfer as well, and knew what had happened with Saiza's missing knife.
Only one voice of dissent remained, an older raptor stepping forward with a short spear in hand. "Usid the Swift. Another option remains. Revill could slay you, and quiet this madness. Usid's foolishness has made us late, but still can we support Nyzai, and earn our victory."
Usid's face dropped as he stared at the elder. "Brother Revill, Old master... Usid does not wish to fight you."
"But you shall. Fight Revill. Kill Revill. Prove that Yzzayt's favor remains with you. For control of the clan, child. By the old rights of Yzzayt, I challenge you-"
"Brother Revill, do not-"
"-to the death." Revill thrust his spear into the ground, and drew a knife. "If you walk the path that Yzzayt intended, then you must do this."
Revill was one of the oldest in the Clan, a clan leader before the Chosen had been raised up. Usid, ever his disciple. "You cannot, Revill... Usid will..."
"Kill me. Yes. Usid was made Chosen, yes? Never Chief. You want to order clan, then come. Earn by the old rites. Yzzayt watches, boy."
Lightning struck nearby, the ground shaking. Yzzayt had witnessed the challenge, and the thunder echoed his approval. There was no choice now.
Usid climbed down from his mount, as his clan circled around the pair. Tizza came in to take his mount, giving him a supportive nod. Others came to remove his armor, taking his bow and quiver with them. He glanced down, cursing himself for discarding his knife to the outsiders. Now, his only weapon was the same blade he had killed Saiza with. He drew the weapon, then shook his head, "Do not make Usid do this... Usid swore, no more of his clan should die."
"But more will die, child. If not by your hand, then by your choices. This is the burden of Clan Chieftain." Revill lunged with a ferocity belied by his stature, the old raptor slashing with precision and skill that had made him invaluable as a raider these past months, and more invaluable as a teacher. The clan watched in shock and horror as he pushed himself to strike Usid, the Chosen holding back on the defensive.
The two fought in an unnerving duel, Usid's almost unnatural reflexes kept him one step ahead of Revill, while the old master pushed himself ever harder and more recklessly.
Revill's knife came in straight with a lunge, narrowly missing Usid's chest as the raptor dodged backwards, almost a moment too slow. "Yzzayt will never stand by a coward, Usid. Fight!"
Usid bristled at that, but still he hesitated and Revill pushed his attack, striking his blade across Usid's face, cutting up from his lip across his cheek, nearly gouging out his eye. In one swift movement, Usid sunk his blade into the Elder's chest and kicked him backwards, knocking Revill to the ground.
The elder gasped, winded as he struck the ground. He began to cough, but somehow began to hum as the grasp on his knife weakened.
Usid rushed to him, all the pent up emotion within him after Saiza's death now torn free along with this fresh wound, "...Revill... no!"
Revill coughed out blood, choking through his words, "Yzzayt's... will... be done... Chieftain."
Usid clenched his fists, and with an agonized wail, lifted his blade once again, to mercy kill another of his clan. The Elder's suffering ended swiftly, and Usid wept, a new experience for the raptor. He had known rage, but never sorrow. Never like this.
The lightning struck again, and a gentle rain began to fall upon the Saur’s camp.
Usid rose up shortly, blood and tears flowing freely as the rain spattered down upon him. He turned in a circle to observe his clan and shook his head. "We do not ride today. We shall mourn the passing of the old Chieftain. When the Outsiders come... we shall ride with them. To the Abyss, to free their clan... and then wherever Yzzayt takes us." The dull sound of thunder rumbling through the air underlined his words.
The Brothers and Sisters who surrounded him slowly came to their senses. By Yzzayt's will, he had been Chosen. But by trial of combat, Usid was now the rightful Chieftain. The old ways were brutal, archaic even by their standards, yet once invoked, could not be denied.
Usid began to walk back towards his tent, "Usid is no worthy chieftain. No worthy Chosen. Usid is a monster. A beast. Yet even a beast tires of war. Saiza... Revill... Usid will bring you your peace."
As Tizza rushed to Usid to begin tending his eye, the rest of the clan quickly began preparations. Not for battle, but for mourning. War would wait for the Clan, as they now stood united in the face of an uncertain future, allied with the people of the Walled City.