She stood on the end of the bridge, facing the castle in the distance, the fur on her snout rustling in the wind as the ever-present moon shone down on her semi-naked form, competing against the waning sun in the west. In her hand, the sword felt heavy from the blood of her recently-dispatched enemies. No point sheathing it now, it would rust her sheath. She took the bridge at a run, sensing the magicks supporting it begin to crumble as unwanted feet touched it. The grapple in her arm twitched and launched towards the battlements. The head caught, and she was lifted up and away as the stones fell away beneath her towards the crashing sea.
What idiot in their right minds would build an enchanted castle on an outcrop. The thought made the hairs on her back bristle. Given another few decades, the sea would wear away at its base and cause it to fall. Either that, or whoever controlled the castle would have to expend even more power to keep it floating. Even the High Ones dared not do that, though the moon's grace granted them so many boons. Clambering up onto the balustrade and dropping down, grinding stone and metal shifted near her. The stones statues were awakening, as she had been warned. A duck and run forward as a sword swung down. These were the granite guards, animated by the castle's occupant.
She ran along the top of a wall, launched her grapple once more, pulled herself out of range of swings. Glancing down into the courtyard, she saw more of the statues come to life, one great among them. It looked like a human male, several times larger than any male should have been, and it wielded a great mace which dragged along the ground and scarred the cobblestones. This must have been their captain, animated to command as they were to destroy.
"T'nod pots gnihcraes!" The guard captain's tone was harsh, horrible like the stone from which it was carved. "Llik no thgis! Rof rou redeal!"
What odd words they had in this place. Familiar, yet odd. A few more words, and she could speak if it she so chose. Maybe she would have to. They were shouting to each other in strange grunts and growls, almost howling like animals. Maybe they had been animals once. She reached the first of many towers that formed the core of the castle, looking up from where she hung from the guttering towards the central tower. At the top, hovering in the field of magickal energy, was the owner of the castle. There was little to be seen inside the cone of light, but it was a human shape. A form that was mortal, kept alive only by the stasis of the magic which preserved this castle.
She was about to leap to the next tower when something tugged at her. No physical force, no simple compulsion, but a sudden rush of attention. The need to be seen. Her head turned, eyes focusing on one of the smaller towers on the other side of the castle's structure. It looked positively dark compared to the other towers, shrinking and inconspicuous in their shadow. Why was there such a potent energy there, and why was it not tied into the rest of what was happening here? The figure above was always known as the one that kept the castle's inhabitants asleep and timeless, locking it away from the moon's gaze.
Leave nothing unexplored which catches your scent. That was what the Elder Fang had told her. She would investigate this, regardless of its seemingly inconsequential nature. She took to the walls and ran along their edges, unseen by the soldiers lumbering below. Pale imitations of their creators in form and function. Two walls, another tower to skirt round, yet another wall that this time she had to scale with grapple and claw. Finally she was at that strange little tower. None had spotted her, nothing had halted her. The tower looked so...dead. There were windows, but all were tightly barred. The only door was...at its base. Of course.
She slid down using the grapple, listening for any sign of attack. There was none. The door was not even locked. Strange indeed. She passed inside, saw the stairway leading round towards the top of the tower. It was pitch black, no light shining down this far from the top of the tower, itself in the shadow of the other towers and walls. The sea was audible through the walls, which were damp under her pads. it was the work of minutes to scale the tower. When she reached the top, she stepped onto a cold platform leading towards a cage suspended above the tower floor far below. Someone was in the cage.
She approached with a slow step, and the figure in the cage looked up. It was a human. Which was impossible. Aside from those who resisted in unnatural sleep in this castle, humans had gone extinct long ago in the Great Hunt, when the Moon That Never Sets had emerged from its slumber. He looked pathetic enough to be one of those survivors, a thin ragged, pathetic excuse for a man dressed in a white robe and with a deep-set face half-hidden under a long mop of shaggy blonde hair. His lips moved slowly.
"Ohw...era uoy?"
Yes, those were the words she needed. She understood this language now. Like her own, like that of her people, but slightly altered. She could speak to him.
"T'nod eb diarfa. M'i t'now truh uoy."
The man frowned. "Lliw uoy...teg em tuo fo ereh?"
She nodded. Yes, this seemed the right thing to do. This man was radiating such energy, more than any produced by that thing at the top of the castle. The cage wasn't that sturdy, but the man was so weak even these feeble locks seemed able to hold him. She reached over and yanked the door open. Reaching out, she encouraged him forward. He took a few tentative movements, tried to rise, but then slumped again.
"Os...derit..."
He was exhausted, though from what seemed uncertain. She stepped inside, picked up the slight human form, and carried him out like a tired child. Now she was impaired. She could at least get the man outside the castle, outside this gigantic cage that was in the form of a castle. The cage may have been old and fragile, but the barred windows were strong. She had to go out the way she came. She trotted down the stairs, the slight figure held in one arm. She reached the door, sensed the stone fists raised to bear down on her. She launched the grapple, shot through them and braced herself against a wall. The stone fists crashed down on where she had been a second ago. She fired the grapple again, shooting up the wall as the creatures of the castle shouted.
"Redurtni! Llik! Llik!"
The young man sighed. "Esaelp od ton evael em."
She smiled. She wouldn't abandon him now. The walls were her playground, the castle would not stop her. The final rush across the moat would be interesting with the extra weight. The man seemed to be staring at her, but not with fear or disgust or even wonder. She managed to look at his face as she rested for a moment, and saw the emotion. It was gratitude. Finally they reached the outer wall, where she had entered. The soldiers were scaling the walls, approaching them. But her grapple couldn't reach all the way across. The young man slowly held up a hand, pointed down towards where the bridge had been.
"Tel em pleh."
There was a shuddering, then the bridge began to reassemble. Or perhaps...restore? Rewind? As if time had been turned back. Her grapple carried them down and she ran across the bridge, which collapsed behind her. She was back on the mainland before she realised. The young man was holding her with his weak arms, closely as if he really were a child. Then there was a mighty shuddering behind her. She turned, still holding the man, and watched as the castle began to crumble away into nothing. What had happened? Even the light was gone...
Her answer came unexpected. She felt a sudden shift in her arms, and looked down at the man. No longer was he young and frail, he was now aged to the point of appearing like a dessicated corpse. He slowly looked up even as his skin pulled back from age and dryness. His life was fading even as he spoke his final words.
"Knaht uoy."
She smiled sadly at the dead face. "No. Thank you."
The body was already crumbling in her arms. The castle was completely gone too, right down to its foundations. So it seemed she had fulfilled her mission. To lay low this last stronghold of their ancient enemy, to destroy the remnant of humanity which resisted the moon's grace. That young man, locked away from the process of time, had preserved the final humans. Now time had caught up with them all, and taken them all down. She shook her head slowly, checking and shutting off her grapple.
"So ends the age of humans. And our age is finally able to begin under the endless moon. And, young man, I'll at least remember you. You wanted to leave that tower, didn't you? You wanted this to end. Glad I could fulfil your wish." She sighed, shrugged her shoulders. "And now, home."
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