Guild Wars_ Ghosts of Ascalon - Matt Forbeck [36]
Something heavy knocked on the door, and Dougal—who felt it reverberate through his body—jumped at the sound of it. Soulkeeper smiled.
“The answer to those concerns has arrived,” the charr general said. Then she called out through the door: “Enter!”
The door swung inward on well-oiled hinges and revealed a powerful and lithe female charr standing at the threshold, younger than the general but no less impressive. She towered over Dougal, and the tips of her short horns brushed against the door’s lintel as she entered. Her black lips were drawn back over her full set of vicious, gleaming white teeth and fangs, as if in a perpetual snarl. Her heavy yellow eyes scanned the room, assessing everything and everyone in it as a threat and then dismissing them as beneath her notice.
Where exposed, her amber fur bore black stripes on it, like those of a tiger, although a tuft of the snowiest white poked out from beneath the collar of her armor, right above the hollow of her throat. The armor that covered most of her fur moved as silently as she did, oiled for stealth as well as combat. She bore no weapon in her hands, but she didn’t need one. She had her talons extended, each of which looked as sharp and long as a dagger.
Dougal realized how he had quickly come to accept General Almorra Soulkeeper’s presence. The leader of the Vigil being a charr no longer concerned him. This new charr, however, brought back all of Dougal’s previous worries; despite himself, he felt his muscles tense as if expecting some sudden attack.
“Riona Grady, this is one of your opposite numbers, working out of the Black Citadel,” Soulkeeper said. “Killeen? Dougal Keane? Meet one of the finest warriors of this dragon-haunted generation: Crusader Ember Doomforge. She is to accompany you on your mission through the charr territories as both guard and guide.”
Doomforge pointedly ignored the others and spoke instead to the leader of the Vigil. “With respect, General Soulkeeper, I do not need these weaklings by my side, not for such an important mission. They would only slow me down.”
“Fine with me,” Dougal said, edging away from the new charr. She stank of death and menace. “Send her, and the rest of us can go home.”
“That is not possible,” said Almorra, speaking to Dougal but intending her words for the new arrival. “Your knowledge will be key once you arrive at Ascalon City. Crusader Doomforge will help get you there.”
“With respect …” Doomforge began once more, her eyes boring into her superior.
“Crusader Doomforge will help you get there,” repeated General Almorra Soulkeeper, wheeling on the other charr and pulling herself to her full height, her own claws unsheathing. Dougal didn’t think he would see a brawl break out in the general’s chamber but that the two would establish a pecking order in the charr manner, through verbal threats and displays of power.
Doomforge, for her part, shrank a little under Soulkeeper’s glare and took a step back. Dougal noted that the newcomer had retracted her claws into her paws as well.
“With respect,” said Riona, softer than the charr but no less indignant, “if we are going to use an asura gate to get to Ebonhawke, we will have to backtrack to Divinity’s Reach. We cannot bring a charr into Kryta, much less into the fortress city itself. Crusader Doomforge would be a liability.”
“Say what you like”—Doomforge’s nostrils twitched as she sniffed at the air—“they are craven, scared of the power of the charr. I can smell the fear on them from here.”
Dougal smirked at the lie. “I’m surprised you can smell anything at all,” he said. “What did you roll in on your way up here?”
Before Dougal could blink, Doomforge swung out a paw and grasped him by the shirtfront, slamming him against the stone wall. He tried to speak, but the pressure on his chest kept him from drawing a breath.
“Release him!” Soulkeeper barked out, and the pressure disappeared in an