If you're already familiar with the other story I'm working on, you might be wondering why I made this new thing instead of actually continuing that. The answer is simple: this thing here keeps popping up in my head whenever I think of new ideas for the Warhammer crossover. It's getting annoying, so I'll post these chapters that my brain formed without my consent so that I can get back to the Settra story.

Oh, and I don't own Kuroinu or Medieval II Total War, but you already know that. I'll also go ahead and say I didn't make the Stainless Steel mod just in case.

Prologue
Strangers

Feoh might be lost.

Eliza thought of it. Her sisters in the squadron also thought of it. Even the Knight-Sergeant Clara knew it, though she tried to hide her growing despair with stoic silence.

The Black Dogs, damn them all, had truly betrayed the Seven Shield Alliance. They who were supposed to bring the Dark Queen to justice and finally end the brutal Hundred-Year War suddenly turned on their Goddess and their fellows, allied with the demonic legion they were supposed to defeat, and declared war for what might be the most abominable and insane reason ever conceived: the formation of a 'Sex Empire', as they called it, where all women will be subject to the lusts of all men.

Eliza, knight-notiviate of the Holy Iris Order, grit her teeth so tight so tightly she was starting to feel pain. How dare they, she thought. How dare they.

'Novitiate Eliza!' Sergeant Clara called out from Eliza's right, breaking the young novitiate out of the red cloud of anger. 'You're falling behind! Keep up!'

'Yes, Knight-Sergeant,' Eliza replied, blushing with embarrassment and urging her horse onward. 'Sorry, Knight-Sergeant.'

'Stay focussed, all of you,' Sergeant Clara told her four sisters. 'You all know what's at stake if we fail.'

The five Iris Knights rode through secret forested tracks between Feoh and its sister fortress-city of Ur. The Black Dogs and their new demon allies had come to Feoh in force far too quickly for anyone to have prepared for. Tens of thousands of the beasts of the north poured forth from the Shield Mountains, with barely over a thousand knights and four thousand hastily-raised militia forces to defend the city.

Princess Alicia knew that the city would not be able to stand without any external aid. Thus, before the Dogs could arrive, she sent Sergeant Clara and her squadron off to Ur to call for reinforcements.

Eliza looked back as she left the city through one of the smaller auxiliary gates. She thought she might have been seeing things, but she thought she saw the outer wall's main gates opening. Surely Princess Alicia did not think of sallying forth against so numerous an enemy?

The five knights left Feoh at the break of dawn. They moved in a wedge formation through the secret forest tracks to Ur, galloping at speed under the shade of great trees and dense foliage. They had been riding unceasingly for hours. Though the forest's thick canopy hid it from the knights, it was the third hour after midday. The fatigue and hunger they so desperately tried to disregard was starting to catch up with them, and they felt the twin discomforts of sweat and insect bites upon their bared skin. Even their horses – pure-bred ones Princess Alicia loaned to them from her own stables – were starting to slow.

'The horses are slowing, Knight-Sergeant,' Novitiate Sylvia, who was riding at the sergeant's left, said. 'It might be better to take a short res-'

'No,' Sergeant Clara interrupted, keeping her eyes forward. 'We do not rest until sundown. We have to get to Ur as quickly as possible.'

'But if our horses collapse due to exhaustion, we will be even more delayed,' Sylvia said.

Sergeant Clara looked at Sylvia. 'My decision stands, Novitiate,' she said flatly. 'The Princess is counting on us. We must make the most out of all the daylight we have for travelling and hopefully reach a clearing by sundown. These woods are impossible to travel through at night.'

'O-of course, Knight-Sergeant,' Sylvia answered, hanging her head in shame. 'Sorry, Knight-Sergeant.'

'As long as you unders- Argh!'

Sergeant Clara's answer was interrupted by her horse suddenly rearing up and neighing in fear. She held onto her reins as best she could, but the steed's wobbled back on its hind legs and fell on its side, dead. She felt an intense pain in her left side and left arm, which took most of the impact of the fall, but mercifully, her head did not hit the ground. She looked up from beneath the dead animal and saw the rest of her squadron's horses taking unsteady backward steps as the knights rode them drew their swords and looked onwards, fear and shock evident in their eyes.

'Lutz, you bastard, I think you killed one!' a man said from in front of Sergeant Clara. 'And that was the blonde! I told you I wanted the blonde!'

'Fuck you, Zac,' another man said. 'I just shot the horse. Your bitch is alive under there. Maybe I even pinned her down nicely for you.'

'You owe me a drink if she isn't.'

Shuffling noises emerged from the woods around the squadron, accompanied by the stamping of large feet. More sounds followed, the sounds of men and beasts.

The situation became evident to Sergeant Clara: the Black Dogs somehow found out about the secret path. Trapped and hurt, she knew she had only one course of action left. She closed her eyes and drew her breath, not stopping despite the pain.

'Knights of Iris!' she shouted. 'Scatter! Leave me! Stop for nothing!'

Eliza rode as if possessed, urging her horse to keep running at full gallop. Tears flowed freely from her eyes, and her chest ached at the loss of her sisters. Novitiate Henrietta rode alongside her, but her horse too was shot in the rump and fell down. The Black Dogs have gotten to her as well. Eliza looked back and wanted to help, but Henrietta shouted at her to keep riding and stop for nothing. Eliza saw the Black Dogs get to her not long after that.

Keep riding, stop at nothing, the young novitiate told herself. Keep riding, stop at nothing.

Both Eliza and her horse were utterly exhausted, but their fear was making them fly. Still, the Black Dogs were right at their heels. The clattering of their own horses' hooves and the baying of their hounds constantly rang on her ears, ever spurring her forward.

'Ride on, you bastards!' a voice called out behind her.

Keep riding, stop at nothing.

'I want to fuck her first!' another one shouted, seemingly closer than the first.

Keep riding, stop at nothing.

'Fuck you, the first one to get to her gets first dibs!' yet another voice said.

Keep riding, stop at nothing. Keep riding, stop at nothing. Keep riding, stop at nothing. Keep riding, stop at-

Eliza saw light in front of her. A clearing. Safety, a treacherous, unbidden thought rang out. She disregarded it and leaned forward, gripping her reins tightly and urging her horse to go even faster.

And then a heavy, black mass collided with her horse from the side.

One of the Black Dogs' hounds, a large, black, red-eyed, slavering thing, sank its fangs deep into the horse's right shoulder. The terrified steed reared up and tried to dislodge the hound, and Eliza held on to her reins for dear life. After she secured her grip, she drew her sword and stabbed down at the hound's skull. Once, twice, three times she struck, and the creature's iron grip was finally loosened. Exhausted and losing blood, the horse's knees buckled, and Eliza had no choice but to leave it and make a run for the clearing. The baying of the hounds were around her, and the Black Dogs' triumphant whoops were getting closer.

'There she is, boys!'

'Come and play, little girl!'

'Look at the arse of that one!'

Eliza ran. Her breath was ragged, her vision was blurring, and she can feel her legs beginning to sway under her, but she ran.

Keep running, stop at nothing, she urged herself. Don't let them take you alive.

Eliza passed the final tree stumbled onto the clearing, the wind cooling her sweat-drenched skin. After a few unsteady steps, her strength finally gave and she collapsed on her knees. She planted her bloodstained sword on the ground and used it as support to stand back up, but she found that she lacked the strength to do so. Tears again flowed from here eyes as she hung her head in defeat.

Moments later, she was surrounded by her six Black Dog pursuers. They stepped off their horses and surrounded her. Their leader knelt down in front of her and grabbed her face, turning her to face him.

'Well, well,' he said, licking his lips in delight. 'You gave us quite the chase there, little girl.'

'But it's all worth it, Sarge,' another Black Dog, a stout, repulsive-looking man, said from behind the leader. 'We saved the prettiest for last!'

'That we did,' the sergeant said as he stood up and started undoing his belt. Eliza looked down at her left hip and at the dagger resting upon it.

Don't let them take you alive.

She had no chance of acting upon what she thought as a warm liquid landed on her face. She wiped her face with a hand and looked at it.

Blood?

Eliza looked up and saw that two arrows had hit the Black Dog sergeant, one at the throat and one at the chest. The brute dumbly looked down at the arrow on his chest before falling in an unceremonious heap. Reinforcements! Eliza thought. The Black Dogs scrambled to get back to their horses, but they were soon set upon by other horsemen, who cut them down with curved swords that glinted in the setting sun before they could fight back. The last Black Dog tried to run back to the forest, only to get hit by an arrow at the back and fall off his horse.

The newcomers then surrounded Eliza, whose vision was blurry from exhaustion. One of them, the leader, perhaps, said something, but she could no longer understand. All the knight-novitiate could do was stammer out two words between pants.

'Please… help…'

Eliza awoke with a start. She tried getting upright, but she found that her entire body was aching. She also started feeling a drilling pain in her head, possibly a delayed reaction to her sudden awakening. She looked up and saw that she was inside a tent, tucked up in a bedroll. She felt that she still had all of her armour intact, and a coarse tunic and leggings even covered that up. She breathed a sigh of relief and thanked the Goddess that her maidenhead had been preserved, though she feared that would not be the situation for long. She looked around and saw a man in a white tunic looking at her with wide-eyed surprise. Before she could do anything, the man bolted from the tent.

Moments later, another man entered the tent. He was an old man, shorter than most and getting round in the belly in age. He was dressed in a black robe and had a black cylindrical cap on his head. He had a ruddy complexion that spoke of a life spent outdoors and a full grey beard that covered the lower half of his round face. He had bright brown eyes, and his gentle smile was a stark contrast to the lecherous faces of the Black Dogs she last saw in the clearing. He also had a silver necklace on his chest, one that ended in a richly-decorated cruciform design that showed the vague outline of a man with spread arms and what seemed like runic inscriptions.

Eliza tried to sit up and placed an arm protectively around her chest. She looked around for her sword, which she found at her feet.

'W-what do you want?' She demanded.

The man's smile widened, and he briefly presented his open palms as if to show he is unarmed.

'Be not afraid, my dear,' he said, keeping his distance. Eliza noted his strange accent and manner of speaking. A foreigner? The man reached out and took a pitcher and cup. 'I mean you no harm. I simply wish to see if you are well.' He poured water onto the cup and offered it to Eliza.

'I…' Eliza hesitated but slowly relaxed. 'I feel better than before.' She took the proffered cup and took a gulp. 'Thank you, sir...'

'You may call me Father Makarios,' the man said. Father? Like a priest? Eliza thought. 'With whom do I have the honour of speaking?' he continued.

'I am Eliza, Father,' the knight replied and took another sip of the water. 'You and your companions, my rescuers… who are you?'

'We, dearest Eliza,' Father Makarios said, placing a hand over his heart. 'We are the Rhomaioi.'

And it's the Byzantines. Who'd have thunk it? I'm going to keep working on this story until my brain decides to start cooperating and actually think up ideas about the new Settra chapter. I actually already have a rough draft of how the battle in that one goes in my head, but whenever I try to write it down, I keep getting interrupted by ideas for this story. You know what that's like, right?

This story is actually the prototype of the Settra story since I thought of this first while I was stuck in that bus before scrapping the entire idea and thinking of throwing Alcadizaar the Conqueror to Eostia just after he killed Nagash and then going from there. There might be some similarities between some characters to that story or maybe big, glaring differences. You can see this is a prototype because the characters from the Kuroinu side of things are still wearing their hentai 'armour'. Also, this takes quite some inspiration from Knight of Ember's The Eostian Crusade.