#thanatob

Under the dark of night two women speak in hushed tones, secreted away in a place the undead of Lahmia have yet to find them.

“You think someone’s coming to siege the city?” The heavily robed one asks, she gives off a dim light from the horn that grows from her temple- a ring of flame at the base.

“I saw it, on the horizon, while scouting on the wall.” Her elder sister nods, opening her coat and ensuring the large arm-length bolts that line the inside are all accounted for. “Not to mention the guard on the wall is growing- they are expecting something.” She finishes with a small smile, reaching for a contraption on her back, a seemingly well decorated club of iron- two metal pincers protruding from the top.

The other girl, Thanatob, huffs as she leans her shoulder to the dusty wall. “Who would come, though? Did you see a banner?” 

“I thought my eyes could be deceiving me,” Tiho replies, looking over her weapon and ensuring all it’s moving parts are in order. “But I could never mistake the banner of King Settra for any others.”

“But he is long dead?” Thanatob remarks with a raised brow, she had been told of the Arch Necromancer while they traveled back home, but she was not told he was raising the rulers of eld… much less had the ability to break the seal upon Settra the Great’s tomb. “Are the vampires being besieged by Na-”

With swift movement of her hand, Tiho silences Thanatob- who hears footsteps on the sand just a few yards away from their hiding place- the ring around her horn is extinguished and they are plunged into silence until the marching passes. “Fool- I told you to not speak his name!” Tiho admonishes in a harsh whisper as she pulls away. “And no, the Userper would not have the power to break the wards on the King of King’s pyramid. Don’t be foolish.” She peers out past the corner, making sure the coast is clear.

“What are we going to do, then?” Thanatob asks with a sigh, gently picking up her staff and ensuring the metal of its top piece does not clatter. She really does not care for her sister calling her a fool.

Tiho looks back with a mischievous glint in her golden eyes, “We will throw open the gates for them, and be free of this cursed city.”

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The left gate was Tiho’s undoing. She had managed to sneak in unseen and unheard. She took her large bolts and transformed her club into a large bow- she tied rope to a bolt, then the gate, and crouched down to get a wide stance, aiming for one of the far buildings. She lets out a calming breath, readying her void to teleport her away, and she awaits the distant scream of arrows.

Moments pass before she finally hears the towers fire, releasing the tension in her fingers. The power of her arm and the size of her bolt work in tandem to rip one door from the other. None had seen any units sneak to the gate, and Tiho was long gone before anyone had investigated.

As she made her way to the middle gate, a plume of flame and smoke erupted from the far right gate. Thanatob never was good at subtly, she muses as she readies herself to open the center gate by herself. 

The younger sister was an amazing distraction, at least. As she blasted the gate doors loose from their great hinges. With any hint of secrecy lost to her, she abandons her cloak- letting it burn to cinders as her wings burn bright and she takes to the sky for a moment, raining fire down upon the units on the wall, completely unprepared for the surprise attack. She dips behind the wall after a moment, not wanting to draw unwanted attention from the invading force’s arrows, readying her staff to fight off any undead that chase after her.

Thanatob and Tiho were born to the thriving people of Nhekhara. Tiho, the eldest of the two, was sent to the mortuary cult while Thanatob was raised to one day take the throne from her father.

Thanatob did not feel she was one to rule. She was too aloof, too distant from what the people wanted to know what was best- birthright be damned she felt her sister, much more collected and thoughtful, would be a far better queen then she. 

Tiho did not agree, but she could see how unhappy her sister was, groomed and raised for a role that constrained her far beyond her liking. Tiho was fine where she was, she enjoyed her studies and the practices- but still she agreed to help Thanatob run away. Tiho was never suspected- and was relived when she was not made the next heir, instead it fell to her uncle’s daughter. Tiho was where she was comfortable, and her sister was out in the world finding where she may be comfortable. This was enough, she thought.

Tiho awoke to the void not long after that- a neighboring king had tried to invade, she had been caught up in a fight and awoke to the void moments before death was upon her- and death was at her fingertips. Her resilience to age was noted, as well as her odd void, yet she kept her affinity for death magic hidden. It was disrespectful to wield the dead as she did that day- bodies once laying on the ground moving to kill for her, She quickly released her control of them and the guilt had kept her from using such powers ever since. She shaved her head soon after the incident, though she’d often wear a straight wig dyed a lovely teal. Her yellow eyes deep as honey as she scans old tomes and practices sacred mortuary rituals of her people. 

Thanatob had awoken to the void shortly after arriving in Ind. Other travelers, like her, had taken advantage of her naivete and she repaid them in flame and steel. Eventually she met a traveling priestess who offered the runaway queen her company as they traveled. They grew very close over the years, and as age caught up with the priestess as they journeyed all over the east, she gave Thanatob her traveling staff, as a memento of their time together. Her curls, once dark, now spiral into hues of orange and red, her brown eyes the wonderfully color of the world- sometimes her pupils ringed in fire when facing battle.

Through her journeys she had encountered chaos quite a few times, though she is no worse for the encounters, her appearance has taken it’s toll. Wings of flame extend from her back, a single horn rises from her temple- the base wreathed in a ring of fire, much like her pupils. 

Tiho died fighting against Nagash- raised from the dead to damage her pride, though she would not obey any command even by him. He was forced to completely destroy her body- and then attempt to destroy her soul, though he was unsuccessful in the latter.