Knight of Ashes - To Hunt a Witch: Having renounced his name and donned the mantle of a Freeblade, Luk was now legally protected from reprisal, for the Chivalric Code forbid any honourable Knight from pursuing another for their previous failings or those of their House as soon as they had taken the Oath and forever expunged their connection to their past.After the duel, Luk was personally selected by the High King to join him in a counterattack against the traitorous Knights of House Chimaeros. Sentries hidden in the ruins around the Loyalists' subterranean hiding place reported spotting a small group of no more than a dozen Renegade Knights. With the numbers on his side, High King Danial wanted to spill some Traitor blood. He took the majority of the survivors, some 30 Imperial Knights, with him.Tracking the enemy Knights by Auspex, the Loyalist contingent followed the Renegade Knights to an abandoned Adeptus Arbites precinct fortress whose menacing black tower pierced the sky just beneath a great cliff. Believing the enemy trapped within, the High King ordered the attack. The vengeful Adrastapolian Nobles easily overcame the sentries and forced an entry through the fortress' thick walls. Nine Renegade Knights were slain on the walls or inside the fortress' courtyard.Within the fortress, the Loyalists' rampage was halted when they discovered three Imperial Knights standing with their backs to the cliff, their auto-pennants lowered as a sign of surrender. At their head stood the Knight Gallant Blade Aggressor, the personal steed of Sire Hectour Dar Manticos, Gerraint's right-hand man. The Gallant had lowered its Reaper Chainsword, but awkwardly held out its Thunderstrike Gauntlet, its fingers half-closed and its palm turned upwards, forming a type of cage. Only when the machine's fingers slowly opened could the Loyalists see who had been trapped within...It was Alicia Kar Manticos, Luk's mother.Despite his Knights urging the High King to take immediate action, Danial recognised that any violent action might well end in the former consort's death. He thus offered to parley with the Knights holding her captive. Their demands came as no surprise to the Loyalist Knights. The Traitors wanted their complete surrender in exchange for the life of the consort.Conflicting emotions raged within Luk's heart, including fear for his mother's life, love and compassion for his friends, hatred for those Knights who resorted to extortion to achieve their goals. On a private Vox channel, the Knight of Ashes tried to reason with his oldest friend, fully understanding that the High King would not and could not give in to such demands. Although Danial offered the three Knights an honorable surrender and the solemn promise that their lives would be spared, their demands were rejected.Abandoning all pretense of fear and helplessness, Alicia Dar Manticos suddenly stood unassisted, ignoring the wind and rain battering her slender form. Sire Hectour opened the digits of his Thunderstrike Gauntlet, freeing her. Yet the consort made no move to escape. Instead she began to speak and impossibly, every Knight in King Danial's party could hear her though she spoke unassisted."I suppose that was really too much to hope for," she began, "the complete surrender of the new High King and all his Knights, for the life of one consort? Arrogance on my part, I fear..." Taking the time to reassure her son that she was unharmed, Alicia stated in no uncertain terms that she not only knew of Gerraint's intentions to betray the other Adrastapolian Knights, but had even had a hand in the planning of that betrayal.Too numbed by the revelations of his mother, the Knight of Ashes stood passively, trying to come to grips with this new and terrible revelation. Many other Knights felt the same way, except for Grandmarshal Gustev of House Minotos. "Heresy!" roared the old warrior when Alicia openly admitted that she venerated one of the dread Chaos Gods, Tzeentch, rather than the divine Emperor of Mankind. This revelation restored the composure of the gathered Knights. His blood already up, Grandmarshal Gustev charged Blade Aggressor while High King Danial finally gave the order to fire.A chorus of spectral voices suddenly rose from Luk's Throne Mechanicum, the ghosts of his ancestors urging him to act. For once they were unanimous: "Reclaim your honour! Kill the Traitor!"Explosions and searing beams of directed energy engulfed the three enemy Knights, the light so bright that Sword of Heroes’ optic dampers kicked in, dulling the Freeblade's view of the scene. Blinking the filters away, Luk beheld a terrible sight. The three Chimaeros Knights stood unharmed, protected by a dying wall of eldritch, blue flames invoked by Alicia."Witch!" roared Gustev Tan Minotos as he stormed forwards, correctly identifying the nature of the enemy they now faced. Her beautiful features set in a cold mask, Alicia raised her hand and uttered a series of strange words. A ray of searing blue and purple flames erupted from her outstretched hand, stabbing into the Grandmarshal's Knight. Impossibly, the flames penetrated through Thunderhymn’s Ion Shield and buried themselves deep into the Imperial Knight's armour. Where the flames touched, the Knight underwent a terrible transmutation.Adamantium and plasteel turned to flesh and bone. "Emperor protect me!" cried Gustev over the Vox, moments before his body was absorbed by the now living flesh of Thunderhymn, the Grandmarshal dying with a horrible gurgling sound. Fang-filled mouths opened at random all over the heaving mound of flesh the war machine had become, each one vomiting forth lurid streams of fire.In a spray of blood, the mountain of flesh suddenly birthed rubbery tentacles and spars of bones. Hundreds of eyes of all size and colour opened upon its body before the gargantuan Chaos Spawn fixed its attention upon the Loyalist Knights, its horrific body adopting the likeness of Grandmarshal Gustev's tortured face.This fresh horror finally shook the Knight of Ashes from his lethargy. Fighting down the bile rising from his stomach, Luk aimed his Knight Errant's Thermal Cannon at his mother and fired. The heat ray it unleashed speared towards Alicia, who simply swatted it aside with her sorcerous power. With a final look of betrayal at her son, the witch mouthed a prayer to Tzeentch, and teleported herself and the three Traitor Knights away. As soon as the three Renegade Knights had disappeared, the mighty cliffs towering over the Loyalist Knights' heads shuddered with the sounds of explosions. Thousands of tons of rock came tumbling down as the Loyalisrs realised to their horror their assault had been a trap all along!Several Loyalists perished, crushed by the gigatons of stone and masonry that fell upon them. Miraculously both the High King and the Knight of Ashes escaped unharmed.