C1 RacksomAnd then, there was War(5th Board)

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Kevv snarled, seeing the flames coming her way up the ice. However, the ice still gav her time, recuperating a slight bit at least. Plus a few more golems appeared in the barrier around the Stone.... Kevv was taking no chances now. If she was set todie, she was going to use every millimeter of power her body to make Zartears' efforts forfeit, or at least, hugely costly. She held ehr barrier, feeling pain, pain all over her body. Knowing the oens rescuing Atleon were ebing pounded upon... but yet, not being hit now. No.... her life force itself took the damage in. Luckily her own resistance eased the torment of it, for the moment. However this being befor eher needed to be kept at bay. which, she knew she could do with what she had left. She needed just a few more minutes, minutes she would have guaranteed. She had to be sure, had to be certain things would come to an okay conclusion. She kenw htis city was lost... she had overestimated some thigns, like the stretch of ehr own abilities to alter the outcome here. But it seemed this planet had more trouble on it then she had anticipated. She was needed here, her people were needed here... this... vile being couldnt be allowed to the top.

Kevv rolled her shoulders a bit... right before the flames got to her, she slid back gracefully. She then struck her staff on the ground. The ground beneath Felrens' feet rippled and shook quickly, then broke forcefully. Trying to sway his balance mainly. She formed the ground enar him too. Rather, a smaller sort of Earthen eing appeared there. This one Kevv controlled personally. The Earthen puppet rather ran at Felren, its fists made of jagged stone, its body made of a smoother stone mostly. Earthen and hard... he wouldnt be the easiest to strike down. KEvv was feeling the wear on her body with all the effort.... She wouldnt admit it too easily, but it was getting a bit tough to hold out, to stand and fight. She ahd to though, had to keep on. She amde sure the set barrier around the tower with the stone, the defenses were set and strong. Feeling someone else feeling them though, she touched his mind. Pleased to see this one aseemed a leader of the small army defending this place.... So they had a good leader at leasT? Well... Talos had the attitude for it at the very least. But still, they all needed help with alot of this. Kevv kenw this... she knew her son was going to help now. Kayoss would do good here, and represent their planet proudly.... ~Itll take them an army of mages, or someone that can devoid magic completely, to sway that barrier. I wouldnt worry too much about it. Even if it falls, my elementals wont make their pass clean and unscathed. Blood will shed far....You and the tohers however, need to leave this place.~ She told him softly. She ken wher vouice likely sounded weakened in his mind, but still soothing and calm.As she sounded personally too, even face to face.

Kevv made sure the barriers around the ones around Atleon were still good as well. Feeling every stab and slice, every projectile.... How much longer would this go on? ~You all need to hurry, claw the ropes, do something...~ She told Rilos and the goblin. She couldnt hold this out. She knew her life was forfeit, putting all she could into this effort, to protect the ones here that had good hearts. Yet trying to hold off this fiendish warrior there, trying at her life. He was going to regret it. Kevv would see to that. He was marked for death already. Kevv was going to find him again, once she reborned. Eventually, he would see his error quick. No one would take ehr life, and not pay for it. However she had someoen special to give him a good dose of what was to come, but she would give that to him on her departure....

Zartear felt somewhat surprised, a phoenix of all beings was seen as a symbol of peace and eternal life, a good natured beast; why it should not bat an eyelid in this battle in an otherwise peaceful city was a strange thought.
Not that he minded, he'd rather not have to fight an enraged phoenix, rather it calmly spoke to him, ignoring the troops attempting to harm it, shrugging off
"Men hold your fire from the phoenix!” He commanded, only then turning his attention to the furred creature, it questioned him on his method as if fun had anything to do with anything.
It was simply a pest, and he hoped that the black phoenix would just swallow it whole right there and then. It wasn’t a threat as such though, so he gave it no attention; his trained men would doubtless attempt to lance it a few times though.

In the thick of the action all he could manage for the phoenix was a nod of acknowledgement, and a smile of sorts~ how old the phoenix was he didn’t know.
Maybe time had pushed it away from taking sides?

Then, he saw it. Spiraling steadily into the sky, pluming out in a charcoal cloud as it went, rising smoke in the far distance at the western gate where they had initially attacked.
How long would the resistance there hold out against his forces? He had no way of knowing, despite the DDC’s leader having already made the orders for a retreat, so Zartear still had to make sure they pressed forward. Excitement was pulsing in the force, they seemed to be making some headway now against the defending “troops” and the spoils were now in reach. All that was left to do, was to seize it with both hands.

“Round up as many people as you can, be swift in killing those that defy.” He ordered, another rise of affirmation coming from the men about him. It was a tough decision to make, which to spare which to kill and how many…Zartear and his council pre-battle had been discussing this for much of the time. On the one hand if you slew those that defied, you’d have an obedient work force, but a poor set of fighters.
On the other hand, you could have men that fought like lions down to the last scratch of earth; but then taming them to begin with would be a difficulty.

“Captain Srix.” He turned sharply to a man on his left, a tall and well muscled figure with small dark eyes, a long face and crude features, as if they’d just be carved roughly out of stone and forced onto his face. A typical brute-follower.
“Command the southern infantry force entering the city, work on securing those southern and eastern gates; ensure that nobody of Surahn nor DC flees the battle.”

Allowing himself the privilege of forethought, as victory was nigh certain, he knew it was unsustainable to continue on a conquering rampage. Plus, by now the reality of Dragons Cove’s new enemy would have spread far and wide, and after this battle the true war would have begun.
Ideally, the island would surrender to it’s new ruler. He’d have control of the stones, be at the centre of an emerging power and he wouldn’t have to be defamed for butchering…unfortunately though, the butchery was necessary to quell the spirits of these people.
That would be the hard bit, after a ruthless entry then winning the people to his side, or at least silencing the opposition, to show them all the potential he had to make the greatest leader they’d ever know.

But then you have to wonder; is it still a bad thing to manipulate, even if it happens to be in the best interests of the people you lead?

“Begin the captivity drive, remember the death order, no more than 3 of 5 are to die and all children must be spared.”
He didn’t have to shout now, as they marched down the city’s streets, parts of the force he was leading now split off to the various areas, these areas were far quieter as the majority of the conflict was at each gate.
Now it was merely harvesting the people, and so they did… and it was then that the noise flooded back.
Breaking doors and shrill cries rising from every other house or so, pathetic pleas and whimpers wavering through the air.

Kumiko's expression darkened slightly as the leader ignored her. Her hair and tails changed from the copper colour they had been while she was just a bit excited to a darker orangey red, and she let the swords drop to the ground as she soared up into the air. She had half a mind to lift Zartear in the air and throw him to the ground, but that might not get her the best reception. And if she wanted to have some fun with this war, then she needed to do something quickly. She set herself down a little way away from the army, trying to preserve powers she could feel dwindling, and then closed her eyes to concentrate. Her centre three tails changed colour to their darkest- a fiery red, which rippled and changed with bands of orange. A band of gold started at the tip and worked its way down, and then all the potential colours of her fur began to pulse down the tails. As Kumiko sat there, the rest of her tails and her hair paled again back to the copper. After a minute or so, the middle three tails also settled on the copper, and Kumiko opened her eyes. She flicked her tails experimentally and then, satisfied, she pointed at a nearby spot on the ground. A figure grew up from it. It looked exactly like Kumiko, down to the number of eyelashes on each eyelid. Kumiko's lips spread in a smirk as she pointed purposely at another four spots. The five clones stood and waited for a command from Kumiko.
'Go and have some fun,' she ordered them. The five false kitsunes immediately scrambled away, grabbed various fallen weapons and proceeded to wreack five sepearte paths of devastation. They were solid enough to damage and be damaged, but as they were injured they felt nothing and merely carried on. Kumiko felt each blow as it was inflicted, but the afterpain was felt by nobody. And they were good fighters, too, so Kumiko was little hindered as she danced through Zartear's forces, occasionally levitating herself. She knew that five clones so active would wear down even her middle three tails fairly quickly, but she would have no less energy at the end of it. The clones could be moved at any time by Kumiko; all she had to do was point to a different spot and they would appear there instead. Every time she did this, however, another chunk of power was knocked from the tails. They would last another half hour, perhaps. But they would be fun while they lasted. Kumiko wasn't sure how long she would hold the attack on Zartear's forces, but she decided to at least move herself before her telekinesis ran out- from there, she could move her clones. She bobbed back into the air, and moved herself as quickly as she could. The faster the movement, the quicker it used up her power, but she didn't care- it would probably be the last chance she got to use this power to move herself for a while. She set herself down on the roof of a building, and looked around for somebody who could actually give her something of a fight. To preserve her powers a little, she pointed firmly at the roof in front of her. All five clones appeared and sat down quietly. They were relatively badly damaged; Kumiko had felt a fair few pains on her way. Several limbs were missing, and one had lost both arms. Kumiko huffed and dismissed that one; it wouldn't be any more use for fighting. And she couldn't make any more, or get it back now- the cloning power was a bit restricted.

Kagan watched nervously as the guards surged towards them, fingering his dagger shyly, then stopped: One poor guard was standing over him, and was still. Kagan pulled the dagger out slowly, flicked off the blood, then pushed the body over the side. The guards who were attacking him watched this, decided that it was some sort of fluke, then kept attacking. Good. Kagan thought. I hate it when they run.

Of course, even for a world class warrior with a transforming blade, this many guards is a difficult fight. And Kagan wasn't unscathed: Their spears were giving Kagan painful tiger stripes, and one cocky guard almost cut off the tip of his ear, earned a solid smash to the head by a war hammer, and fell pitifully to the ground. It was going to be a close battle, and Kagan watched as one blade boke through his defenses, aimed straight at his chest, and…. Bounced off. He stared in shock, marveling at the miracle, then smiled: Someone out there was helping him out.

Just as Kagan was about to go to town on the guards, he was called to a higher duty by his new partner. He wove his way through the throng of guards, applying pain liberally when needed, and in two or three minutes he was with the dragon at the pole, sizing it up purpousfully. "Aye, I could do it. Gimme a minute, 'kay?" He felt the bindings that held the Prince in place, tugged at the knots thoughtfully, then brought his knife upon the rope and sawed like a madman. Soon enough, all of the bindings were soundly cut in half and lying uselessly upon the floor.n"Well Princy, how'ya feelin'? Ready for a ride?"

((I know it's fail, but I had to post...))

As she made her way down the tower, Siofra felt the arrow in her side all the more painfully with every step down, but at least it took her mind off of everything else that could distract her. She would have to find a spot soon where she could quietly check the wound and pull out the arrow before she passed out from the pain. There were many more flags that needed to be burned seeing there were quite a few more towers around her, but Siofra considered her job here done for the moment. Zartear’s men would soon storm the heart of the city anyway and they could do the rest. She had to find that damned avian girl and get her revenge before someone else got to the winged one before her.

As she peeked around the entrance to the tower, there suddenly seemed to be movement erupting everywhere around her. Surahnians were rounding up defenders that did not escape them quickly enough, defenders were retreating and running away as quickly as possible, smaller fights were started almost everywhere, creating one big commotion and a lot of confusion. This was her chance to get out of there without being noticed and probably without being engaged into a fight, although suddenly there was a Surrahnian stepping in front of her to block her way. Before he could open his mouth to refuse her passage, she angrily shouted at him: “Move away soldier or I will tell Zartear that you are too stupid to serve him for you cannot even distinguish between your allies and your enemies.” The man immediately hurried to get away from her and a satisfied grin spread over Siofra’s face. He would probably have believed her even if she had said this as one of the defenders. What a fool.

Slipping into a side door on her way to the southern gate to see if there was something she could do in that area, preferably something that would involve her being stealth, she was glad she had gotten into one where someone had left a candle burning so she could actually see what she was doing. The blood was already beginning to form a crust around the arrow, so it would be all the more painful to take it out now, but she had wanted to be able to do this in peace in case something would go wrong when pulling it out. She was lucky however. She did not pass out or anything else, though the bleeding started all over again and in quite a quantity too. She would have to get this taken care off soon before she lost too much blood. Even if she could get it to stop now, it would most certainly rip open again whenever she made a rash movement, like pulling an arrow. She grunted, this was not good but she had to get through this now. The battle would soon be over and the sun would soon be up. She could not believe that time had passed so much quicker than she had thought it would but alas, it was almost time for sunrise.

Quickly now, Siofra hurried out the door again and made her way, undisturbed this time, towards the southern gate, where chaos had exploded like a bomb it seemed. Somewhere in the middle of it a little higher up in the air, the half-elf spotted a pair of wings. Are those... Oh yes it is her, Siofra suddenly realised, a huge grin spreading across her face. Payback time! With that, the half-elf pulled an arrow from her quiver, immediately nocked it and sent it flying towards the avian’s face. That girl was not going to leave this battle without at least a reminder of their still open bill.

Xaoc’s fierce roar echoed over the plains where defenders and rebels were still fighting each other, though slowly there were movements noticeable that made it clear that the rebels were advancing more and more towards the walls of the city. It was annoying him that Silverwing was mostly avoiding his claws and teeth, thus barely getting a scratch on him; Xaoc simply could not get a grip on the guardian dragon’s throat. Batting his wings again, the tribal battleblood was trying to adjust his position to dive at the guardian dragon from another angle, but at that moment he already felt Silverwing’s claws slash his side and he roared in fury again, all the more angered by the little tiny arrows that were being sent his way, tickling him and just generally setting him off even more. Smoke was curling out of his nostrils when the guardian dragon’s teeth were now returning the favour and coming for Xaoc’s throat. The tribal battleblood roared once more and he was finally resolved on actually living up to the name of his fabulous race. A layer of flames were circling his mouth as he fixed his sizzling stare on the guardian dragon and slashed at him with more force than before. That annoying guardian dragon needed to bleed and pay for his insolence. There was no other way. Suddenly, Xaoc released Silverwing and lifted himself up further in the air, his tail lashing at the guardian still, more and more flames licking his lips, ready to be fired at will. The tribal battleblood was going to strike and it would hurt, very badly. He let out a jet of flames and dove for Silverwing in an attempt to severely injure him and thus get him out of his sight.

Atleon did not at all like the fact that this creature was telling him she would probably die in the attempt of getting him out of his ropes. He was not one to easily accept sacrifices, and certainly not of such an extent. He would not even be able to ever thank that person because he did not know what she looked like nor would he know how or where to find her if she actually were to die now. He did not feel right about this at all, yet there was absolutely nothing in his power to be done. Behind him, a ferocious battle had exploded and he could hear that the guards were not going easy on either the dragon or the goblin. Until it suddenly all stopped. The being had done as promised, his ropes were very loose in the meantime and there was a shield around his rescuers and himself that absorbed every single attack. The ropes were coming off very quickly now as the goblin was suddenly sawing them through with his dagger. While the goblin was working on the ropes that tied his feet, the prince himself was working on the ropes that tied his hands, until the goblin easily cut those away as well, no doubt made easier by the fact that this mysterious being had its hands in the game. Looking at the goblin, Atleon gave a small smile: “Hell yes, I’m ready for a ride.” Looking towards the dragon, he gave a small nod of greeting. He would now have to get over himself and get on that dragon, whether he wanted to or not because there quite frankly was no other possibility left anymore, they were surrounded by guards and other Surahnians, which would make it very hard for the trio to make it out alive probably. “I’m Atleon by the way. And I am in need of a weapon,” he added, more to himself however, his eyes falling on one of the fallen guards behind the being’s shield and he quickly snatched up a spear. It was not his first choice, but for now it would do. It simply had to.

A slight pang of satisfaction swept through him as he felt his claws slice through the Tribal Battleblood’s side. So far, he hadn’t took on board any serious damage, and maybe he had a chance of getting rid of this dragon without doing so. He could tell that the creature’s frustration was building up, and it took all the more effort to avoid the clashing teeth that only just missed him. Until his skill slipped and he felt a surge of pain rage though his shoulder as it connected with the claws of the ferocious beast. The cut itself ran right across his blade, stretching to be about a metre long. He went for Xaoc to return the favor, but again his teeth met no scales.
He felt the fiery grip on his body pull free and he had to flap his wings in order to stay air born. Another strike of pain came across his back as the tail caught him as he flew up. Fighting the burn, he turned his head to look up at the sky, hoping to get a chance to counter-act whatever it was trying to do. But by the time he realised, it was too late. He could only watch as a jet of flames surged towards him. He opened his mouth and began to form an energy ball in hope to blast it and dislodge the flames. However, it only got a few metres ahead of him before it struck. When the flames hit it, the ball exploded into a ray of power. Energy struck him and before he could have chance to recover, his body collided with that of the Battleblood’s as it dived for him. He helplessly descended through the air until he felt his body hit the floor with an immense crash. For a few mili-seconds, he skidded across the earth, not knowing what he had hit or what he had taken with him. But it hurt, and it hurt like hell.
As if that wasn’t enough, he had fallen into the midst of the enemy’s army, and when the skidding came to a standstill, a few brave warriors from the Surahnians saw a chance that they may never again get in their, or even their grandchild’s lifetime. Before them lay a Guardian dragon, and it was as if their dreams had come true. Many of the warriors nearby who hadn’t been crushed or killed already, began slashing their swords at Silverwing’s body, hacking as if their life depended on it. It was as if they believed that every contact with such a great beast’s body would bring them immortality.
It all happened so fast. One minute the energy ball had exploded too soon, and next he was on the floor. He lay there for what seemed like ages, bust was in fact a few seconds. But they were the most painful seconds of his life. His whole body burned with pain. But he couldn’t stay there any longer. Letting out a great roar, he heaved his body up until he stood on all fours. Now he was mad. He brought his teeth down upon those who were around him and flung them across the battlefield. Before lifting his head up and releasing another blast of energy at the red dragon. He couldn’t let it get away, but he didn’t know how much longer he could put up with the pain.

Sandy skidded to a halt and span around on her heels whilst drawing he sword as she heard someone speak. Before her, was what seemed like an elf on horseback. Most of the elves were on the side of Racksom, and by the tone of his voice this man had spoken to her in, she knew he wasn’t a threat. Lowering her sword slightly, she looked up at him, only for her attention to be dragged away as she saw a metal blade swing for her. She didn’t have time for anymore nonsense with these stupid Surahnians. How she wanted to finish them all off with her blade. Instinctively, she deflected it and struck a deadly blow into the man’s chest. The stone in her sword glowing as it connected with anything and everything.
“Yes.” She hissed, more out of anger at the man who had just attacked her, than at the elf. “The people need to stop defending the gates and the main city.” She paused for breath, “what use are they now? Even if all the fighting stopped this second they’re no good to us anymore. They should be defending the tower, that’s the only thing that matters now.” She spoke from frustration, as if it was so obvious it could hit you in the face. “If Zartear gets the stone, then-” her sentence was cut short as she heard the defining roar from a beast she knew all too well. She felt her heart lurch as she span around and looked at the sight of the battle scene between the Trible Battleblood and Silverwing. Everything else around her seemed to black out as all she could do was watch as her dragon fell from the sky under the claws of Xaoc.
“NO!” She yelled, completely forgetting that she was in the presence of the elf. “Silverwing!”
Ignoring the fact she was in the middle of a war zone, she ran in the direction of her dragon. She was going to make them pay, all of them.

Lena nodded, not pleased that Talos was leaving her side but he had already made his choice and now wasn’t the time to be running after him. He was right to send her to the southern gate to get the people there to retreat. Through…Where he was going, she did not know. Better not be something stupid. Or reckless. So far the retreat itself wasn’t going as well as she would have liked but what more could she expect? Zartear’s army was flooding the city and things were turning for the worst fast. As she came closer to the gate, she kept her gaze forward and cupped her hands around her mouth. “Retreat! Talos’ orders!” She shouted over the chaos hoping that the members of the DDC would hear her calls.

Just as she was about to scream to retreat once more Lena heard the all too familiar whooshing noise and tilted her head down just in time to come in for her forehead to come in contact with the tip of the arrow. It thankfully didn’t bite deep and kept with its momentum flying by the rest of her head. Lena clapped her hand to her now burning wound and looked to see where the arrow might have come from. And guess who she spotted, bow in hand and giving her an icy glare. “Bitch.” Lena grumbled as blood poured down the side of her head. Now she knew why Talos was bleeding so much from the small cut on his own head, but unlike him, the blood fell down the side of her face rather than in her eyes.

Lena fumed as she looked to the battle and screamed, “Retreat!” once more before spinning on Siofra and pumping her wings hard to get back in her direction. She could only hope that the people near the southern gate could hear her and pass on the message to draw back. She was near the gate, but not close enough to reach all of them, she sent up a silent pray to what even deities were up there and turned her attention back to the half-elf. Lena was out of arrows, and knew she would have to touch ground quickly before she was shot out of the air by another one of her arrows.

~*~*~

Felren could feel it, taste it in the air. This woman’s death was coming close and he would be the one to take it from her. She was distracted and could only block his blows but not for long. She was tired. Felren’s ruby eyes glimmered with excitement from the anticipation of the kill. The ground under his feet began to give way as he landed and it took him minimal effort to regain his senses. He practically snorted at the weak creature that was summoned from the earth. What pathetic attempts. Felren blew small licks of flame on the blade of his sword once more before running at the creature and ramming his sword through its neck. To ensure it was done for Felren didn’t remove his sword, but lifted it and the creature up, and over, sending it flying behind him.

“Shall we end this, creature?” His grin grew wicked as he let his blade hover in front of him. Running towards Kevv, he swung his sword purposely hitting against the staff she was holding. With one of the hands he was using to hold the sword he grabbed the staff and pushed it downwards. He didn’t care if the dragon woman let go it or not. This was his chance to take her life. As he pushed down the staff, Felren spun on his heels, taking his blade with him and swinging it in line with Kevv’s neck. This was it.

Xaoc felt the energy hit him as well as Silverwing’s ball exploded too soon, miscalculating the time he had left before the tribal battleblood’s attack. Xaoc crashed into the guardian dragon full force and his momentum brought them both down to the ground, much to the pleasure of both defenders and rebels, each faction hunting after one of the dragons. Swords were slashing everywhere and arrows were trying to pierce scales wherever they could. Both dragons were squirming under the fierce attacks of those little puny humans. Xaoc growled loudly, snapping a few away with his teeth, careless of who it was he got, those poking him or Silverwing. Just as he was about to bite down on Silverwing, ignoring the frantic blows of toy swords all around him, stinging into his feet mostly, a volley of flaming arrows showered his back, the flames licking around his scales painfully, making him roar.

Xaoc immediately turned his attention towards the humans that had dared try to fire projectiles at him. Even though they had barely left scratches, apart from a couple that had buried themselves relatively deeply into his flesh, and a few burn marks, he was not amused at all at this turn of events. Releasing the guardian dragon from his grip, he bat his wings, sending a few Surahnians flying with the movement, he roared in fury again and sped towards the row of archers and canon leaders that were firing at him at will. The next volley of arrows had more power however as he was getting closer, some ripping into his wings, the flaming tips making his flesh burn. A surge of pain raced through the tribal battleblood’s body and he growled threateningly, the wave of his voice almost making the earth tremble beneath his. The archers finally gave up on firing at him but gave up their positions and tried to run from the beast but there was no escaping Xaoc’s fury. Those he did not catch with his claws, ripping them apart if necessary before he threw them away again to snatch up the next few, fell victim to his flames. Mercilessly, he was crashing into the archers, killing almost every single one of them. The blood he was spilling gave him strength and he felt refreshed after this little massacre of his.

Turning back around to his initial target, he locked eyes with Silverwing. A low rumble in his chest was announcing the oncoming growl and flames as Xaoc prepared for yet another attack on the guardian dragon. It was then that his head flew up and in the direction of Racksom. What was that feeling? He felt energised and he felt the blood pumping in his veins more than before, the bloodlust, the need for war, the anticipation of a kill. But they were not his feelings. They were someone else’s, someone similar to him. Abruptly, Xaoc left the guardian dragon where it was, knowing that he could come back to finish off what he had started if necessary. This had to be investigated. Someone like him.... And with that the tribal battleblood flew back towards the heart of the falling city to find whoever it was that had the blood of a tribal battleblood in them.

Siofra’s face remained blank apart from her cold gaze but inwardly she was pleased at how nicely she had scratched the avian woman’s face. An eye for an eye. Observing the avian’s instinctive movement to touch her forehead where Siofra’s arrow had scratched it, the half-elf waited for the obvious next reaction, namely to come down to meet her offender. It seemed to take forever before the winged one decided to rush towards her, but when she finally did, Siofra simply let a grin play around the corners of her mouth while she slowly chose another arrow from her quiver and took her time nocking it to her bow. There was no need to rush really as she was quick enough to beat the avian to it. Even if she did not make haste with shooting, she would hit the avian before she had sped all the way towards her. Though she did wonder why the avian did not draw her own bow. However, that mystery was resolved when the woman was closer, her quiver was completely empty. Frowning, Siofra considered whether she should still shoot her arrow or not but she was quickly resolved on not letting the fact that the girl was unarmed – at range – bring her off of her plan. Though she would not shoot her in the side, no. The girl would certainly still be able to fight despite such a wound, just like Siofra was, despite the fact that it was hurting like hell and she could feel the blood run down her lower body, down the pants leg in the meantime. Not to mention the line of dried blood on her face from the earlier scratch wound, which was making her skin itch. Plus, that girl should have a pretty bad wound on her arm where Siofra had hit her at the start of the battle but apparently it had not done too much damage, to the half-elf’s frustration. She had to remedy that. Thus, without further ado, she let go of the arrow, aiming it straight for the avian’s upper leg to make it as painful as possible to stand on and to properly fight. Siofra had to get herself an advantage somehow for when it came down to close range combat because her sword skills were not advanced enough in her opinion and if she had to fight dirty to get the upper hand, she would. No doubt about that.

Guest

Kevv Flicked her tail some, seeing him demolish the stone revenant. Well, she had expected that. She couldnt make a good one, not with the strength she had left. She had felt this ened before. She had a couple more actions to take efore death. For one, her blood was beginning to pour into one arm. She was going to do something, something horrid to this being coming at her. One did not kill Kevv and get away with it ever. This was going to scar him forever, until Kevv came back and got the final lash upon him. Kevv also made sure ehr soul fragment was ready. She was going to die here, yes. But Kevv was going to be far, far from finished. No, Felren had alot of lives to delve through with KEvv pretty much. Well... Three. KEvv knew she ahd three fragments left up. Two once she passed this day. Kevv could make one every five-thousand years or so. Although she didnt, most of the time. She had no desire to be...fully immortal to say. But she didnt want to die except in a peaceful manner. She ahd certain things she wanted to see to, before she passed. She was nowhere near her goals. Thus no, this was nowhere enar the end for her.

She stood tall, hearing her words. Suddenly one of her eyes reddened too.... "Come then beast, come and get what you seek. But be warned.... youre going to regret it, for the rest of your days." KEvv said. Suddenly not sounding so Kevv-like either. Her voice suddenly seeming to cross with a brute of a males' voice at the same time. It was quite fear-inducing in truth. But Kevv meant for it to be. She had a soul who was going to see to this ones' suffering, and personally. Kevvs' body was soon numbed of pain. She casted, her staff vanished. She didnt need someone getting ahold of that.... Her mind touched one toher too. ~Take care little one.... I will return.~ She said. Feeling a spasm of anger from Kayoss' mind as she told him that. But, she was resigned to this. Thus, she dodged hius first swing...

The second swing though, Kevv came right toward. The blade touched ehr neck, and suddenly, time just seemed to almost stop. No one seemed to move.... Kevv narrowed her gaze, her voice suddenly venemous and ethereal. "Stare into the Abyss, and find your end..... SUFFER!" Kevv screeched, her hand gripping his chest. A Searing energy flowed forth from her, as time seemed to speed up once mroe, her feeling the blade flow through her neck..... However her body kept its grip on Felren, passing energy through herself into him it seemed. Butt hsi energy was corruptive and harsh, leaving pain and burning feeling wherevr it went through. Although something else was gathering within his chest.... His neck wa slikely searing by then with quite a deep scar. Kevv was marking him. He was going to be branded forevermore, until she found him and gave him his just desserts..... Kevv didnt hold hatred much. But someone who killed her... would suffern , plain and simple. Her whole planet of people, all that her blood stirred within, would now this scar. If eh was seen, he would be attacked and attempted to be killed on the spot.... Kevv knew her son was coming there, as was her best healer too...... Felren was going to see an end one way, or another. And until he did, he was going to suffer a maddening punishment... for Kevvile gathered in his chest, shaping into a tentacle and thorn-ridden, strange parasite....

Lena saw her target, saw the half elf and her drawn bow. She wasn't going to get to the ground fast enough. Her thoughts were made all to obvious when a searing, white-hot pain ran through her leg. Lena dropped the rest of the way from the air, snapping her wings out in the land second to break her fall and landing on both her feet sent shocks of pain through her leg. "Damn you..." Lean growled, looking at the woman. She couldn't fight like this...with blood loss and mind numbing pain she couldn't think straight. Damnit damnit damnit. "I hope that arrow in your side kills you..." Lena growled, quickly flapping her wings to get herself back into the air and away from the half elf.

The woman had scored three hits on her and she really could not afford more. Lena would have to settle her score with the woman later, and god that pissed her off. Not as much as the inability to walk and wield her sword will be. What a terrible day. She flew as fast as she could from the half elf to gain some ground and was upon the gate now. She broke off the end of the arrow, biting back a scream and put her energy into yelling to the DDC. "Members of the DDC, retreat! Retreat to fight another day!" She yelled, this time confident she was heard. She waited until the main forces began to flee and then she herself flew out of there.

The few minute flight to the northern gate felt as if it had taken a half hour. Stupid elf woman bitch. Once Lena was restocked on arrows and blood she would take her back on, mark her words. Lena dreaded the landing she made, touching down on the ground slowly. Almost instantly as she did, she was attacked and she had to draw her sword to fend off the man. Her blade clanged and clattered against his before the adrenalin finally flooded Lena's system. Fighting the man off finally she ran her sword through his neck and watched as the crimson liquid spilled from his jugular. Running off what she had, Lena began to help people get through the gate and fend off the stray man or two that attacked them.

~*~*~*
Finally, Felren's sword tasted the dragon womans blood but to his surprise she still had fight to her when she practically commanded him to suffer. And his suffering began the moment his sword was clear of Kevv's neck. He let out an agonizing yell from the pain searing through his body. He kept an iron grip on Kevv's head on he doubled over in pain and a dark, painful looking mark formed on his throat. Felren felt the human within him shrink away from the pain, trying to keep himself as far from it as possible. "Weak human..." The dragon bit down, forcing himself to stand, he had a job to finish and the pathetic human would not be able to move if he left now. Humans were so weak and their bodies so frail. Felren was pleased that he wasn't far from where he left off with Zartear. Gripping onto its head, Felren trudged to Zartear, his red eyes laced with pain and the dark mark on his neck blatantly obvious. "Your head, Zartear." He said, approaching the man, holding up Kevv's head with a pained smirk.

Guest

The head she gave to Zartear, blinked. The magic pulsed in the brain still..... itd take minutes for even the head to completely be void of intelligence. However the head itself was black now completely. A vicious red gleam rested in the glassy gaze too. Rather at Zartear the head grinned.... "The empress watches you..... The Empress will find you..... The one ebhind me shall suffer.... but in the end, the thousand, million, souls you rupture with your vile soul shall make your collapse....The one ebhind me... pays from now on...." The head snarled. In that ethereal voice, full of hate and spite itself. At this point, Kevvile made the head just repeat this phrase, over and over. It would go on for quite awhile. However, he had more fun work to do. He extended tentacles throughout his new host. The slick tendrils ended in sharp ends... Some did not though. The ones which didnt spread theri ends a bit. Wrapping around organs, then beginning to penetrate into them. Spreading roots. Felrens' spinal column suddenly had many tendrils holding to it. The tentacles spread through the organs first. Then rather, a single one rode along his spinal column, to his brain. Once there, it latched to a certain point in it. Kevvile copuld talk to his host. He would eventually. For now though..... He squeezed suddenly. Constricting all the organs in the body. Felren would see quick he was in for a harsher fate then most were ever subjected to....

The soul of Kevv, by then, was far from the planet itself. Far from everyone. Kevv had figured something like this would happen soon... her body at that point had lived for a good six thousand years. It was about time for a reborning. In a way it was a blessing, to be able to restart. A tree rather near Racksom suddenly shriveled and died. Kevv had rested a Soul frgment right in it. Kevvs' entites were letting her return. Her tasks were not yet done, she wasn't ready to go yet..... Although this time, it seemed, things would work different for her. Typically she was dropped on Dragons' Eye. However.... Kevv this time, was letting herself reform on Dragons' Cove. She wanted to finish what she started. Plus... she just had a stir in her heart... something good was there for her.

-------

Xavien dashed onward, just pushing people out of the way. He kept sight on Siofras' energy at least... she did not seem happy with someone that was for sure. But he knew who else was there, or had been. They had killed her. Xavienfelt very, very sorry for whoever had made that idiotic move. He shoved more, damnit he was going to find her! He just had to, She ahd eben eating at his mind so badly. He wanted her, almost needed her perhaps.... like the glimmer of light in a pitch-black cavern, The cup of water during the drought.... She just was the only good being he had felt any good connection for and to. He didn't want that to end, not now, not ever. The bound and determined disguised Demon just pushed onward, getting closer, he felt her closer.... much closer....

Siofra watched the arrow fly and hit its well aimed for target. While she kept her eyes on the avian to see her reaction, to see the arrow smash into the leg and create a gaping wound, she picked yet another arrow from her quiver, pointing the tip at the now falling winged one. That woman was quite a fighter however and shooting furious glances at Siofra which would probably kill the half-elf on the spot if looks had such a power. Siofra only smiled at her opponent’s words, not bothering to reply as she did not want the avian to hear the pain in her own voice. The wound in her side probably would get to her if it was not taken care of soon, but she certainly would not give the avian the satisfaction of letting her know this.

Though she quickly went back on her resolve not to speak to the avian when the latter suddenly lifted herself up in the air again and took flight. Angry, Siofra cursed and then shouted after her: “You coward!” But the winged one was soon out of earshot with all the battle noise going on all around them. Surahnians and defenders were getting nearer to the gates, either to flee or to stop the ones that were fleeing. “Oh, I should have just killed that vile beast,” Siofra growled, knowing however that she would not have done it anyway. Still, she was drawing her bow and was about to let loose another arrow into the other woman’s direction when she was suddenly tackled from behind and thrown to the ground.

With a loud crash and a very painful pang in her side that exploded all through her body like a bomb, both of them landed on the floor. At the last second, she managed to move her left arm so that the bow would not splintered during the fall though that move cost her an arrow, whose broken pieces were now biting into her right hand. The shock of the fall and the pain were making it hard for her to breathe and she felt like she was choking, unable to properly fill her lungs with air. While she struggled to breathe and move away, not even having time to be afraid, the man attacking her was hysterically yelling: “Someone has to pay, you have to pay. You will pay for what has been done to my family!” And with that he drew a dagger, bringing it into position to strike down on Siofra.

Atleon held the spear in his hand, knowing for a fact that this was going to be one hell of a mission if they wanted to get out of this alive. He had not known that the being had still been present inside his mind; he only realised this when her presence suddenly disappeared completely – definitely. “This is it, we have to move now or it will be too late to save anyone of ourselves. Too late to save anyone else.. Racksom.” However, Atleon knew himself that Racksom was already lost. The Surahnians were advancing like a natural disaster and the defenders were already fleeing their grasp. Before the being’s shield dropped, Atleon picked up another guard’s spear, certain that in this case it would definitely be better to go two-handed rather than just having one measly spear. The shield around the three of them was visibly shaking and beginning to fade, one or the other projectile now coming through. The guards on the other side obviously noted this and with an even more determined look on their faces began battering against the shield again, bringing it down more and more as the presence of the being was leaving the shield as well, leaving the dragon, the goblin and the prince as easy targets again. Only mere seconds remained…

As Talos ascended back up into the sky he caught a glimpse of a sight that made his heart skin. For fear of falling he took a position on the roof of a nearby house and with wide eyes watched as the Guardian Dragon lost it's place in the air and barreled to the ground landing with a thunderous crash of fracturing stone as the huge beast took out several houses on it's way to resting on the ground. For a heart-stopping moment, Talos thought that the fall had killed it. His chest clenched tight with panic, he prayed reverently for the Guardian to get back to it's feet, to move... anything to show that it was still alive. His wish was granted, and though Silverwing did not move much, he still moved. Actions overwhelmed thoughts as Talos took a running leap off the roof of the house, spreading his cut and burnt wings and heading for the Guardian's side with all speed, taking his bow off of his shoulder as he flew low to the rooftops, a light blur in the darkness of night as he simply bypassed over stray infantry without a sound and without them knowing the wiser. He couldn't afford to take out every other odd soldier, and so he didn't try. He just felt that getting to the Guardian and helping it somehow some way was the most important thing right now.

His thoughts strayed to Lena briefly, and he hoped that the woman would forgive him for being late to get to the Northern gate to rally with the troops.There was yet a higher calling in this battle, and he could ill afford to ignore that call. As he got closer, he noted that the situation was truly dire. A host of archers had positioned themselves on roof tops around the downed dragon and were steadily emptying their quivers into it's body, aiming for the wings and the other vulnerable parts of a dragon that were susceptible to arrow fire. Landing on an unlit chimney, Talos knocked his own bow, and aimed for a soldier with his back turned, a cold calmness that spoke of much experience settling over the avian man. The first soldier went down with an arrow sticking out of his lower back, trying to remove the object that had more than likely ruptured several internal organs as he rolled and fell off the roof with a scream of horror. The other two turned to see what was going on and watch as their fellow went down, and Talos loosed another shot, this one striking the second man in the ear. The third actually got to see their attacker, and moved to return fire but was stopped as a third arrow bit into his throat. Gaging on blood, he fell to his knees and collapsed.

Quickly, Talos took flight to that rooftop and gathered the arrows that the Surhinian archers had left and shoved them into his own quiver, then went to the bloody work of taking down the rest of the archers. He was loosing the element of surprise, however, and even as he stood back up with his quiver restocked plus some, the telltale whistle of an incoming projectile alerted him to the very real danger that being out in the open presented. He ducked just in time and felt the arrow zoom over his head. On his knees and somewhat in the shelter of the roof, he looked for his attacker, decided that there were too many possibilities, and simply jumped off down into the street. It was abandoned, but he could hear the pounding of feet that meant he wouldn't be alone for very long. Sprinting down the street, he jumped and hoisted himself onto a different building not even pausing to look and see where he was but instead taking shelter behind a chimney. It was then that he saw a single woman running as if her life depended on it, sword drawn and heading straight for the group of infantry that were patrolling the streets, knocking down doors and taking anyone inside. To the woman, they were around a blind corner, and probably wouldn't see them until she was right up on them. Cursing, he followed on the roof and when they were close enough for him to get a clean shot, he let loose an arrow and sent a man to his knees screaming with the projectile sticking out of his shoulder. Not a kill shot, but a painful one.

The others in the group all began looking for the archer and upon spotting Talos rushed toward him, now in full view of the sprinting woman who was steadily making her way towards them.

•º•º•º•º•º•º•º•

Deos bore witness to the entire battle between that dreaded lizard woman and Felren, watching each stroke carefully from a safe distance. She didn't want to be turned back into a turtle, after all. Luckily, the defenders that were in the area seemed to have left her alone, and quite a number that she had assumed were defenders had turned out to be allies, if the actions of the Phoenix and that other girl with the tails had been anything to note. The real problem was the horrendous commotion that was being made by a dragon and it's off-kilter rider. Her fists tightened as she watched them free the prince together and dearly wished that she knew how to use a bow. Not like it seemed to matter what weapon you were using... There was some sort of barrier deflecting everything that came toward the escaping Prince and his rescuers. Tactically, it would make no sense for her to get involved. She would just impede the spear wielders that were already there trying to batter down the defenses.

When Felren finally cut off the head of the creature, she was both relieved and horrified at the same time. What had that creature done? There was a strange scar on the man now, marring the tattoos carved into his skin. Silently she followed watching him every step of the way as they headed back to Zartear's side. He looked like he was about to die, honestly, and if he did just that, she would have to curse rather vehemently. This one had promise, perhaps more promise than Vann had ever had, and if there was something her manipulative mind did well it was spot those that could be useful to her. And that head... it wouldn't quit jabbering. She was quite prepared to stick her sword through the blasted thing. It gave her the chills to see it talking without a body, but didn't necessarily frighten her. After all, a talking head couldn't possibly follow up on any of the things it promised, dark as they were. Now it was just being a sore loser, and a nuisance to boot. She rather hated enemies that wouldn't give up after they were long dead.

He wasn't sure how much faith he could have put in him.
Part of him at the time of his snap decision has said "he won't see the sunrise, only hours away" but then...He had the blood of a Tribal Battle Blood. Although a dragon, a very intelligent and powerful species in it's own right, and perhaps that was what had lent for the humanoid that level of ability.
As there was almost no fighting in this area of the city as the houses were being ransacked, Zartear supervising from his lofty position on his proud grey steed, he could finally address the stranger truly.
Now he no longer had to assume the man's following based on the mars that were scrawled over his skin, rather, the half man half beast had returned probably the greatest foe of the field's head. It was black with a crystalline red gaze and murmured unusually haughty words for a dead specimen.
Zartear turned in the saddle to observe the skull, it was a unique piece and would probably have some strong magical conductive abilities in it's own right, or fetch a fortune perhaps.

"What is your name young soldier?" A funny question, considering Zartear was to be 28 in the not too distant future.
He asked, eyes glittering, a knowing smile on his lips, the men in his immediate vicinity stopping to look at the man and observe what might happen; it wasn't like their leader to simply stop and speak to just anybody, not when there was business to be done.

Since no one was moving forward to take the head from his hand, Felren wasted no time grabbing the closest piece of cloth and wrapping the head in it before setting it down. Whatever was inside of him was now squeezing with all its might. It was hard to breath, hard to think. What was his name? Felren knew his human had a full name; ugh this was infuriating. “Felren Pior.” He responded through gritted through his teeth.

Felren couldn’t give a damn about the people staring at him and Zartear at the moment, and no doubt that crafty woman was behind him as well. The human in him was currently hiding from the voice that was taunting him in his brain. Great, the thing won’t shut up.

“Get on, quickly!” Rilos dug his claws into the black dragon that the three were standing on as it started to writhe more ferociously, knowing it couldn’t do anything to stop the rescue, but was determined to stir up as much madness as it could. Thankfully Kagan cut through the ropes quickly, and much better than Rilos could have any day with his claws. The goblin scrambled onto Rilos’ back when he was finished, tucking himself firmly between Rilos’ wings.

“Rilos, and this goblin is… Well, we’ll find out later.” Fear started to crawl in the spine spike dragon’s belly as the shield around them started to disappear, the shimmering silvery barrier breaking like a mist moving away. Atleon had grabbed a pair of spears, discarded by guards that had been felled in battle before leaping onto the dragon’s back. The guards behind the shield started to advance, the ethereal beings that they had been fighting disappearing at the same time as the barrier. Rilos flared his wings wide as the barrier broke down completely, leaping into the night sky with a heavy beat of his wings. A short volley of spears, lately thrown whizzed past, most missing around them or through his wings, but one did just catch his front leg as he tucked it up into his body, giving another scratch along a different leg. Drips of blood blew along his back leg where he had been caught by a sword, but the pain was lessened by the cool wind that blew around them.
“Everyone alright back there?” He called to his two passengers- It was strange to be carrying passengers, they threw his balance off a little- banking away from the heat of the battle where they had been, and heading for the North gate, where he hoped that the battle would have not yet reached.

Static’s cruel smile widened somewhat as she left a long scratch along one of the card dragons- First blood. She would have got a better shot had that other dragon not saved his counterpart, but it prolonged the fight… Around them the streets seemed to have emptied from earlier as the defenders retreated from the city. But there was little time for thought, as the second dragon twisted where he landed and leapt back at her, his teeth snapping. She deflected the simple attacks with the flat of her blade and a couple of small electric deflects, which didn’t shock the dragon, but did repel his attacks easily.

As the second dragon started to attack too, Static had to concentrate harder to keep blocking all the attacks that came. The two dragons worked well together, seeming to know what the other was going to do and timing their actions together perfectly.

Distracted by the two card dragons as she was, she didn’t see the new charging dragon until the very last minute, when the black and purple dragon bowled her to the ground, his teeth snapping above her face. This dragon was much bigger than the two cards that had attacked her before, and she felt her armour bodyplate slowly bending underneath his claws. She gave a gasp as the metal buckled inwards, crushing the air out of her lungs, and she was sure she heard a bone or two snap too- Not good. Gasping again as pain shot up her side, she sent out a strong, wide wave of electricity, this time not just a harmless defensive shield, but a full-on shockwave. It hit the closest, new dragon hardest, to allow her to escape his embrace, then the other three nearby who would prove a problem when she tried to escape- Her only option, now her armour was dented to crushing. She had to get it off!

"Well, Felren Pior...You've proven yourself as an exceptional asset." He turned away from Felren and looked to another of his men, riding another of the tall horse-breed that made up the richest of the men in Zartear's army, a horse bred for war.
It was, despite the chaos that had enveloped the city, calm, it had a muscular body and a dark chestnut coat, gleaming with health.
"Give him your horse." He ordered the man, and so he did as he was told obediently, though Zartear didn't miss the glint of contempt that the man was obviously trying to conceal.
"Is there a problem?"
He asked forcefully, Zartear's gaze alone to push the response.
"No my Lord."
"Good. Well Felren Pior, this horse from now on is yours should you accept it." It wasn't much of an offer, to say no might be to defy his authority...
"This man." He spoke out to the group of mounted soldiers, and the single, somewhat humiliated man that had given up his horse. "He is a Champion among our forces, and will be listened to as such. If Felren commands you to die a glorious death, a glorious death you will give."

While some looked on at Felren in warmth with respect, some with fear, some of Zartear's older men still seemed skeptical; but Zartear had his reasons. There was no doubt he could achieve so much. He'd just have to keep watch over him too.
"Unless...The man wants to deny his power...?" He added thereafter.

Briefly looking around, he then noted that a feminine figure had dared to follow the new somewhat maniacal looking hero all the way to this point.
If Zartear hadn't known better, he might have assumed she was Surahnian herself; black hair and a band sweeping the hair from her face, strongly built arms and a similar steely colour in her eyes.
But then, if she was truly a Surahnian female, she'd be back in Quinsilla building the new city it was to be.

"Felren, do you know this person?" He enquired, "It's terribly brave of her to be here." He snickered, a small chortle of laughter had between the soldiers.

Armeno looked completely baffled at the mention of a stone. I knew I shouldn't've come into a battle without knowing what it was about! he reprimanded himself. But when he had gathered himself and looked back down at the woman, she was sprinting frantically through the crowds. He cursed as he saw she was headed for the two voluptous, brawling dragons. He once again gave Veloxpes the command to dart forwards- the horse was getting tired pretty fast at this rate, but the slow progress through the crowds in the thin streets had given him a bit of a breather. Armeno caught up with the woman soon enough, by now gathering the Guardian meant something special to her, and reached down and touched her shoulder, wanting to stop her but not to invade when he barely knew her.
'Please, wait,' he said. 'You're never going to survive in that, and I need to know moee about what I'm fighting for. I'm Armeno-could you tell me more about the stone?' He noticed that the winged leader had joined them.
'Hello, again,' he added, nodding respectfully.

Rokam flashed a grin at the other dragon. The woman would now have to take her armour off, and that would give them a much esiern target- a couple of times, he had nearly got her before she deflected him, and her armour had helped. But before he could think any more, a huge wave of electricity hit him. He didn't even fly backwards this time, he just crumpled to the ground with a quiet moan of pain. Much the same happened to Jaden, but as the spade fell to the ground his stomach stretched. The thin scratch, already clotting a little, was pulled apart, and he gave a quiet yowl-type noise as the blood began to drip again. Rokam saw it through the daze the electricity had induced, and struggled to his feet. As he swayed, Jaden opened slitted eyes and shook his head weakly. The headstrong young dragon had a strong temper, and this was just the sort of thing to get him really worked up. Sure enough, the club dragon staggered towards the woman they were fighting, his claws slashign wildly, teeth clashing wherever they could get, and his body almost completely unprotected. Sometimes, Jaden just didn't know how Rokam kept fighting.

It was interesting to watch, this switching of powers. Though Deos had no knowledge of the customs of these Surhinians, her perceptive eyes did not miss the coveted looks that the men exchanged with one another during Zartear's little speech about Felren's new status as a hero of the people. Very interesting indeed... if gaining ranks was as easy as defeating a nigh impossible enemy, then she had less to worry about than first imagined. As Felren's condition seemed to worsen, an idea began blossoming in her head to gain favor with this new hero but first... there was Zartear to deal with.

Instead of firing up at the obviously patronizing tone of Zartear's voice and the laughs of his men, she gave him and his fellows a courtly smile, sheathing her sword as she did so. Now was most certainly not the time to be flying off the handle. "Unfortunately, I do not know him but in passing, my lord." Her voice was strong, carrying over the sounds of the diminishing battle quite easily. She met the eyes of each of the men behind Zartear, memorizing their faces for later use and filing them away, unflinching at any returned gazes. "'Twas bravery indeed that lead you inside the city my lord. It was myself and a companion of mine that opened the gates for your Calvary and it was us that first fought the now deceased dragon-creature, and after our attempts to slay it proved futile, 'twas I that lead Master Pior to the beast. I speak of first hand knowledge when I say that Master Pior is indeed worthy of his new station for having felled the monster." To Felren she gave a respectful nod, and nudged her horse forward a few steps. She was pushing the physical boundaries slowly, for now she was no longer just standing outside of their circle of conversation, but rather had put herself squarely in it. There was no fear as she advanced, despite the fact that any one of them could easily put a spear through her. Zartear was of a like mind to herself... clever, crafty, and ultimately in it for himself. If there was one thing she knew, it was that he wouldn't attack her until she had done something truly stupid, and that alone kept her chin held high as she approached the group.

Measle was thrown back from the woman with such a force that it left him breathless. He had felt mighty stood beside the card dragons, but the shockwave flung his relatively small frame back and showed how feeble he really was. He almost crashed into Jackdaww, who stepped aside just in time, and landed on his back, one wing crumpled beneath him. He was quick to drag himself up, but one of his wings wouldn’t fold down properly. One of the delicate bones was clearly broken, and he needed it putting in place.
“Jack.” He growled to Jackdaww, “My wing!” Jackdaww was quick to assist, grabbing the damaged wing and folding it carefully to Measle’s side, but it was clear he would need seeing to after the battle.
Tending to Measle left Jackdaww open to attack, and Measle was too distracted to look out for him right then. It would be lucky if he wasn’t attacked. Luckily, his sword was not locked in its sheath, but hung loose, meaning he could defend himself if needs be.

Starling darted through the narrow streets, and looked at the various Surhinians rushing around. She did not fire at any of them, not yet anyway, but advanced into a dark alley behind an abandoned building. From there, she flew to the rooftop of the building, and perched there in silence. She kept her dark, green speckled wings raised high around her in a threatening cloak of star spangled darkness, and drew her bow. The blue fledged arrow sparked dangerously in the dim light her wings let past, and she loosed it into the crowds of people inside the city. She didn’t hit anyone, and the arrow buried itself into the dirt harmlessly, but it stirred up a panic, causing the Surhinians to run in random directions towards the main fighting. She smirked as they ran, and drew her bow again.

Out of all the pain Felren was currently feeling, interest was now at the top of his list. Zartear had offered him a position, and one that promised power as well. He took a quick survey of the group and while some of them seemed unhappy with the ruling of their leader, not on questioned it. Felren’s only intention in getting involved with this war was for some fun, for the rush of the kill…but power gave many things for the dragon that he wasn’t expecting to get.

Before Felren was able to get a proper response to the leader, the woman behind him spoke up first. Credit taken where earned, but he was quick to see this one wanted more than just respect from Zartear. A smirk came across his pained features as she spoke. A crafty little wench, indeed. He couldn't really speak for or against her just yet.

“I do not see why I couldn’t continue to play this game.” Felren commented, taking the reigns of the horse Zartear had offered him. He looked back to Deos for a short moment letting his red eyes scan her before looking back onto Zartear’s army. Quickly mounting onto the horse, Felren couldn’t help the pained grunt that escaped his lips. This dragon woman would endure pain far worse than his own if he ever saw her again as she had promised.

Nodding to the cloth where Kevv’s head was wrapped in, Felren leaned heavily in the saddle. “That thing still contains magic..” As he spoke his words grew father in between and in a split second his eyes turned from the ruby red they’ve been since entering the war to a light lavender. Immediately a pained yell came from the man, while the dragon was in control of Felren’s body it had felt all of the pain and he could hide from it but now that the damned thing was hidden he bore all of it coming from the parasite in his chest. Felren gripped onto the horse for dear life, the only reason he knew what was going on is because the dragon informed him before leaving him back in control. The stupid beast only spoke to him when it wanted something and it wanted Felren to keep with these people.

Static took as deep a breath as she could manage and pushed herself quickly to her feet, released as she was by her electric blast. She didn’t look to see if the other dragons had been felled, trusting her electricity to have worked. She grabbed her scimitar as she got to her feet, even the slight bend she had to make hurting. One of the card dragons started to attack again, although not as strongly as he had before, she was pleased to note, but didn’t fight back, resting a hand lightly on her stomach, feeling the metal of her armour warped out of its normal shape.

She heard the dragon she had thrown off of her moaning but didn’t look his way either, starting into a stumbling run away along the street, already fumbling at the clasps of her armour to release the pressure that was crushing against her ribs. She ducked under the dark overhang of a doorway, hiding in the shadows and hoping that her opponents didn’t see her. Her breath came in little puffs, her dented armour making it hard to breathe properly.

Static ripped off the armour finally, dropping it to the ground with a clang and taking a breath deeper than the last. Pain lanced up her side from her broken ribs, and she dragged up her green cloth tunic to inspect her side. The material stuck slightly as it came away, soaked with blood where the broken metal had sliced into her skin, and purple bruises were starting to decorate her skin where she had been battered and broken. She tugged her tunic back down with a wince, not pleased. This would make fighting even more dangerous that it had been before.

Rokam snarled as their opponent ran away, though Jaden was just relieved he hadn't been skewered as he forgot defence. But suddenly a passing invader laughed seeing the dragon and took a swing at him. Rokam sustained a large rip across his shoulder, penetrating the muscle. He howled in pain and turned on the man, swiping with his front leg. Luckily, it was the uninjured one- at least luckily for Rokam. The man screamed as his face was gouged by the claws- small for a dragon, but not for a human. Jaden ran over to Rokam, wincing as the cut was stretched. He took one glance at the wound leaking scarlet blood, then spoke firmly to Rokam.
'You can't fight with that. Go and find somebody to bandage it, and quickly.' Rokam whined quietly, but he knew he couldn't continue combat like this. He limped painfully away, occasionally twisting his head round to lick his shoulder. Jaden sighed, and then turned to the other dragon.
'Are we going to try and finish this?' he asked, peeling away the shadows. His light/shadow control was down to quite a fine art by now, and he wasn't trying to fight simultaneously so he could use it properly. The shadow around the area parted a little, and while the darkest areas were still dim, Static became visible. He glanced at the other dragon to confirm their advance before he went.

Once Measle’s wing was safely in place, he nodded in response to the other dragon. It seemed that the card dragon had been doing fine before he even showed up, but he still felt inclined to help. He charged forward again, knocking Jackdaww to the ground in doing so, and bared his teeth. Advancing slowly, he made his way forward to see what damage he had done before. The woman had a large cut at her side, but she seemed to be coping well with it. “Darn.” He thought to himself, “I’ll have to try harder next time.” Here in the midst of the battle, he could pass as simply a young, headstrong dragon rather than a small one, and was willing to make that last as long as possible.
Jackdaww, meanwhile, tried to pick himself up from the ground where Measle had knocked him. He dusted himself down and tried to recover his dignity, and followed Measle cautiously. His sword was drawn, but anything that could throw a small dragon as far as this woman had was more dangerous than he was used to. He hung back behind Measle, his head much higher than his dragon’s, and brandished his sword in a threatening manner. He showed no signs of advancing, however, meaning that he looked for foolish than anything else – least of all intimidating. An arrow glanced past him, skimming his mail shirt and bruising his back underneath, but he still continued his strange act.

Guest

Kevvile chuckled a bit, shaking his head within her. He looked like a many-legged insect almost. Though he was slick and slimy, not hard-shelled. Plus covered in strange, orange thorns. The rest of him was black. He had a single eye upon his head, the head had pincers like a scarab. He frowned, seeing the souls switching around like that. But that little swap wasnt going to save the dragonic part of him from agony. No... Kevvile was hitting any and all souls within this body. All would feel it. H was set there to make this being suffer. Thus... suffer he was going to do. He soon let up the squeezing. He didnt want to constrict his organs for too long. He chuckled a bit, prickling at his spinal column. Poking into it with sharp tendrils.... He knew exactly where to poke and prod. He wouldn't paralyze him, wouldnt do permanent damage. But it was going to be agonizing, very, very agonizing.

Kevvile giggled a little, feeling his new host in such pain. Yes, it thrilled the vicious parasite, to feel his hosts' pain.... He felt it finally good to speak to who he was within. ~Do you know what you caused yourself fool?~ He growled, amusedly too. Well his minds' voice would carry to both souls. He began to extend some magical tendrils this time... the ethereal tendrils rather latched the the connections of the two souls in the body. When Kevvile did an invwasion, he invaded completely, that was for sure. He just waited from there.... going to crumble this being slowly, painfully.... Kevvile was giddy over it, looking so forward to feeling the torment of his host...

-------------

Xavien ran more, knocking someone away from him as he kept his path open before him. Althoug he felt her then... Siofra was very, very near. He turned to where he felt it, running fiercely toward where he had to be. Though he frowned at the sight that greeted him..... He growled, no! She couldnt pass on... No, that would crush him. No one was taking Siofra anytime soon! This was blasphemy! This was madness! He ran quickly, swearing his soul flashed ebfore his eyes.... he had to stop this being ebfore he struck her. But he was so far from them both... His eyes narrowed though, seeing how far the arm of who wanted to take Siofras' life was extended. He then got an idea....

He reached to his side, then took out two daggars. He threw them both too, one a millisecond after the other one. The first rather, struck nito the beings' wrist. The other one struck the daggar in the beings' hand, flinging it away from his access. Xavien then got to them, rather shoulder-ramming him off of her. "Wrong move." Xavien said simply. He wasn't letting this one off the damn hook either. Xavien took to the aggressive, he came at him quickly, that big sword slashing down very fast too. Hoping to just lop this male in half... He tried to take something very, very precious to his soul, and damnit he was going to pay dearly for it...

» Tremors in the Earth....C1, Racksom (4th Board)
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C1 Racksom~~~~And then, there was War~~~~(5th Board)

C1 RacksomAnd then, there was War(5th Board)