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

Rilos flew over the city, scanning the ground to see how the troops had spread out across the city. It wasn’t looking good, with a lot of the city having traces of Zartear’s forces, or the actual forces moving through the streets. They had even dared to set up some sort of infirmary, a lot of movement happening in that area. It would make a good target, and Rilos made sure he had the place pinpointed before scanning around. A lot of the buildings were damaged, some even burning from careless fires set off. The outer walls of the city were less densely packed with the enemy- they had moved into the city, leaving a route out of it if they needed, but with little defence it seemed. Everyone just seemed to be moving in little groups conquering as much as the city as possible. Maybe that was a way of cutting them off?

He headed further along the wall, following it to see how much damage had been done. Some bits of the city were looking worse than others- One area was littered completely with bodies, and he turned away from the awful sight, speeding up so that it fell behind fast. As he got closer to the western side of the city, the carnage that lined the streets grew worse. This is where the enemy had carved their first path into the city, from a gate nearby. He missed the smaller gate, concentrating on the wider picture rather than small details like what gate the enemy had got through. Atleon and Talos probably knew that anyway. The last thing to check was the western gate, then maybe that big tower in the middle of the city (if that was damaged, then it would cause chaos if it fell down and crushed any defending troops nearby).

It was much lighter now, and easy to see the city, so he flew a little higher, out of range of any arrows that happened to come his way. As such, when he flew over the western gate and saw a huge pale blue figure on the wall. It wasn’t moving- Or not enough for him to see from a height. Rilos pulled up his speed, circling a couple of times- What was it? It was obviously a dragon, but a dragon that big…
“No…” he said quietly to himself, realisation suddenly dawning on him. “The guardian dragon?” He took a dive towards the gate. He had to see if it was still alive! With him, maybe they could win the city back after all!

As soon as Static's lips had formed her last word, Kumiko pushed off with one back leg and began to run. She sped through the streets, not as fast as in her fox form but rather matching Tamarisk's speed. They were heading towards the DDC, but they were soon stopped by a large group of soldiers. They were all grasping bottles in unsteady hands, and the closest one leered, not noticing the unusual speed Kumiko was travelling at or her tails.
'Where're you off to so fast?' he grinned nastily. Kumiko's lip curled in a vicious smirk.
'Wouldn't you like to know,' she replied, hands slowly moving to the blades she had sheathed previously. The soldier took a staggering step towards her and laid one hand on her arm, alcohol-fragranced breath wafting in pungent clouds towards the kitsune. Kumiko drew the katanas and in a flash removed the offending hand. The soldier skrieked as he stared dumbstruckly down at the gushing stump. Kumiko twirled hr blades, glancing around.
'Anyone else?' she demanded, hoping for an excuse to massacre the group. But at that point, a formation of sober soldiers broke through.
'What's this about?' yelled the leader, glaring at Kumiko and her bloody katana.

Static spurred Tamarisk after Kumiko, cantering fast next to the running kitsune. She knew they were heading in the relative direction of the defending DDC, but she was hardly familiar with the city. When they ran into a band of soldiers, Static kept to the back, interested what Kumiko would do. As it was, she didn’t expect her to do what she did, pulling her sword from its sheath and guarding her side in case they decided to attack her as well as Kumiko (they were bound to, her having attacked them first). Static decided the girl was crazy.

She let Kumiko do the talking for a moment while she sized up their adversaries, picking out the first to take out if it came to fighting the whole lot of them. In the background, there were more defenders, their backs turned and obviously distracted by something else. And behind them… It was the dragon and rider that she had fought earlier! So, they were still alive.
“Take care of this for a moment, I’ve got old business to attend to.” She said to Kumiko, tapping Tamarisk around the soldiers towards Measle and Jackdaww. One stepped in her way, and she stopped, frowning.
“Get out of my way.” she said, gripping her sword tightly. He stood his ground, and she held out her sword towards him, sending a bolt of electricity down the metal towards him. It struck him in the chest and he collapsed to the ground, but she was already off, jumping Tamarisk over the body and charging for the dragon. All chaos was about to break loose.

Measle was licking the sore spot on his wing when Static began her charge, but Jackdaww noticed her in an instant. He was picking a pocket nearby, and noticed her charging, and drew his sword in a flash of silver. The huge ruby shone like blood as he leapt in front of Measle. The horse that the woman was riding was already taller than Measle – and its more dangerous rider that they had met earlier was a little taller too. Jackdaww had no idea who this woman was, but he’s do anything he could to protect Measle. One problem, however, was the sense of nobility that his training as a boy had leant him. “I need to know your name.” he shouted, remembering the lesson that had taught him to always know his opponent’s name. As the horse drew nearer, he held his sword below ready position, just slightly raised from his side. He was torn between an attack and his honour, which he could barely speak of after looting a corpse and abandoning the high court. “Seriously, what can I call you?”

Measle noticed the charge as Jackdaww started shouting. “Jack you idiot, get back.” He said casualy, failing to realise the immediate danger of Static charging towards them. He just thought he was being an idiot (as usual) and chatting to some enemy foot soldier. When he raised his head to see static, there was little he could do in the short time before she reached them.

Faust looks at her then where she was looking at. "There are caves south and a bit east of here. Azure caves if you know of them. WOuld be the best place the hole up for a day or so. Could be a good staging area and beside Jiluria is not far away you could get supplies there." Jiluria was a bit seady at best but it may be the best place for them to hide. He notices the far away look. "Thinking of someone? You seem distracted." Shifting from side to side he sits down in the grass as he watches her. He was larger then her by far, yet he wasn't worried.

He watches the female and considers following her wondering if maybe she will lead him to the defenders leaser.

(ill reply with Cato when I see Zartear's response to him)

Atleon was growing annoyed by the way things were not proceeding the way he wanted them to, at least in some respects. As the elf and goblin suddenly showed up in front of him, he nodded along their report. “Alright, go find yourselves a spot in the cavalry,” with a sideways glance at Kagan, he added, “or something else that fits your skills. The attack is imminent. Guide the leaders of your respective parties through the safe passages and be careful.” With that they both were dismissed and Atleon turned his attention to Kayoss, rolling his eyes as he saw what he was doing with the shovel and spork. “You are crazy, you do know that, right?” Giving Gorz a thumbs up, he said: “You guys be careful, and don’t wreck everything. I’ll leave you to this, you know what you are doing it seems.” Turning away to head out to the head of the attack, Atleon’s attention was caught by a flutter of wings as Talos made his way towards him once more. “We don’t know much, I’m afraid,” he growled in response, less than pleased by what had come back to him. “The streets around the gate are safe, we’ll make our way through those and try to block off every passage they could take to double back on us and put up traps. But please do take a look. Split your men into groups, you lead one from above, I’ll lead another on foot.” His eyes didn’t flicker once at Talos’ statement, taking it for poor night vision, and simply leaving it at that. The man was an avian, not a cat.

“The time to strike back has come! Racksom may have been invaded by someone claiming to be your new king. But that is not what he is. He seeks to kill you, to enslave you to his will. He will rob you of your freedom, of your families, of everything you value in your life. We cannot let this happen. Racksom is not lost! Fight for what is rightfully yours! Fight for your rights, your families, your loved ones! Fight for Racksom! Fight for Dragon’s Cove!” Atleon hated making speeches and his battle rallies were usually addressed to a bunch of men that knew what they had to do, so this was slightly different but he hoped it did the job, despite the fact his words might lack a better explanation. They simply needed to know they were doing this or themselves and it might just give them wings.

As if on cue, Kayoss roared and brought his catapults to work. Atleon frowned slightly at their apparent power, wondering where the hell these things had come from, as they were not like any machinery he had encountered so far who could throw the stones less far, though he didn’t dwell on the thought, there was no time for it. Winged attacks and archers were positioned to keep everyone on the ground safe and guarded, covering their backs from above and ripping apart any air attack that might be launched by the rebels. Motioning for his footmen to follow him, he dwindled his way into one of the streets.

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Kayoss chuckled a bit, quickly growing used to those two new weapons. Well he had to admit, this was going to be quie hilarious. But... what could be more fun then getting into combat with a Spork for a weapon, along with a shovel? But hearing Atleon only made Kayoss laugh more. "Dont worry bud... I know what im doing. Im not going to wreck too much, lest it be necessary." He grinned, giving a mischievious wink. Gorz snorted, but nodded calmly, knowing Atleon acknowledged him. He rather kept a small distance from Kayoss, amidst others, so his spells could benefit a great many. Kayoss chuckled a bit... but then stopped.

He could feel them. Two of them, behind their lines. One seemed a female... some sort of creature. The other seemed odd too. KAyoss chuckled some. ~Ready for a good round friend?~ He asked gorz. ~Ready as eva bud.~ Gorz replied, chuckling... watching Kayoss carefully. Kayoss jumped, sailing quite inhumanely with his powerful jump toward the one whom seemed to have alot of tails. Kayoss didnt care how many she had. They had no idea what kind of ting they were dealing with with him of course... He landed, quite near her. Kumiko in for a rude awakening of course, being behind the lines and having a bit of power was no longer a safe measure... A shockwave ripped from where Kayoss landed, the ground cracked beneath his heavy footfall. The force that ripped through the air was going to hurt around him too, though itd be a knockback more then anything. "Hello there...." He said with a grin. "I see a furry behind MY lines. And guess what? im HUNGRY!" He exclaimed... Grinning toothily, rows of razor-serrated teeth definently gleaming there. "I even got silverware..." He growled. Brandishing the spork like a daggar. Insane Dragonoid indeed.... But he definently, knew what he was doing.

Xavien smiled warmly, seeing how happy she seemed to be, to know that he was most definently going nowhere. He couldnt bring himself to do so. she meant far too much to him to just leave ehr ocne again. Far too good a piece to his puzzle she was already... and the longer he was with her, the better she got. Thus no, doing all this was so worth it to him. He would help Kevv in the process too. In the end, well everybody would win in his eyes. He hardly could believe eh ahd came up with this and succeeded. But damned if he wasn't going to stretch it for all it was worth. Feeling her hand at his cheek... then not, he watched her with a soft smile.

His eyes narrowed though, seeing Siofra beginning to struggle upright. He hesitated at first... should she be made to lay down longer? No, he doubted it. Damnit i she was fit to move this much then she would do alright on ehr feet. Xavien instead stood. He went to her side, and helped to steady her simply. "C'mon... you got this im sure." He said with a bit of a grin. He knew she was a tough female, she was going to make this fine. Plus he got to be close to her more, doing this. Damn it was nice... there wasnt too much that could be better to him by this point. "Pace yourself though, give the muscles time to adjust." he said gently. He knew how to mend such injury in natural ways so... she was going to make it through, so long as she didnt push way too far...

Siofra felt Xavien’s hesitation but he was soon close beside her, steadying her in her struggle to get off of the sick-bed. His words did help against the pain a little, and she pressed her lips together to avoid whimpering as another huge surge of pain made itself noticeable. She really was not so sure anymore that she should be doing this but there was no way she was going to back down. Would she not have been trying not to show her pain and the amount of energy this seemingly small movement was costing her, she would have enjoyed his closeness much more. Slowly, she nodded as he gave instructions to pace her muscles, but it was too late already. Some of them were screaming at her from the strain she was putting on them but she was almost completely up now. The half-elf was glad however that Xavien was standing next to her and in her half-upright position, she took full advantage of this now, and leaned against him for better support. “Oh hell,” she burst out, unable to hold it in any longer, having to vent the effort a litte. Sweatpearls were already forming on her forehead and she felt like she was running an extremely high temperature, though of course that was more of an impression than actual fact. Xavien’s proximity did not make her cool down either. Ok get a grip now, Siofra told herself and forced herself onto her own two feet. Standing slightly wobbly, she felt dizzy all of a sudden, probably having taken that last step a little too quickly. She quickly grabbed Xavien to steady herself, without paying attention where she was putting her hand, closing her eyes for a moment to make the dots disappear from in front of her eyes. Her wound was protesting violently but the longer she stood still now, the more it seemed to calm down and the dizziness was ebbing away. A small smile crept onto Siofra’s face as she began to feel more and more like her old self again. “Are you ready to go?” she asked softly, her eyes still closed, smile firm on her face.

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Sandy couldn’t help but try to suppress the frown that soon formed on her face as the prince spoke to her. Yes, she was sure that bringing Silverwing back into the fight would life the defenders spirits…up until they saw the state he was in. And another problem, bringing him back into it. That would be just suicide. It was obvious that Atleon didn’t know of the guardian dragons state, otherwise he wouldn’t be talking about the matter as lightly as he did.
As he nodded to her, she presumed that was the note to end the conversation. If it were at any other time, it would have been seen as possibly disrespectful of her to open it back up again. But right then, she didn’t care. The only thing that stopped her was the madness that followed. Atleon had started talking to someone else and ordering others around just as quickly as he had finished their talk. She stepped away from him, and looked around. Looks like she would have to deal with this some other way.

She turned to face the direction of Gorz, the dragonic creature that had healed her before. Even though she didn’t really want to go back over to him after the odd sensation she felt before, maybe it was for the best if he could somehow reach Silverwing and heal him. She was just about to run over to him, when Atleon gave some sort of heads up to go off somewhere…or something, she didn’t quite know. Without thinking, her legs brought her running up to the creature, as if he could disappear within any second. Well, who knew? If he could heal, then why not disappear into thin air and re-appear somewhere else?
“Gorz!” She almost shouted, trying to grab the creature’s attention above all of the noise. “I need your help!”

At the northern gate, Silverwing felt the last few remaining stones beneath his claws began to crumble with the amount of pressure he was putting them under with his claws. At any other time, he would use his great wings to re-balance himself, but he knew that if he did that, he would only cause more damage. Mainly because they hurt.
His body was screaming with pain, and as of now, there was noting he could do but fight it and at times, try to ignore it. But that was becoming near impossible. The main part of the fighting was starting to die down. It had practically stopped elsewhere, but not at this gate. He could only hope there wasn’t an aftermath and it re-started again with another attack. That would only do more harm. To him, anyway. And most probably lots of others. Unless it came from the defenders side, of course. If they could perform a counter-attack, then maybe more had survived than thought.

A small, brave, or stupid, man came hurtling towards him, spinning a great axe above his head as if ready to throw at any second. Silverwing felt angry more than anything, Angry that he had dared to try to take advantage of his current state. He opened his mouth and let out a long burst of flame. His belly ached immensely as he did so and he half regretted doing it. If he did it again, it might render him unconscious.
All of a sudden, a flash of dark blue whizzed across the sky, and Silverwing’s tired fiery gaze turned to see what it was. Before he knew it, the creature was diving for the gate, diving for him, maybe? He gritted his teeth, before pushing his body off the stones and flung himself onto the floor. If it was an attack, then he was going to have a better, more stable ground.
He twisted is head up to look at the dragon, bearing his teeth.

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Armeno nodded and instantly wheeled Velox round, loooking for the cavalry. He soon spotted the milling crowd of horses and joined near the front, paying little regard to what Kagan did next. As the call to begin blared, he urged Velox forwards and began to cut down the Surahnians, sword flashing and Velox rearing and smashing his feet down on the heads of unfortunates.

Kumiko attacked the other soldiers almost as soon as they appeared, easily deafeating the lot. She smiled as Static left; she knew about unfinished business alright, though she generally defeated her opponents first time. However, as she heard the hard impact and felt the ground shake, she whirled. Her suddenly crimson hair flew about her face as she twitched her tails, raised her hands and caused the clones to appear. They were all still armed, two out of the four missing an arm. But that wouldn't impede their fighting skills too much. One of the intact ones wound her way towards Kayoss at Kumiko's command, looking innocent and lost. She didn't think this tactic wuld work, but it was worth a try- she could maybe find out just how powerful he was, though he seemed to be around the same league as her, and who knew? He was male, after all or at least, he seemed male. Kumiko was still holding her bloodied katanas, but she had a feeling she'd be needing another power soon, and she began racing through options. She hadn't let Static go unnoticed, either- she had seen the electricity bolt, and she could probably call in a little help if she had to. His words had infuriated her, though, and she flipped her hair back again as she replied,
'A scaly with a runcible spoon? Now, that's a new one. I'll be interested to see just how you sate that hunger. Her lips curled into something that was half a feral grin and half a snarl.

Static gave a laugh as the man leapt in front of his dragon, looking powerful enough with a long sword, but seeming stupid enough when he started asking for her name. What sort of fighter was he, he didn’t seem to have much problem fighting her earlier! Behind her, she heard the clatter of swords and armour as Kumiko dispatched the soldiers that had accosted them, and figured that she was a much more dangerous opponent than she had first thought. It was a good thing she had her as an ally, not an enemy.

The dragon didn’t have any clue that he was about to be slain, which was good for Static- Maybe she could finish him with the sword, then she could save some energy for later. She stretched out her sword, thinking to run the dragon through…

…When the ground moved, a loud rumble thump coming from somewhere behind her. Tamarisk skittered, jumping towards the dragon instead of cantering past, kicking his back legs out and whinnying. Static drew her arm back, not wanting to hurt Tamarisk as they came down almost on top of the dragon. He bunnyhopped over its tail, clattering on the cobblestones before wheeling out of the way. Static slashed in the dragon’s direction, but didn’t know if she got it, or his rider, or just the air, before Tamarisk turned completely. What had been behind her was now in front, and she saw that some sort of draconic man had cracked the ground in front of Kumiko, coming out of nowhere. And he was brandishing a spork? He was either insanely stupid, or insanely powerful, or maybe a little bit of both. Hopefully Kumiko could take care of him for long enough that she could get the other two out of her hair first.

It was the guardian dragon, Rilos knew it! As he dove towards the wall, he also realised that powerful as the dragon was, he was in a very bad way. And it looked like there was little chance of him getting better quickly either, for he was even under attack by Surahnians! Rilos gave a roar, aiming for the bulk of the rebels and not the dragon, like he had been before. Not that he was going to attack the guardian of course, but just to land close, see how he was… A tongue of flame came from the dragon. Well that’s promising, he’s still alive then thought Rilos, opening his own mouth and sending a jet of fire at a group of soldiers squashed close together in formation. They split like rabbits, some running this way and that (and of course, the few that couldn’t flee at all). He spun up and away through the sky again (crashing when he had to help the dragon would be a very bad idea), turning back for another attack. He heard a crash as the guardian crawled off the wall onto the ground, and was tempted to shout his alliance, but it would give the game away to any of the Surahnians that hadn’t seen his first attack.

He swooped down for another attack, blasting more fire down the road at the retreating enemies. As he passed over the guardian’s head, he hoped he wouldn’t attack, but his teeth were bared. Rilos hoped he realised they were on the same side, because he would come off badly if the guardian blew fire.

Jackdaww jumped back a little as the horse ran past him, and then screamed as it leapt towards Measle. “Measle! Look out!” was about all he could manage, but it was enough to get the dragon to raise his head. He roared, sparks of harmless lightning clicking in his throat. He snapped his teeth threateningly at the horse, but had no real intention of attacking it if it was possible. For all he knew, the animal wanted nothing to do with the attack. He raised his wings high around him, but the broken bone in his left wing was apparent. It jutted at an awkward angle under the slim bandage Jackdaww had tied around it, and looked incredibly fragile.

Jackdaww himself was still trying to get a name out of the woman. He hadn’t considered their last run-in a true battle, since Measle had taken care of her without him having to do a thing, but now the tables had turned. She had mounted an attack on his dragon – who he had raised in a secret in the high court – and he wouldn’t stand for it. His ‘honour’ tore at him again, and he was left motionless in thought.

Measle was having no such reservations, however. He snarled, and grunted at the woman, swiping his tail at the horse’s legs to knock their balance as a whole. The crest upon his head rose further than usual as his aggression built, and he began to paw the ground to sharpen his claws further.

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Gorz let KAyoss be, for the moment. But his minds' eye was constantly on his friend. Whenever he would need healing he would get it. For now the odd-accented draconic just kept his focus on others around him. Small wounds became regular skin again, a few who were tired got revitalized... Gorz not leaving most anyone out, lest someone needed dire attention of course. However his head snapped around, hearing the girl from earlier yell to him. Sandy of course.... He paced his casts, using hardly any energy at all. "What is it miss?" He asked her, seeing how panicked she seemed... what might she need done?

Kayoss chuckled a bit.... thinking this... very funny. Weilding a damned spork into battle... plus being called a scaly. That was quite amusing. But he really did not care. but she was not going to feel the wrath of the Spork. He rolled his shoulders and laughed viciously. "Oh no hun, this fine piece of eating utensil is too good to be stuck in you." He told her simply. He saw her clones too, not one to miss such things. but his eyes kept trained on the real thing. Givign the perception he might not know where the other copies were. Although that was very wrong. He glowed swiftly, Then a half-sphere flung out from him for a good few yards. More a defensive measure, it a highly-volatile mix of Light and Dark energy... made to well, decimate ehr clones. As he did this Kayoss turned, throwing the Spork. Well the sharp little eating utensil was heading right for Statics' neck. but a second after the Spork was thrown, the shovel was thrown at the very same target. He opened his maw as the Chaos wave faded, a Sphere-shaped burst of Black and white energy streaking at Kumiko too. "You get these isntead." His big sword and mace appearing in his hands instead. Fully expecting Kumiko to not be his only opponent. But well, one opponent alone for him was boring. He was the WArbringer, after all. He was gonna bring the war! He leapt forth with his powerful legs, landing at her back, the spiked mace swinging forth upon his landing... Testing he was now, calculating... his expression unreadable, almost cold... Te normally energetic and amused gaze hardened to a vicious light.... Playtime was quite over.

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Xavien was very patient. He waited for ehr to get to her feet and thigns. his strong arms being gentle, keeping her steady on her feet.... He wa sin no rush, and did not think she needed to be. But he was not going to object to her strengthening and getting to her feet. He kenw injury typically only strengthened who was injured, lest it was one to do permanent damage. This didn't seem an injury that was going to do anything of the sort to her. So he would happily see to her standing and walking, getting strong again... Him different then others, not going to hold ehr down and stuff if she had the will to stand and move. Especially if eh kenw her limits would be fine with her moving and strengthening.

He kept her steady for the moment. Hearing her words he chuckled softly. "Yes... I am ready when you are able to walk without having to hobble or limp heavily." He told ehr gently. Yes, getting ehr well away from here would be best. But where he didn't know. He planned to perhaps fly her with him and just find a nice, expensive place for the night to sleep and be in comfort. Well why not? He wasn't exactly broke... he had gotten quite alot of gold on the way there doing things. so he wanted to use it on something constructive. Like being with who he just could not get off of his mind at all. and well, that's what was going to happen...

It was a good thing that Xavien was steadying her the way he did, otherwise Siofra might not have been standing on her own two feet quite so quickly again. Now that she was upright however and not straining to do something, the pain began to recede again and she could feel her muscles growing used to the effort again. She was soon going to be able to move again like nothing had ever happened, or at least so it seemed. The half-elf couldn't help but be quite impressed with the work the magi had done, and she definitely could not deny that she was drawing this out slightly longer than necessary now. She was steady, and she was fairly certain she could walk without limping or hobbling or anything, but Xavien was so close.. why should she move away now? The feel of his warmth just beside her, almost hearing his heart beat, feeling his breath on her as he was watching over her every move, ready to catch her when necessary. It just felt good to know that someone had her back, someone who actually would be watching over her instead of breaking away the second something was up, though it was also a completely new thing for her. She had grown so very used to watching over herself at all times that she would have to grow accustomed to someone else doing the same.

Hearing his chuckle rumble through his chest, it sent a shiver down her spine and she had to force herself not to let it show on her breath. This was neither the right time nor the right place to fall for his charm. "I swear I can walk properly," she replied with a grin, before she took his hand and dragged him out with her, knowing that he would follow close behind anyway, so why not take a little more advantage of it. Once outside however, as she heard the sounds of a suddenly more vicious battle again, her ears pricked up and she halted in her step. Something had changed while she had been lying in there passed out. Looking towards Xavien, she raised a questioning eyebrow, wondering if he had heard what had been going on while she had been out. "How long have I been out of it?!" she suddenly asked out loud. "What has happened during that time?" It definitely sounded like the battle had picked up again and the two armies were ferociously clashing again somewhere in the city. Roars of dragons could be heard, piercing screams of people falling in battle, the harsh swishes of arrows and - where those rocks?! - other projectiles being thrown through the air. Were the defenders starting to fight back again? "Come on," she muttered and letting go of Xavien's hand, she swiftly made her way towards one of the darker and smaller alleys that seemed to be empty. She would speak to Zartear later on, first she wanted to see what was going on within the city.

As soon as Kumiko had finished commanding the clones for the moment, her mouth had begun to move, flashing and forming words as fast as she could. As her lips framed the last word, she glanced up as she had done every second. Kayoss was dispelling an orb of energy at her clones. She screamed at them to get out of the way, but only two were able to do so. Her hair now a deep shade of red, she called out another word loudly, in an odd and long-forgotten language.
'Trilaëma!' She had held her katanas at arm's length in front of her as she uttered the word, and now they gleamed a bright copper colour away from their normal silver. The colour morphed through all the shades Kumiko's hair went, a thread of light connecting the two blades, and when it calmed, flecks of those colours ran continually through the blade, swirling and changing. The katanas flew through the air, twisting and curving in complex shapes, and Kumiko grinned evilly as she whirled to face the ball of energy Kayoss now directed at her. The blades flashed forwards and hit the missile; the energy was sucked into one, shot along the link, which was now silver with flickers of gold like the katanas themselves, and then shot out of the second blade straight back at Kayoss. The kitsune's face was utterly mad as she imitated Kayoss, leaping upwards and whirlign through the air in a backwards spin. The katanas whipped out and slashed at the draconic alien as Kumiko spiralled over him, and she landed in a crouch, blades still held up in front of her, and then straightened abruptly. All this movement had been blurred, flashes of silver, red, gold, copper... All flashing through the air, unidentifiable for a human.

Tamarisk reared away from Measle as he roared, snorting in fear. Static pulled at his reins, adjusting her weight so she didn’t fall off his back. She saw his mouth light with sparks of lightning, and she suddenly had an idea. It may not be dangerous to the dragon in such small quantities, but if she could somehow charge it so it became more powerful… It could be an easy way to dispatch the dragon, at least putting it out of the way until she could deal properly with it later. At least the dragon’s rider was staying out of her way.

Tamarisk skittered away from the dragon, but it was already swiping with its tail and knocked his front hooves from under him, sending him crashing to his knees. Static fell off this time, not expecting the blow. The horse scrambled to his feet and bolted, flecks of blood from his grazed knees speckling the ground. Static hit the ground and screamed, pain shooting up her side from her broken ribs. She unintentionally threw up a strong defensive shield, charging the air around her to try and block the pain. The spork Kayoss had thrown at her glanced off, her shield sparking green, then it sparked again as the shovel hit it, a metallic clang sounding through the air, but Static didn’t hear it, a rushing sound in her ears as she fought to catch her breath again. She sat up, coughing blood, now intentionally keeping her shield up. Her eyes travelled to the man who had thrown the spork and shovel, wiping the blood from her lips and climbing to her feet. He was a more dangerous opponent than the dragon and rider now.

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Kayoss Grinned viciously, hearing her saying words, words of a dfferent language. Which was a language he really wasn't caring to recognize. His Mother was the one good with languages not him. He knew she was casting magic though. Such a needless warning for it. He enver used words when using magic, lest he wanted to really blow something up. Words just gave away what you were about to do typically. Silence and calculations were far better. Quick decisions that cvould be capitalized upon.... This Kumiko had some experience beneath ehr that was for sure. He had to admire that. but she was facing something most never got to encounter twice, ever. If they did, they were extremely lucky. He knew what she was about to do though, seeing ehr focus on the ball of Chaotic energy. He had things to do with this.... Which, he did, very swiftly. Seeing it coming for him the huge mace swung downward. Colliding with the energy and crashing it into the ground. "Yahhooo!" Kayoss shouted, the ball exploded and flung a wave out from Where it did so outward.

Once this happened he slid back though. Just in time to see Katanas swing at him. sissy weapons in his opinion. Though effective in the right hands. But he would never use any kind of weapon like that for sure. His strength complimented the use of heavy weapons. Like his huge sword and mace... He bent back a bit, the katanas swinging a hairs' breadth from his snout. Though right before she landed, he was upon her once again, the huge blade swinging right at her leg. The mace was not behind that though, it swing for her shoulder. His armored tail swished, ready to deflect and parry if she swung. His huge weapons moving as if he were weilding just daggars or something, extremely quickly... White and black streaks of energy crackled about him, like lightning. He was getting into this. Perhaps this planet had some exciting opponents after all. He had not forgot about Static though... His minds' eye on Kumiko, but his maw opened, another ball of Chaotic energy bursting from it, heading for Static. Kayoss was enjoying himself, such fun this was. Ready for anything with the furry being fighting him.... He had needed this, fighting brought out the best in him, in his opinion. the adrenaline and being always so close to decapitation... it was so exciting!

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Xavien gladly just kept her steady, letting her body adjust to the stress after being healed over. He would admit, the magi had done impressive work for such primitive mages. Then again Mages typically were far better at being destructive then being restorative. So this was quite a step in the opposite direction for them. It was doubtful they were happy about it eiter but well, they would get over it.He smirked though once she was definently able to go on on her own. Let alone taking his hand like that... He grabbed his sword ebfore leaving, making sure it was strapped i nthe sheath on his back. He was gona have to get used to this too. He definently was typically very alone, and on no ones' side. But now... he had an ally, and a very, very close one. It was... comforting really...

However he heard the clattering sof battle once outside. Siofra evidently did as well. He sighed at her question though. "A couple hours maybe." he told her gently. "Nothing really happened though, not on our side." He said gently. "I suppose..." He didn't finish his statement. Jumping up to a ceiling. Looking far out.. His eyes widened. ~Oh hell....~ He told siofra. ~It looks like Kevv got her son out here too. Those catapults and thigns couldn't have been made by anyone else.~ He said. Recognizing the stone structures. Yet flexible too... ~This is going to get waaay ugly way fast if I know him and his methods right.~ He said. Kayoss was very tactful and swift and destructive in hi ways in war. Someone was going to get their face pounded way in... He jumped down to get to Siofra, landing right behind her... dashing with her too.

Siofra was glad that the magi had not seemed to dare touch her weapons – though that still seemed odd to her – but she sure was glad now that had been so because she had not once paused to think about them until now, when she would actually need them and felt the bow underneath her fingers when she followed her instinctive movement to the weapon. How stupid could one be to simply forget about these things? The half-elf was not pleased about this, knowing that it only showed she was not completely there still but she would have to force her way through this, fake it through if necessary. Xavien’s statement had not made her any more comfortable, knowing that another being like this Kevv had turned up here. She would have to come up with a plan, quickly, to put her knowledge to good use.

Fairly certain that she knew what the defenders were after apart from regaining their city, she headed towards the centre of Racksom again, where she had been not too long ago burning one of the flags of Dragon’s Cove. Though that may only have been a minor move, it’s always a deflating one for an opposing army. “I think it’s time we start playing our part, Xavien,” she said, halting in the shadows. Peeking around the corner, there seemed to be no one around, neither rebel nor defender. “In one of the towers is the stone, which Zartear will try to claim for himself. In one of the others, and I am not sure which one, there are a few chests with valuable documents, information on the city, on Dragon’s Cove itself,” she explained. Knowing the prince was of use from time to time after all it seemed. She knew that it was what the defenders would want to keep safe next to the stone or at least retrieve before they definitely had to abandon Racksom. Either way, it was going to keep her – and now Xavien – in Zartear’s good graces if they could provide him with some of those documents. “We’ll have to get some of them to Zartear, the rest we will try to make as easily accessible to the defenders as possible.” She was certain about this, but still, she was hoping she was not playing her cards wrong or miscalculating things. There was no time to think however, the battle sounds were moving closer yet again and they had to get a move on, so she quickly dashed across to the next shadow in the next dark alley, the one that would lead towards the towers.

Atleon was making his way through street after street with his men following him, fighting of rebels as much as possible, trying to avoid larger groups of them as much as possible. He was steadily heading towards the middle of the inner walls, like Siofra had predicted. He had not told anyone about this bit, knowing that some might not approve of this since they already thought him reckless for even consider a move to take back Racksom. But as the prince, of course he had an ulterior motive rather than only taken back what was rightfully Dragon’s Cove’s possession. Every word he had said, he had meant, and he still meant them, he only had not added that he also wanted to get battle plans and any other useful documents out of Zartear’s reach. This move would make it less obvious to Zartear. By simply sending in a few people, preferably the winged ones whether humanoid or dragonoid, he would have drawn attention to this, and now with Kayoss at his back to successfully keep the rebels busy, they might just succeed with this, or at least he hoped so. Every one around him was tired, just like him, but they all had this gleam of hope in their eyes, a spark he wanted to nourish and not kill, though for now, he did not speak. Atleon kept moving on, the men following him, and the deeper they moved back into the city, the more rebels they encountered. So far, so good. Their aerial defense was holding and they had not lost any men up until now, only a few minor flesh wounds that would not impede fighting skills too much. Though he did wonder where the main body of the rebels was currently hiding, and he was silently praying Zartear had not laid out a trap somewhere, a trap neither of them was aware of, despite sending out scouts and having winged ones search the area from above.

Kumiko ignored the wave of energy; as she arced through the air, it passed under her harmlessly. As she landed, one katana flashed out and deflected Kayoss' gigantc sword; the other jabbed at the alien's stomach as a clone spun up with a 'borrowed' sword and stabbed at the back of his neck. As all this happened, Kumiko swung to the side to dodge the mace and as soon as her blades were free, a flurry of short attacks on Kayoss. The two katanas darted through the air almost independently of Kumiko's hands which held them. All the time, Kumiko's mind was sorting through her possibilites for another power.
She spared one brief glance for Static- though she really wasn't concerned for the safety of the human, she was interested by her power- and noticed that she didn't look in good shape. Kayoss also seemed to be planning another attack on her, but again Kumiko didn't care. She had a few rather interesting ideas for powers...

Lena eyed the odd creature for a moment before resting a hand on her hip to shift her weight off the bad leg. “And bring the people back around to Zartear’s army? And even closer to the heart of their capital? No, but thank you. We shall continue north to give us some ground.” She thought about the area and nodded, knowing that the plan would not be best for the helpless people. They should head for the Everbridge if anything. At it’s question of her thinking about someone she hesitantly nodded. “My husband, Talos.” She didn’t bother to hide the concern in her voice. They should have left the city hours ago, should have cut their losses and regrouped. Lena was torn between following her friend’s orders or her husband’s instincts. “Talos…” She said under her breath, her heart contracted painfully at the thought of his dead body lying on the streets and ruins of Racksom.

“Excuse me for a moment.” She said to Faust and half flying, half running she made her way to the front of the group of civilians who were now at a rather slow pace. She stopped in front of a tired looking man. He was tall, really tall with dark shadows on his face from lack of sleep, worry for his people, and a need for a good shave. None of this was on his mind though when the young avian woman stopped in front of him.

“What is it now, woman?” He wasn’t used to woman taking charge and was fully used to having to protect them so this one was so rare and odd to him he couldn’t understand her. Lena wanted to open her mouth, to snap at him for his rudeness but held herself back. “Look, I know you don’t like me, and I will be leaving you soon…but I need to make sure you aren’t going to walk off a cliff or into some stupid trap.” She continued despite his disapproving look at her words. “Continue north for some time, then head east towards the Everbridge. Stop only when you have to.” The man nodded with a scowl and continued walking. Lena let him pass and then she turned back to where she left Faust.

“I’m going back to the city. Do as you please.” She said, opening her white wings and taking to the skies. If the bird were to try and attack the civilians she could turn back around and defend them but she doubted that was going to happen. The early morning light only made her eyes realize how tired they were and she rubbed at them. The throbbing pain in her leg was beginning to come back as the adrenalin in her body had started to drain. She pushed it back as she saw the northern gates coming into view. Her started to become nervous as she noted the activity that was taking place. Why were they staying? How was the city worth fighting for if a city was no longer standing?!

Luck was on Lena’s side as she caught sight of Talos’ tan and brown wings and she sighed in relief. He was alive. She pumped her wings hard to gain momentum until she was at his side. She hovered a few feet from him. “Do not try to send me back.” She warned, though the bite in her voice never reached her eyes, how could it? She had expected him to be dead for the second time that night.

Static strengthened her shield as a wave of energy radiated from Kayoss, feeling it hit and spread over the shield in an arc. She didn’t look to see how the dragon and rider pair nearby were deflecting the energy (if they even were), concentrating on keeping her own shield up. Standing still was a bad idea. She dropped the shield slightly, running for cover- as much cover you could get in the middle of a street with potential opponents everywhere. At least Kumiko was providing a distraction, the weapons of the two flashing so fast between one another that they were hardly visible.

She nearly missed the energy ball heading for her, half ducking and strengthening her shield to full capacity. She felt it explode over the shield, stronger than anything else than she had taken before. What sort of magic was this man using??? She steeled herself, switching the shield to an attack instead, sending a wave of electric shocks at the man, staggering them so that they hit one after another, trying to wear down his defence… If that was even possible…

Guest

Kayoss grinned, feeling his adrenaline just rush and pump, his chaotic energies melding and mixing, creating strength for him, mind and body sharpening... He Swung his mace around, parrying the swords. Tilting his neck aside, aviding the blade coming for it. His armored tail knocked aside the one coming for his chest. The clone was soon subjected to a spike coming from Kayoss' body it seemed. It was large and shot from him, full of chaotic energy. Ready to impale the doppelganger... Kayoss' attention stayed on the real being though, His beef wasn't with the clones. However stoff got way more complicated once bolts came from the toher he ahd been shooting at earlier. But this only made the Chaotic adrenaline in him jump to meet the challenge...

Kayoss doduged away, a white, almost solid-looking shield appearing at his mace hand. He raised it up, using the Light to deflect the bolts sent by Static. He grinned though, throwing the Holy Bulwark away after a short time. Kayoss swung both his weapons outward from him. As he did, two Boomerang shaped, Purple and silver energies flung forth. Seeming to streak at both his opponents. "Darkness rolls in... The light carries it, makes a BEAST!" He snarled. Beginning to actually empower himself now... his muscle structure grew a bit, his body gave off quite a heated temperature... the air around him displaced with the sudden heat rolling off the body. His weapons glowed like they were aflame, though one was dark purple, the other white... "The ground runs red with your blood!" He growled... At once, spikes came from the ground beneath both of them. Seemign to spike up repeatedly, them the same Chaotic mix of energy being harnessed into shape.... Yes, the Light and the Dark bent to his will, however he wished... He charged at Kumiko too during this time, Breathing a beam of Chaos straight at her, the mace coming at her back... His tail at the ready, his sword whirling, waiting...

Xavien frowned a bit, rolling his shoulders jsut a bit. Keeping near siofra, him at the ready for well, anythnig. PRetty sure Zar ahd a setup for the invaders... but if KAyoss was doing this well, if he even did have a setup like that it was gonna be hairy, and quick. Kayoss ahd a thing with destruction... if thing werent gonna go his way, he was going to obliterate well, everything. His way or no way... But he listened to what Siofra said to him of course.Their part? well this ought to be quite interesting...

Though He was a bit surprised at her statement. Well, it was genius. Although at the mention of the stone Xavien chuckled. "If I know Kevv correctly, No one is getting to that stone, ever. Not until she sees fit." He told her simply. Knowing Zar could struggle all he liekd, if Kevv wanted something locked down, thats exactly how it was going to be. "But the documents.... Yeah, we should find those." He said softly. "We can give Zar some simple maps and stuff. But hiden things, like how to undo seals and the city population... we will hodl out on. But finding this stuff will be a challenge. But... It can be done fast." he said. "Hope you want to fly a bit?" He asked with a grin. Well... he would use his wings for this bit. Why shouldnt he? It was the easiest way to get itno a tower...

“Believe you me, nobody would actually get at that stone anyway, no matter how much that Kevv seems to think that she has done Dragon’s Cove a huge favour by sticking her nose into this.” It was slowly beginning to annoy her that Xavien spoke so very highly of this being. Of course, she was glad Kevv had not killed Xavien at the time but on the contrary helped him find his way, but there was a limit to how much praise she wanted to hear about others. “He will want to claim it for himself however to solidify his power, no matter whether he actually has his hands on it or not.” She might sound a little snippier saying this than she might have intended but what was said, was said.

Pleased that Xavien thought the plan a good one however, she nodded at his words. “That’s indeed what we shall do,” she replied with a small smile playing around her lips, her mind racing as she tried to consider where exactly those chests might be. It was only a few that were barely ever used, except for cases of emergency, which never occurred really. Every other map, document or whatever else could be useful was in the building used by the leaders when holding hour long meetings without any results ever. She raised her eyebrow at the mention of flying however. “You mean you want to change?” Siofra was honestly surprised that he would want to expose his demon form where he could be seen, though she wasn’t going to object. It was going to make the task much easier and definitely much quicker and… “Anything that brings me closer to you,” she grinned, stepping into him, knowing that he would have to hold her for this kind of travelling.

Last edited by Artemis on Thu Feb 03, 2011 5:10 pm; edited 1 time in total

The twin katanas never stopped moving, weaving in a complex pattern and scarcely faltering as they were deflected. They retreated, stabbed forward, feinted to the side and then cut at Kayoss... The flickers of fire colours ever lacing through the silver metal. The clone rolled aside as the spike of energy stabbed at it, only the arm suffering with a chunk burnt away. Kumiko's arm twitched involuntarily as she felt the pain, but the instant the injury had been dealt the pain vanished, and the blade in her hand had never stopped it's relentless dance.

As the ball of energy spiralled towards her, one of her blades soared up in an arc and knocked it back as though it were the ball in a game of tennis or some such sport. As Kayoss charged her, she leant backwards, her supple body bending practically double and the energy flashing straight over her head. As It whizzed by, three spectral tails appeared bright and glowing for a moment before fading again. A half second afterwards, the energy vanished and Kumiko straightened, smirking. The clones suddenly began to flit around Kayoss, constantly darting in and jabbing at him before twirling away once more. Kumiko herself began to almost dance, leaping gracefully over the spikes of energy while her katanas continued their attack on Kayoss. Her feet pattered continually on the ground as she span and twisted.

It was quite the sight to see a boulder fly over his head, the large chunk of rounded rock flying impossibly far and making contact with the ground inside the city a little too close for comfort. On it's way down, the boulder smashed through a small gaggle of troops as well as a few houses. He winced, wondering what sort of person Atleon really was to let a creature destroy Racksom with his siege machine from the inside with a clear conscience. He muttered a prayer for anyone that might still have been in those houses, then turned to leave and take his small band of infantry and archers with him to fortify the front lines. They couldn't move very far or risk being crushed like those Surhinian soldiers had, but if they stayed well within the range of that firing mechanism then they would be fine.

He didn't get very far however, movement catching his peripheral vision. Familiar white wings were coming at him, and with a tired smile he waited patiently for her to land. With some dismay he saw that she still had the arrow sticking out of her leg and frowned, hardly even hearing her warning. "We need to patch that up. I'll go round up a bandage and we'll get it field dressed. HEY, YOU-!" After some shouting Talos got his bandages and made sure that the infantry were making a steady progression, finding a choke point in the streets where the Surhinian soldiers that made it through the barrage of rocks would have to come at the defenders in small numbers in order to attack and positioned his archers nearby for backup support. "This is going to hurt." He said in a slightly ragged voice.

» (C1, Racksom) The Making of Men (12th Board)
» Tremors in the Earth....C1, Racksom (4th Board)
» (North of Azure caves, east of Racksom) ~~~~Peace in the Everplains~~~~6th Board
» The Destruction of Quinsilla.....T1 (1st Board)
» (C1, Racksom) Surnames in Surahnia (19th Board)

C1 Racksom~~~~And then, there was War~~~~(5th Board)

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