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

Last edited by Aero on Sun May 06, 2012 9:12 pm; edited 1 time in total

'Wake'

It was a simple word, but held all the power of a command given by some great king, the voice that spoke to him at once both gentle and forceful. He had been somewhere before, a place where there was no weight or feeling, just an intense sense of inner peace and calm. He almost didn't want to leave it, but that voice was so enthralling. Slowly, senses were coming back to him, revealed slowly like a fog creeping back from the landscape before the warmth of the sun. He was lying in something cold and wet and sticky was the first sensation, then came a force that flipped him over and grabbed his legs and wrists, hefting him out of whatever it was he had been laying in.

Words. He couldn't understand them quite yet, but knew that they were speaking a language he could understand if only he tried to listen.

Warmth came to him, a pulse that beat through the entirety of his body and the breath of life.

Scent. Something coppery, something burning. Smoke tinged with an acrid vileness. What sort of place was he in?

Memory came next. He had been at the abbey at night, a boy of 18 about to become one of his brothers and go through the joining ritual. Had something gone wrong? He was Vann. Vannelson SelDakhoven, rejected son of a nobleman in Yarrowitz… Now a monk of the Brotherhood of Tolerance in Bolarf…

Sight. His eyes opened to see the ground and sky meet inverted, his head craned back at an awkward angle seeing as he was being carried. Boots entered his vision, which meant that whoever it was was dressed, their feet clad in armor. Why armor? Nobody at the abbey wore armor. He groaned, lifting his head to see who was carrying his feet when both men jumped with a startled cry and suddenly dropped him, the short drop a bit painful seeing as he landed on cobbling. "Ow…"

"Necromancer!" One yelled, both of them drawing their swords with an all-too familiar hiss of metal sliding out of it's sheath.j

Necromancer? Did they mean him? Vann blinked in confusion, making no move to stand up from his place on the ground and looked at the men who were apparently planning to slice him through. One made a move to take off his head and Vann quickly went into action, rolling to the side out of the way and saving his neck by the barest margin, then sprang quickly to his feet. The second man came at him and he had to quickly retreat or else be sliced to ribbons for the effort, fear in the soldier's eyes when he came at the man who supposedly had been dead just seconds ago.

Vann retreated for a while longer, the soldier becoming more and more frustrated every time he couldn't hit the unarmed man until once he got off balance. Vann took the opportunity that was given, stepping forward into the soldier's swing and slapping an open palm over his gauntlet, pushing his arm down while his other hand gripped the hilt guard of the soldier's sword and pulled it out of his grip cleanly. He flipped the sword quickly so that the pommel was in his hands and held it against the soldier's neck, much to the man's surprise. "Please cease your attack, I mean no harm."

Calmly, Vann backed away, leaving the soldier staring at him and shaking in his boots, the other that had been carrying him starting in something akin to wonder mixed with horror. For the first time, Vann could take stock of his surroundings. He was in a city, unfamiliar to him in it's architecture. A small distance away was what seemed to be a pile of bodies, the dead mostly not wearing the armor of those who were in front of them. In fact, by all appearances, they seemed like completely average citizens, the pile of weapons near by hardly anything to comment on. Those that were in armor were set aside in orderly rows with their arms over their chests and weapons in hand, warriors yet in death as they were in life. So, he was in some sort of battle zone? Where on all of Dragons Cove was there a war going on of such a massive scale that he wouldn't have heard of it? What's more, how did he come to arrive here?

"You!" His attention was snapped back to the soldiers who had been carrying him, the one that was still armed apparently having been the one that called out. "If you're alive, then that means that you're our prisoner. Drop the weapon, and we'll take you to the square." There was no real authority behind the man's words, but knowing that he couldn't very well take on all of the soldiers teeming in the square by himself, Vann only shrugged. With a flourish, he turned over the sword and handed it to the disarmed soldier hilt first, the man looking quite astonished to have his weapon turned over so peacefully.

"Alright, get." Pointing toward the streets that lead toward the inner city, the two soldiers stood on either side of their new captive, leading him deeper into the winding streets of Racksom.

H13 => I7

*~*~*

He could tell that it was Lena grabbing his arm without her having to say anything, and let his opposite hand rest over the one she had put on his arm, silently grateful for the help. Of all of those here, she was the only one that knew he was absolutely useless in the dark, and he was grateful for her quiet words. It would do no good to admit such a weakness when already they were having such a tough time of it. Briefly he wondered where Atleon had got off too, then shook his head. There was no way that he would be able to find the man in these tunnels anyway. He just had to hope he wasn't off doing something utterly stupid and escaping as he should be. Hopefully, others had made it down into the tunnels as well and were making their way out of the city and into the relative safety of the forest outside of Racksom. If they could just get out and meet up with the other citizens who were heading for the Everbridge… but that was hours away yet, and a lot of walking between here and there. Things brightened up when the dragon opened it's mouth, enough that he could see what was in front of him now at the very least. "Thank you, dragon." He called to the front, walking forward to be nearer the leading edge of their group. "I've seen you before on the battlefield, but I'm afraid that I don't remember you names. Thank you for you services. They're appreciated." He was being utterly honest with the two, noticing that the bandages he'd given them were quite dirty by now with their own blood. So much waste of lives… and for what? The city was lost to them utterly. There was no sense in staying any longer. The more soldiers he could save at this point would be the best possible outcome.

(M5)

As Sandy felt Atleon’s hand rest upon her shoulder, she turned round to look at him with a questioning look. But as he pressed his finger on his other hand to his lips, she immediately understood. Although she herself hadn’t heard anything, she trusted the prince’s judgement and too, kept quiet. She narrowed her eyes down the tunnel, but couldn’t see anything. She returned the puzzled glance to the prince, and contemplated on whether or not to send a jet of energy down the tunnel so as to light it up, that way they might see whoever it was. But they would also see them. Nodding as Atleon spoke to her, she watched as he carefully and quietly unsheathed his sword. She thought on doing the same, but thought against it.

“Here,” Sandy breathed, reaching the torch out in front of Atleon. With that, she slowly moved herself round the corner of the tunnel and out of any possible sight, even though impossible in the blackness, of the intruder. She pressed her back against the wall, her head on its side against the very edge of the wall, with her nose a few millimetres from the edge. Whoever came round the corner now, would see Atleon, but not her, so she would be able to attack from behind if necessary. She would get a clean, quick shot to knock whoever it was from the horse with a ball of energy. And whoever it was, they were getting closer. She listened carefully for the next few seconds, the horses hooves getting louder and louder until eventually, she felt it was not more than a few metres away. She glanced over to Atleon for a split second, before holding her breath so not even her breathing could give them away.

Lotharia was about to answer Rilos' question when the familiar roar of the Tribal Battle Blood sent ice shooting through her veins. The one thing she feared, the one creature she feared rather was this dragon. Nothing about this creature was good and that was never going to change. As it looked like it was about to descend down upon them she watched as another dragon attacked it and sent a small message of thanks to it before returning her focus back on the dragon in front of her.

Before she knew it, the injured dragon was fleeing, telling her to come with him and she trotted along side of him. "Please, wait a moment, so I may heal you..." She knew it was risking stopping here but it might have been even more of a gamble to have the dragon running in pain as it was. Not only did his pain effect him but it beat at Lotharia like a drum. She stopped just along side of him and found a bare part, free of the armor. She pressed her nose gently against it and released what healing powers she had left. She had never spent this kind of energy before and it was starting to take a toll.

On top of healing him, she felt something crawl into her mind and move about as if looking for something. Living on her own, Lotharia had never had her mind probed before and it was uncomfortable to say the least. As the last of her healing powers ran out, she looked at the other dragon apologetically. "I'm sorry I've no more energy." She told him truthfully as she took a step back and started to shake her head about as if trying to shake the new presence out.

~*~*~*~

Lena walked with Talos, looking about at the group. It wasn't often she saw a dragon that could glow like that and was thankful, for Talos' sake that this one was with them. At least it looked like they were on their way out. A thought then occurred to her and she looked up at her husband. "Talos, Atleon was with that pink dragon right? Should you try to contact her and make sure that he is at least thinking of escaping?" There was a little bitterness to her tone, only fueled by the slightest notion of losing Talos again and the situation they were in.

Armeno paused the horse a few metres away from the join between the two tunnels, slipping noiselessly from its back and ignoring the noises it continued to make as he carefully set his still-lit torch in a bracket on the wall, removing the unlit one which had previously been there and laying it on the floor with care. He then inched the remained three metres to the other tunnel, hand tight on his sword and tense to defend himself if necessary. He froze as the words echoed through the tunnels, sound bouncing off the walls and repeating the noise much further down. Could it be...? He didn't know Atleon well, but it did sound like the prince and if he had to make a bet... He took two quick steps and turned. To his great relief, it was Atleon standing there, lit by the torch he held, and Armeno instantly relaxed and smiled at the prince.
'Armeno Narandal; but you probably knew that already. Just a moment...' He quickly retrieved the horse and torch, then rejoined Atleon. He jumped as he noticed Sandy by the wall.
'I didn't notice you there- are you still well?' He hadn't seen her for a while; easily long enough to be killed, though obviously she hadn't been.

Kumiko huffed as the two dragons began to run, but another had caught her interest. Leaving the pair- one was too strong for fun and the other... Well, no enjoyment in unconcious prey- she turned to the tribal battle blood, that same dragon which had dismissed her previously. Knowing better than to try and enter his mind, except perhaps later and on the very surface only to talk to him mentally, she shrank to a fox, sat, and curled her tails round so that the tips lay displayed ont he ground in front of her as she watched the huge dragon.

“Consider it thanks for helping us earlier. I’m Jackdaww, and he’s Measle, but right now we need to get as far away from here as we can. I’m kind of hoping you have a plan…” Jackdaww trailed off, cursing quietly as his head scraped the top of the tunnel, sending pain through his nerves right down to the deep gash in his leg again. There had to be a healer somewhere, he assured himself, and encouraged Measle to follow the other soldiers as fast as he could, so they didn’t miss anything, and so that the dim light that they were providing could be seen from both ends of the party.

Measle couldn’t help noticing Jackdaww growing heavier on his back as he grew more and more exhausted. A thin line of saliva dropped to the floor from his open mouth, and the light flickered brighter as the energy darted through the moisture. He nudged Jackdaww with one shoulder to make sure he was awake, and did as he asked, following the person in front of him silently. His wings both skimmed the edges of the tunnel, and he could feel his broken, sagging wing burning like fire, but didn’t make a sound. There were people on the edge of death still struggling through the tunnel, so he could manage with a simple broken bone. Even so, he too was beginning to pray for a healer somewhere in the tunnels.

Crouching in his ready stance, Atleon took the torch Sandy offered him and nodded his agreement as she silently moved towards the corner of the tunnel and hugged the wall. This would definitely be a much better defense mechanism if their possible attacker did not see the both of them at the same time. As the sound of the hooves grew ever closer, the prince gripped the sword tighter in his hand but frowned as the sound suddenly halted and something was going on but from the sounds the prince couldn’t distinguish what exactly it was. It was fairly obvious however that the other person knew that at least one more being was down here with them and whoever it was on the other side of this round in the tunnel was very cautious.

Atleon had readied himself to see someone appear any moment now but he had definitely not expected to see Armeno suddenly stand before him, a look of relief passing over the elf’s face at the sight of the prince. The latter nodded in response to Armeno’s words, who hastily disappeared back around the corner again. “Speak of the devil,” he silently said to Sandy, wondering what had brought Armeno into these specific parts of the tunnel, and he asked that very question as soon as the elf had returned, now leading the horse behind him. “What brought you down here? Weren’t you supposed to flee? In the other direction?” Atleon’s voice had a sharp edge to it, he disliked people ignoring direct orders, though his eyes were eagerly scanning the man, hoping to see that very chest he had been telling Sandy about. The chest they could not afford to lose to the enemy.

In the chaos of everything an his own inability to talk with his mind, Talos had forgotten completely that he could talk to the pink dragon if he called out to her. the reminder that he could do so brought a little hope… hopefully Lotharia still had their wayward prince in her keeping. "Jakdaww and Measle…" He repeated quietly, then looked over the others, noting that the dragon and rider apparently were having the exact same thoughts as he was. When asked about his plan, he almost sighed and resisted the knee-jerk reaction by the skin of his teeth. "I do have a plan. We're going to navigate East and see where these tunnels lead us." He didn't have to speak very loud, the quietness of the tunnels and the echoing properties that it had caring well enough without him having to try too hard. "Hopefully we'll find an exit that either gets us outside the walls or close to the East gate. When we get there, we'll head for the woods. Enemy dragons shouldn't be able to spot us if we stay away from the main roads and horses following us will have a hard time getting through the thicker parts of the woods. Hopefully, we'll meet up with others that have escaped the city as well." Silently, he oriented himself, the internal sense that always knew which way was north helping out greatly in this darkness without a map to direct them where they were trying to go. "Follow me." Tuning, he started heading into the darkness of the tunnel, trusting Lena to keep him from bumping into random walls or tripping and falling over rocks that had fallen from the ceiling.

'Lotharia?' He had no idea if calling out for the dragon with just his thoughts would work or not, but it was worth a try. 'Lotharia, if you can hear me, please answer.'

(M5=>O6)

*~*~*

The walk through Racksom along the main road was depressing and a bit hard to stomach. There was evidence of the battle that had commenced everywhere. It presented itself in the piles of dead citizens that were being gathered for a mass cremation. The soldiers that were doing the gathering appeared in droves, and the closer they got to the city the more there appeared to be, accompanied by men on horses who looked just as ready to fight. What's more, he wasn't the only one that had been captured by these men. He was joined by sobbing women and children, old men that shuffled along silently and younger men with fear and guilt in their eyes accompanying their families. He truly wished that he knew what was going on here. The men holding him were probably part of the invading army, but among the dead there didn't appear to be anyone else in uniform representing an opposite side. Maybe this was a surprise attack on the citizenry?

Whatever the case, eventually he and the other captured were brought to the main square where what looked like the higher-ups were grouped, talking amongst themselves and generally overseeing what was going on with their prisoners. And there were certainly a lot of them. Dirty bedraggled people stood clustered together at the base of the tower that rose above Racksom with wide eyes and looking scared. They were ringed quite thoroughly by soldiers, no escape would happen without being impaled first. Well then, there was only one thing left for him, wasn't there? To wait.

(I5)

As soon as Armeno’s familiar presence, even if it was only the back of his head, peeked itself round the corner, Sandy released the breath she was holding. She hadn’t liked the idea of a fight in these tunnels with little space and little light, so she was glad beyond relief as she saw those pointy ears pop up. She slowly took he back away from the wall and straightened herself up, after she had established that it was safe and watched as the prince came over to her. It was obvious that the elf hadn’t seen her yet, despite her casual movements in the dark. Either he was tired and lacking in the sharp reflexes they all had with at the start of the war, or perhaps she was just in the right place to be out of his eyeline. Whatever it proved to be, she would use the trick again sometime in the future.

“Hmm,” she replied to Atleon, breathing another sigh of relief. “One less fight is one less problem.” Her tone holding a slight tone of humor to it. As Armeno came back around the corner and jumped at her presence, she raised an eyebrow slightly. “I’m surprised you didn’t see me.” She muttered, evaluating what state the elf was in. And by the looks of things, not a bad one, which was always good. “I am thank you, much better. I never actually got to thank you for the ride earlier, it was much appreciated.” She hoped to stop the conversation there, knowing full well that there were more pressing matters at hand.
As the prince spoke to him about disobeying orders, she decided to pull her weight from that talk and turned to narrow her eyes at the horse against the dim light. “Have you got the chest?” She asked eventually, knowing that any answer other than ‘yes’ was going to be a bad one, so if they found out as quickly as possible, they could do something about it sooner. Unless, Armeno had managed to keep it under his grasp, of course.

After catching her breath for a moment, Static forced herself to her feet again, leaning heavily on her sword. She shot Starling a look, checking to see if the girl was still on her feet- barely, it seemed- and staggered on, breathing a sigh of relief when they saw a staircase that lead down from the exposed wall into the city that it had once protected. She hung onto the wall as she made her way carefully down the stairs, her face contorted in pain as she had to put weight on her injured leg.

When she made it to the last step she sunk onto it, laying her hands over the wound to try and stop the bloodflow.
“Give me a minute…” she said, breathing hard. Even the short distance seemed to have thrown her, and she was feeling quite dizzy.

It wasn’t surprising that the euphorn caught up with Rilos’ clumsy trot as he tried to flee and keep the weight off his back leg. He shot the sky a frightened look, waiting for the tribal battle blood to return, then reluctantly came to a halt. Cool relief surged through him at the dragonesses’ touch and he gave a relieved sigh.
“Thank you. So much.” He gave her a tired smile. “It seems I’m in debt to you too.”

He still ached a little across his back, but it was much, much better than the pain that had shot through him at every step before. He scanned the sky quickly again, then looked back at the euphorn, frowning a little as she shook her head.
“What’s wrong? That didn’t exhaust you did it? You can still run, can’t you?” His voice rose a little in worry, then he checked it to a whisper. “I can’t leave you here, not after what you’ve done.” He tested the weight on his back leg, then seeing it held, whispered “I think I could carry you… But I don’t know which way to go.” It was a slim hope, but he couldn’t bear to think of leaving her behind, not to the mercy of the dragon that could be looming at any moment.

Lotharia was more than glad that the odd feeling of someone invading her mind and stop shaking her head. As soon as she was about to answer Rilos, however, another voice came into her head. At least this one was familiar and not intrusive. She took a moment to collect herself before answering, "I'm here Talos." Her voice was soft and she tried to not convey how tired she really was.

Looking back to Rilos, Lotharia shook her head. " It would slow you down and I don't think either of us could afford that with...that...in that air." She was speaking of the Tribal Battle Blood. It did not seem like a good idea, even if the dragon was busy with another. Who knows how long that would be? She looked up at Rilos again, "I would be able to run if I need to, I'll be alright." She assured, though she was started to doubt her own words, her legs were shaking unable to support the weight of her body any longer and she felt sluggish.

(H6)
~*~*~*~

Lena looked back at the group that had come with them in the tunnels and sighed slightly, at least this amount of people were safe. She was leading Talos by the arm for a short while before she saw a faint light up ahead and to the right. She patted his arm, "Talos, hang on." She said softly to him and slowly pulled her arm away from him as she looked back at the group. "Hang on for a second while I check something out." She announced and then jogged up the tunnel a bit to the light she had seen. It was a small sliver, but light was light. As she reached it, she was pleasantly surprised to see a crude looking door. She tried pushing on it and took all her strength to open it just a bit.

Lena slipped through the door ever so slightly and looked around it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the light but, to her shock and surprise looming above her was the gate. Who knew which one but it was dead silent and clear of any soldiers. Popping back in the tunnel she had to take another moment to adjust her eyes and then made her way back to Talos. For the first time since the battle started she felt a tad bit of hope, "Talos, there is a door just up ahead and it leads out of the gates, no a soul is there!"

(Edge of O6, almost P6)

"Gah... don't I get any rest?" Kagan mumbled, after having woken up with a serious crick in his neck. He cracked it noisily, sighing in pleasure at each pop, then looked around at his surroundings: Appearantly the same city, and he was mounted on Rilos' armored back, the dragon now speaking with a dragon he had never seen before. Appearantly, the two had helped each other somehow, and now the lightning storm was offering the new dragon a lift. "Where do you want to go?" Kagan said loudly, sitting up strait and staring at the landscape. "I know this city pretty well, though I might not have many routes for dragons to use..." Kagan sat silently for a while, then shrugged and grinned, trying not to wince at the aches and pains littered thoughout his body. "Ah well, I'm sure there's one way or another."

“If you say so.” said Rilos, not convinced by the euphorn’s words, but restrained from pressing her- If she collapsed, then well, he would just carry her anyway. It seemed as though he was meeting some powerful allies, what with this healer (out of magic or not) and the goblin who could forge armour out of… well, a pile of crap to put it bluntly.

“Welcome back to the world.” he said as the goblin stretched, flicking his tail at the unsettling sound of his bones clicking. Although he wasn’t quite convinced that, with the situation they were in, he would have wanted to be welcomed back. He tried to quieten the goblin with a hush, his eyes flicking fearfully to the sky. So much for stealth. “We need to get out of the city. Preferably fast, preferably without running into more Surahnian troop and being captured or killed.” The thought was bleak, but if it got the point across to Kagan that they were in danger, and lots of it, then the more the better.

'Good, good.' Talos didn't even notice that Lotharia was sounding weary, the time that they were spending casually walking through the underground tunnels starting to take affect on him. He had been tired long before now, and since they were more or less out of danger (or at least their level of danger had greatly decreased with now being underground) it was getting harder to force himself to move. The pain in his wing where an arrow had ripped through his membrane was becoming more of a noticeable irritant now. 'I'm leading a group through the underground tunnels to the East. Do you have Atleon with you? Is he safe?' His thoughts were drawn away briefly when Lena detached herself from his side, and now without a guide he came to a halt, pretending that he could see her walk away from him through the darkness of the tunnel. The small light that poured in from the tunnel when Lena exited was like a godsend, and he could immediately see the tunnel wall in his immediate vicinity. It was gone again when she closed the door behind her, but he had seen enough to be confident that he could walk through the tunnels to where the light had been, feeling his way through the darkness.

"So we've managed to arrive at the gate?" There was relief in his voice, glad that at least something had gone right so far. 'Lotharia, we're at the gate.' He thought, the relief washing through him like a cooling rain. Hopefully once they got on the other side and found somewhere that would protect them from ambush they could grab some rest and bandage up the wounded. Everyone with him in the tunnel was dirty and bleeding from somewhere. Cautiously he went to the door and opened it, looking around in all directions before fully stepping out into the street. "Everyone out." He hissed back into the tunnel, gesturing toward the open gates. "We're getting out of here."

(Edge of O6, almost P6)

Xaoc growled at the persistence of the latest dragon he was fighting, it had way more stamina and spirit than most of the others he had encountered so far. Maybe it was just as excited about the flow of blood than he was, it was rather intriguing that he would be fighting for someone else’s cause. Of course, he was doing this himself at this precise moment, but he was doing this for a very specific personal reason, which he couldn’t imagine for this dragon. The thought of the dragon man he would get as a reward for changing the tide of this battle even clearer was making him shudder in pleasurable anticipation of what he was going to do to that man. The blood kept pulsing through his vein like red-hot fire and there was nothing more enjoyable than the feel of his claws ripping through his opponent’s scales and drawing blood.

After what seemed to have been the longest fight for him in this battle yet, Xaoc let out a self-satisfied roar as he tore his bloodied talons out of the dragon’s entrails and let him limply fall to the ground below. The kill had made him feel refreshed again despite having suffered quite a few gashes himself, not to mention the rather hard fall he had taken against the stone wall of a building, but he was already on the lookout for something new and exciting once more.

It was then that a pink dot caught his eyes. Once again. With a low rumbling working its way up through his throat, the tribal battleblood readied himself and dove straight down towards that little pink snack he had missed only moments earlier, not paying attention whatsoever to anything else that might be in his way, not caring that there was a huge dragon with the small one either. His eyes were fixed on the euphorn. It was that one he wanted now, had wanted earlier, and he would not stop before he had it.

Measle closed his mouth and licked the drool off his chin with a long, snake-like tongue. He stood to one side to allow the others past; as he knew that there would be a little difficulty in getting out with Jackdaww on his back. If he had been alone, and if his wing wasn’t broken, he could have flown out, but as neither of those were the case that was impossible. The ladder would be difficult, and Jackdaww might not fit through if he stayed where he was. “Can you..?” he started, before he saw the look of pain on Jackdaww’s face. Through their loose, yet painfully strong bond, he could feel the sympathetic throbbing in his own hind leg, and knew that for Jackdaww it must have been a million times worse. No chance of him walking then, nor any chance of Measle flying. He stayed to the side, and decided that they would try anyway once everyone else was out.

“That’s fine.” Starling said, glad of the rest herself. They didn’t even know where to go, so it seemed unwise to leave yet. She sank down against the wall and let out a huge sigh. She was enjoying the war less than she had imagined, and she had never had high expectations. She wished she had never left the converted loft back in Shayenne, but the matter of the stranger in the crowd still troubled her. She remembered how Static had said nothing about attacking them, and how it had seemed almost like she hadn’t /wanted/ her to, and decided to ask. If she could clear up his identity, she would have no reason to stay after the battle was finally over completely. “That man, the one with the really small Lightning Storm, do you know him?” she asked, trying to sound uninterested, but failing miserably.

Lena felt a large bit of relief that came finding out they were going to be out of the city but all the same the fitgue and sickness returned ten fold now that she wasn't as worried about their safety. She walked with Talos to the door and stood by his side until most everyone was out of the tunnel besides the two of them and the dragon rider pair. She turned to face him directly and leaned up, placing a slow soft kiss on his lips before pulling back. "Almost out." She reassured, he looked so tried and drawn and the wound on his wing wasn't looking good. She wished Lotharia was here to heal him but knew the dragon was protecting Atleon, or so she thought.

~*~*~*~

Lotharia might not have convinced Rilos that she was okay but was glad that he wasn't going to push it. She looked up as the little creature on the dragons back wake up and listened as the two spoke. She they did she heard Talos once more. "I no longer have him with me, little one, he is in the tunnels and should be in its safety." She said, actually thankful Atleon was no with her. With the large red dragon in the area it could be his downfall getting caught by that monster.

As if on cue she heard a loud roar and it wasn't from the dragon that had attacked Xaoc. She looked up and a dead, cold fear fell into her stomach and closed her throat. The dragon was coming right towards that like it had been before. She couldn't speak, couldn't think all she thought to do was run. She turned in the opposite way Xaoc was flying and ran. To her disadvantage Lotharia couldn't full out run like usual she was too tired but fear was a wonderful thing to keep one moving. She only looked back to ensure Rilos was getting out of there.

Xaoc growled as he saw the pink dragon move away from him. You can run, but you cannot hide, my dear, he thought, already imagining what it would feel like to catch her between his claws, maybe rip out a few of those fuzzy feathers that were adorning her body. Throwing himself into a turn to follow after his prey, the tribal battleblood heavily beat his wings to gain momentum again, the sheer strength behind the movement making a few more shingles fall off the already demolished rooftops around the area.

It wasn’t long before the huge dragon had caught up with the smaller one, who was running with everything her legs still had to give, but Xaoc knew that she was not going to escape his grasp. The euphorn was doomed and the anticipation of her touch was filling him with quite more satisfaction than he had imagined being able to gain in this fight. Roaring once more, the tribal battleblood lowered his body further down, crashing buildings beneath his weight, careless of the fact that he was wounding himself with such reckless behaviour; and then the euphorn was within his grasp.

Spreading his wings wide and lifting his head a little to slow his movement, Xaoc stretched his claws as far as possible and made to grab the euhporn like a falcon would hunt a mouse. Oh, he would enjoy this, he would enjoy this very much indeed. Within seconds, his talons made contact with the surprisingly smooth surface of the euphorn's body and Xaoc almost purred in satisfaction as he finally, finally had his little exotic snack within his grasp with nowhere to escape.

Lotharia was running, running for her life literally and hear heart was beating out of her chest and the sounds of crashing buildings behind her made it all too real that the dragon was directly behind her. As she heard the sounds of the wings beating closer and closer, Lotharia looked back only in time to see Xaoc closing in on her. She let out a roar in fear as she felt claws wrap around and dig into her body and suddenly, she wasn't moving. She had not the ability to get out of the grasp of the Tribal Battle blood even if she was completely healthy and up to par. She wasn't a fighting dragon and never would be, she wiggled slightly, trying to test it but the hard claws were in her hide and moving hurt. She kept still, growling slightly as she did so in hopes that this terrifying dragon wouldn't kill her.

His heart beat quicker now with the accomplished hunt, his prey secure in his grasp. He could feel the female wiggling around in his talons but to no avail, there was no escape for her anymore, and it almost seemed as if she knew this herself when she suddenly went quite still, despite the fear he could almost taste on his tongue. Xaoc felt wonderful at this moment in time, the fill of bloodshed he had received on this day already was going to be climaxed by this delightful dragon in his talons. The runes along his body were pulsating in anticipation of this kill but the tribal battleblood was going to enjoy this. It was most likely going to be his last kill for the day seeing that there were barely any dragons remaining aloft.

As the narrow streets were not getting any more comfortable, Xaoc quickly resolved to take off into the air with his prize. The dragon wasn’t going anywhere, so he might just as well get slightly more comfortable before enjoying this. With a few quick beats of his wings, the tribal battleblood was out from between the most restraining buildings, sending yet more stones and pieces of houses flying, leaving nothing but destruction in his wake. It was the path of the tribal battleblood, it was his calling. Ruin and devastation paired with the thrill of the fight, the love for battle and the satisfaction of seeing and feeling the blood being shed, being responsible for a great deal of this.

And now for his well-deserved dessert...

Faust grumbles and heads to the roof tops where he could see more of the city. Walking the ledge of the building his boots crunch on the dirt and other bits of rubble that had landed on the rooftops. He begins to hums as he walks along every once in a while feeling destructive he would randomly set a building on fire. It gave his an bit of warm giddy feeling like a little fire in his chest as the flames he created ate hungrily at the building. Letting himself chuckle he was on letting the fire do its own will.

Cato looks over his shoulder at the battle blood flying around the city. With a smile as the dragon blood within him boils at the evil dragon, as if calling out to it. With a shout he orders those around him to collect any and all of the defender they can and corral them so the Battle Blood could have its fill. Drawing his sword he swings it over his head and he spurs Argento forward. He orders them to even collect the wounded and the slowly dying in hopes they will satisfy the beast.

Atleon shot Sandy a quick smile at her words; it was unnecessary to make his agreement any plainer. Any fight they could avoid would not only preserve their strength but also their precious time, and the time was pressing. His eyes were roaming back over Armeno and the horse he was dragging behind him. “That is not…,” but then he cut himself off. It didn’t matter to the prince whether it was the same horse or not, the only thing that mattered was the fact that the chest was safely bound to the saddle, everything else was not important, not now. “He has the chest,” Atleon exclaimed, a sigh of relief unwillingly escaping his lips before he composed himself.

Resheathing his sword, he grabbed the torch and motioned for the other two to follow him. “Seeing that you’re down here with us Armeno, you might as well make yourself useful. Come along now.” The prince didn’t wait for another reply, knowing that Sandy would follow anyways and the elf better followed in their footsteps with that chest, otherwise there might be hell to pay. There was no way, Atleon was going to send him off on his own again when the last friendly faces in Racksom were probably being driven out or enslaved as they were speaking.

“The alchemy shop shouldn’t be too far away from this opening,” he muttered, more to himself than the others when his eyes were scanning the tunnel now, trying to find that piece of metal Sandy’s energy ball had illuminated earlier. “Ah, there it is.” Immediately, Atleon went to working on the door, hoping it would not open straight underneath the rebel’s feet, but as it were, they were lucky once again. As it so happened, the opening was a trap door in a shabby and completely deserted tavern. “We’ve walked a bit further than I thought,” Atleon told Sandy, “but this might actually be to our advantage. The Jolly is hopefully not a direction the rebels will be looking into anymore and we might be better off coming to the shop from behind and making a quick retreat again into the tunnels.” And with that, Atleon put the torch into a holder the thieves had conveniently, but well hidden, placed close to the exit and heaved himself up into the pub.

Measle saw Lena and Talos leave safely and lifted a paw onto the first rung of the ladder. He paused for a long moment, a little dubiously, but pressed his foot down and gripped the metal with his claws. It held strong, and soon he had all four paws on the old ladder. He looked a little out of place gripping the ladder, but luckily it wasn’t very tall. Jackdaww ducked his head and lay flat across Measle’s back, carefully avoiding the deadly spines. Measle poked his head out, and crept through the impossible hole. Jackdaww winced and the tight sides squeezed his stomach and scraped his leg, and Measle shied away a little as the other side scraped his own injured wing, but they slowly emerged from the dark tunnel. After a few long moments, they were out, and Jackdaww rolled off Measle’s back to lie down and catch the breath that had been squeezed out of him in the escape from the tunnel. The pair lay panting for a moment; before Measle picked himself up and stood beside Jackdaww to wait for him.

As Starling asked her question, Static looked up from her leg, her eyes raking the avian’s face for a moment before she gave a short laugh.
“That one? Only know him through trying to kill me.” She ground her teeth, remembering the dragon and rider pair. They were probably far out of range by now- Not that she could do much about them anyway, with her electricity pretty much gone, and hurt too. No, right now they needed to get to a healer of some sort. “Next time…” She suddenly narrowed her eyes at Starling, regarding her coldly.
“What’s your sudden interest in them?”

~~~

The deafening roar of the returning tribal battle blood made Rilos cower, his gaze shooting from Kagan to the sky. The sight of the huge dragon dropping out of the sky was terrifying, and despite the fact that it obviously wasn’t heading for him, Rilos ran. The sound of crashes followed the tribal battle blood as it pursued the healer dragon made Rilos skid to a halt, guilty that he wasn’t trying to rescue her already… He turned on his heel and started after the other two, trying to work out which way to turn- although it wasn’t hard, the flying dragon had left a trail of devastation in his wake as he flew through the thin streets in pursuit.

The dragon’s sudden roar made Rilos run all the faster, and he turned a corner after them to see Lotharia struggling in the battle blood’s claws, inevitably being lifted into the air. He stopped again, turning his face away as the buildings nearby sagged under the recent damage that the dragon had just wreaked. He couldn’t just leave her to such a fate… Oh, he was about to do something stupid.

Bending into a crouch he slowly unfurled his wings, testing them for a moment. They seemed to hold- the one he had broken didn’t hurt at least, which was good. It was just a matter of trying not to crash- the goblin would come in handy. Maybe he should take him up as a partner, after all this- it might be good to have an extra set of eyes, and a little company too. If he could stand the heat.
“Hang on. Tight.” If he thought last time was a rollercoaster, then this was going to come as quite a shock. “I need you to keep a look out on the right, tell me if I’m about to crash- Can’t see.” He looked to the sky, shuffled his wings to his sides then pushed off at speed, leaping up into the sky. He shot into the air like a silver spark, his new armour making him glimmer like a star. Checking he was clear of the buildings below, he spread his wings and took a quick flap, keeping his height before diving after the tribal battle blood.

“Oh, no reason. I thought I recognised the freak – he kept watching me while we were fighting. If you knew him it would save me the job of finding out. However, if you’re going to kill him anyway, I shan’t bother.” She said, smiling wryly. A dull thud that sounded rather like a far off, heavy trapdoor caught her attention, and her head whipped around in that direction. Not more DDC soldiers? She kept a watch that way in case an unfriendly face came their way, figuring that she was probably more fit to fight if any trouble arose than Static with her injured leg. Then, the thought came to her, and escaped her lips unbidden. “I think they might be closer that we bargained for.”

Mm, shame about that dragon. That red drake looked really nasty, and was probably filled with bloodlust. Oh well, everyone had to eat, circle of life and all that... "Wait, what!? Why would I have to-" Kagan's breath was knocked out of him as Rilos shot into the sky, Kagan's legs automatically getting a death hold on Rilos' armored sides to prevent a sudden case of loss-of-altitude sickness. How could Rilos do this, he couldn't even give Kagan a chance to steel his nerves and guts!? Kagan considered turning to the left out of pure spite but, remembering that now his life was on the line as well, sighed in defeat and scanned the side of the world that Rilos could not see.

"Just to let you know," Kagan called, hoping his voice could be heard over the flapping of metal wings and wind. "I am going to get back at you! Believe it!" But despite Kagans complaints, he was actually starting to enjoy the view. Granted, it was a bit more gory than he preffered, but it would do for now. But the view did not do anything to make the tribal battle blood look even a little nicer. What made Rilos think this was a good idea, even with Kagan's armor, Rilos was going to be fighting with a serious disadvantage. Oh well, maybe Kagan could clamber onto the beast and stab out an eye, or something. Or... or maybe he could stay on a dragon who won't try to kill him. Hm... plan B sounded better. So Kagan held onto Rilos for dear life as the dragon dove for his foe, a curious noise sounding in his ear.

Oh. It was him screaming.

» (C1, Racksom) The Making of Men (12th Board)
» Tremors in the Earth....C1, Racksom (4th Board)
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» The Destruction of Quinsilla.....T1 (1st Board)
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C1 Racksom~~~~And then, there was War~~~~(5th Board)

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