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The Tales of the Scarlet Suns - Ch 8: The Return to Hellgate

"Thank you for visiting Doladriand. Hope you had a good visit." The two guards saluted the group as they returned from the visit, none of the guards questioning who the two new additions were, which was for the better as Ambidexa could get them in trouble. When finally outside of their audible range, Irving turned to look at Ambidexa and Lorna, "Okay, so I am curious now. I know you both are able to use the air affinity. But what else are you capable of using?"

Lorna looked at him and sighed, "I am limited to only air. I was never blessed with a second affinity like others." Ambidexa gave a somewhat smug grin, "Air and fire here. Though, I am not using fire as much as others might want me to do." Irving had a feeling that it would be better to not ask for Ambidexa to show it, but something else came to his mind, "What exactly are you?" Ambidexa smirked, "Not educated in the people around you, I take it." Chae hissed before Ambidexa glared at her, making Chae whimper from the feeling of fear as Ambidexa nodded, "I am a sergal. And I am not a stranger to the concept of running on all four, if need be." Irving looked at her, "So you were the speeding thing that ran past us when we entered." Ambidexa couldn't keep herself from laughing, "Ohhhh, yeah. I remember now. You looked so shocked at my sudden appearance."

Lorna was looking over at Tavia who was cleaning off a sword while listening to them, quickly walking over to get a better look of it, "That is one well-made sword. Who made it?" Tavia smiled and looked at Chae, who puffed out her chest in pride, "My sister-in-law, of course. She is a blacksmith that can really work her claws through any materials to make wonderful weapons." Lorna looked at Chae and smiled, "Maybe I should have you look through my weapons at some point." Chae nodded, "I could do that and add some additional work on them. A weapon is never better than the one who works it and what someone might lack is what someone else might know."

They kept walking until they finally arrived down to the grassy plains where they had gone onto the rocky road almost a day ago. Irving looked Tavia, "So, what is the best road to Hellgate Waste now, sis?" Tavia took a look at Irving before pointing through the Tini Woods, "It would been better to go through there, but the wildlife might not agree with us." Lorna gave them a smile, "That is no problem. Tavia, can you turn others into water like you did so many times?" Tavia gave her a nod, "Yes, but what are you pla..." She then realized and laughed, "Clever thinking there, Lorna." The rat nodded before Tavia lifted her hands and suddenly everyone except for Lorna felt themselves turning into water, which the rat quickly gathered up in a bubble of dense air and quickly jumped into the trees, leaping on the branches as the wildlife below her tried to catch up, only to find it impossible from how quickly she was moving.

As they arrived on the other side of the woods, Lorna let them all down and Tavia reformed them, making Ambidexa look at her like a child just having her first fun ride, "That was radical! Can we do it again?" Lorna and Tavia giggled at how the fearsome girl had been tamed by just a simple act of transport, or so they thought as the sergal soon growled, "Can we?" Tavia nodded, "Yes, but only when it calls for it." Ambidexa nodded, "Good, now where to?" Tavia quickly pointed at the upcoming barren wasteland and Ambidexa felt a little discouraged, "You didn't lie when you said Hellgate Waste. Look at that place!" Irving grunted, "Hey! Be nice. Me and Tavia were born here!" Ambidexa looked at Irving, "Lets just go in there then and get what you are looking for and then get out. This place is already giving me the chills."

Irving couldn't deny that it was a bit eerie, but he noticed Tavia had already begun to walk and waved for the others to follow along. The trees looked scorched or withered as they passed by, giving a faint vision of how it would have looked like when it wasn't a wasteland. Naphalee's nerves had already begun to get the better of her as she looked around in a mild state of panic, "A-Anyone else feel like a demon could jump out at any time and attack us?" Irving moved over to gently give Naphalee's thigh a soft pat, "It is okay. This place is really scary. But I am very sure that no demon could ambush us here. It is so barren here after all."

Naphalee nodded before everyone suddenly stopped when Ambidexa was on all four and sniffed the ground before looking up, "Someone has been walking here recently. And they are followed by four to six people." Irving didn't know how she could be so sure, but Ambidexa was soon beginning to run on all four towards the source like one of those tracking animals the hunters back in Ampwick used, but she seemed more attuned to scents. The others were quickly turned into water by Tavia as Lorna gathered them all up again and caught up quickly to Ambidexa.

It was a bit before the others could finally turn back to normal and the scene that welcomed them was all, but friendly. What seemed to be two guards laid dead on the ground, one guard stood up holding a staff of sorts while a male crow stood next to him and was kicking a fennec girl that was being held secured by two other guards. The crow's voice hinted of anger and uneducated background, "Yow duhre to run uhwuhe from uz? Yow unforgivuhble weench." He kicked her face hard, the talons ripping into her face and cutting wounds open as he grinned, "Oh. Did I hurt yu prette fuche? Guezz yu wil not be of uhne furder uze for uz now wheen eowr beuhute iz guhe. Gouhz, dizpoze of diz freuhk."

One of the armored goons pulled out a sword and placed it against the fennec's throat, "Yez, bozz." The fennec girl began to cry before suddenly the guard holding the fennec's left arm was having his helmet punched off and his neck snapped in less than a second, forcing the remaining three to turn and look at Ambidexa spinning her daggers, the shock turning into anger when she mocked them in their own way, "Yow dree uhre zo ugle duht eowr moderz muzt huhve hit yu uhguhinzt evere chree buhck wheen yu were eoweng."

The distraction was perfectly made as the insult deafened the sound of the incoming hooves and before the goon holding the staff could react, he felt a spear going through his head as Naphalee had charged in, but she left the spear there as the goon was still alive, until Lorna came running and jumped onto the head, handstanding on the spear itself before using the momentum from the running to twist around with the spear still in place until she landed on both her feet with the goon's head attached to the spear as the headless body fell forward, making the crow move backwards in fear before he looked at the last goon, "Wuht yu wuhitieng for? Kil deze dizhuhoruhble cowuhrdz!"

The goon looked at the others that had died and then at Irving and the others before drawing his sword and moving towards them as the crow grinned, "Good, folow me commuhnd." The goon suddenly stabbed himself through the chest and fell backwards, choosing the easier way out as Ambidexa laughed, "Look at that. Someone with actual intelligence."

The crow looked shocked at the display of cowardice from his own goon, quickly drawing his shortsword and rushing towards the group, "Yow uhre not tuhkieng me uhlive! Die!" Both Lorna and Ambidexa got ready before they saw Irving rushing by them, watching as the otter didn't even bother to draw his swords against the crow, watching the crow swinging it, "Seemz like yu uhre ztuhndieng wid two empte huhndz here uhnd duht eended up wid yu ztuhndieng wid wuhzhed neck." But the crow soon noticed how Irving's left armored hand grabbed the blade and how the right hand grabbed the throat of the crow, holding him upwards with a smirk hidden under the helmet, "Come on. Is that the best you got? How disappointing."

Irving tossed the crow back a bit before drawing his greatswords and flung them back so they stabbed the ground in front of the feet of Ambidexa and Lorna by just a few inches, making both the girls jump back, "Hey! Watch where you throw those things!" Irving smirked before the crow rushed in with the shortsword, hoping to get at least one decent strike, but once again Irving just grabbed the sword, but this time he kicked the crow back while keeping the sword trapped in his hand, looking at it before hearing the caw as the crow attempted to strike his helmet, the punch only shaking it before Irving tossed the shortsword behind him, this one stabbing into the ground near Tavia's feet, causing her to leap back, "Hey! Look out!"

The crow cawed in shock when Irving grabbed his neck instead and grabbed a hold of one of the wings, slowly pulling on it as the crow cawed in fear from this, "Wuht yu doieng? Do not pul me wieng off!" The sound coming next was making the girls cringe as the crow cawed out in pain as Irving decided to play with him a bit longer and snapped the wing off and then tore it off, tossing it to Ambidexa with a smirk, "There. Eat up." Ambidexa grabbed the wing and laughed, "Ohhh, we can make a nice meal of this one. We will be made to eat crow!"

The crow cawed and cried as Irving threw him onto the ground and got ready, "Come on now. You are holding back here, bird brain." The crow gave him a look of anger and flapped his wing, seeming a lot in pain from having his other one torn off, but he charged in, only to see Irving opening up his arms, "Here, have a free hit." The crow cawed and suddenly accelerated to punch Irving's chest armor hard enough to leave a dent, but Irving just stood there and smirked, "Well done, but not good enough."

The crow felt how he got headbutted by Irving before being lifted up and felt Irving kneel down before grabbing him by the talons and forcing him down over the knee, almost breaking his back before the crow felt Irving placing his back against the knee again, but this time pulling him hard as the back began to slowly bend out of shape, as Irving spoke to him, "You really buckled the bow too high." Suddenly the crow cawed out loudly in pain and the caw turned into a deep scream as the force applied to his body was too much and his gut was torn open until Irving finished it up with breaking his spine entirely. Giving a final mockery to the crow, "I wonder which side the wishbone is on him." This execution left both Lorna and Ambidexa with their jaws on the ground while Tavia, Chae and Naphalee applaud for Irving's brutal kill.

When the initial shock had dissipated, Ambidexa quickly moved over to gather up anything useful before Irving made his way over to the fennec girl and got on his knee to look at her, "Are you okay?" The fennec girl nodded before Irving looked over at Tavia, "Can you heal her up, sis?" Tavia nodded before sitting down near her and softly placed a hand on the frightened fennec girl, "No need to worry. I won't hurt you." The fennec girl nodded before she felt the staff landing in her hands, "Is this yours?" She nodded before feeling the water healing her up and how the wounds closed before she looked up at Irving and felt her blood pressure rise before he asked, "What is your name?" She blushed a bit and soon hugged Irving, much to the displeasure of Chae and Naphalee, who hissed from the audacity, but listened to the fennec girl's introduction, "Zahrah, Zahrah Al-Earafa."

To be continued in chapter 9: Reliving the Past.