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The following novella was written as a collaborative effort between myself and Dragonatic for the People. Project started March 2010. All characters and content are copyright to their respective owners.This series will only be made available for reading in its entirety for a limited time only, with parts released periodically!! All comments, critiques, and criticisms are welcome.

Going through the floor was like propelling through the air, though Donichus could only travel wherever there were shadows. Moonlight singed him whenever he touched it, and that was only natural; as long as he was a shadow, he simply couldn't manifest wherever light was present.

At the end of the hall was a pair of large, embellished doors. Donichus knew it must have been elaborately locked from the inside, but that was no problem for him. Quickly taking back his shape, he softly put a hand on the door and muttered out an archaic string of words to command the darkness from the other side. After a few chants, a series of locks clicked free and Donichus gained entry. His hand was instantly on the hilt of his weapon as he scanned around the room.

All was quiet and dark. It took but mere seconds for Donichus to adjust to his surroundings before squinting his eyes at a large bed on the other side of the large room; upon which lay sleeping lump.

Soundlessly, Donichus unsheathed his weapon and approached the bed. His killer claw suddenly itched, and his palms began to sweat under the hilt of his sword. He got to the bedside and stared coldly down at the sheets before suddenly spinning around, his weapon held wearily out in front of him.

"Is it my turn already?" Just then, a small torch near the other side of the room burst to life. The firelight revealed a reptilian face whose eyes seared clear through the darkness and razored teeth protruding up from its snout. A sharp crest streaked down from a golden circlet haloed over the head, reflecting a part of the silver, embellished sword at the hips. "I can hardly be surprised. From the news I've been receiving, all I had to look for was the pungent reek of death that so emanates from you."

Donichus stretched an arm at him, the tip of his weapon pointing out fiercely. "This day has been your last, Tyrannio. Justice will be brought upon you this night."

Tyrannio chuckled. "Justice. Is that what you call it?"

Donichus thought to shadow sneak on him, but at that moment, Tyrannio tilted the torch into a ledged brazier set into the wall. Instantly, the room was ablaze as light streaked all around the room. The flash blinded Donichus temporarily, and he screeched out, staggering back a couple steps. When he tilted his head back up again, the aura of black soundlessly burning off of him became visible.

"The length you'd go through astounds even me," Tyrannio said calmly. His features now clear, he was a tall and intimidating creature, built for the sole purpose to rule. Metal bracers attached to his wrists, his taut shirt was plaid white and embroidered neatly. Both killer claws on his feet were coated in steel. "But if you want to kill me, you're at least going to do it on leveled grounds."

In the light, there was so much Donichus could do, but that didn't render him completely powerless. "For too long have I begrudged you. This ends tonight!"

Tyrannio drew out his weapon and roared out his acceptance to Donichus's challenge. The two dinosaurs charge at one another, swords raised high over their heads and in one fell sweep, they came clashing down against one another. Donichus's weapon made a hollow sort of clang, and as they pushed off one another, he became but a blurry, black cloud as he spun around to deliver a series of other attacks. Tyrannio wielded his blade with the swiftness and fluidity of a tempest, defending against the blows and sometimes countering to make Donichus duck to avoid having an arm severed by his own sword.

Bent over, Donichus pointed his blade up, directly at his opponent stomach and pushed himself up. Tyrannio responded by rocking his weapon out of the way with his own. They clashed swords again, but before another counter could be administered, Donichus pulled back and kicked over Tyrannio with his foot. A part of his killer claw caught on the fabric and a tight ripping sound resounded as he stumbled backwards. Allowing him the time to get back up, he saw a long slant of a rip torn into King Tyrannio's shirt. The white fabric helped to trace the outline of a light incision he had made on his front.

The king took one glance down, then screeched out in seething outrage as he fell upon Donichus, his onslaught of attacks making him take multiple steps back until Donichus had to jump on the bed. He wobbled around, as Tyrannio made repeated attempts to slash at his feet before jumping up to avoid a particularly wide swing that embedded the edge of Tyrannio's sword into the bedrail. Seeing an opportunity, Donichus dipped his sword down, but Tyrannio let go of his weapon, swinging around while doing an impressive handstand in a full circle to trip Donichus over with his tail. Though the cushions of the bed broke Donichus's fall, he rolled off clumsily over the side to the hard floor again, dropping his weapon in the process. Donichus only had enough time to grab up his sword again as Tyrannio brought his down on him. Only by mere milliseconds was Tyrannio's blade stopped by his own.

Donichus was now lying on the floor and Tyrannio was standing over him, each of their weapons pressed against the other. But Tyrannio was stronger, and Donichus found the edge of his own blade beginning to sink closer and closer to his shoulder until it slowly began to tuck itself under his skin.

Donichus screamed, his eyes and mind frantic, for every second he wasted yielded a deeper and deeper cut. Being at its level, his sight instinctively caught on Tyrannio's shadow. He shouted out some words. And then his own shadow flew out from under him, grabbed a hold of Tyrannio's shadow, and yanked it back.

A squeal of surprise escaped the king as this unknown force wretched him away, and Donichus leapt back to his feet, gripping one of his leaking shoulders with the slumped arm that held his weapon.

"You're not just crooked in fighting, but a hypocrite as well," Tyrannio growled. "If I fail to, I so hope you will provide your own means to your end."

"I'd impart the price gladly in your stead." And they continued to fight.

The fight was already well underway by the time Jaqaran arrived at the door. From within, he could distinctly hear the clash of metal and Donichus's grunts. Claws were clicking against the marble floor, almost rhythmically, as though this were some sick dance. It wasn't until after a few minutes of staring at the closed door did he realize that his hands were shaking slightly. He lifted one and placed it on the doorknob, then quickly withdrew it. A couple minutes later, he did this again, the whipped around, frustrated at the sense of helplessness boiling from within him.

Though he kept a weary eye out, his guard slowly began to decrease when no one seemed to be coming even several minutes after the fight between King Tyrannio and Donichus had ensued. He took one last glance at the shut door, his final thought to open it and come bursting to Donichus's aid flying out with a sharp toss of his head. Finally deciding that he could bear it no longer, he deviated away from the door, coming back a short distance down the corridor from which he'd arrived. The sounds of the fight were still somewhat audible, though the door was only some feet away. Despite this, Jaqaran treaded softly. His head snapped to the side and his ears perked to a small sound coming from an open, dark room to his left. He'd disregarded it coming here, but now, Jaqaran stood for a few seconds, staring at the opaque darkness before putting a hand on the hilt of his weapon, slowly drawing out his sword, and taking a step closer.

The jaguar's eyes failed to penetrate into the darkness even as he reached the doorway, and all of a sudden, he felt terrified. Right then, he felt the urge to drop his weapon and dash back, explode through the door and be beside Donichus. He told himself to run, but his feet disobeyed and held him entranced in place.

His hands began to sweat under the hilt of his weapon as he took another step inside instead. Then another.

His gaze swept all over the room, and he rubbed his eyes to help him see, but this did nothing to speed up the process of making his eyes adjust. Just as he was about to rub them again, Jaqaran's foot lurched forward and he gave a startled yelp as he slipped painfully to the floor. A loud curse escaped him for being so clumsy, and as he tried to pick himself off the floor, all movement suddenly froze him in place as he felt a warmth seeping from his pants. And then the warmth was on his hands. If his hands were shaking slightly before, they were trembling now as he held up a hand to see in what small light the open doorway provided.

The crisp, golden fur was stained with sticky splotches of red. Jaqaran looked down and could not have dubbed it a worse time for his eyes to adjust. He was sprawled right in the middle of a puddle of blood, and he could feel it seeping into his clothes, the sickly warmth crawling up his body like snaking fingers. Jaqaran felt his breath leave him as he attempted to scuttle out of the puddle, but no sooner did he spot a lump nearby and identified it as a guard. He thought he could see his body heaving. He rolled it over.

The guard was missing his head.

It was then Jaqaran screamed. The heaving movements were the spontaneous nervous jerkings of the body. He looked around and spotted about ten other bodies in the room with him. Hyperventilating, he staggered to his feet and started for the open doorway when he saw that it was now blocked by the hulking silhouette of an anthro.

Somehow, Jaqaran knew it was a panther. He stood like a barricade to the door, swords drawn and tip facing down at the floor. Despite his state of shock, Jaqaran managed to have the mind to get back on his feet and retrieve back his sword. "W-Who are you!"

The pather uttered a low growl as he pointed his sword out at him. It was long and broad. Just seeing the way the panther held it up with two hands made Jaqaran's own start to quiver in his. "I am here for your collection," he said darkly.

"C...collection?" Jaqaran gulped and forced his deep breathing to regulate. "What do you mean, collection?"

"You have been deemed stolen property. I have been hired to take you back to your former master."

For a few seconds, Jaqaran had to think back. Former master? "You don't mean..." And then with a dreaded sort of horror rising up from his stomach, he shook his head violently and raised his weapon at the panther. "No! I'm not going back."

"I advise that you not make this difficult," the bounty hunter said, taking a step closer.

"I'm not going!" exclaimed Jaqaran fiercely. This outburst gave him a measure of his courage back. "Not back to Talos. I would die first."

The panther chuckled. "Lucky me then, my orders are to bring you back either way."

He lunged.

Jaqaran barely had enough time to sidestep as the wide blade sheathed into the spot where he stood only moments before. He twirled around, bringing his own weapon in a wide arc around to slice at his foe. But even before his blow had a chance to land anywhere, the panther had ducked and swung his arm through Jaqaran's legs to trip him. He fell with an awkward thump, but didn't give himself enough time to dwell on the pain as he rolled off to the side mere instances before the opposing weapon could cracked down on him.

Tumbling backwards, Jaqaran quickly bounced back to his feet. He scanned around for his attacker, but the black panther had seemingly dissolved into the darkness. All that accompanied him were the lifeless bodies of those unfortunate guards. Creeped out by the sight of them, Jaqaran attempted to hurry out of the room. His ears perked just as he was about to leave, and instantly ducked before a large blade hidden behind the doorway could swing around and decapitate him. Ingrained into the walls, it took a couple efforts for the bounty hunter to retrieve his weapon again, and by that time, Jaqaran was already upon him, dealing violent blow after blow.

As Jaqaran was slimmer and his weapon, lighter, he had the advantage of maneuverability. Though his attacks were easily parried, the onslaught, he knew, would tire the panther out before him. The panther, on the other hand, had strength and experience; and semi-mindless slashes at every possible moment only proved an effective strategy for so long. On Jaqaran's final blow, the panther leaned down and butted his head on Jaqaran's.

For a moment, night turned to day as Jaqaran spun around, seeing stars. His vision blurred and he was lost in dazed orientation for a while. He faintly saw his opponent coming in for another charge, and raised his weapon. It was knocked off to the side, and a stinging pain at his side suddenly shocked him back to his senses. The young jaguar had a hand gripping his upper torso, just below the arm. Though some of his clothes were bloodstained already, the sight of his own red on his hands hit him hard. It was as if for a moment, he really was back with Talos. It scared him at first.

And then it made him angry.

Grabbing back his sword, he fell upon the panther in a series of miniature rushes. His mind began to cloud over, feeling as though there was another entity driving him behind every swing of his sword. With every clang of metal, he found it harder and harder to control. Rage would give him power, but in the manner he used it, in the end, it was he who tired out first.

Panting, Jaqaran gave one final thrust of his weapon, and the panther sidestepped. He staggered forward as the weapon stabbed nothing but air, and his opponent brought up a knee to his stomach as he came tripping past.

Jaqaran was on the floor again, gasping for air. His weapon lay out of reach, and his opponent stood over him, sword gleaming down at his chest. "Your last chance," he said deeply. "I don't care to knock you out and have you squirming on my way, So either you come willingly..." he raised the sword to Jaqaran's throat. "...or you come quietly."

Jaqaran looked up and met the panther's gaze. They were a greenish sort of yellow that appeared to glow in the dark. Like Donichus's.

But this was not Donichus.

He slapped the sword away and instantly began to crawl for his sword, but before he could lay a hand on it, the panther grabbed his ankle and began to pull him away. Jaqaran's small claws made a screeching sound across the floor. "No! No, no, no! Stop! Please!"

The panther was dragging him back into the dark room where the dead guards were. Jaqaran, terrified out of his wit, fought more violently than ever. He didn't want to go back in that room again. "Please stop! Help! Someone help me! Donichus!"

The bounty hunter threw Jaqaran back into the dark room. The still and silent bodies welcomed him back as he curled himself in a defensive ball, his mind frozen solid. His attacker took his time striding over to him, his blade screaming bloody murder in the cold, empty night air.

"When I'm done with you," he said. "It's going to be your raptor friend's turn."

"You won't hurt Donichus," Jaqaran whispered.

"What was that?"

"I said... you won't... hurt... Donichus."

The panther chuckled. "And why not?"

"Because I..." Suddenly Jaqaran stopped. His tongue suddenly felt numb, but his mind warmed up a little at the thought of telling his killer how he really felt about Donichus. The closest thing to a father to him... and yet so much more as well. A lightning strike of guilt struck him upon the realization that he was going to profess his feelings now - before he was about to die - and to him - his killer - instead of Donichus. "...because I... lllike him."

The panther's eyes widened a bit. Though Jaqaran could have replaced one word in his previous statement with one more to the point, he still seemed to catch his rift. Unfortunately, his feelings weren't mutual. "Enough of this," he growled, raising his weapon.

Jaqaran shuddered away.

Though some factor caused the weapon to be thrown off some, he still felt its sharp tip stab deep into his shoulder. A riveting pain electrocuted out, shocking his entire body, and he heard screaming. Oddly enough, however, the sound didn't originate from him.

The panther pulled his weapon out of Jaqaran with a quick jerk, as though to say the metal suddenly turned scaldingly hot, dropping it instantly to the floor. He tried to pick it back up again, but his hand suddenly began to convulse. With eyes now filled with dread, he looked from it to Jaqaran. "What... have you... done!"

His hand was drained of all color. Jaqaran struggled for words, but nothing coherent came out.. He tried to get closer,. but the panther flinched away, yelling and cursing. "You... you stay away from me, you... you..." But the panther never finished his sentence, as right then, he could hear many shouts coming from outside the room. A whole squadron of guards seemed on their way, and would arrive in a couple minutes.

Poor Jaqaran was at a loss of what to do. The easiest, and the only, thing he found it in himself to do now was watch.

The panther's hand was as grey as dust, and when he, too, heard the guards and tried to pick his sword back up, that's exactly what it became. His powder scuttled off to an invisible breeze, leaving only his weapon and clothes behind. The panther roared out in both frustration and anguish. He held the arm whose hand now didn't exist close to his body as he began backing out the door. "Another time, boy. I'll get you for this. Mark my words!"

Jaqaran couldn't bring himself to dwell too much on what just happened. He looked around, his mind slowly coming back to his control, though still somewhat dazed and confused. This whole night seemed like a dream. One big dream. No... one big nightmare.

And it would sooner get worse.

Under the belt of a nearby guard's body was a rolled up piece of parchment. What Jaqaran overheard at the tavern randomly called itself to mind, and though he knew time was of the essence, he thought edging over to slip it out and unfurl it would help to regain his senses.

It didn't.

Mere seconds after Jaqaran laid eyes on the contents, his hear rate multiplied. "My god," he whispered, looking it over now with wide eyes. "This can't... it isn't possible. Donichus!" Immediately, he forced himself to his feet. Holding a hand to his side, he quickly limped out to retrieve his weapon back and head back to for the door...

Donichus had his teeth bared. With every minute, he could feel his shoulder sag deeper, gradually loosing feeling in his arm. Tyrannio must've felt of a similar state by the way his breathing was deep and angry, nostrils flaring, and chest heaving. With a furious screech, he leapt up the air and rocked the king's sword off to the side, making quick jabs left and right. Tyrannio whirled around, dodging the attacks, before dealing out sparse blows of his own.

Donichus found that his magic abilities were limited; though sometimes he said the words to control and command the shadows, only every so often would they obey. The initial element of surprise Donichus was counting on to give him the upper hand was spoiled; somehow, Tyrannio knew he was coming.

King Tyrannio leveled his weapon parallel to the floor and lunged at Donichus. The two raptors dueled out a fierce and violent battle, little by little adding new cuts and scars to the other's collection. Though none were severely life-threatening, it effectively began to drain their energy until they each stared panting at one another, glaring poisonously.

Unlike the King, however, Donichus did not have the luxury of time. He knew Tyrannio was only stalling him long enough for his guards to arrive. So in a desperate attempt to end it once and for all, Donichus centered as much of his energy as he could and discharged a wave of dark magic that seemed to distort the very fabric of time and space. In the reality that bent and twisted around him, Tyrannio's weapon suddenly began to tarnish and rust until he dropped it with a screech. The orange flames around the room turned a sickly shade of green, and it was in this light that Donichus's body seemed to have no physical form.

Dark shapes reached up from the ground and pulled Tyrannio to the floor. The king roared, screeching and kicking, trying to fight them off, but was rendered immobile when his own shadow leapt up off the ground and held him firmly in place.

Donichus strode up to him, grinning maniacally as he pointed his blade down at his foe. "I've waited so long for this," he said. "At last, I'll be able to claim what is truly and rightfully mine."

King Tyrannio squinted his eyes shut as Donichus thrust his weapon out forward.

CLING!!!

Right then, the tip of Donichus's sword veered off to the side, making a metallic ring as it pierced through the stone floor. He looked up. "Jaqaran!"

The young, bloodstained jaguar had his weapon pointed straight at Donichus.

"What are you doing!"

"Stopping you," Jaqaran said coldly. "This is wrong, Donichus, and you know it!"

Donichus raised his own weapon to his apprentice. "Get out of my way, boy." The two circled defensively around one another, though Jaqaran was careful to keep a defensively weary eye on King Tyrannio.

But Jaqaran shook his head. "No, Donichus."

"Boy, you will do as I say!" Donichus demanded. "You've come this far, but so help me, I will cut you down where you stand if you don't move!"

Again, Jaqaran shook his head. "I know what's going on here. Why we've come."

"You know nothing!" Donichus screeched, stamping his foot. And with that, he jabbed at Jaqaran. Jumping swiftly off to the side, Jaqaran only did with his weapon what was necessary to deflect the blows coming at him.

After pushing back, Jaqaran said, "Yes, I think I do." He reached with one hand at the rolled up piece of parchment tucked beneath his sash, and flipped it open at him. Depicted on the front was a striking sketch of a dinosaur. "Prince Donichus! Exiled for treason and conniving against the king." He threw the piece of parchment at him. "This is your way of installing yourself on the throne, isn't it?"

The green light glowing about the room gradually began to normalize. Donichus felt the last spurs of magical energy leaving him. He would gamble swinging his weapon at Jaqaran again, but never could he use his magic against him.

"You know what I think," Jaqaran said, standing slightly off to the side. He looked briefly at the dinosaur on the floor before turning back to Donichus. "I think Tyrannio's a good ruler. Coming here, there was nothing I saw that would make it seem otherwise."

Outside, Donichus could hear the shouts of the guards. He had enough time for maybe one more lunge. One more blind thrust before he was captured. At least he'd be even, if anything. He could get the revenge he'd been dreaming of for so long now - now, when he was already so close - and face the penalty for it... or flee now and ensure his safety.

But where did Jaqaran stand in all of this?

The doors to the king's quarters burst open, and Donichus utilized a small window of opportunity while Jaqaran was distracted to grab him by the scruff of his shirt and phase into the nearest wall with him.

Jaqaran's startled yelps echoed out from somewhere behind him as Donichus used the last of his dark magic to shift them back as shadows and slink out of the palace. With every second, Donichus felt his energy slipping from him, but he carried himself and Jaqaran as far as he could, as fast as he could. He found he simply had to get away. With a mind whirling around in a vortex of rage and a combination of other feelings, it was a wonder how he was ever able to steer himself where he wanted to go...