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Call of the Hero

Draxuz leaned back in the corner of the dimly lit tavern, his hood hanging loosely over his head. He had been avoiding patrols for two days in this town, staying just one step ahead of them. He cursed his power, it being the only reason they hunted him.

He turned his head sharply at the sound of a sword being drawn near the entrance, and quickly relaxed when he saw it was not a soldier, merely a disgruntled customer going after someone whom he thought had cheated him. He shrugged it off, it wasn't his concern.

His eyes wandered across the entire tavern from deep under his hood. There were fifteen men, and three serving women he had spotted. Of the fifteen, only four of them he considered at even a moderate threat. Ever since his parents had been murdered, and he had avenged their wrongful deaths by killing Merawth, he had been on the run and hunted. He had underestimated how good of friends Merawth had been with Emperor Tyr. Not that it mattered. That flea bitten mongrel of a cat had deserved nothing less than being beaten to death in his own home for the crimes he had committed.

He had had no one to trust, no one would take him. He had become so distrustful of everyone, that he ignored even his gut feeling on people. He only spoke to people when needed, threatened them if talking didn't work, and killed those that tried to keep him from being free. He had only just recently found an under water temple, that seemed to have been keyed to his life force. His mind replayed everything that he had found.

Inside he had found a great many tomes relating to him and his power, and instructions on how to properly use them. After spending a few days exploring the place, he had come across a room that had held a single item, and the tattered remains of a cloak whose age he could only guess. The bones had long since turned to dust and had lay still under what remained of that cloak.

He studied the item sitting on the large stone table. He gave a quick glance around the room, and saw the walls smooth and seamless, as if someone had carved and polished the bubble like room by hand by using a giant spoon. His focus returned back to the sword, as if it were calling him. He slowly walked up to it, his eyes sliding from the hilt, down its silver and gold blade. Its beauty enchanted him, as he had never seen any form of sword like it in his life, and he had seen quite a few.

He gently pulled the sword from its place on the racks holding it up on the table. There was a faint glow that emanated from the green jewels on the hilt that lasted only for seconds before going dark once again. Curious, he spent several hours studying the inscriptions that were on the racks, but it was far older than anything he had ever seen, and all he managed to get out of the texts were 'bonding', 'bloodline' and 'hero'. He hadn't understood it then, and he was still just as clueless to its meaning now.

Pulling himself out of his memories, he caught the sound of metal armor clanging together as it got closer to the tavern's door. Draxuz quickly tossed a few copper coins onto the table and headed for the stairs that lead to the second floor. Before he started up the steps, the soldier burst through the door, and called everyone's attention to him.

"We have found ourselves three women who refuse to obey the orders of the great Emperor. For those of you who wish to witness, we have brought them out for punishment before being put to death. Gather around the Platform in ten minutes if you wish to see."

Drinks were quickly finished off and money thrown on tables as the tavern quickly became empty. Only Draxuz and the barkeep remained. They looked at each other and shook their heads sadly. Draxuz motioned upstairs with his muzzle and she nodded, her golden hair rippling around her light tan shoulders.

Draxuz moved up the stairs slowly. He had never liked being around crowds, because if someone saw who he really was, they would all turn against him, and he could only fight off so many people at one time. He sighed inwardly as he reached the top, not sure if he should really watch, or what was compelling him to do so.

He stood by the dirty glass as he watched as the three women were led by a leash, their arms bound tightly against their bodies, their feet chained with only enough slack to give them short steps. All three of them held their heads high in complete defiance to all those gathered. Draxuz nodded approvingly toward their attitudes. Once they reached the top of the Platform, he was able to see them clearly. One was a slender purple wolfess, a long flowing mane of silver hair framed her form. The second in line was a beautiful white feline with equally long, flowing black hair. Following behind her was someone he was completely unfamiliar with, looking like she were a cross between some form of dragon and fish, though that didn't take anything away from her beauty. Her orange and blue skin shone brightly against the dark contrast of those around her.

Draxuz watched as they were each led to a pedestal, their arm restraints locked via a clasp. Curiously, the large black canine that was holding his execution axe put it down against a different post and pulled a whip from off his belt. Before Draxuz could look away, he uncoiled the whip and lashed it out against the wolfess. Even from the distance and through the glass he could hear her scream out in pain. Draxuz turned away from the window and closed his eyes as those gathered around the Platform howled in delight.

He took a step away as a different voice cried out. The crowd grew louder. He took two more steps before a third voice cried out in agony. Draxuz stopped, his mind reeling.

He didn't care.

It wasn't his problem.

There was nothing he could do for them.

But he knew it was a lie. He had the power, he knew he did. But against that many?

The second voice he had heard cried out again. The feline, he figured.

His head dropped as he tried to figure out what to do. He gritted and ground his teeth, her cries of pain coming up from below a third time. The crowd, he could hear, was going absolutely wild with delight at seeing them being punished like this. Draxuz noticed that he was physically shaking, arcs of energy randomly sparked across his body. He looked up as his eyes began to faintly glow.

The wolfess's cries and weeping carried over the sounds of the crowd.

Defend the weak. Protect the innocent. The others be damned, he would kill them all.

With a roar of rage he pulled in every ounce of power he could. Ropes of lightning arced off his body and tore holes into the walls and blew through the wooden doors. Draxuz drew his sword as he spun around and launched himself through the window, his sword held high above him, the jewels glowing as brightly as his eyes.

The crowd below all turned as one as Draxuz's roar of anger cut out above the noise they were making. They all watched wide eyed as the wolf came down to the ground from the second floor, swinging his sword down in front of him and cleanly splitting a feline soldier in half from head to crotch. As the two pieces of his body fell away from each other, Draxuz spun to the left and charged into the throng of soldiers, a mix of different breeds of canines. Draxuz cut through them all before even a sword was raised.

A call out to all the remaining soldiers came out, and all drew their weapons and charged in at the threat. Draxuz easily parried the younger recruit's attacks, and just as easily dispatched them, leaving gaping tears in the front of their armor. Those that presented the opening, he slashed his sword tip across their exposed throats, sending blood and other fluids flying.

Draxuz, in his rage, suddenly remembered there was a purpose to his killing everything. He was killing everything to save 3 people. He turned and looked and saw that the large canine had retrieved his axe and was turning back towards the three women. Locking on to his newest threat, he beat back soldiers as he made his way back toward the platform. Draxuz began to panic as he saw the executioner raise the axe above his head, ready to begin killing off his charges. Growling out, Draxuz ran through a soldier and pulled free his dagger from his belt as he fell. Draxuz turned and hurled the weapon towards the platform and spun to go back to defending himself from the throng of enemies that were pressing in around him.

Over the sounds of fighting and armor being torn to pieces, he heard a satisfying, painful grunt come from behind him, followed by a very loud thump. Draxuz quickly spun with his sword out stretched to get a quick view at the damage, and saw, with a certain amount of satisfaction, the executioner lay on the ground, the weight of his axe bringing him backwards and driving the dagger even deeper into his skull.

Draxuz's attention was snapped back ahead of him as a soldier jumped up and brought his sword down at Draxuz in an overhead arc. Draxuz dropped his sword down and swung upwards with everything he had. His sword cut through the soldier's sword with ease, causing hot shards of steel to explode in all directions. The larger pieces of the sword arced above Draxuz. He quickly eyed the steel and where the three were still being held and then spun around and hit the sword tip with the flat of his blade, sending it flying right into the chains that tied the wolfess's legs together. She jumped when she saw the tip break through the chains and stick solidly into the wooden post.

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Larka looked behind her, and for the first time saw the silver wolf, his green eyes glowing brightly as he fought off the ever growing crowd of soldiers. She frantically pulled at the latch that held her in place, but it simply would not let go. She looked around, and spotted her staff leaning against the pile of their things that were at the edge of the platform. She turned her focus on it, willing it to come to her. It rattled and shook before shakily lifting into the air, and slowly made its way towards her. She managed to get it to land in her hand before she lost her grip on her power, the painful welts on her back being too much of a distraction. She took a few deep breaths before focusing on the task of freeing herself. After a moment, she decided that that would be impossible and set herself to free the feline.

"Hey, you. Raise your arms, let me see if I can get you off of there." Larka called over to her. The feline looked over at her weakly, her black hair matted against her back from the blood staining her shirt. It took her a minute to realize what she was saying and lifted her arms as high as the restraint would let her.

Larka slid the staff in her hands until she was only holding a few inches of the end, the other side resting against the feline's clasp. She pulled it back as far as the restraints would go and then slammed the end of the staff against the clasp. Nothing happened. Growling, she repeatedly slammed the butt of the staff against the clasp, which finally resulted in a satisfying 'pop' as the clasp broke off, effectively freeing the feline.

"Quick! The executioner had the keys for our restraints, get them and free us! Please hurry!" Larka called out softly, but loud enough to be over heard by the feline. The feline shook her head and blinked, trying to clear out the fog that clouded her thinking. At once, everything clicked and she scrambled over to the executioner's body and pulled the key ring off his belt. She took the keys to Larka and fumbled with them, trying a couple before one fit and unlocked the shackles on her wrists.

"Thank you. Here, let me get these off you and then we need to free her." The feline nodded and held the key and her arms up. Larka grabbed the key and swiftly unlocked the restraints around her wrists, motioned for her to bring her feet around and did the same for her ankles. Seeing the feline rubbing at her ankles made her decide to quickly remove the ones around hers as well. She then passed the key ring back off to the feline.

As she turned and almost ran to the other woman, Larka focused her powers on her staff once again, this time raising it steadily off the ground and quickly bringing it to her hand. She spun towards the silver wolf and spun her bow expertly around a few times, bring it around to her side and against her back, locked against her arm. She took a couple of deep breaths and charged forward, launching off the platform and diving right into the throng of soldiers.

The end of her staff connected solidly with the back of a soldier's skull, sending his body sprawling into his comrades. Growling fiercely, she spun and caught another soldier, a canine in the face, which sent him flying backwards. She spun the staff from one hand to the other and caught another soldier in the neck. He fell backwards clutching at his crushed wind pipe. She quickly pulled the staff ahead of her and slammed the end of it into the exposed throat of another soldier.

Seeing all the armor beginning to swarm in around her, she tossed her staff towards the Platform and picked up a short sword. She knew that her staff would have little effect against the soldiers, and that they wouldn't always provide easy targets to hit. She growled as she charged in, deflecting one soldier's sword to the side and slicing through his leather stomach armor and spilling his guts out over the ground. She heard a cry of rage come from behind her and spun around and brought her sword up to block the blow, but it hit her with more force than she had the strength to fully defend against, and she fell backwards to the ground on her rear hard.

She looked up at her attacker as he brought the sword up as if to impale her. She knew she was about to die. Just as he started to bring the sword downward, he gave a sharp yelp. Larka looked down to see a thin curved blade jutting from his chest. The sword fell from his fingers as his face turned down, and stared in disbelief at the piece of steel sticking out of his chest. A few seconds later, his legs gave out from under him and he rolled to the side, revealing the white feline standing with a grim look on her face. She pulled the sword free and dove headlong into the throng of soldiers, towards the silver wolf. Larka grabbed her short sword and ran after her.

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Nyoko's mind was still trying to clear itself of the fog she had pulled in around herself. She had known for weeks that they would kill her, had managed to make peace with the fact she had done everything she could have to have avoided capture. And now here she was freeing the third member of the damned.

As she fought with the clasps binding the blue and orange woman, she looked up and saw the silver wolf moving through the ranks of the soldiers, taking them down one by one. She smiled slightly, seeing his cold, calculated movements finding with great ease all the weak points of each soldier and exploiting them before they could be covered.

She heard a click and felt the clasps open. The other woman looked up to her and nodded her thanks and brought her feet around, taking the keys from Nyoko's hands.

She understood, she was being silently told to either get away or go help, while they could. She looked over to the pile of their things and smiled. Her sword lay partially in the middle of the mound of their things, ready to be taken off to either be melted or mounted to a wall as a trophy. She quickly made her way to it, her steps becoming more certain as she walked. Her sensitive ears caught the sound of a female's yelp and spun around in time to see the purple wolfess laying on the ground, her sword several feet away from her.

Drawing her katana out from its scabbard, she launched off the platform and drove her sword through the backside of the soldier, his arms still raised above him to strike. She felt his grasp on life weaken and watched as first the sword, then the man fell to the ground as she guided them away from the wolfess.

Seeing that she wasn't hurt, Nyoko turned and headed into the soldiers, attacking them from behind. She wanted to at least fight beside the wolf that had made this much possible, and die beside him if they weren't successful in getting out.

She silently ran into the throng of soldiers, most of which were only equipped with leather armor. She smiled cruelly as she spun with her sword locked rigidly in her grasp, the blade cutting through armor and flesh and bone as if they were nothing but air. She managed to cut down four of the soldiers before the sounds of their deaths alerted those in front of them of the attack behind. Several of the men turned as one and brought their swords up to cut her down.

Her grin widened as she launched into a wicked assault against them, using quick slashes and thrusts with her sword to slice open throats and stomachs. They quickly fell away as they grasped at their wounds. The purple wolfess ran up beside her and slammed her sword into the back of the next soldier and angrily pulled it back out. Nodding in approval, Nyoko called over and got her attention.

"Hey, didn't ask before, didn't think it important. But, what's your name?"

"Larka" she called back to her as she sliced the back of another soldier open. "Who are you?"

Nyoko bounced back from a soldier's wild swing and stepped in behind it to open a new hole into his throat. "I'm Nyoko. Thank you for freeing me, I just hope I live long enough to repay you." She grunted the last part as she parried an attack and sliced off the offender's arm. He fell to his knees and grabbed his arm as he screamed in pain. Nyoko was all too happy to end his suffering.

They were both blown back a step suddenly as they noticed several of the guards were flying through the air and hit the ground with sickening thuds behind them. Nyoko saw through the thinning lines of soldiers the silver wolf. His eyes glowed a very bright green as energy crackled all across his body. His shirt was badly torn, hanging tattered across his body, yet not one drop of blood could be seen anywhere on him.

He sheathed his sword and let his arms hang down his sides. Soldiers that saw began snickering and laughing, thinking that he was giving up. He curled his hands in to tight fists as he turned his head slightly from side to side. As the first soldier hinted at taking a step towards him, both of his hands sprung open as twin arcs of energy spiraled down both his arms and gathered in his palms. Everyone froze for just a second before the chaos erupted again. The last she was able to see, his arms were out stretched and moving as he began loosing small balls of energy into the chests of the soldiers.

Nyoko faced off with two soldiers at once, the soldiers seemingly alternating between attacks and barely giving her enough time to defend against each. Another sword swept around and cleaved through the soldier on her right's arm, causing him to stop his attack and letting Nyoko finish them both off. Nyoko looked to Larka, both nodded to the other and went back on the offensive. As she was about to attack the next soldier, a pointed shaft of ice burst through his chest. Sliding to a stop in surprise, she looked behind him to the last of their party that was to be executed, standing tall atop of the Platform with one of her arms stretched ahead of her towards Nyoko, her green eyes glowing brightly as she called on her magic.

She stood there unwavering as streams of water rotated around her in different directions. She pulled her arms back to herself, the ice spear sliding out of the soldier's body with a sickening sound. She turned her attention to another soldier and ran him through as well, giving off a soft laugh that Nyoko could see but not hear.

Knowing that there was someone else to watch her back, Nyoko turned her back on the dragon-fish and dove back into the fight.

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The sounds of fighting barely reached her ears. The only thing she was really aware of was how dried out she was. The soldiers had only given her small amounts of water over the last few days, and it was taking everything she had to not pass out from dehydration. She looked over to the other two women that had been brought up with her to die, and was shocked to see them both moving around, the purple wolfess calling her staff to her as the white feline was making her way over with a set of keys. A small surge of hope swelled within her, and for the first time really focused on the sounds of the battle. She turned her head towards the sounds, and caught a brief glimpse of a silver wolf tearing through the ranks of the soldiers. She looked up just as the feline got to her and held her wrist restraints up to her rescuer.

Once her hands were free, she grabbed the keys from the feline and brought her feet around so she could free herself, nodding to the feline that she had it from here.

Punkin only took a few seconds to get her legs freed, and stood unsteadily on her feet. The soldiers were so focused on trying to take on the wolf that they weren't paying the first bit of attention to her. She looked around, her eyes spying any place that might hold water, and the first place they fell was on the horse watering trough. She inwardly grimaced, but she didn't have time for dignity to get in the way, she needed water NOW in order to be of any help to her new friends.

She stumbled down the steps weakly and made her way to the trough. When she got to it, she thanked whatever spirits that existed that the water was at least clean. Without further thought, she rolled herself into the tub and sank to the bottom.

The water was warm, having been absorbing the summer sun for several hours. She closed her eyes and concentrated, using her powers to cool the water to be more tolerable. She felt herself hit the bottom of the tub as she breathed in the water. She wished she could stay like that for a while, but she knew that there were those outside of her little world that needed her help. She took several deep breaths, each one easing her pain and her thirst.

After a few minutes, which to her felt like painful hours, she pushed herself off the bottom and out of the trough. She stood straight and rigid, no sign of weakness showing on her features. Her eyes scanned the crowd of soldiers around her as she began assessing her enemies.

Their backs were all turned toward her, so no one noticed as she called on her power, pulling up streams of water out of the trough, pulling them into a graceful arc up and over her until they were pointing out directly ahead. Then with a thought, they turned into solid shafts of ice, with sharp points on both ends. Giving a dark smile, she pushed them ahead of her as she walked calmly up to the back of the ranks of soldiers trying to get at the silver wolf.

"Hey! You." She called out.

Two of the soldiers turned and looked at her with an incredulous expression on their faces. Punkin just smiled and thrust her arms forward, causing her ice spears to quickly fly forward and ram through the men's chests. She pulled her arms back to herself and the spears followed suit, tilting slightly to allow the bodies to slide off. She heard a growl come from behind her so she spun and kicked the guard's hands, sending his sword flying and clattering across the ground. She stepped in and punched the soldier in the face with an open palm, hearing a satisfying crunching of bones as they broke around his nose. The soldier fell back wards with both his hands reaching for his face as he howled in agony as she turned and made her way towards the platform.

As she stepped in the direction of the stairs, a soldier charged at her with his sword held above his shoulder. Punkin simply watched the man as he got closer, mentally keeping track of the distance before suddenly spinning around rapidly, her tail gaining a great deal of momentum before making contact with the side of the soldier's head. She smiled, satisfied, as he flew off to the side a few feet before striking the ground and rolling another good ten feet before coming to a stop.

'Hmm, I've still got it.' She said to herself, smirking at the downed soldier. With a renewed vigor, she again began walking towards the platform. She stopped in front of the pile of gear and shoved things over until two thin, silk-like gauntlets and a necklace were uncovered. Attached to the end of the necklace was a dark red jewel that began to glow slightly as she held it in her hands. Her focus of magic had been through anger alone, however, that hold was slipping as it took a great deal more effort to use her magic without her necklace. She quickly put the necklace around her neck and donned her gauntlets.

As she stood up she heard the sounds of boots running up behind her. She spun and whipped her arm up just in time to block a downward sword attack. The soldier stared at the spot where his sword should have gone through with disbelief. The jewel on her left arm was glowing brightly and the once soft, silk like gauntlet was now harder than steel. She gave him a wicked smile and pushed his sword off to the side and launched an attack of her own.

She brought her right arm in close and spun to where she wrapped herself around her left arm, then back the other way, bringing her right elbow out and catching the soldier in the chest. He dropped his sword and immediately clutched at his chest as he dropped to his knees. As he fell, Punkin gladly helped him by grabbing him by the back of his head and ramming her knee into his face, hearing a satisfying crunching of bone before he limply fell to the ground.

She reached the stairs that led to the top of the platform, her ice spears hovering just over her shoulders. She started running up the stairs and only made it to the third when she heard the sound of something lodging itself into the wooden step. She looked back over her shoulder to see a large feline soldier trying to pull his sword free and looked up to see he had been had. With a growl of anger she spun and caught him in the side of his face with the heel of her foot. He spun slightly as he flew through the air and hit the dirt and continued to roll a few more feet before coming to a stop.

Without further hindrance, she made it to the top of the platform to stare out at all the soldiers pouring in to the fight. She looked over and saw the silver wolf that was responsible for them being free in the first place, surrounded by soldiers. His arms were dropped down by his sides and his sword was in its scabbard. She watched in concern as the group began to move in on him, only to see lighting instantly wrap itself around both his arms, gathering up into the palms of his hands. She smiled, seeing the surprise of the surrounding soldiers as they all froze, then their rage drove them to attack. She watched, amused as the wolf raised his arms and began launching orbs of the gathered energy in his palms at the soldiers, the balls of energy blowing through their chests.

Movement to her right caught her attention. She watched the white feline woman that had also been on the platform with her, fend off attacks from 2 soldiers at once. She nodded her approval as the wolfess took the initiative to attack a soldier while his attention was focused squarely on the feline, which allowed the feline to finish them both off. She saw a soldier making his way toward them, and decided not to let them have all the fun. She lifted one of her arms upwards and the ice spear she had been holding on to mentally floated down and hovered just over her hand. The soldier got within a few feet of the feline before she swiftly moved her arm forward, and caused the ice spear to rapidly fly forward and through the soldier's chest. The feline slid to a stop from her charge and looked up at her.

Punkin retracted her arm and the ice spear pulled out of the body. She laughed softly to herself. 'These poor fools don't stand a chance against us now.' She thought to herself. She looked down at the water that spiraled around her body, an effect that she had while wearing her magical enhancing items. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the two women she had helped turn their attention on the mass of soldiers surrounding the lone wolf. She almost decided to join them until she saw more soldiers running from the barracks that were housed behind the gated compound. She swiftly spun and dropped off the platform on their side.

The soldiers slowed their charge at the sight of her and changed direction to intercept her. A few of the men had wicked smiles, thinking they would have an easy victory killing her. She smiled as well as they continued their charge. As soon as she could see the darkness their eyes, she pushed her arms to the side and then thrust them forward. The ice spears that had been hiding behind her slid to the sides of her and launched forward. The soldiers all stopped, but were not fast enough to get out of the way as the spears slammed through them and into some of their companions behind them. The all fell as one into a bloody heap, the ice spear unable to hold their weight at the different angles and broke off into pieces. Seeing her spears broken for the time being, she set herself into one of the many defensive fighting stances she had been taught.

Her left arm was poised just in front of her nose while her right stayed low and covered her stomach area. Her eyes and the jewels on her gauntlets began to glow brighter as the soldiers rushed her.

The leading soldier swung his sword overhead, to which she stooped below the swing and brought her right arm up and into his gut. He grunted in pain and dropped his sword, then fell to his knees as she pushed him to the side. The next soldier swung his sword overhead, to which she easily side-stepped the attack. She spun to the left, hooking the soldier around his throat with her right arm and quickly spun his head, hearing a satisfying crack that slowed the next soldier's advances. She kept her power focused on her gauntlets to keep them solid as he inched closer, his sword poised ahead of him. He thrust his sword ahead of him a few times, which Punkin easily blocked with her gauntlet. Giving her a wicked smile he suddenly dove in, his sword like a spear. Punkin grabbed the blade and used that to pull herself in, bringing her other arm up and slamming her elbow directly into his nose. He fell back as blood freely blasted from his nose.

The remaining soldiers, all very young and fresh looking, looked at her in terror before throwing down their weapons and bolting back the way they came. Before the group had gotten very far, a body suddenly fell from the sky. Then another, fell right on top of one of the young soldiers. Curious, Punkin noticed a shadow starting to form around her. She looked up and her eyes widened at seeing a body falling directly towards her. Cursing, she threw herself to the side, barely managing to not get crushed under the dead weight. Out of the corner of her eye she caught something going up, so she turned towards that direction and stared in disbelief at what she saw.

In the area that she last saw the silver wolf, she could see soldiers flying through the air, bolts of lightning coming up off the ground and chasing them through the air. She gave a short laugh, but realized that it could end up being a problem if she wasn't paying attention. Before she knew it another body had been sent her way, though this time she had plenty of time to move from where it would land. She stepped to the side and watched as the body flattened a bit as it hit the ground and blood oozed from splits in its skin.

"Okay, that's just gross" Punkin said to no one in particular. She turned and ran back towards the mass of soldiers that surrounded the silver wolf. She could see from the distance that the mob of soldiers had grown significantly. If she and the other women were unable to kill off enough soldiers quickly, then he wouldn't survive. Even a magic user had their limits, she was painfully aware of that. She focused her magic back into her gauntlets and dove into the mob of soldiers, laughing as she began her attacks.

************************************

Draxuz smiled at the soldiers ahead of him as he held his sword up in a defensive pose. His ears twitched as he heard the squeak of leather on leather from the soldiers gathering behind him. Straightening his frame, he put his sword back in its scabbard and allowed his arms drop to his sides. The soldiers stopped their advance, giving looks of confusion among themselves. The largest of the canines looked around and shrugged and took another step towards Draxuz. Draxuz lips pulled into a tight smile and lightning instantly spiraled down his arms and gathered into small balls of energy in the palms of his hands. For a second, everyone froze again, still looking uncertain whether attacking was a good idea. The large soldier's eyes narrowed and rose his sword high as he let out a battle cry and charged. Draxuz raised his right arm up to about chest level of the soldier and unleashed a short, controlled ball of lightning, which tore through his chest and slammed into the soldier behind him, causing him to convulse uncontrollably. He dropped his sword and fell to the ground, flopping around like a fish out of water as sparks of the lightning continued to arc across his body.

Draxuz spun, both his arms extended in front of him, and released his energy again from both hands. As those blasts left his hands, he spread his arm slightly and released another pair of the lightning balls. Realizing he couldn't keep this up, he simply released his power and unleashed lightning into the mob of soldiers. One bolt went wild and ricocheted off the ground and slammed into the chest of another charging soldier, blasting him off his feet and sending him high in the air as the lightning bolt chased him for a short time before dissipating. The body twitched and flailed as it flew in a great arc, and disappeared behind the line of the soldiers, some of which were watching the body fall. The soldiers all took several steps back, giving Draxuz a bit more distance between them.

"Lay down your weapons and surrender and I shall allow you to live." Draxuz said to the group. Many of the men looked around, uncertain what they should do, now that the larger soldier was dead. The next largest soldier, an all black canine, raised his sword so the tip was pointing at Draxuz.

"It is you whom shall surrender or die." He replied in a gruff voice. Draxuz sighed and shook his head. The men seemed to stiffen their resolve as grips tightened on sword hilts. Draxuz put his right arm out ahead of him and turned his hand palm up, his energy still collecting in his hand. Out of nowhere, a lightning bolt formed under the leader and chased him high up into the air. Smiling, Draxuz unleashed the attack repeatedly, hitting random soldiers that circled him, blasting them up high into the air to crash back into the ground. Many of the soldiers threw down their weapons and turned to flee, but they were blocked off from escape by their comrades. The most devout soldiers who saw the trying to flee cut them down themselves, only to receive a lightning blast to the chest.

Draxuz looked over his shoulder and noticed the closing gap between him and the soldiers. Narrowing his eyes, he turned his powers to controlling the air around him. Dust kicked up towards him as he drew air in. Gritting his teeth, he shoved his arms away from him to either side of him. A concussive blast of air launched away from him in a globe, sending soldiers and debris backwards into the others.

A grim smile over taking Draxuz, he turned his power to the ground beneath the downed soldiers. As they attempted to untangle themselves, the ground began to pull at them. With frantic yells, they called out to their comrades to help them, but the ones still left standing backed away, uncertain what to do now that the ground they stood on had turned against them.

Draxuz heard the crack of lightning a second before intense pain overcame him. He was suddenly aware that he was flying through the air and that the ground was coming up fast. He tried to lock his muscles, or at least tried to put his arms over his face to protect it, but his body wasn't responding to him. Draxuz barely managed to close his eyes before he impacted the ground head first. He felt a sharp, dragging pain over his left eye as he slid along the ground, before his body began to roll, stopping on his back. His muscles twitched uncontrollably for a few seconds before he was able to get them to stop.

Before he could get to his feet again, he was slammed with blinding pain. He felt his body lock rigid as the lightning tore through him. He screamed in agony as the attack continued; he had never felt anything like this in his life. He knew if he didn't find a way to stop this attack soon, he was going to die. Focusing everything he was, he began to focus on turning the attack away from him. He focused on the energy for a second to get a feel for it and then focused his attention on a spot in the middle of a large group of soldiers and created a pocket of lightning energy there that was the opposite of what he was being hit with. Suddenly, the lightning jumped from him and slammed into the group of soldiers, cutting them all down.

Draxuz rolled over onto his hands and knees and pushed himself up, panting with the effort. He looked up to see a robed figure standing in the open, his hands down at his side. The wizard gave Draxuz a small smile.

"Impressive. I didn't think there was a way to deflect such an attack, and in a way that you could make me kill my own. No matter, I shall just roast you and offer you up as supper to the troops." He said as he raised his arms up toward Draxuz, streams of fire circling his arms and gathered in his hands.

Draxuz stood unsteady on his feet, his mind still trying to shut off the pain he felt still coursing through his body. The wizard unleashed a large ball of fire at Draxuz, his eyes glowing brightly with the amount of power he was dropping in to it. Out of nowhere, a large stone intercepted the fire ball and caused the stone to blow apart. The wizard's head spun in quick, jerky movements as he looked for the one that stopped his attack. He spotted the feline standing in the tavern's door, her golden hair shining brightly in the afternoon sun. A small smile touched her lips as several more large stones floated up from the ground around her. Her eyes shone brightly with a blue glow as she kept her gaze on the wizard.

Without giving him any time to react, Draxuz focused his power on the ground surrounding the wizard and pulled the ground from up and around his feet, causing the wizard to quickly sink into the ground to his knees. Draxuz brought the earth back down and around him and with a thought locked it tightly around him. The wizard struggled with everything that he was to pull himself free of his trap, but all he managed to do was fall over backwards. While he lay there, Draxuz concentrated again and sucked his arms into the ground. The wizard cried out as he shook his body back and forth, trying to break himself free.

Draxuz walked over to his sword and picked it up. He looked at the blade of silver and gold, covered in blood. Then he walked over to the still struggling wizard and glared down at him.

"Renounce your oath to the Empire and join us in freeing the people from Tyr's rule." Draxuz said. The wizard stopped struggling and looked up at him with a scornful expression.

"We shall still prevail here. Whether I live or die is inconsequential. We shall be victorious." With that, he spat at Draxuz and glared up at him. Draxuz shrugged and drove the sword through the wizard's chest. The wizard convulsed once and then lay still. Draxuz pulled his sword from the prone form, and looked up to the horrified eyes of the barkeep.

"You didn't have to kill him! He was defenseless and unable to hurt you back!" She yelled at him, tears welling up in her eyes.

Draxuz felt bad for her, he could see in her eyes that even though she ran the tavern, and made sure that the men were respectful, she didn't want to see the killing. "I'm sorry. You should get back inside, before some of the other men decide to come after you."

Before she could move, several soldiers charged after her, hearing her yell at him. Draxuz lifted an arm towards them and instantly lightning launched down his arms and exploded from his hand, cutting them all down before they could dive for cover. Shocked at what she saw, she turned and ran back inside, slamming the door after her.

Draxuz, his anger boiling over, sheathed his sword. He lifted his arms up and unleashed devastating lightning attacks into the most crowded areas of the soldiers, thinning their numbers significantly. Some soldiers, seeing that their only option other than a senseless death was fleeing, threw down their weapons and began tearing off their armor embroidered with the Empire's crest as then ran for the gate.

Draxuz pulled his sword once again and began walking casually towards two of the women that he had seen on the platform. He cut down the few soldiers that attempted to stop him, ripping open armor and spilling innards all over the ground. He looked around at all the destruction, at all the blood and bodies. Inside, he was somewhat appalled at what he saw. But the loudest voice he heard told him it had been necessary. He couldn't have left the defenseless to die like they were about to have been.

He saw the white feline deflect a sword blow, but it was harder than she had counted on and it sent her sword flying away, sticking fast into a wooden post holding up a porch for a small store. He saw her eyes go wide as the sword came back to issue a killing blow. In a blink, Draxuz was there, his sword swinging as fast as he could to stop the threat. He screamed in rage at the possibility of her being struck down, so he poured all his rage into that swing, poured his magic into it. Vaguely, he could see the air split at the sword tip as he saw it all in slow motion. Finally, the sword made contact with the soldier at the shoulder, cutting cleanly through to under the other arm. The parts of body fell to the ground, the sword clattering harmlessly to Nyoko's side.

Nyoko continued to stare for a moment, as if it hadn't registered to her that she had been saved. She turned to Larka, who deflected the last soldier's sword swing and ran him through. He gripped his gut as he tumbled backwards, the sword still stuck in him. Larka looked back to them and gave them a small smile.

It was over, they had survived it.

Looking around, Draxuz's sensitive ears caught the soft 'twang' of a released bow. His eyes searched out and found the arrow as it moved towards them. Saw the archer nock another arrow and released it. Draxuz grabbed the feline by the shoulders and shoved her to the side as the first arrow slammed into his chest. The second caught him right through the heart.

He felt his legs weaken and give out from under him. He was vaguely aware of the feline scrambling to get up next to him, screaming something. He felt something warm come out of his mouth and weakly reached up with a hand to wipe at it, seeing that it was blood. Then his vision blacked and he fell to the earth, his blood seeping out onto the ground.

*****************************

Nyoko looked up at the wolf with a shocked expression after he had thrown her to the ground. After all that had happened, she hadn't expected him to treat her like that. That is when she saw the first arrow sticking out of his chest, followed closely by the second. She saw his knees buckle and then collapsed under him.

"Noooo!" She screamed as she scrambled over to him. She watched, horrified as his eyes closed and his breathing stopped. Time seemed to slow for her. She felt every beat of her heart, felt the tears start to fall from her own eyes and dampen her fur on her cheeks. She looked up at the purple wolfess, who only was able to stare back in horror at what had happened.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash as soldiers poured through the gate the other soldiers were trying to get to. The new soldiers, seeing their comrades abandoning their posts, cut through them on their way towards the intruders.

Nyoko reached up and pulled the wolf's sword free of his hand. She felt a surge of power over take her. She realized she was angry. Very angry. She looked down at the body of the silver wolf and growled. She turned back to the archer to see him releasing yet another arrow at her. She instantly brought the sword up and deflected the arrow with ease. She started walking towards the archer, her eyes glowing a soft yellow. The archer fired off two more arrows, which she deflected with no trouble. The archer threw down his bow and quivers and drew his sword.

Nyoko looked off to the side. The dragon/fish had brought a frozen chunk of ice in the shape of the water trough up into the air and held it between her and the oncoming soldiers. She held her fist out ahead of her for a second more before flattening her hand out, her fingers spread and the ice chunk shattered in to a hundred large shards. With a small smile, she simply nodded and the ice launched themselves at the group of soldiers, cutting down half the roughly 30 soldiers that were charging her. She saw Larka, having freed her sword from the downed soldier, charging in to the side of the soldiers. Nyoko returned her focus to the archer. The archer slowly took a few steps forward toward her, his sword point holding steady as he kept it trained on her. Narrowing her eyes, she gave a howl of fury as she charged at the archer, at the person who had caused her pain.

The soldier flinched back and brought his sword around to deflect her attack. He jumped back, just barely missing the sword tip after it shattered through his sword. He threw down the useless weapon and started backing away. He pulled a knife off his belt and held it with the knife point pointing back at him. He growled and lunged at her, spinning in midair with his arm out stretched as if to slice her throat. He never got the chance. Nyoko, a scream of rage, spun the opposite direction and cleaved him in two. The pieces of body and guts fell to the ground and oozed out.

'Now child, we must save the wolf' she heard an elder voice say.

Nyoko spun, her head searching the shadows for the source of the voice. She saw the two women dispatch the last of the soldiers and had turned to come back to her.

'We don't have time for this. I am communicating with you telepathically, and right now, that wolf, my descendant, has only minutes left before he dies. Quickly, go to him, remove the arrows and heal his wounds. Once you have done these things, lay the sword on his chest, with the hilt over his heart and step clear. I will attempt to use my power to bring him back. But you MUST hurry, or we will lose him.' The voice instructed.

Nyoko heard and felt the urgency in the voice and without questioning, dashed to the downed wolf. She dropped to her knees as she slid to a stop and immediately rolled the wolf onto his back and began to remove the arrows. Larka ran up to her, panting, and stared at the dead wolf with sorrowful eyes. She lay a hand on Nyoko's shoulder.

"He's gone, Nyoko. There's nothing we can do, we have to get out of here."

Nyoko turned her teary eyes up to her. "I'm not leaving him, there's a chance we can save him, please help me. Please.."

Larka studied her features for only a few seconds before nodding and dropping down on to her knees opposite her and began working at the other arrow. Nyoko pulled gently at the arrow that had pierced his heart, having to twist it a bit to pull it out from his ribs. She looked up and away from the wound and saw that his left eye had also been hurt. She whimpered when she heard the sickening sucking noise of the arrow pulling out of skin as both her and Larka pulled the arrows out at the same time.

Holding back her want to be sick, she put her hands around the wound while Larka did the same, her eyes glowing instantly as she drew on her power to begin healing the wound. Nyoko followed suit. With the magic, she could feel the depth of the piercing, and the damage the arrow had caused. Her heart almost stopped at the pain that she suffered by her mind and the magic from what he had gone through. She forced herself to breathe as she used her magic to mend his heart, muscle and skin.

Being so close to Larka, she could feel the other's magic doing its work, and quickly accelerating to completion. That arrow hadn't made it too deep, and had lodged itself against a rib. Nyoko began to shake with the exertion of magic it was taking to heal the wound. As she felt tears fall down her cheeks, she prayed that she would have the power to save this wolf's life. An image flashed into her mind, from when she had first noticed him. He had been standing tall against the overwhelming numbers, had strength about him that would have no doubt allowed him to fight off the gods themselves. In his eyes, even from that great of distance, she saw the fire of life burn brightly.

She growled in anger and focused more power into the wound. Before she realized it, the wound had closed up. She cut off her magic and looked down where her hands were. The wound was gone. There was no sign of anything having ever pierced the skin, even the fur had been put back as it was supposed to have been. She looked up at his face, and in the place of the gash that had went over his eye, there was a scar. The fur had not been replaced.

Then suddenly she realized he wasn't breathing. She had forgotten about the sword. She quickly reached down and put the sword down on him, the gem at the end of the hilt rested at his neck while the gems in the hilt were over his heart. Both her and Larka stood up and took a step back as a whine began to build up from the sword. Suddenly, the wolf convulsed as small arcs of lightning raced from his chest to his limbs. The whine built again, and again his body convulsed.

Nothing. There was no sign of life coming from the wolf's body.

Her shoulders slumping and tears freely flowing down her face, Nyoko reached down to pick up the sword. Suddenly, an ear splitting whine came from the sword. It was going to dump a great deal more power into one last shot. Nyoko and Larka stumbled back, trying desperately to cover their ears and protect themselves from the high pitched noise. Nyoko watched as the sword released its power once more into the wolf. This time, he choked and coughed, and slowly began breathing on his own.

Nyoko dropped back down to the wolf, near his head and placed her cheek over his muzzle. She could feel her fur move slightly at his shallow breathing. Her heart swelled with joy that he was going to live. She reached down and gripped the sword, intent on putting it away in its scabbard, but the voice came to her instantly as she touched the hilt.

'You must leave me like this, child. He lost a great deal of blood and will not survive on his own. I will trickle healing magic into him for as long as I can. Hopefully he will have regenerated enough blood to be able to live.' The ancient voice said weakly.

Nyoko nodded silently and removed her hand from the hilt. She smiled up at Larka, who returned the smile with one of her own. They looked to the last lady of their party, who nodded to them and resumed her scanning of the buildings.

Nyoko looked back down at the wolf, noticing that his breathing had gotten stronger. The sword was doing its part, and now it was time for them to do theirs to help keep him safe.

********************************************

Draxuz was vaguely aware of a low rumbling noise coming from somewhere close by. Or maybe it was far off. He couldn't really tell. His head hurt something fierce, and it was clouding his ability to think. He felt his body rock a little as something moved his bed.

No.. He focused his hearing, and as his body very slowly began to heed his call to waking up, he heard the sound of hooves striking dry ground, and the squeak of wagon wheels. This made no sense, why in the world would he be hearing those kind of noises. He was in a bed, no doubt in a tavern somewhere.

Still the rumbling continued. Finally he managed to get feeling back into the rest of his body. His head hurt so much that he couldn't focus and it was taking a great deal of his strength to get his body to respond. By how sluggish he was, he figured he had been out of it for a full day, not something he normally did. He was aware of weight lying across a portion of him, and realized that the rumbling was coming from a lot closer than he realized. He could feel it reverberating through his chest. He opened his eyes and immediately his body attempted to stretch. He stifled the movement before it could give him away. He looked down to see a white feline fast asleep on him, her head resting on his chest. He realized that it was just her purring. The feline looked familiar, but he couldn't at first place why. He thought about it for a moment, and then in a rush, the memories of the day before came back to him. He remembered the three being taken to the platform, he remembered them being beaten.

And then he did that foolish thing of jumping out the window and attacking the soldiers. And not just a few soldiers, he fought many of them. He remembered killing more in that single bit of time then he had killed in the past several years. He pushed through the memories, trying to figure out how he could have been put into this predicament.

Then it came to him. He had been shot. He had died.

So that was it, then. He had died and he was in the spirit realm, being taken to wherever. He hoped the other two women had managed to escape. This feline being there was indication that she had died with him.

Again, his body demanded to stretch, so he let it. It felt good to move a little bit. The feline stirred, her purring sporadically being interrupted as she pushed herself up off his chest to look around sleepily. She reached up with her free hand and rubbed at her eyes before turning to look at him. Their eyes met and hers spread wide as her mouth gave him a huge, warm smile.

"Oh! You're awake! I was so worried that you would never wake from your injuries. I am so glad to see that your talking sword was right." She gave him another warm smile and gently rubbed his chest.

"Wa-water, please." Draxuz barely managed in a hoarse whisper. The feline looked at him for a second, then realized what it was that he had said. She turned and dug through a few things that were behind her, then lifted herself up higher and lay over him slightly to look next to him. She pulled herself away from him and triumphantly held up a water skin.

"I knew it was around here, somewhere. Here, let me help you.." She worked the stopper off the top and leaned down give him a drink. When she did, Draxuz noticed the looseness of her shirt and caught site of her breasts as she helped him get a drink. Instead of taking a drink, Draxuz choked and coughed, spitting water all over himself. The feline looked at him slightly confused as he turned his head away. Looking down at herself, she finally understood and gave him a playful grin.

"Now now, I don't go doing that on the first date." Draxuz looked up at her and she gave him a wink and wiggled a little, which caused his to face to get even hotter. He closed his eyes and gave a quiet "Sorry."

The feline gave a soft giggle, and leaned down to give his cheek a lick. "Don't worry, I'm only teasing. Your sword is quite interesting. It and I have been having quite the conversation about you. I know all about you and what you've been through. And now that you are awake, I would like to say thank you, for saving my life. For saving all our lives."

Draxuz blinked up at her. "Wait, we survived? But I was shot, I died. I.." He stopped and felt at his chest where he knew he had been hit. There was no wound, no pain at all. He looked back up at her questioningly. She rested a hand in the middle of his chest.

"Yes, you died. You took an arrow through the heart, but Larka and I was able to heal it. Your sword brought you back to life, though. We had to leave it on you for a full day just to let it heal you while you slept. You had lost a lot of blood, we weren't sure if you were going to make it until we removed the sword and you continued to breathe on your own. Lily allowed us to stay in her tavern, though she wasn't overly happy about what you did to her upstairs hallway. We only stayed there 2 nights before we were able to acquire a wagon and supplies. You apparently inspired some people there, quite a few of the residents there burned down the military's outpost and killed the commanders that were there. We are currently on our way to a town up north, where Larka has someone that is willing to take us in. They are apparently part of the resistance, so we should be safe there." Nyoko explained.

Draxuz nodded and lay his head back. "Well, thank YOU for saving my life. That whole dying thing was causing me some problems with my being able to continue to fight the emperor."

Nyoko giggled and rubbed his chest in a small circle. Draxuz wriggled himself under his blanket and managed to work his arms free.

"I'm sorry I couldn't heal the wound over your eye fully though. For some reason, it still scarred." Nyoko said as she reached up and gently stroked above his left eye. The contact startled him as it felt very different, so he brought his own hand up to feel. He could feel the smooth skin in place of the fur that should be there.

"Oh hey, you're awake!" Draxuz looked toward the front of the wagon to see the purple wolfess sticking her head in through the opening in the canvas. She smiled warmly down at him.

"We're almost to our destination. I've already spotted our escort on the way to take us inside their gates. " she said.

Draxuz smiled back up at her and she pulled her head back away from the flap to turn to face the front again. With the flap open, he saw that it was a beautiful, sunny day outside. He longed to be out there, but he could feel his body was still much too weak to be doing much. Nyoko must have noticed his longing gaze.

"Don't worry, hon, you'll be out and about in no time." He looked over to her and she gave him a warm smile before laying back down on his chest and start purring as she circled her arms around his sides. He had never had attention like this before, but it felt right. It felt.. Perfect. He lifted an arm and lay it on her back as his thoughts turned toward the future.