31

My “little” Sister.

Everyone clears a path as soon as they see him. He walks like a reaper gone mad with the urge to pluck the souls of the living! Aldowin is close behind like a mother duck trying to coax its chick to fall back in line. “Slyfer please calm down, we need to think about this rationally.” Slyfer does not answer his gaze is forward, determined, set. Aldowin swears as he tries to stop Slyfer again, but if the boy can drag six wagons, how is one high elf going to stop him!

They reach the tent and Slyfer starts to pack his armour. “Servant!” His voice booms and not even a split second later the servant is kneeling, waiting for orders. “Spread the word, the blood pack is to be ready for travel in one hour; if any are not prepared they will be kicked out!” The servant nods and runs off. Old Sun enters and stands next to Aldowin. He feels a sense of pride as he looks at his adopted son. Aldowin on the other hand feels nothing but worry.

Slyfer stops when he sees the old man and for a second he feels like wringing his neck, like a chicken. “I told you! I warned you! The army of Chronos does not want peace and now look at you standing here like something was taken from you, when you damned well practically gave it away!” Old Sun looks at his feet, ashamed and angry with himself. He searches for words, but can’t find any. Like a scolded child he stands. Slyfer finishes his packing and heads toward the exit Old Sun finally speaks, his head still lowered. “Kill them all Slyfer.”

Slyfer stops his back turned to the old man. “I intend to.” With that Slyfer and Aldowin vanish between the tents leaving the Old Man to himself. “I can’t lose her, not like this. Not like I lost my son! I can’t, I can’t, I can’t!” He sits down on the bed in a daze and Vinx opens her little eyes. She looks at him sleepily until her mind registers his distraught expression. “Old Elf, what is wrong?” Her soothing voice fills his mind and returns him to the present.

Without looking at her and just staring at nothing, he replies after swallowing hard to keep back tears. “It’s Jade, she has been captured by enemies.” Vinx’s dim light turns blazing and the other fairies immediately follow suite, as she must have said something mentally. “Where is Slyfer?” Old Sun only points at the exit, his finger shaking as he does. Nine fairies immediately shoot out of the exit. The other, stops in front of the old man.

Somewhere else in camp, Fira is livid with anger, she feels like burning down everything around her! She walks up and down not knowing what to do, which only frustrates her more. She looks at a vase that she has always hated and feels a sudden urge to make it explode! She closes her eyes and stops herself from doing so, but it doesn’t stop her form picking it up and throwing it away. “This anger is coming from Slyfer, what has happened?” Even the wolves inside her are angry they want to tare and sink their teeth into the flesh of enemies. The anger is infectious and it had started small, but spread like wildfire until her body itself felt like it was burning with it. Now she can barely control it, she had even almost turned a few times!

“I must be at his side. I must be with him!” Not knowing what is going on she starts to dress in clothes more suited for traveling. Since she does not know what to expect, she prepares for the worst and grabs her armour and a small sword she was trained in, but never really uses. She rushes out the tent… Crash! She runs into her father and they both fall to the ground. He had been walking deep in thought, not caring where his feet would take him.

She starts to get up swearing under her breath, not even realising she had just run over her father. The King about to let out his anger, on whoever just bumped him over prepares himself. He grabs the person’s arm intending to wrench it! His hand is instantly seared with heat, as he touches soft skin and he pulls it back while letting out a yelp of surprise, more than pain! “Fira!” She barely looks at him as she gets up, she doesn’t know why, but she has to hurry she must get to him! “Don’t try and stop me father.”

He stands up quickly and wants to grab her again, but a stinging on his fingertips makes him pull back the hand. “From going to Slyfer, I can…. I can feel something is wrong. I must go!” The King shouts. “You can’t he is going into battle, Jade has been captured!” She stops nearly falling over. She turns around and her hair whipping around looks like blood red flames as she does. Her own anger starts to mix with Slyfer’s. “She is my friend and telling me this only makes it more imperative that I go! Not only because I want to, but because it is my duty, as you said it yourself!”

The King runs behind her when she takes off again. “How is this, your duty?! Don’t be daft girl.” She smirks. “It is my duty as the representative; I was taught in diplomacy and may be able to negotiate her freedom.” The king doesn’t know if he should laugh or cry, as he hears his own words turned against him. “What if she is already-“ Fira turns around her eyes narrowed. The air heats up perceptibly around them and the grass near her feat starts to burn!

“Don’t you dare say it! Don’t dare!” He closes his mouth as if it is slammed shut forcibly. The area of heat expands and she turns around. “If she is really…. Really gone, I will send them all to hell!” The King can’t say anything, as he watches her leave. He is too shocked, too surprised at the shear show of her anger and he is too… afraid.

Slyfer stands, staring at his group of fifty six warriors. They are at attention, shoulders squared and backs straight. Too Aldowin’s surprise Vanya is also there. The wolves sit next to their riders, just like Grey king is sitting next to Slyfer. “Warriors! You have bled for the right to fight with me! You have suffered for the privilege of seeing glorious battle!” He pauses and his red eyes scan over them.

“In two days you will have blood, in two days all your sweat you sowed will bloom in the form of the blood of our enemies, on the battlefield!” He turns around and mounts Grey King. The group swallow with pride as they look at their leader, in their minds the Slyfer and Grey King already look like kings, but together they seem to turn into something more!

“The enemy has taken some of our own!” Slyfer smiles, his demented smile and instead of feeling fear the warriors feel excited! “Let’s go take back what’s ours and make them suffer in the process!” Ban mounts his wolf, his gaze never leaving Slyfer. He looks back at the others and starts to shout. “Maim, Kill, Burn! Maim, Kill, Burn!....”

The others soon join while they mount as well. Despite herself Vanya also feels a fire start to burn in her, as she looks at Slyfer. The crowd parts, as the wolves and riders make for the East. Two wagons pulled by wolves, follow in their dust. The wagons are different, a bit smaller, but with a strange design. Aldowin himself had commissioned the building of the wagons. They are designed to move at a faster pace than the others and are more shock absorbent.

There are supposed to be three of them, but the last one is still not completed, which Aldowin thinks is a shame since a specially designed weapon gets mounted on it. Slyfer suddenly calls for a halt causing dust to swirl past them and then….finally settles revealing Fira, with her blazing red hair astride a wolf not much smaller then Grey King. Slyfer looks at her, his gaze taking in all of her. She is wearing a silver dress that is cut above the thigh to allow for better movement of her legs, which is now on display. Embroidered on the silver dress is a blue dragon whose tail starts just above her hip and then curls around her body with the head finally ending just under the neck.

On claw is clearly displayed over one of her breasts and just looking at it makes Slyfer want to roar! She urges her wolf forward and whispers in his ear. “Play time comes later my dragon, right now we have people to go and kill.” He doesn’t know what makes him more riled up, her silky voice in his ear or the very fact that she wants to go and kill with him! She leans away and Slyfer gets one last quick smell of her scent.

Without saying anything, he lets Grey King move the way he wants to and they shoot off barrelling towards the maggots in their minds eye, that they want to kill! Inside Slyfer, Fira is getting the NOD from all the dragons. “Now this is a woman, fit for a dragon!”

They run for almost two hours, before Slyfer slows them down with a hand signal. The group is spaced out evenly so as to spare the wolves from the dust, unless they are riding into battle Slyfer and Aldowin decided to do it this way and not keep to the tradition. It makes them weaker against a surprise attack, but with the training they have had to counter almost any situation, the group feels confident they can deal with it.

“You ready Grey King?” The wolf gives him his approval and Slyfer leans back opening a valve that unblocks an outlet, to allow water to flow into the wolf’s mouth. The reason he slowed down, is for this. They had trained many times in order to accomplish the best speed a wolf can drink water without choking on it. They also let the water run very slowly, so as not to interrupt the wolves’ breathing too much. This is part of what Slyfer thought about, when he went out with Grey main the first time, this along with a mechanism that allows for a thin piece of cloth to cover it’s snout and jaw to stop most of the dust from getting in.

It is also so thin that it can be easily torn in case they need to fight and it impedes the wolf from doing so. Everyone lets their wolves have some water and the pace gets picked up again. Slyfer sends a mental message to Fira, to ask if her mount is still okay. She replies a second later with a short yes.

They run all through the day and deep into the night stopping only three times, doing so only for the sake of Fira’s mount. When light starts to creep over the horizon Slyfer finally calls for a halt. The men quickly set up one tent while a group of six splits in teams of two to keep watch about four hundred meters away while making sure to stay in sight of the camp.

Aldowin, Slyfer, Fira, Ban and Vanya enter the tent in the centre of camp. Vanya and Ban are the top scorers of the group and as such they became team leaders. Slyfer and Aldowin are both pack leaders, but everyone follows Aldowin first, simply because Slyfer said they must. Ban controls a team Slyfer named the Juggernauts. He himself is a part of the team, but since he rushes of on his own in battle, they needed to have a team leader for when he is not there. The Juggernauts have a simple function. Ride and kill anything that gets in your way. They are twenty heavy armored units, used to smash into anything and destroy it! Their main weapon is long heavy pikes to skewer the unlucky bastards that get their way. Secondary weapons are completely up to the rider’s choice, but since only the burliest of elves can be juggernauts most of the weapons are things like great axes and broadswords. The biggest ten of them are equipped with huge shields that serve a special purpose.

Second is the group that falls with Aldowin, they consist of fifteen warriors. They wear medium armour, in order to be more versatile in battle. They connect the group in front with the group at the back. These warriors were chosen for their skills in various bladed weapons earning this team the name Blades. Their job is to support the Juggernauts and to ensure they don’t get surrounded, as well as protecting the group behind from direct assault.

The last group of fifteen is led by Vanya and consists mostly of women. They are light armored and experts in long range weapons, as well as small blades. Their purpose is to pick off the enemies’ leaders as quickly as possible while the Juggernauts cause havoc amongst the enemy ranks. They have also started with special stealth training, but due to the current circumstances it has not been completed. Slyfer and Aldowin ultimately want this group to become assassins. Their name, Wasps named after the leader.

The six that is left are purely meant for one thing, scouting. A good scout can make or break an army so this position is an exalted job in the blood pack. The six were choses and taught very closely by Aldowin and some other veteran scouts that Slyfer paid. They are a bit more heavily armoured then scouts usually are, but the two women and four men don’t feel impeded by it at all. The first thing you notice when you see these scouts, are the huge bows on their backs. It has made many other scouts laugh since it looks impossible to draw the bow while standing up….

They also carry smaller bows and short swords. The wolves they have are all the fastest and most agile Slyfer and Grey King could find. Slyfer takes out a map provided by the King, when they had the briefing. He spreads it over a small table. “If the reports are correct, the enemy is about half a day’s ride from here.” He points a little to the west on the map. Vanya frowns. “If that is true we could have reached them already, why did we not head there directly, instead of circling around?”

Aldowin answers with a crafty smile. “The previous scouts and envoys all came from the West, so they must know by now if any more came, it would be from that side. We just decided to change it up a little to lower the risk of an ambush; the down side is we are cut off from direct reinforcements.” She and Ban nods in understanding. Slyfer gives his most evil smile. “We won’t need reinforcements, the main reason I also wanted to circle around, is to cut off the worms’ escape, also.” He points a little above the town. Here is a mountainous area, which can provide cover while we scout out the army and prepare for the slaughter!”

Fira touches his elbow. “Slyfer let me try and negotiate her release first; if we rush in they may execute any prisoners.” Slyfer looks at her, he doesn’t like it he wants to destroy! Aldowin feels relief wash through him. “If I had said that he would have ignored me.” Aldowin steps forward his face almost pleading. “She is right Slyfer, its worth a try.” Slyfer grips the pommel of his sword his palm turning white. “What if they just attack, like they did with the others?” Fira and Aldowin go quiet, but Fira quickly lifts her chin in confidence. “I have magic, Jade did not.” Slyfer smiles at their stupidty. “They may have anti magic wards and their own dogs of magicians.”

All accept Aldowin turns to him. “Anti-magic wards?” Slyfer sighs in frustration. “It protects the wearer from magic by somehow sucking it up like a sponge.” Fira goes pale. She had no idea such things existed. Aldowin remembers in the old days how many magicians died falling prey to a simple warrior carrying a ward. He balls his fists. Slyfer leans on the table looking at everyone in turn. “That does not mean we are not going to try. Let us first scout the army out and weigh the risks once we have assessed the situation, agreed?” They all nod.

Slyfer looks at them all standing back up. Aldowin talks this time. “I think give the men five hours of rest and a chance to eat once the morning heat is gone we will move again.” He feels frustrated, but gives in to the sword master.

Vanya and Ban head out to relay and describe the plan with rest of warriors. Aldowin looks at Fira and Slyfer, then starts to talk. “The possibility that they may have wards is troublesome, but years ago when I fought them we found ways to counter act them to a degree. Slyfer looks at his master intently. Wards boggle his mind. When he thinks of how the white dragon had explained magic, it makes no sense at all. Aldowin seeing his eager to learn expression continues to explain.

He bends down and picks up a blade of grass and places it on the table. “There was mainly two ways we used to deal with it. One was by simply overpowering the people with wards one by one by concentrating our magic on them one at a time.” Slyfer nods understanding. It’s the same principle he used to break the ward the griffon had with him. “The second method is by using magic indirectly.” Aldowin pauses. Fira looks at him confused and he smiles. “For instance lets say this blade of grass is the enemy.” He points to it on the table, then picks up a stone. “This is a boulder or a wagon, basically any inanimate object. Using magic on this object to make it move and hit the blade of grass will affect it indirectly. Since the boulder is not magic itself, it won’t be affected and will hit the target.” Saying this he flicks the stone at the blade of grass.

Comprehension dawns on Fira and she smiles. Aldowin shakes his head. “Don’t be too happy, finding inanimate objects on the battlefield requires you to draw your attention away from the danger in front of you and then using magic on it. This in itself already makes the task difficult and dangerous.” Fira frowns in frustration and worry. Aldowin touches her shoulder, his face serious. “Don’t worry from what we learned, creating a ward is extremely difficult and they are mostly given to important officials or leaders within an army. They also vary in strength depending on who made them.”

He turns to look at the map intently. “A small army in the middle of nowhere, occupying a town with almost no importance should not have many that carry wards.” Aldowin turns away from the the table and heads toward the exit….As soon as he is out, Slyfer has Fira in his arms. “At first she is surprised, but when she feels the need in his kisses her body melts against his.

Pressing her tightly against him he runs his hands down her back and lets them settle on her bottom which he had stolen glances at, time and again. She laughs in enjoyment; the mere fact that he wants her this much causes a feeling of pleasure in her heart. She breaks their kiss and says amused. “If you are like this now, what am I going to do with you when you get me in a room?”

Slyfer smiles at her, his eyes and her hair going purple. He puts a hand in her neck drawing her closer and whispers in her ear. “The question is not what you are going to do, but what we are going to be doing with each other.” He bites her ear after saying this. Which causes her heart to race even more! Before she knows it, she can feel the table behind her and her leave the ground. Realizing what Slyfer is intending to do. “Stop, we cant do it like this, not here. Not right now.” Slyfer steps back disappointed, but his sanity returns and he blushes realizing what he had just planned to do.

“Sorry, I got carried away.” She smiles stepping forward placing one had on his chest the other in the nape of his neck. She leans forward smiling. “Don’t apologise, I want it too. We just have to be patient.” They kiss again. Slyfer wants to grab her again, but before he can she slips away looking over her shoulder. “Relax my dragon; we have a lifetime to enjoy each other.” She exits the tent feeling Slyfer’s gaze on her; Slyfer blows out a long breath calming himself and forces his mind back to the task at hand. He turns to look at the map again. “Jade hold on, I am coming for you!”

The warriors grab some shut eye, after eating in silence. Slyfer thinks of sleeping a bit himself, but quickly pushes away the thought since he knows that will be impossible. Worry leaves a perpetual frown on his face. He walks off a small distance and sits down on a protruding rock. He looks at the sky in longing. For an instant he wants to change and go burn all the rodents infesting the town, but the time is not right to reveal himself. “When will it be? When will I be able to change when I want how I want? When will I be able to become a true ruler of the sky?”

His senses picking up life shooting towards them draws his mind back. In the time it takes him to count to three the scouts give the signal that nine things are approaching followed by the signal for friendly. Slyfer smiles at Vinx and the other fairies when they appear over a hill burning like falling stars, as they head towards him. Eight split up and spin around him giggling while Vinx stops in front of him glaring. “You leave without saying anything. Then rush off towards danger!” He only sits and looks at her. “Don’t just sit there.”

Slyfer finally smiles. “You looked so cute when you were sleeping, I didn’t want to wake you up.” Her angry mask cracks at his compliment and she smiles again happy as a little girl that dropped her ice cream and just got a new one. Slyfer looks around him and counts. Why are there only nine of you.” Vinx huffs smugly with a know it all expression. “One of stayed behind in order to relay whats happening here, that way if something goes wrong we can call for help immediately.”

Slyfer nearly smacks himself for being so stupid. “How could I not have thought about that… I need to do better, I need to be better.” He smiles at her, as she lands on his leg. The two talk and it helps him relax a little. Five hours pas and without a word the group starts to move out again. Two fairies travel with the scouts, two travel with Aldowin. One with Vanya and one with Ban, who can’t stop looking at the little creature. The others are spread out around the group. The fairies’ help increases the travel speed since they can instantly relay messages in the group, so they easily avoid major obstacles. A view from the sky also lowers the chances of an ambush.

This serves to further bolster the morale of the group. Just before nightfall they can see the silhouette of a mountain in the distance. Aldowin slows them down to spare the wolves in case of a sudden attack. When it gets darker Sltfer takes the lead and the others follow in single file close behind him since he can see better in the dark he guides them through the terrain that is quickly changing into a rocky one with groups of trees clustering together here and there.

Slyfer stops when a fairy reports siting the town along with the scouts. He then guides the group further up towards the mountain. Aldowin sends a message to the wagons along with five of his warriors, that it must head a bit more to the West.

Slyfer gives the signal and Vanya’a group takes the lead. The chances that a group of enemy soldiers is stationed near where they are, is very high and they have had the best training in moving covertly. The rest stop, not making a sound… an owl can be heard along with boisterous laughter drifting up from the town. The sound sickens Slyfer, he wants to turn them into screams of pain, make them suffer, make them burn! Fira sees her hair changing color and the anger well up she walks closer and puts her hand on Slyfer’s arm. His red eyes glowing in the dark looks eary and unsetteling, but she does not fear it. She welcomes his gaze.

The two sit waiting anxiously for word from Vanya and her team. Just before day break they return, blood on their weapons. They join the group without a word giving the sign for all clear. Aldowin looks at Vanya worriedly. Her face is pale, her hands shaking. She had killed for the first time tonight.

Contrary to what she believed there was no clash of thunder, no cries of woe. People believe death to be something tragic and huge. Nobody believes they will die simply. “It was almost too easy.” She had detached herself when she heard the voices of the two men sitting near a rock. As if watching herself being controlled, she saw herself give orders. Her team surrounded the two silently. She krept onto the rock taking in breaths smoothly to control her heart rate that wanted to race.

She dug her muffled boots onto the surface of the rock above the two men, preparing to do what she was trained to do. To kill swift and silently. Her hands slowly crept to the sides of her legs drawing the cold steel of the daggers hidden there. It made a slight sound impossible to be heard by others, but in her ears it was as loud as the boom of thunder. She blows out one last breath and leaps down…

The first man receives her dagger through his temple and warm blood soaks her hand, as he dies without a sound. The second man in shock tries to draw his sword in vane, his hand missing it while his wide eyes are fixed on her in fear. She kicks his chest making him fall to the ground her gaze never leaving those eyes. She leaps onto him crushing his chest and forcing the wind out of his lungs so that he can’t scream. Her dagger then draws its deathly arc splitting his neck open like a ripe peach! He shakes a bit under her in his last death throws his mouth making words that have now sound. Then like a candle that was flickering in the wind the light leaves his eyes that still stares at her….

Even now she still sees his face, those eyes. Eyes of fear and confusion like he was thinking. “Why am a dying, why is this happening?” She looks at her hands blood still on them, almost imperceptible against the black of her gloves. After the first two kills she had kept control remembering her training repeating it over and over in her head to keep her mind of the lives she had just taken. They found six more soldiers spaced around randomly. All died without a hitch all died without even knowing what really happened.

Aldowin sits next to her taking her bloody hands in his. “This is the true challenge you have to face now, this is where you decide to break or carry on for the sake of yourself and your team. I know how the first kill makes one feel. I still remember mine like it was yesterday. It won’t get easier, it won’t get more pleasant, but you will learn to deal with it.” He lets go of her hands. She looks at him her eyes starting to tear up. “How, how will I deal with it?” He sighs and leans closer. “By remembering it’s us, or it’s them.”

Slyfer, Aldowin and some of the scouts sneak closer in the early morning hours to investigate the camp. To their displeasure the small army of what looks to be just under three hundred is well fortified and dug into the town. They have built a rough wall of spiked bulwarks around the town with only two entrances open. A watchtower is set up at each entrance. The town is small and looks like it was home to barely a hundred villagers before this group arrived.

Soldiers sleep in the alleys and roads not really caring that they are obstructing the residents by doing so. As they watch they see women being thrown around as they scream for help that will not come. Some bodies lay next to the road mostly consisting of men that were too brave or stupid for their own good. They spend the whole day looking at the town from different angles , but they still don’t catch a glance of any of the captured scouts.

The more time they spend watching the more the anger and worry grows within Slyfer. Every women he sees being abused sends spikes of bigger fear into his gut. Most of the residents look to be human, but some are other races. There is even two humanoid bodies hanging from a tree that resembles lizards to Slyfer. Aldowin grunts when he sees them. “Uldari from the swamp lands, they are a nomadic people who rarely leaves the swamp, those two must have been exiles of some kind.” He human soldier walks past and spits at them. “Bloody devils!”

He spits again as he loosens his pants and starts to pee on other bodies strewn on the ground. Aldowin and two scouts are desperately holding onto Slyfer. Not because they are able to stop him, but feeling them helps him keep his sanity! They sneak away when it starts to go dark again.

‘We still have no idea where Jade is.” Says Slyfer while pacing up and down in anger. Ban steps forward. ”I say we burn the place to the ground and kill them as when they scurry out like rats.” Vanya rolls her eyes at him. “Are you stupid? We cant burn the town until we know if jade and the other scouts are alive or not.” He steps back feeling selfconcious about his outburst. Aldowin finally speaks. “I have a rough idea of where they may be keeping prisoners. Every town has a place where they put people that breaks the rules.”

Slyfer looks up. “There was a building that looked more fortified then the rest, near the town center.” Aldowin smiles at the frustrated Slyfer. “You have a good eye, I also saw it, that along with the increased guards around it compared to the rest makes me more hopeful that they may be in there.”

Fira having listened until now speaks up. “That settles it then, the only way we can make sure is by talking to them, if we offer them something they may reveal some details, even if it is just a ploy.” Fira frowns at any mention of talk, but he has to admit it’s the best option they have. “First thing tomorrow we will try this talk, but if it fails they die.” No one argues, none can.

“Eddy, how does it look!” Eddy takes one more scan over the surroundings from his vantage point in the watchtower. “Nothing sir, it’s as quiet as a- wait I see something!” The man who called before quickly rushes up the tower. In the distance he can see the rising sun glint off of something! “Armor, ring the alarm someone is coming!” Eddy runs over to the bell and do as he is told ringing it quickly. The time it took him was a few seconds, but when he returns he can no clearly make out twenty one black and red silhouettes in the distance.

“What is that?” The other man leans forward also trying to make them out as the rest of the army is running and bustling underneath to get in formation. “Don’t tell me its more of those damn wolves!” As he says it a tall thin human appears through the hatch leading opening on the top of the watchtower. The two salute nervously. “What have we got?” The two look at each other and swallow before they answer. “We think they are more wolves, Sir.” The man scowls in anger. “You think! You think they are wolves? Why don’t you know, do you think the army pays you to think! Leave you fucking useless pieces of shit; if I see you again I’ll skin you alive!” The two falls and trip over each other as they try to climb down the hatch, at the same time in order to get away from the captain.

They are about halfway down when they see the silhouettes clearly. All thoughts of escaping the captain flies away, as they look at what in their minds can only be the hounds of hell! “Those are not wolves.” Thinks Eddy with his eyes wide in fear, as his foot misses a rung on the ladder causing him to nearly fall.

What he sees are wolves, but the wolves of the juggernauts in full armor! Its black and red like the armor of the riders sitting on top them. It runs over their backs stopping above their tales and halfway down their flanks before it turns into leather in order not to restrict their breathing. On their paws are spiked red braces that run up to their forelegs. Their heads are covered with a black piece of armour that forms nicely around the upper jaws ending next to it in jagged points that makes them look half steel sabre-tooth, half wolf!

The wolf in the middle is the worst. His rider with a horned helmet let out an air of such impending doom Eddy wants to wet himself. The wolf under him looks fitting for such a rider spawned from what could only be hell. Unlike the rest that only have a red blood drop on their foreheads, he also has gold line running around the edges. It makes the atmosphere around him royal.

Eddy is just about to scream that the doors of hell have opened, but then an angel appears from behind the horned devil. Red hair barely contained blazes behind her in a high ponytail. The angesl face is framed by an open helmet that guards the sides of her face. Her armour is mostly leather with only the important parts covered in shiny steel, that has black vines spreading from her naval outward. A black silk cape billows behind her along with the hair that seems to be fire as the wind picks up.

“No, not an angel, but a valkerie here to collect the souls of the warriors she deems worthy!”

His shock and thoughts are interrupted when the other man steps on his head after being frightened into motion by a stammering call. “Ha…Halt, who goes there?!” Fira takes out a white cloth they had annexed from one of the watchers on the mountain, even now still stained with his blood and waves it around.

The men whisper about this, the Captian in the tower on the other hand can’t stop staring at Slyfer. A thought starts to creep into his mind, one he usually would never have had in such a situation. “Maybe we should not have killed those dark elves, maybe we should not have captured the others.”

A loud boisterous voice interrupts his thoughts. ‘Who dares interrupt me, while I am having some fun!” The captain turns away from the demons to look at the fat bald headed idiot that is hi superior. The man is busy tying his pants while trying in vain to tuck in the dirty shirt stained with sweat and blood, women’s blood.

The fat man maes his way over to the tower his belly spilling over his pants. The captain hides the disgust he feels for the man as he struggles to climb the tower almost getting stuck in the hatch. The captain not offering any help answers passively. “It seems the dark elves have sent some more envoys, my Lord.” He watches Q-ball get up huffing and puffing for air as he does.

“Why haven’t we captured them yet-“ His words stop mid-sentence when he takes a look at the “envoys”. The sloppy gaze settles on Slyfer for a bit then travels to Fira instantly lighting up with a gleam of lust. He licks his dirty lips that have marks on the corners resembling blisters. “Captain go see what they want and invite them in for a quick chat.”

“I think it’s rather obvious what they want Sir-“

Slyfer watches the boldy, as he aims a shot at the tall thin man on the tower missing by far. He turns to Fira. ‘I recognize the tall one. I saw him when we last travelled with Jade.” She nods. “I also recognise him, but he does not seem to be in command here.”

They see the two disappear from the top of the tower and half an hour later twenty riders exit the town and start heading in their direction. They are on huge war horses with black plumes on their foreheads. The thin captain is in the lead his ever glistening armour reflecting the light.

They stop ten meters away. The wolves growl at the “puny” horses in disdain. Making them nervous and stomp at the ground. Slyfer and Fira move forward making the horses want to turn and bolt, but the humans keep them at bay with their riding crops. The thin man plasters his smile on and opens his mouth, before he can speak however Fira’s voice interrupts him.

“I am Princess Fira of the dark elves and I have come to collect my brethren, state your terms….quickly human.” His mouth closes and his eyes widen slightly as he swears inside. “A princess damn it, this is bad!” He bows slightly. “Princess, I welcome-“ Slyfer leans urges grey King forward and the wolf snaps at the nearest horse sending the rider and horse in a spiral as he tries to control it. “Are you deaf human, she said quickly!” The captain gets locked in place by Slyfer thirst for death. He stammers a bit.

“I don’t have the authority to-“ Fira narrows her eyes. “Then get someone who can.” The knight who was sent into a spiral draws his sword in outrage and tries to swing at Slyfer. Much to the captains consternation who is about to scream for him to stop, he can utter a syllable. Slyfer’s hand shoots out and he starts to laugh! He grabs the man by his arm pulling him clean off his horse. “Maggot, haha.” His other hand grabs the man’s neck and starts to crush it!

With a snap the man goes limp and he throws the body to the ground like you would throw away a piece of trash. “Everyone calm down!” The captain shouts at his men apparently for no reason since none of them even tried to make a move. Fira looks at the body on the ground wrinkles her nose a bit then looks back at the captain. “How long do you expect us to wait?”

“Princess my ass!” He tries to smile a bit, but completely fails so he gives up on it. “My master has told me to invite you in so that the matter can be discussed.” Fira laughes. “Do you think we are idiots?” The killing intent from Slyfer seems only to grow. Then riders behind them also start to urge their wolves forward also wanting a bit of the action. The captain swears inside again. “Okay I will see what I can do.”

Slyfer bears down on him making him shrink away a little. “I remember you human, you gave me that strange instrument, asking about a couch.” Realisation dawns on him. “You are that boy?!” Slyfer snorts. “I am something you can’t begin to comprehend, answer me this. The green haired girl that was with me that day is one of your captives now. Is she still alive?”

The man thinks for a while then nods, confusion on his face. “Why do you ask?” Slyfer's eyes bore into him, as they start to burn hotter.

“She is my little sister and if she is dead. I will boil all of you wretched creatures inside your own fat!”