Princess of Silver Sands - Chapter 31
Posted by: Kura in Writing, Princess of Silver SandsPrincess of Silver Sands
Book 01
Chapter - 31 - Closing In
Chapter Thirty-One
Closing In
Hitsumi as a child is laying down on the ground holding a book over his head as he read what was written in it aloud. Ashton is seated by his head listing to Hitsumi to see how well he was progressing. “It was in the middle of the first demon war that the End Plague hit, almost eighty percent of the living population of Fynta was lost, many races dying out completely. Thousands of genocides have been recorded and there are still many that have yet to be found and recorded. The most notable of these are the entire Elvin race of man, who where the first to become effected and die out, this same fate effecting the Goldfire wizards of the forth wizard family.”
“Regarding the wizard race the plague had almost succeeded in a complete genocide of wizards, out of the one hundred and fifty seven registered wizards that Fynta carried only five survived. One member of Ironclaw the first wizard family, three members of Silvawind the second wizard family, and one member of Crystalwater the banished wizard family.”
Hitsumi yawns as he rolls onto his stomach and begins kicking his feet as he continued to read the book in front of him. “The plague, although a mystery when it first appeared is now known to have been caused by refuse; the flesh eating surface that covers the ground once demons have claimed a territory. The fumes from the refuse released a toxin that upon entering a human body, stopped new red blood cells from forming, not allowing the body to replace blood once it had been lost. The toxin also numbed four of the five senses; sight, sound, touch and smell. Those effected where unable to understand what was going on around them and when they panicked would become badly injured and eventually die. After twelve months the people that had not caught or had managed to live through the toxin developed a immunity towards it, and the plague eventually disappeared.”
Angel stares ahead of her at the black throbbing ground that made the eerie wheezing sounds as if it were breathing, the sight horrifying and unwelcoming. She turns towards Hitsumi nervously, not at all found of the idea that they were going to have to pass through here. “I don’t like this… I really don’t like this…”
Hitsumi stares out at the area in front of them, the ground completely destroyed and dead, everything now twisted and changed into the rot smelling, flesh eating surface known as refuse, bones and blood from travelers and animals who had tried to cross it and failed litter the ground before them, the area a living graveyard.
Angel stares down at the bones a sickened look on her face. “The flesh is gone… only the bones are left…”
Hitsumi stares for only a moment longer before walking his horse forward onto the pulsing refuse. “Come on… we need to pass through here.”
Angel’s horse backs away, the princess’s steed obviously having the same opinion she did about crossing over such a thing. “No way!”
Hitsumi brings his horse to a stop, turning it around and walking back to Angel grabbing onto her horse’s harness and pulling it along with him, the horse giving a reluctant whinny as it begins walking forward onto the refuse with the others.
Echo looks over at Angel. “Be careful and try not to fall off your horse. Refuse won’t hurt the horse’s hooves when they touch it but it will devour flesh if we are to touch it.”
Angel looks down at the ground, the refuse starting to squirm letting out slight squeals from the weight of the horses hooves. “What is it?”
Echo looks back down at the ground as the group passed over it, the young wizard explaining to the princess exactly what it was. “Refuse… this is what happens to the land once the demons take over. The earth becomes hungry for flesh and souls.”
Angel is unable to stand the sight of the refuse any longer, the princess lifting her hands and holding them over her eyes. “I don’t want to be here! Make this end soon…”
Hitsumi looks ahead of them the refuse stretching for as far as he could see. “How long does this continue for you think?”
Echo shakes his head unsure himself just how long it would take for them to cross it. “I don’t know. Even I can’t see the end from where we are… it has taken over a rather large area…”
Angel keeps her hands over her eyes. “What happens if night falls?”
Hitsumi sighs answering the question as if it should be obvious by now. “We sleep… just like we always do.”
Angel shakes her head Hitsumi not having fully understood her questions. “And if we’re still not off of the refuse?”
Hitsumi looks back down at the ground it obvious that there was nothing they could do until they reached the end of this area. “Then we keep traveling until we reach the end.”
Echo worriedly looks over at the princess. “You should uncover you eyes and hold onto your horse. In case she spooks and rears from something. Remember if you fall off of her back you’ll die.”
Angel shakes her head no unwilling to uncover her eyes even if it was dangerous for her to be keeping them closed. Echo having to ask her several times before finally managing to convince her to do it, the princess slowly uncovering her eyes and holding tightly onto the horses mane afraid of falling off its back and onto the blood thirsty ground below them.
Echo smiles at her reassuringly, this only another trail they would soon pass. “Don’t worry… as soon as we get to the castle you’ll be away from all of this, then you can forget everything unpleasant about your journey.”
Angel watches the ground underneath her pass by, it sickening and making her stomach turn. “How can people continue to live in the West Continent….? In a place like this?”
Hitsumi keeps his eyes ahead of them. “It’s their home. They have to fight the demons for it. I mean if they don’t who will?”
Angel silently lowers her head the princess looking back up when she spots something strange in the corner of her eyes. She stares at the ground in silence, a patch of pretty, sparkling silver catching her attention. “Silver?”
Angel turns back to Hitsumi questioning him about this. “Hitsumi… I know you probably don’t know… but do you know if mining towns used to be near here? Or mines?”
Echo shakes his head no answering the question for Hitsumi. “The West Continent… when it flourished at least… relied more on crop industry. Mining wasn’t common because there were not much minerals to mine here.”
Angel points back at the patch of silver in the middle of the refuse. “But there was silver on the ground…”
Hitsumi speaks up the bandit able to answer this question for her. “It might be from the refuse… if there is no water around to attract food toward it, the sands will change into silver and rocks to gold, in hopes that those greedy enough will venture towards it.” He motions towards the bones covering the ground. “As you can see, the refuse devours them before they ever reach it.”
Angel looks back at the patch of silver, a closer look at it reviling that it was actually indeed a collection of silver grains of sand. “I see…” She looks back ahead of them the endless sight of refuse meeting her eyes. “Silver sands…”
Hitsumi and his group continue forward, spending several hours trying to cross the refuse, the end to it still no where in sight and the area ahead of them getting more and more difficult to see the darker it became.
Echo sighs to himself, though he was able to see the furthest of the group he still did not see any end. “The area was really taken over… how much longer does this continue for?”
Angel nervously glances around her, from the looks of things it didn’t look like the refuse was ever going to end. “Maybe we should turn back.”
Echo turns back to Angel shaking his head. “It will take hours to get back to where this began.”
Angel turns to him. “But it would be better we’re not going to make it before the sun completely sets.”
Echo shakes his head knowing it would just be a waste of their time. “How? If we go back we would only have to start over. There’s no way around it.”
Angel looks up at the sky that was starting to grow darker. “But if we went back we could try again at daybreak, and not so close to evening as we did today.”
Hitsumi shakes his head as he clearly informs the princess that going back was not an option. “No, we’ll keep going ahead. After all, we might reach the end soon. We could be close.”
Angel looks concerned. “But it’s so dark already…”
Echo turns back to the princess. “Please Princess… Just concentrate on keeping yourself on your horse, if you fall you and our journey will end here.”
Angel’s grip on her horse’s mane tightens at the reminder of what would happen should she fall off. “Okay…”
A sudden low growl startles the horses, all three of the animals prancing uneasily in place, Angel’s horse freezing on spot and refusing to move another step forward.
Angel looks around her fearfully the princess enjoying the sound as much as the horses were. “What was that!?”
Hitsumi tries to keep his horse from rearing the bandit attempting to calm his stead down. “Easy, easy, whoa…. easy boy….” The horse prances to a spot the bandit finally able to bring it to a stop.
Soon everyone manages to get their horses back under control. Echo looks down at the ground, a strange green fog lightly covering the ground only a few centimeters high. He sighs in relief reassuring the group that everything would be alright. “It was just the refuse. We must be near the heart of it.”
Angel looks down fearfully at the refuse beneath her horse’s feet not happy to learn that the creepy sound had come from it. “The ground!?”
Hitsumi moves his horse forward wanting to find the end of this area as soon as possible. “Come on, let’s keep going…”
The group continues pushing forward for a little longer, the sky growing darker as two more hours pass by, the princess beginning to get tired the longer the journey progressed. She looks around her for any sign that the refuse might be coming to an end, soon managing to spot something far off in the distance, the figure of a strange animal laying upon the ground barely seen through the darkness.
The princess stares at it curiously, although it was quite far from them she couldn’t help but feel the animal was watching her. She turns back to the others asking them about it. “What is that animal…?”
Echo looks a little confused, knowing well that most animals would face the same fate as humans if they tried to cross the refuse. “Animal?”
Hitsumi brings his horse to a stop a frightened look filling his face, the bandit questioning the princess afraid to look back. “Is it on top off the Refuse?”
Angel squints her eyes as she tries to get a closer look at the animal, the creature pushing itself to its feet and beginning to walk in their direction. The animal’s size noticeable now that it was standing, the creature a little larger then the horses they were all riding. “It’s hard to tell from here… I think it might be on it. It’s just right over there. Maybe it’s walking on some rocks or something….”
Echo seems a little confused. “Even if it was on top of something, how was it able to cross the refuse to reach it?”
Hitsumi turns back spotting the creature the other two were seeing. “Run…”
Angel turns back to Hitsumi not really liking the tone in his voice. “What?”
Hitsumi yells to them as the creature begins to pick up speed running in their direction. “RUN!”
Echo and Angel immediately bring their horses into a run, Hitsumi following them soon after. The creature that approached them roaring a horrible bellow as it begins to pick up speed and pursue them.
Angel looks back at the creature. “What is that thing!?”
Hitsumi doesn’t bother looking back, the bandit franticly looking for an end to the refuse knowing it was impossible for them to fight it when they were unable to touch the ground. “What do you think it is!? It’s a demon!”
Angel turns away from it back at Hitsumi. “But aren’t demons more human looking then that!? They’re supposed to have features of both and animal and human combined… that one looks like an animal, it’s even running on all fours.”
Echo watches fearfully as the animal continues to gain ground on them. “As soon as it catches up I’m sure you’ll find the features you’re looking for.”
Angel worriedly question Echo. “Catches up!?” She looks back to find the creature rapidly approaching them. The princess panicking as she urges her horse to run faster.
*******
A young wizard dressed in black is standing in the middle of a massacred city, bodies of both humans and demons filling the ground. A white wizard the same age and size as him stands next to him as if waiting for something to happen, the two of them looking no older then the age of ten.
The wizard in black lifts his hand up into the air, one of the dead bodies that littered the ground reacting and slowly starting to lift itself off of ground. The wizard in black drops his arms back to his side, the body falling back to the ground as the wizard turns away from it covering his face.
The white wizard turns from the body as he looks back the other wizard, questioning him on why he had stopped. “What is wrong Cry?”
Cry lowers his head closing his eyes. “I cannot do it…”
His companion looks back to the body not quite understanding his friend. “Why not?” He turns back to Cry. “It should be easy for you.”
Cry shakes his head no, he knowing that despite what the other wizard was telling him it was something he could not do. “I cannot stand it… I cannot stand the smell of death… it is so strong in this city…” He holds his hand over his mouth falling down to his knees. “I think I am going to throw up… I cannot stand the smell of the dead…”
The white wizard looks away from him lifting his head and smelling the air around him, the stench though powerful was obviously not effecting him in the same way it was Cry. “Well… I suppose it does smell terrible, but why is that stopping you?”
Cry closes his eyes the stench growing more fowl with each passing second. “This smell… it replaced the scent of my father and my brothers… I hate it…”
The white wizard closes his eyes now understanding why it was causing his companion so much trouble. “Cry…” He turns back to the dead body explaining the situation despite understanding how Cry was feeling. “It is something you are going to have to become used to… you control the bodies of the dead remember? If you cannot do that because of the smell then you will become useless…” He turns back to cry to question him. “If you become useless… then what are you supposed to do?”
Cry hangs his head even lower knowing that the other wizard was right, if this was not something he could do then he really would become useless.
The young wizard in white smiles down at Cry as he begins trying to encourage his companion, this spell one he should be able to do if he could only get past the smell that bothered him so much. “You promised your father and all of your brothers that you would protect me in your their place did you not? If you wish to accomplish such a difficult task as that then you must be powerful.”
Cry nods his head remembering well the vow he had made to his family, he looks back at the body but despite how much he wanted to, could not bring himself to bring his hands from his face, the stench unbearable. “I cannot… I cannot control them… I am sorry… the smell is too strong…”
The white wizard watches him willing to stand by his side until it was something he was able to do. “You have to get used to it… it was a scent I hated as well when I first encountered it… but it has been around us so much that it has become a smell I have become used to by now. It does not bother me any longer.”
Cry shakes his head knowing well he could never be as strong as his companion was to such things. “I will never get used to it…”
A deep yet gentle voice interrupted the two young wizards. “He is right… if you cannot stand the smell of the very components to your abilities then you are useless.”
The two young wizards look back towards the voice spotting an old wizard standing behind them, both of the children lighting up when they see him. “Master!”
The old wizard known far and wide by the name of Seclude smiles down at his students as he walks up to Cry knelling down next to him. “The stench of war is not something that will ever disappear… this is something you must come to understand Cry.”
Cry looks away from his master. “But… I do not like it… and I cannot become used to it, I-”
Seclude hands Cry a small branch of lilacs before the young wizard can finish explaining. Cry stopping to look the flowers over timidly before taking them from his masters hands, the older wizard begins to speak to him. “If you do not like the smell then mask it with the smell of something you like. You will be fighting in many wars in your life time and as consequence you will be surrounded by death and the stench that comes with it, you cannot stop fighting because of it. You must do your best to overcome or work around such obstacles. Let nothing stand in your way of gaining the peak of your power.”
The young wizard in white frowns bitterly, their master always seeming to do things this way when it came to dealing with Cry. “You are too soft on her…”
Seclude frowns as he turns from Cry to the other wizard, grabbing his other student in a headlock the surprised youngster, the young wizard struggling to get away as his master began to lecture him. “Do not tell me how train my own students, everyone learns things differently so everyone must be taught differently.”
The white wizard angrily tries to pull free of Seclude’s grip. “Let go of me!! Stupid old man!”
Seclude lets go of him the wizard flying back and running into and tripping over one of the bodies on the ground from trying to force himself out of Seclude’s hold. Seclude laughing as the young wizard begins his complaining. “What did you do that for you stupid old man?! Why do I have such an idiot as my master?!”
Seclude looks back at his complaining student with a smile. “We think alike, every day I must ask myself why I ever took in such an idiot runt as my student.”
The white wizard angrily jumps to his feet as he begins yelling back at his master. “RUNT! I AM NO RUNT! Everyone is always going on about how I’m the largest of my litter, and the humans are always saying that my human form is tall for my age! So how can I be a runt!?”
Cry begins to laugh as he watches his companion argue with his master. He stops smiling as he looks away from them and down towards the lilacs in his hand, the young wizard in black smiling and rubbing his face against them.
Lucifer slowly opens her eyes, the black panther’s whole body aching in pain, the wizard still in her animal form.
She tries to move but finds her body heavy, many locks and chains keeping her down in place. The panther refrains from moving her body as she tries to get a feel for her surroundings, the hooves and wheels of many horses and carriages meeting her ears, the clanking of armor from hundreds of guards ridding alongside the carriage also very noticeable.
Lucifer glances over at the guards in the carriage with her, trying her best to keep still and silent, unsure of what would happen to her if she were to move.
One of the guards is looking out the back of the carriage in the direction it they come from. “I’m surprised we were able to make it through the refuse so quickly…”
The second guards sighs as he turns towards the obvious rookie. “It’s because all the horses were at a full run the entire time, it’s best not to dawdle passing through the refuse, the demons have an unbelievable advantage in it. All they need to do is knock us to the ground and we’ll be eaten alive by the very earth.”
Another guard speaks up, although he was an experience soldier he too had found it rather strange. “Still… to have an army of two hundred royal soldiers go unnoticed by the demons? Isn’t that peculiar?”
The only knight in the carriage speaks up knowing the reason the demons did not bother attacking them. “The Princess of East is said to be in this area, they probably went after her.”
The rookie sighs to himself as he looks back at the panther in the carriage with them. “So many men to deliver a damn jewel and a wizard… are these things really that important?”
The second guard looks over at the rookie a little annoyed, he thinking that information like this should already be known. “If this jewel is not delivered on time the people within the west castle will parish. The barrier of magic that surrounds the castle is beginning to fade.” He looks towards a locked box in their possession. “This is the purest form of magic transformed into a crystallized form… it is what powers the barrier surrounding the castle, the one they have now is dying and it needs to be replaced with this one.”
The rookie still looks a little confused as to why they had to be the ones to deliver it. “If it’s so important why didn’t Siren take it with him? He went ahead of us in his animal form because he needed to reach the
The second guard makes a face, annoyed that he had to be the one to explain everything. “I already told you… this thing is magic transformed into a crystallized form. If a wizard were to touch this thing it would be absorbed into their body. Siren is unable to lay a finger on it.”
Lucifer growls as she begins to push herself up unable to stay still much longer, the chains binding her clanking against one another and alerting the guards, the soldiers quickly drawing their weapons to her.
The knight rises his voice to the bound animal, he giving her a warning. “It would be wise for you to stay asleep. You’ve been restrained rather well and if you do cause us any trouble we have been ordered to put you back in your place.”
The voice of a young girl interrupts the knight. “Why…?”
The knight turns away from Lucifer looking down at a young girl that was sleepily clinging onto his leg, the knight quickly giving her orders not wanting her to become involved with this. “Felicia go back to sleep! You said you wouldn’t get in the way if you came!”
The young girl gets to her feet walking away from the knight and over to Lucifer kneeling down next to her. “Father, why is she tied down like this… did she do something bad?”
The knight nods his head. “Yes! Now go back to sleep! You’re causing trouble again!”
The young girl lifts her hand to Lucifer patting her on the head. “But doesn’t all of this hurt her?”
The knight shakes his head. “No! It just keeps her from hurting us! He kneels down picking the child up pulling her away from Lucifer. “Now leave it be! You promised that if I let you come along with me that you wouldn’t cause trouble! And right now you’re causing lots of trouble!” He sets her back to the side of the carriage. “Now go back to sleep.”
The girl looks back over at Lucifer smiling and waving to her, the knight raising his voice to her. “Felicia!”
The girls stubbornly turns away from Lucifer curling up and looking up at her father annoyed unwilling to go back to sleep. “She doesn’t seem bad to me…”
*******
Hitsumi and the others continue to run their horses as fast as they are able to go, the horses not protesting, the animals aware of what would happen to them if the creature were to catch them.
Echo looks back at the demon, the creature still gaining ground to them. “How are we supposed to slow this thing down? We can’t fight it while we’re on the refuse!”
Hitsumi shakes his head unable to think of a way they could possibly do that. “We can’t slow it down! We just have to keep going until we reach the end.”
There is a scream as the demon falls to the ground, Hitsumi looks back to see the demon trying to get back to its feet, an arrow having been shot into one of its back legs.
Hitsumi’s eyes widen the bandit knowing immediately who had fired that attack at the demon. “Li…”
Li draws her bowstring back ready to fire another arrow as her horse ran at full speed towards the demon. She glances over at her companions a little angered to find they were still crossing the refuse. “What the hell are they still doing here!? You’re supposed to run through the refuse without stopping! How could you have not at least known that!?”
She fires the arrow again hitting and forcing the demon to the ground, Li’s horse soon catching up to and sprinting to the side to avoid the demon and dash past it, the demon leaping towards her as soon as she is close enough, Li firing an arrow into its face and causing it to scream and fall to the ground once again.
Angel looks back smiling in relief when she sees that Li was managing to slow the demon that was chasing them down. “Li!? Where did Li come from!?”
Echo looks back also smiling when he sees her. “It didn’t take her long at all to catch up with us.”
Hitsumi looks back at the other two, he not near as happy at the others were over Li’s arrival, Hitsumi being the only one that seemed to understand the danger Li was putting herself in. “You said her horse wouldn’t come to her!”
Echo looks back at Hitsumi insisting that he had not given him any fault information. “I didn’t think it would!” He looks back at Li. “Though right now I have to admit that I am glad that it did.”
Li looks back over her shoulder at the demon, the creature already on its feet once more and giving chase again. Li lifts herself up managing to turn herself around and seat herself so that she was seated and facing the creature behind her, Li lifting her bow and arrow and again and shooting the demon in its front leg the demon stumbling and crashing to the ground, falling back father from the group.
The demon doesn’t stay down long as it gets back up and continues giving chase.
Li frowns as she readies her bow to attack the demon again. “It doesn’t take long for him to recover does it?” She fires another arrow at it hitting it in the chest, this attack not slowing it down as effectively as the others she had hit it with. She fires again hitting its leg and causing it to stumble slightly, Li’s attacks affecting it less and less as she continues to use them.
Li glares at the demon angrily as she starts yelling to Hitsumi. “Hitsumi, I’m not doing enough damage here!”
Hitsumi looks back at Li barking orders despite him not wanting Li to be there. “Just keep it away from us!”
Li fires again but before the arrow hits it the demon leaps into the air, jumps through the night sky towards them.
Li gasps as she quickly aims at the demon rapidly falling towards her. “Shit!!” She quickly fires another arrow at it, hitting it and causing it fall to the ground just behind them, the demon again getting up to its feet to continue it’s chase, Li preparing to fire again as she yells to Hitsumi announcing her new found information. “It jumps.”
Angel screams back at Li having had her eyes glued on the demon and Li the entire time. “I noticed!”
The demon again leaps into the air, this time jumping over Li and landing in front of group, bringing the chase to an abrupt stop. Li quickly turns around seating herself properly in her saddle and preparing to fire another arrow it at.
Angel’s horse whinnies in fear as it quickly begins backing away from the demon in an attempt to get away from it, bumping into Li’s horse and causing Li to let go of and drop her weapon as she grabs onto her horses neck to prevent herself from falling onto the refuse below them.
The demon roars loudly as it stands upon its hind legs in a threatening manner, revealing another human face hidden with a mane covering its stomach. Angel stares at the second face in shock while her horse tries to back further away.
Hitsumi pulls out his sword and slices at the demon causing it to jump back from them.
Echo quickly turns around, reaching toward the ground to gather Li’s bow, throwing it back to her Li once it was in his possession, Li catching it and quickly firing another arrow hitting the demon directly in one of the eyes of the human face it had hidden within its mane.
It demon roars loudly in pain as it begins wildly swinging its body back and forth, its loud bellowing and sudden movement scaring Angel’s horse and causing it to rear onto its hind legs, the horse loosing it’s balance falling back to the ground with Angel still on its back, the princess screaming loudly in terror.
Hitsumi quickly turns back to her forcing his horse to run back to try and help her. “ANGEL!!”
*******
The collection of carriages being accompanied by several hundred knights and guards is forced to a stop, a small group of royal guards standing in its path and preventing it from continuing.
The hooded knight leading the group that had brought the army to a stop approaches the large collection of knights as he began speaking with them. “Who is the one leading this expedition?”
A rather large knight of high ranking walks his horse towards the other knight he a little angered that their travel had been so suddenly delayed. “What is the meaning of this?”
The hooded knight points towards the collection of knights and wagons behind him. “We have been ordered to take care of the package from this point on.”
The knight leading the brigade narrows his eyes having not been told of something like this before hand. “Whose orders are these? I was never informed of such a replacement taking place.”
The hooded knight smiles at the knight’s leader sinisterly. “They are the orders given to me by a very important figure.”
The leader turns back to his knights when he hears several of them being to yell, as growls and hissing sounding begin to rise as dozens of demons start to surround the collection of soldiers and carriages, the hooded knight smiling at them as he continued. “These are orders given to us by Lord Yami himself.”
The hooded knight lifts his sword into the air, his small collection of knights and the large of group of demons that followed under him all moving forward and attacking the knights that guarded the carriage.
*******
Hitsumi quickly reaches down grabbing onto Angel before her horse falls with her, forcefully pulling her away from the animal and onto the back of his own horse, the animal that Angel had been on hitting the ground and screaming out in pain as it’s skin starts to tear off of its body in small chunks, the ground starting to devour the flesh that had fallen upon it, the horse screaming as it struggled to get back to it’s feet, and whispers from the ground filling the air as the refuse continues to eat away at the horse’s flesh.
Li runs her horse next to Angels quickly reaching down towards it. “Shit!” She grabs onto the fallen horse’s harness forcefully pulling and trying to get the animal back onto its feet, the horse screaming and kicking its legs in pain almost pulling Li down with her, Li continuing to try and pull it back on it’s feet. “GET UP!!”
Echo worriedly watches Li unsure of what he was supposed to do to help. “Li be careful! Don’t let it put you down with her!”
Li clenches her teeth as she forcefully pulls Angel’s horse back onto its feet, the horse rearing as it screams and kicks in pain, its fresh wounds stinging as they bleed. Li tries to hold the animal down to keep it from rearing and bringing itself to the ground again. “Easy! Easy!”
Hitsumi holds on tightly to the princess who is now seated in front of him on top of his horse. “Li! Leave it! It’s just going to pull you to the ground! We have to get out of here!”
Echo watches as the demon finishes wielding its body in pain and turns back in their direction, the wizard quickly turning back to Li and informing her of this development. “We don’t have time to deal with the horse right now! The demon’s ready to attack again!”
Li turns to Hitsumi. “The demon’s are after the princess! Run and it will chase you giving me and Echo time to attack!”
Li tries to prepare to fire another arrow but Angel’s horse is too frantic and pulls Li’s arm back in her crazed movements. Li’s horse turns back to Angel’s biting at it not happy that it was putting both it and it’s rider in danger. Angel’s horse calming down enough to let Li fire another arrow at the demon just as it’s about to attack after recovering, causing it to twist and scream in pain again.
Hitsumi narrows his eyes as looks back at Li. “You had better have a good plan.” His horse rushes forwards carrying both him and the princess with him on its back, the demon quickly turning from Li and Echo and going after Hitsumi and Angel instead.
Li turns back to Echo explaining the plan. “Echo hit the demon with quick attacks if it gets too close to Hitsumi and the princess. Keep it away from them until I get back!” She begins to gather the other horse’s harness trying to keep the frantic animal under control.
Echo nodes his head his staff manifesting in his hands as he lifts it in front of him preparing to do what he was told. “Yes.” He stops suddenly as he turns back to Li. “Wait where are you going!?”
Li looks behind her. “The end to the refuse is not far from this point, I can’t attack until I take this animal somewhere where it will feel more safe.”
Echo nods his head as he turns back to Angel and Hitsumi. “Yes!”
The horse Li is holding onto still won’t settle down the pain too much for it, Li having trouble getting the animal to cooperate. “Easy girl! Calm down!”
Echo nervously looks back at Li. “Careful! Don’t let her knock you off!”
Li forces Angels horse back to its feet when it again tries to rear turning back to Echo before leaving. “Just cast the damn spell!”
Echo nods his head as he looks back at his target ready to attack it if it got too close to Hitsumi and the princess while Li’s horse dashes forward Li dragging Angel’s horse with her. Echo nervously watches as the demon begins gaining ground. “Wait! Li they’re going too far for me to see!”
Hitsumi dodges an attack from the demon as it slashes at them once it has caught up, Hitsumi nervously glancing back at it. “I can’t keep this up! What the hell are Li and Echo doing!?”
The princess looks back not able to spot Li or Echo anywhere, the two far from them, Angel panicking as she quickly grabs onto the reigns of Hitsumi’s horse, pulling and forcing it to sharply turn the left, the demon running past and almost trampling them.
Hitsumi tries to takes the reigns back from Angel as the princess tries to turn the horse around. “What are you doing!? You’re going to get us killed!”
Angel looks back to Hitsumi explaining her actions to him. “Hitsumi you have to stay in Echo’s rang of sight!! He can’t help us if we go too far!”
Hitsumi breaks his horse into a run once again, the horse running back towards the wizard. “Echo’s range of sight? I thought that Echo could see really far!”
Angel looks back to Hitsumi. “Most of the time yes, but he’s still a child! It’s hard for him to concentrate in a situation like this!”
The demon quickly turns around giving chance one again as it desperately tried to catch up with them. Hitsumi looking back at it nervously as he watches it begin to gain ground. “What is Echo’s range? He can see further then us can’t he!? Maybe not as well as he usually can but how much further do you think?”
There is a sudden shaking a the ground splits a large shard of earth quickly rising in front of the demon causing it to crash through it and topple painfully to the ground. Angel watches as the demon shakes its head a little dizzy from running head first into a large rock. “That’s probably about Echo’s range of sight…”
The demon braces its body leaping into the air and landing in front of Hitsumi’s horse, Hitsumi forcing his horse to skid to a stop and quickly cut to the side to avoid getting hit by the creature’s claws, the demon roaring as it again chases after them.
Angel looks behind her watching the demon the entire time. “Hitsumi it’s getting closer!”
The demon jumps landing in front of them once more, Hitsumi again turning his horse sharply and going back in the direction he had come from, he now zig zagging his horse back and forth so he could stay ahead of the demon and staying inside Echo’s range as the young wizard occasionally hit the demon by raising heavy shards of rock from the ground.
The demon again jumps landing in front of Hitsumi’s horse, though this time instead of attacking to roars loudly spooking the horse and causing it to rear in fright. The demon pounces forward to bring the animal to the ground while the horse was rearing with Hitsumi unable to move it.
Before the demon can dig its claws the horse and its riders, Li’s horse rams its body into the demon’s side forcing it back and away from them.
Li pulls her dagger from her side lifting it above her and stabbing it into the demon’s open jaw. The demon shrieking in pain as it pulls back from Li shaking its head wildly in pain.
Hitsumi manages to get his steed back under control, turning it around and running away to keep the princess out of the demon’s reach.
The demon now targets Li, running towards her with its fangs bared, Li’s horse quickly backing out of the way of it’s jaws and lunging forward ramming its body into the side of the demon once more, biting into and rearing as it slammed it front hooves down upon the demon head and stomping and bringing it into the ground, the horse once again backing away from it, the animal that Li rode panting heavily from its running and attacking, the horse well prepared to attack it again if the demon came to close to her and her master.
Li pats her horse on the neck in praise as she watches the demon slowly get back to its feet. “Don’t let me died here…”
The demon again charges towards her, Li slicing at it with her dagger and cutting the demon’s face the demon this time not reeling back in pain as it continues to force itself forward, this time managing to dig its teeth into Li’s shoulder pulling her from her horse and tossing her body to the ground.
Angel screams when she sees this worriedly calling out to her companion. “LI!”
Li’s body roughly hits the ground, Li tightly shutting her eyes in pain, her body in no condition for this kind of abuse. She slowly pushes herself off of the ground holding her stomach in pain as she begins coughing up blood.
The demon lunges towards Li to attack her while she is on the ground Li’s horse charging and hitting it in the side knocking it down to the ground, the demon turning from Li and attacking her horse instead.
Li looks down at the refuse below her, her breathing becoming shaky when she realizes that the refuse is causing her no pain at all, it not eating her flesh as it should.
Angel stares at Li in shock. “Why… why isn’t she dead?”
Hitsumi calls out to Li. “Li! Are you alright!?”
Li’s horse lets out a scream of pain, Li turning back to it to find the demon’s jaw clamped onto the horse’s neck. Li quickly get up to her feet running up to the demon whipping the blood from her face and grabbing onto the demons neck with her bloody palm strange whispers filling air as the blood on her hand lifts off of her body and slices through the demon’s neck just as easily as it has sliced through the deck of the ship, the demon’s body falling limp as it comes crashing to the to the ground.
Li turns back to her horse ripping the jaws of the demons head open and pulling the demon’s head from her horse’s neck. Li’s horse rearing once more before deciding to stay still enough for Li to mount it once again, Li slowly pulling herself back onto the animals back hardly having the strength to get back onto it.
Hitsumi walks his horse back over Li a confused look on his face. He beginning to question her over what he had just witness. “How are you still alive? The refuse should have eaten you alive!”
Angel looks back at Hitsumi with a frown she not thinking that it was that bad a thing, it actually being a good thing for them as it had allowed Li to live through the ordeal. “Who cares? She’s alive isn’t she!? That’s all that matters right now.”
Li sighs in relief once she is back on her horse, though the refuse had not hurt her when she had touched it, it was still fearful to stop foot on.
Her horse lets out a pitiful whinny of pain from the fresh wounds on her neck.
Li leans forward onto the animal she rode, she tightly clinging onto the horse’s neck, Li in too much pain to even continue sitting up anymore.
Echo rides his pony up to the others the wizard staring over at Li, his voice raised in an angered and demanding tone as he begins to question her. “What kind of attack was that!?”
Everyone turns towards Echo a little surprised by the attitude he right now had, the wizard ignoring them as he continued to question Li. “First you walk on top of the water, then the refuse doesn’t devour you, and then you use an attack that cuts a demon in half in not even a second!?” His voice raises even louder. “Just what the hell are you!?”
Li forces herself up as she turns her horse around and begins walking it in the direction she knew the end of the refuse to be. “I’m a half-breed…”
Angel looks down at Echo having expected something like this from Li for a long time now. “Don’t bother her too much over it… it doesn’t matter what she is… all that maters is that she’s on our side and is willingly aiding us.”
Echo looks back at Li knowing that he could not continue to so casually push the subject to the side any longer, the many things that Li had been doing were beginning to add up, and the answer to the equation was not equaling into anything good.
*******
Screams of battle fill the air as the knights accompanying the carriage fight desperately against the demons and the men that had sided with them. The followers of the royalty getting slaughtered by their adversaries brute strength.
Felicia watches the battle from inside the carriage her whole body shaking in fear. She turns away running up to the chained wildcat grabbing hold of and pulling at the chains trying to get them off. “You have to help them!”
The two are forcefully thrown to the side when something hits the carriage throwing it onto its side.
Lucifer growls angrily as she tries to free herself of the chains, the bindings causing her more trouble now than they ever had before. The wild cat lets out an angered yowl as it continues to pull against her restraints, the animal unfortunately unable to free herself from their grip.
Felicia tries to get back to her feet, her whole body acing in pain from being thrown over, the small child not used to this type of abuse.
“Felicia!!”
Felicia turns in the direction she had heard her father’s voice. “Dad!”
The knight who had been in the carriage before quickly makes his way through the entrance, a relived look filling his face when he sees that his daughter is okay. His relief lasts for only a moment as he quickly gets back to business digging through the carriage in search for something and soon finding a wooden case, the knight opening it to find a crystal of a strange ever-changing colour inside it.
He closes the case once more and turns back to his daughter. “Felicia listen to me carefully.” He hands the box with the crystal inside over to her. “Take this and get out of here! Don’t let anyone take it from you and don’t leave without it! This is a very, very important tool that the royalty needs.”
Felicia worriedly looks up at her father uncomfortable with the shaky tone in his voice. “Dad…”
The knight makes his way past his daughter stopping in front of Lucifer pulling a key from his side as he begins unlocking the shackles that bound the wizard in place. “You listen to me! You’re a demon hunter so you should be able to protect her without a problem. I don’t know what you’ve done to anger Siren but right now I don’t care. I’m sure you know as well as I do how important is if for us to deliver this stone! You can’t carry it on your own so she will carry it for you. Protect her with your life!”
He releases the last lock Lucifer pulling free of the chains, the large wildcat leaping and pushing past him away from the restraints, the panther standing still in the carriage for only a moment as she shook her body to relive her tense muscles before bounding out of the carriage to join the battle, the knight calling after her. “Hey!! Didn’t you hear me!?”
Lucifer snarls as she begins hissing at the demons hatefully, the demons quickly backing away from her as soon as they hear her threat, all of them knowing the type of opponent she was.
The largest of the demons eyes her fearfully unwilling to get too close to her. “The black demon hunter…”
Lucifer growls at the demons as the creatures begin to back away from her, none of them wanted to chance fighting her, all of them knowing that if they were to try they would be killed.
The hooded knight who had commanded the demons to attack walks ahead of them when he sees that they have stopped attacking, the knight pointing his sword towards the panther before them. “What are you doing!? Just kill it!”
The leader of the demons shakes its head too scared to even think of getting into a battle with that wizard. “Lucifer is too powerful… she will kill us all!”
Lucifer rushes forward attacking a demon near her and mauling to the ground ripping it apart and quickly killing it, the panther soon turning towards another when she’s done, attacking that it just as swiftly as she had done the other.
The hooded knight narrows his eyes as he watches the scene “A demon hunter hu…?” He charges his horse towards Lucifer swinging his sword down to attack her, the blade of his sword slicing through her back leg and bringing her full attention to him. Lucifer quickly turning around and attacking the knight’s steed bringing him and his horse crashing to the ground.
The knight quickly pulls himself to his feet, lifting and swinging his sword to stop the panthers next attack up him, forcing the panther to several steps back from him before rushing forward to try and attacking him again.
Lucifer pounces biting into his arm and throwing him to the ground, and animal quickly jumping back when the knight swings his sword at her once again. The panther attacking once again as soon as she is given another opening, the knight forcing her back once again by swinging his sword at her.
The hooded knight does not look very amused with the creature, the quick wildcat a difficult opponent. “You’re a real pain do you know that?”
The hooded knight’s eyes leave Lucifer for a moment when spotting a young girl leave the carriage they had attacked, the child trying to run away as quickly she could from the scene with the case clutched tightly in her arms.
The hooded knight quickly turns from Lucifer running towards and attacking the small girl before she could leave, Felicia looking back and spotting his advance, she managing to step back out of the way of the blade that was swing down at her, tripping over her footing from being forced to react so quickly and falling to the ground, the young girl dropping the case she had been clutching onto and holding her hands over her head in fear.
The knight reaches towards the case that Felicia had dropped, the black panther that the hooded knight had turned from attacking and biting his arm, digging her teeth through his armor and into his flesh.
The knight screams out in pain as he takes his sword stabbing the panther and skewering through her front leg, the blade forcefully stabbing into the ground underneath her, the blade holding the wild cat in place.
The knight steps back holding his hand over the wound on his arm painfully, the knight turns back to the case to find that the young girl had already picked it up again. The knight narrows his eyes in no mood to deal with small children at the moment.
He grabs onto the front of her shirt lifting the young girl into the air holding his hand out to her. “Give it to me!”
The panthers yowls of pain are replaced with the screams of a human, the knight quickly turning back to see Lucifer now in her human, the wizard grabbing onto the sword and pulling it free from his arm, releasing himself of the blade that was painfully keeping him in place.
The wizard throws the blood filled blade to the ground as he angrily pushes himself to his feet.
The knight worriedly watches Lucifer haven not expected that the animal was a member of that race. “A wizard!?” He throws the girl to the ground, the girl letting go of and dropping the box when her body hits the ground, the hooded knight grabbing the box from the ground and holding it within his hand.
The hooded knight quickly begins barking orders at his knights. “Attack the wizard before he is able to cast his spells!”
None of his knights or the demons that followed under him move forward to obey his commands, the knight turning to see that his knights and the demons were all unable to move because their shadows had lifted from the ground and wrapped around them preventing them from moving and keeping them in place. The knight quickly turns back to the wizard this obviously his doing. “He’s already used a spell that quickly?”
The hooded knight pulls the arm that clutched onto box the girl had dropped, he then quickly swinging it at the wizard and letting go, throwing the small wooden box and hitting Lucifer in the face with it, Lucifer screaming in pain as he holds onto his face, blood beginning to trickle down his skin from one of the corners of the box cutting into him, his attack and hold on his attackers disappearing as the shadows returned to the earth.
The hooded knight charges towards the wizard to attack again, Lucifer panicking and changing back into his animal form, the wildcat quickly dashing out of the path of the knight’s attack, the animal snarling as it regained its composure, threatening to attack him again.
The young girl painfully pushes her body from the ground opening her eyes as she rapidly starts searching around her, she soon spotting the box she had been looking for and running over to it, picking it up clutching onto it as she held it tightly against her body.
The panther turns from her opponent running towards the girl as quickly as it possibly could, the animal snapping onto the back of her clothes with its jaws, lifting her off of the ground and quickly running through the demons and knights, pushing her way past them and into the forest that surrounded them, disappearing out of sight.
The knight takes the hood from his head revealing himself to be a man with black haired brown eyes, the knight turning back towards the men and creatures that followed under him. “Find them!! Bring them back here at once! We need that stone!”
One of the knights calls over to him getting his attention. “Akito sir… the stone is still here.”
The knight looks back at the knight that had spoken up, his eyes soon falling to the ground to where the other was pointing, the stone laying not far from where he had struck the wizard with the case that held it.
He makes his way over to it picking it up and looking it over before putting it safely within a pack at his side, he then turning back to his knights. “Find them! Our mission is complete but they still saw our faces! If they tell the royalty of us we’ll be killed!”
*******
Lucifer is limping badly from her wounds a trail of blood being left behind her. The large jungle cat falls to the ground panting heavily for breath, unable to continue on in the condition that she was in.
The little girl gets back to her feet walking away from the panthers head and kneeling down across from her, opening the box and looking inside, a horrified whimper escaping her lips when she finds there is nothing inside. “It’s gone… I lost it…”
The girl drops the empty box she had been holding as she covers her face with her hands beginning to cry loudly. “I lost it…”
