Season of the Fur
By JJN
Chapter 1: The Fall of the Cruentus Kingdom
"They went that way! Don't let them escape!"
Came the yelling of a troop of frogs and toads. A black furred bull with white horns pushed part of the wall to the side. He was in a room with some wounded soldiers and some of the servants.
"In here."
He whimpered. The group piled into the hole in the wall just as the frogs and toads began to bust the door. A little pig girl tripped as the door splintered open. The black bull grabbed up the girl and dove into the hole. On the other side he stood up and pointed,
"Go, keep running down this passageway, it will take you all to the edge of town. I will hold them off here."
He set the girl down and she ran over to her parents, she looked back at him,
"What about you Oxus?"
Oxus turned his back to the group and withdrew his polearm,
"Don't worry about me, I'm a 1st Class Royal Elite Guard."
The group raced off down the passage way, the sound of metal on metal rang in the room, cries then silence.
Oxus Tauri wiped off the blade on the top of his polearm. He set the weapon on its straps on his back. He looked back to where the group of animals ran down then he looked back into the castle. He clentched his fists, he was mad. How could the Reptile Imperiam gain a foothold in the kingdom. The Cruentus kingdom had been fighting a stailmate with the Imperium for years. Oxus snorted, blood stained his iron armor. He took a step back into the castle then shook his head. Then a thought came through,
"I need to go and get the princess."
He pulled the wall over the passage hole and ran down the other way. The passage was an old escape tunnel, it was connected to the king, queen and princess's room.
In the throneroom, ten mamals knelt, tied up, heads down. Behind each one was a frog, toad and lizzard. The mamals constisted of male and female foxes and wolves. In walked an old light green crocodile. He wore different patchy pieces of armor. His sword at his side. He spoke in a grizzled evil voice,
"Is this all the 1st Class Royal Elite Guards?"
One of the toads met up with the croc,
"Sir, there's one missing."
The old croc snarled then calmed himself,
"No matter, what's one guard."
The croc turned and waved for to the lizzards at the door,
"Let them in."
The throneroom doors opened and some aligator's brought in a turquoise tigers dressed in royal clothes, it was king and queen Crimson. The croc snarled again,
"Where is the princess?"
The Gator stood straight and spoke,
"She wasnt in her room General Crocker."
The General seemed pissed then he pushed it aside,
"Have to do everything myself, later. Get the king and queen set up in front of the Royal Guards."
The gators pushed the king and queen in front of the guards then kicked the back of their legs to force them down on there knees. General Crocker walked in front of the king,
"Seems your kingdom is ours finaly."
The king didnt say a word, he wanted to stay strong. Richard turned to the Royal Guards, he took out his sword, which was jagged and warped slightly.
"Watch as I kill that which you had sworm your lives to protect."
He gave a toothie grin, he had done this before, it was fun to see the full rage of the guards before they died as well. The croc grabbed King Crimson's hair and jerked his head up.
"Watch my face when I kill you."
Richard slowly pushed his sword into the turquoise tiger, noise of the blade slowly going in and out of the tiger echoed in the throne room. During this the king didnt make a noise, which dissapointed the General. The tip of the sword hadn't even come out the back when he quickly pulled it out.
"Standing strong huh, well how about this?"
His movements were fast as he slit the throat of Queen Crimson, her dress quickly turning red as she died. Richard looked over to the king, his eyes watered.
"That's what I like to see. Feel the pain of everything."
The king looked to Richard,
"Your not going to get away with this."
The General turned his back to the king, he signaled his troops and they cut off the 1st class royal elite guards heads. He turned back around to see the full on rage from the king. Richard began to walk away and the troops followed him. The king was left with the bodies of his subjects and his dear wife. He was gravely wounded as well. The throne room was empty.
Princess Zofie Crimson was being dragged by her personal guard, Oxus Tauri, down the halls of her castle. Her pink dress was ripped and torn. Her fur color was the same as her father and mother, turquoise. Zofie was breathing heavily as she tried to keep up with the black bull. They ran by the throne room and Zofie stopped, she saw her father and her mother.
"Oxus hold, look!"
Oxus stopped and the both of them walked into the throne room. The bull let go of the turquoise tiger and she ran to her dad, she knelt in a pool of his blood.
"Father?"
Oxus watched the doorway as the princess spoke with her father.
"Are you ok?"
King Crimson opened his eyes, seeing his daughter.
"Zofie? You must run away, hide yourself. Our.."
He took a deep breath, blood spilling from his maw. He continued,
"Our kingdom has fallen. Save yourself."
King Crimson looked to Oxus,
"Oxus, you are the last of the 1st class royal elite guards. Protect my daughter with all your might. Take her to my brother's kingdom, take Zofie to Immunda. She will be safe there."
The king huffed, his royal robes drenched in blood. Zofie looked over to her mother and began to cry. Oxus snorted as he heard some frogs, he walked over to Zofie,
"We need to go now, princess."
He grabbed Zofie, she struggled against him. He grunted and put her over his shoulder then walked to the door. The King clutched his royal emblem tightly then breathed his last breath as Oxus and Zofie ran out of the room.
Chapter 2: Enter the Mage and Assassin
About five days later in the woods surrounding the kingdom of Cruentus, on a worn dirt path, walked two figures; one in black robes, his tail and ears stuck out with the color of light blue, he was clearly a wolf. The other was a feline, a black cat clad in black leather. She had two dagger crossed just above her ass.
"Did you see this new bounty post, 50k gold for the capture of Princess Crimson and a 1st class royal elite guard. The Reptile Imperium must be desprate to find these two."
The black cat said, her ears perked slightly, her voice innocent sounding. The wolf pulled up his hood slightly and he looked to her,
"The reward is tempting, but I don't feel like betraying our kind. That's what they want, the Imperium posts a huge reward to see how greedy we could be. Its a joke."
He spoke in a chilling voice, you could see his breath when he talked even though it was a nice warm day.
"John, that last bounty we did was good enough to get us a nice room at an inn and some food. We are low on cash."
John Wolfen ignored his sister's whining as they walked. The wolf perked his ears up as he heard trouble up the road. Bandits were attacking two hooded travelers. John nodded for his sister, the black cat, to head into the bushes to flank them as he walked up the road. The wolf lowered his hood as he got closer. The bandits were mangey wolves, black and grey. There was about ten of them, ten vs two thats not fair. John continued, he got close enough for the wolves to notice him. One snarled at him,
"Woah, hey there another hooded traveler. He must be loaded as well."
The one that spoke motioned for two of his friends to get around John. John let out a huff of cold breath, the wolves notices.
"Hey, its like hot here and your breathing cold air. What's up with that?"
The wolves on each side of John got uncomfortable close and John began to mummble something under his cold breath, ice began to form from under his robe and froze the wolves feet then began to rise up their bodies.
"HEY HEY! WHAT IS THIS!"
They both yelled, making the other seven turn to see there friends turned into wolf popsicals. John grinned under his hood, quickly pulling out his two handed staff from under his robe and swinging it at the left frozen wolf, shattering the bandit, killing him instantly.
"ITS A FUCKING MAGE! GET HIM!"
John's sister May had come out of the bushes at this time and managed to slit two of the wolves throats before they noticed her.
"THERE'S ANOTHER! FUCK!"
The two hooded travelers backed off into the underbrush to get out of the battle. John smashed the other wolf as the ice began to melt into pools of blood and water. May Wolfen licked her lips as she spun the daggers in her paws then crossed her daggers together to block a sword. John blocked a sword as well with his staff. The surprise attack went well until the wolves began to fight back. May managed to kill off another wolf before another one had punched her in the face. She staggered slightly then got stabbed in the shoulder.
"AH! JOHN!"
She cried out, kicking the wolf away. She looked over to her brother, who was having troubles of his own.
John huffed, he was on the defensive and couldn't get a spell off as two wolves fought him at the same time. One had a scar on his left eye, he growled and snapped his maw at John, the mage forced him back far enough that he could pull off a spell. John put his paw up in the air, his palm aimed toward the wolf and out of his hand came a shard of ice. It nailed the wolf in the chest and pinned him to a tree. John caught his breath but was knocked down by the other wolf.
The two hooded travelers saw the people that were trying to help them failing.
"Oxus we have to help, they tried to save us."
"I'm not sure thats a good idea, we can't trust anyone.
"I'm ordering you to help Oxus!"
The big hooded figure snorted and threw off his cloak, revealing his shiney silver armor. The emblem of the Cruentus kindgom shined in the sun as the bull pulled free his polearm. He swung it around two times before bringing the blade to the dirt. He rushed into the battle. One of the wolves saw him comming but was cut down by the long reach of the polearm, cut in half. Oxus grabbed the wolf that was about to finish off May by the skull.
"Its the 1st class....Urk"
His skull was crushed under the might of Oxus's grip, the bull tossed his limp body to the side and helped up the cat.
"Could you please watch my companion?"
Oxus asked of the black cat, May nodded and clutched at her wound as she walked over to the hooded traveler.
John was laying against the a tree as two wolves aprouched him,
"Poor little wolfie mage. Heee."
The one closest to him got a spray of small sharp ice shards in his face, it happened to be the one with the scar on his left eye. He stumbled back, cring in pain,
"YOU LITTLE BASTERD!"
Unfortunatly John had messed up the spell, even if it had done what he wanted it to do, it backfired slightly and froze his right arm, John let out a yelp. The scar wolf grinned then turned as he heard his friend's death and saw the bull. He shook in fear then ran off as the black bull walked over. The bull snorted as he watched the wolf run off. He looked down to John and exstended his hand to him. John gave him his good arm and got up.
"Thanks."
"Are you going to be ok with that arm?"
John blinked and shivered. His arm stung from the cold.
"Did the spell wrong again, meh."
The bull turned back to his companion, he spoke over his shoulder,
"Your friend is hurt. I know some healing spells that might help, as a thanks for trying to help us."
John walked with the bull.
May was tending to her wound when John and the bull came back to them, she had just finished wrapping up her cut. She looked up to the big black bull,
"So your one of those Cruentus 1st class royal elites huh."
The bull grunted then nodded, he needed to change out his old armor for something not so odvious. John walked over to the hooded companion,
"That would mean that your companion is..."
He waved his arm over the other person and the hood flew off, revealing a turquoise tiger's face. Parts of her black hair were in her face as she looked at John and May.
The bull quickly got to the tiger's side, he took a fighting stance. John huffed a puff of cold air then turned his back to the tiger,
"Don't worry, even with the huge bounty on your heads I would never betray a fellow mammal."
The turquoise tiger pulled her hood back up then spoke,
"Could you please help us to my uncle's kingdom?"
May eyed the princess then looked to her brother,
"Would we get payed?"
The bull narrowed his eyes to the feline then the princess replied,
"My uncle will pay you two handsomely. By the way I'm Princess Zofie Crimson and this is Oxus Tauri."
Oxus bowed as he was introduced. John cleared his throat and shook the arm that was frozen. It was thawed out.
"Names John Wolfen, this is my sister May Wolfen. Where's your uncle's kingdom?"
Zofie got up, she looked toward the sky then motioned everyone to start walking again. May had bandaged herself up and was well. Everyone began to walk.
"My uncle's kingdom is near the borders of the Reptile Imperium. As much as it pains me to get near those butchers, I really need to get to him."
John shivered, that would mean going through a town he didn't want to be near ever again. Gambia, a slum of a town. Only way it survives is that its on the main road, it gets alot of travelers that loose there money in the gambling halls and whore houses. The four travelers left what was left of the Cruentus kingdom behind them and began to walk into the slummy town of Gambia.
Chapter 3: The Thief
John walked along with the others causiously, she was here but he didn't know where. About two years ago he joined up with a wolf that he had fallen in love with. But he had messed up a spell that hurt her and he didnt want to be around if something worse had happened. John ran off and became a bounty hunter and hopped he never had to come back to this town.
"John what's wrong?"
Zofie asked. Oxin blinked, it seemed to be darker in this town.
"We should find a place to rest for the night. How about that place?"
The black bull pointed to a tavern/inn called; Deadeye's Place. John hurried everyone to it.
Everyone was in there rooms. It was later in the night and John couldn't sleep. He came down into the tavern part of the inn. The wolf sat down at the bar counter and the bartender, who was a pig, turned.
"What'll have boss?"
John pulled his hood back and glanced at the pig, he let a breath out,
"Something to knock me out."
The pig turned back around, he mumbled something then came back up with a mug of something brown. He snorted and laughed,
"This should mess you up."
John narrowed his eyes, almost seeing a figure in the pig's eye. He spun around in the bar stool and was face to face with the orange wolf; Fayte de la Rosa. She grinned and ran her paw threw John's white hair, she wore the same thing she had on when he left her; tight black pants with hanging straps and a revealing blood red corrset with black lacing. Her hair was black as night with blue tips, four piercings shined on both her ears. They twitched slightly as she spoke, her voice kinda shurrish and pitched high.
"Well well, if it isn't my favorite wolf mage, John Wolfen."
She staggered a little, John looked down as she continued to talk,
"I don't get why you ran off without telling me. We made a great team."
John looked around the room, the pig bartender seemed to have run off. The light blue wolf lowered his head and spoke under his cold breath,
"I left because I was young and didn't have control over my spells."
The orange wolf frowned,
"I could have helped you train yourself. You forget I'm part mage as well."
John looked at the mug of liquid, there was a reason, he didnt want to tell her. He thought that everyone that got too close to him died, like he was cursed. Fayte gave a grin and sat next to the light blue wolf. She brushed her blue bangs out of her eyes,
"I missed you so much. Lets get aquanted in my room."
John blinked and blushed at what she had bluntly said to him. He liked her, the way she covered him while he was casting spells. Memories of when he and her used to hunt bounties together flowed back into his head. They had kissed once before after getting paid and it felt right. But John didn't want her to get too close to him so he left.
Fayte sat there watching John, she ran her soft paw on his leg. A chill ran up her spine as she touched his fur, she had forgotten that he was cold to the touch. Something drew her to him, she couldn't put her finger on it. Fayte grinned at John as he downed the drink and got up. Her tail waged and she got up off the chair and grabbed the wolf by the paw and dragged him to her room.
May Wolfen woke up in her room. She liked to double up with her brother, but he never came back. She began to pack up her stuff, when she was finished she opened the wooden door and walked out into the hallway. The black feline walked down to the room where Oxus and Zofie were staying and she knocked on the door. Oxus opened it up, he was in new dull golden armor, no emblems.
"When did you get the new armor?"
Oxus eyed May then opened the door, Zofie came out clothed in her usualy brown cloak and hood. Oxus cleared his throat and spoke in a deep voice,
"Where's your brother?"
"Might be down in the bar still, he never came back to bed."
The three walked downstairs into the tavern where they saw John, sitting at the bar. May huffed,
"You've been down here all night?"
John blinked and turned to an orange wolf in the corner of the bar, he then looked at his mug and sighed. He didn't want to talk and got up, putting some coins down and blinked to his companions. May shook her head and walked past her brother. Oxus and Zofie walked by as well. John glanced at Fayte one last time and she flicked her teeth with her tongue, after the four of them left she followed.
Chapter 4: The Wolf
John was releaved to be putting Gambia behind him, he was in back, Oxin took the lead and May was with the princess. The light blue wolf seemed to be lost in thought, thinking about how he became this way.
John Wolfen wasn't always a light blue wolf, his fur color changed when he messed up his final magic test spell. John was a grey colored wolf, like any normal wolf, his hair was black. His parents had sent him off to a magic school and he had picked out ice as his element of magic. It was John's last spell, he was squeezing by with some of his work and spells. The instructor was an old white tiger, he was the master of the Ice elements and spells.
"John Wolfen, time to show me what you have learned."
He spoke in a soft yet wise voice, he continued,
"Please cast for me a frost bolt."
John, being about a teenager, pulled his hood back and closed his eyes. The words for the spell came to him and he opened his eyes and pointed his finger to a pillar to the side of the tiger. His paw glowed light blue as a sharp shard of ice apeared and was sent flying into the pillar, it stuck in. The white tiger, clothed in blue robes, walked over to the frost shard in the pillar. He pulled it out and could barely get his white furried paw around it. He held it in his hand then dropped it to the marble floor. It shattered into thousand tiny pieces.
"Good work on the Frost bolt, John. Now lets try something harder."
He turned his back to the wolf, gazing at the wall, which was blank, behind him. He spoke,
"Have you heard of the Ice Grip?"
John blinked his eyes, he had skimmed the ice spell book and had seen something about it. He accually read parts of the spell to do it.
"Yes sir, its a spell that, when done correctly, will freeze anything you touch."
The Ice master turned to John,
"I want you to use that spell and touch the dummy to my left."
The grey wolf took a deep breath and closed his eyes, he really didnt remember too much of this spell. He opened his eyes and did his best to cast something, aimmimg his paws upward something began to happen. His paws began to freeze, which looked like the spell was going to work but it didnt stop at his paws it began to travel up his arms and to his body.
"JOHN! STOP!"
The tiger yelled, John began to panic and small shards of ice began to shoot out of his paws which were aimed at the Ice Master. Before the white tiger could protect himself he had about thirty small ice shards in his chest. He spit up blood and fell to his knees then to the floor. John was scared and still panicing. Some of the mage's outside heard the ruckus and barged in, John turned to see the mage's staring at there dead master.
"What did you do?"
The one that yelled that got a face full of small ice shards, killing him. The other ducked behind a pillar, it was a female snow fox. She yelled out to John,
"Calm your mind and lower your paws!"
John tried his best to calm him mind, lowering his arms. The small ice shards stopped shooting from his paws. Then a light blue flame engulfed the grey wolf. The snow fox looked out from behind the pillar. John began to scream out, it was hard to tell if he was in pain or not. More mages came into the chamber. The light blue fire began to burn off John's white robes and before everyones eyes his fur began to change. From the bottom it rose up to his hair, his black hair turned white then the fire dissapated and the wolf collapsed. Everyone surrounded John.
"What are you doing back there?"
It was May, she had been talking to John for a while, but he was lost in his past.
"Huh?"
"Welcome back to reality bro."
She chuckled. Oxus and Zofie looked back as the day sky was turning to twilight. John was lost in his past for most of the day.
"We are going to head off the path to find a camping spot, away from the main road."
Oxus said as he looked to the mage,
"Everything ok John?"
The light blue wolf looked back, felt like something or someone was following them. He shrugged then spoke,
"Just been lost in my past, sorry about that."
The four began to walk off the main road and into the forest for the night.
Chapter 5: The Betrayl
Night came over the land, Oxus had done up a fire and it was blazing brightly, but not bright enough for anyone on the main road to see. The camping spot was far from the road. John was staring into the flames, Oxus was off hunting, May was out bathing and Zofie was sitting on the opposite side of John but she was looking up at the stars.
May was out by a waterfall, she saw it as they came to find the camping spot. Her black leather clothes were dumped at the edge of the water and she was under the small waterfall, letting the water flow over her body. On her back was a white tattoo, it was a symbol. She turned around then went under water. The moon was shining enough light for her to bathe. She swam to the edge of the water and proped herself up, May looked up to the night sky.
"He's getting worse. I have to stop him before we get to this kingdom."
She softly spoke, as if to give herself a mental note.
Near by May was an orange figure, she was crouched down and had heard what she had said.
"What did she mean by that?"
Fayte de la Rosa had been following the four ever sence they left Gambia, John had promiced her a reward. She brushed some of her blue tipped hair out of her eyes as she watched the feline assassin bathe. Fayte didn't know that much about John, she worked with him for a while and dare she think it was in love with him. She found he had a somewhat mysteriousness about him. She thought back to the night before, then snapped out of it when she saw the black cat getting out of the water, her slender form glissening in the moonlight. She began to put her leather clothes back on, strapping her daggers behind her. She walked back to the others, Fayte followed.
Princess Zofie was looking up at the stary sky then let out a sigh. The sigh broke John out of his trance,
"Something wrong Princess?"
Zofie softly smiled to the mage,
"Your fur color, I've never seen it before."
John pulled his black hood over his eyes and looked down,
"I don't want to talk about it."
Zofie had a tendency to probe until she got what she wanted, she spoke in a sweet voice,
"Was it a spell? Did someone put a spell on you that turned your fur light blue?"
John growled slightly under his hood, his paw began to glow.
"Oh I know, I bet you messed up on a spell and it turned you that way."
John's eye twitched and he looked at her with his hazel eyes, they turned blue. John didn't know what was going on with him, he didn't want to hurt the princess, he just wanted to cast a small spell to shut her up. The wolf breathed out a puff of cold air, he pointed his finger to her feet and an Ice bolt appeared and struck the ground. Zofie blinked,
"Neat trick."
John looked up at her, a strange light blue aura formed around him. He began to panic, something was wrong. In a chilling voice he screamed,
"GET AWAY FROM ME!"
He huffed as he stood up, arms spread.
May was about acouple of feet out from the camp when she heard John scream out. She raced as fast as she could,
"I hope I'm not to late."
Fayte was trailling behind her as May raced into the camp, John was about to unleash a blizzard spell, a spell he had never learned. The black furred feline pulled loose her daggers and flung one at John. It hit him in the chest, knocking him to the ground and inturpting the spell. May stood over her brother, John had a surprised look on his face. The dagger began to freeze, making it hard to pull out. The cat held up her other dagger and spoke,
"John, I really am your sister but I was hired to watch you and make sure you didn't hurt anyone else. This time was the last, I have my orders to slay you."
She said it without remorse. May brought the dagger up, John closed his eyes then heard May gasp for air. The light blue wolf opened his hazel eyes to see a whip wrapped around his sisters neck, not to far stood an orange wolf. She brushed her blue tiped bangs out of her eyes and said,
"You're not killing him, thats my alpha."
John blinked and May looked back to Fayte, Fayte pulled hard on the whip making May fly up and over the orange wolf. The whip loosened around the black cat's neck and May got out.
"This dosen't concern you thief! He's a danger to everyone!"
Fayte flicked her wrist, making the whip come back to her. Her paw holding the whip hilt glowed an orange color, then the whip ignited into a fiery whip. She cracked it just inches away from May, the assassin hissed then dashed at Fayte. The wolf jumped to the side and lashed out her whip, catching May in the side. It cut deep and May clutched her side, hissing at the wolf. Fayte whipped up her arm, making the whip lash up and behind her. She began to heavily bring her arm down then heard John speak,
"Fayte please stop."
John was up, a frozen dagger in his chest. He walked over to the orange wolf, he put his light blue paw on her shoulder. Fayte nodded to John and turned her back to May, John did as well. May hissed, her ears were pinned back as she lunged for John. She didnt get him as she got an Ice bolt through her chest. May reached out, blood spilling from her mouth. She fell backwards with a big hole in her chest. John panted and sniffled a little, even though she just tried to kill him she was his sister and he loved her. The light blue wolf fell to one knee, he coughed, Fayte put her arms around John and helped him up.
Oxus made his way back into the camp, Zofie met him.
"Oxus, there was a big fight with John. May tried to kill him, now shes dead."
The black bull heavied the dead deer, concern washed over him,
"Princess are you ok?"
Zofie perked her ears up then nodded,
"I got out of there before anything really started to happen."
Oxus nodded and the two walked back into camp.
Chapter 6: On the Road
The next day, Oxus and John had burried May the assassin. It was an unmarked marker, two sticks crossed. John was quick as they all packed up their things and went back to the road. Fayte wanted to confort the light blue wolf but something deep in her told her to let him be. Oxus stayed close to Princess Zofie. Couple of hours of walking along the dirt road, the forest slowly began to turn swampy as the four traveled.
The sun began to set, it was about the dust set of day, not quick night and not quick day. The air was thick with the smell of burning wood as off in the distance was smoke and fire itself. As John and Fayte walked by some trees and bushes, out of them came two foxes. They crashed into John, knocking him down. Fayte helped up John and Oxus helped up the foxes,
"What is wrong?"
The boy began to cry so the girl fox spoke, her voice shaky and full of fear,
"The Reptile Imperium attacked our village. They killed all the men and anyone that stood up to them."
The boy sniffled and then spoke to Oxus,
"Your a knight right? Please help our village, they will take my mommy away to be a slave."
Oxus snorted, John pulled his hood down. He didnt want to help anyone right now. Fayte sighed then Princess Zofie stepped forward, she pulled her hood down to reveal herself. The foxes knew who she was even if their village was so far away from the Cruentus Kingdom.
"We will help you, come Oxus, John and Fayte."
She ordered everyone as if they had to, but they complied. Zofie ran with the two kids, Oxus kept up even if he was in heavy armor. John and Fayte took up the rear.
Zofie cleared the last bush and was shocked to see what destruction the Imperium had caused. In her shocked state a toad jumped her, he knocked back her hood. Before he could scream out about his discovery a long blade shot out his chest. Only noise he made was a cry as he was lifted up by a long polearm. Oxus grunted and tossed the dead toad into the bushes. The bull stabbed the pointy end of his weapon into the ground and held out his hand to the Princess. Zofie took his hand and was pulled up to her feet,
"You need to be more careful Princess. Please let me handle this, you should go and hide."
Zofie was catching her breath, she pulled her hood back down and went into the bushes. Oxus grabbed up his polearm again and took an offensive stance as two geckos came out of a ruined building. Both had swords and shields, they rushed the black bull together. Oxus swung his weapon and caught the closest one in the leg, cutting it off. The gecko screamed out in pain. The other one bashed his shield into Oxus's right arm knocking loose his polearm. Pain shot through the bull's arm, the shield bash had managed to paralyse his arm. The gecko brought up his sword to deal the death strike but stopped with an urk sound. Oxus saw a firey chain around the gecko's neck, behind him was Fayte with her whip. She tugged on it hard and it cut off the gecko's head cleanly. The head flew back toward Fayte but the body fell at Oxus's side. The orange wolf came over to Oxus and exstended her hand, the bull took it and was pulled up. The gecko that only got his leg chopped off began to speak,
"You will all pay for your crimes against the Imperium! You will all pa.."
He was cut off as his slimy reptilian body began to freeze, the end of a wooden staff shattered the icy gecko.
"Shut it."
Oxus bowed to John and Fayte,
"Thanks for the help. I'm sure there are more."
Princess Zofie Bloody watched from the bushes as the three mamals took out the rest of the Imperuim platoon. Her turquise tail twitched in the underbrush, she pulled her brown hood back and let out her long black hair. A twig snapped behind her and she turned quickly,
"Rin! You fucker don't sneak up on me like that."
It was a blue salamander, clothed in dark green and black clothes. The colors of the Great Reptile Imperium. The salamander adjusted his glasses and ran his hand through his slick hair,
"Sorry Princess, but you are not supose to be here. It was the king's orders to take this village out."
Zofie hissed slightly, Rin's voice was irritating.
"Not my fault your people can't kill silently."
What was left of the fire reflected off Rin's dirty glasses,
"How long will it be until your uncle's kingdom? You told Emperor Frogger that as soon as your kingdom fell your uncle's would be next."
Zofie's tail twitched around, she was getting frustrated,
"It's taking a while to get to my uncle's, we should be there by tomorrow. Just make sure your Emperor keeps up his end of the deal."
"Princess! It's safe to come out now."
The salamander crouched down and scurried off as the bushes opened up to the orange wolf's face,
"Come on, we did all we could here Princess."
Zofie nodded innocently and got up from her hidding spot. She joined in with the rest.
John and Oxus had managed to kill some of the slaver reptiles before they could cart off some mamals, but two other carts had left before they could help. The black bull was staring out down the road. He seemed defeated, his armor covered in green blood and his face was brused. John looked to Oxus as he helped out the last rabbit from the cart. Usualy John didn't show to much care for others but this journey seemed to be changing him some how. The hooded wolf nodded to the rabbit as it ran off to find its parents, John turned and went over to Oxus. He put his paw on the stained golden armor and Oxus turned his head to see John.
"This journey and this war needs to end soon."
Oxus's voice was horse as he spoke, all that time screaming during the fighting. John turned away and began to walk back to the group, Fayte and Zofie had finished reuniting everyone. The big black bull turned away from the road and walked back to his companions.
Chapter 7: Late Night
After helping the villagers, John, Fayte, Zofie and Oxus walked down the road leading to The Immunda Kingdom. The light soon turned to dusk, Oxus sugjested that everyone camp for the night. The left the main road and took a beaten path to a nice clearing. John and Fayte got the fire going while Oxus went hunting. Zofie cleared the sleeping area and set up the bedrolls.
Oxus returned with a deer and everyone ate, the food was good. Darkness covered the woods and the stars dotted the sky, the orange flames of the fire put John in a trance. As he stared at the fire with his eye color faded from hazel to blue, pupils and all. Something spoke to him, it was a deep and heroic. An image entered his mind as the voice spoke,
"John do not be afraid, I have been residing in your body for 20 years. I am Drejan the artic wolf god of ice."
The wolf's thoughts trailed back to his studies, each of the elements had an animal god. He always had a fasenation with Drejan. The god spoke again,
"When you were young and were tasked with casting a spell to graduate, the misspell gave me the opertunity to enter your realm in your body."
John was surprisingly calm for being told that he had an ice god in him.
"My powers are nearly recharged, whenever your in danger of death I shall take over your body and vanquish your foes."
The voice faded and so did the image, John's eye color returned to hazel as he was face to face with Fayte, the orange thief wolf.
"John?"
The mage blinked his eyes and focused on the wolf,
"Fayte, hi."
She backed off him a little and huffed, Oxus and Zofie had retired for the night. Fayte spoke,
"You should get some sleep, I'm gonna keep watch tonight."
John nodded and got up from his seat at the fire, he walked to his bedroll and lay down. He took one last look at Fayte before his eyes shut and he was out.
Fayte let the fire die down to embers, her ears twitched as she heard some footsteps. She got up from her seat by the embers and slowly walked to the edge of the clearing, she sniffed the air, a pond scum stench. She bared her teeth as she slipped into the bushes and tracked the reptiles.
Richard R. Crocker, the General of the Reptile Imperium, an old dull green crocadile stood with about 12 reptilan soilders. Toads, frogs, lizards and even two snakes.
"Spread out men, Rin came through here with a report on four mamals that attacked a platoon of reptile slavers at a near by mammal village."
The croc spit after saying his words, as if they were vemon. He looked around then turned and began to walk. His men followed.
The orange wolf was in the bushes near Richard and his 12 soilders. She was crouched down, her tight leather clenging to her supple body. As the last soilder walked by she stealily came out of the bushes and walked behind, keeping up. When she was close enough to the lizard she was trailing she pressed her paw to his back and put her other paw to his mouth. The paw on the lizard's back ignited, melting its spine. The one over the mouth shot a fireball down his throat, burning his insides. Fayte tossed the charred corpse to the side and walked up on the next, this was a snake soilder. Fayte was pretty far from the snake, she pulled her whip out and snapped it at the soilder. The whip wrapped around the snake's long neck, stopping it from screaming for help as it was pulled into the darkness with Fayte. The snake was dragged down on its back, the soilder looked up to the wolf, clutching its neck for air. It's last sight was Fayte's black leather boot. The orange wolf raced back to the other soilders, but by this time they had noticed two of there men were missing,
"Sir."
A toad said, Richard stopped and turned,
"Yes captain?"
"We are missing two men, the ones in the back, Rebecca and Tim."
Richard narrowed his eyes then sniffed the air, his eyes widened and pushed the toad out of the way as a whip cracked at where the toad had once been. The crocodile took out his jagged sword and waved for his men to scatter into the bushes. The company of soilders jumped then dove into the trees, all that stood in the clearing was the dull green croc and the now seen orange wolf.
"Ah, you must be one of Princess Zofie's friends. Come to play with a real man?"
Fayte composed herself and stood elegantly, silent and beautiful. The croc spoke again,
"Mmm for a mamal you don't look half bad, I'll let you have the first shot."
The orange wolf lashed her whip at the old green crocodile, the sharp end of the whip cut through the chest plate of the croc and drew blood. The whip came back to the wolf and she smirked at what she did, but her smile faded. The croc took his hand and dipped it in his own crimson blood and tasted it, cleaning it of the mess. He let out a chuckle then spoke,
"Ahh its been a while since I have seen my own blood."
The crocodile licked his teeth and grabbed tightly as his jagged sword. The orange wolf watched the croc carefully, she wanted to keep him far enough away.
Richard, sized up the orange wolf. She was wearing black leather. Her hair was black with blue tips. Richard narrowed his eyes at the wolf, she started to lash her whip around her. This made it hard for the croc to get close enough to land a hit. The weapon she wielded was just a simple whip, but with a sharp tip at the end. Richard began to pase back and forth, she as going to get tired and make a misstake and he would be there to end her. He grinned a toothy grin as he noticed her lashing was getting slower, thats when he dashed at her. His armored shoulder bashed into her chest, a soft crack could only be heard to the croc and the wolf as some ribs were broken. He slammed her into a tree. The wolf didnt make a sound, which saddened the general, blood came out of her muzzle and spattered on his armor. Richard pulled back to see the wolf, she was staring up at him with a burning hatred.
Fayte de la Rosa was implanted in the tree. Her chest hurt and blood was dribbling out from the sides of her muzzle. She watched as the croc backed up, her eyes flared up and she aimed her paws at the old green croc. Two fireballs came forth, hitting Richard square in the chest. He flew back and crashed into the dirt ground. The ten reptiles that were watching the fight quickly gathered to there general. He yelled at them,
"GET BACK!"
The reptiles scattered back into the bushes. Fayte pulled herself out of the tree and wobbled slightly as she stood ready for another attack from the croc. She gripped her whip tightly in her paws as she watched the croc slowly get up. He used his sword to prop himself up.
"You use magic, how pathitic."
Richard spit, blood landed in the dirt. He pulled his sword out from the dirt and lifted it up. Fayte watched then growled as the croc charged her again. She side stepped and lashed her whip at Richard, it cut into his cheek. He didnt make a nose as he turned around again and charged her, his sword angled to his side, his shoulder pointed at her. The wolf side stepped again and lashed her whip at him, but this time it caught on Richard's sword. The croc stopped and violently pulled on his sword, pulling the whip free from the wolf. Fayte's eyes widened as she was now unarmed, her whip in the hands of the Reptile General. He lashed it about,
"Interesting weapon, might be good for some torture."
Off at the camp, John woke up. Something woke him up and he sniffed the air. His ears perked up as he heard voices. The air in the woods was heavy with the scent of blood, both canine and reptilian. The light blue wolf scrambled to his feet and raced off, picking up the scent of Fayte. He slowed down as he came to a clearing, he peaked through to see his orange wolf, she was fighting with the general, General Richard R Crocker! He noticed the other reptile troops hiding in the bushes. John growled under his icey breath as he slowly went around to take out as many of the hiden troops as he could. The first one was watching the battle intently. John crept up from behind, his paw glowed dimly, he quickly pressed it to the lizzard's back. Before the lizzard could scream for help his lungs froze over along with the rest of his cold blooded body. John grinned, it was super easy to freeze the reptiles. He crushed the lizzard then moved onto the next. One by one he managed to take out five of the ten reptiles hiden in the bushes.
On the fifth John stepped on a twig as he aprouched the frog. The frog turned, sword out. John's paw caught the sword and froze it, the frog dropped his sword then punched John in the face, knocking him down. The frog grabbed up a big rock and lifted it over his head. John raised his paw and shot out an icebolt, cutting off the frogs arm. The rock fell on the frogs skull, crushing it. He made alot of noise, which made his friends come over. John was blind sighted by a toad's shield and knocked out.
Richard grinned and lashed the whip at the defenceless wolf. He had been lashing at her for a good three mins. Her orange body was covered in cuts and bruises. She fell to her knees as if to give up. A salamander came out of the bushes,
"General Crocker! We captured a mamal. He killed off five of the other troops though."
Richard lowered the whip and turned away from Fayte, he knew she wouldn't do anything.
The toad kicked a hooded wolf out into the clearing, he fell face first into the dirt. Fayte saw the tail and knew it was John. Richard looked over to Fayte and saw her expression on her face, she knew this wolf. He grinned. The salamander picked up the wolf and pulled his hood down, exposing his long white hair, his fur color was light blue. Some blood on the side of his muzzle could be seen, only from when he fell he had bit his tounge. The toad violently forced the light blue wolf to look up at the general.
John Wolfen growled as he was forced to look at the menacing General Crocker. He spit and it landed on the general's plate armored chest. The toad smacked John in the face,
"Learn some respect you mutt!"
John lost his breath as he saw Fayte, kneeling. Her body soaked with blood, her eyes were shut and she seemed to be waiting for her death. He looked away but a slimey hand forced his head back at the beaten orange wolf. Richard turned back to Fayte, he spoke in a demonic voice,
"Make him watch."
The old green croc slowly walked over to Fayte, his jagged sword by his side. He grabbed the wolf by the hair and jerked her head up.
Fayte opened her eyes, a red tint as she saw the croc. The pain from him pulling on her hair was numbed out by all the other wounds on her body. The orange wolf spoke, her voice gravely,
"End me you demonic reptile."
Richard pulled her face up to his, he wanted to see her face to face, he wanted to glare into her eyes when he put the sword into her.
"Oh you will die, slowly though."
When he finished saying that he pressed the tip of the sword into her chest. Fayte screwed her eyes shut as the cold steel slowly went into her. The croc kept her up at his face, watching her facal expresions as the sword slowly dug into her. Slowly he pushed, Fayte could feel each jag of the sword go into her. Richard licked his lips, almost drooling as he seemed to drain the suffering from the wolf. Fayte didn't make a sound as the tip began to push out her back. She gritted her teeth as about 3 inches of the top of the blade was sticking out the back of her, blood running down her body and pooling under her.
John was forced to watch every second of Fayte's death. He struggled against the five reptiles but they held him down. The light blue wolf watched in horror as the green crocodile seemed to be getting off on slowly killing the other wolf. John lowered his head but was grabbed by his hair and pulled back up, he growled. Then Richard huffed and quickly pulled his sword out of the orange wolf, blood flying up into the air and small spatters landing on John's muzzle. General Crocker hissed, his heavy croc tail slammed to the ground as he tossed the limp Fayte toward John.
"Bitch. She didn't even make a sound."
The general stood over the Fayte, the tip of his sword dripping with her blood. He pointed it at the mage,
"Lets see if you will scream when I cut into you."
Something inside John began to come out. Strenght unknown to him tossed off the five reptiles that were holding him down. His robe burnt off as his body burst into a blue flame, his muzzle grew alittle longer, his teeth stuck out and were sharp. The non exsestant claws on his paw grew to razor sharp claws. He hunched over his fur pure white, his eyes light blue. The beast's body seemed to emite cold air. He lunged for the general, knocking the old croc over. John began to furiously slash at Richard, getting through his armor pretty fast. A toad put his shield up as he aprouched the beast. He stopped slashing at the croc and lashed out at the toad, putting his claws through the reptile. Richard saw a chance to escape and he took it. The other four reptiles watched in horror as there companion was dead in seconds. The beast snarled as he turned to the others, liquid ice dripping from his fangs. The feral looking wolf jumped on the lizard, crushing him as he landed. The other three ran off into the woods. The beast circled the orange wolf, looking over her bloody body. He noticed she was still breathing slightly and the beast sat down next to her, his body began to shift back into the light blue wolf. John came back to himself, naked. He was staring at Fayte.
"You saw that?"
Fayte gave a chuckle then coughed, she brought her paw up to John's cheek. The light blue wolf put his arms around the orange wolf, picking her up and holding her close. She nuzzled him and John nuzzled her back, she gripped him tightly then it loosened up. John knew she was gone but he continued to hold her even though her arms fell limp. Ice tears dropped from his face.
Chapter 8: The Dragon
Oxus Tauri woke up with Princess Zofie. There was a note where John and Fayte's stuff were. Oxus blinked and looked over to the princess, Zofie had the note and read it out loud.
"Dearest friends, last night was a horrible mess. I have left your party to find myself. I hope you two get to where you are going. Fayte de la Rosa has perrised in an ambuse last night, I burried her not to far from camp. Oxus, I hope you can forgive me for leaving without speaking face to face with you. Good luck and good bye."
Zofie put the letter down and looked to the black furred bull, Oxus seemed distant at the news. They were so close to finishing the adventure, about a days worth to Immunda Kingdom. Oxus huffed and turned, he began to pack up his things. Zofie nodded and began to began to gather her stuff as well.
The two walked away from the main road, Oxus figured the reptiles were watching the roads so he would take a longer way through the woods. The big bull put his hand out to stop Zofie, his ears twitched and strained to hear. He grunted and pushed the princess into the bushes and got out his polearm. He pushed Zofie out of the way of three arrows that hit the tree. Three frogs jumped down from the trees, and two dragons came out of the bushes.
"Your hard to keep up with."
Oxus narrowed his blue eyes to the dragon that had spoken, he aimed the polearm at him. The dragons, one red and the other one black, began to circle around the bull. Oxus watched them, the both of them had two handed great swords they wielded them with ease. In the corner of Oxus's eye he saw the turquise tiger comming out of the bushes, in a deep voice he yelled,
"Get down!"
The dragons took this opertunity to attack at the same time. Oxus stepped to the side as the great swords grinded against his armor, one sword stratched his armor while the other one got through, he felt the tip of the sword on his fur. Oxus quickly pulled back and saw the frogs aiming there arrows at the princess.
Zofie noticed the frogs just as they fired the arrows. One missed and she left her guard down to see one hit into her shoulder, before she could cry out the other one nailed her in the chest, right between her breasts. She was breathless as she fell backwards into the bushes, everything seemed to move on slow motion as she fell. Zofie saw the crimson blood from her wounds fly up into the air. She closed her eyes, was kind of pissed, then hit the ground and everything sped up again.
"ZOFIE!"
Oxus snorted and parried the red dragons attack, he caught the black dragon with the end of his polearm and knocked him down. Holding his weapon in one hand with his free hand he punched the red dragon in the face, knocking him back. The dragon hissed,
"KILL HIM!"
The red dragon turned to see that the frog archers were dead. He gulped then snarled and helped his comrade up. Oxus didnt let up as he held his polearm with both hands, giving him more power in his swings. He brought the weapon down but the black dragon side stepped and hit the bull with the hilt of his great sword. Oxus let out a grunt, blood spilling from his mouth. He was letting rage cloud his judgements, he pulled the polearm from the dirt and swung it, getting the red dragon in the side, the steel cut deep and lifted the dragon up off his feet. The attack cut far into the dragon, Oxus cried out and slammed the dragon into a tree. The red dragon let out a roar then went limp, Oxus's polearm was stuck in the tree and the dragon. He tried to pull it free but the black dragon rushed the bull. Oxus left it there and turned to get rammed by the black dragons great sword. The sword was drilling its way through the golden armor. The black dragon roared and charged the bull into a tree, Oxus grunted as his back slammed against the big oaken tree then he froze feeling the sword brake through his armor and dig into his belly. The dragon looked into the bulls eyes to watch him die, Oxus stared back with his blue eyes then blinked at the dragons head fell off. Behind the black dragon was a dark green dragon holding two swords, a long in his right and a short one in his left. His armor was that of the old Reptilian Imperium, dark blue armor with a white strip down the middle. He spoke in a smooth cool voice, like there was nothing to what he had just done,
"Your friend is at my house, luckily its not far. Her wounds arent too bad."
He walked over to Oxus, the bull was breathing heavily. The dark green dragon sheathed his sword and helped the large mamal.
"You need to calm yourself. By your fighting style I can tell your from Cruentus and by the way you reacted to that girl getting hit your a royal guard."
Oxus fell to his knees when the dragon took the great sword, with ease, out from the bull and tossed the sword aside. Blood slowly began to seep out of the wound, it wasnt too deep but it was enough to weaken the bull. The dragon helped up the bull, putting his muscly arms over Oxus and pulling him up. The dark green dragon took the bull to his house, which wasnt too far away.
There was a small house hidden in a huge tree, smoke billowed from the side where a chiminy angled. The house was hidden quite well, the color of the house matched the tree. Inside was the dark green dragon, along with the turquise tiger in the bed with bandages around her shoulder and chest. In a chair sat the big black bull, a bandage around his stomach. His armor was basicly destroyed from the fighting, it lay in pieces near the fireplace. The dragon was tending to the bull's wounds, small vials of potions and bandages lay on a nightstand next to the bull. The dark green dragon spoke, brushing his black hair back, his black horns sticking back almost looked like his hair,
"You guys are really close to the Immunda borders, the repitles are thickest here. I had heard fighting a night ago. Though I was too late to help."
He sighed and put a red vial to the bull's lips. The black bull drank it and huffed, his strenght was returning but he wasn't well enough to leave.
"Why did you help us? Your part of the Imperium right?"
The dragon grunted, hissing slightly. He turned away from the bull and spoke,
"I was, before that spoiled brat became emperor. I was to be the next general. But I lost to that vile wretch Richard."
The bull sighed and sat up,
"I'm Oxus Tauri, I'm escorting the princess to the Immunda kingdom to her uncle in hopes to push back the tide of the reptilian menace."
The dragon looked to the sleeping tiger in his bed,
"That's Princess Zofie Bloody? Reports say she had died with her kingdom. Interesting."
The dragon blinked then looked to Oxus,
"I'm Tallen Strifer, ex reptilian captain. I live here in hopes that someday the Reptilian Empire returns to its once peaceful ways."
Tallen sat in another chair across from Oxus. The bull looked to the sleeping tiger, he had worry in his eyes.
"Is it you duty to take her to her uncle's?"
Oxus blinked,
"It was a last request from the dieing king. He said the king of Immunda could keep her safe."
The black bull paused then continued,
"I have my own agenda after I get the princess to her uncle."
Tallen smiled, he knew what the bull wanted to do.
"You want to stop this war huh?"
The black bull's breathing became laybored and he closed his eyes. Tallen got up from his chair and rummaged around in a cabnit for another potion. The dragon found one and gave it to Oxus.
"Oxus, can I join you in your quest?"
The bull grunted and drank the red liquid down, his eyes still closed. The liquid seemed to be healing internal injuries, but he still needed the bandages.
Chapter 9: Immunda Kingdom
Zofie Crimson lay face up in a bed, she had awoken up from sleeping for about one day. Her chest hurt. She blinked then noticed she was naked, what was left of her pink dress was in ribbons on the floor. The tiger quickly sat up and a sharp pain lanced up her spine. Her upper body was bandaged. She let out a hiss and her nose crinkled.
Those basterds shot me! I'm gonna have to take this up with the Emperor.
The turquoise tiger looked around the room, it was a small house, nice and warm. No one was around. Zofie looked out the little window next to the bed, it was raining. The tiger jumped when the door opened up but she relaxed when she saw that it was Oxus.
The black bull grunted and shook slightly to get the water off his black fur, he moved to the side as the dark green dragon walked in behind him,
"So glad I have scales."
Oxus gave a chuckle then turned to see that Zofie was awake,
"Princess, your awake."
The dragon went into a cabnet and pulled out a vial of red liquid. Oxus dried himself off and sat down in a wooden chair. Tallen went to the princess and gave her the bottle,
"Drink this, it should make you strong enough for you to get up and walk."
He turned to Oxus,
"Guess your journey is about over huh."
Zofie brushed her black hair out of her face and uncorked the bottle. She knew not to smell anything that would help her so she just downed the liquid. As the bottle left her lips she made an ack noise then handed it back to the dragon.
Oxus began to gather up his stuff, when he finished packing his stuff he began to pack up what little the princess had.
"You are welcome to join us if you like, we are short on companions."
Tallen thought for a moment, he hadn't been around people in a long time, maybe it was time to travel around. He nodded and began to pack up some of his things.
Everyone was packed up and ready to continue on. Most of princess Zofie's stuff was packed into Oxus's pack. Tallen heaved his pack, it was filled with some food a bedroll and some equipment. The three began to walk on a path until it came to the main road. From where they came on the road was only half a days walk to Immunda. Zofie's tail twitched as the city gates came into view, the adventure was almost over.
The guards at the city gates were two tigers clad in black iron armor, they wielded long polearms. Oxus took the lead with the Princess behind him and Tallen in the rear.
"Halt, who gose there?"
Oxus straighted up and spoke in a calm and stern voice,
"I am Oxus Tauri, last of the 1st Class Royal Elite Guard. I come from the Cruentus Kingdom. I am escorting Princess Zofie Crimson to the King of Immunda."
The tigers stood at attention as they heard he was of the elite guard. Any elite guard got respect from a guard in any city. One of the guards eyed Tallen and spoke,
"Your repitle friend is going to have to relinquish his weapons if he is to enter the city."
The dark green dragon nodded, he figured that any major city would hate a reptile.
"Very well, this is you city and I shall obey your rules."
Tallen began to unequip himself of his weapons, he handed off his short sword, his long sword and the katana mounted above his tail. One of the tigers narrowed his eyes at Tallen,
"Is that all?"
The dragon let out a sigh and nodded then put his arms up for the tigers to frisk him. One began to frisk the dragon and the other turned to Oxus and Zofie,
"The King is waiting for you in the throne room, please do not keep him waiting."
Tallen looked to Oxus,
"Go on, I'll get into the castle and meet up with you."
Oxus and Zofie nodded and walked into the city.
Edmund Tigus Crimson, an orange tiger clad in purple robes, sat on this throne, everyone was gathered in the great hall. His royal guards were lined up. There was a big crowd in the great hall as well. To his right was an empty throne where his wife, the queen, would sit but she was kidnapped. To his left was his trusted advisor Yuni. She was dressed in a black hood and robes, her horn was protruding out the front of the hood, strans of her golden hair could be seen comming out of the hood as well. Yuni kept her hands consealed, she was a brown unicorn and she was smart, so smart that it seemed that she could tell the future. But her pretictions only came strangely worded, they weren't rightly known. Next to Yuni was the beautiful, chubby, brown goat called Sigil. Sigil was the captain of the royal guards. She was clad in the finest, strongest cobalt armor, her hair was darker pink. A shiney broad sword rest on her back, behind her long pink hair. She nodded to the king as the doors opened letting in Oxus and Zofie.
Oxus walked up the red carpet toward the king, Zofie was right next to him, he felt like he had acomplised what he was told to do. Maybe Zofie's father can rest in peace now. The black bull nodded to the royal guards of Immunda, he even smiled at the captain. She returned the smile as they aprouched the throne. The King of Immunda got out of his throne and bowed to Oxus and his niece. Zofie eyed the black robed unicorn but pushed the thought of her interfering out of her head. The king spoke in a regal voice,
"Oxus Tauri, for your valiant effort in bringing Princess Zofie Crimson to my kingdom, I reward you with one hundred gold."
Everyone in the room cheered and clapped. The king put his hand up to calm the crowd,
"Also, you are welcome to join my royal guard."
Oxus nodded a thanks, a door to the right of the door opened up and in came some castle servents.
"Zofie, my dear, I'm sure you want to get cleaned up. I have a room ready for you with some nice clothes and a bath."
Zofie nodded and was escorted out of the great hall. Oxus wanted to go with her but he knew she was safe here now. The king addressed the crowd,
"That is all. Thank you everyone for comming out to see my niece."
The crowd began move out back into the city. The royal guards saluted and went back to their posts. The king adjusted his golden crown and walked to the window. Oxus stood in the room with the hooded unicorn and the captain of the royal guard. The brown goat came up to Oxus, her voice was gravely,
"Oxus, I have a room for you, private quarters in the castle. Near the princess. There's some of our finest armor in the room."
Oxus bowed then spoke,
"I am thankful for your hospitality, but I will not be joining your royal guard. I have a friend to find."
The King, still looking out over his city, spoke. But his voice wasn't happy as it was before,
"Please stay the night here. Oh and your dragon friend will join you soon, he has a room as well. I know all reptiles aren't bad."
Oxus nodded, turned and left the great hall. The door closed behind the black bull and the King sighed, the kings advisor walked up next to him. Her voice was sweet and quiet,
"Sir, I am sencing something comming. A storm of such. I suggest that you ready your safe room."
The king turned slightly to the unicorn,
"What do you mean Yuni?"
Yuni closed her eyes and pulled her hood back letting her hair out, she opened her teal colored eyes and looked out to the twilight over the city. There was some pink colored fur at the base of her horn.
"I sence something wrong with Zofie. Just be ready for something, I can't see it too clearly but it is comming."
The turquise tiger, dressed in a really nice crimson colored dress, snuck around in the castle. She was looking for an old passage way. When Zofie was a kid her father would always leave her with her uncle during the summer time. She used to explore the castle, finding small tunnels that even her uncle didn't know about. One was near the room that she was staying in. It had been a long while and she hopped it was still there. She pushed against a wall and it slide open to reveal a secret passage. The tiger held up a torch and slipped into the passageway, she pushed the door closed behind her and began to walk down the tunnel.
Soon Zofie emerged from behind a rock outside of Immunda walls. The tiger made a whistle and a blue salamander came out of the trees. He was smooth and calm, behind him was a large platoon of mixed reptiles.
"Why hello princess."
Zofie pushed the rock to the side to let in the reptiles, she hissed slightly.
"Shut up Rin and get the job done."
She looked around,
"Is HE here?"
Rin adjusted his glasses then ran his hand through his slick black hair.
"You mean the general? He's around."
Zofie began to laugh uncontrolably, maybe because she was betraying her kind, maybe because she had snapped. Rin cocked his brow then shrugged as the last of the platoon of reptiles went into the tunnels. Zofie and Rin followed in and left the rock door open.
Chapter 10: The Attack
Tallen Strifer finaly made it to the castle, he didn't realise how much everyone in this city hated his kind. The dragon had to keep going down dark alleys. The gate guards could have atleast escorted him to the castle. Tallen was releaved to see that the castle wasn't as bad at the city, the guards let him in. As they walked down the halls of the great castle, the dark green dragon sniffled the air. Something was wrong.
"Your room is up ahead, I need to get back to my post."
The guard spoke then turned and began to walk back down the hallway. Tallen turned slightly to see the fox in the corner of his eye, as the fox turned the corner a loud cry was head followed by a splash of blood. The dark green dragon spun around to see four reptiles at the end of the hallway, beating the dead fox. Tallen reached for his sword and remembered that it was taken away. One of the reptiles, which was a young toad, pointed to Tallen.
"Hey, how did you get infront of us?"
Tallen grinned to himself, they thought he was part of there raiding party. He acted like a rookie.
"I uh must have taken a wrong turn, these mammal castle are so hard to understand."
The toad raced over to the dark green dragon and his friends followed. They were both new recruits and didn't know who he was.
"Where is your sword?"
"Must have fallen off."
The toad rolled his eyes and signaled the newt that was looting the fox's body. The newt grabbed the fox's sword and tossed it to Tallen. Tallen grabbed the sword and secured it to his belt.
"Follow us, we are looking for the king."
Tallen nodded and followed the four reptiles.
Oxus was woken up by a scream from one of the castle servents. It sent a chill up his spine and memories of the Cruentus slatter flowed back to him. He pushed himself out of the bed, put his clothes and new armor on. He grabbed for his polearm, but it wasnt there. The bull looked around the room franticly and found two sword on the wall with a shield. He hoped they werent decorations and grabbed them. As he grabbed them the door to his room burst open with two frogs and one lizard. The lizard was in front with one handed axe and a shield.
"Don't underestimate this mammel boys."
The lizard said as he put up his shield and walked toward Oxus. The frogs stuck at the door thinking that there lizard companion was enough to fight the black bull. Oxus watched as the lizard slowly advanced on him. The lizard readied his axe when he got close and swung it at the bull. Oxus dodged the attack and swung his sword at the lizard side, cutting into it. The lizard let out a cry then kicked the bull away. Oxus stumbled slightly then recovered. When Oxus recovered the lizard shield bashed him, Oxus was hit with the steel shield but didn't fall. The lizard tried to hit the bull with his shield again but Oxus grabbed it and wrentched it free from the lizard's grip. He tossed the shield away and made a scizor with his two sword. The Lizard hissed and slashed at Oxus with his axe, the bull dodged and rolled back away from the repitle. The lizard brought the axe down at the bull, but Oxus caught the axe with his two swords then kicked with his powerful hoove, breaking some ribs of the lizard. The lizard crashed against the wall near the door, dead. Blood painted the wall behind the lizard as it slowly slide off the wall and to a crumpled heap. Oxus focused his sights on the two frogs at the door.
"Oh shit!"
"There's two of us! Lets get him."
The two frogs charged at the black bull but were instantly dealt with. Oxus impaled one with his sword through the chest, he tossed that one aside. The other one tried to sneak up behind him but was decapitated. The room Oxus had stayed in was now a huge bloody mess. The bull walked to the doorway and looked down the hallway, his polearm was in the armory getting sharpened and he had to get it back.
Zofie looked as if she was possessed as she walked down the halls of Castle Immunda, in front of her was a troop of mixed reptiles. Next to her was the salamander Rin.
"Your uncle wasn't in his room, you know where he could be?"
Zofie rolled her eyes, it felt like everything wasn't going together. The tiger stormed into the throne room, dead mammals lay about. The floor was stained in blood. Zofie came up to the throne and sat in it, she thought for a moment,
So many passages in this old castle, was he tipped off by that unicorn?
The turquise tiger got up from the throne and grunted, she kicked at the throne and it moved aside revealing a passage way. Rin adjusted his glasses then spoke,
"Princess you should stay up here, I will take some men down here and check it out."
The salamander waved over some troops, along with the troops was Tallen, hidden behind an iron helmet. Zofie didn't notice him as she grumbled and walked off.
Tallen walked with Rin and four other reptiles; a male red dragon, a female gecko, a male turtle and a male lizard. The dark green dragon kept to the rear of the troop while Rin was at the head. Tallen remembered Rin and he hopped that the salamander didn't recognize him. The passage way went down, the tunnels were lit up with torches. The desent ended after ten minutes of walking and opened up into a big room. The king was down here with the black robed unicorn a female fox guard and a male fennec guard.
"So we meet at last King Crimson."
The king turned, his night robe fluttered slightly. He had his golden sword ready. Rin motioned the reptiles to take care of the guards. The turtle, clad in heavy armor and wielding a big two handed axe, advanced on the two guards. The guards charged at the turtle but they didn't last too long as the turtle brought his axe down on them easily, making a bloody mess.
"Now, now king. There shouldn't need to be any more blood shead."
Rin called back the turtle and the warrior complied. The salamander pointed to the unicorn,
"Capture her."
The lizard and the gecko got there weapons out and advanced on the robed unicorn.
Yuni watched the reptiles move toward her, her eyes flared and turned crystal colored. She aimed her hand at the gecko and a crystal shard came flying out of her hand, it struck the gecko in the shoulder and pinned her to the stone wall. The lizard charged and brought up its short sword to strike at the brown unicorn. Yuni brought up her dagger and deflected the attack. She them slipped to the side and got behind the lizard, putting her dagger at his neck.
"I do hate violence. But your here trying to kill my king and I must protect him."
Her white horn shimmered as she quickly slid the dagger from one end of the lizard's throat to the other, cutting deep. Blood sprayed from the wound and the lizard fell to his knees gasping for air and clinging to his neck. Rin hissed slightly but kept his composer. He seemed to have teleported behind Yuni, she felt him behind her and spun around. As she turned her hood flung down, her golden hair flowing out. Rin punched her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her body. The brown unicorn coughed and blacked out, falling to the floor.
"Don't send a lizard and gecko to do a salamander's job."
He adjusted his glasses again and fixed his hair.
Tallen held his rage back but it was about to boil over, watching that vile salamander attack the unicorn. He pulled off the helmet and unsheathed his sword, aiming it at Rin. The helmet hit the ground with a loud ping noise as Rin had a steel blade in his face. He remembered who this dark green dragon was.
"Tallen Strifer!"
His voice trembled slightly. Tallen grinned,
"Glad someone remembers me."
The turtle moved toward Tallen, Rin looked to him for a second. Tallen ducked down as an axe slashed horozontaly at him. The axe crashed into the stone wall and got stuck. The dark green dragon turned to the turtle and Rin dashed back upstairs. Tallen looked over to the king for a moment and saw that he was busy with the red dragon. The turtle pulled the axe free and began to wave it around. Tallen nimbly dodged the attacks, then began to throw in some slashes from the sword, leaving small cuts on the turtle. This only managed to piss the beast off even more. Tallen had to get his gear back or get some help. He taunted the turtle as he raced up the stairs back to the throne room. The turtle charged at the dark green dragon.
Oxus ran down the halls of the castle, only thing on his mind was to get his weapon and some armor. He turned the corner and was face to face with two Iguanas, both females.
"Mammal!"
Both of them rasied there swords to strike at Oxus, the bull stepped back as the sword clanged into the floor. Oxus snorted then heard a thunderous voice,
"Attacking an unarmed bull."
"Sigil?"
The iguanas turned to see a brown goat with pink hair. She had a cobalt sword aimed at the reptiles. They slashed at the goat, she deflected the blows with her sword. One of the iguana's staggered back and Oxus disarmed her, kicking the sword out of her hand. He punched her in the face and she hit the wall. The black bull charged the iguana, impaling the reptile. The reptile fell limp as the left horn puntured a lung and the other one broke multiple ribs. Oxus wrentched his head to the side tossing the dead iguana aside.
While Oxus was fighting the iguana, Sigil was fighing the other iguana. The reptile came at the goat with a flurry of slashes, some of then hitting her armor. The iguana jumped back to catch her breath which gave Sigil a chance to strike. She thrusts her sword at the reptile, the blade caught the iguana in the shoulder cutting deep. Sigil jerked the sword back making the iguana cry out in pain, she retaliated, kicking Sigil away. The goat hit the wall and got the wind knocked out of her. The iguana held her shoulder as she stumbled toward the goat. She brought her sword up. Sigil reacted and slashed sideways, cutting through the thin armor, from over the iguana's left leg up to her right shoulder. The iguana screamed out in pain, she fell backwards as blood gushed from the gash. Oxus came over and exstended his hand to the lovely Sigil, she took it and pulled herself up.
"Good work. The armory is just over here, I was heading there myself to regroup with some soilders."
Oxus nodded and followed the goat.
The two came to the armory, Sigil seemed slightly irritated at the whole mess in the castle. Oxus looked around for his polearm. The brown goat grabbed it from a rack and handed it to him,
"Looking for this?"
Oxus nodded and put his hand on the smooth steel handle of his weapon. The blade at the end looked cleaner and sharper. He put it on his back.
"I need to find the princess."
"Come with us, we are going to make a push for the throne room. Shes got to be there with the king."
Oxus nodded, Sigil and her handful of guards matched off.
Chapter 11: The Battle
Oxus along with Sigil and five royal guards hacked and slashed their way down the halls until they made it to the throne room. Oxus huffed and kicked the huge oaken doors open. The doors opened up to a sight of a dark green dragon fighting a huge turtle in armor. The brown goat dashed in and her men followed,
"Get the door, lock it down."
The royal guards closed the door and secured a heavy piece of wood over it. Sigil turned to the battle, her and her men were confussed to see a reptile fighting another.
"What's going on here?"
Oxus smiled readying his polearm,
"That's Tallen Strifer, he's a friend. I'm going to help him."
The black bull charged forth, aiming his weapon at the turtles leg. Sigil blinked then shrugged, they could figure everything out later. She commanded her guards to attack the turtle and they all charged forth, Sigil included.
Edmund hadn't fought a person in a long time. He held the golden sword as the red dragon moved in closer. For a moment the king looked as the dark green dragon fought the turtle then dissapeared upstairs. Edmund watched the red dragon carefully, the dragon had a two handed sword. He wielded it like it was a regular sword. The dragon charged forth, the sword was angled at the king. The orange tiger gulped then focused as he side stepped the dragons charge. The dragon, once realising the king dodged him, lifted the sword and swung sideways. The great sword caught the king on the side, cutting deep. Edmund stumbled and lost his grip on the sword, it clanged to the cobblestone ground. The king fell to his knees, blood seeping through his purple robes and snaking through the cobbles. The red dragon grinned looking down at the fallen king, he lifted his sword up to finish the job. The king closed his eyes, the sound of steel cutting through the air then CLANG. Edmund opened his eyes, he wasn't dead. There was a sword that blocked the dragon's attack. To the right of the king was a dark figure. The figure pushed the dragon's sword away from the king. He stepped into the dim light of the room, clad chest to foot in black obsidian armor. A grey wolf tail sticking out the above his ass. The head was that of a wolf, grey fur, white muzzle, whitish grey hair. His voice boomed in the room,
"You are no match for me vile creature."
The red dragon stepped back to take in at what was in front of him. The dragon attacked the wolf, each attack was blocked by the great sword. The wolf didn't seem to be really fighting the dragon. The dragon grunted and jumped back again, catching his breath. The wolf's eyes flared yellow and it seemed like he melted into the shadows. The dragon readied his sword, keeping it up as he looked around franticly. The armor clad wolf appeared behind the dragon,
"Scum like you dosen't deserve to stain my sword with your blood."
With that said two armored paws reached up grabbing the dragon's head. With a quick twist the dragon was dead, his body limp and echoed as it hit the ground. The wolf went to the king and knelt down, his great sword on his back.
"I'm sorry I was late your magisty. Though I did want to see how you fought. I didn't think you would be hurt like this."
Edmund coughed holding his side, he was still bleeding but it was slowing,
"Nanten, I was wondering when you would show up and help."
The king coughed again after finishing his sentance, this time he coughed up blood. Yuni recovered from her attack and rushed over to the king. Nanten stepped back to give the advisor some room. The unicorn knew some healing spells and had some potions on her. She began to help out the king. Edmund looked to where Nanten was standing but he was gone.
"Who was that?"
Yuni said, not looking at the king when she spoke. She continued to fix him up.
"That was a weapon that has been in this kingdom forever..."
Edmund blacked out, but he was going to be ok.
Oxus side stepped an attack from the turtle as it's giant axe came crashing down. The bull was tired from all the dodging and attacking, him and what was left of the Immunda royal guard were putting up a good fight but the armor on the turtle was tough. The turtle had wounded about three of the royal guards and killed about two. Tallen and Sigil were slashing and stabbing at the beast. Oxus looked around the disaster of a throne room, blood spattered all over the nice tapestries and slash marks on the walls and floor. Huge bash dents on the floor from the axe. Oxus snorted and aimed his polearm at the turtle again before charging. He ran at the turtle, who was busy with the dark green dragon and the brown goat beast. As he ran he jumped up into the air, moving his weapon down, aiming the blade down at the turtle head and slamming it into its skull. The turtle let out a scream, dropping its axe. Oxus held onto his polearm, driving it deeper into the monster's brain. The turtle grabbed Oxus and threw him against the wall with what was left of it's strenght. The black bull smashed into the cobblestone leaving an indentation of his body in the wall. After throwing the bull away the turtle took two steps to pick up its axe but fell to the ground with a earth shaking thud. Tallen took a deep breath tossing the bented up sword to the side. Sigil wiped the red blood off her brown face and looked around, she went to tend to the wounded.
The King and Yuni walked out from the underground passage. The unicorn was holding the King up as they came out. The throne room was a mess. The king sat on his throne and adjusted his crown.
"Yuni can you find out the status of the castle and the town?"
The brown robed unicorn nodded and walked out of the great hall. From behind the throne walked Nanten, clad in his black armor.
"The reptiles are retreating, Sire."
Edmund nodded to Nanten,
"Nanten, can you help out the town and tell any of my troops that are still alive to report to the castle."
The grey wolf nodded and dissapeared.
Oxus pulled himself out of the wall and fell to a knee. Most likely some ribs were broken. The bull stood up, he looked around. In all the chaos he had lost sight of the princess.
"Where's Zofie?"
Everyone seemed busy with other things, the bull left the great hall insearch of the one he swore to protect.
Chapter 12: Just Missed
Nanten was outside the castle walls, heading into the town. Along the way he had to take care of small pockets of reptiles. He heard a voice, it sounded like the princess. The wolf snuck around, staying far enough away but close enough to hear. He peaked out and saw the turquoise tiger in a crimson dress, the dress was ripped around the bottom area. The other character was an old dull green crocadile, clad in the Imperium battle armor. His sword was in his hand, Nanten studied the sword it was jagged as if it was never really finished or maybe to inflict more damage. He heard them talking. The crocadile was speaking first, he seemed very upset,
"Should have never trusted a mammel, my army is scattered. My top soilder was killed! I dont know what the Emperor saw in you."
The tiger's tail twitched and her ears pinned back,
"That's not my fault. I thought the gate guards would hold back the dragon we met in the woods."
The crocs eyebrow cocked,
"What dragon? Dark green?"
"Yes, his name was-"
"Tallen Strifer?"
The tiger now cocked her brow,
"He a friend of yours?"
The croc turned away, his big tail thumped on the ground making a puff of dust.
"He's an old aquantense of mine. But thats nothing for you to worry about. Seems the Emperor has no use for you, Princess."
The croc turned quickly, his blade up and aiming for the princess's chest.
"But wha-"
The jagged sword ripped through her fur and into her. It came out the back, sawing bone and rupturing organs. The tiger spat out some blood and leaned over the croc, the croc holding her as he pushed the blade in and out.
"We don't need you to help us anymore."
"SON OF A BITCH!"
A loud voice boomed as a black bull charged forth. Nanten ducked down a little more. The croc kicked the tiger off his blade and got into a fighting stance. The bull shifted, moving his polearm to the side and slamming his broad shoulder into the croc lifting him off his feet and slamming him into a tree. Nanten saw a tip of the croc's sword out the back of the bull, he had stabbed him.
Oxus stepped back, his head was spinning. He coughed blood and clutched his chest. The bull fell to his knees, staring down at the ground. His blood was pooling up around him. He looked up to see the old dull green croc lifting his sword up. Out stepped Nanten to block the attack with his big two handed sword. CLANG!
"Retreat now evil general. Your forces have been lost. You will be lost as well if you don't leave this kingdom now!"
The general snarled and put his sword away. He turned tail and dashed off. Nanten sighed and turned back to see the bull passed out.
Oxus woke up again in a nice soft bed, this time in the castle. The noises of hammers and saws filling the room. Tallen Strifer sat in a chair near the bed. He got up when he noticed the bull was awake.
"Welcome back to the living my friend."
Oxus stared blankly at the dark green dragon, he wanted to think that what he saw happen to the princess was fake, that it was a dream. Deep down he knew she was dead, he had failed the King of Cruentus.
"The knight in black brought you here. You have been asleep for almost a week."
Tallen walked to the window and looked out,
"He says he found you mortaly wounded with the body of Princess Zofie Crimson."
He paused looking over his shoulder slightly,
"The black knight says he saw the General of the Imperium, saw him kill the princess."
Oxus looked down at his body, he pulled the blankets back and saw that he was naked. Bandages on his mid section. He pulled the blankets on and turned to the side. Tallen turned back away from the window and looked at Oxus,
"I'll go with you if you want to stop this madness."
The bull didn't say anything, Tallen got the sense that he wanted the dragon to leave. The dark green dragon nodded, turned on his knee and walked out of the room.
"Find me if you are ready to go."
He left the room, closing the door behind him.
Soon after Tallen left, Yuni knocking on the door where Oxus was resting. There was no answer so she walked in. The unicorn shut the door behind herself and strolled over to the bull.
"Oxus? I'm here to rebandage your wounds and give you some healing."
The black bull turned in the bed to see the brown unicorn. Her hood was down so you could see her beautiful unicorn face. Yuni's crystal eyes stared into Oxus's soul. Was he the only one that can stop this madness. Maybe not just him, maybe him and his friends. Yuni gave a sweet smile to the black bull and finished bandaging his wounds. She put her soft black hands on his chest. Her pink cuffs fluttered slightly as a blue aura surrounded them. She began cast a healing spell on the bull. Oxus sighed then spoke,
"Thank you for everything Yuni."
The unicorn smiled and got up from kneeling next to the bed. She turned toward the door and stopped right before opening it.
"When you're feeling better the King would like to talk to you and your friend."
Oxus nodded, but Yuni had her back to him. He looked out the window, it was partly cloudy but the sun was shining through.
Chapter 13: The Quest
It took Oxus three days to recover, once he did he stood in the great hall with Tallen at his side. The bull was dressed in new cobalt armor, his polearm rested on his back. He stood at attention. The king entered the room. It was only Oxus, Tallen, Sigil, Yuni and the handfull of guards left from the assault. Edmund limped slightly as he walked to his throne, the orange tiger sighed but didn't sit down as he looked to the black bull and the dark green wingless dragon. Edmund cleared his throat then spoke,
"Oxus Tauri and Tallen Strifer, I have a quest for you. If you take it I shall reward you and you will have a place to call home in my kingdom. If you choice not to then be on your way."
The king paused for a moment, he saw determination in Oxus's eyes and knew he was going to go on with this. He continued,
"As you know the emperor of the Reptilian Imperium needs to step down or be eliminated. I would sent my forces in to kill the tyrant but one night his reptiles got into the castle and kidnapped my wife. He said he would kill her if I ever came close to his swampy borders. I'm risking my wife to get you and your companion into his kingdom and to stop him."
From behind the throne came the black clad knight. He looked to the king then to Oxus. Edmund nodded,
"Nanten, I want you to join these two in there quest. Your main objective is to find the queen but I want you to help them out as best as you can."
Nanten nodded to the king then stepped down the steps to Oxus and Tallen, he stood at Oxus's right side. The king looked at Tallen,
"I didn't get a chance to properly thank you for helping us during the attack. I know a lot of my men thought you were to blam for it."
Edmund stepped down and walked to Tallen, he gave the dragon a medalian.
"This should show everyone in my kingdom that you aren't a threat."
The dragon looked in his hand at the medalian, it had the Immunda crest on it. It was what all the royal guard wore.
"Thank you your highness."
The king walked back to his throne and sat down. Oxus, Tallen and Nanten turned and walked out of the great hall.
Oxus and his new companions walked down the main street of Immunda. The town was back to normal pretty fast. Some of the buildings were being repaired but that didn't stop how much day to day work the mammals of this kingdom worked. A lot of the towns folk stopped to look at Nanten, he hadn't been seen outside the castle in nearly fifty years. As the three walked on whispers filled the air about what they were doing and where they were going. Oxus ignored the whispers, so did Tallen. They came to the northern gate where a brown bull clad in grey armor stood. The bull nodded to the gate control keeper and the bridge lowered down.
"Good luck."
He called out as the three walked by him. They got past the bridge and it began to raise up. In front of them lay the swampy reptilian kingdom, behind them was Immunda. Oxus looked up at the sky then nodded. He was doing this for the princess and the kindgom of Cruentus.
The three walked on, Oxus and Tallen took the lead while Nanten was behind. Something was on the wolf's mind but he couldn't tell Oxus what he had saw before the princess died. The grey wolf pushed the thoughts out of his mind for now, he began to study the surrounding area. The flora in Immunda seemed livily but as they walked closer and closer to the Imperium the planets and trees seemed to wither and look sickly. Also if they were in the Imperium's boulders shouldnt there be more patrols on the main road?
"Oxus."
The black bull turned his head slightly as he continued to walk,
"Yes Nanten?"
"We are on the main road, I find it very troubling that we haven't come across any patrols of reptiles."
Tallen nodded to Oxus,
"I've noticed the same thing. We should have been knee deep in patrols by now."
The thought hadn't crossed Oxus's mind, his mind was fueled by revenge.
"Maybe the Imperium has suffered losses and are low on troops. This will make it easier for us to get into there kingdom."
The other two nodded but deep down Nanten wondered if there was something darker behind the Reptiles.
Chapter 14: The Other Side
In the swampy lands of Frigore Sanguis lay a great city of The Great Reptile Imperium. Steel walls scaling over the tall trees of the swam. The city itself is bigger then Immunda and Cruentus. The city had a lot of steam pipes and gears, a real evolution to the rest of the kingdoms. Frigore Sanguis lay on top of one of the biggest steel deposits in the world. Steel is one of the big trades that the land has to offer and the reptiles had it all. Inside the big castle that lay in the back of the huge city, the castle and everything in the city was made of steel. Anyway, inside the castle in the throne room sat the emperor; Emperor Dew Frogger the Fifth.
He is young, about 16. Everyone in the city knew he had taken the throne by force but they dared not defy the emperor. Dew was a spoiled brat of a child. After taking the throne he apointed a criminal the general, Richard R. Crocker. But there was already a general, so the emperor had the two fight it out, he had the battle rigged and the old general was defeated.
The Emperor clad in Black and Purple colored robes with a platium crown on his head, sloutch in the throne. The throne room was empty. The doors opened and in walked the general and his guards, a female newt and a male toad. The emperor sat up, he spoke in a whinnie darkened voice,
"How did the raid on the Immunda castle go?"
Richard and his guards got to the steps before the throne and bowed, the old crocodile looked up to his emperor and spoke,
"Sire the raid was a succsess, we took out half there forces, wounded the king and I personaly took care of the loose end of a princess we had."
The frog emperor grinned widely,
"So glad that bitch of a tiger is dead, so demanding. Is there anything else to report?"
Richard cleared his throat and stood up,
"Well there is some bad news."
Dew's eyes flared, a piece of jewelry around his neck shimmered. It was a blood red crystal like stone. He seemed upset but calmed himself and spoke,
"What is this bad news you speak of?"
"Tallen Strifer has allied himself with the mammals, he and a black bull from the Cruentus Kingdom are on there way here."
Dew gave a tired look,
"Is that all? One old General with a bull, so what?"
"He knows of the old entrances sire. Also there is another strange creature that travels with them, he's the Immunda's secrect weapon."
The emperor didn't seem too alarmed by this news and it made Richard nervous. Dew looked to his right as a hunched over figure came out of the shadows.
"Don't worry about that hunking figure that travels with the Bull and traitor, I know what he is."
The hunched over figure cackled and spoke, Richard and the 2 guard figured it was an old woman,
"That figure that travels with them is dead, he's 500 years old. I was the one that was paid a kings ransom to bring him back. He is the best fighter the Immunda kingdom has, he feels no pain, needs no food water or sleep. Every 50 years he needs to resoak the bandages on his body, in virgin blood, to keep him from rotting. Enough damage and even the bandages will not hold him together."
The old hag coughed and Dew rolled his eye,
"Thanks for the info old one, you can go now."
She grummbled and shuffled back into the shadows, dissapearing. The Emperor sloutch in the throne again and spoke,
"As for the secret entrances, be sure to double the guards in the sewers."
Richard snarled,
"Sire, we are stretched thin as it is."
The frog flicked his tongue and the blood red stone on his necklace flared, the male toad next to Richard bloated and exploded in a mist of blood. The old crocodile wasnt afraid of anything but this made him flinch slightly. He knew that the emperor needed him so he wouldnt kill him but still.
"I'll see what I can do."
"No, I'll reinforce the inner castle. Move all the soilders out of the castle. I'll fix this."
Richard nodded, he knew not to question the emperor.
"Now leave, take the men in the castle and put them in the sewers to secure them."
"As you wish, sire."
With that said Richard and the newt bowed and walked out, the throne room doors shut behind him. Dew got up and walked behind the throne. He pulled back the curtains to reveal a passage way. He walked down into the darkened chamber.
As The young emperor walked down the black stoned steps, his black and purple robe dragging on the ground. The steps ended into an opened crypt like room. The room was about seven by five, two torches on each side of the walls. In the middle of the room was a pit, in the pit was bones. A wall on the right side of the room slide open and a salamander girl was pushed out into the room. She was scaried. Barly wearing anything, a strip of cloth over her breasts and a loincloth over her bottom area. She was a dark blue color with long brown hair. The girl scurried into a corner, trembling. Dew sighed and exstended his hand,
"Don't be afraid my dear, come to your emperor."
The girl looked over the frog emperor then slowly stepped out, she took his hand and he jerked her forward. The salamander fell into the pit, she screamed. Her screams only made the emperor smile as he grabbed the jewel on his necklace and rubbed it. The girl was scrambling to get out of the pit, she stopped for a moment and turned to see crimson portal open up. Out of the portal came a demonic figure, two horns sticking out the side of its head which curled around. A short snout with sharp teeth grinning at the sacrifice. It stomped toward the salamander, reaching a gnarled hand out. It grabbed the girl's arm with one hand and grabed the other with its other hand.
"Help me please! Help!"
The demon snarled and began to pull the arms. The girl let out a shreek as her arms were pulled from her body. The demon ate the right arm first then slashed at her chest, ripping into her flesh. Blood sprayed from the pit and the emperor stared down at the masecure.
The demon finished with its sacrifise and looked up to the emperor. Its voice echoed in the room as it spoke in a deep voice,
"You have apeased me, young emperor. What do you need of me?"
Dew flicked his tongue then spoke,
"I need some of your minions to guard the inside of my castle."
The demon snarled and licked the blood of the virgin off his claws, his tail flicked about as he looked up to the young emperor. The castle shook, for a steel castle to shake like this could only mean one thing.
Through out the castle portals opened and out came demon guards clad in the blackest armor, all with huge swords on there backs. They wore helmets that covered there faces so no one could tell that they were demons.
Dew smiled and turned away,
"Thank you Lord Pravitas. This world will be yours in no time at all."
The demon lord chuckled and began to fade back to hell.
Chapter 15:
