Friends
Friends
Kevin had enjoyed the trip on the riverboat. Well apart from the sense of impending dread. He'd taken some time to look at the banks of the river, his gaze piercing into the darkness of the forest. There was a lot more activity, far too much, even with the monsters multiplying as they had. That meant that there were beastmen venturing outside the kingdom. He couldn't begin to fathom exactly why. Whoever controlled the Beast Kingdom controlled the forest. There wasn't any need to send out troops there unless it was absolutely necessary.
Kevin sighed as their ship docked in Mintos. Yes, sending out patrols was probably needed in other kingdoms, but Kevin honestly pitied the man that attempted to navigate the Moonlight Forest without a guide. The fact was, troops sent there were wasted forces and even if there was an intruder the wolves would let them know. The wolves were good allies.
But the problem still remained. Why was there so much activity in the forest? Assuming the person that held control of the beast kingdom knew anything about their society, they should have drawn the same conclusion as Kevin. Perhaps word of Altena had spread. Perhaps the person there was just paranoid. The fact was it just made Kevin's job of getting to the keep undetected a lot harder.
Kevin strolled down the boarding ramp, his friends following him. He still couldn't quite fathom what was going on between all of them. He'd been sure that Hawk and Angela liked each other before. He still was sure of that actually; he could see the looks between the two of them. Somehow though, Duran and Lise had become tangled in this little web. Perhaps it was just because they were lonely, Kevin understood that more than anyone. King of the Beast Kingdom, but half human. Yes he was sure females would want him for his power or strength, it was the way of the Beast Kingdom. But there must be something more to a relationship than that he thought.
Still, no human girl would want the Beast King and no female could truly understand what he wanted. Love however, was probably the least of his worries. In fact he was fairly certain it would remain a niggling feeling in the back of his head for the rest of his life. There was simply too much to do and too many people to care for.
Kevin pressed some gold into the captain's hand, well beyond what he should have been paid. The captain had been more than willing to take them upstream, but Kevin still felt badly about putting his ship under such risk. It was right that he should be rewarded and if things went according to plan Kevin wouldn't miss the gold. Then again, if things didn't go the way he wanted, he suspected those would be the last pieces of gold he ever spent.
Kevin trotted after his friends who'd set off into the town. Mintos had always been a nice place. Kevin felt a sort of kinship to the beastmen who lived here. They'd been pacifists in his father's time, much in the same way he had once been. They had followed his example almost universally though once the death hand had taken power. Violence for a just cause was a necessary evil in the world in which they lived and as long as the Beast Kingdom wasn't out to slaughter innocent Wendellian's they were happy to support it.
Unlike the last time the five of them were here though, they were well rested from a rather relaxing boat trip as opposed to being utterly shattered from a trip on hard turtle-creature-thingback. Kevin had never really figured out what Booskaboo was actually meant to be, but then, perhaps he wasn't meant to be anything, just another manifestation of the Goddess. Alas, their old friend couldn't help them now, Kevin did miss him slightly, but he was probably happy in his cave in Bucca.
Not being shattered meant that this time they were able to just take a short stop at Mintos instead of spending, well for lack of a better word, a night there. It was always hard to keep track of time when your world was bathed in beautiful moonlight the entire time. Kevin did love that feeling though, he truly felt like transforming then and there. Even though the innkeeper would be far from surprised at the presence of a beastman, transforming in his establishment still might be considered impolite.
To say the group ate quickly though was an understatement. Perhaps it was their worry for Kevin's kingdom driving them, or perhaps it was just the terrible boat food, either way, they were on the road out of the town inside the hour. What was nice though was that in their haste the death hand had failed to notice any of the tensions he'd been worrying about earlier. Maybe they'd be able to get over them and deal with the matter at hand. Kevin mused on this, it wasn't unlikely to be fair. They were a well oiled team now, even if, right now, they might not be the best of friends. Considering that they'd faced legendary God Beasts, demons and a full sized dragon disputes over love seemed to be a fairly petty issue to get mixed up over.
They made fairly good progress over the forest, faster than Kevin had expected. In Pedan and Bucca they'd moved at a crawl that a snail could probably match. The first was because they were out of practise, the second because they'd been shipwrecked and weren't in the best condition of their lives. Now though they seemed to have become naturals at avoiding the roots that could trip them and the branches that could snare their arms for a good five minutes. It was a small pleasure really in a world which might be falling apart, but when the big things in life weren't going right these little victories were all you really had.
The beastman looked back to his friends, they'd adopted marching order again, with Hawk scouting, the paladin taking the rear and the girls sandwiched in between him and Kevin. In practice the marching order usually meant very little, monsters had a habit of attacking just as they were caught in the middle of a rather thorny bush or attempting to scale a rock face that might come down on top of them at any minute. Still though, it was good to keep the marching order in practice, one day it might be the difference between life and death.
Kevin sensed however, today would not be that day. The creatures of the forest, despite how malevolent they were as of late tended to keep away from him. Perhaps they recognised his power, the wolves might have something to do with that. In any case, when there was a disturbance the death hand could usually deal with it by batting the stray critter round the nose and staring at it aggressively.
Of course Kevin's senses were once again proven entirely wrong when a slightly panicked nightblade returned to the party. The assassin wasn't smiling as always, his look was, well, grim.
"There's a beast patrol up ahead. From the looks of it they just seem to be doing a routine check on the jungle, but they've set up camp dead in our way."
Kevin grimaced, "Is there another way round?" he asked hopefully, although he knew the answer already.
"Not unless you want to alert every single beastman in a ten mile radius by actually trying to walk through the forest instead of sticking to the trail."
Kevin grumbled, this was not looking good.
"Theoretically I could, y'know," Hawk trailed off, Kevin knew exactly what he was talking about, Kevin was furious.
"Do what Hawk?" queried Duran, sometimes Kevin wondered how Duran lived as royalty, even Kevin understood what Hawk was implying.
"Well," Hawk trailed off again, even if he was an assassin he really didn't like flaunting his trade all too much.
"Hawk you wouldn't," Lise sounded as appalled as Kevin felt.
"Under no circumstances are you to do it Hawk. It was fine in Pedan, but not here, these are my people and we're here to save them," that was final, he wasn't going to let Hawk hurt his warriors, even if they had turned against him. What kind of leader would he be if he condoned that?
"You do realise that we could probably just knock them all out before they even realised we're here. Yes beastmen are good and I mean no offense to your soldiers Kevin, but we are the warriors of mana, three or four beastmen won't be that hard to take down," the archmage spoke practically as always, of course she knew very little of beastman tactics.
"You're probably right, but here's the problem. Beastmen on patrol have one person assigned as a 'runner' if we attack, the others will do everything in their power to let him get away. If you're content with risking us letting him get away and then having to track a beastman through the forest then that's your prerogative, I however, am not."
The beast king grumbled, there wasn't a way he could do this without alerting the entire beast kingdom to his presence.
"Kevin, tell me something; the runner's going to take the most direct route to the Beast Kingdom right?" Hawk asked, his eyes gleamed mischievously, he had a plan and this time it didn't involve the slaughter of innocent beastmen.
"Yeah, there's no reason for him to take a detour. Why do you ask?" Kevin did know there was a plan, the details of it; they were a little more sketcy.
"Well we know the exact way the runner will go, all we have to do is have me sneak around to the other side of the camp. You guys attack and I ambush the runner on his way out, a deadly weapon and he'll be out of commission for a while," Hawk grinned, no it wasn't the simplest plan in the world, but it was a damn sight easier than anything Kevin could think of.
Kevin nodded in agreement, then asked his friends if they saw any flaws with it. Forest combat and ambushes were his specialty though and he wasn't surprised when nobody brought up any real objections, Duran suggested he hold back, unfortunately his armour didn't really lend itself to a surprise attack.
Before they'd even fully agreed though Kevin found that the nightblade had disappeared back into the shadows of the forest. If the beast king couldn't detect that he somehow doubted that some low level foot soldiers would either, or at least, he hoped he wasn't getting rusty.
All that was left to do though was to push their own attack on the camp. Kevin and his friends snuck, or at least attempted to, to the edge of the clearing where the beastmen were. Discipline seemed to be rather lax now, there appeared to be no official watch as such with most of the beastmen piled around a fresh carcass on the campfire. Kevin sighed, trust beastmen to think with their bellies, he'd have to deal with that when he was back in power.
Taking a breath, Kevin knew he was ready. He let out a roar as he leaped from the forest edge; the first beastman barely had time to look up before a fist smashed into his temple. His companions had slightly more time to react and like a well oiled machine they formed a wall between Kevin and a wolf he saw running at full pelt into the forest. He smiled, this was going to be too easy.
Before he mounted his second attack two more of the beastmen fell before him, Lise's spear worked well as a makeshift quarterstaff and Angela, well Angela was fairly used to bashing people's heads in already. From what he'd heard, she could knock out Duran on a good day.
The fight wasn't long or hard, and with a swift punch to the gut followed by a roundhouse kick the last of the beastmen was out cold on the floor. Kevin almost felt sorry for them. Then again, when you picked the wrong side getting your head bashed in by an angry mana knight was probably to be expected.
Kevin smiled as Hawk emerged from the forest, slowly dragging the body of the runner behind him. It was partly because he was happy that the plan had worked out properly, it was also partly because the trouble Hawk was having amused him. For all the man was utterly deadly with a pair of knives, his relative lack of strength was rather funny to behold.
Kevin turned back to the group to find Lise looking at him. He'd never really seen the amazon look grim before, it didn't seem appropriate for her and it was that look that truly began to worry him, "Remind me Kevin, your advisor's name is Jorin yes?"
Kevin nodded, Jorin had become his closest advisor over the past few years, the beastman was a genius and had a much better feel for politics than Kevin himself. Kevin had set him in charge of the kingdom while he was away knowing it was in safe hands. A lot of time alone had been spent wondering what had happened to his friend.
"And his symbol is a wolf's head with mountains as a background?"
Again, Kevin nodded, Jorin's family came from the mountain borders of the moonlight forest, the symbol represented their respect for their home and the power that the mountains held. Unfortunately this symbolism was somewhat lost on Kevin as he began to wonder how Lise knew this.
"Here's your traitor Kevin, here's the person that sold you out," Lise threw a tabard at him.
Kevin clutched it, desperately trying to think, he couldn't breathe. It couldn't be true, it must be a mistake, they were just members of Jorin's family, who lived near the mountains. They were just a scouting patrol sent out for security, but Jorin knew that wasn't necessary here. The Death hand tried desperately to stifle his rage, he'd trusted Jorin, he'd put the lives of his people and his friends on that man's shoulders and he was greeted with betrayal. Kevin looked up and silently started walking forward. He was surprised when his friends merely fell in line behind him. Of course he couldn't see the fire burning in his eyes.
Duran was beginning to wonder if they'd ever reach the Beast Kingdom, the massive fortress at the centre had been clearly visible for a while now, but he never remembered the journey taking this long the first time round. Then again, the creatures of the forest had been a lot more aggressive then, now they seemed to almost be scared of the party. It was nice really, the molebears of Forcena never showed the same courtesy to him.
Still, the moonlight forest was a lot creepier than the molebear highlands. At least there you had the option of going out during the day. Duran could barely see anything in the dead of night that was the forest and with beastmen lurking about in the forest being able to see was, well, more than just a pleasant convenience.
Then again, with Kevin and Hawk scanning the forest the entire time, Duran somehow doubted that his lack of vision would be the deciding factor in a sneak attack. Duran looked at Kevin who was warily staring into the darkness. It was strange seeing him in his grey furred form for a prolonged period of time. Kevin had always shied away from using it and even so would only do so in battle. What was even stranger is that he looked comfortable like that, perhaps more so than in human form. Duran had to accept that his friend had changed, a lot, but for some reason it felt unnerving.
Duran hadn't noticed the walls of the beast kingdom rising up in front of him, Altena was beautiful and Rolante always seemed grand, but nothing quite took his breath away as much as the Beast Kingdom. To have a structure built seemingly only for war, with every twist and turn designed for that purpose and for it to look so imposing, that was true art in Duran's mind.
The plan they had made was simple, the East side of the wall had a secret entrance in the side, apparently all castles came equipped with them as part of a standard package. They would break in through that and rush the throne room, hopefully with minimal casualties, Duran definitely didn't want to see innocent beastmen die, like those people in Altena, he'd been defending himself but, it didn't feel right.
With even more luck when they hit the throne room they'd be able to catch Kevin's traitorous advisor and put him to justice, perhaps even convert him back to the light. Kevin had always spoken so highly of him after all.
Kevin dashed across from the forest edge to the wall first, palming a stone in the wall which gave way and revealed with the whirring of some gears and cogs the secret entrance. Angela was across next, followed by Lise. The paladin himself followed, muttering about how ridiculous he looked trying to sneak in plate armour. Hawk was last across silently closing the entrance behind him before darting ahead and down the passage.
Allegedly nobody but Kevin and the ancient designers of the fortress itself knew about the passage, but they weren't taking any chances, Hawk might have been a ranger in another life and he knew a trap when he saw one, Duran was confident the nightblade would find any nasty surprises that might be waiting for them up ahead.
Fortunately though, their passage through the corridor was met with no resistance and soon enough they were at the exit. According to Kevin this would set them in the courtyard just outside the throne room, a strike from that point would be easy. Duran only prayed that for once things would go according to plan.
Opening the door, Duran promptly took all his plans and threw them out the window. A grand total of four beastmen stood in front of him, he thought he recognised the biggest one as Kevin's advisor Jorin, but he looked so different. In fact all the beastmen looked different, they were bigger and their fur was covered in black markings resembling what the paladin could only describe as stripes running down from their foreheads over their eyes and to their chin. Duran wondered if it was some beast kingdom tradition, but judging from the shock in the eyes of his own beast comrade the paladin suspected there was more to this than met the eye.
"You honestly thought we didn't know you were here," the once-advisor smiled. "You didn't think we were that stupid surely, even if you did do a number on my patrol."
Jorin gestured to the door to the right of him, "You're not strong enough to warrant me dealing with you so I'll let my servitors here act on my behalf, in any case I'll be in the throne room to deal with more, kingly matters." His smile was sickening as was the look he gave Kevin and with that he turned his back on them, shutting the door behind him as they left.
It was only then that the paladin noticed his death hand comrade was shaking, not with fear, but utter rage. The calmness with which Kevin spoke his next words scared Duran more than anything, "Duran, Hawk, Lise, deal with these idiots, Angela, you're coming with me in case I need magic support against that freak. Make sure these fools don't get to me guys, otherwise," Kevin stopped speaking and bolted to the door. For some reason the beastmen ignored him, Angela however was a different matter. The trio had been ready to launch themselves at her as she made her way across the room but thought better of it when they were faced with Lise's spearpoint. Not even a beastman wished to charge a readied spear head on.
Duran never took his eye off the archmage until she was out of his sight. If those thugs even touched a hair on her head he was ready to take them out. In fact, if Jorin touched a hair on her head, he'd take him out, or stab him some more if Kevin had already finished him off.
With the door shutting the three remaining combatants spread across the room. He and Lise had never really been the consummate hand to hand fighters, unlike Hawk who was the very essence of finesse when he fought. Still, they were far above the average person and even with increased size, these beastmen would be hard pushed to keep up with them.
Hawk merely had to glance at the two of them though, his look told them that he would strike first. Duran had no objections, even if they tried to strike at the same time, Hawk would be there before Duran had even moved a foot. The nightblade's expression turned to a smile as the beastmen lined up, each facing their counterparts. For some reason they didn't quite understand that Hawk alone would be enough to take all of them down.
One of the Beastmen shifted his footing slightly and with that the nightblade struck. Darting forward Duran could have sworn he saw the assassin ready to strike head on, but instead Hawk somehow disappeared, popping back into existence behind the beastman, dagger raised. This was going to be short.
And that was when Duran saw the beastman swivel and with a sickening thud jam his fist directly into Hawk's stomach.
Lise screamed.
The Forcenan could feel the air rush out of Hawk's mouth as his friend doubled over clutching at the arm connected to the fist embedded in his abdomen. The only things he could hear were the Navarrian's desperate gasps for air and Lise's terrified cries concerning Hawk's wellbeing.
The beastman had just stood there, savouring the moment, but he seemed to realise he had a job to do. Removing his hand he gently grabbed Hawk's chin, pulling up the Navarrian's head so he was staring him in the eyes. Then he delivered a roundhouse kick to Hawk's cheek, sending him sprawling across the floor.
Duran moved to aid his friend, but found that Lise already there, clutching at Hawk, shaking him, begging him to wake up. She wasn't disappointed though, struggling, the Navarrian lifted himself off the ground, his equilibrium was still off and his legs were shaking, "They're so fast," he muttered. Strangely the beastmen let this happen; even if they were evil perhaps they still had some vestige of honour left in them.
Duran tightened his grip on his sword, but again he was beaten to the punch.
"You will pay dearly for hurting him," Duran could see the fury through Lise's tears. He could feel her rage welling up to bursting point, "nobody, nobody is faster than my Hawk, you will pay," suddenly Lise drove her spear into the air above her, "Speed up!" she yelled, her shout echoing around the room.
Duran felt the effects immediately, his armour felt lighter, it was like there was a wind keeping the weight off his shoulders. Like this he was far stronger than any normal fighter, stronger than the demons of the underworld, a couple of rogue beastmen wouldn't trouble him, like this, he was untouchable.
The paladin did away with his usual tactical reserve and threw himself at the beastman in front of him. He swung, his attack was lightning fast, the goddess herself was helping him guide it and to his horror the beastman easily sidestepped, throwing a punch in response.
Duran raised his shield and felt his arm almost shatter from the impact. There was something wrong with these beastmen, they weren't normal, they weren't anywhere near normal. It had to be to do with the markings, there was no other reason he could conceive. The markings must be giving them power, another slice was dodged and the excess movement was turned into an uppercut of sorts, Duran stepped back, the punch streaking past his nose.
This was insanity, magic was speeding him up and even then he could hardly keep up with this guy. There was no way he was going to hit at this rate, especially with all the weight he was carrying. Then it struck him, sidestepping another punch aimed at his head, Duran tossed away his shield. Yes, it provided a defense of sorts, but that was for slashing and stabbing weapons mainly. The beastman was already set to crush his arm anyway, there wasn't any point in the shield at all.
Duran dodged again, it was easier now, he felt lighter and what was more, his sword swipes were faster, a lot faster. Suddenly the beastman wasn't on the back foot as such, but not enjoying the easy ride he'd gotten used to as of late. Duran grinned, he had another trick up his sleeve.
It seemed natural to him now, he called upon the Goddess and mana, but instead of reaching out for that energy he reached past it. Beyond the limitations of this world, beyond what was real and unreal, right and wrong, to a power the world couldn't begin to fathom. And there it was. Duran didn't reach out, he took the energy he needed. A duck, counter slash and suddenly his blade began to warp and change. Where there was once metal there was now lightning, there was fire and brimstone and all the components that symbolised the hellish truth of this power.
"Chaos sabre," whispered Duran before slashing at the beastman. He managed to dodge yes, but still staggered, screaming in pain as the superheated air seared his skin. That moment, that moment of weakness, was all that Duran needed. He waited, stared the beastman straight in the eye and kept staring as the head rolled across the floor.
He turned, Hawk's speed was unmatched but he barely seemed to be hurting his counterpart, Lise on the other hand seemed uniquely balanced for this fight. She didn't have so much of a scratch on her and her opponent, well he had more than a few bloody streaks lining his fur.
Duran assessed the situation only for a second longer and took pleasure in the fact that the fight would be over in less than a minute. Confidently he strode to the Navarrian and his beastman and calmly took off the wolf's torso while he was concentrating on Hawk. He didn't spare a moment before his gaze returned to Lise and her new friend.
Unfortunately this one had caught on to the fate of his two companions and abruptly stopped fighting.
"Surrender!" he said as Duran approached him, raising his hands slightly.
Duran might have spat on him. He sold his soul to the underworld and now he expected mercy because he was beaten. He expected them to forgive and forget when given another set of circumstances he would have taken great pleasure in killing them?
Duran reached the survivor and smiled amiably.
"No mercy."
The beastman slumped to the floor.
Angela looked back as she left the others to their fighting. She knew not to be worried, but she still was. Lise was her best friend and Hawk and Duran, well, they were special to her. A part of her, well, a lot of her would have stayed behind. Unfortunately that would mean leaving Kevin alone in the clutches of that weasel Jorin and all of his demonic advisors. No, she wouldn't leave Kevin to that fate.
The throne room was impressive as always and there Jorin was, waiting for them, with the audacity to sit on Kevin's throne.
"Your friends will die Kevin," Jorin's voice would have sounded cold, were it not for the faint hint of satisfaction in his voice, "Oh they'll put a struggle, definitely. But my beastmen have powers granted to them from a source ten times as powerful as your pitiful goddess." Jorin got out of Kevin's throne, as the two beastmen left in his entourage watched on, "Powers just like mine."
The rest happened so quickly Angela could barely keep up with it. Jorin leaped, across the room, landing just at Kevin's feet, sending a thunderous blow to the Death Hand's jaw. The archmage could only look on in terror as Kevin smashed into a wall. There was no give and she could hear the sickening thud from halfway across the room.
Of course once that had happened, the Queen of Reason did manage to regain her composure. The motions came naturally to her and within a second the spell was at her fingertips.
"Saint Beam!"
Two bolts of, what Angela could only describe as pure light struck the advisors, searing them with its holy power. They screamed, they howled, but ultimately both of them collapsed on the floor. Yes, she'd used all the mana she could feel on that attack, but it had worked at least. Who knows, perhaps even in this crazy world evil magic was still vulnerable to that of the light.
Jorin was somewhat shocked to see his friends dispatched so easily. In fact he seemed shaken. But why? There was no mana left, anyone would know that.
The realisation dawned on her. If Jorin was like Kevin he'd have no idea of how much mana was left in the air. In fact, if Jorin used this crazy alternate power source that her mother had, he might not even know if mana was there in the first place.
Angela had earned her title for a reason. She was the most powerful archmage to have ever existed yes, but she was also possibly the greatest political mind of her generation. Jorin wouldn't know what hit him.
"You seem surprised Jorin? I thought your warriors would have no trouble taking care of a defenceless little archmage such as myself," her voice was as cutely seductive as she could muster. Yes, she was taunting him, but her tone, that was what would throw him. "Now, I don't want to do that again, I wouldn't want to see a beastman as handsome as yourself seared to the bone. So why don't you just lay down on the ground there and maybe, just maybe, you'll get a nice reward." Oh Angela was feeling this, Jorin didn't look terrified, she didn't think a beastman could, but worried, yes, Angela could see that, she could feel it.
But instead of addressing her, Jorin turned to her own fluffball, who had managed to lift himself off the ground. "Kevin, I challenge you in single combat for the throne of the beast kingdom as is the right of any beastman of high standing amongst the noble families."
Kevin spat on the ground, "The fact that you invoke such a tradition having betrayed the families that give you that right makes my stomach wretch. Regardless, I accept your challenge. Nobody has the right to beat you to death but me." Kevin whirled to her, "Queen Angela, you must be the judge of this duel. Whoever ceases breathing first loses."
"But Kevin," she tried to protest, but the beast king cut her off.
"If I lose, Lord Jorin is the new Beast King, do not interfere, if you do, the match is null and Jorin will be declared the winner."
"But Kevin, I'm the judge, surely I can interfere anyway," Angela asked.
"You could, but then you would be robbing me of my honour and everything that makes me a worthy beast king. You would dishonour my father who I slew in this same combat and my father's father and every one of my ancestors. No person, be she a peasant or the Queen of Reason can do that and ever expect my forgiveness."
Jorin growled, "Enough talk, the fact that you allow a human to view this most sacred act is enough to make my own stomach turn, especially one as filthy as her." Jorin looked at her and began to smile, as if he'd had a revalation of sorts, "Is that it Kevin? Is this the human you've been fucking, I thought when your father debased himself like that it would be enough dishonour for a single family, but you as well. Then again, the soiled blood of their kind runs in your veins as well. How do you like it Kevin? Being soiled, being hated by your people and running to theirs for sympathy, how do you like screwing a whore like that because no real female would ever want you, you and your worthless half bred-."
That was enough, with a wordless roar, the beast king, the true beast king, expressed all the rage and anger and fury that Angela felt roaring in her own heart. He rushed at Jorin and Angela was confident that the usurper would pay for every word, ten times over, would feel the pain he'd caused until he could take it no more.
Then Kevin stopped, a knee buried in his abdomen.
That was what Jorin had wanted, he'd baited Kevin and what was worse, he'd used her to do it.
The larger beastman's fists came like a sledgehammer over Kevin's neck, there was a howl of pain. Then Kevin was face up on the floor, his eyes glazed.
Straddling his chest, Jorin, looked to the Death Hand and punched him square in the face, before landing another with his left fist. That was how it remained, for a full fifteen seconds Jorin beat Kevin's head again and again and again. Angela wanted to hit the usurper, screw beastmen and their blasted honour, screw them all, it didn't matter, not if you were dead. But what was the point, Jorin would tear a hole in her the moment he knew she couldn't use magic.
Abruptly though, Jorin stopped, "Kevin, I know you're alive. I know you can hear me. I bet you're wondering what happened to little Lugar. You know, that great warrior who you crippled and destroyed. You know, little Lugar who was like a son to you?"
"Lugar?" somehow Kevin, beneath his ruined, bloody face could still speak.
"Yes, we could have just killed him, fiercely loyal to you he was. We could have.
"We beat him Kevin, it wasn't just like a normal training, we smashed his head open Kevin, we broke his arms, his legs. It was a wonder he could even think, let alone breath. Oh, but we didn't leave it there Kevin. My warriors hadn't seen something that young and" Jorin paused, "flexible, in a while," Angela froze, no, they wouldn't. "He was good Kevin, they enjoyed using him very much, oh how he screamed, how he begged for our mercy." Angela didn't realise she was weeping, she couldn't even recall when she started. Lugar had been her friend, he was a beautiful pup, he wouldn't have hurt a fly. He didn't deserve that, nobody deserved it. Angela began to sob, "But we didn't kill him after Kevin. We ripped his fur out, clumps at a time, I can remember the skin tearing away like it was yesterday. He's still alive you know," Jorin grinned, it was sadistic, it was evil. "A hairless pup, crying in a cell, crying out, just for you."
Angela screamed, half in rage, half in hatred and that was when it happened. Suddenly Jorin was floating in the air and Kevin, he was at his feet. The beast king leaped, there was a burning fire in his eyes, filled with a frenzy Angela had never seen before, but he was surrounded by an aura she had.
Angela had seen a lot of things in her time, machine golems, dragons, ninjas, demons, but never before had she seen someone punch clean through a man's chest.
Writer's Rants
Response to Reviewers
Aaah fewer reviewers this time! Alas I think this may be slightly to do with my terrible update schedule.
HawkofNavarre: Alright, a little explanation. Lise is dreaming here, she sees the explosion and her dream ends, she then thinks to herself, "that explosion was cast by Hawk."
Duran's calm attitude and quiet nature comes from his paladin training, that's why he's quiet. Also, he's had seven years to mature since the game and I figured a paladin would grow a lot more calm and introverted over the years.
To me the last sentence made sense, but I can see how my sentences may have run on. With Lise that tends to be a technique to show her thoughts progressing as she thinks about them, instead of me needlessly dragging out a sentence because I don't know where a full stop should go.
As always criticism rules, so please keep it up, explaining what I'm doing and what I meant only helps me out with my next chapter.
Meerf: Again, criticism is awesome and really helps me out, I really couldn't care less if you wrote a full page telling me where I was going wrong, as long as it was vaguely backed up with some sort of way to improve.
Punctuation was never really my strongest point to be fair, although I think it's improving a fair bit because of this fic. In any case, I've been trying to make sentence structure more easily readable and understandable, my attachment to commas is probably there because semicolons are strange creatures.
Lise as a Vanadis can kick some serious ass yes, but as a star lancer, she's basically focused on buffing her party till there are spells coming out of their ears. To be fair, I always enjoyed her in that roll, so to me, support is a compliment. Besides, she totally kicked some butt here. She's loyal to Angela because they've been through far too much together and I guess that would create a bond between the two. Angie reciprocates this feeling as well though. Whether they'll have it out is something you'll have to read on to find out!
Hawk is Hawk and I love him for it. Duran's characterisation is interesting in that I have no experience of that myself, being fairly loud an extrovert. But then, it's how I figured a guy who was reserved but had all that power would act.
Angela is manipulative and I've always loved using her this way, the fact that she uses this trait in a fight as well makes me happy.
Oh and Kevin is punching holes in people.
Shaneypooh: Sadly I couldn't really fulfil your wish of an update a day… or even a month after your review. Still, I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and I've had a number of people talk to me about their preferences in terms of SD3 relationships. Mine is yet to be revealed, so enjoy trying to figure it out.
Dreamer789: Glad you enjoyed the fic. I killed off Carlie because I felt that the characters needed some sort of tragic event to remind them that they weren't invincible and to constantly play on their minds throughout the story. I also partially did it because she irritates me. But I'm evil.
Actual Rant: I apologise for the late update, I seem to do that a lot. I know I promised another story by the end of Easter but university finals got in the way as did university itself. With a little luck I'll get at least three chapters written by the end of this holiday meaning you'll all have a nice bit of reading before autumn term shows up and ruins my update schedule. Remember always that no matter how long I take to update I have not and I will not give up on this fic until it's done. Even though I am aware that I'm into my third year or so of writing and only 19 chapters are done.
In terms of the actual chapter itself. I'm really quite scared about how everyone took what happened to Lugar. That bit of monologue with Jorin along with his previous comments, makes this probably the edgiest and most mature chapter I've done to date. Having said that, if people weren't too shocked by that, then in my opinion this is probably the best chapter I've written so far. I had a lot of fun writing it and found it carrying itself to a thousand words or so over my intended target without me really realising. I think a lot of it was the fun I've been getting out of my character development which I think, in terms of main plot as opposed to romance, is really well done here. Having said all of that, I'm fairly certain that being all proud of myself and happy is likely to get me the biggest bitchslap ever.
Needless to say, please dear god, review my story. Even if you just say, "I read your story" it's worth writing because then I know you're there and I've got another person to write for. All criticism is welcome, constructive stuff more so. Free invisible hovering, tasteless, smelless, intangible pie for anyone who reviews.