This is a fanfiction, and as such, most of the characters in the story are not mine. Most characters are © Sega, and are not used with permission.
Chapter 12: Go Home Young Dragon
Day 33
It had been five days since Dulcy was taken prisoner, and a most ambitious plan was conceived. A massive onslaught against the dragon roost to draw them out, then Shadow would ride Dulcy into the cavern to extract the villainous Renquiest.
Almost all men and women of fighting strength from Lalberdean had moved to Cordeng to prepare the force. On this day, Dulcy was well enough to fly, and Shadow was to fly her at night to the closer village to avoid being seen.
Before leaving, Mackenzie had seen Shadow off.
"Laddy!"
Shadow turned away from Dulcy to see the large blacksmith towering before him.
"Here's your order, some of me best work, if I do say so myself."
Shadow took the pair of newly crafted implements. Sturdy shafts of oak made up the handles of the deadly pair, just longer than his forearms. The working ends were curved pieces of hardened steel, placed across the wooden grips, short but stout. The inside edge was finely ground to a razor's fancy, and imbued down the whole length with the glittering shards of crystal. Two small scythes, a perfect fit for the diminutive Grim Reaper, were of perfect size and weight. Shadow twirled the vicious claws around his fingers like a cowboy to his 6-shooters, making use of a dulled notch in the blade where it met the wood to keep from slicing his own fingers off. A backwards flip, and Shadow slid the two demons into his belt.
"A couple of beauties, Mac. Good work."
The badger grimaced. "Glad to hear. Tell me, ya gonna name them, every great warrior names his weapons."
Shadow grinned, then came up with two names. "I'll call this one 'Rouge', and this one 'Bunnie'."
"Fine names and all, but if they be the names of some lassies who've caught your fancy, then you are truly a weird one indeed. First for naming them after girls; and second, for thinking you can get away with having two ladies at your side, that just leads to trouble."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Mackenzie left, and Shadow turned back to Dulcy. "I guess I'm really riding with three, aren't I."
"You are a silly one."
"You feeling alright?"
Dulcy sighed. "A bit tense, I'm launching an assault on my own roost."
"Don't worry, the miners will lead the others out, and we slip in; all that will be left are Renquiest and his men."
"I suppose, but it's just…"
Dulcy was too worried to finish, so Shadow just let her pout for a second.
Flying by dragon was much faster than riding in a truck, and even faster than Shadow could run in the rocky terrain. It took less than an hour to make the route to Cordeng, which would have taken the miners the last three days.
Dulcy landed in Cordeng, and was quickly brought to their storage area, which they called a warehouse as opposed to a barn. Inside, a large open space was made available for her to sleep. To keep her crystals at bay, Shadow stayed with her like the past week.
Kirkigard and the chief of Cordeng, Mason Jor came to visit the pair. The introductions came first, followed by a quick review of the plan.
"Shadow, you and Dulcy will accompany the assault force, but stay in back of the pack. When the dragons come, the force will attack while you fly up to the roost and take out that slime. It'll take about three days to reach the roost, but the dragons will likely see us long before that."
Mason jumped in. "The sooner the better. Every day that goes by with nothing happening gets on the nerves."
Shadow smirked. "I know what that's like."
But Shadow didn't really, he could not understand the feeling of impending doom. Sure he hated waiting around, but he never felt the cold realization that death was coming for you, not knowing when it would come and take you.
After Kirkigard and Mason left, Shadow received another visitor.
"If it isn't the king of the dragons."
Shadow looked over. "What brings you to these parts, you rat bastard?"
Veder smirked. "Just thought I'd come in and see the guy who was about to lead 500 men and women to a flaming death."
Shadow feigned surprise. "Do you doubt my plan?"
"Charging the dragon's roost, that's a suicide mission."
"Is the big mean rodent scared?"
"This plan is reckless and stupid, I'm worried that I'm out of practice."
"So, you've been in tough scrapes before."
"I've been so deep in it that this look like a 'scrape'."
"Is that what gave you such jagged edges."
"No, I've always been like that, when I was young I had no one to rely on but myself. I learned that there's no point in being with other people, just a bunch of wretched scum that get in your business."
"You've never cared about anyone?"
"I stopped caring, because when people get hurt, it slows you down too much; and when people get killed, then you might as well call it quits."
Shadow knew that all to well. "Have you lost anyone, someone close?"
"Yeah, some time ago; and I have yet to decide if I even cared."
Veder walked out, intent on getting some sleep in the remaining hours of the night.
"I don't know if I should pity you, or envy you."
Day 34
It was early in the morning, before sunrise when only the slightest hint of light was about. The village was in an uproar as the warriors prepared for an assault on the mountains. Kirkigard was about, giving orders to the men and women as they readied themselves.
"We move out at dawn, it will take almost three days to make the path up to the dragon's roost, but I figure the dragons will spot us long before that. We'll draw out the dragons from their roost, and Shadow will lead the strike into the pit."
One of the miners was not sure of the plan, nor were most other people. "You're not trusting this outsider who'll be riding one of these beasts? Are you?"
"Shadow has a plan, which is something we've been lacking for the last few months. I don't really trust either of them, but it's all we've got."
Shadow was trying to calm down Dulcy who was clearly distraught with the upcoming assault on her home.
"You've definitely seen better days."
"Yeah, I'm worried, those are my friends and family that I'm going to fight. What if I hurt them, or kill them? What kind of dragon would I be to strike one of my own."
"You're doing this to save your people, to release them from that tyrant. I'm sure they'll forgive you for this… transgression."
"That doesn't make it any easier."
Shadow stroked Dulcy's neck, trying to help her calm down.
Kirkigard came up behind him. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah, we're ready to go."
Shadow noticed that Kirkigard didn't leave to join the others.
"What is it?"
"I'm going with you."
"You're what?"
"I'm not trusting the whole crux of this mission on an outsider and a dragon, I'm going with."
"Dulcy, can you handle an extra passenger?"
"I don't know, I'll try."
"After the boost I give you, you'll be able to handle half this swarthy lot."
Shadow jumped up on Dulcy's back, and reached down to pull Kirkigard up behind him. Fully mounted, the dragon stepped out into the open and approached the invaders. Kirkigard directed Dulcy to the head of the force.
Like a colonel in a cavalry leading his troops into battle atop a horse, Kirkigard called out to lead the charge, wielding his hammer to the sky.
"People of the Hoines Mountains, we are here in a fight for our lives and our future. There are villains who have taken control of the dragons and sent them against us, destroying our homes, killing our friends and family; this must stop. We are going to take the battle to them, we will draw out the dragons, and then breech the gate and extract the villains who dared to ignite this war. I won't lie to you, this is dangerous, many may die, but there will be more death and destruction if we do nothing. For the sake of our homes, our friends, our future, go forth to battle, and to victory!"
Shadow turned back to Kirkigard.
"That's not a war cry, my grandmother could rile more people than that by reciting her recipe for biscuits." Shadow patted Dulcy. "Don't think anything of this I don't really mean it."
"Warriors! Hear me and ready yourselves! We go into battle to secure freedom from tyranny, from the oppression of a vile maniac! Stand side to side with your comrades! Raise your arms against your enemy! And go into battle and fight for your future! FORWARD!!!" Shadow paused and turned to Kirkigard. "Are we ready to leave?"
"Yes."
"MARCH!!!!"
The invasion had traveled for the whole day with no altercations, just one less day's travel between them and the target. However, some people were still apprehensive of having a dragon with them. Kirkigard couldn't speak for the others, but at least his own men had faith in him, and if he said the dragon was friendly they'd believe it; of course, it helped when he said that if Dulcy was less that cooperative, he'd take care of her personally.
Dulcy herself was also uncomfortable, she didn't trust any of the miners, and wondered if some of them might try to take advantage of her captive position; also, she had never walked this far before, even with Shadow's power up, she was still getting very tired.
One day down, two days left; everyone wanted this to be over, preferring to face the dragons now instead of waiting until they reached the roost, by which time they would probably be very tired from the climb.
Day 35
The second day transpired like the first, the small army continued to travel up the mountain, winding around twisted paths, climbing higher and higher over a path that was not as well defined as the roads between the towns. Some of the vehicles were having trouble making it up the mountainside, which worried many as it might add another day to the already tiring journey.
In the middle of the day, the battalion stopped for lunch; the most obvious problem with lunch was feeding the massive dragon in their midst.
Dulcy ate a lot, eating roughly the contents of one truck load per day; this meant that the army had to travel pretty heavy, but at least some of the truck drivers could head home when they emptied their supply. While Dulcy was having her fill, Shadow was eating a much smaller sandwich.
"How's lunch?"
"Not bad."
Dulcy flame-broiled some of the meat presented before her.
"That's neat, can you do my sandwich?"
"Sure."
Shadow placed his sandwich on Dulcy's food, and she blasted the whole lot of it.
Shadow walked over to find the meat still pretty rare, but his sandwich was reduced to a lump of coal.
"I needed to go on a diet anyway."
Two hours later, the procession continued their trek through the mountains. Shadow, as impatient as ever was riding Dulcy and talking with her to keep himself busy.
"So, how much further is it to your roost?"
"About four peaks in; at the rate we're going, we should get there late tomorrow."
"What's this roost of yours like?"
"It's a series of caves, very large, and very comfortable. There's one large mountain that's completely hollow."
Looking at the huge mountains, Shadow wondered how much room that would be, but nothing shy of a whole mountain would be big enough for a colony of dragons.
"What's it like sleeping on rock?"
"It's not bad, we scratch up the ground to dust to make a softer floor, but its nothing compared to the hay bed I had back there."
"The closest I had to sleeping on a rock was resting in a small cave in Nosadire, while you…"
"I'm sorry about that town."
"Dulcy, if you were there, did you see…"
"Yes, I was there."
Shadow choked, trying to get the question out. "You didn't see someone there, a cat, with orange fur?"
"No, I didn't; was he a friend of yours?"
Shadow ignored that Dulcy got the wrong gender. "No, just someone I met there."
From behind, Shadow heard a high-pitched whistle; he turned his head to see a man sitting on top of a truck blowing the wind instrument. With his other hand, he pointed a pair of binoculars to the sky.
"Dragons!"
A fury of the beasts swarmed through the air, still very distant but distinguishable. It seemed as if every dragon in the mountains was up there, forming a large cloud of darkness in the sky.
Shadow was still on Dulcy's back. "Are you ready?"
"No sense backing out now."
"How many are up there? Is that the whole roost?"
"Most of them, about 60 or 70 are up there; there are a bit more than 100 of us in total."
That was more dragons than what attacked Nosadire, and wiped it out; they had to finish this quickly or things were going to be desperate.
"We'll fly through them, and shake them up a bit before making our way in, just to take some heat off."
Kirkigard was quickly dispatching some orders before rejoining Shadow and Dulcy. "You ready to go?"
"Hop aboard." Shadow pulled Kirkigard up.
With both passengers on board, Dulcy flapped her wings open, ready to fly up.
"LET'S ROCK AND ROLL!!!" Shadow placed his hands firmly around Dulcy's neck, then started to pump her full of energy. Her yellow scales started to glow, and energy creeped between the plates like a glowing vapor.
With a mighty roar, Dulcy flapped her wings in large powerful beats, lifting her and her two passengers off the ground. As they hovered, the energy started to grow brighter, flowing off her like a blazing flame, turning the dragon into a phoenix reborn. Now well off the ground, Dulcy flew up, heading straight for her kin; the energy boost propelled her through the air, leaving a flaming trail like a meteor raining up instead of down.
High in the sky, the flock saw the oncoming flare and spread out to avoid it as Dulcy and company flew right through them, heading for the roost. The dragons were disoriented and didn't know what to do; the force from the village was still approaching on the ground, but know there was a new hitch, a strange fiery beast flying straight for their home. Not sure what to do, some of the dragons followed the creature to the roost, even though they had no ability to catch the speeding rocket.
A few miles away at the mouth of a massive cave, two dragons saw the burning beast that cut through their fellow beasts, not knowing that it was their lost dragon, Dulcy at its center. The two dragons stood their ground and fired their breath at it, trying to scare it away.
Dulcy didn't flinch, she charged the gate and the two dragons guarding it; she just hoped that the two sentinels would move out of the way before she crashed into them. The two dragons were fairly young and didn't have the sheer nerve to override their survival instinct; once the flaming death was right in front of them, they scattered, leaving the door open for Dulcy to fly straight in.
Inside, Dulcy flew through the large open caverns, illuminating them in bright yellow. Other dragons in the way leapt away to keep out of reach of the fiery demon.
The cavern was plenty big for Dulcy to fly though, a perfect home for the scaly beasts. As they traveled through the entry hall, a rock bridge was seen ahead, crossing the wide expanse. On it were two monsters that were much smaller than the dragons that called this place home.
Shadow looked up to the bridge, and the two men standing on it. "Well, well, well. Hey Kirkigard, do you recognize them?"
The bear looked forward. "No."
"Good. Dulcy, let's give them a serious hot foot."
Shadow didn't even have to say the words, Dulcy was so enraged she wanted to use her new freedom and power to teach every one of these scumbags a lesson. Drawing breath, the dragon lunged forward with her heated breath; but just as her strength was augmented by Shadow's boost, so was her flame. Pouring out of her mouth was not fire, but a fierce wave of pure energy, a tsunami of pure white Hell.
The two on the bridge were terrified already by the sight of the flaming dragon, the white flame was the icing on the cake. The jet blasted right through the bridge and the man on the right, completely devouring the rock in one gulp, then spread across the bridge to destroy the whole structure and the other man. When Dulcy cut off the blast, the bridge, the two men and parts of the walls were completely vaporized, a bright orange glow on the melting walls were all that's left.
Kirkigard was stunned by the sheer demolition caused by the energized flame. "Could they have survived that?"
Shadow looked back. "Are you kidding? They'll be lucky if there's enough of them left to scrape up with a putty knife."
Dulcy left the entrance corridor and ended up in a giant hollowed out cavern, a giant cone shaped bubble that was as large as any of the mountain peaks. Dulcy flew up, aiming for a particular place in the wall. A ways up was another cavern that had been sealed off with a rockslide.
Kirkigard reached over. "What is it?"
"This is the chamber of our queen." Dulcy was stuttering a bit. "When they came, they sealed her inside, none of us has seen her since."
Shadow remembered what Dulcy told him before. "Then lets take it down, and be careful, we don't want to bake your queen."
Dulcy breathed in, and let loose with her white-hot flame, melting away the stone like a welder's torch on cheap plastic. The rocks flowed out of the hole, giving Dulcy and crew a route into the large chamber. They flew in.
"Your highness!"
Dulcy flew in towards a large black lump in the back, and approached.
On a slab of rock was a dragon, the largest dragon that Shadow had seen yet, but she was in even worse shape than the red dragon that Shadow had slain. There was the queen of all dragons, with jet black scales that glittered with an obsidian gloss, slumped on the rock; her wings had been torn off at the base, a small bit of bone and flesh were all that remained of her once mammoth sails. Her legs were also amputated, each one cut off at the knee; save for her front left leg, which was totally missing. In addition, her tail was also cut of right at the stem; the five fleshy stumps suggested they had been torn off like the wings. Up to her head, the left side of her face was also shredded away; her left eye was no more than a gaping hole with exposed bone and torn muscle.
"Your highness!"
Dulcy was now standing just before her queen, and Shadow and Kirkigard dismounted. The large monarch responded, slowly and painfully lifting her head to see her visitor with her one good eye.
"Who, who is there?"
"Your highness, it is Dulcy, I've brought help to rid us of these bastards."
The dragon tried to look at the other two, but couldn't move her head far enough; instead, she leaned back to rest.
"Your highness? Queen Tiamat?"
"I am tired, so very tired…"
"Please, everything will be fine, don't die. We'll destroy these heathens."
"How dare you talk about your master like that?!"
Dulcy, Shadow and Kirkigard turned around to see one figure standing on the other side of the room. Looking at the trio like a vengeful god ready to unleash an unholy wrath, the spotted leopard was holding a long staff made of hardened steel with a mace on the end, and inset into its neck was a large red gemstone, one that Shadow recognized as being like the Green Chaos Emerald.
"You impudent little bitch, you will pay for this insolence!"
Dulcy was enraged, although Shadow's power boost had faded when he lost contact with her, she still wanted to attack with whatever power she had. "You monster, you will suffer for what you have done."
Kirkigard was also enraged. "You vicious bastard, you created this war, for what? So you can control the mountains, and take all the mining rights for yourself."
The leopard laughed. "That was the plan, but I figure I could use the mountains as a base for launching attacks against nearby nations; with the dragons I could become a major power in this area."
Shadow didn't like that thought as Mobotropolis was one such nation. "World domination, the life's goal of every mentally devolved megalomaniac."
"You've got some mouth on you, but not quite the biggest. Dulcy, if you exterminate these two pests, I might forgive you for this error in judgment." Renquiest started to wave his staff threateningly in the air.
Dulcy knew the pain that Renquiest could inflict, but she was just too angry to even consider it; she felt freedom for the first time in months, and she'd rather suffer the consequences instead of succumbing to him again. "I will rip you apart!"
"You naughty little girl, I'll have to punish you."
Renquiest held the staff towards the yellow dragon, but was not pleased with the results. Dulcy didn't feel anything, no pain, no torment, nothing.
"What's the matter?" Shadow spoke in a snide voice. "The big bad kitty losing his touch?"
Renquiest had no idea why the gem did nothing, but he had no time to figure it out here; Dulcy was angry, and about to unleash her fury on him. As the dragon fired with her normal flame breath, Renquiest ran for a nearby corridor that was cut into the rock, meant for Renquiest and his men to move about where any dragons couldn't get them.
"He's getting away!" Without really thinking, Kirkigard chased after the fiend and Shadow followed.
Dulcy shouted after them. "Get him, I'll look after my queen."
The dragon moved back to the fallen queen and looked on her mangled face. "Don't worry, they'll stop that madman, grandmother."
Kirkigard was following the sounds of footsteps down the corridors. "So that gem is what he's using to control the dragons, why didn't it work back there?"
"That stone he has is a Chaos Emerald, and as long as I'm in range, I can suppress its power."
"You're pretty fast, can you catch him?"
"I don't know, these halls are pretty tight and uneven, I'd more likely trip or run face first into a wall, besides…"
The pair came to a large room, standing before them was their prey, along with many of his men, many of whom Shadow never saw before, but there was one rather seedy merchant he did recognize.
"…he stopped."
"I hope you don't mind, but I invited some friends. If you'll excuse me, I have someone to tend to."
"Where are you going?"
Renquiest looked at the corrupt merchant. "Why don't you do something useful as opposed to leaching off others, and do some actual work."
Renquiest started to walk out a tunnel in behind.
"Renquiest! Come back and face me you heathen!"
Kirkigard ran towards the fiend, but the others moved in the way, brandishing weapons. Milon took little time to assume command once the real leader was gone.
"Get them, kill them!"
A large bull lunged at Kirkigard with a large axe, and a gray wolf came forward with a large sword. Around the side, a female mouse leveled a bow and fired. Kirkigard caught the axe with his toothed hammer, and dodged away from the sword. Shadow jumped behind him and swatted away the arrow with his scythes. The others had their own weapons and moved around into different positions.
"That bastard is getting away!"
Shadow felt around, trying to trace the movement of the Red Chaos Emerald. "Worse than that, I think he's heading back towards Dulcy and Tiamat. You go back and head him off. I'll handle these slime."
Kirkigard didn't even consider that Shadow would be better able to defend Dulcy and Tiamat, he was too angry to leave Renquiest to someone else, something that Shadow had noticed. The bear ran out while Shadow faced down the dozen.
From his position in the back, Milon screamed out more orders. "Kill him, kill the outsider!"
Shadow smirked as he twitched the blades. "You clearly do not know who I am. Would you care to guess? And if anyone says 'Sonic', I'm going to kill the lot of you."
"HEEEAARRRRRGHHHH!!!"
Renquiest walked down a hall with strong firm steps; by comparison, Kirkigard suddenly ran in from the other side of the long room and almost stumbled on his way in.
"You!"
"Well, well, it seems the boy scout is angry about something."
"You killed my father!"
"The dragons killed your father."
"Face your death!"
Kirkigard let out a scream as he charged. Renquiest held his staff, the red stone shining now when it failed to do so earlier.
Shadow was jumping about the room like so many monkeys while Renquiest's entourage was trying to pin him in.
The wolf had missed again, and lunged his sword into a table. "Hold still you little ferret."
"Ferret? I'm gonna give you an extra close shave for that, doggie boy."
Shadow scraped the twin blades like he was sharpening a knife, preparing for the carving of Thanksgiving turkey.
Renquiest's entourage came down on Shadow, lunging at him with weapons extended.
The hedgehog ducked as a raccoon tried to cut his head off, then retaliated with a jump kick right to the swordsman's face. A fox tried to skewer Shadow with a long spear, but a few dance steps kept him from becoming a shishkabob. Shadow jumped up to avoid a swing from the bull's large battle axe. The bull looked around to see where Shadow landed, but he wasn't on the ground.
"You've got a nice swing there, ever considered taking up golf?"
The bull turned to see Shadow standing on the head of his axe.
"Get off!"
The bull twisted the axe, and Shadow leapt away, landing on the ground. Right in front of his eyes, an arrow shot past, just missing his face by a whisker. Shadow looked to his right where the mouse was leveling another arrow in her bow.
Shadow wasn't about to let her fire again. Shunting his Chaos Control into his blades, the Fyr infused metal charged with an electric aura, and Shadow threw them out at his attackers. The scythes spun through the air like energized disks, circling around and between the villains. Shadow got a good laugh watching his opponents dodge and defend against the whirling spirits. Shadow was controlling the deadly disks and made sure to direct a few passes at the merchant who was cowering in the rear, going so far as a few close shaves that slashed his clothes and cut his fur hat in two.
After a minute, Shadow called them back, catching the pair by their oak handles; the energy dissipated once they were back in possession of their owner.
"Now, is there anyone who wants to play round two, if you leave now I'll let you live."
No one was retreating, except possibly the merchant, but he was scared stiff, unable to move. The others were a little scared, but they weren't standing down, and charged.
Shadow was again dodging a series of attacks, flying pieces of metal aimed at his body; swords, a mace, a ball and chain, all trying to pin in the hedgehog and do endless amounts of damage to him, but all were too slow to catch him. Again, the mouse leveled her bow, hoping to pick off the hedgehog while he was busy defending against the other attacks; her weapon being the only one fast enough to have a chance at catching the pest.
The arrow flew past Shadow's head; the hedgehog ducked at the last possible second to avoid, but it still nicked his left ear. It was the first time that these minions were able to hit Shadow, and it would be the last time.
Shadow cast a bloodthirsty glaze over his eyes, then spoke in a hideous whisper. "Alright kiddies, play time's over…"
Elsewhere, Kirkigard was not having a good time; Renquiest was using the Red Chaos Emerald to launch flaming bursts at the bear, exploding when they hit the rock.
There was nowhere to hide in the modestly sized room. Kirkigard was having trouble getting near Renquiest as he continued to fire a barrage of fireballs at the bear, each blast forced Kirkigard to dodge to the left or right, or to fall back slightly to avoid the shattering bursts.
"What's the matter little bear, you've fought dragons with mightier flame than this, and yet you cringe before me."
"Shut up you monster!"
Kirkigard ran forward, blindly charging into the barrage. Renquiest was impressed with his rage, and amused by it; he pointed his staff to the ground, and brought a wave of red energy from the ground. The shockwave slammed into Kirkigard, and blasted him back with a force that mirrored when his father was hit by the side of his truck.
Renquiest followed up the wide area attack with another fireball, fired straight at the stumbling bear. Kirkigard recovered just enough to see it coming, and swung his hammer in front of him, trying to block or deflect the attack, but it exploded right in front of him. Kirkigard was thrown back some distance, while his weapon fell to the ground, well out of reach.
"You little brat, you're just a fly compared to me. I'll destroy you worse than what any dragon could do to you."
The bull's giant axe crashed to the ground near Shadow's feet; the hedgehog had no trouble dodging the strike. Staring straight into the eyes of the massive man, Shadow jumped forward.
Shlink!
Shadow hit the ground, facing the remaining challengers, the body of his victim slumping to the ground, the head rolled clumsily to one side.
"Who's next?"
The sight of the vicious beast before them struck fear into their hearts, but with only a second's hesitation, the remaining soldiers readied themselves. Before they could move, Shadow phased out and appeared behind a rather small and shabbily dressed possum.
"Let's see you play dead."
With several strokes, Shadow tore apart his back, slicing his spine in several places; one stroke at the back of the head killed him instantly. Shadow had already selected his next target before the fiends could locate him. Darting across the room, Shadow leapt to an armadillo with a mace. He plunged the right scythe into her throat, and sliced right down her torso. After dispatching his third target, Shadow dived to his left, and sliced through the belly of the large wolf, causing him to collapse to the ground, trying to hold his insides inside.
By now, everyone else was trying to escape this death chamber. Most made it out, but Shadow still struck down an arctic fox with a strike through the back and straight for the heart; and then snatched the mouse's bow and arrow, then fired an arrow right between the eyes. Now, everyone was either dead, or gone, except one little weasel trying to scurry away. The greedy merchant was saved for last, and while trying to crawl towards a door, Shadow slammed his foot in front of his face.
"Well now, isn't this a pleasant sight: Mr. Binhelm, greedy merchant who enjoys gouging his customers in rough times, now cowering on the floor. Let me guess, that little show at the beginning was just that, a little spectacle to make sure that the miners didn't suspect anything. I bet they'd fully understand your high prices to pay for replacing the odd vehicle that was destroyed." Shadow held up the bloody scythes rather horrifically, pointing them right at Milon's face. "I would enjoy gouging you, if for any reason than to stop your incessant snoring."
Milon was slowly creeping away, holding up a piece of a chair like it would offer some kind of protection. "Now come on, friend. I'll cut you a deal, 100,000, 200,000; no, half a mil."
"You'll be needing your hands to count all that money, won't you?"
The rodent had no chance to figure out Shadow's cryptic message when Shadow lunged forward, and with the sharp fangs, smashing the chair and severing both hands. The shrill was terrible.
"You monster!"
"Me, a monster? You don't know the half of it; if you had any idea as to what I really am, I'm sure you could come up with something better than 'monster'."
Shadow was closing in on the merchant.
"Now what am I to do with you? I could slit your belly open and spill your guts on the floor, or I could cut you down a piece at a time. There's a lot of fun things to do to you." Shadow's ears twitched. "Or perhaps this!"
Milon fell to the ground with Rouge deeply planted into his forehead; despite the ruckus, Shadow had paid close attention to which blade was which. Behind Shadow, a large broadsword fell to the ground, with Bunnie planted equally into the skull of the large grey wolf trying to use his last bit of strength to strike down the black demon.
"Nobody sneaks up on me."
Kirkigard was smashed into a wall, the victim of another of Renquiest force bursts.
"You little weakling, how dare you even think that you could stand against me."
"Shadow will get you, that puny little trinket of yours is useless against him."
"Then it's a good thing my followers are dealing with him."
"'Followers'? What are you, a god now?"
"Don't be ridiculous, when I conquer the world, then I'll be a god."
Renquiest swung his staff, launching another fire bolt at Kirkigard; the bear pushed off the wall to avoid, but he was still caught in the blast and fell to the cave floor.
"Begging for mercy will get you nowhere."
"Not exactly a benevolent deity, are you."
"You dare joke about my power, do you have no faith at all you heathen."
"Sorry, I'm atheist."
"Then I will make you believe." Renquiest held up his staff, then swung it down, launching another fire blast at Kirkigard.
Kirkigard rolled away, missing the blast but still getting burned by the explosion. Despite the strike, Kirkigard struggled and got to his feet. Enraged, the bear ran towards the leopard again.
Renquiest held out his staff again, throwing another force field at the heretic; it hit Kirkigard hard, but he resisted it and pushed on. The large cat sent another shockwave, and Kirkigard pressed on, until he was almost to the tyrant. With a burst of strength, Kirkigard lunged forward and grabbed Renquiest's staff. But when he touched it, his hands burned where he touched the metal, and his body was awash in a fierce energy
"You insolent fool, the stone has chosen me! And it will punish you!"
Renquiest summoned the power of the Red Chaos Emerald, and directed it straight into Kirkigard, blasting him across the room and into the opposite wall, breaking off several chunks of rock that almost broke his back.
"You no longer amuse me, so now you die."
Kirkigard looked down and saw his hammer a bit off to his left. Just as Renquiest was about to fire on him again, Kirkigard reached behind him and grabbed a piece of rock dislodged from the wall, then threw it at the leopard. As the wand swung again, the fireball flew and hit the rock only a few feet from Renquiest's face, pushing the menace back.
For the first time, Kirkigard had an opening and made a break for his hammer, grabbing it before Renquiest could shake off the shock. The bear called on whatever strength he had and charged Renquiest. The leopard swung his staff and launched another blast at Kirkigard, who hefted his hammer and blocked the attack; this time, standing firm and blunting the blast without losing ground.
Kirkigard continued his progression towards Renquiest, who fired another shot; like before, Kirkigard blocked the shot with the head of his weapon, and braced for the explosion. Renquiest fired twice more at the bear, and both times Kirkigard blocked the shots and stood against the blaze.
As Kirkigard got close, Renquiest threw a shockwave at the trodding golem; the bear stood his ground as the energy wall smashed into him.
"Stay back you devil."
Renquiest pointed the staff at Kirkigard, sending a river of energy at him; burning him, stinging him, but his determination resisted pain. Fighting the energy, Kirkigard lunged through, charging Renquiest, swinging his hammer at the warlord. Facing the large steel block, Renquiest instinctively held up his staff to block it. The hammer came down and struck the pole, smashing it at the head; bits of steel rod fell to the ground, and the Red Chaos Emerald hit the rock with a crystalline ring.
Renquiest's power was gone, now just a rock on the ground. Kirkigard ran forward and bull charged the leopard, knocking him back and further away from his power source. Now in control of the fight, Kirkigard went for the big play.
"This is for my father!"
The bear swung his weapon around, and slammed the four-pronged end into Renquiest's belly, puncturing the flesh, leaving four bloody holes when he yanked it out.
"This is for everyone who died."
Kirkigard swung his hammer again and smashed the blunt end into Renquiest's chest; the leopard coughed up a mouthful of blood.
"And this is for your village, that you betrayed!"
Kirkigard hefted the mighty weapon over his head, and brought the four dull points right to Renquiest's face; plunging through and cracking his skull in so many pieces. The tyrant fell to the ground.
Kirkigard stood over his victim, still awash in a sea of rage. With his pent up hatred, he raised his weapon again, and dealt another blow to the fallen beast.
While the bear continued to ravage the corpse, Shadow came in from behind
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I think he's dead."
Kirkigard stopped beating on the corpse of the tyrant to turn to Shadow; a glint of savagery still remained in his eyes, similar to Shadow's, save his had long faded. Shadow looked over into the corner and walked over to the Red Chaos Emerald. Just as his hand was about to grip the glassy gem…
Crack!
Shadow didn't even have to turn around to know that noise. "O.K. That was excessive."
Shadow and Kirkigard made their way to the queen's chamber, there they found four other dragons had come in with Dulcy and Queen Tiamat. The others took instant notice of the two from the village, and the red gem they were holding. Before any of them reacted, Dulcy called out.
"No, those are my friends, leave them alone."
The four dragons stopped and allowed the two intruders to enter with no further conflict. Kirkigard walked towards the ravaged queen with Shadow following just behind him. Kirkigard didn't say anything, not a greeting, nor a peep of any kind. Leaning down, Kirkigard laid the Red Chaos Emerald on the ground, and then turned away, heading for the door. Shadow watched as Kirkigard walked away without a word; he turned to Queen Tiamat and gave a bow, and then followed Kirkigard.
The queen looked at the two strangers with some difficulty, then over to Dulcy; with a nod, she sent the young dragon on her way. She joined Shadow and Kirkigard to give them a ride down the mountain.
