A/N: Changed my mind and put Woodchuck back where they meet in the anime.

Disclaimer: Aside from XAS and Xapferey I own nothing, Abathur is owned by Blizzard Entertainment (I cannot own Nethalus as slavery is illegal last I checked and I have his permission to write him in).

Chapter 4: Of Myce and Men

The group of 8 left the city quickly; already guards were beginning to watch the gates thoroughly but the group managed to avoid many questions but Xapferey guided the group to where Abathur was burrowed.

"Now Slayn, as you know my magic is different than yours, but part of my magic gives me an empathic link with another creature, a familiar. Familiars can be one of any creature, and the one I summoned looks quite… dangerous and unusual… Ahem Abathur." He called and the Zergling popped out of the ground and pounced on its master screeching playfully and licking his face. "ACK Abathur, off, yes, yes I'm happy to see you too, now off." Xapferey pushed away the happily chittering Zergling while Slayn studied the Zergling.

"What is this creature?"

"A creature from a race known as the Zerg. Zerglings are the scouts and fast runners, also the first Zerg to join a fight. Zerglings normally spawn in twos or threes for a special type. Abathur here is a Raptor strain, which means he can leap up and down cliffs with ease due to those wings of his but he does not have enough lift to fly."

"Ah, well he seems like an impressive fighter with all those talons." Slayn commented as they walked. The group walked for several hours before deciding to take a break near a stream, while Slayn read his spellbook, Etoh sat down near Slayn and Nethalus stood with Pirotess while Deedlit and Xapferey sat on either side of Abathur who lay on the grass.

Ghim and Parn were sparring, helping the young man get better with his sword. Parn was yelling and growling as he clashed with Ghim. Ghim parried Parn's blows before knocking him back after he locked weapons and shoved.

"Pathetic, you can hardly even handle a sword." The group then watched as Parn charged recklessly and Ghim hammered the flat of his axe into Parn, sending the boy tumbling ass over heels to the ground in a disheveled heap.

"WHA?" Etoh said in shock

Xapferey facepalmed, Nethalus groaned and Abathur pitched backwards limbs akimbo and twitching rather comically in the air. Both Xapferey and Nethalus stared.

"Did he really just face-fault?"

"Yes he did… smartass Zergling." Xapferey growled at the still twitching creature. "Ugh I can't watch this anymore." Xapferey got up and walked to Parn and sighed. "Take a break Ghim, I got this. Now Parn, you don't lack in physical strength, which is good, but your technique is well… atrocious." Parn stared at him still somewhat annoyed.

"What makes you such an expert." Parn half-demanded, to which Xapferey pursed his lips in mock thought.

"Hmm, maybe for the fact my parents had me formally trained for 22 years. I was ridiculously mature as a child and my parents were well off so they wanted me able to protect myself as much as possible." Parn acquiesced somewhat.

"What then?"

"Parn you have potential, but right now you lack the necessary experience to charge like that. When you do you leave a great gaping hole in your defenses that anyone with enough skill can exploit. Even I don't charge like that unless I have to."

"Cause you're a defensive stylist." Nethalus called Parn looked a little confused at what Nethalus meant before getting the gist.

"I prefer to let my opponent(s) wear themselves out on my defenses, wearing them down until they give me the opening I need. Not that I don't have offensive styles, I started with a defensive style and kept it going." Parn nodded.

"What would you suggest I do then?"

"Advance cautiously, spar with me for awhile let me show you." Xapferey said as he drew his sword and settled in a ready position. Parn advanced as advised and attacked with a powerful overhand chop, which Xapferey sidestepped. Xapferey parried aside Parn's next attack and watched as the boy set up a flurry of blows in an attempt to pierce Xapferey's defenses, Xapferey parried the first, stepped into the second and caught Parn in a sword lock which Xap broke and sent Parn's blade to the ground. Xapferey stepped back and said, "Good, now pick it up and let's go again."

Parn nodded and picked his sword back up and stepped forwards to attack, Xapferey parried a gut shot aside, and then a blow aimed for his shoulders and another for his legs. Xapferey surprised Parn by switching to his left hand and he continued in his defensive style called Blade Wall. He caught the blade on his own twisted his, sending the tip of Parn's blade to the floor before resting the tip of his blade on his throat and then stepping back. "Good, again."

This time Xapferey fought back offensively, his blade clashed against Parn and shoved him back, Xapferey was obviously holding back against the boy at least half his age. Xapferey was fond of rapid and usually unpredictable attacks, the moves in staccato bursts, and when Xapferey got into it, his blade seemed like there were several moving at once. But for Parn, Xapferey just tested him slowly, not going beyond Parn's estimated skill level.

Xapferey nodded after he had finished and stepped back and went to refill his water bottle. Unnoticed by him, Deedlit had perched herself in a branch above him and was watching him quietly. After filling his bottle, he removed his armor and shirt then dunked his head under the water. Deedlit had to admire the toned muscles, the slowly growing patches of gold scales and hard skin of a Dragon…

'Wait, what?' Deedlit thought to herself as she looked as close as she could. She hopped down silently and moved towards Xapferey, her eyes locked on the patches of gold skin and scales. As she moved Xapferey turned and for the first time she noticed and properly registered that his features were changing. His eyes had changed from a golden-brown to gold irises and the gold was creeping into the pupil slowly, "Xapferey what is happening to you?" She demanded, half in curiosity the other half worry.

"Umm… well… Legends that speak of Dragons and magic as if they were every day, based on the evidence before me I have to admit there was more…" Deedlit just put a finger to his lips, silencing his babbling gently.

"Xapferey, I understand, you went with what you thought was the truth, and all legends have some truth to them, now tell me what's happening to you?" Xapferey sighed in relief and explained.

"There was some Dragon in my ancestry it seems, these Dragon types are shapeshifters and can take a humanoid form and have children with Human or others. I am calling it forth again so when I am done I will be in essence a half-Dragon." Deedlit's eyebrows rose that had not been an answer she had expected. "So, would this affect what?"

"Well my love, a half-Dragon is not my full intention," Xapferey sighed before continuing, "Deedlit, I intend to undergo a special ritual, one which will make me become a full Dragon like one of my ancestors."

"What would this mean for us?" Deedlit pressed.

"It would mean that I would live as long as a High Elf naturally, I would be immortal, like you." Deedlit was somewhat flabbergasted, but the answer excited and relieved her. Like how Xapferey loved her, she had grown close and fond of him, now she easily admitted she loved him. She knew he was too honorable to string her along, but she also knew she would outlive him, until this fact came along.

"Truly Xapferey?" Deedlit asked at his smile and nod she hugged him when a scent caught his nose and put him on some alert.

"I smell a Dark Elf, and Kobolds… I think." Xapferey broke away from Deedlit's hug to grab his tunic, padding and armor. He had just pulled on all his gear again when the pack of kobolds entered the clearing just in front of them. "Oh joy… here we go." He muttered as he drew his sword as Deedlit drew her rapier and stepped beside him.

A couple kobolds attacked Xapferey but he out maneuvered them, before he could finish them, another two jumped forward. Then there was a clash of metal and the crack of splitting wood as Deedlit parried two throwing knives.

"A Dark Elf," Deedlit said in surprise as she jumped into the tree after the evil Elf. "You handle the kobolds, I'll handle the Dark Elf." Xapferey rolled his eyes, sending him to deal with kobolds was like sending a nuke to kill a fly. The Kobods swarmed him in groups, reacting fast enough that even a grandmaster like Xapferey was having trouble as he lapsed into his full defensive form dodging and parrying all their efforts.

In the meantime Deedlit had lost sight of the Dark Elf and looked down to see Xapferey madly defending himself against the large group of Kobolds.

"Rats." Deedlit gasped as she noticed the Dark Elf appear in front of her and flick another throwing knife at her. Thankfully the knife just grazed Deedlit's arm causing her to yelp lightly in pain; Deedlit then flitted down next to Xapferey and grimaced.

"He's a tough one… I hate saying this but if we don't run away now, we're probably dead," Xapferey nodded curtly at her and the Dark Elf appeared in front of them. "No choice now." Then a staff slammed into the ground in front of them, thrown from behind.

"Xapferey, Deedlit," Etoh shouted as the rest of the group ran up, only Xapferey really noticed the foul look the Dark Elf gave the disguised Pirotess, obviously recognizing her despite her disguise.

"What are you playing with here?" Chim demanded as he moved to the head of the group by Xapferey and Deedlit.

"I suppose this looks like play to a dwarf?" Deedlit asked rhetorically.

"Well I guess Kobolds make pretty lousy playmates," Ghim retorted.

The Dark elf noticed something and turned his head before he gestured to the kobolds.

"Away," he barked and he faded while the kobolds fled. Xapferey sighed as he noticed Allanian soldier around them

"Figure now the military shows up and they'll probably get the wrong idea," he muttered sarcastically as he ignored Parn's elated remarks. Xapferey's sarcasm was quite accurate considering the group was arrested and taken to the fort's dungeons not long afterwards.

Their gear was out of reach, and Abathur had been chained to the wall, the Zergling's claws though snapped the chains easily. With claws that could rend Protoss psionic energy shields and Terran neosteel, simple iron chains offered less resistance than paper. Parn in the meantime was howling his protests to the guard who replied while climbing the stairs.

"Tell it to the captain when he gets back from Allan."

"Save your breath," another voice piped up from behind them "scream all you want, but if the captain's not here it won't do you any good."

"Hey who are you?" Parn asked.

"Looks like a small time robber," Ghim added.

"Looks are about equal down here," he answered. Xapferey and to a lesser degree Nethalus knew it was Woodchuck.

"Don't assume we're like you," Deedlit replied primly as he rolled over to see the speaker.

"Well well, a lovely little elf wench, how very cute," to this Abathur snarled and advanced on the hapless thief while Deedlit glared though she smirked at the rather girlish yelp from the thief as the Zergling began growling and advancing on him.

"Abathur, HEEL, SIT," Xapferey barked, the Zergling glared at the thief warningly before obeying. "I must apologize for Abathur, he's very protective of my love."

Woodchuck pushed himself as far into the corner away from the beast as he could. While Slayn spoke to their group, a slight smile on his face.

"Easy, I'm certain when the captain comes back he'll see this was all a big mistake."

Time passed for the group as Woodchuck introduced himself to the group and they began talking. Rather Parn began talking to Wood, Nethalus was healing Deedlit's wound as she sat on the straw covered floor beside Xapferey. Slayn was busy meditating; Ghim and Pirotess were napping while Etoh watched Nethalus' usage of his powers.

"I was building my own little war chest and was heading to another kingdom, Falis wasn't looking out for me this time... Wait where is it?" Wood asked as he patted the straw beside him before he noticed Abathur had something in his mouth and put it in front of Xapferey while chittering excitedly.

"Wha?" Was all Xapferey could say as he looked at his mother's bracelet that he sold long ago before he laughed in shock "Bahamut prevails in all forms," he murmured so quietly almost Deedlit didn't hear him. "Where did you get this Woodchuck?"

"I found that, some merchant had been robbed by Marmo, I managed to find it under a rock and kept it hidden from the guards… why?"

"I sold this long ago when I came to Lodoss, I had no money and I had to make some even if it meant selling my mother's favorite bracelet," Xap pulled out a photograph, of him and his parents, the bracelet quite identifiable on his mother's wrist. "Thank you for returning this to me, it's all I really have left of my parents after their passing," Wood grunted but acquiesced ownership in the face of proof, that and his fear of the Zergling. "Deedlit, my mother wanted me to give this to the woman who has my heart," he whispered to her making her smile and she offered her arm for him to put it on, and she replaced her bracer comfortably over it.

"Thank you Xapferey," she replied quietly, her emerald eyes shining with happiness. A few minutes later a foul odor caught Xapferey's attention and he turned to glare at Nethalus who was smoking in the corner.

"Neth put that damn thing out now, I won't have you sucking on a cancer stick when we're in an enclosed place," Nethalus just gave Xapferey a sour look but obeyed and extinguished his cigarette.

Not long afterwards Wood explained he was headed for Valis due to the general weak fighters in Allan and Kannon's armies. A few moments later footsteps were heard as the captain came down the stairs to the gate of the dungeons and stared at the group looking back at him.

"Are these the spies?"

"Aye," another guard replied.

"We're not spies, just innocent travelers in the wrong place at the wrong time," Xapferey protested.

"Hmmph…light," he gasped as suspicison dissolved into shock as he stared at Etoh "you Lauma adonia moil de Pharis," Etoh smiled in pleased surprise and replied.

"Moiros lahm," Etoh answered in the same language with a respectful bow of his head. Xapferey patted Etoh on the shoulder as the captain Jebra apologized and let everyone but for Wood out. A barracks was quickly cleared, with a small room meant for a military scribe made ready for Deedlit.

About half an hour later the group was with Jebra (after he had introduced himself) in his office where they were sharing a meal.

"I wish that there was more I could do to make up for your ill-treatment. There have been a matter of disturbances lately, and my men are a bit jumpy... If I had been able to return sooner, this could have all been avoided."

"Captain Jebra please we're sincerely grateful for your understanding."

"Woodchuck had explained the troubles with the Marmo especially after news of Kannon," Xapferey said.

"Woodchuck? Oh you mean that petty thief in the dungeon… so what did he tell you?"

"That Marmo armies are heading towards us."

"True Kannon is a lost cause."

"And Allania?" Parn asked.

"We are still waiting final word from King Kadomos and his chief vassals."

"Another war," Etoh said sadly when a voice called out through the open window.

"Captain Jebra, ready for inspection sir."

"Have the men wait, I'm coming, won't you join me? Sadly we don't have much in the ways of entertainment here."

The group went down to the main courtyard after graciously accepting and watched two soldiers in the centre of a ring of comrades sparring. Xapferey eyed them critically, they were decent soldiers overall, trained to fight in a group whereas Xapferey was used to fighting either in small duels or arenas where it turned into a free-for-all on rare occasions. They all had excellent promise and were doing their best to rely mainly on their shields for defense. On the downside, their movements were occasionally choppy, the motions between shield and sword lacked coordination.

"A fine group," Jebra said eyeing his men proudly "my men gathered here every night to sharpen their fighting skills."

"I always believed Allanian men prized their scholarship above all else. But somehow these men seem different," Slain replied.

"The men who come here are different, they have too much strength to fit into regular Allanian society."

"Keeping all your violent men in one place hm?" Deedit quipped causing Xapferey to groan quietly and Etoh to say her name quietly in warning.

"Ha, there's no need to apologize," Jebra eyed Xapferey, the man was easily a few inches taller than him and he could see Xapferey watching his men with an appraising and skilled eye. "Care to have a bout Xapferey?" Xapferey pulled out a similar blade to his normal one, but it was not runecrafted and dulled for sparring.

"No shield?" Jebra asked as Xapferey entered the ring ahead of him.

"It'll only slow me down."

Xapferey shifted into his opening stance, hilt held in both hands and the blade in a drop parry position. Jebra attacked and was parried aside, the captain struck out again, driving Xapferey around the circle but never scoring a hit. Xapferey finally struck back, a high overhand powerful chop known as the "falling avalanche" technique and it made Jebra wince at the power behind the blow. Xapferey then lunged forwards and unleashed a rapid barrage of attacks that Jebra managed to parry, as the fight went on, the blows were coming from increasingly random angles and to Jebra it almost seemed like there were three blades attacking at once.

The captain was harly able to get in a counterblow before a vicious sword lock tore the blade from his grasp and he was floored by an ankle sweep. Xapferey stood over him with his blade at Jebra's throat before he stepped back when the captain laughed joyfully.

"Gods above that was terrifying, what do you call that style of fighting?"

"It's called the Ferocity form, it's very emotionally and physically draining to try and master."

"Indeed, Allania needs strong men like you Xapferey, what say you join with us? I could see you becoming great among Allanian soldiers," Xapferey smiled gently but shook his head.

"I greatly appreciate the offer but I'm not ready to settle down quite yet," Jebra nodded in understanding and they moved to let a few new groups take the ring.

A few hours later Xapferey was discussing with Woodchuck down in the dungeon about the invasion, unlike Parn, Xapferey had his full gear on him because he knew Fortress Myce would be attacked at any time. His G11 was loaded and a round chambered, the safety was on though to prevent any incidents. Xapferey was mulling why an attack force would be so far north and was trying to reconcile the Grey Witch books with the anime when Wood's voice cut into Xap's thoughts.

"Hey what say you get me out of here? No more stealing I promise."

"I'll think about it," Xapferey replied, then he froze, the attack was due any moment and he sensed Karla (at lease he strongly suspected it was Karla considering the locus of power was VERY strong).

BOOOM

'Great…'

"Hey let me out of here," Xapferey thought for a moment before getting his Zergling to break the lock.

"Stay here."

"The hell I will."

"Listen to those booms, that means pissed off spellcaster, Slayn is not powerful enough to make that kind of explosion, I might be able to pull it off being a combat caster but not as often. Certainly not with such ease, and unless you want to make yourself a target stay here."

"Fine."

Xapferey raced off to find the courtyard a mess. There were a few dead bodies around and three kobolds trying to remove the crossbar from the gate. Xapferey drew his pistol and shot at them as he ran, the hollow point rounds mushroomed inside and left rather gory messes of the kobolds' chests.

As Xapferey headed for the gate, the Dark Elf appeared in front of him and copped supersonic lead to the head.

A guard came rushing over a moment later and gulped slightly before getting control of himself.

"What happened?"

"Kobolds were trying to open the gate, I shot them, then shot the Dark Elf as he appeared to try and stop me. Where's Captain Jebra?"

"Over there, he's somewhat injured though," Xapferey over and saw the captain approaching, with a scowl on his face as he was followed by Parn and the others at that moment another fireball detonated on the wall blasting stone about. Jebra glowered and turned to the group.

"Can any of you do anything about that blasted Sorcerer?" Slayn laughed and it was not from amusement.

"No, this sorcerer is more powerful than the three of us here, you'd be sending us to our deaths."

"I have an idea, stand back," Xapferey said and drew his sword "I can buy you time captain but I'm not sure how useful I'll be after I pull it off," Xapferey immediately began drawing runes on the ground rapidly, he gave them a light energy charge but he do not treat them as proper runes. "Si naushind arcaniss ihk vi tairais," he roared, the runes focused and amplified the spell. The energy field affected a whole mile around the fort, the energy field prevented magic from being used at all.

Deedlit, Slayn, Etoh, Nethalus and Pirotess gasped as they felt their connection to their god, powers or elemental spirits fade into nothingness. Xapferey tipped backwards and crashed on the ground having completely depleted his mana reserves from that stunt.

"Xapferey," Deedlit yelled in shock as the group ran to help him after he had fallen over. The fireballs were no longer coming, and the captain was quite happy that his fortress was no longer being blown up around him. Xapferey regained consciousness a few minutes later, to notice the glares of both his High Elf lover and friend.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?" Deedlit screamed at him.

"Yes Xapferey I may not have my connection to magic after what you did, but I can tell that your spell cost you a great deal of energy. You must understand that using magic to such a great extent could result in your death."

"True, but my spell prevented magic from working in this region for a time and we better use that time."

"Nethalus and I managed to save one of your men, but the rest need healing better that we can offer; and our magical healing is sadly no longer an option." Etoh said mournfully. Jebra nodded, it was an unfortunate sacrifice but lack of enemy spells destroying the fort was a welcome benefit. Jebra then sighed as he looked around.

"I'm afraid or we can give them now is rest, we have a responsibility to protect the fort," Xapferey just groaned quietly, the medieval mindset of these guys were going to get them all killed. Xapferey asked if he could be shown a lookout post, preferably something that oversaw the main gate.

"Xapferey you ok?" Nethalus asked giving his friend a look.

"I'm fine, little tired, I'm going to be getting a good night sleep tonight that's for sure…"

"Provided everything goes according to plan hm?"

"No plan survives first contact with the enemy."

"Take these then," Nethalus passed Xapferey a bandolier of grenades, Xap was both elated and nervous at handling a whole platoon's worth of explosives as he followed Jebra. Once on the post the two glared out into the night. Despite his enhanced eyes Xapferey could not see any possible targets so he clicked his G11 to 3-round burst and made sure Jebra was covering his ears and fired out. The muzzle flashed and a loud bellow of agony resulted from the gunshots.

Xapferey turned to the awed and hard faced captain and spoke again.

"You'd probably know better than me, what did that sound like? How many enemies you think it would take to sound like that?" Xapferey gestured out to the yells, roars and barks.

"A lot, more than I would care to think about especially with that sorcerer out there. How long do you think your… spell will last?"

"I don't know, something I came up with, it was a hunch that thankfully paid off… How many would you say?"

"*Sigh* about 200 or more." Jebra said.

"How many soldiers do you have here?"

"All told 55 with 10 more dead and another 8 injured."

"Joy… about 4 or 5 to 1… now what?"

"My orders are to protect the fort… to the death," Xapferey grabbed Jebra's shoulder to stop and pulled the captain to look at him.

"Let me get this straight you're going to send me for a country that won't even with grant you the dignity fighting back in your name?"

"There's is a treaty among all the nations that if one is attacked by Marmo the others will respond to aid the beleaguered kingdom, and we will be viewed as the first casualties of this war." Xapferey laughed, it was all he could do. Jebra stared at Xapferey feeling utterly perplexed.

Slayn and Woodchuck gone over how much Allania does not value its military. Correct me if I'm wrong, but your king won't do anything unless he can squirm out of it am I right?" The look on Jebra's face was all Xapferey needed. "Let me explain one of the conflicts my people went through, it was called the first World War it was not called back for posterity, but because the entire world without war for the most part."

Xapferey paused to let that sink in; Jebra could see Xapferey was telling the truth through his eyes. What people, what kind of war would involve so many? Jebra wondered before Xapferey continued

"And a terrible man came to power about 60 years before my birth, because the world at large wanted to avoid such another conflict and attempted to pacify and appease this man, but it failed and an even greater conflict resulted. You see, your king will just try to pacify Marmo, he will try to negotiate if he can, you won't be the first casualties you'll just be collateral damage like so many civilians were."

"What would you have me do?"

"We've got time, that gate will hold for awhile and if you let me, I'll make sure that we stand a chance of holding this fort and make it out of this alive," Jebra sighed but nodded.

"I'll call my aide de camp and hear your plan before I make any final decision." Xapferey nodded and followed Jebra. After the captain heard Xapferey's plan, the captain agreed that Xapferey would take charge, the plan was actually quite sound. "MEN, GROUP IN THE COURTYARD AFTER ARMING FOR BATTLE, YOU ARE NOW UNDER THE COMMAND OF XAPFEREY MANAWEAVER."

"Thank you captain.""

"Thank me by getting us out of this alive. About 15 minutes later, the full garrison came running for instructions, all armed with a variety of weapons.

"All right, I need 10 bowmen to follow Nethalus above the gates, your jobs are to thin the oncoming herd as much as you can. Neth take my G11 and these 9 extra mags, you'll have 597 rounds all told."

"Xapferey you're better than me with the G11."

"True, but odds are you'll hit something even if you shoot blindly, now I'll need your shotgun in exchange," Nethalus nodded and the two swapped firearms. "Now I need two groups of 5 spearmen beside the gate, don't bother trying to close, just keep them close and give them a gauntlet to run. Now I need 10 men with pikes to group behind the remaining swordsmen, your jobs are to blunt the rush for the swordsmen. Slayn go get woodchuck from the dungeon, no offence, but you probably won't be able to help much without your powers," Slayn smiled grimly in agreement but left after Xap instructed Abathur to protect him.

Ghim, Wood and Jebra were positioned off to the side in an attempt to protect the swordsmen from being flanked from the right. Parn, Deedlit and Xapferey were off to the left with Abathur and Slayn near the entrance to the keep away from the fighting. Woodchuck agreed to assist in the defense on the condition that he was released afterwards.

"All right you lot, you have your orders and that gate is about to go… ARE YOU WAITING FOR AN INVITATION? MOVE LIKE YOU HAVE A PURPOSE," Xapferey roared and the men jumped into action and ran to their stations. Turning he saw shocked looks from Ghim and Parn.

"Lad where did you do before you joined with us? Were you a soldier?"

"No, my father was, he was a general in charge of many men and he made sure I understood armies throughout our history," Ghim nodded and he trudged off to his position.

Xapferey then heard the barking of his assault rifle and the cracking of the bar on the gates and he cringed as he noticed the bar had splintered somewhat due to one of his gunshots despite the hollow points. Xapferey signaled the spearmen to be ready the moment the gates were opened and chambered a shell. The gates opened a couple of minutes later as the crossbar split and collapsed on the ground.

'Ai Bahamut, great god of metallic dragons, the anime is NOTHING like real life,' Xapferey groaned mentally, but he lifted the shotgun and sighted the head of an Ogre and fired. The Ogre jerked backwards missing the back of its head from the buckshot.

"Spearmen," Xapferey yelled and two ranks of 5 spearmen began chipping away at the flanks forcing the rush into the forces arrayed in front of them. The line of pikemen slowed the rush enough that the line was not steamrolled but it was still a hard fight for them.

The booms of the shotgun caused Deedlit to wince, both at the noise and at the gruesome results of the scattergun's effects but she fought with the expected grace and speed of an Elf. The rush also forced Xapferey to sling the shotgun, not having had a chance to reload. It was a hard battle, between the two modern weapons, the bowmen above the gate volleying into the night, the spears chipping at the flanks, the pikes slowing the rush and the main force battling the enemy.

None of the Allanian troops has died though injuries were rife throughout the garrison, and Xapferey noticed a break in the enemy and drove forwards in a counterattack. The rush pushed the enemy back and broke their morale driving them out of the gates. About 5 minutes out of the fortress Xapferey called a halt.

"Enough, they're beaten for now," as Xapferey stared out he noticed two figures in the distance. His better night vision enabled him to see the features of the two. Karla the Grey Witch and Ashram the Black Knight, captain of the royal guard of Marmo. Ashram raised his unsheathed sword and galloped away.

Xapferey sighed, he was utterly exhausted and as good as his skills were, he would want to test himself against Ashram when better rested. As for Karla, she was staring hard at Xapferey before she disappeared in a puff of magic signaling that she was either out of range of his spell or it had ended.

Xapferey staggered, the last of the adrenaline was gone from his system and so went the last of his energy and he crumpled as the world went dark around him.