Javindar hopped behind barrel to crate. Despite his attempts at stealth, a young boy pointed at him and asked his mother a question he could not fully understand. The mother simply shook her head and expressed something in a disappointing tone.
Javindar ignored the pair as he slid through the street like a common thug. Instead of proudly striding through the center of the street, for all the uncouth merchants and even the barbarian women to gawk at, the Bey of Ghata went from shadow to shadow, avoiding attention like a thief.
Despite his awkward attempt at subterfuge, Javindar wasn't sure how effective all this sneaking about was. After all, he was pursing shadows, or maybe ghosts, or at least some sort of shadow Asura. He could see their baleful auras with his special vision, so wouldn't it be logical that they could see him as well? For all he knew he was making a fool of himself in front of his prey as they laughed at his every misstep.
Regardless of the full comical extent of his hiding, his target or targets mercifully ignored him as they detoured into a warren of alleys, away from the puzzled stares and snickers of the Grommish crowds. While they could have evaded a common tracker, Javindar's sight would not be so easily shaken. He could see a literal trail of their evil and would follow it till a conclusion, most likely and preferably a violent one was reached.
The Prince smiled at the anticipation of battle. It didn't matter who or what his foe was. He had enough of all this questing and running around, it made him feel like a glorified errand boy. Find this scroll, go to the Admiral, rescue the Baroness, find out who this James was…it was enough to give him a headache. He was a Prince of Ghata, trained for battle and forged in war. Just direct him to the enemy and let his blade, be it his shark tooth khanda or his handy trophy scimitar, do the work. If the quest given to him by Holy Sampada, or was it Whelp? He still had trouble separating the two in his mind, simply involved killing an Asura, this would long be over. His purpose was to kill demons and he intended to do that.
As Javindar approached, he scanned the area for any tactical advantages or misteps of his environment. The shadows were close. He would have to be ready. He was in an alley, narrow and flanked by tall walls, dirty and full of refuse even by Grommish standards. Thankfully the debris seemed to have driven out even the beggars and the paupers, so he would not have to worry about bystanders though he was mindful of his step so not to slip. As he followed their auras, he scaled back his initial estimates and sensed there were four or five of these creatures he was following, possibly undead, but most likely demons or Asura. Their auras were fairly uniform so he would not have to worry about identifying and dispatching a chieftain of a leader type amongst them. It was dark, save for the background glow of the city lights, but Javindar had several light stones given to him by his servant for a night battle such as this. Speaking of which, Nahbob was purposely trailing behind to not to give away his position. It would not surprise him if Nahbob was lost in the multiple alleys, but he had confidence that his servant would locate him when the battle was joined.
"You should not have fled," said a dry voice giving Javindar pause. Not because of the clarity of it, but because the speaker talked in Vinraji. He could not see where the voice came from, but suspected it was from one of the nearby buildings.
"And you should not have appeared like you did in the middle of the street, "responded an equally strong but feminine voice. " That was a bit flashy, even for you."
"I…I was worried that you didn't want to see me. You left without acknowledging me in my liege's camp."
"Aww…were you jealous? Did you think I would forget you, or did not recognize you ? Besides, it's shameful enough that I had to tolerate your so called lord and his barbarian lackeys' presence, let alone watch you submit yourself to him. "
Javindar's curiosity was piqued, enough so that he didn't notice Nahbob stumbling behind, almost bumping into him.
"Did you lose their scent?" whispered Nahbob. His choice of words showing his ignorance of the way Javindar's eyes worked.
Javindar silenced him with a wave as he continued to listen to the Vinraji voices.
"….was not the time, though the appointed hour approaches far sooner than I realize," continued the feminine voice. Javindar scowled at Nahbob when he realized he missed some of the conversation.
"Appointed hour? " snorted the dry voice. "Do not make me laugh. It will never be the appointed hour. For years I have waited in my vigil, submitting myself as you so eloquently put it, but it has never come to pass. This chance meeting is the closest I've ever been to the so called appointed hour, and still we're missing the ….wait…you have….., you have him? How…how did you come across him? Can I gaze upon him? It's been so long."
"No, I wouldn't do that. At least not yet. Like a moth, Greyiron drew too close to the flame, and he was…corrupted. However, all is not lost. Still, his mere presence gives me hope. The children of the world are more resourceful than we three it seems. His madness is not cured, but it has become calm at least for a while. I've watch them perform a curious technique to pacify him. Like I said, the appointed hour approaches."
"The guardians united…at long last….but we still only have one of our charges, the one I guard amongst the so called barbarians ….."
"Actually we have two."
"You recovered your scroll? But how…how can you possess it without it overpowering …"
Javindar and Nahbob both looked at each other in shock. Guardians? Scrolls? Were they referring to a black scroll? They couldn't possibly be, but they were speaking in Vinraji, and combined that with that aura of evil, it was too much of a coincidence.
"I will invoke a clairvoyance spell to observe whomever they are," said Nahbob. Javindar nodded for him to proceed.
"You were followed," said the dry voice casually, giving Nahbob and Javindar pause.
"You've noticed just now? Were you referring to the man in the shadows or the shadows themselves?" replied the feminine voice.
"Man in shadows?"
Javindar scratched his head. He wasn't sure what was going on, but it appeared the situation had gotten even more convoluted.
Before either voice could respond, a terrible shriek echoed through the alley. It was as if a thousand cats had been cast into one of the pits of Abaddon. The wailing cracked wood and even shattered a few bricks as a shiver ran down even Javindar's stoic spine. If it weren't for his training as a Holy Warrior of Puranas he might have given up hope and fled from the infernal dirge,but Javindar simply drew both his blades in anticipation of a fight. Nahbob however showed his true caste and attempted to flee in terror, he would have done so if Javindar had not stuck out his foot and tripped his terrified servant, sending him face first into the dirty alley before basking him in an aura of courage.
"Show some honour!" growled Javindar as he whirled around slashing both blades literally at the darkness around him.
Though the Prince preferred his Khanda and wicker shield, he wasn't sure if a balanced attack was the path to victory. The shadow beasts he had faced in the past had the annoying habit of slipping past his blows like you would think their namesake would. Javindar reasoned that if he was to defeat these monsters it was to be through pure offense, so he attacked with both of his blades at once.
The shadows about him were quickly dispersed despite their lightning speed, they proved no match for the holy warrior and his blades. Their reach was only slightly shorter than the Prince's but Javindar's tactical timing pressed those few inches into a distinct advantage as he struck freely at will while narrowly avoiding their shadowy claws. The Bey fought off the dark denizens, literally dancing around poor Nahbob who was still stunned by the shadow's supernatural fear. While Javindar was never trained as a Dervish, that particularly dancing spinning fighting style seemed to naturally fit Javindar and he made note to practice it formally in the future. Perhaps having Nahbob hiring one as a tutor. Regardless of his future training regimen, the shadows' realized that their quick attacks and flowing movements were easily countered by Javindar's movements and they wisely and quickly slipped away.
Javindar however was having none of that. He had already been defeated not once, but twice in this god forsaken city and he required a proper victory to soothe his pride. The Prince leapt after the shadows, raking with his Khanda while slashing and jabbing with his scimitar at his foes. One of the shadows attempted to slip into a derelict building through its barred windows, but Javindar simply smashed through the frame with his shoulder, catching the shade off guard as he stabbed it properly with his scimitar.
As the shadows fell back from the Prince's relentless onslaught, Nahbob finally recovered from the initial shock of the ambush. Though Javindar half expected his servant to simply flee again or cower behind him, Nahbob had enough of his wits about him to fling a glowing volley of arrows at the shadows. Javindar thought the shadows would weaved and evade this crude attack, but Nahbob's aim was true and it dispersed several of the shadowy creatures.
Javindar pressed forward against the creatures, but suddenly the mob of shadows stopped their retreat and oddly began to pile into each other. Javindar thought that he might have shattered their will and broken their minds as they tried to form a pile of some sort, but Nahbob had a different opinion.
"They're merging my lord!"
"Merging?" asked a confused Javindar as he stabbed one of the straggler shadows.
"Aye, like lantern archons and some types of rare paraelementals," explained Nahbob as he threw another volley of missiles at the shadow pile. The magical missiles struck the creatures or creature squarely, but it had little overall effect against the rapidly growing creature.
"What is it supposed to merge into?" ask Javindar as he kept a cautious distance away from this new menace.
Before Nahbob could reply, the shadow creature emitted another shout, though this time it was a deeper and more of a rumbling roar, like that of a troop of elephants.
While Javindar's bravery easily shrugged off the earlier shrill war cry, this deeper one literally shook the earth as one of the nearby buildings crumbled from the onslaught. As Javindar attempted to steady himself on the shaking ground, the now towering shadow beast lunged past the Prince, swatting at Nahbob with its massive forearm.
A small part of Javindar was infuriated that the creature chose to attack his servant instead of himself, a smaller part was relieved for the same reason, but for the most part Javindar was struck with fear. Not for himself, but oddly enough for his servant's well being. While Nahbob had been recently slained recently he was brought back from the heavens by the power of the Baroness Stille. This time if his rather fragile servant was struck down, there would be no coming back for him.
As flashbacks of his misadventures with his servant flashed before him, the monster struck Nahbob full force with his shadow claw, slamming the man with an explosion of the blue light. Javindar winced at the flare, but breathed a sigh of relief as the dust settled. A large blue sphere was embedded into a nearby wall with what appeared to be Nahbob inside it. The towering shadow beast attempted futilely to swat and tear open the sphere, but quickly abandoned that futile task.
"Bravery! Valor! Glory! " shouted Javindar at the beast. When the creature's attention turned towards him, he added, "Come face me if you dare."
The beast roared in a low rumbling fashion once again before charging at the Prince. Though Javindar dispatched the smaller shadows easily, this much larger one had a distinct reach advantage on him, and its greater size did not seem to diminish its speed. As its dark claw flailed down on him, Javindar was forced to block with both his blades, locking them together to bear the brunt of the blow.
While Javindar half expected the claw to pass like some sort of dark cloud pass his blade, instead his holy Khanda and scavenged scimitar blocked the attack but it drove him back a few feet. Only his years of practiced training and perhaps his very expensive yak skin loafers saved him from being knocked to the ground. Sensing his precarious position, the Prince leaned downwards and away with his blades, forcing the monster's pressure to be exerted through the side rather than below him. With great effort he shifted the monster's weight, but instead of hopping back out of the range of his attack, the great shadow exploded with a burst of speed, sending Javindar hurtling backwards and slamming into a wall.
The wind was knocked out of the Prince. He attempted to regain his footing but the monster charged him again, striking him full force in the chest, crushing and squeezing his ribs as it pinned him against a wall. Pain ripped through the Prince as he felt his body being crushed, but before his back broke the bricks caved in behind him as the wall fell in a cloud of dust and debris.
As the shadow strode through the haze and into the dark room, an old man in a yellow robe and a young girl in a loose fitted breast plate stared at it from the other side. The monster roared again at the pair as it drifted towards before them. The pair looked at the monster unmoving, but just as the monster was to pounce on them, a drunken sloven man stumbled out of the darkness in front of it.
"Shoo…hic….shooo…..burp…." said the man as he waved away the giant shadow beast. The beast looked confused at first before it screeched in anger. It raised its claw ready to strike the drunk down.
""Bravery! Valor! Glory!" shouted Javindar once again as the dusty Prince jumped on the monster's back. While he preferred to fight the monster face to face, the Bey of Ghata would not have it strike down an unarmed man, regardless if he was drunk or not. Both his blades stabbed at what he approximated was the creature's neck.
The monster roared and trumpeted in pain as it twisted around, attempting to dislodge the Prince and his now firmly attached blades. Javindar would not release his grip as he poured his holy strength into his blade. Though he would normally channel it through his Khanda, for some reason he felt the scimitar was a better choice this time as white hot divine power flowed into the shadowy monster.
The creature fell on its knee from the sudden attack, and before Javindar could finish it with another series of blows it exploded into a cloud of grey and white motes, leaving only a large black puddle on the ground.
Javindar breathed heavily, ignoring his injuries as he recovered from the battle.
"Sir, sir, are you alright," blubbered Nahbob as he rushed into the room. His servant took a few steps before he stopped suddenly, staring at the old man in the yellow robes.
It took Javindar a second, before he recognized the man. It was the old man from the island, the man that had possibly slain Whelp.
Before Javindar could react, the drunken man staggered to Nahbob and bowed. "I'm okay, hic. I actually handle this stuff all the time…." He slurred before falling on his face.