Chapter Twenty:
Burn With Me
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Now I see fire
Inside the mountain
I see fire
Burning the trees
And I see fire
Hollowing souls
I see fire
Blood in the breeze
And I hope that you remember me
-"I See Fire" by Ed Shereen
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Himiko returned with an absolute bang.
Almost quite literally.
A storm like none Allen had ever seen before hit Yamatai, and it came straight out of nowhere. It raged across every crack and crevice of the island it could reach, whipping everything into a horrid frenzy. The rains came down in torrents and the wind smashed into home's metal wall so hard, he almost thought it'd buckle. It made the very mountain tremble, as though their cave home was going to collapse in on them. Then there was the constant roars of thunder rumbling away in the sky above them almost constantly. It was as though a thousand Báthorys and a thousand Carmillas had clustered together in the heavens above and began unleashing an endless stream of roars.
The raptors had taken shelter with them for the time being, but for Báthory and Carmilla, they would have to fend for themselves. Not even Ash would venture out, in spite of her constant worry for them.
"It isn't safe for any of us, but for them…hopefully, if they stay huddled in the lee of the mountain, they should be okay."
It began taking a toll on all of them, being cooped up for nearly a week straight. Allen felt the jitteriness hit him in the first few day or so. It petered out rather quickly, allowing boredom and dullness to settle in. By the end of the week, he still hadn't seen the outside world. He was wondering when they'd see the sun again. It was only after he noticed the raptors' and Ash's sudden alertness that he felt it trickling back into his system as well. Soon home was alive with jittery energy all over again, but it wasn't lively at all. It was electric and edgy.
"Something's wrong."
All the raptors were looking at the door, same as Ash. The werewolf was stiff-backed and rigid-shouldered. She was petrified, and her words were choked out when she spoke.
"I smell fire."
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The island was alit like a jewel. The skies used to be black and heavy with storms, but now they were painted with the colour of hell, reflections of the fire burning their image into the covered sky above. Smoke choked the air, but it did little to hide the blazes that covered the mountains and riddled the forests. Embers danced freely in the air like glowing sprites, fiery seedlings caught on the wind and waiting to set untouched grounds aflame. The shantytown below was nothing but a sea of glittering gold and crimson red, completely awash in flames. The palace grounds were barely discernable, just a vague shadow amid the towering pillars of the inferno that had engulfed them completely.
The heavens above rumbled ominously and a crack of lightning staggered down onto the island in a brilliant flash of silvery light.
Allen felt his heart hammering away in his chest at the sight and even at this distance, he could feel the absolute heat of the firestorm raging away. The air reeked and made his throat tickle and pinch shut, his eyes water from the stinging debris. So far, the pine forest was untouched, but with all the free-floating cinders, it was only a matter of time before one touched down and started a new crop of wildfire.
"What's going on?"
"Himiko. That fucking bitch."
Even with the way she spat out the Sun Queen's name, Allen could detect the fear tinging Ash's voice.
He reached for her and she nearly flinched away from him. She calmed long enough to catch the look of concern on his face. He could see the anger, more palpable than ever written in her eyes, trying to hide away the terror that had laced them moments before. Gently, when he saw she was waiting, he placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed.
"What can I do to help?"
"You can't. There isn't anything you can do. This—" She looked away, eyes glossing over the fire-razed sections of the island…the parts that could be seen beneath the veneer of thick smoke and conflagration, that is. "I have to fix this. Only I can do it."
"Ash…"
"No, just…no, Allen. This is something only I can do. You're not fireproof and I am. I…I can fix this. I can't let—" Her voice cracked. "I can't let the island burn again. I can't. Not again."
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She worked fast to get all her equipment and gear ready. Normally, she always had a bag ready to go, so it never took her that long. He felt useless, knowing he'd be sitting idly by while she went out into the blazing infernos across Yamatai. Worrying about whether the fires were going to be creeping up on their doorstep again, and even when he was doubting that last, it still cropped up regardless.
Her words rang in his head, over and over: Not again. Not again. Not again.
They echoed everywhere; in her body, her words, the fevered speed in which she worked. Her pack was simply stuffed to the brim with supplies. But those will be useless if this island burns itself right into the ocean.
Suddenly, he wondered if this was how most normal humans felt when they were faced against something they couldn't possibly stand up to and fight. Like the people he's met that had faced Akuma, and could do next to nothing but stand by while he and his fellow Exorcists did all the fighting. Was this really how it felt, to be sidelined because he couldn't do anything?
I'm not fireproof. I'm not built for this kind of fight. Not like she is.
Allen hated admitting it. He hated admitting it to himself. Where she went, he simply couldn't follow, couldn't help.
It was the attack on the Asian Branch all over again, but this time around even with his arm intact, he still couldn't do anything.
"Can you really stop it?"
He had to ask, he had to know. There was so much and the flames were large enough to be seen from a distance. It was a conflagration out of control, a veritable firestorm that seemed impossible to contain and could only be stopped by letting it burn itself out. He has never seen her level of control beyond the few momentary glimpses here and there, and the smoldering aftermaths. Could she really stop a tempestuous blaze of this size and magnitude? Starting fires was easy. Stopping them when they were this big was a whole other story.
"Yes." She answered without hesitation, but he could hear the doubt that laced that one word before she amended it with, "I'm going to have to."
"Is there anything I can do," he pressed.
"If the flames don't burn you up, then you'll die choking on the smoke. And unless you have a fire-retardant suit hidden somewhere in this cave, you aren't going out there. I won't risk that."
"And what about you?"
"You've seen me with fire. I can't burn. And the smoke…I don't know. It's never really affected me the same way as it does other people."
"Are you sure there's nothing I can do?"
She turned back to face him, wringing and fidgeting with her hands in front of her. Finally, she reached for his hand, gathering it up in hers. "Just…keep the raptors safe. Don't let them out. Smoke confuses animals. Makes them stupid and scared and then they end up hurt. Báthory and Carmilla…they can't get too far in here, but they should be around close by. I'll try to contain the fires and push them back as far as I can and put out any airborne embers I find."
Ash gave his hand a squeeze and before he could react, she was slipping from his grip, turning to throw her pack over her shoulder and clipping a walkie-talkie to her belt. She paused to cast him a parting look, but it was riddled with uncertainty. It was then in that moment, just before she left that Allen recognized just how much more open she has been in showing her emotions lately. She's drifted from the hard-skinned, icy mask she used to don to a more carefree and openly energetic young woman. So much has changed that it was hard to believe it's been nearly five years since they've first met.
"I wish there was something more you could help with, but…if you play with the fires I'm after, you'll burn up and then there will be nothing left. And I can't fix that. I'm the only one who can put these things out." She stooped to pick up and belt on a quiver, filled to the brim with arrows. "I think the rains are done for now. We can't wait on them. Himiko's holding it back on purpose, I can sense it. I don't know what she's trying to accomplish, but it can't good."
"Just come back."
She blinked at him, words fleeing her and her face falling in surprise when he stepped up and pulled her into an embrace. She predictably froze, like she normally did.
"Promise me that."
He was a little more than surprised when she returned the hug, squeezing him as tight as she could allow herself without hurting him. His surprise faded rather quickly and was replaced with relief that she wasn't actively pushing him away.
"I'll come back. I promise."
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The raptors were always a little more attuned to something happening around them than he was. Whether it was because they had phenomenal hearing or some kind of animal sense, he still wasn't sure of yet, but they all perked and stared at the door with low growls and squeals in their chests before the banging began. It was a frantic, desperate noise and those making it were begging for sanctuary. Some of the raptors trotted closer toward the door, snot-snarling out warnings. Allen hesitated. He trusted the raptors' instincts and their cues to their surroundings.
With the way they were reacting, he concluded that whoever was out there, it was definitely not Ash. The raptors never raised their feathered hackles like this where she was concerned. She would have simply barged in, regardless of whether she had someone injured draped over her or not.
It's the Solarii, he concluded and a grim realization dawned on him. They're trying to escape the fire.
Ash didn't want the island to burn and he knew she couldn't stand letting living things burn alive, even the Solarii. If anything, she would rather use her bare hands than to use her fire for anything other than scare tactics, the whole shock and awe package deal. She's told him time and again, if she used her fire as an easy way out to burn her enemies, then she would be no better than the Solarii. Animals weren't the only ones that became stupid and scared where fire and the threat of burning alive was involved.
I can't let them burn, either. She can chew me out later for this. I won't let them burn. I can't.
He crossed the threshold and threw the door open. As soon as he did, a gaggle of bodies piled inside, one right on top of the other, a tangle of torsos and limbs scrambling to get further inside. They barely gave him a passing glance as they charged inside—and straight into the pack.
"Oh, no, no, no—Carver, Spectre—don't! Don't touch them!"
The seven Dakotaraptors screamed out their fury in unison, feathers splayed, recurved teeth bared, and claws at the ready. They ignored Allen completely, even when he signed madly at the same time as he shouted at the raptors. One of the men turned on his heel, heading back for the door. His eyes were wild and lit up with fear. He caught Allen's eye and stopped in his tracks, terror written clearly on his face.
"Close it," he said, at first in a hushed whisper. His next words came out with a bellow. "CLOSE THE FUCKING DOOR BEFORE—!
A black arrow came sailing through the ajar door, planting itself firmly into the man's skull and cutting off his words. Allen scrambled back as the Solarii brother collapsed in a boneless heap. The others shouted, whirling, turning their backs on the raptors to see what happened. Some looked to him and he shook his head vehemently. It wasn't one of Ash's arrows and they definitely weren't his. He recognized her handiwork and that arrow wasn't hers.
They weren't just running from the fire. They were running from something else. It hit him hard. The storms—Himiko comes back and then someone comes following in the wake of her return.
Not all of Himiko's returns did this, but a majority of them he's noticed the trend well enough. Allen dove for the door, but it was too late. The door slammed open further just as he reached it and a group of humanoid somethings came barreling inside. The Solarii—broken and bleeding and exhausted—still tried to put up a fight. Some had a few bullets left and those went flying wildly. Only a few others got an arrow or two loosed before they were set upon their pursuers.
They hadn't noticed Allen yet, but it was only a matter of time. They were brutish, ugly things with sickly-looking skin, strange scaled armour, and they brandished weapons of varying designs—swords he recognized, others a few bows and arrows, and at least two or three had war axes. They screamed in a language he'd never heard before. The raptors bellowed back their own war cry and leapt into the fray. The oncoming attackers weren't as prepared for the flying fury of the feathered raptors.
Chaos broke out like a bolt out of the blue and the only thing that made any lick of sense to Allen was that the Solarii were being slaughtered with terrifying ease, and the raptors were killing just as many of the strange newcomers. One finally turned on him, baring crooked sharp teeth past an under-bite while brandishing a sword. The brute sneered at him and said something to Allen, but whatever was said, he didn't have a clue. The one thing he did recognize was the tone. His opponent spoke with a declaration of some sort, and his voice was dripping with promise to spill blood and cause pain.
That intention was apparently universal, no matter the language.
I don't even think they're human, Allen thought. Humanoid, maybe. But certainly not human.
The sword-bearing monster charged, shouting a war cry. Allen parried, his hand invoked and the familiar white mantle of his cloak settling around his shoulders. The brute sneered again, but a touch of surprise coloured his piggish dark eyes, sharp teeth bared in a grimace. Allen activated his eye, and it struck him that he hadn't done it in such a long time.
Nothing.
This wasn't an Akuma at all.
A small part of him had hoped it was.
A large part of him was simultaneously relieved and…disappointed.
He had little time to reflect on the matter; his opponent recovered quickly and charged with another bloodthirsty roar ripping through the air. So intent was he on Allen, that his opponent failed to see the two raptors creeping up from behind and to his side until it was too late. Several hundred pounds of lean, feathered muscle came down in the form of Sol and Luna, both of them screaming a cry so primal and ear-piercing that Allen had to clap his hands over his ears.
As the last of the creatures were dispatched of, Allen noticed how deathly quiet it was, other than the chittering of the other raptors. All of the strange beings and the Solarii brothers who had stepped through the threshold were dead. The raptors had cleaned house chilling ease and efficiency, rubbing at their faces and sullying their forelimbs and feathers with blood. Sol straightened and came trotting around Allen, mewling and inspecting Allen with glittering golden eyes. Luna promptly skittered away from the body they had taken down, uninterested in touching it any further.
He gently patted Sol on the snout. The raptor purred softly.
"I'm fine, thanks, but…" he turned to look at the scattered bodies of the strange humanoids that had followed the Solarii. "What are they?"
The raptor only purred back, briefly squealed, and darted away from Allen, joining his pack mates to stand by the door. They rubbed snouts with Sol before all seven filed out of the doorway. Allen stared after them in disbelief, belated for nearly a full thirty seconds before he went after them, but it was too late. They were gone.
Outside, the world was filled of nothing but embers and ashes and smoke.
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"Everything's going to be fine, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine, I'll find the raptors and bring them back, and everything will be fine and she'll never know that they got loose…"
Oh, right. Like she'd ever believe that; not even he believed that!
Sloughing through the smoke-choked forests was painful enough, even with a strip of cloth wrapped around his nose and mouth. It stung his eyes and the soot and ashes falling like snow from the skies weren't helping visibility much either. They muddled everything, making it into a grime covered nightmare of black and grey and traces of white. Occasionally he'd see darker shadows darting along through the burnt forests, disappearing in a swirl of blackened ash, but he couldn't tell what they were. The air echoed with the cries of other animals, but whether they were in pain or just calling out, he wasn't too sure.
Shantytown was gone, and the palace had been burned nearly to rubble, he soon came to find. The fires were out, but huge plumes of thick black smoke rose from the valley below and the mountains above. In fact, most of the island's fires were out now.
She's doing it, then. She's getting things under control.
He smiled in relief, but it was short-lived.
Allen stilled himself and strained to listen. He heard something. The seconds ticked by and it soon became clear what he had heard was voices. At first, he believed it might be more Solarii brothers, trying to escape the flames. He found a touch of irony in that thought; they proclaimed that statement all over the island and yet, couldn't bring themselves to follow their own "advice".
The closer the speakers came, however, had Allen recognizing that same strange language from before. He could hear crashing through the forest and shouts accompanied the raucous noise and when he saw shapes emerging through the haze, he ducked behind a tree for cover. Footfalls, heavy and frantic, were bearing closer still. He stole a peek around the trunk of the tree and spied three figures making a mad dash in his general direction. Behind them were the muddled figures of an even larger group. The three closest to him were being chased, much like the Solarii had earlier.
The first three reached them and he saw that they weren't the Solarii. They were much too short, like children, but they were adults—he caught sight of beards and braids, and they wore fur, leather and woven clothing, with bits of armour peeking out here and there. They were unarmed. One of them shot a look over their shoulder, caught Allen's eye and shouted at him, "RUN!"
Allen took one glance around the tree before pelting after the other three. He would rather take his chances with the ones being chased than the chasers.
Running sounded like a wonderful idea, especially now that he was in the fray of things.
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Allen eventually got to the front and led the other three away. It was easier than he thought, especially with his high penchant for getting lost. For once, it was useful to him on this island.
"If I didn't have the raptors shadow you, you'd probably walk off into a Carnie's stomach and not realize it," Ash would joke often to him. He didn't find it as funny, especially on this island. But now, it actually worked out rather well. The monsters, whatever they were, didn't know the land and he did.
Sort of.
When he and his impromptu companions had enough time to catch their breath, Allen found himself assessing the other three. They were extremely short, he noticed off the bat. The tallest of the three couldn't have been taller than four-foot-eight, at the very least. None of them appeared to be armed, and Allen couldn't blame any of them for fleeing instead of fighting. They were vastly outnumbered, and they looked exhausted, even if they hid it well. Sweat and soot marred their faces.
The tallest of the three looked fairly mature compared to his shorter companions and had a rather regal and serious air about him, right down to the dark hair to the long nose and intense dark eyes. The young man middling in height of the three was fair-haired and had some of it tamed into braids, including his beard. He grinned at Allen. "Thanks for the assistance, friend. Fortune was on our side when you crossed our paths."
"Fortune, indeed." The older one rumbled. He sounded utterly unimpressed and agitated to no end. Impatient to get a move on, even. He looked at Allen as though he was peering down his nose at him. Allen felt a little ruffled at that, especially after having saved them, even if it had been in an unorthodox manner of "run until lost".
The other two looked a bit miffed themselves, but remained quiet on the matter. "Where to now, boy?"
"My name is Allen," he coolly corrected, but in all honesty, he didn't know where to next. With the soot, the ash, the smoke tinted world, he didn't recognize anything, more so than usual.
"As long as we can get away from the orcs, we should be fine."
"Orcs?"
Allen wracked his brain, trying to recall the book Ash had made, the one with all the creatures and monsters in it. None of the pages had anything that mentioned anything called an orc, although after tonight, he surmised there would be soon.
"Those ugly beasts chasing us. Name's Fili and he's Kili, by the way. At your service." They both dipped their heads in introduction. Allen nodded back.
"I gathered as much. And pleasure to meet you."
As long as they had the manners to introduce themselves, Allen found it fit to return the courtesy.
"Enough. Where to now?"
"I…" Allen hesitated, casting another uncertain eye across the razed landscape. "These fires have changed so much, I can't tell what used to be what. But I can say that you won't get far, if you're hoping to escape those…orcs…for much longer. You're trapped on an island."
"An island?"
"Where?"
"Certainly not Laketown."
The younger of the two bantered back and forth a little further, while Allen was left to contend with the eldest of the three. He shifted his eyes from the two and onto Allen, his intense gaze boring into his eyes. Allen decided fairly quickly that this man could give Ash a run for her money in terms of 'intense stare down'.
"My friend is out there. She's putting out the fires, but if I radio her—"
Allen stopped himself short, a hand going to the empty space at his belt, realizing that he'd left his walkie-talkie back at the cave. He had had enough sense to grab his pack but that was it. He had forgotten his bow and a quiver of arrows, too.
Oh no. No, no, no.
"Shit."
"I'm sorry, you were saying something?"
"I…have no way to contact my friend, and she has no idea I'm out here." Allen admitted, feeling his face turn red with embarrassment. He wished Timcanpy was here. "She actually told me to stay where it was safe, so I wouldn't be out here mucking about."
Was it him or was the smoke getting thicker?
He couldn't see any further than a few meters now. That wasn't good.
The fires she hasn't gotten to must be spreading and we're too close to them. We need to get out of here.
"And where, pray tell, are we to go? We've orcs on our trail, fires surrounding the rest of us, and we've no way to escape, if we're truthfully on an island. How far is the mainland?"
"I'm not sure. Farther than a few miles; we're in the middle of the ocean."
The telling look of shock was enough to say, they hadn't expected that answer. The shock was brief and quickly replaced by calculating looks.
"How do we get away? A boat, I would hopefully presume."
"My friend can lead us to it, yes." Allen said with a nod.
"The same friend who is supposedly putting out these wildfires? Brilliant. Does she even know we're here?"
"She suspects as much and she'll help, once she does know for sure. We just need to make it back to our home. It's safe there."
"Safe against Azog the Defiler? I doubt it."
Allen pursed his lips. "Ash is an adept fighter and won't bow before anyone easily, not if it meant protecting someone. She won't let them take over."
She'll kill them all, he wanted to add, but he felt a little sick to his stomach admitting it even to himself. Allen perked at a familiar chitter and looked up. He scanned the area, squinting between the falling ash and smoke, and caught sight of a familiar silhouette trotting closer toward them. He waited and his patience was rewarded. One of the raptors hopped onto a still-intact fallen log beside their clustered group, watching them all inquisitively. The other three backed away, watching Allen shrewdly as he approached.
The raptor purred contentedly, arms folded neatly into their sides, palms facing inboard and one another.
He signed to the raptor, 'Lead us out of here'. He suspected it was either Luna or Carver, but wasn't sure. They both had dark markings that were similar in low lighting. He was glad nonetheless to have been found.
He stood and motioned with a tip of his head to the three. "Let's go. One of our guides is here."
"What is that thing? It looks…like a dragon. But smaller."
"And no wings."
Allen smiled. "That is a Dakotaraptor. They're a dinosaur. And they'll help us back."
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Most of the old homes that had been resident to the island for thousands of years were nothing but blackened timber and grey ashes. The clifftops were alive with the winds kicking up the residues that had once proudly stood erect there. The ground was still aglow with cinders too stubborn to wink out of existence. In the distance, they could see the mountains beyond, dotted with tiny pinpricks of lights, glowing like stars. Faint wisps of smoke curled along the ground as they tread past the ruined hovels.
It was Luna who had found them and she led them through the eerie and quiet landscape. Allen noted off the bat the troubled looks all three carried on their faces as they regarded the destruction.
"What happened here?"
"A terrible storm," Allen said. "The rains won't come and instead, the lightning rained down. They started it all."
"Looks almost like dragon fire."
"No, this is not dragon fire," the eldest of the three said, the one who had been introduced as Thorin. "Dragon fire burns hotter."
Allen was ready to ask what he meant by that. Thorin spoke almost as though he had experience with it…but dragons didn't exist, did they?
Luna stopped suddenly, right in the middle of the field, going stiff except for her head. She moved that on a swivel, her wide eyes growing wider still. She timbered while snaking her head back and forth and chittering nervously as she danced on the spot. Her feathered tail swayed, the feathers on her hackles and backside bristling upwards. Allen stepped forward, laying a calming hand on her flank. She snaked her head around to look at him, her lower jaw working up and down rapidly while she hissed and warbled.
"What is it?"
Luna warbled anxiously again. Allen didn't like how antsy she was suddenly acting and she wasn't advancing any further. The raptor took a step back, her tail bobbing stiffly as she did. He looked to the others and they too could sense the nervous energy the raptor was displaying. They were showing it just as openly as Luna.
"Something's wrong. We should double-back—"
Luna screamed suddenly, throwing her head back to the skies and toppled over with a thrash of her limbs. A trio of arrows were sprouting out of her side, the shaft and fletching both black as night. Luna howled and twitched violently, pumping her legs to throw herself back up onto her feet. Allen heard the whistle of the next volley coming this time and caught one arrow just as he invoked his Crown Clown, the cloak snapping the rest out of the air with a thunderous crack. Luna croaked and squealed as she limped to his side. The other three took to his other side.
When he scanned the area, he quickly came to find the largest of the orc brutes coming toward them through the rising smoke, riding upon a wolf-like mount as bone-white as his master. The brute's left arm was cut off near below the elbow, and in its place was a long, metal prong, screwed into the very flesh. The other arm still had its forearm and hand fully intact, but in it he brandished a giant mace.
The white beast and its pale master prowled through the cinders and soot, flanked by a pack of smaller wolf-creatures and smaller orcs. Embers went flying into the air wherever their giant paws stepped. Even at this distance, Allen could hear their menacing growls and snapping jaws. The pack of wolfish beasts and their mounts were backing Allen and the others up against a cliff, the way they had come blocked and the way they were going just as well.
The other three to his left stiffened and cursed. The one thing Allen noted amongst his three charges—dwarves, they had called themselves—was that they were unarmed and vulnerable. That meant he was the only one who essentially had a weapon to fight with. Luna snarled in warning at the approaching threats, baring her teeth.
Barrel-chested, muscled and bearing markings that looked suspiciously like intentional scarring, the pale orc looked to be an intimidating foe and most likely the de facto leader. The giant had to be at least three meters tall, Allen noticed immediately, definitely taller than the others surrounding them. When he spoke, his voice boomed as he rattled off in a gruff tongue, the same language from earlier that Allen didn't understand. However, it was still clear enough to understand the insinuations aimed at them; death was being promised to them.
The pack of wolf-creatures and their riders surrounded them, crossing over the ashen ruins. As they stalked closer, the yellows of their eyes glowed a sickly colour in the reflection of the dying embers. Their riders weren't any prettier as they sneered. Some had noticeable battle scars marring their faces or arms, most wore scaled armour, and all of them were armed. Swords, battle axes, bows and arrows, maces.
A few of them looked ready to charge, their mounts tense and twitching with agitated energy. Luna snarled defiantly when one ventured too close. The wolf-creature barked back, black lips peeling to show off yellowed fangs. Allen laid a hand on Luna's flank and could feel her trembling. Thorin was glaring at the pale orc sitting near the back of the pack. The pale orc was watching him in return. He looked rather smug while watching them.
The giant orc opened his mouth, ready to issue an attack most likely, before a hailstorm of arrows came falling over them all. Most, if not all, of the riders went down with squeals and bellows of pain and their mounts reared and bristled in fright and shock. Some of the riders were dead before they fell out of the saddles and onto the ground. Fire unexpectedly rose up from the dying embers around them into a storm of beasts. Twin snakes of emerald flames hissed and screeched as they sluiced across the ground, creating a brilliant curtain of sparks around the riders and their mounts, cutting them off from Allen and the others.
Allen could hear the brute bellowing above the panicked screams of the wolf-creatures and their riders, his voice thundering to be heard, to be listened to. He could see the wolf-creatures scrambling to avoid touching the ring of fire, their gruff words overlapping over one another. Even if they spoke English, he doubted he'd hear anything discernable. He didn't need to know what they were saying, though. There was panic in the air and it was working to disassemble their structure.
Fili and Kili huffed out a few disbelieving laughs, cautious smiles pulling at their lips when they noticed they were left untouched. Kili glanced off to the side, nudged Fili and nodded over. Thorin followed the two's gazes.
"Your friend, I presume?" Thorin asked, his shoulders straight back but his eyes watching intensely at the firestorm.
"Ash," Allen confirmed with a nod. Luna chittered softly beside him. "She can control fire."
"Glad she's on our side, then. Seems a mite more powerful and handy to have on hand."
So am I.
Another volley of arrows rained down, these too close for comfort. He twitched at the sight of them and hurriedly swept his cloak over them all. The satisfying clink of arrowheads bouncing off of it seconds later was all the confirmation he needed to hear before he swept back his cloak. The brothers gazed in awe at the cloak once more and asked where they could get such a wonder. Allen offered a wry smile but no more for an answer. He returned his gaze back to the impromptu battlefield.
The fire had died down considerably in those precious few seconds. Ash had appeared before them, inserting herself between the small cell of enemies and Allen, Luna, and the dwarves. She faced the group of orcs and their wolf-creature mounts, or at least, what was left of them. What had once been a number of nearly two dozen strong had greatly diminished to nearly half a dozen, including their leader. The pale orc's mount was lying down and dying, its sides heaving and its white fur soaked in blood and its rider was dismounting. Even at this distance, he could see the orc was positively huge. If Allen could barely clear his waist, then Ash didn't even come close.
"Oi!" She barked at the pale orc, raising one of her hands up. Golden fire coiled around her forearm and wrist in the shape of a hooded snake, caressing her bare fingers with a tenderness he knew no one else could understand or know of. The pale beast looked unimpressed and stared down at Ash with all the snarl he could muster. "Did you shoot my raptor, you big-breasted bitch?"
Allen heard a scoff of disbelief beside him. The fair-haired of the three, Fili, had his mouth gaping open, another smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Kili grinned broadly. Thorin looked as foreboding as ever.
"Is she serious? Did she just…?"
"Call him that? Yes. She does that." Allen remarked with a sigh. Of course she'd go off and trash-talk the biggest looking opponent she could find. She did the same thing with the large Oni, the Big Guy, except it'd be in Japanese. It drove them, especially the Big Guy, all mad.
"She must have a death wish then," Thorin remarked without a trace of humour.
"No," Allen remarked, glancing at the raptor beside him. "He is the one with a death wish. He shot Luna."
She was still standing, but she'd need help in getting the arrows removed. He laid a hand on her flank again and she snaked her head over to bump it against him. He felt red hot anger bloom in him at the sight of her injuries, at her blood oozing out from beneath the shaft. He didn't want to mess with it; retrieving arrowheads was nasty, messy, painful work. He had to grudgingly acknowledge that he didn't have the skill to help her. He'd have to wait for Ash and hope she finished this quickly. For now…for now, he'd let her handle this fight.
For Ash, this had escalated to a very personal level and he had no desire to get in the midst of her rampage.
Azog snarled again and started advancing shortly after her insult. Ash growled and it was loud enough that it reached them at this distance. The pale orc smirked a little as he strode forward, uttering more words in his mother tongue. What remaining flunkies were left laughed.
"I asked you a question, you big dumb motherfucker! Did you shoot my raptor?"
What smiles that were left disappeared, even from the dwarves. Hands twitched with the urge to grab something and throttle it. Or perhaps to wield weapons. Thorin, Fili, and Kili were all unarmed. It was certainly no wonder they had been running for their lives earlier.
"She's going to get herself killed." There was a strained tightness, and a mixture of grim acceptance in Thorin's voice. Even beneath his heavy cloak and furs, Allen could tell the burly man's frame was rigid and wanting in on the action, to fight back, but he had nothing to fight with except his bare hands. He had no choice but to stick to the sidelines and the fire burning in his dark eyes suggested he wanted otherwise.
"No. She won't," Allen said. He nodded to the bow in her other hand. "She knows what she's doing."
"That little bow is not going to kill him. It's not enough."
Allen smiled. "You have no idea what she's capable of with just a mere bow and a few arrows."
"You don't understand; that's Azog the Defiler. Have you not heard of him?"
"No, frankly, I haven't, and I'm sure Ash hasn't either. She wouldn't care even if she had. This Azog has no idea who he's up against." He turned to watch and he silently hoped that he was right and that Ash would come out on top in this fight. The pale orc wasn't much bigger than the Big Guy. He's seen her take him down with frightening, laughable ease. He could already hear Ash saying, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall."
The orc didn't stop. He closed the distance rapidly with his longer stride and raised the mace with a roar, intent on crushing it down on the werewolf's head. Ash moved so quickly, she was almost just a blur to the naked eye. One moment, she was on the ground, the next she was airborne, out of the way of the mace's trajectory, and had kicked the giant in his chest with her pawed foot. The sudden blow sent Azog flying, staggering, falling.
Ash was still not as fast as Lenalee—but she was fast enough to surprise and topple the pale orc.
The surprise was palpable on everyone's faces except Allen's. He glanced at the other three and added, "You have never seen her fight with nothing else but her bare hands before, either."
"Motherfucker, this is the last fucking time! Did you and your fucking goonies squad shoot my fucking raptor?"
The pale orc pulled himself up to his feet and twisted his face into a toothy grimace. When he glanced down, he roared. There was blood on his chest where Ash's paws had raked along his flesh. He bellowed out in that unknown tongue his, yelling at his remaining subordinates, gesturing at them wildly. The few riders still alive hesitated, looking torn between following orders and turning tail to flee. Their mounts didn't look any more enthused.
Ash holstered her bow to her back and pulled her favoured twin knives from the holsters at her thighs.
"I'm gonna take that as a yes." She barked back, twisting the knives so the tips faced the ground. "You got a purdy mouth, you big bitch. But I'm about to carve it up and make you uglier'n sin."
The remaining wolf-creatures leapt as if on cue, teeth bared and yellow eyes mad and bright in the firelight.
Allen tensed. He was almost ready to consider leaping into the fray. They were going to mob her! He took a step forward and stopped just as suddenly as he had started when he felt the ground tremble with the rage of an earthquake. Seconds later, he was glad he had. Báthory and Carmilla came bursting onto the scene, as though they had materialized out of nowhere. Both of the rexes snatched up two riders and kicked at the wolf-creatures with their heavy talon-riddled feet. Screams were cut off with such an abruptness that the ensuing absence was more crushing. The behemoths crunched their jaws on the others as they tried escaping the terrifying giants and their grinning jaws.
The flames around them, which had mellowed, rose up anew like a phoenix from the ashes, trapping the orcs and cutting off their escape.
Ash chose that moment to charge right back in, using the midst of the confusion to her advantage. Allen could see her weaving between shuddering, heavy legs. She disappeared from sight entirely when Báthory bulldogged her way over toward Carmilla's side to assist in tearing up one of the wolf-creatures. The old tyrannosaur snapped up a still-flailing wolf-creature's legs and the two tore it in half with sickening ease. The Indominus Rex used her longer forelimbs tipped with massive talons to tear her prey to shreds, like a knife through wet tissue paper. Gore and gristle rained down and disappeared from sight on the ground.
It was that gruesome display that distracted him. Carmilla and Báthory had taken up most of the impromptu battlefield's grounds, tossing gristle and blood and bone and bits of flesh as they laid out a path of utter and complete carnage. Ashes and embers flew as the curtain of flames began to slowly wither once more as the numbers of orcs decreased. Yet, he couldn't see where Ash and the pale orc had gone. Fili and Kili were brimming with nervous energy, looking ready to bolt, and Thorin looked equally ready to issue the order to do so. Whether it was to safety, or to fight, Allen didn't have a clue yet. Allen calmed them quickly while Luna cough-barked frantically at the two rexes. Her calls came in wheezy gurgles and his worry for her condition worsened. He could only focus on so much at once.
One thing at a time.
Allen turned to the three, not realizing at first that he was signing as he spoke to them.
"It's all right, they're on our side! They won't harm us, that's just Báthory and Carmilla!"
The irony in that statement alone struck him as…kind of funny, actually.
"What are they?"
"They're more dinosaurs, just bigger than Luna! I swear, they're on our side, Thorin. Trust me. Ash has worked with them for years, they won't harm us. They're here to protect us."
They looked doubtful, especially Thorin. There was mistrust glittering especially bright in his dark eyes. Apparently, trust was not an easy thing for this man.
I wonder who that reminds me of, Allen thought suddenly. Allen glanced over his shoulder just in time to see one of the last riders making a break for it—right for his group. Báthory, however, wasn't having it. She spotted the rapid movement and sharply turned her head to intercept. The old tyrannosaur bellowed, baring her long fangs and sank them into the legs of her fleeing prey, mere feet away from them. The wolf creature howled and its rider tried to bail, but ended up being caught up by his saddle's stirrup. It was a long enough delay for Báthory to drag the mount closer and snap her jaws down on the orc.
When the old tyrannosaur spotted Allen, she growled inquisitively with a mouthful of gore, regarding him for several split seconds. Then she snorted and turning back to the killing field, promptly leaving them alone. He saw the cautious appraisal and hint of deep-seated mistrust continue to take root in all three of the dwarves' faces. Clearly, they seemed to have some underlying reason in being overly guarded.
Allen added as an afterthought, "They're our allies, but please try to stay clear of being underfoot. They don't always watch what they step on."
With that said, he trotted a little closer, sweeping his eyes across the way. The fires had all but died now, leaving a blackened, scorched ring around where Ash had set up her ring of fire. What had been left of the foundations of the old homes was nearly destroyed. Blackened timber was thrown asunder, embers that had almost flickered out completely were glowing again, feeding slowly on their new source of life. Acrid smoke was coming back in thin curling wisps. He could make out the silhouettes beyond Báthory and Carmilla as they cleaned up the rest of the orc pack, one very short shadow and the other tall brawling against one another.
He caught sight of Ash in a clearing between the smoke and the dying light, and she was holding her own against the pale orc. She wasn't holding back like she did with the Solarii, or even the Oni. She wasn't playing games, she was actually duking it out. For every punch or kick or slash of her knife, there was a jettison of fire, brilliant gold and bold scarlet, brief but terrifying to watch.
There was a brief instant of elation as he watched her slash her knives, biting deep into the orc's flesh and he saw a band of blood spray across his skin. He yowled with rage and indignation, only to be cut short when Ash kicked hard and staggering the giant being further away. The blow enraged him and he swung his weapon hard and fast, but he did so blindly. When he followed up with a vicious swing from his weaponized prosthetic, she blocked what could have been a fatal blow to a normal human and returned it in kind, sending Azog stumbling once again.
They were matched in strength, despite their wildly differing sizes and statures.
She moved in for another hit, but the pale orc was prepared this time around, dancing just out of reach. From the way he moved, Allen could already tell Azog was a seasoned fighter. Ash smashed her fist into the ground and splinters of stone and shale and dust flew into the air, fracturing the very earth with another burst of flame following the blow.
It wasn't just the way she threw her punches and conjured flame that reacted to her, either. The fire that still surrounded the area was reacting just as much, he could see it. The flames that still clung to life guttered out and rose back up into different shades and colours and shapes; one moment he saw a sea of snakes silently hissing into the air, driving the orc back, and distracting him to where Ash wanted him to go. The next it was a pack of raptors snapping their jaws and herding Azog once again. Azog was fast, much faster than Allen would have expected, but Ash was like a flame herself. She danced just as quickly out of reach, flickering, twisting, and lashing back in return. It was like watching her hunting a rather peculiar and clever prey animal.
She was fighting with the heated passion of fire, not the unchecked fury of a werewolf.
"What manner of creature is she?"
"A werewolf." Allen simply answered without thinking. There was no immediate danger now. The wolf-creatures and their riders had been deposed of. Any who had tried to flee, Báthory and Carmilla snatched up in their powerful jaws before they could get away. Now they were waiting on the fringes of the makeshift battlefield, just out of reach of the soft glow of the embers, their eyes and the outlines of their bulk the only thing left to see in the eerie lighting. Luna wailed beside him, agitated to get into the fight, but she remained by his side, occasionally whimpering in pain. He turned to her, checking the arrows still protruding from her flanks and he winced in sympathy.
"I don't think it's a good idea for me to tug those out, not without Ash to help."
Ash always said it took a lot to kill a raptor. It wasn't impossible, but it was hard as hell. Arrows would be painful for them to endure, true, but their close-knit ribcages made it harder for the arrows to get to their organs. He patted her side, and was immediately troubled by the labored way he could feel her breathing. Quicker than usual, and every breath sounded strenuous.
"Just a little longer," he said quietly. The raptor panted heavily and chittered anxiously.
"She's down!"
Dread struck at him the moment those words rang out and held him tight. He whipped back toward the field in time to see Ash sent flying by a kick from Azog. The pale orc sent her skidding along through the mounds of smoke and dust, smashing up old timber—right to the edge of the cliffs.
Blood rushed in his ears and he felt his heart thud painfully in his chest. He darted forward, heard the other three call out to him and Luna scream at his backside. Logically, he knew Ash could survive the fall. That didn't mean he wanted her to see go over any more than he would anyone else. If she went over, that meant Azog would turn his sights on them and then—
"Clown Belt!"
White ribbons lashed out ahead of him faster than he could run. One tied around Ash's arm, another her waist, a third around one of her legs. He skidded to a stop and yanked hard, pulling her away from the edge. She stopped just short of going over. He started to breathe a sigh of relief, but had to dive when Carmilla's tail came sailing in from above and out of nowhere, nearly cleaving itself into his face. He thought she was still beside Báthory! What was she doing? He watched the behemoth charge over to where Ash lay, making the air rumble all the while in her wake.
Allen felt the back of his neck prickle in warning, and he whirled. The pale orc was suddenly there, replacing Carmilla's large presence with his own. He was brandishing that giant of a weapon above him. He sneered down at Allen, a wild light in his eyes as he raised the mace high, his mouth gaping in a bellow. Allen prepared to summon his sword, but he never got the chance.
The light in Azog's eyes suddenly went out when something snapped his skull backward. Allen saw an arrow shaft protruded from his forehead, the feathered fletching white with an accent of black. A very brief, almost comical, expression crossed the pale orc's face, a dribble of dark blood oozing down the bridge of his nearly flat nose. His weapon dropped from his only hand and he groped blindly up at his head. Carmilla came swooping in out of nowhere, her jaws clamping onto the top half of the pale brute's torso, crushing down, down, down. Báthory roared and strode towards the larger rex, her head snaking under Carmilla's jaws as she neared. The old tyrannosaur nipped at kicking, twitching feet below before she latched on. They promptly repeated the same maneuver they had just done with the wolf-creature earlier and tore up the orc without fanfare.
Allen stared up in disbelief, averting his gaze to where Ash knelt on the ground, her bow out and a thunderous look in her eyes.
"No power in the 'Verse can stop me," she called with a booming voice as she slowly slid herself up to a standing position, a feral smile alighting her face. The scraps of fire that surrounded her changed one last time, fluttering into the dainty shapes of butterflies. They flapped once, twice, thrice, before they became tattered scraps of light that suddenly winked out of existence. Ash paid the bits of dying flame no mind and instead watched as Carmilla and Báthory fought over gristly flesh-scraps of what used to be Azog the Defiler and grimaced. Her expression morphed again when she turned her eyes on him, relief welling up behind her eyes. Her face was smeared with ashes and soot and sweat and blood, but she was alive and well. Unhurt, unburnt, unfazed.
Any injury she might have sustained from Azog were gone now.
A scream behind him made Allen jump and he turned toward the source. It was Luna. She had fallen over and she wasn't getting up, not even lashing or thrashing about.
The other three gathered as close as they dared without coming within reaching distance of the raptor. Kili was the first to approach, inch by inch, eyes wide as he assessed Luna. Allen was already moving, but Ash had caught up to him, passed him by, was already at Luna's side. She dropped to her knees, cradling the raptor's large skull and pulling it into her lap.
"No, no, no, hang on baby girl, you hang on, you hear me? You hang the fuck on, don't you dare clock out!"
Luna rasped out a few breaths, rolled her eyes and went still.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck—Luna!"
Allen was already swinging his pack over his back, digging into it for the first aid kit. Ash yanked it out of his hands just as he barely cleared it from the pack. She popped the lid open to grab bandages and medicine and ointment.
"The arrows…"
Allen barely heard the words, but he heard them all the same. He didn't think of them as important as he tried to help Ash pull the arrows out without injuring Luna any more than she already was. He hardly recalled when the two brothers, Fili and Kili, stepped up to help as well, even if they didn't seem to quite understand what kind of animal they were attempting to help. Thorin stood idly by, watching with increasing irritation or maybe it was impatience but there was a guardedness deigning his eyes, words left unsaid as they worked. Allen didn't know what was going on in the dwarf's head and he didn't ask. It wasn't important.
But at least Thorin let them do what they needed to do without uttering a word of derision aimed at their task.
He could recall, however, with perfect clarity the moment Luna breathed her last and Ash weeping over the still body of the Dakotaraptor, clutching at her bloodied feathers.
Kili was suddenly beside him, watching the raptor and the werewolf forlornly. When Allen met his gaze, there was an inherently deep well of sympathy in his dark eyes.
"I'm sorry…but the arrows…they were poisoned. She was dead as soon as she was shot."
The skies rumbled above them. Allen looked up just as cold drizzle finally began to fall upon Yamatai.
OoOoOoOoOoO
Notes: Allen just doesn't have any luck in helping the Solarii out. Poor guy. And while Ash knows she'll get her raptors back eventually, it doesn't make the blow of losing one any less painful. Also, I will pit the Indominus Rex against Azog the Defiler any day of the week and I'm pretty sure the Indominus will come out on top, nine out of ten times. Carmilla's the real winner here, not Ash. XD
