The 12th day of Resplendent Wood, 425 in the Year of Our Empress.
Elated Fury's pipe had gone cold on the bar table hours ago. He made no motion to refill it though. Right now, this place was surrounded by the Wyld Hunt and he wanted to be at his sharpest when they finally got up the nerve to come in. Unless he died of fucking old age first.
"Twelve Pentacles." The Scripture of Crimson Silver carefully laid her cards down on the table, much to the voiced disgust of his men at the table. Elated Fury grinned with genuine humor, rubbed at the ache in his jaw, and threw his own cards down as his lover pulled her share of the chips toward her.
One might think the Scripture, brutally straightforward as she was, would be terrible at games of chance. Exactly the opposite was true. Her directness didn't mean disclosure. The end result was that she was as imperious and sharp of speech no matter what cards she held, making it impossible for anyone to penetrate her bluff.
"Fuck me if I'm not broke!" One of Elated Fury's lieutenants cursed some more before walking away to cool off. The others laughed, both at the scene and at their fellow man's frustration. At one time or another, everyone lost their temper with her. It never bothered her and Elated Fury valued his men speaking their mind. Just as long as they obeyed.
He didn't worry. They all owed him too much, the only way he risked compromise was by a Charm. And he'd already proved twice he could handle that kind of trickery.
"How's our friends?" Elated Fury asked, tapping his glass for a refill and scratching at his chin. He'd finally downed a bottle of scotch but he'd been working on it all day so no danger there. The rest of his men hadn't touched a drop. They knew better than to risk slow reflexes in a situation like this.
The Wyld Hunt had waited an unusually long time to make their attack. Probably waiting for intelligence from their All-Seeing Eye agent. Too bad the man was dead. Elated Fury fervently hoped they weren't going to back out now. Better to get this over and done with.
"Holding steady," the bartender said, topping off Elated Fury's glass. "Just had another one turn up five minutes ago. I think she's what they were waiting for because there's a couple talking in the next bar."
"They think they're smart," Elated Fury chuckled. "Shit for brains. That's fine. We're ready for them, aren't we, boys?"
"Fuck yeah!" The raucous cheers reverberated across the room.
"Well, while we're waiting, give me the numbers."
"No recent news, boss," one of his lieutenants said. "We're a long ways from the Imperial City, long way even from Lord's Crossing. We probably won't get anything new for another week as long as we're here."
"Fine, fine, so there's not much. How about this place?" Elated Fury's eyes darted to his pipe but he steeled himself against it. "What can we expect?"
"If we're steering away from the slaves...still a lot. Big market for firedust, obviously. Lots of importing and exporting here, access to the whole South, plus the part the of Harborhead trade we don't dominate in the Scarlet Prefecture." Elated Fury bobbed his head at what he already knew but it did him, and them, good to listen to it.
"We don't know a lot about operations down here," admitted another lieutenant. "Yaoinr dominates the local markets and this is one of House Ledaal's prime spots. Our connections with that House aren't too good yet. With the Prefect Ledaal Siran in charge...hey, it's established territory and I'm sure Yaoinr has a nice arrangement in place. It's going to be tough to overturn that."
"Not Ledaal Siran," Elated Fury corrected. "He died last year. We're dealing with Prefect Shorzay Eskaren now. Anyone know anything about him? ...wait, we'll pick this up later. The Wyld Hunt's making their move."
Sure enough, Elated Fury's inhumanly sharp hearing heard stealthy running from outside. They'd been waiting for involved conversation to cover their approach. He'd even courteously left a window open for them to make it easier for him. He hated waiting.
Elated Fury's knifes didn't make the slightest whisper of sound as he unsheathed the perfect blades. The pair had been an incredibly expensive...loss for their legitimate owner. For the Lunar, the first time he'd laid eyes on the weapons, he'd known there was something right about them, something harmonious and meant for him about the slender moonsilver daggers. They'd served him with phenomenal dispatch and precision ever since.
"Go for the troops!" Elated Fury shouted as the doors and windows simultaneously broke in. He was already in motion though, flinging himself over the table, rolling across the wooden surface to catch the top of the next table with his heel. As he fell, the table overturned in his direction. The Dragon-Blooded in green jade was already in flight, her feet bracing for a landing that wasn't there.
She hit the underside of the table, breaking right through it in a confused shower of shattered wood and pottery. Elated Fury flipped himself forward, off his back and all the way into a diving tackle. The Wyld Hunt Harrier batted debris from her face, trying to clear her vision. She just got her eyes open again when Elated Fury was all over her.
She managed half a scream before Elated Fury's knife silenced her.
And then he was up and headed right out the window she'd come through. He wasn't too worried about his men, for the moment. They knew they couldn't take the Dragon-Blooded and they weren't going to try. A couple would even point out the window he'd just gone through, in a moment. The Exalts would be too worried about an Anathema to bother with mortals who'd only slow them down.
Speaking of mortals...Elated Fury burst through the window only to land in a scale's worth of soldiers. He knocked three of them down on impact and he quickly took stock as his leg muscles gathered power for another jump. Far too many to fight if he was going to stay ahead of the Dragon-Blooded.
The soldiers locked shields and raised swords, moving with a flawless precision that spoke of innumerably long hours spent in training. Yeah, not worth it. Elated Fury jumped straight up...and became a bluejay.
An explosion sent him spiraling up into the air from the sudden surge in thermals. Below, the Dragon-Blooded had blown clean through the side of the bar and were even now spilling out to shove the soldiers aside. Elated Fury chirped in laughter at them.
He stopped chirping when one of them, an old friend he hadn't seen since his Exaltation, nocked an arrow and sent it spinning into the sky after him.
"I'm getting very tired of that motherfucker," Elated Fury said, squawking at the Iselsi archer below, though the truth was that this was the first time their paths had crossed since the House of Bells. One way or another, the contest would be different this time.
Elated Fury flew for all he was worth as the Dragon-Blooded vaulted onto the rooftops and began springing across the buildings after him with ridiculous ease. He flew a minute toward one of his hideouts, then abruptly changed course, narrowly avoiding another arrow. The Dragon-Blooded below paused for a fraction of a second before pursuing.
Yeah, that's right, fuckers. That's what relying on too much intelligence got you. He wasn't going where he was supposed to go, was he? Right now, they'd be wondering how good their shitty spy reports were. Perfect.
Another arrow almost took a wing off. The skies were getting dangerous and he could see more pulling their bows out. Time to take this to the ground.
Elated Fury dived for the alley below, throwing himself into a corkscrew to avoid two daiklaves that hissed with fire and crashing waves respectively. Then he was below the two Dragon-Blooded above...and he was a wolf on the streets.
His breath ran steady and his heart bounded in giddy exhilaration. Sprinting through the streets on all fours with an army after him was more fun than he'd had...well, since the House of Bells. There was something about being hunted that added a distinct, undeniable spice. It was also nice to finally be back in his wolf shape, the one animal form he actually liked.
You might not know it to look at him but Elated Fury was a man. He had a man's heart, a man's head and a man's sensibilities. People could call him a demon, they could call him a fool but calling him an animal just pissed him off and that usually meant fucking someone up until they couldn't walk. Though he'd never admit it, there was something too tempting about the shape of another creature, a desire he didn't like to be free and leave all rational thoughts behind.
Elated Fury was a creature of instinct but he wasn't stupid. Becoming a thoughtless beast was an invitation to suicide. Besides, he had his operations to protect, his men to see to. Those things and those people were his and he wasn't going to give them up for an animal's life.
"Flank him!" cried the Iselsi archer behind him. Not a good sign. If he was in a position to yell that, it suggested he had forces able to do it. Oh well, time to get more cover.
Elated Fury reached the central market district, beyond which lay the warehouses that were his destination. Yes, through the crowds were the soldiers and, on the rooftops, the flanking Dragon-Blooded. They had one big handicap, though. He was small, agile and able to run right through the crowd. The only way they could get a good shot at him right now was to shoot through dozens of people. Thankfully, the Shikari weren't willing to do that yet.
Panting like a dog, Elated Fury bounded on all fours between legs, carts and stands. His eyes raced, tracking people and objects to keep his sprinting body from hitting something he couldn't afford to hit. Rich smells mingled with hundreds of scents from the crowd. And far ahead...yes, another Iselsi. This was beginning to piss him off.
People began screaming as the Wyld Hunt plowed through their ranks. The cadre wasn't trying to hurt people but they weren't going out of their way to avoid it either and rows of peasants fell down as fast as carts overturned. Elated Fury couldn't see it but he could hear it and it spurred him on.
Finally, he burst out of the crowd. He threw himself up and back onto two legs, becoming Elated Fury again, as his inertia took him headlong toward the Immaculate Monk blocking his path. The Fire-Aspect's Anima burned like a whole dockyard was on fire and no one was stupid enough to get near him. Well, except for himself obviously. Time for just one knife, he thought, as his left hand slammed the other through a belt loop.
He didn't slow down.
Elated Fury gritted his teeth as his speed took him right into the fire. The Dragon-Blooded wielded two glittery red jade swords that flowed like the fire he was. It was very pretty in a "Oh shit, he's trying to kill me!" sort of way.
"Die Anathema!" the Fire Aspect bellowed, flourishing both blades and bring them about in a dual horizontal slash. Was he trying to take his head off like that? Fucking showoff.
Then Elated Fury remembered the tightly packed small sack of firedust at his waist! But it was too late, he was already inside the Anima. He'd better finish this fast or there wouldn't be anything left of either of them.
Elated Fury's left hand, free of the blade in it, stretched like a length of rope to knock the Dragon-Blooded's right sword arm wide. His other moonsilver knife shot up to stop the second sword. With his Charm-enhanced arm, he couldn't do much more than foil his attack by with a push...but he could suddenly pull as hard as his arm would allow.
Unbalanced, the Monk staggered forward as Elated Fury's full-out sprint took him right into the man. Not having a hand free, he kicked up. His boot caught the Monk in the throat. With a combination of his momentum and a firm pull with the ensnared arm, Elated Fury broke the Monk's neck.
Just like that, he was by the dying flames and still running. He'd killed an Immaculate Martial Artist in a single fucking move! A painful thud in his back killed the thrill. Yeah, he'd just done the impossible and they had to go shoot him in the back for pulling it off. ...Bitches.
Bitch, to be precise. The arrow was another of Iselsi Denasi's, the Venerer and commander of this strike force. The man had actually been arrogant enough to shoot him right in the same spot he'd hit him last time. This time, he really was going to kill that motherfucking Dragon-Blooded and be done with him.
Elated Fury's boots threw dust behind him. His arms pumped. He strained for every fraction of speed he was capable of. He was almost there.
The warehouse rose up ahead of him. In the corners of his eyes, he saw Dragon-Blooded trying to keep up. They wouldn't get him before he made the safety of the wooden structure, though. It would be close.
Then a murder of ravens flew by him, soaring ahead before descending in a flock of black feathers. As they landed, they changed until the whole mass of them had assembled into a white-haired Dragon-Blooded who froze the ground she stood on. What the hell was that!
Runes of vibrant blue energy began swarming around her. Sorcery, must be Sorcery, though he'd never personally witnessed magic on that kind of scale. Given he was the target, it couldn't be very nice Sorcery either. All the more reason to get the fuck out of the way.
Elated Fury raced the female Air-Aspect. Would she get her spell off before he made it to the warehouse? Another arrow caught him in the back but the pain only goaded him on. 50 yards, 30 yards...10. The blazing blue light flamed into a chilling frost as the Sorcerer finished her spell. But Elated Fury was already airborne.
The ground erupted as hundreds of vines tore the packed dirt apart to grope for him. If he'd been down there, it might have trapped him and it definitely would have slowed him enough for the Host of the Wyld Hunt to hit him with everything they had. The second floor wooden exterior fell toward him alarmingly but, all in all, Elated Fury preferred the wall over that spell.
He hit and felt the boards break from his strength and weight. Inside a second, he was rolling into the office as an arrow shot over his head to punch through the next wall. Elated Fury glanced grimly at the hole where the arrow had gone. Yeah, they weren't playing around at all.
The low rumble of dozens of boots running this way told him help was on the way...but he needed a few more seconds. Elated Fury's sharp eyes took in the room at once and he impulsively grabbed a heavy oak desk. Bracing himself, he shoved hard and was rewarded when the great wooden weight skidded across the rougher floor. His whole body flexed with one last effort.
An Immaculate Monk vaulted into the room...just as the table flew across the floor. He might have dodged it, if he hadn't still been in the process of landing. His feet brushed the dust of the old wooden floor when the great oak desk slammed into him, sending them both right out the hole and down toward the street.