Yoko awoke the next morning to the sounds of yells and the clang of metal. He was instantly alert and jumped up to see what was the commotion. All his men were engaged in a vicious fight with what looked like half the Raider camp. His rose whip elongated in his hand as he snapped it at one that was running towards him, sword raised for the attack.
His whip caught the attackers sword, wrapping tightly around the hilt. Yoko jerked back and swung in an arc, the sword ripped out of his assailants hands and then following the path of the whip turned to kill its former possessor.
"What is going on here!" He demanded to know of anyone who knew the answer.
"They just showed up and attacked!" A thief yelled as he stabbed one and spun around to engage another, barely blocking the blow in time.
Yoko quickly dispatched the enemies around him with a flick of the wrist and ran to where he saw Hiei and Amira fighting.
"You're losing your touch." Hiei growled as the fox approached. "I thought you were supposed to be able to sense these things!"
The fire demon lithely jumped out of the way of a soldier wildly swinging an axe and stabbed him in the back before landing next to Yoko.
"But this attack doesn't make sense." Yoko added fighting an nearby soldier. "They have nothing to gain! They have Satira already and we don't have anything of value. Sarkan didn't send enough to wipe us out."
"Well then he must have something else in mind!" Amira yelled falling out of the tree above. She hurdled to the ground, a soldier clinging to her back. The wolf demon spun in mid-air and landed with the soldier on the bottom, taking the brunt of the fall. She deftly picked herself up, dusting off her shoulder and catching her weapon as it followed her path out of the trees.
"Perhaps an encouragement to stay away from the feline?" Came Hiei's reply.
"He knows he'll have to kill me for that."
"And these soldiers aren't trained for that." Amira pointed out.
She looked around, seeing that most of the soldiers had either run off or been cut down by the thieves. There were a few wounded, but mostly dead soldiers lying around. Their weapons lay beside their fallen owner's covered in dirt more than enemy blood. Eventually, the last of the skirmishes subsided completely, and Yoko and his thieves were left to ponder the suddenness of the attack.
"They weren't sent for nothing," Yoko mused, a suspicious look in his golden eyes. "Let's hurry back to the hideout."
It mere moments, Yoko and his thieves had gathered what little they had and set a fast pace back to the hideout, leaving the bodies of their enemies and the cawing of birds behind them.
Sarkan continued ahead along his chosen route followed by twenty of his elite guard. They were more a formality than a requirement, but Sarkan didn't like to leave things to chance. The group would only stop long enough to relay messages by Fortescue, a falcon demon who flew back and forth between the diversion groups and Sarkan's. Fortescue had just returned with the news that Yoko was once again on and move and that they had lost over thirty men in the morning's fight.
"She more than makes up for what we lost!" Sarkan yelled at Prakash when he suggested not attacking. Satira still had not said a word since her possession and apparently needed no food or rest. She had been awake when Sarkan went to sleep and was in the same position when he woke. She hadn't eaten a single thing and seemed to run on an endless supply of energy. This delighted Sarkan to no end. Not only did the possessed cat seem invincible, she also seemed to need neither food nor rest.
"Continue with the plan!" Sarkan demanded of both Prakash and Fortesque. The falcon nodded and spread his tawny wings.
"Tell the next group to be ready, the fox will run right into them."
An evil smile lingered on his lips. "Make sure they know to keep them busy as long as possible! I don't care what they do just slow him down. And if all else fails…" He chuckled evilly to accent his intentions.
"Tell Morina not to disappoint me."