Mutants Misplaced

Chapter 35

Beast War

Back at the Valthiem Towers, Mona fought fiercely against the bandits, having killed several more after Raph had left. She didn't know why her lover had left her all alone, but she didn't care as she had more pressing matters to attend to.

Having fought her way into the second tower, she quickly closed and locked the door behind her, so she didn't have to deal with too many foes at once. But she knew that the door alone would only hold for so long, so she quickly blocked it by moving a wooden bookcase in front of it. It was made of heavy oak wood, so it was quite stable, especially if one placed a set of drawers in front of it as well.

Even though she was safe from the two dozen or so bandits that had swarmed out of the cellar of the first tower shortly after the alarm had been sounded, there were still more in the second tower. Another four came up the stairs from the floor below, and just like many of those out on the bridge, it looked like they had been fast asleep until only recently.

The first bandit rushed at her with his great sword and swung his blade sideways, but it got stuck in a wooden supportbeam when Mona effortlessly jumped over the blade. Landing on the flat side of the sword as the man tried to yank it out, the lizard lady gave him a kick in the face, knocking him out. Mona then used the sword as a springboard and launched herself over the next two with a somersault and landed in front of the last bandit. A swift roundhousekick knocked away his axe, and while he still managed to hold on to it, he wasn't able to defend himself from Mona's attack as she decapitated him with her fans.

As the bandits turned around and still tried to get their bearings, Mona grabbed the axe from her fallen foe and rushed at them. Using her fan to catch a sword in the gaps, she struck the other bandit across the head with the backside of the axe. With one of her foes temporary out of the way, Mona could focus on one at a time. She dropped her weapons, much to the bandit's surprise, even though she had had a good grip on his sword with her fan. He was even more shocked when Mona grabbed onto his head, and only too late did he realise what she was doing when she gave it a twist and snapped his neck.

Mona picked up the axe again and turned to the still groggy bandit, and without mercy, she buried the axe in his forehead. The man never had a chance of defending himself.

With the battle over, Mona looked around the room and there was only one foe still alive, though he was unconscious. She walked over to him with a determined pace and knelt by him, slitting his throat with her bladed fans. Finally taking a few breaths to recover a little, she noticed that the door creaked and complained as the rest of the enemy tried to break it down. She knew that it wouldn't hold forever, and she prepared herself for another fight. Once she was done with those idiots, she could focus on their leader, and make him pay.

"Put some effort into it! Or are we to wait until the entire tower falls apart on its own?!" one of the bandits bellowed from the back of the group, as they attacked the door with their weapons.

A sudden and piercing shriek caused everyone to stop what they were doing and look around nervously, they had never heard something like that before. Not long after, a mighty roar was also heard. Inside the tower, Mona recognized the roar, she had heard it several times, and she felt how her hope grew.

The bandits peered into the night, searching for whatever could have made those cries. Then, one of them spotted something in the sky, flying towards them.

"Monsters!" he shouted and pointed.

"Don't just stand there! Shoot them!"

But the order came too late, as a torrent of fire forced them all to scatter. By the time anyone had been able to even draw a bow, they were attacked again as the red humanoid dragon swooped down upon them, breaking the back of the man he landed on top of, and lashing out with claws and sword, disembowelling and decapitating several.

A werewolf-vampire beast landed not far from her dragon companion, and let loose another shriek just before she pounced her victims. With her sharp claws, she ripped men apart with little effort, and every hit from her powerful arms sent the targets flying. Pinning down a bandit against the floor, she bit his throat and his screams filled with fear, turned into strained gurgles.

More fire erupted into the field of battle, consuming several bandits as they screamed in pain for a short moment before going silent.

Observing the battle through one of the holes in the door, Mona immediately recognized Tyroth as he tore through the enemy ranks, and while she had never seen such a creature as the one fighting alongside Tyroth, she was certain that it had to be Devina. She had told them about her being able to change into another form.

Seeing as they had everything under control, she steeled herself for the battle that lay ahead of her and walked up the stairs to the top floor. Arriving at a door, she gripped the handle and took a deep breath to gather herself. Then she opened the door fast and violently, dashing in ready to kill anyone who stood in her way.

Much to her surprise, there were no guards in the room, just the one guy, who she assumed was the leader, sitting on a chair with his back against her, eating something. He was a big one, very muscular and wore metal-reinforced leather-armour on almost his entire body, the upper arms were bare, showing his big muscles.

It would have been easy to just run over to him and cut him down, but Mona didn't want that. She wanted him to see who killed him, to really drive the fear into him as she avenged the family that were killed on his orders. He would plead for mercy, even if she had to cut him apart one piece at a time, but the only mercy he would get would be death once Mona was done with him.

"Turn around, you fucking bastard! I want you to see what's coming for you!" Mona snarled.

"Is that so?" the leader said nonchalant, still with his back turned against Mona. It didn't seem like he really cared.

"Your men are all but dead, and you got no where to run. It's over for you!"

"The beasts should leave once they are done, and my men are replaceable. Once this is over, I'll rebuild my forces."

Mona's blood boiled, not only would he murder a family without hesitation, but he saw his men, those loyal to him, as expendable.

"I must admit that I'm surprised that you managed to get this far, lizard. But I'm also curious to what grudge you have against me."

"You murdered a family! A mother and her child! You'll pay for that with your life!"

"So that's your reason? Revenge for someone. Well, then I won't delay you much longer, I'm finished with my meal either way." he said tossing the remains of his food over his shoulder, right in front of Mona. Her stomach turned in disgust when she saw what it was and she couldn't believe her eyes.

A child-sized human skull, pieces of red meat and blood still clung to the white bone that was covered by teeth marks.

Her resolve, which had been strong as steel up to this point, faltered as she couldn't fathom the grotesque act the man had committed. He not only killed people, he ate them as well.

"...you… MONSTER!" Mona screamed as her anger finally took over and she lunged at the man.

But the bandit was not worried. With surprising agility, he rolled off the chair, avoiding Mona's attack and picked up an ornate gold staff from an open chest nearby. Quickly pointing it against Mona, she was struck by a powerful lightningbolt from it and collapsed with a cry of shock and pain.

"I have been running things here for nearly twenty years, and if the Dark Brotherhood can't touch me, you won't be able stop me." the man gloated. Mona tried to move, but her body would barely respond.

"This staff cost a fortune, but it was well worth it. No-one can stand against the paralytic lightning magic contained within it." The bandit let his eyes travel across Mona's body, sending horrified chills down her spine as she feared what he might do. She had to move, but she couldn't.

"I must admit, I am at a loss about what to do with you. On one hand, I could kill you, and eat you. I bet you are tasty. Or..." he shot Mona with another bolt from his staff, making her cry out again. "...I could break you, turn you into my personal plaything. A whore and a bodyguard all in one."

As he thought about it, he came to favour the second alternative and grinned maliciously, showing his sharpened teeth. Unleashing another bolt at Mona, he got an insane glint in his eyes.

"Scream for me, whore! I want to hear your anguish as you break!"

Mona tried to stifle her cries, but the lightning proved to much for her.

Back on the bridge, the battle was almost over, only a handful of bandits remained. The others had easily fallen to Tyroth and Devina, and the rest were trapped between the two.

Suddenly, they heard a loud scream of a woman, coming from the tower. Tyroth looked at the tower, recognizing the voice, and then at the beastly Devina who nodded at him, knowing fully well what he wanted. Leaving the battle in Devina's hands, Tyroth took to the air to reach the top of the tower as fast as possible. He prayed that he wasn't too late.

Circling around the tower, he sighted Mona laying on the floor inside through a few holes in the walls, with a large man standing not far from her. Tyroth growled loudly and hurried to try and find a way inside, but it seemed that he had use the stairs.

However, Tyroth wasn't going to let that stop him. Looking for a weak spot, he let his mana cover his entire body and flew straight at the wall when he spotted the right area. With his mana protecting his body from the worst of the impact, he held out both his fists and broke straight through the wall.

Large pieces of rock flew across part of the room, forcing the bandit leader to throw himself out of the way of a few of them. In the corner of his eyes, he could see something big and red coming in together with the rocks and positioning itself in front of Mona. Once the air cleared, he saw that it was a humanoid dragon, standing protective in front of the injured lizard with his teeth bared.

"What manner of creature are you?" the bandit asked, taking in Tyroth's appearance. The dragon shot a glance at Mona, and was relieved that she was alive and awake, if still in pain.

"You dare hurt my friend." he growled, his eyes never leaving the man.

"T-tyroth… w-watch out..." Mona said weakly, but Tyroth didn't hear her, he was too focused on the bandit.

"No-one hurts those I care about and gets away with it!" Tyroth snarled and was ready to attack, but the bandit beat him to the punch by using his magic staff.

The lightning surged through Tyroth's body, and while it stopped him from attacking or even moving, it didn't fell him. He stood defiant against the magic electricity, much to the bandit's frustration. As he was attacked with even more lightning, Tyroth gritted his teeth as he felt how his knees started to buckle underneath him.

"You're a strong one, but you will fall to me!" the bandit taunted. "Once you're dead, I can continue breaking in my new whore behind you."

Hearing that, Tyroth got furious beyond reason. He wouldn't stand for any of what he heard, just the thought of what that bastard would do to Mona, or any of his friends, was too much to bare. Deep within him, his rage started to take over and his mana reacted to it, flowing through his body, absorbing the electricity in the process.

With his magic strengthening him, Tyroth regained control over his now red-glowing body. Opening his mouth, fire and mana gathered into a sphere, but that was not all, even the electricity shot at him from the staff was drawn into the sphere and merged with the other two elements, changing the fireball's colour from red and yellow to white and blue.

Both Mona and the bandit could feel the heat and power coming from the attack that Tyroth was charging, and Mona covered her head while the bandit tried to back away whilst shooting more lightning, but came to a stop when he hit his back against the wall.

Once Tyroth had collected enough power in his attack, he took one final look at the bandit, to make sure that he wouldn't miss, then he unleashed hell upon him.

But instead of a fireball, all the fire, mana and electricity was released as a powerful stream of plasma, as wide as an oak trunk, accompanied by a loud roar. The attack hit the bandit and continued out through the stone wall and struck a mountain wall behind the tower, incinerating flesh and bones and melting rock and metal.

Devina ripped the head of the last of the bandits, blood covering her clawed hands and face, when the tower almost exploded as a torrent of blue and white fire burst through one of the walls. She had seen a lot in her life, but this was something new. The power required for such a spell would be immense, and the roar that echoed with the spell hurt her ears.

About half a mile away, Sephie and the turtles could just about make out the towers against the starry sky, when the sky was lit up by a blue and white beam that shoot out of the tower. And they could hear the echo of a mighty roar on the wind.

"The shell is that?!" asked Raph as he and the other recovered from the sudden shock.

"Could it be… Tyroth?" said Sephie.

"Has to be, I can't think of anyone else who could manage something like that." said Leo.

"Man, I sure don't want to be on the receiving end of that." said Mikey.

Back in what remained of the tower, Mona looked up from the floor to see what had become of the sick bastard. There was a lot of dust in the room, but it quickly cleared thanks to the wind blowing in through the holes that Tyroth had made, and Mona could barely believe what she saw.

The only thing left of the bandit was his right lower arm, still clutching the staff he used, and his legs ended just above the knees with charred ends, just like the arm. The wall behind the remains was all but gone, as a huge hole with red hot half-molten rocks around the edge was all that remained. Looking through the hole, Mona could see a glowing spot on the mountain wall where the breath-attack had hit.

'Such power… When did he get so strong? Has he always had this kind of power?' Mona thought as she looked in awe at the dragon.

Tyroth breathed heavily, the massive attack had taken its toll on him, and it was a hefty one. He still wasn't sure how he had managed to pull it off, but it sure did the trick. After taking a moment to recover, he was just about to turn his attention to Mona, when he heard an ominous sound. Looking around, his fear was confirmed, he had damaged the tower too much and it was starting to collapse.

"Shit. Time to go!"

Hurrying, he picked up Mona and jumped out of the tower, going for the fastest way out of there. And just in the nick of time, as the tower fell apart and plummeted into the river below. But Tyroth and Mona wasn't out of danger yet. One of the rocks struck one of Tyroth's wings before he could get to a safe distance, and he and Mona fell like an injured bird.

Keeping a tight grip on the lizard lady, Tyroth tried to regain control, but to no avail. They both fell into the water, but his efforts had slowed down their fall so that they weren't injured when they hit the water.

It was with great effort that Mona managed to swim to the shore with Tyroth, the currents, although weak, had caught his wings and had pulled him along. Had it not been for Mona, he would most certainly have drowned. Both coughed rather violently as they tried to get new oxygen into their lungs.

"Thanks… for saving… me..." Tyroth said panting as he lay on the beach.

"I can... say the same. Thank you..."

"How about an agreement? I leave the swimming to you, if you leave the flying to me. Deal?"

"Deal." Mona chuckled. Knowing that the bastard responsible for the murder was dead, and that Tyroth was back, and the others were most likely nearby as well, she felt a weight lift from her heart and shoulders.

"Mona!" they could hear Raph call out. Looking up to the road, they saw the turtles and Sephie running towards them. And from the bridge, flew the beastly form of Devina, who transformed back to her human form in a swirl of shadows shortly after she had landed.

Raph immediately dropped to his knees and hugged Mona, who happily returned the caring hug. Mikey soon joined in, overjoyed to see his big sister safe and sound.

"It's good to see you again, Mona." said Leo. "You aren't hurt are you?"

"I'll be alright, Leo. I'm a tough girl."

"Ain't that the truth." said Raph. "I'm sorry that I left you, but I thought they sent a runner for reinforcements. I would have caught up with him sooner, if my leg hadn't complained so much."

"It's okay, hun. You have been inactive for a while, of course your leg complained."

"I'm just glad that we got to you in time. By the way, I found this on one of the bandits. I think it's yours, I remember you wearing a necklace." said Devina as she handed the golden necklace to Mona and her eyes lit up with happiness.

"My necklace! Oh, thank you so much!"

"Now that we're all back together, I say that we make camp somewhere and take some time to recover, not to mention talk about all that's happened so far." said Donnie, and he didn't receive any complaints from anyone.

Whew, this chapter took some effort. Hope you enjoyed it. Now the team is finally back together and ready to face whatever comes their way.

And Tyroth's powers continue to grow and evolve, but will he be able to control them? Are they truly a new side of his magic, or is Lokdrogyol behind everything, using Tyroth as a testdummy? Time will tell.