Chapter 48

Death Defying

"Well?! How's it gonna be?!" the woman asked angrily, tightening her grip around Kate's neck.

Suddenly, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her head and neck, similar to how her own were around Kate's. They came right out of nowhere, as she had been certain that there were no one behind her. Then a voice spoke.

"Attacking girls… is not cool."

Something in that voice contained a coldness that sent shivers down the woman's spine even as she struggled to breath as the grip kept tightening. Eventually, she was so close to loosing consciousness, that she lost her grip on Kate, and the viper fell to the ground.

However, Kate caught herself, finally reacting to her environment. With wide eyes, she turned her head around and looked up to whoever it was that had saved her, and she couldn't believe what she saw.

"… Mikey…?"

Standing there, with the slaver woman at his mercy, was indeed Michelangelo. He looked at the viper and smiled softly.

"Hey, Katie…" he said before he tossed the woman aside, the slaver coughing as landed on her face, struggling to get new air into her lungs.

Kate's eyes were wide as dinner plates, tears running down her cheeks as she looked at Michelangelo, while the turtle knelt by her.

"Missed me?" Michelangelo asked sheepishly, only to have Kate throw her arms around him and bury her face in his neck, weeping so uncontrollably that her entire body shook.

She had no words that could convey what she felt at the moment, and only once her beloved's arms held her tightly did she start to settle.

The others could only stare in shock at the until recently dead turtle, completely taken aback by the fact that he was alive again.

At that very moment, the slaver woman had regained her breath, and was carefully trying to crawl away before anyone remembered that she was there.

She was wrong.

A strong foot came down on her wrist, stomping hard enough to snap her arm with no effort and causing her to cry out in pain.

Looking up, she saw Tyroth looming above her, his face dark and his glare even darker as black flames spilled out from his eyes.

"The innocent die… while the guilty laugh… Who's laughing now?" he growled in a voice more beast than human. Seconds later, he grabbed the woman by the throat and lifted her up to eye level.

The woman went white as a sheet, so outright terrifying was the barely controlled fury of the dragon.

"I warned you." he said darkly. "You and the others are only alive because I allow it, and I warned you not to make me change my mind." he pulled back his other hand, extending his fingers as he aimed his claws at the woman's chest. "You did not listen."

With a single, swift motion, Tyroth jabbed his hand at the woman, and she thought for sure that her death would be instantaneous.

She was wrong.

Tyroth's claw-like nails effortlessly pierced her clothes, skin and flesh, and the woman could feel them against her ribs and even the tips against her lung, but that was it. Painful as it was, it was nowhere near fatal, despite the woman's strained grunt of pain.

Then, the claws started to grow warmer, and warmer, and warmer, the warmth soon turning into heat that began to spread.

The woman's eyes widened as she realised what was happening and she panicked. She tried to plead for mercy, but she could not speak, not with Tyroth nearly crushing her windpipe, all she could produced was choked gurgles.

The heat spread and grew even further, and she kicked and flailed and punched and clawed at the dragon, trying to free herself, but his grip remained as steel.

Pain spread throughout her torso as the heat grew to dangerous levels, and she flailed even more violently as what would have been screams of pain and terror, but were only garbled noise, escaped her mouth.

Her flesh around the fingers in her chest turned white as it was seared, small strings of smoke forming from the cooked flesh. Her breathing, while troubled due to the dragon's grip, became mixed with steam, and soon it began forming from around her eyes as well.

With her insides being roasted, her flailing soon began to slow before finally coming to a complete stop, her limbs slumping limply and her head falling backwards.

A few moments later, Tyroth pulled out his fingers, black smoke trailing both them and the wounds, and he released his grip on the woman's neck, letting her fall to the ground like a bag of garbage. With her throat no longer obstructed, more steam and smoke began pouring out.

The others looked on in shock and disgust, the inhabitants of the village more so than the visitors, as this was very out of character for their leader. As much as the woman might have deserved it, it was still an unusually cruel way to execute someone.

As Tyroth walked back towards the soldiers, they eyed him cautiously, even they being shocked by his methods, yet they said nothing. They didn't dare.

"The remains are yours." he said grimly as he passed Ovrul, not even looking at the hobgoblin. "Do with them as you please."

"Captain…?" one of the soldiers asked in a whisper.

"Get her loaded on the wagon… We got more prisoners to secure."

"Ouch… that's gotta hurt." Michelangelo said as he still held Kate closely. The he noticed Valin approaching him. "Um… hi?"

The cleric held out his hand, with a golden token of Lathander held in the palm, and it started to shine very brightly right in Michelangelo's face.

"What are you doing?" the turtle asked. "Oh, wait, I'm supposed to follow the light, right?"

Valin did not answer, he just kept holding the symbol for a few moments more before pulling back.

"So many spots…" Michelangelo said as he rubbed his eyes one at a time, always keeping one arm around his girlfriend.

"You did not turn… so you are not an undead… incredible." Valin said as he studied the turtle with his eyes.

"What do you mean by that?" Jack asked, scratching his head. "I though you were supposed to bring him back to life. So what's with this undead talk?"

"It is true that my aim was to resurrect your fallen." Valin explained. "But this is not my work, or that of Lathander. Somehow, your friend has resurrected himself."

"How is that even possible?" Kemeko asked.

"I am afraid I do not have an answer, child. It is not unheard of that some defy their own death if they felt it unjust, but they all return as undead revenants with the singular purpose to seek revenge. And this…" he gestured to Michelangelo. "This is something different."

"And here I thought you resurrected him to help us with the whole hostage situation." said Jack.

"That would have been impossible. The spell takes an entire hour to cast. I doubt we could have stalled for that long."

"Whatever the case, Michelangelo is back with us." Sephie said with a big smile, as she watched his entire family swarm him, Pandora being the first one to hug him wholeheartedly, tears in her eyes.

"I still want James and Dahlia to examine him, just to be on the safe side." said Tyroth as he racked his brain trying to find an answer to the orange-masked turtle's sudden burst of live. "Jack, go get Kala and Harald for me."

"On it, boss!"

It only took a few minutes for the wolf to return with the orc and Nordling, and another few minutes for Tyroth to explain their situation, how they only had enough diamonds to resurrect two of their six fallen comrades, and since one of them was of Kala's group, and three were Nordlings, it was logical to include the two respective leaders in the decision.

"And you would extend this offer to my people as well, cleric?" Harald asked Valin.

"Under normal circumstances, I would not have, but I have been told that you played a vital role in defending this land from the gnoll horde, and that deserves recognition. I will look beyond our differences, at least this time."

"I'll admit, I did not expect such generosity from a Torgalian. I appreciate the offer, and I thank you for it. However, I will have to decline."

"For what reason?" Valin asked, cocking his head slightly to the side.

"Those of my people that died have earned their place in Valhalla, and I will not rob them of that. Your offer is a generous one, but it would be wasted on us. Better that the others benefit from it."

"I see. Very well then."

"I will also decline your offer." said Kala, which caught Tyroth by surprise. "Resurrection is little more than fancier reanimation, and that is something my people do not accept."

"You are not wrong." said Valin. "Both resurrection and reanimation fall under the school of Necromancy. As a cleric of Lathander, I consider the undead to be abominations that should be purged from the world, so we are not so different in that regard. But if you wish to decline as well, then that leaves us only one option."

"Aye, and it seems to be the best one." said Harald as he and the others looked at Tyroth.

"You can't be serious…" the dragon said.

"We are." said Kala. "You lost some good people, and you do not have any reason not to accept this."

"Then why does it not feel right?" Tyroth sighed, pinching his nose ridge as he went over everything in his mind.

He had wished not to have to make the choice of who would get to live again, and now, that choice had been made for him, and not in any way that he had anticipated. The Nordlings declining didn't surprise him, as their ways were nearly identical to that of his own ancestors, but that the Orcs rejected it too was a shock for him.

And then there was the fact that Michelangelo somehow had returned to life on his own. That in of itself was still something that he needed to look into.

No matter how he turned and twisted the scenario in his mind, he could not find any other way, not that respected the beliefs of the others.

He should have been glad to be able to bring his friends back, but he couldn't help but feel both a bit greedy and guilty.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to clear his head. Perhaps he was just overthinking it.
Since the others had already decided, there were nothing else to it. Moe and Sarah would live again, and that was what mattered most at the moment.

"I can't begin to tell you how much this means to me. To all of us." he said, a few tears forming in his eyes. "I will make sure that the sacrifices made will not be forgotten. Their names will be remembered, that I promise."

Oh boy, things seems to have turned out well for our heroes, or it will at least in the near future.

Mikey's first words here, Attacking girls is not cool" is just what he said when he rescued his first love back in chapter three of Mikey's Date, while Tyroth's warning to the slaver woman was issued all the way back in chapter 29 of this story.

His grim words to her before picking her up are from one of my favorite characters from one of my favorite game series, Tombstone from Freedom Force, specifically his origin.