Unlikely Allies [Vermillion!]

[Bleeding Phoenix]

@Vermillion

The small Fallial town of Roseway had only one inn, though the crux of the town was an important crossroads between Fallial, Tirial and Jadenshine. It was a muggy, cloistered summer evening in the town, and the Upturned Tankard was spacious and cool.

Kailash finished his meal and pushed the empty plate aside, settling his hands contentedly on the table. It had been a while since he'd been to Serendipity, but this visit was off to a good start: no evil sorcery, no raging beasts, no room for dessert. Boring. He'd almost forgotten how nice the right dose of boring could be.

No sooner had this thought occurred to him than three children burst into the Upturned Tankard, the last one dragging an adult by the hand. All four began talking at once, with the result that no one could understand any of them in the tangle of words

"We were attacked!"

"Hideous-"

"- Great big claws-"

"- The screaming! The awful squawking!"

"DRAGON THINGS!"

They were pale with fear and panted for breath like they had run for their lives, and the man who'd come in last was clutching an obviously broken arm to his chest.

Kailash stood. "Calmly," he said, holding one hand up flat. He took a deep breath and, without noticing, the man and the kids followed suit. "Where did you get attacked?"

"On a sidepath off the south road," said the man. "I'll lead you there." With his good arm, he let go of the little girl's hand and began rummaging in his pack. "They were the size of carthorses and had scales and fangs, and bird feet and peacock tails. They hypnotized my in-laws and tried to eat the children first-"

"Tell me on the way," said Kailash. "There may not be time."

"No offense," one little boy blurted out, "but we were hoping for more than one guy."

Kailash looked around the room. There were a number of tough types hunkered around tables here nursing their drinks, but they all seemed disinterested. Kid was probably out of luck.

"Anyone?" asked the other young boy. There was a long pause. "No?"

Kailash crouched until he was eye level with the child. "I'll do my best," he said, getting ready to leave. 

"If those things come into town, we're all mincemeat," a woman in her fifties said as she stood. "I'm the Landholder of Roseway, and the villagers' lives are my responsibility. Thirty standard goldrops from my family's coffers to anyone who fights these beasts."

The man with the injured arm was still looking for something.

"Stop that, Daddy, I'll get it." With an imperious huff sound, the little girl reached into the her father's pack and found a tightly full bag of coins. "Triple that gold if the rest of our family lives," she said.

[Vermillion]

With a loud tinny 'clang', Akara threw her knife and fork down into the pewter plate, off which she had just eaten. Groaning as she sat back, she let out a belch that would put most of the men in the tavern to shame.

Definitely unlike her to be lady-like, she popped the top button of her pants and chugged what was left of her mead. "Woo! Hot damn, that was a good feed". She waved her tankard in applause to the cook and slapped her hand on the table calling "another mead barhand!".

This was her first trip to Serendipity. Akara had become bored with life in Zantaric and decided to do a bit of travel, let her hair down. And collect a bit of coin where she could, of course. Away in her own mind, she hardly heard the commotion going on in the background.

She was snapped back to reality when four people burst through the door in hysterics, three children and a man. They looked like villagers, and her suspicions were confirmed when she heard them talking about something attacking their town.

"Not my problem" she though as she chucked her feet up onto the table and lounged back. Wandering back off into her day dream with a now full tankard of mead. Moments later her ears pricked.

"Thirty standard goldrops from my family's coffers to anyone who fights these beasts" the words came from an older woman who had just arisen from her seat.

Now Akara was interested.

One of the children produced a small coin bag and said "triple that gold if the rest of our family lives".

Now Akara was sold.

She clipped up her pants, slammed down her drink and stood from her seat, picking up a couple of daggers from the table and tucking them tightly into her leather belt.

"Perhaps I can be of assistance?" She walked forward, noticing that a man had already volunteered to help. "Where do I sign up?" Akara smiled and shot a wink at the man.

[Bleeding Phoenix]

"Yes, thank you," gasped the villager to the woman who'd risen from her seat.

It was surprising that a reward that big had only drawn in one more person. Even for Serendipity, that was truly odd. Kailash un-crouched and briefly took stock of the sole other recruit. He towered over her, but he towered over most people in the kingdom and had fought alongside too many people to underestimate anyone based on size. She was dressed for battle and came armed; both fairly reliable signs of competence.

Come to think of it, the rest of the tough-looking types were all staring rather intently into their drinks or studying the floor, taking any excuse not to look at the silver-haired woman, the villagers, nor Kailash. It was almost like they had heard of these creatures before and were too afraid to join in.

Ah well. He'd had no reason to think he couldn't take the feathered hypno-dragon things on solo, and he had even less reason to think the job was too big for two. Maybe other travellers knew something he and this woman didn't- they'd find out soon either way. 

"Um," said the little boy who'd spoken first. "You don't really sign up. You just go do it and then come back to collect."

"We'll believe you, miss," said the other boy. "It's not like we're gonna sneak off without my other sister, his" he pointed a thumb at the first boy, "brothers and sisters, Aunt Arianne, my mom and Uncle Jeffiri anyway. They're family."

Though his head didn't move, Kailash's eyes flicked to the floor. Some part of him couldn't help thinking it would be nice to have a family like that, even if it did get him eaten by dragon things.

Rather than dwell on it, he cleared his throat. "Name's Kailash," he said to the woman with the daggers. In battle, it was a good idea to have something to call your fellow party members.

And then she... Winked at him? Huh. He didn't react. To Kailash, lives being in danger wasn't really an appropriate time for winking, but it wasn't the most appropriate time to voice that fact either. There were bigger fish to fry. Or killer peacock lizards, as it were.

Serendipity, man. Anywhere else, it would have been a simple demon or a direwolf, or maybe even a perfectly mundane angry bear. But here, it just had to be something weird.

"Well, if that's everyone," said the man with the broken arm, "we should... let's..." He sank to his knees, worry and the pain of his injury finally taking too much of a toll on him. He clearly wasn't leading anyone anywhere.

"We're wasting time." The little girl passed the bag of coins to the older of the two boys. "I'll lead you to them." And then, beckoning for the two adventurers to follow, she was already halfway out the door.

[Vermillion]

"Kailash" she said with a smile, "I'm Akara. Native of Southern Le'raana, blade for hire and all round good guy".

She crouched down energetically next to the villager man, who was clearly in worsening pain. "Someone should call for a healer". She took his wrist and lifted his arm, "aargh" the man wailed in pain. "Or... It looks like he's gonna lose the arm".

She let go and the man clutched it to his side with a scoff and a dirty look. Although there were many tough types in the area, none were quite like Akara, she wasn't very good with people. Her skills lacked.

"Well. We'd best be off then, seeing as though none of these other sissies are brave enough to come with us" she shot a look around the tavern. Everyone still sat, averting their eyes as if making contact would somehow instantly volunteer them.

Akara took the little girls hand and followed her out the door, her new combat companion in tow. Once they were out on the street, Akara turned to Kailash.

"These beasts they speak of. Have you ever heard of anything like that before? You look like you would have travelled".

[Bleeding Phoenix]

"Well met, Akara." He cast her a sidelong glance. "All round good guy, huh?"

"Someone should call for a healer."

"Er," Kailash began, "Broken bones aren't exactly-"

And then she cut him off. And roughed up the villager while claiming he'd lose the arm. Which set one of the little boys wailing, and the other one cussing Akara out with words one would've thought this well-to-do Serenian child probably didn't know.

Kailash knit his brows. Well. THIS night was just going to get better, he could tell. "Grabbing it wasn't really necessary," he murmured to Akara. Then, projecting his voice a little more: "He's not going to lose the arm. He just needs it set, and then plenty of rest." He shifted his shoulders a little and plucked his shield off his back. "And we need to get going."

"Well. We'd best be off then, seeing as though none of these other sissies are brave enough to come with us"

This time, Kailash thought she had a point. He tried to hide his grin.

"BRAVE?!" called one voice from within the tavern-room. "Try stupid."

Out on the street, the little girl moved with what for a child was impressive speed. Kailash loped easily to keep up with her as he and Akara spoke. "In all my travels, I've yet to hear of anything close to that. I do wonder why we were the only ones to volunteer, though."

[Vermillion]

"I guess" she replied. "It is pretty odd that whatever these thing are, no one will touch them"

She thought back to the tavern, remembering some stern faces in the place. "I'm sure those guys weren't pushovers" she looked to Kailash. "The ones from the inn I mean".

In Zantaric, where she is from, there are all sorts of strange monsters and creatures.. People too, but it seems that there appear to be more and more dangerous foes popping up all over the world. Perhaps it has something to do with the increase of magic use in the kingdoms.

"Where are we headed little one?" Akara asked the little girl.

[Bleeding Phoenix]

"Yes, exactly," said Kailash with a nod. "There had to have been a reason."

He shook his head. "They sure weren't." The sun was only beginning to go down, and Kailash glanced briefly at the horizon. Hopefully they finished the creatures off before it was too dark to see. "I know a few things that'd scare a fellow like that, but none three children and an injured man could outrun."

He didn't like the idea of following a kid this young into danger, but it seemed to be their only choice- and it wasn't the first time he'd had to.

"Just up here a little further," said the girl, panting but only moving faster as they approached her family's caravan.

Only moments later, a two-legged... THING bounded into their path, and the villager had been underestimating when he'd said they were the size of a carthorse. Kailash only saw that it had the snout of a dragon before he was in front of the child, shield raised. His other hand went for his sword.

Unlike the lighter wooden shields most people carried that were reinforced with steel, this was entirely steel aside from a few silver symbols and spikes strategically placed against demons. It had large teeth marks along one corner and was strewn with other evidence of damage, and Kailash expected it to bend somewhat under the force of the peafowl-dragon's bite.

Instead, the creature's teeth shattered and a dark blue liquid ran down the front of his shield. He blinked.

Then it dawned on him. "They're really weak to iron!" he called to Akara, assuming her blades would be steel as well. The dragonthing had drawn back in agony, but now it swiped at him with its avian feet. He twisted aside, sword poised.

The blue liquid sizzled and frothed as it seeped into the earth, and had worn a shallow scar into his shield as it trickled away. Kailash was suddenly glad he hadn't gotten any on himself.

[Vermillion]

"Its blood is acidic??" She yelled out.

Akara was a few meters behind Kailash when the dragon ambushed them, she had drawn her blades and was about to rush the creature when Kailash had given the heads up about its weakness.

She whistled loudly, drawing the beasts attention from Kailash and the child. It screeched and launched itself in Akara's direction, the blue liquid which she assumed was it's blood was stringing about wildly as the creature thrashed.

She dropped to a knee as the dragon rapidly approached.

"Get that kid outta here" she screamed.

The dragon whizzed passed and Akara rolled to her left avoiding the dragon, but a glob of the acidic blood had fallen onto her shoulder. She only noticed when it started to smoulder, burning into her skin.

"Aarrrrggghhhh, shit!"

Akara ripped her shirt off, scrunching it up and wiping off what was left of the blood. It ceased to burn and she readied herself, the dragon was coming back.

[Bleeding Phoenix]

Kailash carefully kept himself between the peadragon and the child, trying to create a gap that wasn't happening.

"Looks that way," he said. Whatever their blood was, it was certainly corrosive.

The third talon swipe scratched him deep across the forearm, the fourth across the chest. He gritted his teeth. "Gyah!"

Strangely, it hurt more like ice than a proper cut and he felt an involuntary shiver. The fifth swipe he blocked with his sword. It hit some kind of reflex in the creature's foot that caused its talons to grip the blade. They struggled for a split second before Akara whistled. It let go and bolted for her.

Kailash was kneeling in an instant, sweeping the girl up with one arm. "Already on it!" he called at a full run, not taking the time to look back. The ground shook as the creature sprinted back in Akara's direction.

"Let me AT them! Put me down!" The child kicked and punched at him as he ran, but he only restrained her more tightly. Though they hadn't gone far, not even out of sight, she was already trying fitfully to undo the knots securing the healer's knife he used for cutting herbs to his belt.

Kailash was heading for the base of a large pine, thinking he'd have her climb the tree to safety and then he'd run back and help Akara. That was until four of the creatures sprung out of the darkness and formed a semicircle in front of him. Several of the most offensive words in the Common language tumbled out of his mouth.

"Run," he said, about to put the girl down.

"Um," she said, staring over his shoulder in a way that made him change his mind about putting her down.

Kailash turned to look in the same direction. Two more peacock dragons were rushing toward them from behind, as if to close the circle.

[Vermillion]

Akara watched Kailash carry the child in the opposite direction, he was headed to the treeline. The peacock dragon hadn't noticed and she gave a small sigh of relief, but there was no time to celebrate, the dragon was upon her.

It kicked from the dirt and took flight, leaping high into the air, blocking the sun. Akara grounded herself and drew her blades as the dragon came crashing down on top of her, one of its legs extended, it's razor talons meeting her steel.

It staggered her, but she was able to push the dagger over her head, deflecting the blow and turning to face the dragon, which was heading in the other direction. It pulled up suddenly and spun, screeching. Again it rushed Akara.

She spotted a shard of kailash's shield laying at almost an equal distance between her and the peacock dragon. Akara sprung to her feet, bounding towards the dragon. As she met the dragon, she slid to her back scooping up the shard of kailash's shield and pushing it into the dragons gullet as she passed straight between its legs.

It fell to the ground with a thud. It's stomach laying in the dirt, soaked with blood.

There was no time to rest. She ran in kailash's direction but was stopped short as she approached. There was a small clearing at the base of a tree. In which stood Kailash and the girl, surrounded by six more dragons.

She ducked quickly behind a tree to avoid being seen. "Damn!! What am I going to do"

[Bleeding Phoenix]

The ground quivered under the dragons' footsteps. "Hold on tight," said Kailash to the child.

He whirled, sword driving into the leftmost dragon while there was still a gap. It shrieked, but didn't fall. Kailash swept to drive the next one aside, but it slammed the crown of its head against his shoulder and he staggered for balance. The feathers broke to reveal two short dragon horns underneath. He dug in his heels as it tried to push him towards the two incoming dragons.

It headbutted him again, harder. He shouldered the force, boots gouging the ground as he slid back about one step. Suddenly, its snout dropped to sniff at the bleeding talon marks from earlier. The other dragonthings froze as if waiting. Kailash heard a twig snap behind his back and hoped it was Akara. Thin strands of pale blue light flickered between his chest and its snout.

The light vanished as the peacock dragon raised its head and snorted sparks at him, looking vaguely disappointed. Another peadragon sniffed momentarily at the girl clinging to Kailash's neck, found yellow light, and withdrew. The other four had already turned away and were advancing very slowly toward the edge of the clearing.

Without further ado, Kailash leaned one raised elbow against the nearest tree to give the child a step up. "Quick!" he said.  He passed her the first thing containing iron he could think of in his pockets- a steel scoop for measuring herbs- as she bounded to the first branch.

Then, he turned to chase after the damn dragons.