The Battle of Draconi Forest

[MadEmperor]

Validor, staggered by the force of the blast, was left wide open. Kahroan exploded forward towards the demon, charging as fast as he could. With a roar, he drove the dagger deep. Immediately, the writing on the handle grew bright white as glowing cracks spread from the wound.

"No! What—what is this?!" The demon roared, white light pouring from his mouth. Then, he was enveloped as the light turned him to ash. The melted remains of the dagger dropped onto the pile. All that remained was his oversized, curved sword.

[DragonSong]

There was nothing much the others could do save watch, agape, as the demon disintegrated into a pile of ash.

River blinked, then suddenly she was rushing forward. "Kah? Kah!"

She caught him around the waist, holding on tight for a brief heartbeat before starting to run her hands over his body searching for injuries. "Are you alright?"

[MadEmperor]

Kahroan's clothes were a little singed, but he seemed unharmed, even if a little tired from the drain on his magic it had taken to be unharmed. "Relax. It's okay." He chuckled. "Really. Hanako directed most of it away from me."

"Yeah, yeah. Dragons are tough; we get it." The weasel grumbled, packing away his pile of deadly objects into the same space he had pulled them from.

Thrax stared at the little warrior, head tilted in confused awe. "That. Was. Awesome."

[DragonSong]

"We're good? Everyone's good?" Hana asked as she looked around, still panting lightly. Her eyes fell on the weasel. "Also--and no offense, we definitely owe you one--but who the hells are you?"

River was still busy looking Kahroan over, not quite ready to take his word for it. She eventually stood back with a small nod.

[MadEmperor]

The weasel smirked and bowed. "Ankoku Uzumaki, Shadow Ranger."

"Seriously?" Thrax asked, almost perplexed. "Shouldn't you be... I dunno--"

Ankoku rolled his eyes and frowned. "Shouldn't you be trying to eat a baby or something?"

Thrax sighed. "Fair..."

[DragonSong]

Hana looked back and forth between the two of them. "Sooooo...I'm missing something here," she noted, one eyebrow quirked. "Also: is anyone bleeding? Do we need healing? And holy shit was that guy really a fucking demon?"

[MadEmperor]

Thrax's jaw dropped in disbelief. "You've seriously never heard of the Vigilant Shadows? They're these total badassess that stalk the night, knocking off murderers and crime bosses and generally saving peopleby kicking ass with their shadow magic."

"I mean, I've never seen one, but gods damn, this is the real deal."

[DragonSong]

"Yes, that is very impressive." Hana gave the Shadow Ranger a quick nod. "And really, thanks. You saved our hides. But I'm still a little caught up on the fact that he was a fucking demon?!"

She threw her hands wide and looked around at the group. "Is no one else freaking out over this?"

Thoroughly exhausted, River just leaned against Kahroan's side with a shrug. "Honestly? I'm too tired to be shocked."

[MadEmperor]

Kahroan put his arm around his mate, gently stroking her arm. "I'm just glad the rest of us came through alive." He sighed. "Poor Zeldrinn."

Thrax's enthusiasm evaporated in an instant. "If he hadn't come back for us, he'd still be alive."

Ankoku looked away as his phantasmal wolf returned to his side. "I apologize for not arriving sooner. I had an... unanticipated delay."

[DragonSong]

River shook her head. "No. You saved our asses back there. I just wish..."

Hana nodded as she trailed off, her expression morphing from ecstatic disbelief into something solemn. "Do we...know if he had family?" she asked softly. "We should let them know--give them his share of the coin."

[MadEmperor]

Thrax frowned at the pile of ashes and sighed disappointedly. "I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but we don't have any way of proving we took him out."

Kahroan winced. "Well, shit."

"How much was it? The reward?" the Ranger asked, feeling badly about screwing them out of the reward.

"Fifty silver crowns."

The Ranger stumbled. "Fif--fuuuck that's a lot." He thought. "Take what's left of the dagger. It's not worth that much, but a chunk of astral silver that size ought to soften the blow."

[DragonSong]

Hana whistled lowly in appreciation, but River was shaking her head. "No, we can't take that—you saved our lives, you shouldn't owe us anything."

The kitsune briefly looked like she wanted to argue, but then she sighed and nodded. "She's right," she muttered, not sounding entirely thrilled with her own agreement.

[MadEmperor]

Thrax swallowed his disagreement, muttering something about throwing away good money. "At least there's loot..."

Kahroan rolled his eyes. "As you can see, good Ranger, we'll manage."

Ankoku laughed—an oddly gruff sound from such a diminutive figure. "Good. Because my sister would be quite cross if I came back without it. But at least you can probably get good money for his sword... should you find someone willing to take demon-touched steel off your hands."

[DragonSong]

"Probably in Zantaric," Hanako said with a small shrug. "They don't ask many questions there."

For all her wanderings, River had never actually been to Zantaric. She tensed subtly against her mate, but didn't argue--the fox was right.

[MadEmperor]

"Isn't that where Validor was running from?" Kah asked. "If whoever he crossed was dangerous enough to scare a demon... then is that really the best idea?"

Thrax shrugged. "Who knows how demons think? Besides, we haven't crossed anyone from Zantaric."

Ankoku nodded in agreement. "The gnoll is right. Keep to your own business, and you should be fine."

[DragonSong]

"We probably need some proper rest before we do that, though," River said briskly, finally pulling away from Kahroan. She glanced at the fallen bodies around them and winced. "And I for one don't think I want to camp here."

Hanako nodded. "Which direction you headed?" she asked Ankoku. "Safety in numbers seems to be the way to go just now."

[MadEmperor]

"The opposite direction, I'm afraid." Ankoku scratched his head. "But I could delay long enough for you to make camp. I could use a rest myself."

Kah nodded gratefully. "We would appreciate that, Ser Uzumaki."

Thrax tentatively touched the demon's sword as if it might bite him. Then, thinking better of handling it, he ripped the cloak off of a dead bandit and carefully wrapped the sword in it, just in case. "There. Hopefully that will keep us from getting cursed."

[DragonSong]

"I'd stick in in a pack, just to be safe," Hanako muttered, curling her lip at the thing. "If feels...angry."

River shot her a wary glance, not entirely sure she wanted to know what she meant by that. "We should get some distance from this place," she murmured. "I don't like the idea of sleeping near so much death--particularly with whatever residual demonic energy might be around."

[MadEmperor]

Thrax nodded and slipped the evil sword into his pack, as much as it could fit. Then he turned to the rest of the group. "We should at least see if they have anything else valuable. Such as whatever was making that damn music."

Kah didn't like stealing from the dead, but without the reward they needed to get something for the trouble. He was happy to keep his moral reservations to himself. "Then let's make it quick. We don't want to be here when the people they crossed show up."

[DragonSong]

Murmured agreements all around as they set to work scrounging what they could. River, who had never really been much of one for material goods, focused on gathering up what supplies she figured they could salvage, things that would have practical value while they traveled.

Hanako, by contrast, was a large, silver-white magpie. Anything with a glimmer went into her pack, until: "Hey, guys? Think I found it."

She was crouched over one of the bandit archers, holding a small, round object between her palms. It was encrusted with green and blue gems, with a bronze base, and a thin seam nearly all the way around its circumference.

"A music box?" River blinked. "Are you fucking kidding me? It was a music box?"