There's Something in the Air

Salah snarled at the man, her fangs in full view. "Coward! You help me escape, then abandon me?" She glanced towards the portal he had just opened. A spell? How did he know? At least she knew something.

"I'm going in there to save my dragon. If I can't succeed, I'll die with him. Hope what's inside of me isn't too important to you." Salah hissed. The vampire walked towards the portal, about to step in but pivoted at the last moment. "I honestly thought that perhaps you really were Darkest back from the grave. Now I know that's not true," Salah turned her back and stepped through the portal.

She emerged on a hill overlooking the manor. She glanced around warily waiting for another vampire to strike. Her keen senses told her there were none nearby. Something about a cave... There was one for a brief moment. Where was it? There were mountains and crags everywhere. She wished she had taken the time to learn about dark magic. Salah uttered a small spell, one Sam had taught her for locating recent magic. It turned her towards the portal. The vampire made the spell more specific and felt her feet turn east. She sprinted off towards the site and used wind to propel herself forward. She knew she should conserve her strength but it could be too late for Eldor. Instinct told her he was near but she couldn't feel him. The magic. The spell.

She saw an opening and used the wind to push her up to the opening of the cave. "Eldor?!" she shouted, fearful of what she might find.

"Salah, Salah, Salah." The monotoned voice floated from out of the shadows behind the young vampire. Blaze had appeared, this time with Mercrutio close behind her. "I will remind you again, I don't want to have to do this. But honestly, you leave me no choice. Pledge to me in the ancient language. If not, well..." she paused, handing Exxon to the man behind her and picking up a stone from the ground. She tossed it into the bubble of magic surrounding Eldor. It disintegrated in less than a second. "Then bye bye dragon." Blaze finished, taking back the last remains of her own dragon.

"What will your choice be?"

Salah froze and watched the rock sail towards the bubble of magic. She muttered spell after spell quietly but nothing. The bubble did not change, move, transform, disappear... nothing! The rider felt a small surge of panic. She looked at the other dragons, imagining the pain their riders would feel once they died. Salah closed her eyes. At least they would have a soul left. Hers would be gone, disappearing with Eldor. She felt a tear leave her eye.

"If I do, you'll release Eldor and the rest of the dragons as well?" The vampire felt the words leave her mouth and couldn't believe it. Her shoulders slumped. As if she could ever be as strong as Sam. She couldn't break a simple enclosure spell. Sam had left her, the burnt man had abandoned her, Tobias had disappeared.... Eldor was all she had.

"If you release them all, I'll do it."

Eldor snarled from behind the magic. Salah could tell he was upset.

I have to... she mouthed. The dragon stared at her with sadness, knowing she would not let him die to save herself.

"As soon as you say the last word of the pledge, they will be freed."

Salah nodded and felt her body tense for what was to come. "What is the pledge?" Her fingers twitched impatiently as she watched the bubble shrink more and more. Thank goodness Eldor was a relatively small dragon still. The white dragon stared at his rider. Though Salah could not feel his conscious because of them spell she knew he was in anguish.

Blaze sprouted out a lengthy sentence in the ancient language. It went something along the lines of "I, Salah, pledge my life, and that of my dragons to you. We will do everything you ask us to with out hesitation or restraint."

I have no choice... Everyone had abandoned her. Salah recited the pledge back, her nails tearing small gashes in her hands in her anguish. She felt an angry smile tug at the sides of her lips. Reciting the oath reminded her of how she would recite words and phrases in the ancient language to Sam when she taught Salah in her office.

"Now let them go," the vampire snarled.

"That's a very harsh tone to be using with your master." Blaze scolded the girl. "If I was was you, I'd be more polite." As she talked the magic surrounding the dragons disappeared. "Happy? Just like you asked. Now, follow us." Mercrutio led the way out, both him and Blaze got onto his dragon, only waited a few minutes for Salah to catch up then took off. "We're off to go destroy our first human town." Blaze shouted over her should at Salah.

Eldor walked towards Salah, his eyes sad. He nuzzled his rider gently, knowing she had done what she had to. She didn't save just him, but all the other dragons. That had to count for something somewhere....

Salah hopped onto his back, her fingernails still digging into her skin. The vampire glanced back at all the other dragons. "Go to your riders. Tell them all to get as far away from here... and us as possible. Find Sam. Tell her what happened," She felt the tug of magic from her oath and Eldor growled, feeling it as well.

The pair caught up and glared hatefully at Blaze. When she told them of her plan, Salah was glad she told the dragons and riders to flee. Salah rubbed Eldor's neck affectionately out of habit but the dragon could feel the tension in her muscles and felt every thought in her mind screaming to turn around, to run away and find someone who could help them...

But the oath stopped all that...

He watched it all from the shadows, hearing but not believing. Well, too late now. Blaze's father would certainly approved of the woman she had become, at least he thought so. His sigh was lost in a chilling breeze, but his next words echoed inside his soul. "Now what?" He wasn't strong enough to save anyone, it would seem. Despair gave way to impotent rage, and he stood there, fists clenched, teeth bared, as he contemplated his next move. 'Now I know it's not true.' No, it wasn't. Darkest would have died trying something foolish, blurring the line between Hero and Villain. The Burned Man just stood there, and watched his world turn to ash.

Whether Blaze's father would, or would not be proud was something to be determined on another day. The dead man didn't even come to her mind as she flew off towards the first city. It wasn't the biggest city, but one would say that it wasn't the smallest. An army of vampires was there, waiting in the twilight. Lucifer landed and Blaze jumped off elegantly. "Follow me Salah, but let Eldor stays here." She walked off, Mercrutio falling into step behind her.

"This isn't just any city." She told Salah as she walked around greeting fellow vampires and stopping now and then to be told something. "This is where I am from. This is the place that betrayed me. That tried to kill me. My family still lives here. Even if it's been generations. They still live here." she glared down at the cities. Memories prancing through her head. The brother who betrayed her. The people who shunned her. The declaration to kill her. It all had happened here.

They finally reached a place where four vampires were standing around a table. On the table was a map of the city. "Salah, these are my generals. Loki, Yaxley, Gwen, and Batty. Everyone this is Salah, our resident dragon rider." She glanced over her shoulder at the younger vampire. "Oh, don't look so huffy. We're starting you off with a simple job. Setting fire to buildings and carrying out our hurt and prisoners. Speaking of prisoners." she turned back to her generals. "Everyone dies, except for children three and under. We will take them, raise them in our ways and turn them when they are old enough. It'll be like growing and army of vampires." The generals nodded and Harold were sent out to tell people. We attack soon. Remember, this should be a silent attack. Go in, kill, and take. No one will know we are there. Salah, if the alarm is raised you set fire to the alarm building, guard lodgings and any other place that will be full of the most people who are trained to fight. Oh, and the churches. We can't have people going for holy water. Hopefully you won't have to do that. If all goes well you can just sit back and relax.

She looked around, making sure everybody knew what they were doing. It was only a few minutes before the word of how this attack was going to go went around. "Go." It was just a whisper, yet it seemed all the vampires knew what to do. They silently rushed into the city and started murdering. "Salah, you know your orders. Stay here unless you are needed to join the battle. Or, if you want to join the senseless murdering of these humans." Then Blaze left Mercrutio on her heel.

They headed into the city, silent as all the others. Anyone coming into the city who not have known that there was a battle going on. That murders were happening left and right. It seemed peaceful, and very quiet. Blaze walked the path she had planned. She knew where she was going, and when it was right in front of her she grimaced. It was her old home. The home of the betrayers. She walked in and went right upstairs and killed what was rest of her family. Except for the three year old boy who was fast asleep. She looked down at him. "I guess you are going to be joining the ranks of vampires one day. Who knows, maybe you'll be my heir." She picked him up, which woke him up, and on the shock of being held by some stranger, started wailing at the top of his lungs.. "Stop that." Told him and proceeded to say some calming words in the acient language. The boy stopped crying. "Good."

She walked out of the house and handed the boy off to another vampire and told him to take him back to the watchers. "Now Mercrutio, I believe it is time to put some plans into action." She grabbed hold of him shoved him to the shadow world and came out at Darkest's old place. Old in the sense that he was dead. "This is where I died." She told Mercrutio, looking at the spot. The house of the mentor who betrayed her. That makes two very delightful places for tonight. "I believe you found my body some where in here, and that's why Exxon is stuck in this plushie form and not where he should be." Mercurtio nodded and from that point lead the way to where every Blaze had been buried (which to be honest I don't even remember where.)

They came upon the spot, Exxon's body was still there rotting. Mercrutio said some words and that all changed, the body became fit and normal, and Exxon stopped existing inside of a toy, and was now back into this big, black scaled, body. "Welcome back." Blaze told her dragon smiling. She clambered on top of him, Mercrutio following her. "Back to the battle." She mumbled, opening up the shadow realm and going back through. They arrived back at the location of the table and the map.



(WOAh, sorry about the novel guys. I just had to get a lot in there.)

Salah glanced around warily, standing close to Eldor's side until Blaze willed her away from the dragon. The rider looked back at her dragon with sadness and Eldor sat comfortably on the ground, his talons leaving wide tears in the earth.

After Blaze gave her orders, the vampire felt a weight lifted off her shoulders. She wouldn't have to kill anyone... yet. She waited, tense, for an alarm to sound but the vampires were too efficient. She watched from a distance as they destroyed the village. Salah felt the familiar blood lust run through her and she closed her eyes to ward it off. She glanced around her, trying to take her mind off of her hunger and saw another vampire bringing up a child. Only a child... in the arms of a vampire?!

Salah stepped forward. "I'll take him off your hands, you can return to the city," The other vampire looked at her strangely. "Blaze would want that and I'm here anyway," The vampire gladly gave her the child and ran off, his thirst apparent. The rider cradled the child in her arms gently. He looked up at her with wide eyes. "Everything's going to be fine..." Was that for the child or herself?

She returned to Eldor's side. The child started to cry once more and the draogn looked down at him. The small white blew out a small smoke ring and it circled the child before disappearing. The boy giggled. Eldor blew small jets of flame in different patterns using his forked tongue. The child was distracted and laughed. Salah took the moment to smile softly at her dragon and rest against his side. She closed her eyes to everything around her, pretending they were back, back at the guild castle.

Blaze and Exxon didn't find Salah where they left her. That mattered not, she would be with her dragon. Of course. Exxon dove into the sky, stretching his wings a bit before he landed behind Eldor. 'This isn't Blaze.' he told them both 'A spell has corrupted her mind.'

That was all he could say on that matter though, because a minute later Blaze was next to them. "I see you've found my great great great great great great great great great nephew." Blaze said plainly, thinking she might have missed a great in there some where. "His name is Piegarus. Why do you have him? I thought I sent him to be put with the other captives." Blaze blinked at her, waiting for a reply.

((Tell me if I get something wrong.))

Percy tested his bonds. Nothing. Though the dragons were free, the riders remained pinned to the wall. He sagged against it, somewhat grateful for the support. Small shooting pains flitted through his gimp leg.

Ana came and rested her huge head on his shoulder. He nudged her off. The dragon's eyes showed some sort of sad smile as she made her neck into a makeshift chair for her Rider.

"Puzzle?" Percy called out softly. He knew it was there.

And the wind was. Swirling, insubstantial form collecting into a vague dragon shape with purple eyes. Puzzle whistled, dancing around its friend, then finally coming to rest on his shoulder. Images formed and dissipated on its false skin. Percy picked one out, made it come to focus.

"I need you to find this person," he told the wind. "Keep up with her and report back to me, okay?"
Puzzle whisked away after Salah. After a few minutes, breezes cast off from it came back to the prison, carrying images of blood and death.

Salah felt relief flood through her mind, hers and Eldor's. Exxon had returned and he wasn't as mental as Blaze! A spell? Explains a lot. The vampire was giddy with excitement but she hid it. Hoisting the boy into a more comfortable position, she answered. "Other captives?" The rider had not seen any others, but then again she was a ways off from the others.

"Your man wanted back in the fight," Salah said with a small hint of disgust. "I took Piegarus off of his hands and brought him over here to keep him safe. I'm sorry. I assumed keeping members of your new army out of harm might be best," Eldor shifted his wings and stood up next to Exxon. The white dragon was quite a bit smaller.

Back from the dead Exxon, it's a pleasure to see you again, Eldor said quietly, wondering if Exxon could block Blaze out of his mind long enough to have a hurried conversation.

Caelia paced the room anxiously. No sign from Laron. No sign from Lolth. Had she failed her goddess? She glanced at Nygaele suspiciously, waiting for the priestess to stab her in the back with one of Lolth's ceremonial spider daggers. Where was he!? Where was Laron? Nygaele had already giving Caelia more time than she declared she would. It was twilight. Caelia had not heard from her brother all day.

Had he deserted her? Taken the opportunity to leave her and run, time to find his own way on the surface? He seemed to fit in quite well...

A small knock on the door made Caelia's heart jump to her chest. Nygaele commanded the door to open and Laron stepped quietly into the room. His eyes widened but he otherwise kept his composure. "Nygaele, sister," he greeted them, his eyes to the floor. As a lowly male should...

"You missed sister. There is nothing amiss with the leader of the riders. I followed her through town night and day. I know where she is staying but she won't be there for long," Nygaele smiled at Caelia. Laron had just confirmed what Lolth had told her.

Caelia closed her eyes briefly and listened as Nygaela walked across the room. "Time to meet your fate Caelia," the high priestess said scathingly as she began to pray to Lolth. Caelia recognized the chat. She was calling forth a yochlol. The blob came forth cackling.

"Why did you call me forth priestess?" The yochlol laughed once more and Nygaele fell to the floor twitching in agony. Her cries filled the room. The yochlol looked to Caelia and the drow met it's eyes warily. "You have failed the Spider Queen. You took her magic and misguided it!" Caelia cringed, falling to her kness waiting for the agony.

It never came.

The yochlol wheezed a laugh. "How you ered priestess... but succeeded. You've unleashed a fury on this land! One that has given Lolth plenty of joy and chaos. You are in her blessing," The yochlol glanced around the room and Laron intelligently looked at the floor. Lolth's handmaiden laughed before disappearing back to the Abyss. Caelia smiled as Nygaele continued twitching on the floor, eyeing the other priestess with both hate and fear.

He followed them. To the spot where the accident had occured. His information was hazy, rough, but as he stared after the two, things began to snap into place, the drow and...'The Tree.' His grin was feral as he walked around through a building that might have held many secrets. He almost lost a foot, opening a door, a spring loaded sheet of metal flew across the doorway as the lock was broken, sliding into a small, concealed slit that ran the length of the frame. He smirked and pushed the door open, hurrying inside. A dresser and a bed, and what he was looking for waited inside. He laughed, snatching the items, and hurrying off into the shadows, before the trail got cold. When he emerged, he found himself in a small city, being torched to the ground. He ignored the cries for help and slipped off into the shadows, searching for a place to employ his plan.

* * *

'Mercrutio.....Mercrutio....I have something for you...' The voice pushed against Mercrutio's mind, hauntingly familiar.
'Mercrutio, come to me, we have a game to finish, you and I....'

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Sam sighed and pushed her bangs out of her face. Her dress swirled around her feet in the cool, light breeze. She had walked around Uru'baen day and night. Jared must be worried sick... She shrugged her shoulders. She needed to get out.

Under the eyes of the enemy. The elf stifled a giggle. Many guards had tried to hit on her. She wondered what their faces would look like if they realized she was the leader of the riders they had been searching for for so long. She pursed her lips as always when she was thinking about something important. Darkest had wanted her to come here but so far she had discovered nothing. Seen nothing, heard nothing. She felt a small tear escape her eye. She couldn't believe he was dead. It seemed so long ago but really... it had only been a maximum of two weeks? Life goes on... she thought sadly.

Sam looked up at the moon. She hadn't realized how late it was. She walked back to Jared's cousin's place. It looked even worse then it had when she left it last night. She glanced around, looking for prying eyes, and then levitated her body through the broken upstairs window. She landed lightly on the floor hoping it wouldn't cave in. "Jared?"

She heard his footsteps. He couldn't tread as lightly as she did. He was only human after all, not an elf like her. He came around the corner, his lips tight. "Where the hell have you been? I thought you got caught, or G'reth did! All I could do was stay here and hope you came back!"

"And I'm here now, there's nothing wrong. I needed to get away for a little, needed some time to clear my head,"

"All day?"

"That's what it took. I'm here for a reason, but one that I can't seem to figure out, alright?" Sam stalked past him and headed towards the blankets on the floor. She curled up in one with a small shiver. With a small spell, she heated the air around herself. Jared came and sat right next to her.

"I was just worried,"

"I know," Sam felt G'reth's light presence in the back of her mind. We will leave here tomorrow... there's nothing more I can do... She felt the dragon's approval surge through their mental link.

Blaze glared down at the baby. "Fine." She said eventually with a shrug. "You can watch over him all you like. When you grow tired of him just drop him off with the raisers. They'll have a house set up at home base. Speaking of which." She strode off. A few minutes later the whisper was spreading like wild fire. "The battle is won, the humans have fallen, back to home before the sun comes up." And that was exactly what happened.

Blaze rejoined Salah after that. "We will be joining the troops at the hide-away. You are to never, ever, tell anyone where they are at." She got onto Exxon, looking at Mercrutio expectantly to follow suit with his own dragon, but instead he was just standing there looking dazed. "Mercrutio, will you be joining us?" Blaze asked the man eventually.

"I'll have to catch up with you." He murmured. "I want to see what my powers can do with the dead here." He had lied though. There was this voice, calling to him inside his head. He had to see what that voice wanted.

"Very well." And they left. Just like that heading to a town slightly like the Salah had seen. You know, where the burning mansion had been. It had the same concept being as it was in a mountain where the sun can't get to it. The difference was, this one was designed for war, not comfort.
~~~~

Mercruito was still standing there, waiting. There had been a voice in his head. He had heard that voice before but he couldn't remember where. "What?" He asked it coldly. "What do you want?"

Meanwhile in Uru'baen Zayne was following a girl. Dragon rider by the smell of it and if there was one thing he had learned, it was dragon riders will always lead you to where the most death and destruction is. Whether it be them causing it, or the foe they are fighting. They just always know the best place to get meals.

Zayne frowned as she levitated herself up into the house. Surely she wasn't going to murder people in a broken house? No one could live there. He pouted. Waiting was the worst thing ever. He sat down across from the house, covered completely in his cloak and started the long boring waiting process.

Salah nodded in agreement with Blaze. The child was safely seated in front of her on Eldor's saddle and they took off. The hide-a-away? The vampire gritted her teeth, wanting so much to be free of all this. Her white dragon sent reassuring thoughts into her mind and the vampire settled, though her bloodlust was beginning to get to her.

Percy turned to the others, fully aware that they had seen him talking, literally, to thin air, and probably thought he was insane. "They were massacring a city," he told them. "Now they're leaving or something?" He turned back to the breezes, frowning.

"Arguing with the damned already?" He stepped out from the shadows, trademark grin on his face. He was wearing a leather duster, and his wide brimmed hat. Dark chainmail gleamed under rogue leathers, and the Gedwey insignia glittered on a hand holding a ruby red longblade.

"I'm thrilled that you came to finish our game." The grin widened.

"He's sent me for you, Mercrutio. You have no idea how tickled I was to learn I'd be the one to take you back. Perhaps after your death the spell you've cast on my star pupil will end. Then again, perhaps I'll just stake you to that damned tree for the trouble you've caused." His tone turned harsh, and the torches flared as he stepped forward.

"Come, Play with me once more." Another maddened grin in the firelight cast shadows over his face.

"Trouble I've caused?" Mercrutio asked, disbelief blatant on his face. "If she's your star pupil shouldn't you be glad I brought her back. That's all I did, after all." Mercrutio glared at the man. "If you kill me, she'll go down as well."

Although, everyone knows the coward he is. While he was talking he was getting his protection spells ready. He wasn't very good at them, considering how he was a dark magic kinda guy, but one does pick up a few tricks every now and then.

"Staking you to the tree just looks all that more attractive now then." His grin faded.

"But alas, I have to kill you. At least we'll all be together in Hell." He shrugged, and two daggers clanged off the air in front of Mercrutio.

He laughed, striking his blade along the ground. Sparks showered the red blade, and then fire sprung to life along the blade.

"How long can you keep that up, I wonder?" Mental pressure slammed into the wards, crushing and seeking any little hole to tear through. He was a little disappointed when he found none, but eventually he would attack and leave an opening, or crack.

'Thats right, just keep the pressure on, he'll crack, don't worry.'

He heard the voice from a distant past, and smiled again. He bowed.

"Shall we dance?"