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Chapter 7
.....Simoriah brought the severed limb Krook had given her around in a whirl, solidly smacking the Asmar in front of her and spraying black blood from the limb in her direction. Screaming loudly, she brought the arm back around and firmly hit the Asmar in the face. .....Fire shot out of Tijir's nose. The stream of fire landed all around a group of a small group of soldiers, who ducked behind their shields, and a robed Asmar. The robed Asmar stumbled to the ground, and the non-magic feeling ran from his mind. Arrows whizzed out of windows of the towers and walls, striking more dead. Beside him, Aard began to say a short prayer. .....A massive burst of godly powers burst from the darkened sky and smashed into the ground. Burning rubble shot into and through the Asmar standing around the explosion. To follow up with the blast, Aard breathed fire down onto a few soldiers. .....Tijir began to chant some spells, causing the soldiers to spasm uncontrollably and fall to the ground. Aard glanced towards the northeastern part of the city. A handful of catapults with Asmar around them were sitting there. One of the Asmar brought his sword around and chopped the rope holding one of the catapults back. A massive cauldron was flung into the air. Aard's eyes went big. ....."Down!" he hissed. "Get down!" The cauldron began to tumble in the air, sending burning oil in all directions. The cauldron slammed into the side of the tower, cracking a few blocks and jolting the castle. Tijir leaped down into the castle's garden while Aard spread his wings and began to glide towards the castle's back. The oil rained down upon Tijir and the surrounding areas. His scales protected him, but the surrounding plants withered. ....."Simoriah's plants...how dare they!" Tijir roared loudly. The dragon leapt into the air and spit fire out towards the catapults as he perched upon the outer wall. Another catapult went off, this one with a boulder. The boulder landed on the wall the dragon was perched on. The wall began to crumble and shatter, sending dust in all directions as Tijir fell to the ground. A group of soldiers swarmed to and past him. .....Tijir swung his tail at the soldiers trying to pass him, hitting them much like a bat a ball. They were hurled and landed quite a way back from the castle. Most of them did not move. .....The dragon leaped in the direction of the Asmar's catapults just as another group of Asmar ran past him. To hell with them, the castle defenders can deal with a few Asmar, he thought to himself. He spit fire out into the darkening night. The flames hit the ground and set some shrubbery on fire. He leaped again in the direction of the catapults... ........but landed on the steep slopes of the deep moat. Tijir plunged under the surface of the water while still falling down the sides, getting scraped by outcroppings of rocks. By the time he had surfaced, Aard was back into the fight. Blow darts flew in his direction, but bounced off as they hit his magical shields. .....Aard breathed out a massive flame of fire. The fire hit the central of the catapults and set some of them afire. Most of the Asmar ducked behind their shields, but those who did not were burned alive. .....And then the no-magic bubble was up again, and the dragons were back to using combat to fight. Tijir climbed up the steep banks by grabbing onto the ivy vines with his massive claws. Leaping over the moat in a single bound, he charged on his hind legs towards the robed Asmar. A few soldiers tried to get in his way, but a charging dragon does not stop easily. A few Asmar, smart enough to see their companions now lying as heaps of broken bones and blood on the road, backed away. .....The robed Asmar simply snickered. He muttered a prayer and the no-magic bubble around them was gone. The Asmar then muttered a prayer of paralyzation, and Tijir was frozen solid. A group of soldiers leaped onto his back and jammed their swords into his scaled skin. The ground behind the robed Asmar rumbled, and he turned to see what it was. .....All he saw was a pair of claws heading towards him at lightspeed. Aard's claws ripped through his body, shredding him instantly. Charging towards Tijir, he breathed out a wide spread cone of fire. The soldiers leaped off the wounded dragon and ducked behind their shields, running towards Aard at full speed. .....Aard brought his claws up and batted aside a few of the soldiers attacking him, but he couldn't stop them all. .....The soldiers rammed into him, their swords piercing his tough skin and drawing pools of blood. The dragon swung his tail wildly and smashed a few into the moat where they flailed their limbs wildly to stray afloat. Then a howl raged through the night as the area became darkened with night. A hairy were-wolf ran out of the darkness and leaped into the air, landing his clawed feet into the face of an Asmar slashing at Aard's belly. The blow sent the Asmar stumbling down the deep slopes of the moat, followed by a loud splash. .....Two more figures ran out of the darkness and began to exchange blows with a few of the Asmar. Aard twisted and turned wildly, trying to stop more blows from being inflicted, but there were easily a few dozen Asmar. .....Beyond him, Tijir's voice spoked up, saying "Great powers, Great strengths, feel my annihilates!" in Draul. The Asmar surrounding them swung their arms, screamed in pain, and fell to the ground as the spell ripped through them. With only a few Asmar left, the were-wolf and two dark figures pounced onto them. .....The three figures stepped closer to him and he saw who they were. "Simoriah! Krook! Cory! They have knocked the outer wall down," Tijir exclaimed. .....Then they heard a shout in a language they knew nothing about. "What was that?" Simoriah asked quietly. ....."Probably an order for retreat," Tijir responded. "We knocked out their catapults, killed their shaman, knocked out over half their soldiers... What else could it mean? Oh no...some of the soldiers got into the castle!" ....."Then we must hurry," Simoriah quickly said as she began to run towards the castle, the four others following her. .....Scapegoat frowned. What was that? It felt like the castle had just shoken terribly. No...they couldn't have...could they? he thought to himself. Grabbing his two handed battle-scythe, which was made of melted down Asmar swords and contained the Twelve Gems on its blade, he ran out of the room. .....Running down the stairs to the main level, he brought his scythe up defensively. He glanced around quickly. Most of the civilians living in the castle were running away from the main entrance. Scapegoat ran against the sparse flow of the crowd, hearing shouts coming from the entrance hall. .....A group of Asmar were running into the castle through the main door, with plenty of castle guards defending them. Scapegoat ran into the battle, immediately getting slashed at by a rather large Asmar. Scapegoat blocked the blows with his scythe, the gems flashing brightly with each blow. Seeing an opening, he brought his knee up into his opponents belly then pushed hard with his scythe, the silver gem pulsing brightly as the Asmar fell backwards hard onto his back. .....Scapegoat ran towards another Asmar and brought his scythe around in a slash from right to left that was not intended to hit anything. The Asmar backed away to the left, where the elf brought his scythe back quickly and jammed the blade through armour into the soldier. The amethyst gem glowing fiercely, he pulled it free of the Asmar, causing screams of pain to fly from his mouth. .....Before he could choose another target, two Asmar were on him. One of the Asmar stepped up to him to accept the challenge, while the other held back for a bit The closer Asmar swung his sword wildly at Scapegoat, holding a shield in the other hand. Scapegoat backed away from the blows and whirled around at the soldier, nicking his shield and breastplate. The soldier was quick to respond, thrusting forward both shield and sword. The shield slammed into his right hand, causing a flash of pain before numbing. The sword hit his armour, which absorbed most of the blow bug still bent inwards, pressing against his stomach. .....Muttering back a curse, he feinted a high slash but ducked as he was doing so, slashing the soldier's thigh, knees, and shin as he went down. Armour stopping most of the hit, the Asmar only yelped in pain for a second before swinging his sword around again, this time the second Asmar joined in. The second's slash hit Scapegoat's back, filling the area with both a scream of pain and a slash of metal on metal. Sidestepping quickly to the right, he evaded the other's attack. .....Out of the corner of his eye he caught the picture of an elf running towards him, but lost it as he turned quickly back to the left and brought his scythe around quickly. The obsidian gem darkened the room as it glowed as Scapegoat's slash hit the first Asmar's left arm, piercing armour and cutting deeply into the skin. Scapegoat fiercly ripped his scythe out and frowned as the first warrior suddenly stopped moving, as did the second a moment later. .....Asking no questions, but wary of a trap, he swung his sword and his aim was true. The first soldier's head rolled onto the floor as the body fell with it. The elf he had seen earlier was at his side now, wounding the second's lifeforce. The spells erupted into his armour, sparking and striking the Asmar forcefully. Scapegoat jammed his scythe into the soldier's belly and pulled it out as he fell and the jade gem blinked. ....."Thanks, Father Brown," Scapegoat said, breathing heavily. Glancing around for more opposition, he caught a few, but they were being handled. "What happened?" ....."The outer wall..." even as Father Brown said these words, an Asmar was running towards them, both of them unaware, "...crashed down when a boulder..." Scapegoat caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and shifted his head slightly, "...from a catapult impacted..." Seeing the soldier running, Scapegoat began to scream a warning, but everything moved in slow motion, "...duuuriiing aa baaattllle oouutsiidde..." as the soldier slammed into Father Brown, the sword going cleanly through his stomach, exploding blood in all directions, causing Father Brown to be flung backwards as the Asmar continued his rush. Still in slow motion in Scapegoat's eyes, he saw Father Brown reaching for his belly, an odd look on his face. .....It might have been pain or anger, but he did not have time to decide. The Asmar slammed the elf cleric into the wall covered by a tapestry, imbedding his sword a few inches into the solid stone. Jerking a few times as blood splattered along walls, Asmar, castle guards, and the tapestries decorating the walls, his head slumped as a soft gurgle came from him. The magnificent tapestry of a soldier standing on a bloodied battlefield with his sword raised began to become red. Blood began to spread outwards from the paling body of Father Brown, surrounding him in a red circle. .....The sight was rather disturbing. A picture of victory being destroyed by death. Scapegoat shook his head in disgust and began to tremble violently from the images of what he had just witnessed. Without a straight thought in his head, he moved swiftly over to the Asmar and forcefully jammed his scythe through the soldier and into the wall, spreading sparks which twinkled out as they landed in the gathering pools of red and black blood. Scapegoat let the soldier stand there with the scythe holding him in place, screaming loudly in pain. .....The elf walked away, satisfied that the picture was complete. Death with victory, the death of his enemy. No more Asmar stood within eyesite of the castle's corridors. A few dozen castle guards remained, looking out the main gate. Queen Simoriah, her husband, and a hairy beast walked into the castle. ....."Queen Simoriah...! What is that...thing?" Scapegoat murmurred. ....."He is Cory. Our stay on the Asmar main land was disturbing difficult. But we survived, with a right for vengance." Simoriah said with hate carrying in her voice. "We believe the Asmar are having a retreat to organize their forces and prepare a large assualt on our damaged Queendom. We will pretend to fight them and leave them with the wreckage of my castle." Her eyes were beginning to water. ....."We must get the rest of the Knights together, then," Scapegoat said quietly to her. ....."Where are they?" the dwarf replied ....."They ran into the forest when the Asmar came and caused the chaos that put us in this castle," Scapegoat said. ....."Find them," was her only response as she started in the direction of her room, her clothes mere rags and her hair grimey. .....Rijer looked out of the bushes once more. "Their retreating, all right. More like running. But they'll definately be back." It had been only an hour since he entered the forest, going to Solitaire's house and gathering everyone. They were at the edge of the city and the forest. Not long ago, through the treetops, they had seen flames shooting through the sky. ....."We must hurry to the castle!" someone said. ....."I agree, let us ago at once," another said. .....And so they did. .....Ash muttered softly to himself. The Jeweled Knights that were sent to Kyria were in horrible condition. Days without sleep, running low on food, no where to hide. The Asmar just kept coming and coming, and one by one they fell. But they had found a place to hide in an old farming house a distance from the main activity. Few patrols came out this way, and if one did, everyone hid and held their breath and hoped they went away. .....Just over 20 Knights remained, along with Rima, who was becoming their most useful warrior, even without magic. The Asmar shaman located on the island had casted a massive spell over the island that blocked all spells. No portaling, no healing, no magic, period. .....But Rima did not need magic to be strong. At any rate, the only way they would get off of Haven would be through death or portaling, boats were out of the question. More boatfuls of Asmar arrived each day, which meant more patrols, more guards, and more enemies. .....Ash was not about to die. Hours later...
....."Any questions?" Ash asked quietly to the group of 21 standing around him. The gnome had just explained his plan of getting them off of Kyria. The group consisted of six mages, including himself and Rima, seven fighters, two rogues, four monks, and two clerics. .....The faerie moaned softly. Good and bad news had come to him. His leader and friend had finally returned after a period of captivity on the Asmar mainland, but he was not normal. The Master Shaman had transformed him into a beast that walked the nights. Beast or not, Cory was still his friend. .....Auroka sighed and then looked at those around him. Lydia, Kento, and Daer, the other 3 members of the Guild council of Explorers. A meeting had been called to organize the information they had collected. ....."The Asmar tore through the Xenoran army quite fast. We had split into two groups: one on the eastern coast and one on the southern coast. The invaders did the same, and caused a massacre on both sides. King Swift Blade estimates a 50% loss on the Xenoran side, severely crippling any future military campaigns. Swift Blade also believes we took out at the least 15% of the forces, but there is no way to be certain," Lydia started off. "I was at that battle, and if those are not their strongest warriors, we are doomed. What is the word on Hiemelia?" .....Daer scratched behind his ear in thought. "They believe it is not cruicial that they join the war. As most had thought, they believe their great distance will help them in defending themselves. However, anything that affects one people of this continent will affect them all. Our mighty Xenora is already half destroyed, and there's no telling how far the Queendom of Jewels is. The Artrell hive is still intact, however, which might prove useful to the Jewelian Knights. ....."We should try contacting Hiemelia again and convincing them," Daer said in his Terrakarn accented speach. .....Auroka nodded. "We should tell Cory we need him to get himself up there, as he is the Hiemelian Ambassador," the faerie squeaked. .....The others nodded. "Well...the scouting is the same as usual," Kento said. "Asmar everywhere!" ....."Tell us something we don't know!" Lydia grinned.
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