Part C: Blood Raven
Kashya, on the other hand, seemed unimpressed by their success; in fact, she looked thoroughly distracted by some other matter, and when they began to tell her of their victory, she interrupted them.
"My scouts have just reported an abomination in the Monastery graveyard!" she began, eyes blazing with fury. "Blood Raven, one of our best fighters against Diablo, was also one of the first to be corrupted by the demoness Andariel. She has become a vile enchantress, raising our fallen Sisters and turning them into undead slaves to serve her! Please, outsiders... stop Blood Raven and put our Sisters to rest. If you can do this, then you will earn my trust and all my rogues will be at your disposal."
"Don't worry," Quatre reassured Kashya, eyes wide and solemn. "We'll put your Sisters to rest."
"Where can we find this Blood Raven?" Trowa asked.
"The Burial Grounds are found just off the Cold Plains," Kashya told them. "There should be an ancient waypoint in the Cold Plains. If you can find it to activate it, you can shorten your journey from here to the Burial Grounds."
"If this Blood Raven has truly become a demoness," Heero growled, "then it is our duty to find her and kill her no matter how long a journey it takes!"
"It's so quiet," Quatre muttered, peering into the thin mist that hung above the grass.
It was quiet, unlike the Cold Plains, which had been crawling with demons -- more of the tiny red kind that they had encountered in the Den of Evil, as well as some unnatural flying things that looked like birds turned inside out. In addition, many of the demons they had fought while searching for the Burial Grounds had been distressingly human and even feminine in aspect, and Quatre knew with a sinking feeling that they were facing the corrupted Rogues. It had been very hard to kill them, even though they showed no such reluctance in hungering for *his* blood. He vowed to himself that he would stop Blood Raven from creating any more such demons.
There was no sign of her anywhere yet, but all five of them were keeping a sharp lookout. The grassy stretch formed a loop about the graveyard proper, closed in by a wrought iron fence. Gates arched above the low mist, twisted and hanging open, providing no barrier between the world of the dead and the living. A few trees were scattered in the graveyard, and no doubt they'd once been healthy and beautiful; now Quatre shuddered as he recognized the mauled corpses of some of the Rogues dangling from the branches like some obscene fruit.
The warriors advanced through the gate, almost holding their breath as they searched for enemies. Suddenly the skeletons trailing along behind Duo, as well as Trowa's ravens and the creeping vine, broke away from the group and headed with single-minded intensity towards one spot. Sounds of violence drifted back to the group, and as they started forward, they just managed to catch sight of a moldy-looking skeleton crumbling to bits under the combined onslaught of Duo and Trowa's minions.
A low moan drew their attention closer to hand, and Trowa turned to find himself face to face with a fresh-looking zombie. Another one appeared, and then another, and soon all five warriors found themselves engaged as the monsters poured out of nowhere. Behind them, standing beneath one of the gruesome trees, a figure of bone white and blood red appeared; the bow she held in her skeletal hands, as well as the horns sprouting from her head, left no doubt as to her identity.
"Blood Raven!" Coming from Wufei, the name sounded remarkably like a swear word.
The specter laughed chillingly. "Join my army of the dead," she invited. Her voice echoed hollowly around the graveyard.
"You're the one who's dead, demoness!" Wufei snarled back, as hideous forms began to erupt from the ground. A seemingly endless ocean of zombies poured around the five of them, engulfing them in combat before they could completely gather their wits.
Quatre backed away to a suitable distance and began casting spells, adding the stink of burned flesh to the pungent scent of decaying flesh. Trowa, too, circled about the perimeter of the melee, his ravens worrying the monsters as he searched for a suitable opportunity to strike. Heero and Wufei waded into the thick of things; every blow struck and crushed zombie flesh.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Duo demanded, making little "shooing" motions towards his minions. "Go kill zombies!" Unsurprisingly, the creatures made no reply, but waded into the combat all the same.
To his horror, Heero realized that new zombies were rising from the ground even as they destroyed the ones already present. One skeleton, which he smashed to pieces, immediately rose up again. Frantically, Heero chopped at it before it had a chance to swing at him.
"Hey!" called Duo's voice indignantly. "That was one of mine!"
"Little difference," Heero muttered back, a little embarrassed that he had just destroyed one of their own minions.
Quatre cried in satisfaction, as a clear line of fire opened from him to Blood Raven. He got off a shot, but his delight turned quickly to dismay, as white sparks shot off the undead enchantress. He and Trowa managed to dodge the lightning, but Heero and Wufei, bogged down, were not so lucky.
"She's lightning enchanted!" Quatre shouted, as if it wasn't painfully obvious.
"And she's raising these damn zombies as fast as we can kill them," Heero growled. "Trowa, Duo, Wufei -- you take care of the zombies. I'm going for her!"
"Wait, Heero! She's --" Duo began to protest, then broke off as he chanted another curse.
"I know, but I have the highest tolerance for lightning,"[1] Heero called, back, as he forced his way through the crowd. It went against all his instinct to leave enemies alive behind him, but he had teammates now. No claws raked against his back, so he guessed they must be doing their job...
Finally he reached her; she still contained some parody of the grace she'd possessed as a Sister, handling her bow with vicious accuracy. Well, that wouldn't do much against him at this close range -- although the lightning might -- Heero purposefully stopped thinking, and concentrated on killing the monster.
White lightning boiled out from her every time a blow landed, but he ignored it, stopping his eyes and his ears and just letting his body take over. It dragged on and on, and Heero felt himself reaching towards his limit. He was rapidly running out of strength, and dammit, the demoness didn't even seem slowed --
A furious screech and bolt of lighting shot from her that Heero had not caused; blinking his eyes clear, he saw that Wufei had fought clear of the mob and was on the other side from him, his long claw-like blades opening gashes in the monster's back. Hope returned to Heero at the sight, and he caught his breath and resumed swinging.
It didn't take much longer, after that. Heero had beaten her down further than he'd thought, for less than a minute later a horrific shriek burst from the demoness and her body convulsed, seeming to split open as she fell to the ground.
White light burst from the spot where she had fallen, like the lightning that had been so dangerous before -- only this lightning passed right through the fighters, feeling like a breeze. The light was too bright, and the five were forced to shut or cover their eyes lest they be blinded. Dread consumed them; Blood Raven might be taken care of, but there were still her undead hordes to deal with...
When the white light settled down, and the fighters opened their eyes again, blinking, there were no zombies still standing. The only skeletons left were clustering familiarly around Duo, who gawked openly at the suddenly emptied battlefield.
"Well... that was convenient," Quatre exclaimed after a minute.
Heero stood impassively gazing down at the tortured remains of the demoness. "Rest in peace, Blood Raven," he murmured.
"Good riddance to her, I say," Duo responded as he staggered forward. "Well... now what?"
"We go back to the encampment," Trowa suggested, glancing up from his study of the crumbled zombies, "and see what 'reward' Kashya had in mind."
"Don't you want to explore first?" Quatre said, his brow wrinkling in puzzlement.
"Explore?" Wufei snorted in derision. "What for? Her monsters died when she did."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Duo said, shocked. "There might be loot! LOOT!"
With this new battle cry, he scrambled off across the caved-in graves. The other four, with varying degrees of exasperation, followed.
Not all of Blood Raven's monsters, it turned out, died when she did. They found a stone mausoleum that led to an underground crypt teeming with more of the zombies and monsters that they had fought above. Without the support of the demoness Blood Raven, they were little challenge for the five warriors, and there was, as promised, a great deal of wealth to be gained. Quatre was at first appalled by the unconcerned way Duo looted the money out of even previously undefiled graves -- but, as Duo pointed out, they didn't need it anymore. Saving the world, he said cheerfully, was hard to do under a tight budget. This comment actually seemed to amuse Trowa, and Quatre had to admit it made sense -- but it hardly endeared him to Heero, who treated the necromancer even more coldly hostile than before all the way back to town.
"I can hardly believe you've defeated Blood Raven!" Kashya exclaimed. "Though she was once a good friend of mine, I am glad her tortured spirit can be laid to rest at last. You've earned the trust of the Rogues, strangers... and my thanks," she added more quietly.
"It was the least we could do," Trowa said quietly. "There is no way for us to bring back friends that you've lost --"
Behind him, Duo stirred and opened his mouth, but Heero glared at him angrily and set his hand pointedly on the handle of his scepter, and Duo subsided.
" -- but perhaps we can find some way to avenge the spirits of the dead and bring them peace," Trowa finished.
Kashya took a deep breath, and the warriors pretended not to notice the way her eyes clouded, but she kept her voice level and firm. "I've placed some of my best archers at your disposal," she told them, and gestured to one of the Rogues, who came up beside her. "Relena here will travel with you and fight by your side. In addition, you may eat at our fire and sleep under our tents, if you so desire. Relena will show you where."
"You don't know how grateful we are for that," Duo told her, and his voice was deeply sincere. Little wonder; it had started to rain again, and night was falling.
Kashya nodded. "Then I will leave you to rest, warriors. -- Oh, I almost forgot -- Akara wishes to speak with you. I advise you to go see her tomorrow morning, before you do anything else."
"We will speak with her right now," Heero replied immediately. "If Akara has some knowledge of the evil forces that have cast their darkness over this land, then it is our duty to learn of such things immediately."
"Do we have to?" Duo whined, looking rather miserable. The last of his magically formed "bone" armor was dissolving in patches, and the rain plastered his bangs to his face, giving him a wretched look. "Haven't we cleansed enough evil today?"
Heero glanced at him, and his lips curled into a sneer. "It was negligence and laziness like yours that allowed the Evil back into this land," he snapped. "I cannot rest until I have driven back the darkness -- even yours, if I must."
Duo turned on him, an angry light in his eyes. "I have a great idea, Your Holiness," he said sarcastically. "You go fight demons in the dark. Then, when you get yourself killed, we can get on with business without having to deal with the stick up your butt!"
"It is unwise to divide our forces," Wufei said, cutting across the beginning of Heero's blistering reply. "If we do not all go, then we should all stay."
Heero looked unconvinced. Quatre said nothing, but shivered miserably in the growing downpour. Trowa noticed this, and took a step almost protectively closer. "Tomorrow," he said firmly.
Accommodations consisted of little more than a blanket rolled under an open-sided tent. Most of the other Rogues slept here; only a few, such as Akara and Charsi, had their own places to sleep. Under the flickering light of a lantern, Heero knelt for a few moments and closed his eyes, softly chanting his prayers and devotions. It seemed that there was a faint light radiating off of him as he did so. Duo watched him out of the corner of his eye, his expression for once dark and unreadable.
The warriors settled themselves in a row at one of the corners, with rain dripping down bare inches from Quatre in his place at the end of the row. As the night came on, and the rain fell heavier, the sounds and lights of people moving about the encampment grew less. Trowa stayed awake for a time, listening to the sound of the rainfall. He wondered if this rain would wash away the blood they had spilled today.
A faint sound from behind him brought him from his half-dozing state to full alertness. He sat up straight, careful to make no noise, trying to identify what had disturbed him. The sound repeated itself, and Trowa realized that Quatre had been the cause of it. "No..." the sorcerer whispered sluggishly, shifting in his sleep. "No... father..."
Quatre was still asleep. Trowa lay back down, turned on his side to watch the sorcerer. Concern stirred his heart, but the demons that haunted Quatre's dreams were not the kind that could be fought with steel.
1- Since diamonds raise resistances, I attribute this to the diamond lodged up his butt... ^_^
To be continued...
*insert demonic laughter here*