Remnant of Kyros

Chills ran through to air as Vy watched on, three hooded figures - all speaking in tongue - appeared just beyond the group, answering to the man who spoke the same. Now wolves turned against wolves alongside the guards and Vy knew she should help, but also knew that she could take down the hooded figures that appeared to be controlling the dread wolves alone despite her speed. They must have some form of magic wards, she thought, continuing to watch the battle ensue. I doubt my fangs, even my sword, could penetrate their defenses.

It was when she saw the sphinx cast a spell with his white blade did she remember the powers granted to her by her own. The sword, that had been humming so quietly that its presence hardly bothered Vy at all, now filled the dark air with excitement as the girls thin fingers wrapped tightly around its grip. She stood tall now - well, as tall as she could stand - with her back foot pointed outwards, horizontal against the branch, and her front foot pointed straight along it. With a tug her right arm unsheathed the golden blade, holding it out in front of her. The blade had a faded sheen; it appeared normal, just slightly brighter. But as Vy closed her eyes and breathed deeply with the blade calming itself as well, she began to charge the blade with energy, and as she did so the blade began to shine like a ray of light amid the darkness of the forest. "I had better not get attacked for helping," she grumbled, as she continued to focus on both charging the sword and using the sword to bend the light away from her.

With bent knees and a step Vy launched herself into the air, swinging her blade towards the hooded figures with a clear shot from high in the air. With a loud crackle a bolt of lightning ripped through the sky from her blade towards the mysterious figures with integrity. As quickly as the spell had been released Vy sheathed her blade quickly, enveloping the area back into darkness. She rotated as she began to loose altitude and extended her hands passed her head with fingers curled like claws. She bared her teeth as she began to descend, hoping to land on a wolf... at the very least she hoped to be able to catch herself with her hands with high hopes that no one would see.

'Avenge my ancestor?' The words of the three dark mages left little doubt that they and he were referring to the same individual. Whom else could Xanthus be as an heir of darkness other than Kyros's living descendant, and whom else could they mean he was to avenge? The dark fury fell through Xanthus like water from a glass that has been tipped over, and for a moment he lowered his sword and pondered about what exactly was happening in this dark, forsaken forest. Before he could do more than think however, something unexpected occurred. A bright light built itself up from the darkness, banishing the black night for a few moments...before what appeared to be a child wielding a golden sword with a bright light at its base launched itself from the trees.

It did not take long for Xanthus to come to the conclusion that whatever this 'child' was doing was an attack. A thought came to his mind immediately, and without giving himself time to consider his actions, he stepped through his ancestral darkness and emerged in the closest one to his desired location: directly behind the mages, in the shadow created by the bright light being emitted from above. Left hand moving almost too swiftly to be seen, Xanthus used a spell to create a potent barrier crafted of absolute darkness over his head and those of the dark mages. The inevitable attack came, the sound accompanying it identifying it as being an attack of the lightning element. The barrier shattered, the darkness breaking apart with the sound of crashing glass and disappearing into nothingness. 'Had that been a prolonged attack...' Xanthus thought to himself with a brief sigh. His magic had been swiftly cast, but even still it should have held up for longer than one attack. Though something did occur to Xanthus about why his barrier had fallen so quickly.

'That spell was cast through the sword that the child was holding...a golden sword that shoots lightning bolts?' A thought nagged at the back of Xanthus's mind, but he dismissed it as there was a more important situation at hand. "You call upon the scion of Kyros to avenge his ancestor? What service do you perform for my ancestral sire that I should join my power with yours? Speak quickly, as my undead clash with the Dread Wolves, and every moment wasted is another pawn lost." The demonkin spoke calmly, shadows moving around his body like living things, akin to snakes of shadow that could only faintly be perceived. He held Catharsis at a ready position, preparing himself to face all three mages if the need should rise.

The three witches turned to face Xanthus. Their faces obsidian in color with blood red eyes and claws of black iron. The shades spoke in unison...
"Andhērē ātā hai jaba sabhī phīkā hōgā. Sabhī kālā lau mēṁ jalā hōgā. Sabhī bhāganē ātaṅka mēṁ calā jā'ēgā. Khūṅkhāra yahōvā naukara śāhī khūna mēṁ talaba kiyā gayā hai, jaba."
"All shall fade when darkness comes! All shall burn in blackened flame! All shall run in terror flee! When the dread lords servant is summoned in royal blood!"

---

Without a moments notice they vanish in a poof of smoke just before the young girl lands gracefully on the ground before you, sword in hand. Back at the carriage, there was a high pitched scream as all three of the shade witches had somehow transported themselves inside the carriage.

The princess put her hand to the window in an attempt to escape, but to no avail. Parem only managed to glance in her direction before she was dragged out the opposite side carried off into the woods. A cackling laugh seemed to vibrate from the trees themselves. The princess was taken and the enemy dreadwolves were still upon us...

When his attack was more effective then he expected, the sphinx couldn't help but purr. He ran forward to one of the toppled beasts, driving his blade through it's skull before it could recover. "What are you waiting for? CHARGE!" he commanded, but at that moment the forest lit up. In the instant between the darkness fading and then returning Xanth had vanished, and a girl had fallen from the tree tops. Before the cat could figure out what was going on, a scream drew his attention, as three witches dragged the young princess into the woods. Ahjam didn't think, he acted, running to the carriage and grabbing the first thing he found that smelled like something that wasn't blood or gargoyle. Speaking of,

"Stone-born! The men look to you as their leader. If you manage to survive, regroup and follow my trail. I shall pursue the princess, with the wind at my back." before the gargoyle could object the sphinx jumped towards the dark woods, a violent gale rending the earth behind him. He smelled what ever scrap or trinket he had collected, and followed the scent, whether it be princess or witch. They had a head start, but with his nose and the winds of fortune, he would find them where ever they where hiding. And the wind scarred trail he left in his wake would guide the others to him, should they survive the dread wolves.

With a smirk, he wondered if he could claim their shares if they died.

With stable feet once again on the ground Vy, thinking she had successfully struck down the group of dark mages, looked towards as a brain-rattling scream erupted through the noise of battle. The only figure through the chaos she caught eyes of were the gargoyle and the sphinx who had high-tailed it out of there. Thinking that that furry thing made off with her source of payment for saving the day she was about to speed her way towards the feline, until she noticed the dark being behind her. "You were the one talking to those hooded ones weren't you?" She glowered at the larger man with a dark tone. "And you stopped my spell didn't you!"

Vy ground her teeth together, her fangs clicking against each other, as she contemplated her options. How many people noticed this dark-speaker's move to save the enemy? The enemy that had most likely just made off with the princess? If it were just that cat she'd be able to save the princess and get her award, but she can't possibly go up against those three mages alone. If she were to follow that cat to save the princess she wouldn't get that much of a reward... unless of course the cat happened to have died in some "freak accident", but then who would award some vampire?

Right, back to the big man. His size didn't really intimidate her, but she most certainly didn't trust him. That gargoyle could take 'em, She thought, her hand gripping the sword tightly as she stepped back away from the man to make way to the cat and the princess, but she didn't move yet. She continued to stare down the man. What am I doing? I'm a vampire, I shouldn't have attacked.

'All shall fade when darkness comes! All shall burn in blackened flame! All shall run in terror flee! When the dread lords servant is summoned in royal blood!' Xanthus repeated the words to himself mentally, pondering them even as he was watching the scene unfold beneath him and far away to where the caravan was. The high-pitched screaming was audible even to him from his distance, and he knew that the princess was taken. 'The Dread Lord's servant...summoned in royal blood.' The knowledge came to him in nothing short of a tidal wave, crashing against his mind and providing it with perfect clarity.

Blood was used on occasion in conjuration, particularly when something truly powerful was the subject of the summoning. Royal blood, being endowed with more magical worth because of its higher value to humanity, could theoretically be used in the summoning of truly legendary creatures. Being that the witches proclaimed that their goal was to summon 'the Dread Lord's servant,' Xanthus's mind immediately knew which one they were after. He could hear the name calling out to him from his blood, the intrinsic link that he shared with Kyros. With the acrifice of a princess, whom else would they summon but Kyros's enforcer.

"Mulgath."

For a moment after the clarity struck, Xanthus stood still and let that thought settle in. The witches were making their way out of the carriage with the princess, cackling as they began to shadow step into the woods. It was then that Xanthus noticed the small child. His mind focused on her and on her sword, and an idea began to form. Several ideas, actually. There was a chance that he was correct, but he always preferred to have back-up plans. Turning his black gaze fully downward, Xanthus spoke to the 'child.'

"Child-like in appearance, but with pale skin, dark hair, and most importantly, red eyes. You are no child at all, but a Vampyre. A Vampyre with light magic, as impossible as that sounds. So, will you give chase, as the sphinx does? He does not know it, but he stands no chance against what he faces alone...and of course, if he dies, then I imagine that the princess will die...and doubtless that means something to you, else why would you help us?"

Ignoring the child-like Vampyre's comments and questions, Xanthus stepped through the shadows and began to follow the witch's trail. 'To me, Dread Wolf, to me!' The Alpha Dread Wolf would howl and break away from the combat, venturing around the battle to avoid both caravan guards and Dread Wolves in its effort to follow Xanthus swiftly. 'Undead warriors, return to your rest!' The undead fell apart and returned to death, leaving the caravan guards to face the remainder of the Dread Wolves alone. 'There, that should provide time.' Xanthus would step through the darkness from then until he found the witches again, following both the sounds of their cackling and the feeling of residual shadow-based magic as they made use of similar travel arcana.

Parem jumped into action as soon as he saw the shades flee into the woods. He spread his wings high and launched himself into the air just above the tree line. He looked back in a moment of indecision. Hating the fact that he was leaving the men behind. But at the end of the day, it was his reputation with the royal crown that was on the line. If he lost her, he lost his job that he has had for over a century. He looked behind him, A shadowy figure seemed to be leaping from shadow to shadow. Appearing in one then disappearing through another. As he got closer to the three shades he could barely make out the shape of the sphinx who was right on their tail.

One moment it seemed the sphinx was just in arms length of them. The next they disappeared and reappeared several yards ahead of him. The shade witches continued to laugh as they seemed to have fun teasing the cat. "Ha, you can't catch us! You can't catch us!" They shouted in unison, in a high pitched tone. Parem was directly above them but as hard as he tried there was little to no opening in the overgrowth for him to land safely. The witches kept running, the princess gagged and strapped to one of their backs with what looked like black iron chains. How they found the time to gag and chain the princess in a span of only a few moments, he had no idea. They three of them kept running. Parem glanced back and notice a bright light, perhaps the same light as before. It looked like who ever it was, was deciding whether to pursue them or not.

Suddenly one of them began to shout at the top of their lungs. But this was not darkspeech. This was something far worse.
Abyssal, the language of demons. Although not a language of dark magic it was just as powerful.

"Oh ihlathi lobumnyama yizwa umthandazo wethu! Unleash ulaka lwakho phezu ababebasukela ethu!"
To the Demonkin's ears, this language was understood as clear as day.
"Oh forest of darkness hear our prayer! Unleash your wrath upon our pursuers!"

---

The ground trembled and all manner of roots and branches from nearby trees seemingly came to life. Attempting to grab any who dare step near...

Ahjam reached out his hand to grab at the foul hags, only to grab smoke as they vanished, leaping through darkness to evade him. It was an impressive magic, to be sure, but he would not falter. Though, he was beginning to lose strength. What was the stamina on one man versus the magic reserve of three witches? Eventually he would fall behind, eventually they would escape. He didn't much like that idea, his pride refused to listen to his muscles.

Besides. The hags were taunting him. He would rip out their boastful tongues and they would yap no more. The thought brought a smile to his face. The smile faded when the forest once more echoed with black magic, and the very trees seemed to come to life, their roots lashing out at the sphinx, who was barely agile enough to avoid them without falling behind.

"This requires a new tactic." he muttered to himself, dashing away from a vine that tried to grab hold of him. He swung his sword, the air lashing out in the direction of the hags. With the added difficulty of avoiding the the possessed trees, he knew the gap between them would increase. But if he could injure one of them it might slow the witches down.

Vy's mouth gaped as to speak, but no words came to her as the man stepped into dark magic and completely vanished. He instantly recognized her as a vampire and yet, despite being a guard protecting the princess on her journey, openly suggested that she should follow after those cloaked beings. She squinted in the direction of which the hags ran, and where without a doubt that man had ran, curious as to what he was playing at. As she contemplated her actions the gargoyle she had seen from ways away shot into the sky, just above the trees.

It was then did she join the chase. With great speed, Vy leaped from tree to tree, determined to catch up to those that stole the princess. Just ahead she could see the sphinx swing his sword in the direction she could only guess was where the thieves ran. Close to reaching the sphinx the trees began to move, as if to protest her using their branches. Leaping from one branch to the other, they shifted and quaked in hopes of throwing her off balance, but as she continued on her path vines lashed out at her. She ducked below them, gripping her sword to slice them.

Vy only just passed the sphinx, but by a mere few feet. The trees did pose a challenge, but it wasn't like either of them had the time to stop and chop them down. No, there were much more things at stake. Like a royal reward for aiding in the re-obtaining of the princess. Although she didn't have a plan for the rewards, it would be nice to have it. Maybe she'd end her mindless gallivanting and settle down in a nice house in Darkridge... But first she has to save the princess, and not get attacked due to what she is.