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The warrior smirked, when he saw the crack in the sword. He hadn't expected any aid for the tiger, but found it amusing that the only help was some small fry that had pretty much been invisible for the entire battle.

He bellowed out a laugh and blinked each eye separately. "Imma gunna CLEAVE YOU IN TWO, FOOOOOL!" He roared as he charged at the swordsman, then swung down with a powerful chop. The boy's sword might have been able to withstand blocking other men's weapons, but that was not so against the warrior due to his strength. The boy was lucky that the tiger had wanted a sudden change of opponents.

"Hey!" the bandit with the torch shouted, as the tiger ran away from him. He turned to the cowering brigand beside him and slapped him in the head. "Get it together, go get the boy!" The cowering one gave a relieving sigh that the tiger wasn't after him anymore, then looked at the boy. That was somebody he thought he could handle, no problem.

Wile he went to swing at the boy from behind, the bandit with the torch went after the tiger again.


The assassin was about to plunge the dagger, when he suddenly sensed that something was terribly wrong... but it was too late for him. His eyes widened and he tried to get away, but the giant claws clamped around the arm with his dagger. "...Tch!" With his other arm, he went to pull out his other dagger, but wasn't quite fast enough to force the dragon to let go. Both daggers clinked on the ground and blood spilled from the assassin's neck.

Once the creature released him, he fell down on his side. It didn't make sense to him. He never expected a wyvern to act without a command from its rider, or to come to the defense of one who did not take care of it. It must be exceedingly well trained. "...How... ..." The life left his eyes, the last thing he saw being the boots of the one he had tried to kill. The two Learanians had beaten all the enemies around them...

"Hmph!" Well, almost... Cloaks dashed out of the alleyways and the two guild members were soon surround by eight roguish looking individuals. The head of the group, distinguished by the mask he wore, twiddled with a knife as he continued to speak. "To think you managed to defeat two members of the Shadow Guild... you are not ordinary people. If the rest of my team had arrived soon enough, you would be the ones dead right now, not them." He glared through his mask. "But their failure to eliminate their targets... shall now be remedied. Out of respect for your skill, shown by the ability to fell our comrades, I will allow you one liberty: Do you have any last words?"


While slacking off from their task, a pair of brigands were helping themselves to the the best- well, second best, when one considered gold- spoil of war there was: Food! The village was prosperous, alright. Juicy fruits and ripe vegetables, even fine looking fish lined the market section of the village. The bandits were in heaven. They had the drool to prove it.

Under one of the tables, children cowered in fear. They were children of a merchant and been gotten separated from their father. They ran to the one place they thought to be safe: their father's stand. The older brother held his hand over his younger sister's mouth, trying to keep her quiet. But when the little girl saw the bandit's foot outside of the stand, she lost all control. She ran out from under the stand and began to run. Her brother shouted for her, than chased after her.

The bandits jumped from the surprise of seeing villagers that had not fled. "Hey! Get back here, brats! Damn you, don't you make us look like we're slacking!" They began to chase the children. The brother shouted for his sister to hurry as he trailed her, but suddenly tripped and skidded across the ground. The bandits chuckled as they got near. "Nasty fall, eh? Dun worry, kid... we'll help take away the pain." One of them raised their axe, both chuckling.

The boy looked up at them and began to shake uncontrollably. "H-help..."
[Just to note, feel free to control both children]


The carriage began to take off, but didn't get too far. Brigands blocked the path of the horse, causing it to rear up and let out a startled neigh. One of them snatched the reigns from the driver, and took control of the steed. He looked at the man and sneered. "Going somewhere...?"

More wind blades came at Drake and this time he saw them coming. He was able to outrun the first, but was forced to lunge to the side in order to escape the second. As the third came, Drake realized he couldn't avoid it. "Peh...!" He quickly raised his blade up and crouched behind it, using it like a shield. Like before, the blast broke against the sword and blew around, leaving scratches on him, specially his hands. It was more of a nuisance, really. All it served to do was to tick Drake off.

Drake rose up once the wind subsided, just in time to hear the stupid boy's threats. He rolled his eyes. "Aw, kid, come ooon... yer breakin' my heart!" he teased with an overly obvious sarcastic tone. But then he glared and a smile crept in. "How 'bout I break yours?"

He took off again, without warning. Drake was at least happy that the kid was able to stand up to him still, but found it disheartening that he wasn't seeing much of a noticeable effort. In fact, the only hits landed were from the damn magic his sword could spout out. It almost made Drake want to join the magical weapon bandwagon. But they just didn't fit his style.

The kid was met with a simple side slash. Drake then stepped back and spun around, sending a more powerful swing the kid's way. He moved his feet to skid, helping himself recover more quickly and moved straight into a leap attack. A snake only hisses for so long, before it strikes without warning.

Morgan

His opprotunity came sooner than expected. Two children who had not yet fled burst from behind an abandoned merchant stand where two bandits had been feasting on their spoils. The boy chased his sister and the bandits chased him, shouting and making a fuss. The little boy tripped in the process.

Maybe it was the merchant's blood within him or something else, but Morgan had little patience with thieves. Especially thieves that were willing to hurt children, seemingly just to make themselves look good to their employer. He didn't care if another soldier could get to them in time. Morgan shot a single volley of Elfire at the bandit with his axe raised, if not to hurt him, then to distract him while he moved between the bandits and the children.

The little boy stood, but he seemed to be paralyzed by fear. The girl had already run off somewhere out of Morgan's sight. "Get out of here! Go find your sister!" he yelled at the boy. That snapped him out of his trance. He sprinted in the direction that his sister had run.

Now it was just Morgan and a couple of bandits.

(( Alright. C: ))

"Out of respect for your skill, shown by the ability to fell our comrades, I will allow you one liberty: Do you have any last words?"

Before Ephraim or Zeiss could answer this question a new sound was heard. A playful whistle had interupted the masked man, the noise was followed by a javelin that sped towards the back of one of the assassins a scant second later.

The stranger who had thrown the weapon slowly approached the group of combatants, his feet made a padded sound against the street and his long coat swished as it brushed the ground behind him.

Soon he had drawn close enough so that if any of Shadow Guild tried to attack him they'd have to turn away from the two they had surrounded and run at the newcomer, and if they attempted to kill the two in the middle the assassins would present him with their backs. Enjoying this favourable position the man deinged to speak.



Regrettably he didn't really get the chance to.

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Abel gasped lightly as Drake came at him and tried to predict what move would be made. His vision served him practically uselessly. He parried to the side and let the first slash pass by, then went to counter with a slash of his own. However, Abel was stopped as a powerful swing came at him and was forced to use his sword to block Drake's. The edge made no contact with Abel, but the force behind the swing knocked him back and sent him tumbling across the ground. His sword, a weapon hard to keep a handle on whilst tumbling about, slipped from his hands.

The boy laid on the ground in pain. His body was telling him enough was enough. The drugs had weakened him too much to stand a chance. His head fell to the side and he saw the villagers getting to safety. Amongst the crowd, he saw what seemed to be Alihi... running away.

She left him.

Abel looked up and saw Drake beginning to rise into the air. He knew what was coming- but he could do nothing about it. He couldn't dodge. He couldn't do anything. The blade began to come down and if nothing interfered with it, Abel was going to die.

Just the thing he needed on another day like this...first it was scouting duty, after having no idea what was going on aside from a battle, then came the bloody battle in the desert where brigands pissed him off...then the bloody archer that ran away like a little girl. The worst part about this day was the chance that he would end up dead because of these assassins from the Shadow Guild. Yeah this was a good day.

Now only recently was it looking up...and that was before Zeiss could use his Steel Lance to attack one of the assassins. Someone came forward and killed one of the assassins. Oh and it seemed a lion would help them out. No time to ask about why all this was going on, Zeiss mounted Rubley, and started off, before he heard Ephraim call out to him.

First off, you should never leave an ally in the battle surrounded by units...especially assassins. The next thing...if said ally is wounded, then you should be helping said unit, and not fleeing the battle. So down Zeiss went, and helped Ephraim up onto the back of Rubley, and off the two went.

"We were lucky back there. It was a good thing the assassins didn't see what was coming." Short talk was short, but Ephraim needed medical attention, and it was time to get exactly that. Luck be with them a group of soldiers was close by, so it was time to follow them. Surely they would know where the medics of the group were.

You beat the challenges I presented! Huzzah, you win!

...Not quite. The buildings near the two were on fire and burning buildings tend to fall apart. The two would hear the sounds of the building behind them breaking apart. If they looked, they would see a large piece of timber falling down on them. The laguz was injured in battle. He would probably need help to get away, but the slightest pause would mean they wouldn't get away unscathed.


The Elfire that was shot took the bandit by surprise as it pushed him back. Flames flared up around him, burning his clothing and skin. The scream of intensive pain placed a look of horror on the other bandit's face. As the flames subsided, smoke rose off of the flesh. The burnt skin made the man no longer recognizable and gave off a disturbing odor. He fell forwards, life no longer within him.

The fear that the other bandit had turned into anger, which led to a cause for revenge. He picked up the axe from his dead companion and without warning, suddenly threw it at the fire caster. He then let out a battle cry and shortly charged at the magician, himself.

Away from the main skirmish, the boy was running. However, he soon ran into a man's body and was knocked down. He looked up to see a bandit holding his sister. Before he could act, another brigand picked him up and though he fought to get free, the man was too strong. The blaze of fire and sounds of battle such as screaming had led them to the children.


One of the cloaked men surrounding the two guild members fell, a javelin in his back. The masked leader zipped around and saw the man coming casually down the street, his only noted weapon no longer being with him. The other of the Shadow Guild looked to their leader to take him out, but the man flung his arm out with a spread hand, signaling them to stay put.

The masked leader could find no logic to this man's actions. He threw his weapon away with an exceptionally lucky hit, was walking in the middle of the street without any knowledge if there were any more enemies hiding, and somehow thought that he could take on the entire squad. Only three at least needed to have their weapons on the two in the middle. The rest could jump into action and take out one man in the blink of an eye. He had made himself the easiest target. The Shadow Guild assassins were masters of their profession. The strange man was truly an idiot.

Before the masked leader could issue several of his men to take out the fool, a new enemy joined the field, unintentionally saving the fool's life. The masked leader's eyes widened at the sight of the beast. He knew vaguely of shape shifters, but the lion before him was the fiercest one he had ever witnessed. The roar was unnerving, but the leader stood straight and only narrowed his eyes as the beast spoke to him. "...Who says you would have time to speak any?"

The outstretched hand was compressed and turned, signaling for the three by him to attack, while the other four remained on the two guild members. The three roguish figures darted forward, altering their directing at every landing of their feet. They threw knives as they ran, but had little time to aim them. When one got close enough to the lion, he swung his dagger, but the lion's force knocked him back to be trampled upon. The other two tried side slashes, jumping back quickly after the strike, hit or no. Through the distraction, the leader had disappeared from sight. When the opportunity presented itself, he leaped out and came rushing towards the ground, hooked daggers out, over top the lion.

The four by the lancer and the rider quickly turned to three as the lancer gave a sudden attack. A counter was initiated, but another clever move from the lancer reduced them to two. They both threw two knives at the wyvern, possibly hitting it, but not doing enough damage. Their captives got away. But that meant the lion and possibly the other man now had five opponents to deal with.


Drake told the kid that things would be different. He wasn't hesitant one bit about killing him. It was a pleasure to do so. In fact, it may as have been considered payback. Drake had fun playing around, but the kid was just a nuisance.

As his blade came down, Drake's smile grew. He knew that his attack would end their fight forever. But out of nowhere, he felt a pain on his side and the next thing he knew, he was being forced to the side. Whatever hit him passed by as he hit the ground and rolled. He held onto his blade for as long as he could, but even with his skilled handling, it was impossible to keep a hold of. His body came to a halt, his sword a foot away.

Drake knew whatever hit him wasn't just going to sit back and wait for him to get up. He reached out quickly and swung his blade over top of himself to deter or push away his enemy, then used the momentum from it to help himself get up easier. That was when he saw what had hit him- another damn shape shifter. This one was light orange and looked a lot more fierce than the blue one had. Drake was going to love slashing the beast's body in two.

But he wasn't entirely reckless. The shape shifter had its claws out when it tackled him, evident enough from the marks on his clothing and the blood escaping from the scratches left behind. That fall hadn't felt any good, either. As he glanced about, he saw the sudden arrival of Learanian cavalry and the roar of the lion could be heard anywhere in the village. He could not take on an entire army of reinforcements. His heavy breathing became calmer as he smirked and swung his blade up to rest it on his shoulder. "...Fine. You win this round, Learania. I recognize when I've been bested. Well played, well played." He let loose a stinging look towards the shape shifter. "But this aint over! There's more bandits where these came from. And I'll just gather up more and more and keep comin'. And I won't stop until yer all dead. This is just a temporary setback. So rejoice while ya can! Cuz Learania's armies are gettin' smaller and smaller... and pretty soon, you'll have none left to hold us back. And when the day comes that I return to take the capital... I hope it's you that I meet in battle, jingle-bells."

He shouted for the bandits around him to fall back, and then took off. The bandits who had seized the carriage let the driver go and followed behind their leader, too. If the shape shifter chose to pursue, it would be stalled by the brigands in the rear. The other bandits would last long enough to stall the rest of Learania's forces, too. And just for extra measure, Drake knocked a cavalier from his horse and then took it for himself. It was not the day for him to die.

Well, it seemed that the kid was okay. That was good. For a moment there, he thought that the swordsman would need his help since the kid didn't look like a strong guy. However, it seemed that the kid could handle himself. And what was this? The kid was handing him a bag. Judging from the smell that came from the bag, the tiger smelled that it was Vulnerary. Sweet!

"Thanks, kid." Rajin grinned at the swordsman as he took the offer and opened it. Once he dipped his hand into the bag and placed the healing aid onto his injured side, the tiger felt the cold but relaxing feeling as it tended his wound. Man, that felt great. It almost made him was to purr. Sure his own healing ability would heal his injure, but the Vulnerary helped made the healing recovered much faster.

When his injure was healed, the tiger tossed the bag back to the swordsman. "Here, kid. You might need yours back in case you have any injures."

Suddenly, his smile turned to frown. Although his sense of smell had render useless due to the corpses, fire, and smoke, his sense of hearing was still sharp. The tiger heard the creaking sound grew louder and longer, not the short and soft noise of the fire flicker. In addition, his instincts was now telling him that the place was no longer safe to celebrate. Sensing what it could be, the tiger let out a curse. "Damnit!"

Rajin grabbed the swordsman's collar-shirt and began to run. "Let's get out of this s**t!"

Whether the kid knew or not, the tiger didn't have the time to explain. What he knew was that the buildings were going to collapse due to the fire eating the wood. That, and he didn't want to stay in the location that had his most weakness. There was no way in hell was he going to stay in that inferno place.

Just as Rajin tried to run and dragged the boy with him, his ears gave another twitch. Turning his head around, he saw a large piece of timber had broke from the building and was falling down toward them. s**t! Not good!

"C'mon kid! Move your a** out now!" Rajin yelled at the kid to hurry up.

((I'll let Oujay decide whether we made it safe or have few injuries from that. >>; ))