The Sorcerer and the Fighter

Note: Characters are copyrighted to their respective owners, MoonSilver, Shadow of the Moon, and SilverFire to Champagne, 2008; Dominic and Lianne to Dante, year unknown. This is an ongoing role-play that I do with my friend, so look for more chapters to come.

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Moon yelped at the sudden explosion, and jumped out of the bed on the far side of it. She grabbed her clothes, pulling them on quickly as she retorted.

"Dom, I'm not some weak-willed farm girl. I do know how to use my weapons. You might need me out there."

She hefted her sword, and slung it over her back, the hilt pointed down and nothing holding it from slipping out, though it didn't.

"My parents taught me everything they knew about fighting," she said as she pulled on a pair of boots, then slipped two daggers into them. In her hand, she lifted a staff, something that seemed strange with the other weapons she carried, but her eyes held a hint of defiance about this weapon, almost daring him or anyone else to say anything about her staff. The last things she grabbed were an arm band and a thigh band, both giving notice to her family lineage, and glowing softly.

Dom didn't say anything about the staff, after all he wasn't very good with weapons but he did know how to use a staff. One kept at least trained with one physical weapon incase you came across something better at magic then you were... or immune to it. Moving to the door he unlocked it and flung it open, quickly making his way downstairs where everything was chaos. It seemed the innkeeper was bringing people into the inn and using it as a refuge. Dom muscled his way through to the main door where the innkeeper was waiting with a pair of armed men, seemingly watching the door.

"What's going on out there?"

"Word is something happened up at the tower before it blew...there's demons all over the streets. No bigguns but plenty of little ones. We're holding up here till we get the all clear. You going out there?"

"You know it...I'll send word as soon as things are safe.

"Good luck out there lad. You'll need it with that the innkeeper unbolted the door and opened it up, allowing Dom and Moon out onto the street where nothing was better. The streets were teeming with creatures that came up to about the waist, traveling in packs of 3 or 4. They were a dusky red, covered in spikes and claws with long snouts and sharp teeth scuttling on all fours. They also had a propensity to leap and jump between street and buildings and as soon as Dom came out one leapt for him. It didn't make it very far though before a raised hand from Dom sent a lightening bolt slamming into it, driving it into a wall of a far building and literally through the wall from there.

"Keep low Moon and aim for the heads and soft spots, their bodies are resistant to physical weapons."

Moon held up her staff, for a moment, and then flung it towards another of the creatures, knowing that the power of the staff would bring it back to her hand when she needed it. It struck true, hitting the creature in the head, and Moon placed her hand on the hilt of the sword, feeling it slide into her hand. The blade seemed to take a while to leave the scabbard, and seemed to be way too big for such a petite female to wield, but as she ducked and swung at another creature, it moved easily, almost as if it weighted nothing at all.

Looking around, she saw another one of the creatures heading for Dom, though it seemed to be sneakier than any of the other ones. Knowing it would take too long for the staff to make it back to her, she pulled out one of her daggers, and flung it into the head of the creature, the first being followed moments later by the second one. Both daggers landed true, hitting the creature in the back of the head.

"Don't forget to watch your back as well, Dom," she called as her free hand came up, and the staff flew back to her hand. She ran over to him, hacking at the creatures between her and Dom, then flung the staff into the chest of another, a burst of something striking the creature upon the impact of the staff. She grabbed her daggers back from the creature she had killed to protect Dom, and then slipped them back into her boots and the staff flew back to her hand.

Dom didn't seem the slightest bit concerned by the little creatures as every time one of them went to leap at him his hand was in place with a burst of well times lightening frying the little beasts to a crisp and flinging them all about. The progress down the street was slow going with the creatures swarming in from both street and roof tops but thankfully the short bursts didn't drain Dom a great deal so he had energy to spare. The problem was when they reached the intersection and the little ones began to back off. It was clear why they did it when a much larger demon, about the size of the houses and the width of the street came lumbering down. It was built like a big hairless ape with its back covered in cruel spikes...and it seemed to have taken the time to hang dead bodies around its neck like some kind of twisted jewelry. Dom didn't waste any time with this one. Reaching his hands out wide either side of him he made grasping motions at the air and seemed to be pulling at something. The creature only barreled on faster at them, intent on adding them to his necklace.

Then suddenly the fronts of buildings either side of the street came away and smashed into either side of the great demons head with a resounding crash, thoroughly braining the beast so it came crashing down onto the street right in front of them. not content with stopping at that however Dom drew his hand back and lashed out, a thick gold beam of light drilling outwards and pounding right into the center of the beasts head, exploding it a rain of demonic gore that covered the street but stopped short of covering Dom and Moon.

Moon paused when the larger demon barred their trip down the streets towards the tower. She watched with amazement as Dom easily handled the creature, and then smiled at him.

"You truly are amazing to watch in action, Dom," she said as she turned to face the way they came, making sure nothing was trying to sneak up on them. She'd rather not end up as a demon appetizer, and she figured Dom would make sure nothing got to her from in front of them. She would keep an eye on their tailsides. But it seemed the creatures had moved to blocking their path forward, not worrying too much about the path they had already carved through the city to get to where they were now.

"I...can't be doing that to much. Takes a lot out of me to deal with he bigger ones. Its one thing to throw a little lightening around, another to rip up buildings and pop heads," he stated, that fight clearly having taken more out of him then anything so far. He had noticed at this juncture that they were being...herded more then fighting a way through. Harried just enough to cause them problems and keep a slow pace while draining him without being totally overrun. On some level he had expected this but he had to wonder what lay ahead of them. They had to press on though and Dom did just that, picking up the pace a little and now reducing his attack strength to crippling the smaller ones rather then killing to save his energy reserves. They were heading to where the top of the circle tower had fallen now, where the beasts had supposedly come from. He wanted to know what had happened.

Moon kept an eye on Dom, not wanting to see him fall to these creatures. Who knew what kind of twisted perversions these things would commit upon him, or even her. But he was more deadly to them than she was, and she knew he needed to hold back his powers to be able to use them against whatever had caused the problem in the first place.

"Dom, let me take the lead. Save your energy for the cause of this. Let me handle these little things."

She slipped past him, and loosed the staff once more, letting it fly towards the next large creature to step into their path, while she hacked the others with her great sword. She pushed through a little faster again, driving the smaller creatures back as she pushed forward, keeping an eye on Dom, making sure nothing was jumping out at him while she led them towards the center of destruction.

They weren't far now, he could feel it. There was a dark presence ahead as well as the feel of many innocent lives. Something was going on in the promenade that had been beneath the now ruined tower. He couldn't tell quite what at this range but he knew they'd find out in person soon. He kept his power usage down to a minimum now but covering their rear as they moved he could hardly stop attacking to draw power back into himself. Of course he had prepared for such situations but he was loathe to use those measures if he didn't have to. They were a last resort sort of thing.

"300 paces to go!", he called out, letting her know they weren't far form their destination, another couple of corners to round before things would be in view...and as they came into view Dom felt his blood freeze. Upright was a thin archway made of bone holding a swirling dark door beneath, through which could be vaguely seen a blasted rugged plain of ash. In the square itself there were demons, more organized and humanoid ones this time, a little taller then the tallest of anthros. Some were armed, some were leading people in chains through the portal and others still were... defiling the living, feasting on them or worse. At the head of it all was an armoured demon, its head covered by a great leering wolfs head plate helm. It took no part in the proceedings, just watched silently.

Moon drew to a halt as she stared at the monstrosities ahead of them. Her hand trembled on the hilt of the sword in her hand, though she never dropped it towards the ground. She kept her sword in position for attack or defense, her eyes not stopping on one demon for long, her mind unable to process the horrors in front of them for more than a few seconds at a time, knowing she never wanted to see them again.

"Dom," she whispered. "What in the world are those things? And please don't tell me they're common to see." She shuddered at the thought of seeing these things often. Just once was bad enough, in her mind. "And which one do we need to focus our attacks on?"

The demons behind them had stopped harassing them. This was apparently where they ere being goaded to, more meat for the grinder...or whatever else they happened to be doing to the anthros captured here. The noises were horrific: the sounds of rape, murder, chaos. Dom shut them out of his consciousness however, scanning the crowd and marking the energy patterns. Then he focused his senses on the gateway, trying to get a fix on things.

"None of them...infact we'd best keep our heads down unless we want to join the folks here," he said in a soft tone though oddly even though they'd been goaded here no demons were yet to interfere with them. "We need to collapse that gate...force these things to go back to wherever they came from and quickly before more people in the city join this...slaughter. The big guy in armour looks to be running things but since I can't get a reading from him we should definitely avoid him."

Moon slipped closer to Dom, half of her wishing they had stayed back in the inn, but the other half not wanting to see more anthros taken into custody of these demons, to be raped, eaten alive, or slaughtered. But she knew that as long as she stayed close to Dom, he would not allow harm to come to her, not while he still breathed.

"How do we take down that gate, Dom? Especially if we're to stay unseen?"

"It doesn't look like a very solid structure at the moment...likely it was just erected. If I get close enough I can blast it down. When it goes all the demons using it as an anchor to stay here will disappear back to where they came from. Staying unseen however...that might be a bit more problematic."

With that he grabbed her hand and dragged her behind a nearby stack of barrels, out of direct view. It was uncertain since they'd been herded here if they were already known about but it was best not to take any chances. Once in cover he'd sit down, taking a moment to recuperate and come up with some kind of plan of action.

"Maybe its best if I go out there and create a distraction...I can enchant a little something with magic to detonate that thing and in the meantime I can cause enough chaos to keep the focus off of you while you make a run for the gate."

Moon smiled at Dom, resting her muzzle against his chest as she thought about what might work, then looked around them as they huddled behind the barrels, trying to find something, then took one of her daggers out.

"There's nothing that might be small enough to hold the magic except this. And I can keep that in its sheath until I get close enough to the gate to set off the detonation."

She had no clue how close she would need to get to set off the detonation, but was willing to give her life if that was required to prevent more harm from befalling the anthros here. Especially if they stopped treating Dom as bad as they have been.

"You'll need to throw that dagger, hit the gate arch and run like hell then Hun. I can rig it to give you a few seconds to get clear but it'll make a pretty display. I...can't guarantee the lives of anyone caught in the blast...and the ones gone through the portal are already lost. All we can do is try to save what we can by closing that gate at any cost."

He took the dagger then and started mumbling to himself, waving his paw back and forth over it. As he did runes started to inscribe themselves on the blades flat, power being pumped into it over a minute until he felt it was primed and he handed it back to her. Then he would pull a slender vial from under his purple vestment and drink its contents. For a second his eyes blazed silver before returning to their usual colour.

"Now...I'm ready for this."

Moon rubbed her head against Dom's chest, her nose sliding along his neck as she breathed in his special scent. She subconsciously knew that if something happened to her, she would know his scent, even if she had a difficult time remembering him. But she didn't expect anything to happen to her. On top of that, if something happened to him, she would be able to track him even better with his scent deep in her nose. And with her scent on him, no other female would come close to him. She may be a backwoods girl, but she wasn't going to lie down and let someone else try to take her mate. She would kill for him.

Taking the dagger back, she slipped it back into its sheath, knowing that she would be throwing all of her daggers, just to disguise the one that was enchanted from the demons. Kissing him hard and quick, she nodded. "Let's go send some demons back to their home."

Dom gave a nod and suddenly vanished with a faint pop sound, about thirty feet over the middle of the square he would reappear and would hover there as he started chanting loudly. That in itself drew a lot of attention as well as the buildup of magical energy and as the demons stopped their orgy of violence long enough to try to make some effort to bring him down Dom unleashed his spell. From around him a nimbus formed that started to volley off bolts of magical energy like a rainstorm, shattering tables, breaking nearby windows and slamming into demons all over. Of course, some demons used anthros as shields, there were always going to be some casualties in this but for the most part demons were the targets as well as causing as much chaos as possible. As the spell ended so Dom dropped his flight spell, he landed nimbly on a table. Demons rushed him on all sides and he was there to meet them, firing off spells as he kept his motions fluid, practically dancing through their ranks and slaying them as he went. Oddly, though, the demon in armour overseeing all this only watched, as if he was not surprised by the events here at all.

Moon watched Dom for a moment, and then ran from behind the barrels, heading for the gate. She dodged between demons, anthros, and the victims of Dom's attack. Somehow, without looking at where his bolts of energy were going, she managed to dodge them, and as she got within fifty yards of the gate, she grabbed two of her daggers, and flung them towards the gate. Then immediately, she grabbed the other two, and flung them as well. She just hoped the enchanted one would find its target. Turning, she raced back towards the barrels, hoping that she was not spotted throwing the daggers.

It didn't matter whether she was seen or not as within seconds of impact the effect of the enchantment was immediate. The side of the archway flashed white and everyone in the square was thrown flat, demon or anthro as a sonic boom swept through the area. The magic doorway in the arch immediately closed and the arch snapped free, collapsing heavily. As this took place the sonic boom that swept outwards rolled back in again ad in its wake demons vanished all over with hisses and roars of outrage, returning from whence they came... all except one. The one in armour was left standing there, unphased by the loss of his army and unaffected by the events. With everyone still down and reeling the armoured one came down from his stand and crossed the square with purpose until he stood over Dom. From where she was Moon would see an exchange between them but she would not hear it.

So we meet at last sorcerer

"Who are you?"

Cross into the lands beyond the mountains, come into the wastes and you'll find out

With that the armoured demon blinked out of existence, traces of magic etched in the air showing Dom at least that he had teleported, not gone back to wherever the demons had come from.

Moon scrambled to her feet and raced to Dom's side, dodging the fallen, the dead, and the wounded. As soon as she reached his side, she dropped to her knees next to him, and pulled him close to her.

"Dom! It worked! Your plan worked!" She nuzzled into his neck, a soft content growl slipping from her before she pulled back again. "What was that demon saying? Why did he single you out to taunt, or talk to?"

Again, she nuzzled into him; her arms wrapped tightly around him, refusing to let him go, having been afraid of losing him, especially when the armored demon hovered over her mate. Anyone that wanted Dom would have to go through her first, and she wasn't one to just roll over and play dead for others, no matter what.

"We...we have a long way to go...but later. For now there's going to be a lot of cleaning up and we should start letting people know that its safe to come out of hiding. All the demons SHOULD have been sucked back through.", he offered before returning the hug she had given him. Inside the incident had shaken him, leaving him wondering to why he had been singled out. Had all of this been enacted just because of him, just to get to him? He didn't know the answer to that but he was now determined to find out.

Releasing Moon then he slowly pushed himself back to his feet and started to move amongst the bodies. Amongst his arsenal of spells was healing magic to and he started to put it good use where he could, healing people where healing could still be administered but only treating those who really needed it. Of course he could only erase the physical injuries. The emotional damage the survivors would suffer from this he couldn't take away. From his work he would look up and call out to Moon over the hubbub of crying, talking and general recovery that was building in the courtyard.

"Start leading people back towards the inn if they can walk Moon and if you encounter anyone along the way let them know its safe to come out and that I need help here."

Moon moves through the crowd with grace, stopping only to pick up the only dagger she'd had that survived the magical blast. She first rounded up the uninjured, the ones that had just dropped to the ground before the blast happened, sending the males to help Dom, and taking the females along with her. Along with the other females, she made her way through the crowd, helping the less injured to their hind paws, if possible, or giving a helping paw to help them on their way to the inn.