The Dragon's Bounty

Chapter 16

Lance and the demon stared at one another with a solid glare.
Khan elbowed Dagger. "You think he's lost any strength?" He asked.
Dagger nodded. "Wanted to see just how much."
Khan nodded. "Just be ready to jump in just in case." Dagger nodded. Lance stepped forward and his fists began blazing with red energy. The demon smiled and fell into a defensive stance.
"Hello. My name is Deimos. What's your's?" The demon tilted his head.
Lance rolled his eyes. "I don't have time for this. I've got things to do." Deimos frowned. He stretched out his hand, a long pole with two blades at each end appeared. He spun it around until it rested behind him. He smiled once again as he twitted his fluffy tail back and forth. Lance sighed and launched forward, sending his glowing fist flying toward Deimos. Deimos simply caught Lance's fist in his hand.
Lance's eyebrows lowered. "How?"
Deimos laughed. "You're pathetic, mortal!" He flipped Lance over and slammed him into the ground.
Lance shook his head and blasted upward, hovering in the sky. "Alright, kitty. You've made me mad." He zoomed down toward Deimos, launching a bolt of energy. Deimos blocked the bolt with his pike and slammed the blunt end of the blade into Lance's face, once again returning him to the ground. Lance got up and growled at Deimos, who had his spear lazily propped on his shoulders.
"Is that all you've got?" He asked.
"Yo, Lance!" Duros shouted. Lance glanced at him. "I believe in you!" Duros shouted, winking. Lance sighed as his eyes began glowing red and the red glow traveled farther up his arms.
Deimos nodded slowly. "Ah, yes. The traditional pixie ability, Belief or whatever." Lance shot toward Deimos and punched him in the face, sending out a slight wave of wind. Deimos simply sighed. "I came out here to have a little fun. I'm not supposed to be here. Give me something challenging." Kai stepped forward and chuckled.
Khan held out his arm. "Let him try." He said. Kai sighed. "Plus, you're injured."
Kai looked down at the blood-soaked bandage. "This is nothing." He said, but complied, crossing his arms and propping himself against the railing. Deimos spun his spear and sent the edge toward Lance. The energy disappeared from his fists and concentrated where the spear was headed, barely blocking it in time.
Deimos smiled. "You ready to give me some true strength?" Lance growled and sent a glowing punch toward Deimos' face. This time, his head moved just a smidge. Deimos sighed. He grabbed Lance's wrist, launched himself into the air and threw Lance back into the ground. Lance looked up through bruised eyes. Deimos flashed a Cheshire grin down at him. "You're pathetic. I was told you were one of the strongest there was. Guess my source was wrong." And with that, he vanished. Duros jumped down and walked over to Lance and offered his hand.
Lance swatted it away. "I can do it myself." Duros shrugged and swung back up into the tavern. Khan and Dagger walked inside behind him. Emma, Andrew, and Aro watched in pity as Lance struggled to pull himself up. Kai rolled his eyes and sighed, stepping off the deck and walking over to Lance, who glared at him. "I don't need help." He said. Kai nodded and pulled him to his feet. Lance attempted to push Kai down, but Kai didn't budge.
"Man, you've really let yourself go, buddy." He said. He blasted himself up just enough to land walking into the tavern. Lance floated up and stood on the deck. Kai reached out and grabbed Emma and Aro's arms, pulling them inside. Andrew raised his hand and opened his mouth. But before he could say anything, he was yanked inside by a black thread.
Khan patted the wall. "Alright, time to get moving. Take us to the city of hot springs." The tavern groaned its compliance and started walking. Lance sat down on the deck with his chin on his knees. After a few moments, Kai came out and sat with him.
"What do you want?" He asked.
"I know what it's like to feel alone." Kai said.
Lance turned away from him. "What do you know? You've never fallen in love. Not like I have."
Kai nodded. "Maybe not, but isolation is never the option. Don't forget, I'm here for you." Lance got up and walked inside. Kai dangled his feet off the edge of the deck and hummed a little tune.
The tavern lurched to a stop and settled down near a large city. Dagger summoned Ferallity and opened it to one of its various pages. A bit of dark energy formed in his hand and found its way to each one of the Bounty members.
"Now you shouldn't be recognized for a few hours, but try not to do anything that would draw attention to you." Everyone nodded. They each filed out into the city of hot springs, Granatia. Lance led the way to the private baths as everyone else followed him.
Kai turned to look at Emma, who had stopped. "Aren't you coming?" He asked.
Emma shook her head. "I need to go shopping."
Kai shrugged and walked over to her. "Why don't I give you a little hand?" She shrugged and started walking toward the market. Kai smiled and followed close behind.
As Lance dipped himself into the large, warm pool of water, all his feelings melted away. He let out a sigh of relief as he leaned back and simply took it all in.
Aro sat down across from him and his eyes widened. "Woah. It feels like magic." His eyelids dropped down halfway. "I could stay here forever."
Duros laughed from yet another part of the pool. "I think it is magic, but I'm not entirely sure."
"Not exactly Magic, but it is blessed." Dagger said, propping his arms up against the rim of the pool.
"You didn't wear your armor." Andrew said.
Dagger looked at him. "You seriously think I'd wear my armor in a hot spring?"
Andrew shrugged. "Honestly I wasn't sure." Ripsaw jumped into the pool and instantly became a purple puddle with little yellow eyes on the surface of the water. He smiled and began making content purrs. Aro looked over to Elliot, who was sitting over on a bench near the changing room.
"Yo, knight. You gonna get in?" Elliot looked up from his broken sword and shrugged. He removed his armor and undergarments and entered the pool, sighing. I've never been in a blessed hot spring before. It truly is an amazing feeling.
"Anyone know where Khan and Kai went off to?" Duros asked.
Andrew chuckled. "Kai went off after Emma. Not sure where Khan ended up." Everyone shared a laugh.
"Can't wait until he falls on his face in the middle of nowhere." Dagger said with a hearty laugh. He elbowed Elliot. "Wish I could see it, huh." He said. Elliot half-smiled and nodded. These guys are the worst criminals in all of Tritanus? No way. He pulled his hand out of the water and stared at it.
"So, you activated your magic power, huh?" Andrew asked. Elliot nodded.
"What exactly did it do?" Aro asked.
"Well, it put a strange glow on my sword. Then it sliced through one of those demons like it was nothing, even though it broke before." Dagger put his hand to his chin. He pulled out his own hand and coated it with dark energy.
"Well, my guess would be that it's some sort of light-based power, maybe granted by the gods or something. The demons use dark energy, which is completely obliterated by light. If this is true, and you have been divinely blessed, you could be our grandest ally, but in the wrong hands, you could pose a great threat to us if the demons were able to make an immunity out of you." Everyone stared at him.
Aro raised his hand. "You got all that from 'it made my sword glow?'" Dagger nodded. Aro put his hand down. "That's all." He said.
Dagger smiled. "I am amazing, aren't I?" Lance rolled his eyes and tried his best to tune them all out. All he saw in his mind was Destiny. And he wanted more than anything to see her smile once again. He smiled warmly as he thought of all the precious moments he and Destiny had shared over their year together.

Kai walked behind Emma with his hands rested on the back of his head.
"So, where's the market?" He asked.
Emma shrugged. "Just looking around for now." Kai picked a flower as he passed by a vendor and smiled as he looked forward at Emma. He sped up some and held out the flower.
"A flower for the lady." He said.
She looked skeptically into his eyes. "Thanks." She said nervously as she took the flower and looked down at it. Kai walked heroically beside her. While he looked away, Emma placed the flower on another vender's cart as she passed by.
"So, what do you like to do for fun?" Kai asked.
Emma shrugged. "When we were younger Aro and I would pretend to be great adventurers." She smiled. "But the last few years I haven't had much time for fun."
Kai frowned. "No time for fun? What kind of a life is that?" He asked.
Emma shrugged. "I guess it's part of growing up."
Kai laughed. "Oh please. I'm 176 years old and I still like having fun. You're only like 20-something."
Emma laughed. "In terms of our lifespans we're just about the same age."
Kai was taken aback. "Since when do you know so much about my people?"
"Well, Andrew has a decent book collection. And one book is about all sorts of different races, so when you told me what you were, I decided to find out more about your kind."
Kai nodded. "I hate reading." He said.
Emma laughed. "It's not so bad. Look, there's the market." She sprinted over to the grocery section while Kai lightly jogged along to keep up. After loading up a few bags of food, the two began heading back to the tavern. Emma looked up at the sky. "It's getting kinda late. The spell probably won't last much longer. We should probably get you away from all these people."
Kai nodded. "After I drop these off I'll go get the guys and we can load up and head for Huey."
"What's he like?" Emma asked.
"Who, Huey? Oh, man, he's like the smartest guy I know. He may not be super strong, but his strategies never fail. For the short time we worked together, he and Lance got to be real close. That's why we think he knows where Huey ended up. If Huey didn't want to be found, no one's finding him but Lance."
Emma nodded. "So you think he's hidden himself that well?"
Kai nodded. "For sure."

Khan walked out of the changing room and out to where the rest of the guys were soaking.
"Lance, I think I've found something you may be interested in."
Lance perked you a bit, scratching at his beard. "What?" He asked.
Khan smiled. "Well, I heard about this divine thing in the capital that grants wishes when you do a task it gives you, and I thought maybe-"
Lance was suddenly face to face with Khan. "We're going to the capital. NOW!"
Khan pushed him back. "Hold your horses. We still need to go find Huey, then we can head back to the capital and prepare for the upcoming fight. And use the object if we have time before."
Lance narrowed his eyes. "Fine. But we'd better make it quick."
Khan shrugged. "That all relies on what you know about his whereabouts."
Lance nodded. "Let's get going."
Khan nodded. "Alright, everyone. Pack it up, let's go!"