The Dragon's Bounty II:Rising Shadow

Chapter 16

Dagger looked out the window at what he knew to be the border of Tritanus and Raal.
He smiled. "At least they haven't built a wall." He said. He spotted a town in the distance, and the tavern settled down there. The group walked out the door and into the town, the people of the town staring astonishingly at the tavern. Dagger waved at everyone he passed, trying to spread peace for his kingdom. Kai walked behind him with his hands rested on the back of his head.
"Hello, good sirs." A voice came from their left. Emma put her hands on her hips. "Oh, my apologies." He bowed. "You must be the king of Tritanus." The man said. Dagger nodded. "I am the mayor of this fair town. I heard tell of your recent rise to power. Congratulations."
"Thank you." Dagger said.
"Come with me and I will escort you to the capital city. Leave your erm, tavern to my people. They will take care of it."
Dagger bowed. "That would be great. Thank you." He gestured to his friends. "These are my friends, The Dragon's Bounty."
The mayor smiled. "I have also heard tell of your great feats. I am honored to have you in our fair city."
Kai scratched the back of his head. "I wouldn't call them great feats." He said with a chuckle.
Emma elbowed him. "He's being polite. The least you could do is return the favor." She whispered. Kai shrugged. The group followed the mayor to the extravagant carriage drawn by two large white horses. Everyone loaded up and headed toward the capital.
"So, what brings you to Raal?" The mayor asked.
"I wish to make an alliance with Raal. We are most likely about to engage in a great battle, possibly with a large army, and we'd like to have you by our side." Dagger said. "The M'Feles have agreed to help out as well, so if this goes well, we'll have the whole island fighting against our greatest enemy."
The mayor nodded. "May I ask who this great enemy is?" He asked.
Dagger looked at Kai, who shrugged. "He is the Demon King. We have reason to believe he is coming. And we expect him to bring an army."
The mayor's eyes grew. "The Demon King? Haven't you been slowly taking out his minions? Surely you can handle him."
Dagger shook his head. "I'm not so sure. Minotaur here used to be one of his 'minions' and he told us that the Demon King's power is far beyond our own." The mayor nodded and looked at the Minotaur, who was chewing on a chicken leg.
"Is true." He said through his mouthful of food.
The mayor nodded. "I see, so you wish to have our military help if they can?"
Dagger nodded. "Like I said, we'll need everyone."
The mayor nodded. "We should be to the capital city in a few hours."
Dagger smiled and nodded. "Thank you for your hospitality."
The mayor smiled. "Of course. We want no quarrel with your kingdom. I for one am all for building a jointed army."

Lance was staring at the chest, hardly able to hold his eyes open.
"Why does Khan do this?" He groaned. Unbeknownst to him, a strange black mist had started leaking from the chest, curling upward and sneaking across the ground toward the door.
"Lance?" Lance jumped up and fired a beam of energy, Destiny hardly able to dodge it.
"Oh, sorry, dear." He said, yawning.
Destiny laughed. "You need a break."
Lance shook his head. "Someone's gotta watch the chest. Where is Khan, even?"
Destiny shrugged. "Haven't seen him."
"Where's Huey?" Destiny shrugged again. Lance sighed. "I do need a break." He placed his hands over his face. "You think the chest will be fine for a few hours while I take a nap?" Destiny smiled and nodded, gesturing for him to come over to her. Lance smiled and followed her out of the cellar. The mist once again started crawling toward the cellar door, up the wall and through the small window, looking down at the moat where Hydra slept in the water. The mist sank back toward the chest, which began glowing from the inside, a low laugh emerging from it.

Aro stepped out of the carriage and looked at the brightly colored castle illuminated by the moon.
"Pretty." He said. Everyone else piled out behind him. The mayor gestured for them to enter. Dagger bowed quickly and started walking across the bridge, Alexander on his tail, his hand on the hilt of his sword. Kai shrugged and walked on behind them. Aro took in the scenery as he followed them. The Minotaur continued to chew on whatever he'd found in the carriage. Dagger looked up to the throne, where a figure sat atop it.
Dagger smiled and waved. "What's up, Tyrannus?!" He shouted.
Kai lit his eyes and fists on fire. "Tyrannus?!" He shouted.
Dagger smacked him in the back of the head. "That is the king's name, yes." He said through his smile.
Tyrannus raised an eyebrow. "Greetings, Dagger." He responded. Dagger bowed. Tyrannus tilted his head forward to return the gesture from his throne. "I hate to cut the pleasantries, short, but what would you like to discuss?" He asked.
Dagger nodded. "We soon might go to battle with the Demon King, and we expect an army from his realm, so we request that the two of our nations align ourselves to fight him together, since it won't only be my kingdom that suffers from his reign of terror." Tyrannus put his hand to his chin. He looked down to his royal guard, a pixie with extravagant wings.
"What do you think, Jack?" He asked.
Jack looked up at him. "Well, if what they say is true, then we must, and what reason do we have not to trust them?" Tyrannus nodded and rose to his feet, walking down the stairs to the same level as Dagger.
"Will you do us a favor? I think I can trust you, but I'm not quite sure yet."
Dagger nodded. "What do you need?"
Tyrannus sighed. "We have a demon problem." He said.
Dagger raised an eyebrow. "A demon problem?" He asked.
Tyrannus nodded. "It would seem one of the demons decided to stay here instead of Tritanus, so would you be so kind as to vanquish it?"
Dagger smiled and nodded. "Of course. Would you happen to know what rank he is?"
"Well, SHE said something about being a rank three."
Kai and Dagger locked eyes. "Lust." They said together.
The Minotaur smiled and laughed. "I've had grudge against her for while. Let's do it." He grinned.
Dagger nodded. "What can she do?" He asked.
The Minotaur thought for a moment. "Well, she can freeze anyone who touches her, or stares at her for too long into stone, but if she's attracted to you, then she'll keep you unfrozen if she can."
"So like she can freeze you into stone but she might not?" Kai asked.
The Minotaur nodded. "Very dangerous." He said.
"What's her name?" Kai asked.
"Medusa." The Minotaur replied menacingly. Dagger nodded.
"Maybe like the other sins we could bring her to our side." Aro said.
Dagger shrugged. "It's possible." He turned back to Tyrannus. "We accept." He held out his hand.
Tyrannus smiled and shook it. "Jack will assist you." He said.
Jack nodded and walked forward. "I will humbly offer my assistance to you."
Dagger nodded and shook his hand. "The more the merrier." He said. Jack smiled.
"So, can you turn your wings to metal, too?" Aro asked, staring at the brightly colored, oddly shaped wings.
Jack frowned. "As much as I wish I had battle wings, I'm stuck with extravagant wings, which cannot bend and slice."
Kai patted him on the shoulder. "Our friend Lance didn't even have his wings till a little while ago. Count yourself lucky."
Jack nodded, igniting his fists with blue energy. "Let's do this." He said. Kai nodded sternly.

General Christopher marched in a line in front of his troops.
"Alright, everyone, we have to prepare for the worst. The Demon King could show up at any moment, and we have to be ready. I know only a few of you have concentrated mana, which is why I'm going to teach you all a special skill, one that even the unconcentrated mana users can use." He pulled out a strange shaped stick. "All of you have been given one of these, yes?" All of the knights nodded. "Draw them and point them at that target." He pointed his own past himself and at a small target. All of the knights obliged, pointing the stick over each other's shoulders to all get a clear shot. "Now, this special stick is called a wand. It will allow you to concentrate the mana in your body and use it as a projectile, even if your concentrated magic has nothing to do with projectiles." The soldiers nodded. "So everybody concentrate, and a pink light should emerge from the end of the wand. When everyone has their light, I will tell you to fire, and you will release the energy at the target. Understood?"
"Sir, yes sir!" The army shouted. Christopher nodded. He watched as the ends of the wands were illuminated with pink energy. Once he had seen that most of the soldiers had them, he smiled.
"Fire!" He shouted. A small projectile of pink energy emerged from each wand, completely obliterating the target. Christopher smiled. "Now, with this wand, you will be able to fight from a distance without running out of arrows, but make sure to wait between firing, because you only have a certain amount of mana in your body, everyone's is different. Some may be out of charge after one blast, while others can fire something like twenty. Just pace yourself and try and figure out your limits during training hours. Does everyone understand?"
"Sir yes sir!"
Christopher nodded. "Good, training hours begin now, find your limits, help anyone who has tired themselves out. I have other business to attend to." All of the soldiers saluted him and began training while Christopher walked up into the castle. He bowed before the throne. "Any word from the king?" He asked. Kathrine shook her head. She was now adorned in a similar armor to Dagger's made by him, with a crown with less spikes in it. Christopher nodded. "The army is about as prepared as they can be, my lady."
Kathrine nodded. "Ethan, any word of the chest?"
Ethan shook his head. "The chest is currently being monitored by Huey. But it hasn't seemed to do much."
Kathrine nodded. "Thank you. I have faith that we will prevail in this fight." Christopher and Ethan nodded. "I only hope we can get Raal on our side."
"I'm sure the king will make us proud with his negotiating skills." Christopher said, smiling. Standing next to him, Ethan felt very small.
"Exactly how tall are you?" He asked, looking upward.
Christopher looked down at him. "I am 6 foot 7."
Ethan whistled. "I'm 6 foot and I feel like a rodent to you."
Christopher chuckled. "The perks of your birth are not what make one special. You are a strong warrior, despite your height."
Ethan beamed. "You really think so?" He asked. Christopher nodded with a smile and walked out the door.

Huey tossed a sphere of water up and down as he watched the chest, which didn't seem to do anything.
He sighed. "I'm beginning to think the Demon King isn't going to show." He said.
"He'll show." Lance said, propped against the wall.
"We just don't know when." Khan said.
Huey nodded lightly. "I just hope everyone is ready when it happens."
Lance nodded. "I think the three of us are as ready as can be."
Khan sighed. "But can we be victorious?" Lance and Huey nodded.
"We have to be." Huey said.
Khan looked out the window at the army training below. "You're right."

Dagger led the group to the place Tyrannus had described.
"She'll be around here." He said. Everyone nodded and entered high alert. Aro's fists and bow glowed with energy, Emma tugging on the hilt of her sword, which still wouldn't budge. Dagger coated his fists in dark energy. Kai lit his ablaze. Andrew strummed a quiet tune and stretched out his clothes a bit before returning his guitar to his back. The Minotaur drew his swords as Jack spun his spear around.
"Hello boys." The group heard from the shadows. The clicking of heeled boots echoed around the dark portion of the capital city. Out of the shadow walked the most beautiful woman any of them had ever seen. "Ready to play?" She asked with a smile.