Chpt. 4

Bash caught the woman just before she hit the ground. His right ear twitched as it picked up the sounds of more guards, probably having heard the battle.
“Looks like its my turn” Bash smiled revealing four extremely sharp and intimidating canines. A group of six patrolmen turned the corner and stopped in there tracks, there faces looking as if they were ready to murder him.
Looking around Bash realized how bad things looked. With dead patrolmen strewn out across the floor and an unconscious woman in his arms there was no talking his way out of this one.

The first two patrolmen attacked yelling with there swords over there heads, obviously inexperienced. Bash didn’t move until the last moment, taking one step forward and trusting both of his arms up hitting the bone called the ulna (not hard enough to break anything just so they drop there weapons. Eyes wide with shock the two retreated, picking up one of the swords bash placed it into an empty holster hidden on his back under his cloak.
“Hope you don’t mind if I borrow this.” Bash laughed waiting for the next assault. The remaining four patrolmen cautiously circled bash swords drawn, obviously more experience.*Note-Demon foxs and gravity don’t always get along, so Bash can jump higher than normal people of the same strength and he will fall slower if need be. Things like that.* The four patrolmen jabbed at Bash from four different angels each cutting through the air making a very stubble sound, this sound alerted bash to the swords position and allowed him to jump and land right where the swords intersected. With a smile Bash delivered a kick so hard into the side of a patrolman’s head that he spun into one of his comrades. Hanging in the air for a couple seconds Bash prepared to finish the fight. When the sound of a lot more patrolmen was heard, the first two must have went for help.
“Sorry guys looks like I can’t play anymore, next time ill be sure to take care of all of you.” Bash said with a hand behind his back. In his hand formed a ball of black and white fire, the ball hardened and Bash threw it onto the ground exploding into a massive smokescreen. In the confusion Bash scooped up the woman and jumped up to a nearby rooftop. The best way to escape was always rooftops, as bash jumped from rooftop to rooftop he could see a pond a reasonable distance away from the city. With a considerable amount of effort Bash jumped the massive city wall and headed to the pond.
 

Miko awoke to find herself next to a pond the next day. She almost dared to smile when the previous night’s events rushed through her head and she sat up quickly to get a better bearing on her surroundings. It was then she saw Bash next to the pond fishing. Miko stood up and saw that the area was beautiful. She had remembered a place like this when she was younger. Back when there was no danger. Her reflection of home reminded Miko of her now dead family. The only person that was physically alive was her mother but that was as alive as she could be. Miko’s mother, Evilyne, is no longer of a sane mind. It wasn’t the entire humans fault with that. A non-human had teamed up with the humans and brought down Evilyne. They didn’t kill her but sometimes Miko wished they had. Seeing her mother constantly out of touch with reality was much more painful. Now the only two people left Miko cared about were gone. Last night was no where near good enough to even wet Miko’s thirst for revenge. All of the humans must suffer. I will rid this world of them all. Miko looked back at Bash and wondered where he stood in this conflict. If he had hated the inferior beings with as much disgust as she did. She walked up to him and saw his revealed ears flicker in her direction. He spun around and upon seeing Miko he smiled.
“Have a good night’s rest?” Miko didn’t answer but just sat down next to him.
“Thank you.” Bash pulled a fish out of the water and set the flapping trout on a cloth next to him.
“For what?”
“Unless I got here by some other means like sleepwalking or someone else brought me here I’m just guessing that you brought me here away from the danger.”
“We are never safe from any danger. Especially, now that the Patrolmen are out of control.” Miko turned towards Bash with a serious expression on her face.
“You call these people Patrolmen. Who are they?” Bash looked at her with a surprised look. Everyone knew who the Patrolmen were. Even small children knew about them.
“You’re not from around here are you?” Miko scoffed.
“That is irrelevant. I requested information on these Patrolmen and if you can’t provide me any then just say so.” Bash stared at her for a while then coughed.
“Look, I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m not used to someone like you. Let alone the fact that you don’t seem accustomed to being here.”
“That is not what I asked…I don’t know what you are addressed as. Tell me.”
“Sort of demanding aren’t you. Don’t you know how to ask for things properly?” Miko put her hands on her head.
“You are a difficult specimen.” Miko looked at Bash again. “May…I…know your name?”
“See, you can do it.”
“Shut it!” Miko’s cheeks started to flare.
“Fine, my name is Bash Wilder. There, now what is your name?”
“Why do you need that information?” Bash scoffed.
“Are you serious? You ask someone their name so it’s only polite to give them your own name in return.” Miko looked as if she was pondering this fact.
“Okay, then. My name is Miko Nyx. Is there anything else you need?” Bash started laughing and Miko only reddened in the face again. “I don’t see anything amusing here.” The sound of the bells of an approaching caravan disturbed Miko and Bash’s conversation.
 

Once again, Adriana and Pinder were walking along the road. Adriana had seen no one yet, going either toward the town they had just come from or away from it. “Pinder?”
“Yes?” he answered.
“We left the town without getting the supplies we needed.”
“I know.” Pinder didn’t seem overly concerned about it. Truthfully Adriana wasn’t either, but she felt the need to point it out. “As always when we’re in such a situation, I will hunt, and we will fill our canteens from somewhere. As I flew before, I noticed a pond not too far from here. We’ll have to go off of the road to get there though.”
Adriana simply nodded her agreement. Pinder was a more experienced traveler than she was, and she trusted him. So when he veered off of the given path, she followed him without question. Together they slipped quietly through the foliage toward where Pinder said the pond was.
Suddenly, Pinder threw his arm out to stop Adriana. “What…?”
“Shh,” he warned. He touched a finger to his ear, indicating she should listen. First faintly, then ever steadily growing louder, she heard the bells of a caravan… probably human. They looked at each other in silence, then Pinder handed his canteen to Adriana and she nodded. “We need the water, so we can go quickly on our way… Even if they should be hostile don’t fear, I am always nearby. Walk straight in the direction we were going, and you’ll find the pond.”
Adriana walked away, and on impulse glanced back over her shoulder to see a sandy brown snake slithering away into the undergrowth.
Following the path Pinder had indicated, she soon stepped out into a small clearing. To her surprise, two people already stood by the water. Eyes wide, she stared at them and they back at her. The man had ears something like she’d seen on a fox, and the woman had eyes like ice. Both of them were tense, apparently because of her appearance. Adriana was frozen in place. She didn’t want to frighten them, she didn’t want to be the next victim of the violence she’d seen…
And so the three of them stood there as the caravan bells drew closer until they were upon them.
 

Dormang awoke to birds chirping and the slight sound of the morning breeze. The sun was high overhead, nearly noon. Dormang sat up. Everyone else was still sound asleep, the magic of the grove keeping their fears at bay and their dreams peaceful. Except for his, of course.

He had dreamt of his days in the Gladiator's Arena. It was the last fight of his contract, against a human gladiator named Kasul. In reality, Dormang had had almost no problem killing him, but in the dream, he took Dormang to his knees. As he looked up into Kasul's eyes, he saw instead his own face, three pairs of horns crowning his face, his eyes blood-red, his teeth blacker than black. He didn't awake with a start, only a silent gasp. He was used to the nightmares Dakros would bring upon him. Dormang closed his eyes and ran his knuckles down the top of his snout, then stood and left the grove.

Kneeling by the base of the waterfall, Dormang threw the ice-cold water on his face, waking him up further. He found the hardest rock he could, brought the swords over, and began resharpening them, though the Patrolmen's blade was barely dulling. They were made like that, tough, to withstand whatever the Patrolmen came against. The sharp scraping soon woke Sylas and Brios. Sylas still kept his distance from him, stretching and then moving to the opposite side, splashing water into his face as well. Brios walked over to Dormang and put his hand on the draconian's shoulder.

"You alright?"

"Put yourself in my position, and then ask that question again." Dormang replied harshly, never taking his eyes off his task. Brios said nothing and returned to the grove, waking the rest. They all drowsily awoke, yawning and stretching and lazily standing up.

"Good morning, everyone!" Maurice said brightly. He went over and sat down at the edge of the pool. "When do we eat? I'm starving." The blade slipped against the rock akwardly as Dormang heard the question.

"Umm...."