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The Dawning Night: Chapter 24

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Chapter 24: Change of Plans</u>

Archariss shot forward with his whip lashing back and forth. Shade leaped backward and dodged as the whip slashed against a tree.

"Sit still!" Archariss barked.

"Make me!" Shade retorted.

The general growled and his whip reached toward Shade, snagging his back with a horrible crack. The ridgedor brought out Delwia, the broad sword hissing strangely.

About time, it was boring.

Ya better be careful!

Relax grandma; I haven't shed blood for such a long time! Heh, I'm so excited!

Archariss tried to whip Shade again but he countered with Delwia, the whip wrapping around the blade. Shade tugged Delwia down, expecting the whip to break. All of a sudden, a navy blue haze enveloped the whip and it held fast and Delwia slid harmlessly through it.

WHAT!?

"Tough break, kid," Archariss grinned. "I'm sure you've heard of Black Magic."

"You… You're using Black Magic?" Shade gasped, remembering Asmodeus.

"Well, it's a slightly modified curse, not as strong as the one the Darblins use," the general replied.

No… Shade, I'm a sword made of Black Magic and… If his whip is infused with it too… then I can't destroy it!

This would have been nice to know earlier!

I didn't think anyone else would put Black Magic in a weapon… Careful Shade, this guy's tough.

That squirrel musta been a regular samurai!

I doubt it…

"What's the matter? Getting scared, kid?" Archariss sneered.

"You wish," Shade growled.

Archariss grinned wildly. He slapped his hands together and navy blue sparks danced across his palms. The general thrust his hands forward and the sparks flew at Shade. The ridgedor quickly leapt out of the way, the sparks scorching into a tree. He chanced a glance to look for the others. Lightning and Cyle were attacking Serin together. Cyle slashed at her feet, driving the hilock toward Lightning for him to electrocute her. It looked like they were faring well against Serin.

"Cezial!" Shade shouted to the frost ridgedor. "Help me!"

"But…" Cezial turned from his hiding place to look at Shade. "I'm useless!"

"No, you're not!" Shade protested, dodging another onslaught of sparks from Archariss. "Remember the library!"

"That was different…" Cezial muttered.

"Library?" Archariss paused. "You mean that stuffy building I set on fire? That was fun."

"What?!" Cezial's face grew angry. "You did that?!"

Archariss looked at the ridgedor's expression and whispered, "I shouldn't have told you that."

"How dare you?!?!" Cezial roared.  

"Sorry, kid, I was just following orders," Archariss shrugged.

"Orders, huh?" Cezial glared at the general. "Well then… I hope you don't mind if I follow my orders."

"What orders?" Shade asked him.

"My own!"

Cezial lashed out at Archariss, creating an ice sword with incredible speed. "This – is – where – ten – years – of – studying – magic – pays – off!" he yelled with a slash for each word.

"Man, it was just a library!" Archariss exclaimed, backing up and trying to block each one of Cezial's violent strikes.

"No it wasn't!" the frost ridgedor raised the ice sword. It suddenly split apart to form mini icicles that rained down on Archariss like homing missiles. "You're going to regret burning that building!" Cezial promised.

Archariss rolled his eyes and flicked his whip, the chain smacking against all of the icicles and shattering them. Shade gaped at the general. He did that so easily and with no effort at all! To think this was the same guy who was beaten by a squirrel! Archariss was definitely a good actor.

"You boys certainly need a few lessons!" a voice suddenly sounded, one that was shockingly familiar. Shade looked up to see Wynia standing on a tree branch, grinning down at him. There was a strange silver gauntlet on her wrist. A metal grappler shaped like a dragon's claw covered her hand and connected to the gauntlet. Shade continued to stare at her. He didn't think Wynia had a weapon. She seemed more… resourceful than that.

"Geez, Shade, you look like you've never seen a girl before," Wynia playfully teased. She looked to all the other people fighting. They had all turned to stare at her. "Looks like I'm getting popular."

The girl looked at Archariss and suddenly turned the gauntlet up. The claw sprung out and clung to another branch, a long chain still connecting to the gauntlet. Wynia then swung down, kicking Archariss square in the chest as she did so. The general gave a startled squeak as he fell down. Wynia landed gracefully in front of Shade and raised her hand as the claw returned back to the gauntlet.

"Be still my beating heart," Cezial whispered softly. Shade snorted at the light pink ridgedor, as if to say 'in your dreams.'

"What? No 'Thanks for saving our lives, Wynia!'?" Wynia asked Shade, oblivious to Cezial's comment.

"Sorry, I just didn't expect you to be here," Shade replied.

"Thanks, that's nice," Wynia smiled.

"Uh… Hi…" Cezial walked up slowly.

"Salutations, and who are you?" Wynia answered smoothly.

All Cezial managed was, "Eh…"

"This is Cezial Coldfrost," Shade stepped in for his timid friend.

"And I'm Cyle Crookedtooth," Cyle came up behind Wynia, grinning like a cheshire cat.

"I can see that," Wynia joked good-naturedly.

"And that," Shade flicked his thumb to Lightning. "is the prince of chequicks, Lightning."

"If you guys are done introducing yourselves," Archariss interrupted, getting to his feet. "I'm still trying to kill you."

"Forget it, Archariss," Serin stated, padding up to the general. "Let's go report to Rayzord."

"What?" Archariss turned on her. "Why?"

"Just go, fool," Serin hissed. Shade noticed that the hilock had a long gash on her side that was bleeding heavily.

"Aww, scared?" Lightning taunted.

"Not likely, furball," the hilock snarled.

"But I told Rayzord I wouldn't fail…" Archariss continued. It was as if the two generals were ignoring the young ridgedors and chequick.

"Yes… But we have something more important to tell him…" Serin gestured with her tail to Wynia.

"What?" Archariss stared at the confused girl then his eyes lit up. "Oh? I see…" He gave a creepy smile to Wynia. The two generals turned and walked away, disappearing behind the endless trees.

"Umm… Did they actually just forfeit?" Lightning asked everyone's thoughts.
  
"Strange," Cyle stated simply.

"All right, so why are you here?" Shade asked Wynia as the group started to continue going through the forest.

"You make it sound as if you didn't want me to save you guys," the girl shot a grin over her shoulder as she led the way.

"Of course I'm glad you saved us," Shade replied. "I mean how did you get here?"

"I'm glad you're here," Cezial said longingly.  

"Well, when the sand closed the gap between the tunnel and the Mucik village, back in Dequilli Desert," Wynia explained, as if she never heard Cezial, "I saw Ballad coming with a group of Muciks, I demanded to see the King. It's custom in the Mucik race to allow people to see the King if given good reason.

"So, Guitar came forward and allowed me to speak. I told him all about what happened when Ballad experimented on you, Shade. He was outraged and started raving about how that it was illegal for them to do that. Go figure, right?" Wynia paused and gave Shade a smile. "Anyways, so he banished her from the grounds. I don't know where she went but I'll tell you she was pretty steamed. I'd watch your back from now on."

"I always have, Wynia," Shade cockily answered.

The girl laughed lightly. "Sure, Shade, you 'watched your back' when that general attacked."

"I had it handled!"

"If you say so… as I was saying, after Guitar banished Ballad, I went after you guys. I found the dragons' tracks and followed it to where a gate was smashed. I figured you had something to do with it. There, I suddenly saw smoke coming from afar. I quickly went there but the house was already burnt to the ground. I was able to find chequick paw prints and followed them to where you guys were fighting with the two generals. Oh, I better mention that –"

"Hey," Lightning interrupted. "Do you know where you're going?"

"Sorry, I don't exactly have the land memorized," Wynia said sadly, seeming to forget to finish her story.

"Umm… Would this help?" Cezial came up and pulled a folded paper out of his pocket. Wynia turned and opened the paper up, gasping.

"YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING!!!" she shouted.

"What?" Shade looked over her shoulder.

"It's a map!" Lightning added, incredulous.

"This would have been useful earlier, Cezial!" Shade growled.

"You had a map all along?" Cyle piped in from his leaning position along a tree.

"I forgot I had it until now…" Cezial sheepishly shrugged.

"I thought you were supposed to be smart!" Shade yelled.

"There's no need to make him feel bad," Wynia scolded but her eyes glowed with annoyance as she read the map.

"Well, at least we won't get lost anymore," Shade sighed.

"Hey, it's because you got lost so much that I caught up!" Wynia smiled at Shade happily.

"Yeah, that makes me feel great…" he retorted, rolling his eyes.

***

"So… this is… Drax's house?" Shade stared up at the tall building. It was a mix of stones, wood, bricks, and steel. The strange house had no windows but a giant hole in the middle.

"I guess…" Wynia sneezed at the loads of strange gases wafting from the building.

"I hoped… it would be… cleaner…" Cezial added, staring at the burnt edges of the hole.

"I told you he was a pyrotechnist," Cyle growled. The ridgedor was hovering in the shadows a few feet away.

"Why are you so mad at him?" Shade asked.

"He stole something important from me."

"What?"

"My weapon."

"I thought you had Quill," Shade gave him a confused look.

"Who?" Cyle raised an eyebrow.

"The sword."

"Nah…It's just a backup. I'm not very good at it, but I got quite a good shot. My weapon was a shotgun: a Remington 870. Sweet gun man, a great pump-action."

"Huh?"

"Gun talk, kid."

Cezial made a disgusted face at his brother. "I hate guns."

"It wasn't just any gun…" Cyle turned away, not allowing any more questions. Lightning, who was crouched by a thorn bush, slowly lay down.

"Sorry, I don't think this Drax fellow will appreciate a cat in his house," the chequick muttered.

Shade sighed and cautiously approached the hole in the house.

"Well… there isn't exactly a doorknob," Wynia said, coming up from behind him.

"Just go in!" Cyle shouted from behind a rock a few feet away.

"Alright…" Shade hesitantly stepped inside and whistled. The house was gigantic but the only thing in this room was a large broken staircase in front of him that led to the second floor. The ridgedor slowly approached the staircase. Suddenly, a large gun sprung from the corner of the wall. A dart popped out of it and lunged into Shade's arm, making him cry out in pain.

"Shade!" he heard Wynia yell as he crumpled to the ground, paralyzed.

"What… was… that…?" Shade asked through gritted teeth.

"A dart filled with a Levlill's venom," Cezial grabbed the dart and tugged it out of Shade's arm, inspecting it thoughtfully. "Quite a clever mixture, though. Drax must have put an Immobilles spell on it instead of poison. He's using this as an alarm system," the frost ridgedor gestured to the dart gun, the wooden thing still fixated on Shade. "Yes I'm certain that this is one of Drax's gadgets. He always liked to meet his intruders in person. Don't ask me why."

"Someone does their homework," Wynia complemented Cezial.

"Heh…" he blushed furiously, drumming his fingers against each other timidly.

"Okay, lover boy," Shade interrupted. "How do I fix it?"

"You don't." a voice suddenly growled from the broken staircase. "I don't appreciate trespassers, I'll have you know."

The speaker leaped off the staircase, allowing Shade to see him. The man was extremely thin, almost sticklike, and wore a ragged black T-shirt, a pair of ripped jeans, and walked around barefoot. His olive green wings were incredibly long but were short lengthwise. Due to the unbalanced weight, the man's wings sagged down, the tips touching his thin, olive green tail. Even though his appearance made it look like the man was weak and shy, his dark blue eyes glowed with ferocity. The man had black, curly hair that looked as if it had been whipped around in a tornado. If Shade had to guess, this man was probably a hoard dragon ridgedor.

"What's the matter? Never seen a ridgedor before?" the man snarled.

"I am… a ridgedor…" Shade replied slowly.

"And a mighty pathetic one at that," the man rolled his eyes. "I was hoping another bear had been stupid enough to come in here. Then I could've had a nice barbeque."

"You'd cook a bear?"

"Who are you to say I can't?"

"Drax!" Cezial intervened. "I hate to intrude on your remarkable conversation of consumption habits but –" he took a breath. "– I need to speak to you."

"Eh? Cezial? What do you want?" Drax turned to look at Cezial, his wing tips dragging against the floor.

"I was hoping…" Cezial shuffled his feet, "that you'd help us on our journey to Alpha."

"Ha!" Drax paused to laugh uncontrollably for awhile. "Do you even have to ask?" he gasped between chuckles.

"If you are quite finished with your hysterics," Wynia came to stand behind Shade. "We have a problem at hand."

Drax stopped to look at her, whistled, then whispered to Cezial, "Who's this minx?"

"Excuse me?!" Wynia looked outraged.

"Oh, feisty aren't we?" Drax gave a sly smile.

Shade saw the anger in Wynia's eyes and wouldn't have been surprised if she slapped this man.

"Look…" she hissed, balling her fists. "Are you going to help or not?"

"Hmm…" Drax tapped his chin then grinned sinisterly. "This is getting more interesting by the second."

"So does that mean you'll help?" Shade asked before Wynia could strangle Drax.

"Sure, sure," he waved his hand and grabbed the ridgedor by his shirt collar. "Follow me," he gestured to the others and went up the stairs, dragging Shade after him.

Drax stopped near one of the rooms on the second floor. "Here Cezial, make yourself at home," he shoved the frost ridgedor in. The room was covered with wood piles and had a large, black leather couch along the side. It had springs sticking out of the cushions and Shade swore he saw a raccoon's head peek out from under it.

"But… There's no bed…" Cezial replied and looked around at the endless piles of wood and shuddering at the unfriendly-looking couch, probably noticing the raccoon too.

"You're smart, make one. There's a whole lot of wood here," Drax shrugged and continued to the next room. This one had a polished wood floor, a long purple mat, and a medium-sized bed with two pillows on sitting along the barred headboard of the bed.

"This one's for you, sweetheart," Drax smiled at Wynia.

"I'm so grateful," she hissed and walked inside, reluctantly.

Drax smirked, bowed, and then continued on his way. He stopped at the next room, a completely empty one, and threw Shade onto the floor.

"See ya, short stuff!" he said with mirth then quickly left to the next room, his booming guffaws sounding from the hallway.

"I see why Cyle hates this guy," Shade snorted and tried to get as comfortable as he could while paralyzed.

Wow…This guy sure is a big help.

No he's ain't, he's a jerk!

I know that, stupid. Haven't you ever heard of sarcasm?

Huh?

Sometimes I feel like we'll never get to Alpha…

You probably won't.

Thanks Delwia, your confidence in me is uplifting.

Anytime, kid.

Shade sighed and slowly let his eyelids close.

***

General Archariss Axehead slowly approached the throne where Rayzord Ruinedeyes sat. There was a large, black panther sitting next to Rayzord, its green eyes glaring at Archariss.

"Sire…" he crouched into a kneeling position.

"General," Rayzord acknowledged him with a nod. "I assume you have a reason with coming back without the boy?"

"Yes, my lord," Archariss gestured to Serin and the hilock came forward, bowing her head.

"My liege, we have found another of the prophecy," she said.

"Hmm… Are you positive?" Rayzord lightly stroked the panther's head, a purr coming from the large feline.

"We think so…" Archariss looked at the panther. "My lord, why, dare I ask, do you have a cat next to you?"

"I find it strangely useful, even though it's one of the humans' animals," Rayzord replied, still petting the panther.

Serin looked at the panther. Compared to her, it was more like a house cat. The hilock snorted at the pathetic feline, feeling ashamed to be an ancestor of this sorry excuse for a wild cat.

"Anyways…" Archariss shook his head. "I believe that this one is part of the Prophecy."

"Which one?" Rayzord raised an eyebrow.

"The girl…" the general slowly replied.

"Which one?" Rayzord repeated.

"What are you talking about? There was no other girl," Serin started to walk forward, her head cocked sideways.

"Change of plans, my small-minded generals," Rayzord stood up from his throne and started to walk down to Archariss and Serin, followed by the panther.

"What is this… change?" Archariss asked.

"Oh, we are going to Pendragon," Rayzord calmly stated.

"What for?"

"Unlike you two, I am completely certain that I have found one of the Prophecy there."

"So now we have three of the four…"

"No, we have one," Rayzord look at the generals angrily. "I believe that you two are wrong. I wonder why that is."

***

"Izzodiac..." The frost dragon slowly opened his eyes to see Pysis poking him with one claw. "Are you awake?"

"I am now," Izzodiac stood up and looked around. Pysis, Gipson, and he had been rudely shoved into a large cell by the FLET that had captured them in Dequilli Desert. All Izzodiac remembered was when he had started to go to Shade when the young ridgedor had crashed into the gate. Then a swarm of FLETs came out of the ground, swallowing one dragon each. Being in a giant tarantula was not fun. Now, the frost dragon was sitting on a pile of hay next to Pysis while Gipson was inspecting the bars on the cell.

"Any weak points?" Izzodiac asked.

"Sadly, this prison has a spell put on it… I don't see an easy way of escaping…" the lindworm explained with a sigh.

"Where are the others?"

"Over here!" a voice yelled from the cell next to them.

"Who's this?" Izzodiac pressed his head against the wall to hear the voice better.

"It's me, Zephyr. I'm with Pastell and Gonshow."

"Are you unharmed?"

"One hundred percent, chief!" Gonshow's happy voice answered.

"Good…" Izzodiac paused. "Where are Hital, Fenn and Gann, and Thunder?"

"I don't know… Maybe they're in a separate room…" Zephyr replied.

Izzodiac nodded slowly and then started to inspect the bars alongside Gipson. The lindworm was right: they weren't going to escape easily.
Yeah, I had to add another chapter and I changed the name and called it "Change of Plans" which I think to be sort of creative and ironic if you know what I mean :D Rayzord/Archariss/Serin gathering chapter where they talk about the mysterious Prophecy!

Telepath:
Shade- regular (no quotation marks)
Wujaru- bold
Delwia- italics


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© 2009 - 2024 Flame-Wing
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Post-Lit's avatar
SAMURAI SQUIRREL!!!! :ninja: LOL! :D

Anyway, nice chapter, sis. And I love Cezial's crushing; he's such a cutie :love: