Black Dawn - Chapter 21: Steelbone's Raid

The dark elf raiders have attacked Tusokan, throwing the ninja’s defense against the Dragon Army into disarray. Can the Black Talon clan hold the city?

Armageddon TM and its characters and story are copyright Terry Tibke. All rights reserved.

Music & SFX

[Action Preparation] via Storyblocks, [Cinematic Action Tension] via Storyblocks, [Thin Walls] via Storyblocks, [Dark Shadows] by David Fesliyan, [Japanese Fantasy Music – Between Worlds] by AdrianvonZiegler, [Orchestral Conflict] by Dennix, [Dark Illusions Intro] by X, [Japanese Fantasy Music] by Hono no Megami, [Alone] by Emmit Fenn, [Hear This] by Tunetank, [Various] via Storyblocks Audio

Scream 1 by TheSubber13, angriff.wav by Erdie, Puff of Smoke by Natty23, Smashing #1.wav by Timbre, Small_Wooden_Crate_Knocked_Over.wav by Tdude9000, Jacket/Cloth Rustle 2 by brandondelehoy, ChainRattle.wav by mikaelfernstrom, ChainWrapping.wav by richardemoore,   See previous episodes for sound effects

Jake Utter [Voice Actor] - Voices Turim Gliderlance

Andrew Embers [Voice Actor] - Voices Sand Rocketblade

Demetrius Hazel [Voice Actor] - Voices Lasertooth, Bartlett, and Darf Bloodshedder

Kobe Markworth [Voice Actor] - Voices Grandmaster Strongthorn, Thunderclap, Breed, and Gulanis

Sean Valley [Voice Actor] - Voices Strevan Pickaxe and Dithkanir

Hayley Craig [Voice Actress] - Voices Jaffrine Maplebow

Morgana LeFaye [Voice Actress]- Voices Tartara Silverwing

Tallent [Voice Actor] - Voices General Panthis Obsidianfist 

JJtheJetvox [Voice Actor] - Voices Meineken Shadowstar and Aruthil

Brittanie Arwen [Voice Actor] - Voices Sinfa Songbird

The Worlds Okayest DM [Voice Actor] - Voices Pond Grimslug

Ben Habel [Voice Actor] – Voices Lakalith Paledust

Maia Harlap [Voice Actor] – Voices Lala Truffleroot, Kithria Wraithchasm, and Ryuki Purplefist

Aaron Anderson [Voice Actor] – Voices Aldor Steelaxe and Dark Elves

Chris Bellinger [Voice Actor] – Voices Gundak, Percin and Dwarf extras

Alexander Doddy [Voice Actor] – Voices Rail Markrune

Callum Garner [Voice Actor] – Voices Gewurmarch Rottbone

Dio Kerr [Voice Actor] – Voices Dustorn and Hiryoto Dragonfright

Trent Michael Trachtenberg [Voice Actor] – Voices Evildrath Steelbone

Jerron Bacat [Voice Actor] – Voices Ninjas, Dark Elves, Extras

Transcript

Chapter 21—Steelbone’s Raid

The gates still held against the furious tearing of the tunnel raptors. But it wouldn’t be long before the wood splintered and the dark elves raced wildly through the city, killing mercilessly as they went. Several of the Tusokan City Guard lay dead, scattered around the gate. The violent song of blades clashed in the shadows of the night, as several more still struggled against the dark elves on the walls.

Hiryoto already stood amidst the enemy—Ryuki at his side—hacking and slashing with their weapons. They’d dashed to the aid of the guards upon hearing the sound of battle outside the gates. This had been their duty that night: watch and protect the northern end of Tusokan. Master Shadowstar was far to the south end of the city though. He’d taken ninja contingencies down towards the harbor to watch for Dragon Army ships off the coast—where he’d said the primary attack was coming from.

 “Our people won’t stand here long without reinforcements!” shouted Hiryoto. “We have to find the city guard who holds the horn!”

A dark elven blade sang near him. He leapt aside, slapping it to the stone flooring atop the city wall and cut deep into his foe. Without a scream, the dark elf warrior slunk to the cold rock.

“Try to move closer to the gate!” yelled Ryuki. “I’ll guard your back while you search for it!” She danced through patterns of sword strikes from enemy blades.

Hiryoto leapt from the wall to a low-hanging roof. One of his own ninja fell to the ground in front of him. He cursed Magistrate Hao Grimswallow for his ignorance. Why do our ninja have to die for such a coward?

Then he spotted it, shining in the dirt before the city gates. The guard’s horn lay half-buried beneath two slain dark elves and a kithkin sentry.

Several stray crossbow bolts sailed over the wall, and he evaded. His feet hit earth. By now, he knew the dark elves tipped most of their bolts with an evil poison. He certainly wanted no part of that.

There was a gentle thump behind him, and Hiryoto glanced back to see Ryuki, chain-sickle clanking through the air as she alighted on the pebbled ground.

Overhead, several ninja leapt from the rooftops to the wall, or to the ladder leading from the rear of the guard tower. Many of them were kithkin, who moved with speed and nimbleness. Some were humans who bounded with powerful leaps and strides. Hiryoto heard the clash of blades high above on the wall as several of them disappeared over the blind edge to land amidst the enemy.

Hiryoto kept moving, Ryuki at his heels. At last, they reached the fallen bodies Hiryoto had previously spotted. He crouched, mere feet from the splintering gates. He could hear the loud tearing and scraping, like the sound of trees felled by dwarven axes. The ground beneath the gate was being torn up and flung away outside. There were few city guards alive there. Most had been taken down by bolts from dark elves who were already atop the walls. Of course, there hadn’t been enough to hold the gates in the first place.

“We aren’t prepared for a dark elf attack too!” shouted Hiryoto angrily. “What are they doing here? What is wrong with Meineken? He should have warned us!” He swore.

The slamming suddenly resulted in a loud crack as the main beam of the gates gave way to an immense ram.

“Master Dragonfright!” screamed Ryuki. “They are in. Get the horn, let’s go, or we’re their next flesh-feast!”

Hiryoto’s eyes went wide as they looked up to see tunnel raptors. Their razor-sharp teeth, and steaming breath in the night air, sent eerie chills up his spine as the first head pushed itself through the opening.

He swore again, this time at the dark elves.

His blade cut through the strap of the horn of Tusokan, and whatever else lie in the way. He grimaced, trying not to think about it, then leapt into a run, Ryuki steps behind. The gates broke, and tunnel raptors burst through falling wood and sprung headlong toward them.

Hiryoto and Ryuki moved through shadows that fell across the street, cast by the taller buildings on the southern side. Hiryoto saw scared families spying out their windows at the madness. It angered him to see the helpless citizens of their city still inside their frail homes. But there was little the Black Talon clan could do to stop a raid of this size without more help. Where are those Knights of the Hawk? he thought.

Without hesitation, Hiryoto blew the horn. Its deep sound echoed through the city, bouncing from wall to wall, down—he hoped—to the bay. While he ran, he kept at it for several long blasts before Ryuki shouted to him again.

“Master Dragonfright!” she cried out.

He turned. Ryuki’s sickle flew through the air, slashing into the tunnel raptor that sprang toward her. She rolled aside and wrenched the chain, sending the tunnel raptor and its dark elven rider hard into the ground.

Ryuki was yanked from her footing and sent sprawling on the dirt pathway. She was down. Hiryoto didn’t hesitate. The rider of the beast recovered, pushing himself to his knees. But in mere moments Hiryoto reached him. There was little the dark elf could do before Hiryoto hewed his head. The body slumped.

“Hiryoto! We can’t hold them!” called Ryuki as she rose to her feet. Her iris-black gi and boots were rather dirty, but she did nothing to settle that. She broke into a run. “Don’t stop! We must hope for help!”

Hiryoto followed. Several more raptors were close behind the first, and they approached with haste and fury. He barely had time to think, but he had to, they couldn’t stay in the street.

“Back to the rooftops!” he shouted. “Maybe we can make a better fight against them from there. They can’t climb the houses!”

He gave a quick look at Ryuki. They’d both seen the creatures climb and leap some rather large objects. But she didn’t object. It would at least buy them treasured time.

They dashed into an alleyway. Heavy shadows and unpleasant scents enveloped them. As with most of the homes around the dojo, above on either side hung overhanging rooftops of deep, red stone tile. Stacked at the end of the passage were several crates. On any other day they were likely used to store goods—napa, beets, kabocha, wheat, green onion, fish—but tonight they would become their only escape route.

Sheathing their weapons, the pair of Masters leapt to the crates. Unsteady, the boxes creaked and cracked under their weight. If it wasn’t for their expert balance, they would’ve fallen at that moment, but the crates held for a few seconds longer. Hiryoto watched Ryuki leap to the edge of the overhang and pull herself up. He gripped it and struggled up just after.

“We will flay you when we catch you!” came a scream from one of the dark elf riders below. “Return to face us, lightwalkers!”

Hiryoto heard bolts strike the protruding beams, but he kept moving. He looked over to see Ryuki taking big gulps of air. He was tired too and needed to pace himself.

Then, a sound. The grinding of the red tiles behind him brought him back to alertness as the pair of raptor riders and their great beastly mounts sprung to the rooftop—barely twenty feet between them.

Hiryoto looked northwestward, where the main body of the Black Talon ninja fought the dark elf menace. There’d been little relief yet from the city’s guard. Some had come, but as he suspected, they were ill-prepared and made no plan of defense. In such small numbers, they were easily slain, overwhelmed by the mercenaries. Another guard fell screaming from the wall as he watched.

Hiryoto cursed again, this time wondering where the rest of his clan could be.

“Keep moving,” said Ryuki, readying herself to leap the span between buildings. “We’ll be safer if we can make it back to the edge of the main battle. Our brethren can protect our backs there. It’s far too dangerous to be this far removed with so many of the enemy inside the walls!”

Hiryoto wondered how many. There were certainly more than they’d ever seen together at once.

He nodded quickly and followed Ryuki as she dashed forward. The raptors already moved across the roof toward them. They were awkward, but the beasts would soon get their footing and would easily overtake them when that happened.

Racing across the rooftops, the pair made for the northwest wall.

Looking down as he ran, Hiryoto caught sight of dark elf warriors pouring through the streets. They were armed with swords, axes, spears, and their light scale-mail glittered in the moonlight. Some of the homes had been entered, the families in them likely killed. He swore, but there was nothing he and Ryuki could do yet. He reminded himself that they’d only be killed themselves if they descended into such numbers. From the eye Ryuki gave him, she felt the same. Nevertheless, he felt like a coward.

After several minutes, they drew alongside one of the taller homes. Hiryoto heard the grinding and slipping of tiles right behind them and looked back. The raptors had reached the very same building they stood atop. His blood felt cold.

How long had they been running? Hiryoto looked over to Ryuki, bent with her hands on her knees. His own breaths were ragged. With the distance to the next building, they could go no further without backing up. The raptors closed on them.

“Time to face them,” Ryuki said solemnly.

With a paired hiss from rider and mount, the tunnel raptor came at Hiryoto. He slashed out with his blade, cutting one of the raptor’s tiny arms, but that only angered it.

The raptor reared back, its thick, muscled neck bending, ready to strike. Its jaws sprang forward, biting through his scarf it clamped on tight. With an effortless toss of its head, the raptor flung him across the rooftop. His head struck once. Then again. He skid across the tiles to the edge.

His eyes blurred. His bleeding head swam and he’d broken a stitch or two in the scar on his back. Stay conscious, he told himself.

He looked up. Ryuki stood alone between the pair of raptors and their riders, frozen. Blades, poised, the enemy prepared to strike again. He saw her hands shake briefly, clearly afraid. All she could do was dangle her sickle on its chain before her. She was getting ready to die.

Then shadows fell across them. Something stirred atop the high roof adjacent to theirs. The shadows moved swiftly, the shadows of kithkin and men dressed in the dark garb of the Black Talon. And there, perched at the peak, was Meineken.

Blood trickled into his eye. Hiryoto blacked out.

____

Meineken sprang forward, crossing the gap to the roof where Ryuki stood poised and surrounded. The first raptor thrust itself forward. Inches from Ryuki, Meineken landed, driving his blade through the rider and piercing the raptor’s back. It writhed. Meineken was flung from the beast, but with a roll, he sprung somersaulting upright.

He saw the other raptor leap for Ryuki. Having apparently regained hope, she dove down and tossed her chain over her head. The sickle caught the raptor between its jaws. There was a bloody yank, it tumbled, and its screams went loud and ravenous. But the raptor wasn’t deterred from its prey long. Swiftly it rose to bound toward her again.

But now Meineken’s ninja sprang to the lower roof. They drove their blades deep, killing both raptors and riders in a wave of thrusts that reminded Meineken of the teeth of a steel trap, clamping down on an unwary animal in the wild.

Meineken poised, surveying. All was clear.

A pair of the kithkin ninja with him went to Hiryoto’s side, helping him to his feet. He was wobble-knee’d, and his head was wet with blood.

Hiryoto delicately fingered his scalp. “It is… good of you to come so quickly. Come though, we have to get to the streets below. The people are under attack. With the three of us and your contingent we can make a difference.”

“But Master Dragonfright,” said one of the kithkin ninja at his side. “You’re plainly hurt. Won’t you wait a few moments while we treat your wounds?”

Meineken smiled beneath his hood. He knew Hiryoto wanted him there; it was probably the most welcoming expression he’d seen on his face since becoming a Black Talon ninja master. Hiryoto wasn’t altogether fond of the kithkin race. Meineken was no exception to that rule. Hiryoto believed them untrustworthy and rash. He’d said it aloud numerous times. Thus, Meineken was delighted to see the man being helped by his kind.

Hiryoto’s hand was covered with blood. “I will be fine,” he growled. “Just give me something to wrap my head with.”

“As you wish, Master,” the kithkin replied dejectedly.

Meineken reached his hand out to help Ryuki to her feet. She was shaken, but far from hurt. She rose to stand several feet taller than him.

The sound of a shattered window drew her attention. “Thank The God you’re here, Master Shadowstar.”

“The harbor is empty,” he said. “I wouldn’t leave you alone in this.”

Ryuki nodded, pushing her pink hair aside. “We have to go. The dark elves have begun to slaughter our people! It’s like they want to exterminate us!”

Meineken wasn’t sure that was the case. In fact, he’d considered many possibilities. They might have come with the sole purpose of killing him. Maybe they hadn’t been paid. On the other hand, it was probably too late for that. They might’ve come to rectify their failure in not killing him. Nobody wanted to be an enemy of the Dragon Army.

“Then let us move,” he commanded his ninja. He gave a quick snap and flip of his wrist.

All together, the ninja fighters with him sprang to the edge of the roof, and Meineken, Ryuki, and Hiryoto followed. They leapt to a lower building near them before jumping to the ground.

In the streets, hundreds of dark elves spread thinly throughout several homes and shops. They were pale, their skin nearly white in the moonlight. Their dark swords and axes cut through doorways into homes, slaughtering families and any Tusokans they saw.

Meineken hesitated in the shadows for only a moment, Ryuki and Hiryoto behind him. They stepped out into the street. Within moments, crossbow bolts sailed past and dark elf warriors met their weapons with a clang of metal.

“We need to get a concentration of city guard and ninja here,” he shouted to the other two Masters.

Ryuki locked eyes with him briefly. “I’ll gather whatever I can.” She began to move, then hesitated. “Will you two stay in one piece, please?”

Meineken nodded, pressing his fist against the hilt of his katana with a short head nod. He glanced at Hiryoto. He knew she’d meant from each other as well.

Hiryoto agreed. “Of course. We’ll be within a few blocks of this spot. Take this entourage.”

Ryuki raised two fingers, then as the shadow she’d trained to be, she and the ninja she took were gone with a whisper into another alley.

Meineken wondered what exactly their next plan was? The dark elves had made their situation even worse with this preemptive attack. He would be fine. It wasn’t he himself he worried for, but for the villagers who would die. He had to start figuring out a way to get the rest of them out.

“Split. Rejoin on the other side of the street,” he said to Hiryoto, indicating a nearby house. “Clear the homes. Send as many as we can towards the northeast exit.”

Master Dragonfright stepped forward with several others about him. “Help as many as we can,” he agreed.

The two moved out of the alley. Meineken was glad they were both in agreement. He worked his way toward a home with an open doorway across the cobblestones. In a few seconds, he shadowed its frame with his small shape. Inside he saw a woman and her children hiding in the corner. A dark elf raider approached her, blade in hand, ready to strike, an evil grin painted across his pallid face.

Meineken reached into his sash. His fingers retrieved two throwing stars and let them fly with a single motion. His enemy dropped to the ground.

The woman, unable to speak or cry out, watched the dark elf splutter and die.

“Come!” said Meineken with a bow. “I will get you to a safer place.”

“I’m sorry!” she wailed. “My husband didn’t believe we were in danger. The God save us, I’m so sorry!”

“I know,” answered Meineken. “Head for the northeast exit. Tell any other citizens you meet along the way to go there also. If the city is overrun, you must flee north toward Grendelock Keep. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir,” she said gratefully as if coming out of a dream, “Thank you, small master!” Eyes that had been filled with terror then softened, and he saw faint trust.

Meineken peeked out the doorway. Several combatants still fought. He waited until most of the skirmishing moved further east, and then prepared the woman to run.

Seeing the right moment, Meineken raced forward. He cut through one dark elf that was striking at a fellow ninja. The ninja met eyes with him, nodding in appreciation. Meineken flew past with the mother and her two children in tow, and the other ninja fell in behind to protect them as they fled.

Meineken and his charges ran across the street. They moved up a dirt pathway between a row of houses. The homes weren’t tall or wide there, but provided plenty of protection from sight. When they reached a cross-street further north, Meineken checked their path. No dark elves. The way was clear.

“Go now, and have no fear milady,” he said in an assuring tone. “We’ll drive the dark elves back.”

The woman bent and quickly kissed his forehead before darting off, her children close at her heels. They smiled at Meineken as they left. He returned a bow.

Turning, he went back toward the fray. He was curious what Ryuki would be able to gather. Because they were unprepared for the assault, he was sure they’d been scattered across the city—or even off duty—when the dark elves had arrived. He wondered what Turim would’ve done to rouse them, and realized the impression that knight had made on him. On all of them.

On the street, he listened. He thought he heard the sound of…troops. Maybe—was it? They were coming from the south, as though answering his call. He stood still, unmoving, listening carefully. Yes, he was certain of it.

“It is either the Dark Knight’s come to finish us, or someone has rallied the city’s guard at last,” he said to himself quietly.

Then the citizen’s guard appeared, marching toward him. Their strides were a steady sound of boot to earth. Several dark elves fled before that loose column of troops, their pale faces twisted with what appeared to be both fear and anger.

At least they appear competent, thought Meineken. Then he saw Master Purplefist, perched on a rooftop, just above the column. Behind her were several hundred more Black Talon ninja ready to attack. They must have made it from their position further towards the center of the city, Meineken thought, his eyebrows raised.

Could they hold out against the Dragon Army? They had little clue as to the numbers that would come. There were already hundreds of dark elves inside. How many would the Dragon Army bring? And, how many Black Talon ninja had been lost already?

He watched Ryuki look along the length of each street. She stared long and carefully toward the northwestern wall where the largest body of enemies still fought.

She waved to the troops below and signaled. “Move toward the broken gates! Stay together. Fight together! Don’t get separated.”

Meineken saw a rain barrel sitting beneath the edge of one of the lower roofs. With decisive agility, he sprang to the barrel, then to the wall, and finally flipped onto the rooftop. When Master Purplefist gave the ninja their orders, the ninja spread out like a black sheet of rain bouncing off rooftops. They came northwestward through the moonlight and passed right across the home where Meineken stood.

“Master Purplefist!” he called when they’d drawn closer to each other.

He fell into the same movement, coming alongside Ryuki, heading towards the wall. “How did you manage to collect so many?”

Ryuki steadily leapt across each rooftop. Meineken almost found it difficult to keep apace.

“A few of them understood the danger immediately. They said the flying ship gave them cause for alarm and had been wary of something ever since.” Ryuki said between leaps. “Where is Master Dragonfright?”

“He’s somewhere along the street, within a few blocks of the one we just left. The last I saw him, he was alive. We’ve been trying to stop the dark elves from killing innocent families.”

Ryuki seemed pleased by this. She slowed her pace, then stopped, putting her hand out for Meineken to do the same. The ninja that had come with her continued on, leaving the two Masters behind.

Meineken took a quick look toward the wall again. A vibrant wave of combatants locked in a dance of endless tumult and confusion was there, covering the edge of the city.

“All of the city guards on the wall have likely been slain already,” said Ryuki. “ The dark elves are swift. Raptor riders roam the streets now, looking for prey to fill their mounts’ bellies.”

Sorrow filled Meineken’s heart as he took in the same scene.

“We won’t hold Tusokan now,” said Ryuki.

Meineken clutched his blade tightly, still examining the northwest wall. “Maybe… but we might just drive the dark elves from our city still.”

Meineken looked at Ryuki’s worried face. It was a curious thing to see. He couldn’t feel the fear these humankind felt, and it kept emotion from overtaking him in times like these. But he’d grown accustomed to reading them. Maybe his time with Turim and the others had helped with that.

A slight smile cracked under Meineken’s ninja hood. “Their purpose seems to be slaughter and destruction. If what you say is true, the Dragon Army might just move through Tusokan. They’ll head straight for Daltaria—I hope.”

Ryuki’s face brightened slightly. “Wise, Master. You may be right.”

“Master Dragonfright and I have begun sending our people to the northeast entrance. If we get as many as we can outside, we can head north with the hope that we’ll meet with reinforcements from Grendelock Keep.” Please Turim, thought Meineken. Don’t fail us.

“Then hope is what we must hold fast to, my friend,” Ryuki put her hand on Meineken’s shoulder. “You can feel that can’t you?”

Meineken returned a nod. Of course he could hope. He’d been hoping for days. “Very well. Let’s go now. Our brethren are in dire need of our help.”

Meineken sprang away again, crossing the narrow gap between the building they stood upon and the one abreast of it. Ryuki followed. They both raced as quickly as they could north.

But they didn’t go unheeded. Several times, they had to rain their bladed stars down into masses of dark elves that were ravaging the noblemen’s homes. Many dark elves had also made their way to the rooftops, and the two ninja masters battled through them.

When at last Meineken and Ryuki reached the wall, they halted on the line of buildings in its shadow. Meineken took several more moments to assess the number of remaining forces. So many of their own had been slain. The dark elves fought as though it would be their last day in this world, and the Black Talon ninja had responded with like fury.

A bitter sadness and anger mingled in Meineken’s mind. The clan was all but finished. But as he surveyed the dead, he caught sight of an unusual dark elf, riding atop the largest raptor he’d ever seen. The mercenary wore a skull-shaped faceplate, and it only took a few moments of observation for Meineken to determine who he was.

“Master Purplefist!” he shouted, pointing. “Look there—beyond the gate amidst those city guards. He must be the one who leads this horde!”

Ryuki narrowed her eyes and stared from their rooftop. “What do you think? Perhaps if we can fell him, his mercenaries might lose focus or purpose?”

Meineken nodded, his mind already made up. “It’s often the case with raiders like these. Their desire is for money and power. They do not care much for an honorable death.”

He sprang from his position to a low overhang and headed along the path below the edge of the wall.

Several of the enemy stood in his way, but lashed out. With a meeting of blades, Meineken parried several aside. The dark elves fell, red streaks across their throats and sides.

He glanced back. Ryuki hadn’t sat idle. She was in the narrow passage, not far behind him. She spun to watch their rear and the alleyways they kept passing on their left. “Master Shadowstar, slow down!”

Meineken heard a scream of anger. He turned and saw another mass of mercenaries coming, and engaged them again. When this wave had been killed, he found himself striding atop their bodies to make it through the narrow street. It was a horrible sight. And on top of that, there was a strange smell. It reminded him of upturned earth.

When the view to the gate cleared, Meineken caught sight of the mercenary leader again. The skull-helmed thaluí fought with skill, his large raptor ferocious.

On the wall above, small skirmishes still took place. Meineken leapt aside as a body fell crashing to the earth just beside him: broken and dead.

Then, over the sound of battle, he heard another noise. There wasn’t time to listen. Another blade whistled past him as its dark elf owner charged from one of the side streets. Meineken stabbed. Behind him, he heard Ryuki with another.

The sound was like crumbling earth. But that was strange. He caught the previous scent again. His blade drove deep into the dark elf, and he let him fall to the ground.

“The ground!” cried Ryuki.

Meineken looked over his shoulder in time to see Master Purplefist kicking and slashing. The ground had broken open and moles were clawing from a hole beneath the wall, rabid and hungry, with claws as long as daggers.

Many skittered toward Meineken. He slashed across the ground, severing several, sending up sparks as his sword hit stone. Whole swarms of them seemed to vomit out. But as fast as they came, soon there were piles of them in the alley, alongside the dark elves. Then he saw Ryuki reach into her belt and slam her hand downward.

Smoke roiled out, blessed by Shroud’s blessings at the temple. The shadows danced amidst the smoke, tearing through the rabid moles. Meineken lost sight of Ryuki. He heard pops and cracks as the shadows roiled in the smoke.

He couldn’t focus long on what lay behind him. His enemies grew thick ahead of him again. He slashed and pushed forward out of the alleyway. His eyes blinked from one opening in the enemies to the next.

“Out… of… my… way!” he shouted a word with each strike.

With anger, he realized he no longer saw the skull-faced elf upon his mount. He’d lost him too. Dark elves closed in about him.