Alexander Khri'pher (7)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The summer night was still young, the moon hanging only just over the mountains to the east, and there wasn't even one cloud in the sky. It was the kind of night that one would expect to warm, or atleast warmer then it was. It was bitterly cold but Alexander Khri'pher's rage towards Veren Duthjack and Lutra Shakira was keeping the Bengal Tiger quite warm. Alexander stood in the cold and watched his breath slowly drift away in the cool breeze. Being able to see his breath brought back so many wonderful childhood memories. When he was young he always loved to watch his breath, to watch it swirl in the night. He always thought there was some kind of magic to it, at least it looked like a magical flame, twisting this way and that right in front of his face before completely vanishing untill he took another breath. 'Those days are over,' he reluctantly forced himself think. 'I am a knight now and I have an oath to hold tonight.' Alexander strapped on the last, but obviously most important, peace of equipment; the sword his father had intrusted to him. When he had the sword attached to his back he experimentally drew it and swung it a few times. He marvled at how, even in the dull light of the young moon, the sword shined so brightly that it looked almsot as if it was glowing with a great magical power. Alexander brought the sword up in front of him and ran his paw over the eleven engraved names of him and his ancestors. He read each name to himself untill he came upon the name just under his own. A small tear streamed down his muzzle as he stared at the name of his father, Dolmin Freeos Khri'pher. "Tonight is the night, father," he said outloud as he contiued to stare at the name. "Tonight is the night that I avenge your death. I'll use the sword you gave me, the very sword that took your life, Soulroth, to bring Duthjack to his demise." "You mean 'we avenge', don't you Alexander." Alexander's heart almost skipped a beet but his body waisted no time reacting in the way it had so many times before. Alexander spun around, his sword outstretched in both paws. Just before his sword struck the neck of his target he stopped dead. In front of him was standing Trent khan'tresh and behind him were Aslan Shasta, Bree Arivaz, and Lorien Shinasta. They were each ready for their plan to assasinate Duthjack in their own way. Trent was outfitted almost exactly like Alexander was, regular pants and a white shirt, daggers hear and there, all the same except for the fact that he was holding a large hallabird instead of a sword. The Lion, Aslan, was in full battle garb for a knight as experienced as he was. It was said that the better a knight one was, the less armor you wore. By Aslan's looks he was quite the skilled knight, and the huge axe he had across both shoulders that he was using for an arm rest just made him look even better. The only solid metal he had on was a set of silver wrist gauntlets. The rest was regular cloths and chainmail. Beside him was Bree, a very sleek yet quite strong saimese cat. She was dressed in a jet black assasin's outfit, with two katanas across her back and several other weapons placed in many other places around her waist, on her arms and down her legs, inluding the dagger that Lutra had planned to kill Alexander with. Last but not least was Lorien, but he didn't quite fit in. The small hare was in a simple magician's robe and his black-ivory staff was held high beside him. "I said, you mean we are going to avenge your father's death, don't you brother?" Trent asked again, itchingly glanceing at the sword that was just touching his neck. He put a paw up and pushed the sword away a little bit, trying to give Alexander the clue that he wasn't very comfortable with something so sharp against his throat. Alexander finally lowered his sword and re-sheathed it. He then looked up at his comrades and answered, "Of course I mean we, Trent. I didn't mean to make it sound like I was taking all the glory, I appoligize." "Don't appoligize Alexander," Bree said quikly with a short bow. "It was your father that died and if not for you, we wouldn't be hear right now, so it is mostly you who should take the glory. Not to menchen the fact that it will be you dillivering the finall blow. Now, we should be off emediatly. As soon as we reach our entry point of the castle we should make it a fact that no one is to speek. Each of us must keep an eye on the others for any signals or signs of what is going on." "Thank you Bree," Alexander stated kindly as he pulled out a small map. He unrolled the map slowly and pointed at a small area that indicated an underwater gate in the moat of the castle. "After yesterday's... altercation with Lutra, we've changed our entry point to here." Without thinking, as he usually did when such an oppertunity arrised, Trent said, "Are you sure you three cats aren't gonna have problem with the water." Before he could even blink a Katana was at one side of his throat, a dagger was at the other, and a very intemedating axe was right infront of his face. With the smallest of movements possible he raised his paws and stated, "Whoah there, It was just a joke." Trent noticed Lorien laughing a bit under his breath as each of the weapons moved just a little bit closer. His tail tucked itself tightly between his legs as he began to quiver a little. "Allright you three, that's enough, I'm sorry. You know me, I just couldn't help myself." To his relief all three weapons were lowered but they were fallowed by a fit of histaricall laughter from everybody but Trent. The laughter lasted for more then a few moments and Trent was glad that it was night time because he was blushing so furriously that one might have been able to see it even under his dark grey fur. After what seemed like an eternity to everyone, the laughter slowly died down to a few chuckles here and there, and Alexander placed his paw on Trent's shoulder for support, still not quite able to look him in the eye, and said, "Yes brother, we know, and we just couldn't help ourselves eather. I told you that those damned cat jokes were gonna get you killed one of these days." Trent could feel his face burning with emarassment as everybody started to calm down. "Alright, alright, the meaning of the night is not to make fun of the dog here, it's to kill someone. Now, are we going to do that or not?" As everybody finally calmed down, Alexander re-roled the map and put it back in his pocket. "Of course that's what we're going to do," Alexander comforted with a pat on Tren't shoulder for reasurence. "Veren Duthjack will not live to see the sun rise of the next day." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alexander, Trent, Aslan, Bree, and Lorien quitly approached the moat of Duthjack's castle, making it a point to create as little noise as possible as to not allert the few castle gaurds that were on top of the monsterous walls. With only a hand signal from Alexander everybody quitly waided into the muddy water of the moat. Before getting in, Alexander checked the map one last time to make sure that they were as close to the underwater entrance as possible. Happy with his findings, Alexander placed his paw at the center of the map and muttered a single word. With that the paper burst into flames and was completely gone within half of a minute. He then waided into the water, took a deep breath, and submerged himself. The water was so muddy that one could only see about two feet infront him/her, but it made no differance. Alexander knew that the secret enctrace was at the bottom of the moat so he just kept his pace untill he touched the bottom. When he found the bottom he began feeling around for a set of metal bars. His paws brushed up against several things, weeds mostly but he could have sworn that he felt bones sprawled out here and there. 'Damn it! were the hell is the gate?' he tought as he felt himself running out of air. Finally he felt his paws hit something thin and metalic. Without waiting another second he grapsed the bars tightly, braced himself with his feet and pulled as hard as he could. Without much af a fight the bars came off the secret entrance and he swam as fast as he could to reach the top. After what seemed like an eternity Alexander exploded out of the water, gasping for air as he climbed out of the small pool. He looked around the room he was in for a moment, scanning his surroundings. It was just a simple stone room and the only thing Alexander noticed pf unterist was the door behind him. Just as Alexander set eyes on the door Aslan burst out of the water, followed directly by Lorien, whom was now missing his staff. Aslan seemed to have no trouble breathing but Lorien on the other hand could barely get out of the water. Once Aslan was out he took Lorien's paw and yanked him out of the water without a single bit of trouble. Alexander looked at Aslan and asked hastely, "Where's Trent and Bree?" "I don't know," Aslan stated as he detached the axe from his back. "They were right behind us." With a huge splash Bree exploded out of the water, holding a coughing and sputtering Trent around the waist with one arm and Trent's hallabird held in her free paw, trying her best to keep him above water. "Help me!" she commanding loudly as Trent's weight began to pull her under as well. Not needing any further incentive Aslan and Alexander grabbed the two under the arms and yanked them up. Bree stood up quickly and caught her breath But Trent fell to his hands and knees, caughing up water as he tried to recover. After he at least began to be able to breath Aslan kneeled down beside him and said, "What, the poor pupy didn't learn to do the dogy padle?" All Trent could muster was a choked, "Screw you," between coughing fits. "I got my leg caught on something." As Trent stood up Bree handed him his hallabird, who took it hastely and used it for support, and Bree then stated, "All right you guys, he made the cat joke, you made the dog joke, now we're even so let's get going." She looked at Lorien quisically and asked, "Do you know magic that could dry us off?" Lorien, who now had his staff again even though nobody knew how, nodded and simply waved his paw. At that everybody was completely dry, not to menchin a lot lighter now that their fur wasn't waited down with water. "Allright, we no the plan, no speaking from here on out." Lorien said in a soft whisper, then looking at Alexander. "We're following you, so lead the way." Without further-a-do alexander stepped up to the door and put his ear to it. After making sure he didn't hear anything he cautiosly twisted the door nob and oppened it just enough to see into the next room. The room was huge, looking almost like a sparing arena, but in the dim light Alexander couldn't see much. The darkness of shadow encircled the entire room and it gave Alexander an uneasy feeling but it was the only way into the castle from where they were now. After making the usumotion that it was safe to come out he gave a wave to the rest of his party and slowly walked out into the room. As they got to about the center of the room the door slamed shut and the room they were in instently lit up as bright as day . As they looked around the room they realized they were completely encircled by knights outfitted with swords and black armor. 'Damn it, it's a fucking trap' Alexander thought in despair. Alex drew his sword guickly and stood in a ready position, making sure that he was ready for anything. Trent, Lorien, Aslan, and Bree took his example and did the same. Aslan readied his axe in both paws just as Trent did with his hallabird. Bree drew both of her katanas and Lorien was already somuning an incantation. There was a loud, deep laughter that seemed to fill the room, as if it was coming from all around them. "Ha ha ha, do you really think you will live past this night? You're outnumbered twenty to one, drop your weapons, tell me who you are and what your bussiness is here and I'll consider letting you live," the deep voice camanded from somewhere in the room. Alexander didn't drop his sword but he did wish to tell this mysterious person who he was. "I am Alexander Khri'pher, son of General Dolman Khri'pher, and these are my comrades. We have all come here exact revenge and I can gaurinty that it will be swift and just, but I alone have come here to accept an old challenge from Veren Duthjack," Alexander stated proudly. "And, yes, I do really think we can win against these odds!" Directly across from Alexander two knights stepped to the side and a Jackal about Alexander's size stepped forth. Alexander emediatly knew who this was; Veren Duthjack. "Yes, I remember you, young one. It looks as if you took my words to heart." "First thing's first Duthjack, I'm not a 'young one' any more," Alexander stated with a proud tone in his voice. He gripped his sword tightly in his paws and finished. "And second, I'm going to be finishing this quickly, so prepare to... DIE!" He charged towrads Duthjack at full force, sword held out at his side. He stabbed at Duthjack but the jackel drew his sword and side stepped, parrying Alexander's attack easily, then turning around with a flick of his arm, throwing Alex accross the room. Alexander flew straight through a brick pillar and slammed against the wall behind it. He could feel bones break when he hit and an excrutiating pain shot through his left shoulder. "ALEX!" Trent, Aslan, Lorien, and Bree screamed as one. They each tried to get to Alexander's side and help him but when they attermpted this, a volley of arrows was let loose. In the time it took the arrows to reach them, Lorien raised his staff, screamed the ancient words, "HAUST MESHNON!" and slammed the end of his staff against the ground. Electritiy surged all around the fourof them and reflected all the arrows. When the shield dicipated they eached charged in a different direction. Alexander and Veren watched as they were seperated by a raging battle. Even though it was atleast eighty to four, it seemed as if it were two great armies clashing. Bree spotted a few hopefully worthey apponents and attacked. In one fail movement she flipped over two knights and before they had a chance to turn around she had impaled them both on her katanas. She then dropped the katanas, drew two daggers and threw them at the closest knights. As the daggers struck their targets the knights ctutched at the chests and fell to the ground with an audible 'thud'. Aslan on the other hand wasn't as agile but was just as efective at killing his share of the opponents. Each swing of his axe brought down at least two knights. He let out a bellowing roar of success as he stood triumohintly over several dead bodies. Lorien delicetly jumped and dodged attacks from all dierections, his cloak streamming behind him as if it where his shaddow. Spinning, twisting, twirling, catching the knights off gaurd with his speed. He held his paw out in front of him as he dodged about, palm up, and muttered an incantation. A blue flame burst to life in his paw, shaped like a large blade, and he used it as such. As he spun and twisted he attacked, seemlesly striking out at everything around him. As he continued his non-stop attack, his fire dagger was blocked by something. 'Impossible,' he thought as he looked up to see a fire-sword stopping his attack, and at the other end of the sword was Lutra. "Ah, so the bitch of a traitor has decided to show her face after what she did," Lorien stated as the fire dagger decipated, as did Lutra's sword. Lutra smiled back at him as the fight raged on around them, though not one knight seemed to pay even the slightest attention to him now that he and lutra where standing off. "Well, technically I am a bitch, but I do believe that's beside the point. And second, I've shown my face to elemenate the only person that could magically give Alexander the edge in this fight. Now, shall we dance?" Lutra snapped her fingers and a white-ivory staff appeared in her paw. She spun it around a few times in her paw and then switched it to the other, spinning it around a little more to rest into a propper stance. "Yes, we shall," Lorien stated as he too got into a ready stance. "But before we do, I would like you to know a few tid bits of imformation. First of all, Alexander made me take an oath to not impower him in any way, and I plan on keeping that oath. But what is most important is that Alexander allready has a magicall power stronger then all others, even mine. That power is driven by his love for his late father, and his hatred of Veren. It is only a matter of time before he finds it and uses it to slay the asshole that he has searched for for so long. By the way, you put on quite the act about being afraid of magic, seeing that you used a full force fire weapon, which takes four years to master at that level." "Enough talk," Lutra snapped out of impatients, then pointing her staff at Lorien. "FLAMERODIUM!" A spinning pillar of green flames burst from Lutra's staff and headed strait for Lorien. Lorien dodged to the side and felt the magical flames singe at his robes. He also noticed that the pillar of flames got to him, yet it didn't even hurt Duthjack's knights in the slightest bit, they didn't even notice it. When Lorien thought he was safe he heard the roar of the flames closing in behind him. As he turned he raised his staff vertically at the approaching flames and yealled the words, "MARION COUNTER!" Just as the flames came within a foot of his staff they dicipated and he turned around to face Lutra but she was no longer there. "Damn... HAUST MESHNON!" Just before the electric shield he had used earlier was able to enclose around him a jolt of lightining grazed his shoulder. He fell to the ground, his staff falling several feet away fromhim, his left arm and side allready covered in his own blood.
Copyright © 2004 Draco Streaver |