Death Hunters 16: Leave for Oosopika

       A gentle breeze blows through the green leaves, the sun shines, and the clouds move sleepily by. The air is warm, the breeze is soothing, and all that lives would rather rest and enjoy the moment. This is true especially for the many cat-girls of Hyatha-Aria’s preserve. Cata sits back  on the wood beam platform built especially for panther-women watching some chirpies building a nest in a tree nearby while her aunts yawn and lay about the large jungle gym structure. Cookie Clean and Betty are laughing as they play with the younglings as they rummage through a trunk of cloths, balls, and other distractions after their day’s lesson. Hollia and Lin Lin are sitting around a table outback having afternoon tea with Hyatha-Aria; however today something is different, normally Rhulan would descend from her training in the clouds to join them. Hollia looks up, rather than seeing the black dot swirling about the clouds and purple flashes that would be Rhulan, something that some of the cat-girls had come to look forward to each day as though it were entertainment, Hollia instead can barely make out amongst the blur of the afternoon sun a stationary form. Rhulan stands high in the air watching something in the distance.

     *Raka-taka-Ka-Boom!*

     Enumerable feline ears prick up, Hollia’s own appear out of instinct and turn in the direction of the sound.

    *Raka-taka-Ka-Boom!*

    Again, and again, or at least a few times; the sound is clearly far away, like a distance whisper of thunder, except it’s unlike any sound…

   “No,” thinks Hollia harder, “I’ve heard something like it before,”

   Her mind reels back to a machine she saw once when she was very little when her parents had brought her with them to Agrax, the thing smelled awful and bellows black smoke. At one point it shook and unleashed a sound of clanking metal and explosions that frightened her.

    Hollia looks up again, this time whispering a spell of clear vision to see Rhulan clearly. Hollia stands and looks in the direction Rhulan is, the same direction the sound is coming from, of course she can’t see anymore than anyone else, save for a thin black line rising from the ground, the sign of a very distant fire.

    *******

    *Roko-toe-KA-BOOM!*

    The wooden ship with its very out of place mechanical cannons fires again upon the smaller metal vessel, a smaller boat made for speed rather than cargo, but still large enough to have been mistaken from a distance for a fishing boat. Upon the hull of the wooden ship is the crest of the Agrax Empire. Their cannons bellow smoke and fiery explosions, but to no avail as they only fit a green force field around the smaller vessel, revealed only when the cannon fire hits it.

    “Unbelivable!” shouts the scruffy captain of the Agrax ship, “Damned sorcery! Gunners, arm all the cannons, I want that witch ship blown out of the water, tell us to stand down and be boarded will they. We’ll show them what it means when we say, all Agrax are soldiers!”

    The men cheer even as they fall silent, a green glowing coming upon them engulfing the ship. All on board fall dead.

    The straight black bearded face of the captain of the enemy vessel laughs as the mechanical cannon next to him powers down, a faint green glow vanishing from inside its barrel.

    He turns to his men and waves his arm signaling them to throw their hooks at the sides of the merchant ship, beyond it not far away perhaps only a few miles in fact, is the shore of the city of Osopika, the destination of the merchant ship, its final stop before making the long sea ride back home across the Gulf of Archae, through the Devil’s straight, and across the Great Sea by way of the Isles of the Goddesses; a very long distance indeed.

    “Ha!” laughs the captain scratching his fuzzy chest, intentionally exposed through his fur lined leather vest, “Those Stratalian dogs know better than to try and help anyone out in our sea! Ha!”

    He nudges his second in command, a robust short man, “Just look out there, I bet their all standing on the sea line, watching the green glow of our fancy new weapons, the pointless effort of these so called superior fire-power gifted Agrax people. Ha! That Croix trader wasn’t kidding about this Necro-Shield and Necro-Cannon, but I tell you, those Croix guys may take over the world, but Ravashira, Ravashira man, its ours for the taking, ha, ha, ha.”

   The rest of the men on board laugh as well, including those loading stolen goods over from the conquered vessel.

    Their laugher is short lived though, as the sea, and the very air around them turns crimson red.

    “What the hell?” says the captain as he and his men look to the sky.

    ******

    Mere moments before, a similar light has engulfed the preserve, except this one is not ominous to the cat-girls this one is wondrous.

    “wow,” utters Hollia looking to the sky as Hyatha-Aria nearly chokes on her tea in disbelief at the sight filling the sky above them.

    Rhulan holds her arms out as though they were wings, her body surrounded by a crimson glow like slow celestial fire. However this is not the source of the light, that would be the massive red archaic symbol that unfolded from directly beneath her tightly held together feet and grew to its present impressive size. Hyatha-Aria knows the spell all too well that conquers this symbol and this light, but she has never seen it so massive or the symbol below the one casting it, in her memory she recalls a man performing it, the symbol in the air above them and the size of a house.

    Rhulan utters words unheard, even to herself, her own personal modification on what has been deemed the most powerful of all fire spells. As she brings her arms above her, as though to embrace some form there a massive bird of crimson flame appears.

    Rhulan’s words echo from the clouds themselves as though she spoke with the thunder voice of the gods themselves, “Omega-Fire-Ra!”

    *SCreee!*

    As though alive the bird of crimson flames flaps its massive wings and flies off into the distance only to dive down to where Hollia had seen the pillar of black smoke; and from their vantage point a crimson glow is to be seen far beyond the tree line.

    ******

   “ahhhhhhh!” The shared scream of over twenty men as the phoenix of crimson flames comes down upon them as an eagle would descend upon a rabbit.

    *FWOOOSH!, phooooo*

    The Omega-Fire-Ra engulfs both vessels, the green force field unable to hold it back, shredding through it as a knife would shred a dead leaf. As it descends past them into the water a massive wall of steam erupts from the ocean’s surface.

    From the shore line the guards who had been readying their vessels for attack stop, the scouts reporting this new turn of events as they watch through their telescopes. The people had been warned back the moment the attack started, the guards reporting the sight of all the men of the merchant ship falling down, told by their magic council reporting back that it was Necro-magic, instant death. But now it is the magic council of the town’s magistrate that calls them to calm them down, to insure them that some powerful adventurer from outside of the city has cast a high level attack spell to come to the city’s defense.

    This council of eight white robed older men, reporting via communication crystals to the city protectors sit in a large room around a round table with a large white floating communications crystal in the center. An illusionary image appears, tracking the source of the magic, showing thought hazily the image of Rhulan in the sky as her glow dies down and the symbol vanishes.

    “Such a young woman.” says one man, “Hard to believe she cast such a spell.”

    “Indeed,” says another, “Although the magistrate is un-doubtable aware of this event we must contact him at once.”

    “Excuse me,” says a page at the door, “Master council men, but I do believe that woman is with the party staying at the priestess Hyatha-Aria’s estate.”

    They all turn and stare like confused dogs, “Uh, yes,” he continues feeling as though he had stepped out of line, “They’ve been the talk of the adventurers for a short while now, yes I am certain, see,”

   He points at the crystal as it scans down to show the buildings of the space above which Rhulan floats.

    “I see,” says another old council member, “Thank you page you may go now.”

   He bows leaving the tray of food he had been delivering for their afternoon repast.

    “Well,” says that same old man stroking her pointy beard, “Lord Byron-Lia’s younger sister and her party.”

   The others turn and stare at him, he looks around confused, “What? Was I the only one in this room who knew the princess and her attendant guards were staying at the lord’s grandmother’s estate? My do I feel privileged to be in the loop, ha, ha, ha, ha. Yes just me, the lord…that page…and every adventurer for a hundred miles.”

    The others look around sheepishly.

    ******

    Several hours later they are all sitting around the table as Mina the Nipponian Cat-girl in her cute blue maid’s outfit pours them their tea and brings out more small cakes to finish up the hardy meal the party, even Cata, has been enjoying. Rhulan has already explained what happened, and their decision is clear as one sees them once again ready to leave. Hyatha-Aria has told Hollia that she still has some training left to go, but is assured she can figure out the rest on her own.

    Their decision is confirmed as Nata the were-cat, the very one that had defeated the odd penguin like demon Vol-Pinyo and treated it like a toy, arrives with a guest, a very familiar face to the party although they know they’ve never met her before.

     “Greetings,” says the young woman with her delicate soft features and short straight black hair cut into modest style the back only slightly longer than her face with straight bangs stopping above her pencil line eye brows, as she bow her head and cups her small white hands in the lap of her dress as she does so.

     “A Petite Juggernaut.” Says Rhulan in an amused tone, “Well, well,” she sets down her tea, “Now I wander who could have sent her?”

     “I am here on behalf of Lord Byron-Lia.” says the golem whose delicate features hide as one unfortunate would be assassin back in Delca learned, a hidden intense power.

    “Of course,” says Hyatha-Aria standing, “Please come in Rebecca, it has been too long.”

    “As you wish mistress Hyatha.”

   The golem named Rebecca enters, staying for a short time, her demeanor impossibly proper, her behavior so incredibly polite,
so much so its hard to tell if Hyatha-Aria wanted her to stay out of kindness or amusement. One would be inclined to believe the former.

    After a brief conversation of catching up between Rebecca and Hyatha-Aria she politly insists she speak with the others.

    Turning to them she says, “I was sent with urgent news, I do not mean to sound rushed or rude, please forgive me, however the lord has requested that you come visit him as soon as possible. I am to ask your reply and deliver it to him as soon as possible.”

    “Of course,” says Hollia, “Please tell my brother we are leaving here today and should be there shortly.”

    Hollia turns to Rhulan knowing her response as she predicted it earlier that day, “Of course,” says Rhulan. Earlier she had explained to them that between the foreign attack near the harbor and her own show of power an intense political situation would insue one in which their party would be tracked down by anyone who could follow the spell. Its only natural the magistrate would look them up first, even though he would already know they would be arriving eventually.

   “It can’t be helped,” finishes Rhulan not saying her thoughts between the two phrases.

    “I will relay your message at once,” says Rebecca standing up and leaving.

    As she walks out the door she flies into the air and with the burst of a sonic boom takes off in the direction of Osopika.

    “Okay,” says Rhulan, “That I wasn’t expecting, so much for a nice carriage ride hidden from public view. Can’t imagine his line of reasoning on us walking into Osopika like…well that makes sense, just more adventurers contracted by the magistrate, best not to make anyone think we’re anything special to him.”

    She looks back at Hollia, “On that note probably best not to let anyone in town or along the way know you are his sister.” She dips her head, “After all a lot of people know you are here or should I say it’s a rumor, almost none of them have actually seen you…or me for that matter…but they have heard that aside from the Betty and Cookie who would be the only ones anyone in the village or the volunteers ever saw that there are three others including the grand-daughter of Hyatha-Aria, a swordswoman, and a sorceress; and I imagine only very few if any of them would know  Byron’s relation to her, well, well trickier and stickier the situation gets when a princess is amongst the warriors and the prince doesn’t want to give any clues or verify the rumors that may abound.”

    Hollia blushes, “I…I’m…not…”

   “I’m sorry,” says Cookie Clean interrupting them as they all step outside to continue on their way.

    She looks at them all and forces a soft laugh, “Its been fun guys, really it has,” she strokes the collar on her
neck, “Thanks priestess, and Betty, and everyone else, I’ve had fun, learned so much…*sniff*, I’ll come back someday I swear and see you all again, but really…I…”

    She straightens up and wipes her eye clear, “But I must continue my own quest to find away to free my sister and I from our curse. After the priestess we have several others places on our list…unfortunately they’re not on the path you all are going. Good-bye my friends, we next we meet I hope it will be under better circumstances.”

    She turns and with a wave of her hand opens a black and white swirling vortex and steps inside. It closes behind her leaving them dumbfounded.

   “Not one for long good-eye apparently.” says Rhulan.

   “Did she?” says Cata

   “I…think so…” says Betty.

   “heh,” says Rhulan, “So this whole time she could open portals to anywhere she wants to go.”

    Lin Lin cocks her head almost echoing Hollia’s own thoughts

   “Wait a minute,” says Hollia, “does that mean she could have taken us all to Osopika before she left?”

    “I imagine much further my dear grand-daughter.” says Hyatha-Aria, “If I sensed right about that portal…” she looks at Rhulan.

     Rhulan finishes, “She could have sent us all the way to Croix to the very end of the quest.”

    “What?” says Hollia.

   “Probably better she didn’t.” says Rhulan, “Not a good idea to skip to the last level before you’ve had a chance to fight the sub-bosses first and get stronger.”

    Hollia understands the analogy, although it once again leaves Betty confused, if reality were but a bit more cartoony a question mark would be floating above her head. Cata of course figures correctly, they don’t know what the big bad is capable of, fighting its minions along the way wont only allow them to properly gage its strength, but become more powerful themselves along the way.

   “Although,” she thinks looking at Rhulan as they all walk out of the preserve.

   *Cookie Clean has left the party*
   *Dark Cookie has left the party*

   “Isn’t that a little redundant?” asks Hollia aloud, interrupting Cata’s train of thought, “Oh, sorry,” says Hollia, “I was just thinking of something…”

    “I think I was thinking it.” thinks Hollia, “but shouldn’t that have been back when she first left and not while we’re all walking out the gate?”