On Other Happenings In The Kingdom Of Irelios (Part 2)

Amid the colorful smoke that wafted out of the cave, a mound of dark green fur emerged.

The creature was probably ten feet tall, propped up by two long arms and two shorter legs. But it was hard for Leo to really judge its height accurately, because as soon as it saw him and Nissa it trampled towards them while growling ferociously.

"At last...we will end this today, beast!" Leo shouted as he pointed his sword to the sky.

His longsword was called the Light Blade, and aptly so because it seemed to capture the sunlight that reflected off its blade. Glittering rubies were encased within the blade near its golden hilt, and even those began to take on an otherworldly glow.

"Leo wait!" Nissa shouted as she raised her hands. "Remember the plan!"

He gave her a wary look, but continued to hold up his sword as she did her thing.

The moment the beast came out of the cave, Nissa had cast out her magic. She communed with the nearby earth and chose several large boulders. By the time the beast noticed her and Leo and began to charge, her spell was already well underway.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The calamitous sound of boulders all falling at once spooked the beast, making it skid to a halt and turn around. It found that the cave entrance was now covered by rocks.

"There's no escape for you now!"

Now that the beast's back was turned to him, Leo took the opportunity to attack. He charged and slashed his sword, sending out a resplendent crescent of light shooting at the creature.

"Grrrraagh!"

The beast cried out, but it seemed more annoyance than pain. And indeed, the light magic harmlessly struck the creature's fur, shattering and disappearing unceremoniously.

Leo was surprised but didn't let it affect his momentum. He continued with his follow up attack, going with steel over magic.

But then the beast turned into a green blur.

Before he could even bring his sword to a full arc, Leo saw a long shaggy arm come at him with unnatural speed. It was all he could do to twist and redirect his sword to block it.

Shing!

A hooked claw ran along the metal and loosed the sword from Leo's hand. Leo himself was sent stumbling backward from the sheer force of the blow. He fell on his butt with nothing but his shield to protect him.

Looking up, he could see the face of the beast peering at him from under its fur. Its enraged yellow eyes were trained on him. It breathed heavily, as if in anticipation. Its long snout also sniffed at him rapidly as if deciding whether he was suitable for breakfast.

Leo didn't intend to find out.

The Everlasting Flame inside him sparked to life with a thought, powering him into leaping up and sprinting at the beast with shield raised. Like a human battering ram he slammed into the beast's stomach. It let out a high-pitched cry of surprise and staggered backwards. But its hind legs were just as strong as its arms, with the same hooked claws that dug into the ground for purchase.

Still, that momentary stumble was all Leo needed. With the power of the flame still fueling him, he ran to his sword.

"Nissa, what are you doing?" he yelled.

"You know how hard it is to call wind on a non-windy day!"

"Then use earth magic!"

"I have an affinity, you know!"

An angry growl cut into their conversation. They both looked at its source and found that the creature was rushing towards Leo. Even with the flame's power, his speed only barely kept him ahead of the beast. Leo only just managed to grab his sword when the beast reached a close enough distance to pounce at him.

"Finally!"

As the beast reached the apex of its leap, Nissa thrust out her hands. A sudden gale launched out from behind her and struck the beast with the force of the strongest tornado wind.

But the beast didn't move an inch. Its huge body continued its ferocious trajectory towards Leo as it held out its front claws eagerly.

Leo rolled forward just in time to avoid the mound of fur that came crashing to the ground. It rose and wheeled around to face him, growling repeatedly.

"Nissa, retreat."

"What?" She stared on, too shocked to move.

"It's impervious to magic. There's nothing you can do against it. Go, I'll finish this myself!"

Leo stood tall, brandishing his sword and holding up his shield, meeting the beast's wild eyes.

"You can't!" Nissa took a step forward but was stopped by Leo's shout.

"Go!"

He turned that yell of warning into a battle cry. As if resonating with his voice, a flame burst to life. It started on his chest, a golden flame that spread until it covered his whole body. But he didn't burn. Instead, he shot forth like a human fireball.

The beast let out a high-pitched growl and swiped a hasty claw. Leo was ready for it this time, jumping up as he pointed his sword at his foe. He drove the point down as he fell, hitting the beast in its shoulder. The fur might have resisted magic, but against a sword it gave way like any creature of flesh would.

A sharp cry rang out as Leo pulled away his sword and landed. Without wasting a single moment, he threw out a shield bash. This time the beast did more than stagger. It fell right down down and collapsed into a ball.

Still not finished, he dashed over to the ball of fur and raised his sword. When he got close, it raised its head weakly and looked at him with pained eyes. He wasn't falling for it. He moved to bring down his blade.

"Leo! Hold! To Nissa!"

The familiar voice only needed to say those four words to get him to act. Leo stopped mid-swing, turning and jumping over to Nissa. Then they both looked in the direction of the voice.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting, my Heroes. I shall take it from here."

The owner of the voice was a tall handsome blonde man in his twenties. He wore a simple cotton shirt and pants with well-worn boots. On his back was a basic sack. Everything about him was rather ordinary except that he was standing on top of a sizable chunk of flying ice!

"My prince?"

Leo watched as his Patron flew the ice past him and towards the beast. As he passed, a strong wind blew that nearly knocked him off his feet.

"Is he...using wind magic to keep him and that ice afloat?" he asked Nissa.

"To make wind that strong, he's basically casting a mini-tornado!" she replied as she looked up in awe.

Even the beast looked up at the strange man who commanded the winds to bring the chunk of ice to a rest in front of it. Before the ice hit the ground, the man hopped off and used earth magic to create a crater right below it. Once the ice landed in the center of the crater, he conjured a column of fire to melt the ice. Within a minute, the flying ice had become a small pool of water.

"My lord, what are you…"

Before Leo could finish his question, the beast unfurled itself from its ball. Leo raised his sword, but his prince held up a gentle hand. The beast sniffed curiously, then moved slightly forward. The prince turned his back to the creature and began walking towards Leo and Nissa.

That made the creature move.

Leo watched in horror as the beast leapt eagerly forward. But instead of going for the prince, it stuck its head in the pool of water.

"A Swamp Sloth," the prince said as he joined his Heroes. "A creature named because it calls the swamps of Marovio home. It certainly isn't used to the dry climate of Irelios. I figured it might like a refreshing drink after being trapped in this desolate quarry."

"A beast from Marovio..." Leo didn't know where to begin.

"A product of black hunters, no doubt," the prince replied, shaking his head. "They capture poor creatures like these to sell. This guy probably escaped. Or it never sold, so they released it without any concern for its ideal environment."

"So it wasn't on a rampage?" Nissa asked.

"Oh, no. Just scared and far from home. I'm sorry for asking you to be so rough with it, but there's no way I could wear it down enough to capture it. As you probably saw, its fur resists magic."

"Capture it?" asked Leo.

"Of course! We need to nurse it back to health and then release it in its natural habitat," the prince said, looking back towards the Swamp Sloth. It was lapping up the water happily.

"I...I thought we were meant to kill it," Leo said sadly. Then he bowed to the prince. "My lord, I offer you my sincerest apologies. I doubted your plan and could only think of the most violent outcome."

The First Prince chuckled. "Always the worrier, Leo. I should apologize to you for my lack of information. But time was of the essence. Whatever the confusion, the important thing is the beast and the mine workers can return to normalcy. Well, after Nissa uses her magic to clean up this battlefield. Nissa?"

Leo looked to her and found her staring at the beast, eyes narrow.

"Black hunters, huh?"

"You have a thought?" the prince asked.

"This reminds me of a story I just heard back at the palace. Second Princess Reina fought a weird Gramt lizard-thing. Seems like too much for a coincidence."

"A Gramtese Dragon?" The prince's eyebrows raised. "Why did Reina fight one of those?"

"Oh, right. She has a Hero now. Leo hates him. It's a whole thing. But what's with these big animals coming here from all over the place?" Nissa said.

"These black hunters are clearly getting more active," said Leo. "Once we get this creature home, I will make it a priority to deal with them."

The prince clapped his shoulder. "Well said, Leo. But right now I want to hear more about my sister and this Hero of hers…"

****

It was well into the afternoon when the First Prince and his Heroes finally departed the mines. They restored everything to its proper order, earning cheers from the people as they rode away. The Swamp Sloth slept in a wagon (thanks to a sleeping potion the price mixed into its food) pulled by their horses.

But as one problem was about to leave Irelios, another was about to enter.

As he promised Marco and Reina, the captain of the Gramt-Irelios border fort had increased the number of men stationed on the wall. This made it so that even the most routine patrol of Gramtese soldiers was eyed with suspicion as it marched by.

But the thinly-dressed woman with dark, braided hair was no routine patrol. She had been watching the wall for days and had pinpointed the most lax guards in charge of the most vulnerable section. Those guards were on their shift now, making it the perfect time for her to act.

Wood magic was her specialty. She loved to talk to plants, for they had language more elegant than most people. Reaching out a tanned hand, she had a delightful conversation with the tree she was sitting in. When she had achieved its cooperation, she got to the tip of one its stronger branches. The branch bent down and a little back.

The Irelian guards were chatting, barely keeping an eye on their surroundings. As she squatted down, the woman laughed to herself at how lazy Irelians were.

Fwoom!

The branch snapped forward, propelling the woman up and over the wall. She used what little command of wind magic she had to keep herself steady (even though she disliked talking to wind). Not a single Irelian soldier noticed her as she soared right above them. After all, up wasn't exactly a direction Gramtese soldiers usually came from.

Another tree was waiting to catch her on the way down. It put a sturdy branch in her path. She stuck out her arms and caught it, swung, and flipped into a landing.

"Thanks!" she said to the tree. "Now I'm going to join the others. Don't tell anyone."

So it was that the first of the Drifters, Gramt's most elite warriors, came to Irelios.

****

"There it is. Connor."

Reina pointed out the carriage window to a ramshackle little village on the water's edge.

"Finally!" Marco said in exasperation. "I don't think I could take another second of nothing happening!"