"Angel," Rynn hissed as she pulled Mourn Blade out of seeming nowhere. "Can you use a sword?" The Knights made no move to attack. Having them surrounded, the Knights apparently didn't see the need to.
"Yes," Angel replied reluctantly, flashing back to the last time he was in a sword fight. "But..."
"Good," Rynn interupted, tossing Mourn Blade to him. Angel caught the smoking red sword easily. At contact, his inner demon seem to grow stronger. It was a struggle not to let himself vamp out. Immediately after tossing Angel the sword, Rynn reached behind her back again and drew the Runeblade.
Idly and not for the first time, Angel wondered how she did that.
"Hey, who are you suckas?" their taxi driver bellowed at the Knights. He waved an AK-47 at the Knights. When did taxi drivers carry those? That was an extreme even for Los Angeles. For that matter, how had he fitted that thing under his seat? "You don' wanna mess with B.A. Baracus!"
"We are members of the Dark Union," a voice said from the shadows. Angel's excellent night vision spotted a ragged figure floating there. "And we have come to retrieve our property. If you give it to us peacefully, you will not be harmed."
Yeah, right. "And just what do you want?" Angel asked as he sized up the opposition. He didn't know much about the Knights' actual combat skills and strengths, but Angel could see that they were armored from head to toe. Worse, most of them were weilding flaming swords. Vampires, which Angel happened to be, were very vulnerable to fire.
"Why, we want the Runeblade," the shadowy figure answered. "The girl stole it from us."
"It didn't belong to you," Rynn growled. "I will not give up the Runeblade as long as I live."
"You'll have to get through me first before you get to her," Angel said with more bravado than he felt.
"Hey, no one shakes down MY passengers!" B.A. added.
Silence reigned. All eyes slid towards Doyle. "Uh, ah, um, can I take a raincheck?" he finally said. "I'll get back to you guys later in, like say...a thousand years?"
"Heroes," the shadowy figure muttered exasperated, then ordered the Knights, "Kill them."
* * *
After locating the third secluded spot in the woods and determining that it wasn't in use (the first two, they discovered, were being used for some kind of mating rituals), Arokh and Kevin Sorbo settled down to talk.
"Ah, it is a pleasure to be away from that 'party'," Arokh commented as he relaxed. "I never liked such formal gatherings. They seemed to lower the intelligence of even the smartest humans down to the level of an orc."
"I know what you mean," Sorbo agreed. "I wouldn't even have been here, but my agent seems to think its good for my acting career."
"Indeed." Arokh regarded the night sky. The cloud cover was dissipating, revealing unfamiliar stars. "Perhaps I did not introduce myself. I am Arokh of the Order of the Flame." He sighed sadly at the memory.
"Well, as long as we're introducing ourselves by our real names, I'm Hercules."
"Indeed?" Arokh regarded this strange human closely. "Why do you name yourself Kevin Sorbo to the other humans?"
"Well, most people in the world recognize the name of Hercules," the human said modestly. "I could do without the attention that would bring."
Considering the type of humans back at the party, Arokh understood the sentiment perfectly.
"Since the name of Hercules is world famous," Hercules began, "how come you don't recognize it. In my experience, most monsters have heard of me, too."
"Ah, well, there you have me," Arokh replied. "I'm not from this world. I come from another."
"Is that a fact?" Hercules said, intrigued. "Tell me more."
* * *
The Death Mage was incredibly pleased with himself. They had been lucky after the, er...accident with the road beast. Avoiding humans and road beasts alike, they had suffered no more losses. Tracking the distinctive energies emitted by the Void Crystal that formed the Runeblade's pommel, the Death Mage was surprised when it started moving in their direction. He was even more surprised and pleased when he discovered that the dragon wasn't with the peasant wench. Instead, there were only three other humans with her, and only two looked as if they were warriors of any sort. Surely they couldn't stand up to twelve Knights and himself.
But just in case, he summoned the Blade Dragons anyway. They would probably arrive after the fight was won, but a ride back would be nice. Then he initiated negotiations which as expected, failed. No matter, he gave the order to kill the humans.
And was startled badly by the loud rattling noise that followed. He was even more shocked when a Crimson Knight reeled from invisible blows then faded from existance before he even hit the ground.
For an instant, the Death Mage and the Knights were frozen in surprise. Then the humans were among them, blades swinging.
* * *
"So, after defeating this Navaros guy," Hercules said, "you and your rider dived down the Rift and wound up here. Just how did you wind up with Miss Chase as your rider?" It made a fascinating story. Maybe he could pitch the idea to his producer.
"Cordelia Chase is NOT my rider," Arokh replied insulted. "I would rather be a slave to the Dark Union than let THAT human be soul bonded to me."
"Then why did you come to the party with her?"
"Upon our arrival, some humans greeted us and offered us shelter," Arokh told him. "They took us in and gave us rest. However, the man's home was too small for me, so they took me elsewhere and set Cordelia Chase as my keeper." Arokh looked thoughtful. "Although I detected no duplicity, mayhap they thought that I would grow so weary of her company that I would kill her."
"That bad, huh?"
"Indeed."
* * *
Angel reached a Crimson Knight first. Startled by B.A.'s gunfire, the Knight was slow in reacting. Just as it began to raise its twin flaming swords, Angel beheaded the Knight with a single stroke.
There was nothing inside but a wisp of smoke.
Having seen (and caused) stranger things in his long life, Angel ignored it immediately went after the next Knight. This one was ready for Angel. Angel locked blades with the Knight. Immediately it became apparent that Angel was the stronger of the two. Twisting the blades around and flipped the Knight onto its back. Freeing Mourn Blade, Angel kicked another Knight that was coming at them and impaled the prone one with the sword.
The sword pulled energy from the fallen Knight and conducted it into Angel. It was an almost vampiric effect. The demon in Angel drank it in greedily and exulted in it. Angel felt it well up inside...
Which was when he got hit by lightning.
* * *
"I have a question to ask you, Hercules," Arokh began. "It has been bothering me for sometime, but I thought it impolite to ask."
"Ask away," Hercules replied. He wondered if he could get Arokh and his friend, Rynn hoom. Maybe if he called in a few favors...
"Ever since I arrived on this world, I keep meeting these humans who smell, well, strange," Arokh said. "Like you for example. Pardon me if I offend, but could you perhaps tell me why that is?"
Hercules didn't answer right away as he weighed his response. He might as well tell the truth; Arokh knew his real name.
"That's because I'm not completely human," he told Arokh.
* * *
"C'mon, I'm n-not afraid of you," Doyle stammered to three Knights facing him. This was just great. Here he was in the middle of a brawl and all he had to fight with were his fists. To make matters worse, he was the only one without a weapon.
He didn't even consider using his demonic aspect.
The three Knights sized him up for a second. Then the middle one stepped forward towards Doyle. The other two moved to help there fellows.
"Oh, now I'm just insulted," Doyle said. His Knight raised both flaming swords. Doyle rushed in and delivered a ringing blow to the Knight's helmet. "Owowowowowowow!" He came away clutching his sore fist.
The Knight paused to let his helmet stop vibrating, allowing Doyle to back away a safe distance. Then it stepped forward to make charred confetti out of him.
Doyle, finding himself backed against the taxi, did the only thing he could think of. He climbed on top of the taxi.
And then lightning shattered the night.
* * *
"You're a demigod?"
"That's right."
"So the other strange smelling 'humans' are also demigods?"
"Not really. If you're right about the smell, then they might be full fledged gods, demons, fairies or other things."
"What a strange world where nonhumans masquerade as humans."
"It's a survival trait."
* * *
Rynn dodged a swing from a Crimson Knight and returned a blow of her own, cutting deep through the armor but not fatally. She didn't have time to follow up as two other Knights swung at her. She leaped and dodged.
As much as she'd like to, Rynn couldn't mentally summon Arokh. She had to concentrate entirely on the situation at hand. There were far too many Crimson Knights for her tastes.
Lightning flashed, momentarily blinding her. Lightning meant Ebon Knights. Cursing she leapt away from where she had seen any Knights and banged her head against one of the metal poles that lined the streets here.
She stood up unsteadily and and blinked her eyes clear. The Crimson Knights weren't pressing in on her. Why...?
Her half formed question was answered when a magic missile knocked her off her feet.
* * *
Arokh roared in pain. Something had injured his rider and Arokh felt it through their mental link. Cursing himself for a fool, he spread his wings to take off.
"Arokh, what is..." Hercules began.
"Rynn is in trouble," Arokh told him. "My apologies, Hercules, but I must go to her aid!"
"Take me with you," Hercules told him. "I can help."
"None but the one I am soul bonded with may ride me," Arokh replied firmly.
Hercules thought about it for a half second before he had an idea. "There might be an alternative..."
* * *
B.A. pumped emptied his last few remaining rounds into a Knight. The Knight fell back and faded away. That made three he had accounted for tonight. Unfortunately, his extra ammo magazines were in the cab. On the bright side, no Knights were coming at him at the moment.
However weird these guys in armor were, bullets would still stop them. B.A. took slight comfort in that. A quick look around showed him that the chick and black duster guy were holding there own, though black duster guy looked a might singed. However, B.A.'s remaining passenger was climbing on top of his taxi, trying to keep from being skewered by a Knight. The Knight had his back to him.
"Hey, sucka!" B.A. growled, placing a hand on the Knight's shoulder and spinning it around to face B.A. Before the Knight could react, B.A. slammed one fist across the Knight's helmet. Ow! That was hard stuff. The helmet spun a 180 and came to rest backwards. Suddenly blinded the Knight instictively dropped his swords to try and correct the problem. With both hands, B.A. physically hauled the Knight over his head and flung the Knight to the pavement. The Knight landed with a loud clang, stunned.
That done, he retrieved some magazines from the cab.
* * *
Arokh flew through the night L.A. sky, homing in on Rynn's position. No one rode on his back.
"I never would have thought of this, Hercules," he said. "I congradulate you."
"Just don't let go," the demigod replied, dangling from Arokh's claws. "And don't squeeze to hard."
* * *
The human weilding the legendary Mourn Blade was good. To the Ebon Knight however, it was sacrilege for any but the leader of all Knights, Ebon or Crimson, to weild it. The Ebon Knight meant to take it away from this impertinent human.
Seeing then human withstand a lightning bolt and barely flinch, the Ebon Knight began to have his doubts.
A Crimson Knight attacked the human from behind. In a single motion, the human dodged, grabbed the attacking Knight with one hand, and flung him into the other Ebon Knight. The two went down in a heap.
The Ebon Knight readied his Dark Scimitars. While no Mourn Blade, they should suffice. He parried the first blow the human made with his left Scimitar and drove the other into the human's heart.
For an instant, the Ebon Knight exulted in his victory. Then he noticed that the human wasn't falling over dead. In fact, the human was growling at him. His eyes glowed yellow, his fore herhead was rigid, and he had fangs.
Too late, the Knight realized that he wasn't facing a human at all. Then Angel tore his arm off.
* * *
Rynn leaned against the lightpole. She could barely lift the Runeblade, but she wasn't about to give up. She pulled out a healing potion. A ghostly skull ripped it out of her hands.
"Now we can't have that," said a Death Mage who appeared behind the three Crimson Knights confronting her. "It might interfere with you dying a horrible painful death." The Knights advanced.
*Arokh,* she sent desperately, *where are you?*
In reply, a string of fireballs blasted the Knight on her left. A large man with long hair ran past her, grabbed a startled Knight and lifted it off the ground like he weighed nothing. Inverting the Crimson Knight, the stranger drove the Knight head first into the pavement with a force strong enough to drive the helmet into the torso. The taxi driver's noise weapon roared and the last Knight dropped, gaping holes torn in his back.
Rynn took the opportunity to ingest a blue Life Potion. Immediately, all her injuries were healed and she felt ready to fight. Trouble was, there was no one left.
"Having fun?"
Rynn turned to see Arokh right there beside her. "You look refreshed," she said to the dragon sarcastically.
Arokh just huffed.
"You all right?" the newcomer asked. He was accompanied by Doyle and the taxi driver.
"I'm fine," Rynn said. "Where's..." Then she saw him. Angel was fighting an Ebon Knight and obviously winning. However, the last Crimson Knight was sneaking up behind him. "Angel!" Sprinting past the others, Rynn rushed straight at the Crimson Knight. Rynn raised her sword to strike. So did the Knight.
* * *
Aboard the USS Nimitz, the duty officer spotted something on his radar. After double checking his equipment, there was no doubt that about two dozen unknowns were flying in formation over Los Angeles air space well below the designated air ways.
He informed the next higher up.
Over L.A., twenty-four Blade Dragons flew, ready to destroy anything that stood between them and the Rune Blade.
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