Bloodfang Chronicles - Dotb Ch. 02

Bloodfang Chronicles: Dawn of the Beginning

Chapter Two: Raid on the Bandit Keep

Marching along the dirt path that leads to the town of Greystone, the assembled group of warriors and scouts keep their senses sharp, unable to afford an ambush. The one marching in front of the group, a tall, armored she-wolf, keeps a hand on the revolver holstered on her hip. With nothing more than a point of her finger, the trained combatants follow her into the woods and off of the path, her nose following the scent of blood.

The plant life yields to their advance, small shrubbery and grass being trampled underfoot as the war-party makes their way to a hill that overlooks a wide clearing, many trees having been cut down to make the tall log walls. The walls have two gates built into them, and inside the makeshift construction, a few wooden buildings are seen. One of them is larger than the rest, seeming to be the barracks or headquarters for the marauding criminals.

"Well...there it is," Kura says as she holds up a hand, halting the march of the ones sent along by her father. "Everyone rest up, and we'll go over a plan of action before we make our way to the keep! Maintain a lookout, and make sure no one, and no thing sneaks up on us!"

Relaxing in their stances, the warriors begin to fan out, cutting down and stomping the nearby plants to clear a space to set up a temporary campsite. A gesture from Kura leads the warrior over, the same one that nodded to her in the city. "Lieutenant Corvus, it's nice to see you again, though I do wish the circumstances were a bit more relaxed."

Corvus nods his head, his light grey fur seen between the gaps in his armor, and on his broad muzzle. "Indeed, Lady Kura. Though I would call cleaning up our lands to be a positive thing, regardless of relaxation," he says with a soft, casual smirk, the two having met a number of years ago after her father recruited him into his guard. "It's about all the excitement I get these days, too. What else is a Vampirican Lieutenant to do in peacetime?"

"I happen to recall a fair bit of paperwork on your desk yesterday. Surely you're plenty busy with such an important position," she teases, chuckling softly as she leads Corvus to a fallen tree nearby, taking a seat.

Sitting down with a grunt, he gives a mock frown, pretending to take offence to her remark. "What kind of leader actually does paperwork? No, that is delegated to one's lessers."

The two maintain eye contact for another moment before smiling and snickering, unable to hold back their mirth any longer. "I d-don't know how I said that with a straight face," he says with a shuddering snicker, making Kura laugh aloud.

"Nor d-do I. Oh, I apologize for my teasing, Corvus. It really is good to see you again," says Kura, giving him a quick hug, which he returns. "However, I am sure that we will need to come up with an idea for getting inside the keep."

"Well, we could always charge head first at them, and hope for the best."

"I meant serious idea, Corvus," she says with a roll of her eyes, getting another chuckle from her old friend. "We can't just charge an encampment like that, and I can see the sentry positions from here. I can't make out who is on the walls, however..."

"In honesty? Plan how you would do this, and we will follow that plan. If things start looking bad, I can resume command at any point. I have faith in you."

"I...appreciate it, Corvus. It's a bit nerve wracking in some ways. I'm not concerned about the risk of injury, but...death is an entirely different subject," she says with a contemplative expression as her gaze moves to the dirt beneath her. "I don't want to lead anyone to their deaths."

"Sorry to say, but that's too bad. Everyone dies one day, and war takes many to an early grave. None here would resent you for dying in defence of their homes under your leadership," he says, reaching up to place a hand on her shoulder. "It's inevitable. Besides, is the idea of meeting your patron like that really such a scary one?"

Keeping her gaze on the ground for another moment, she then sighs softly before giving Corvus a soft smile. "No, but...I don't want to be remembered as the one who died to some bandit because I was too weak to protect myself. I am a Huntress...or, one in training, anyways."

"You'll be fine, Kura. Or do you not believe in me and my warriors?" he questions with a cocked eyebrow, his features growing a bit stoic. "No lasting harm will come to you, you have plenty of shields to take cover behind."

Sighing softly, Kura nods her head, looking into her friend's eyes with a cheeky smile. "What would I do without you?"

"Well, you would probably be a lot worse with a blade without me. You were terrible when you first started, couldn't cut the arm off a Mauser if you had a clear swing. You're still not that good, but you're getting there. Maybe one day you'll actually win a sparring match against me, too," he jokes with a laugh, his eyes showing clear humor.

"Just like you might win a shooting contest against me one day? Let's not delude ourselves, we both know neither of those will happen."

Sharing a laugh with each other, Kura stands from the log, her eyes scanning over the mostly complete refuge, a few scouts missing from their ranks in search of various dangers that may be lurking nearby.

"Here's my plan. We use the scouts to flank the gates, shooting the bandits that are keeping sentry, while the bloodletters move forwards, weaving to avoid the return fire in the event that the scouts fail to stop the sentries. Once inside, we will spread out, cutting down whoever draws arms, and free whoever they may have taken captive," Kura explains after a moment of silence, her smile growing when she sees the curious expression on the Lieutenant's face.

"And where do you fit into this plan, exactly? Will you be moving with the scouts to remove the sentries?"

Shaking her head a bit, she points above the wall, her smile turning into a grin. "I'm going above the wall once the gates are open. Greedyguts is demoralizing enough to possibly cause panic among their ranks, meaning we would all have a simpler time of clearing the keep out. While he runs rampant, Jack and I will progress with the bloodletters, and make our way to the central building."

"That's where their leader likely is, you're reasoning?"

"Indeed. Whether they are cut down in or outside of the building matters not. What's most important is stopping as many as we can," she says, her hands resting on her hips.

Taking the time to mull over the plan for a few moments in silence, Corvus soon turns to look up at Kura. "Not a bad plan. We'll give it a shot, and see how it goes. What say you? Shall we begin?"

With a nod of her head, Corvus' expression becomes serious as he looks around the camp, then calls for the soldiers to form ranks. The previously resting troops rise from their makeshift camp, listening closely to the instructions explained to them.

"We will not let these bandits terrorize our home any longer. No longer will we fear these menaces pillaging our caravans, and kidnapping their victims," Corvus calls to the group, getting them pumped up for the battle ahead. With a simple gesture of Kura's arm, the scouts begin to slink off towards the sides of the encampment, and the bloodletters ready themselves to charge once the sentries are taken care of.

The scouts progress, their armor, along with the sun hanging low in the sky, allows them to remain unseen. Flashes are soon seen, and Kura points forwards as she draws her revolver from its sheath with her free hand, causing the bloodletters to charge forwards, each holding their weapons at the ready. Lieutenant Corvus also joins the charge, each staying silent to gain as much ground as possible before being fired at.

"Here we go, hehehe. I'm itching to get in there and finally fight something bipedal for once," Jack says running alongside Kura as she moves behind the large group of armored warriors. "Been way too long since I've enjoyed a battle."

"Calm yourself. Letting your emotions control you will lead to you getting shot. Again," Kura says with a deadpan, her loaded weapon at her side. A loud crack of gunfire is heard, and one of the warriors cries out in pain as a spray of blood shoots from his shoulder, the bullet having done straight through. "Move like we planned! They can't hit all of us if we don't keep still!"

Urgently heeding her words, they split up, bullets ripping through the earth as the sounds of automatic gunfire is heard, along with the occasional bit of sniper fire. The scouts can be seen moving towards the walls from other directions, their silenced rifles quickly dispatching the Wolvarian bandits along the wall. Jack gives a yelp as a round hits an inch away from where his foot is, growling in annoyance from the close call.

"That's it, this one is mine!" he shouts as he charges ahead of Kura, her eyes widening a bit in surprise as she witnesses Jack run full speed towards one of the bloodletters. Once Jack reaches him, he jumps onto the metal clad wolf's back before leaping into the air, his fingers grasping a pistol. He draws it in a quick, practiced movement, finger pulling the trigger and sending a round at the enemy, causing the automatic fire to cease for now as the bandit takes cover. "Damn! I have to get closer!"

"Jack, remember the plan! Eugh...I'm not letting him make another comment about my emotions after this..."

Kura sighs, flinching as a sniper bullet whizzes past her face, narrowly missing her armored head. She points her revolver at where the muzzle flash originates, firing three bullets in rapid succession, each of them hitting the wall around the small hole that is being used to shoot from. The automatic gunfire begins again, though the bloodletters have gotten quite close, a couple of them reaching the gates. Those two soon fall to the ground as they get riddled with bullets from the sentry's automatic weapon, dead before they hit the ground, and Jack growls again at the sight.

Unfortunately for the Thelgen shooter, his race now identifiable due to the shortened distance, he leaned out to make the shot, allowing Jack the chance to aim and pull the trigger again. This round hits true, painting the wall, and his feathers a scarlet red, slumping before falling over the wall, and hitting the ground with an audible crunch.

"Get those doors open! Don't retreat!" cries one of the remaining bloodletters, his weapon jabbing between the gaps in the logs to stab a bandit that is holding the door shut. Cries of pain from behind the wall are heard as the others follow this example, the gates starting to be pushed open.

Kura grins, opening the revolving chamber of her firearm before slipping a bullet into one of the six free chambers. Closing the chamber with a satisfying click, still grinning as she begins to aim at the ground a few feet ahead of her, her finger slowly squeezes the trigger.

A shot rings out, and Kura flinches softly in surprise, able to see Jack beginning to fall forwards, a large hole seen in his head. Before he hits the ground, his body seems to disintegrate into a black mist that soon settles onto the ground, seeping into the soil. Cocking the hammer back, Kura fires three more times at the sniper, one bullet seeming to have flown through the hole that the sniper barrel is poking out of.

"Let's see how they like my old friend here," she says with noticeably less cockiness than before, quickly firing a round at the ground a few feet from her. When the bullet strikes the ground, a shimmer ripples through the air, and a large gryphon seems to form into existence a few feet in front of her. Without a sound, the gryphon lowers itself for Kura to climb on, then spread its wings once she is securely on his back. "Get em, Greedyguts."

With a loud, piercing cry, the beast flaps its wings to generate the lift needed to sail over the wall, several bandits giving cries of alarm before trying to flee. They don't get very far before Greedyguts charges them, knocking a couple of bandits over before clamping its beak down on one of their heads. The muffled screams come to a stop as the gryphon twists its beak, forever silencing the bandit, and snuffing out his life.

"R-run!" shouts a bandit with a cry of fear, watching in horror as the gryphon tosses the bandit's body into the air, then catches him before starting to swallow him whole. Kura hops off of her mount, shooting a couple of bandits in the legs before running towards and up the ramp that leads to the sniper's tower.

Warcries join the cries of fear in the air, the bloodletters entering through the now open gates and spreading out, cutting down bandits with lethal efficiency and skill. Upon arriving at the sniper tower, Kura sees that the shooter has abandoned their weapon, the lack of blood showing she missed all of her shots. "Shit...where did they go?"

Barely registering the sound of a bolt whizzing through the air in time, Kura just manages to move in time to avoid a crossbow bolt to the neck, which now juts out of the wall near her. Wasting no time, she jumps into action, sailing through the air and landing on one of the rooftops. She tenses as she feels the ceiling shift under her, and her breath is forced from her lungs as she falls through the roof and hits the hard, wooden ground, her vision swimming a bit from the impact.

"Grrrr..."

Kura lifts her head a bit, yelping at the sight of a large sword swinging down at her, and rolling to the side, wood chips flying as the sword slams into the ground. A white furred Ursan holds the sword, her metal and leather armor striking quite an intimidating figure, especially given that her height nearly matches Kura's.

"Think you're gonna kill me, huh? Think I'm weak, huh!?" the Ursan shouts, her eyes starting to glow red as her already considerable muscles swell even more. Kura wastes no time in an attempt to raise her weapon, but is forced to dodge when the sword is swung again. The polar Ursan then surprises Kura by dropping her sword and charging at her unarmed, hands clenched into fists.

"Come here so I can kill you!"

She swings a fist, which connects with the side of Kura's armor, the vibrations she feels through the suit jarring her. Gritting her teeth, Kura gives a growl as she is forced to the ground, the Ursan grinning in homicidal glee as she pulls an arm back, then starts to throw it forwards. A gunshot rings through the room, and the Ursan hesitates as she grimaces in pain, a bullet lodged in her right knee from Kura's pistol. Her fist hits the floor, forcing a cry of pain from her as the cracking of broken bones is heard from the impact.

"Gah! You bitch! Just die alre-"

The Ursan is cut off as another gunshot sounds out, and she remains still for a couple of moments before coughing up a fair bit of blood, the glow in her eyes dying down as she looks down at her chest. The gaping hole in her armor and chest is quite clear, and her blood spills onto the wolf below her as she slumps over and atop Kura, completely unmoving.

Kura remains still for several moments, panting as the adrenaline that courses through her system begins to wear off, then groans as she shoves the body off of her with a grunt of exertion. Slowly getting to her feet, she takes note of the large sword that the woman was trying to kill her with, knowing she will want to bring it home once the mission is complete.

"Damn...w-well, that scared a few years off of my life expectancy, I imagine. I still need to find that sniper...grrr..."

A memory flashes through her head, recalling the large hole in Jack's head after the bullet tore through it, extremely unhappy that they shot him. "You'll pay..."

Kura's armor clinks softly as she approaches the exit of what appears to be the barracks, then kicks the door off of its hinges before stepping back outside. Her eyes scan over the fort, seeing a number of bandits still up and fighting. Letting out a yelp as a crossbow bolt ricochets off of her armor, her eyes narrow at the direction it came from.

Opening the chamber of her weapon once more, Kura loads two more bullets into the pistol, then fires them at the ground. Two furless canine creatures appear, their opaque eyes looking around as they receive the order to hunt down the one that shot the bolt, and kill them.

The bone hounds are protected in some locations on their body by bones of other creatures, held to their skin with their own dried saliva, which acts as a glue. They tear off in seperate directions, sniffing at the air as they hunt for their prey, their featureless eyes glancing back and forth. Catching the scent of someone unfamiliar, one begins to close in on the sniper's location, clawed paws ripping up the bare dirt beneath it as it runs.

Soon, the target of their hunt comes into view, the leather armor clad rodent-like creature wearing an ornamental mask that fits to her face. Her muzzle is split with a wide grin, her sharp teeth seen to the hound, and so, seen by their summoner. The hound closest to her picks up speed, its jaws opening as it goes to tackle her from the side.

Leaping over the bone hound in a surprising feat of agility, the Mauser draws a dagger from her belt before landing on top of the hound, the blade burying itself to the hilt in the canine's neck. With a brief yelp, the creature disappears into a black mist that washes over the Mauser's body, her grin faltering a tad at the lack of a body left behind and blood to spill.

"I hate summoners. No fun at all," she mumbles to herself, her head turning to look around at the surrounding trees as she attempts to sniff out the remaining hound, blade in hand. Her eyes narrow behind her mask, and she attempts to filter out the somewhat distant sounds of battle and clashing metal from the main body of the camp, slowly turning in place.

A snapping twig among the rustling grass causes her ear to twitch, and her grin grows as she turns to face the threat. Her eyes meet the war dog's, the larger creature charging towards her with jaws wide and teeth bared, ready and able to rend flesh and break bones between them. Mirroring the charge, she cackles in glee, dodging to the side in time to allow the dog to begin leaping past her, the sound of running footsteps nearing the Mauser's location.

"How about a ride?" she hisses out, malice and venom oozing from every word that passes from her lips. Her paw shoots out and grasps the bone hound's scruff, hauling herself up onto its back, the thin and sharp nails on each of her hands digging in deep.

Lifting her dagger into the air, she begins to bring it down towards the dog to dispatch it like its ally, though it chooses just that moment to buck its hips up into the air. Her grip falters as she is forced to choose between holding the dagger and remaining mounted, and the dagger slips from between her fingers as she holds on tightly to the canine, the blade lodging into the earth nearby.

"This is why I hate dogs, you never know when to just die!" she shouts with palpable bloodlust, her jaws opening wide before her teeth snap down on the dog's neck. Several small holes in her mask seem to appear within the ornate patterns, and from each one sprouts a curved, thin length of pointed metal, which skewers the hound's neck and head. Without another sound, the dog breaks into black mist, and the Mauser lands on her feet, waving the smoke away as the lethal points retract back into the mask. "Finally showing your face instead of hiding behind bloodless puppets, huh? Brave, but stupid."

Leaping back with a grin still on her face, she dodges the bullets that sail through the air where she was a moment earlier. Kura's voice is heard calling out from behind a nearby tree as she takes cover behind it, her revolver held at the ready. The Mauser's hand grasps the weapon she dropped earlier as she continues to move, and draws it from the dirt, quietly advancing towards her assailant "I'm more than enough to handle someone like you. If you wanted easier lands to operate in, there were much better choices than ours."