Serena was the first to react to the new threat. With a grace born of long training she leapt off the top of the tower onto the roof of the nearest house, the plan being that she could then make her way speedily to a more defensive position. Unfortunately the roof in question was thatched, and she fell through into the darkness within. The occupants screamed at the invasion from above from a young woman carrying a large bow with gold parts on it. In desperation, Serena knocked their heads together. Thankfully, both were unconscious before they hit the floor. She positioned herself by a window, ready for anything. The others knew none of this: while Takashi melted seamlessly into the shadows at the base of the tower, Hideomi and Merick hurried to the immaculate shrine, there better to conceal themselves. From his vantage-point, Takashi watched as the Hunt arrived. For all the special effects, there were only two men, mounted on horses that had obviously been ridden into the ground: they collapsed a few moments after stopping. Takashi immediately recognised the two men as Dragon Blood Exalted, elite warriors in the pay of the empire, and as they were members of the Wyld Hunt also certainly trained to kill all Solars on sight. One was quite a young man with bright blond hair with red highlights. He was very large, almost as big as Hideomi, wore super-heavy plate armour made of red jade and carried a grand daiklave of the same, magical material. The other was older and sterner looking, his black hair close-cropped and his flowing robes in patterns of black, white and grey hid any other features. Both made straight for the tower, and Takashi’s hiding place.
The priest in the immaculate shrine had been getting ready for an early night. It had been quite a day, what with the barbarians attacking and those strangers, whom he hadn’t seen, coming to help in the battle. Oh, and then earlier in the evening there had been that explosion from the tower: no doubt that meddling fool, Marten, was up to something diabolical again. He was just putting out the candles by the altar-table when the doors slammed open and two figures ran in. The old man stared at them for a moment, and then screamed. ‘HELP! A GUY WITH A BIG GOLD SWORD- AARGH!’ Hideomi was in no mood to be subtle. He simply picked up the priest and threw him away. The man’s head it the floor with a sickening ‘crack’, and as the body slid right through the vestry door, a stream of blood bloomed in his wake. Outside, everyone had heard the piercing call for aid. Both Dragon Bloods turned away from the tower. The man in the red armour swaggered arrogantly towards the shrine, while the other took a small object from the folds of his robes. Takashi couldn’t see what it was, or what he did with it, but there was a horrible, lurching sensation of the entire universe being turned through ninety degrees, and suddenly a whole regiment of fifty heavily armoured empire troops was standing in perfect formation at the base of the tower. Takashi couldn’t be too bothered by this, though: he had just noticed something else in the shadows on the other side of the tower: a dark, hulking creature, looking something like a giant gorilla. The Solar recognised this as a Blood Ape: a demon probably bound to the will of the older Dragon Blood, who seemed to be air aspect, just as his comrade was fire aspect. Takashi slunk around the village, stalking the evil monster. Inside the shrine, Merick and Hideomi were searching for places to hide, knowing that the priest’s scream would have alerted their adversaries. Hideomi rushed into the vestry, along with the corpse of the unfortunate priest. Merick was about to follow him when he noticed the large blood stain on the floor. That would be sure to cause suspicion. In a flash of inspiration, Merick realised that if he could get the blood onto his robes his magical collar would instantly destroy it. He stepped back a few paces, then threw himself on the floor. Unfortunately, he misjudged the manoeuvre and hit his head hard on a pew. He lay there in the pool of blood, momentarily stunned. Hideomi, watching from his hiding place, had his hand stuffed in his mouth to stop the sound of his laughter escaping. The fire aspect walked through the doors of the shrine, looking about him with a disdainful expression. He saw a monk-shaped figure lying in a pool of blood. It rose slowly to its feet, in total contempt of accepted imperial law: Dragon Blood Exalted deserved respect. In anger, the bigger man kicked the monk to his knees. Serena had seen the Dragon Blood entering the shrine and decided to cause a distraction, to try and spread out the imperial forces: she used Essence to set light to an arrow, then fired it into the topless tower. The air aspect turned his head sharply, and saw her through the window. She backed away, clambered through the rear window and climbed the village stockade as fast as possible. The air aspect used his own Essence to clear the wooden wall in a single leap. They turned to face each other, determined expressions on both faces.
Hideomi was angry. He had been laughing at Merick only seconds before, but he had just seen this arrogant weakling kick his circle-mate for no better reason than that he appeared inferior. With a roar that shook the foundations of the shrine he strode out, Heaven’s Light held high for a killing stroke, and brought it down towards the Dragon-Blood in an Essence charged blow that could have levelled a small building. Acting on instinct, the Exalt whirled and parried the Solar’s blade, although only just. The two duelled furiously, their daiklaves little more than gold and red blurs, each constantly moving and trying to find the opening on the other. Soon, though, Hideomi’s superior strength and spirit began to wear down the Dragon-Blood, especially with the aid of Merick’s sorcery. It wasn’t long before the Exalt retreated, his armour rent in a dozen places and bleeding from as may wounds. He was still alive, and able to fight in the future: that was what mattered. He disappeared, into the night. Fast as thought, Serena fired an Essence charged arrow straight at her assailant. It blew away most of his fine robes, but didn’t even scratch the breastplate underneath, which was of black jade. The Terrestrial exalted smiled without any humour, and launched a spell at her. Serena didn’t even see what happened, but she felt the impact of the spell even through her own white jade breastplate: she had been wounded in several places. Even so, using her extraordinary powers of endurance, she closed with the other Exalt, drawing her slashing sword. The Air Aspect fired bolts of lightning from his hands, but Serena dodged impossible fast, and absorbed the hard, sharp daggers of air that the other conjured and fired in her direction, except for one which bit deep into her leg. Regardless, she weaved about him, her sword dancing in the air, until before he realised it she was behind him, her sword to his throat. She grabbed the blade with her left hand and pulled it hard towards her, cutting his throat instantly. As the hot blood flowed onto the grass, Serena leapt back over the stockade to aid her friends, feeling every wound that had been inflicted on her burn into her body. She wondered what had happened to Takashi: she hadn’t seen him since she had fallen through the roof of the house. Takashi had, in fact, found himself in deadly combat with the blood ape. What had looked like a red gorilla from a distance was in fact a seven-foot wall of muscle with fangs and claws, and in his weakened state Takashi was feeling the strain. It hesitated when it felt its master and summoner, the Dragon-Blood Serena had just dispatched, die, but only for a second and it caught Takashi off guard, raking his leg with its claws. Takashi countered with a masterful throw that left the beast’s back vulnerable to Sun and Moon, which he promptly buried under the red hide. Its master dead, its black ichor staining the ground, the horror departed back from whence it came. Serena arrived back at the centre of the village at the same time as Hideomi and Merick, neither of whom looked much the worse for wear after their battle with the Fire Aspect. Merick was about to report on the battle to Serena, when they noticed the formation of fifty elite imperial troops still standing before them, grim-faced villagers now swelling their ranks: Serena reflected bitterly on how quickly they had changed their attitude: only that morning the circle had been heroes. At that moment Takashi bounded out of the shadows and straight into the infantrymen, having used charms to make his very skin as hard as iron and as sharp as a daiklave’s edge. His face was black with rage and contorted with concentration in the flickering torchlight. He brought his arm round in a blow that decapitated the first man, but the rest of his flurry of blows were all deflected by the heavy armour of the imperial troops. Then they counterattacked, utilising all of their special training in combat with Exalted beings, but Takashi’s skin turned every strike aside. Still, he decided to halt his attack and leapt up and onto a nearby roof, his foot killing another man in the process, landing as lightly as a cat. Leaving a clear path for Hideomi, who charged fearlessly into the fray, Heaven’s Light a golden blur amidst the iron of the imperial armour. Arrows fired by Serena rained down everywhere, killing several of the men including their leader, a man almost as large as Hideomi and with extra decoration on his armour. Merick decided to end the battle. He closed his eyes and murmured another spell: Burning Eyes of the Offender. At once his entire body shone with a blinding, unworldly light and every mortal in the vicinity, villager and infantryman alike, fled for their lives, unable to stand the sight of Merick in all his glory. All ran… except one. One soldier stood his ground, his face set and his great-sword lifted high above his head. ‘Anathema! Face me now, or forever be damned!’ He spat on the ground, his eyes filled with hatred. Takashi landed in front of him without a sound, Sun and Moon ready in his hands. He struck at the mortal, but the man parried easily and retaliated in kind, his own blow again turned aside by Takashi’s skin. The next exchange was so quick that none of the rest of the circle saw it, but it finished with Takashi nursing a stab wound on his shoulder and his enemy kneeling on the ground. The soldier’s armour was cleft into four along the traces of the twin blades, and a red ‘x’ was inscribed on the man’s chest. It was a serious wound. ‘Kill me,’ he said softly. ‘Let me die with honour.’ Takashi stared into his eyes, and for a moment Serena was sure that he would comply, that there would be a flash of gold and the soldier’s head would fall from his body. And then Takashi turned, dismissing the man. ‘Let’s go,’ he said grimly.
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TheCityAndTheStars/ChapterThree