EB p.2 The Dark Times

[Awesomoman]

Agate was about to write it down, but then realized it would be more fun to let her imagination take control. "Have a good night Ignis, cuz you're gonna be kept up wondering what happened after this." Agate left the room with a chuckle.

[Kauria]

One of the dragons in the company gave a muffled cry of surprise, and both generals whirled at the sound. Mist had curled in around the group, and from it emerged a wraithlike figure.
Athvesa's sapphire eyes narrowed. Sluagh. He nodded up at his rider, and then landed carefully below the treeline.
Maela slung her leg over the saddle and dropped to the ground, waving the wary riders away from the spirit.
The message was heard, and the contents relayed throughout the ranks.
The ghostly messenger was dismissed with a simple reply.
"We'll be ready."

[Morty]

Following the rebels Vera and Absalom came upon a sorry sight. The trail of blood came to a stop, and there lay Lysam and Kotorov, whimpering, full of cuts and bruises, and most notably, Lysam was missing an arm. Absalom's stomach rumbled. He grinned sheepishly as Vera shushed him.
They watched as the rebels milled about, trying to fix a sling for the injured pair.
The misty messenger drifted over to Vera's shoulder, relaying the General's compliance. She dismissed it quickly and drew her sword.
"Take as many as you can alive." she said simply, and just as quickly concussed the nearest rebel with a powerful light ray.
The rebels scattered. "We're under attack!" cried the leader, mustering the small troup. Absalom silenced him, his jaws closing around the rebel dragon's neck. Its rider watched in shock as blood spurted from her bond's neck from an invisible cause, and fell over in her saddle, unconscious.
Vera leapt off her own bond's back and proceeded to further dispatch their victims with quick blows to the head, or when that failed, a stab through the eye. She might be quick enough to heal them before they died completely, and if not, it was no great loss on her part. When the rebels lay dead or unconscious she activated the signal; the sky reddened over the clearing.
"It's a good thing the General was so cooperative." said Vera, wiping her blade on a cloth. "Imagine hauling all these bodies back to base!" she laughed, then did a double take. "God d**n it Absalom, spit that out!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't know why I do this to myself!" mourned Absalom, scuttling out of her reach. Vera sighed in exasperation, and let the issue drop.
She walked over to were Lysam and Kotorov were huddled. Kotorov snarled protectively over his rider. Lysam trembled, scrambling backwards.
"Just kill me!" he pleaded. Vera laughed, but the laughter died in her throat as she realized the plea wasn't meant for her. She lunged, tying Kotorov's jaws shut inches from his rider's neck with the rider's own bloody armband. Landing abruptly she cracked the hilt of her blade over the dragon's unprotected head. The dragon crumpled to the ground, out cold.
With a soft sigh Lysam succumbed to the same state as his bond, fading into a sleep born of exhaustion and bloodloss.
Absalom proceeded to heal the two, cheating them of their desired deaths.

[Nohiki]

You wish. I don't give a damn. she thought, tossing a book on Mr. Funnyman's head when he was leaving. Then she locked herself up and fell on her bed again, hoping that the dark clan won't attack the base today.

[Kauria]

"There it is," Athvesa growled, crouching lower in the underbrush.
Maela gazed out over the clearing and joined her bond in watching the heavens bleed red. "Move out," she called to the company and swept her arm in an overhead arc.
Athvesa spread his wings and leapt into the air with the other dragons. The group settled in the clearing several moments later.
"What should we do now?" the ice dragon inquired, surveying the glade with a satisfied expression. "It looks as if you two have already taken care of the fighting."

[Morty]

Absalom nodded, smiling. "We have succeded in dispatching the enemies. We would be obliged if your force could transport the prisoners to the dark clan base for further questioning."
"We will personally attend to the traitors." added Vera, motioning to the unconcious Lysam and Kotorov.
"Your help is appreciated."

[Kauria]

Athvesa grasped Maela's arm and pulled her back, looking warily up at the other pair, and then back at his own bond. A flurry of mental messages passed swiftly between the two, and the ice dragon finally gave a sight of defeat. He shuffled his wings, and then lifted his head to address Vera and Absalom
"We'll help transport them, but I don't see how this well help us locate the rebel base," he said carefully. He motioned to the rest of the company, and several riders dismounted to help secure the prisoners.

[Morty]

Vera sensed a discussion had passed between the two. She shrugged. "By all means, General, take them with you when you march on the rebel camp. We were simply being conservative. We thought it would be most prudent to keep them under lock and key where they can do no harm. It may be days before Lysam and Kotorov are ready to tell us the location of their comrades, after all." she cast a glance at the sleeping pair. Absalom had slung both of them over his back, Kotorov being small and emaciated thanks to weeks spent on the run.
"We will be sure inform you when we have discovered the camp's location." said Absalom. "By the end of the week, the rebels will have become an extinct species. You have our guarantee."

[Midnightmoon]

Aris ran as quickly and as quietly as, crying slightly as she went. She had cuts all over and her long hair was a mess. She had to get back. She had to get back to the base. They had been out looking for that last wind clan pair when they were ambushed. She had been told to run and she and her bond had. Of course they had been followed and Sarpel had distracted them long enough for Aris to continue on. Now Sarpel lay at the bottom of the nearby river to hide and ease the pain of the multiple battle wounds. Some of that pain was leaking though the pairs connection to Aris. "Just get back, Aris, just get back and bring back help." It took her two days to finally get to one of the multiple entrances to the new base. "Opel, OPEL. Darn you, open up, OPEL." She yelled, hitting the rock wall. "Corus." Came a answer. Aris yelled the last part of the password and the rocks moved to the side. Aris slumped to the ground at the new entrance, blacking out.

When she woke up again in the imfermery she demanded to see Amber. It was hours later till the base leader finally came. In the time lapse Aris was told another day had passed since her team had gone out. And another thing occurred. The link between her and Sarpel had suddenly faded. Gone. Sarpel was gone. Aris had to pull herself out of depression to get out a fumbled summary of what happened. Roughly an hour after Amber left, Aris's existence faded too. Team 9 was no more.

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Amber called for the "wind clan" member she had spoken to before to report to the strategy room. They had a lot they had to talk about.

[Morty]

((Well, might as well give him a name. Let's call them Sern and Bakuya. XD))

Treated of their wounds the two wind clan refugees were carted off for a meeting with the rebel general.
"I presume you have had no luck finding my friends." he said, sitting down.

[Midnightmoon]

Amber was set aside the rough notes for the messages she was going to send out to the other bases. "Worse. One of my teams found them but were ambushed. Only one member got back and I've been told that she's not going to survive. For all we know the rest of the team is either dead or in the process of being converted. Now, anything else you want to tell me before we get run down by the enemy?"

[Morty]

Sern went quiet for a while. "There's nothing you can do. Lysam and Kotorov are the only ones who can tell you how to reverse the effects of the dark potion. If they die the secret dies with them, or at least, to you it does." he said, frowning.

[Midnightmoon]

Amber thought a moment. "A cure?" Firen thought to her. "Now that would be a valuable." "But supposedly this Lysam is the only one who knows it." Firen paused before responding, "He's the only one who knows, but what about guess work. This light clan member might have some theories. It would speed up the progress at what we got so far." "Which is nearly nothing." "All the more reason." "Ok, after we're done here some one is going to escort you to the lab. There you will share any theorys you got. Anything. But for now you'll tell me some info on the enemy. And before you go on about your friends out there I'm telling you now that there is nothing we can do anymore. I'm pulling in all my teams and unless the Dark Clan bring them to our doorstep when their attack force arrives they are on their own."

[Morty]

"I'm sorry, but I can't help you recreate the recipe for the potion. I'm an archaeologist, not a scientist." he said, smiling wanly. "The only information that might be of use to you is concerning the angels; I'd steer clear of them, if I were you. I think you'll know them when you see them." He said, unwinding a bandage around his arm to show four long bloody furrows. "Let that be a warning." he said gruffly.

[Midnightmoon]

"You don't get it." Amber said with a bit of frustration. "They will be coming here. We've been a thorn in their side for so long their going to use everything they've got to wipe us out. That's one of the reasons why we move around, to stay under the radar. If they convert at least one person from that that team that just got ambushed, which they usually do, then they'll know exactly where we are. Within days they could be on top of us and I wouldn't doubt they'd bring these elite forces your talking about. There is no avoiding them." Amber hit the table with restrained force to finalize her point. "Now we all have work to do," She strained the 'we' to imply the rebels, "and I have to warn the other bases, try and bring in some back up." "Carnell is in the mess hall." "Ok I'll go see him so these messages can be distributed. Meanwhile you and a few more pairs double duty the entrances while the teams come in. After inform me so that we I can set up jobs for the squads." "You really think they'll find us this time?" "You don't?" Firen didn't respond to that and so Amber gathered up the notes and quickly exited the Strategy Room to head for the mess hall.