August 10, 1689
Mondain Renard had been pacing slowly back and forth near the entrance to the inside of the witches grounds that the witches had expected the attacks from. The other witch pride males were also guarding the other entrances. The witches had ingrained in his mind a fierce determination to fight to the death against those that were attacking, but he did have some serious concerns. The smoke rising from four directions had to mean that an army was coming. It had to, and a part of him wondered if these strange cannons will be enough.
He didn't get much of a chance to think it over when a section of the thorn wall exploded in all directions. Like any Leoman male, there wasn't much that would stand a chance of moving him. Outside of another adult Leoman male (as well as gargoyles and dragons, but Mondain had no knowledge that they even existed before Free joined the witches' circle), only the largest Alpha Lupman would even stand a chance of surviving a fight with him, let alone winning one. The blast, however, was not a "natural" force and its results were far greater then a punch or claws.
The blast easily knocked Mondain off his feet, his weapon sailing out of his hand. Several bits of the thorn walls were thrown at him, and his arms, legs, and torso were covered with half an inch deep cuts as the thorns cut into him. The blast left him disoriented and he looked up to see two figures enter. One looked human, though it appeared to have the massive head of a raven, though he couldn't tell through the smoke. It was accompanied by a much more massive figure.
"By on your guard Vatican, and be prepared to move," the human figure said in a feminine voice, "that blast will likely alert the others and they will have us in a crossfire."
"We'll provide the others with a distraction then," Vatican answered, "If you can break their shield."
Mondain was struggling to get up when the human figure rushed him and produced a white colored dagger, and thrust it in a downward jab into his left shoulder. He roared with with pain as the dagger cut through flesh and chipped the bones in his shoulder. He rolled to make mincemeat out of the human with his teeth and claws when his eyes caught a gray dragon-like tail swinging right at him.
The blow hit the Pride male in the face, breaking all of his canines and sent him flying through the air. After flying for twelve feet through the air, he landed on his head and was down, unconscious.
"One down," Vatican spoke calmly, as a bazooka rocket narrowly missed hitting him before exploding among the burning thorn bushes.
"And about six to go from what I can see," Marie answered, "Who knows how many more are either inside the house or on the other side that we can't see... and there is also the gargoyle they've created."
"What about the weapon?" Vatican wondered.
"We'll use that once we have enough of their male Leomen down and possibly drawn some of their child familiars out," Marie answered.
+++++++++++++++
Draco, meanwhile wove his way through the maze of the thorn maze, as to try and make the attack from a different direction so that the witches wouldn't realize that it was only a small party attacking them, and thus maintain some element of surprise. He had his "ivory" daggers ready as the walls of the thorn maze, as the bushes attempted to grab at him as he went. He used those daggers to cut through any that came close. The fact that the bushes almost recoiled after being cut was ignored for the moment.
It took a little while, and he tried to ignore the sounds of the opening fight between Marie and Vatican against Mondain. He couldn't rush things, and being in a maze, rushing things wasn't a good idea. Coming from a different direction then the path he had originally intended to go through, he guessed that Mal'akh's directions wouldn't work... but after two wrong turns he decided to repeat Mal'akh's route, but changing the directions. Left where Mal'akh had said to turn right and right where she had said to turn left. And sure enough this route worked.
Draco entered the witches' grounds to find that he was forty feet east of where Vatican and Marie were. To the east of him, he saw two Leomen males reloading the strange cannons that Marie said came from some time in the future. And both of them had a clear shot at Marie and Vatican who were attempting to avoid being hit by another group elsewhere.
"NO!" Draco roared hoping to attract their attention.
It did. The closest Leoman male fired him. Draco only just dodged the shot, and could feel the heat from the rocket's exhaust go above his back. The projectile hit a tree nearby, and the bottom of the tree exploded, bringing it crashing to the ground. Again, Draco only just avoided being crushed by the tree.
Seeing the dragon trapped and struggling against the small branches they dropped their cannons, intent on tearing Draco apart with their bare hands. But, while Draco was struggling to get out of the branches, he wasn't trapped by them and was far from helpless. As they came closer, he did the one thing he could to buy him time. He hurled the "ivory" daggers at them. Their rushing momentum took them into the flying blades. They managed to avoid a direct hit, but the daggers did cut their arms, destroying the geass that protected them, but still they rushed on. But without the geass, they were vulnerable to Draco's primary weapon. Fire.
Both males roared in pain and fell aways they were met by a wall of flame. They rapidly began rolling in the grass to put the fire out, which burned most of their manes off and did serious damage to them before it was out. It allowed Draco the time to get out from the fallen tree's branches without damaging his wings, other then a few small scratches he had received with the tree landed. He then took the two wounded males by their ears and slammed their heads together, knocking them out.
+++++++++++++++
Linus and Katherine made their way to the western corner of the maze as the battle to get into the witches property began. They could hear the sound of the other Leoman in the Witch Pride firing on Marie and Vatican and knew they had to hurry. Vatican was too large to be really effective against these Leomen while they were armed with a cannon from the future... and protected by a geass that would make it impossible for him to make contact with them. So the more fronts the Leomen were distracted by the better.
"Okay, place it here," Linus instructed Katherine who was carrying the last of the black powder grenades that they had.
Katherine placed the device in the spot and retreated a safe distance with her staff/spear. Linus meanwhile placed the vile of Draco's fire on top of the gunpowder grenade and moved to crouch beside Katherine and readied his musket. He then fired. The musket ball didn't hit the vial head on, but it did break the glass. Once the air made contact with the liquid, it exploded in a short burst of flame, destroying the vial itself and igniting the wick and parts of thorn maze.
"You'll want to be as low as possible," Linus instructed as he began to reload his musket, "the blast will send debris in all directions."
Katherine hunkered down while Linus prepared one of his "ivory" daggers, which he had actually fashioned to operate like a plug bayonet, which would place it at the end of his musket for close combat. Shortly after, the flames reached gunpowder.
+++++++++++
Inside the witches's property a lone male Leoman aimed his weapon at the large gargoyle along with its human companion. In the back of his mind there was a great deal of fear. Vatican, even without his wings, was easily twice the size of an adult male Leoman, and thus Free as well, as Free appeared to be closer to a Leoman female's size. But, under the witches' spells, his fear didn't even make his mind question his duty. He aimed the weapon at Vatican as the thorn maze behind him exploded.
The shock-wave through him forward, and he felt a large branch fly into his back as he fell forward. He roared with pain and fired his weapon, but after taking the blow, his aim was off and the rocket hit a side of the house, near where Marie was standing. The shock-wave of the explosion threw Marie back and knocked the raven mask off her head. She ended up tumbling backward until Vatican managed to stop her as gently as he could.
"Are you alright?" Vatican asked quickly.
"I'll be fine," Marie shook off the blast when she heard a child's voice.
"She's like Goldwyn!"
Marie looked up to see a small hole, the size of what a baseball would be in the years to come, in the brick of the witches' home. From inside the hole, a child was watching.
"She only has one eye!" the child spoke again.
"I'm wondering why the gargoyle hasn't made any move yet," Marie spoke, ignoring the child's voice.
+++++++++++
Linus and Katherine made their way onto the grounds to find a lone Leoman male laying face down among the debris of the thorn wall laying about him. He could move his arms, but his legs and tail weren't moving. After a few moments, Katherine spotted why. A large thorn was pressing into the center of the Leoman's spine just below his ribcage. She took her staff and flipped the hidden switch that extended the hidden blade, one of the "ivory" daggers that Linus, Draco, and Marie had constructed. She had replaced the metal blade with the one that would be more effective against the geass that protected the witches and their charges.
Remembering that Marie wanted to avoid killing members of the Witch Pride or the Child Familiars if they could avoid it, Katherine simply touched the side of the Leoman's leg with the blade.
"That should take care of his shield," Katherine spoke.
Linus then leaped over the Leomen and clubbed the Leoman in the back of the head with his musket. Already having a concussion from the earlier blast, the Leoman was knocked out.
++++++++++++
"Five..." Gaal spoke in frustration as she watched the battle from a window, "ONLY FIVE?! WHERE IS THEIR ARMY?"
"It is the same five as before," Gomorrah commented, "the Dog and the other four."
"Only five?" came Golgotha's voice.
"YES," Gaal growled, "only FIVE!"
"Then we have the advantage," Golgotha spoke, "there are still six male Leomen out there to fight. The rest of the Witch Pride stands guard inside, and the child familiars are waiting for the command to attack. And Free will make her move soon."
"Free must smash them," Gomorrah replied, "smash them like the bugs they are!"
+++++++++++++
Free, meanwhile watched the initial fight begin below her as the battle began. A human wearing the mask of a raven came in with a male gargoyle.
"Why would he defend a slaver!?" Free wondered to herself, but also quickly saw that his great size made it unlikely that she could overpower the gargoyle, but then the Witch Pride had been equipped to deal with him. It was the dragon that was the real problem. His fire had already taken down two Leomen, and he was moving toward the next group, as if to force them to fire on him. But Free could easily see that the dragon was nibble enough to avoid being hit by the cannons. "The Dragon-slaver will DIE!"
And it was then that free moved. The dragon was focused so much on the Leomen that he wasn't looking up at the moment. Diving down, Free picked up speed and momentum and flew across Draco's face, slashing at one shoulder with her claws. The blow sent Draco tumbling backward a good five feet and opened five deep cuts in his shoulder.
Draco roared with pain, but managed to get back up. The plan was to set the witches' gargoyle against Vatican, who was apparently bigger and stronger then the female gargoyle before him.
"You racism ends here, slaver," Free growled in a gravelly sounding voice.
"Racism?" Draco asked back as he got up, "I have no prejudice against anyone, gargoyle."
Free noticed that Draco could still use his wounded arm.
"My service here is to be of service to my God and to free those enslaved by a coven of witches who are doing evil!" Draco said back, "and unlike you, I hatched in this form! You were transformed by the witches! Real gargoyles will consider you an abomination among their kind... and I would agree with them... DEMON LOVER!"
Free only roared again and lunged forward. Draco only ducked under the attack and sliced at Free's extended hand with a white dagger that the dragon had retrieved after dealing with the first two Leomen. Free felt no pain, but she did watch the dagger cur through most of her fingers on that hand. They fell the ground between them.
Draco then let Free's momentum to carry her toward the thorn maze, and leaped into the air.
"Catch me, if you can!" Draco shouted at the female gargoyle, knowing that he wasn't strong enough to overpower her, even with the geass broken. He would have to lead her to Vatican and let the larger male gargoyle deal with her.
Free only growled again and took off after Draco. The slaver would not get away, not after insulting her and admitting he was a slaver by saying "God". She rapidly began to catch up with Draco as he flew directly toward the witches' manor, as if he was going to fly straight through a window. She had to catch him before he harmed one of the children.
As Draco neared the building however, he turned sharply, heading toward Marie and Vatican's location. Free tried to mimic the turn, but quickly found that she had built up TOO much speed. She bounced off the side of the building, breaking off her horns and doing damage to one ear, and small hairline cracks appeared in one shoulder and one of her wings.
Draco then flipped in the air and landed a kick against the middle of Free's back, as the female gargoyle struggled to regain her flight path. His added weight sent Free tumbling to the ground in front of Vatican and Marie. Free's one damaged ear broke off on impact with the ground and the cracks in her damaged shoulder and wing became larger.
"If we were able to make them think we had an army, I'd bet it's gone now," Draco commented as he landed beside them.
"At least we've caught them all off guard," Marie sighed, "I half expected all the Leoman to be around the "entrance" they wanted us to use..."
"The females are likely directly with the children," Draco answered, "the witches will likely send them out soon."
"We still have the other Leoman males to deal with," Vatican spoke firmly as Free slashed at Marie who was standing the closest to the female gargoyle.
Free's attack missed, but it triggered Vatican's protectiveness of Marie.
"YOU DARE THREATEN MARIE?" Vatican roared as he lifted Free up.
"LOOK OUT!" Marie shouted before Free could answer and she dove away.
Draco managed to leap away before a rocket hit Free just below her tail as Vatican lifted her up. The round, intended for Vatican's chest, exploded sending both gargoyles flying back into the thorn maze.
"Vatican!" Marie yelled and rushed to his side.
Marie found both of them laying in the thorn bushes, but both appeared to be alive, though there were now large cracks in Vatican's legs and all of Free's lower half was gone, fragments of stone laying on the ground near where they had been. Vatican managed to get up, but it was clear that if he suffered any more damage, he'd be as helpless as Free was now.
"Go, Vatican," Marie urged, "You'll both die if you stay here."
"I must protect you, Marie," Vatican answered, "I swore..."
"I'll be fine, and you are my friend," Marie spoke, "You'll need the female to heal yourself and she'll need you allow her to move again."
"Why would you help me?" Free asked weakly, "You're a slaver. Here to hurt the children I protect... to destroy our home."
"I am an Inquisitor," Marie answered, "not a slaver. Believe it or not, the ones who are the "slavers" here are the witches themselves."
"No, I accepted this, I choose this... to be free..." Free argued.
"The children in the witches care didn't get that choice," Marie said, "I've been inside the witches' minds, and they have been in mine. The children you protect were transformed in physical form, and then had their minds re-written by the witches' magics themselves so that they'd never protest the loss of their freedom... Believe or not, I am here to FREE you."
Free was quiet.
"Go to safety, Vatican," Marie urged.
Vatican did not look like he wished to do so, but begrudgingly moved toward the hole he had earlier came through.
Meanwhile, Draco grabbed Mondain's "cannon" and looked to the two Leoman that were working to reload their own cannon. They were standing near another large tree. Aiming his captured cannon, Draco quickly fired the weapon toward them. The two Leomen had taken Vatican out of the fight completely, and possibly killed the female gargoyle by accident. He had to do something to level the playing field.
Draco's shot, however, was poor and it ended up hitting the tree behind the two Leomen. The resulting blast took the tree down, but unlike Draco earlier, the two Leomen could not escape the large tree falling on them. Draco was quick to approach them as those two would make six Leoman males taken down,total. He wasn't sure how many were outside, though. As he approached, he found them pinned under the trunk of the tree. The geass protecting them from being crushed to death by it.
+++++++++++++
If her time with Armando had taught her anything, Katherine had learned that strength and size weren't everything, and if they were the only advantages that one used, one could say they weren't advantages at all. And apparently that was all the Witch Pride males used. After she and Linus had made their way in, they moved around the front of the mansion, seeing two Leoman males at the other end.
The two Leoman set their cannon's down and charged at Katherine, figuring the small Felman, which they assumed to be an oddly colored runt lioness, would be easy prey. She ducked under the first one drove the white tip of her "ivory" spear tip into the second's foot. The Leoman roared in pain and then swung angrily Katherine, forcing her to let go of her weapon and back flip away.
The Leoman pulled the spear out of his foot and tossed it away. He then began to advance on Katherine.
The first Leoman continued his charge into Linus. Linus, however, stood his ground and in a sense caught the charging Leoman male. The Leoman tackled him to the ground, but before he had a chance to sink his fangs into his throat, he felt something sharp sink into the center of his chest, cutting through the geass, fur, flesh, and bone as if it were nothing. He pulled himself up slightly to see why Linus had let him charge. In his rush, he ran INTO the "ivory" dagger that Linus held. He then collapsed on top of him, dead.
Struggling to slide out from under the five hundred pound male, Linus looked over to see Katherine in some trouble. The other male had her cornered against the thorn maze wall and was trying to grab at her. She hissed, spat, and yowled back at every roar he made, and would dive at his legs with her claws to force him back, but it wasn't enough to stop him from keeping her pinned. Reaching for his musket, and coming to a seated position, Linus took aim at the other Leoman and fired.
"He's going to kill me," Katherine thought nervously as the Leoman male in front of her moved forward, but as he did so, she heard the sound of a gunshot and watched as a bullet hit the Leoman male in the side of the head, dropping him dead in an instant.
"You killed them!" Katherine exclaimed, "Marie said to avoid that!"
"He was about to kill you," Linus answered as he began loading his musket again, "there was no other choice there."
"Marie won't like this," Katherine spoke.
"I don't like it either," Linus spoke, "and if Marie where pinned down, threatened with death, I do not think she would let a tranced slave kill her because it is innocent."
Katherine sighed.
+++++++++++
"Get the child familiars ready with lioness escort!" Gaal ordered to Gomorrah.
The Leoman males were dropping like flies and while the male gargoyle was out of the fight, he had kidnapped Free besides.
"How can they do all this without an army?!" Gaal wondered as Gomorrah left. Golgotha merely continued to try and focus on accelerating their plans.
+++++++++++++
"Your shoulder looks bad," Marie commented, "You're sure you'll be okay?"
"I can still use it," Draco answered as he looked at his shoulder, which was stinging badly, "I'm more concerned with what we're going to do without Vatican..."
"The blast practically took his legs off," Marie answered, "even if he survived all the Leoman out here, it wouldn't have taken a female Leoman long to immobilize him completely... and Free was in no shape to fight any more for her side."
"I find it hard to believe that you'd forgive her during the battle," Draco commented, "after it's over, maybe, but not during."
"We are supposed to be compassionate, Draco," Marie answered, "Free did what any gargoyle would do, regardless of who or what she was before the witches transformed her. The Leomen are innocent. The children are innocent. We only have a war because the witches are insane. Their servants know not what they do."
"So how will we deal with the rest?" Draco asked as Katherine and Linus returned to them, carrying the rest of the discarded cannons the witches had summoned. "They have to know that there only five of us, counting Vatican, by now."
"Once we can blow a hole in their doors, I'd think that they'd send at least some of the children after us," Marie sighed, "our easiest bet would be to keep those that come out OUTSIDE the building. They aren't going to use as many physical attacks or weaponry as the Leoman males did. The Lemoan females might, but they've likely been instructed to protect the children."
"If they outnumber us, maybe it'd be better to force them to fight inside the house," Draco commented, "they wouldn't be able to maneuver there."
"That'd work if we were facing an army who's only weapon is physical," Linus commented as he came up to Marie and Draco's location, "remember these children are all familiars. They'd use magic to either turn us into something or make our hearts stop beating..."
"And Running-Bear said the pendents aren't one hundred percent effective," Marie sighed, "we can't let them concentrate and attack as one. Out here, their magic would disperse as they spread out and we can take them on with what little we can. And remember, the children must NOT be permanently harmed. If necessary draw them away from the battlefield and tire them out. Aimiliona is one of them, and I have promised Mal'akh that I'd save her."
++++++++++++
Outside the witches manor, at what was thought to be a safe distance, Mal'akh, Rosa, and Monica all watched. The sounds of the battle echoed to them easily.
"I can't believe it's come to all this," Monica sighed after a moment.
"None of us noticed what they were doing until it was too late," Rosa sighed, "You told me that you didn't even begin to guess that "Gita", now Gaal was behind what happened to you until after they all became so open about everything they were doing."
Monica only sighed, "and I wanted to teach the children they had been gathering there... does this mean I am wrong?"
"Nothing wrong with an education," Rosa commented, "I'd tend to think that everyone should be entitled to it. Formal schools in every town for young kids, pre-teens, teens and young adults, and even colleges for the grownups."
"Very progressive," Mal'akh commented, "though none of that will happen if the witches win..."
And then, the heavily wounded Vatican came over the hill, carrying the even worse off Free.