"Sir Faulkner III: Ice Drift (part 2)" by LJ TheTowerSentry Jackson

Chapter Four: Ice Drift

Part Two

The conflict with the Woolly Men was nearing its end. Only Commander Shendril, Fdrel, and a few others remained. Arch float walked over to Daniel Zephyr. He stood by her as he pointed out the last Woolly Men, most of which were floundering for balance on a piece of ice that used to be part of the ice fields.

"Look at them," said the UeHuman. "They know they are defeated, yet they still want to fight us. You can see it in their eyes. They must actually want to die."

"Then let us grant their wish. I am just glad that we are not too worn out yet, thanks to the drinks from my father," spoke the warrior. "During my fight with that other Woolly Man, I saw the place were those two commanders of Rainne's are watching our little battle. They are up on the jagged cliffs of the Sage Mountains to the east."

"Oh, it that so? I bet they plan to keep to their immediate entrance," began Arch. "I will deal with the fire powered commander, as they planned. And you should definitely get the other one. We do not know what his powers are, and he does not know yours. While his are limited to a certain set of abilities, you will have the advantage because you have a wider range of spirits to call on for powers. Let him make the first move, and you can counter depending on his powers. You can summon more than one spirit at once, right?"

"Of course," responded Ice Drift's protector. "As many as I have trained to be able to summon. So far I think I can only call four at a time. If I could not call more than one, the commanders would have seen from the battle the only powers I would be able to use. This is my only flying spirit. I do not dare tread on the ice field."

"Ah. Very good then. Well--"

"Hey you guys!" interrupted Fdrel. "You are not supposed to be engaged in a casual discourse as if this is not a battle field! You see all the dead bodies around; do not you smell their rotting flesh and blood? Act like it! Come over here and finish us off!"

"In a minute," responded the golden eyed Arch. "I was wondering whether we should try and finish off the commanders quickly, or should we wait to see their fighting style, find their weak point and them bring them down?"

"I say we deal as much damage as possible with every hit. They can only last so long; we can only last so long. I do not have the patience for finding weak points," responded Daniel. "I say we hit them with all we have got. They might not be expecting the first attack to be really powerful. If we catch-- OW!" She brought her right hand up to her left arm. bright red blood flowed down her arm. The bruising was already starting to swell. A bloody chuck of ice was at the warrior's feet. One of the Woolly Men had thrown the projectile to provoke them to fighting.

"So they want to die that much?" said Arch he turned back toward the Woolly Men. They were tired and beaten, and the glimmer of hope in their beady eyes was that one of their adversaries would cleave their heads from their shoulders. "Now... I say we let them live. Let them suffer some more. Even though it was technically a fair move..." Arch held out his hand, and fire shot from his palm. He created walls of flame around the Woolly Men, but they were just for show. Even though the flames would keep the creatures from moving out of the box they were now in, the fire could not burn them. Arch saw some of the monster press themselves against the red dancing walls, in an effort to light themselves on fire. But they tried in vain. The flames Arch used could not harm a baby.

"Hey, Falconer..." called Daniel Zephyr. "Do you have any abilities or powers or... any thing that could help my arm?" Arch turned back to the warrior and held out a hand that began to glow a warm orange.

"Your father never made any healing advancers?"

"No. He could never figure those out."

"Then it is a good this that I used to frequent the fighter's markets Jshair before the place got taken over by Rainne," said the UeHuman. A needle appeared in his palm. "This is a permanent healing advancer. I will have to inject it in to your blood stream. Preferably in your better arm." Arch injected the needle in to Daniel's arm, and then put a hand on her should to steady her. "Stand very still for a bit while the formula does its work." Soon the warrior's heart had her blood stream filled with the healing advancer, and the blood from her arm began to stop flowing. The swelling went down and the bruising disappeared. A few more seconds later, Daniel Zephyr's arm was unblemished and back to its original state.

"Thank you, Falconer," said the warrior. She looked at the UeHuman's handiwork. "We are not going to kill them?"

"No, at least not at the moment," said Arch. "I wonder when Rainne's minions are going to come down from their hiding spot. I bet they have not realized we are done fighting the Woolly Men. They must think I put them in that fire cage to play with them like a cat does mice. Unfortunately for them that is not the case. At least we have a little bit of time to rest before they realize we are waiting for them to come down." It was then that Sir Rendal decided not to wait for the UeHuman and warrior to finish off the few Woolly Men that we left. He drew his rapier and flamed the blade. He quickly descended the Sage Mountains at an inhuman speed, closely followed by Sir Kestel.

Arch and Daniel saw them coming before they made it over to them. Ice Drift's two defenders stood inside the broken iced encampment that served as a battle ground for their fight with the Woolly Men. Rainne's minions walked up to the edge of the once Woolly Men encampment. Arch could see that they were not too such whether they would enter on to the broken ice, or stay on the still stable parts of the ice field. Sir Rendal took a step forward; he would introduce himself first.

"Good day, my adversaries. I am Sir Rendal Gilford," began the Rainne commander. He had dark brown wavy hair, and cold piercing pine wood eyes. He was shorter than his partner, and wore steel blue metal plated armour. His green cloak flapped in the light wind, and he kept his flaming rapier gripped in his right hand. "We are not here because of the Woolly Men. We are here especially for you, rogue UeHuman. Rainne has sent us to capture you. Lady Warrior, we do not care for you. Either you depart to Ice Drift now, or suffer the same fate at your buddy here."

"Then I shall suffer his fate," responded Daniel Zephyr.

"Then that is your choice," began Sir Rendal, "We will not take pity on you." He stepped back beside his partner. Now Sir Kestel took the step forward. Time for his introductions.

"Hello there. I am Sir Kestel Angelsworth," announced the Rainne minion. He had sharp, deep blue eyes and sun gold coloured hair. The taller of the two, he wore leather armour enhanced with grey metal plates. His green cloak was shorter than Sir Rendal's, and he bore no weapon of any kind. "I wish we could have known each other in another time, Falconer. I always admired UeHumans, but now I work for Rainne. So I have to despise you now. As my partner said, our goal is to capture you. Mostly likely you will take a lot of damage in the process, maybe even near death. But such it will take to bring you down. So please defend with your very life, to make this interesting for the both of us." Sir Rendal looked over at the miserable Woolly Men.

"Why are they not dead? asked he. The dark haired man turned to his partner. "Can I kill them?"

"Oh, what ever. Make it quick," responded Sir Kestel. Sir Rendal ran over to the fire cage and cut a hole in one wall. He entered, quickly sliced the throats of all the beasts, and exited the flaming cage. He jumped over some floating ice and walked back over to Sir Kestel. He had Woolly Men blood his staining his green cloak and streaking his steel armour.

"That was a bit of fun," said Sir Rendal. "Too bad we cannot kill the UeHuman..."

"Now now, Rendal."

"Good sirs," addressed Arch Edgewood. "A word if I may."

"You may," answered Sir Kestel.

"I am honoured that Rainne thinks so highly of my skills that he would sent two of his best to capture me," began Arch. "But it seems Rainne has under estimated me. I will fight you two, and I will not be the one to fall when this is all over. I usually would not kill any human opponents, unless they have been persistently attempting to harm the people of Shinoir. This time, I will fight to kill. If one of you manages to survive, tell Rainne that I look forward to another battle with him."

"We shall take note of your words," said Sir Kestel. "And we will deliver your message. You cannot even hope to kill us both."

"Maybe, maybe not. I will try my best, and I most definitely will not get caught by the likes of you two," responded the UeHuman. "There is still lots of work for me to do in Shinoir."

"Let us cut all the pretty words," said Sir Rendal. "Have you a blade, Sir UeHuman? Let us dance." Arch extended his right hand, and Mystin Sky's materia blade materialized in his hand. The lightning blade on the sword glowed brighter as it was enhanced by Arch's electric powers. The alien cosmic materia of the spine and hilt was still intact. The violet matter that hovered around the sword fed off the flames that covered Arch's body and emitted an eerie dark light.

"It seems I am faced against you, Lady Warrior," said Sir Kestel. He unfastened the cloak from his shoulders and let it fall to the ice ground. He feet moved in to stance, and Daniel Zephyr could tell that part of his specialization was in hand to hand combat. Ice Drift's protector put away her short swords as her feet moved in to a stance of their own. She glad now that her father had trained first in hand combat and then with weaponry.

Sir Zephyr entered his potions library and walked up to the peregrine falcon that was perched on a high shelf. He stood gazing at the magnificent bird before talking to it.

"Hello, Peregrine. You do not mind if I call you that do you?"asked Daniel's father. Seheir did not move or answer. "Well even if you cannot speak, you must still understand what it is I am saying. Your master, the falconer, talks to you too much for you not to be magical or special in some other sort of way. I was wondering if you wanted to go watch the fight he is about to have with these two men from Rainne." Seheir turned his head at hearing this. He wondered how Sir Zephyr knew what was going on in a place that he was not in.

"Ah, so you do understand what I say. We can go to watch on this cliff that over looks the ice field. There is this bush up there that you can climb in and see out, but no one can see you in it. Inside we can watch unseen. I will keep you warm from the cold. Well what do you say? I am leaving now, so if you want to come along, just follow me." Sir Zephyr turned and headed for the exit. Seheir's wings opened and he followed the man out of the potions library.

[I might as well go,] said Seheir to himself. [Arch might need my help in this fray, even if it is just a small contribution...]

Sir Rendal Gilford ran forward to meet Arch Edgewood blade to blade. He entered the unstable ice, and prayed that his army issued boots would grip the ice well. He came at Arch with a downward slash, which Arch easily parried. The UeHuman was not specially trained in swords, though he knew how to use one well, and did not plan on using it as his only mode of attack. Arch's golden eyes blazed and the fire on his body flashed blue once as his left hand shot out a fan of high volt electricity. The fast moving lightning struck Sir Rendal harder than Arch thought it would. Sir Rendal was thrown backward and slid a few yards before he stopped himself. The commander's eyes were angry now, and his own gene splice given powers began to activate. Sir Rendal's hair burst to flame, his shoulders combusted, and his hands disappeared in to balls of fire.

"I can play that game too, UeHuman," snarled Sir Rendal. He was angry at himself for not getting the first strike. I cannot let my guard down again, thought the commander to himself. I did not think he would strike with such power on the first hit. Sir Rendal rose to his feet. Now it is time to get serious. He held his blade parallel to the ground and charged at the UeHuman. Arch got in to position to defend a thrust, but that was not all he planned to do when Sir Rendal would come at him. The dark haired man was in range, he faked a thrust, and suddenly came in with a sweep of his sword. Arch had no time to raise his blade in parry, so he used a move he was saving for a time like this. Arch called on his fire to grow, and the internal flame he carried responded. Arch seemed to burst in to a conflagration as  all the first on his body expanded outward with intense heat.

"Argh!" screamed Rainne's minion. Even though he was a fire type, the UeHuman was a much more purer form. His fire could hurt the commander more than the commander's on him. Sir Rendal did not get a chance to finish his attack as he was suddenly blindly by very hot red tongues. Sir Rendal's face was burned, and his cloak was burning with the fire from the UeHuman. "You!" screamed Rendal. He instantly returned to the offensive and attacked viciously at the rogue UeHuman. Sir Rendal's attacks were so swift, Arch could only parry and defend.

Daniel Zephyr had decided to float walk forward to meet her opponent. It was better to fight him on flat land, even if she was not walking up on it. Sir Kestel Angelsworth and Daniel Zephyr bowed to each other, and commenced the fight. Sir Kestel moved first, his body a blur as his his feet slid forward on the ice. His powers were of the canyon wind, which added speed to his hand combat. A foot came up in a round house kick, but was deflected by the sound waves emitted by Daniel's body.

"You have to be faster than that!" said Daniel as she quickly called on another spirit to help her. She summoned the darkness spirit, and now she carried two spirits and their abilities with her. Daniel's body stayed the same when she summoned the darkness spirit, except now a shadow was cast over her any where she moved.

"It looks like you called on that darkness to shadow you," observed the fair haired commander. "So it was true, what the Woolly Men said. You do have many powers at your whim to call. Heh, well, I shall just have to find your weak point." Daniel Zephyr smiled and laughed inwardly to herself. "Why do you smile? This shall be your end."

"I do not know about that," said Daniel. "I just know that you will suffer more than I shall." Hah! Find my weak point, thought the warrior to herself. If I have one, this commander will be so damaged he will not be able to fight any more. He will waste time with different varied attacks, trying to pinpoint strong spots and weak spots. All the while I will pound away with blow after blow.

"Oh, Lady Warrior, I just love your confidence. I will love it even more when I will shatter it," said Sir Kestel. He moved in to hit Daniel with a dragon strike, but she dodged out of the way at the last minute and swung out a leg. It connected with the commander's side, sending dark force of the shadow spirit at him. The fair haired man was thrown backward and he hit the ice hard. "I hate to see that I have gone down just like my partner. I hate that very much..."

Arch's blade slipped as Sir Rendal was coming in with a thrust. Arch felt the man's rapier slice in to his side. He quickly grabbed the sword's blade and pulled it out of his body before Rainne's minion could think to twist the blade. The flames on the blade did not bother him, but the steel had a nasty bite. The wound would not heal quickly on its own, because there were no healing advancers that an UeHuman could take that would stay in his blood stream.

"Your blood now has betrayed you. You will weaken, and you will fall," said Sir Rendal. Arch's right hand extended, and the materia blade that he had been gripping disappeared along with its violet matter. "Hah! Now you will definitely feel the bite of the steel again. You dare to put your defense away?"

"No, I am just utilizing another blade..." said Arch. A huge lightning bolt grew up from his hand.

"Changing weapons is not going to help you."

"Oh we shall see." The two leaped at each other and their blades clashed. Sparks of electricity went flying, and fell up on the two fighters. Arch was not affected of course, but Sir Rendal took damage, even if it was a small amount.

"That lightning hardly did any thing," said the dark haired man. "Prepare yourself!" He ran forward to meet Arch again, but this time fire fell from his shoulders and formed a fire wall in front of him. The UeHuman would not be able to see from what side the commander would attack. His speed was slowed due to his wound, and the loss of blood was starting to affect his thoughts.

Suddenly Sir Rendal burst through the fire wall on the left side. Arch reacted immediately and struck with his lightning bolt before Rainne's minion had a chance to swing his blade or react in defense. The bolt cut through the man's armour, and the right arm covering fell to the ground. Electricity coursed through Sir Rendal's body. He gritted his teeth and pretended it did not affect him. Rainne's commander lashed out like a cobra and a bright line of red appeared on Arch's shirt. It had been cut through to the flesh underneath. The white haired UeHuman looked down at the blood that was soaking through his shirt from the new wound and the older one in his side.

"Oh no, my clothes are getting messy," said Arch. "I dislike it very much when that happens. But I guess it is going to happen more and more as the days go by."

"Heh heh, then I shall make sure that once we capture you, I will roll you around in the mud." A rapid shot of electricity carried incinerating flames over to Sir Rendal and hit him in the middle of his chest armour. The lightning jolt pierced through the steel and severely rocked the commander's body. The hot flames began to devour what ever they could consume on the dark haired man. Some of the metal of his armour even began to warp. Sir Rendal quickly suffocated the fire with his now tattered cloak.

Sir Rendal lowered his blade, and closed his eyes, meditating. Arch was beginning to wonder what the commander was doing when the air around the man started to heat up. Fire flew around the dark haired man, and when he opened his eyes, they were dark and burning like coals.

"You have made me got to the next level," spoke Sir Rendal Gilford. "Now prepare to be beaten."

Sir Kestel's attacks were growing faster, and more efficient in hitting their intended target. Daniel had to keep one eye on her own defense and another on Sir Kestel to try to discern when he might attack and with what.

"Once you slow down in your defense," began the fair haired man, "You are inevitably going to fall." Daniel could feel herself slowing, and she needed to launch an attack that would stop Sir Kestel in his tracks. She summoned one of the most powerful attacks the darkness spirit had and hit the man with a tonne of dark force.

Sir Kestel was thrown off balance, and he slid a few metres backwards. But unfortunately he soon recovered and rushed forward. He hit Daniel Zephyr in the gut, and the wind was knocked out of her. She was thrown backwards, and if she had not been using the ghost spirit that could fly, she would have slid into a patch of freezing water. The warrior struggled back up to her feet and painfully stood. She kept her body bent, and she could barely focus because of the pain in her abdomen.

"I warned you, Lady Warrior," reminded Sir Kestel. "There is no sense in throwing your life away on this. I shall give you another chance: go back to Ice Drift and your home."

"No, I cannot," spoke Daniel through the pain that was spreading through her body. "I cannot just leave you to take away that UeHuman. His quest to to protect Shinoir is more important than me." Sir Kestel faltered as an old memory came running back to his mind. In the Lady Warrior's place he saw his sister, and around her were small children.

"Protecting these poor, orphan children's lives is more important than worrying about my own," said the image as it began to fade away. Sir Kestel stood still as the words that Daniel had spoken made him remember a part of his past. His sister had died protecting some orphan children during a severe storm.

Daniel Zephyr looked at him side ways and waited for him to speak. She had been hoping to stall with a bunch of questions or comments so that the healing advancer n her blood would have time to heal her. The pain in her abdomen was fading fast now that she was standing still and not exerting herself.

Now here is the time to put him out of commission, thought Daniel. But I shall not kill him, just harm him enough so that he cannot interfere in any thing else. Ice Drift's warrior charged and drew her short swords. Sir Kestel snapped out of his reverie, but it was too late for him to dodge the warrior's attack. Daniel's blades pierced easily through the leather on his armour, and in to his body. Daniel knew exactly where to puncture the human body so that it was damaged, and would bleed to a point of weakness, but not death. She made sure not to hit any of the major organs.

"You will not die," assured the warrior to the fallen commander. "I just knocked you out of the fight."

"Big mistake," said Sir Kestel Angelsworth as his breathing turned to rasps from the pain. "I will just go after the UeHuman once I get the chance."

"Do not worry about that. Once your friend Sir Rendal is defeated, the falconer will decide what to do with you," said Daniel. She cleaned off her swords and ran over to aide the golden eyed UeHuman in his fight against the dark haired Sir Rendal.

Sir Rendal Gilford's blade warped and grew larger, and the flame up on it grew hotter. He would soon approach his limit, and he could tell. But he disregarded the heeding Rainne gave them that Sir Kestel had kept reminding him of.

"Face me, UeHuman. Face me and die," spoke the coal eyed burning commander. Arch's keen eyes narrowed as he studied the new fire burning around the insane eyed man. The falconer could tell it was a dark fyr type, a dangerous kind of fire if not controlled properly. And Sir Rendal was angry. He probably was not thinking well at all; his rage continued to control his movements.

"If you insist," responded Arch. He decided that now might have been a good time to use any wind powers that he might need. He could not risk dark fyr fire to touch him for too long, especially since its manifestation in Sir Rendal was an impure form. He switched out his lightning bolt blade for Mystin Sky's materia blade. The violet matter glowed brightly around the sword as it sat in the hand of its new master. Arch with held his wind powers until he needed them for defense. He wanted to see exactly how Sir Rendal would use the dark fyr fire he had called forth.

Sir Rendal Gilford charged at Arch Edgewood with his advanced blade, and clashed with the UeHuman. Here Arch parried the commander's attack and pushed the man backward with a front kick. And as he stumbled a bit, the dark flames on Rainne's spliced commander reached out for the UeHuman. The falconer could feel the wrath of the fore hungry to consume him. Sir Rendal had unknowingly put his chi and aura in to the dark fyr fire.

Fiery arms reached for the UeHuman, and a wind rose up around Arch. Its cry could be heard as the dangerous flames were blown in a different direction. The sea faring wind was different in one way that it always carried moisture on its wings. The fires of Sir Rendal did not grow as they would have with a different type of wind.

"What? So... you have some control of the winds too, eh? Well, you are full of surprises," said the dark haired man. "So am I!" His hands came forward as if to push his opponent backward. Dark fyr fire emerged from Sir Rendal and slammed in to the golden eyed Arch, sending him flying backward. His Vlucht power caught him, so he received no damage from the ice, but the dark fyr had badly burned him.

Arch's mind began to go over the abilities of his sea faring wind power. He needed some thing that would be able to stand against the dark flames.

"You shall suffer, rogue," spoke Sir Rendal. "I am sure my partner has already finished your friend." He turned his burning eyes to look at Sir Kestel's progress, when he saw Daniel Zephyr's swords go through the fair haired man's body. The wounded commander fell to the ground. "No! How could he fail?" Arch took this time to stand and recompose himself. His sea faring wind flew around his arms and legs, playing with the fire that still lingered on his body.

"It seems Sir Kestel must have made a mistake in the battle that caused his down fall to come so easy and early," said Arch. "He seemed a good fighter."

"She is going to pay," spoke Sir Rendal, the fire around him became angrier. "Right after I deal with you." The enraged commander growled and charged at Arch. It was then that Daniel Zephyr stepped on to the scene. Her darkness spirit got her to the fight faster than she would have been able to do naturally. She came in the blink of an eye, and Sir Rendal did not see her until it was too late. Her right leg came up and contacted with Sir Rendal. She put all her power and strength in to her leg, and struck the dark haired man with such force that she blew a hole through his abdomen. Sir Rendal's body flew over the ice field, and landed in the east.

Arch Edgewood turned and looked at Daniel Zephyr.

"How did you do that?" asked he. Ice Drift's protector only shrugged.

"My spirits guided me," said the warrior. She looked over at the fallen minions of Rainne. "You are not hurt too bad, I hope. But at least it is all over. Sir Kestel is still alive over there. We should go check Sir Rendal's body and see what has become of it."

"Fine. Then after we make sure they are both dealt with, I require a long rest in a Zephyr Tank," said Arch as he followed Daniel over to Sir Rendal.

[WAIT!] screamed a silent voice inside Arch's head. [Do not go any further! Step back! Arch step back and tell that girl to move back to!] Arch knew it was Seheir who spoke, and did not question how the peregrine falcon could see what they were doing, or why he was around. All he knew was that when Seheir spoke in that sharp, commanding tone, it was best just to follow orders.

"Daniel, we had better move back," said Arch as he took her arm with out waiting for an response. His Vlucht ability lifted his body further off the ground and he flew the way they had come.

"What is going on?" asked Daniel.

"Remember my falcon? He is here, and he must see some thing that we cannot. He just warned me to keep away from Sir Rendal's body," informed Arch.

[Come over to the side of the ice field where the cliff is,] instructed Seheir, and Arch followed his command. Soon Arch Edgewood and Daniel Zephyr were standing under the cliff. Seheir emerged from the bush were Sir Zephyr was situated. He flew down to his master and lighted up on Arch's shoulder. [What you could not see is that Sir Rendal's body is mutating. It is swelling and expanding as we speak. His wounds are spewing thick red gunk. He is changing in to some thing else. If I remember correctly, when I first found out those two commanders were spliced, Sir Kestel mentioned some thing about the chance of a side effect. I think this is it. Prepare yourselves. There is going to be another battle. And, dear friend, do start combining your wind powers with fire and lightning.] Arch took all this in and informed Ice Drift's warrior what Seheir said was happening.

"Augh, If only we had a chance to rest up, even if for half an hour," spoke Daniel. "This new form of Sir Rendal's might just get the better of us because we are tired."

"Now it is a good think I brought along my trusty satchel," said the voice of Sir Zephyr as it drifted off the cliff and down to the fighters standing below. Daniel and Arch looked up, and a orange powder fell from the cliff. It covered the UeHuman and the warrior, fixing wounds, hurts, and resting their bodies to their fullest strengths. "That was a prototype. Hope it works."

"Thanks father for experimenting on us," called Daniel Zephyr up to the cliff. "We do appreciate it, though." Arch checked the cut on his chest and the stab wound in his side, but they were gone. Completely healed by the orange powder.

"You are welcome!" said Sir Zephyr as he climbed back in to the bush. Seheir turned his head and gazed far across the ice field to Sir Rendal's body.

[It is emerging,] reported Seheir the falcon. [Get ready... And do step away from this cliff now. We do not want you to bring the battle over here, or any nearer the town. Off now.]

"Seheir says the new form is emerging from Sir Rendal's body. Let us go over to the north region of the ice field for this battle," said Arch, and the two flew over the ice to the designated area.

Suddenly an eerie howl echoed off the ice field, and Sir Rendal's body exploded upwards as a creature burst from its hold. The thing appeared to be humanoid, but it had lost any likeness to a human being. The creature was entirely red, and its head was shaped like a battered dragon skull. The torso of the creature was sunken in, and its arms were ungainly long. Its legs had three segments and bone spikes protruded from every joint on the monster's body.

"What...what happened to him?" asked Daniel Zephyr.

"Most likely the splicing Rainne did to their genes must have been done by using the DNA of a creature, and not a human who held dormant Ue genes. The side effect of the splicing must be that the splicing DNA combines with your own, and so Sir Rendal has turned in to this," said Arch. "I wonder if the thing has any remnants of Sir Rendal in its mind at all... Its thoughts must be in some serious conflict."The red monster stood quietly for a while as it took in its surroundings. It soon spotted Arch and Daniel standing standing in the north and started to make its way over to them.

"I bet that thing does have part of Sir Rendal's mind left in it," said the warrior. "He could be very dangerous if he has retained all his powers and wants to die.He does not have any thing to live for now that he is this fiend monster."

"Well let us hope that is not the case," responded the UeHuman. "If we have to, we could tell him that Sir Kestel is not dead, but only wounded."

"But then Sir Rendal might attack him; he might hurt him or kill him for not mutating and experiencing the side effect."

"True, true. Take heed. Here it approaches." The red fiend took a few more steps and stood a few metres away from the two fighters.

"I am... Goong," proclaimed the creature. "Feel my wrath!"

"Sir Rendal, are you still in that form? Do you still have consciousness?" asked Arch. "You do not have to--"

"I am Goong! Wrath!" howled the creature as it charged at Ice Drift's two defenders. Fire spewed from its mouth and yellow gas emitted from its skin.

"Falconer, do not breath that gas in! It is poison!" warned Daniel as she pulled out her short swords. She relinquished the darkness spirit and called on the moon wolf spirits to aide her. Four silver wolves materialized behind Daniel. "Charge!" commanded the warrior to the creatures. The wolves dashed forward, and tackled the oncoming Goong to the ground. Daniel landed on the fiend and cut at it with her blades. She leapt away after her attack as Arch came behind her with a dagger lightning blast to the red monster.

Goong soon freed himself from the powerful jaws of the moon wolves. The fiend reared his head back and spit out a huge ball of fire at his opponents. The UeHuman easily dodged out of the way with his Vlucht ability and Daniel flew out of harm's way.

"Leap!" she commanded to the night creatures, and they jumped out of danger. Goong suddenly shifted, and his body seemed to disappear as he sped over to Arch. He dashed through the remnants of the fire ball and cast himself in to the air. "Falconer, look out!" Arch saw Goong just as he was struck with red clawed hand. He was knocked out of the air and landed floating above the ice with three gashes in his chest.

"Uuuhahaha!" laughed the red fiend. He turned his gaze up on Ice Drift's protector. "Wrath!" He his body shifted as he began the same attack on the warrior. Daniel knew what to do to avoid it, as she had seen it done on the UeHuman.

"Track!" yelled Daniel and the moon wolves that had returned to her moved out again. They sped across the ice, keeping match with the monster's beastly speed. And as the red fiend jumped in to the air, the wolves followed suit. Their jaws latched on to Goong and brought him down heavily upon the ice. The wolves brought their weigh up on the red fiend, tore with their teeth, and viciously slashed with their claws. Goong tried to pull away from the moon wolf spirits, but they only became more persistent. Daniel took this opportunity to check on the falconer who had still not risen from where he lay. She flew over to the man and stood over him.

"Falconer, are you okay? How bad is it?" asked the warrior. She could see that Arch's shirt was soaked entirely in blood, and the slashes on his chest went deep. Arch tried to push the pain away as he been taught himself too, but the damage this time was too much. He had been caught off guard and paid for it. Daniel turned back to look at the red fiend, and saw him pluck the last wolf spirit off himself. "I will be back," said Daniel as she moved to draw the monster away from the UeHuman.

Daniel Zephyr brandished her short swords and twirled them as she flew toward Goong. Powerful sound waves ran through her arms and to her blades. She was up on the fiend just as her wolves regained their sense from being knocked by Goong. Daniel struck the red monster directly on his shoulders, breaking the bones and crippling him. The metal dug in to the flesh of the creature and the sound waves ripped in to the his body.

"Arghhh!" screamed the monster as pain was sent searing through its body. "No! I am Goong. I am Goong! I AM GOONG! Arrrg, Wrath!" The red fiend's howls echoed across the ice field. Flames leaped up around the monster until the fires covered him completely. The orange of the flames was lost as a dark red moved in to the heart of the flames. Dark fyr fire was again making an appearance.

"Falconer get up!" screamed Daniel. "Get on your feet and MOVE!" Arch Edgewood he UeHuman could not move.

No, I cannot die like this, thought Arch to himself. The pain had taken control of his body, and all he could do was lay there. There so much left for me to do for Shinoir. This cannot be my end. Goong dashed over the the fallen UeHuman, his body still covered in the wreathing flames. The dark fyr reached out to touch what ever was near, and two of the moon wolf spirits succumbed to the flame.

No!, thought Daniel as she flew in pursuit of the red fiend. I am not going to reach the UeHuman in time. If only I could get rid of those dark flames, maybe he will not take that much damage. The warrior immediately though of away to instantly clear the flames off the monster's body. Daniel swiftly switched her moon wolf spirits with the Posaidern spirit of the waters. Daniel stopped in her tracks as her skin turned a pale blue. She held out her arms, and all the water from the broken ice of the old Woolly Men encampment rose up, reaching for the sky. Daniel released the freezing waters upon the red fiend, and the force of tonnes fell on the monster.

Daniel Zephyr called on a third spirit, one of the winter air. The warrior used the spirit's ability to pick up huge boulders of ice with her mind. While Goong was trying to recover from the water force attack, she crashed ice chuck upon ice boulder against the monster. Goong's wounds suddenly burst open with blood as the beating from the ice broke down the monster's will power to control his healing. The red creature howled in more pain, and it stopped for a pause in its run toward the UeHuman. Goong's arms hung useless and now the ground was being puddled with his dark blue blood.

Ice Drift's protector was about to issue another attack when her legs suddenly collapsed under her. She was beginning to feel the affects of fighting with out hardly a rest. The sky above her was streaked with orange as the rays of the sun began to reach over the mountains. Daniel's eyes fell on the falconer. Goong was standing over him now, and was about to slam a foot down up on Arch's head when something large slammed into the red fiend. Daniel's eyes were instantly on the new arrival. A huge peregrine falcon had its talons impaled in the body of Goong. The bird of prey pulled away, and the creature's body was torn apart. Dark blue blood spurted every where, and the upper leg half of Goong's body fell away.

"Wrath! Wrath!" screamed the dying Goong. It tried one attack on the fallen golden eyed Arch. It was about to open its mouth to launch a dark fyr fire ball when a massive tornado descended from the sky. It was blazing with the energies of a thousand lightning storms. The swirling winds, aided by the help of the high voltaged lightning, incinerated all parts of the red fiend so no piece remained. Goong the second form of Sir Rendal was gone. Rainne's two commanders had finally fallen.

Seheir landed on the ice near the UeHuman and Daniel could see her father climb off the back of the seven foot bird. Sir Zephyr knelt next to the UeHuman, and pulled out a device. There was a bright flash and the two were transported back to Sir Zephyr's lab. The peregrine falcon lifted off, and flew over to Daniel. He picked her up in a bloody talon, and carried her back to her father's home.

The sun was sitting in the sky, beaming down brightly on the townspeople in Ice Drift. Many of them were gathered at the hole in the wall that faced the ice field. The people were silent as their eyes took in the destruction of last night's battles. One side of the ice field was pocked with deep pits that once held water. Dead Woolly Men bodies pitted that area. Ice was cracked every where. Another side of the ice field had a crater like impact mark in the ice, and the ice was melted in sundry places. Huge chucks of ice were laying in places they should not have been. Blood glistened on the ground every where a fight had been. The people soon began to speak on what they saw as they drifted away from the breach in the wall and the smell.

"I wonder what had happened here," spoke an townsman.

"I slept through all this," said another.

"It must have been the job of our warrior!"

"She could not have done this alone."

"What are we going to with all the bodies?"

"A huge bonfire!" The people began to make merry that their town had been saved again. Talk arose of honours for the fighters that had saved Ice Drift.

Seheir was perched atop the Schulen Inn, listening to the reactions of the townspeople and viewing the battle field. He was looking for one thing that should have been part of the scenery: Sir Kestel's body. But it was missing. And Seheir dreaded the day that his master Arch would have to face a vengeful commander seeking payback for the pain he had went through and the death of his friend Sir Rendal.

Arch Edgewood's eyes burned. He slowly opened them and found himself lying on a bed behind bars. His clothes were fresh and new, and there was no hint of blood or damage about him. The cage he was in was of iron metal, and sat in a room with pale blue walls. Another cage like his was on the other side of the otherwise empty room. Daniel Zephyr was resting in the bed there. Sir Zephyr stood by Arch's cage.

"I see that you are awake," spoke Daniel's father. "And before you ask, I have you here so that you can rest. You two went through a lot yesterday, and you need this rest. And I know, UeHuman, that you could get out of the cage if you wanted to. But humour me, and do stay in it. I am doing this for your own good."

"And I appreciate it, Sir Zephyr," acknowledged the falconer. His now grey eyes smiled at the man. "I thank you for all you have done for me, all your aide in the battles I have fought here. Had it not been for all your inventions, my body would have been lying out in the ice fields by now."

"And I thank you also. You put your life down for Ice Drift. You do every thing you can for Shinoir. It will never be enough, the little things the townspeople do in return. Just rest, Falconer. I shall return in time to bring you lunch." Arch relaxed back on to the bed and closed his eyes. Sleep claimed his tired body and he made no protest.

Arch Edgewood and Daniel Zephyr stayed under the care of Sir Zephyr and the watchful eye of Seheir for five days. Once Arch was allowed about, a small awards assembly was held in the honour of the fighters who defended Ice Drift. Pretty words were spoken on the air to the townspeople about the battle, bravery, and courage of the two fighters. An emblem was pinned to the shirts of Arch and Daniel, and loud applauding and praise followed. The UeHuman and warrior were brought to the Silver Snake pub and a celebration of merry making was held that day.

That night, Arch planned to leave from the town of Ice Drift. He had spent a lot of time there, and other places in Shinoir needed his attention. As night fell, he met up with Sir Zephyr and his daughter Daniel. Seheir sat perched on Arch's left shoulder again, and soon they would be back on the road.

"Sir Zephyr I shall thank you again for every thing you have done," said the keen eyed Arch. "And Daniel, it was nice working with you, and I am happy your town was saved from the destruction that was so bent on dominating it. I shall perhaps never see you again, but remember me as I continue to fight against the works of Rainne." Sir Zephyr and Daniel said their farewells, and the UeHuman departed from Ice Drift.

Arch Edgewood and his falcon Seheir took the Foggy Road back to the Red Road.

"What is our destination now, Seheir?" asked the white haired Arch.

[To a place over run with secrets,] said the peregrine falcon. [To a place where reality is unreal.]

"Hm... I think you speak of Macabre Village," said Arch. "For some reason I have not discovered yet, the people there were always supporters of the activities of Rainne in Jshair. I wonder what they think now that Rainne has turned his hands loose upon Shinoir."  The two were soon on the Red Road, journeying to the dark settlement called Macabre Village.