I, along with Kieran and Lidia, continued forward on Rougier's back as he brought us toward where I had asked Frost to gather the demons. I needed to heal Rougier, and I could only hope that the brave wyverns as well as the two queens could hold out long enough for me to do so. There was just no way to separate the Creepy Guy and the giant squid without Rougier occupying the monster. And Rougier could hardly be at his most effective while stuck to the ground.

  But healing was in no way a talent of mine. It would not be instantaneous, and likely would be painful for the dragon. But it had to be done.

  "Demons are starting to arrive." Lidia stated. She and Kiran had hopped off the back of the dragon once he came to a stop. They stood either side of the his head, sort of like guards, while Shinra and myself had our eyes locked on the fight in the not too far distance.

  "Good." I managed to mumble. I was too focused on both my task, as well as the battle, to form full sentences at that moment.

  For a good five minutes, as demon's began to assemble, my mind was locked into healing my dragon, trying not to hear the painful grunts he wasn't able to suppress completely. Eventually I cut the spell and patted the purple dragon on the back.

  "Sorry." I sighed, tired from the effort, as the spell circle faded. "Probably best if you avoid injury around me." I chuckled, brushing my dark hair out of my eyes. Task complete, I focused instead on my rag tag army.

  Most of the men looked afraid but determined. After all, they had a queen to lead them once again. The weight of responsibility was heavy, I clearly had less confidence in my leadership talents than they did. Hopefully that faith didn't get us all killed.

  "Alright." I said, under my breath. I took several steps forward and turned, now facing the group. One Pangar cat, a very large dragon, a disheartening number of demons. It was almost laughable, now that I knew the demon race better, that the people of Hearth thought that it was the demons who engaged them in deadly combat every couple hundred years. This battle alone proved that, though very strong, demons were not a war minded race. Heck, the very stability of the race depended on there not being excessive amounts of fighting.

  But fighting is what was needed today.

  Before me were my soldiers, and to my back raged a battle between three woman and a giant squid. If three woman on their own- sans wyverns- could hold off the Enemy this long, than surly we could tip the scales.

  "Demons." I called, and the group grew silent. "I know you have survived much this day, but your Queens still need your aid. They fight, even now, to protect your homes and families from the Enemy. They think they are alone in this battle, their numbers failing, and hope fading..." I was not made for speech making, but I hoped I could get these people motivated. The truth was that, the majority would be nothing more than a distraction to the beast, but that distraction could very well win us the battle. "But they are not alone! We still stand. And, I for one, am not willing to turn tail and flee. Not when, beyond these dead and poisoned mountains lay all that we hold dear. Today we protect what is ours. Today we fight!" I called, and in true cringe fashion, lifted my hand into the air, my white stick held high and a stark contrast to the toxic purple clouds above us.

  Instantly, all the demons set about cheering. Well, more like a collective battle roar, than a cheer. And Rougier wasted no time joining in the call, his great head pointed toward those clouds. He opened his maw, and as if in challenge to the squid that had felled him once already, shot a torrent of blue flames skyward. At the sight, the demons roared again. I guess having a massive, famously evil, dragon at your back was more of a confidence boost than my tiny, lack luster speech. Oh well, what ever worked.

  I retook my perch between Rougier's shoulder blades and glared toward the fight. It was now or never, and the entire world depended on this battle. No pressure Sin!

  "Lidia." I said, my voice impressively deep and commanding despite feeling like it should have been a cracking squeak at the moment. The proud demoness was instantly at attention, her dirt smeared and warry face turned up toward me, faith and trust written all over it. Damn it all, don't look at me like that... "Take half these demons around to flank the monster. Kiran, you take the other half dead ahead. We need to come at this on multiple fronts, or that damn squid will just swipe us all in a few hits. Rougier and I will take to the sky and join the Queens. The goal is to separate the man from the beast, and kill them both."

  Lidia nodded once, a steely determination coming over her. She squared her shoulders and stomped off, ordering men and women alike as she passed them. I watched her go and did my very best not to think that this would be the last time I would see her.

  "Keep safe, my Lady." Said Kiran, his own eyes reflecting the same worry my way. "Let us finish this mess and remove the unsavory pest from your lands."

  "Yes." I said, chest tight, but anger keeping the fear at bay. "Shinra, stick to Kiran like glue. You both better return to me... I've lost enough this day." I added in a low voice.

  Confused worry crossed Kiran's handsome features briefly, but with a stiff nod of his head, he too left to complete the orders given him, my dark furred Pangar tiger close to his heels.

  "Ready?" Rumbled Rougier, his body a solid rock warmed by dragon fire beneath me.

  "As I will ever be."

  Without needing any further prompting, the dragon extended his massive wings, causing the slower moving demons to scatter or get blown over. I held tight as the two leathery appendages beat down once, then twice, knocking over cots and campfires alike, as the membranes caught the air, and with a little dragon magic, lifted the massive monster into the air. It still amazed me to see something so stupidly heavy take to the air this way.

  Rougier did not, immediately, head for the fight. Instead, I instructed him to make two loops over the lake, allowing me to get a lay of the battle field as well as give the troops some time to get in their positions.

  The ground and water looked just as bleak as it had since we arrived. Only now there were red smears and divots made my squid arms, and scattered bodies that had yet to be collected from the battle field. Most of the smaller creatures had been dispatched, thankfully, and all that remained were the squid and the man with tar eyes.

  Only? Yeah, right. I thought as a shiver ran over my body that had nothing to do with my cloths still being damp and the wind kissing my skin.

  Speaking of the Squid, I could see its pale, sickly shape all the better now. It had, apparently, given up on the fog, and the water too for that matter. It seemed that the wyverns were, indeed, irritating the monster so much that it had abandoned the murky lake for the far off shore. I was surprised to see that a good chunk of the creature was on land, a few of its tentacles still immersed in the sludge, but a goodly bit of it on the purple rocks leading up the side of one of the rugged mountains surrounding the lake.

  I was quite sure that an actual squid would not have been able to do that. Do it and still fight off a flock of wyverns, at least. But it was doing just that.

  "We need to find a way to separate the two, and then kill the man." Stated Rougier. It was something we both already knew, but I felt he was just trying to keep me focused and not loose heart. It was still easier said than done.

  I watched the flurry of colorful wyverns continually dive bomb the monster, and tried to make out the Enemy that had been riding it. I didn't see him, but a flash of light that wasn't the wyvern's version of dragon breath caught my eye. It was then that I was able to make out the two Queens In the sky, both seemed to be hurling various spells at the squid. Magic, outside of taming magic, wasn't really my strong point, but I assumed that they were varying celestial and void magic spells, as they were the only magics that could do real damage to the Enemy.

  What I didn't see was Pasha. I was sure that she would be fighting along side the Queens if she could, even if she could only do so much. I truly hoped that that didn't mean that Lidia's mother had lost her life.

  "Alright, just watching from above is not helping at all." I shouted over the wind. "Lets make some passes and see if we can catch sight of the man while we are at it. Just be careful of the damn legs."

  "You need not remind me of that." Rumbled the dragon, and I felt his muscles bunch under those stone like scales.

  With a jerk, we dove toward the squid, passing by several wyverns in the process. I knew, objectively speaking, that Rougier was massive, even by dragon standards... But it wasn't till we passed by the wyverns that I was struck buy just how huge he was. These dragon like monsters were not tiny, each being at least three times the height of a human, yet Rougier's bulk dwarfed them all.

  My dragon let out a war cry that sounded like something the T-rexes made in the Jurassic Park movies, before loosing a jet of blue fire down onto the pale skin of the Squid's back. He snapped his jaws shut and sored upwards once again, this time passing where Queens Darcious and Perna we in the sky.

  Rougier looped around and brought me as close to the two as his grand wing span would allow. Both women looked in god awful shape. Darcious' red curls were limp and lifeless, her face death pale and dark bags under her eyes. It was clear that her vast mana stores were finally reaching their end. She didn't even have the energy to be snarky with me.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  "I am glad you are not dead." Growled Queen Perna. Her long dark hair seemed shorter than I recalled, and the ends were frayed, as if someone had used a blade to saw it off. She looked about as drained as Darcious, but was still managing to shoot balls of dark blue energy toward her target.

  "Same." I said, worried for the two queens. "Get on." I told them. It was a rather bossy tone to take with my senior Queens, not to mention a little rude to Rougier to just assume that he would be okay with carrying the two exhausted Queens. He had made it clear on many an occasion that he was no pretty pony for others to ride.

  But my dragon would just have to suck it up. I was the master, damn it! Besides, The two women looked like they were about to fall from the sky, and the last thing this world needed were two more dead demon lines. They needed rest, and on Rougier's back was about as safe a place as you were to get out on the battlefield. Our last encounter with the squid not withstanding...

  The two women did not look very confident in that, exchanging dead eyed glances. But, when the dragon made no objection, they flapped upward to get over the dragon's dangerous wings before both landing quite inelegantly on the dragon's back. I reached out a hand and caught Perna when it looked as if she was about to slide off Rougier.

  "Sorry," She breathed, righting herself and sitting more center. "Thank you for the assistance, Master Death-Bringer."

  Rougier's only response was to ascend higher. It seemed the squid had taken note that the dragon was taking it's prey and began launching its own assault on us. But, probably because it was now grounded, it's reach was not as good as it had been earlier.

  "Where is the man controlling this thing?" I asked, scanning around the top of the monster. It was hard to see much due to the creature's size and the tentacles flailing around.

  "Still on it's head." Breathed Darcious, gritting her teeth. "It knocked Pasha out of the air about ten minutes ago, and we haven't seen her since. It is all we have been able to do to keep the bastard distracted with our magic!"

  I nodded, and was about to try and discuss our next actions when a cold, slippery voice seemed to crawl into my ears. "You are alive." It said. An observation, not a question.

  Hissing my displeasure, I tried to follow the sound and finally laid my eyes upon our Enemy. He was standing atop the squid's pale flesh, almost as if he hadn't moved from the spot I had last seen him. His face was turned up and those gross, black holes oozing tar were locked on us. Despite the distance between us, his voice had sounded so clear, and so oily.

  "Fascinating." He said, not looking fascinated at all. "But irrelevant. Our victory is all but inevitable. Your forces are exhausted, your Queens all but dead, and these irritating pests nothing more than a slight distraction." He said, indicating the wyverns around us. "I must, at least, commend your collective stubbornness to cling to your paltry lives."

  Wow, creepy and a dick. Why wasn't I surprised. "I hardly think we are finished." I hissed back. It was mostly a bluff. No, I was not giving up, but It was painfully clear that our victory was more like a desperate wish, than a possible future.

  At my words, however, the being began to laugh. The sound was sickening and set my hair on end while also feeling like cool fingers running down my spine.

  "Gods, can he be any more creepy." I growled, mind working overtime to figure out how it was that we were going to do this. I had hoped to have the aid of the other queens, but these two were all but done. Damn. "Rougier, get us more height!"

  Without hesitation, Rougier complied, taking us upward at a dizzying pace. Looking back, I could just make out the Enemy over the Queens and Rougier's scaly hide. He still wore that grotesque smile, and his eyes seemed to be locked onto me as well. Without any visible command from the creeper, the squid started to move, seemingly drawing itself up as straight as it could and still not fall over.

  "Now what?" Huffed Perna. I turned around to see that she seemed to be casting some kind of healing magic on Darcious. It wasn't any sort of green or yellow light like I would have suspected, rather a soft, almost pink, red color. Beneath her fingers the other queen's skin seemed to shiver an bubble, and the woman noticeably winced. Still, pain and discomfort aside, it seemed to work and the Queen's wounds seemed to close up.

  "Now we knock that bastard off the monster. I haven't given it much thought past that, so any ideas on your part will be most welcome." I said, Taking my hands off the dragon's back and holding on with just my legs. Twisting, I set a hand on each of the other women and started funneling energy into the pair. Not being on the ground seemed to require direct, physical, contact.

  I watched as both women seemed to sag in evident relief. I could not spare much for them, given I myself was about as drained as I ever thought I would be.

  "I am afraid that all ideas have left me." Admitted Darcious. She sighed and gazed back at the enemy below us. We all watched as the demon army finally met up with the squid. I frowned and looked away. I didn't need to see any pointless deaths, and took small comfort in that I could still feel my bond with Shinra. It didn't mean that Kiran and Lidia were still well, but I would take the win where I could. "This is more than we have ever had to face before. To think that our greatest enemy has been biding their time and building power under our very noses."

  "No point in worrying about that now." I didn't see any need to tell them about Aura and Cinder-Fetch at the moment. If we survived this, then they could see them in person, and if we didn't make it, then it wouldn't matter anyway. "I think I have an idea, though it might not pan out very well..."

  "Anything is better than nothing." Said Perna, raising a hand and firing off another spell as Rougier made another pass over the Squid, spraying the monster with another torrent of blue flames. The creature seemed to have felt it that time, as we heard it let out a strange, ear splitting screech.

  "Ow! Damn it." I snarled, wanting to curse the thing out, but giving the idea up as being childish.

  "What's the plan." Asked Darcious, shaking her head as if to dislodge the sound from her ears. I saw a trickle of blood dribble down her jaw line and thought that the noise may have ruptured one of her ear drums.

  I lifted Rohime off my lap, showing the women the white stick in all its plainness. They looked at me like I had a screw loose. Gripping the wood, I felt it answer my call, and in an instant I felt the celestial weapon grow warm in my hand. Where once there had been a stick, now there was a majestic white bow.

  "A gift from Queen Ooma. This uses celestial magic. I'm betting a shot from this will hurt that bastard good and well." I added with evident venom in my voice. "Its about time I clear my lands of these damn interlopers."

  Beneath me, Rougier let out a growl of approval, changing his trajectory to get me into as good a position as I could to make my shot.

  "We have been using both celestial and void magic on him from the start. The effect has not been as optimal as we would have liked." Perna admitted, eyeing the bow like she doubted its abilities.

  "Yes, well, I'm a tad peeved at the moment and am willing to try just about anything." I readied my weapon, taking aim at the disgusting being that was the current target of my ire. I wouldn't say that he had lost interest in us, but it seemed that, with the arrival of the army, his attention was now divided three-fold: between us, the army, and the wyverns.

  I didn't really have any sort of archery training. I would have to trust in Rohime this time, mentally promising the bow that, should we live, I would be sure to get training in order to be worthy or drawing her. I pulled back my other hand, as if I really were drawing a bow, and felt the magic energies swirl as the string of light and my silvery arrow appeared. My sole focus was on my target, willing Rohime to hit him directly.

  I took a single deep breath. For some reason, at that moment, an image flashed before my eyes. It was the neighbor's yard, back when I was really small. I remember sitting out on the grass, playing with a broken doll, and looking at the bright red and yellow signs the old man had plastered over every fence and tree on his property.

  No solicitors! Trespasser Will Be Shot!

  A dark, and somewhat maniacal smirk passed over my face. My eyes narrowed and, with a sort of glee that I attributed to pulling a child's prank, I loosed my arrow.

  We were close enough to the Enemy to see him quite clearly, so I could see precisely when he knew that he was under attack. His face spun from where he had been creepily smiling at the armies below. He didn't look alarmed, but rather amused. But that look quickly morphed to surprise when he raised a hand, as if to block the shot with that alone. The arrow of light hadn't been blocked, however. No, instead it literally blasted straight though his palm and down his arm, making the flesh and bone erupt like a water balloon hitting the asphalt.

  And the shaft of light didn't stop there. Once out the other side of the black and white monstrosity, it continued onward, passing through one of the squid's arms, severing it in half before taking out a sizable chunk off the side of its body. Both the man and the monster began oozing a black substance that I was hesitant to call blood given its thick, viscus, quality.

  "How!?" Called Perna, eyes wide as she leaned past me, excitement making her forget her fatigue for a brief moment. Darcious yanked her back, clearly worried that the other Queen was going to fall off the dragon's back.

  "Again!" Roared Rougier, just as the Enemy glared directly at me. He wasn't smiling any longer, his face contorted, not in pain, but evident rage.

  I wasted no time pulling back again, aiming my sights at the torso of the man. I wasn't sure if cutting the bastard in half would actually kill him, but it would make it damn hard for him to move around.

  The man let out a roar that hurt the ears just as much as the Squid's screech had, but I ignored the pain and steadied my aim. Releasing the shot, I watched with bated breath as if in slow motion, the arrow found it's way home.

  The shot hadn't been able to separate the top half from the bottom, but it did make it though the guy's defenses once again, tearing a clean and perfect hole right where a human's heart would have been. It may not have done what I wanted, be it had succeeded in passing right through both man and beast, the squid now sporting a hole down through it's center. The creature bucked and the man began to fall, eyes locked on me the whole way down.

  "In coming!" My dragon roared, and we jerkily spiraled to the left, narrowly avoiding a wildly flying tentacle as the Squid seemed to real and wreath in pain. Despite having a clean wound all the way through it, the wound didn't appear to be lethal. Mind you, the damn thing was so huge that it may very well have seemed like a needle poke... But I was pretty sure that, had I have been run through with a needle, I would have been in bad shape.

  "I need to get to the bastard!" I shouted down at Rougier desperately. "I have to finish him before he regenerates or something else stupid!" I had no doubt that the fall would not have killed him, that was for sure.

  "On it." Snarled the dragon, going into a nose dive while trying to avoid blows from the squid, ignoring the terrified screams of the other queens.

  The Squid might not have been delt a fatal blow, but it was clear that it was hurting. It seemed to have abandoned trying to get at the wyverns- who were now circling over head as the beast flailed about- and decided to flee back to the water.

  "There!" I shouted, pointing to a pale speck on the side of the mountain. "I'm going. Rougier, take Darcious and Perna, you guys are in charge of the squid!"

  Without further explanation, I threw myself off the back of the purple dragon, tumbling through the air with Perna's startled shouts still ringing in my ears. As soon as the tumbling slowed I released my wings. They were not designed for a long flight, but I wasn't looking to have one. More of a landing, really.

  Sights set on the man below me, I steered my decent so that I was aiming right for him. I saw that he had gotten to his feet, and was standing there, waiting for me with a cold and deadly look to his face. He still sported the hole in his chest and was missing an arm, but neither seemed to bug him very much. Except for pissing him off it seemed.

  I landed on the dry earth before the man. Rohime was still gripped in my hand, but it had reverted back to being a pretty white stick. Clearly it felt that it had done it's job and was due a rest. A bow wasn't going to do me much good in a close combat fight anyway.

  This was it, the final battle to decide this whole mess. I was not confident, but I was good and pissed. I had to admit that, that seemed to be par for the course when it came to me.