Season 4 Chapter 25
Mrs. Bella Lucina raced up the stairs on the east side of town. It had burst out into a store of some kind. The shelves were almost all bare, one knocked over by the dungeon erupting through the floor. A bag of flour lay burst in the corner.
"Let's move!" Mrs. Lucina cried, the angel eager to get in the air and fight. Mrs. Baldwin was already heading out into the street with her basilisks to evacuate the halflings. Poor Baaghi had to stay behind, but she would be needed if things went badly.
The moment the angel was outside, her halo flashing bright, she flapped her white wings. She took to the sky. She rose, her heart pounding so fast. She was so ready for this fight. She would not let Leo down. Nor the halflings of this city.
The sphinxes followed her up into the air, Talalo at their lead. They beat their black wings, their dark-red manes fluttering. The group rose above the city. Mrs. Lucina surveyed the area, searching for the fiery phoenixes that controlled this part of the city.
They were circling farther to the south. A group of five pale-skinned women. They had round breasts that jiggled as they banked towards them. Each of them had red-feathered wings instead of arms and matching plumage. They screeched in rage as they banked over and soared towards the angel and her sphinxes.
"Get ready, girls," Mrs. Lucina cried as they winged to fight the phoenixes. Her halo glowed bright.
A beam of light fired from her halo and lanced at the lead phoenix. She flapped her wings hard, rising just above it. The beam flashed beneath her tits. The phoenix all roared in fury. The two groups hurtled closer.
This is going to be bad, the angel thought, fear rippling through her.
"It's okay," Mrs. Zoe Baldwin said as she moved to the frightened halflings. The motherly dryad had such a welcoming look on her brown face. Her leafy-green hair rustled about her shoulders. "We're here to help you."
The halflings retreated from her the way a whipped dog would from the raised fist of an owner. They expected her to hit them. A child wept, such a little thing. The mother in Mrs. Baldwin was so angry that they would be so frightened by what was happening.
She bent down and scooped up the child. She lifted him easily in her arms. "It's going to be okay. Let's go. This way to safety!"
The blue-scaled basilisks were moving through the streets, trying to be friendly. Not the best monster girls for this, but they were corralling the halflings out of fear, if nothing else. All that mattered was the evacuation.
"Follow me," the dryad said to the group as she held the child. "We're getting you all to safety. My son, Lord Leo, sent me to save you."
"Lord Leo?" a halfling woman said, a baby in her arms. "He sent you?"
"That's right," Mrs. Baldwin said and hurried to the dry goods store. "Let's get you all to safety. How does that sound?"
She handed the child to another halfling woman. She ushered them to the shop, looking up in the air. She sighed as she watched the sphinxes and Mrs. Lucina close with the phoenixes. The fight was about to start.
The dying.
"Let's keep moving," Mrs. Baldwin said, keeping her tone light and breezy. Like there was no danger to them at all.
Lana Fulmine never thought she would be racing upstairs to go into battle against hippogriff monster girls. That she would be given such responsibilities as to deal with marauders. If she didn't win the fight, the halflings would be in trouble.
So many lives were on her shoulders. She wasn't that broken, coked-out movie starlet any longer. She was someone better than her old self. Stronger. More resilient. Her number one fan believed in her. She would not fail Leo.
The quetzalcoatls slithered up the stairs behind her, moving on their green snake tails, their rainbow wings folded behind them. Lana stepped into a cobbler's shop. The smell of leather filled her nose. Rich and strong.
She ignored it and found the door. She threw it open. A halfling shouted in alarm, dropping what they held. She spread her wings. The lightning crackled between them. She flapped them hard and leaped into the sky.
"Let's go!" Vaivory hissed behind her.
The rainbow-winged quetzalcoatls followed Lana Fulmine into the sky. She felt like Jane Dangerous in truth. She was going into danger against the deadly hippogriffs. She glanced down to see Crystal and the yuki-onna coming out next. They would be gaining a roof to help with the fight. Then came Halia, Usiku, and the salamanders. They rushed north to join Lana's number one fan.
She had to push her worry for him out of her mind. The hippogriffs had seen her.
She flapped hard, rushing towards those monster girls. They had turquoise-hued wings thrusting from their backs, their bodies tan and lovely. Their fingers end at bird-like talons and they had horse hooves instead of feet, a turquoise tail swishing behind them.
They screeched like pissed-off eagles.
"Let's go, girls!" cried Vaivory. "Big Sis Lana is leading us to glory!"
"BIG SIS!" the other four quetzalcoatls hissed.
Lightning crackled through Lana Fulmine's wings. A blast of lighting shot from her at the hippogriffs. At the same time, the five quetzalcoatls fired balls of electricity from their mouths. The attacks streaked out.
The battle had begun.
Halia charged out of the cobbler shop on the heels of the yuki-onna. She had her route in her head. Her humming blessed sword gripped in hand. She ran in her armor, Usiku at her side. The naked fomorian formed a large sword of shadows that went well with her purple skin.
Halflings fled from them. Halia hated that they ran from her, but she couldn't blame them. She had her mission. Mrs. Baldwin or Maya would have to get those halflings to safety. She had to get to Lord Leo and assault the commanders. Drive out the most dangerous monster girls in the city.
Lightning crackled in the sky overhead. She ignored those sounds, hoping the battle went well and kept running. The salamanders were on her heels. The heat of them warmed her back. They were ready to fight. To burn.
"For Lord Leo!" she shouted as she ran.
"LORD LEO!" the five salamanders hissed behind her.
"Let's get up on these buildings," Crystal cried and threw herself at the side of one. The ice sprite used the wooden frames like a ladder to climb up the two stories and onto the roof. She rolled over it and landed on her feet.
She looked around, getting her bearings. The yuki-onna were climbing up on the roofs, getting into position. The ice sprite nodded, eager for the fight. She looked around and spotted Lana Fulmine and the quetzalcoatls firing their lightning at the hippogriffs.
The hippogriffs dodged and banked, the blasts whizzing past them. Crystal grinned as she formed her ice dagger. She threw her first attack at the nearest hippogriff. The sparkling weapon flashed out to take off her head.
Crystal formed her next attack, eager to spill the enemy's blood and win the day for her little brother.
Sulanga Stormfury's day was ruined quiet abruptly.
"Lord Sulanga, monster girls have appeared across Sharithin," Vilkas reported. "Probably that Leo!" She was his raiju, his unique Lightning companion and one of the two he'd left to guard the city.
Sulanga's brow furrowed in shock at that. Then his monster girls started dying.
Anger burned in him. Leo Baldwin would pay for attacking Sulanga Stormfury's territory. He clenched his fist then began giving orders.