Jailhouse Rock

The Emperor dashed toward the dungeon with any and every soldier he could find. By the time he reached the first door, he had around fifty men. Though whether that was a boon or a hinderance in the close quarters of the prison, Devrim was unsure.

The jailer was at the front of the prison, the smell of death already upon him. With a sick feeling, Devrim wondered why the man was out of his room at all. It was close by so it was possible that the man had come out because he had heard something and had come to investigate. It was a fatal choice.

On the other side of the doorway, four more bodies of soldiers had died defending their post. The gashes lined with purple ooze made it very clear who had invaded the palace.

The Emperor tightened his metal helmet and pulled down a protective visor. He adjusted his metal armor across his shoulders. "Don't let them touch your skin," Devrim warned the men behind them. He glanced beside him at Gandr, who was smiling viciously. "You watch out too."

"It is they who need to watch out," the halfling replied.

The Emperor shook his head, "Don't get cocky. If they can hurt a Fate, they can hurt you."

Gandr winked. "Let them try!"

They fell silent as they passed more and more of the soldiers guarding Velia. Only a couple seemed to have put up a fight. Most of them seemed to have fallen before they even knew what was happening. The creatures were stealthy.

Inside the most secure part of the prison, which was a long hall separated from the rest of the prison by a thick wooden door, voices could be heard.

Devrim called a halt silently with his fist. He strained to hear through the small crack in the door. The words, "Oblivion" "Empress" and "permanent vacation" were among the words that made it to his ears.

Those inside the hall fell silent. It seemed that they had become aware of the soldiers' presence. Motioning for the soldiers to fan out, Devrim made sure that the humans and their halfling ally were prepared for whatever came through the door.

There was no other exit for them to take. This was one of the few places not even the Fates tunnels reached. A clash was inevitable.

In the eerie silence that followed, Devrim tried not to tense his muscles too much. It was difficult, but he knew that he needed to stay calm or the battle was already half lost.

Gandr, not being as patient, had set his jaw determinedly and placed his hand on the door. They had waited long enough. After a nod from the Emperor, the halfling pulled the door with all his might, straining the hinges with a loud creak.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then a mass of teeth and claws shot out of the passageway into the cluster of soldiers. Using his wind magic, Gandr pushed the door closed before all of them could make it through, cutting the group in half.

Even the dozen who had pushed through were quickly overwhelming the soldiers. "How many of these critters are there?" Gandr yelled as he tried to keep the door shut.

"Too many," Devrim answered, his sword raking against the walls as he tried to impale a black one of the wolfish beings. Sparks flew wildly from stone.

Keeping his back against the door, Gandr used his wind magic to push back a white wolf from a struggling soldier. It hit the wall with a whimper before deciding it was safer to retreat.

"Give it all you have!" Devrim called to the halfling. "No use hiding now."

Gandr used his earth magic to seal the door shut momentarily so he could focus on the others. from the ground, spikes of stone shot out of the ground toward the intruders. Most managed to avoid the onslaught, but one was wounded mortally in the abdomen.

The humans began to panic until they heard Devrim's words, "The stones and wind are on our side. Keep fighting!"

With renewed strength, the men pushed back against the wolves. Helmets and armor clashed against the claws and teeth, leaving dents in the metal, but not puncturing it. Just when it seemed the tide of the battle was turning, the stone surrounding the crevices of the door cracked and gave way. The wood bowed and finally splintered, sending a second wave of monsters into the fray.

Gandr leapt out of the way, momentarily giving the wolves a reprieve from his magical attacks. This group was much stronger than the first, and the soldier closest to the door fell almost instantly to a grey wolf with mismatched eyes.

The formidable foe then trained his gaze on the Emperor. His confident manner spoke of his raw power. The Emperor shuddered.

The distance between them closed in an instant as the monster claws shot out to grab his helmet. It was either an attempt to break Devrim's neck or remove the protective covering, but a flash of sharpened steel met the dastardly paws instead.

Collyn pulled back his hands, wiping the blood from them on the patchy fur of his abdomen. He growled and cursed at the Emperor.

Devrim's eyes darted to Gandr, who was warding off a skittish brown wolf with his own shortened sword. The halfling tried encasing the wolf's feet in stone, but the creature was too jumpy and there were too many people around to make a wider area.

He thought about grabbing a hold of him and compelling him to stop, but this seemed like a dangerous option for two reasons.

One was that getting a good grip on the creature would be difficult, and the other was that he had no idea if using his magic on them in such a way would hurt him also.

Fortunately the wild creature seemed to be unfamiliar with the movement of his body. He had yet to land a real punch, and the specially woven elven cloth held against the razor-sharp claws... at least for now.

"Gandr!" Devrim warned. Another of the creatures had knocked a soldier to the ground and was ready to pounce on the halfling's back.

The Emperor had no time to see if his warning had worked as the heterochromic grey wolf lunged for another attack. He crouched on the back legs on which he stood, and readied his savage paws against the ground.

He lunged. Devrim wielded his sword, but the creature batted it to one side, seemingly impervious to pain of the deep wound made on his arm. Ducking, the man allowed the monster to sail over his head and ram into the wall of the prison.

Sliding down after the impact, the mass of teeth, claws and fur came crashing onto the man's head. In the wrestling match that ensued, the grey-eyed man was clearly outmatched by the strength and ferocity of the wolf.

Devrim's only saving grace was that his body was smaller than the large creature and he could maneuver it more agilely in the confined space. Collyn's claws railed against the man's armor, trying to find a weakness in the defense.

The Emperor lost sight of all around him as everything moved in slow motion. Collyn pinned him to the ground and slipped his nail underneath the edge of his metal helmet, missing the soft skin of Devrim's chin by a hair's breadth.

Unable to do anything else, the man tilted back his head to avoid it being snapped off by the creature's vicious jerk. With a clang, the helmet flew free, leaving Devrim's face exposed, while his head was still covered by interlocking chainmail.

The next moment was crucial and the Emperor knew it. His strength was beginning to wane and with his face now unprotected, he would likely only have one move before the wolf injured him. As Collyn's gaze was distracted by the flying helmet, Devrim made a fist with the metal glove of his hand, jerked it out of the wolf's relaxed grasp, and struck at the creature's green eye with all his might.

Raising his paw a fraction of a second too late, Collyn felt the brunt of the beveled edge across the knuckles dig into his skin. Blood poured into the wolf's eye and across Devrim as the creature howled. The grey monster staggered backward, his foot catching on a piece of raised stone from the ground. His good eye caught sight of his companion, Millard, encased in the stone wall and whimpering for help he would not receive.

Collyn came to his senses. This was not a battle he needed to have. He simply needed to escape. With the little vision he had left, he warded off a stab to his side from Devrim's hidden knife and threw the man to the ground. Then he leapt, turned in midair to push off the ceiling for additional distance and landed clear of the bulk of the fighting.

Seeing their leader leave, the few wolves left standing also turned tail and ran. The battered and bleeding soldiers left behind gave a poor pursuit, but they raised the alarm so others could take up the chase.

There were casualties on both sides, though the humans seemed of have had more deaths than their stronger counterparts. Two wolves were encased in the stone wall, a trick that had been hard for the halfling to complete.

Gandr reached down and helped up the Emperor. "That didn't go as expected. You want to go after them?"

Devrim shook his head. "I didn't see Velia with them, did you?"

"I did not," Gandr looked toward the prison cell.

Together the men ran to see what had become of the young nursemaid.