Ronfar and Mauri awoke (in each other's arms) to hear some commotion in the next room. They rose out of bed and found the boomerang-winged lizard was sleeping atop Ruby. The dragon cat was shrieking and thrashing about just to fling the reptile off of her. The three blue serpents watched in amusement as Boomer was finally thrown into a wall. The lizard simply opened his eyes and yawned when he landed on the floor.
"Making a new friend, eh Ruby?" Ronfar remarked with a grin. Mauri giggled and went back into her room to change clothes.
Ruby flapped to his shoulder and yelled loudly at Boomer.
"If you EVER try anything like that again, I'll make sure you're in the emergency ward for third-degree burns for a LONG time!"
She calmed down as Ronfar laughed. Boomer just grinned evilly, wondering what Whisp would have to say about that.
"I'm not even going to ask," the gambler chuckled.
They all had a quick meal while Mauri went to the town's authorities to see if anything had occurred over the past night. Guards had been sent to Serak Palace in case the monsters tried another attack. Fortunately, there had been no further incidents.
Boomer and the drakes were just staring at the Red Dragon Crest when a cry was emitted from one of the town guards. Ronfar and Mauri rushed to his side to see the cause of the commotion. The DragonShip Destiny had been spotted to the east... heading toward Raculi.
There was a little excitement between the two lovers. Leo was coming by for another visit. Perhaps he even had a little information about the big gathering in Meribia that was planned for that day. Ronfar and Mauri were supposed to attend, but the attack at Serak kept them from embarking on time.
The two of them, plus all the creatures, hurried to the dock with the Crest still in their possession.
"Are you sure that this town was attacked, old one?"
The goblin monarch nodded, still cradling the White Dragon Crest.
"Absolutely. Our forces were looking for the red one of these crests and the ruins hidden beneath Serak Palace."
One of the orange-robed twins sighed and turned the Destiny toward the large dock near the town.
"I hope so. It looks empty, but there doesn't appear to be any real damage to this village," one of the Blade Wizards remarked. "Perhaps they haven't struck here yet."
A yell from the shoreline alerted them.
"We've been spotted. I suppose we must either talk or fight our way to this Serak shrine of yours," one of the twins noted.
The Destiny pulled onto the dock and slowed.
Ronfar hurried up the gangplank, crest in hand.
"Hiya, almost-brother-in-law..." he started to say as he reached the deck. Ronfar abruptly stopped when he saw a pair of men in odd robes with their heads covered by hoods.
"Ah, you must be speaking about the horned one. He is... sleeping in his quarters below. We are simply workers he hired to help pilot this steamship."
Ronfar was slightly puzzled. Usually Leo would adventure alone... though he supposed it was possible that the beast-man could have wanted some company on his voyages and would hire a crew to help him.
"Uh, so where are you guys from? Vane? Azado?"
The Blade Wizards hesitated at this question. Suddenly a beast-girl, similar in appearance to the half-breed that they had stolen the ship from, walked on deck with a strange pink-furred cat on her shoulder. The man who was questioning them turned and regarded her.
"Where's Leo?" Mauri asked her love.
"These workers say he’s resting below decks."
Directly behind the two mages was the goblin. The little king had the White Dragon Crest in front of him for protection. He had learned how to use it from the priests of the cult... but that wouldn't help since he didn't have enough magic energy to cast its inherent spell. The two wizards might though...
"Kinda creepy for just pilots," the winged cat spoke, blinking its eyes at the twins.
The Blade Wizards were amazed to hear the feline talk... but nothing prepared them for who crawled up the gangplank next.
Boomer and the water drakes slithered onto the deck. The lizard took one look at the two mages and hissed loudly, his 'wings' twitching. The drakes recognized them as well and growled.
"Eh?" Ronfar quested as he turned around to face them. "Wattsamatter with you guys?"
Mauri kept her gaze on the twin mages. She could barely make out something short shivering behind their billowing robes.
The morning sun glinted off of the metallic blades that extended out of the wizards arms before they threw them.
"That lizard?! Does this mean that the wild girl and all her pets survived the trip too?"
"My brother, it is time to strike!"
The Blade Wizards immediately summoned and launched a veritable storm of blades at Ronfar, Mauri, Ruby, Boomer and the water drakes.
Ronfar barely had the time to turn around before a blade dug into his right arm. He yelled in pain and anger and held the Red Dragon Crest in front of him.
Boomer's weapons flew from his back and spun into the legs of one of the mages. The wizard bellowed and vanished, revealing the Goblin King behind him.
Mauri dropped to her knees to avoid a dagger that tried to sever her link on life in this world. She saw the injured mage reappear behind her. The blue serpents immediately dove into his face, biting and clawing.
Ronfar began to chant and raised the crest. The Goblin King yelled some words at the twin still in front of him. The Blade Wizard immediately repeated the same words very quickly as the White Dragon Crest was place in his hand.
The new Red Priest of Althena finished his spell a little too late. Red Dragon Anger showered the area with small, explosive meteorites... but White Dragon Protect kept them from doing any damage.
The wizard behind the group vanished again after flinging the liquid-spurting drakes off of his face. Boomer ducked another volley of blades and rushed the goblin monarch, wings extended...
...and continued all the way THROUGH the goblin.
A flame spell from Mauri enabled Ronfar to run in close to the untouched mage and slam him in the face with his mace. The Blade Wizard hit the deck like a ton of bricks, his robe still aflame.
The other mage reappeared and watched the white crest fly out of his unconscious brother's hand and onto the deck near the goblin who now had a second 'mouth' in his stomach. Boomer lay atop it and prepared to fling his 'rangs at the remaining enemy.
Just as the twin flung more blades at the closing attackers (nicking Mauri and the drakes) a white flash heralded the appearance of someone else. A tall, oddly dressed wizard appeared next to the smaller mage and held his hand in front of him. A white light grew into a long serpent that flew forth from his palm and began to circle each of the heroes, biting and slashing with its tail.
As Ronfar and his friends were brought to their knees, the Blade Wizard bowed.
"Grand Wizard Ornah! You are alive and well I see."
"Yes my apprentice. The master's blood has restorative properties. We have a new mission on this world. Come with me and meet the goal of the master's searching."
The orange-robed magician nodded as Ornah flew over to the goblin's corpse and snatched the White Dragon Crest. The serpent that he summoned began to spin rapidly in place and then exploded, sending icy debris in all directions. Ronfar and Boomer took the brunt of this attack. Ornah just laughed.
Without warning, a yell came from above the two standing wizards as more blades were prepared to be thrown at the wounded heroes.
"You're aren't getting away with MY man's crest!"
Ruby flew down and spurted a stream of fire into Ornah's robes. The flames caught and began to spread. Ornah seemed indifferent though.
"Pah. Useless strike little one," he responded and threw his arms to the sides. The fires suddenly sputtered and died.
"Oooh. I'm going to roast your face this time!" She prepared to spit more flames when the Blade Wizard slammed her head with his fist. Ruby dropped to the deck, dazed.
Ornah faced his fellow minion.
"Let us leave this rabble to wallow at their loss. Neither Lunar's Protectors nor that accursed dragon girl's animals are going to stop us. We must collect another of our allies at Meribia... where he surely has procured another of these items."
Ornah just laughed, still holding the White Dragon Crest. With a flash of light, he and both Blade Wizards disappeared from the deck of the Destiny.
Mauri stood up and held her side. There was a nasty dagger jutting out there. She shuddered in pain.
Ronfar was moaning in agony with the serpent's debris sticking out of his chest. He coughed as a Tranquil Litany spell was blustered from his lips. The healing light surrounded all of his allies and closed their many wounds. Blades and debris disintegrated, bones and flesh healed and the pain eased up.
Ruby flew around wildly for awhile and settled on Mauri's shoulder.
She spoke: "We must follow them! We can't let such creatures get any more of our crests!"
Ronfar replied, "I agree. I wonder if they had anything to do with that 'digging' group from last night... wait, they were after the crimson crest too!"
Mauri shook her head.
"I have a feeling there is more to this than just the stealing of dragon crests..."
Boomer was hissing to the drakes. They nodded and washed the bare goblin corpse off of the Destiny with streams of water while he crawled onto Ronfar's shoulder.
"They said they were going for Meribia next...that's where Azuren and Shade are! They're at that big meeting dealing with monster attacks!" Ruby said excitedly.
"Who?"
"The Blue and Black Dragons. But I don't know of any crests in Meribia," Ruby replied.
Ronfar, with a stern expression, answered: "Then we're off to Meribia."
"What about Leo?"
Ronfar looked into Mauri's worried expression and remembered.
"Mauri, you go and grab some supplies (wasted a lot of magic in that battle) and we'll search the ship for him."
Ten minutes later, the beast-girl returned with several packs of useful items. Ronfar sadly spoke to her.
"He's not on board the Destiny... I hope he's all right wherever he is."
Ruby settled on top of the controls.
"I'm sure he can take care of himself... we need to hurry to Meribia!"
Atop the silent Mystic Ruins, Haranne was cradling the Dark Scimitar. The harpy was staring at the odd contraption that was slowly being repaired by strange creatures completely covered with metal. Each had six small arms that were apparently trying to increase the size of the crashed device.
At the other end of the roof, the huge shadowy shape was silently laying on the stones. It barely moved its large head as it watched her look out over the edge of the structure.
With a flash, Ornah appeared on the roof with his Blade Wizards. Haranne spun around to look at them.
The grim-visaged wizard pointed at her.
"There is the Dark Scimitar that Master Baldour and his allies searched so long for. She is the current bearer of it. Mistress Haranne, these are more of my apprentices from the Blue Star."
The twin, still holding his unconscious brother, made a short bow.
"It is an honor, my lady."
A twisted grin appeared on the harpy's face as she nodded.
Ornah spoke to the other mage: "Now, acquaint yourself with the rest of our forces below and get your brother healed. We have much to do before DarkStar is fully awakened."
"DarkStar?"
Haranne replied, "The original name of this blade. The sword still needs time to regain its power."
The Blade Wizard nodded, bowed and floated off to the portal leading to the floor below.
Ornah approached Haranne, watching the metal-clad beings continue their modifications to the 'accidentally crashed' vessel.
"Have the forces departed for the Zaback mines yet?"
"Yes," she replied coldly. "The levitation power of those black crystals will soon be ours."
The master wizard chuckled, staring first at the White Dragon Crest in his hand and then at the sky... looking for something.
Haranne simply scanned the landscape around the ruins.
A dagger with a black flame surrounding it sunk into the flesh between the eyes of a wounded Guardian. It roared in pain and collapsed.
"Ha, ha. Too easy."
In the Crystal Spire of the Blue Star, the mechanical titan and the small dark figure had just finished demolishing the Guardians that were foolish enough to be in their way.
"Those were 'Guardians'? How could a tower this important have such wimpy defenders?" the dark one asked, grinning vilely.
"That is all that is currently living in this spire," the evil metallic voice of the machine spoke. "Our passage to the transfer device is clear."
The shadowy character nodded.
"Hai. Now we don't have to wait till your power cells recharge to fly this equipment through space," the dark humanoid responded, pointing at several sacks on the floor.
The titan hoisted the packs and the green-haired shade. The engines in its legs and back fired up slightly and it rose toward the crystal transporter at the pinnacle of the tower.
They flew into it without delay. One flash of light later and they were gone.
More Guardian statues changed from stone to flesh and began to (again) repair the damage and clean the corpses in the Crystal Spire.