He's in the graveyard when the thought cuts into his head, a voice that is definitely not his own.

Kaleb, I need you with me. Now.

The mental picture that comes with it is what really gets his attention.

Six men, armed, with a decidedly strongarm sort of look to them, cutting off a trio of youths, and behind them, someone who - despite his smaller stature - has a decidedly more sinister look to him.

Why me? Surely Wraith would have been a better choice...unless, of course, he thinks I need the practice.

He shrugs and stands. Whatever the reason, he's been called. Besides, it's about time they got down to work. He's getting restless again, tired of cooling his heels. A little less talk and a lot more action, as they said back home.

He focuses on the image in his head of the place that Lupinius sent him, altering his aim a bit so he comes back into existence in a slightly different place...

...and then he is gone, vanishing in a shimmer of blue-tinged blackness.

He reapears just where he intended to, just behind the six men, just in time to see Lupinius himself vaulting through the air to land on one of them. He winces only a little at the sound of bone splintering in the man.

Well, when you work for the wrong side, you get what you deserve, right?

He watches as his fellow Guardian springs forward and twists through the air to land facing the remaining hardcases, his blade flashing into existence in his hand. He manages to keep from snorting only by necessity. Showoff!

Of course he knows better - Lupinius likes the intimidation factor, giving his enemies just a taste of what he's really capable of just on the instant. For himself, though, he prefers being more...straightforward.

Well, at least he got their attention focused, he thinks as the five men begin drawing their swords.

He steps forward, into that wavery world of teleportation, slipping in between realities and emerging just on the other side. he catches the suddenly shocked look on the face of the man in front of him, whome he had been behind just a moment ago. Kaleb settles into a fighting stance without concious thought and reaches out to the power his demon half gives him. Around his hands there is a sudden sizzling, buzzing sound of electricity as brilliant blue-white arcs begin flaring up and down his forearms. Before the thug can respond to this newest, bizarre threat, Kaleb aims a hard punch right for his sternum.

The punch would, under most circumstances, be enough to just knock the wind from a man this size caught by surprise. It doesn't need to be any harder, really. As his fist connects, a shock on the order of 50,000 volts at .05 amps is delivered to the man's body, blowing him backwards as suddenly as though he had been been hit with a tree wielded by a giant. He flies back an easy dozen feet, the point of impact to his chest now displaying a smoking, charred spot.

He doesn't have much time to admire his handiwork, unfortunately - just as the first victim comes to rest, he senses ratehr than sees the man next to him swinging a long, wicked-looking sword for his head, looking to decapitate him. He ducks the blow easily, falling into a crouch and kicking out with his left leg, catching the man in the knee. There is a loud crack as his booted foot connects and fractures the man's kneecap, and the thug howls in pain and drops to his knees, screaming in pain as the sudden impact jars his already-broken joint. Kaleb stands as he pivots, his other foot flying out. The toe of his boot catches the man in the temple, bringing his stint of conciousness to an end for the night.

Six of them to two of us. It almost isn't fair, is it? Maybe the creep back there will think to hire more competent help, next time...

That thought is cut short as a third man comes his way, swinging his sword double-handed like he's Babe Ruth aiming for the bleachers.

Kaleb, in the meantime, is dealing with his sword-swinging opponent. Kaleb himself is unarmed, except for the arcs of electricity arcing around his arms, but the man with the sword seems determined not to let him near enough to attempt another shot at that, after what had happened to his colleague. Every time Kaleb starts to close with him, the man swings or thrusts, and he's obviously got some skill with it - enough to keep Kaleb on the defensive with going completely into the offensive and thus opening up an opportunity for him to exploit, and at the same time forcing Kaleb towards the wall on one side of the street, cornering him. As Kaleb gets ready to actually toss a bolt of electricity at the man, though, Lupinius' second opponent goes down, and suddenly the man finds himself in a two-on-one battle.

Kaleb can read the man's desperation in his expression as he relaizes that his friends are not going to be able to help him any longer, and that the two men before him are giving no quarter. It's almost like Kaleb can hear the fight-or-flight response of the man click into place in that moment, and suddenly he charges Kaleb wildly, hoping to finish him off. And with nowhere else to go, Kaleb does the only thing he can. All right, mon ami, you asked for this...y'coulda run...

There is a sudden explosion of sapphire light where he is standing, obscuring his body for a moment as the man charges, swinging for where Kaleb's head was - by now, it's too late for the thug to stop as his sword swings for the place where his target had been standing. But the blade is stopped by a huge, fiery hand that reaches out from that light as it begins fading and grabs the sword by the blade. And suddenly the attacker is looking up into a face that fills him with utter terror as his sword is yanked from his now-limp hand, snapped like a toothpick, and dropped to the ground.

Where Kaleb had been standing there is now a ten-foot-tall demon that looks as though it had sprung from the bowels of Hell itself, looking as though it is made of stone, molten lava and fire, the intense heat of its body pouring off of it in waves that can be felt from a good dozen feet away.

The demon laughs, a growling, grating sound that comes from a mouth that looks like the inside of a blast furnace, if a blast funrace had teeth.

"What's the matter, little man!? Thought you had me, didn't you?"

With that, the demon swings a fist the size of a small boulder. The force from that single blow lifts the man off of his feet and hurls him clear across the street with such force that when he hits the wall on the other side, his body actually leaves an impression in the side of the building.

Kaleb the demon looks around the street, noting that the scumbag leader of the party has fled - probably when he saw that his men were losing, he thinks. He focuses his will inwards, driving the demon back inside, down into its sleeping depths. A moment and a flaring of brilliant blue light later, Kaleb is in his less terrifying form, walking towards Lupinius and the trio of trembling youths.

"Sorry 'bout that, peu ceux. S'everyone all right?"

He halts just close enough to hear, but doesn't come any closer - the other girl of the group that hasn't spoken looks at him with huge, terrified eyes, and he doesn't want to spook her further. Instead he simply stands where he is, hands clasped behind his back, listening intently.

He is, he admits to himself, a little ashamed that his other side doesn't take a more comforting form...that to people such as these, it terrifies the people he's protecting as much as it does the people he is protecting them from. He wishes it weren't so, but, unfortunately, there isn't much to be done about it.

Thanks again, God. You sure do have a f**ked up sense of humor,mon ami.

As the girl starts talking about the place she and the other two were on their way to, though, he perks up a bit. They'll take in escaped slaves? This has potential, and if they need an escort...

He smiles as he hears Lupinius suggest - in a subtle sort of way - that he and Kaleb can escort them to where they need to go, when suddenly a thought occurs to him. "Gabriel," he says, using Lupinius' alias, "couldn' we use th' portals for th' Chamber? It'd save time and we'd stan' a better chance of 'vading any backup that sac d'?cume is liable to be sendin'."

At the more pleasant sound of his voice, with that lilting Cajun accent, the younger of the two girls starts looking a little less terrified of him. Perhaps, he thinks, she just needs a bit of reassurance that he is, indeed, human. Well, petit, I may not be all the way human, but I got more than a touch o' it in me.

As they enter the portal, Kaleb, rather than following the rest of them, makes a side trip into the Chamber.

He hadn't been prepared for that fight, and it had shown. He hates bringing the demon inside him out unless it's absolutely necessary, and needs to learn to avoid that whenever possible. If it comes down to a situation where a little something extra is called for, like if he is outnumbered again, or if he's up against a bigger, tougher opponent, well...he can worry about that then.

But scaring those kids isn't something he enjoyed, even though putting that thug into the wall - almost literally - had felt great.

So, with that in mind, as soon as he enters the chamber, he heads straight for the section of the Chamber that contains his own equipment.

It's almost as though the Chamber had known what he wanted, he thinks - right there, hanging from the wall, is a jian, a long, straight Chinese-style sword. He had stayed in a Shao-lin temple for a short time before coming to RhyDin, and one of the masters there had taught him a bit about how to use such a sword. He smiles as he takes it down, then heads for the portal out.

He emerges on the rocky shoreline just in time to hear the girl introduce herself and her firends, catching up to them just as Lupinius introduces him. He nods to them as they look his way. No one seems to notice that he now has a sword in his hand, but then, they are more concerned with ohter business just now...

He falls in behind them as the five of them head north past the Sanctuary.

It doesn't take long for the adrenaline of their escape to wear off of the three youths, and halfway up the low mountain they are needing to stop for a rest. Lupinius, though, ever the cautious one, presses them to keep moving, slipping into his lupine form and allowing the two younger children to ride him as they climb. They look apprehensive about it at first - after all, one doesn't normally ride a wolf, even one as big as Lupinius - but after some coaxing from him they climb aboard. Everyone loves a big shaggy dog, even one that looks like a wolf.

The going is slow for a while, as the five of them make their way up to the crest of the hill. Lupinius, though he does not tire from carrying the two youngest, has to be careful not to dislodge his two charges as he picks his way over and between rocks, and they also have to slow down for Alyssa and Kaleb. Still, they manage to make decent time, despite that, cresting the rise just over Xavier's Lodge before the dawn's first light has touched the sky.

Lupinius crouches down to let the children off of his back before he changes back to his human form with a bright flash of violet light. "Looks like we're here."

He hadn't expected much from a place this far north of RhyDin, and he hadn't been disappointed, though it is still not bad for being this far out. Despite the dimmed lights and the ever-present, cold drizzle, he can make it out as easily as though it were a lighthouse. He looks back at the other four, tilting his head in the direction of the Lodge. "C'mon...let's get you kids inside."

Kaleb is still bringing up the rear when they come over the top of the rise, and only just catches Lupinius' shift back into his more human-looking form. He hadn't seen the man's other form before tonight, and he has to admit that, despite his own other form's intimidating size, he is impressed. He's seen more than a few wolves, and Lupinius' form is, by comparison, quite intimidating in its own right. You don't see many wolves that two adolescents can ride on like it's a horse.

As he comes down from the crest, his own gaze shifts from Lupinius and the kids in front of him to the lodge before them. The dimmed, flickering light coming from the place might just be a fire burning low in the hearth, or lanterns, or perhaps just dirty windows. His eyes gleam for a moment as he shifts his vision to pick up and magnify any ambient light, and just as he does so, he is able to pick out a very dim spot of reflected light coming from the covered porch.

He's no expert on arms, now, but he'd lived for a long time in an area where it was a yearly tradition for men to go out and hunt an animal, be it for sport, food or just for the pleasure of the kill...so he knows what the reflection of light off of a scope looks like.

His grey eyes shine again, this time enhancing his vision to pick out heat signatures from any bodies that might be on the porch and magnifying the image. From his vantage point he can pick out two people...no, three. The third is wrapped in a cloak, making him a bit harder to pick out.

He shifts his vision back to low-light, zooming back out. It's a useful trait to have, when you're going into an unknown situation, to be able to soo what's coming for you.

He clears his throat softly. "Looks as though we've been spotted by someone, mon ami."

Roland stepped forward slowly and carefully - Seamus watched the escapees carefully, and whatever sign he gathered from his scrutiny, it prompted him to give his fellow knight a nod. He relaxed, shouldering his rifle, and Roland bowed his head in greeting.

"Good evening to you gentlemen," he replied in his strange accent, something related to French - it came out more like zhentlemen. "I am Sir Roland Gravois, and this is Sir Seamus Morvan, of the Holy Order of Saint Ouen, in service to the Baron of Sainte-Ouen." He paused again, eyes studying the pair, Kaleb and Lupinius, but then Seamus spoke up to break the ice.

"We're mightily curious how ya got here, but more thankful that you've brought the trio along to Xavier's safe and sound," and here he indicated the old innkeeper with a nod. His expression went quickly and naturally into a disarming grin, which he turned on the escapees. "Don't any of ya worry... you're almost there... and my friend Roland and I will do everything to protect ya, I promise. If ya want anything, food, water, place to rest your head for a bit, just let old Xave here know, and he'll take care of ya."

Xavier and Seamus moved to guide them all inside, and the old Aurk spent comforting words as they went, like a loving grandfather - for his strange looks and sharp wit, he could still be a very reassuring figure.

Which left Roland with Lupinius and Kaleb. "Monsieur Kaleb... What happened, to bring the children under your care?" He drifted back towards the porch to sit and talk with them. The young knight had been catching only brief naps the whole night, but he showed no signs now of exhaustion, very much alert and awake, his awareness driven by duty.

He nods as he takes a chair, laying the jian sword across his lap as he sits. "S'right. I was in t' RhyDin cemetary - my fave spot." The Cajun accent comes out a bit thicker now that he's relaxed a bit. "Anyways, th' Wolfe here called me on our private line an' let m'know what's goin' on, said he need'd a bit o' help. Didn' take long t'drop the six 'eavies t' sac d'?cume slave master had brought 'long wit'm. He took off b'fore t' fight was ove'. Chien l?che," he finishes, turning his head and spitting towards the ground off the porch.

His thoughts on the subject of that clear, he turns back to Roland. "An'ways, we Guardians have a series o' portals 'round RhyDin, 'n' we used 'em t' bring d'young'ns 'cross d' river so's we woudn' hafta worry 'bout pursuit."

When Roland says that they are free to walk away if they so choose, for Lupinius himself, it isn't even a matter to be questioned. The man is speaking of holy work, of freeing slaves and serving others, of evading or going through slave hunters?

He doesn't have to think about it. A single man, a long time ago, had seen to his hatred of slaveowners, and a single woman had seen to his everlasting debt to help others that are what he once was. What's more, the man speaks and acts like a fellow knight, and though the order of knights Lupinius had once been a part of has long since gone, he still abides by the code of honor instilled into him so very long ago.

Once a knight, always a knight.

He stands and bows, this time much more formally, to Roland. "I had not thought to end my service to such a noble cause on so simple a note, Sir Roland of Sainte-Ouen. My true name is Lupinius, knight and formerly of the Guardians of the Holy Isle of Avalon. For such an undertaking, my sword and service are yours, for as long as you have need of them."

He looks over at Kaleb, his voice even. "Kaleb, if you're wanting to head back, that's your call...though I have no doubt you and your particular...skills...will be needed on this venture. The choice I leave up to you. As for riding horseback," he says, looking back at Roland, "I can, but if it's all the same to you, I'd rather go by foot. I can travel in another form that I'd wager is easily as fast as any horse you could give me...I just hope your horses don't mind travelling with me."

'Gabriel's' words brought a smile to Roland's face. He bowed his head formally in reply to both Lupinius and Kaleb: "Sir Lupinius, Kaleb... your nobility is matchless." As much as he wanted to tarry, enough time had been spent already. He straightened and moved to the door, prising it partway open.

"The role of Xavier's Lodge in our ventures is still a secret, but again, we must make haste if it is to remain that way." He called several words inside and up the stairs in a strange dialect of Gaelic, and almost immediately there was movement, as Xavier and Seamus roused the children from their unfortunately very brief respite.

"Kaleb, if you could take a child with you on horseback, and Lupinius, if you would permit another to ride upon your back - Seamus will take the third - "

"I'll go northeast, wide around the pond, and cut back in to the main road," Seamus said as he emerged, and nodded as Roland flashed two fingers to him. He went around the back to fetch the horses.

"And I will go south, find what hunters I can, and lead them astray," Roland added with a smile. He took the reins Seamus offered him, who then offered the reins of another horse to Kaleb. No sooner did Xavier have the sleepy, mumbling young freedom-seekers out the front door, than Seamus was helping one of them, the youngest, onto the back of his horse. He clambered up and trotted his mount around Roland, then grinned down at him.

"If you don't return, give the Devil my regards," he said over a tight chuckle. Words they had shared a hundred times before. "Hyah!" And then they were galloping off into the night like the Prince of Lies himself had set their hounds upon them.

Roland could only spare a moment to smile serenly after his comrade; then he too mounted his horse, while Xavier and the former slaves looked on in silence. "Go five miles to the west until you reach a ridge, and follow it to the north. It forks into three at the north end... Take the eastern of the two streams, follow it to the main road, and go north. If you find yourself in trouble in the Barony, alert whoever you can... The Guard or the militias will aid you."

He spun his horse around, backing off from the Lodge several feet. "Any questions, gentlemen?"

He listens as Sir Roland gives them directions, commiting them to memory. He'll have no trouble - both his sense of direction and measure of distance are quite keen, and he has never had a problem with staying on the right path. And with thousands of years of practice behind him, he'll have no trouble whatsoever staying on this one.

"I thank you, Sir Roland, for your assistance and your compliments. Our nobility is nothing when compared to that of you or the Barony you serve - we will aid anyone who chooses to serve so honorable an end."

He turns to the younger of the two girls, now, walking up to her and taking her hand, looking into her eyes as he speaks in a gentle voice. "Now, child, you will be riding on my back, and we will have to go swiftly. You will have to hold on quite tight, so do not fear hurting me, for you will have to stay on my back without falling. Do you think you can do that?"

The girl, who looks much more awake at the prospect of freedom, nods, a shy, somewhat frightened smile on her face. He bows his head once to her, looking back at Roland once more. "We are ready, Sir Roland. I pray we shall meet again, preferably under more peaceful circumstances."

"So, mon frere, you ready for a run?"

He looks over at Kaleb as his amulet begins to glow brighter, beginning to envelope his body with brilliant amethyst-colored light. "Oh, I am most assuredly ready, Kaleb...the real question is, can you keep up?"

As the last word passes his lips, the light flashes around him, consuming him completely, and fades again, leaving the huge wolf in its place. The animal looks at the girl, who climbs aboard and wraps her arms around his neck, holding on for dear life, and with a single, drawn out howl, the beast is off in a flash of silvery-grey, sprinting towards the west.

He watches as Roland and Lup take off, shaking his head, and looking at the back of the girl's head, muttering to himself, "Showoffs. We don' need anyt'ing fancy, here, do we, petit?"

He turns his gaze to Xavier as he turns his horse to the west, bowing his head to the ork. "Well, mon ami, s'been a pleasure, but s'time we were hittin' t'road. Here's hopin we meet 'gain, though nex' time I'd like a chance to have a drink."

With that, he tips an imaginary hat at the man, then kicks the horse in the flanks. The horse leaps as if it were shocked, taking off with speed nearly equal to that which Lup in his wolf form had displayed, as he and the girl on the horse with him head west.

He is careful not to go too rough, wanting the girl with him to be compfortable and to feel safe - the last thing he wants is to panic her whilst they are on the run. As they pick up speed, he feels her start to tense, her breathing speeding up. He can smell and feel the fear coming off of her. Finally, he speaks, his voice a low, smooth, soothing baritone in her ear.

"All righ', mon petit ami, we gotta pick t'pace a bit here, so we can be catchin' up to Monsieur Wolfe, so you jus' hold on tight and keep steady. You gon' be okay?"

She nods to him, and he can feel her relaxing again. He smiles and snaps the reins, digging his heels into the horse's flanks once more, and the horse puts on a burst of speed, flying over the ground. He is pleased that they gave him a swift steed to ride upon, or he might have had a hard time catching up to Lup. As it is, they are nearly at the five-mile mark by the time he is able to catch sight of the wolf ahead of them with the younger girl on his back. The wolf is turning north as they draw even, and Kaleb lets out a Cajun whoop. "Ahhh-yeeee! Laissez les bons temps rouler, Monsieur Wolfe!"

He nods as he slides from the horse's back and helps the girl down from the back of the horse, setting her down in the grass and leading the horse to the stream. The horse gratefully drops its head to the water and begins to drink, and Kaleb leaves him there, walking back over to Lup.

"Well, I have t'say, mon ami, you do move pretty fast as a wolf...I don' have a lot t'compare to, y'understan', but I've ridden quite a few fine animals in my time, and tha' hoss is as well-bred as they come. I figure we were doin' at leas' t'rty-five comin' down that last stretch most of the way, and I was hav'n t'keep up wit' you more'n you were wit' me. An' look at you...y'r not ev'n outta breat'."

He smirks as he looks around the place Lup chose. He's seen postcards that aren't as picturesque as this place. Lup sure could pick 'em, that was for sure. They'd be comfortable here for a little while, anyway. "So, Monsieur Wolfe, how long we plannin' on stayin' in this lovely place?"

He nods as Lup speaks - he had figured as much, and did know that they - the horse and the girls - needed to rest. You can't run an animal like that flat out for so long without giving it a break - you could end up killing it, and he loves horses, has always had a way with them, despite his inner nature. Oddly, even though he knows animals have a way of sensing someone's inner nature, none has ever shied away from him.

Well, except for cats. For some reason, they don't seem to like him much.

As Lup slips into his wolf form, he nods at him respectfully. "Fear not, loup de fr?re, t'ey'll be here when y'get back."

He walks back over to the horse and sits next to where it grazes, and waits.

He nods at Lup at the request for a fire. He's been feeling a little uneasy here, guessing that it's owed to being still for so long - they do have people looking for these escapees, and being still for this long gives them time to catch up, though he's pretty sure they'd've gotten to the portal and not been able to find anything. Besides, the guy in charge had lost six armed thugs to the two of them in a matter of moments, and most people would be dissuaded by that if nothing else. Probably just nerves, but he is anxious to be up and moving again.

It takes him only a few minutes to gather the wood for a fire and set it up. Then, calling on the demonic energies within him, he conjures up a small globe of fire and tosses it into the dry branches. They instantly erupt into a blaze.

He looks at Lup, his grey eyes narrowing slightly as he observes his fellow demon. Something about his body language... "What goes on, mon fr?re?"

He nods to Lup as he crouches by the fire, smelling the rabbits. Not his personal favorite, but fortunately he's not hungry. When the girls are finished with their portions, he might eat the remains, but for now, he thinks, they can have the lion's share. It's time they were treated better thant the slaves they had been, and he can wait a while.

Besides, it's not like he actually has to eat.

He stands and walks over to the girls where they lay in the last rays of the sun's light, still asleep. He's not wanting to wake them up, really - they look quite peaceful - but they do have to get moving again, and soon. He's had that same bad feeling that Lup has, and he can't wait to get these two to the Barony they're supposed to be heading for.

Gently, he shakes each of the girls, rousing them from sleep. They start a little at first - thinking, perhaps, that the events of the previous night had been a dream of some kind and that they were about to be waking in the slave chambers of their former master, but as they wake up and see they are right where they fell asleep, they smile and sit up. And as soon as the smell of the cooking rabbits hits their noses, he distinctly hears one of their stomachs give off a loud grumble of hunger. The girl it comes from gives him a sheepish look.

"S'alrigh', mademoiselle, we all been hungry a time 'r two." He grins. "'Sides, those rabbits he's spittin' are for t'e two of y'all, not us."

At those words, the girls positively light up with smiles, getting up from their temporary bed and practically running over to the fire in their hunger. Fortunately, teh rabbits are more or less done and the two are soon eating them with gusto, despite giving themselves a bit of a burn from the heat of the cooked meat.

In the meantime, he's rubbing the horse down a bit, getting it ready for the night's run. He has the feeling they're going to need it.

Miles away...

"How many behind us, lad?" Seamus spoke through gritted teeth; every jostle of the horse along the rough trail, and every instinctive squeeze from the boy riding with him, shot pain all the way through his bones. The young knight had been in combat before, had killed, and had even been injured, but never so badly.

"Th-there's 't'least five now!" They had been chased for almost an hour now, and he had dismounted to fight off a bounty hunter... well, he wasn't sure when, but that was how long he'd been losing blood. Roland had charged into the growing pack of hunters on horseback only a minute ago, yelling in his native Noubreton for Seamus to press on, but he had only diverted... two? Maybe three?

Sir Roland Gravois would handle himself, Seamus felt sure... but the matter that worried him was survival, at least long enough to see to the boy's protection.

The underbrush rattled and the earth shuddered beneath racing hooves, and the horse frothed at the mouth, exhausted and dehydrated. Yeah, I feel ya, buddy...

Suddenly the sky opened up around them as they broke out of the forest, within sight of the main road into the Barony. Tall hills - fifty meters at least - flanked the path, but over them Seamus swore he could see the glow of lights in Grenmarsh Bend... or maybe he was hallucinating. He slowed to listen as he directed his mount carefully downslope to the road, and it sounded as if they had thrown their pursuers off somewhat. But the hunters would be upon them soon.

As soon as he reached the road and level ground, he spurred his horse into another gallop.

The home stretch was too much for him. As hard as he fought for focus, in spite of his mantra spoken aloud now ("God be with us"), he felt himself slipping, almost losing control of the horse, which slowed almost to a stop before the knight slipped off, tumbling to the ground. He tasted dusty earth and blood, and his head swam from the blow and pounded with the ache in his back.

The boy climbed off awkwardly to try to help Seamus, with a worried look at the thunder from the forest behind them, but the knight waved him off as he climbed to a crouch and secured one hand around the bolt in his back. Didn't want the poor kid to see this, and whatever would follow. "Go, lad... you take the reins, lead that horse, an' you holler louder than ya ever have."

The boy stood dumb-struck, and Seamus looked over his shoulder at him, and managed a grin - a wink - "Hey... I'll see you for breakfast, a'right? What'd I promise you - I can put away more plates than you. An' I'll show you. Eh?" The boy nodded, mutely, then smiled a little. "But you've got to go, right now, an' get help."

And with that the boy turned, leading the horse with him, hollering almost at once for help. Which brought the hunters from the edge of the forest, where they sighted Sir Seamus, but it was all the same to him. He couldn't think clearly, only clearly enough to rip the bolt free with the sound of tearing flesh. "Guh!" The pain shocked him, but his mind switched over to the simple instructions hammered into him, over and over, for using his rifle.

He lowered it from his shoulder, fumbled with the bolt, and struggled to chamber a bullet marked red around the firing pin. He registered the thunder getting closer.

"Help, help!" the boy screamed at the edge of the village, and already lamps were being lit, people rousing from their beds to investigate the noise. A guard of the Barony with a lantern in his hand began to jog over, clutching his rifle in his other hand, as the boy continued: "Hunters! After me! After Sir Seamus! He's hurt! Help!"

It was all the guard needed to hear. He raced back to the edge of the village, to the bell hanging off the edge of the small barracks, seized the rope, and rang it over and over. Very soon all were awake, and Baronial guards met with Volunteers racing out from their homes, many of them still tucking in their shirts, fastening their belts, and loading their rifles as they went. They raced past the boy, and what appeared to be a priest or friar in white robes was hot on their heels.

The leader of the militia, the grey-bearded owner of the supply store, barked out orders, and they all parted around Seamus to form a line in front of him, a dozen of them total. They fell into a crouch and brought their rifles to their shoulders, little brass scopes illuminating the path ahead for them, and the incoming targets. The healer reached Seamus, who had fallen onto his side, and began to help him, putting his faith in his fellow villagers for protection.

The hunters were undeterred, underestimating the firearms and the villagers who wielded them. They had horses, after all, eight of them in total. "Kill the guards! Capture the village!" their leader cried, hefting his crossbow.

They never got closer than thirty meters.

"Fire!" cried the militia's leader, and a volley unseated five of the hunters. The other three hesitated, then began to turn about. "Fire at will!" Two more were gunned down as they attempted to flee, and the third one fled, galloping up the road, whipping at his horse's flanks. He had almost reached the forest when another rider - Roland - erupted from the treeline, sword held aloft, the fury of the righteous ablaze in his eyes.

The man barely had time to stop, and a quick, powerful swing from Roland's sword severed his head. The body toppled off the horse, and Roland slowed to seize the reins at once, mimicking the work of the militia now capturing the uninjured horses.

And the boy, thankfully, had been brought into the village's inn, the keeper's wife insisting he stay inside until the awful battle concluded.

Even moving as fast as they are, Lupinius has no trouble hearing any of what Kaleb picks up on. And as soon as the raiders show up out of their hiding place in the trees, he picks up his speed to match Kaleb's horse, moving down the road faster. Like Kaleb, he knows they can't outrun the raiders, and he knows it would be foolish to attempt to fight them at this point, toe to toe. They're good, but all it would take is one of them getting away with their charges...

No. No failures today. Our only hope is to get as close to the Barony as possible, maybe even into it.

That's when he hears the explosion from behind him, but there is no time or way to look back. It's almost as if that's the cue for more trouble - from ahead there appears six more riders on horseback, looking to cut off their escape. He gauges the distance and judges he may have just enough time to pull this off. As they run, he moves closer to the horse, so that he and it are running close enough to touch as they go.

He focuses inward for a moment, then thinks to Kaleb, Kaleb, I need you to get this girl on the horse with you and the other girl, fast...then I need you to provide as much of a distraction as you can manage for those riders behind us! And don't worry about the ones in front, I'll handle that!

As soon as the girl is off his back, he puts the figurative pedal to the metal.

It is said that the fastest running, regular land animal in the world is the cheetah, able to run at speeds of 75 miles per hour, and clocked up to speeds of 125. Which is fast, considering that the animal has nothing supernatural behind it.

But those lovely cats have nothing on a demonic wolf.

As he surges forward, from his perspective, rest of the world seems to slow down to a crawl, time stretching out so that everything around him seems to be mired in agonizingly slow moments. From the outside perspective, he becomes a silvery-grey blur that hurtles forward as fast as though he had been shot from a cannon.

He closes with the riders ahead rapidly, moving so fast they don't have a chance to bring weapons to bear, and as soon as he gauges the distance to be close enough, he leaps, jaws open.

The lupine form he is in at the moment weighs 285 pounds and is moving as fast as a Formula One race car. The man he's aiming for might weigh 250 with the armor he's wearing, and is holding still. The resulting impact is devastating, as Lupinius hurtles through the air and collides with him. His jaws close on the man's throat as they meet, and the sheer force of the collision is nearly enough to tear the man's head off as the two of them tumble to the earth. The wolf rolls away as they hit the ground, scrambling to his feet, a deep, rumbling growl coming from his throat. The man, however, doesn't move.

The remaining five have just enough time to realize what's in their midst as he leaps to attack again. Despite his much shorter running start, he manages to fling himself up and into the next man in his sights, knocking the man bodily from his horse as he collides with the man's midsection, coming down on the man as he hits the earth hard enough to knock him unconcious. The wolf looks around at the remainder. Two of them are armed with crossbows, taking aim as he looks up. The violet light flows along his body as he shifts to his human form, the sword Angelis in his hand. As they fire, he moves, twisting smoothly out of the way of one and bringing his sleek blade up to cleanly cut through the other. As he turns, he cocks his arm and bring his head around, sights his target, and flings the sword with all of his considerable strength. The blade flies, as always, straight and true, flipping through the air and plunging, point-first, into the chest of the further of the pair, plunging through his armor and ribs with ease and through his heart, collapsing the ventricles and slicing through his aorta.

Before the man starts falling, Lupinius is already sprinting for the closer of the two, beckoning to the sword. It disappears in a flash of violet light and reappears in his hand as he leaps at the rider, swinging in a wide arc as the man draws his own blade...too late. there is a whistling sound, followed by a meaty thud as the man's severed head falls from his shoulders to the ground. His body takes a moment to realize that there is nothing guiding it before it falls from the saddle, eerily in unison with the other man who had been impaled.

The horses by now have realized that they are riderless and start to run off, clearing the way a bit for Lupinius to tend to the remaining two men, but even as he turns, he can tell he's not been fast enough - the other two are already riding towards the girls, who have by now tried to turn their mount away from the massacre ahead of them. As they see the two remaining, they try to get their horse to turn around, but the animal, sensing their inexperience and seeing the men on horses bearing down on it, rears up, spilling the girls off.

Lupinius looks to where Kaleb should be, and, spying the demon form, knows that he is too distant to get there in time.

As he shifts his form on the run, seeing the men getting closer to the girls, he knows that he is going to be too late as well...

As the remaining riders flee, he turns back to the direction Lup and the girls had gone, watching him take care of the six down the road in his fashion. Not as workable as his own, he thinks - after all, nothing makes an enemy take to their heels as seeing their worst nightmare come to life before them. It's so much simpler to incite their panic and watch them scurry than to have to deal with them one at a time. After all, a man or animal is easy enough to deal with and accept, even fight back against - something three times your size that looks like the stuff nightmares are made of is another prospect entirely. Psychologically defeating your opponents is not only effective, it's satisfying.

As he watches, though, two of the men Lup is dealing with make a break for the girls, and with a growling snarl, he starts for them, his huge form leaving craters with every step he takes as he starts running. He gets about a quarter of the way there when the pipes start and the army of men on horseback surge over the hill, bringing him to a skidding halt at the sight of so many coming to their aid. His eyes pick Roland out easily as he leads the men. He looks back at the pair, who by now have decided that the two girl-children are not worth their lives and decide that they have a sudden, very urgent appointment to make and are running for their lives.

As he walks over to where the girls are, the shimmering light consumes him again, bringing him back to his normal, human form, so as not to scare them anymore than they have been, and as he reaches them he kneels by them, smiling gently. "Welcome to freedom, mon petits."