Kneel in Pieces [Battle Thread]

Cassandra could feel herself breathe a sigh of relief at watching the collie be loaded onto the Pegasus. She didn't know where he was going to take her, but Cass trusted him. If this wolf character cared as much as she thought, then the soldier knew that Colleen was going to be alright. Now was to assess the rest of the damage.

Cass looked around for the dragon that she was told needed protecting before hand. She glanced through the village to see a glimpse of something. Something bright and something blonde. Cassandra could feel her throat close up. A sense of doubt ran through her. It couldn't be, it simply couldn't be who she thought it was.

She left the two dogs alone for a moment, knowing they'd be in safe hands. She approached carefully, but nervous her heart pounding in her chest. If it was who she thought it was, well then Cass was going to have a few choice words. She approached Dragon, her heart falling to her stomach. There was a redhead sitting there in vain trying to tie up the broken wing. It didn't look good. Dragon didn't look good. But then grey eyes moved over the massive, hulking body to a new figure. One whom she had last seen running off into the night and leaving her to take the blame. Her grey eyes widened and Cassandra could feel a range of emotions course through her body. She approached her old friend.

"Raps?"

”W-Wait, I don’t—“ Colleen’s words, still insufferably slow and hard to get out, were cut off. She lost her sentence in the bustle of being heaved onto a horse.

He was naked as the day was long, too, but luckily most of him was covered in crying children. Colleen’s big brown eyes found themselves reflected back in those of little human faces. They looked frightened, their noses running and their lips trembling. Poor wee things. They needed comfort.

The orange-and-white canine felt her fur flatten out a little, looking at them, sharing her seat on the back of this winged horse. What was the word? Spoken of in mythology...ooh, she knew she’d studied this...What, it leaked out with the rest of the blood? Chocolate eyes disappeared again under the scrunch of fur, trying to force out the pounding between her ears.

Blinking them open again, something suddenly worked it’s way through the concussion. It was the realization that this strange animal was about to leave. And what was he leaving? The scene of Nottingham, homeland of her Mother, burning. The enemy victorious. Danger for poor innocents, who could be hurt as she’d just been, at any moment. Her fellow Suns, still fighting. Connor.

The schoolteacher found that he was still the closest to the horse and reached out, grabbing his shoulder. It wasn’t gentle. She clamped her paw with a half-formed notion to use him as a handrail while she slipped off of Sunray’s back. Her eyes met his as she wobbled, not quite removing herself from her ride yet. ”What’re you doing?” He’d put her on this horse, this horse he clearly knew, with the refugees. And where was he trying to send her, exactly? Not to poor Dragon, anymore. But somehow, be it the concussion or the fact that he’d set her so gently on the back of his friend, Colleen couldn’t make herself sound suspicious. Only confused.

Pound, pound, pound, went her head. Confusion, confusion, confusion, thrummed her brain. Honestly, it was enough to make anyone dizzy.

In an instant, the joy he'd felt for the chaos his brand of magic delivered was shattered into pieces. Dark eyes turned away from his handiwork and toward Aladdin who had come riding in on his carpet. Everything else was lost to him in that moment. He remembered him vividly from their first encounter in Paris.

"You again!" Mozenrath's voice rose above the crackling chaos around them. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to make yourself a thorn in my-" All at once, he was caught up in the next distraction. Honey Lemon had contributed something he hadn't expected in the form of her orbs. One from the left exploded into a cloud of smoke, rendering the young sorcerer temporarily impaired.

He didn't see what happened next coming. Not by a long shot. In an instant, he felt something strike him from behind. Nothing lethal, it would seem, but as the smoke dissipated Mozenrath was suddenly tugged downward. Honey Lemon's trick had worked. His cape and torso were suddenly much heavier, successfully forcing him out of the air and onto a more level playing ground. A startled cry escaped him, but as he neared the ground he remembered his powers. Luckily for him, his right arm wasn't completely encased in the gooey substance.

The gauntlet sparked to life again and he used it to try and free himself. When that didn't work, he made a last ditch effort to avoid colliding with the ground. His magic fired off again and he allowed himself to teleport away from the hard ground below. He didn't teleport far, though. Mozenrath emerged from the teleportation inches from the ground, but the teleport had slowed his speed enough. The landing was softer than it could have been.

"Rrrgh!" His gaze was hardened. Though it seemed like the chaos was starting to die down around them, Mozenrath only had eyes for Aladdin now. If Honey Lemon wanted to continue contributing to the scuffle, he wouldn't stop her. Soon, he was on his feet again. Though he couldn't move quite as easily as he would with his torso uninhibited, he still seemed to have the gumption to do combat.

And it sounded like Xerxes wasn't having a good time, either, as he next heard the eel's distinct voice yelp in pain. It seemed that he'd gotten his own taste of medicine in the form of retaliation for his actions. Mozenrath didn't care where his familiar went, but did catch him fleeing from the corner of his eye. He'd just have to deal with Xerxes later.

"Aladdin," Mozenrath finally addressed him, "since you and your friend were so keen to interrupt, why don't you come and face me yourself?" His gauntlet sparked to life again. A wicked smile now danced upon his pale face.

"It'll be fun. I promise."

And, there. One dog, loaded amongst all the children.

Children who were sniffling and crying and he knew not how to comfort them except to simply get them out of there. He could feel something wet trickling down his neck, and it dawned slowly on Sunray that the girl in front, who he'd tasked with holding onto him, was crying too; hiding her tears by burying her face in his strong neck. The Pegasus' heart twisted painfully at the realisation, and he could only hope that, somehow, her parents - all of their parents - would ultimately make it out safely, too.

Again, Sunray, focus on what you can actually do.

Connor was speaking to him again, and Sunray's ears twitched to listen, even as he scanned the skies for an escape route. He didn't dare fly too high, not burdened as he was; but he did need to get above the houses, and quickly. Then, what? He had two other kids in the woods that he needed to pick up, but he couldn't manage any more on his back... would he have to come back for them later?

He hoped they'd be okay until then.

Otherwise, he supposed... he could land where he'd left them, and walk all the children to safety. But he had no idea how to keep them all together, all on track; and if the dog was as badly wounded as she looked, she might not have the extra time to spare.

And where was he to take something like ten scared children, anyway?

It seemed, at least, that Connor had ideas on that much. Sunray closed his eyes for a moment, trying to picture the route to the fort that Connor meant. He'd never been there himself, of course; but he'd flown over it once or twice, and was fairly optimistic he could find it again. He bobbed his head in an acknowledgement of the wolf's suggestions.

"I'll get them there safely, okay?" This was clearly important to the wolf, and Sunray's dark gaze locked onto his face for just a moment, conveying the sincerity of his intentions... though the Pegasus was admittedly less confident in his ability to do so. Never before had he had so many lives counting on him - never before had he had any life counting on him, except maybe Orchid's - and if Sunray was honest?

The thought kinda petrified him.

But he wasn't going to lock down, or freeze, or give up. He'd give this the very best he could, and dare to hope that would be good enough.

He worried his lip between his teeth slightly, apprehensively, before twisting to face his passengers again.

"Okay... okay. I know you're all scared. But just hold on to me, and to each other, like I said; and I'll get you out of here. I'm gonna take off now, so just... just hang on. That's all I need you to do right now."

Suiting action to word, the Pegasus stretched his wings wide. One was half trapped beneath an errant leg, but the limb was lifted quickly when its young owner realised what he was trying to do. For half a moment, Sunray suppressed an idle thought that wondered whether he looked majestic or ridiculous in that moment; and then he was off, gathering speed in a gallop, leaping skyward...

He soared over the tops of the nearest buildings, the ones the fire hadn't quite reached yet, clearing them by only a few inches. Behind him, it looked like the sorcerer was altogether too preoccupied to take note of him; still, Sunray followed Connor's advice and dipped back down to below treetop level as soon as he was out of the town proper. Powerful wingbeats carried him through the forest, occasionally twitching this way and that to avoid clipping a tree here or there, constantly mindful of the weight upon his back and trying not to make any sudden movements to dislodge them. The load hadn't unexpectedly lightened, and no-one had cried out in alarm after the initial takeoff, so he could be fairly confident that he hadn't dropped anyone.

Gradually, Sunray slowed his pace, once he was sure he was out of range of any kind of retaliation. At the slower pace, there was less chance of losing anyone; but still, he had no idea how much time Colleen had left, and so he wasn't going to lose too much speed. The sooner they got to the fortress...

He sped on beneath the smoke-blackened skies, determined once again to make it to his destination.


((ooc: Sunray and his passengers have left the thread; he will return in Broken and Scattered shortly.))

Nala heard a sound that distracted her, momentarily, from what her attackers were doing. All her blue eyes could see was the sky and the blur of Nuka coming in again—but her round ears heard a familiar voice. Dragon. Her lowing sound wasn’t fierce or protective. The reason the huntress had picked it out, even in her own survival-pulsing state, was because it reminded her of the kinds of noises she’d heard before. Noises made by dying buffalo as they were brought down. The final gasps of a felled wildebeest. The last breath of a tired elephant.

Black lips were encasing ferocious teeth, clenched in fury. Her friend, the one she’d only just made, was in trouble. How many more needed her—

“Auhh—!” Nala’s eyes were freed from their glare and her jaws parted in pained surprise. She must have missed the hyena with her clubbing, because though she couldn’t see him, she felt his teeth. Her entire midsection seemed one fiery bloom of agony from the place he had clenched her in his grip.

Instinctively, Nala half-rose in a feline sit-up. She just managed to see his hairy, spotted bulk, clamped down on her stomach like a fire-ant curved around a morsel. With one swing of the arm rooted in an uninjured shoulder, Nala swatted the hyena off of her. Too late, she realized that had been too hasty a solution. When she sent the scavenger flying, his grip had been settled. He took with him what felt like her entire midsection.

In reality, Nala had time to realize he had only torn open the flesh of her underbelly, not disemboweled her. She wasn’t his prey yet. But before she could even finish gasping her pain or even shift weight to roll over, something landed on her shoulder. The weight behind it pressed her back down, onto her back. Nala’s sun-and-water gaze sparked with rage, but her whole body seemed to be one big pain. The hurt from claws in her was nothing compared to the ebbing throb in her stomach. She snarled but found something gurgling, preventing the sound from coming out as ferociously as she wanted. Especially when Nuka’s weight suddenly sat on her ribs.

Nala flared up at him and tried to swipe at the teen’s disgusting face with her free foreleg, but when she reached back, the bolt of pain stopped her. He was holding down her only uninjured arm. She could feel her strength leaking from Ed’s wound. Already, Nala ruled out trying to hook her hind legs under the villain using her as a seat; the hind half of her body lay lolling to the side, useless below her stomach wound. Had Ed thorn the muscle there, too?

The Princess’ head swam. She wouldn’t be taken down. Not by Scar’s groveling servants. Her neck muscles were still free, and she reached her head forward. It was too much to try and go for his high-up face, but Nala reached furiously gaping jaws for the paw that held her down instead. All of this passed through her mind in a moment, followed by angry intentions. When she got his wrist in her teeth, she’d make sure he never ran ag—

The thoughts were bashed straight out of her head. Nala couldn’t feel her head snap sideways with it’s force through the ringing, but suddenly she was no longer looking up, but at the back of human legs and cobblestones a few yards away. Boots. Aladdin? Nala realized her fearsome snarl had gone slack and tried to grit her teeth again, but suddenly, she was pressed back into the ground. Something was around her throat, jaws again...this time, on the underside.

Nala couldn’t breathe. The spinning that had started with the blow to her head now became interwoven with darkness. Nala choked, but couldn’t get air in. Everything seemed confused and mixed, like dust kicked up in a stampede. Where she was, who had been near her, what was happening...it was all fading away, leaving only a vague feeling of adrenaline and fear. Around the pounding in her skull, one sound seemed to echo.

That laugh.

Nala saw rusty fur in her swimming view, and she thought she felt a bony chest and shoulders under her weakly pressing front legs. “Sc-scar...!” She choked, but wasn’t sure if it got out. It was him, on top of her, crushing her through the earth, the air out of her lungs—the Uncle who had terrified her during her games with Simba, the monster who had destroyed her home. How was he here? Where was here? She was in a nightmare, like the ones Simba told her about...

Nala’s mouth stayed open, uselessly gasping for air. Her tail flicked against the stone streets, splashing in her own blood, and the creamy body’s movements became slower and weaker. She fought to keep her eyes open, but darkness was closing in, filling her thoughts. Kopa, Kion, Kiara...Simba...

The daughter of Sarafina’s tail flopped to a stop and her eyes closed, but her front legs stayed propped against Nuka’s chest. Slowly, her paws relaxed and the claws there retracted. Nala’s thoughts joined the blood leaving her body, and the lion princess was choked to unconsciousness.

"Help me.."

That was all it took for Cassandra to spring into action. Feelings had to be pushed aside, they could be dealt with later. Those words from Raps was the only thing needed to snap her back into reality. The world that seemed to stop for a moment moved once again and Cass started to undo the long braid. They could discuss later.

She could feel Giselle's blue eyes bore into her back as she started grabbing strands of hair and wrapping it across the great beast. She could feel the redhead move out of her way, almost instinctively. She took extra care to drape the hair across Dragon's broken wing. The creature seemed nearly dead, but if they worked quickly it could be reversed. Cass knew Rapunzel was unsure about her power, about everything but now wasn't the time.

Out of the corner of her eye, Cass could see a strange, confused look on Giselle's face. Like the redhead was almost silently asking what good wrapping the dragon in hair would do. "You have to sing, Raps," Cass called, running down the length of the body. The warrior didn't know how much of Dragon had to be covered or if just a portion would be enough. "You have to sing now!" Cass called, still trying to get it covered. She could still do it, even as Rapunzel was singing. Cassandra was determined not to lose anybody today. She didn't want to give the Thorns the satisfaction.

“Sc-scar...!”

The lioness's choked cry filled the prince with so much pride, he could have stopped then and there.

Nuka's ghoulish grasp tightened, bony form firmly pressed atop Nala 's struggling body. Her attempts to resist him were charming -- the sensation of claws gently pricking into his chest was not lost. But despite her efforts, she didn't have the strength to throw him off any more. Finally, he had gotten her right where he wanted her.

The Outlander doubled down, holding tight until she began to slow...

And slow...

And stop.

All at once, the dirt-hued lion pulled back his head, followed by the rest of his lithe body. He winced, feeling the strain on his back as he got to his feet. That wasn't going to feel very good in the morning. A cursory, crimson glance was once again cast in Ed's direction, though the hyena's doings were of less concern to him at this point. His attention was focused on the lioness.

Had he done it?  

Quickly, he ran his large black nose over her fur. It was a cautionary measure, if anything -- but important confirmation, nonetheless. It was no secret that Nuka was not the strongest hunter. And in the moment, it was hard to get a scent or a pulse off of her beneath the scent of blood. Despite this, her limpness was indication that she was down and out. After a moment, he had concluded that his efforts were successful.

As far as he knew, she was dead.

Instantly, a more important truth was revealed in the wake of their fight. Nuka's motivation for attack was scent alone. He had been taught from birth that the best kind of Pridelander was a dead one. But in the heat of spinning, struggling, and snuffing out her life, there was a crucial detail the scrappy lion had failed to recognize: her face. 

Nuka had only seen Nala three times in his life, all in passing. The first was in cubhood; no older than Kovu. The second time was after the little termite had been selected as Scar's heir.

The third time was here, in the heat of battle. In a battered -- bloodied -- unconscious heap.

Realization hit like a charging wildebeest. His blood-soaked mouth formed a soft "o." Nuka didn't kill just any Pridelander.

Nuka had killed the Princess of the Pridelands.

For a moment, he stood with the shock. The only noises he could perceive were the occasional laugh from Ed, and a dull throb of unrest around him. Visions of success quickly flooded his head, in a delightfully devilish haze. 

There would be a celebration held in his honor when he returned to the jungle. He would rise right through the ranks to claim his title as Bishop. Father would finally see something more in him than just an overgrown cub, Vitani would view him as a credible hunter, and Mother...

Mother would return the little termite to the mound he came from.

All at once, he began to laugh and hop around with maniacal joy. It hurt like no other pain he had ever felt -- at the same time, it felt like the sweetest rewards all wrapped up in one. He proved himself. He proved himself! There was no mistake or doubt to be had anymore about inviting him to be a part of the mission. Ed didn't even matter any more.

Nuka's fellow Knight may have helped bring her down, but he would always be the one who delivered the final blow. Him. The rightful Prince of the Outlands.

The adolescent turned to leave, fully intending to let the hyena finish the job. A new thought filtered in among his ego-fueled haze, causing him to stop in his tracks: Nuka wanted to mark his prey. It seemed a foolish thing to do, but there was something so powerful about giving a warning. If not for himself, than others on the battlefield. Any of those squeamish Suns who come across her would think twice before messing with him. 

Nuka lowered himself on his forepaws, reveling momentarily in her unconscious expression. With all the precision and deadly intent of a cobra's strike, he shot forward, raking his claws across her face in one swift motion.

"Goodnight, Princess," he whispered with a sinister chuckle. 

With a flick of his thin tail, he pulled himself up and padded towards a point of exit, motioning for Ed to follow along.