The whole situation was far from unique. To most people this was just how the world worked, demons and monsters roamed the land and took what they wanted from the humans who were nothing more than prey. People died and the monsters ruled the world, that was the way of things.
Except there were stories of one man who very strongly did not agree. To some, he was a hero, to most he was a nuisance and a troublemaker and to a small but growing number of those monsters he was quickly becoming a nightmare.
His friends called him Harry.
Harry Dresden was no stranger to this particular setup and it always played out the same whether the guy behind it was human or demon. Send in some monsters to rough up the place and get everyone scared and then reach out a helping hand and promise to make everything all better for a price. Usually that price was a sacrifice and the town in question was usually more than happy to pay out. It sucked.
Harry stood in the crowd with a quiet frown on his face as he watched the guards prepare the girl to be sacrificed. She was just a kid, still had her whole life ahead of her and it was all about to be cut short because some jerk thought he found a way to make an easy snack. That was not going to happen, Harry decided, but it also meant he had to gear up for a fight. No two ways around it. If he snuck off with the girl the demon lord would come back to the city and tear the place apart so he had come armed to the teeth, his staff held firmly in one hand and his blasting rod hanging from the ties in his enchanted coat. He was ready for the bastard.
As things went on, the wizard began to make his way to the front of the crowd until he finally stood at the base of the platform and waited to make his move. A chance he grabbed when the demon lord's carriage came into view, crafted from black wood and pulled by red eyed... things that probably passed for horses by demonic standards. It looked like he had come alone, which was good, catching one demon with its obsidian chainmail pants down suited Harry a lot better than getting into a slugfest with a well prepared one with backup.
As soon as the carriage came close to the town square, he moved, charging up the steps of the dais and shoulder-blocking the guard out of his way and leveled the staff toward the approaching carriage.
"Forzare!" The blast of raw force erupted from his staff, leaving only a cloud of dust behind it as a sign of its passage. It hit the creature on the right side first, taking its feet out from under it with an unholy shriek before continuing to rip the two wheels straight off that side and causing the whole thing to tip wildly off-balance and crash onto its side, skidding to a stop. He figured as far as challenges went that one was pretty clear and immediately turned his attention to the girl, untying the knots around her wrists. "As soon as you're free take everyone who will follow you and run for it. Don't look back for anything, got it?"
Orihime had tried not to stare, but, well... Harry stood out in a crowd. Literally. At first she didn't pay much notice, but as he seemed pretty intent on getting closer, all the way to the front, it was awfully hard for her not to notice and wonder why he wanted a good view of her sacrifice, or abduction, or whatever it was the demon planned to do.
Once the macabre carriage began to roll into view, however, she forgot all about the tall man with the duster and the staff, feeling her stomach beginning to tighten as the true horror of her fate became a more distinct reality. Something really bad was going to happen to her, and no one was going to stop it...not even--
BLAM.
Okay, maybe someone was going to stop it, and she'd never been so happily shocked at being wrong in all her life. Before she could even search the crowd to see who had managed to launch a real honest-to-goodness fireball, the tall man appeared behind her, working to unbind her.
She tipped her head back, and was sorry for thinking he just wanted a better look at the grim scene. He had a kind face, if a somewhat tired one, and she smiled faintly. "Thank you. But will you be okay?"
The door to the tipped-over carriage exploded, sending a rain of black splintered wood over the crowd, people ducking and flinching as a clawed hand grasped the edge, and a massive horned head began to rise into view. Red teeth were bared as it uttered a guttural, amused snarl. "Wizard."
So far so good. The demon was still in an overturned carriage and whoever had tied the knots on this girl wasn't very good at it. It only took a few moments to free her and he gently pushed her away from the post she was tied to. Grasping his staff he stepped past her, putting himself between the demon and the girl and, by effect, the whole town.
"Oh, yeah, don't worry about me." He said back over his shoulder. "How big can he be?"
And then the carriage door exploded outward, scattering chips of broken wood all over the place and forcing Harry to raise one arm to shield his face, blinking at the huge horned head when he finally lowered it. Okay, apparently he could be that big.
"Hi." Harry stepped down off the dais and onto the street, waving one hand at the demon lord and slamming the end of his staff down onto the cobblestones with a small force of will that caused them to rattle. With a very deliberate outer calm, he turned his head to look at the pile of wooden debris that used to be the demon's carriage. "Nice wheels."
"They'll look so much nicer...when I paint them with your blood, wizard." The demon prowled closer, dragging his claws over the street, tearing up cobbles and leaving deep scratches in the street.
Orihime tensed. Most people didn't really need her to rally them up to flee the area; they did that all by themselves. They were no fools; it was much safer to get indoors, lock the doors, and close the shutters until the sounds of battle were silenced. Orihime backed away uneasily, glancing at Harry, then at the demon. Her mouth tightened into a firm line, then she, too, darted away from the dais.
She wasn't fleeing the battle, though. The wizard had told her to, but she couldn't. He was putting his life on the line for her sake, and that wasn't something she took lightly. If he balked or argued, she would simply reply that she'd already prepared to die today - what did she have to lose in trying to make sure the wizard survived? She could also say it was for the good of the town, if that would make him feel better. But really, she just wanted to protect someone who was willing to protect her.
Orihime darted between buildings, then ran around them, angling herself to get a better position behind the demon. If she could manage to put herself at its back, she could at least distract it enough to give the wizard a better advantage in combat. If the demon truly wanted to get her, it would have to turn its back on the far more lethal of the two humans.
The demon's toothy smile grew wider as it approached in a powerful, swaying stride. "I expected you would come. Your weaknesses are so predictable...so easy to exploit." It slammed a spiny fist into the ground. "I have been looking forward to ending you for quite some time."
Harry winced a little as those claws dragged across the ground, tearing up stone and dirt as they want. His coat was enchanted with some fairly powerful wards and defensive spells that could stop most bladed weapons, but he wasn't eager to test them against something that carved up rock that easily. Fortunately, he had come prepared with a little surprise for the demon if he could manage to get him into the right spot.
He just wished that surprise weren't so damned far away right now.
It did help a little that Spiny had apparently decided to talk instead of charging in and taking his fool head clean off. He loved it when they talked, it always gave him an opening. With practised speed, he snatched the blasting rod from its place in his coat and leveled it at the demon's head, right toward the big open mouth.
"Fuego!" With that command, a blast of fire as big around as a tree burned across the distance to hopefully give the demon a nasty facial burn. Either way, step one was complete and Harry moved seamlessly to step two. "Meep, meep!"
And he turned and ran for his life. If he was lucky at all, Spiny would be angry enough to chase him.
Considering the sharp teeth that clipped at the flapping tail of his duster? It was a sure thing - the demon was angry enough to chase him. And by 'angry', it was actually rabidly furious. It had come with the intention of ripping his limbs off one by one and cramming them in various body cavities while he was still alive to see and feel it, and that desire had not changed with the sudden explosion sent rocketing into its face.
Orihime, meanwhile, had arrived at her intended position...only to find the wizard and the demon fleeing the square.
What was she supposed to do about this?
After a moment of hesitation, she followed doggedly, scooping up some of the upturned bits of cobble as she went. She'd need something to throw! ...Maybe. She wasn't about to catch up to the tall man's long legs, nor the demon's powerful bounding leaps, but she ran anyway. They'd have to stop eventually!
Most people found running away to be below a hero of the people... but Harry had never called himself something that dumb and, in his mind, cultivating a good "running for your life" skill was one of the most important skills a meddling idiot could ever have. His ridiculously long stride combined with his daily runs had meant that Harry was really, really good at running for it.
Still, he knew from experience that any demon could outrun just about any human. They just didn't have to worry about little things like fatigue and aching muscles so Harry made the decision to do something to get a little extra distance.
"Forzare!" Harry's will lashed out at a rain barrel next to one of the larger buildings, the bolt of force yanking it free from its place and tumbling through the air toward the two "combatants". Timing it carefully, Harry ducked just in time to give the demon a face full of rainwater to go with his face full of fire and then poured on the speed, his eyes locked on the abandoned building he had prepared for the showdown.
He may as well have sneezed in the demon's face, for all the good it did. It gave a mild shake of its head and a snort of annoyance, but otherwise ignored the shattered barrel and its contents.
From further back, Orihime was puzzled. She could see the flung rain barrel, and she was pretty sure Harry knew a thing like that wouldn't even slow a demon down, especially one that could take a full blast of fire to the face.
There must have been something in the barrel, she thought. Half of some component that would mix with something else later.
Either that or he was just trying to make it mad, but she had a feeling he was doing something much trickier than that.
Excellent. The demon was covered in water from the barrel which meant... nothing, really. Actually, come to think of it spending some time preparing little traps like that all over town would have been a really good idea. Oh, well, maybe next time assuming he survived this time.
Although the barrel hadn't done any real damage to the demon it had bought him a few precious inches. Enough that, when the empty building came in sight, Harry was able to make a sharp left turn chucking a wave of force along the ground at the demon's ankles to buy a few more seconds as he dove in the front door and kicked it shut behind him.
It was empty of course which meant no threshold to hide behind but that wasn't part of the plan. Slapping his hand against the wooden door, he added an extra twist to the rather slapdash ward he'd put on it earlier. A "shocking" twist if he dared make that pun.
Actually, that rain barrel might do a little more than buy a half second of breathing room come to think of it.
Clawed feet left deep furrows in the hard clay of the back alley street that Harry had dashed down, as the demon swung about hard to face the door. Orihime had to slow and press herself against the wall of a nearby house so she wouldn't be spotted. Not that she thought she would be, really, and even if she were, would the demon care at this point? It seemed completely fixated on Harry. Still, she thought it best to be cautious, and she approached more slowly.
The demon reared back with both powerful arms raised, before slashing them downward not only at the door, but the brick and mortar around the wood as well as it recklessly tried to burst in through a twelve-foot hole in the side of the building.
The whole situation was far from unique. To most people this was just how the world worked, demons and monsters roamed the land and took what they wanted from the humans who were nothing more than prey. People died and the monsters ruled the world, that was the way of things.
Except there were stories of one man who very strongly did not agree. To some, he was a hero, to most he was a nuisance and a troublemaker and to a small but growing number of those monsters he was quickly becoming a nightmare.
His friends called him Harry.
Harry Dresden was no stranger to this particular setup and it always played out the same whether the guy behind it was human or demon. Send in some monsters to rough up the place and get everyone scared and then reach out a helping hand and promise to make everything all better for a price. Usually that price was a sacrifice and the town in question was usually more than happy to pay out. It sucked.
Harry stood in the crowd with a quiet frown on his face as he watched the guards prepare the girl to be sacrificed. She was just a kid, still had her whole life ahead of her and it was all about to be cut short because some jerk thought he found a way to make an easy snack. That was not going to happen, Harry decided, but it also meant he had to gear up for a fight. No two ways around it. If he snuck off with the girl the demon lord would come back to the city and tear the place apart so he had come armed to the teeth, his staff held firmly in one hand and his blasting rod hanging from the ties in his enchanted coat. He was ready for the bastard.
As things went on, the wizard began to make his way to the front of the crowd until he finally stood at the base of the platform and waited to make his move. A chance he grabbed when the demon lord's carriage came into view, crafted from black wood and pulled by red eyed... things that probably passed for horses by demonic standards. It looked like he had come alone, which was good, catching one demon with its obsidian chainmail pants down suited Harry a lot better than getting into a slugfest with a well prepared one with backup.
As soon as the carriage came close to the town square, he moved, charging up the steps of the dais and shoulder-blocking the guard out of his way and leveled the staff toward the approaching carriage.
"Forzare!" The blast of raw force erupted from his staff, leaving only a cloud of dust behind it as a sign of its passage. It hit the creature on the right side first, taking its feet out from under it with an unholy shriek before continuing to rip the two wheels straight off that side and causing the whole thing to tip wildly off-balance and crash onto its side, skidding to a stop. He figured as far as challenges went that one was pretty clear and immediately turned his attention to the girl, untying the knots around her wrists. "As soon as you're free take everyone who will follow you and run for it. Don't look back for anything, got it?"
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Once the macabre carriage began to roll into view, however, she forgot all about the tall man with the duster and the staff, feeling her stomach beginning to tighten as the true horror of her fate became a more distinct reality. Something really bad was going to happen to her, and no one was going to stop it...not even--
BLAM.
Okay, maybe someone was going to stop it, and she'd never been so happily shocked at being wrong in all her life. Before she could even search the crowd to see who had managed to launch a real honest-to-goodness fireball, the tall man appeared behind her, working to unbind her.
She tipped her head back, and was sorry for thinking he just wanted a better look at the grim scene. He had a kind face, if a somewhat tired one, and she smiled faintly. "Thank you. But will you be okay?"
The door to the tipped-over carriage exploded, sending a rain of black splintered wood over the crowd, people ducking and flinching as a clawed hand grasped the edge, and a massive horned head began to rise into view. Red teeth were bared as it uttered a guttural, amused snarl. "Wizard."
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"Oh, yeah, don't worry about me." He said back over his shoulder. "How big can he be?"
And then the carriage door exploded outward, scattering chips of broken wood all over the place and forcing Harry to raise one arm to shield his face, blinking at the huge horned head when he finally lowered it. Okay, apparently he could be that big.
"Hi." Harry stepped down off the dais and onto the street, waving one hand at the demon lord and slamming the end of his staff down onto the cobblestones with a small force of will that caused them to rattle. With a very deliberate outer calm, he turned his head to look at the pile of wooden debris that used to be the demon's carriage. "Nice wheels."
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Orihime tensed. Most people didn't really need her to rally them up to flee the area; they did that all by themselves. They were no fools; it was much safer to get indoors, lock the doors, and close the shutters until the sounds of battle were silenced. Orihime backed away uneasily, glancing at Harry, then at the demon. Her mouth tightened into a firm line, then she, too, darted away from the dais.
She wasn't fleeing the battle, though. The wizard had told her to, but she couldn't. He was putting his life on the line for her sake, and that wasn't something she took lightly. If he balked or argued, she would simply reply that she'd already prepared to die today - what did she have to lose in trying to make sure the wizard survived? She could also say it was for the good of the town, if that would make him feel better. But really, she just wanted to protect someone who was willing to protect her.
Orihime darted between buildings, then ran around them, angling herself to get a better position behind the demon. If she could manage to put herself at its back, she could at least distract it enough to give the wizard a better advantage in combat. If the demon truly wanted to get her, it would have to turn its back on the far more lethal of the two humans.
The demon's toothy smile grew wider as it approached in a powerful, swaying stride. "I expected you would come. Your weaknesses are so predictable...so easy to exploit." It slammed a spiny fist into the ground. "I have been looking forward to ending you for quite some time."
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He just wished that surprise weren't so damned far away right now.
It did help a little that Spiny had apparently decided to talk instead of charging in and taking his fool head clean off. He loved it when they talked, it always gave him an opening. With practised speed, he snatched the blasting rod from its place in his coat and leveled it at the demon's head, right toward the big open mouth.
"Fuego!" With that command, a blast of fire as big around as a tree burned across the distance to hopefully give the demon a nasty facial burn. Either way, step one was complete and Harry moved seamlessly to step two. "Meep, meep!"
And he turned and ran for his life. If he was lucky at all, Spiny would be angry enough to chase him.
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Orihime, meanwhile, had arrived at her intended position...only to find the wizard and the demon fleeing the square.
What was she supposed to do about this?
After a moment of hesitation, she followed doggedly, scooping up some of the upturned bits of cobble as she went. She'd need something to throw! ...Maybe. She wasn't about to catch up to the tall man's long legs, nor the demon's powerful bounding leaps, but she ran anyway. They'd have to stop eventually!
Reply
Most people found running away to be below a hero of the people... but Harry had never called himself something that dumb and, in his mind, cultivating a good "running for your life" skill was one of the most important skills a meddling idiot could ever have. His ridiculously long stride combined with his daily runs had meant that Harry was really, really good at running for it.
Still, he knew from experience that any demon could outrun just about any human. They just didn't have to worry about little things like fatigue and aching muscles so Harry made the decision to do something to get a little extra distance.
"Forzare!" Harry's will lashed out at a rain barrel next to one of the larger buildings, the bolt of force yanking it free from its place and tumbling through the air toward the two "combatants". Timing it carefully, Harry ducked just in time to give the demon a face full of rainwater to go with his face full of fire and then poured on the speed, his eyes locked on the abandoned building he had prepared for the showdown.
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From further back, Orihime was puzzled. She could see the flung rain barrel, and she was pretty sure Harry knew a thing like that wouldn't even slow a demon down, especially one that could take a full blast of fire to the face.
There must have been something in the barrel, she thought. Half of some component that would mix with something else later.
Either that or he was just trying to make it mad, but she had a feeling he was doing something much trickier than that.
Reply
Although the barrel hadn't done any real damage to the demon it had bought him a few precious inches. Enough that, when the empty building came in sight, Harry was able to make a sharp left turn chucking a wave of force along the ground at the demon's ankles to buy a few more seconds as he dove in the front door and kicked it shut behind him.
It was empty of course which meant no threshold to hide behind but that wasn't part of the plan. Slapping his hand against the wooden door, he added an extra twist to the rather slapdash ward he'd put on it earlier. A "shocking" twist if he dared make that pun.
Actually, that rain barrel might do a little more than buy a half second of breathing room come to think of it.
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The demon reared back with both powerful arms raised, before slashing them downward not only at the door, but the brick and mortar around the wood as well as it recklessly tried to burst in through a twelve-foot hole in the side of the building.
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