Kaufman's Fortunate chapter 9

“What are those things?”  Nan gasped.

“Some kind of mobile canon”  Raven  proclaimed.

The mobile canons trek across the Sands of Kogoth with an eerie crawl with a trial of tread marks behind them.  Suddenly, from the lead one of the three huge war machines a figure rose up from its underbelly.  The individual pulled up his goggles to reveal his red eyes.  He raised his hand up high and as he dropped it all three canon fired in unison.

Raven and Fortunate ducked down as the huge shells whiz by them.

“We can’t survive a direct hit of that!”  Nan shouted.

“It’s a canon right, why can’t we just plug it up?”  Leblanc asked.

Raven looked at his former student and, gave him a pat on the back.

“Leblanc, you have learned a thing or two didn’t you?”  Raven ran towards the mobile canons.

“Knights protect, Raven the Great”  Leblanc ordered.

Raven pulled out three arrows and, made his way to the lead canon.  At one point the canon fires at him but, a knight shoves Raven out of the way.  Raven got back up and looked back.  He silently promises that his sacrifice won’t be in vain.  Raven fired his first arrow and breaks open right before it hit’s the lead canon’s barrel.  Glue was released that stuck onto the end of the mobile canon’s barrel.

“You will pay for that!”  The man jumped down from his platform.

Ringbores goes whizzing by both Raven and the man which catches the man’s attention.  He watches as Nan catches her giant ring on its return.  He heads towards her.

“Hey knife ears, how dare you share the same air I, Alexei Rosenberg breathes”  He lunges at Nan.

Kandor gets between them though and slams Thororion into Alexei’s gut.

“We can breathe the air, it doesn’t belong to you”  Kandor grunted.

Alexei sighed as he had dirty his hands with this dwarf.  He was created the perfectly and, all those who were not like Alexei were no different then the sands of the desert.  Alexei took out a small whistle and blew it.  The other two mobile canons fired and Kandor was thrown backward.

“Kandor!”  Nan went to him and held his head.

“Kandor is fine, she-elf”  He grunted.

Raven fired glue arrows into the barrels of the other canons rendering them useless or at least the firing ability anyways.  He ordered a retreat to the crag which Duke and his cohorts believed they had the advantage which is but, Raven had a trump card still.

“Stop Duke!  For the kid gloves are off now!  If you continue this battle, it will lead to your peril”  Raven warned.

Duke began to laugh insanely.

“If you haven’t noticed you are trapped between a rock and hard place”  Duke crackled as he could taste victory.

“Look again Duke, or I should say look up?”  Raven pointed to the top of the crag.

Duke looked up and his laughter ended as he saw his true situation.  Perched on top of the crag was a huge bird.  He had never seen this bird personally before but, knew it was Phaeroh  the phoenix Entellica.  Suddenly he heard a rumble behind him and there was giant dragon blocking their escape.  Kroma the dragon Entellica took a deep breathe in and burned a wall of fire around the war machines.

Alexei cleaned out the glue in the barrel of his mobile canon but, as he orders for it to be fired Gustoes the griffion Entellica picks up the mobile canon and drops it on another one of the mobile canons.

Duke pressed a button on his head set and metal bird swept in and he grabs on an escape ladder.  Raven took a quick look to see that Phaeroh was healing Kandor’s wounds with his tears, as well sees Kam-Re landing near him.

“He can’t get away, let’s go Kam-Re”  Raven climbed up on the winged horse.

Raven followed the metal bird on his winged friend.  He points down to Mount Temza to direct Kam-Re to head there. Kam-Re got ahead of Duke’s plane and, as Raven expected Duke followed them towards the huge mountain.  Kam-Re continued to head right at the side of mountain.  Raven pulled hard on the reigns just before they colliding with Temza but, Duke wasn’t as lucky.  His plane smashes into the mountain.  There is a huge boom as Duke’s corpse is burning and cover in a mix of his blood and oil.

As Raven landed back near his friends a huge rumble came from the ocean.  A huge monster with ten heads rose out of the water.

“Oh no it’s the Adageagos, we were too late”  Kam-Re sighed.

Raven walked over the huge creature.  He extended his arms looked into the many eyes of the monster.

“If you were here to destroy this world, I will stop you!”  Raven proclaimed.

“Ah, the server of my brothers, I could crush you and then everyone would bow down to me but, I think this will be more fun”  Adageagos picked up Raven and threw him into a dark void.

“Raven! Where did you send him?”  Phaeroh demanded.

“To the Tower of Terror Dawn, of course”  He answered with an unison laugh from all his heads.

The end

To be continued in The Tower of Terror Dawn

Kaufman's Fortunate chapter 8

“Raven!  Have you lost your mind?”  Kaufman shook her head in disbelief,

“No, the longer this fight goes on, the more that will get hurt.  We have to end this fight right now”  Raven declared.

“Yeah, but why here?  It’s so hot”  Nan wiped the sweat from her brow.

“Three reasons.  First one, no people live here so no innocents will be caught in the crossfire of this fight.  Second one, It’s a part of my plan, and last reason, because I have a friend that lives around here and, I think it’s time for Duke and him to meet”  Raven explained.

The whole group looked at each other and all around.  They wondered who would live in such a desolate and hot place?  Raven looked over the desert field and noticed the rocky crag to the south.  He drew a sand map with one end of his bow.

“Ok, listen we have to keep that crag behind us, we can’t let Duke get between us and that crag.  If things get too troubled fall back towards that crag.  Understood?”  Raven pointed at the crag.

The group all nodded in unison but, they couldn’t understand what Raven was planning.  What was so special about that crag?  Before they had the time to really consider it though a huge dust field began to sweep towards them.  Raven took out his looking glass and saw three auto-coaches like the one he saw before.  In the middle one, there was Duke who had some strange looking horn in his hand.  No doubt another banned machine Raven thought.  To Duke’s left was the Blood Alliance’s boss, Barbos who had replaced his trusted sword for one of Duke’s long guns.  On the right was Duke’s right hand, Evan Eagles who had a smirk on his face as they approached.

Duke put the strange horn to his mouth and his voice boomed across the lands as if he could be heard across the entire planet.

“Ah, Great archer we meet again, I never thought you would want to fight me again after I left in the condition you were in at Zaude”  Duke laughed.

“Duke!  Listen to me, you are leading the world to its ruin.  A monster is coming and it’s drawn to the banned machines.  If you won’t stop yourself, then I will end your reign of terror”  Raven declared.

Duke smirked and yawned in boredom.  He pressed a button next to him and a mounted gun rose from the back end of his vehicle.  The gun was different from the other ones that he had used before. Instead of one barrel, it had several that ringed around a center barrel.  He pressed another button and the mounted gun’s barrels began to rotate and fire.  As each barrel made its way to the top of circle it fired.

Raven and Fortunate had to duck down into the sand to avoid the continuous fire.  Raven tried to stop the multiple fire gun but, his arrows bounced off with no effect.  Then Raven remembered how he noticed the rubber tires on the auto-coach.  He fired two arrows.  The two arrows hit the front wheels.

“Nice try archer but, your arrows won’t make them flat.  These wheels were once called run flat tires”  Duke laughed at his own joke.

However the joke was on Duke though.  Raven figured that his arrows wouldn’t alone make them flat but, he didn’t fire ordinary arrows.  After a few seconds, the left arrow blew up.  The auto-coach hunched over from its left side.  Then the right arrow also exploded.  The mounted gun broke off its mount as the auto-coach crashed down.

Duke still had an arrogant smile on his face as he gave a glance over to both Barbos and Eagles.  The backend of the two cohorts’ auto-coaches opened and twelve troopers came marching out of each machine.  Raven fired a barrage of arrows at the troops but, their armor protected them.

“Finally!  Some fun!”  Kandor grunted.

Kandor rushed the unit of thugs.  They fired their long guns but, nothing could slow down the dwarf.  He slammed his mighty hammer Thororion on the ground.  The earth shook and the troopers fell over.  Yeager swept the legs of one trooper but, as he was going to drive Leviathan’s Claw into his torso, Barbos tackled him.

“You will die by my hand laddie”  Barbos began to choke Yeager.

For Yeager it was rare for him to be in a battle that he wasn’t the biggest but, the brute was not only taller then him but much more heavier.  Yeager remembered a move he had learned recently from Nan that would be perfect.  He chopped the elbows of Barbos with quick slaps.  Barbos grip loosen and, Yeager pushed him away.

Nan was surrounded  by an unit of troopers.  She pulled her large ring and threw it in a circular motion.

“I just hate crowds”  Nan grabbed Ringbores as it came back to her.

Duke grunted in disgust at the poor display of his  army.  He pressed a button next to his right ear and a small microphone extended out..

“Send in the fighters”  He said into the microphone.

Suddenly a roar came from the distance.  Raven looked over towards the commotion.  At first he thought it was just more auto-coaches but, these machines didn’t have wheels.  They trek across the sands with tread bands but, that was not what all of Kaufman’s Fortunate was staring at.  In the front of each machine was huge long canons.

“We’re seriously outnumbered here”  Nan sighed.

“How do you like my tank fighters, little birdie”  Duke laughed sinisterly.

Duke’s joy ended quickly when he heard another rumble coming.  He looked back and saw several hundred horsemen in full gallop entering the area.

“Stage one of my plan is compete, now we’re in stage two”  Raven said to himself.

Kaufman's Fortunate chapter 7

Kaufman’s Fortunate entered the village of Mantinea and noticed a commotion around the town center.  A man was standing on a podium and, screaming his doubt and fears among everyone around him.  Raven got off his horse and took a spot in the crowd as he listened to the crazed man.  Raven heard a teenage girl counter his rants by saying that “Raven the Great is coming to help”

“Raven the Great is a myth.  Everyone says he’s eight feet tall and can shoot fire from his eyes.  He isn’t coming to save you, we’re all doomed!”  The crazed man screamed

Raven grabbed the mouth of Nan who was about to speak up.  “I’ll handle this myself”  He said quietly.

“You’re right, Raven is not coming.  Why would someone that big and powerful waste his time helping people and you’re right Raven isn’t going to save you, because you will save yourselves.  I will teach you how to fend for yourselves.  Yes, Raven isn’t coming, for I am Raven, and I am already here!”  Raven proclaimed.

“You’re not Raven, you are not even all that big”  The crazed idiot countered.

“People can make a difference no matter how big they are,  Meet my friend Kandor, he’s a dwarf, and yet he is one of the strongest warriors I’ve ever known.  Meet the incredible Nan, she isn’t big either but, her skills are so fine that she can tackle people much bigger then them and as for me, I am an archer and with proper training and practice the bow can be very powerful for anyone no matter what size.”  Raven declared.

Kaufman’s Fortunate set up training areas for the village.  Raven taught archery.  He fired an arrow with Dein Nomos.  He did it slower then usual  so the crowd could see how he pulled the bow back.

“Duke’s agents use the gun but, it has a weakness.  The gun only has one shot.  It takes them forever to reload.  I can fire seven arrows in one minute, while I don’t expect the same from a new archer, I believe you can do three arrows which is still two more arrows then the one bullet from their guns”  Raven explained.

Nan taught star throwing in the next station.  She threw a throwing star in each hand at the bulls eye.  She watched as the villagers threw theirs.  A few stars hit the target while others went into the ground.  The young elf slapped her forehead.  “This is gonna be a long day”  She said quietly.

Yeager’s station was meant to teach how to use the common items they had as weapons.  He swept the leg of a training dummy then stabbed it with Leviathan’s Claw.

“You can do this with the pitch forks you use everyday on your farms.”  Yeager explained.

Raven looked over the gateway as a trial of dust swept across the land.  He could barely see a metallic reflection in front the sweep.  He reached into his bag of tricks and pulled his looking glass.  He zoomed in and saw some kind of stage coach but, not an ordinary one.  There were no horses pulling this metal object along the ground.  He realized that it had to be another one of Duke’s machines.  He looked the machine over and noticed its wheels looked black and, made of rubber.  He wondered if the rubber could be pierced?

“Everyone to your positions!  They are coming!”  Raven ordered.

Most of the villagers hid in various spots.  Which left only Raven, the rest of Fortunate, and the town elder out in the open.  The auto-coach came to a stop and a man stepped out.  The man had a long range gun strapped across his shoulder, two more hand guns to each of his sides, and over his right eye was a red lens monocle.

“I want my weekly, payment old man”  He pointed at the elder.

“They’re not going to pay you anymore, stranger”  Raven countered.

“Ah, Raven the Great, my boss told me about you and your cohorts, but you are wrong these people are so afraid and…”  The man snapped his fingers.

Suddenly from the back of the auto-coach, opened and rushing out were twelve blood alliance thugs which each of them had a long gun in the hands.

“As you can see, you are outnumbered”  The man laughed.

“Now!”  Raven shouted.

A volley of arrows came flying out from the distance.  The frazzled troops fired their guns in random directions.  They then were forced to fumble around with their gun trying to reload them.  Before they could complete the reloading another volley came soaring towards them.

“They’re not afraid of you anymore.”  Raven proclaimed.

The second unit came in next with their throwing stars.  None of the stars did any damage but, the small spinning metal objects continued to put the thugs on edge.  They stumbled about as the third unit came ready.

“I didn’t catch your name by the way.  Send a message to Duke for me.  I’m tired of this crap, come meet me in the Sands of Kogoth for a epic battle to decide all”  Raven ordered.

“I’m Evan Eagles, and if you are that stupid to have a fight with Duke, he’ll be glad to crush your spirit”  Eagles laughed.

The third unit ready with their pitch forks tripped the thugs and disarmed them with a quick sweeping move.  The troops got up and ran away screaming in fear.  Eagles shook his head.

“Good help is so hard to find, well I guess I’ll be off, I’ll deliver your message, little birdie”  He got into the auto-coach.

Raven laughed as he looked around at the villagers who were no longer afraid but, rejoicing their victory.  Raven mounted his horse and, began to ride off.

“Wait!  How can we thank you for saving us?”  The elder asked.

Raven turned his horse back and rode up to the elder.

“Did I fire those arrows?  Did I throw those stars?  Did I wield those pitch forks?  No I didn’t save you, you saved yourself as I told you that you would.  Now you know how to fight for your home and will let no bully take it from you”  Raven rode off.

“One question Raven, why the Sands of Kogoth?”  Yeager asked.

“The only advantage we have is to pick the venue dear friend, and well I have a plan”  Raven explained.

Kaufman's Fortunate chapter 6

“And that’s what I’ve been up to since we last saw each other”  Raven said.

He looked around and all their jaws were still dropped.  He didn’t know it was about the flying city, about the tablet that spelt out his destiny or that Vesperia was endanger to being eaten by a large monster.  As Yeager was about to finally say something a tiny bird flew into the room.  A note was tied on the avian’s leg.  Raven gently picked up the bird and, removed the note from its skinny leg.

“What’s that?”  Nan asked.

“It’s what separates a good spy from the great ones.  Information, I have informants all over the world that provide me intelligence.”  Raven explained as he rolled out the note, and fed the bird before it flew back off.

Raven read the note silently.  The next moment surprised everyone, the cool and calm leader slammed his fist on the table.

“Bastard!  What kind of man does that?”  Raven screamed.

Yeager picked up the note and read it aloud.

“Dear my friend, it’s terrible, Duke and Barbos have made a labor camp of women.  They are torturing them and holding their children imprisoned.  Come quickly my friend we’re at Halure, rescue them please, signed Cumore”  Yeager read.

“Cumore?  He is a spy inside the Blood Alliance, I never expected”  Yeager added.

“I have quite a few Blood Alliance members secretly working for me, you included remember Yeager”  Raven proclaimed.

:No longer working in secret”  Yeager countered back.

“Kaufman, have the course set for Port Torim that’s the closest we can get to Halure from sea”  Raven ordered.

Raven knew that was why Duke must had chosen that area.  Being that it was landlocked no one could attack him from seaside.  Raven also knew that meant that instead of a rescue he needed to take control of the camp for they couldn’t get the prisoners out quickly cause of the location.  Raven quietly wrote a note and placed it on a leg of another bird.  He whispers something to the small bird before letting it fly off.

“What was that for?”  Yeager asked.

“Just in case”  Raven answered.

Raven looked over towards Kaufman and, softly growled.  He was still fuming over this behavior.  He still was having trouble understanding how a man could treat women this way.  He would never lay a hand on his wife or any other female either and, the idea that Duke was torturing innocent women and keeping them from their children just boggled Raven’s mind.

At Torim, Raven dipped several of his arrows into a poison.  He knew his usual tactic wouldn’t work.  He usually never intended to keep someone.  He would do just enough  to get the job done but, that was against men.  He had figured out that Duke isn’t a man at all.  A real man wouldn’t do such a thing.  Real men know that they are nothing without a good woman along their side.  For she completes the man and gives him balance in their lives.

“No, that bastard is no man, he’s a monster”  Raven declared.

They traveled during night to give them more an edge approaching Halure in secret.  Halure had a huge wall around and barb wire wrapped around the top of the wall.  However Raven, had something for that wall.  He pulled out an arrow and fired into the wall.  Few seconds later, the arrow exploded and the four heroes rushed in through the gap.

Raven fired arrow after arrow which dropped each thug with effective toxic that quickly took their health and fight out of them.  He did not see the two he really wanted to get a taste of his venom though.  He did see though women both young and old with blood stained clothes.

Yeager ripped through former members of his Blood Alliance with mighty swings of his sickle.  He reached the prison gate and broke off the lock with a slash of Leviathan’s Claw.  The image of young boys and girls shaking in wet and cold clothes made him as anger as his fearless leader.

“It’s alright come with me, Lady Kaufman has food and blankets for you”  Yeager led the children out.

Kandor slammed his hammer on the ground and the thugs fell down from the rumbles.  He continued to grunt and slam his hammer as he took on each enemy.  Suddenly, one  of them though tripped him with a lasso.  The killer stood over him with his sword ready to end the dwarf’s life.  Kandor closed his eyes as the sword began to come down towards him but, then he heard a thump.  He opened his eyes and the thug was on his back and Ringbores was lying next to the thug.

“You alright?”  Nan offered her hand to him to help him up.

Kandor froze for a moment.  The thought he was just rescued by an elf girl was a blow to his pride but, after giving it some thought he reached up and accepted her hand.

“Aye, but don’t think this will become a habit, I don’t need your help elf”  Kandor grunted.

“You’re welcome”   Nan replied.

Raven continued to fire arrows all around and, making his way to command center.  He wondered who Duke might had left in charge of Halure until he saw a familiar face.

“Miss me Raven?  Did you really think our fight was over”  Zagi said.

“I warn you Zagi, my arrows are poisoned, if you do this it will be to the death”  Raven replied.

“That’s fine with me, my daggers are poisoned as well”  Zagi threw a knife at Raven.

Raven dodged the small blade.  Before he counter though Zagi was on top of him.  He grabbed Zagi’s wrist as Zagi attempted to stab him with a toxic blade.  Suddenly, there was a great rumble from the distance..

“It’s the Knights!”  A Blood Alliance thug shouted.

“That was the just in case”  Yeager said with a smile.

Zagi got off Raven and began to ride off on a black horse.

“No, I don’t think so this time”  Raven fired an arrow as he rode off.

It hit Zagi in the leg and, he fell off his horse.  Zagi pulled the arrow out and continue to limp away.  Nan was about to throw a throwing star but, Raven stopped her hand.

“He’s already dead, he just doesn’t know it yet.  Don’t waste the star”  Raven ordered.

“Raven!  It’s good to see you old friend”  Leblanc rode up on a horse.

“Sir Leblanc, I offer the order of the Knights this fine fort for the order.  Take good care of it”  Raven hugged his former student.

“Perfect, we take a place from Duke and give it to one of our allies, that’s killing two birds with one stone Raven”  Yeager laughed.

They all laughed together.

Over the next few days, Kaufman provided warm clothes and meals to those who had been mistreated by Duke.  Leblanc had been named the commander of Fort Halure and, was given an unit of two hundred knights and thirty archers to help him defend his new post.

It was a victory today but, it was only the first fight of many to come.  Raven received another message bird that told him a small village was being bullied by Duke’s Agents.  He gathered his friends and, wished his former pupil well.

“I’m very proud of you, Sir Leblanc, we have to go to help more people being mistreated”  Raven explained.

“Thank you my friend, if you ever need help, just send message my men and I will serve Raven the Great!”  Leblanc shouted as Raven rode off.