Shades of Darkness: Shadow is Arising - Part Four

James almost had the medallion off of Yoco's neck when a sudden cloud of black smoke emitted from it. He stood there for a second before it pushed him back quickly and roughly against the tent wall. One of the supports came loose, causing the tent roof to drop down on him, but that wasn't the worst of James's problems. All the noise he had made when he was thrown back caused Yoco and Celestra to wake up and be able to witness James clutching his dagger in a corner of the tent.

     "Well, well, look what we caught, A THEIF!" said Celestra with delight. She raised her hand and attempted to do magic, but James's plan worked, nothing happened. "Well, you may have stopped my magic, but I can still bind you! Hand me the rope Yoco!"

     Yoco tossed her the rope as Celestra advanced on James. She drew a dagger from her belt and came closer towards him. Celestra threw herself on James, causing him to fall to the floor.

     A minute later, James Perigen was bound, gagged, and weaponless on the floor. Yoco went back to sleep while Celestra examined James's dagger. Engraved on the golden hilt were two Magtiles surrounding the initials J.P.

     Celestra smiled. "Well, if it isn't James Perigen, the Azlan Ranger. How I remember you, the little scumbag that destroyed my invasion of Meridell."

     James made no noise, not that he could anyway because of the rag in his mouth. It would be best not to anger his captors. He knew how to escape; he just needed the right moment.

     Celestra stayed awake all night to watch over her new found captive. Once the first light of dawn was visible above the trees Celestra woke Yoco, threw James out of the tent and onto the ground. Yoco was sent to watch him while Celestra packed up the tent. Once all their possessions were packed, Celestra pulled a rope out of her pack. She tied the end of it around James's hands.

     "We're going to drag him all the way," said Celestra with delight. "C'mon Yoco, our destination is only a days walk ahead!" And they set off through the forest.

     It was nightfall when Yoco and Celestra approached the cave. There was no moon in the sky, and the air around them reeked of a fowl scent.

     "Let's go in now," said Yoco, feeling braver.

     Yoco entered first, followed by Celestra who was dragging James, who now had various scrapes and bruises from being dragged over rocks and sticks.

     The cave was large, but the rotten smell was strong, but Yoco had never bathed in clean water in his life, so he didn't care.

     After many twisting passageways, they came to a room that only had one thin walkway that lead out into the middle of a seemingly bottomless pit.

     Yoco walked across to the center of the pit. He stood close to the edge, looking down into the blackness. He took the medallion off his neck, which was now glowing. Yoco held it by the chain over the edge of the cliff. Nobody, not even Yoco, noticed that his eyes were now black.

     "Creatures of the past awaken! I, Yoco Tanzin, am your master!" cried Yoco.

     A rumbling came from the pit. Figures began to rise out of it. In the center rose the largest one. It wore a spiked battle helmet. The rest of its face was in shadow. Two dead-looking dragon wings spouted from its back. The rest of it was robed in black. The rest were identical, but smaller. The Bladack.

     James's eyes widened. He failed. He was supposed to prevent this.

     "If you really are my master, what is my name?" hissed the largest one.

     "You have no name, you have lived in this darkness for eternity until now," hissed Yoco, his voice was now unnaturally deepening.

     "What do you wish to use us for?"

     "To prove myself to Torono_Darkshadow, Lord of the Shades."

     James lunged at Celestra, knocking her to the ground, still bound. He grabbed his dagger and cut the binds on his wrists, then sheathed the dagger.

     "Fool of a Faerie! You can't even bind a captive properly," said James. He gave a solute of farewell, and then ran from the cave.

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     James knew he was being tracked by one of Yoco's Bladack, so he pulled one of the Forest Rangers most favorite tricks; hide up a tree. Trackers always look straight, left, right, and down, but never up. So James climbed up a tree and waited for the tracker to appear. After a few minutes, a small Bladack came walking along his trail. James drew his dagger. He took aim, and fired at the back of the Bladack's head. It fell over, dead. James grabbed the dagger and ran.

     James reached the plains outside the forest at about mid afternoon, but he did not linger. He whistled one high note and one low note, and then sat down on a log to wait.

     A blue speck was visible from across the plains. James stood up and began to run to it. It was a cloud Uni. Every Forest Ranger was paired with a Uni of the plains at birth, to help aide them in times of need. James was also best friends with the Uni.

     James mounted the Uni.

     "Suncloud," said James, "we need to get to the Azlan Forest as quickly as possible." And Suncloud the Uni galloped off with James hanging on his back.

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     Yoco and the Bladack began forging weapons in that very cave where they would not be noticed.

     "Has the tracker I sent come back yet?" Yoco asked one of the Bladack officers.

     "No sign of him."

     "Then the hostage must have escaped! This is your entire fault!" screamed Yoco at Celestra, who was glaring at him in the corner. "It's been several hours since our tracker left!"

     "Well, we have to find him, he knows what we're planning!" said the Bladack.

     "Good idea," said Yoco. "You can go find him! Get out of my sight!" And the Bladack flew off.

     "What's wrong with you?" yelled Yoco at Celestra, who was still glaring at him.

     "I'm the only reason you're hear in the first place!" yelled Celestra, finally leaving her corner. "I guided you here, and you've been ignoring me since the moment we got here!"

     "Well excuse me, but I'm trying to organize an army here! And you've done nothing but stand in that corner for hours! And who let the captive escape? You could have just killed him!"

     "We were going to get info from him! And what happened to the weak little Techo that I brought here? What happened to the cry baby that depended on me? Huh?"

     "Cry baby huh? " said Yoco, drawing a saber from his belt. "We'll see who's a cry baby after this."

     "Oh, is the big brave Techo going to challenge me?" Celestra shot a small ball of dark magic at him, causing Yoco to faint. "He won't remember a thing when he wakes up."

     After a week or so of planning, Yoco marched his entire army north to Torono Darkshadow's fortress. He had ten thousand Bladack, which was slightly smaller then Torono's. He would show that Eyrie that he could do something useful.

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     Torono_Darkshadow heard the rumbling before he saw it. He was already having a very bad day.

     Torono stepped out onto his tower balcony to find that the ground below him was black. And it was moving. Some of the figures carried banners that showed a skull underneath a black Cyrodrake.

     "What the-

     "Greetings Torono_Darkshadow, Lord of the Shades," said Yoco, who was mounted on a Darigan Uni. "I have completed my task."

     Torono couldn't speak. He never thought, in a million years, that Yoco would have done it.

     Torono had one of his guards bring Yoco in. With Yoco's army, he would be unstoppable.

     "So Yoco, what is your army of? And how did you obtain it?" asked Darkshadow, curious about Yoco's sudden rise to power and confidence.

     "They," said Yoco, gesturing his hand toward the window, "are the Bladack. They will destroy anyone and anything I tell them to. But how I found them, that will remain a secret.

     "So Yoco Tanzin, Lord of the Bladack, tell me, which place in Neopia would you like to take first?" asked Torono, leaning back in his chair. It would be best to try and get on Yoco's good side now.

     "I've always hated Tyrannia!" said Yoco. "You can never understand a word those pets say. And I know exactly how to do it!"

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     Battle horns blew as Yoco's army came from the south of the great plains in Tyrannia. Yoco's army would attack first, and Torono's Shades would be coming from the north once the battle was going.

     The two armies faced each other. Yoco's Bladack were armed to the teeth while the Tyrannains grabbed only what they had. Yoco couldn't help but laugh.

     "Well, what are you waiting for, CHARGE!" yelled Yoco, and the battle began.

     The armies clashed together. Yoco's pike men and archers took down numerous Tyrannains. But that was only one wave of ten thousand.

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     Yoco wasn't a very talented swordsman, but he could still fight better then most people. He swung his saber like mad and took down everything in his path, while laughing his head off. His Uni reared in the air and Yoco laughed even harder when he saw how many Tyrannains were already defeated. The Shades didn't even need to come. The Tyrannain army was falling; the last things that they ever heard were Yoco's hysterical laughs.

To be continued...