Losylvania: The Volcanic Kingdom

[Attn: Open]

"I. Said. GO," Pyra says, jamming her blade into a soldier's head. "I'm going to go around the back way. Meet me there!" Pyra then takes off in the direction of the back passage.

Cane turns to Kameo then runs off to the castle. "I'd rather not disappoint her."

{Attn: Pyra, Cane}

Kameo turns and looks in between Pyra and Cane. She curses under her breath and chases after Cane. There is no way she is going to trust the royal family with that criminal. She catches up to Cane in the hall. "I am only here because I cannot trust you."

[Attn: Open]

"You're right, you can't. I feel it adds an edge to life," Cane says, He hangs a right in the palace and runs down to the dungeon, opening the secret passed to the hidden bunker. Then he stops at the edge of the booby trapped room between the bunker and himself. "Oh yeah, forgot about this room."

{Attn Cane}

Kameo keeps up with Cane as the runs down the hall. "How do you know where you are going, thief? Someone of your status should not know anything about this."

She stops behind him at the booby trapped room. "Well since you have proven yourself to be the expert, I will let you go first."

[Attn: Open]

Cane shrugs. "Sure." He steps into the room and stops after two steps. A large blade swings by little over an inch from his face. It blows a gust across his face and he proceeds. A spiked portion of floor. Easily side-stepped. He continues to very casually evade every trap presented him until finally across the room. "See?" He says in a trivial tone. "Now YOU try."

{Attn: Cane}

Kameo raises her eyebrow. She was impressed with the thief then again he had to have some agility to do what he does. She smirks and takes two steps forward the blade passes in front of her. She easily times the spikes in the floor. Then she comes up the the darts. She gets past the first set, but the second set gets in the shoulder. She curses out loud. It throws her timing off a bit and she barely sneaks by the last one.

Kameo walks next to the thief. She is holding her arm and gritting her teeth. "Come on, let's go."

[Attn: Open]

Cane turns to the hidden chamber door with one hand in his pocket and the other holding the sword over his shoulder. He kicks the door open and walks inside. "Hello, assorted monarchs," he begins. "And lackey." He points to Lance and they all look up at him. "The Ice Soldiers are coming and I don't think you all want to be living ice cubes. SO get up, take your dreams, your aspirations, and whatever other junk you have on you and let's go. You don't have to go home but you cannot stay here!"

The king and Lance both stand up and challenge the thief. "What is the meaning of THIS?!" The king demands.

"Kameo, I have the utmost respect for you but why do you dare bring this criminal here?" Lance says.

"Don't answer 'em. I'll do it. You know your eldest daughter, jolly giant?" He says to the king. "Hint, Hint. She doesn't like being told what she can and can't do."

"You'd best watch that silver tongue of yours, boy. I can have it removed," the king threatens.

Cane smiles and places his blade over his shoulder. "Sir, yes sir."

"Kameo, is what he says of my daughter true?" The queen asks. "Has she defied us and gone to evacuate?"

{Attn: open}

Kameo is astonished by astonished by the rudeness of the thief as she follows him into the room. She looks around for Pyra hoping to see that she had beat them. Sure they were moving fast, but not too fast. When the King threatens Cane, she crosses her arms glaring at Cane. "I would be more than happy to help with that, majesty."

Kameo bows politely at the queen. "It is as he said. We caught up to her as you instructed, but she told us to save you. Then this buffoon runs off. I didn't want to leave her behind, but couldn't have him running loose in the castle. Please forgive me, majesty."

She approaches Lance. "He somehow knew the way here including the booby traps. Just thought you should know he isn't your run of the mill thief."

[Attn: Open]

Cane steps back as Kameo takes charge. Lance glares at the criminal but is shoves aside gently by the queen who stands in the doorway. "If she has gone to evacuate, she will have taken the back passage from the kingdom. Let us not waste any more time," she says, turning off the traps.

The lot of them then run off into the kingdom. The Ice Soldiers were progressing. They happen across one and it sees the king, reaching to attack him but its arm is suddenly cut off by Cane. "Go Go Go!" Cane shouts. Eventually the royal family reaches the back gates. Most of the people had escaped but there was no sign of Pyra anywhere. "Pyra? Pyra where are you?" Cane says as he looks around. He suddenly hears a groaning and rounds a corner. There she lies, beat badly, surprisingly not bleeding or completely frozen. Nonetheless, horribly beaten. "Oh man..."

{Attn: Open}

Kameo finds herself swept up in evacuating the royal family. She races with them to the kingdom. They only met up with a few ice soldiers along the way. One actually being brave enough to attack the king. She watches as yet again the thief saves the day.

She follows Cane around the corner and sees Pyra beaten horribly. Kameo instantly drops to her knees trying to assess the extent of her wounds. She is no healer. She looks back at Cane. "Quickly and quietly, we must find a healer." This is one of the times she wishes she was more versed in the healing magics than dark. "Pyra I am so sorry I should not have left you alone."

[Attn: Open]

Cane tries to tend to her wounds himself but everything he does causes her to jerk. He then shakes his head. "I can't do anything for this."

Suddenly the rest of the royal family arrives to find the girl where she lay, hardly able to move. "What is THIS?!" The king roars

"Tried to...stall the ice soldiers. Kameo and Cane...needed more time.

"Hey, shut up, would ya? You know you aren't supposed to talk when stuff like this happens. It wastes energy," Cane says, somewhat pretending not to care.

"I can tough it out," Pyra says, weakly standing. However, she quickly falls back down. The queen kneels down to her daughter and holds her hands over her. An aura envelopes Pyra then disappears. "What'd you do?"

"I have given you a low concentration of healing magic. All it did was relieve the pain a bit but that pain will return if you aren't careful and don't have it looked into soon."

"In that case, we should drop by Ufaria. It's nearby and has good places for medicine, being in the middle of a forest and all. Plus, it's the only kingdom protected against the white witch," Pyra says.

The king approaches Cane and turns him around. "Oh, your excellency. To what do I owe the pleasure."

"Pyra is my eldest daughter...but she cannot accompany us. We must stay here and regroup the kingdom. She is on a path she must walk without us. However, YOU will go with her."

"Wait, WHAT?!"

"You are to defend her with your life," the king barks. He then turns to Kameo and Lance. "The two of you will aslo accompany them."

Lance then turns to the king with a look of disbelief. "Excuse me?"

The queen approaches Cane. "Your highness, why me? I don't know if you're in the loop but I am the LAST person you want to trust for something like this."

{Attn: Open}

Kameo watched as Cane tried to heal Pyra. She was about to snap at him when the royal family arrives. She winces upon hearing the king roar. She is still on her knees when the princess attempts to stand. She watches as the Queen heals her a little bit. "Thank you, Majesty."

She helps Pyra stand as the king speaks to Cane. Her "WHAT!" echoes his. She cannot believe what she is hearing. She questions the king's decision in her head.

She looks over to Lance his look of disbelief mirroring hers. She slowly shakes her head as if to remove the arguments from it. "Looks like we have a mission to do. Let's just hope that the excess baggage proves to be useful."

[Attn: Open]

The queen places her hand on Cane's shoulder. She looks to Pyra who stands by the gateway out, looking over the land beyond their kingdom. "My daughter...She is very strict...demanding of you, yes?"

"That's...putting it lightly," Cane says.

"Ah...but if you saw what I do, you'd see a different way. Pyra wouldn't waste so much of her time on you if she didn't think you were worth it. If she saw nothing in you at all, she wouldn't bother to ever lecture you. That and I've seen how you look at her."

Cane completely freezes. "Come again, your highness?" Is all he dares say, knowing the king is very well listening.

{Attn: Open}

Kameo hung back after helping Pyra up. She knows that Lance is watching out for her. She overhears what the Queen says to Cane. Her eyes widen as her mind replays some of the events before this. She wonders why she didn't see it before. Just what she needs a couple of hormonal young adults when there is a war impending.

Kameo walk away and approaches Pyra. She wonders how Pyra could have feelings for him. "I suppose we should head out while we still can. I do hope we make there in one piece."

[Attn: Open]

Lance approaches the ladies, followed by Cane. "I do suppose we should be on our way then," he says.

"He's right, let's move," Cane says, holding the royal blade over his shoulder.

"Speak when you are spoken to, criminal."

"You know, for someone with a ten foot pole up his rear, you sure are lax. What's the matter? Need eleven to be REAL cranky?"

{Attn: Open}

Kameo nods when Lance approaches. She walks next to the princess as Lance and Cane exchange words. This is going to be a really fun trip. She wishes she could swallow both her and Pyra in shadows and forget about the guys. "If you two are finished, we do have to get to Ufaria, and the last thing I need is an alpha male ego match."

[Attn: Open]

"I assure you, Kameo, this is not a match of male bravado. I do not trust this criminal even in the slightest. It is that simple."

"Gee, love you two," Cane says.

Pyra walks slowly behind them, looking to the evacuating citizens moving in the opposite direction then at the kingdom gates as they begin to freeze over. She sighs as she turns back to look ahead. "We'll be going through the Alkali Woods," Pyra says. "I know the way. Mother and Father would bring my sisters and I along when we were young to visit Ufaria."

{Attn: Open}

Kameo ignores both of the guys as she looks at the kingdom gates, a flicker of concern in her eyes. She turns back and looks at Pyra. "I will follow you then." She is a bit worried about leaving the Kingdom. She hasn't ventured far past the gates since the incident. "About how far it is to Ufaria? We didn't get the opportunity to pack a lot of supplies." She was just happy to have her weapon with her. Her darkness may help in the forest too. Concealment is one of her specialties after all.

Now if only there was a way to silence Cane, this would be a good trip.