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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 2521233" data-attributes="member: 3285">Cast Upon Tides of Weal and Woe - Part 5c: All Ashore That Are Going Ashore“Stop him!” shouted Vlad.Bijoux crouched low to face off against a thug as two more stepped up against Vlad and Beldin.  “Hold them off,” said Sebastian, spreading his palms wide toward the thugs. "Fuco aspergo!"  A vivid cone of clashing colors sprang forth from his hands, washing over the thugs.  Many fell to the ground, clutching their eyes and screaming.  Then they were silent.“Wow,” said Bijoux.“Emric’s getting away!” said Vlad, blocking another thug’s scimitar.  “Cal?”Calactyte roared.  “MOMMA’S COMING!”The big lizard slammed through the thugs that were still standing, batting them aside like reeds in a field.  Then a black-skinned, white-horned woman stepped into his path.  “Amalia loves a challenge,” she shouted as her huge flamberge sheared towards Cal.Cal twisted his axe and deflected it, but it only served to guide the blow into his thigh instead of his shoulder.  With a howl, he swung his axe again straight for her head—but Amalia blocked the attack with her two-handed sword.  For a moment, they were locked in the struggle, evenly matched.  Amalia’s eyes were glowing with an infernal rage, the likes of which the big lizard had never seen before.  She was smaller than Cal, not more than six feet tall at most, but her strength equaled his. She shoved Cal off and cut a wide arc in front of her, forcing the saurian to take a step back. Then she pressed her advantage. With each attack, she shouted “HA!” Cal took a clumsy swing at her head.  She ducked, and the axe hewed a chunk of stone from the wall.“HA!”Amalia’s flamberge rent a wound when his arms were preoccupied with his axe. There was a flash of blinding pain that zig-zagged its way down Cal’s chest.  The ss’ressen fell to the ground in a pool of blood.Amalia backed away as Cal’s companions advanced.  “Big dumb lizard is no match for Amalia!” she shouted.  Then she turned and ran off into the crowd.Kham sprinted around the corner and skidded to a halt in front of Cal.  He was out of breath.“There is a scary guy with a flintlock…over there,” he said, hands on his knees.  “We better…oh.”  The expanding pool of blood touched his foot.Bijoux leaned down and put both of her claws on the lizard’s chest.  She purred, and a golden glow engulfed Calactyte’s prone form.  The wounds closed, but they were still jagged and red.“He’ll survive,” said Ilmarė. “But we lost the boy.”Kham shook his head to clear the cobwebs.  “Maybe we should have stayed together. I don’t know what came over me…”“Magic,” said Vlad.  “I’ve experienced it before.”Kham thrust his hand in his pockets, trying to compose himself.  “Okay then.  We need to figure out a way to get Emric back.”“He’s not even Cassicus,” said Ilmarė.  “I say let them keep him.”“He is a child in need,” said Sebastian.  “I will not leave Emric to the vagaries of fate when Ymandragorians are about.”“And he’s a human child,” said Beldin. “So it is my duty to return him safe.”Cal struggled to his feet.  “He thinks…I look like…his mother,” he said, as if that were reason enough.“So we regroup, and then what?” said Ilmarė.  “We don’t know who those people were or where they’ve taken him.” “I know how we can find out,” said Kham, pointing at one of the thugs lying in the street.</blockquote>

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