A Little Fall of Rain

[Goku]

The webbing dissolved, and the group gathered around their fallen friends. Juliet was coming back around, but Gabriel was badly hurt – the combination of his grievous injuries and the poison now coursing through his veins would have overwhelmed him completely, were it not for Rosalia’s tender ministrations.

The woman sat with her head bowed, dark hair shrouding her features as she murmured prayer after frantic prayer. Both hands, now that death was no longer an immediate concern, clasped tight together around the holy symbol she ordinarily kept hidden beneath her armour. The yew tree cast in silver was clasped so tight that it bit into the soft flesh of her palms, and blood dripped in twisting rivulets down her hands, baptising the earth.

“Is she helping?” Goku murmured to Juliet, and she nodded numbly in return.

“I should have been ready.” She said, softly, “I know what those monsters are capable of, I should have been prepared for their magic.”

Goku’s hand clasped her shoulder. “That doesn’t matter.” He said, seriously. “All that matters now is getting our friends back. Where do you think they have taken them?”

Juliet looked up at the sky, and took a long, steadying breath.

“Well, we’re lucky.” She said, at last. “They won’t have been close enough to get him to Menzoberranzan already. There were only three of them, and trying to carry all those prisoners between them… they must be somewhere around here, probably preparing a summoning circle.”

Goku nodded in turn, “Okay, so, how long will that take?”

Juliet’s expression soured. “Ten minutes or so, I imagine. Maybe a little more if we’re lucky.”

“Okay then!” Goku declared, punching his hand into his open palm. “I’ll see if I can find them, when I do… you guys follow when Gabriel is back on his feet!”

Juliet blinked, “You’re going after them alone? Are you insane?! They’ll kill you!”

Goku shrugged his shoulders, “Yeah, maybe.” He said, “But we can’t let them get away, besides.” He smiled an easy smile, completely at odds with the dire situation now unfolding before them. “You’d be surprised what you can get done in even five minutes. Ten minutes? No problem!”



The Sisters had laid out their three captives. Now it was Phaetlara’s job to inscribe the ritual circle which would enable teleportation back to their tower in Menzobarrenzan. The three human men they had taken looked almost restful in their enforced slumber. It disgusted Drisnolu to see them so comfortable – but she could take solace in the fact that it would not be long before they were in more pleasing positions. Screaming, begging for their miserable lives to end.

The rocky outcropping was far from the perfect place to draw such a circle. From the regular, geometric shape of the rocks they had clearly once been shaped by mortal hands, but whatever purpose they have had originally they were now toppled over into a heap of broken and crushed stone, beaten and worn down by weather and time.

How temporary and impermanent the structures made by these pathetic humans were; even the shrines to their Gods were gone in the blink of an eye to the rightful rulers of the world.

“Will you be much longer?” Drisnolu snapped, folding her arms across her chest. “I am tired of being above ground. The air here is foul.”

Phaetlara spared her sister an indulgent look, smiling as she looked up from the intricate series of symbols she had been inscribing in the ground with her staff.

“It will take as long as it takes, Sister dearest.” She said, “Chiding me won’t make me go any faster.”

Drisnolu’s lip curled into a sneer at the blatant insubordination. “Do not think.” She said, “That just because I have lost my whip I am incapable of disciplining you, Phae.” Oh, how she loved the hatred in her sister’s eyes when she used the diminutive name. “I will just have to be less gentle than usual.”

Shezalle giggled behind her hand, and Drisnolu spat out a sharp hiss, a gesture, and a burst of red light forced the drow to sit up straight from the rock she had been lounging on as pain coursed through her being.

“And you!” Drisnolu snarled, “Control yourself. You are drow but you guffaw like some kind of court jester. I’ve had enough of it.”

Shezalle’s hatred was a far more dangerous thing than Phaetlara’s. Where the wizard would plot intricate schemes to which the Priestess was accustomed, Shezalle was prone to impulsive and sudden action. Still, even she was smart enough not to press the issue whilst Drisnolu was clearly in a foul mood. The loss of her whip had affected her more, perhaps, than she was willing to admit. The whip had been a good and loyal companion, especially compared to her fickle sisters. She was going to miss it dearly.

“Oh good, I found you.”

Goku’s voice rang out above the trio, and he looked down upon them with his arms folded over his chest. Floating down slowly towards the ground, the three drow found themselves staring at the saiyan warrior in absolute confusion. He’d taken them completely by surprise – why in Lolth’s name would he throw that away rather than trying to take one of them out quickly?!

“You’re not planning to run away before we can finish our fight, are you?” He continued, smiling what might be the most infuriating smile that Drisnolu had ever seen. “I was just getting warmed up!”

Drisnolu looked carefully around, but she could see no evidence of his allies.

“You’ve come alone?” She asked, “Are you suicidal, or just stupid? You don’t have a chance against all of us.”

“But, who says he has to fight all of us?”

Shezalle interrupted her sister, putting her hands behind her head and leaning back against the stones.

“This guy shouldn’t be any problem for a proper Priestess like you, right Drissy?~ Surely you aren’t worried about your ability to deal with one human male.”

The Priestess glowered at her rebellious sister, and sighed, drawing her rapier. “I see.” She said, “You’re going to be like that, are you? Then you had better hope that he DOES kill me, otherwise you will be paying for this for a very long time, Shezalle.”

She lifted her chin into the air, looking down her nose at Phaetlara.

“Sister. Bind this man so I can dispatch him quickly.”

The wizard continued to draw intricate designs in the floor with the tip of her staff, as though she hadn’t heard the Priestess’ demand.

“SISTER!”

Phaetlara looked up with a disinterested expression. “Oh, I’m sorry Sister.” She said, calmly. “You told me to get the circle up and running as quickly as possible, so, I’m going to concentrate on that.”

If looks could kill, Drisnolu would be an only child at this point, but alas, Lolth had not yet gifted her with that particular ability.



Goku laughed uncomfortably as the trio bickered amongst themselves about who was going to fight him - but hey, at least it was better than having to try and take all of them on at once, which was what he had been expecting. Stepping around to stand in front of him, the Priestess pointed her rapier right at him – the slender silver weapon gleaming bright in the shaded outcropping.

“You’re really prepared to risk your life going against us?” She demanded, “What stake do you have in this, outsider? Are you hoping the Kingdom will reward you in some way? We can match whatever offer they have made.”

Goku shrugged his shoulders, “I said I’d help him, I don’t need any other reason than that.”

Drisnolu snorted, and flicked her rapier up between the pair. “Hopelessly naïve.”

“I get that a lot.”

“And now you will die.”

“… That too, come to think of it.”

The Priestess lunged forwards, rapier leading the way as she attempted to vent her growing frustration with Goku’s nonchalance by carving out a chunk of his flesh.

There was a tendency in some circles to think of a rapier as being little more than a springy length of metal with a sharp tip. Goku didn’t have much experience fighting people who used such swords, but he knew immediately that this was not the case here. The long length was more like an extended razor blade, perhaps not the best for blocking other, heavier, blades… but an elegant weapon with which to open veins and cut tendons.

Once again, it was the drow woman’s speed which was her greatest advantage. She advanced on the saiyan warrior in a swirling storm of slashing blades, attempting to drive him back or force him to be cut. Goku knew all too well how great an advantage speed could be; bigger, stronger fighters tended to overestimate their ability to actually hit their enemies; the Priestess was likely to manage that, and even a thin cut could become debilitating if it was repeated enough times.

Stepping forward into the slicing blade, the Priestess drew blood almost instantaneously. The blade slashed across Goku’s forearm, and he hissed as he turned his shoulder into the assault. A second cut appeared over his thigh, one across his chest, and then his hand closed tight about her wrist. It wasn’t an exchange he had won easily, but all of a sudden the elegant and lightning-quick motions were rendered impossible.

“You dare—AUGH!”

Whatever further insults the drow was preparing to throw at him, Goku answered by smashing his fist directly into the woman’s nose. Blood spurted from the wound, and her eyes widened in shock and pain. The impact rang out, and she tried to wrench her arm free more desperately – Goku refused to let go.

Shezalle snickered behind the back of her hand, eyes sparkling with mirth at her sister’s pain.

A second and third punch followed, Goku intent on pressing his advantage until the Priestess’ head was ringing and her vision blurred with tears of pain. Before she could try and mount a counterattack, her wrist was released. She jerked it back with a hiss of triumph – and then Goku’s foot crashed powerfully into her stomach, sending her hurtling backwards to slam into Phaetlara and send the pair of them sprawling into the dirt.

There was a clatter of wood against the ground, and Goku saw his opportunity. Leaping into the air, he came down heavily on that strange quarterstaff the woman had been using to draw symbols across the ground. His foot smashed right through it, and the quarterstaff exploded into a shower of splinters and crackling arcane power.

“N-No! You fool! What have you done?!”

Phaetlara threw her sister off her, displaying far more strength than Goku would have thought her slender frame possessed. Her eyes were wide with shock, the stave she had put so much effort and power into, sundered in a moment! Who even did that? Who sundered magic items?! Didn’t he know he could have gotten so much more if he’d just taken it? And then she could have tried to get it back!

Instead, now, she was forced to watch as the last vestiges of all that power discharged harmlessly into the ground. Goku actually looked genuinely apologetic as he turned to face the two women again.

“Yeah, sorry, I know you weren’t really paying attention to the fight.” He said, “But I really couldn’t afford to let you kidnap my friends.”

Outsmarted? They’d been outsmarted by this man? He was just some knuckle-dragging male! Phaetlara’s eyes widened, and she let out what could only be described as an unearthly screech of rage – a horrifying amount of fury packed into that scream. Enough that Goku flinched backwards, raising his hands as though to placate her.

“H-Hey! If you didn’t want to lose that thing, you shouldn’t have been using it to try and hurt people!”

Ordinarily, Phaetlara would be struggling to channel her magical abilities without her stave of power – but the sheer frustration she felt dealing with this idiot seemed to bring out the best in her. She summoned up the eldritch words of power as though they were her mother tongue, and her hands snapped forwards to bring her will into force against the mundane world.

Lightning erupted from her outstretched fingers as she brought her hatred to bear against the impudent male who had dared to stand against her. Goku did what he could to steel himself against it, bringing both hands up and – well, it didn’t help all that much. He was picked up bodily by the lightning bolt and flung against the stone, a scream tearing from his lips as the electricity scorched into him, leaving a nice, Goku-shaped mark against the dark grey rock.

He hit the ground hard, and managed to get himself back up to his feet, although the effort of even doing that showed through clearly. His legs trembled and his body smoked in the aftermath of the attack.

“You were entertaining when you were harmless.” The Wizard hissed, “But now I think it is time you ceased interrupting.”

Again, she began chanting the words – and this time, rather than letting her continue unabated, Goku erupted from the ground, tearing towards the woman with all the speed that his beaten and battered body could give him. At least the lightning had cauterized the cuts that the rapier had opened! Those small silver linings were what made fights like this so exciting.

His heart was pounding in his chest, the full rush of battle filling his heart as he closed the distance. Lightning was starting to course between the dark elf’s fingers, but it was too late! He was on her, and his fist smashed powerfully into her gut, forcing the air to explode out of her lungs and disrupting the complicated spell.

A swinging kick swept her legs out from underneath her, and all of Phaetlara’s hatred couldn’t keep her focused any longer. The arcane link had been severed, and she spluttered, gasping and flopping like a fish on the riverbank as her body refused to take in air.

Then he felt something he wasn’t expecting – a gentle caress against his back. Goku’s brow furrowed, and he tried to turn – he had just enough time to catch a glimpse of the leader, Drisnolu, before his whole body was suffused with a bright red light. Goku had never experienced ‘negative energy’ before, but he could feel it as it tore into his very life essence, ripping him apart on a fundamental level.

His legs gave out, and he collapsed into the dirt, muscles trembling as he found himself incapacitated just as neatly as he had dealt with the wizard.

“Now, Shezalle.” The Priestess said, her voice once more calm, controlled, as smooth as silk. “Regain my favour. Cut this impudent wretch’s throat.”

The assassin sighed and hopped down from her perch, hands drawing her daggers in a practiced motion. “How disappointing.” She complained, as she sauntered towards the downed warrior. Her shadow fell across Goku’s features, and he grunted, his arms and legs feeling like lead as she grasped his spiky hair and drew his head back.

“I was expecting so much more from you, Outsider. Oh well~.”