Akena Aftermath

Togda rolled his eyes and gripped Tala by the shoulders, "Come on, up you go. I need help breaking these locks."

At his words all of the elves stood up saluting, "HAIL PRINCE TOGDA!!!"

Again, he rolled his eyes and laughed, "Get ready to fight, my fellow elves, today is the day we take back Melandru!" He raised the sword above his eliciting a joyous roar from the elves.

Half carrying Tala, he said, "Tala, come on. We have work to do."

Tala shook her head, and sheathed her sword. Standing up straight, she nodded to the other elves. "Ok."

Investigating the body of the Watcher, Togda found a set of keys, he lobbed them to Tala, "Unlock the cells." I'll keep an eye out for any other demons."

Deep inside his chest, the pieces of the Duratma stirred slightly, causing Togda to squirm slightly.

Tala caught the keys and nodded. Unlocking the cells, she didn't notice Togda's reaction to the duratma still inside of him.The elves free, she went to his side. "All done."

"Thank you." He pulled her into a quick hug, one, to thank her, two, show the other elves that she was truly with him.

Taking a deep breath to push the Duratma back, he said, "Let's go. Stairs are down the hall to our right."

Tala nodded, and hugged him back. Kissing him on the cheek, she felt his unease, and hugged tighter. Letting go, she turned towards where Togda was indicating, and walked off.

Catching up to Tala, he quickly conjured up weapons for the other elves, "We're going to have be careful, the demons will be weakened because of Zagato being dead, but they won't have lost their speed or flight advantage."

Tala didn't look up at him. She understood full well what he was saying. The demons, were still strong, and he wanted her to be careful. Nodding, she unsheathed her sword, to make ready incase a demon spotted them.

Togda took a deep breath, poked his head out from around the corner and nearly had his head lopped off by a Demon Watcher. Breathing quickly, he held his chest, "Tala, mind getting this one? Fly up and onto the back of this one's neck. I'll try for the ankles. Everyone else assists!"

Darting out, he tried to hamstring the Watcher, but received a backhanded smash that sent him flying a few feet back. Struggling to get up, he wiped a dribble of blood from the corner of his mouth, "Not nice." He muttered alongside a steady stream of human curses.

Tala nodded, and flew up high. Landing on the creatures back, she readied to make the fatal blow, but was knocked off after the creture had swung at Togda. Rolling to a stop before hitting the wall, she got up and looked at Togda. Seeing the blood leaking from his mouth, her heart gave a jolt, and her anger flared. She took to the sky and came rushing down, stabbing the creature between the shoulder blades, wounding so that Togda, and the other elves could kill it. She flew off, and landed a few feet away so that she could keep an eye out for more demons.

Togda and two other elves skewered the demon through the neck with their blades, one of the elves that was experienced with healing magics fussed over him trying to heal his bruises and split lip and an apparently torn muscle, he just shoved him away saying, "You can heal me when we're done."

Catching up with Tala, he looked down at the necklaces, he could smell the demons, but the gems were eerily dark, 'This can not bode well.' He thought to himself.

Tala watched, and smiled to herself. Seeing Togda refuse help was something she was used too. Looking away, she kept an eye on the corridor. Feeling him beside her, she reached her hand out, indicating she wanted to hold his hand before the battle between him, and the one who stole his throne.

Slipping his hand into her's, Togda smiled and mouthed the words so that the others couldn't hear him, "I'm worried." He gestured at the darkened gems about his neck.

For some reason, he really began to doubt his abilities, he had relied on the gems, but now... They were on their own, no warnings.

Looking around the corner and up the hall, the way was clear, he could see the cast iron door that separated the dungeon from the rest of the castle.

That was when he remembered something, the door was locked with a spell; a spell that he could never grasp, a spell that could end their crusade before it began.

"This might be a problem..." He said quietly.

Tala looked at him, and her eyes filled with concern. Looking away, she saw the door, and heard his words. "Then we will need help." She said, in mature voice. She was trying to be strong, for Togda's sake.

"I don't know if any of these elves have a good enough handle on magic to undo the locking spell. I doubt it. The spell is ancient and the de-spell is only known by the captain of the Guard. But he was killed while helping me to escape."

Togda scratched the side of his neck, then a thought struck him, could the pendants be able to undo the spell? He knew that the magic inside the pendants was much older and arcane than the enchantment on the door... So, maybe....

Walking up to the door, he held all three of the stones in his right hand, eyes closed, mind calling out to the magic within him and the necklaces, hoping that his begging would stir the power to act and help them.