Some classic metal for you, just cause I can. Power music dudes.

--- Rains POV ---

I was honestly just following instincts in this situation.

"I'll not have this peasant killing my staff!! Detain him!" The King shouted, eyes victorious. He wanted an excuse. Why?

Ah, he wants me to fear him, and feed his ego. Not happening. I killed the guards where they stood, spikes of fire in their hearts.

"Now that is not a diplomatic attitude, your majesty." I said patronizingly, grinning.

His face paled even further, making his raven hair look midnight. He cleared his throat.

"I believe you are right, my apologies. I believe we should treat then. What was it you wanted?" He said, regaining that cool regal air.

"The women you recently bought from ser Arthur. The money is here, by the way. This is a recall, I suppose.

They come back to me, unharmed, or you never leave. Those are my terms, very simple." I said, placing the bag of platinum on the table, sliding it to the center.

He appeared thoughtful. "So the three northern whores, for my ent-"

I shot across the table. Somehow I knew 'whore' was a very heavy insult, from the way the generals eyes tightened, and I didn't like it, so I grabbed the Kings throat.

"Insult my friends again, and the gods will never see your soul, for I'll have shredded it." I barely recognized my voice.

I released him, and sat back down. "Now. Without the profanity, please. I promise to respect you as much as you respect me, and insulting my friends is very disrespectful."

He rubbed his throat, eyes wary, and nodded. "The three women ser Arthur sold me for my life and my entire army then?"

"Indeed." I said.

I realized my sword was leaning against the table. I grabbed it, and set about cleaning it. We sat in silence for about half an hour, before he spoke.

"I think not. I think you need to sweeten the deal. I think-" my sword impaled his chair, right next to his eye. Right between his ear and head, shaving him almost.

"I Think you should not overstep your bounds. The ONLY decision you have here is to die or live.

Live by giving me my friends and then leave. Die by continuing to make me ANGRY." I said, finally raising my voice above normal levels.

I discovered why I hadn't done so beforehand. The ground shook with the power leaking out of my voice.

I slowly pulled my sword back, and then sheathed it. I dropped it into my void as a sign of peace between us, if he didn't push me again. I'd given him so many chances.

He drew himself up. Damn. "I'll not be threatened in the presence of my subjects, boy, and I think you deserve to be hung. It'll serve an example to the public, that I'll not tolerate disrespect."

The general looked uncomfortable. I looked at him. "If I kill him, and spare your army, will you see to it my friends are returned to me?" I spoke calmly again, ignoring the sputtering King.

"I am bound to serve my king. If you kill him, I'll have to kill you." He said, looking apologetic.

"Damn. I wanted to spare you. You're a man of honor, something very rare, I'm sure." I said, then turned to the King.

"Change your mind or I kill you. I'll regret killing him, he's interesting. I figured you out before I heard you speak." I said disdainfully, sword once again at his throat.

He glared at me. "Well. At least you're not a coward." I said, then plunged my sword into his stomach, letting lightning strike it, again and again, until he was a blackened corpse.

I pulled my sword out, in time to defend myself from the generals great sword.

"I really don't want to kill you, general." I said, pushing him back with a little too much strength, because he flew backwards into the tent wall, collapsing a part of it.

The canvas fell on him, and I started chanting in old Gaelic. I summoned a lightning cloud, right above the valley, and told it to strike continuously, at everything metal.

Then I collapsed, half conscious. Apparently weather magic is... Challenging. And draining.

But the weather cloud got my intention, and wrapped around the valley, one giant disk.

A dome of sorts, but there was a gap, and a pillar of wind, a tornado.

Ah, that's what it looked like. A mushroom, dripping lightning, and hail. And a tornado that I was in the center of.

I stood shakily, and wobbled off towards the edge. The general met me, eyes blazing, and struck first.

I was so tired, and magic drained, that I couldn't augment my movements.

He was a skilled opponent. I had a gash above my eye, and along the entirety of my right forearm, though it stopped where my rolled up jacket sleeve began.

The blood flow stopped magically right after the initial spurt, so I wasn't in danger of bleeding out.

I struck, and he dodged, and the dance continued. He was very skilled, and there was no doubt why he was a general, but I was a (retired) assassin.

I was the one they hired to kill people like him. I had enough energy for something small...

Eventually I saw my opportunity, slicing his face in the same spot as mine in a burst of speed, causing momentary confusion, then slamming the hilt of my sword on his temple. He crumpled.

I trudged to the edge of the valley, and found the pass that led south. I had just enough energy to throw myself over the rock wall.

Once on the other side, I flooded the place with the little bit of leftover hellfire I had left, though it stayed away from the tornado.

I only later realized I had made that valley a hell of all the elements. The rock walls could be climbed inward, and they were thirty feet high at the lowest. One-Eighty at the tallest.

There was hell fire, lightning, hail, hellish wind, and the earth was still shaking in the valley, but not outside of that.

The soldiers never stood a chance. The general might, in the eye of the storm. Hmm. No, he can't get out, so he's probably gonna die. Shame.

I took a few hours rest, and when night fell, I called a hound, and absorbed most of his magical energy.

He refilled at the hellfire wall around the mountain, and came back. We repeated this seven times before I was well enough to continue.

But I was drained, and I'd be human in strength, and speed, for weeks to come. At least I couldn't die, consciously.

I absorbed energy from all living things in the case of a mortal wound, and never could bleed out, unless stabbed in the heart.

It was all in the grimoire. Good old grimoire. I called the hellhound again, and asked him his name.

"Casti, master." He replied in a deep rumbling voice.

"Well Casti, are you up for a journey?" I said. I needed a guard until I was better.

"If you wish." He replied.

"Good." I said, then pulled out my pipes. "Are you affected by the melodies?"

"No." He said, and I grinned. "Good."

I called a horse on my pipes, a slow melody. One appeared, a reddish black hue to her coat. Perfection.

I spoke to her calmly, then mounted. She bucked at the sight of Casti, but quickly got over it.

He was an ideal partner. All he needed was a little hellfire to keep himself alive, and he didn't emit any, so he could continue on without for weeks.

He'd need to, because I couldn't light a candle right now.

A raven landed on my shoulder, and Lucinda's voice came from it. "Are you almost dead yet? Because that is quite the eternal hell-storm you've conjured."

"I'm drained, but alive. One of the men, the general, he is a good man. If you brave the storm, he's in the eye. He's still alive, I think. I'd be in your debt if you saved him." I replied.

"Oh tosh I'll take care of it, you're part of my family, after all. Now, how drained are we talking?" She said, brushing aside repayment.

"I had to drain a hellhound named Casti seven times to be able to see or stand." I said simply.

"But now I'm absorbing a little bit of nature magic. Is there an herbal remedy that can help? I have a few herbs left from the Black Forest expedition." I said.

"Yes, mix the yellow root and the black sprig, and make a tea with it. Add ginger to help with the taste.

Drink that once a day until you feel your old self again, or until you run out." She said.

"I see. Thank you. Any advice for the road?" I said, smiling.

"As soon as you have a spark of power, make your grimoire sentient. It will help with so many things. Try to give it a good personality.

Sarcasm is highly overrated when you're dying and need a healing spell. Only you can speak to it, so don't worry." She said, her voice dry as bone.

"Okay. I'll do that now." I said... Then asked, "how?"

"Simply open it, fully, and then send your power in, and wish for it. Also, try to get some energy from the book. You might have stored excess energy in there." She said.

I did as she said, and was awarded with a rush. It was the amount a normal Mage had, but whatever.

It was something.

Then I did the sentience spell for the grimoire.

'Well well, my master is in such dire straights. Better make the tea she said, I'll not have you dying on me.

I was waiting for you to activate me. Beautiful work with that eternal storm, by the way. Beautiful.'

The grimoire spoke.

"I think it either worked or I'm so tired I'm hearing voices. And I think I accidentally made it your personality..." I said to the raven.

"... Well good luck with that. I'll be here though. This raven is my familiar, so I can speak through it across distances." She spoke.

"Can you make it fly to Faye and the queen and Lila, and speak to them?" I asked hopefully.

"Yes, but the longer distance will mean it will be a simple message and then come back, like with your smoke crow." She said.

"Alright. I'll keep the raven with me, and just send my own crow. If I need a familiar, how do I get one?" I asked, forming a smoke crow, and setting a message.

'I'm coming, be safe, might be a while, and Faye, I found my name. It's Rain.'

The crow flew off, and I urged the horse to follow it. "You simply have to make a contract with an animal. Eternal life, for service.

You can have multiple, but it's not really all that easy to have more than three animals following you around." Lucinda spoke.

"Can a hellhound be a familiar?" I said.

"No, he's already under contract." She said.

"Damn." I said. Then I touched the horses neck. "What do you say, girl?"

'Give me a name, and I'll consider it.' She huffed in my mind. I'd forgotten I could speak to animals, it was in the grimoire.

'Same here. I want a name, other then my title.' My grimoire spoke.

"Okay... How about wildfire?" I said to the horse. "Your coat is Scarlet, so..."

'No... I like Scarlett though.' She said.

"Scarlett it is." I said, and felt a contract settle, her side finished. I agreed, and then it finalized.

"Now, for my grimoire. Magus memoirs is on the cover... Magus?" I said.

'No, that just means Mage. How about... Gale?' It said.

"Like a wind? Okay. Gale it is." I said, and felt Gale chuckle.

Casti huffed in annoyance. "If you're all done with 'the name game', there's a river ahead."

"Any sign of a bridge?" I ask.

"One, about a mile out of the way." He said.

"Any chance at fording it?" I asked Scarlett.

'Maybe boss, depends on how deep an strong the current is.'

"About ten feet, and the current isn't all that strong, comparatively." Casti said.

'Compared to what?'

"The storm that lies in the other direction." He said, and I looked.

Not the storm I'D called then, just a regular giant thunder storm, but there was a lot of lightening coming from it.

'Got it. We cross then.' Scarlett said, jumping into the river, and swimming across.' There, that wasn't so hard'

"Am I the only one confused by the lack of asking me? yes? Okay. Just checking." I said sarcastically. "It's not like I could absorb the lightening for my health to get back, Or anything."

Scarlett chuckled, and Casti snorted. Then gale spoke up. 'No one asked me, either, if the BOOK wanted to get wet.'

I grinned, and then put him in my void pocket. 'Hey, pretty spacious in here, and ooh! Shiny things!!!' He was giddy. Then he realized he had no hands.

'Dammit!' Was his only comment before 'going to sleep'.

I started whistling. Gonna be a long night, waiting for the crow to get back.

---

Finally, a wisp of smoke. My crow materialized and spoke in her beautiful voice.

"Rain... A beautiful name for a beautiful man... Don't keep me waiting."

I leapt for joy, and sent a message back. I felt so happy, she liked my name.