Irzen danced and dodged his way around the Goliath's attacks. When corpses were thrown at him, Irzen was able to side step them with ease. When the Goliath attacked him directly, the Swordsman as barely able to dodge the blade of the great cleave. Irzen felt for the two hunters that were clipped by the Goliath but he knew the best he could do was keep the Goliath distracted while his allies found some "heavy artillery".

Maxim aimed the porcupine directly at the goliath and fired. Fifteen rounds of spiked bolts impaled themselves into the goliath's chest, arms and legs. "FINISH HIM, IRZEN!"

In a move worthy of Legolas, the Swordsman charged at the Goliath, leapt his way from spiked bolt to spiked bolt until he came face to face with the creature. Then in one broad swing of his sword, Irzen decapitated the Goliath and landed on his feet striking a pose worthy of Voltron.

First, the Goliath's head rolled off its neck, then it dropped to its feet and then it crashed face first to the cobblestone ground beneath it.

Irzen came out of his pose and turned towards Maxim and Prince Birch, "And that, gentle sirs, is what I call teamwork! Nice one! Guys! Nice one!"

Maxim went over to his men who were wounded. He took the butt of his crossbow and knocked each of them out. He then motioned to the others to get a stretcher for each, including the severed limbs and bring them to Lazheros asap. "Our job is done. The suns are up and the damned have no choice but to return to the dark."

"Our job is NOT done!" Irzen corrected Maxim as he walked over to him, "And don't you think for one minute that it is!"

Maxim shook his head, "Our job is done but yours is far from over, Swordsman. My men come first. Yours second."

"I understand!" Irzen nodded his approval, "Take care of your men, Maxim, and good luck to you all."

"It's not?!? Prince Birch looked at Irzen with a raised eyebrow.

"No, your Highness, it is not!" The Swordsman added as he helped Maxim's men with the wounded, "I'll explain once we are back with the others."

The hunters brought their wounded to the elven clerics for serious healing. With the grace of their gods power, both men were attended to immediately. The first officer let out a big sigh, "Go on ahead. If you don't see us here when you come back out, Irzen. We'll be up at the airship."

"Fair enough," Irzen turned towards Prince Birch, "Let's go back to the Palace, your Highness, we still have work to do."

*******

The Englishman knelt down in front of the Shield Maiden, "You are pure of heart and soul, child. You may believe you are doing a noble thing but you have much more to learn about life. Do not forsake yourself when there is no need to."

"I was only trying to help," Serna replied sheepishly, "I mean't no harm, Captain Lion. You seemed to need some blood and I saw no reason why you couldn't have some of mine. That's all."

"As I said, we don't need it. The others and myself can go quite a long time without it. Sir Gonagle and his alchemy is highly valued on the ship and it is because of his particular skills, that those of us who once were, or almost turned can use our abilities for the good of others." He stood back up when he heard the sound of dragon wings approaching.

"Well that's good to know," Serna replied with some relief.

The gold dragon returned with Sir Gonagle, Quake and company. Lowering a wing, they dismounted with news.

"Captain?" Sir Gonagle took notice of the man's condition, "What happened? Is she?"

"Everything is as it should be. A vampire dared to board the ship." Captain Lion said bluntly.

"Ah. I see." The alchemist looked up to the girl, "And you're okay with the captain like this?"

"Sure, I am." The Shield Maiden shrugged, "My sister Kana is a Wolfen. You haven't seen her when she becomes fully enraged. Now THAT'S scary!

"We have a new problem, sir. One of the masters is a Blood Mage." Quake brushed herself off.

Captain Lion looked at the elementalist now that she returned to normal. He could tell now why she had such an aversion to him when she was little.

"Yeah. Makes sense now. Makes total sense. The caverns are clear. The interior of the palace still needs to cleared, although my gut tells me the vamps are avoiding for some reason. Maybe there's something there they can't touch. Some ancient relic that prevents them from entering." She pondered.

"From the sound of the fighting I hear coming from the palace, Alyson, I don't think the vampires are avoiding ANYTHING right now." Serna replied honestly, "Just listen, you can hear sounds of battle upon the wind."

The gunner took notice of the suns coming up in the east, "Captain. The light has returned."

"And so it has," The Englishman said backing up towards his cabin. He stopped briefly looking at the Shield Maiden, "I must remain here until I appear normal, young lady. I do not want to give the princess any more of a reason to execute me for what I am. She is addled as is and so I must respect her judgement."

"I doubt Princess Cauladra would try and kill you, Captain Lion," Serna explained, "She knows that you are here to help them not to hurt them--regardless of your appearance."

"It matters not, nor will I tempt fate, Serna." He said stepping back out of the sunlight in the safety of his cabin.

"I understand," The Shield Maiden went to the portal, closed the window and drew the curtains to keep the sun out of the room before she turned back to Captain Lion, "Better?"

Alyson cocked her head sideways at Serna for a moment. She had nothing to say to her. There were more serious things on her mind. "I'm off to find the others. Quake you can stay here or come with."

Quake just shrugged, "I'll find your uncle then. I'm sure he'd appreciate some help."

The first of the two suns breached over the horizon in the east. The rays burned away any vamp unable to reach the safety of the shadows. From everywhere, there were screams and hisses turning to ash and dust. The party certainly had stirred up a lot of them.

"That's right!" Irzen smiled with a vicious grin as he heard the screams and hisses on the wind, "Burn, you bloodsuckers, burn!"

********

Alyson arrived in the throne room to see the bronze man and the princess talking to each other. "I bring news. Some good. Some not so good. Quake is heading over to help my uncle and then meet up with Prince Birch and company."

"My heart sees with joy to know that you and your friends are well, Lady Alyson," The Princess looked relieved as she sheathed her sword, "Pray tell! What news do you bring from the battlefront?"

"I'd rather wait until everyone else arrives, your highness." Alyson glanced over to Lazheros.

"As you wish!" The princess forced a smile, "I am eager to hear how the others have fared."

The bronze man came over sensing her troubles were far more serious than all the fighting that had been happening outside. He embraced her quietly holding her to him, ~ Alysiane, what's the matter?~

~ A blood mage..~

********

The elemental found the platinum knight and slayers watching the fireworks. She also noticed the body of the goliath lying on the ground, "Sire. Wasn't that one of the bodyguards in the Dandy Muse?"

Madeous turned to see Quake approaching, "Yes. Which makes me believe the one they were guarding is one of the masters. Come dawn is here and our duty is done for now. Prince Birch and Princess Cauladra will have some peace of mind that their people are safe now."

The platinum knight and Quake headed for the throne room once more while the hunters returned to the airship to regroup and report their findings from the night to Captain Lion.

Quake let out an audible, "Huh," as they entered the throne room which made Lazheros look over and he stepped back from Alyson.

Madeous gave the princess a courtly nod and was glad that things were far better in here than outside. He looked at the bronze man, "We ran into one of two goliaths we saw back at the Dandy Muse."

"And we ran into the other one!" Irzen stormed into the room with a quick bow with Prince Birch not far behind. Once Prince Birch arrived, Princess Cauladra ran to her husband, gave him a hug and checked him out, "Are you hurt, my love? Are you injured?"

"Nay!" Prince Birch responded with pride, "Thanks to Lord Drow I am well. Some of our allies have fallen but our clerics are tending to their wounds."

"We need to finish what we started and we need to finish it now!" Irzen said to the assembled company, "We've got the vampires on their heels and they know it. We took their best shot and we're still standing. NOW is the time for us to take the offensive! NOW is the time for us to press our attack! NOW is the time for us to end them!"