On their way back from the ritual hall, Ash and Nina where talking.

  ‘So it heats the water and then creates a small waterfall which is then washed away?’ she asked

  ‘Yes’ He responded

  ‘Seems wasteful’ she said ‘A whole family can get clean on one tub of water’

  ‘In that context clean is a relative term, anyway a shower uses less water than a bath and each person uses fresh water so its better for them’

  ‘I don’t know if that would catch on to be honest but lets face it, Sandy witches are nice, so you were right about those.’ She said

  ‘Hey guys’ said Lilith ‘Where have you been?’

  ‘Oh hey Lilith, we just went to get Nina to absorb a new core’ Said Ash ‘ Which reminds me, I got one for you too’

  ‘You shouldn’t have bothered’ said Nina suddenly in a stiff manner

  ‘What, why?’ asked Ash

  ‘Demonic spirits cannot absorb cores’ she said as if reading from a book ‘ They are already creatures, twisted as they are, of magic and therefore are unable to alter their composition in order to absorb a core’

  ‘Yes but we already have powers so why would we need your useless cores anyway’ Lilith lashed back

  ‘Ok both of you calm down, I’m sure there’s something else I can get you to thank you for saving my life against the goblin.’

  ‘Now that you mention it, I’ve had this vessel for a while now and it wasn’t in a great state when I was bound to it’ Lilith smiled and hugged his arm

  ‘I’m not killing someone so you can have a body’ said Ash in surprise at the request

  ‘You don’t need to kill them, just find me a body in good condition, I’m fed up of people thinking I’m some sort of undead’

  ‘Aren’t you undead?’ asked Ash

  ‘Technically she cant be undead ad she never died or came back, she’s just a semi living embodiment of evil’ said Nina

  ‘I prefer to think of myself as a soul without a permanent body’ Said Lilith.

  ‘Do you have a soul?’ asked Ash

  ‘Several, did you need one?’ she smiled

  ‘Vile creature’ Nina scoffed.

  ‘Anyway master, we should be getting back there seems to be a bit of a commotion going on at that inn you want to stay at, either that or there’s some very poor street performers’ Lilith smiled

  ‘What kind of commotion?’ Ash asked with a suddenly serious face.

  ‘Well some girl got hit with a horse , there’s some guards and a guy in stocks’ she said ‘ oh and some guy got stabbed’

  Ash didn’t even respond he simply pushed between the two women and began to run in the direction of the inn, his cape unfurling and he began to dart, dash and weave between the pedestrians to the point he just resembles a shadow dancing through the people.

  Ash arrived just out side of the in looking out onto the court yard where he could make out Burt trapped in a stock and two bodies lain at his feet. He made his way over through a throng of people that seemed to be simultaneously leaving and gawping at the spectacle, pushing his was through and making his way over a guard went to raise a hand the mans shoulder but somehow missed, even through he was sure he’d just made contact.

  ‘Hey’ yelled the guard whirling around to face the interloper that to his amazement stood by the innkeeper looking down at the bodies.

  the strangers hand moved over to the lock where it appeared to catch ablaze and melt between his fingers in an instant. The man then proceeded to fling the stock open and help the inkeep to the floor where he collapsed.

  ‘Hey, you are interfering with the lords justice’ the guard yelled with all the bravado he could muster.

  Ash stretched out his hands over the two prone forms in front of him, willing his healing magic to take effect but to no avail, after many efforts he simply lifted the body of Rose and brought her to her fathers lap, Burt embraced her so tightly like he could squeeze some remnant of life back into her. His tears fell down the back of his daughters gown, his hands holding her so tight he did not even notice the treacle like texture the clotting blood had become.

  The wails from the man left not a soul innocent of his lament, Ash’s fist clenched and he whispered into Burt's ear ‘Who did this?

  ‘The guards, they run her down like a pest’ he sobbed, ‘they killed her, the guards, they killer her’.

  By this time a small assemblage of guards stood around, given the reenforced bravery that comes with superior numbers the guard boldly announced, ‘You’re under arrest for breaching the lords peace’.

  Two of the guards made to grab him by an arm each but even though they had definitely grabbed his arms the seemed to evaporate into a whisp of smoke.

  ‘Where'd he go?’ they cried out, ‘we had him right here’

  suddenly one of the guards knees gave way to a boot from behind and a swift palm to the side of his head rendered him instantly unconscious as he fell forwards onto the floor with a crunch that definitely sounded like the breaking of a nose bone, a gasp the other guard made to raise his sword but found his arm held by the stranger now just an arm extending from a cloak made from smoke.

  Another arm appeared reaching around the guards neck bringing his head down and his face into contact with a knee coming the opposite direction. The other two guards leap backwards and drew their swords pointing them ineffectually at the smoke shaped man.

  Lilith and Nina came bursting through the crowd and quickly took in the situation and without even a glance as said in a very calm and concise manner ‘ Go inside and make sure everyone is safe’

  Without a word the two women left.

  ‘Hey, you cant go in there’ said a guard, his attention had drifted for but a second when he looked down his sword had been knocked clean to the ground, and he only caught the last second of the smoke returning to the haunting visage in front of him. Without a thought he leant down to get his sword when from out of nowhere a boot appeared striking him true across the face bringing him to his knees and his cry rang out even over that of the barkeep as just jaw dangled lip from his face.

  His associate swung the sword down at the perpetrator but as they had both experienced the sword simply passed through the air.

  Looking around they were both perplexed as the figure had vanished, the guard made to help his companion to his feet when he saw above the lower than usual hanging jaw his eyes agog and all at once there was a thump, a pulsing pain in the back of his head and then the darkness took him, the last thing he heard before passing out were the distorted cries of his compatriot trying to scream through a broken mouth.

  Nina was the first one through the door and immediately saw five guards, two helping themselves to the ale behind the bar, two holding someone down against a table whilst the fifth stood between them thrusting his pelvis viciously.

  ‘Incinerate’ she yelled and a burst of flame opened up on the guard with his bottoms dropped down by his boots.

  He screamed out and dove to the floor rolling to put out the flames.

  ‘Incinerate’ Nina screamed out.

  Once again the man found himself in a pillar of flame and again he rolled to be out of it.

  ‘Incinerate, Incinerate, Incinerate,’ she yelled tears streaming from her eyes as she focused on the guard with all the venom and vitriol she could muster. By the time the charred corpse had stopped moving the one of the guards had made it over to her and planted a fist squarely across her face bringing her to the wooden floor.

  Looking down, he said ‘Looks like we’ve all got seconds boys’ looking round to his men licking his scarred lip.

  The two over by the ale cask were nowhere to be seen when all of a sudden a woman rose up from behind the bar, black raven hair rather plain looking the only things that stood out about her were the crimson red ruby embedded in her head and the crimson liquid dripping down from her mouth to her throat, she raised up a clawed hand and wiped at her lips’

  ‘Oh please darling, save the next dance for me’

  She licked the blood off her fingers and was across the room in a flash scoring the guards breastplate with her elongated nails.

  The guard with the cut on his lip turned out to be quite the swords man and possessed the Swift Core, this enabled him to keep up with Lilith’s movements and even land a few critical blows, she was now missing half a hand on her right side, only two digits and a thumb remaining. She was bleeding quite profusely which was slowing her down against the two remaining guards,.

  ‘Ill slice you down you bitch’ He yelled

  ‘Ha you’ve tried’ held up her bisected hand giving him the middle finger.

  In a rage the other guard charged forward and she span around his blade, grabbing the man in an embrace working her fingers around the plates of metal till her fingers ran wet and warm,

  He grinned through bloodstained teeth and reached his arms around her lifting her into a bear hug, bones began to splinter and crack under the enormous pressure, she threw her head back in order to scream but found herself under added pressure, like a constrictor with every gasp his arms drew tighter until there was an almighty crunch and her body fell limp.

  he dropped her to the floor, her lifeless form bent over in two in a most unnatural way.

  ‘Haha that’s why we call you bear’ laughed the scarred man.

  ‘Thank you captain’

  ‘I’ve never had an elf before, you?’ he asked looking down at the prone form of Nina on the floor.

  Bear lifted her up onto a table laying her down gently when the captain made his way over ‘best to make it memorable then’ he laughed.

  He dropped his britches to the floor and stroked Nina's face.

  ‘That’s enough’ said Bear standing behind him ‘ besides…’ he took off his helm revealing his bulbous face accented now with a blood red ruby in his forehead ‘ this dance is mine’

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  Bear swept up the captain in his signature embrace, unfortunately missing one arm, so as he began to squeeze, the captain drew a dagger and with the deftness of a swift core user began to plunge the dagger in and out of the hulk of a man like a sewing machine.

  Crack, the captains trapped arm gave way as he cried out bringing the dagger up to bears throat and dragging out a sanguine stream of blood from the monstrous mans throat. The fact that this made him just smile made the bizarre look on his face even more unhinged.

  Bear dropped him and grabbed his free arm clanging his sword to the floor. ‘ It’s a shame, I do tend to try not to damage my host bodies too much and that scar is going to take some talking around’.

  Bear brought his hand to the ruby adorning his head.

  ‘Id normally do things a bit more gentle but seeing as its your first time, lets make it a bit more memorable shall we?’

  Bears fingers dug into his own flesh tearing the gemstone from flesh leaving behind a hole in the mans brow.

  Pinning the captain to the table, bear stroked his face with tenderness mirroring the way he had done to Nina, leaving streaks of blood as he brought the stone over the mans eyes, down his nose. Just as it was passing his mouth the captain made the mistake of spitting up into bears face which left his mouth partially open, with a speed that amazed even he bears hand had deposited the gem into his mouth and simultaneously clamped around his mouth.

  The captain clawed at his own throat as the burning started, skin coming off in chunks under his fingernails. He flailed his legs ineffectually at the behemoth pinning him to the table.

  A muffled scream erupted and a blackness that resembled flames crept over his eyes, and from his forehead the jewel began to emerge.

  The screaming stopped and bears body when limp falling on top of the captain.

  A few moments later Nina awoke on the table and quickly pulling down her dress was relieved to find herself untouched. ‘Lilith?’ she called out, Lilith was on the floor, her body snapped and broken ‘Lilith!’ she called out and did her best to straighten her friend which was like trying to straighten a bag of marbles without opening the bag.

  ‘Lilith, please say some thing, anything’ she cried ‘For once don’t keep that foul mouth of yours shut’

  Movement behind her made her freeze, Bears body hit the floor and so heavy was the man the boards shook, Nina slowly turned her head to see the captain of the guard standing uneasy, left arm hanging limply hair cascading over his face.

  Nina froze for just a moment when she came to her senses she began her incantation, ‘Immola…’ The mans hand around her face stopping the spell, he held up a hand in a gesture universal for ‘hold on’

  He swept back his hair revealing a ruby Crystal ‘I am the captain now’ she said in a south African accent.

  ‘What?’ said Nina

  ‘I said, I am the captain now’ she smiled which was hindered slightly by the scar.

  ‘Lilith?’

  ‘Yes, I am the captain now’ he said

  ‘Why do you keep saying that?’ Nina asked

  ‘Right, he said, where’s Ash? He’s gunna love this’ Lilith said.

  Ash made his way into the inn carrying the innkeeper under one arm,

  ‘Elodie!’ The barkeep cried out, Nina had put her in a chair by the fire, a blanket draped over her shoulders.

  ‘Ash’ Nina gestured for him to come over ‘She is in need of healing’

  ‘Ok, where is she hurt, I can help’ Ash said

  ‘Ash!, they hurt her’ she nodded down her own body and a sudden understanding dawned on him.

  ‘Nina, there are some others lined up outside, bring them in, we don’t want more attention than we have already drawn’ he said ‘ Where's Lilith’

  ‘She’s the captain now’ Nina said

  Ash turned to see the disappointed face of the captain of the guard ‘You ruined it Nina, I was supposed to say, I am the captain now’

  ‘Yes Captain Phillips, very good, now I need you both to go outside, Nina, please bring in Rose and the gentleman she is lay next to, Lilith, bring the guards inside, take them all into the kitchen’

  ‘Ash?’ said Lilith in a pleading voice

  ‘No, no more killing’

  ‘What about…?’

  ‘A little light maiming is fine, nothing fatal’ ordered Ash

  Ash made his way over to Elodie and her father, she was just staring into the fire, tears streaming from her face as her father tried his best to be a coat to protect his little girl from the horrors of the world, unfortunately the horrors had already made their way in.

  ‘Burt, could you please go get a few brandy’s from the top shelf and a water, he hesitantly left his daughter in the care of his saviour.

  Ash gently held out both his hands and cited his spell words, ‘Healing’ and ‘Regenerate’.

  An aura of healing energy settled over Elodie, a split lip sealed, a black eye lost its hue, and her hands moved to cover her stomach and she started to bawl.

  Burt rushed over drinks in hand, and knelt down before the two,

  He took a brandy himself as Ash lay his hand on his said announcing ‘ Regenerate’.

  Elodie took the brandy and the glass of water, she took the brandy and with a wincing face she chased it with the water.

  ‘Its ok Elodie, its all going to be ok’

  Just that moment Nina, walked in with the limp body of her younger sister, she respectfully brought her to a table where she was lain down with the greatest of care, Nina took the time to straighten the girls dress and move her hair do her face was clear, after bringing in Fred's body she took a sponge and bowl of water and cleared the dried blood as much as possible. She brushed the young girls hair so that it cascaded down her petit shoulders and covered the marks from where the horse had run her down.

  When Elodie saw the body of her sister she dropped her glass which broke on the floor, she made to pick it up when she cut her hand on the broken shard. ‘Heal’ said Ash taking the shard from her shaking fingers.

  ‘Ill go get something to fix this up’ Ash said

  ‘There's no fixing this’ she said under her breath ‘There's no fixing this’

  Ash went to the kitchen where he was stopped by Lilith in the Captains body.

  ‘Ash, can I speak with you privately?’

  ‘Yes of course’ he said gesturing her to a side booth passing Burt on his way back to the bar.

  ‘I am on limited time with this body’ he said to Ash

  ‘Why?’ Asked Ash

  ‘Its not like a dead body, his soul is still in here with me, just like when I tried to take you’

  ‘Cant you take another body?’

  ‘they’re all far too damaged now, they put up a bit of a fight.’ He said

  ‘I know we agreed that I wouldn’t take another living body as two souls cannot occupy the same vessel, one must be destroyed’

  ‘What can we do?’

  ‘I'm running out of options, I need a body that isn’t smashed to all hells or currently occupied by a soul, unless we can make an acceptation?’

  ‘There has to be another way’ Ash said

  ‘I've maybe got 10 minutes left which is why I needed to speak to you about what you’ve got going on in there’ she pointed to his chest.

  The two went quiet as Burt made his way back past them, they both nodded to him in acknowledgement.

  ‘What you have brought with you isn’t of this world but it feeds on it and grows stronger, you have to watch how mush you let it out, you have to be strong’ He said

  ‘I know’ said Ash, ‘I can feel it clawing even now, it wants justice for Burt his daughters and the old man Fred, years he's been coming here apparently, has his own daughters, grown up and married but still’

  ‘Elodie’ screamed Burt, she had taken the broken shards and brought them across her wrists and slumped over quietly in the chair. He held her close to his chest tears once again rolling down his face.

  ‘Please master Ash, heal her again’ he yelled.

  Ash ran as fast as he was able and as soon as he was within the minimum range he could feel he shouted out ‘Heal’ his hands outstretched. Her eyes were looking down at the expanding pool of sanguine spreading towards the fireplace, ‘Heal’ shouted Ash ‘Heal’.

  Whilst the wounds closed, she didn’t blink or draw a breath,

  ‘Not you as well’ cried Burt ‘ No you too’

  They lay Elodie down on the floor and Ash continued to attempt to heal the poor girl, Lilith put a hand on his shoulder and said, ‘Not every wound is so easily healed, Master Ash,’ Lilith said in the captains fa?ade, Ash pushed Lilith against the wall, by her throat.

  ‘Whoa, its me Lilith, not the guard’ she croaked as his hand squeezed the captains windpipe.

  He let go suddenly, ’Sorry Lilith, Its that face looking back, he’s one of the ones to blame’.

  ‘I know you are going through a lot right now but we need to decide what we are going to do now’ Lilith said

  Nina, came down the stairs’ He’s asleep, Gods know how after the day he’s been through’

  ‘They need to pay, all of them’ Said Ash ‘As soon as Alastair is back we can decide who to take this to’

  ‘Barristan has Alastair at the jail’ Nina said ‘There's only a few men there I could go and…’

  ‘I think it’s better if I go’ said Lilith, ‘Might as well make the most of this tosspots body while we have it’.

  ‘That makes sense, I’ll stay here and watch the guards and keep an eye on Burt’ said Nina.

  ‘Speaking of which ill go pop my head in on him’ said Ash

  Ash turned and left the women.

  ‘Nina, we need to talk about Ash, if I leave you with him and something goes wrong…’ Lilith started

  ‘Ill stay with him’ Nina finished.

  ‘No, the opposite, Ash is reaching a tipping point that I'm sure we are all close to reaching but you haven’t seen what I have, you haven’t seen what he’s holding back, if you sense something is not right, you, run’

  ‘I understand, just hurry back with Alastair so we can decide what to do with the prisoners’

  ‘I will, but if I don’t get back in time you…?

  Nina looked into Lilith’s eyes, the usual joviality and playfulness all gone.

  ‘I run’