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 Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 10:48 am
Introductory note: This RP is open to Watchers and takes place approximately two weeks after the Blacksands mission.  Quote: It was twilight. A dangerous time to be running. A time where shadows could hide precarious drops or the tangle of thorns stretched out across one's path. But for all the bad the shadow did, there was one advantage that made the dangers worth it. The shadow would hide them too. And they needed to be hidden right now.
The blonde female would never say she was frightened. Even though she was. Even though she couldn’t stop herself from glancing backwards every now and then to make sure she wasn’t being followed. The last time she had checked for any sign of pursuit, she had almost lost her footing on the rocky crags and pitched sideways into the black male walking close at her side.
She ignored his concerned look and forced herself to keep her eyes on the path ahead, even though the fur on her neck prickled with warning. Even though she was sure she could feel a thousand angry eyes on her.
“Juno. Shall we stop?” The dark male suggested; his voice slow and thick as if unused to talking.
“No. No. There’s no time. We have to keep going.”
She pointedly ignored his protesting look and pressed on, moving faster even though the thick blood on her chest and forelegs had started to dry; caked to her body so that the fur pulled painfully as she moved.
But it wasn’t her blood.
It wasn’t her companion’s, either.
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Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 8:02 am
Her watchers had alerted her to the trespassers coming out of the North and she had hot-footed it here as fast as her paws could take her, carefully picking out a site and organizing her people for an ambush. It had been a couple of weeks since they themselves had come out of the North after a fairly successful infiltration mission, but these two were none of theirs as no one had been left behind.
That meant they were outsiders, which while strange enough in the past, now was even more cause for concern. The only people that came from the North were Hongshan or Nergui... and without more information, she would assume they were the later and act as such. Her new responsibilities sat heavily on her shoulders, but at the same time, they were part of the energy that drove her now. It was her duty to protect her pride, and this was part of that.
Turning slightly, she glanced back at one of her watchers and inclined her head an inch, sending them melting back into the shadows to send the signal along to close in around the intruders when they came around the wall of rock to a place where the game trail widened ever so little, affording the waiting Firekin the opportunity to close ranks and surround them.
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Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 10:33 am
It was the black male who first realised they were no longer alone, his pace slowing and head lifting to show his sudden alertness. A moment later and Juno caught onto his sudden shift and dropped back to walk alongside him. The tension in her grew stronger still, lifting the fur so that it bristled along her neck and shoulders.
"What's--"
He hushed her with a look and lowered his voice. "We're no longer alone. Could it be...your friends? Could they have caught up so quickly?"
Juno flashed her teeth at him. "They are not my friends." But her ferocity died swiftly and she stepped closer to him, eyeing the landscape. "Where are they coming from? North?"
The black male drew to a halt and squared his paws, drawing in a deep breath and trying to focus, delving into the powers that had seen the Nergui turning interest on him. But with Juno all nervous energy beside him he couldn't seem to concentrate and he growled instead, pushing her away a little. "Keep low, let's try circling wide." It was the only suggestion he could make given the circumstances and with his seer senses telling him that a potential threat lay somewhere close by. His head was in a spin and the fraught lioness wasn't helping.
She took the lead, lowering into a crouch and moving sideways to circle around the straight path they had been intending to take. Unfortunately, this change in plan would see them straight towards the seeking Spymaster.
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Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 12:13 pm
The sudden change in direction took Morag by surprise, but with the net being drawn around them, they had no where to go. Two lions against her group? Their escape would be hard won, if at all.
Enough hiding in the shadows. Shifting to her paws, she headed straight for the pair, leaving the safety of the rocks she had been camouflaging herself beside. This sort of work truly did favor her dark coat...
"Stop there. Who are you, and why are you here?" She barked as she stopped at a safe distance, giving herself room to get out of the way if that male, or even the female, charged her. She wasn't stupid... the scars across the right half of her face had taught her a valuable lesson about over estimating her own abilities. At least one of her watchers should be near by, keeping an eye out should the dark lioness need backup. Hopefully the rest were doing their job and closing in even now.
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Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 3:47 am
He had seen the pair when they arrived, but hadn't gone to fetch Morag himself. He was quite sure someone else had, and so Azulon had lingered. He was watching from a distance, not thinking he'd be capable of getting up close to actually hear anything, judging by the alertness of the pair as they moved. Once or twice he caught a distant scent of blood.
He might have been the sort to chase them off as they drew nearer, but considering the direction they were arriving from, and what he could see of their condition... well, they might have another use. Which was why Azulon had just kept an eye on them, and waited for others to arrive. He kept at a distance, out of sight.
Ah... there was the spymaster. All good and dandy, then. He waited for Morag to make the first contact, then made his way over. Still quietly, intent on remaining a secret from the unknown pair, though he didn't take the same precautions to stay hidden from Morag. He could jump out when needed.
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Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 2:56 pm
Aodhfin had stayed hidden as best he could as his half sister made the first contact with the strangers. muscles tense, he was more than ready to jump in at any moment if needed as he did not trust the strangers one bit. but when he caught wind of the scent of blood for a moment, it made his hair's on his back stand on end and it put him on edge even more. staying still, it was becoming more and more hard for him to just lay in wait while Morag approached the strangers even though he just wanted to run them off now. but he new better and had to wait where he was til Morag gave a signal that the watchers were needed to help the spymaster with the new strangers.
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 1:36 am
The command rang out, confirming their fears as they were faced down by a large, black female half consumed by twilight. She looked fierce and her tone suggested she not be trifled with. Juno laid bare her teeth and crouched in preparation, though the dark male gave her reason to pause.
"Careful. We are surrounded."
The blonde female let her snarl die, though she retained her defensive posture. What was the point of travelling with a seer if he could not see the danger around them? But what was done was done. She hadn't come this far to die now.
"Are they..?"
"No." She answered immediately. They were not Nergui. But it wasn't to say they were any less dangerous. She raised her voice then and directed it at the female. "Who are you to question us? We are in unclaimed territory. Are you a band of brigands?" She had a slight northern accent to her words but spoke the common tongue with ease. "I am Juno and this is my companion, Ziro." Pseudonyms of sorts. Juno was named as such by her mother though she had chosen a new name upon entering the Nergui. She intended to take back her birth name now that she was free. Ziro claimed that he could not recall the name his mother had given him, though Juno had her doubts about that.
"If you let us pass, we shan't bother you. We head south and we won't be coming back." She narrowed her eyes. "Might be best that you do the same. The north stirs."
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 8:30 am
Following behind Morag was Serkan, though he remained more in the shadows. If he shifted just right, his green eyes or white mane would show up, the only signs another lion was there. The red lion's lips curled back a bit, though he let out no sounds. He could hear just the slightest hint of accent... And it made him unhappy. He couldn't quite recall all the Nergui he'd ever seen - Which had been relatively few - but he was still suspicious of these two possibly being one of them. He glanced around, looking for the others. The shadows hid them, as did the twilight, but he knew they were there. Suspicion-filled eyes turned back to the blonde and black lions, muscles ready in case he needed to act.
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 12:37 pm
It was a testament to their upbringing in a military pride that even so soon after her promotion, the watchers all looked to her for orders and allowed her to take the lead in situations like this. No one spoke out of turn, but waited for her, and she felt a surge of gratitude and kinship with them. They could be a powerful force, if this sort of discipline continued.
"We have you out-numbered, I'd say that gives us every right to ask you any question we please." Morag never looked away from the pair, but she made no motion to leave nor advance on them, at least not yet. "We'll detain you only as long as we need to and once you've been judged as a non-threat, we'll even escort you out of here."
Short. To the point. There was no need to give them more information than they needed to. If they were involved, they would know perfectly well who this band of lions was, or where they came from. If they weren't, it was just as well they knew as little as possible. Already, Morag could feel herself dropping into her role of Spymaster, a sort of calculating calm settling over herself as she carefully chose her words and schooled her face to blankness.
"We are not brigands and we really don't wish to hurt you. Its a waste of time and energy. We simply want to know what you know about the North... Who are you, and where are you coming from? Why are you traveling south, covered in blood?" She listed off her questions methodically, trying to give away as little as possible about her own thoughts on the matter. "I suggest you keep it simple and to the point. We have ways of knowing if you're lying."
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 1:29 pm
Just how many were out there watching them?
Juno could feel the twitch of nervousness work down her neck and into her shoulders, forcing her to shift her posture a little in an attempt to hide how wary she was feeling. At her side the large, dark male seemed to be watching the shadows, his eyes flitting from one to the next as if trying to pinpoint every hidden individual. Needless to say, they were keeping quiet and staying out of sight which meant they knew what they were doing. One wrong move and this could get seriously out of hand.
And then the questioning began and Juno realised it was she alone who would be answering these questions. Ziro was nothing but a rogue seer. "That's a lot of questions." She replied begrudgingly. She was running. There wasn't time to answer questions. But what choice did she have? Besides...if the Nergui came after her, perhaps the hidden lions would outnumber them and she would be safe? Unless...unless they wanted to join? Then they could take her hostage and return her to the pride...
"There was a fight." She replied. "The blood is not ours." That much was true, though there was certainly more to it than that.
"I...belonged to a horde who dwell in the north. From what I understand the ones who travel have had many names in the past. When I joined as a child they were called Mai-Mur. Now they are known as Nergui." Had these lions heard of them? "It is a name taken by some slaves that were captured some time back."
She narrowed her eyes. "I travel south because I have left them. And...the Nergui don't take too kindly to traitors."
The black lion remained silent.
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 4:44 pm
If Serkan was surprised, he hid it and hid it very well. If he let out any sign, he'd give away his position, though the fact he was hidden at all was a miracle. He still wondered, a week after their return, just how he'd managed to NOT get seen by those lions that had made camp. Or how any of the paler lions hadn't been seen, for that matter. Surely the Nergui were going blind...
His only motion or sound came when the wind blew just right, and he let out a sound like the wind whistling through the rocks. Hopefully it did what it was intended for - Get Morag's attention to him, and maybe spook these two strangers that came from the Nergui just a little. For as serious as he could be, even Serkan had just a bit of mischief running through him.
((Serkan: -Sneak pounces Morag- BOO!))
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 6:00 pm
Dark ears went back against Morag's head at the mention of the Nergui. Well now, wasn't this just lovely? They'd caught one of their mysterious enemy. Not a slave or a refugee like the Hongshan, but one of their captors.
Turning her head, she nodded over one of the watchers and spoke quietly to them, giving instructions to take a couple of others and head back along the trail of this pair and check for pursuit. They were outside the pride border, they couldn't be too careful. When she turned back, her eyes glittered with calculation.
"Congratulations. You've crossed enemy lines." She said, inclining her head at Serkan, Azulon and Aodhfin to call them over. "I think perhaps we should talk in a more secure location. We wouldn't want any unexpected company before we're done talking, would we?"
When her watchers came forward, Morag took a step backwards, gesturing beside and behind herself. "Escort our new friends back to the outpost. We should be able to talk safely there."
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 7:00 pm
He listened with interest, committing it all to memory. If these two were traitors, they might be more easily persuaded to talk than their other traitor, who up until now had proved unhelpful. Though their escapade indicated there wouldn't be all-out war between the firekin and the Nergui, certainly valuable information, they could always learn a bit more.
He reacted to Morag's signal quickly, stepping into sight, but not loudly, barely a shadow as he found his place. He positioned himself beside the male. "It's smart to do as she says without a fuss. You'll find we can be quite reasonable when you cooperate." He commented. Azulon' tone wasn't one of jest, neither was it too serious. He was simply offering a suggestion, after all. Whatever the outcome, it would be dealt with.
Once the pair was ready to move, he would gladly take them to the outpost.
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Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 10:42 am
The dark lion's ear twitched and, when the dark female spoke of finding somewhere more suitable for talking the shadows moved and detached themselves. And, when the advice was given by Azulon he opted only for silence, lowering his head a fraction to show that he had heard. The seer had never been much one for words and spending his life mostly in solitude had made him more awkward than most.
"Very well." Juno replied, still wary. They could be leading them anywhere but what choice did they have now? They were tired and outnumbered. Besides, perhaps these ones were telling the truth.
She moved after Morag, then, pausing to check that her shadow was following. Ziro was, moving in to step up at her flank - her dutiful guard. And then, together, they began to walk, both hoping that the outpost would not be far.
"You seem awfully interested in the Nergui." Juno spoke up after a moment of walking. Her ex-kin would be pleased to know that word was spreading.
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Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 12:50 pm
Stepping out of the shadows, Serkan only gave the two lions a warning look before he fell in step behind the dark male. The red lion seemed not to care what they were saying now... Until the lioness mentioned how interested they seemed in the Nergui. He scowled, teeth showing for a moment, before he finally spoke up. "What we want know about Nergui... Is no concern at moment. More talking at outpost." He had to admit, though, just what were they doing coming from the Nergui? Were they truly traitors, or was it a ruse by the Nergui? He glanced to Morag, wanting to ask if she thought they could actually be spies sent by the enemy pride, if the term 'pride' could really be applied to them.
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