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 Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2020 8:07 am
"Wooooow!" Lapela shielded her eyes from the sunshine as she gazed out over the rushing riverbed glistening in the midday heat from her perch on the bank.
It was a new sight, to see such clear water running past her as it headed downstream, toward her own ocean home.
Which was lovely on it's own way, of course. Honestly nothing compared to its beauty! But ever since she was small, she'd dreamed of adventuring, of collecting and hunting and seeking out all the thrills the world had to offer. As her mother had. Lapela's father had known her dreams and had supported her, though he of course still wished she'd stay closer to home, at least at first.
But how could she? The whole world was open to them now! She had so many new places to go, and there were so many new things to see! She didn't want to waste even a moment. And even now that she'd made it into river territory, it was still quite a ways before she'd be able to find somewhere to rest for the night. It was important that she push on, though no one would blame her if she stopped to see if there was anything interesting among the reeds or along the bank...
What was the point in traveling if she didn't stop to smell the flowers along the way? And the riverlands were already so different from her home in Haukea, even if she hadn't quite made it into one of their villages, yet.
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Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2020 8:16 am
The surface was, in a word, wild. It was so far beyond anything that Ahio could ever have imagined, and so, infinitely vast. Before leaving Po'lua, he had thought that perhaps the surface was just... a series of larger caves, with more space? More water? But the colors and the vibrancy up here were at best dazzling, at worst disorienting. There was so much stimuli. Still, the trip had been a success. He had successfully returned young Ikaika to his home in the swamps, and now Ahio was half taking the chance to explore and half desperately trying to navigate back to the ocean so that he could begin his descent to the caves again. Much as he hated to admit it, being up here was a lot and he wouldn't at all mind some time back in the dark, scrunchy comfort of the deep sea caves once again. Except that he was really quite lost, and had a sneaking suspicion that he was going in the wrong direction altogether. Being on land had wonderfully messed up his sense of direction, and he felt out of his depth but literally and figuratively. After wandering about on his own, trying in vain to find some sort of sign that he was going the right way, he decided he had to buckle down and ask someone. So it was a much-needed surprise when he stumbled across someone, just as he was growing truly desperate. "Uh. Hello!" he said, doing his best to sound upbeat as he hurried over toe Lapela. "Hi there, my name is Ahio, and uh... I was wondering if you might be able to point me toward..." He paused. Point him toward what? The deep ocean? "Uhm. The sea, I guess."
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Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:28 pm
Ruehi had found her way there and was close to shore searching through the rocks that were scattered around. It was a normal thing for her. She liked finding the beautiful things to put in her jewelry designs. As she walked, her feet splashing through the water, she noticed others nearby. She turned to look at them and make sure they weren't one of the land walkers.
Once she figured out they weren't she smiled at them and went back to looking at the rocks bear her feet. Ruehi missed the question about getting directions to the sea since she plunged her hand into the water with a splash right at that second. A shiny thing had caught he attention just then.
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Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:47 pm
She'd expected to see a great myriad of river people swimming about, with maybe a couple Kahikinans from the swamp flitting around too! She'd heard the river and swamp folks were a bit like the Hapuna and Moakai were in terms of closeness and friendliness to each other, so Lapela had assumed she'd see quite a few of them immediately upon entering their territory. If she was really lucky, perhaps she'd catch sight of the landwalkers... Not too many of those made it down close to her home in the sea.
Instead, she turned to see something else, and a startled, "Eh?" of a sound escaped her as she scrutinized the young boy before her. She didn't see many of these, either.
That didn't stop her from doing a thorough investigation of this one now as he approached her. Lapela was quick to spin behind him, giving a curious tug to a loose strand of brown hair as she did. "Huuuh? What's this? You're not one of the river people. And don't look like no landwalker." She circled back to the front, and gave the tip of his horn and then the scales on his face an experimental prod.
It was hard to tell in the sunlight. She could definitely see that they were pink, but they may have also been really faintly glowing. "You're one of those Kawena from the deep, deep ocean, aren't ya?" Lapela questioned with a wide grin. "Some people in my village have said they've seen your kind passing through before, but I never have! It must be a really, really long way from where you come from. ...Don't worry, buddy!" She gave him a slap on the back as she grinned. "I'll point you in the right direction. She snatched at his shoulder to spin him around toward the sea, and as they moved, she thought she saw some kind of shadow among the reeds...
Lapela paused to look closer, but the only thing she could immediately see was a young river girl collecting something in the water. She started to grin and wave (that was what she'd come to see!), but the shadowy thing emerged from the foliage a little too quickly and with a little too much intent to be friendly.
Lapela's breath caught in her throat and she let out a garbled sound of warning. "Hey! Watch out there!"
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Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2020 4:54 pm
This wasn't the first time in the span of a few days up on the surface that he'd been poked and prodded. The feeling of being studied never stopped being odd, and Ahio went wide-eyed as she poked at his horn and scales. Well... maybe that was what happened when an entire species of people sequestered themselves into deep sea caves and let the whole world forget they existed for generations. It felt positively strange to seem exotic to people at the surface. A little overwhelming, even, but... maybe not the worst thing. They seemed exotic to him too. "Oh, uh..." Ahio tried to recover enough to answer. "Yea, first time up to the surface." He smiled weakly. "It's bright." He had barely had time to breathe a quiet sigh of relief when she spun him around in a seemingly random direction and started walking him toward it. And then - just seconds later - a shape emerged. Ahio saw a girl. It all happened so quickly, but somehow it seemed so slow. Maybe it was because it was so bright up here. Then Ahio found himself dashing forward (although, he had learned, he wasn't nearly as fast on land as he was in the water. Walking kind of sucked), flailing his arms in a desperate attempt to distract whatever it was that had emerged from the shadows.
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Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2020 6:45 pm
Her hand had gotten hold of the shiny thing she'd spitted and she was smiling as she started to bring it up to look at when she heard someone yell something. Ruehi blinked, wide eyed in surprise at the sudden yelling. Her head snapped up to look at who it was and even saw another flailing their arms. What in the--!?
Rue didn't get to react to their warnings before she had a strong set of arms around her torso that pinned her arms down and lifted her off the ground. Her heart gave a lurch and she shrieked loudly. Instantly her feet started to kick and Ruehi did everything in her power to wiggle free.
"Nyah! Let go!" Fear dominated but when she realized there was danger for more than just her she tried to scream at the others to swim away.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2020 7:04 am
That shadowy thing had been a landwalker hiding in the reeds, and it had just- it had just dove forward and snatched up that girl! Lapela might have assumed they were friends (because she'd never heard of a landwalker doing anything to them before), but the river girl seemed frightened. Lapela tore after Ahio as he went stomping across the bank, and she let out an angry screech of, "You better put her down this second!" It wasn't like she could just do nothing if someone was trying to hurt that river kid!
But the mud along the bank was dense and slippery. It felt like it sucked Lapela down with every step she tried to take, making even the short distance to the river girl a slog. But she and Ahio could definitely take out one landwalker! They just had to make it over before they dragged the river girl too far away.
Lapela's sharp pink eyes were intent on the girl, but at the sound of a grunted, "There's more of 'em..." from the reeds along the bank, her gaze whipped to the side just in time to see a flutter of brown cloth and a blue-speckled face before it smashed into her and flung her down into the mud, with a heavy weight atop her. The air rushed from her lungs, and she was briefly too dazed by the sudden strike to even scrabble for freedom. "Ey, we ain't got space to take a bunch of 'em back, neither..."
"You'd rather kill 'em? They can't go telling stories to anyone. That's just bad business." Lapela whipped her head up to see- no, not quite see. Mud clung to her face and hair, leaking into her eyes. Her breath came sharp and in quick little pants. But she was almost certain that was the first one talking, the one who'd grabbed the river girl.
Kill them?
A screech tore from her lips and she writhed with renewed vigor against the mud, grappling with mud-slicked fingers at a hand that had fisted its way into her hair. "Hey! Hey! Lemme go, you filthy airbreathing skazzbags! You better leave us alone, or- or someone'll hear us!"
"And they're loud," came the grunted reply from somewhere above her.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2020 7:17 am
It all happened horrifically fast. Ahio didn't know how to process all this light and color and movement all at the same time. He was bearing down on the landwalker who'd caught the first girl, but before he could reach Ruehi, he heard a screech behind him. He whipped his head around, eyes wide, just in time to see a second tackle Lapela to the mud. His step faltered. Did he keep going? Or go back?? He was just one- That one second of hesitation was too much. Before he knew what was happening, a third landwalker charged forward out of the shadows and flung an arm out, catching Ahio across the chest as he ran. The impact knocked him off his feet, stunned, and he felt himself crash into the ground as he watched it all unfold in slow motion. "LET US GO! WE'RE NOT DOING ANYTHING!!" He shrieked, struggling to scramble to his feet in the slick mud.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2020 7:27 am
"No!" Ruehi cried out as she watched the other two come closer to help. She'd been told by her parents not to trust the landwalkers. They feared them. And with good reason apparently! As Lapela was tackled into the mud and Ahio was clothes lined she paused in her struggling for a second to stare with wide eyes.
It was Ahio's shrieking that made her start to struggle again. Ruehi let out a scream and wiggled as furiously as she would. She even went so far as to bite at the arms that held her. Maybe she could get free and then tackle one of the other landwalkers.
Seeing that Ahio was having trouble getting on his feet in the mud she curse the fact that they weren't river kids like her. It meant they couldn't run on the stuff. So Rue lifted her head to look at Ahio. "Weight balanced! Toes for grip! Run! Get back in the wat--" Because she was yelling instructions on how to get away the earthling holding her slapped a hand over her mouth. They used enough force that her head was forced back against them. Her arms were still pinned to her sides so she couldn't pry the hand away.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2020 7:57 am
"Get rid of the loudest ones-" There was an accentuating shake of the arm that still held Lapela's hair as the man threatened her. She snarled in response, twisting and flailing her one free hand back to swipe at anything she could."-first. We can take whichever is left without a problem." The cool, sharp edge of a blade pressed to the fleshy area between her neck and her shoulder, and Lapela's heart froze as fast as the rest of her.
Would the landwalkers really kill them? She'd only heard that they would teach magic or combat skills or- Well, she supposed to have combat skills, they probably had practice is using them... A shiver rippled up her spine, and she dug her nails into what felt suspiciously like a thick leather glove. Not anything she could get through with her blunted nails.
"Hang on, mate, hang on. Think of the money." Lapela twitched into a shake of her head to try and clear the muddy hair from her eyes. It sounded suspiciously like there were more than just three landwalkers. She couldn't see them, but she could hear them. All these different voices... "Three fishes will make for a better payout than one fish. And what luck." She could hear steps through the grass, and she shifted just slightly to angle her ears to follow them. "They are all unique. It will be a stunning display."
"We don't have the space to cart three back-" Came the same complaint from earlier.
"They'll survive scrunched together for a few days," the 'money' man retorted flippantly.
Lapela barely had the wherewithal to think, let alone act, with some heavy landwalker smashing all the air out of her. But she knew there was a knife near her neck, knew that it was in a position that she could grab. She just... hoped that the few moments of stillness and quietness and made it slack enough in the landwalker's grip that she could grab it.
She wrenched sideways, smashing her shoulder into the man's leg as she threw her arm out and snatched at the bladed end of the knife. It dug into her palm, it slipped against her skin, already slick with mud and now with the first splatter of blood.
But the man yelped and shifted his weight at her sudden movement, and she was able to slip from beneath him, yanking the knife out of his hand as she did and tearing in the direction she thought she'd heard 'money' man speaking. He seemed the big idea guy. That was the one the others listened to. It didn't seem likely they could do something about all of them, but at least if she did something that could startle them, maybe Ahio and the river girl would have a chance-!
An arm snatched around her ankle before she'd even made it two paces. She was yanked unceremoniously back down into the mud, and now two arms were scrabbling to fight to pin her down.
She screamed as her first arm was grabbed and used the last second of freedom to fling the knife off into the river. At least it wasn't something to be used against them later.
"They're too feisty. We don't want to drag this many of them back to the ship."
"Then tie them up and gag them. They can't do anything to you if you don't let them."
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2020 5:01 pm
Weight! Toes!Through the blur of it all, he heard these two words from Ruehi and did his best to get his feet under him. He'd just managed to find some purchase when his landwalker decided he'd had enough of this. The man reached over and grabbed him by the back of the neck and squeezed, sending jolts of pain running up into Ahio's skull. "Don't make me slam your face into the mud and suffocate you there," the man growled, and Ahio could tell he would follow through. He froze, a grimace plastered across his face as the landwalker's hand kept him in a tight, brain-jolting grip. He could barely hear what they were saying about money and transport. All he knew was that he'd never experienced this kind of pain or fear down in the caves before. Maybe leaving had been a mistake after all...
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2020 8:31 pm
Rue's eyes seemed to stay in a constant state of widened fear. Especially when she saw the blade that was used to subdue Lapela. Muffled sounds came from her as she tried to scream some more. Her captor's hand was being effective in keeping her noise level down.
Her eyes followed the conversation as much as she could. From one landwalker to the next as each spoke in turn about what to do with them. Apparently there was something about money. Ruehi had a really bad feeling that they were going to be sold, or traded or whatever it was. Which meant they wouldn't be staying in their home lands. The idea terrified her. Rue wasn't one to leave the river let alone the whole of their continent!
She was deep in her panic about being taken away when Lapela moved and took the knife from her attacker. Seeing that the other girl had gotten free she started to wiggle again, this time kicking her legs and slamming her heels back into her captor's shins while at the same time moving her head so that she might try to bite the hand that covered her mouth. Ruehi had to do something! But Lapela was running the wrong way! She was supposed to go toward the water where it was safe! When the other girl went down Rue paused in her struggles to stare at her, just in time to be squeezed about the ribs. The force made the air leave her lungs and she gave an odd grunt of pain. Without being able to expand her lungs for air she lost her fight quickly and it didn't look like her captor was going to let up anytime soon. An apologetic look being tossed Lapela's and Ahio's ways.
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