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The twilight casts a cool air which is much more welcome than the overwhelming warmth of the day. Even with the light diminishing she can see her vast mount easily. Rothun is much larger than the tribe's horses, bulked with muscle that would make a man envious. Her coat is white, her cascading mane and tail a creamy color. Along the mare's body are patches of dark orange. Her nose is pink and her eyes are a cold crystal blue, making her have more personality. Although Rothun's breed is a friendly and usually allows small children to run among their thick legs, Rothun can fight well and is not spooked easily. This is due to years of being with Finch and being tested by her rider. The two are able to surge as one. If Finch ever is dislodged from the mare, Rothun will keep her stabilizing body well under guard. Now jogging comfortably to the gypsy vanner the woman slows to admire the smaller horses. Most of them are appaloosa, but a few mustangs are present. Each horse that is for getting some place fast has feathers tied in their mane and tail to let the horse "fly". Every warrior's horse has predatory bird feet entangled in their manes as a sign of striking power and this is how the tribe attained their name. The few Talon members that have come to be neutral with Finch have done her a great honor. They became interested in her horse and had her race against the tribe's fastest rider. Naturally the rogue won. As a jest of her name and added with the emblem of feathers, Lithuae had added the black and white feathers of a mountain finch in the grand mare's thick mane. Now facing Rothun's lowered neck Finch pats the mare's patched shoulder.
"Good evening, mi'lady. Have you been making friends? I know I should, but...we won't stay here much longer. The others at Oltine might be missing us and they are who keep us well, eh?", the woman smirks as her steed burrs between munching grass. Her sensitive hands check over the mare's coat for any sign of wounding in case the herd have not been very accepting, "Mmm...seems no flesh is amiss tonight. If any of them give you trouble, you'd better bite them back! You are not in their herd and do not have to be bossed about."
"Do you always coo to the animals, my dear sister?" Hawk's smooth voice startles Finch, he has the stealth of a mountain lion!
She snorts and faces him with her arms crossing over her wrapped breasts. "I do not coo. It is merely a matter of connection...Rothun is my ally out in the world. Did you ask your master?"
"He said it is fine if you hunt. Just make sure to bring him a snow stag's antlers if you so happen to ensnare a few, it would be polite and more of the tribe will feel comfortable with you." he has his feather cape behind himself since the cooling air does not affect him.
"Alright. I'm going to borrow some rope and will leave Rothun, she is too cumbersome to take deer hunting."
They politely excuse themselves with a short goodbye and each goes on their way.

Although the horse is unneeded her skinning blade isn't. Finch has gone into Hawk's tent where Sohrab is now watching his mother paint a dry clay bowl. Greeting the two humbly, Finch goes to the other side of the tent and kneels before a large oak chest. She opens the lid and removes her Falchion, Morning Star and her thin skinning blade. The curved sword is latched at her right hip with the blunt weapon is fitted within the sword's belt just behind the hilt. One of the mare's saddlebags is fastened to rest against her left hip and the skinning blade is slipped inside. Before closing the blade Finch counts her lock picks and her tension wrenches. It is unlikely she will come across any areas with a locked something to raid, but it never hurt to have a full set. Good, all twelve lock picks and eight tension wrenches are present. Long lengths of rope had been given to her for a small amount of gold already. With herself prepared the rogue sets out for the Fel hills and mountains. The Talon tribe is between Haven and Suraly, far enough from Lokyn as well. It takes her a little over an hour to get to the mountains, she had ran every now and then or would jog, but walked when near the base of the mountains. Energy must be preserved now for focus and hunting. The dark sky overhead gives little light with a quarter moon, but Finch dare not use Starlight in case any snow deer could see that far from somewhere within the mountains. Making sure her Falchion's full hilt won't bump and irk her thigh, Finch begins to trudge up the slanted slope towards a dark gray rock wall up ahead.

Kiva sat at the small table in the centre of her room and poured herself some wine. She carefully moved her hand in a circular motion and watched the wine in her cup follow suit. Sorrowfully, she drank the contents in one gulp and began to pour herself another cup. She was alone and it seemed like that for far too long. Over time, it had finally caught up to her, and she realized how sad and depressing she was living her life. She wanted more. I’m beautiful… the most attractive at the house… yet I feel so miserable. She thought to herself as she took another gulp. Suddenly, a knock on her door distracted her dispirited state.

“Lady Kiva, you have a guest.” The voice from the other side announced.

“I told you I don’t want to see anyone today!” Kiva barked back. Normally, Kiva was a sweet and mild mannered, but today was no normal day for her.

“I know, but this guest has paid a large sum and we cannot disrespect him.” The voice continued.

“I said NO!” Kiva shouted angrily.

“Lady Kiva, …” the voice started before she was interrupted.

“Oh let me handle this.” An annoyed deep and rough voice spat out. The doors suddenly flung open and an immense man dressed up with armour stormed in. His attire symbolized a general status in the army, and many people would be afraid of him. Kiva, on the other hand, threw the cup she held at the floor where he walked. “Get out!” She screamed, but that did not deter the man. Instead, he reached out at her, held her throat tightly, and slammed her against the table. She quickly tried to pull him off of her, but she was no match. “You WILL listen to me.” The words seethed out of his teeth. He turned to face the stunned woman at the door, “Leave us alone.” The woman stood there stunned for a brief moment but regained herself quickly. She nodded as if it was a typical sight and closed the door.

The instant the door closed, pieces of cloth shot out of Kiva’s sleeves and wrapped itself all around the general, incapacitating him the ability to move. The cloths wrapped so tightly around the general, that he was forced to release his hold around Kiva’s neck. Angrily, she threw him down on the floor roughly. “Do that again, and I will kill you.” The words came out of her mouth like venom.

The general quickly pushed himself up and got down on one knee and bowed to her. “I’m terribly sorry my lady, but I have news with great urgency to you.” Kiva sat on her chair, with her back facing the general and grabbed another cup to pour another glass of wine. “As you may have noticed or heard, there have been strange movements in the East and the villages and cities on our Eastern border may be in danger.”

“Get to the point.” Kiva gulped another cup impatiently.

“We’ve come to the conclusion that we may need to recruit the orcs before they want to take over part of our land.”

“And what about the other movements from the East?”

“Well, we figured if we could recruit the orcs, they could aid us in whatever the East may send at us.” The general looked up at Kiva for a brief second.

“What do you want me to do? I’m only a whore at a brothel!” Kiva cursed as she threw another cup to the floor, smashing it to pieces.

“We apologize that you must keep this alias, but your skills and beauty are greatly valued to us.” He paused for a moment, thinking how to word his phrases properly without pushing her buttons anymore. “We have sent a letter to their leader, an orc named Gruugash, offering you as a gift to him. Our messenger should be arriving with the letter any moment now. We ask that you get him to join our side “temporary” by any means necessary.”

“A gift? An entertainer you mean. I’m a dancer. He’s an orc. Orcs don’t care for dancing! They want bloodshed, battles and just plain slaughtering! It’s as if you’re sending me to my deathbed!”

“M’lady, we know that this is a difficult task, but we are also aware that you are the only one capable of this. Please, consider this… Taivin couldn’t be more proud of you.”

Kiva picked up yet another cup and poured wine into it again. She paused for a moment just staring into the cup as if reminiscing the past. “Fine.” She gulped down the wine, unaware of the smile that crept on the general’s face. She stood up and headed towards the door with the general following suit. “Shall we?” He asked her. She held out her arm and he grabbed her wrist. “Thank you.” He whispered before forcefully dragging her out of the room. She resisted his force but knew that this was all just an act. There were only a few that knew about her secret identity and for her safety and future, she had to keep it that way.

“The army has no sympathy.” She heard one of her sisters at the brothel whisper. “Taking her away again… and on the anniversary of Taivin’s death… so sad.”

“Taivin…” Kiva whispered as she closed her eyes. A single tear slid down her soft cheek.

"A pinkskin messenger you say? Bah, he must be have come to speak with the gobs, stupid pinkskin must have had quite a shock when he saw that we had taken.." At this Gruugash was cut off by his messenger, "Warchief, da pinkskin said he's come here to talk wit you, says he has some sort a proposition forraaaauugghhh!" This time the messenger was cut off as Gruugash's axe dug deep into his shoulder, severing the limb from the rest of his body. With a look of fury on his face, Gruugash grabbed the messenger by his hair and pulled him close enough to feel the warchief's warm, putrid breath on his face. 'Now listen here you b*****d son of a gob! Nobody interrupts me! You're lucky it was just your arm I took!" This being said, Gruugash threw the orc down, and picked up his severed limb. As he walked outside his tent, Gruugash saw the messenger’s mount and smiled before looking back to the tent. "They say that you wolf riders and your pets fight as one warrior, so I will give your arm back to you!" This being said, Gruugash threw the bloody limb to the wolf who devoured it without a second thought. With a loud laugh, Gruugash started towards where the human messenger was being held.

Usually there was no need to hold prisoners in Gruugash's hoard, after all if a survivor refused to enter service under the Bloodroar banner, he was quickly disposed of. As a result, the orc's had put the human messenger in a goblin barracks that had taken only slight damage from the siege weapons. When Gruugash arrived at the building, he motioned the guards to step aside, however, before he entered, Gruugash slouched over even more, and let his jaw slack slightly. As he walked inside, he looked around the barracks with an extremely dull look, however, when he saw the messenger, he snarled, and took several lumbering steps forward. Then he began to speak very slowly, with a strong orc accent. "You bes da pinkskin eh? Wot you want den?"

The messenger didn't look surprised at all, if anything, he seemed to be relieved at Gruugash's behavior. "Warchief Gruugash, I have come here to discuss an arrangement between the Kingdom of Feldar and your mighty force, I believe you will find the arrangement between our forces to be quite suitable." Gruugash merely stared at the messenger for a while with a dumbfounded look, and then as if coming to a realization of what the human had just said, he nodded. "Alright den, wot is your arrangnet.....arrangemet.... arragrengement.... wot is your deal den?" The messenger felt as if he would have laughed if not for the fact that orcs were known for extremely short tempers, "Warchief Gruugash, in exchange, we offer you our support, and as a gift of goodwill, one of our kingdom's most prized and beautiful entertainers, and it return, all we ask if for a mutually benefiting alliance"

At this, Gruugash was strongly tempted to cease the act and break this insolent human in two, but he couldn't help but admit that Feldar was a powerful nation, and he didn't want them as his enemy.... or at least, not yet. Taking another minute of blank staring into space, Gruugash shook his head before saying, "I will take your dancin' girl, but if you want my boys to fight wit you, den your gonna need to given us weapons and armor, otherwise, what are we gonna use to 'elp you wit?" The messenger didn't seem surprised at this request at all, he was told that should the orc leader ask for weaponry, that they could supply it, and so, the messenger nodded. "Very well Gruugash, I thank you for your time most gracious warchief of the east, if you will permit me, I will take my leave, and report this to my superiors."

As soon as the messenger left, Gruugash spat on the floor. While he knew the act would serve to make him seem like less of a threat, making a “pinkskin” as weak as that messenger feel superior was almost to much to bear. Turning to face one of his personal guards, Gruugash spat again then said, "Take ten of Wulf's riders and track down that damned daughter of mine, tell her I have need of her service, if she doesn't return, have them drag her back, but before you do that, bring me a gob, I need to break something!"

It had been a couple days since Kiva had left her home in Haven to yet another assignment. This one however, seemed a little unusual from her previous ones. Unfortunately, there were other things on Kiva’s mind for her to realize the oddity of this mission. Maybe I should make this my last assignment… tell them I want to leave the army. Kiva thought deeply as she and the general galloped across the land of Feldar. But that wouldn’t do… they might not let me or kill me or something. Or maybe I could just slip away right now. No, no, that wouldn’t do. If anything, that would probably anger them and they would surely send people to kill me. Or perhaps, if I like it in the orcish lands, I could stay there.

“This is as far as I can take you m’lady.” The general’s voice broke Kiva’s concentration. She slowed her horse and took a look around. They had been traveling in the desert for quite some time now, so she was surprised to see two other men waiting there. One looked to be a messenger and the other, she recognized as a soldier once under Taivin’s command. “This isn’t even close to Atlan. Where are we general?” Kiva asked. It was mostly sand and dust blowing around and the blazing heat seared through the land leaving wavy images in the air. “I’m afraid we can’t take you directly to Gruugash, instead the goblins will take you the rest of the way.” The general paused for a moment as he observed the desert. “However, it appears that they haven’t arrived yet.”

The two men bowed down at Kiva and the general as they neared. “General,” the messenger began but was cut off with a hand gesture from the general. He turned and looked at Kiva. “M’lady, we do wish you the best.”

“General, you weren’t clear on the task. What exactly do you wish me to do?” Kiva asked as she caught a glimpse of someone in the distance.

“For now, we want you to attend to his every command until he completely trusts you and us. We’re counting on you that this will not take long, as we will need the orcs soon.” The general too, noticed the riders in the distance and a slight grin crept on his face. “If, for some reason, you are unsuccessful and must leave their lands, we will send cloaked men for aid.” Kiva nodded.

“Ah, they are finally here.” The general announced as two goblins pulling a carriage approached them. Neither of the goblins spoke to them, but gave a strange snorting sound. “M’lady, you must be on your way. We mustn’t keep the orcs waiting.” The general said as he practically shoved the girl into the carriage. “Lady Kiva,” the soldier intervened. He quickly handed her a loaf of bread. “Eat it before you reach Atlan. They, uh, might not let you bring in foreign food.” He said hurriedly as the general pushed him away. He quickly closed the carriage door before Kiva could say anything and waved the goblins to go.

As he watched the carriage head off, the messenger once again bowed to the general. “The warchief, Gruugash, has accepted our arrangement, but demands for weapons and armor. “ He didn’t bother mentioning the elf girl he had met, after all, what he had told her wouldn’t be valid soon anyway. It was only a small part of the army stationed there, and the army was always on the move anyway.

“Keep delaying it.” The general replied, his eyes fixated on the carriage. He was actually surprised to see the messenger, much less in one piece. In actuality, he’d rather prefer the messenger to have been lost by the orcs, that way, he’d be surer of his plan going through. But no matter. He thought to himself. It will end the same way. A wicked grin crept on his face as the carriage disappeared into the horizon. “Goodbye.” He whispered.

It hadn’t been half an hour before Kiva sensed something heading towards her, but before she could react, her carriage began shaking violent. An ambush?! Kiva wondered as pieces of cloth shot through her sleeve and balanced her in midair. The carriage suddenly toppled over to the side. She could hear the two goblins shouting as a loud roar sounded. Gently placing herself down, she grabbed the handle above her to open the door. Kiva began to panic when the handle wouldn’t turn. Did he lock the door? She thought as she continued to struggle with the door. Unexpectedly, the door flung open and a goblin peered in. “Oh, alive you are still.” He said with a snarl. “Sand worm attacked. Small one. Easy to kill. Bring you to Gruugash we will.” With that, the carriage was turned back on its wheels and Kiva was practically thrown out the door because of the sudden movement. The goblin pushed her back in, closed the door, and proceeded to their destination as if nothing had happened.

Kiva sat in the carriage a little stunned and tried to recollect herself. For a moment, she had actually thought the general wanted her dead. The uneasy feeling however, did not disappear. For the next several hours Kiva wondered what she had gotten herself into, and for the first time, she seriously wondered if she would come out alive.

After a day of traveling, the carriage finally stopped. “Arrived, we have. You wait for Gruugash now.” The goblins said in unison before scurrying off, probably to let someone know of her arrival. Kiva sat in the carriage uneasily. She wasn’t very happy with her situation, and something seemed very strange about it. She tightened her grip on the small bag she had brought containing a change of clothes and the bread that the soldier gave her. She didn’t have an appetite to eat it, regardless of what he had told her earlier. She figured the orcs wouldn’t even care that she brought bread.

Kiva closed her eyes and began focusing her energy on the surrounding area, trying to locate Gruugash. There were many orcs nearby, she noticed, but none of their auras really stood out. She continued to scan the area before stopping on one individual with incredible aura energy. “You must be Gruugash.” She muttered to herself as she followed his aura. Kiva smiled as the aura came closer and closer to her. Opening her eyes, she took a deep breath and mumbled an incantation.

Kiva knew that entertaining the orcs would be a difficult task, but she also knew many tricks she could pull, and the element of surprise was one of them. As she completed her incantation, her skin and clothes began to look translucent before she was completely invisible. Once they open the door and don’t see anyone, that is when I’ll make my move.

"You know, they say that Silf has only been taken twice in the entire history of Espiran. The pinkskin Dark Lord Kalin managed to take it, but it still took him months, even with his units of dragon riders." Wulf spoke somewhat absentmindedly as he sharpened his giant clever against a whetstone in the corner of Gruugash's tent. While Gruugash heard his friend, he seemed to ignore him as he stared at the map of Corollia in the center of his tent.

Whereas Jax had been a stronghold built with the most advanced goblin engineering, Silf was surrounded on all sides by extremly advantageous terrain. This made the area around Silf nearly impregnable. To the north of Silf laid two steep mountain ranges on both sides of the road leading north. At one point the mountains narrowed the path to a point where only fifty men could move forward side to side. The natives of Silf were almost all aware of how to use the various mountain caves and brush to ambush invaders. These mountains would remove the advantage of Gruugash's numbers.

On the southern end of the Silf area was steep cliffs that dropped straight into the water below. The only exception was a small beach directly south of Silf where the citizens of Silf had constructed a dock in where they could recieve goods. From that point the goods would be brought up the cliffs with a series of rope bridges, and pulleys. Unfortunatly, as soon as a hostile ship would be sighted, the ropes holding up the bridges would be severed, leaving invaders with no way to proceed up the cliff.

Gruugash knew that the city could be taken if he was to besiege it, but that was exactly what Kalin had done. Gruugash was determined not to follow in the footsteps of a human, regardless of who it might have been. Gruugash continued to stare at the map intently, even as Suari entered he continued to stare down at Corollia. After a moment of almost complete silence with the exception of Wulf sharpening his weapon, Gruugash looked up at his daughter with a look of rage. "Tell me daughter, did I ever tell you that you had permission to disobey my orders?!" As he yelled he quickly moved forward and slapped Sauri across the cheek with the back of his hand. He may have been more merciful, but with one of his chiefs in his tent, he could show no mercy towards insubordination.

Walking towards the exit to his tent, Gruugash paused for a moment before saying, "Get up daughter, you will accompany me to meet with the human's gift of goodwill." Without a look towards Sauri, Gruugash left the tent, and started walking towards the goblin carriage. When he arrived at the carriage, he looked at the goblin driver, "What're you waiting for gob!? Get her out of there, let me have a look at her." However, once the goblin had quickly scrambled over to open the door, Gruugash saw nothing within the carriage. Looking at the goblin, Gruugash drew his axe, and started advancing on the unfortunate driver, "What happened gob!? What did you do with her!?"

All the noise that was being made just a bit away from Evelyn woke her from any slumber. She rubbed her eyes and wondered faintly who the heck would be making a ruckus at this time of night. She almost yelled at them to keep down, but she remembered she didn't really know where she was. The sleepiness she had been experiencing seemed to go away; either because it didn't want her to not be on guard, or night was close. She couldn't tell anymore.

Curiosity caught the young woman's attention. She stood up quickly enough for her hat to fall off her head. Swearing slilently, she picked it up and stuffed it in one of her many pockets. It was easier to slink around without it on anyhow. It was way too big for her, so it would always fall off on her expeditions. The hat was best left in a pocket.

Of course that left her white hair to be seem by anyone. Though she had tried to dye it a different color, the white always came back the next day. It was a beacon to anyone looking for her, but her stealth skills were enough to get her out of most touch situations.

Evelyn moved silently from one tree to the next as she approached the makers of the noises. A few leaves rustled, but she glared at them and they quivered still. Finding a rocky perch to spy on the people a little bit away from her, she put her ear to the wind to see what was up. Her ears could hear their words, but she had come in at a time she didn't know what their intent was.

Mine as well go back to sleep, she thought gloomly. The tresspassers of her sleep didn't have anything to do with her, so she mine as well leave. Her foot stepped back to connect with a pile of stones. An audible clashing sound froze Evelyn's body. She quickly moved to the cover of some thick bushes. Her breathing was hard as she feared they would find her. The girl tried to calm her breathing, but the stupid amulet burned slightly, making concentration difficult.

At Sauri's words, Gruugash merely snorted before turning to face his daughter. "Stupid offspring, the fact that she's hiding gives me all the reason to not put my weapon away!" While he was furious that the one he raised as his own didn't realize this, the current situation was far more pressing. Had Feldar merely been trying to kill him this whole time by sending an assassin disguised as a entertainer? If that was the case, why would the assassin let him or herself become known?

Before Gruugash could think to hard on these questions, he heard a crashing sound, but before he could do anything, there was a loud boom, and then a thick wall of smoke. At this Gruugash raised his ax as if to strike, but as the image of Kiva came into view, he stayed his blow, as is surprised and somewhat confused. He had heard that many of the pinkskin races enjoyed an activity called dancing; he even heard that many kept around dancing girls in order keep themselves entertained. Still, he imagined a kingdom as well known for its warriors as Feldar would have provided a much more useful gift of goodwill then this scrawny pinkskin.

Once Kiva had finished her dance, Gruugash sheathed his weapon, then walked forward and stared down at the dancer. To the surprise of most of those on looking the scene, Gruugash then proceeded to get down on one knee where he gently lifted her face so that he was eye to eye with his "gift". As he scanned her face, he realized that like his daughter, this dancer must have been part elf, but this isn't what caused the slow widening of Gruugash's eyes, and look of realization to appear on his face. After staring for a moment longer, Gruugash stood up, and looked at his daughter. "Take her to my tent, I have something to take care of..... and make sure nothing happens to her or it'll be your hide!"

With this being said, Gruugash waited for Sauri to take Kiva away before looking to one of his personal messengers. "I want you to find the nearest Feldarian post, tell them I need their seal, if they say no, offer them gold from the goblin treasury, act as if the value of gold is unknown to you. Once you have obtained this, return here as fast as possible. If you are unable to get the seal, I will track you down, cut out your eyes, and tear your limbs off with my bare hands!" Gruugash was unsure why this plan only came to him when he gazed upon the face of the dancer, but he was confident that history would remember this, and it would forever tell how an orc succeeded where countless others had failed.

The little drow/elf nearly jumped out of her skin when the huge sounding Gruugash thundered nearby loudly. She was farther than she thought, her mind made her seem closer. She looked on as he lifted a newcomer's face. After a few seconds, he barked an order and had the girl brought to his tent.

Evelyn's heart thumped against her chest. She wanted to get out of there, but she knew any movement would give her away. And she didn't want the man to look at her eyes. Though she was blessed with green eyes instead of the drow red, her eyes still were odd looking. Little sparks of gold light dotted the irises.

One time she had a staring contest with a human in the village she used to live in, and something odd happened. The boy just continued to stare and stare. Evelyn's eyes grew dry so she had to blink. Right after she blinked, the boy jumped away, confused to where he was. It turns out, he had forgotten all that he had done that day. He never wanted to play again.

She was told by someone that looking in her eyes gave a sinking feeling. Like losing yourself. For that, she made sure never to look anyone in the eyes for long periods of time. It was a scary thought to get lost in your mind. Someone might get lost and never come back.

Evelyn's leg cramped. Slowly, she stretched it out painfully. As soon as it was parallel to the ground, it felt much better. She almost sighed with relief until she remembered she was hiding. Habitually, she checked her sleeves for her favorite daggers. They were ready to be taken out if she was surprised.