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 Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 9:01 am
Lorenna had to bite her tongue to stop herself from spitting at the kalonaflutter. He was too calm for having just sent his back up away without him. He had something else up his sleeve, as the human saying went and Lorenna wasn't sure she wanted to find out what that something was. It couldn't possibly be Othelia. A grounded kalona was dangerous but not much of a threat against the numbers of the Under Ground. She scowled at him as he walked away, the perfect picture of arrogance. He wasn't going to get away with ripping them off, not after a year of work. No sir. She would find a way to get those valuables back.
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Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 4:33 pm
Beryl's face now burned with shame. Being insulted by a half-kalona who was a fraction of her size stung. She had half a mind to snarl at Sio to go trample the little brat, but his age saved him. Even if he was a wretched little cheat, he was still just a kid and didn't deserve to have his legs broken... yet. However, unlike Lorenna, she wasn't able to just stand by silently and watch him go.
"Where do you think you're going, runt?" Her lips drew back in a seething grimace. "They way I see it, you still owe us a debt!" There was one of him and five of them, even without counting Othelia. There were six if she threw in Sio to that count. If they had to beat up all three kalonas that still meant they outnumbered them two to one. Beryl didn't like getting personally involved in fights, but she liked those odds.
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Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 4:38 pm
Slipsand's eyes stung with unshed tears. Everything was turning out to be so awful. Their beautiful adventure was nothing but a sham. In her wounded heart, she wondered why the flutter-kalona would have done something like that to them. Even without the promise of a reward she would have helped him, maybe some of the others too. It didn't have to end like this, but she was powerless to change anything.
When she thought of her home and her family that she loved and trusted she felt a new wave of pain. Nothing like this had ever happened when she had been with them. She wondered if maybe she hadn't made a mistake to come out into this new big world. Things were sharper out here, and this one was cutting her deeply.
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Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:01 pm
Carmine was taking her cues from Beryl now since Lorenna seemed content to sit back and let it happen. Carmine would have to have a word with Lorenna later. "Beryl's right!" She proclaimed as she marched over to Phibrizzo. "If you want those things then take em but you owe us! Something of equal or greater value. We did all of your work for you!"
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Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:15 pm
Phibrizzo stopped in his tracks at Beryl's anger fueled words, his smirk growing into a wicked grin. When Carmine joined in he began to laugh. "Oh no, you really don't understand." He said turning to face Carmine. They'd gotten their chance to just let things be. What happened now was their own fault. "Let me explain it to you." He spoke with barely restrained laughter before he darted at Carmine quick as a flash. Releasing his concentration on holding his small foal size he suddenly grew until he stood nearly at the same level as Carmine. Then, moving faster than a bolt of lightning, he wrapped his spaded tail around the pink-maned mare's throat and began to squeeze grinning like a child with a new toy all the while.
"Do you understand now?" He asked the others casually as he glanced at them. "You see, I don't owe you anything, but since you asked me for it I suppose I can manage a little gift." He increased the pressure on Carmine's neck. "How does her corpse sound?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:30 pm
Someone was shrieking in fury and it only took Lorenna a second to realize that the sound was coming from her own mouth. "Let her go!" She ordered glaring holes into the stallion. She had known there was something off about the kid from the very beginning. She should have done more to warn them about what could happen. She'd let it drop too easily and now Carmine had landed herself in a heap of trouble yet again. They needed to get out of it.
"Wolf, Beryl, Slipsand, stop Othelia. She's not on our side anymore." She barked out striding over to Phibrizzo and Carmine. "She'll try to stop me." He was bigger than her now but Lorenna didn't need to beat him, she just needed to make him let go. Somehow.
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Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:54 pm
Wolf didn't question Lorenna's orders because she had already been in the process of carrying them out when they were issued. She simply moved herself until she stood directly in front of her old sparring partner without saying a word. Lorenna was absolutely right, Othelia was no longer on their side. If she had been she would have been at Phibrizzo's throat already. What was it like to turn your back on the people you once worked with? It was a question Wolf wanted to ask out of curiosity not malice. She would never get an answer though, so why waste the breath?
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Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:17 pm
They should have just let him walk away. Beryl stood transfixed with shock as the "kid" assumed his true form and began to throttle their party leader. Her body was frozen, but Lorenna snapped her out of it. She was amazed that Lorenna had the presence of mind to form a strategy in the current situation. She couldn't think of anything better to do herself, so she'd follow Lorenna's lead.
"Come on, Sio!" Beryl snarled like something that wasn't quite a horse and bounded to Wolf's side. Sio thundered in beside her and pointed her broad head and sharp horns at Othelia. If she was their enemy, there was no time to go crying about it. Beryl just hoped that Lorenna could break the kalona-flutter's choke hold on Carmine alone.
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Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:25 pm
Slipsand alone didn't move when Lorenna gave the call. Overwhelmed, she stood rooted to the spot where she stood. She was dimly aware of Ekahau squawking something at her and flapping his wings frantically but she was too busy staring at Carmine to listen. She didn't want Carmine to get hurt, and she didn't want to have to stop Othelia. Stopping Othelia sounded a lot like fighting Othelia, and Slipsand couldn't fight a friend. In mute horror, she simply watched the scene unfold.
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Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 9:44 am
Phibrizzo was amused. He was in control of their fine leader and still the black mare thought she could give orders. On top of that she seemed to think that somehow she was going to be able to stop him. "You still don't know what it is you're dealing with." He said idly thinking little of this counter. They could kill Othelia if they wanted, she was only a pawn, but he had their queen. If they both died then who would be worse off? The one who lost a valueless soldier or the ones missing a leader.
What smile he had been wearing faded the moment the thought crossed his mind. Perhaps he didn't have their leader after all. Perhaps they had two. He scowled for not noticing it earlier than gave a sharp tug of his tail to pull Carmine around like a doll of rags. Perhaps they had a second boss but the sight of a friend getting toyed with was painful to watch all the same. He had broken many this way and it never really got old.
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Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 9:52 am
She glowered at the stallion as he started pulling Carmine around. She wished that she had a plan but there wasn't enough time for careful calculations. Now was the time for action. Bracing herself for whatever blows might come her way, Lorenna dashed closer and seized the stallion's serpentine tail in her jaws and clamped down hard. She would make him release her. He would have to if he didn't want to lose the end of his tail. She had no fangs to tear into him but enough pressure could do damage and Lorenna wasn't going to let go. She would hold on until her jaw fell off if she needed to. She snorted slightly as she remembered exactly who she was doing this for: a mare that annoyed her more than blood sucking insects. There was something vaguely ironic about saving her but she would do it all the same.
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Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 10:18 am
Othelia looked over the situation with a snarl on her lips. Phibrizzo was attacking Carmine. Lorenna was attacking Phibrizzo. Xelloss had gone off. Slipsand was frozen out in the open. Wolf, Sio and Beryl had her cornered. Othelia hadn't a clue about what she was supposed to be doing. Was she supposed to fight for Phibrizzo? Three on one didn't seem like the best odds especially for a grounded kalona. She focused her attention on the three surrounding her. The immediate threat. If she vanished into the woods would they follow her? That would put her children in danger. Her boys were not yet old enough for fighting and she couldn't leave them.
That only left one option.
With a fierce growl she lunged for Beryl, the smallest of the group. She had no other options. She needed to at least wear them out so that she wouldn't be followed or wound one of them enough to keep their attention from her.
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Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 10:23 am
When Othelia picked her mark Wolf suddenly remembered the main disadvantage to fighting in groups: it was too easy to accidentally hit a comrade. She wanted to strike Othelia to keep her from meeting her target but to get a good hit in she would have to move through Sio which was physically impossible. Wolf frowned and darted to get into a better position. If they did it right then they could all kick at Othelia until she stopped moving without getting each other in the process. If they did it wrong things would get sloppy and Wolf didn't imagine that Othelia was going to make things easy for them.
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Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 9:20 pm
This wasn't Beryl's first fight. Before she befriended Sio, things were a little more dangerous for her. There had been more than once when one of her own personal jobs had gone sour and she'd had to use her teeth to get out of it. Those times were behind her, but she hadn't forgotten her tricks. She had barely enough time while Othelia was lunging at her to tap into her flutter magic and transform. She pushed herself to the largest size she could achieve. She still wasn't a giant, but now she had the weight she needed to defend herself.
"I don't want to hurt you, Othie... but I will!" She drew her wings in tight to protect them from injury and wheeled herself around to meet the kalona head on. Her teeth might not be as sharp as the kalona's, but they could still bite.
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Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 9:27 pm
Slipsand gave out a small squeak. Othelia was attacking them?! Carmine was being choked? Lorenna was attacking someone? It was chaos everywhere. She half expected Xelloss now to swoop down from the trees and join the fray, but he seemed to have truly left the scene. Though Ekahau had been chattering frantically at her for some time, only now did she finally realize what he was saying.
"Get out of here! Into the water! Run, Sandy! Kalonas! Run!"
Though in her heart she had been wondering if she shouldn't just flee, hearing her own cowardly inner thoughts spoken aloud made her ashamed to have thought them. It was finally when Ekahau gave her a sharp peck to the ear that she was startled into motion, though not the sort of action he would have preferred. With a sharp whinny, she ran to where Othelia was attacking Beryl. Ekahau fluttered off her back and was lost in the trees, but it didn't stop her motion. She had first met the Underground while racing and she put that speed to good use now. She aimed to run between Othelia's feet. Maybe she could trip her up a little!
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