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 Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 8:14 am
Revyra had never seen anything like it before. Her comrades had either been regular horses or else winged as she was. Needless to say whipping something with a tail would have never crossed her mind as being an effective attack. It was apparent now that that was something she needed to rethink.
There was silence for a little bit as her mind finished processing what had just happened. Once she understood she found her voice once again. "You're beat, skinwalker." Perhaps it was not her place to say. Perhaps it would have been better if the stallion had spoken. . . . Perhaps she didn't actually care about the emotional content in the situation. She got the feeling there would be no killing the creature with the elder around but she wasn't about to turn her back on her until she was well out of range.
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 2:21 pm
On the ground Samsara trembled with pain and enraged misery. She couldn't do it. She couldn't even get close to her mighty warrior of a father even when she was a skinwalker and he was a mere elder. The mare's words added insult to injury, because Samsara knew that she was correct. She had lost this fight and nothing she could do would change that now.
"I hate you," she said in a strained quiet growl. "I hate both of you. All of you." From the tip of her twitching tail to her sharp fangs there was nothing inside her but hatred.
"I know," said Haya while stepping carefully between her and the mare. He didn't want any last minute murder attempts. "But you have to leave now and forever." He didn't want to ever see her or feel this empty feeling again. "I won't hurt you if you leave now and never return, but if you come back...." He didn't finish the sentence. He still couldn't quite acknowledge what he would have to do if his dead daughter kept haunting the herd that he loved. He would cross that bridge when he came to it.
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 2:34 pm
'That would make two of us,' Revyra thought eying the skinwalker on the ground. Hate was a strong word but it suited the accursed breed well. She hated them. She envied their strength but the strength was the only positive thing about them. She did what she could to bite her tongue and keep from commenting on the situation. It didn't look like anymore fighting would be happening and so long as the skinwalker called Samsara left things would be fine. Feeling a bit bored Revyra shook out her wings and tucked them to her side before moving to another location just to have something to do. She felt like she should ask him what was up with the kitty targeting him at some point so wandering off would be dumb.
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 3:36 pm
Samsara heaved herself to her feet but gave no threat to her father. There was no point in drawing this out. It was time to leave. If some small lost part inside her felt sorrow at her father's announcement she didn't let it show. It was easily drowned in the roiling loathing that consumed her.
"Good bye, 'father," she growled, starting to slink painfully away from the pair of them. "You won't see me again." In her heart she added, Unless it is the moment before I tear your throat out. It wouldn't happen anytime soon. Maybe not until Haya was long of tooth and tottering around on spindly legs. But it would happen.
Finally turning her back on them she crept away in defeat and shame.
Haya watched her go. He wanted to hang his head, to collapse in exhaustion and stay there until enough time had passed for his heart to be at ease again. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time for that. There were still skinwalkers afoot in the forest and injured herdmates. "There was a mare with a green mane and flowers on her rump," he said, turning to the mare. "Have you seen her? I last saw her fighting the skinwalker."
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 3:49 pm
Well that was a shock. They were related? They didn't really look it, though, one was an elder and the other wore an animal pelt so that wasn't too surprising. It would explain the weird emotional tension that radiated in the area that was for sure. When the skinwalker retreated she trotted forward a few paces to make sure that she was actually leaving and not circling back. The instant she was satisfied she herd the elder call out to her?
"You mean the white one?" She asked turning about to look at him. "Yeah, I saw her. After I knocked the skinwalker off of her she ran off that way." She nodded her head in the appropriate direction before continuing, "She was a bit scratched up but she should live unless she does something stupid. is she a friend of yours?" Things were slowly coming together in her mind as to what exactly had happened. It was pretty clear now that it hadn't been a solo skinwalker, there had been a group. The mare she had helped must have run off on her own in a panic.
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 3:54 pm
"She is a friend of mine," sighed Haya, some of the weariness he felt beginning to sink in. "I am the protector heir to the Padmapani herd and she is part of that." He inhaled deeply. He could still smell Bari so it was unlikely she had gotten far, but with darkness falling she could still be rather difficult to find. He considered briefly then turned fully to the mare with a question on his lips.
"You've already been dragged into this and I don't expect your assistance. I only ask for it because I'm worried about the green haired mare Bari and her son Phala who were both attacked and injured. The herd isn't far off. If you'd be willing to either stay here and try to find Bari or run to the herd to get help, I'd greatly appreciate it." He hoped that she'd agree. If she didn't then he'd be in somewhat of a bind.
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 4:04 pm
"Sounds impressive." She said without actually sounding impressed. It had been an unusual day and she had never been one to gush over another's accomplishments. As he explained the situation she listened carefully. She had mostly gotten the information straight. She hadn't known about the third participant having not seen him but details weren't important. If there were more injured around than work wasn't yet done.
"I could run, but in times like these I believe it would be better to fly." She said fanning out her wings slightly in preparation to open them. "If you tell me how to find your herd and your name, so they don't attack me when I get there, I'll get help in no time." Really it wasn't her business. However, she was already neck deep in it and there was no point digging herself out now.
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 4:21 pm
"My name is Hayagriva," he replied. "And they don't attack strangers, so don't worry about that. By flying I think the most direct route is to follow the river westward until it feeds into a large lake. Past the lake is a mountainous area and you'll find the herd there." Was that a distant crying he heard? It could be Bari staggering around in pain or terrified. He needed to get to her and fast.
"Thank you," he said hurriedly. "I'd try to find some way to repay you but now isn't the time." He started off in the direction of Bari's cries before pausing and looking over his shoulder. "Before you go, what's your name?" He felt that if nothing else, he should know the name of the brave mare that had come to his assistance that evening.
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Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 8:55 am
"Good to know." She said quickly after mentally mapping the route to his herd. She opened her wings and moved a few steps to the side so that she'd have enough room for take off. "I'm Revyra and don't worry about things like paying me back. This is just what I do." Really if she started accepting payment for this time of thing she'd be some sort of lowlife. Sure her morals weren't great but she still had some. "And with that said...bye."
She beat her wings straight down several times causing powerful winds to stir under her before jumping into the air. Mostly vertical take offs were hard but not impossible. Using a tree trunk to kick off of several times she managed to get above the tree tops and into the clear. It was time to go get that help.
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Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 10:52 am
Haya didn't have time to watch her fly away. He was running as soon as she lifted off, his ears swiveling this way and that to try to catch any sounds Bari might make. "Bari?" he called, repeating it several times. "It's over now! The skinwalkers are gone! Where are you?" Bari's mind was already so injured by betrayal and fear. He hated to think of what this might do to her.
Grimly he considered the three opponents they had fought that day. They were lucky that no one had died, no one except the fox Sukha, he reminded himself. The kind fox who was Bari's closest friend had died because he couldn't control his skinwalker daughter. His heart was heavy as he called Bari's name once more. He didn't know what else he could have done different but still, he felt as if he had failed his herd.
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Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 10:53 am
Alone, Samsara trekked into the deepening night. Pain was now blooming all across her and each step she took brought a new throbbing. She could have stopped to rest but wouldn't let herself yet. The pain she felt now was her penalty for failure. It was the scourge that she'd endure for failing in her purpose as an individual and as a skinwalker. Her father lived and her allies were gone.
As she walked on, full darkness finally struck and drew everything into shadow. The usual sights and sounds that would normally have called her out to hunt didn't even register in her dulled mind.
Failure. Even with three skinwalkers working together, something rarer than a falling star, they couldn't kill one elder.
Three skinwalkers. That thought brought her stream of dismay to a pause. That was right. She had convinced two skinwalkers to her cause and one was a purewalker, even. It was rarer than an earthquake, rarer than flowers blooming in the snow, rarer than the sun that goes black in the middle of bright daylight. She had never even heard of such a thing happening before she brought it together and made mayhem with it. A realization was dawning gradually within her.
She, Samsara, had led skinwalkers. She had brought together the worst monsters of nightmares and convinced them to work for a cause, her cause! Her thoughts began to race. No, it hadn't worked... but did that really matter? Once she had been a filly and afraid of even the thought of seeing a little blood. Now she was a sleek predator who could lure demons into action with mere words.
Her pain still bore through her but was now forgotten. Her allies had gone, scattered. That didn't matter to her. Their kind would not do well in groups for long. They had remained together for as long as they'd needed to and now she had no more use to them. Next time, spoke a hissing voice in the back of her head. Next time I will know the things to tell them, know the ways to move them to join my side once more. Next time we will be triumphant no matter who the enemy is. She had no need of such a group of skinwalkers now, but when she did she was certain she'd be able to call them into action again. If she could do it once when she was so young in her reborn skinwalker life she could do it again.
But there was the matter of her father.
Even with her triumphant realization thinking of him still grated at her. She wanted to hurt him. She wanted to kill everyone that he loved and make him walk through their blood on his way to die at her teeth. All these grand visions flew through her mind but she knew that they were still far beyond her power to achieve. She wanted to hurt him so badly that it awoke a great answering pain within her. The only small comfort she could take was that her father, with all his great notions of rising above your cursed blood, had been given a daughter who was riddled with the blackest curse of them all. She had fallen where he rose, despite his grand mission.
And there was another idea. She had come to a complete stop now and stood with her tail flicking beneath the embrace of a massive willow tree. The birds that had been sleeping in the branches stared down at her with frightened eyes but did not dare to move.
She couldn't hurt him physically, but she could erode away at his soul itself. She could take his glorious ideals and trample them into the mud. All she had to do was find soquili like herself torn between light and darkness and convince them to embrace the darkness within them. She could affect far more than just her father in that way. She could ignite a hundred little sparks and let them each spread into a raging wildfire. She could be the mentor and the voice in the dark to those poor tormented souls that her sister had once been to her.
A new feeling rose alongside the hate within her: Purpose. She, leader of monsters, would go out into the world. Her new goal was to make it a little darker with each day, and she could save wallowing in pain for later. Ahead of her she heard the softest sound of something in the bushes. Her muscles protested with the movement but she stalked silently forward. She was hungry and the night was still young.
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