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 Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 7:58 pm
"You're lucky that's all I've given you!" she snarled back, shaking her head free of her own headache and keeping her arms stiffly at her sides. What was there to be happy about after all? This mountain felt like it would smother them the moment they relaxed.
"Considering how prepared you are for this, you're the one who needs someone holding her hand." She took a deep breath, determined to keep the conversation to a minimum from now on. This was going to be a long trip...
"Just tell me what the next step is."
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Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 11:56 am
"If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get!...eventually. There'll be someone along the way who will want to kick our tails, I'm sure." As if she was going to give into physical violence, and ruin her face. Oh, Harper could have given her a licking, but her skills were too great to waste on a foe like Nina...yeah...
"Look, we need to get to the bog of lost souls; it's a check point. If we make it there, and find the doorway, we'll be able to pass through a safer pass. If we don't find the doorway, we'll be killed on the road for sure."
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Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 5:02 pm
Fur bristling, it took quite a bit of self-control for Nina to not break the feline's little nose. Minimum talk. ....Minimum contact, period!
She stuck out her chin and glared on ahead at the dark, weepy trees in the distance. Bog of lost souls... Someone was probably going to be after them on the way back down... Harper... Honestly! How could some damned treasure be worth all this trouble? "So, let me guess.. the doorway isn't just a regular door with a convenient sign on it. Right?" When was it ever that easy? ..When it was a trap. Otherwise, it never was.
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Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2013 8:59 pm
As she walked, Harper had to keep reminding herself that Nina was as proud as she was ignorant. She wouldn't bend like the leaves to the wind, even though the wind was very aggressive in her attacks. She took a deep breath, and started to climb the path. "I have no idea what it looks like."
That...wasn't going to get her any favors. So, instead of concentrating on it, she worried over what each step up the side of the mountain would bring her too. The stone here was as black as charred ash, and as sharp as blades. Gnarled branches crept around her head as if they had limbs of their own, while the sweet scent of a summer wind decayed around her. "...this place is awful." Even she couldn't hide it; as charged as it was with magic and promise, the lands were more warped than a Cobra's mind.
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Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 3:08 pm
Gritting her teeth, she followed along after the infuriating feline. Didn't know what the door looked like... Maybe she should consider writing a letter to her father, so that if her body was ever found, he could know what happened.
Giving Harper a 'no s**t!' glare, she looked around and tried to see any sign of a passage. Perhaps others had come before them and left some sort of trail? Any sort? It seemed too much to hope for. If they found the door, it would be an accident. ..Still, it was better than focusing on how those twisting tree branches seemed to be reaching for her, or how the air became increasingly scented by rot and hopelessness...
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Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 8:05 pm
The farther they ventured, the thicker the trees became. More often than not Harper was picking up her paws to climb over thick tree roots, sprawled out like snakes across the path. She could smell the thicker air, but she also knew it wouldn't be that easy to reach it.
"You can talk, you know," Harper quipped, turning her head around to look at the wolf. "You're whining is better than silence. It's going to be a long trip, so you might as well start listing your grievances now."
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Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 8:43 pm
Her shoulders flinched up with tension. Talk! Don't talk! Talk! Damn that cat! "Oh, list my grievances? My, my... where to begin?" she snorted sarcastically. Seriously..... she had a long list. "How about this? Don't talk to me unless you actually know what the hell you're doing! I don't mind a bit of silence." She snorted again. "Actually, that would be a lot of silence in that case, wouldn't it. I'd prefer that to being told every few minutes that I'm being led through the path of death by someone who doesn't know left from right."
Gritting her teeth to keep from speaking on, a paw broke through the ground it stepped on. She pushed off with her other legs with a yelp, pausing to peek down into the hole. Looked like an abandoned tunnel made by some rodent. ...It smelled terrible. Wrinkling her nose, she hurried on, this time watching the ground more closely.
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Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 8:59 pm
Oh, this was a bad idea. As soon as she'd seen Nina tense she knew, just knew, she should have kept her mouth shut. She really was too much like her father for her own good. "Oh, OH, so that's how it is, huh?" Harper hissed. "You can't just give into the moment, so you're going to make the trip hell for everyone involved. Why the hell are you being so stubborn?!" Ignorant a**! "Fine, from this moment on, I'm as quiet as a mute, which means you won't get any warnings when something bad-"
Oh, well, karma was just on her side today, wasn't it.
At first, she'd lunged forward, ready to grab hold of Nina should she need the help, but now she just laughed, a big, fat, nasty grin on her mug. When she started to walk again, the cat was still peeved, but mostly smug. Now if only there had been something exceptionally nasty in that hole for her to step in....
As she climbed a bank, Harper noticed the sword. It was plunged into the middle of the path with a tattered, but otherwise nondescript cloth tied around the hilt. Curiosity won out, and she stepped forward to check it out, unaware of the shifting in the trees around them.
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Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 10:54 pm
She had seen the lunge to aid her, which helped in the tiniest bit to ease her anger at being laughed at. "'Give into the moment?' What moment?! You've caught me up in this blasted quest through a land that looks like it would kill you for the fun of it! You seriously expect me to be cheerful?!"
Well, she couldn't let herself scream at this numbskull the entire time, so she once again clamped her jaw shut. She cocked her head just the tiniest bit to see what had caught Harper's attention, but chose to remain on the path. From there, she thought she saw... A chill went down her spin, her eyes trying to comb through the dank and dark trees. As much as the feline annoyed her.... "Um... Harper..." she murmured in warning, eyes locked on the trees above, trying to catch a glimpse of the fleeting shadows.
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Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 2:38 pm
That sword, did it....did it have runes? The closer she got, the more easily she could see the blade. Not only were blue runes carved into it, but the hilt was decorated in them as well. How odd...
"Hmm? I thought weren't speaking."
Dark shapes moved and rustled behind the thick trees, bouncing from trunk to trunk with an ominous hiss. When Harper's hand reached for the hilt, the surrounding tree branches dipped down to curl around her arm and lift her up. She shrieked, paws flailing as she was drug higher and higher, and only then did she see the cloaked figure charging for Nina.
"Nina! GET THE SWORD! NOW!"
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Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 3:29 pm
Nina's ears tipped back angrily, but also in concern. So much for working together. She was already started forward toward the feline when the dark shape grabbed Harper, only able to watch her companion get dragged faster that she could have imagined. No way to reach her quick enough! What was that thing?
With the warning shouted at her, her claws dug in and she shot forward, not even looking at the dark figure that she had glimpsed in her peripheral vision, and not questioning the serious tone in Harper's yell. She could sense her pursuer chasing her, and her legs ran hard. Feeling a swipe at her tail, she leaped forward, grabbing the hilt of the sword as she passed it, and held it tight in both hands as she spun to face her adversary, the blade pointed at the shadowy figure. She wasn't very good with full swords, but she could manage it.
"Don't come any closer!" she snarled fiercely, ears twitching around to keep attuned to her surroundings, and listening for Harper.
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Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 9:25 pm
The longer Harper was held captive by the tree the more she began to realize she was getting rope burn on her wrist. She looked up, and really looked. Was that...? If she looked hard enough she could see that the branch was actually no more than a common rope trap, which meant that the one around her waist was a rope as well!
The dark figure slid to a grinding halt infront of Nina, his arms held up in defense. While his hood was still down, it could be deduced that he was a darker pelted satyr, one that would have come down on the wolf had she not been wielding the sword. "Is it your policy to take that which is not yours?" His voice was a low, gravelly snarl.
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Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 10:09 pm
Nina held her ground, teeth bared with determination. When the satyr was revealed, she chanced a look up at Harper hanging out in the trees.
Her eyes snapped forward again, and she growled, "Oh? Do you make it a habit of attacking unknown travelers rather than simply coming out and telling us what belongs to you?" She narrowed her eyes and snorted sourly. "If you leave something out in the middle of a desolate wasteland, don't expect a wanderer to see it and not want to touch it." She glared up at Harper again. "..Besides. Felines can't resist shiny objects..."
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Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 10:29 pm
The satyr came closer, stepping to the left, starting a circling pattern with Nina. He bounced from hoof to hoof, prepared to run at a moment's notice, but his eyes never left the wolf. His lips were pulled back in a snarl, barely visible under the cowl. "Survival is a funny thing, isn't it?" He snapped.
Harper twisted in her bonds, and hissed, sticking her tongue out at Nina. "Well, what else was I supposed to do?! It has runes on it; Unitaur runes!" She turned to the stranger, and wriggled some more, only causing her wrists to ache. "What are you doing with something like that anyway?"
Instead of answering, he lunged for Nina one more time, ducking in to deliver an uppercut to her side.
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Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 11:06 pm
Nina adjusted her grip, trying to get used to the weight in her hands. Her father had given her a bit of training with daggers, which he used, and she was great with a bow and arrow. Of course, she had neither available.
"Just, hold on! You saying this is yours? Then just-" she yelped as she jumped back and to the side, feeling the breeze of the satyr's punch against her skin. Dang, that was close! Snarling, angry that her guard had slipped even a little, she swung the sword around to slice at the satyr's back. If this guy meant business, then so did she! He could have just asked for the dumb sword back, but no!
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