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 Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 8:19 am
Rayne came out of the maze, turned around, and saw a clergyman behind her. he noticed her and shouted something incoherent, and she turned and ran, her daemon flying beside her. she turned through side-streets, her daemon scouting ahead, then was out into the open.She nearly slammed into two young men, who were walking along the street. she looked behind her, noticed the clergyman, had gone, and mumbled a quick apology, trying to catch her breath. She was pretty sure the recent murders had something to do with the church, and didn't want to be next.
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 2:59 pm
"Oh, well...um...Okay, then...," Dani trailed off as everyone else walked away. Scowling, she and Arba turned back the way they had come, walking slowly now. The wolf looked up at her, "That was fun." His tail moved back and forth and he darted in front of her, prancing around a little bit.
Dani snorted, trying not to laugh at his antics. "Fun? More like a waste of time." She rolled her eyes, "You act like a puppy sometimes. I swear, there's no way we can be connected in any way."
Arba growled playfully and bit at the air in front of him, as though trying to catch a pesky fly. He turned his head back briefly, flashing his canines at Dani, "Pfft. Just because you're too sour to hae any fun doesn't mean I have to be."
Dani grinned and sped up, drawing level with the daemon. "Sour, eh?" She tugged at one of his ears, making him stop walking for a moment, "I'll race you back to the house. Loser is the winner's servant for a day, okay?" Arba gave a little yip in agreement, and flattened his body in preparation to run. Dani did the same, and counted off.
"One....Two...Hey!" Arba had run at the count of two, leaving Dani to run after him a second later.
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 3:44 pm
Walter raised his eyebrows as another girl almost ran smack into them. This was getting ridiculous. Then he really looked at her, and frowned slightly. This one didn't look upset or worried; she looked frightened, and the way she glanced over her shoulder did nothing to make him reevaluate his opinion. "Are you alright?" he asked, momentarily forgetting all about the boat. Was she being chased?
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 5:09 pm
Jane walked silently through the Maze, Shade was a furry shadow next to her.
"He looks better than when we last say him." she said.
"You do to." was his reply.
Jane smiled and scooped up her friend.
"Let me go!" Shade yelp, wiggling in her grasp.
"Nope." Jane laughed.
They reached the door to her home but stoped. Something was different.
The handle is warm. Someone's been here. She pulled out one of her short swords and motioned to Shade to look within the crack of the door. He looked in and nodded. There was a new sent in there. Jane silently slipped in and closed the door behind her, her eyes on the shadows around her. Nothing moved, nothing breathed.
"The sents a little old, he or she is gone."
Jane sighed and resheathed her sword.
"Who though?" she asked, checking if anything was missing.
"I don't know. I never came across this one."
Jane grunted and went to the package by the door. It was still there. That's good.
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:25 pm
Rayne looked over her shoulder again, making sure there was no-one following her in the shadows. Her daemon came out from the maze and shook his head. Aqua visibly relaxed at that. she let ember rest on her shoulder, where he started preening his flame red feathers. "I'm fine. i just thought, while i was in the Maze, that i saw someone following me. but i managed to lose them." She flicked a few stray strands of hair behind one ear.
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:21 am
Walter's eyes widened as the red bird daemon came out of the maze and landed on the girl's shoulder. It had been away from her? That wasn't possible! Unless...
Walter knew little about witches; they tended to keep to themselves and not bother with the affairs of other humans. He did know that their daemons could leave them, even traveling long distances to deliver important messages and the like, and that they always took the forms of birds. Check, and check.
He could also half-remember something his mother had told him. He'd been very young, sitting near Luke's cradle, and his mother had been gently rocking it and telling him a fairytale about a Queen of the Witches. She'd said something about them being more likely to be pretty than not. He cast a professional eye over the girl's face. He thought she was pretty, maybe even beautiful; it was hard to tell in the dim light of the street lamps.
If she was a witch, it was dangerous for her to be in London. Many people, feeling frightened and helpless, blamed powerful groups they knew little about, and witches certainly fit into that category. If anyone else figured out what she was....
He hesitated. They were going to miss their boat, but,"This obviously isn't any of my business, but why are you here? It's dangerous for anyone to be in London these days, but it is especially dangerous for you. People want someone to blame, and you are an absolutely perfect scapegoat. Can you get out of town?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:09 am
Rayne realized he had probably guessed by now that she was a witch. she shook her head. "Not really. and i know i'm a scapegoat" she said sadly, "You've probably twigged i'm a witch. I've lived here in london for two years, and in england in general for most of my life. i'm not even sure which clan i belong to."
But it's like every time i try to leave, theres a clergyman, or just a fanatical church-goer, cutting me off. at least 6 clergyman have tried to trail me in the last few hours. Its like, every time i look over my shoulder, there's someone there."
still, i know hiding places in this town, and enough magick to keep me hidden, at least until..." she trailed off, the sudden image of one of the corpses she had come across, but with her face, jumping into her mind. she shivered, despite not being cold, and absent mindedly stroked embers soft feathers.
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:05 pm
Walter absently reached over and rested his hand on Alirialie's head, thinking hard. This girl wasn't his problem; Luke was his problem. It was his job to get his little brother out of London as safely and quickly as possible, and picking up extras, not even counting the fact that the extra was a bloody witch, could seriously endanger not only Luke and himself, but the Gyptians they were traveling with as well.
On the other hand, if any of the stories he had listened to as a child were even remotely accurate, a witch could be an enormous asset. Times were dangerous anyway, and they were likely to run into trouble even without her along. With her along, any trouble might be substantially easier to take care of.
Decision made. Walter smiled his trademark handsome, trustworthy smile, drastically different from his usual, catlike one. "I'm Walter, and this is my brother, Luke. We're actually in the process of leaving town right now, by way of the Thames. You're welcome to join us, if you wish to do so."
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:25 am
Rayne smiled warmly. "Thank you, Walter. I think this might just be my ticket out of here." she turned and whispered something to ember, who flew off and promptly return with a thin length of cedar wood, polished and with words in a strange language etched deeply into it. she took it from his beak and said. "i think that's all i need." she leant on it like a walking stick.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 9:41 am
Jane sat down on what she used as a bed and looked around. "I think we should move."
Shade looked up scratching behind his ear. "Why?"
"We've stayed here too long. And I can't help but feel that if someone came here once, they could come again. I don't want them knowing what I do, or who I am."
"Can we do this tomorrow? That way we can tell our contacts."
Jane sighed at her deamon's logic. "Sure. We take everthing with us when we drop off the painting."
"Agreed. Now go to sleep. You look like you need it."
Jand laid back and closed her eyes, a few minutes later she was asleep.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:28 pm
Dani was the first to reach their home, but only because she'd pulled Arba's tail a few yards back, causing him to slow down. Of course, it was rather hard to have a real race when you could only go a few feet apart from the one you were racing or feel unbearable pain. Otherwise, Arba would always win, hands down. As it was, though, Dani could still beat the daemon occasionally.
Panting, they both sat down in front of the bakery, Arba putting his head on Dani's lap, and her hand trailing to between his ears. When they caught their breath, Dani said, "Do you ever wish we could do that all the time? Run forever?"
Arba looked up at her, his amber eyes gleaming. "All the time. You know that." Dani rubbed one of his ears between her index finger and thumb. "Then why don't we? We could just leave. Dad wouldn't miss us."
Arba stood up and licked her on the cheek. "Because we can't run from our problems forever. Eventually, they'll catch up with us. Come on." With that, he turned tail and led the way back into the house, Dani following behind him.
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Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 4:10 am
((sorry it's been so long guys; I've been reading but haven't been able to post; been too busy and stressed to be creative, am STILL too busy and stressed I have to reply at some point))
Luke was glad when his cough wasn't questioned further and the girl just left them alone. He liked her, but he didn't want Walter to know about it just yet. He knew there was no way he could keep it a secret forever, Walter had always known when something was wrong, even without someone tipping him off like now. He just didn't want it to be now, procrastinating as usual.
Luke's eyes widened with surprise when the third person for the night ran into them. Were they really in the way that much? At least this time it wasn't someone he knew. He stayed silent while her and his brother spoke, figuring he didn't really have much to add that Walter couldn't. But a witch? He was now staring open mouthed at her. And she was coming with them?
"If she's coming with us we should hurry... won't we miss the boat?" Luke reminded his brother. Likely it would mean running which would end in coughing but he would rather that than staying here with the fear of his father looming over constantly.
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Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 10:14 am
Walter reached into a pocket and pulled out his watch. "We still have a little more than fifteen minutes, so we should be able to make it if we pick up the pace a bit. But," he added, carefully not looking at Luke, "Better not run. We'll look like people with something to hide, and that's very likely to attract attention." He started walking briskly in the direction of the Thames again.
He glanced at the panther gliding soundlessly beside him, and murmured, "You will let me know if someone else is coming this time, won't you?"
Alirialie smirked. "That's not your biggest problem; the witch is very conspicuous."
Walter looked back at the girl. "Is there anything you can do to be less noticeable, Miss?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 10:24 am
There was an obvious look of relief on Luke's face when told that they wouldn't have to run. Though he tried to cover it, he was always relatively easy to read, especially by those who knew him well but Walter wasn't looking at him.
He nodded a little to Walter's explination but said, "Won't we just look like we're late to a boat like we are? Even if it is like really late at night."
He glanced over his shoulder at the witch following, mindlessly stroking Rhynll as he did so, and had to agree; although he had never really met a witch she did kind of stand out. It made him wonder if all witches were like that. And then on the heal of that thought and the realisation that they would be leaving London and going some place he had never been before was the thought, maybe hope, of one day seeing their homeland. It had always held a somewhat fairytale romanticism to it for Luke, though not as much as, say, Oxford.
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Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 10:42 am
Rayne smiled slightly. "being less noticeable is something i can do" she said. closing her eyes, she concentrated her modesty so much that, should anyone look at her, her complete modesty would mean that they subconsciously made themselves ignore her. she opened her eyes, and followed the two young men, using her spray of cedar like a walking-stick.
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