Welcome to Gaia! ::

The strangers did not answer but left them lying there, conveniently out of the way, as they unbuckled the horses from the carriage. The horses were also sleepy, but began to regain their senses as they were moved away from the spell.

The mage, for his part, stopped working on the spell in order to conserve his energies. They had not even made it to the capital yet, and he was already weaving spells! The spell would begin to dissipate, but, he hoped, not allow the two to get up until after they were through with the horses.

With four horses on their stuck carriage, it was much easier to ease out of the mud. They were beginning to unhook the two stolen horses just as Arril and Theron began to feel as if they could get up. Strangely, they had not bothered to bind the two, but they did keep their swords more out in the open now, ready for use.

The men who held the horses backed away quickly from the now moving carriage. The woman and the mage, who were in the carriage, rushed to gain control of the reigns, which were attached, at least, to their own horses. Their horses were well trained and possessed loyalty and love for the humans now tugging on their reigns. The carriage began to slow as the two center horses forced the others to calm down.

Meanwhile, the men who were no longer in possession of carriage or horse approached Arril swiftly and angrily. Judging by the fact that he had woken and now began to rise, they knew that the spell would have slow, weak affects on their own persons. All drew their swords; the closest man drew his shortest sword, almost short enough to be called a knife, and hit Arril with the butt of it. First he knocked the groggy man back down, then he aimed for the head.

Arril's head rang with the blow from the blade. He shook his head and looked up at the struggle the boy was having with the man. He rational mind brought his instincts to shuddering halt as he saw the boy slit the man's throat.

Theron had hidden his knife back into his robes some where, and grabbed the sword the now dead guard had held. Holding it in his hand, he looked at them, and watched them as they backed up. Looking around a bit, he watched the men, and waited to see what Arril would do, but he kept his distance from him as well.

Theron had wiped some of the blood from the man he had killed. He started shaking, unsteadily, knowing he had now killed some one. To him, he was now a murderer. His hands shook, and his legs felt like butter to him. Feeling uneasy, he closed his eyes, and tried to calm himself down, but it did not work. Not knowing what to do, he just stood there, shaking.

(I'm having to assume that Theron would follow Arril, please tell me if I need to correct my post. Sorry for the length, but there's a lot of exposition so that Draco will know some things that Arril should know xd DUN DUN DUN)

The soldiers' faces were frozen in a rictus of obedience designed to mask whatever hate or fear they possessed. Nobody moved to pick up the coins, not to be rude, but simply to keep their defensive position around the carriage.

"May we never meet again," the lady replied passively. She too, was trained to hide her emotions when necessary, as much to hide her intentions as to prevent undesirable reactions from other people.

Arril and Theron were allowed to leave in relative peace. It was a loss for every one, for the blood spilt and the carriage abandoned in the road. However, since they were not harassed, the two were able to take whatever they needed from the carriage, the interior of which still contained many back packs still packed with useful items. Since Arril and Theron had rummaged through these for weapons and food, they would know what would be the best to grab at this short notice.

The soldiers remained still until the renegades had disappeared in the woods on the other side of the bridge. If Arril and Theron looked back, they would see that the foreigners did not raid the abandoned carriage. They simply wrapped their dead man in a rough black cloth, set him in their own wagon, and were off. The delay would cause them to stop for the night before reaching the inner city, and they were vaguely aware that this would provide an opportunity to track them, as well as generally put them in more danger in an unknown country side. For this reason they would get rid of any thing that might prompt revenge from the renegades; though they had taken his coins, they would be selling his horses to the first willing buyer and watching their backs (and their actions) more closely in the days to come.

As for Arril and Theron, the woods had a welcoming feeling as dark set in, even for the city slicker. A soft breeze made the trees whisper, and as the foreigners began to pull away, moving branches appeared purposeful. Theron might be able to write it off as his imagination, but Arril had experience in other woods, and would know that something strange was affecting either their perception or the woods itself.

Arril would know that plants can be infused with the will of stronger beings, even reflecting the moods of others in an accidental manner. They were like hollow or half-full vessels, almost reaching awareness of their own and easily swayed by way of magic. It was for this reason that certain magical beings could so change the mood and the danger associated with a stretch of woods, just by their presence. The woods to the east of Feretris, from where Arril had come, had occasionally felt such influences in small, localized doses when the occasional phooka or kelpie might wander through. The phooka would sometimes converse with regular creatures, keeping much older legends alive. Though sparse in detail, rumor had it that once the eastern wood had been much larger, and dominated by with an iron fist by a creature or group of creatures that was thought (or hoped) to have since passed away. Regular creatures still fearfully watched for any such large magically influence; it was like a prey-predator instinct.

The whispers around them became like ripples in a pond, converging at the edge to form discernible patterns: "Welcome." Variations of the welcoming feeling and the word itself repeated around them. It was just on the edge of perception, made of rustling leaves as it were.

Theron had been following Arril, as Arril had seemed to know about the woods. Just following him, he kept the knife with him, and picked up a few sticks, and taped them on the ground as they walked.

Starting to feel the strain of being forced to work for the nobles, for no money none the less, he let out a small sigh. Loosening up some, he looked around the woods, unsure about where they where, he didn't care.

As Arril had said that they could rest, Theron sent himself upon a low branch of a tree, forgetting he had been wearing the dress the entire time, he closed his eyes, and started rubbing the tip of one of the sticks against a rock.

He looked up when Arril had said something about Puka. "Ok." He quietly said as he still sat there. Taking off the dress as Arril had told him he can take it off now, reminded him he had still had it on, and tossed it aside.

"Theron." He said as he continued rubbing the sticks tip against the ground, making it have a sharp point after a bit.

Theron was still busy doing what ever he was doing, as everything was happening. He heard a small sound come out from no where, or what he assumed, as he didn't pay much attention to their surroundings.

He looked up for a moment, and saw what seemed to be a unicorn, staring wide eyed at it, he just stared, not really knowing what even he was going to do. Hearing it speak, he jumped a bit, and fell backwards onto the ground, and hurriedly stood back up.

"W-w-what a-are yo-ou?" He stuttered as he stared in amazement to see a Unicorn standing there, not even sure if it was one, or his mind playing tricks on him.

"Uhhh... Kelpi?" He backed up some, not really sure. "But, it looks like a unicorn." Still mesmerized by what it was, he felt as if he couldn't look away. A mystical creature that he had heard where extinct, standing right infront of him.

"But..." He said some backing up a little more, not taking his off the Kelpi, or the unicorn. Feeling confused, he just stared.