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 Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 12:48 pm
 Another day of traveling was part of the way done by the time the group of mares reached a small stream to take a break. Kadira knew that they likely only would have stopped for a quick drink and resumed traveling if she wasn't with them. Though she was very thankful for the break. After a long drink Kadira had found a shady spot to rest her tired legs. The other mares of course instantly turned to training and talk of what had to be done with the herd once they reached the herd lands, which Kadira hoped would be soon, she wasn't sure how many more days of endless walking she could take. Though after a while of laying around she had the desire to do something, mostly so she could escape the possibility of being pulled into a training session. "I'm going to explore a bit." She called out to the mares. A reply of 'Don't go too far' was issued but otherwise the mares were content to let her wander.
Though her legs were weary Kadira found enough strength to hurry off into the woods. She didn't plan to go far, mostly knowing that they would be on the move again soon enough and she needed to save some energy for that, but what she planned to do and what she did were two different things. As the sound of the mares faded more into the distance Kadira slowed her hooves, her sides heaved a bit as she realized she hadn't been walking but running. Tired as she was, there was nothing better than a run. It got her away from training quickly and allowed her to see a lot in a very little time.
She wondered what some of her friends were up to. She hoped one day she would be able to find them again but with all this traveling it was hard to remember where they lived. With a sigh Kadira found a game trail to follow and wondered if it would lead somewhere interesting.
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Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 6:22 am
 Achilles had wasted little time after leaving Camaria's presence. He had had to move swiftly in order to overtake the mares and find a suitable location from which to work. Silently he had watched as the mares arrived, drinking and talking with one another. It did not take too long for an opportunity to present itself - after only a small rest the foal did not seem content to simply rest and wandered off.
Although he had speculated on the idea of using the foal as bait, it had been impossible to foresee exactly how things would go and the stallion had considered several plans and courses of action. It seemed as though the option of bait would be plausible however and turning he slipped back into the trees to follow the little one. Achilles had assumed she would be tired..but the foal chose to run and although her foal strides were short and slow compared to his she still carried them further away...another good thing, the further they went the less chance of the other mares hearing a commotion and joining in the eventual fray.
Of course there was no guarantee that the mare he was after would be the one to come looking for the foal but her dark twin seemed odd, the grey did not look like a fighter and the purple seemed to spend most of her time in silent reflection...so he thought there was a pretty good chance the pale mare would come. If she did not..well he would deal with that when it happened.
Drawing close to the foal, but keeping himself concealed within the shadows he called out to sweetly to draw her closer. "Hello little one. Are you lost?"
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Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 6:29 am
Kadira was just beginning to realize how far she had wandered off when a voice called out to her. The filly stopped and froze, unsure whether she should run or turn and see who this stranger was. There were two things she knew for sure, one she was going to be in trouble for wandering so far away and two the stranger was male and that made her scared. Penthesilea had made it very clear that males were lesser by their herd standards but until this moment she had not run into a single male. Eyes wide, chest heaving from fear and a bit of exhaustion Kadira slowly turned to face this stranger. He was standing in the shadows which made it hard for her to see what exactly he looked like.
Call out for Penthesilea, she told herself mentally. But a smaller, more persuasive part of her said that if she could just make it through this and get back to the group safely than it would show them how smart she was and that the training she had had so far wasn't going to waste. "Uh...no." She finally managed to say as she stared at the stallion. "My...mother is over there resting." Pointing with her nose.
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Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 6:38 am
Achilles watched as the foal froze, muscles tensing ever so slightly for those brief heartbeats, ready to leap from the shadows and snatch her if she chose to try and run back. He wasn't overly worried..she was but a mere foal and he was Achilles..but the less commotion the better for now. Moving from the shadows he placed a friendly look upon his face. "You seem worried, there is no need to be fearful little one...I am Achilles and I was just on my way to a berry path down the trail here when you came along." He told her cheerfully enough.
It was a decent enough story.. innocuous, something that he was sure others did on a normal everyday basis. It would be much easier if the foal would simply follow him of her own free will but he was prepared to snatch her away if needed to obtain his goal. Camaria's words flickered briefly through his mind but he brushed them away. no time to dwell on them at the moment. "What is your name?" He asked the foal as he drew closer, allowing the sun to reveal him.
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Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 6:46 am
"I'm not worried." She told him in a more defiant tone that she had planned. Perhaps some of Penthesilea's training and values had been rubbing off on her, she didn't like this stallion assuming she was worried or telling her not to be afraid. Besides, she wasn't worried, she was terrified, but she refused to let him know that. Her brow raised when he mentioned a berry patch. Part of her doubted that, but as with any foal she tended to believe what adults told her, even if he was a male.
"I don't think I should be talking to you." She took a step back as he came out of the shadows. He was fairly large, winged and had an interesting coat pattern but Kadira reminded herself that this was a male and they could not be trusted, at least that's what Penthesilea kept telling her. "Mother says not to talk to strangers." She should go, return to the group but the problem was he stood in the way of the path she had taken.
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Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2013 1:42 pm
Achilles sighed slightly as the filly took a step back, not even his lure of tasty berries enough to remove the lingering nervousness of foals. Such flighty creatures fillies...difficult to deal with an manage which was yet another reason - beyond his own ethical views about hurting the innocent - for which he tried to avoid dealing with them.
This time however, well it was just good tactical sense, enough of a advantage that he simply couldn't give it up..flighty foal or no. "Pity." He told her with a bland expression and slight ruffling of his wings. "This would have been a great deal easier if you would have just come along quietly." And before he had finished speaking, before the filly had a chance to fully process the meaning of his words Achilles was moving, a quick bunching of muscles, a fluid spring forward, given speed by a flap of his wings and he had closed the distance between them, was buffeting her with the air from his wings and threatening snaps of his teeth to force her in the direction he wished for her to go.
It was cruel to frighten a foal, but Achilles was careful, everything he did looked intimidating and scary, it was fast and forceful but designed not to hurt her so much as frighten her into going where he wanted. He would - if he had too - inflict some minimal damage to her little hide if he had to, but more then that he was not willing to do and the stallion rather hoped his scary intimidation would be more then enough to drive her down the path. He had found a fine place to store her in that direction until the pale mare can looking for her.
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Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2013 4:26 pm
Just when she thought that the stallion was going to give up and go on alone he leapt forward. The speed and power behind his movements cause Kadira off guard and she nearly tripped over an exposed root as she tried to quickly back away from him. All those lessons that Penthesilea had tried to pass onto her during their travels were coming back to her fully now. She knew not to trust strangers, especially male strangers but now she could see why. They were dangerous and she knew she was in trouble, not just because she disobeyed Penthesilea and wandered off but because in doing so she was now facing this stallion. Her eyes were wide with fear and her chest moved with rapid breaths. Remember what they told you to do, she told herself, remember your training.
"Why should I trust you now?" She tried to make her voice sound confident and unafraid but Kadira was fairly certain that didn't work. Much to her disappointment Kadira could feel her legs shaking with fear. There were few options for her now, she could go with the stallion and hope that he didn't hurt her, or she could.... "Penthesilea!" Kadira shouted as loud as she could and then turned and raced down the path to her left. While she knew there was no chance of outrunning this stallion she couldn't just stand there, who knows what he would do to her. She was in big trouble either way. "Help me!" Please, please, please come save me! She though as she ran as hard as she could knowing that any second now that stallion would be on her like a starving wolf on a rat.
It had began clear quite quickly that Kadira had wandered off farther than she should have. Part of her didn't blame the filly for wanting to explore and have some fun, but given their strict traveling schedule and the various areas they had to travel through to accommodate her and the other non-winged members of the group she should know to stick close. After a quick search of the area directly around where the other mares were gathered Penthesilea knew she would need to go locate her. She had called out once to the filly but when no reply came Penthesilea went off in search of her wayward charge.
The cry from Kadira spoke of the dangers the filly had found herself in. Penthesilea had scented at least one other Soquili in the area and she was fairly certain that other was a male, though there were enough lingering scents in the air of recent travelers that she couldn't be certain. But Kadira should not call out in such a panicked tone if it was a female that had happened upon her. Yes, there was a chance that Kadira had run into a mare of ill intent but Penthesilea knew in her heart that it was a stallion after the filly. She unfurled her wings but quickly rules out the idea of flight. Here the trees were too dense to fly close to the ground and she would waste precious time getting above the trees. Instead she took off at a gallop towards where Kadira's voice had come from, she refused to yell out to the filly for that would only give the attacker warning and Penthesilea wanted to work with the element of surprise, her nearly silent footfalls carried her quickly towards her destination.
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Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 6:53 am
As expected the foal turned an ran and because of his actions she, logically, choose the path of least resistance...exactly as he wanted her to do. Unfortunately she also let out a blast of a scream...Penthesilea..the name of the pale mare as he recalled from his briefing. Perhaps they were far enough away that the pale mare would not hear..but Achilles could not take that chance and have her arrive before he was ready.
He had to act swiftly then and starting after the foal, taking one stride for every two or three of hers he found it fairly easy to catch up. He did not crowd her too much however for fear that doing so would force her to change path, instead he just kept her moving, making it seem as though the thick brush was holding him up and allowing her to stay ahead...an easily enough facade with a bit of muttered oaths and rattled branches. All the foal had to do was run a bit farther down the path,soon enough it would descend into a dry stream bed with steep vertical banks, the entrance to this stream was hidden by brush and so the filly would not see the descent until it was far to late and by then Achilles will have blocked the path with the heavy logs he had put in place for just such a purpose with the help of a bear with whom he had some information in return for the work.
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Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 7:13 am
Kadira had to fight the urge to look over her shoulder and see where the stallion was. One of the first rules Penthesilea instilled in her was if she ever had to run away from something to never look back. Looking back slowed ones pace, turned your eyes away from where you were going and could allow a fall to happen but most of all it would show the fear in your eyes when looking back at what was following. Keep your eyes on the path ahead, she reminded herself. Though fear was a strong thing and the further she ran the stronger the desire to look back became. Kadira knew the stallion was stil coming after her, but he had not caught up to her yet. From the sounds of it the tighter packed trees were slowing him down, and for that she was grateful.
Even though her muscles were tired from long days of travel she forced herself to keep running, if he caught her it was the end. She wanted to call out again to Penthesilea but it was hard enough just concentrating on running away and breathing at this point. She ran hard praying that Penthesilea would reach them soon as she wasn't sure how much farther she could run before her legs gave out. Of course when the trail descended a bit Kadira thought nothing of it, in fact it helped her move a bit faster...until she saw the wall of the ravine right in front of her. No! Skidding to a stop before colliding with the steep bank walls, Kadira felt like her lungs were on fire. She could run along the stream bed in an attempt to get away but her legs refused to work. The only thing she could do now was turn around and see the stallion come towards her. Please, Penthesilea, save me, she thought.
Hold on Kadira, Penthesilea thought as she raced through the trees. It didn't take her long to pick up the trail. Between the stronger scent of the stallion and Kadira and the sound of snapping branches and occasional grunts it was quite easy to follow them. There was still quite a distance between them, Kadira had wandered off quite a ways and with her mad dash through the forest she had put even more distance between her and the safety of the group of mares. Foolish foal! But in this moment Penthesilea wasn't thinking about scolding her for disobeying, her only thought was saving the filly. Who was this stallion that went after Kadira? Was it a chance encounter or was he targeting her? Kadira had been abandoned as a basket, was this the father returning for her? No, Penthesilea doubted that, why would he chase after her if that was the case.
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Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 7:22 am
When the filly burst through the brush and down into the ravine Achilles gave up his absurd act, pouring on the speed and wheeling about to kick the wedged rock holding the logs up along the side of the path, the logs, now free, rolled down the incline to create a jumbled mess. It probably wouldn't hold the filly forever..she could careful work her way over them..but it would hold her long enough for Achilles purposes. Peering over the logs to see the filly looking back at him but perfectly healthy Achilles turned away, his attention focusing back down the pathway, he could hear distantly the sound of approaching hooves and the cries of disturbed birds along the path gave further evidence of pursuit..now he had only to hope it was the right one.
Leaving the filly behind in her trap Achilles returned the way he had come, moving off the pathway and laying in wait behind a large boulder near a point where a small game trail crossed the main path.
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Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 7:49 am
Seeing those logs tumbling down gave Kadira a start. She backed up, her legs refusing to run, until her backside pressed against the wall of the ravine. She closed her eyes...but then the logs came to a stop and she was safe. Not entirely safe, she was after all trapped but the threat of being crushed by large tumbling logs had been removed. She saw the stallion above her, why was he doing this? Before she could think on that he disappeared again. Wait, that didn't make sense. Why chase her here, trap her and then leave. Kadira's mind raced as she tried to think of what to do next. If only Penthesilea would come and rescue her.
Oh no! Penthesilea! What if the stallion wasn't after Kadira but Penthesilea? Could he have used her to drawn out the mare? Now Kadira felt even more foolish for calling out and bringing possible danger to the mare. She had to get out of her but how? Walking on shaking legs towards the mass of logs Kadira tried to look for a way around them. The only two options were to follow the ravine and hope for a path out further down or somehow climb over these logs.
The crash that she could only interpret as tress falling filled Penthesilea ears and propelled her forward at a faster pace. She couldn't understand what was happening, who would want to hurt Kadira? She doubted it was a skinwalker, for she would have scented the danger long before now and skinwalkers didn't play with their food, they killed and consumed, nothing more. Of course as she raced towards the sound of the logs falling Penthesilea realized this wasn't simply someone going after a filly, trees didn't randomly fall over in the forest without a lot of groaning and warning sounds first. This was a trap, but why they were trapping Kadira she wasn't sure. The thought that it could have something to do with herself crossed her mind, she had made enemies in the past, but at the moment she worried about reaching Kadira and facing this foe.
However instead of rushing in completely blind, something that rarely turned out well even for a well trained warrior such as herself, Penthesilea slowed her pace a bit and kept her ears and eyes open and alert for even the slightest hint of danger. Danger was exactly what she was walking into.
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Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 8:46 am
Achilles was a patient stallion, the value of waiting for the right moment had been hammered into his skull from almost the moment his basket opened and Achilles had learned the lesson well. Silently he waited, muscles still as stone as his eyes watched for signs of the pale mares approach - or what he hoped would be the pale mare - certainly someone was coming though he had yet to lay his eyes upon her. His spotted hide worked better then most thought to help him blend with his surroundings, mimicking the dappled sunlight as it sprayed across the forest floor.
A small breeze was picking up, lifting tendrils of his mane and tail, the only motion on the other wise statue like stallion as he waited. The breeze would give him away but Achilles was not worried, the mare already knew something was wrong and he planned to move before she was able to focus and pinpoint on the spot his scent was coming from.
Motion down the path caught his attention and his gaze shifted, indeed it was the pale mare, the one he had been charged to kill. She was a fit creature, bearing evidence of her aptitude with fighting...Achilles had been warned of this of course, but he had been warned thus many times and always he had prevailed. He was Achilles and he had yet to meet any that could match him. She had slowed he saw, confirmation that she knew something was up and still Achilles waited, allowing her to move closer. Close enough that he could spring into fighting distance with one motion. Mentally he plotted a box on the ground, an area that he pinpointed as the perfect place for her to be and he waited.
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2014 9:18 am
She didn't hear Kadira anymore, though hopefully that meant the foal remembered what little training she had been given and decided to remain quiet. However if it meant she was injured then Penthesilea would hunt down the one responsible. And that someone was likely who had set up the trap and who was waiting for her down this trail. While this was no time to rush into the unknown it was also no time to play games either. With a snort and a toss of her head Penthesilea trotted down the path.
She may be moving faster now, ready to confront whoever lurked in the shadows, but she had not let her guard down. Of course her enemy had the upper hand, they were hidden and they could likely see her, but she would not waste time pussyfooting around trying to not be attacked. This stranger had attacked one of her own and now it was time to deal with them. Her eyes scanned the area as she moved looking for any small flicker or movement or sound, but so far there was nothing, which told her that whoever awaited her was no amateur. Good, she could use a challenge. Her hooves took her closer to where her unknown assailant waited.
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2014 9:34 am
Achilles could appreciate a mark who knew their lot in life an embraced it - all too often when one of his targets figured out they were in danger they turned tail and ran - which then necessitated that he chase them and while the 'thrill of the chase' could be exciting...it also got old. This mare at least seemed willing to accept the challenge laid out before her and bravely come to meet her fate. Achilles could respect that.
Of course respecting the mare did not mean he would flounce out of his hiding spot and throw his advantage away in some misguided sense of honor. That would be stupid - and Achilles was no fool. Honor in battle was one of those things Knight clung to pointlessly..there was no honor in battle, in death and bloodshed - there was merely winner's and looser's and Achilles only wanted to be a part of the former group.
Silently he stood as still as a boulder, the dappled shadows of the forest helping to conceal him as they played across his own dappled hide, A few more strides and the mare would be within striking range..wait...wait
Now!
Within seconds of his mental command the stallion had launched himself out of the brush, having stood higher then the trail the mare was on he was able to place the full force of his weight into the blow he directed at the mare. It was intended as a killing blow, a lethal strike to the top of her neck with outstretched forelegs..but Achilles was not stupid enough to place all of his faith in this first strike - the mare was seasoned and it was likely she would manage to avoid the full force of his blow and thus the broken neck that came with it...but perhaps he would get lucky. It had happened before.
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2014 10:13 am
Any second now. Penthesilea was certain that at any moment her assailant would make themselves known. She had been in ambushes before, both in training and out on the battlefield, so she knew that feeling one got when they were not only being closely observed but were about to fall prey to a sudden and unseen attack. There was too much cover for someone to hide in out here, and though she knew the trail made her an easy target she was not about to go hiding in the bushes hoping to force the assailant to leave. She would face whoever it was as a warrior should.
A few snapping twigs and a flash of movement to her side and above her was the only warning Penthesilea got of the incoming attack. The other had planned well, and if this was not a life or death situation she may have even commended them for their cunning. The muscles in her hind legs bunched and she shot forward with a burst of speed. There was no way to completely avoid his strike, but she could move enough so that it would not strike a vital point of her body and that is exactly what the mare did.
She gritted her teeth as those hooves landed full force on her left hip, but she could ignore the pain. She could even use this strike to her advantage. As his hooves struck home on her backside she used her momentum to swing around. Though she was in no position to kick out at the stallion, she could see it was a male attacking her now, she could use her teeth. She aimed her teeth at the sensitive spot where foreleg met body. It was not an ideal first strike but this stallion had definitely worked this first move to his full advantage and the best she could do in this moment would be to force him to move enough that she could turn completely to face him.
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