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 Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 3:20 pm
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 3:21 pm
The moon had only passed through a few cycles since Tauriel had been lectured about leaving the borders of their land. King Thranduil had made his orders perfectly clear once again. He had made absolutely certain that Tauriel understood. And yet…
Tauriel’s hooves beat against the earth and stone carrying her forward as swift as an eagle. She was pursuing what looked to be a common mountain lion but her eyes could not be fooled so easily. Tauriel knew a skinchanger when she saw one. They were the worst of all the monsters in the world for there was no trace of goodness to be found anywhere inside them. It hadn’t wandered into their territory like most of the beasts Tauriel was ordered to destroy. It had crept in and lurked just out of sight.
It had killed one of the border patrol late in the night. When the change in guard had arrived there was no sign of the beast but the corpse of her subordinate had provided all the clues the guards needed. As many as they could spare were dispatched into the woods to hunt down the creature that had killed one of their own and dispose of it before it could kill again. Tauriel had found it and after a brief struggle she had managed to slash its chest open and send it running. The wound had been superficial and Tauriel hadn’t been willing to leave the creature’s fate entirely to chance.
Tauriel followed the false mountain lion easily. Unless it knew how to fly it would not be able to evade Tauriel for long. She would catch it and she would kill it. Creatures like that should not exist in the world. They only disrupted the balance.
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 3:22 pm
It had been easy for Kiij to slip into the forest unnoticed. Her natural coloring put her at a distinct advantage over other skinwalkers. It was harder for all animals to realize that she was anything special. The more colorfully patterned walkers could only pass for the familiars of soquili if they were lucky. Kiij could almost pass for any cougar out there. The forest had been completely covered by the scent of soquili, especially the smaller deer like kind, cerynei. She had known that it would make a good place for her to hunt. Kiij had only needed to climb up a tree and wait patiently. Then, soon enough, one of the deer had let his guard down. She had dropped down onto his back and ripped into his throat. He had died not long after and Kiij had taken her fill.
She hadn’t stayed, in her watching she had known that others would be coming. Kiij had fled hoping to find another hiding place. Instead she had found a cerynei with a nasty horn on the center of her head that had cut her chest open.
Kiij hated running for her life. While the wound on her chest stung it wasn’t particularly life threatening. Being unable to outrun this mare, however, that may very well cost her her life. Kiij had led the damn mare through the worst terrain she could and well out of her territory and still she kept close. Was she simply immune to exhaustion? Kiij certainly wasn’t. If this chase continued she would be caught and killed.
Kiij caught a scent on the wind, a scent of other soquili. Kiij grinned. If the mare was willing to chase her for miles over the death of one soquili what would she do to prevent the destruction of another?
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 3:58 pm
Kili trudged up the hill that led to Bilbo’s personal residency with his older brother at his side. The sack of apples tied around his neck that he had decided would make the perfect gift (to share) was starting to rub at the back of his neck in a bad way. “How did Frerin ever manage to convince Bilbo to walk all this way to get a permit in the first place?” Kili asked trying to swing the cord around so that the weight of the apples would rest on his back instead. If they hadn’t been in such a rush to leave before it got too late in the day then Kili would have asked Onar to fix it to his back to begin with.
“Who could say?” Fili replied casually watching his brother’s efforts to make himself more comfortable. Fili smiled to himself glad that he didn’t have to carry any more than he normally took with him. He wore only his fur pelt and an assortment of porcupine quills from Sebastian in a leather pouch. They weren’t much good as weapons but one in the face could distract long enough to do some real damage. Best of all they were light unlike Kili’s apples. “I told you not to bring so many.”
Kili made a face and grumbled giving up on the apples. They were almost to Bilbo’s now anyway. Then he could drop them on the ground and forget about them. “If I brought any less Bilbo’d eat most of them!” Kili protested.
Fili laughed through his nose, “Or you would.” He could feel Kili’s dirty look boring into his head and chose to ignore him. He didn’t have to ignore him long, as they came past a group of trees he saw the place exactly like Frerin had described it. “Ah, here it is.” Fili led the way onto the property with Kili trailing along behind him craning his head at all angles to commit the place to memory. It was something Thorin and Frerin had trained them to do, a kind of scouting, though it was meant to be a bit more subtle.
“Bilbo!” Fili called. “Are you home?”
Kili couldn’t see why Bilbo would march so far just to try and save this place. It wasn’t much to look at. “We’ve brought fresh apples!” He added in lieu of insulting Bilbo’s choice of home.
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 7:25 pm
Bilbo's permit was safely sitting on the large flat rock he used as a shelf. A smaller and more decorative rock sat upon it, just in case a freak gust of wind blew into his home and tried to carry the permit away. The dwarves were pleasant enough in their own fashion, but he didn't really want to deal with the permission process again.
He was now entirely settled in to his little vacation abode. It was as clean as a cave could be and he regularly brought in spring flowers to brighten the place up and add a pleasant smell. He was working on building a larder, but that was hard work, and he wasn't often in the mood for hard work. He had a pile of fragrant grasses drying in the sun outside that would store well and had weeded out his mint patch the previous day. That was good enough for now. It was only the beginning of his vacation, after all.
Not having been expecting visitors, his ears pricked up when he heard a familiar voice calling his name. He perked up even more at the mention of apples. Now this was an interruption he didn't mind!
"Hullo, I'm here!" he called back, trotting cheerfully out of his hole. "Apples, you say?" That would definitely make his food stores more satisfactory!
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2014 7:44 am
Tauriel's eyes narrowed as the skinchanger changed directions, where was it going? Had they entered more familiar grounds for it? Was it leading her somewhere? Tauriel's mind went over all the possibilities as she changed course to keep hot on the monster's trail. Then, she smelled it, it was a faint scent but it grew a little stronger with every step. The two of them were running towards others and closing in quickly.
"No." The word left Tauriel's mouth like a prayer. She couldn't let others be dragged into it. Tauriel searched inside of herself for a good burst of speed and found it. She stretched her legs out further than she ever had before and pushed herself off the ground harder. She was gaining but not fast enough. She wasn't going to catch up in time to stop it.
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2014 8:01 am
Kiij could hear the shift in the mare's stride and feel the reverberation of her hooves striking the ground. Kiij laughed. It was too late for that. She could practically smell their breath now. There was more than one but that didn't matter. She would pick one, get it in her clutches, then use it to get away. She was right on top of them now, the scent never got stronger than this. A vicious, victorious grin settled on her face as she bounded around the edge of a large rock and was met by the sight of three little soquili the size of foals. She could smell that the weren't, no, these were full grown stallions and that just made it a bit too easy and also too perfect.
She picked her target easily, he was the smallest of the bunch with rounded cheeks and a head full of curls. Of the three he looked to be the easiest to get. She was striking the earth to strongly with her paws to make this a quiet attack but at the very least she had surprise on her side. Snarling Kiij hurled herself at the small stallion not any larger than herself. She wrapped her paws around his body to bring him to the ground and hold him there.
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2014 8:20 am
"The biggest we could find!" Kili had replied working the sack of apples off of his neck. He had set them down and yanked the bag open to let Bilbo examine the perfect red apples they had brought. Kili had been grinning. He wasn't anymore.
From out of nowhere a mountain lion had appeared and grabbed Bilbo. No, not a mountain lion, they had learned to tell the difference. This was a shape shifting monster. The kind of beast that had killed many of their kin on the road. Fili and Kili knew the stories well.
"Bilbo!" Kili shouted, his voice an even mixture of worry and fury.
Fili moved directly in front of his brother to stop him from charging out rashly. Bilbo wasn't dead yet and that was a skinwalker. Skinwalkers were not known for keeping their prey alive like this. "If she wanted him dead he'd be dead." Fili muttered into his brother's ear shifting his legs slowly to slide the pouch of porcupine quills into easy grasping range. Once he was certain that Kili wasn't going to do anything rash he turned his head to address the skinwalker.
"We know you can talk. What do you want?" Fili demanded wondering if the border guard had just left this area entirely undefended. If that had something to do with Bilbo, though, they would all find themselves in hot water very soon.
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2014 9:33 pm
"Yarggggh!" Bilbo yelped in a not terribly dignified manner until he was slammed to the ground, leaving him without enough air in his lungs to continue his wailing protest. Dazed, he wasn't even certain of what had happened to him. They had been talking about apples and then something hit him. Was this some sort of joke?
As soon as his head cleared he realized that no, this wasn't any sort of joke... at least not one in the realm of anything even remotely funny. There was a mountain lion somewhere about as big as he was holding him pinned and he couldn't decide if he wanted to freeze up in horror or flail and attempt escape.
"Don't... do anything rash..." he squeaked, though he wasn't certain if he was talking to himself or to the cougar. His mind raced. How could he get himself out of this?
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Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 1:56 pm
The terrified cry reached Tauriel's ears loud and clear. She would have heard that noise a good mile away. It meant she hadn't moved quite fast enough. Her green eyes widened worriedly as she continued after the beast. What would she find when she got closer?
The skinchanger came into sight just moments later. It had pinned down a small soquili but she could hear him speaking. He was still alive. There were others, two of them, and it only took one look to know what they were. Dwarves. Either they were wanderers or she had chased this beast far indeed. That didn't matter so much, what mattered was the monster was currently focused on them giving Tauriel time to aim.
Moving quickly Tauriel freed a blade from a pouch she had slipped on. She gripped the handle between her teeth, aimed, and hurled it at the skinchanger. It caught the beast in the side just past its shoulder and sunk in. Throwing blades like this had not been an easy skill to learn and she could only manage to actually hit the mark if she were standing still. It was moments like these that reassured Tauriel that the skill had been one worth learning. She couldn't help but smile proudly to see the dagger sticking out of the beast's side.
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Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 2:14 pm
It had gone well. She had the three small soquili held at bay. Yes, the attachments they were cursed with made excellent weapons for a skinwalker. She hissed at the one beneath her, right by his ear, just to make sure he knew the exact position he found himself in. Then she turned her bright blue eyes to the other stallions. Her tail twitched irritably at the question. What did she want? She wanted to live but like hell was she going to tell them that.
"I want your heart-" Her words were cut off sharply as an indescribable pain shot through her. Her eyes widened and she screamed as only a mountain lion can. Instinctively she tried to spring away from whatever had hit her kicking at the pudgy horse as she went. The pain followed her. Kiij looked down and saw something sticking out of her side, something that shone in the light like a still pool. Kiij pushed it out with a swipe of her paw sending it clattering against a rock, red and sticky with her blood.
Kiij didn't know where it had come from and she did not care. Her eyes blazed with fury as she stared, unbelieving at the offending object for a few moments. Then, without hesitation, she launched herself at the nearest target, the dark haired golden stallion, and slashed at his chest. If they wanted blood she would give them more than they could handle.
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Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 2:43 pm
The knife had come out of nowhere. Both Fili and his brother knew exactly what it was the second they saw it sticking out of the skinwalker's side. As dwarves knives, swords, daggers, and various kinds of armor were all common place. Using a force of primarily raccoons they were able to create weapons from metal. Most were rudimentary and not pretty to look at, made for function and not fashion, but this blade was elegant and curved. No dwarf had made that.
Fili glanced to the side, an elf stood there. He narrowed his eyes but did not address her, there were more important things. "Bilbo!" He called rushing over to the poor tackled and then trampled fellow. The skinwalker was stunned for the moment. Now was the time to get Bilbo to safety. Fili doubted very much that he knew anything about fighting. He'd do better to run and try to find the guards for Fili and Kili. "Can you get up?"
Kili had turned to look at the sudden aid at the same time as his brother. Unlike Fili, Kili hadn't moved. His eyes had widened as far as they could and he simply found himself staring in disbelief and awe at this elf that had wandered into their midst. He didn't wonder or really care about how she had come to be there, he really just wanted to know how she had done that trick with the dagger without skewering Bilbo in the process...and also her name.
The term for this state of being was distracted. It was one of the first lessons Fili and Kili had ever been taught. Never get distracted. Always be aware of your surroundings. If Kili had listened he would have noticed the skinwalker shaking off the shock. He would have seen her turn and charge. He would have realized what was happening before it felt like someone had thrown hot coals across his chest.
Kili's eyebrows scrunched together and he made a pained choking noise as he drew back away from the skinwalker by his feet. His chest burned but instead of bursting into flames the wound was dripping slowly and turning the hair around it crimson.
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Posted: Fri May 30, 2014 4:52 pm
Bilbo didn't have time to think of a plan before the cougar was springing off of him, now it the one yowling. Somehow, the yowls of pain were even more frightening than being pinned in the first place. He was aware of being kicked in her haste to be away, but for a moment he felt like he was having an out of body experience. What had just happened to him? He was talking to Fili and Kili... then pinned... now what?
He heard a voice asking him if he could get up. Why wouldn't he be able to get up? He didn't feel like he had broken legs, not that he had any personal experience with that matter.
Mouth still hanging somewhat ajar, Bilbo rolled onto his hooves, pulling himself out of the dirt with his precious overcoat torn by claws, but not much damage to his hide underneath.
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Posted: Fri May 30, 2014 5:25 pm
Her blade had found its target cleanly. It had slid into the beast's hide like a stone sinking into a pond. Unfortunately that had been the end of the beauty. Tauriel had failed to kill the creature in one blow, her aim had not been as true as it could have been, as it should have been. Rather than collapsing in death the devil cat had leaped off and slashed at the little creature it had pinned down. In how many ways could she fail to respond correctly to this single threat? It seemed that each moment brought a new and strange failure to light.
Tauriel feared the worse for the small one but there were no cries of pain and no sound of a dying breath. In fact, the only sound seemed to come from the dwarf running to the small stallion’s side. His heavy footfalls were even louder than her breathing and she had been running full force for miles. Dwarves, they were about as subtle and graceful as a stone to the face. The thought had barely just crossed her mind when she realized she was still being watched, not by the skinwalker, but by the other dwarf.
Tauriel stared at him with green eyes wide and slightly alarmed. Why was he staring? Her tail twitched slightly and that was the last thing she did before a blur of brown reappeared before her. This time the beast went directly for the dark maned stallion. A curious feeling surged through Tauriel at the sight of red on the stallion’s chest. It was dread. A scratch like that could mean nothing good.
Tauriel seized another knife and through it just as she had the last one. This one scraped across the cat’s shoulder and clattered onto a rock near the stallion’s hooves. This evil needed to die.
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Posted: Fri May 30, 2014 5:37 pm
Distraction was a predator's best ally. When your prey was distracted there was little you couldn't do. Kiij smiled, all teeth, as her claws raked across the stallion's chest and drew pretty little lines of blood. He backed away like a timid little foal and didn't seem particularly aware of what had just occurred. Good. She could do more damage while he was befuddled.
Kiij lunged forward only to feel something slice through her shoulder. She recoiled hissing just as second weapon dropped to the ground. Kiij wheeled around and spat and the unicorn-cross that was doing everything in her power to make Kiij's life irritating. She would kill that mare one day, but she still wanted to pick off these others now more than ever. That damn mare was defending them. It would hurt her to fail or she wouldn't be trying.
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