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 Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 5:42 pm
Zamiel's paws sank slightly into the mud beneath them. The mud seemed to suck at his paws, like it was trying to mire him and stop him in his tracks. He wasn't used to this sort of terrain and had had a few close calls with it already. He'd sank up to his elbow in one case, a mistake that could have easily cost him his life. Fortunately, he'd managed to pull himself out by beating all of his six wings furiously. If he had been flightless, he'd probably would have been stuck until rescue or death. In this sort of environment, rescue didn't seem likely.
He was tracking an injured wolf. Last time he had seen it, he had injured one of its legs badly. He knew it had to be running on only three now. It shouldn't have been able to outrun him, but in the swamp, things were a little strange. He would have assumed that the mud would make it easy to navigate. Instead, it made it nearly impossible. There was water everywhere, obscuring signs of prints. The stench of decay hung so heavily in the air that he could barely scent. With a snort of disdain for his predicament, he shook out his mane.
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Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 5:52 pm
 Rusalka followed her lizard familiar as he skittered his way over rotting logs. She followed his steps where she could and walked upon the surface of the water where she couldn't, using her kirin powers of focus to keep herself afloat. Something had gotten into Alianov, and she just couldn't figure it out. He was normally fairly quiet, but now he seemed to have gotten all the more so. He wouldn't tell her where he was going, or the reason for the urgency in his journey. All she could do was follow him and hope that it soon became clear. Suddenly Alianov stopped. Blinking, Rusalka looked at him. He looked like he was examining a patch of grass, then licking it. Was there an insect there he was trying to eat? Looking closer, Rusalka saw this wasn't the case, though she fervently wished it was. He wasn't trying to eat something, he was tasting a spot of blood left on the green blades. Taking a deep breath, she felt her stomach plummet. Something in the area was hurt!
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Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 5:55 pm
At last, Zamiel found the trail again. He was growing steadily more bug-bitten and muddy, but he was as relentless as ever. He found a small pool with the unmistakable red swirls of blood floating in its still waters. From there he found more isolated drips and smears. The wolf was grievously injured indeed, and it was close.
Smiling grimly to himself, he continued onwards... but then paused. Ahead of him, sunlight shining dimly through thick clouds glinted off of something. It was some sort of soquili, and she had something reflective on her back. Curious.
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Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 6:01 pm
Rusalka was a kirin through and through, and she hated to think that some animal out there might be suffering. She knew that there were many predators in the swamp and that they needed to feed, but it did not stop her heart from hurting for this unseen creature.
"We'll find it," she said to Alianov. "I understand now." Alianov must have smelled the blood and been trying to find the hurt animal all this time. Even if quiet, he was not callous.
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 9:27 pm
On quiet paws, Zamiel crept closer. All six of his eyes widened a little when he recognized her breed. Kirin. They were one of the most beautiful and rare of soquili types, and there she was innocent and unknowing in front of him. He licked his lips unconsciously as his mind worked. He already had prey. He had a target, and yet here was something stunningly beautiful. Her scales glistened and shimmered whenever she moved, with an iridescent shine he had never seen worn by a living creature. He thought of those scales, how it might feel to tear them off her. How they might look added to his necklace or to the glittering coronet on his head.
He didn't usually collect trophies of his kills, but something about this mare felt like he should make an exception. Wolf forgotten, he had his new target now. It was rare that he declared a soquili target, but rarer still that he found such a beautiful object of his attention. He took another step forward, and that was his mistake. The mud made a loud sucking sound, one that easily carried over to where the mare stood waiting.
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 9:31 pm
Alianov, always the preceptive one, turned her head the moment before Rusalka did. The sound drew both of their attention, and it was easy to see what had made it now that they knew where to look. Partially hidden by the thick brush of the swamp was another soquili. Rusalka couldn't make out many details, but she saw red eyes and membraned wings. That was enough for her.
"Come!" she breathed frantically to Alianov. The lizard knew what that meant, quickly scaling Rusalka's leg and clinging to the branches that grew on her back. Rusalka sprung into a sprinting retreat as soon as she was sure that her friend was safe. She was not a social soquili by any means, not caring for the company of strangers. She generally avoided even those whose intentions she had no cause to suspect, but this one was another matter. Webbed wings. She knew that those meant flesh eaters.
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 9:33 pm
Zamiel let out a frustrated little snarl. She had spotted him in an instant and fled only a moment later. He bounded forward, but the mud still pulled at him. He didn't have a choice but to take to the air. He beat all six wings furiously to pull himself out of the muck and then rose upwards. He was not as swift as he would have liked, it had given her time to almost disappear into the dense foliage at the water's edge.
He had distance to make up, and he put himself to it, slashing through the air.
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 9:41 pm
One look over her shoulder told Rusalka that her fears had been correct. The stallion meant to pursue her, and he looked horrifying in the air. How many wings did he have? Something was very wrong about his silhouette, and she wondered with a sort of dazed horror if she might have stumbled across a skinwalker. Never before had she encountered one of those legendary horrors. Could this be her fate?
She thought about stopping to let Alianov go, certain that the monster was after her and not her companion. The swiftness of his flight deterred her, knowing that she couldn't afford to slow even to let Alianov go.
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 5:07 pm
Zamiel spotted an opening and went for it. He dived, four of his six wings tucking against him and only one pair still gripping the air and maneuvering him. He thought that he had the perfect trajectory to capture her, but he was wrong. She turned at the last moment and he splashed into the muddy water right where she had been a moment before. He let out a growling yelp of indignity, but saw she was still close. He could still catch her!
He surged after her, or tried to. His paws were firmly stuck, and his attempted charge left him off balance. He stumbled forward and landed on the knee on his front leg. He heaved against the mud again, but now his foreleg was stuck along with his paws. The mud was dark and he could feel no firm bottom with his grasping toes. Was he sinking deeper even as he struggled?
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 5:11 pm
Rusalka whimpered in fright as the stallion splashed her with his landing. She instinctively sprinted away. She ran for the nearest dense clump of bush, but paused there. She didn't hear the sound of pursuit. All she heard was a sort of frenzied flapping and slapping against mud. Timidly she turned, and then blinked at what she saw there.
The stallion was trapped in the mud. She had seen it happen to deer and the like, even to her mate once. Mostly they were able to get out on their own, but a few times she'd stepped in to help them. She was well-versed in the ways and dangers of the area, after all.
Now that the stallion was no danger, she felt calm enough to pause and watch him. He didn't look to be having any luck with his escape. Even the force of his six wings weren't enough to pull him loose. She was still some distance away, but she thought she could see a trace of fear in those frighteningly glowing red eyes. Rusalka took a breath. She could hear Alianov hissing warnings, but her gentility overcame her. With a shiver of trepidation, she started back towards the stallion.
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 5:15 pm
Zamiel could tell he was being sucked deeper. Even flapping his wings with enough force to bend the nearby plants was not enough. In the end, his wings too just ended up getting painted with mud, though at least they had not yet gotten as fully mired as his other limbs. He thought he might use a plant to pull himself out, but nothing within reach of his grasping teeth were strong enough. His heart pounded from exertion, and he felt himself beginning to wonder what would happen to him. Could such a mistake as this possibly prove fatal?
Just at that moment, he saw her. The mare was creeping back over, despite her frenzied sprint just earlier. He stared, hardly believing what he saw. She couldn't possibly expect to kill him, even in this state. Would she gloat at his misfortune? Or possibly... something else?
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Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 5:17 pm
"St-stay still," said Rusalka in a shaking voice when she reached earshot of the stallion. "If you struggle, you'll only mire yourself more." He'd already done a decent job of getting himself stuck. She dazedly wonder if even her own knowledge would be enough to pull him out. Maybe she'd have to go find Syri and get his help, not that she knew if there was enough time for that. She wasn't even certain Syri would agree to assist a fiend like this. Why was she helping, anyways?
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