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 Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 3:54 pm
Well-kept hooves carried the feather-winged Nequus around the meticulously traced patterns in the red dirt. So. The invaders held position here and companies of the Queen's soldiers held position here, here and here. Surely there could be no difficulty in removing one small group of Aeri that had refused to give up their grudge over a foal taken years ago.
The Jala snorted and frowned pensivly over the pattern again. The battles were going in their favour, of course. Whilst she knew better than to think the dirty-bloods weak or stupid the fact remained that the leather-winged creatures were out numbered, out manoeuvred and running out of soldiers.
The paint mare slammed a hoof down upon the scratch that represented one of the Aeri herd's last units. They had been given many a chance to walk away from their fate and ignored each one. Now there were probably less than twenty-five of the once mighty herd left alive. What had happened to the rest, and would happen to those that had survived so far, was entirely their own fault and well deserved too.
Undine scraped the hoof backwards through the pattern and smiled grimly to herself. If all went according to plan, their end would not be a long time coming.
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Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 7:30 pm
He would have seen them as a threat to his power. Funny how stupid it all seemed now that there was no kingdom or orders to give. He was simply dead.
So, naturally, when he heard the legends of the Katilenuck he absently headed in that direction, straight into Fyhi. This place wasn't dangerous for him. The winds here were large on occassion, but there were caves and rocks to escape into and behind. He felt safe enough, certainly better than Casa Tiner. He didn't dare venture there.
It didn't take him long to stumble across them, or one of them. He'd raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her, trying to remember what he'd heard. The royalty were all duns of some sort, he believed was said. So this one had no relation to any of them, yet she had an important aura. Not the kind that befitted just any member of a master race, but someone of at least slight importance.
He hadn't left, just continued to watch, not understanding a single thing she was doing, she didn't say any of her plans aloud. It was as if she knew he was watching.
Strange girl.
"I thought tracing images in the dirt was child's play," he said coarsely, shifting his weight around.
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 1:58 pm
Undine sighed as the voice rang out behind her; always when she was busy. She didn't recognise the tones but the identity of her visitor didn't matter for her first statement. "It helps to have a physical representation of what goes on in our lands. That way I can think about what is going on without having to try to hold it all in my-"
The lithe Nequus stopped mid-sentence. She had just turned about and taken in the form of her visitor. It was a Reya. A Reya in the herd lands. A Reya with a coat as black as night, malevolent yellow eyes and flames. Was it her imagination or were the beast's teeth pointed?
Undine backed up a few paces, staring at the black creature. Its tails were wrong, more like a true Nequus than the rest of the breed but that did not detract from the essential Reyaness of the stallion before her. Yet there were the flames. This was no normal creature. Did it side with the Aeri she was even now plotting to destroy? Would it kill her quickly or slowly?
"What are you?" the mare muttered, pinning her ears flat against her skull as she continued to move backwards.
The small part of her mind that was still rational bid the Jala halt as it recalled the ledge not far behind her and, with an effort, the blue-coated female managed to repress the instincts that told her to get further away from this unholy beast.
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 2:07 pm
Aranthos nodded, shrugging. It didn't matter to him, all he'd wanted to do was irk her.
Then she turned to look at him and about died. He chuckled, so she could see him too. That was one that couldn't, one that sort of could, and one that most obviously made him out quite well.
"Dead," he answered her question simply.
"And you are. . ..?" He cocked an eyebrow, the grin heavy set on his muzzle, as though he found her discomfort wonderfully amusing.
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 2:47 pm
...Dead? That wasn't possible. Well clearly it was because there he was as clear as day. Perhaps that was some of the strangeness about the creature then rather than the fact that he was of Reya. Her eyes were seeing something they thought ought not to exist and… Well not distorting him. Making him… Making… She couldn’t describe it even to herself. She knew where he was, what he looked like and yet… No, no words for the odd sensation of not quite thereness looking at him gave her. Almost as though she were the one that was dead, though that could just be mundane fear of course.
…Hold hard. If he was dead did that mean he couldn't hurt her? Undine considered this carefully, ears still flattened to her skull. Well, it was possible that he wasn’t as solid as he looked but that was a risk she wasn't willing to take. Best not to anger it, though it seemed more amused than anything else right now.
"Tactician Undine of the Katilenuck,” the brindled mare responded. Then, “what are you doing here, dead Reya? What do you want of me, of us?” Perhaps he had been killed by their soldiers… perhaps she had been the one who planned out the battle he had died in and that was why he was here… No. No she was making assumptions and jumping to conclusions. Wait until she knew more before panicking, no sense scaring herself more than the stallion before her already had. Wait and find out.
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 2:52 pm
Well that explained the drawing in the dirt. For all the legends she seemed horribly easy to scare. Then again, no one expected a tactition to be. .. what was the word? Valiant.
"I thought I'd have a look around," he answered simply. Nothing but the wind was going to prevent him of such.
"Most of you can't even see me." This, too, was amusing and sent him chuckling again. An unkind, bitter sound.
"Interesting, though, what are you plotting?" If she told him, he'd be sure and make a mess of it - probably further increasing the stereotype that Reya were good for nothing. If she didn't tell him, well that was too bad. He would have liked to have some fun today. Being dead was so very boring.
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 3:22 pm
Undine gritted her teeth. So, something different about her let her see him? Maybe, well the reason mattered little right now. What mattered was keeping the herd's plans from him. If he decided to hurt her for the action she was about to take, so be it. No matter what the risk to herself, she couldn't fail her kin.
"What I am plotting is none of you business," the amber-eyed mare hissed, scuffing her patterns into nothingness and baring her teeth at the stallion before her even as her traitor legs took another pace backwards. Was there anyone who could hurt a dead thing?... The illusionist. So far as she knew his magic wouldn't hurt the beast but they might be able to scare it off. But he wasn't here and nor was her guard. She was alone against this... this... thing. Undine took another step back.
The next step turned out to be a mistake; she had run out of ground.
The Jala mare gave a yelp of fear and shock as she slipped backwards and scrabbled for a moment with her fore hooves before plunging over the edge.
Wind rushed in her ears and blue feathered wings beat frantically at the air. How far was the drop? Did she have time to recover herself before the ground reached out to claim her life. She didn't dare look down to find out, didn't dare look up to see if the dead stallion was swooping down to laugh at her demise. All she could do was stare horrified at the cliff that rushed away upwards.
Undine felt muscles in her wings wrench as she tried to force them into carrying her up or along or anywhere but down to the red rock below her. She was slowing, that much was clear from the pace that the rock before her was moving but was it enough?
Two heartbeats more, maybe three and the red earth found her.
Somehow she had managed to twist herself around in the air so it was her flank that struck the ground first rather than her legs. The brindled mare would have cried out at the awful pain that ran along her ribs had all the wind not been driven from her lungs.
As it was, all she could do was lie still and wait until she was able to gasp in another breath, praying to poor beloved Jala that she had not broken a wing and that the Reya monster was not going to finish her off.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 7:25 pm
Aranthos watched her fall in silence. It all seemed to happen in slow motion - yet so very quickly at the same time. The event was so confusing that he didn't realize he'd been the cause. Perhaps he would have laughed at her had that been the case, but for now a curiousity replaced the inner dark nature to dig into another.
He couldn't fly down to 'rescue' her. Hell, he couldn't even fly. The wind of such events would likely tear him apart. It was much safer on the ground. Predictable. He didn't fancy exploring all the world at once on the whims of the air.
"Nasty fall," he said from above, peering down. He wondered if they were all like this. Stupid. He contemplating going to get another one of her kind, to see what they could do for her, but he decided against it. There was more fun in staring down at her from above.
"Break anything?" he asked casually, clearly not concerned.
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Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 5:57 am
The voice carried well down to the stunned Jala and she found herself gritting her teeth half in anger half in fear. He hadn't come down to kill her yet but that didn't mean he wouldn't. Maybe he was just dragging it out. As her breathing became somewhat easier, though still rather painful, the paint mare managed to stagger to her feet. She felt as shaky as a new foal but managed to keep herself on her hooves.
"No," she snapped as harshly as she could manage. "I'm fine," she added, flexing her wings a few times before tucking them in at her sides. The right one felt wrong and it hurt to move it but the fact that she'd been able to at all told her that the bones were whole and that the damage was unlikely to be permanent. Her ribs hurt like hell though; were they broken or just bruised? Cracked perhaps; she'd have to visit one of the healers later on.
Not yet though. She had to find out what this spirit was about and then take the news to one of the royals or the illusionist. Should she go back up? There was the winding path that she had shunned in favour of flight on her way up that morning. Yet she didn't want to be any closer than she was. Didn’t want to be even this close.
"I ask again," she called up to the black creature, "what are you doing in our lands? Surely you didn't trouble to come from wherever it was you came from just to see the red mountain." Staying here would do well enough for now, at least until she was sure taking a step wouldn't cause her to keel over. Perhaps she was just making excuses for her cowardice but, for the moment, her choice made sense too. When it no longer did, she would have to pit her mind against her instincts and hope for the sake of her pride that the former won out.
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Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 8:03 am
She sure was brave, for being terrified. At least her pride kept her strong. He wondered how easy she would be to push over if she'd been born a Bae; a Reya?
She didn't look fine. In his opinion she looked like someone had drug her through all the streams of Yisi, dried her off, and stuck her in sand. She was certainly dusty from the red mountain's clay-dirt. It was a kind color, but he couldn't say it complimented her any. She was a very bright and obnoxious blue.
"The trouble with trouble," he reasoned. "Is that its always around." He had no intentions of directly answering her question.
"You're an interesting lot. What makes you special exactly?" He circled around to the other side of the precipice, and looked at her from a different angle, somewhat farther away.
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Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 8:30 am
Well the b*****d would insist on being cryptic, wouldn't he? All the same those curve-horned bastards. At least he'd moved off a bit now, though quite why he'd done so the mare didn't know. There didn't seem to be any great advantage to his new position save that it gave him a slightly different view of the world. Perhaps he was simply trying to seem casual, trying to deny the guilt that he and all his kind carried.
"Jala's dying blood spilled by jealous Reya makes us special you filth," she hissed from her safe distance. "As Reya did to Jala, so we do to the spawn of that harsh creature. It seems our work is done for us in your case though." Carefully! She ought to tread carefully here, far more carefully than she was right now. Getting carried away with her anger could be fatal especially as she had just damaged herself making escape less likely should he make a charge. Dying was not on her to do list, not even close.
Undine bit down on the other words that wanted to come out, common sense assisted by another lance of fear as a slight turn of his head brought the creature black horn into better view. He would stick her as easily sharpened saplings set as traps had so many of the herd’s foes in days past. If only some other would happen along to aid her… But what if they could not see him? They’d think her mad and she would be as alone against him as ever. Today was not quite going according to plan anymore.
The brindled mare fought her muscles, desperately trying to keep them from trembling. She couldn’t help her eyes though. She had no water to check in but the tactician knew well that the whites of them must be showing as clear as those of a traitor awaiting execution. This was it; she was going to die.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:50 am
Oh. Well that explained a lot. Apparently they had some sort of religion. He never did believe in all that nonsense. In his opinion, there were no gods. Luck, perhaps, but his destiny was made, thank you very much.
He cocked an eyebrow, "So you repay the favor by spilling our blood." How barbaric. He grinned. He liked these people already.
"Oh, I think," he pittered. "I'll let you live. I kind of like you, you know. Feisty." He gave her a wink and then shuffled across the edge.
"I'd go get one of your kind, but they're inclined to think they are mad - or you are. So I'll just be going now." He put his head up proudly and swished his tail behind. "Good luck?" He left at a gallop, laughing.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 9:12 am
He... liked her? Somehow that felt dirty. Undine shuddered at his wink. Skies knew what was going through that mind right now. Still, he wasn't going to kill her and that was worth something. She had no words that she wanted to give to him as the dead stallion turned and galloped away from her.
A wave of relief washed through her body and the brindled mare allowed her right wing to sag a little as it wanted to. Well she couldn't just stand here; she ought to get deeper into the herd lands and find a healer to check her over.
As she set off with slow, shaky steps the tactician wondered how she would explain her injuries. She couldn't say that a Reya had caused her to fall; the border guards would know that no such creature had passed. She couldn't say it was a dead Reya because she'd either be thought mad or a liar. She’d probably lose her position no matter what if she told them the truth. Leaving it ambiguous, claiming a simple stumble over a small drop was probably the best thing to do.
Sighing to herself the paint mare flexed her sore wing and limped onward. The day had started out so well too.
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