Riding The End (L3 | Archived | Fantasy/Sci-Fi)

[Venom3001]

"We're not thieves-" Theridan protested. "I'm not a thief," he promptly amended. "But they're in my care. Military business."  

[SiberDrac]

Nine crouched in the darkness. It was a good thing to do. He watched the Trow, unfortunately unable to see their faces until they were distracted... by one another, by a tree, and by an owl that was a person.

Living is fun.

He watched the mayhem, merrily amused, although somewhat put out that he was too uncertain of whom to kill first to actually get involved. He looked at the hammer, nail, and mountain lion tail he had in his hands. Which would look better with it pinned to his coccyx?

Sighing tiredly, he strode towards the small group. "Hello!" he said, arms spread wide, hair shimmering gallantly. He then waited for applause. It didn't come. "I'm supposed to put this on one of you fellows. Right?" He proffered the tail at Theridan, then squinted his eyes at Phallo. "Do I know you?" He swiveled his head and looked at Filly. "Or you? We may have met. All of you people look the same. Alive, anyway; when you're dead the position in rigor mortis is a good indicator." He then looked at Ashling, narrowing his eyes accusingly, hammer, nail, and tail still held out almost ceremoniously. "And you are a talking tree. Stop that."  

[Jokerman-EXE]

A Fae was not a part of Osiris' mission. That was odd. Additionally, there was something familiar about this...oh no.

Osiris strode quickly away from the Trow, towards Nine, but in a nonthreatening manner so as not to alert the Fae - because Osiris recognized the infamous Saturnine Rhapsody. The half-crazy Fae had caused a lot of trouble for Osiris in the last few years, though they had never met in person.

"Nine," he said in a low voice, so that the others might not be able to hear. "I'm Commander Darke, with the Druids. Can I ask you to stand still while I handle this? I'll show you a great hunting ground where you can kill all day if you do."

Of course, he knew of no such place, but he figured the guy would forget by the time they were done. Osiris knew how to get his men to do things.  

[SiberDrac]

"Commander Darke?" Fae asked. By this time, his eyes were narrow enough that he couldn't actually see anything through them. And then something clicked. A smile like the breaking of day shone forth. "You... you know my name!" He rushed forward and hugged the Druid tightly, the nail pressing rather pointedly into Osiris' back. He murmured sweetly in the stronger man's ear, "I will wear your innards as anklets if you're lying to me." He then stepped back, holding the Druid's hand, having passed his accoutrements to his other, and smiled cheerfully at everyone else. "I have a fan! Everyone, this is Commander Darke, and he seems pleased that I have crucified children." He whipped his head at the child in Ashling's branches and a hungry look entered his eyes. "Like that one."  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Darke sighed. "I'm not pleased with it. I just know this Fae." He sighed and stepped away from Nine to demonstrate his point.  

[Venom3001]

"Crucified... children...?" Theridan repeated, as though he was uncertain he had heard properly. He stepped back towards Ashling, putting his back to her. He couldn't understand why someone would do that; it didn't make sense to him. It was inconceivable. Was that why the wars between the natives of this planet had happened? Were the Fae really like that? Were they all like that? He was standing next to a Trow who was willing to shoot a child to rob him, after all.  

[Jokerman-EXE]

"Whoa, now, everyone relax," Osiris said, stepping into the middle. "I'll explain to you later," he said with a nod to Theridan and the other Trow, "but for now, we don't have a lot of time. Nine here won't hurt anyone as long as I'm around to stop him, trust me."

He looked over his shoulder at Nine. "After all, he wouldn't fight his biggest fan, who knows where he can have the most fun of his life...would he?"  

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

The quietest of the Marines at the table rose, his dull smirk becoming a full grin. He gave a full salute with his right hand while still clutching the mug in his left. "Donnie DuPont, sir. What can I do for you?"

Donnie "The Dane" DuPont could only imagine what sort of business would send a man of this caliber to fetch one such as DuPont. It must be something treacherous, something dangerous, something vital. Most importantly, it must be something that would require a rough & tumble, no-holds-barred, brass balled soldier that could look death or a Trent in the eyes and grin like a mad dog. That's the sort of Marine the Dane was, same as his father and his father before him. It was in his blood, and it was in his family tradition. He'd be ashamed if he wasn't the person he had become. If he wasn't the boy to whom his father, on his death bed, had said, "Donnie m'boy, yer a fine lad now. Stay strong for our kin, Donnie, and the people. Don't let them Elves push us away; we've every right to be here that they do, and don't let none tell you different."

Proud, he'd said. Well, not explicitly, but words like 'pride' and 'love' didn't hardly ever come out of pop's mouth. "Fine lad," he'd said, and Donnie would be damned in Hell before he ever made less of himself.
 

[SiberDrac]

Nine looked at Osiris thoughtfully and pursed his lips. "I... yes, I would. But! More importantly, I need to talk to..." he held out the vowel and pointed at the Trow in succession. "...you three. You met with someone. Maybe. The Fae would like to know which."

The Fae studied the supplies still in hand and started walking towards Ashling, talking over his shoulder. "Darke, I'm going to need one more nail and two sturdy lengths of wood." He raised his voice to address everyone else, as though he were on a game show, eyes back on the kid. "Now, who's ready for some pleasant... oh, interrogation-worthy ambience?"  

[Jokerman-EXE]

So the Fae were interested in the Trow for the same reason; that was clear. But to send Nine on a mission that didn't necessarily involve killing? Either Osiris was missing something, or something strange was going on.

Handling Nine was going to be incredibly difficult. The logical rhythms that most individuals followed, usually determined by a set cast of generalities, did not apply to this one - and Osiris was bothered by it. He had to find a way to get some measure of control here, or this mission would be very difficult indeed.

"Actually, Nine," Osiris said as he followed, "I don't have any, nor do I know where you would find them out here. But," he said, "if you need to talk to those Trow, we should do that before they sneak away, right? Cause I need to talk to them too. All right? So let's go."  

[Isa-sama]

Now Ashling was confused. <...what?> She wanted to tell the Fae that she wasn't exactly talking. She didn't have vocal cords or a mouth to do so. But well, now wasn't the time to talk about Trent anatomy.

While no one was paying attention to Canopy or her, the two Trents started talking. Canopy stated. Canopy stared at the eclectic group. They all wanted whatever the Trow had, and that piqued the tree's curiosity.

The kid was gripping onto her trunk for dear life. And was it just her, or was he...caressing her bark? If he thinks petting me will make me like him, he's got another thing coming. Though she didn't like it, she let him stay; she wasn't cruel enough to send him to his doom from the Fae. She didn't like the Theridan getting close to her either. Or Nine since he wanted to break her branches.

she growled.

Filly was growing tense. Just because all of them were working together, it didn't mean that they had to share all their information. In fact, the only ones we can honestly trust would be the Trents, and THEY apparently don't care for us. The alliance the two kingdoms shared was weak, and there were those that didn't agree with it.

Filly's alliance stayed with the Trow. And it was because of that loyalty that he murmured to his brother and Theridan. "We need to move now. Zangar isn't too far." That said, he threw down a smoke bomb for the three Trow to escape. Filly and Phallo started running - the Trow were notorious for being fast and silent - it would be hard for the others to catch them.

Ashling tried to feel for their presence in the surrounding environment. It didn't work. Well s**t. I'm a Warrior, not a hunter. Where the hell would they go? The kid seemed more scared and held on tighter.

As much as she hated to admit it, she needed the others. she said,  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Osiris had already transformed by the time the Trents started moving. He closed his eyes and listened, and could catch the barest sounds of movement from the wounded Phallo, as he was not perfectly attuned to moving with his wrist snapped in perfect silence.

He cruised silently after them, clutching his bag in his talons. Clearly, the Trow wouldn't trust him without some kind of proof. He thought rapidly as he followed them. He could try putting his life in their hands...but the Trow weren't exactly trustworthy when it came to an enemy's life.

Still, there was a standing alliance between them - there were humans still around. And Osiris was a leader, so he was willing to risk it to earn their trust. He picked up speed til he was in front of them, then morphed and dropped in front of them.

"Whoa whoa whoa," he said quickly, raising his hands. "I'm not here to hurt you guys, OK? I'm just here to talk to you guys about what happened. I swear." He opened his coat and laid out an absolutely stunning amount of small, wicked-looking knives, weighted perfectly for throwing. He put them on the ground and stepped back, hands up. "I swear. Please just hear me out, in the name of the truce. Please."

Osiris stood with his hands above his head as he waited for their undoubtedly positive response.  

[Venom3001]

Let the foot touch softly on the branch, bend knees in time and ready body to eliminate noise, release tension and move to next point.... Theridan moved like a beast of the woods; they were not his woods, not the way the forest from back home had been more familiar to him than his own hands, but they were a forest, and forests were his true home. No root, branch, shrub, or small woodland animal was an impediment. No sound. No sight. He was as silent as a ghost and even less visible. Phallo and Filly were equally skilled from their experience as bandits, moving as quietly as Theridan.

About four minutes later, Theridan signaled for them to pause. They were all at least somewhat out of breath.

They were also over a mile away. They took a single-minute rest to catch their breaths, during which Theridan communicated with the Trow's sign language; there were a few "dialect" differences but his idea was basically clear..

We rig hammocks and sleep in the canopy when the sun rises. We move until then. Pace yourselves. Theridan informed them. They'll need to sleep soon; it's scarcely two hours to midnight, and they've been awake all day, whereas... well, you guys slept during the day. I didn't because I was on my way to meet with you, but I can handle another eight hours if I have to. He saw both Phallo and Filly nod. He smiled grimly and pulled a roll of bandages and an adhesive liquid container. He tossed them to Phallo, who caught them in his good hand and began binding them, wincing. I know we couldn't salvage anything from our horses' packs, but we should be able to make it to a town or somethin'. I have a couple waterskins and all my important documents an' s**t, so they shouldn't find anything to tell 'em where we're going or why if they do find our packs. He sighed. All right, move on in two minutes.

Two minutes later, they ran into Osiris, who had overshot them in their silence.

I don't trust him. Phallo signed awkwardly, his meaning clear despite the injured finger.

He brought up the truce, but those other whores weren't too happy to see us either. Filly added. The Trow's sign language was known by at most a few dozen non-Trow Ulla, and almost certainly none of the Aros at all.

He disarmed. We'll hear him out. Theridan's word seemed to be final. "What do you want?" Theridan asked, a hand crossbow already pointed at Osiris' groin.  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Osiris lowered his hands slowly. "The Sheperd sent me to ask you about your meeting or sighting with or of Aeon. The human in white." He saw their reaction and raised his hands again. "We just need the information. You know that we're struggling to push the assault against the Humans, and we need your help to get a firm blow against them."

They exchanged a brief glance that Osiris caught and zeroed in on. "You guys don't like the humans either. Help us out here, and I'll be out of your hair in minutes. I'll even stall the other, more hostile ones from following. Do we have a deal?"  

[Venom3001]

Theridan narrowed his eyes. "Meet me, alone, in Zangar. Tomorrow. The Loose Lass Tavern." Filly and Phallo snickered. "Now, go back and slow them like you said."