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

[SiberDrac]

Nine glared at Osiris, then glared at Ashling, then smiled disarmingly at the child, hiding his hammer and nails behind his back, then saw the Trow attempt their escape. "Wait!" With a casual, but nonetheless glorious, wave of his hand Nine brushed aside the smoke and started running after them. Not having actually run in the past... well, he couldn't remember how old he was, but the jaunt did not last long.

He bent over, hands on his knees, and thought for a little bit, watching the Trow melt into the night. Standing up straight, he cupped his hands around his mouth and bellowed, speaking slowly and enunciating so they could make it out, "Trow. If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead. Okay, wait, that's not true. I do want to kill you; you'll find I'm very, very honest. But I won't kill you if we can just talk for a bit. Is that cool with you?" He was, naturally, perfectly aware that he was giving away everyone's position, especially with the wind magic-abetted amplification.

He turned back to where Ashling was, maybe twenty feet away from where he now stood, and frowned. "You should have eaten them."  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Osiris nodded. "You got it. I'll see you tomorrow. I'll give you a minute before I pick up my knives and go back, but I'll keep them from following." They nodded and vanished into the night, Theridan last of all.

Osiris casually picked up his knives and slid them back into place. He would probably need them; the damn fool of a Fae had alerted every enemy within miles of their presence and location. There were so damn many knives that it took him a full three minutes to do so, but he finished and patted himself down in satisfaction. With a nod, he morphed and flew back to the others.

He landed heavily and feigned exhaustion. "They...were too fast." He panted for a little bit. "They're...long gone...by now." He inhaled deeply and stood. "I'll track them tomorrow, but odds are very good that they're not going to Zangar, as they said. There's no reason they would have told us the truth about their destination. I'll try my hand at tracking them when there's light to work with."

He nodded at the others in the clearing and said, "Well, for now then, I say we part ways. We can meet here in the morning."  

[Isa-sama]

Ashling stared at Nine with a raised eyebrow. Besides, she didn't eat people; she used photosynthesis. But they can make nice jewelry for my top branches. The child on top of her started climbing behind a huge branch to hide from the Fae. It was obvious that he was still afraid of Nine. She continued,

Canopy now spoke to the Fae. She looked at Ashling with a hesitant face.

Ashling spoke to her fellow Trent again. She didn't agree with the tree's suggestion. This man was insane! He was nowhere NEAR safe around them. But she wouldn't say anything in front of the small man; it wasn't his place to know whether they had issues or not.

I'll talk to her later about this stupid move. Maybe a punch to the face would help.

The three found that the Druid returned, saying he couldn't keep up with the Trow. Ashling crossed her arms in irritation, but she didn't really care. Eh. No bark off my trunk. Our mission was to go to Zangar. They were just a side quest.  

[SiberDrac]

The Fae disagreed. A tree eating a Trow would be incredibly entertaining. Even more entertaining: riding a tree. "Yes I need a ride." He thought briefly. "Where, again? And I'm supposed to be tracking those guys." He had no business in the north, unless that was the direction the Trow had gone, but he would happily ride a tree for any excuse whatsoever.

When Osiris returned, Nine listened to what he had to say. He then threw the Druid to the ground with a blast of wind hard enough to feel like a physical blow and stepped on his chest, ball peen hammer in hand. "I wanted to kill things tonight. I won't kill you, because I need you to take me to the trow so that I can later kill more things, but so far, nothing is dead." The air around Osiris' groin became uncomfortably moist as Nine drained the water from it and began soaking the commander's breeches with it. He stepped off, smiling, and tossed the hammer away.

"Your plan sounds solid. I am going to go ride a tree." With that, he approached Ashling said, "One day, I will turn you into a bonfire," and promptly began climbing her. "EORLINGAS, WE RIDE!"  

[Jokerman-EXE]

"Are you planning on moving through the night? If you are, I'll walk beside you," he said to the Trents. Nine might enjoy riding a tree - yup, he sure did. His glee was hardly contained. But Osiris had no problem walking on his own two feet. It was his mission, after all, so he didn't want to accept unnecessary help.  

[Isa-sama]

Ashling wanted nothing more than to throw the damn Fae off of her. And so she did. Unfortunately, it didn't seem that it was getting into the pea-brained person. She sagged her shoulders and let him climb her again. She also mumbled something about wearing his skin as gloves and his organs as jewelry, but whether anyone paid attention she didn't know or care.

The child climbed as far away from Nine as he possibly could. He hadn't forgotten the crucified comment.

Canopy's eyes were laughing. Ashling kicked the other Trent.

Since Osiris decided to walk, it made Ashling like the Druid. Only a little though. She poked the shape shifter and made him fall over. Oops. Didn't mean that. Canopy said,

Everything done, the group started heading north into the night. It must have been very important if two factions were chasing after the information.  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Osiris liked the Trents - Canopy slightly more than Ashling, but hey. He was glad he decided to stay on the ground: it seemed that Ashling didn't enjoy people crawling about.

"They have some information that we need," he said to the trees. "The Fae sent Nine and the Druids sent me to find them and get what we needed. See, those Trow...they've seen Aeon."  

[SiberDrac]

As he clambered back up, gripping the branches somewhat more tightly this time, Nine listened to the lovely sound of descriptions of gore. "I once dyed my hair with Fae blood. It dried unpleasantly; I wouldn't recommend it. As for jewelry, if you would look at my hair, you will notice that some of these are shriveled cougar eyes." He dangled a few strands in front of Ashling's face. "Oh! And I need to find the Trow because they talked to someone important, apparently. I don't know whom."

Briefly, he considered musing out loud about his still-present desire to make wood sculptures out of his mount, but then thought better of it and turned his attention to the child. He waved. "If I tried to crucify you now, I would be stabbed. So. My name is Saturnine Rhapsody - 'Nine' for short, or 'Lord of Hell' on formal occasions. How are you?" He nestled the hammer, nail, and lion tail in a crook of Ashling's branches.  

[Isa-sama]

Aeon? Those Trow knew something about Aeon?! Isn't THIS interesting. Knowledge like that was very rare; no wonder the Trow were running. Ashling felt uneasy about the human named Aeon. Whoever he was, he was important enough that everyone wanted to know him. Could that puny man really change the war? It was a chilling thought.

The child looked at Nine in fear. Once the man made his introductions, the boy climbed a little bit closer to the bigger branches (poor thing was hanging on the very tips). Though he'd been asked a question, he didn't speak. Instead, he spoke in sign language. The boy understood what was going on around them (so he wasn't deaf), but apparently wouldn't/couldn't say anything.

------

The group moved throughout the night and didn't stop until they reached the gates of Zangar. While each kingdom had their own capital city, Zangar was the city where the truce was made and therefore, every race could come and go as they pleased. Currently, only Lord Phalanx and Battlemaster Cougar resided in the city.

Ashling mentioned to the three strangers. She shook the two travelers off her branches. The child seemed ready to cry at being left alone with Nine and Osiris. Ashling mentioned this mostly for the child, but if the others wanted to meet again, that would be surprising.

--------

"Theridan. Wait a moment," Filly said. Before they met with Lord Phalanx, the three needed to have a private talk. "Before we go in, there's something you should know. And that is to keep your mouth shut. We did not run into Aeon, we did not talk to him, we did not even know where he was. I know you said you'd talk to that Druid. You need to lie. Do not tell him anything about Aeon." The doors opened, and Filly turned around to talk to their Lord.

"So? Was the mission a success?" Lord Phalanx was standing behind his desk staring down at the three men. The men tilted their heads down as their salute before Filly stepped in front. "We were not able to assassinate Archmage Azrial. The mission failed." Phalanx narrowed his eyes at the trio. With a sigh, he said, "I wasn't expecting much better. He is not the leader of the Fae for nothing." He stared at the three men and asked, "Was there anything else that happened during the mission?" Before Theridan could reply, Filly answered, "Yes sir. Our other member was killed to prevent any spreading word of the assassination. Other than that, nothing happened."

Phalanx nodded and then waved his hand away. "Then you have my leave to go." The three nodded and were on their way out when Phalanx called them out again. "Actually, I need to speak to Theridan for a moment. The two of you may leave." Filly gave Theridan a meaningful stare before leaving with his brother.

When the door closed, Phalanx walked over to the remaining Trow. "You were not meant to be a part of the original assignment, so perhaps you weren't informed of certain information. As you know, this was an assassination attempt. However, that was all they were meant to do. Did they perhaps venture offcourse?" It was clear that Phalanx had very little trust in anyone. "No harm will come to you. I only want the truth."

Theridan was faced with two choices. He could either lie to his leader and say that nothing else happened, or he could mention the fact that they saw Aeon. What information they had, he did not personally know, but it was certain that the information would be tortured out of the Trow siblings. Their lives were in his hands now.  

[Venom3001]

"Sir. The..." This man sent assassins after the leader of our allies. "... only irregularity was that the Fae seemed to have dispatched a pursuit - one Fae by the name of Saturnine Rhapsody. He seemed to want to interrogate us but Filly managed to provide us cover for an escape. I expect, however, he may be in this city soon. With all due respect, Lord Phalanx, it would probably be best to keep the brothers safely away from him."  

[Jokerman-EXE]

They parted ways. Osiris thought briefly about keeping an eye on Nine and the child, and figured that it would probably be a good idea.

"Hey Nine!" he called. "Want to meet an excellent warrior? I was thinking of going to visit Battlemaster Cougar - with a name like that, you know he's got to be good!" He waited enough distance away and had such a stance that Nine got the impression he had little time to decide in.  

[iD bracerS]

((*is SiberDrac* sorry guys, did it again))

"I'm perfectly harmless," Nine assured the child. With one hand, he ruffled his hair and with the other, he brought a spire of stone out of the earth and with it, a bunny impaled on the tip. He plucked off the breakfast and held onto it until landfall was made, making sure the blood dripped mostly on the ground and Ashling. He "listened in" on Ashling and Osiris, and for most of the ride really was comparatively harmless, actually falling asleep for a short period of time.

He woke up when he was thrown to the ground at Zangar. "ROAR!" he said, quite loudly, wind magic effectively shredding the dead bunny to ribbons as he awoke. After blinking a few times and examining the mess in his hands, then wiping it on Ashling before she left, the tree's communication registered, and his eyes turned back to the child. Nine really, really wanted to hear this child scream, but at the same time... he needed breakfast. "Kid, I don't have money. You can ride on my shoulders and we can go beg for food." That in mind, he looked briefly at Osiris.

"You've already made my day worse once. I'm hungry. If Zuberi here is of a mind, we're going to go get some. Unless you have your own?" Not accustomed to having his own food on his person, Nine had forgotten about the loaf of bread in his satchel. He got on a knee and held out a hand to the child.  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Osiris shrugged. "Fine with me, Nine. Zuberi, would you like to come meet the great Battlemaster Cougar?" No child could resist meeting a great hero.  

[Isa-sama]

Ashling arrived with Canopy at the entrance of Battlemaster Cougars' diplomatic office. They tapped (and it had to be a tap or else the door would fall over) to let the Battlemaster know of their arrival, and within a few minutes, the man opened the door to let them in. "Thank you for arriving at such short notice. I did not expect such speedy results," the man slightly smiled. "I have asked Behemo for a huge favor, and he sent for you two." This did not bother the Trents for they knew of the friendship between Cougar and Grand Oak Behemo.

"Ashling, you are a Warrior, correct?" "And have you ever had training in being a Tenderer?" She'd mostly failed at it, but that was besides the point. "Then this is what I - no, what Ulla - needs from you." Battlemaster Cougar put his hand on the tall tree's shoulder. "I need you to go undercover into Fae territory. They are in need of a healer and the Dryads won't provide them one. Right now, we need to know what the Aros kingdom is planning. Your job will be to go as a Tenderer and remain near Archmage Azrial. You will await for further instruction from there."

Now Cougar turned to Canopy. "You, young Trent, are going on a very different sort of mission." He turned to Ashling and said, "Likely you won't cross paths for quite a while. Perhaps it's best to say your goodbyes now. The conversation I have with Canopy will be long, and I'm sure you will want your rest." Ashling nodded and turned to give Canopy a goodbye slap to the arm. Canopy hugged her friend.

Once exiting the building, she turned to look for the child. Hopefully he hadn't been killed in the short while she was gone.

----------------

The kid looked at Nine's hand as if it were about to bite him. After a few times of switching his stare from hand to face, Zuberi reached for the Fae's hand. He sniffed the air and then gently pulled on the older man's hand. Incidentally, it would lead them past Ashling.

Now that there was light, it was obvious that the boy wasn't a Dryad. That left only two other races that the child could be. Druid or Human. The clothes the boy wore didn't point to either race.

-----------------

Phalanx nodded to himself. "So the Fae did get a slight inkling of what was going on. And to send Saturnine Rhapsody?" The man chuckled sinisterly. "Either he's worried or he just doesn't want to put any extra effort into dealing with me." Phalanx smirked at Theridan. "Yes, they'll have to run. Thank you for your good work," he said. "You may leave and enjoy a few days of rest."  

[Venom3001]

Theridan saluted. "Sir." He turned on his heels and left, moving off into the streets and making for the Loose Lass Tavern. As it was morning and most of its guests were still hung over, he was able to check out a room without being seen. The owner of the establishment smiled at him. She and Theridan had an understanding. The owner denied ever seeing Theridan, and Theridan did not report to the authorities that it was a brothel (particularly after the great lengths the owner had to go to in convincing the authorities it was not a brothel in the first place, despite the name).