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Post by Bee on Nov 25, 2007 17:29:37 GMT -5
[Warning: Touched by the Contrivance Faerie. The Contrivance Faerie on crack.]
The trek from Capital City was a long one, down the treacherous path through uncharted territory that would take them past the Court of Clubs and through the Range before finally depositing them at their destination, the Josiggy Marsh. They intended to get there well before Shinrai and his companion; it had become an issue of pride to get there first and establish a base of operations after the stallion had run his mouth off about how terribly dangerous the Marsh was and how they would need to follow authority.
Ridiculous and insulting, it was. Mnem and Minh were more than capable of handling themselves.
Especially with Monty by their side. The fearsome, mutated little bander took the lead, hissing and snarling at everything that made noise, bright blue eyes always casting about for the first sign of anything suspicious. Mnem herself was in bipedal form, figuring that this made her look more imposing to anything off the beaten path that might want to attack. There has not been an incident on this path for quite some time, but she did not want to take any chances.
Her gaze shifted to Minh. They had been traveling nonstop from Capital City for the last five hours, determined to make as much progress as possible before nightfall, when they would really need to be cautious. "About time for a brief snack, I should think."
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Dark
Five of Diamonds
Bladed Hare
You are not prepared.
Posts: 2,105
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Post by Dark on Nov 26, 2007 20:06:14 GMT -5
“Thank you.” Minh sprawled gracelessly, sinking into the cool grass to the side of the path with a relieved sigh. She was exhausted, and Mnemosyne had been a relentless, unmovable force pushing them forward—they hadn’t stopped in hours and she was hungry and tired and her paws hurt. Well, not really. It wasn’t that bad, but Minh felt the need to reiterate these slights to her personage to Mnem anyway—it was a matter of principle.
She dug into her pack, praising her genius again as she examined the filtration device she’d rigged to keep their food cool and longer lasting—as long as they filled it up with cold water intermittently, they were set. Finding what she was looking for, she pulled a small sliver of meat out and tossed it to Monty who snapped it down with wolfish glee.
Rolling around to stretch out the kinks, she plucked a blade of grass and concentrated—Aderlass, all flames and cheap musk—but she didn’t feel the familiar brush of his mind. Apparently there was a limit to her telepathy. Huh.
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Post by Bee on Nov 26, 2007 20:54:51 GMT -5
Mnem sat carefully on the ground next to Minh and Monty (the former sprawled out and trying to look long-suffering, the latter shredding a bit of meat with intense alacrity), and plucked some pomegranate juice and a sandwich from the little portable icebox Minh had invented. It really was a rather brilliant device, Mnem had to admit. Especially in light of the fact that she wasn't the one carrying it.
She unwrapped her sandwich and tried to relax. Just for a minute. Then they needed to get moving again. They had something like fifty miles to traverse they were running out of daylight.
She had barely taken a bite out of her snack when she heard the rustle. In the trees, not far off the path. Too close. Her fur stood on end, ears pricked. This was not good.
"Minh," she said, hoping she was being paranoid, "did you happen to hear something?"
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Dark
Five of Diamonds
Bladed Hare
You are not prepared.
Posts: 2,105
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Post by Dark on Nov 26, 2007 22:52:03 GMT -5
Minh helped herself to a bit of Mnem’s pomegranate juice and didn’t immediately answer, not feeling particularly like playing into Mnem’s growing paranoia. The canine had been overly sensitive about the possibility of ambush, and she’d been on high-alert from the very moment they’d stepped outside the front door this morning.
“You know, you’ve really got to relax. Nothing is going to—”
Minh’s ears twitched in the direction of some sort of whistling sound—a bird of some sort, maybe? She glanced nonchalantly over her shoulder, idol curiosity turning swiftly into full-blown panic when she spotted a rain of black death falling from the sky. Someone was shooting arrows at them—what the frak.
But, yeah—probably time to start saving herself, or something. Shit.
She gave a girlish shriek and was up and running, shouldering her pack all in one motion, “We’re gonna get freakin’ arrowed! Save yourselves!”
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Post by Bee on Nov 26, 2007 23:21:27 GMT -5
How tremendously brave of Minh, to shriek so terribly and flee in such a manner. Mnem would need to have monuments erected in her honor. When she herself was safely out of the path of the shower of arrows that threatened to kill them, anyway. She lifted her pack above her head as she darted away, trying to shield herself, and she saw Minh and Monty running out of the corner of her eye.
Well, Minh was running, anyway, a black blur of lurching ungainly terror. Monty was launching hirself into the air with fearsome glee, trying to catch some of the arrows in hir keen little jaws, like this was some kind of game. Catch the arrows, Monty! Fetch!
Who the devil could be shooting arrows at them? What really lurked beyond the path?
No incidents in years, nothing, with travelers passing safely from Capital City to the Courts, but of course they ran into trouble. They attracted it like fleas attracted the plague.
So they ran erratically, trying to avoid the rain of death, but the arrows kept coming.
"We need to stop this!" she yelled to Minh.
Somehow.
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Dark
Five of Diamonds
Bladed Hare
You are not prepared.
Posts: 2,105
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Post by Dark on Nov 27, 2007 0:51:30 GMT -5
Unless their unseen attackers had longbows, Minh was well out of range and she slowed just a bit in her frantic dash towards safely in order to check on her companions—Mnem wasn’t far behind, but Monty seemed to have missed the running for our lives part. Plight momentarily forgotten, she felt her attention shift to her idiotic experiment:
“Monty, damn it… Get over here! What do you think you’re doing? We do not play fetch with arrows!”
It was about that time that she realized she’d ranted her way right back into the line of fire. Shit. She ducked down into the grass, hoping that by some small grace her pack would save her from the brunt of the barrage. This is going to stiiinnnnggg…
The thunk of arrows was horrendous, and she curled smaller—nothing happened. Eh? She glanced up into a solid, woven wall of green. Was that… grass?
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Post by Bee on Nov 27, 2007 1:53:54 GMT -5
The arrows were still flying, striking the bizarre wall of grass that had appeared out of nowhere. Which meant that Minh and Monty--that twice-cursed little hellspawn--were safe, but unable to move without again being in the thick of the attack. Damn and double damn.
There had to be something she could do. She held up her pack again. Perhaps she could run to them and escort them to safety? Or something? No. That was idiotic. But what else could she do, except yell? She was not a fan of screaming unless she could scream something useful.
Plan A, then, awful as it was. She couldn't leave Minh and Monty there. Who knew what evil would follow the arrows, if they ever let up?
So she ran, darting to and fro, until she reached Minh and Monty. She grabbed Minh, who was clutching a writhing Monty, and pulled them away.
And away.
And away.
When Mnem finally had the presence of mind to look around, she nearly fell out of the sky.
She was in the sky.
And, because some occasions just called for obscenity: "Holy ever-loving fuck."
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Dark
Five of Diamonds
Bladed Hare
You are not prepared.
Posts: 2,105
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Post by Dark on Nov 27, 2007 21:35:03 GMT -5
You have to be fucking kidding me. Manipulating grass seemed a petty parlor trick when compared to flying and Minh felt a momentarily swell of jealousy that was quick in fleeting with Monty trying to burrow inside her skin—apparently liking heights wasn’t entirely exclusive to having wings, or wing in Monty’s special case. The bander was absolutely terrified, making a constant, high-pitched keening noise and making a rather successful attempt at flaying Minh alive. If Monty wasn’t so valuable to her research, Minh would be tempted to drop the wretched creature.
“So, uh, Mnem-dear… you do realize we’re actually closer to the arrows now, yes?”
She clung tighter to her canine-companion, squishing Monty in an attempt to make herself as small a target as possible as more arrows whizzed by. Looking through the tiny crack between her limbs she could see the ground below, grass giving way to trees.
Their attackers sure seemed to have a lot of arrows…
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Post by Bee on Nov 28, 2007 0:33:10 GMT -5
Her lift-off into the sky was so natural and easy that Mnem suspected that, under different circumstances, flight would be something simple, but at the moment Mnem had not been in the air for more than a minute than she began to feel the weight of her cargo, a large bipedal feline and the small bander that squirmed and squawked furiously.
She tried to keep them aloft as they glided over the trees and away from the arrows, farther and father from the beaten path. This had been an incredibly stupid thing to do. They were probably safer under a shower of arrows than in this uncharted wilderness. But then, how was she supposed to have guessed that she could fly?
Not too long later, the weight became too much. She began to lose altitude, and tried her best to glide them softly to the ground rather than crash.
She was half-successful.
"Brace yourself," she told Minh, because, after all, the feline was going to be the one breaking her fall.
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Dark
Five of Diamonds
Bladed Hare
You are not prepared.
Posts: 2,105
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Post by Dark on Nov 29, 2007 20:49:12 GMT -5
Minh sensed more than felt the rapid loss of altitude with a growing sense of trepidation, mind rapidly calculating their trajectory as Monty chattered unhappily and dug further into her shoulder. “Mnem… aren’t we going a little fast to land safely?”
It was about that point in time that Minh realized they were slipping from Mnem’s hasty grasp, but she didn’t have time for more than an alarmed squawk before she was falling.
“Fucccckkk.”
Thinking while plummeting towards one’s imminent death proved to be rather tricky, but Minh had enough state of mind to grab Monty. Jumbled glimpses of trees and ground and more trees didn’t offer much hope of a soft landing. She clamped her eyes shut.
Grass had a very unique, very green mental quality about it. And while the thought hadn't even crossed her mind, she felt the familiar mental brush and felt an idea taking root. Would she be able to do something similar to what she’d done when she’d faced being arrowed? Normally, she wouldn’t put her faith in an untried ability at such a critical moment, but considering it was a matter of life-and-death, she felt the situation deemed such risk necessary.
She reached out and twisted—the last thing she saw before she hit was a wall of green rising up to meet her.
((Because of the nature of this, Bee has permission to explain further what just happened if she so wishes. I’m feeling lazy, and Minh has decided to take a nap. XP ))
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