I Once Saw the Past [Trebias]

[Trebias]

Rai had done quite a good job of sneaking away, so much so that while Elias was focused on the group of Lowlander poachers, he had missed Rai sneaking away. "Boy!" he hissed between his teeth.

He thought he caught sight of the horse creeping through the brush, trying to get a better look at the trio. That wouldn't do at all. He crept through as well, trying to move quickly but silently to catch up with Whip. He'd throttle the kid if he gave their position away. Well, that, and if they survived it.

In all honesty, he would need someone to fight with him, but so far he'd mostly seen Rai tense up. Not so much freezing up as much as an uncertainty how to act. It had happened a lot at first whenever Elias had come even close to him, and Elias was glad those days were gone. Hopefully they were gone enough that Rai could kick in a few knees or heads now if he needed to.

"Get back here!" he hissed, not quite wanting to use the voice ability that he didn't have full control over. "I will end you!" he threatened, though he wouldn't mean it later.

[seraaches]

Rai was oblivious to both Elias' need for a partner and to the hissed whispers to get back to his teacher's side. All of his attention was wrapped up in his creeping; this meant he was a great deal more stealthy than he'd ever managed in practice, but it also meant all of his attention was wrapped up in it. He wasn't paying attention to exactly where he was until he found out that he was frighteningly close to. . . three Lowlanders!

Fear slammed into him first, but rage was swift to follow. How dare they! They were poaching on El's land, they'd nearly maimed him, and they had killed his brother!

His reaction was understandably illogical, but it was also most assuredly unwise. Shinrai gave a gargled roar of challenge-- it's fright factor either growing or diminishing based on the fact that his voice cracked in the middle of it-- and he leapt at the surprised Lowlanders and began to fight like a madbeast.

[Trebias]

Elias swore colorfully under his breath, and exploded out of the brush. He hadn't quite expected that reaction from the colt, but he wasn't surprised, either. He did know that he was biting at the leg of one of the Lowlanders before he could believe he'd gotten into the fight.

He felt tendons pop and rip, and he know that this lowlander wouldn't be hobbling after him too much. The kid had been a good distraction, but he was going to have to help him before things got too serious.

He was going to leave the lowlander he'd just bitten alone, and take care of the more mobile threats, but the *&(*& grabbed him and tried to drag him back. He turned, pinning the limbs of the rot and biting at the throat. He really didn't care about killing the lower form of life, he just wanted to get to Rai's side as quickly as he could.

He could tell the mad dog style, so to speak, was working somewhat well for the kid. He was big for a card, being an equine, even though he was young. El had made sure he was strong, but he was still outnumbered. The two were cut up from being kicked, but pressing in, sensing young blood to be spilled. He leapt and put his hindquarters to those of Rai, so that they were covering each other's back.

[seraaches]

It didn't take long for the Lowlanders to recover; it was hardly their first foray into the Marsh. The screaming banshee of a child, however, was something of an unpleasant surprise and the colt managed get in a few good kicks and some rather nasty bites before they're survival instincts really kicked into gear.

Their third, however, managed to get entangled with a full-sized Josiggy canine, and they wouldn't let the angry ball of hide and hooves keep them distracted from such a juicy target.

Unfortunately, both were proving to be slightly more difficult to actual target.

When El came to his back, the colt almost kicked out instinctively, stopping himself from slamming his hind hooves into Elias by sheer force of will. His ears flattened and he bared his teeth viciously at the Lowlanders. "We're going to kill you all!" he neighed as frighteningly as he could manage.

[Trebias]

In Elias' personal opinion, both threats would have been a lot more menacing if not delivered by a youngling with some cracks in his voice, but there was no doubting the sincerity with which Rai delivered his message.

El regretted not having more magic to use in this fight, but was relieved that at the very least the Lowlanders were all 10 and below, so they would most LIKELY not have some odd random magic to maim and deform an enemy. Unless they were spying on a mage like he had. Maybe they could throw their voice back at him. The could fight with puppets instead! They could decide the winner based on humor and relevance to the human condition, as well as originality. Then, if that didn't work, they could rip each other's throats out.

El decided to skip the middle man and lunged at the 10 of Spades, a Lowlander ferret. He wanted a throat shot, but anything that would cripple or kill would do.

[seraaches]

When Elias leapt for a target, so did the colt. He rammed into a Five of Diamonds, his ears flat as he viciously tried to rip into the cougar. The large cat was rather surprised by the move and she reared back to try and swipe at the colt before he reached her. He was aided through the simple fact that she was missing most of her right foreleg and he was able to duck almost gracefully beneath the killer claws.

He whirled even as he reached her, letting his hind hooves fly out and catch the woman right in the jaw. There was a satisfying crack and a resounding thud through his hindlegs. The feeling of impact dancing up his legs brought a sense of rightness. Justice coming at last.

She made a sound of distress and pain, then rage filled her eyes and she tried to bare her teeth. It brought about another gasp of pain and Rai bared his teeth yet again.

[Trebias]

Elias bit down fiercely, coming up with the arm the bipedal ferret had thrown up in defense. The Lowlanders seemed to have been counting on the fact that they outnumbered the two, so El was counting on the fact that he probably hated them a lot more than they hated him. He worried at the ferret's arm like it was, well, a rodent, trying to jerk the bipedal off balance. He was stronger in this form, and just hoped that the magic the card gained at 10 would come back to haunt him.

Claws raked at his back as the ferret ripped into him, picking him up and throwing him in sheer panic. A good chunk of the Rot's arm came with El, though, and that hand was now useless. The Card seemed to start feeling the loss of blood, and Elias happily spit gore and meat from his mouth. This thing wasn't worth eating.

At least he most likely had the advantage here on the riverbank with his ability to manipulate the mud and soft earth. He just didn't want to fire that ability off prematurely. But, on the plus side, all they had to do was knock the lowlanders out, and then they could bury them. They'd be dying AND suffering then.

[seraaches]

It suddenly went wrong for the colt; Rai wasn't really sure how or why it happened. He'd gotten a good kick in her jaw, but perhaps that made things worse rather than better. Suddenly he was pinned on his side, one of her large paws spanned over his throat to hold his neck to the ground.

The Heart gave a squeal of rage, but, no matter how hard he thrashed his body, he couldn't seem to break free. The Diamond cougar growled deep in her throat between clenched teeth. Ha! At least he appeared to have broken her jaw. It wasn't much of a victory in view of the fact that he was about to eviscerated, but it was something. A very little something.

I hope I give you horrible indigestion, he thought viciously at her. For some reason it didn't occur to him that he wouldn't be eaten by the Lowlander.

[Trebias]

Elias and the card had been circling each other, and Elias could see the cougar pin Rai out of the corner of his eye. He threw himself at the cougar, trying to find something, anything to bite after shouting to Rai "Get the other one!" Then he was rolling along the ground trying to keep from getting his guts ripped out.

He activated his low ability, and was suddenly enough stronger for it to make a difference. Technically, he could only carry more, but that made his legs and core stronger as a result, making him a little more like a think of iron. He didn't expect the fight to last 24 hours, so the safest thing would be to kill these and make sure none followed him and Rai back (hoping they made it) while El recovered.

His jaws like a thing of iron after so much time eating tough, nigh-undigestible food, he felt snaps as the cougar's finer bones gave way under unrelenting teeth and jaws. He did his best to take out the four limbs with their wicked claws before trying for a killing blow.

[seraaches]

Rai didn't hesitate to follow the order; as soon as the cougar was off of him, Rai flung himself at the injured ferret. He didn't necessarily weigh a great deal, but he was a growing boy and the ferret was already seriously injured. His Marshdwelling blood inflamed by his brush with death, Shinrai wailed on the ferret.

The Lowlander tried desperately to back up as their third tried to circle around and find a way to stop one of the crazies attacking his compatriots. He gurgled something in the Lowlander language, and the ferret hissed something back, but Rai's ruff was up, so to speak, and he gave another squeal of rage before sending sharp hooves at the ferret's face. Trying to defend himself with his remaining arm, the ferret suffered even more cuts and gashes as the colt's feet ripped fiercely into him.

The ferret tried to get the kid to back towards his friend, but so far the young horse wasn't cooperating.