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Post by seraaches on Apr 3, 2008 0:01:21 GMT -5
He was drowning; he could tell and the thought ran clearly through his mind, I am going to die. Through the murkiness, he couldn't even see wot had a hold of him, but he could feel the slippery smoothness of wotever had him. Suddenly, it jerked hard and Rai caught a flash of green striped by yellow and gold. Elias!
He wasn't going to just give in to wotever it was that had him! Rai threw his pain ability towards the coiled body that had a hold on him. It jerked again, as though trying to escape the pain and the colt thrashed hard. It tightened around his legs and he could feel his bones creaking as it tightened too much. He lost a bit of his precious air as he snorted in pain. He had to get free!
It loosened its grip slightly in reaction to something El had done and Rai slipped one hock out of its grip. He struggled quickly to free the other, kicking his way to the surface to refill his lungs.
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Post by Trebias on Apr 3, 2008 0:26:41 GMT -5
Elias worried at whatever this was. He thought he saw a big head. Snake? Blasted snakes, he hated snakes. But, he knew he was doing some good damage, at least. He felt the snake jerk, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t from his own biting. He suspected the kid was fighting back with magic. ‘Atta boy, he thought. Able to use magic in conditions like this. He thought he might give a hand. The ground underwater had BETTER be soft enough for his magic to work, otherwise something was seriously wrong.
He called the earth, and it responded to him in ripples and waves. It was even easier in the water. About the time the kid broke free he had enough to do his business. He started burying the snake with it, forcing it down. The snake shifted it’s grip, trying to smother him, and he shifted his focus, forcing mud down the snake’s throat while trying to keep his neck taut and avoid suffocation. Stupid snakes.
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Post by seraaches on Apr 3, 2008 0:39:18 GMT -5
Rai's head broke the top of the water after wot felt like an eternity and he sucked in a deep, gasping breath that shuddered through him as the pangs of fear and adrenaline still raced through him. His mind rejected his desire to analyze the situation just then; that was too close! Oh, gads, Elias!
Grey-green eyes went to the water to search the cloudy water, even though he could see nothing. The water here was just deep enough that he couldn't touch the bottom, though he thought he felt a swirl of mud around his carefully treading hooves.
He wasn't sure if he had the courage to jump back under the choppy, agitated water, but he felt as though he owed the canine that much. Yet again, Elias had come to save his life. He would never be able to repay this. Not in a million years.
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Post by Kiki on Apr 3, 2008 8:44:45 GMT -5
Sera and Trebias
receive 1 token each, to be redeemed in Ashwin's Shoppe.
This will automatically be added to your recorded totals in the shoppe.
Congratulations, and keep up the good RP!
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Post by Trebias on Apr 3, 2008 10:20:30 GMT -5
Elias was fairly sure that he was finished smothering the snake. It was hard to tell through the patches of black that were creeping in on his vision, but he thought that the snake was going slack. He forced more mud and earth into its mouth, and doubled his efforts into worrying at its. . .parts. He couldn’t really call it a neck or a back or anything, if he had the time to think about it. Whatever it was, it tasted snaky.
He tried a different tact, and started slipping mud in between himself and the snake. It was hard work, and he was about at his limit for the day manipulating the mud. He started to get a grip on the snake, and felt the mud cover the scaly body. Between his struggles, the mud down the throat of the snake, and his biting, he was able to get a little breathing room. He rode a small pile of mud to the surface and took a huge, gasping breath. His neck was sore, but he didn’t want to give the snake a second chance. He took a deep breath and dove after it again. He’d chew it right in half, he would.
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Post by seraaches on Apr 3, 2008 10:31:21 GMT -5
Rai was still wavering about whether or not to go under the water again himself-- his body was exhausted, his mind quailing-- when Elias burst through the top of the choppy, muddy brown water like some avenging demon. No angels in this neck of the Marsh.
"Elias!" This time his voice only held relief, but it was truly short-lived. The green canine swallowed a deep, gasping breath of air, then went back under again, and the colt was left staring at the spot the man had disappeared.
#*$&!!! His mind was screaming in fear at him, but he reacted more on instinct than anything else. Taking his own breath, the boy dropped beneath the surface of the water again to try and help out his mentor. He had no idea if El had broken free from the creature or if it had a grip on him and had just pulled the other Marshdweller back under, but he was going to find out.
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Post by Trebias on Apr 3, 2008 23:02:42 GMT -5
Elias was wasting no time. He had effectively cut his visibility down to nil, but he could feel the thing thrashing. He belatedly attempted to target the head, to keep it from biting him. He was probably immune to the venom, but one could never be sure here. He bit, chewed, and pawed at the thing, moving along the strong body to try and find the head.
He’d found it in a few moments, and went to work chewing. He couldn’t suffocate the snake with mud anymore, but he could bloody well tear out its throat, and that’s what he set about doing. The snake was getting weaker, the struggles somehow more frantic and less effective at the same time. Blasted snake.
Finally, the struggles ceased. He was pretty sure that he had felt the kid helping him out, but with visibility so low he couldn’t tell. He could smell the blood in the water, trickling up past his nose and eyes. With the breath he had left, he dragged the snake to the shore. He wasn’t letting that much meat sit here for someone who didn’t help kill it.
He dropped the carcass on the rise that he and Rai had rested on before the attack, and called out to the kid. For a long time he said nothing, just lay on the shore panting. Now that the adrenaline was gone, he was tired and winded. Finally, he said, “These blasted snakes are tricky. They’re quiet, but they can move fast. We’ll just have to learn a little better what to look for so we can avoid them. I’m sorry I let it get a hold of you, kid.”
He rested for a while longer. “That was a good thing you did for me, coming in after me, kid. Pretty stupid. But you’ll find out that loyalty and smarts don’t always go hand in hand, and you’ll have to pick between getting away to probably save yourself and going back to help your friends, where maybe nobody makes it back out.” He didn’t know if he had much more than that speech in him, but really, words wouldn’t express just how grateful and proud he was that the kid had dove into the thick of things like that.
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Post by seraaches on Apr 3, 2008 23:55:45 GMT -5
In the murky darkness of the water, Rai hadn't been entirely certain wot he had found. He hadn't figured out where Elias was until after the snake had stopped struggling, so he'd kicked and beaten at it in hopes of forcing it to let go of the canine long enough for them to get away.
Still, when the snake had given that final, very definite last struggle, Rai had been surprised for it to head towards the surface of the water, and he had followed suit only to-- gladly!-- discover Elias was safe. Tired and covered in mud and blood, but alive. The colt gave a sigh of relief, then collapsed on the little rise next to the Marshdweller canine and just concentrated on breathing for awhile.
His legs rather hurt, but it wasn't anything he couldn't easily ignore; after several months of nearly being crippled, there was a great deal of pain he could manage through with only a little trouble.
He gave a small shake of his head at El's words, a disclaimer, perhaps, though he wasn't immediately certain how to reply. "Didn't have any way to know it was there," the boy finally said, as though defending El's honour from himself.
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Post by Trebias on Apr 4, 2008 0:29:11 GMT -5
Elias shook his head. "There are ways to tell, and we can work on even
better ways." He rose up. "Well, let's put this thing on my back.
We'll head home soon, and take tomorrow off." He'd be able to carry it
back with no problems, but would have to activate his ability to really
make headway. With some flexible limbs they managed to get the thing
secured so that it wouldn't catch on anything.
"Let's head out, kid. Let's just hope that was the only one in the
area, huh?" He moved steadily through the water, feeling better now
that he'd rested and that he was using his ability.
"Did I ever tell you about the time. . ." the story was to try and take
both their minds off of what had happened. Elias didn't seem to want to
talk about it for the time being, and he thought the colt didn't either.
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Post by seraaches on Apr 4, 2008 0:33:33 GMT -5
Rai helped as well as he could, but it was mainly El's directions that allowed him to be of any assistance wotsoever. Still, even he was feeling a little better when they were heading back towards the cabin and not further out into the wilderness of the Marsh. Sometimes, like now, the Marsh seemed so entirely overwhelming; as though she would chew them up and spit them out like some rejected leftover from a less than savory meal.
Rai made the appropriate sounds as Elias launched into a long and rather involved story involving a hippo and a pair of twigs, but his mind was caught on the smooth, scaly skin of the thing that had nearly killed him. He had such a long way to go! Something skittered across his legs in the water and he startled slightly, surging forward to bump into El.
There were no repercussions from wotever brushed him beneath the water, however, and he flushed, hoping El would ignore it since he neither disappeared nor called out afterwards.
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