Peaceful Days, Nights of Blood 3 (Hibernating for now!)

[Orcus Fieres]

Orcus stared out into the dark valley opposite the mesas to his left. The road the carriage followed seemed almost to be a separation between the two topographies. A separation of worlds, something that his people out to the east could not do. News of the war to the far west had reached his people almost a month ago, they had sent him out three weeks ago and after a long trip he had finally reached his destination.

~~

Two days after his final carriage ride across back country and city alike, he reached a small village nearest the war-front. A quaint little town of only three hundred citizens at most. It acted as a trading post, one of the busiest Orcus had ever seem, for leather, weapons, steel, and glass. Lumber seemed to also be in great stock, probably for the active building of defenses, no doubt.

It just so happen to have brought thoughts of the future to him. The city would profit greatly from the war. It brought this once little place to its summit, but what would it do to his home front? Surely this would be a question to answer at a later date. For now he had to find accommodations for the night. A midnight tussle which he interrupted made for good enough reason to kick him out of his first inn. Orcus drew his sword on the owner of the next inn, effectively getting kicked out. By then the road seemed as good a place as any. 'The street would be no place for the assistant to nobles' The thought brought his head up and lead him to an inn run by a man and his wife. It was essentially a house with three extra rooms and nothing else. It suited Orcus' needs well enough.

He rested his head without trouble this time around and woke the next morning. He left his luggage in his room and paid for its storage. Orcus then headed off towards the nearest encampment.


((This would just put me at the correct point of the story line, not skipping forward or anything.))  

[Ty Gwynnia]

Verin shrugged in response to the fact that if she did hit him, her assumption would be correct. Assuming that she'd be able to with his reflexes. "Her name's Isariah." He said in reply.

"Even if you did know it was coming, how would you even get separated in a storm? Unless one of you bolted." Fenrir replied out of nowhere to the girl, having appeared sitting back-to-back with Azoth with both legs on either side of the large man's horse. He leaned backwards and settled more comfortably against the rider. "Then again, the storms do get pretty bad on the plains if you're not an expert on them."

At first Rore didn't know what his friend was staring at. Then it became apparent to him that a black smudge was slowly taking shape on the horizon. He gasped aloud when itrevealed itself to be a dragon, though Gorash had no other response than to just stare. They watched as it moved off to their left, flying lower as it did, then a bright flash lit the already sunny day up a little. He gasped again as Gorash's body went rigid and the townsfolk began to point and shout as the trees caught on fire. A deep laughter echoed at them over the distance but it didn't look like the large dragon was heading towards Salim at all, in fact, it angled more to the west to pass around the town as it breathed flames. "What in all the hells...?"

"That's him." Gorash mumbled almost from a distance, his gray-blue eyes still fixed on the dark dragon. His fingers grasped on something on his arm and he pulled it off easily, holding up a small, newly grown black scale up before him. He flicked it off to the side and rubbed the afflicted spot. "That's the Eon that Strider's been so worried about."  

[Orcus Fieres]

Last he had heard, the nearest encampment was to the north, far north. This left him traveling for two days before he was to reach it. Or it would have if Orcus hadn't traveled through the night.

Although he did not fear the terrors of darkness and its beasts, the thought of being at their mercy tickled his nerves. This left him with only the option of continuing northward through the night. At some point during the next day he found a camp. 'I've finally arrived.' His first thoughts were cut short by the sounds of armour rattled and swords unsheathed. Orcus, with hands raised, found himself with sword points at his face and lightly poking his chest. "I'm here as a foreign delegate." It meant nothing to the soldiers. "Move aside so that I may speak to the ranking officer." He demanded and commanded respect.  

[Strifer Garuwashi]

Azoth practically burst into a snarl moment before a person appeared on the back of his horse. He could feel it coming, but only moments before, and there was nothing he could have done about it. "Storms are not to be trifled with, just as dragons are not to be taken lightly." When the man leaned back into him for comfort, for the voice clearly came from a man, Azoth shook himself with so much force it nearly knocked the horse on it's side. The horse whinnied out of fear, and it was his hope that the man would be forced from the horse, one way or another.  

[Ty Gwynnia]

"I've had ample experience with both." Fenrir replied back light-heartedly as he took the hint to get off. After dismounting, however, he kept pace beside the beast with a light jog. He felt bad for the animal as it had to carry such a heavy burden on its back. But at least it didn't have to worry about supporting the weight that the armor of the other two riders wore. "Enjoying the ride so far?" He asked up the man in red, shooting a friendly grin at him.  

[Strifer Garuwashi]

Azoth shook his head once in a quick movement. "Any enjoyment that was to be had was stolen from me by the knight with memory problems." A quick sniff of the air after he spoke pricked his senses. The newcomer had a familiar scent. A stench that had not entered his nostrils in some time. He couldn't quite place his claw on it though. It was also quite a familiar outfit, although that had probably very little to do with anything. Perhaps the top hat looked familiar. All top hat's look the same you fool. Azoth mentally scolded himself. "Your scent is familiar. What are you?" Perhaps it was rude of him to ask what the being was before the name, especially after shrugging him from the horse, but it mattered little to the red dragon. The intrigue of the man's race was far more appealing.  

[transformersgirl13]

"That's a lovely name." Raven said, and patted the horses neck fondly. "Lovely color too, for a horse."

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Sasha couldn't help but jump slightly, as a man randomly popped up out of nowhere, she looked at the new man, and sensed something... off... she blinked as not one, but two of her friends smell was on the man, her eyes narrowed, who was he?  

[Ty Gwynnia]

"Er, thanks...?" It came out like a question to Verin's ears, but the mare perked up as if understanding Raven and began to walk smoother. He straightened up in his saddle as his eyes caught something on the ahead. However it was only a familiar face and he soon relaxed. "What's the hurry?" He asked as Elistral patted her own mount again and she slowed within speaking range.

"Nice to see you again, Verin," Elistral greeted him first before explaining. She didn't mention anything to him then ofhis change, how he'd gone from a lean teenager to a hardened killer. Maybe not so cold-hearted as I assume... came a line of thought. "There was a dragon around here, no doubt you know that already." She watched as he averted his eyes to one of his boots.

Rore was reluctant to leave Gorash standing outside by himself, but they both found themselves rushing along with the crowd to fetch anything that could hold water. Someone started to climb the belltower's stairs as a few magic users scrambled against the tide to the far west wall. Despite the irony, he was glad that the dragon had only targeted the forest for whatever reason he'd had.

"I can't imagine why it would be, " Fenrir answered, just as curious as Azoth. The hairs on the back of his neck rose up at the same moment that he felt someone staring at him. The starer was a small girl. well, small considering the knight behind her, on one of the other two horses. "Miss." He said politely, tipping his hat at her before turning his attention back to the dragon his nose told him the gruff man was. At first he wondered if he should so easily reveal his race. But then again, it had already been shown not too long ago. And not surprisingly enough, Fenrir wanted to say it out loud. "Well, I fancy myself as a werewolf but here, I am called a Sire wolf. Same thing but with a different name."  

[Strider Wolfheart]

"Sire wolves, said to be a race of wolves made by the gods. The god of wolf species, capable of taking human shape, speak in many languages, think freely, and kill dragons. How peculiar to see one alive, if he really if one." Sardain didn't even look back, not feeling any malicious intent from him.

"Well, regardless of what you are, where did you come from?" Aleck had a hand on his hilt, ready for anything.

"They were gifted with the use of magic. I'm sure he just teleported here." Sardain looked back at Aleck.

"Verin! Oh my gosh, you've grown up." Demios landed near Verin, looking him over a few times. "And stout too."

"Ah, glad to see the whole gang's here." Strider walked up to the two horses and Demios. "I hope all of you saw him?"  

[Ty Gwynnia]

"And you've...stayed the same." Verin replied slowly, looking Demios up and down. "Did you even change at all?" Maybe something with the dragon's hair had changed, or face, but he still looked almost exactly as he had the last time they'd seen each other. He shifted uncomfortably in his saddle at Strider's mention of a certain sight.

"By him, you mean Eon? Yes." Elistral glanced involuntarily behind her. She surprised herself by feeling...a little small. A distant call made her look to the right, though, and stopped any further words. A soldier, or guard, she could never really tell the difference seeing as they were essentially the same, was on horseback about 20 feet away. Being an elf, she could hear his words easily and raised an arm up in response. He turned around and went back the way he came. Elistral turned to the others with a sigh. "I was just told that someone found by one of the camps on the plains wants to talk to a ranking officer. Unfortunately, he's turned to me." She clicked her tongue and her horse began its journey off the road and into the tall grasses. As she went, she called back, "I'll see you all back at Salim."

"Oh, well if you just explain all of the interesting bits then that hardly leaves any mystery at all. Genius." Fenrir rolled his eyes in mock frustration, but the glint in his eyes and the large smile present on his face spoke otherwise. Becoming bored of keeping pace with the red man's horse, he sped up a little and hopped up behind the lead knight, in purple, and situated himself there for the brief ride. "And to be clear, I did teleport. But don't worry. I'm plenty interesting already."  

[Orcus Fieres]

Orcus, as much as he fought against it, had been tied up and sat down against a tree. He was being watched over by all the soldiers as they drank in wait of the ranking officer. He shifted uneasily, falling a few times in his spastic movements. "I'm paid a high wage, you know? The lovely ransom you lot have put on my head can be turned to you by my hand alone." He spoke in an attempt to trade his freedom for money, of less use to a soldier than the knowledge of his position which he gave them earlier. "It wold have been damn good of me to drop you lot right then you stood. If I weren't so kind, none of you would be here right now. I hope you understand that well enough!" He yelled now at them. "Let me the hell out of here!" Eloquence escaped him due to the anger caused by ignorance.  

[transformersgirl13]

Raven listened quietly, head turned to one side, they were talking about the dragon, she simply blinked when everyone came over, waiting patiently, wondering when Maxx would come back. She stiffed a yawn, wondering when she had slept last.

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"But from where...?" Sasha asked intently, violet eyes trying to penetrate into the man's thoughts. Watching the man, he called himself a 'Sire wolf' Sardain didn't seem worried, but she tensed slightly when Aleck put his hand on his sword. If he had teleported maybe he could tell her what she suspected from him.  

[Ty Gwynnia]

The camp was a shorter distance from the road than Elistral had thought it was. Bands of soldiers often patrolled the vast landscape to stave off any threats, though some still got through and had to be taken care of anyway. But when her sharp ears caught the sound of one very angry voice as she and Sylvia, still on the back of the horse, came to the encampment, she figured out that there was no immediate threat. For now. The men and women hailed her with half-raised hands and pointed her in the direction of the poor soul to be caught. A drow, or dark elf, tied to a tree. "Untie him at once," she instructed the ones responsible. Then she turned to the man, a smile quirking her lips. "My apologies. They take their duty seriously, sometimes far too much. You wished to talk to an officer?"

"From where indeed..." Fenrir mused back, staring evenly at the girl with his eyes half-closed. "Here, and there, and back again. Sometimes even down the road back to where it all began. But you wanted a direct answer, huh?"  

[Orcus Fieres]

"Thank you miss." Orcus kept still as the soldiers cut his bonds. He then proceeded to stand and bow before the kind woman as he addressed her. "I am Orcus Fieres and I have been sent in my peoples' best interest. On behalf of the Faen Council off to the far east, you see. I've a note from my mistress that should act as official documentation of all my people hope to achieve by sending me here." He patted his coat, feeling around the inside pockets in search of the letter. "Ah, here." He presented the letter to the woman. "It should state that we are only interested in the war not traveling eastward and that I am to do what I must to make sure it doesn't."  

[Strifer Garuwashi]

Azoth's eyes twinkled, but he kept his mouth in a stern expression. A sire wolf, the only thing he fears. An interesting development if anything. The memory problematic knight stated far too much about the wolf for Azoth to feel comfortable, but that didn't change much anyways. With the wolf here things would change. Everything would change. Aleck tense and put a hand on his blade, purely on instinct really, but it didn't bother Azoth.

There was nothing he could do if the wolf wanted to kill them except fight. Azoth was always prepared to fight, something about being a dragon makes one's blood boil. Fighting is where a dragon feels most natural. It was also a great agent of chaos. When the girl asked where the wolf had teleported from, Azoth kicked his horse in to gear, for it was clear the wolf wasn't going to answer. He took five, very strong sniffs of the air as he leaned closer to the wolf. "The scent claims that he was around humans, but retain the smell of the trees near Salim. I'm guessing from somewhere outside the town." He then slowed his horse again back into the slot where he had been. Where he hopefully wouldn't be for long.