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

[Strider Wolfheart]

"Ah. Well if you wanted the horse that bad you should've just came right out." Sardain waved to Aleck.

Aleck brought the spare horse forward. "Hello Kylar." Aleck brought the horse up next to Kylar on the road. "Here you are, one spare horse."

"Now, since you were planning on coming with us i'd like you to meet a ward of the state we have found, Sasha Rose." Sardain waved his hand again, motioning towards Sasha. "Say hello, Sahsa." Sardain smiled at Sasha and Aleck.

"Yes, he can be rather brooding." Demios patted Verin's back. "We love the kid though. But what of you two? What's your stories?"

"Yes, I know. It doesn't mean I like it." Sylvia had a cross look on her face as she thought, not wanting to really talk about it. War was horrible, between elves especially.  

[transformersgirl13]

"We were traveling with some friends, but got separated, so we're looking for them." Raven replied to Demios. Maxx nodded.

-----

"Okay, One: How do you know my last name? I never gave it. Two: Hi. Now back to one. How?" Sasha was looking as Sardain with a confused face. Not many people knew her last name, she usually forgot unless they asked. Sardain just seemed to know it, and it bothered her. She looked him in the eye, a hundred questions in hers.  

[Strifer Garuwashi]

Azoth frowned once more. "I hope the location isn't too skewed. I would not like to end up in a wall." A little hesitant, he touched the arm of the Sire Wolf, then nodded. He kept his eyes open. There was nothing in this world that could shock him. He was an agent of chaos, anything otherworldly or bizarre would only excite him.

Kylar hopped up on the horse with ease and gave Aleck a short, quick nod, but nothing else. When Sardain spoke again he looked to where he was motioning, the girl behind Aleck, that he had not been able to see from his previous vantage point on the road. She said hello, then began to drill into Sardain for knowing her last name, but Kylar interrupted. "I did not think your object was going to be a little girl." In essence it was a taunt, but only from those who knew how Kylar operated.  

[Ty Gwynnia]

Elistral hummed in her throat, a displeased but resigned sound. One of the many things that irked her in the way of the world was the racial tendencies of its people. True, she did feel uneasy about working with certain races, but many times it was unnecessary, especially when nothing had been done. She sighed inwardly, but the sight of smoke rising had her heart jump. Eon had flown south and most likely passed by Salim. Was it possible that he'd taken initiative? "Fie, Avariel!" She commanded her horse in elvish, and Avariel picked up his pace considerably with a toss of his head. The smell on the wind didn't reek with flesh, instead with the smell of burning wood. But she wanted to make sure.

Fenrir laughed at that, a laugh that was sincere. And one that was uncertain. "...Me too. But let's not think about that!" He laughed again, and in an instant with no real warning except for maybe a magical pull that was hard to even sense and was often imagined, their surroundings changed and the pair were standing on top of a red clay shingled roof that was on an angle. "Oh hey, we're not in a wall!" Fenrir glanced around.
They were in a city where most of the white-gray stoned buildings were shingled similarly and rose at the most 3 stories high, facing each other across a wide street paved with flat cobblestones. Fading and bolded pale yellow banners hung from many of their square windows. The buildings extended about a mile in almost every direction to walls, guard towers at intervals, and had been built on a low slope upwards, producing a slow tier-like incline that was ideal for defense. To the northerly direction was the main gate providing entrance into the city, and two smaller ones were positioned on the east and west. The southern part of the city was dominated by a large castle, a lighter color of stone than the other buildings, its parapets elegant, and pennants flying from spires. Before the wide wooden doors, thrown open at that time, was a large square and lined with one story buildings, one of which Fenrir was standing on with Azoth.
"Welcome to Radic, the capital of the kingdom of Taraxacum."  

[Strider Wolfheart]

((Sasha sits infront of Aleck on the horse))

"Oh, i've known your name for some time. But no she isn't but you didn't expect your horse to die either did you? We just lost our objective to a friend of the enemy. But it was never my main objective to bring him, but to gather information and get him if I could. I know who she is because she had red on, we didn't know who the target was until we saw him enter the city. I had you checked out before you made it close to Salim. We had several teleportation disks around Salim." After all of that information Sardain smiled wider and started the gallop towards the border. It was still a long ride to Radic.

"Sorry, miss. Couldn't let you know we were spyin' on ya." Aleck patted Sasha's shoulder, apologetically. Kylar always gave Aleck the creeps though. Never could understand the guy.

"I see. They can get bad out there if you aren't careful. Where was your original destination?" Demios looked at the two, they appeared to be from the free cities but from which town he didn't know.

Sylvia caught up to what was happening, putting her petty hatred aside. "Do you think he hit the city on his way out? I don't hear very many human screams. The animals are terrified though." Sylvia could see the smoke rise in front of them like black spires. It looked horrible.

Strider was alreadynear the forest attempting to put the fires out. The fire could still spread to the city. He was throwing all the water he could at it but the magical breath of Eon was more then just a fire. Each patch took forever to extinguish as he teleported from place to place blasting water. "Jake! How's your end?"

"Slow and steady! This fire sucks!" Jake was further down the wood line, keeping other trees wet to try and keep the fire from catching to nearly no success. The fire would just boil the water and catch the tree. "Nothing's working on this fire! I can see how he was a big problem with the elves!" Jake blasted more water towards the fire, most boiling away before doing much.  

[Orcus Fieres]

Orcus reached a small clearing where, in the far off distance, a pillar of smoke contrasted with the midday sky. It seemed too large to be a signal fire, but he couldn't imagine what else it might have been. That is to say, he couldn't imagine until he checked his bearings. 'South-West? It seems I must hurry.' The thought was interrupted by an arrow breaking wind to his left, a thug of exposed interests.

"Your money," Well dressed, but mangled. He was obviously a soldier or fighter of sorts, if not then one who did well at taking punches. "I've none on me," Orcus replied with haste. "I assume I can go now?" He began a strut southward and was stopped. "Your cloth and blade then." The thug would not let up his assault.

"If you ask for my blade, it best be for your throat." Anger overcame Orcus. His blades embodied his pride and his glory, two things he could not live without. "You would die for metal, elf? Then die you shall." The thug raised an arrow and drew with breakneck speed. A flick of his index allowed the point, shaft and tail to glide through the air. Nothing could have stopped the missile's path, save the sharp song of a drawn dagger.

Two halves of an arrow fell to the ground by Orcus' feet. "You're aim is off," He replaced Glory. "It might also just be me, but that doesn't seem possible, does it?" He drew his sword as he hummed a song and the green fuller lit up with a glow. "Goodbye." Pride was glowing so brightly that it was practically blinding, allowing Orcus to finish off the thug with a quick stab. 'Next stop: Salim.'  

[transformersgirl13]

"Your telling me." Raven said. "Ocean, but we got majorly sidetracked trying to throw our friend off so she wouldn't know so we'd get there on her birthday... but we sorta... lost her..." Maxx nodded.

------

Sasha looked back and forth between Sardain and Aleck. Glaring at Sardain's back as they road, she wanted to hurt him, probably wouldn't, but she could still think it, all she needed was a stick...  

[Ty Gwynnia]

"Maybe, or he could have hit near it..." Elistral replied. Salim's walls were in sight and as much as she could tell, the smoke was not rising from inside of them. A few people were bustling about near the gate and on top of the wall, looking as if they were in a hurry. She raised her right hand up and channeled magic into one of the rings. A bright flash of light shone, a signal. When one of the people noticed it and waved back in response before dating off, Elistral cut the flow and the light winked out.

"Damn dragonfire..." Rore mumbled again. He hadn't kept count of how many times he'd said that exact phrase, but he was sure that it was close to ten. As another tree crashed down from above to send tremors through the earth, he straightened up and glanced at the result of the work. A few trees worth had not been enough to stop the spread, as it turned out. A wide swathe of at least 5 to 6 feet had to be cleared from the afflicted ones, and the jagged stumps made a grim sight in the emptiness. If that didn't work and the fire didn't stick to what is was already, then perhaps the whole forest would be in flames soon. Rore scowled in his dour thoughts and turned to someone who'd ran up to him, listening briefly. Then he jogged off after them, handing his axe to someone else.

"Ah, you should have seen this place in its 'hey-days'; I think that's the expression." Fenrir sighed to himself as he shook his head.  

[Strifer Garuwashi]

Azoth watched as the world turned around him, all of the colors of nature spilling in to each other. It lasted only a moment before the city itself appeared. "Good thing too. I don't like being in a wall. It's very uncomfortable." The first thing noticed was the faded banners, which most were faded. It was a shame. A capitol should take pride in it's grandeur. Besides, if a city was prideful, it was more willing to do chaotic acts for protection of the city. Then he noticed the guard towers. There were almost too many of them overlooking the city, as though to keep the citizens with in a tight watch, or a constant fear of attack. Finally the large castle is where his eyes fell, when Fenrir spoke again. "It was a great city indeed." Azoth agreed. "Now then, I'm assuming the large castle there is where you had intended to teleport us. Shall we?" Azoth flicked his thumb at the building of which he spoke, but did not move until his traveling partner affirmed or denied.

Kylar listened to Sardain go straight from being mysterious to the girl, to adressing the statement the assassin had made. "My horse's death will not be seen as failure." He paused for a moment before speaking again. "What useful information have you gathered." Kylar's question came out as more of a statement. When Sardain galloped off, Kylar could feel the girls raw rage being focused on the knight, which produced a half a smirk on the assasin's face. As far as the assassin was concerned, that may as well be full bellied laughter. Kylar started off after Sardain and heard Aleck apologize in the background, which forced the half-smirk to stay on his face as he hurried to catch up for an answer to his question.  

[Strider Wolfheart]

"I learned that our enemy is very loose, free, and liberal. But they have good defensive strategum. If we were to attack we would win but it would take the general amount of neccessary soldiers would be a 20 to 1 ratio and we don't have the supplies nor the man power at present to deal with those odds without heavy losses and possible failure. On top of that they have a pact made with the dragon empires to the Northwest. We have nothing to answer such an opponent. In short I have concluded that a frontal assault would be impossible with current conditions." Sardain never turned to face Kylar when he spoke, focusing on the road ahead.

Aelck leaned forward to speak to Sasha. "Sardain is the master tactician of our kingdom. We were sent to find Mr. Azoth and gather some info on Salim and all of it's defences. Personally i'd hate to be his enemy. He's scary." Aleck nodded and sat back up. He really wouldn't want to be Kylar's enemy either.

Strider blasted more water, the fire roaring as he did so, screaming in protest as the water smote some of it out. "Jake, help cut down trees, i'll take care of the fire at present." Strider teleported to a different spot and blasted another flood of water, hoping to slow the spread of flames.

"Can do!" Jake jumpped to the trees and used magic to create a blade of magic, making a sawing motion, felling trees quickly. "Be glad it isn't too windy."  

[Ty Gwynnia]

Elistral found that her friend had been fetched quickly and was already by the gate as Avariel slowed to a trot. Rore smelled of smoke and sweat and, by the ash on his face, burnt hair. He was already speaking when she dismounted for the second time, her questinoning eyes trained on the smoke behind him.

"That dragon swung by and blasted the forest." Rore had a sad look in his eyes though his voice was tinged with annoyance. "It's still trying to be controlled; water doesn't help much, dirt's a little better at dousing the flames, but we had to resort to sectioning the blaze off."

"Any wounded?" Elistral asked a little too worriedly.

Rore shook his head, reaching a hand up to touch his cheek. "Just burns from any cinders or leaves that fall."

"I was close~." Fenrir replied in a happy, sing-songy way as he moved to the edge of the roof. The late afternoon crowd in the square wasn't as busy as it would have been a few hours before. Other than the time of day, the market hadn't been overflowing with goods or people in the recent months, maybe even years. What people that were there wore somewhat patched clothes, as if going through hard times. But on most of their faces there were distant smiles, and the chatter that floated up was merry despite a strained look in their eyes.
With a little hop, Fenrir jumped down from the roof and landed next to a man trying to balance a box unsucessfully on his shoulder as he walked. It teetered to the side and slipped off and the man gave a surprised cry, until he looked to his side and saw that someone had caught it and was handing it back. He moved off with a wave as Fenrir glanced up at Azoth expectantly.  

[Strifer Garuwashi]

Azoth looked at the square that Fenrir had jumped down. It didn't seem very busy. That was a shame, a busy square was open to many things. Pickpockets, silent murders for skilled assassins, the purchase of wild roses for a love one who may be seeing someone else. There seemed to be none of that going on. Azoth did a light hop down, and landed with a much louder thud than the Sire Wolf had made. He could have summoned at least one wing to slow his fall, but it would have been a sight to see. Attention would have turned to the pair, and while that was what Azoth wanted, he was certain Fenrir did not. As the man waved at Fenrir, Azoth looked at him. "I wonder what was in the box he nearly dropped. Your generosity to him may change his day entirely." It was odd how something so little could shape a day.

Kylar listened to the intelligence that Sardain had gathered, and remembered why the man was bestowed with the blood of the dragon. The prize he himself was working towards. Sardain spoke with out looking in the assassin's direction, and Kylar listened with his eyes focused on the road. "Improbable is the correct answer. It simply means we must strike indirectly, which happens to be my specialty." This meant that the two were more than likely going to have to travel with one another. Which meant his babysitter was going to have to come along too. If the group got much larger it was going to be difficult for any stealth plans to be accomplished.  

[transformersgirl13]

Sasha thought about what Aleck said about Sardain, "No, being his enemy wouldn't be good... but I still want to hit him with a stick, and if not hit at least poke him... I more than less likely wont... but hey? Who knows?" She let out a small laugh. "And i don't know about scary, he practically looks like a big *cough* cuddly *cough* Bear." That made her smile, most of the guys she knew were like big Bears, so why couldn't Aleck and Sardain be too? "I mean you both are... Since you're both freaking huge...." The last part came out as a mutter.  

[Strider Wolfheart]

Sardain pretended not to hear Sasha, choosing to continue conversing with Kylar, still continueing to look forward. "No, even hidden assaults seem too risky. This Strider character has many friends in many places. Captain of the Guard, Leader of the Protectors, Emporer of the Silver Dragon Empire, Agent of Fate, Ex-Knight Commander of Taraxacum, and did you know his wife is the last surviving wood elf? Friends that hold a lot of sway but he himself remaining the conveiniant hero. Barely anyone knows him, his friends and family usually taking most of the credit. How he has remained so secretive with his flashy symantics and heroic deeds is beyond me." Sardain collected his thoughts for a moment, allowing Kylar time to speak as well.

"Well, I don't know what to say to that." Aleck pondered what Sasha said for a moment, staying close behind Sardain and Kylar. "I never saw myself as a teddy bear before."

"Well maybe we could help..." Demios passed beyond a canyon to see large billows of black smoke arising from the forests around Salim. "Oh lord! Verin, take these two to the town, I have to go help out." With that Demios fully extended his wings and took off towards the smoke and flames.

Jake saw that Elistral and Sylvia had come and took a break from cutting to see what was going on, he hated not being in the know. So he teleported over to Elistral and Rore. "Hey, fine forest weather, huh? Not much breeze and blazingly hot."

"Not to mention fiery." Sylvia tried to add to the joke but frowned as Jake shook his head. "What did I say?"

Jakecontinued to shake his head before he spoke. "Ya see, you just ruined a perfectly good joke about this fiery blaze with your tastless attempt at humor. I really need to give you lessons." Jake shook his head a bit more.

Strider had teleported close enough, still using water, to hear the four of them conversing. "Less jokes Jake! More fire fighting!"  

[Strifer Garuwashi]

"You must strike from within. Turn them on one another. All it takes is one well placed object and you have the perfect opening." Kylar paused for a moment, before he continued. "Lure this Strider person to somewhere else, then take the city while he is away. It's easier to defend than attack." A stray bird flew past them, but Kylar did not follow it, not even with his eyes. He remained focused on the road before him, sitting upon his horse with the feeling that he could abandon it at any moment for an easy escape.