[PLOT] Here little Acorns~ ( Faroth/Belvah/Laliah/Harveer)

[Teigra]

Lailah bit back a curse, reluctantly admitting to Harveer, "I thought there was only the one!" With that, the creature was zipping towards her face and there was no more time to talk. There would certainly be no reasoning with these creatures. Time to fight.

Instinctively, Lailah tucked her wings close and dropped back, away from the serrated claws slashing at her face. She rolled to a crouch, smoothly drawing a dagger from a sheath at her thigh. Golden eyes locked on multi-faceted ones, and the creature's angry screech was answered with a hiss from the angel.

Faroth's eyes grew wide as conversation turned to chaos. The winged teens sprang into action, but Belvah possessed no such fighting instincts, it seemed. "Belvah!" Faroth may not have been battle-trained, but he quickly prioritized who needed the most help of the group. Whirling towards the female faun, he reached for her arm, ready to pull her back and use himself as a shield between the female and the insects if necessary.

What were these things? Did the teens know more than they were letting on? Why else would they have been hunting them? Not for fun, that much was for sure.

The creatures seemed to sense which Pae would give them the least fight. The two insects not facing off with Lailah had picked their target: Belvah. She'd seen the one, but the other perhaps not. Faroth did. Leaping forward, he tried to reach for Belvah and pull her towards him, turning his back to the oncoming insect and kicking back on an instinct he didn't know he possessed. Maybe he'd manage to knock it away at least, he figured.

A sharp crack marked the connection, a bit more solid than the faun had anticipated. Apparently, the same for the insect. The creature was thrown back onto the ground, it's carapace sporting a new crack that hadn't been there before.

Lailah's eyes darted towards the source of the sound, just in time to see the damaged insect wobbling unsteadily back into the air. She quirked an eyebrow. Interesting. So these heathens could fight. Well, one of them anyway. "Hey," she called to the faun, taking a slash aimed for the eyes of the creature before her. "How about you do that a couple more times, huh? Squash the pesky bugs!" Her adrenaline pumping, blood rushing through her veins, she gave a half-manic cackle as she leapt forward at her quarry.  

[Dementia Requiem Asumi]

Harveer mumbled a word of power, creating the barrier between one of the creatures and Belvah. It wasn't fast enough though. The creature had still managed to slice into her arm.

The male angel muttered a curse, picking up a tonfa from the ground and spinning it. It was time to get rid of these bugs.

She screamed a bit, falling where she was instructed to. She blushed a bit when she realized Faroth had pulled her to him. What the hell is she thinking? It was probably just because a man was protecting her. The Cheiftess winced as she steadied herself and looked around for any other danger she might need to watch out for.

It was right about then that Harveer's wall came into appearance. Belvah let out a little shriek of surprise. She couldn't figure out why she was so jumpy today. Maybe it was just because she didn't have any instinct to fight these things, all of her was saying to stay clear away. Not that that had worked well, her arm was bleeding pretty good. The silvery female hadn't even noticed the wound occuring. Great, Rais was going to be angry about this too..

"Faroth, use your hooves, it's doing a good job so far!" He grinned, "You take one side of her, I'll get the other two. Woman, you stay against that barrier!" He ordered, twisting his tonfas once more. It was a habit when he wanted to strike against something. No doubt the creatures would be trying to attack Belvah once more. Now that she was wounded she was more of a target than before... He would have sighed if he had the time to think of it.

 

[Teigra]

The short high from his momentary success faded quickly in the midst of battle. Faroth did his best to keep Belvah sheltered between himself and the light barrier that Harveer had created. Healing and barriers? Useful, but wasn't it a bit odd to have more than one ability like that...ah, no time for that now. The insect that he had temporarily grounded was coming back. The dappled Faun grimaced, shifting his stance in preparation for another kick of his hooves.

With a vicious snarl, the forgotten wolf burst from cover. Predatory instincts had kicked in none too soon, allowing her to slip out of sight before the insects had appeared. After waiting for her moment to strike, the wolf sprung into action, flying through the air to hit the injured bug heading for Belvah, fangs bared. She had a hard time getting a grip on the smooth carapace, but once her teeth found a c***k in the armor, she held on for dear life, attempting to drag the thing back to the ground where her powerful neck muscles could be put to use for ripping and tearing.

Blood, screams, snarls in the air. Her very heart seemed to be pounding in her ears. Lailah knew well enough to realize that this situation had grown serious; that these tainted creatures weren't to be taken lightly.

That didn't stop her from loving every minute of it.

The angel was quick, but the bug was quicker. She was needing both of her blades to attack and parry the insect's poisoned stinger. And it was poisoned, if the purple liquid seeping and dripping from the tip were any indication. One missed parry, and she knew the consequences could be dire.

It was an attack though, she tried to slip through the bug's defenses, but it was quick to block and strike the blade away. The impact sent vibration through the blade, into her tiring hands, and for the briefest moment, she lost her grip. As the blade sailed away, she leapt back instinctively to break off combat and give herself some room. She'd been practicing, this at least, and she only needed a moment.

"Kalimel!" she snapped, the light lance flashing into existence at her call. The insect paused a split second at the appearance of the weapon; and it was enough. With a scream, the angel slashed with all her might, severing the tip from the beast's stinger. An insectoid scream filled the air, as well as a slight burning smell, and the creature fell back in shock. "Oh no you don't!" the angel snapped, pursuing.  

[Dementia Requiem Asumi]

'Thump!' Harveer grunted, tonfa making contact with a hard shell. There was simply one left unoccupied. While his fellow squire had been distracted with the one she was fighting, the remaining three had tried even harder to attack this helpless faun they were supposed to be protecting. The thought made him groan. Quickly shaking out of it, the male angel hissed a word of caution at Lailah. She'd openly use her light ability like that? Was she that desperate to win?

But the creatures hesitated when she exposed herself. Perhaps, that was a better way of fighting these things. Without any further hesitation, Harveer dropped a tonfa and called forth his own lance.

Belvah gasped, both of these teenagers possessed a great deal of power. It was unnatural to her, even knowing she was married to the representative of their earth element. Despite her wonder, she had no time to reflect on it, there was another one of those things coming after her! She ducked down to hide against the wall that had been created, only to jump when a thud sounded near her.

Se chanced a look around, trying to figure out who had taken down an insect. It was Raina. She had taken down one of those things with her teeth! A shocked silver faun straightened up a bit. This wasn't going to kill them all after all! There was still hope!  

[Teigra]

Lailah was in her element.

This was what she lived for, aside from carrying out the Guardians' will. This was her bonus, her reward for being faithful. The whirling, dance of death, where a missed step could result in the ultimate cost, so mistakes were not an option to be made. She kept one knife out, as well as her light spear. She parried attacks now with the blade, using it instead of a shield for defense, then waiting for an opening before striking with her lance. The danger of the poisoned stinger was gone, but the beast still had claws.

The angel darted in and out of the insect's range, grinning wildly as she sensed the frustration growing in her opponent. "You were doomed to failure from the start," she sneered at the creature in a low voice. "By the Light of the Guardians," she crooned, darting in with her lance lashing out in a blur of blinding light. "Be purified and begone!" The light faded to reveal the lance thrust through the insect creature's head. The beast twitched a couple times, then fell limp. After a moment, savoring the adrenaline rush, Lailah seemed to shake herself out of it, and gave the lance a practiced twist and a flick to dislodge the slain creature. Panting a bit, she surveyed the rest of the battlefield. The heretic and the wolf had injured one of the other creatures, leaving the last one for Harveer to deal with.

Betraying only a hint of the elation she felt at the moment, Lailah's voice rang out over the clearing. "One down! What about the other two?"

"Working on it!" came the sharp reply from the Faun. Raina had managed to ground the creature, and Faroth rushed to aid her, bringing down a heavy hoof on the creature's cracked carapace. More splintering noises filled the air, and Raina had to struggle to keep her hold on the creature as its thrashing increased in desperation. Sharp claws darted for her face, and she snarled and shook the beast violently.

It was a struggle for the two of them to try and gang up on so small a creature without hitting one another, but the two moved as if one mind. And they were still struggling with the beast. The tail waving about in the air, tensed, as if taking aim, but Faroth caught sight of it and remembered the odd purple liquid dripping from one previously. "Oh, no you don't," he growled, bringing his hood down on the stalk of the tail with crushing force, pinning it to the earth and refusing to budge. The poisoned stinger twitched, a little too close to his hoof for comfort, but Faroth kept a wary eye on it. "Just watch the claws now, Raina."

The wolf snarled, unable to shake the beast with Faroth standing on it, she had to let go and leap back as one of the claws darted for her eye. 'Nasty little b*****d' she sneered, leaping back in to lock her jaws around the creature's claw arm. Effectively pinning the creature to the ground, the pair found that they'd also placed themselves in a bit of a stalemate. 'Err...now what, genius?'

"I'm working on it," Faroth bit back, glancing up to see that with one of the creatures down, that left the female angel free. "Err...some help might be nice here?"  

[Dementia Requiem Asumi]

Harveer grunted, facing off against a bug. He really hated killing things, but this bug thing was just too much. It was either kill it or get seriously hurt. His footwork may not have been fancy, but he was starting to get into the groove of fighting this critter.

The blue angel grinned, catching the bug off guard as he shoved his guardian gifted ability through it's hard carapace. "In the name of the guardians, be gone!" He growled, eyes almost blinded by the light produced with the creature's death.

He was panting, looking around. Harveer looked around, golden eyes smoldering. Something inside him was saying the danger wasn't over. Something was still needing to be done. But what? Oh, the one Faroth had brought down... That bug still needed to be cleansed. Or destroyed.

"We should purify the last one Lailah.. We shouldn't... We shouldn't have killed them. It's our job to cleanse the taint isn't it?"

Belvah gasped, both of them could wield the light? Her eyes narrowed, growing suspicious of them. No way. Something was wrong here. And her arm was still bleeding. She winced, looking down at the wound. She was gonna have to have someone look at that later. And then the blinding light... She shielded her eyes to it. Goodness, these two...

She hoped she wasn't going to have to act with authority. It would sound horribly pathetic. Belvah hadn't the need to be authoritative. But no more killing. She wasn't going to let that happen.

 

[Teigra]

Lailah's chest was heaving, mostly from exertion, but now that her own fight was over, she'd still had trouble calming down. The thrill of the fight, the scent of blood in the air...it had her riding a high unlike anything she'd felt in a very long time, if ever. She had reveled in the training that they'd received, learning how to turn their bodies into fighting machines, but until now, she'd not had a chance to actually use what she'd been taught. Not unrestrained, where she had to worry about hurting other Squires and getting in trouble for it. This had been a fight against a foe that fought back with everything it had, a fight to the death.

And she felt more alive than ever.

Whirling back towards the remaining fight, she caught the flash of light and the death of the second insect. She took a deep breath, seeing the last one effectively captured, and trying to calm herself before they took further action. Okay, she'd had her fun now...back to business. Harveer's words helped to sober her and she shook off most of the endorphin rush to nod. "We had no choice with the others; it was kill or be killed. This one is in no shape to attack us now."

The insect may have been pinned by the Faun and the wolf, but it hadn't given up yet. It still had one claw free, snapping and lashing about, trying to thrash free. "Hey, um...whatever you're going to do, it'd be great if you'd hurry up and do it!" Faroth snapped, still keeping a wary eye on the poisonous barb twitching near his hoof.

Lailah snorted, dispelling her light lance and sheathing her secondary blade. "Yeah, yeah, we're coming." Focusing her thoughts for cleansing wasn't the easiest task for Lailah, even less so at the moment. She needed to clear her head first, deep calming breaths...focus... She held her hands out towards the creature, eyes closed and concentrating on drawing the Taint out of the corrupted creature. She wasn't sure how much strength it had left, nor the amount of corruption it contained within, but even if she couldn't cleanse it alone, between the two Squires, they should be able to purify the beast.  

[Dementia Requiem Asumi]

Harveer exhaled, attempting to center himself. He couldn't possibly cleanse taint from something if he was still mentally trying to kill something. The blue angel closed his eyes, nodding in acknowledgement to the words spoken to both him and in general.

It wasn't until Lailah moved to start cleansing the beast that he himself moved to help. Taking his cue from her, he followed suit, concentrating on cleansing the taint, the ugliness from the beast. If nothing else, they would get it finished between the two of them.

Belvah shook her head. This all felt so wrong. No one should be this strong. She was all but running from these two teenagers. They had only brought trouble with them and she wanted no more of it. No no no no. The chieftess shook her head, good hand clasped over the wound on her arm. She had to get out of here. Rais had to know something was terribly wrong.

 

[Teigra]

The insect continued to struggle at first, screeching and thrashing about as the Taint was drawn from it. Then, its movements slowed, its cries ceased, and it seemed to fall into a sort of passive state as its connection to the dark force was severed.

Lailah opened one golden eye, looking at the prone beast on the ground. "...it's been purified. It shouldn't attack us anymore, but we'll keep an eye on it. You can let it go now."

Faroth was hesitant, but shot a look at Raina who released the creature's claw first and leap back out of range. After watching for a moment and still no attack, Faroth mirrored her retreat, immediately pulling his hoof out of range of the beast's tail...just in case. Heh, looked like it'd lost the will to kill them all...

Leaving the beast in the care of the super-powered angels, Faroth turned his attention back towards Belvah, earlier worry crashing down on his shoulders again. "Belvah...are you...are you alright?" Obviously not, he told himself, or she'd not be bleeding, you fool. "Let me look, please," he asked, gently reaching for her arm. "Did one of them get you with its claws?" He prayed it was so, given what he'd seen of those barbed tails. "The cut looks deep," he frowned, looking close, "but clean. Not that I'm a healer or anything," he muttered, feeling useless now.

By the Earth, what had he done? It was his fault for leading them out here. At least, that's how it was going to look to Rais. Oy, the Chief was going to kill him. That was it. He was doomed.

While the chant of doom continued in his head, he started gathering some large, clean leaves from nearby. "Come on, let's try to stop the bleeding at least," he offered, reaching for her arm again if she'd let him.  

[Dementia Requiem Asumi]

Harveer drew back, "You did good Lailah." He grinned, watching the beast. Clearly it was no longer a threat. He took a moment to keep his golden eyes fixed upon the insect. "Shall we take it with us or let it go?" He asked, looking at the bloody angel. He was inclined to take it back, however a double check was a far better idea.

She winced, moving her injured arm hurt too much. Rais was going to have a hay day with this. The thought made her cringe more than actually moving the arm did.

"Oh Faroth... I'll be fine.. And you'd best not be nearby when Rais finds out. I don't want him to blame you." She frowned, more than willing to let the dappled faun attempt to treat her. She'd give him as much credit as she could for everything, but she was going to give him a full report as soon as she could.

"A bit of cloth or something might work. Do we have anything to tie it off with?" She frowned, casting an accusing glance at the two angels. If it hadn't been for them rushing through after those things, she never would've been hurt... But then, she never would have known such strong pae'il existed on the isle. She was extremely wary of them.

"We should be getting back... Soon..."

 

[Teigra]

Faroth shook his head. "I appreciate the offer of sparing my life," he quipped with a subdued smile, still concentrating on using the leaves as a wrap to cover the wound, hoping to speed clotting. "But this is my fault. I'll man up, rather than running and hiding like a coward. Just make sure you check on me once in a while, down in the root cellar when I'm locked up. In case they forget to feed me or something." He was obviously teasing, trying to distract her from any discomfort, especially once he started applying pressure. "There we go. Just hold that tight, okay? I know it hurts, but the more pressure you use, the better to stop the bleeding."

Honestly, Lailah wasn't sure what they would get out of the creature now. It was purified, so now it was little more than an oddity. Was it worth the effort of trying to bring it back?

Meanwhile, the insect had started to stir again. While more active, it didn't seem interested in attacking them anymore. If anything, it seemed scared...twitchy and frightened, looking for an escape route. But, so many large, violent things...it didn't want to be squished...nor other things...scarier things..

"It looks like it wants to bolt," Lailah commented idly. It was a look she was familiar with seeing in small creatures. "Eh, if you can think of a way to keep it and drag it back, sure. Otherwise, I say forget it. Looks like we need to decide quick though before decides for us."

One arm around Belvah's shoulder carefully, Faroth turned to the two angels again. "Hey, appreciate the help and all, but we should get going. I want to get her back to the healers. I'm no expert in these things and...well, this needs taken care of. Be careful, okay?"

Lailah looked up, almost as if she'd forgotten the tree folk were even there. She could have used her healing abilities, but...eh, it wasn't an emergency or anything. And besides...it was only a heretic. So, instead, she lifted a hand in a mock of a military salute. "Alright. Hey...nice work, by the way." Ugh, that almost hurt to say without a grimace.  

[Dementia Requiem Asumi]

Belvah grinned a bit. "Let me talk to him first at least. I'll visit you in the root cellar if you get tossed down there." She laughed, trying to keep her mind off the pain in her arm. She nodded in agreement to his advice on her bleeding arm. The female did her best to keep pressure on the wound, trusting the male would be right.

"Eh, lets let it go. I don't think it'll do us much good. Claws are too sharp and it would fight if we brought it back..." Harveer shook his head. Lailah was right.

His attention returned to Faroth. "It was.. Interesting fighting next to you Faroth." He dipped his head in respect for a fellow fighter. Abomination, heritic, or whatever this guy was, he had fought alongside them to get rid of the taint. There may be hope for him yet.

"Take care of her." He nodded his head towards Belvah before turning. "Lets go Lailah."

She winced a bit, managing to send a glare at the teenagers. They treated both Faroth and herself like they weren't right. She didn't appreciate it. Of course, she was more concerned with her arm than anything. Rais was going to be furious, and she needed to get to a healer.

She pondered for a moment, wondering if she should thank these two for fighting the creatures off... But they had brought them into this place in the first place didn't they? The chieftess frowned to herself, taking a step towards the tree.

"C'mon Faroth, I'm sure Rais is going to be anxious to put me on house arrest." There was a small frown in her voice. SHe loved her husband, but the man was almost overly protective.