Lord of Azure Flame Chapter 5: That which is unplanned

[riariadne]

In a castle much farther away, a man in bronze armor lounged on a throne. A soldier clad in similarly colored armor approached him and said, "General, Sir Percy is here to see you."

"Really? That's interesting. Let him in," the man replied. Sure enough, the hero was there, along with his massive wyvern. "What a surprise. Welcome, Sir Percy. What brings you so far away from your land?"

"Criminals, Jackson. There's a rather large bunch- around a dozen- traipsing across the countryside, leaving a wreck wherever they visit, that sort of thing. More troubling is that... what was his name? Black hair, violet eyes, oddly-shaped bow?"

"Veshkal. Chase Veshkal. He's with them? How amusing for someone as solitary as him become part of a group. I thank you for the information, by the way. But I must ask, how did you get those wounds?"

"That group. They're quite a bit tougher than any bandits that plagued Eliyisma before, with the exception of Rose. They've got some highly peculiar weaponry, as well- I recognized six Crimson Weapons. Six! What's wrong with the world these days?" Percy shook his head. "Oh, and I suppose I shouldn't be calling you Jackson anymore. Congratulations on the promotion to General. It's well deserved."

"Thank you. I'll try to keep that in mind. The arrest of this group is crucial. If you haven't warned the other heroes and major Generals, I'd think it'd be a good idea. As for me, I'll dispatch a squadron to take them out. Fare well, Lord Percy."

"You as well. So long for now." The hero climbed onto his wyvern with surprising ease for his size, and flew off.

[Inactive Account]

"Indeed." Kelas loosed another arrow, then turned to face Chase. "You want a turn?" she called as she went to retrieve her arrows from the tree.

---------------------------------------------

Arrin blinked. Where was-- oh, the inn. Apparently he'd fallen asleep again. He remembered nightmares, feeling like he was on fire... he must have really had a fever. He was feeling better now, though, and hungry. Seeing that Tessa and the others were still asleep, he got up quietly, then headed downstairs to see what manner of food he could get.

OOC: Figure now's as decent a time to address it as any: Yeah, sometimes my posts are more about one character than the other. This is actually intentional, as I figure that there are times when one's doing something important, but the other isn't really. Just stating the method to the madness, I guess.

[Ansem]

Helios walked down the hallway. His head hung low. Mark encountered him. Something wasn't right. "Hey why are you so down all of the sudden" Mark said. Helios ignored him and continued walking. "Hey i didn't stutter". He put his hands on Helios's shoulder. Helios quickly turned around and grabbed Marks hunting knife. He held it to his neck. A strange smile formed on Helios's face. Mark then saw a pained look in Helios's face. "Are you all right" Mark asked cautiously. Helios dropped the knifed. "Im fine" Helios said calmly and he walked away. Mark rubbed his neck. He picked up his knife and put it in its sheath. "Why is everyone so dark these days" He said to himself. He headed off to get his horse

[Kanami]

Kamilla sighed as she stirred a small pot, apparently she'd been awake for awhile now, she was even starting to question whether it really was sunlight that had woken her up. But that didn't matter, she poured the contents in the bowl into a cup and then the remainder in a small jar.

She could hear people moving around now, and she figured it must be pretty early, she hesitated but figured the matron wouldn't be in any mood to cook breakfast after last night. But then again, she didn't want to waste food on people who'd complain about poison. Shrugging her shoulders she began preparing her own breakfast.

[Phoenix]

After Irina washed herself up, she grabbed her armor, her lances, and the bags that she kept tied to Kiev's saddle, and headed downstairs to go see him. On her way, she saw Kamilla making her own breakfast through the kitchen door. She leaned her head through the opening slightly.

Irina: Ahem!

Kamilla looked over and saw Irina staring at her.

Irina: ... your cooking needs more onion powder ^_^

Without another word, she grinned and began trotting off to the stables.

Iso quickly tied his hair back, and put on the outfit that Ivanko had left for him, and then he slowly and quietly left the room, making sure to gently shut the door behind him. He then stood in the hall leaning up against the wall, in the same spot he had the previous night.

[Ether]

Aiya awoke with a yawn,and stretched in the morning sun.Looking out the window,she saw a sable figure move through the sky.

"Could it be?" Aiya was startled,and rushed out of the inn,not bothering to put on anything aside from the nightdress she was wearing,grabbing her Silver sword from near the door in case it was not as she thought it was.

The trees blurred by as Aiya ran into the woods.She had followed the dark being,and it seemed to descend into a nearby clearing.

************

The treeline broke,and Aiya looked at the creature she had followed.

'I was right...it is you!'

"Ulfhrahn!" she yelled out,before leaping forward,and embracing the wyvern's strong neck.After nuzzling the wyvern for several minutes,she pulled away.

"Ulfhrahn...you're okay."

An affectionate snort and nuzzle affirmed that the Black Wyvern was unharmed.

"That's good.How is Alicia?" Aiya asked Ulfhrahn,and the wyvern pulled away and lowered its head to the ground,letting out a sigh,or as close as a wyvern could come to one.

"She didn't survive the raid?...I see..." Aiya was disheartened.Alicia had been her first friend in the military aside from Damian,and they had both trained on Ulfhrahn,Alicia's mount. The pair had spent a lot of time together,and were closer than most sisters. Aiya broke down in tears.

'I knew she was probably dead.but I had still hoped she had escaped on Ulfhrahn...Oh Alicia!'

Ulfhrahn wrapped her in his wings,hoping to warm the weeping girl he knew very well.

************

It had been several hours now.Aiya had cried herself out,and looked up at Ulfhrahn.

"So,you came to find me when Alicia died?" She asked Ulfhrahn,and he nuzzled his head against her to show she was correct.

"Well,alright.Let's head back,Ulfhrahn."

And with that,Aiya mounted the Black Wyvern and raced back to the inn.

OOC:I decided to introduce Aiya's mount,and will write up a profile for Ulfhrahn a bit later.

[Kanami]

Kamilla raised an eyebrow as Irina walked past, not really sure what to say. "Uh, okay" she managed to get out before returning to cooking her eggs. She frowned then shook her head as if to clear her mind. Several moments passed before she let out a sigh and walked across the room and grabbed a few things from the store room.

As she dumped the ingredients on the table she looked outside to see Arrin snooping around. "Guess it couldn't hurt" she said to herself before busying herself again.

[Ansem]

OOC: You asked, Nady......

Mark went down the hall. He noticed Kamilla cooking. "Milady please forgive me for yesterday" Mark said cautiously. "If i had any idea that you were angry i wouldn't have disturbed you".

Edited May 21, 2010 by Kai-Sama

[Kanami]

Kamilla looked over at Mark, she seemed to be getting a lot of visitors today. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing too, the sun's well above the horizon and no one's seen the matron do you know what that means?" she paused but answered as Mark began to think "You idiots throwing her cooking around upset her enough to the point where she's not willing to work anymore, a sort of depression if you will" she cocked her head to one side "Or she's so angry she can't bare to see our faces"

She threw the remaining ingredients over the fire and sighed "Was it necessary to toss the dishes around? You could have just stood up and walked off"

[riariadne]

Kelas seemed to not have noticed him, so he walked off and decided to go in and see who else was awake. He saw Kamilla cooking, which he was fine with as long as she didn't have the poison anymore, Irina had walked outside too, Aiya was flying on a large black wyvern (which confused him but he shrugged it off and moved on), Mark was acting like a gentlemn, and nobody else was awake. He went back to his room to find Damian and Morgan still asleep. He checked the contents of his bag, since it had been a while since he had done so. he had his emergency rations, as well as money and a vulnerary, his wolf-fang knife, a small spike of metal, a small ruby, and a gold pendent with a diamond in the center of it. Unsure of what to do, he decided to take a nap after locking his bag.

Edited May 22, 2010 by Lightning

[Phoenix]

As Irina came outside, she turned to the stables to see Kiev gnawing away at a support strut. Had he successfully pulled it out, the entire structure would have collapsed on top of him and the horses. Irina rushed over and called out to him!

Irina: Kiev!! Stop that!! It's not a chew toy! :o

Kiev let go of the strut, and then walked over to her. She gave him a hug around his neck and then knelt down to look him in the eyes.

Irina: No chewing on other people's things, remember?

She petted him, and then stood up. She grabbed his reins and then started walking him out into the clearing. Just then, Aiya appeared! She was a top a black wyvern! Both Irina and Kiev looked in her direction.

Irina: Aiya? When did she get that wyvern?

[Ether]

The inn was now in sight.

"Ahh...I've missed riding so much...the wind,the view." Aiya was reminiscing about her time in the army,when she noticed Irina looking at her funnily,and landed beside her and Kiev.

"Oh,Good Morning,Irina,Kiev.This is Ulfhrahn." Aiya petted Ulfhrahn lightly,and he approached Kiev,curiously.

The two wyverns seemed interested in eachother,and were examining eachother.When they stood side by side it was apparent that Ulfhrahn was a good deal larger than Kiev.

"It's okay Ulfhrahn,Kiev is a good boy,you don't need to worry."

[Phoenix]

Irina: You told me that you were trained to ride wyverns, but where did this one come from? :o

Up in the inn, Iso had gone back into the room. He saw Esphyr sleeping again. He walked up to the window wondering what the whooshing noise was that he'd heard. He expected that Irina had returned from a morning flight, but when he looked out the window, he saw two wyverns, Kiev, and this new large black wyvern.

Iso: What ... the ...

[Ether]

"U-Ulfhrahn belonged to a close friend of mine...we trained together,and so Ulfhrahn was very familiar with the both of us..."

Aiya began to explain to Irina,and was starting to tear up thinking of Alicia again.

"My friend was killed in a raid recently..." The tears began to flow freely again.

"So Ulfhrahn came to find me..." Aiya broke down again,embracing Irina and crying into her shoulder.

[Phoenix]

Irina held onto Aiya hoping to calm her down again.

Irina: Oh! I'm so sorry, Aiya. I didn't mean to bring up something awful like that.

Iso turned away from the window and shook his head.

Iso: Another wyvern? Well at least Irina won't be alone up there now -_-

[Balcerzak]

Tessa had slept in, and when she woke she was slightly sore, but for the most part well rested. She seemed to be in good health too, so whatever "poison" there had been hadn't killed her yet. Smiling a little to herself, she got out of bed. Looking around the room, she noticed that most of the other occupants had already dispersed. The nomad and her brother were both gone, so that probably meant he was feeling better, which was another relief for Tessa. Aiya too wasn't too be seen. She'd come to the room rather late, and left rather early it seems. The only one still in bed was... Katie.

Tessa found herself drawing up alongside the bed and leaning over a bit, watching her sleeping face for a moment, before her gaze drew naturally downward to the unsightly blemish just below. The sight put a bit of a damper on her mood, but reminded her of something she'd thought of the other day.

Not wanting to wake the mage, she glanced around until her eyes settled on the notebook she used for correspondence. Opening it, she flipped to what seemed to be the place where the next set of conversation would be written, taking care to try not to read too much of anything, out of respect for privacy. Tessa wrote a brief message to the woman there, where she would be sure to see it.

When you mentioned that your father Harold was the one who wounded you, I got to thinking. With connections like that, you could easily have been healed... unless he forbid it. If at all possible, I hope that he will have a change of heart, and maybe it is not yet too late. My heart and prayers will be with you, until that day, and I will do my best to make it happen.

~Tessa

Closing the journal again, and putting it back where she had found it, Tessa made her way to the baths, to perform morning ablutions. She was looking forward to cleaning away the night's sweat, and moving forward to the new day refreshed and invigorated.

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan woke up and scanned the room she was in. People's things were stren about al over. Most of her roommates had left the room.

She looked at the various weaponry and clothing, and it all looked at least vaguely familiar, except for a particular book on the floor. It was labeled 'curses'.

Morgan pondered. Which one of her roommates would have such a thing? This was not Tessa's usual sort of reading, she usually preferred tales of chivalry and other such literature to magical tomes. Damian and Chase were also unlikely to be reading a magical tome. It's possible Kamilla had planned to curse them, but Morgan did not recall this book being in her possession earlier, and where would she have gotten it? Isotov and some of the others were watching her very carefully.

This left Helios, who was acting more strangely than usual lately and sometimes left for mysterious reasons that he would not explain to the rest of the group. Morgan grabbed the book and confronted Helios:

"Interesting choice for bedtime reading. Planning to curse someone perhaps, or are you cursed yourself? Either way, you are clearly hiding something, and you wil tell me what."

[Snowy_One]

With a gentle sigh and yawn, Esphyr took awoke; turning over in her bed with a gentle sigh and staring up at the ceiling. Then, with an exhausted motion, she brought her hand up to wipe away the weariness from her face. She had overslept, and she knew it. Her dreams had been anxious flickers of the past; sweaty nightmares of distance memories. She could feel her sweat making her clothes stick to her body. It had not been a pleasant night. She needed to get washed up.

Springing free from the bed, she quickly exited the room. Coming down, she went to the innkeeper. "If anyone needs a Esphyr, say she went to bath in a local lake, pond, stream, or whatever your town has" she said before quickly exiting the room.

---

Katie took a soft yawn as she too awoke. She had fallen asleep in her chair with her book in hand, thankfully closed and sealed away. She quickly glanced about, catching Esphyr's message before the mercenary left. Then, calmly, she opened the book before looking both ways to ensure no one was nearby. Noting the number of her page, she closed the book once again before she rose up. She wanted to check upon Morgan, see if she had taken to the necklace she had made for her. Sweeping the ruffles from her dress, she headed upstairs to the room she was sure the druid was in and gave a soft knock upon the door.

[Inactive Account]

OOC: Aw, Kelas actually responded to Chase... oh well.

Chase seemed not to have heard Kelas, as he turned away, but a more interesting sight quickly presented itself: A wyvern, apparently Aiya's, had appeared. A reunion had been had, as well as some wild flying above the inn.

She was reminded of the horses. She headed over to the corral, vaulting the fence. Amari and the packhorse looked up at her approach; the other horses milled around a bit, but were already getting used to the odd comings and goings of this odd human that belonged to Amari.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Sitting in the common room, Arrin found conclusive proof that he'd been sick and recovered: he was hungry. "Excuse me, where might I get some breakfast?" he asked the innkeeper's wife.

"Eh? Oh. You're the lad what nearly fell asleep in his soup, not one of them ingrates. Yes, there's food for you," the woman replied gruffly. She disappeared into the kitchen for a moment and returned with some bread and dried fruit. "Mind teaching those friends some manners?" she asked hopefully.

"I'm not sure I can, but I'll apologize for them," Arrin said ruefully. Before the woman could make a retort, Arrin looked up, seeing Kelas outside. "Oh, there's my sister-- I'd better see what she's up to. Thank you for the food!" he said hurriedly, and trotted out the door.

Outside, he realized he didn't really know what to do with himself. He couldn't help with the horses... embarrassed, he headed back inside, ascending the stairs to the room. He hadn't studied in a while... he probably should, to keep up. He pulled out a dusty old book from his satchel, the only non-combat tome he had on him, and looked for the page where he'd left off.

[riariadne]

^Whoops, totally missed that >.<

"Hello, Morgan. I think Helios is still asleep... Whatever. I found something useful, anyways," Chase stated happily, and took out the vial of liquid he took from Kamilla's room. "I think it's the poison that Kamilla tried to use on us. I dunno what else it could be. It might come in handy, anyways."

[Ether]

"I-It's okay Irina...I know you didn't mean it...it's just,I..." Aiya continued to sob into Irina for a little while,and the two soon sat on the ground,as standing was getting annoying.

[Ansem]

Helios didnt look up. "Why should i tell you" he said in a strange Garra like voice. "You would just get in my way like you are right". "Move".

------------------------------------

"If i remember correctly it was only the arrogant Mage that tossed it aside" Mark said to Kamilla. "You dont need to worry about him, he is just ignorant".

Edited May 22, 2010 by Kai-Sama

[-Cynthia-]

"Your constant need to withold information from your allies is highly suspicious." Morgan pointed out. "If we are to work together, you are going to have to become more forthcoming. Starting now."

She turned to Chase. "Do not allow him to leave. I believe we may have a traitor in our midst."

[Ether]

Damian stretched and awoke.It seems he had slept in a little bit,and the sun was rather high in the sky,though still morning.

As he scanned the room,he noticed Morgan and Chase blocking the door of the room,and Helios looked irritated.Morgan held a suspicious looking tome,and seemed to be questioning Helios about it,if he was hearing correctly,he owned it,and it seemed to deal with curses.

The three had not yet noticed that Damian was awake,and he quietly stood and grasped his Silver Lance.It seemed that a fight might break out.

When he had made it within striking distance of the three,he announced; "What the hell is going on here?"

His stance indicating that he was prepared to attack if anyone became hostile,but not openly looking for violence.

[Ansem]

"So eager to throw your lives away" Helios said in an evil tone. "I wont have any regrets killing you". He rose his hands to summon wind but then a he felt an unbelievable pain. That fool continues to defy me. How can he fight me in his state!?! Helios's eyes faded from red to its normal state. He looked at his hands. Then he realized the presence around him. "Whats going on" He asked.