Lord of Azure Flame Chapter 20: Bait and switch

[Phoenix]

Isotov

Iso: I do feel tired, but I can't keep avoiding Alferis forever and I think we should both talk to him together. He's right over there and I don't think we're leaving this minute. What do you think? Now, or on the road?

[Mercakete]

(It is far better for them to stay where they are... But Namid sure isn't happy about all this. From what Lev said, we won't be staying here forever. I should let the eggs remain as warm as I can. I'll move them when it's time to take to the skies again. For now though...) Tas' eyes shifted over to where the hatchling had been perched. "Wha--?!" Tas sprung off of where he'd been leaning against Namid's side, "Where'd he go?!"

Namid heard Tas' distressed exclamation and looked up from his private grumbling. Tas was urgently looking around. He was puzzling out what could have possible upset Tas was when he relaized that the little one was missing. There wasn't much he could do: annother frustration. Tas would have to find the small one by himself since Namid had to protect the eggs and wasn't good at walking. He would be sure to hold the hatchling between his jaws if he had to to keep the small troublemaker out of mischief if he saw him.

"Namid," began Tas. He could tell that Namid already understood what to do by the look the wyvern gave him back, so he cut himself short. With a nod, Tas began searching the area. (Who knows where that little wyvern could've gone by now? At least he can't fly yet, but... Ugh!!! He's far too eager! Hatchlings should stay in their nests until they can hunt on their own!!) As he was searching - with no luck - he saw Irina talking with her wyvern. Aiya was nearby. Kiev seemed a little depressed. They worked with wyverns, so they could probably help. Tas didn't see Lev at the moment, so he discarded the idea of asking for his help. Had Aiya seen the baby wyvern before? No. He'd just ask Irina, then.

"Irina!" called Tas as he hurried over to her, obviously distressed.

[Inactive Account]

Kelas glanced around to check what the others were up to. "We should probably go now, before a decision is made about where we're going next. Else we might have to deal with whatever his reaction to our next target is."

[Phoenix]

Isotov

Iso: Right then.

Iso quickly stood up straight and tried to make himself look at least normal. It took a lot of effort though. He'd given Stephanie more energy than he'd intended.

Iso: (Okay. I'm holding up.)

He started heading over to Alferis expecting Kelas to follow.

Irina

Both Irina and Kiev looked over at the sound of Tas' holler. Irina quickly stood up and took a few steps in his direction hoping to close some of the distance so Tas could explain what was going on a bit sooner.

Irina: Tas, what's wrong?

What was wrong indeed? This wyvern rider wasn't usually loud. Still, there wasn't much Kiev could do. He couldn't communicate with Amari, he certainly couldn't communicate with humans, not with all of their complicated mouth flapping. Now he felt worse. What could he do that was helpful and be loved and fed constantly for?

[Mercakete]

When he was within standard conversing distance, Tas explained - more quietly but no less toubled, "The hatchling's snuck off and I can't find him. That little one keeps showing signs of wanting to venture off - which is natural, though the handler or mother is supposed to keep watch over them and keep them in line until they can fly well enough to hunt decently - but I haven't been able to find him yet and Namid is in a downright foul mood and the eggs needed warming and that was the most effective way and so I was distracted and for some reason expected the little one to stay put and behave which one should never expect and now he's gone off and might've been trampled or wyvernnapped or eatten or--!"

As he spoke, his words began slurring together and his speech was becoming quicker and quicker until his babble of worry was hardly understandable. He wasn't even looking at his audiance by the end of it and was simply staring off at the ground, envisioning all the horrors that might've befallen his baby the hatchling. He was getting so worked up about it, in fact, that he was accidentally making himself a little dizzy.

[Phoenix]

For The Love of Wyverns

As Irina and Kiev listened to Tas' explanation, they could both tell he was really worked up about what had happened. Kiev didn't know what to make of it, but he didn't notice the little armless one clinging to the rider. That was odd. Was it his little wyvern child? Was he missing? That would be awful Kiev thought. He could pick up a faint scent from the infant, but wasn't sure if he was actually missing and not simply off exploring and his rider was simply disturbed by something else. He decided to wait and see what Irina did.

Irina: It's okay-it's okay. Just calm down. We can find him I'm sure. We just need to look around here somewhere. You had him before we warped back here, right? As long as you had him then he couldn't have gotten too far.

Irina kept referring to someone. Maybe the little one was missing. What was he waiting for? He needed to act without being instructed. That was what a hero would do. He began sniffing around searching for the little one's trail. If he found him and it turned out he was what the humans were missing, he would be one step closer to being appreciated, loved, and fed constantly! Perhaps he could break the communication barrier with intuition.

Irina: Uh ... Kiev?

[Mercakete]

"A-alright... And yes, he was with me when we warpped back..." Tas replied, calming down and regaining his composure, taking deep breaths, "I'm sorry. I'm not sure what came over me." He smiled a little sheepishly. "Maybe I'm not as sane as I once thought. Haha... Anyway..." Tas was back to himself, setting himself to his task of finding the hatchling before he was hurt. "Thank you for helping me," Tas gave a short, slight bow before straightening his shoulders and looking over to Kiev. "It seems like Kiev is already searching for him. If he still has his scent, then it shouldn't be too hard, thinking logically. That is, unless the little troublemaker is somewhere where his scent would be hidden."

~~~~~~~~~~

This was an adventure. The familliar human always kept him near him or near the bigger wyvern. But now he had gone off without either one noticing. He couldn't fly yet, but he'd managed to sneak away anyway! He had to be better than any other wyvern to have broken shell. He wasn't still in an egg like the other three and he bested the bigger wyvern by getting away. He was unstopabl-- Ooh? What was that?

Curious, the little wyvern waddled towards the strange scent. There were weird, bending trees all around here. And there were strange, intimidating sounds coming from over head. But it was warmer here than outside the weird forest.

Suddenly, the hatchling realized he was hungry. Wondering what the weird, heat-eminating trees tatsed like, he bit hard on the trunk that was connected to a strange rock that sometimes lifted off the ground, connected to the tree.

It tasted kind of good. That was the only sensation that the little wyvern had time to think before a shrieking sound came from above him and the leg that his small jaws were still latched onto suddenly followed the horse's will and bolted.

The hatchling let out a cry of his own, terrified at the sudden sounds and motions around him. He couldn't fly yet. The only way out was to run!

Scampering about, he was almost stepped on several times and several more times he fell on his jaw, flaring his wings. No front leggs. But he learned to steady himself with his wings as he ran and escaped the coral, slipping unnoticed and unintentionallty into an open door leading into the castle.

[Inactive Account]

Kelas fell into step beside Isotov as they walked over. "So," Kelas began once they'd reached Alferis, "what's up? Why the sudden interest in demon-hunting?"

Amari quickly went on the alert as the herd was upset. It didn't take long to spot the source of the commotion: one of the small lizard-things like Kiev had gotten in among the herd. Amari snorted: were they all this ridiculous? With a shake of her head, she indicated that this small creature wasn't a threat, and let it run off.

Edited October 19, 2010 by Kiryn

[Phoenix]

*sniff* *sniff*

Tas seemed to have calmed down which Irina found to be a high priority. They wouldn't do a very good job searching with Tas in a panic and her distracted by it. Kiev was heading over to the corral though and leaving the two of them behind.

Irina: Kiev must have figured it out. Well it sure beats him being all depressed. Let's follow him.

Hot on the little one's trail Kiev wound up at the corral. Some of the horses were aroused and spooked. Kiev stuck his head in between the fence trying to figure out exactly where inside the group of horses the infant was. When Irina spotted Kiev near the horses she gasped!

Irina: Holy wyvern, tell me he's not in there scurrying around near all those hooves!

Kiev looked from left to right but only saw horses. He had two choices. Climb over the fence and follow the trail like he was, or let Irina try. Irina's nose wasn't very good though. She didn't even notice when he had eaten a small animal like she forbid him from doing. Anything with a good nose would have found him out. He was leaning toward doing it himself. After all, a hero had to do most if not all of the work themselves.

[Mercakete]

Tas followed allong, a more than a little worried he'd find a red stain on the ground where there once was a hatchling. The horses had been in a shrill panic, though one of them seemed to have calmed the rest down. (It seems even horses have a hiarchy. Actually, it's kind of impressive. I hope they didn't hurt the little one...) He was a little nervous around the corral, though. The horses were land animals and thus more likely to trample you than a wyvern. A wyvern would just fly away from or over you unless it thought you were food or a threat. The horses were strange creatured and Tas wasn't too keen about being this close to them. But he had to find the chick and he had to be around here...whether splattered across the ground with small chips of bone or curled up under a shrub. ...Tas hoped for the latter. He peered into the corral a good meter at least away from the actual gate. (I...can't bring myself closer right now... Small steps...) Tas tenitively pushed hismelf forward. Part of his fear was of seeing a dead wyvern chick. Part was fear of the horses in general. But for the little one's sake, he forced himself forward...no matter how pale he was in the face.

~~~~~~~~~

The little one scurried allong the stone floor, sometimes running into human leggs, causing the human to shout and jump back. He made several twists and turns, urgently trying to get away from the strange forest. This was like a never-ending cav-- Oh? What was that? Food! The hatchling smelled food! Following his nose, he found annother - but different - strange tree. This one was covered by a blanket and the smell of food was coming from under the blanket. It was time to be sneaky again. The little wyvern slipped under the blanket to find a weird sort of cave. This wasn't a tree at all! It was a weird rock! ...That moved? He felt like he was moving.

The servant pushed the cart allong, delivering the food from the kitchen. Not the best food, mind you. After all, it was going to the prisoners in the guardhouses and dungeon. There weren't a lot of prisoners but it was still easier to use a cart rather than carrying the food and water by hand.

[Phoenix]

The Corral Conundrum

Irina looked around to see Kiev pulling his head back through the fence and Tas hesitating to get closer. The horses were behaving orderly again but it looked like Kiev was about to jump the fence!

Irina: ... oh ... no. KIEV!!!

As he began climbing the fence, she ran up on him from behind and grabbed his tail trying to haul him down. He looked back with a bit of confusion in his eyes. Irina wanted to find the little one? But her nose was useless. She likely couldn't tell a horse from a pegasus, or a regular rock from a used one. Kiev needed to do this himself. He quickly cleared the fence taking Irina with him in a surprise jump! She found herself sitting up after her lone crash to find Kiev sniffing the ground again. The horses weren't very close to them yet, but Kiev wasn't likely to sit for very long. If the wyvern's trail led into the herd, Kiev would be heading that way eventually.

Irina: Hey, Tas! The horses shouldn't be too panicked by a human, I'll keep Kiev from getting too close, but you've got to search for the baby before something happens to him! I've gotta get Kiev out of this corral before he-*gasp*

Kiev was on his way over to the horses already and ignoring their reactions along the way. He was on a mission. The scent wasn't leading to them though, it was leading to another fence on the other side of the corral. Irina ran after Kiev yet again. When she caught up, he was climbing over the opposite fence and heading for one of the castle entrances, his nose still at the ground.

Irina: (Why isn't he listening to me?! This is embarrassing!) Kiev! Wait up, for crying out loud! I think he's inside the castle, Tas! Kiev's heading straight for the door!

The scent was stronger the closer he came to the entrance. He was getting a bit closer he thought. Irina made a tackling leap and grabbed Kiev's tail. As she stood up, she realized that her feet were dragging across the ground and she wasn't slowing her wyvern one bit.

Irina: (Give me a break.)

[Mercakete]

"U-um... R-right!" Tas called back, unsure of how to take all the events that were happening rapid-fire around him, though eternally relieved that he didn't have to go into that herd of horses. A speeding wyvern was far from frightening to him. But a standing horse? Oh the panic he would have had.

Following Kiev, Tas ran for the castle door. He wouldn't make it there before Kiev, but he doubted the wyvern would actually go inside. ...But then again...said wyvern was dragging his rider along...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The servant walked down towards the dungeouns before the guardhouses today, blissfully unaware of the hatchling that was feeding on the guards' and prisoners' food. At first, it didn't smell or taste very good, but the little one was hungry and he hadn't been allowed to finish eating that mountain goat before the familliar human had dunked him into his drinking water and whisked him away to some place where there were suddenly more humans and then light then more humans then scary, loud noises and more, scary, red light then more light then he'd snuck off and found food. It all happened pretty quickly for a hatchling, after all.

[Phoenix]

Oh Defeat, How Painful Is Thy Sting

Irina couldn't bring Kiev to a halt. Her voice commands had failed. Her attempts at sheer force had failed. She couldn't stand between Kiev and his goal ... not without him walking around her at least. Kiev was on his way, and Irina was apparently coming with since she wouldn't release his tail. He was almost to the entrance. He would find the little one and receive much praise and food. This was it. Nothing could stop him now he thought! Suddenly two spear heads appeared so close to his face that he had to stop or risk having his eyes poked out! He looked up to see two guards aiming their lances in his face! Kiev moaned. He had a feeling they were going to skewer him if he tried to get by. Perhaps Irina foresaw these heavily armed gate guardians and was merely protecting him. Now he felt even worse. Could he do anything right? he wondered.

With her feet finally grinding to a halt, Irina released Kiev's tail and walked around to the front of her wyvern. The guards pulled back their spears and stood at attention expecting Irina to remove the wyvern.

Irina: Kiev, I know you want to help, but you've gotta listen to me while you do it.

[Mercakete]

When Tas arrived, Irina was already talking to Kiev. He'd panicked a little when he saw the guards lower their lances, hoping not to see poor Kiev - who was only trying to be helpful - lanced through the head.

"Is Kiev ok?" asked Tas when he came up to the other two. He was worried about the hatchling, but trying to find him would be nigh impossible now that he was in that labrynth of a castle. He'd have to get moving, but he was also a little worried about Kiev and Irina. He knew how valuable a wyvern was to a rider, though, and so it was only considerate to ask how the wyvern was doing first.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hatchling found this ride quite enjoyable. The smell of the air was changing, though. What did this mean? It smelled...a little like food, but not. He'd eaten all the food in the moving rock anyway. The air was getting a bit cooler, too. Where was this rock, anyway? This was...puzzling...

[Phoenix]

Stone Jungle

Another wyvern rider was approaching. They didn't needed this the guards thought. Things had been crazy and random enough since the grand ball. When were these people leaving? It was anyone's guess. Irina gave Kiev a hug feeling guilty that there was no way to get him into the castle. When Tas asked if Kiev was alright, Irina nodded, her form of confirmation.

Irina: Our nose ends here so we ... have to search inside the castle. I know that sounds stupid since there's only two of us, but we don't have any other choice.

She was beginning wish she had some of Kiev's abilities, especially his nose. That would have made things so easy as to not warrant any worry. The two guards were just listening and thinking.

Guard: (Search inside the castle? Search for what?)

[Mercakete]

"Alright," Tas steeled himself. This would be difficult, but he still smiled, "I'm glad there are two of us. Otherwise I'd have to try to find him on my own." He turned his attention to the guards. He figured they'd let Irina and him pass, just not Kiev. So, he stepped forward, walking past the threshhold into the maze...all of which would have to be searched for a renegade wyvern chick running around like a chicken with his wings stretched out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An unfamillar human was talking. Where was he? The sheet was removed from the cart and the unfamilliar human suddenly yelpped and jumped back, nearly falling over and surrpising the hatchling. This place was dark and made of stone. There was a human in a penn of some sort with long, slender rocks keeping him from the main tunnel that they were in. The hatchling let loose a cry of surprise and flap-jumpped off of the cart, accidentally hitting one of the slender stones keeping the other unfamilliar human penned up. When he hit the floor, the hatchling began crying, hoping the familliar human would come and comfort him like he always did when he fell. The familliar human wasn't around, though. Only one unfamilliar human because the other one ran away. The penned-up one was still there. Confused and a little sore, the hatchling curled up. It was kind of cold wherever this was and all the food was gone. There was an unfamilliar human behind the slender sones and the hatchling's leggs hurt from running so much. And he couldn't fly. Maybe leaving the big wyvern and the familliar human was a bad idea...

[Phoenix]

Stay

Irina: Okay, Kiev. You did a great job pointing us in the right direction but there's no way they'll let you in the castle-

Guard: (No kidding.)

Irina: -so I need you to stay here, okay?

Stay? Not that word. Not that damnable word that paralyzed Kiev into inaction. Heroes didn't "stay" they "went", they "did". This wasn't fair. Would he receive a reward for this at the very least? Like something to eat? Perhaps a few chickens? Or a deer? She didn't give any indication and it had him anxious, but he lowered his head letting Irina know that he'd conceded to her. She smiled and gave him a quick hug around the neck before heading over to Tas.

Irina: You know I don't think it helps that there are certain places they probably won't let us search. The good news though, someone's bound to have spotted a little wyvern running around. We may only need to ask around a bit. Someone might have him.

Elsewhere

The tendril smashed into Helenos's jaw, shattering through the bone as it ripped her maw clear off its hinge, sending it smashing to the ground only to dissipate into the rotten tendrils and melt away. For a moment, the sickly and twisted mess of tendrils that formed Helenos's interior lay open to Tanair's gaze before they pulsated and churned, flowing out to reform the maw. "Doesn't it disturb and sicken you? To know that your own flesh and blood, the child who clambered over your back, who baked you fresh bread every morning, has become a being like me? How can you look at me and not see her? How can you act so cold? So harsh towards your sister?"

"You are no longer the one I called 'sister'," Tanair answered coldly, as her claws raked Helenos' side, laying open gashes in the rot. "If you will not act in a manner befitting what you once were, I will have no choice but to destroy you."

A twinge of pain appeared on her face, the only immediate rebuttal she had for her sister's cutting remark. It was beginning to sink in that her sister couldn't see her behind the creature she had become. With a loud draconic hiss she back swung for Tanair's head hoping to get an opening from her inevitable dodge! Her tendrils were already beginning to stir once more in preparation for her next attack!

Tanair wheeled, catching Helenos' chest with her massive hind talons as she dodged the blow. Her claws rent Helenos' hide, digging deep as they raked the rotting flesh. Tanair gathered her limbs under her as Helenos writhed, preparing for another strike.

She had struck her deeply! She still was in the midst of what could very well be a death throw and by her own sister no less! Helenos let out a pain stricken roar that sounded for miles and miles all around! She had to do something to protect her heart right then and there! She quickly launched an all out assault, her tendrils flaring out from every wound and opening in her body and engulfing both dragons in a barely controlled frenzy! Each one wrapped its way around Helenos and Tanair aiming to heal the former while ripping away at the latter!

With difficulty, Tanair ripped herself free from the tendrils that continued to snatch and cling. Panting, bleeding from thousands of tiny wounds, she dropped back, falling into human form. "Do not make the mistake of assuming that I will not return," she warned, and turned and fled off through the woods to nurse her injuries.

She had with a last ditch effort managed to save herself, but she quickly collapsed onto the ground causing a tremor. A light moan, then her tendrils began slowly seeping back up into her torso. After a few minutes her eyes opened, filled with rage and contempt. She tried to rise to her feet, but it was a slow process. She was still injured. So badly that her entire body felt weak.

Helenos: (How can this be?! My own sister! She will pay for this! All who oppose me will pay for this! I must obtain the remaining crimson weapons soon! There is no other way! I will not be defeated by my own sister!)

She finished the slow struggle to her feet and let out another loud roar resolved to track down and sever the remaining eight. With one hard flap of her rotten wings she took flight and flew off into the sky.

Edited October 19, 2010 by Phoenix

[Dark Sage]

Turning to Kelas, Alferis gave her a neutral look, and chose his words carefully.

"We go on our merry way, we get jumped by demons, we leave them alone, someone here dies. They're a blight to the world. They deserve to die anyway."

It was the best he could do without spilling his guts so far. A good opener.

[Mercakete]

Tas nodded as Irina fell in-step beside him. Honestly, he hadn't thought about not being able to search the entire castle, though she was right. There would definately be places that were restricted from them. "Maybe we should go separate ways, then. I'm not exactly a refined diplomat, but I can talk to a few castlefolk. We'll ask anyone we come across if they've seen a small, red wyvern chick and look for signs of his passing. It shouldn't be too hard to identify where he's been if we take that approch," suggested the wyvern courier, shifting his eyes to every corner to try to find anything out-of-place - any sign that the hatchling had gone this way or that.

[Phoenix]

Isotov

Iso raised an eyebrow at Alferis' explanation. It seemed general and hardly explained his actions on the battlefield.

Iso: Alferis. These demons came after my sister when we were children. They hounded me for ten years, and killed almost everyone I ever cared about. Most of this I got to see with my own eyes. That wasn't enough for me to go running around like a headless chicken searching for extra help to cut them down. What's the real reason you're after them?

Irina

Irina: I ... guess I'll start on the left wings and you can start on the right? Just remember to ask anyone you run into. We're probably going to be annoying the crap out of people but it hardly matters right now.

Jail

Shamus had been watching curiously as the littler red wyvern scurried around. Then it hit him like a ton of bricks and he finally had something to say.

Shamus: Hey! That was my lunch you just ate, ya little burgundy bastard! Come're!

Shamus stuck his hand through the bars hoping to grab the little wyvern and yell at him up close!

[Snowy_One]

"If you are to depart, then I wish you well in your travels." said Kaileen, giving a small curtsy as her son bowed beside her. "I too must go my own separate way. The world about me has become unstable, and for too long I have secluded myself away; letting my word travel to the ear of only those who came to me while I raised Henry Jr. I must bring to public light that things are moving once again. I wish you luck upon your journey. Should you need aid, I will be more than willing to help, Sir Henry."

[Dark Sage]

"I can't tell you," said Alferis, not daring to trust either Iso or Kelas with Reika's life. Who knows what they'd do?

"All I can tell you is that if I don't kill them, someone important to me will die. And I won't have that at all." They'd probably guess anyway, but they couldn't prove it. At least, they couldn't be sure. He'd have to make sure that at the most, they'd only probably think it was Reika who he was talking about.

[Inactive Account]

"Have you got an actual plan?" Kelas wanted to know. She understood the need to save, well, whoever it was, but... even with a plan, she'd nearly gotten people killed... "We got all their warpers that we know of, but tracking them down is still probably not going to happen yet. Charging in without a plan will just end with more deaths-- even when we tried planning, we nearly--" She broke off. "Just... have you really thought this through?"

[Dark Sage]

"I don't know. I don't know much about these demons except they can warp in. I don't even know where their leader is or who they work for. Maybe the Lord himself? I don't know. It's kind of why I was asking you guys for help. You have more experience with demons than I do."

[Phoenix]

Isotov

Iso: Someone. But you won't tell us who ... ... ... I've heard enough then. I refuse to work with people I can't trust to be open with me, and neither should you, Alferis. If you can't trust us, then don't ask us to help you.

He turned to leave with a slightly irked look on his face but stopped for a moment. Without looking back he uttered one more thing.

Iso: Do us a favor at the very least though. Don't get in the way.