Lord of Azure Flame Chapter 22: The Hunt

[-Cynthia-]

"Well, things have been all right, aside from the mortal combat and all. I...have tried not to think too much about Burgosas, or Halton, or any of that to be honest." Tristan said to Tas. "We have been rather busy, though maybe I've just been keeping myself busy on purpose." Tristan said, scratching his head.

Morgan grimaced as the baby wyvern dug his talons into her hands and began to fly away. "You may want to catch it then, if it's some sort of investment. I admit that I underestimated the Reformists myself-they never seem so strong when they came to attack me before." she said to Lev.

Alf appeared to be feeling better and was talking to Reika. She looked around, Isotov appeared to be...glowing? She went over towards him and Kelas. "Um, are you all right Isotov? I'm not sure I can fix whatever is going on with you with just my staff..." she said hesitantly.

[Snike]

Damage Check

"... You either dislocated it or twisted it, I would guess," Derek said, finally arriving at the carriage, passing the young priest on his way. Gently, he placed Viveka down on the side of the vehicle, examining her leg at the same time. "... Yes, it is twisted. I'll go get a healer at some point, but not until the really serious injuries are healed. Now, for damage...," he trailed off, looking at the pegasus knight's ruined armor, and whistled. "Cut clean right through. Your armor needs to be replaced. Is there any in your pack, or even some other sort of uniform? You'll have to change out of it, Miss Viveka." As he said this, the cavalier stripped his own broken mail off right down to his gauntlets, his pants, and his tunic.

Disguise Failure

Well, waking up on the ground next to a dead body never was a pleasant experience, and Alex stifled a shudder as she opened her eyes to see one of the men she slew, staring at her with lifeless eyes. Quickly getting up, the soldier became aware of two things: One, her helm was crushed, lying on the ground as if someone crumpled it up like a useless piece of parchment. This was only a minor inconvenience, but the fact that her necklace was destroyed was not. Without that, the Comet could kiss goodbye any chance of commanding Loyalists, thanks to the inherent sexism in the system. With a sigh, she took the useless piece of mettle off of her neck and discarded it. As she retrieved her lance from the ground, the general heard the healer -Tessa, she recalled,- yelling at the female wyvern rider.

Alex sighed, and approached the growing group.

"What seems to be the issue here?"

[Mercakete]

"Unless that uncouth, arrogant, incompetant sloth is lazing about again, there should be enough staff-wielders and vulneraries to treat the wounded," Beau replied, frowning at the damage that had been done to the armor covering the caverlier's shoulders. Deciding the Luc would learn of the metal's warping when he next removed it, Beau decided to simply heal the wound, though it took a bit longer than usual.

When he had finished he asked, "What sort of magic were you facing?" (It looks like light magic: not direct enough to be thunder and not superheated enough to be fire. It was clearly more like a powerful blast so it certianly wasn't wind. Wind magic makes different types of wounds than this - and I highly doubt that shamans have ever been accepted into the ranks of the Reformists Templars. Though light magic of this magnetude...) "Were you fighting a monk?"

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

Tas gave a quick, quiet laugh at Tristan's confused coment. "No, I think we've all been kept busy. It's no fault of your own. Though it probably is a good thing that you've been distracted. Perhaps it will help you ready yourself for when you eventually attempt to retake Septimus," Tas offered, "What's your impression of this lot?" Then a thought struck Tas and he asked, "Have you been fighting?"

Edited December 7, 2010 by Mercakete

[Script]

Luc Altair

"Yes, it was a monk. Good eye, and thank you." Luc reasoned that the lad figured it out through examining the wound. A valid way to do so. Though now his armor would have two holes in it, and his useless cape was ruined. He had never wanted to cape, so its loss wasn't important, but the holes in his armor were far more damaging. He could slightly control attacks from where... Elle's lightning and struck, but attacks towards his back were significantly more dangerous. He could over them with his formal-wear, but that would do no actual protection. In their next town, Luc would have to seek an armorer. Or rely on Paul to have stolen a piece that just so happened to fit Luc's frame. Luc glanced over at Fargo, and noted the size difference between the two to them. Besides the sheer breech of protocol to do such, the man's armor just plain wouldn't hold fast enough to Luc's smaller form.

EDIT: Spelling good is overrated.

Edited December 7, 2010 by Script

[Mercakete]

"Of course I'll recognize light magic," Beau repled, his eye catching a couple more injurred, "It was good speaking with you again."

With that, the young priest travelled the short distance to Vivika and Derek. "Which of you has the most pressing injurries?" he asked.

[Ether]

"I... I'm alright. What was that, anyway? When I attacked that Valkyrie... my blade was stopped cold, and it was like an explosion of magical energy... what kind of attack was that... she was a sword-wielder, after all..." Aiya said, with confusion.

As she tried to sit up again, a sudden sharp pain assaulted her chest.

"Gah!" She cried out in pain, clutching her chest in agony as she collapsed to the ground once again.

"Wha? Why am I still...?" Aiya asked, rejuvenated blood flow blocking the rest of her question as she began to cough once again.

[Balcerzak]

"Mmmph." A grunt escaped Helios as, at Elle's prompting not to move, he abandoned his efforts to sit upright, and just lay back down, looking up at the sky.

"Always... someone managing to escape... I can't remember the last time it was a decisive victory..." Clenching and unclenching his fists, the wind sage scowled at the impotence of the group in total, and himself in particular. Frustrated, but with no outlet, and nothing to do, he simply let the woman minister to him.

Edited December 7, 2010 by Balcerzak

[Phoenix]

Levski

Lev Knelt down and quickly scooped up Niket holding him to his stomach firmly before sighing.

Lev: So wait, the reformists attacked before?

Isotov and Kiev

Iso: I know ... but I just couldn't leave you guys to fight alone, especially not to save myself. I'm always the survivor. Everyone else I care about dies sooner or later. That's why I can't just leave. I don't mind getting maimed if I can be sure the people I care about are going to make it out alive. That's ... better than surviving ... for me at least.

Kiev suddenly rose up forcing Iso to sit up right which ... of course hurt like hell. The wyvern trotted off hoping to stay by Irina in case she needed him. Iso's glowing wounds were becoming all too apparent now.

Iso: Urgh ... I'm not sure what that is, but I'm not bleeding out ... ... Proxima's energy is trying to mend me. Trying at least. (I suppose I can't blame the thing for trying to keep me alive. Not sure what would happen to it if I suddenly died.)

Charlotte's arrival gave Iso some relief knowing his wounds would at least be tended to properly at that point. She seemed slightly distracted by the glow though, and she didn't sound all that confident about the situation either. Maybe he wasn't quite as in the clear as he'd thought.

Iso: Um, if it's the light ... I ... wouldn't worry about that really. It's just Proxima. A lot of strange things have been going on with me and my tome lately.

Viveka and Susann

Viveka sighed heavily as Derek informed her that her only available armor was for all intensive purposes useless. 'What was she going to do now?', she thought. Tuning out the pain in her leg as best she could, she put on her normal slightly moody expression.

Viveka: I don't have any spare armor with me. If I knew I'd be doing grunt work, there are a lot of other things I would have brought.

As the cavalier began taking off his armor, she wondered exactly what his injuries had been having forgotten already. With a few movements she untied her breastplate and it came off only to crack further causing her to flinch. Her shoulder plates fell off one and then the other.

Viveka: I ... am ... not ... a ... damn grunt.

Beau found the two shortly and inquired as to their respective injuries. Viveka reluctantly spoke raised her hand. Meanwhile Susann had gotten back on her feet and stood right by the magnificent one. What else could she really do? It was simply safer standing next to him. Things didn't mess with the magnificent one. Why wasn't the entire group standing in the safety of his aura?

Irina and Kiev

Alex arrived about five second before Kiev arrived who then sat down right next to Irina and looking at Tessa a bit confused. Irina couldn't answer Alex's question however since Aiya's sudden burst of pain grabbed her attention and she came to kneel down on the opposite side Esphyr was on.

Irina: Aiya try not to move just yet, I don't think ... Tessa's finished just yet. We nearly lost you. (I don't ever want to see that ... look ... again.)

[Dark Sage]

Reika merely rolled her eyes at Irina's words about go siege a village. The hypocrisy was noteworthy. They were the Fire Bandits after all and had done far more damage than she ever did on her own.

"Hypocrisy at its finest. Tell me to burn down a village or to go besiege a village, and yet you idiots have caused more damage and burned down more stuff than I ever did. If you didn't go drag along that wench who was there, we would've avoided all of this," Reika said with disdain.

It was a lie, but she wasn't about to admit it to herself.

Edited December 7, 2010 by Red Magister

[-Cynthia-]

Morgan

"Yes, they had been hunting for the Crimson Weapons before we had all met up. I imagine many of the wielders were well protected by society-like Conrad and Damian. Arrin was not, and his teacher paid the price. Templars occassionally visited our cottage in the woods, not heeding the tales of the locals regarding the 'Witch of the Wilds'. Sometimes Flemeth would use me as bait, toying with them before she killed them. 'Twas usually a welcome distraction from the normal routine to be quite honest." Morgan said to Lev.

Tristan

"Well, most of them seem all right, I guess I don't know a lot of them very well yet. I am really not pleased at having to travel with a Haltonian miltary officer though, and will be even less so when her superior arrives. But yes, I have been fighting...not as easy to do as I thought." Tristan replied to Tas.

Charlotte

"Well, it looks like your wounds cauterized themselves...that's not very normal. I thought it might have been that valkyrie's sword which did it, but, well having your weapon heal you couldn't hurt I suppose. Still, it doesn't seem to substitute for the Goddess's work." She took her staff and applied it to Isotov's wounds. A dull ache began in her head.

[Snike]

Frustrated Patient

"...Well, at least you defeated my group for now...," Elle said, almost done with the healing mixture. "...And, there seems to be another fight, coming up soon... Maybe, you can do better there...?"

Two Birds of a feather

"She is," Derek said, replying to Beau, before turning back to Viveka. "We're in the same situation, it seems. The next major town is a week away, however... So, I guess either we will have to be very careful, or just not fight at all." Good going, rushing at the sword master like an amateur. Now you can't really protect your sister, your friend, or even yourself!

Hypocritical Hypocrite Hater

"That's funny," Alex said, frowning as she turned to the homicidal thief. "Because, if I recall correctly, you and a group of bandits just a month or so ago razed three to four tome production villages, massacred a whole squad of Haltonian soldiers, and sacked Ilyphina. While these people simply razed a border village. So, I'm really enjoying the irony here when you're calling them hypocritical."

Zombieland

The man moved with an almost abnormal agility, dodging the lunging creatures and either kicking their skulls in or feathering them with his bow. Eventually, no more of the lich dogs were remaining. With an unnerving calm, the man entered the door the zombies had broke in, sniping any who had survived his initial onslaught and checking for any survivors. There were none. He was too late, it seemed, but, since there were no more enemies, she didn't want to play with him today. Which meant there were probably a few around, hidden by that rotting lizard's magic. He'd have to return, however, the man realized, as his quiver was almost empty. With a neutral expression on his face, the enigmatic man strolled out of town.

[Dark Sage]

"Yeah, but they're supposed to be the heroes. The good guys. I'm a thief. It's what you expect. From these losers? Not. At. All. Maybe it's on a smaller scale, but they still did it, and they're still convinced how pure they are."

[Snowy_One]

"Hey. Don't move. You got hurt badly and Tessa is doing her best to make sure you don't die." said Esphyr, reaching down to wipe away the blood on Aiya's face. "You can't die. Damian would be mad at you, and mad at me too for letting you die. You just need to rest and... rest and... Unnn..."

Esphyr suddenly stumbled backwards as a wave of nausea and light-headedness swept over her body. She reached out for the first thing that she could grasp out at to try and support her weight as her legs became weak from blood loss; namely Reika's shoulder. Succeed or fail, she could no longer balance herself as she fell to the ground, the world starting to white out about her. "I don't feel so good..."

[Dark Sage]

Unfortunately for Reika, she toppled over with Esphyr, the two landing in a heap on top of each other.

Alf just stared.

" Uh, wow."

"Shut up, or I'll beat you up with my pimp hand," she growled, not even knowing what a pimp hand was, but it sounded vaguely intimidating.

"...the hell's a pimphand?"

[Inactive Account]

"Some of us want you to make it out alive too," Kelas pointed out with a sigh, reflexively moving to provide a shoulder to lean on as Kiev got up. Her own recently-healed injuries protested; she ignored them. "Should you even be sitting up? You're still bleeding."

Fortunately, Charlotte appeared a moment later. After Charlotte had patched Isotov, Kelas looked up at her. "Thanks, Charlotte. ...Er, are you all right?" She hadn't seen if Charlotte had been hit or not-- she thought not-- but it seemed like a good idea to check.

[Balcerzak]

Irina had attempted to explain her behaviour, but the words were soft and hollow. Not to mention the logic behind them was flawed too. Kiev had to weigh at least as much as Trevor, and getting hit head on by a charging horse could easily be just as fatal, with or without any added piercing damage from a lance. Not only that, but then she had the gall to speak about what Kamilla really wanted, as if she had known the girl well at all. Tessa was definitely not appeased, and hearing someone cheer her on with something that sounded like "Don't let up," she socked Irina one final solid punch. Anything more would be too much effort, and clearly nothing would change from it.

More people began crowding around them, and the talking, the coughing, all the sounds sort of blurred together into one dull roar. Irina was answering all the questions, which was only right as it was all her fault to begin with. There wasn't anything else Tessa needed to do here... she should just―

Hopes of going off somewhere alone evaporated, as she was roughly jostled by two bodies falling, bumping into her on their way down. Reika and Esphyr... huh... fighting? It wouldn't be unheard of... Confused and slightly unaware she looked around further, and saw that Aiya was still coughing up more blood that she should. What had gone wrong here? Frowning, head buzzing, she picked her way back over to the redheaded wyvern rider.

"What...'s still the matter?" she puzzled aloud, before sinking to her knees. "This should have cleared up."

[Ether]

"I... I don't know." Aiya replied weakly, as Tessa came back over and inquired what was the matter.

"I felt fine for a second, like it usually does when a healing staff is used... but after that-"

Another round of violent coughing cut Aiya off, and the rough jostling of her own body caused a sharp pain to re-emerge in her abdomen.

Falling to the ground once again, trying to soften her own fall as much as possible, Aiya looked up at Tessa, clearly pained.

"What's happening to me, Tessa?"

[Mercakete]

Niket's tail whipped about as he loudly shrieked in protest to being restrained. The sound was piercing and shrill: one of the calls mountain wyverns used in communcating with flockmates.

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

Namid raised his head. The faint call was recognized instinctually. As Tas continued to talk to the other human, Namid went rigid, intently staring in the direction of the call's source.

"Haltonian? I really don't know much of who we're travelling with either. The Ivanko Mercenaries are good folks, though: Irina and Levski: two of the other wyvern riders. Because my business is with them, they're the ones I've spoken to the most. ..." Tas explained before being distracted by Namid, looking in puzzlement at his wyvern. "I wonder what he's so up-tight about...?" Tas muttered to himself.

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

Feeling unwelcome to converse, Beau was satisfied with listening in as he beagn to heal Vivika, planning to heal her friend next.

[Phoenix]

Irina and Kiev

Kiev was a bit torn. Irina and humans he didn't quite mind were at odds with each other over a male come and gone. Irina wasn't fighting back though, only occasionally saying things. Kiev didn't want things to get more violent so as Tessa broke off from Irina, he stepped in and nudged Irina up and away trying to force her to a slight distance while repeatedly looking back at the untrustworthy women. It wasn't helping that Irina wasn't giving him any instructions either. He knew something was wrong though.

All Irina could do is stumble back each time Kiev nudged her greaves. She understood what he was doing, but she didn't want to back away with Aiya in the state she was. It seemed like it was no use and she was starting to get agitated. Tessa was mad at her, Reika was only making things worse and if not for Alex would have likely thrown a punch by now, and Esphyr was ... suddenly dragging Reika to the ground. It felt odd, but for a second, Irina felt slightly pleased to see Reika go down with the mercenary. She wasn't sure what was wrong with Esphyr, but Tessa was right there anyway. She could ... just walk away from the situation and hopefully talk to Aiya later.

She walked away, her head down without a word, and Kiev followed at her side.

Isotov

Iso: Yeah, I'm not beyond healers yet, heheh. Thanks ... again, Charlotte.

As his wounds began to heal, Iso closed his eyes trying to relax.

Viveka

Viveka: Right ... I guess it would be a bit unfair to just borrow Jasmine's armor while I'm at it too?

Viveka suddenly leaned back a bit feeling the pain in her leg begin to ease and eventually be swept away.

Viveka: (Oh that's so much better.) I'm not sure what we should do for you in the meantime. You probably need armor more than I do (And orange isn't your color, forget that it's pegasus knight armor for women, heheh.)

Levski

Lev: Witch of the wilds ... huh. That was these Flemmeth, right?

Before Lev could really continue with the conversation, Niket let out a loud cry.

Lev: Shiiiiit. (I know that call.)

He eased his grip on Niket and raised the wyvern higher up his torso where he would be more comfortable. Yes there was a slight risk of the little one trying to bite his ear again, but he decided to deal with that when it happened. At the moment, he really preferred to know more about Morgan's past.

Lev: Right, so was that these Flemmeth person?

[Mercakete]

Niket had stopped his shriek, instead grumbling as he cuddled into Lev's chest. It was warmer with the big human and he wasn't so stifled.

[-Cynthia-]

Charlotte

"I am fine, I was not attacked this fight. Luckily, I was not the target or else I probably would been kidnapped...again. I am feeling tired though after all this healing, perhaps I should take a nap and zen fire ze missles." Charlotte said.

Tristan

"Maybe he's in trouble? Bellerophon would always whinny when something bothered him. Then again, Bellerophon whinnied and charged the other day when he saw a pigeon, so perhaps he isn't the best basis for comparison." Tristan said to Tas.

Morgan

"Yes, Flemeth is the infamous 'Witch of the Wilds', though many legends report her as dying in a war several centuries ago. This is untrue, Flemeth simply has not bothered to interfere in the affairs of mortals, save for taking the occasional child to use as a new host. She was my teacher, and I suppose my parental guardian of a sort, though she made no illusions that I was her actual daughter." Morgan replied to Lev.

Edited December 7, 2010 by -Cynthia-

[Phoenix]

Levski

Relieved that Niket had begun to calm down, Lev gave his full attention to Morgan. He wasn't surprised she was speaking on matters like that, but it was new for him to know anything all that relevant about her. As he listened it because all too apparent that this Flemeth was no one to take lightly.

Lev: (I wonder what happened to her parents ... she's not actually an orphan is she? Aww, I love meeting women's parents. That's a real disappointment.) So ... what exactly happened to your real parents? Did these Flemeth know them or something?

[Mercakete]

"We weren't attacked durring the fight," Tas replied, "so Namid should be fine. It's not often I see this kind of reaction from him. He's just alert - I know that much - but I wonder what got his attention?"

Pushing the thought asside, he moved on with his conversation, "Anyway, I asked just because I'm a bit surprised. I didn't think that lords and royals fought."

[Inactive Account]

"Yeah, rest if you need to," Kelas told Charlotte. "No collapsing from exhaustion, now. What, is everyone taking naps now?" she added, as she noticed that Isotov's eyes had shut. "Guess we'll just sit here for now, then..."

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

Arrin had been conscious for a while, he just hadn't wanted to acknowledge the fact. When someone pulled him up into a hug, he opened his eyes a crack: it was Kelas. Well, she was all right, at least. He shut them again and let her put him back down. This... this had been a disaster. He'd found who'd killed his teacher, and... he wasn't sure what was supposed to happen, but he was pretty sure that this wasn't it. This was hardly justice, it hardly explained anything. It didn't bring her back. And... he'd attacked out of anger. He'd nearly hurt Tessa when she'd surprised him, he'd scared her. What... what had he been thinking?

He heard shouting voices; wonderful, more arguments. He didn't get up. Eventually he realized that one of the people shouting was Tessa. Well... maybe he could help. He blinked, then slowly pushed himself to his feet. It sounded like he'd just missed the argument; he headed over to Tessa anyway. "Er..." he began lamely, seeing that she'd be too busy to talk to much at the moment. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

[-Cynthia-]

Tristan

"Well, it really depends. Different nations have different ideas about what royalty should and should not do. Mother and Father believe in a rather firm seperation between royalty and the military, not that my aunt paid much attention to that. I never really wanted to rule anything myself, so I thought that if I learned to fight that I would somehow be relinquished of my duty. I guess that has come true, in an odd way." Tristan said to Tas.

Morgan

"I do not know what happened to them, nor do I know if Flemeth knew them personally. I suspect she killed them, though it is possible that I was kidnapped and they either could not find me or did not bother to look. I never gave the matter much thought to be honest, the circumstances of my birth never seemed particularly relevant. It is not as if I would recognize them even if I saw them again." Morgan replied to Lev.

Charlotte

"Well, it has been a rather harrowing day. Though at least it is still better than yesterday thus far." she replied grimly to Kelas. Not wanting to dwell on such matters at the moment, she closed her eyes and rested.