Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Flight

[Toogee]

Jam was initially confused when Norbert mounted up and started flying to higher ground. Everyone else started to get riled up. The only clue of what was going on was the arrow planted in the tree. They were under attack!

The dancer made sure her sword and magic were at her sides. With the base nowhere in sight, she wasn't looking forward to a big battle before a bigger battle no doubt waiting for them at their destination. Still, it couldn't be helped. What could be helped would be the lazy wyvern still enjoying a good night's sleep. Recalling Eva's remark about waking up the wyvern (and the amount of time it would take), Jam got onto Sasha's back and attempted to shake her awake.

"Come on you, unless you want to be a pin cushion. We got company!"

[Ether]

"Yeah, that'll depend on the guard..." Angelica began, trailing off at the sound of a whisper, and soon afterwards, commotion near where the guardsmen had been patrolling.

"You guys heard that, right? Looks like break time is over." The adept noted, unsheathing a dagger and gripping it in her hand.

[Nanami Touko]

"I mean, I guess I could ask him, but..." It looked like Eva didn't have to, either way. She wasn't dull enough to mistake the sound of an arrow flying by, and that only meant trouble. Jam was already leaps ahead of her, hopping onto Sasha's back. That meant Eva had to get him awake faster than normal. She didn't bother to wait for reactions; she pulled her sword out and dashed back over to the wyvern, jumping on in front of Jam. "Come on, boy, wake up! <Feeding time! Meat, fresh meat!>" It was a terrible lie, but she'd deal with him getting upset at her over it later. For now, the wyvern started to stir, hearing the call of meat and shaking himself awake. He didn't see any as he stumbled to standing, but surely his Mistress wouldn't disappoint him, right? With a few flaps of his wings, they were moving, Eva doing her best to copy what Bert was doing on his mount. She figured if they had archers, going above the treeline would make Sasha a pretty good target.

[Toogee]

Well, that was fast. Jam grabbed onto Eva as they swiftly took to the air. If there were enemies approaching, the dancer could not spot them.

"Any idea what we're up against?" Jam asked Eva, still trying to peer into the woods to face their adversary.

[scorri]

Lumi heard the commotion and quickly formed up her ice tonfa shield around her arm. Whistling, she started running towards Star had been eating, and he quickly looked up for her. Grabbing his reins, she stroked his muzzle and quietly told him, "Look, you need to go hide in the woods, alright? No fighting, I mean it." She pushed him off away from the direction that people were heading, hoping that he would be safe. Star hesitated but then charged away from his owner. He recognized the weapons she had drawn, and he knew that meant it was time for him to go away. He didn't like it. She always came back smelling weird and tired when she pulled out the metal arm and cold arm but he knew that she wanted him away so he went.

It seemed that the man was content to join them with the information given, so Hoshi nodded and listened to the rest of the discussion. It seemed that they had decided to head away from the current area where they'd stopped, which made sense to her. She still felt odd about ordering people around, so she simply went to make sure that all of her gear was packed up.

Edited July 4, 2015 by scorri

[Phoenix]

Bang Bang Bang

"Move to the trees and use those for cover," the guard captain called out as another arrow whistled by. It just seemed to keep on going, and that was all the conformation he needed. The enemy was somewhere up ahead shooting from northeast. They may have set up in a few other places but they had the general location of at least two shooters, now.

"Have some of this, you bastards," a patrolman called out as he came up out of the foliage with a large rifle. He fired a shot hoping to at least rattle their attackers and then got down to start reloading. Several of the guards returned fire with their pistols since they weren't carrying rifles. Not everyone among the patrol with a gun fired, however. Doran, the perplexing excuse for a navigator, and the guard captain, didn't bring their firearms to bear.

Shadrak got down and covered his ears until the shooting stopped, then once he could hear people's voices, again, he slowly came up and looked around. "Was all that shooting necessary? I'm pretty sure the whole mountain knows we're here, now."

[scorri]

Lumi had moved quickly up towards the others were. Hearing Shad, she grinned slightly. "It's pretty clear they already knew where we were. And this is good. Means we don't need to waste more time trying to find them. Lets take 'em out quick and head back to the others."

[Afterglimmer]

Luther had awoken earlier than he usually did to set up a watch atop the wagon. Thankfully, it proved to be uneventful as he sat watching the road, so he mulled over events since the group’s escape from Europa. Three days had passed since the fight in the cathedral and it wouldn’t be long before most of the country would heard word of the events that transpired at the cathedral. Most of the group had left to hunt down some bandits yesterday; leaving only a handful of people behind to guard the wagon and, by extension, Joanna.

He had also noticed some strange occurrences during their travels; the most prevalent being a strange sound attributed to Amon being able to mysteriously move a small box that Joanna had supposedly been carrying around from a distance the previous day. The Rexian didn’t look like a mage at first glance, but the others had let slip that this act was connected to an emblem’s power. The mercenary started to have doubts about traveling with this group; especially since they were transporting some magic artifact with them. It was clear they were involved in some shady business, especially since Shadrak had mentioned fighting the Fallen. There was also the problem of contacting Weyland about his dilemma with the law. He hadn’t divulged his connection to his employer to anyone since he joined up on the chance that this could be traced back to him. At this point, all he wanted to do was get out of Ursium and lie low somewhere in Kigen.

The mercenary’s attention was soon grabbed by a newcomer who had been recently allowed to travel with them. The man seemed nervous when the avian man had tried to turn him away, but Luther couldn’t blame him considering the bizarre circumstances surrounding their group. Merz, what have I gotten myself into…, Luther silently mused as he stood up; still keeping a sharp eye on the road leading away from Ursaea.

Edited July 4, 2015 by Afterglimmer

[Nanami Touko]

Eva was incredibly tempted to fly higher as more arrows began to fly out, but she knew it'd be worse than leaving them hovering amongst the trees, so she ignored the urge. Gunshots rang out, and she was forced to wait to answer Jam. "If they've got archers, then they're probably just scouts. I can't see them starting an ambush like this and then not following up on it right away... So, Sasha, <give 'em a warm welcome.>" There was no point in trying to be stealthy after all of those gunshots, Eva patting her wyvern on the neck and giving him an order. He growled, and roared out as loud as he could towards the source of the arrows, Eva hoping that would be enough to scare them off for the moment, if the hail of bullets hadn't already.

[Mercakete]

When he landed, Norbert could clearly see two shooters falling back, but being careful not to turn around. Norbert wasn't about to give them the chance to get to a better position. He didn't break momentum, instead unbuckling his maces and charging right at them. He and Rizen were used to working in environments like this. Thankfully, there was enough tree cover here that if they managed to shoot before he closed the distance, he was confidant that they could avoid it and keep charging. There was no way they were outrunning this pegasus, not when she wasn't unaccustomed to spaces like this.

The trouble came in the form of a wyvern roar from behind. That did the trick, and spooked Rizen into a less-controlled charge. Now, it was more like a simple retreat away from the predator. What was worse was that she obviated this by loosing a fearful whinny. Norbert himself couldn't help stealing a glance backward, gritting his teeth both in frustration and with worry regarding how well he'd be able to control Rizen. Stupid wyvern! Now isn't the time for that!

It was all he could do to keep himself ready, at least. He was going to strike, and if he had to, he was jumping pegasus and taking these two on without Rizen's help. The much more preferable result, of course, would be managing to get Rizen under control again. He wasn't sure how that would happen, though -- at least not without her gaining a little too much distance from the threat around them for Norbert's liking.

Edited July 4, 2015 by Mercakete

[Toogee]

Eva was incredibly tempted to fly higher as more arrows began to fly out, but she knew it'd be worse than leaving them hovering amongst the trees, so she ignored the urge. Gunshots rang out, and she was forced to wait to answer Jam. "If they've got archers, then they're probably just scouts. I can't see them starting an ambush like this and then not following up on it right away... So, Sasha, <give 'em a warm welcome.>" There was no point in trying to be stealthy after all of those gunshots, Eva patting her wyvern on the neck and giving him an order. He growled, and roared out as loud as he could towards the source of the arrows, Eva hoping that would be enough to scare them off for the moment, if the hail of bullets hadn't already.

Jam had let go of Eva just to cover her ears from the mighty roar coming from her wyvern. She winced, being so close to the source. The goal was clearly to intimidate the enemy into retreat, but the dancer wondered if there was more.

"You think they might be...bait? While we're distracted with them, the rest swoop in from another side?" While she was no tactician, Jam did recall the incident with the dragon. How she and Shaun ran from the dragon, only to be met by a sniper...

[Phoenix]

A Response

The guards who weren't reloading their guns were scurrying up on after the retreating shooters, and Norbert had taken off shortly before Eva's wyvern started roaring. The best case scenario here, as far as Shadrak was concerned, seemed to be them getting separated from those chasing the enemy. From where he was standing, the enemy had to be in full retreat if not falling back to a more secure position; no other arrows had come their way. He decided to stay put for the time being and not follow since he wouldn't be nearly as effective running around while also trying to cast on terrain like this.

As Shadrak began to take out his tome in case any enemies came into view, he heard something he never expected to hear this far into Ursium. It was faint, but he could barely make out another roar coming from the northeast, much higher up the mountain. The sheer weight of it suggested a creature significantly larger than a wyvern. I really hope that's not what I think it is. We've got enough problems with these bandits.

"Did you hear that?" Doran looked to his fellows wondering if anyone else caught the second roar.

The navigator was shaking his head, not because he didn't hear it, but because he did and he was terrified by the prospects.

[Toogee]

Jam was hopeful of their situation once the arrows stopped flying. That hope was quickly extinguished when she heard the monstrous roar from the mountain. She turned towards the source; no way that was an echo. No, she knew that roar all too well. That roar was the reason she was on this path. The reason Greta lost her family, her crew, and nearly their lives.

"That wasn't an echo..." Jam's voice had a hint of sadness...and anger.

[Nanami Touko]

It only took Eva a second to realize that the roar that had come back was not an echo. And it both scared, and thrilled her. "<Never fought a dragon before...>" She almost smiled, and while Sasha was obviously enraged by the returned shout, she started to guide him back down to the ground, as the arrows had stopped. As much as he didn't want to land, he finally did, Eva turning her head to their guard captain friend. "So, what do we do now?" It was a straightforward question, and if his next order was retreat, she wouldn't argue it. As much as she was excited at the opportunity... Getting herself killed during something so rudimentary as a scouting mission wouldn't be the smartest thing she'd ever done.

[Ether]

"That sounded way too much like a dragon for my tastes." Angelica noted with a sigh, as she made her way over to the guard captain and his entourage, careful to remain low and out of any lines of fire as she did so, stopping nearby.

"So, Captain. What is your suggestion on how to respond to our... lovely sounding friend over the hill?"

[Phoenix]

Decision

The guard captain was looking none too comfortable with the sudden change in the situation. They had enough men and weapons to defeat a large group of bandits, perhaps not without some casualties, but they could still win. Dragons, even wild dragons, tended to be a much taller order, even when they were fighting on awful terrain. They were just too massive and their weaknesses were deceptively difficult to actually exploit in combat.

"Slim shot, but maybe we should hurry up and find those ballistae if they're really out here and use them on that monster," Doran called over. That really was their best option if the dragon was planning on investigating, but it was still unlikely. Doran only made the suggestion because a ballista was one of the few reliable ways to force dragons out of the air, and the bandits might have actually been in possession of a few.

"Our last run in with a dragon was more than the city guard could handle ... no reason to assume this will be any different," The captain said, mostly muttering to himself. "Follow the bandits. If that thing comes this way we'll be long gone."

[Mercakete]

Rizen was being difficult, but Norbert managed to slip off of her as she sped past the retreating archers, maces already in-hand. He figured that even if she was away for a little while, she'd circle back soon. In this sort of environment, he knew what her priorities were, and she wasn't about to just abandon him.

Edited July 8, 2015 by Mercakete

[Phoenix]

Caution

"Big mistake, kid," the man to Norbert's right snarled. The two had come to the same conclusion, that they could work together to quickly take down this one pursuer, and then fall back. With plenty of traps ready to slow down the rest of them, they could easily get away if they hurried.

As the two of them dropped their bows and closed in, each planning to take one of Norbert's arms with their own vicious looking axes, some of the patrolmen made it back into view. At the same time the second roar reached them all. Realizing what was happening, the bandit to Norbert's left took a wide swing, attempting to carve into the rider's chest, or force him back so they could move out. "It's those damn 'skotians, again. Gotta worn Carlos."

The other bandit leaped back to a safe distance and briefly glanced over his shoulder to make sure that fleeing pegasus wasn't coming back around.

[Mercakete]

Norbert ducked below the axe swing. The roar had caused him to delay a little too long, otherwise he already would've struck at these bandits. What's a dragon doing here?! Well, evidently, Neviskotians were still around from the last time they were around Ursaea. Doran mentioned Neviskotians, too before, actually, didn't he? Well, that wouldn't be good for Rizen's nerves, but it wasn't the immediate threat, either.

As the axe passed overhead, Norbert swung his maces together right into his attacker's nearest shin. He used the momentum of his maces, as well as the axeman's own, twisting motion to power the attack. The best part was that this bandit had planted himself there with such a wide attack: his feet were anchored to the ground by the force of his own attack. Norbert's maces would strike full-force, and there wasn't any time to get out of the way.

~~~~~~~~

Sheesh, that last roar was even bigger than the last one! They had to-- Wait. Where was her rider? The blasted human was always getting himself into trouble. With things that roared like that around, this was no time to be picking fights with other humans! Rizen circled around, dodging around the trees and speeding back to where she'd last felt her rider on her back. If anyone was fighting him, she'd gore them, trample them, pick up her human, and get the heck out of here.

[Ether]

"Follow along and hope that it doesn't show itself, huh? Well, I've heard crazier plans." Angelica replied with a light smirk.

[Phoenix]

On the Move

As Norbert's attacker staggered back, the other moved in, intent on killing him at first. While he first tried to cleave Norbert with his axe, he wound up using it to block against any possible attacks from one mace, while grabbing hold of the other one. With no real option to attack, yet, he quickly threw his weight forward, forcing himself and his opponent to the ground. It was up to his partner to bear the pain from the previous counter and strike the finishing blow before the pegasus or the guards caught up to them, but the nature of the encounter changed in an instant.

Several of their colleagues had been lying in wait a short ways ahead, prepared to ambush anyone that made it that far. They had only seen a pegasus at first, and so they delayed, but eventually, one of them stood from cover, drew back and loosed an arrow, striking Rizen in her side. The other two prepared to do the same and bring down the animal.

To the bandit's surprise, he saw his partner fall over dead. As if that wasn't bad enough, he triggered one of the many steel traps they had painstakingly set up to whittle down their pursuers. The trap couldn't slam shut around his thick torso, however, and only a faint squeak of metal on metal could be heard beneath the sound of his body hitting the ground and crushing leaves. Things could be worse ... but not much, as more of the patrolmen had just made it over and were coming for them.

And Then Some

It didn't take much time to get ready, although breakfast for some was going to have to be pushed all the way up to lunch, as it would be several hours before they reached their destination. Greta spent some of that time trying not to think about how awfully close they were getting to the site of her father and little brother's deaths, while Joanna spent some more time trying to figure out what she was going to do regarding the emblem.

Since Haythem had opted not to ride inside of the wagon this time, Haythem and Malik rode Isis alone as they made their way toward the mountain pass. It had occurred to Amon that Greta was becoming increasingly uncomfortable as they drew closer and closer to that old road, but he wasn't sure how to alleviate the situation. For the moment, he gave the route issue some thought, instead. While Sergio was farther out of the way, and less likely to be locked down by the time the Order of Wrath got word there, Urquium was fairly close, and if they were lucky, they could be out of Ursium in a day or two. The trouble was that if they weren't lucky, they would wind up getting themselves cornered in that port town instead of escaping like proper fugitives.

What came next gave some of the wagon's occupants quite the scare, as Joanna yelped as if she'd been hit with something. When Amon looked over to see if she was okay, she looked like she was staring an attacker dead in the eye. "What's wrong?" He quickly realized that his timing had been terrible, because as soon as he'd begun to ask that question, Joanna's eyes took on a more brilliant shade of gold, as if they were shining.

There was no way Joanna could piece together an explanation of what she was experiencing. She had only been trying to find a peaceful way to deal with the fallen, some use for the emblem that could help them. She'd become slightly frustrated in her endeavor, but then she saw something overwhelmingly vivid in her mind's eye, she even felt it to a degree. A man lashed out at her with an axe, but she couldn't see if the attack connected or not. She was sure she'd evaded it. Immediately afterward, however, she felt as if her movements were being restricted and another man lunged into her. Just before she landed on her back, something else faded in over the image, and she saw Norbert pinned to the ground, his face oddly close to her own. "Norbert ...?"

Another image appeared, something surreal and impossibly swift. Joanna could see Norbert and two men in the distance, and she could hear the pained cries of a pegasus. Suddenly three men drew closer. She felt as if she was seeing the world from the eyes of a charging predator. The distance was closed in an instant, and the man that was still standing completely obscured her field of view. A ghostly hand had driven something into the back of his neck, and once the hand was pulled away, blood poured from the wound and he fell away. That was enough; she couldn't bear to watch anymore of this. As her eyes lost the golden luster they'd once held, she turned her attention to those inside the wagon. "F-fighting. They're fighting! Norbert's fighting someone up on the mountain!"

To Amon, this was definitely bad news. After all, they were going up there to scout out the bandit's hideout, not fight them head on. He could only wonder at what might have gone wrong there.

Edited July 13, 2015 by Phoenix

[Nanami Touko]

"Alright... Well, let's get going, then. Angelica, want a ride, or are you fine on foot?" she asked, giving the others a moment to get ready to go. Sasha was fully alert and expecting a meal at this point. As he wasn't getting one, he was a bit annoyed, and he was groaning and grunting as he walked around in a small circle, anxious to start flying again, and yell back at what had shouted at him. A few rubs and pats on his neck calmed him down a bit, but Eva could tell they had to get into fighting something, or he'd start getting angry at the monster far away. He didn't like getting roared at.

[-Cynthia-]

New Camp

Liam frowned a little as Joanna's eyes returned to normal. "Is that the first time something like that has happened? Seeing visions of events elsewhere is a rare gift," he asked her warily.

"I'd be more surprised if Bert wasn't gettin' into a fight, honestly," Nadya chimed in. "We can't get there in time to help, so no use in worryin' about it," she suggested to the group.

Cathedral

Following their battle with the dragons and the Fallen, Selene's unit made their way back to Europa. Apparently, a group of adventurers had entered the cathedral, killed Alastor and many of the Wrathites within, and escaped with Lady Joanna and the emblem. Erica's unit is already on the trail...I'd hunt after them myself, but between the Neviskotians and this new Fallen threat we are spread thinly enough as it is.

After filing a report detailing the battle that had occurred, Selene made her way to pray at the cathedral for the strength to avenge all those who had died against Schwartz, the Fallen, the Wrathites in this very cathedral. Ursium is bleeding...and no amount of diplomacy will change that. Violence can only be answered in kind.

Edited July 9, 2015 by -Cynthia-

[Mercakete]

He'd managed to fend off the one, but he couldn't finish the job right away. If he didn't pay attention to the other guy, Norbert knew it could mean his head. At first, the guy looked pretty aggressive. He was also bigger than him, so Norbert figured lower strikes would be the better way to go, like before. He had one mace held up defensively while he prepared to use the other to strike. As he stepped forward and swung his rear mace at the bandit, however, said bandit shifted his axe so that its blade was pointed right at Bert. He had to swerve out of the way, which, unfortunately, took a lot of power out of his swing. As a result, the bandit's hand clamped over his arm and mace, completely halting his advance.

The impact that followed was unexpected. The bandit used his greater size and weight to slam against the pegasus rider. The next thing Bert knew, his back had thudded against the ground and his arm was pinned to his chest, held in place by this bandit's weight. He was stunned for a moment, but his wits returned to him quick enough. Unfortunately, the cry of a pegasus delayed him a beat longer. Rizen was on her way back...but she sounded like she'd just been hurt.

A protective anger flared up in the rider and he jerked the arm that wasn't trapped against his chest free the rest of the way. He then proceeded to bash the bandit's head as hard and in as rapid a succession as he could, mace still held defensively. As a result, the bit of the mace's arm that stuck out past the handle was what wound up repeatedly cracking against the bandit's skull. Specifically, the corner of it, as it was difficult to hit with much else. Norbert also curled his head forward to guard his neck and throat.

~~~~~~~

Rizen, meanwhile, had almost made it...but that was when something sharp stuck into her side, finding a place unguarded by her armor, wings, and tack. The pegasus screamed in pain and her fear was renewed to the point of instinct taking over whatever other intentions she'd had. Another arrow bounced off of her armor, while another missed entirely as Rizen dashed away from the direction the sharp thing had come from. She was no longer on track to helping her rider, but rather, galloping away from the conflict at large.

[Phoenix]

Mostly Pain

The patrolmen came thundering down after the bandits. Since only one was left, and he quickly fell over holding his head as if a large crate had fallen onto him, they quickly lost a great deal of their momentum. "Don't kill him," the guard captain called over to Norbert, hoping they could take one of them alive to interrogate. That was when one of his men screamed. That scream was just barely preceded by a sharp clamping sound. Another steel trap had triggered, and slammed shut on the man's leg. It was a very strong trap, and might have fractured or even broken his leg if not for his greave.

"Argh wrathdammit! Who would do something like this to another person?! Goooods!"

"Is that a bear trap? Holy ..." another patrolman winced at the scene. Frankly, the thing was quite large and looked like it could even ruin a dragon's day if said dragon got one of its digits caught in one.

The captain motioned for one of the others to go help him and made his way with the rest of his men toward Norbert.

Progress Report

"I've never seen anything like this before," Joanna answered Liam.

"Visions?" Greta echoed, "since when do y'all get visions? I thought it was just that mind readin' thing."

Amon frowned, both because the origin of the vision, as far as he was concerned, was ridiculously obvious, and because there were far more important issues, right now, such as what Joanna's vision entailed. Naturally, Nadya wasn't too keen on racing up to the mountain to try and help them. Chances were whatever was happening would be long finished before they got there. They also didn't know where to look.

"It would take all day and possibly longer to catch up to them on foot, but a flier could get to them in a few hours," Amon mused aloud. "It would probably be over by then, though ... yeah. Joanna, do you know where they are, right now?"

"I don-..." Joanna stopped herself from answering, having realized that she was wrong, "... I ... I do." She slowly built up an image of the surroundings outside of the wagon in her mind and tried to remember what she'd felt during the visions. There was a definite sense of location, but she had been too shocked by the images to notice it. From what she could remember, they were very close to one of the roads leading through the mountain range. She wasn't sure if it was the same one they would be taking to cross over onto the roads leading to Urquium and Sergio, but it very well could have been. It would still take many hours to get there with anything short of a flier, however. "They're fighting in wilderness, but they're very close to a road."

"So they haven't found the bandits' hideout, yet," Great reasoned. Just great ...