Return of the Emblem Chapter Thirteen: Flight

[Mercakete]

Norbert frowned as he contemplated the bandit's actions. Obviously, taking your own life was a temptation if your suffering was bad enough, but something made the rider wonder if that was really why he'd done what he'd done. He sure seemed loyal to this Carlos guy... Was it because of guilt, rather than pain or fear?

Slowly, while he was still pondering it, he mentioned to whoever was both interrogating and listening to him, "You might want to find out just what his boss did for them that made him so loyal... If this is the way they all feel, then this could be more dangerous than we thought."

With that, Norbert informed, "Anyway, I'm going to talk to Lumi." And off he went again, not bothering to dismount his own pegasus. Hopefully this time he'd be able to reach the woman without getting distracted.

[Toogee]

"Hm, maybe it's too warm for big ice shields to stay together," Jam said to Lumi. Coming from the desert, the dancer knew very little about ice. She knew enough to know that it was way too hot and too dry for any chance of snow, even in the cold nights. In fact, the only reason she heard of snow was from travelers from other countries and a random ice mage who took a wrong turn.

"Wait, why'd you send your pegasus away?" Jam asked Lumi. The others generally kept their mounts close by in case a battle came up.

[Mercakete]

[spoiler=OoC, for Scorri and Toogee]I'll post this now so you're not waiting on me or anything, but I'll let you guys decide where in the timeline (relative to Lumi and Jam's conversation) this takes place. I know there was a span of not posting for those two, so just whenever you think the timelines are aligned. Also, I'll edit as necessary if I get the environment wrong. (I.e., if Star's returned.)

"Hey!" Norbert called as he rode over. Lumi and Jam were talking, it seemed. He slowed Rizen from a trot to a walk as he drew closer, looking around for the blue-haired woman's stallion. Somewhat worried but mostly just serious as he pulled up to a comfortable talking distance, he asked, "Where's Star? You'll want to keep him close; we found out that the bandits have been capturing pegasi and their riders for their own use. They're after ours, too -- and the wyvern."

[Afterglimmer]

"I'll tag along, too. The more manpower we have, the better off we'll be if things turn ugly," Luther let out an annoyed sigh as he volunteered. We've spent enough time as it is waiting for them to come back. The longer we wait, the harder it'll be to cross into Kigen.

[-Cynthia-]

"Joanna and I will get there more quickly if it's just the two of us. If we intend to negotiate a surrender, it would be wiser not to bring an armed group of warriors," Liam interjected.

"We might as well just all go at this point and get this over with," Nadya chimed in.

[Ether]

"Well, that's the end of that, I suppose." Angelica noted with a rather bored expression, as the captured man made an attempt on his own life, and was rapidly bleeding out. This was why you kept prisoners properly bound, folks.

[Phoenix]

Weirdness

The healer began to treat the wound while the others watched. Shadrak was borderline furious after being outmaneuvered the way he was. "Once you're done, let's tie him up, this time. I can probably try the whole 'mind reading' trick one more time."

"Speaking of which, where did you hear the name Carlos Lich?" the guard captain asked.

"He's on the wanted signs in town, so ..." Doran noted with a shrug.

Was now a good time to bring up the weirdness? The bandit was still out cold so Shadrak supposed now would be a good time to bring up the weirdness. "Well, yesterday I heard a voice, a whisper. It told me the name. I wasn't sure if it was important or not but if the guy's their leader then ... I don't know. Maybe it's got something to do with the emblem ..." Shadrak winced, wishing he hadn't done so much of his musing out loud.

"Emblem?" the guard captain felt he wasn't getting any clarification on that when Shadrak started shaking his head dismissively. As if that wasn't weird enough, a bunch of birds started calling to each other somewhere off in the distance. They couldn't see them through all the trees, but an entire flock had just taken off in unison, likely fleeing from something.

Pacifism Is Hard

"Well I'm not goin'," Greta added after Luther and Nadya, shrugging, "my whole day's already planned out from start to finish. Have fun, y'all."

"Huh?" It took a moment but Amon realized what she was getting at, "the reward, right. Well Haythem can fly some of us over there, but Joanna, I really think you should stay here. If anything happens to you, then everything that happened in Europa will have been for nothing." He was somewhat exaggerating since regardless of what happened to Joanna, they had come out of that massacre with an emblem piece, thanks to Malik's efforts. Just the same, the last thing they needed right now was to risk such a huge loss.

"There must be a way to end this peacefully. What will you do if you can't find it?" she asked.

"What will you do if you can't find it?" Amon shot back swiftly, "force Liam or someone else to take a hit for you? You've got to think this through."

[Toogee]

"Hey!" Norbert called as he rode over. Lumi and Jam were talking, it seemed. He slowed Rizen from a trot to a walk as he drew closer, looking around for the blue-haired woman's stallion. Somewhat worried but mostly just serious as he pulled up to a comfortable talking distance, he asked, "Where's Star? You'll want to keep him close; we found out that the bandits have been capturing pegasi and their riders for their own use. They're after ours, too -- and the wyvern."

"That would explain why they didn't shoot us down," Jam wondered aloud, recalling her scouting adventure with Eva. Moments later, a flock of birds flew off in the distance.

"That's weird. I wonder where they're off to in such a hurry?"

Edited August 12, 2015 by Toogee

[Phoenix]

Coming Through

"So," the guard captain began again, "you heard a whisper. You sure it wasn't some old memory popping back up or someone around here mentioning it?"

"Pretty sure," Shadrak nodded. The ground shook ever so slightly, and only seconds later, small creatures began running out into the open. Rabbits, squirrels, small birds. A much larger animal showed up to Shadrak's surprise, a deer. The doe somehow evaded the traps that had yet to trigger and came right toward Shadrak. The druid braced himself, figuring the animal was either going to just miss him by going to either side, or slam headfirst into him. She took the third option and leaped high over his head before disappearing into the woods along with the other fleeing animals.

"What was that all about?" the healer asked, standing up from the bandit. "By the way, he's healed up. You may want to-" "On it," Doran cut the healer off and came over to restrain the man."

Boarding Call

"How can you expect me to just stay here and let this happen?" Joanna asked.

"This could and very likely would turn into a fight whether or not you're there," Amon said, "the guards aren't going to care about your peaceful solution, even if the rest of us do. Forget the bandits, who will probably have their hideout fortified enough to be confident in their chances of winning. Like I said, I'll go, and see if there's any way this can be resolved peacefully, but I'm not going to keep pushing for that outcome while under attack."

"Well whoever's coming, come on," Haythem called down from outside, "I'd say Isis can comfortably carry six of us, myself included."

"Joanna," Amon turned back toward the avian, "stay here, please. I'm going to try, okay? I can't promise anything more than that, and neither could you."

[-Cynthia-]

"Well, part of this is my mess so I better go clean it up," Nadya announced, heading outside to where Haythem was. "How do I ride her?" she asked Haythem, calling up.

"I fear Amon may be right Joanna, these humans want blood and I do not think there is anything we can do to stop it. I will be by your side whatever you choose of course," Liam said with a nod.

[Phoenix]

Don't Worry Be Happy

As Doran approached the bandit, he had to resist the urge to kick him in the head before beginning to tie him up. "We better learn something else from this guy, otherwise this is just a waste of time," he muttered as he sat the man up.

"Don't worry ..." Shadrak flinched. It was that whisper again. The gentle breeze was back, as well. That wasn't the only thing off about the situation, though. There was definitely something off to the northeast of their position. The trees in that direction were beginning to rustle wildly, and it sounded like at least one of them was falling down. "Tell them," the whisper urged Shadrak, causing him to flinch, again.

"Err-don't worry," Shadrak forced out the words as if he had been choking on them.

"You know something we don't, Shadrak?" the guard captain asked as he drew his sword and readied himself. He had a feeling the dragon had come over to investigate, after all.

Doran let the bandit drop back down to the ground, took a few precautionary steps back, and drew his pistol, figuring if he got close enough to use his sword, he was a already a dead man. "Shit. What do we do? We don't the gear to take on a dragon, captain." Doran could just barely make out a massive dark figure in the distance, muscling past another pair of trees and bending one of them in the process. It was coming right toward them.

"D-don't worry, I said," Shadrak called out, not sure why they shouldn't worry with what could very well be a dragon approaching them.

Test Yourself

Haythem decided to forgo the traditional mounting method since the group was still moving forward, and directed Isis to lower her head so Nadya could climb up from there. "Use her jaw horns to get a leg up and she'll lift you over to me." He couldn't help but smile as he explained the plan. Isis was a wonderful companion.

Luca wasn't sure what Nadya was up to but he had a feeling he wasn't going to be going with. Just as well if it involved the big wyvern, but where was she going, exactly?

Inside the wagon, things were still somewhat tense. "I just ... I just wish there was some way to stop all of this," Joanna winced, almost as if she'd been painfully prodded.

"Use the emblem, again," Amon said, "I know there's more to you than just watching things happen, so there's got to be more to that power that you haven't discovered yet. Keep trying to use it. Maybe you'll find a way to help us from here since you can see so far off, now." With that, Amon headed to the back of the wagon, and motioned for the others in the wagon who were coming to follow.

[Nanami Touko]

"What now?" Eva asked as she sat up a bit, hearing the rustling of the leaves and the trees. She suddenly sprang to her feet, and patted Sasha to get moving. "Did that dragon follow us?" she asked to no one. She hadn't seen anything while they were flying, nothing at all. How did it-- well, Sasha had yelled, so maybe it was that, but if it didn't come over right away, why did it suddenly care now? Please be something else.

[Mercakete]

When the animals started rushing by them, Rizen just about joined them. Something had chased them all away, and whatever it was, she had a terrible feeling about it. Norbert pulled back on the reins, trying to maintain control as she nervously began shifting about, half-turning one way before turning the other, and swinging her head about to try to figure out what was going on. "Whoa! Come on, Riz; calm down." What's going on?

Normally, he would follow the fleeing wildlife. Generally, those animals had good sense and knew how to avoid danger. He had other people to worry about, though. It took some effort and Rizen halted and even backpedaled several times, but he managed to convince the shaky pegasus to walk back to where the majority of the others were. Rizen was one step away from spooking as it was, though. And as soon as he saw the massive form breaking through the forest towards them, his advice seemed, to him, to be simply common sense. "Run!"

Rizen was more than happy to comply, though Norbert hadn't intended to set her off necessarily, and he certainly didn't want to outrun the guards or his companions, who were mostly on-foot. The pegasus was not about to stick around, though, and bolted. Bert himself was surprised enough that he pulled on the reins, turning Rizen's head, and therefore her direction, so she would up beginning to circle back. She whinnied shrilly in panic and protest and even reared up, fanning her wings as she tried to throw her rider. Bert grit his teeth. "Calm down, Rizen!"

[Toogee]

When other animals started bursting out of the forest, Jam absolutely knew something was wrong. This would have been the point when their fearless leader would announce a sound strategy to combat the latest menace (Jam was quickly realizing that this was likely related to the loud dragon from earlier). Instead, Bert announced that they run, advice Jam followed. The dancer bolted, but not into the woods. Instead she ran through the crowd of soldiers and straight for Eva. WIthout hesitation, she climbed up upon her wyvern.

"ComeonComeonComeon", Jam urged Eva to start flying them off of the menu.

[Nanami Touko]

Sasha was more confused than bothered by having Jam hop onto him so fast, turning his head to stare at the dancer. Eva clued in real quick that she should probably be on him as well, turning and quickly mounting up. "Alright, come on boy, we're flying again." Sasha was a bit annoyed to have to fly so soon after getting back, but after some pats of encouragement, he started beating his wings, taking off again. "I'm sincerely hoping that's not the dragon."

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya looked at Isis dubiously. "All right, I'll give it a shot. It'll be all right Luca, I gotta go help kill some bandits or somethin'," she said, giving him a pat before tentatively attempting to mount the wyvern using one of the jaw horns. "I really don't know how ya manage ridin' somethin' so big," she called out to Haythem with a nervous laugh.

Liam frowned. "Simply trying to 'use' an ancient magical artifact without any idea of how it works could have dire consequences. You are cautious for good reason Joanna," he reassured her.

[Afterglimmer]

Luther sat up and stretched before following Amon. Joanna's visions and their ties to the mysterious emblem reaffirmed his suspicions about the group. The biggest priority now, however, was to resolve this bandit mess so that they could focus fully on reaching Kigen. The mercenary made a mental note to ask Amon about the group's intentions once they returned as they began to approach Haythem's location.

[Phoenix]

Staying? Going? What?

"Wait, Doran, grab the prisoner," the guard captain called over, refusing to leave their only source of information to the impending threat.

"T-there's no time for that," Doran said, keeping his pistol aimed at the dark figure in the distance as he took steps back. He wasn't content to turn and run just yet, not while he still had several fellow guards stumbling back to their feet and trying to get a move on without triggering any of the traps. Unfortunately, one of them did. His scream cut through the air, making both Doran and the guard captain wince; that massive creature was going to get here well before they could get themselves together for a proper retreat, so they would either have to stand and fight, or leave a handful of their own to their fates.

Shadrak stood in place as patrolmen rushed past him, one turned around and headed right back the way he'd come to help out the one who'd stumbled onto one of the remaining steel traps. "The voice said 'don't worry' ..." he murmured to himself, trying to decide whether or not to run, himself. "Come on, I need more info than that," Shadrak yelled in frustration. "Everyone's freaking out, so tell me what to do, dammit!"

"I said grab the prisoner, wrathdammit," the guard captain shouted, "the bandits still have something waiting for us and he's the only one who can tell us!" The trees were beginning to snap like twigs over to the northeast, and when the guard captain looked back that way, he could see that it was indeed the dragon. Shadrak and Doran could see it, too, and it was massive, even larger than Schwartz. Its hide was brown and beige, with thick scales that protected most of its body. It was staring right at them with its pale blue eyes. Shadrak had no earthly idea why he shouldn't be worried about something like that, but he supposed if the dragon was going to catch them anyway, it really was pointless to freak out about it. Since it was a dragon that worked with the Neviskotian military, maybe there was a chance they could talk it down? Then again, more than half the people here were Ursians ...

Staying? Going? Emblem?

"It feels a lot safer to be perfectly honest," Haythem said as Isis gently moved Nadya over to the saddle. She sure as hell wasn't going to be flying with a human clinging to her face the whole time. No special seating; it was the saddle or nothing. "It's harder to fall off than you might think." By the time Nadya reached the saddle, Amon had climbed up the side, using the saddle's harness straps to haul himself up.

"I think the real issue is training a wyvern as big as Isis in the first place," Amon noted. Of course, Haythem had it easy, since he raised her in Sanctuary. If not for the unlimited access to food, she wouldn't have managed to grow so large in the first place. She was otherwise a very normal mountain wyvern.

"Anyone else coming?" Haythem called out.

Joanna meanwhile, tried to decide whether she should explore the emblem's power further, or remain cautious for the time being. It was a much tougher call than usual with lives at stake ...

[Nanami Touko]

Well. That was a dragon. Sasha saw that it was a dragon. And he did what he'd done earlier. He roared again, staring it down with all his animal anger. Eva knew that was a bad idea, tugging hard at his reins and getting him to start pulling away from the creature. "<Listen, you stupid oaf, I know you think you can take that, but I promise that you can't! I will not let you get me or Jam killed trying to!>" Sasha seemed to understand, and didn't make any attempt to fly back towards it, despite roaring. Eva managed to pull them to what she figured was a safe distance before realizing-- You idiot, it probably speaks Neviskotian. Talk to it. "<Oiiiiiiii!>" she shouted over, hoping she could be heard, "<Uh... What do you want?>" That was a safe way to start this. Probably.

[scorri]

Lumi had been about to respond to Bert when Star appeared. "Oh, there you are, silly! Looks like everything is alright here, Bert. Thanks for the heads up though!" She was about to say more when the commotion started and a dragon appeared. "That's... that's a dragon. Uhm... Star, maybe you should have stayed away." She pulled the ice up around her arm and back, making a large shield ready to make an attempt at protecting herself at least.

Hoshi walked over to the wyvern. "Uhm, yes, I am coming. I can hopefully be of more use there than here."

[Phoenix]

Tree Hater

The last two trees separating the dragon from what could very well be its first victims were the thickest yet, and with no hope of squeezing past them proper, the dragon roared in frustration, unleashing a wave of anima that obliterated them both, scattering large splinters everywhere. Some of them even set off the last few traps.

Shadrak, being so closed to the stragglers, had to shield his face as scraps of wood, leaves, twigs, and even branches came raining down or racing straight past him. Doran got a somewhat painful shower of debris as well, and had to shield his face, which completely threw off his aim.

"And we're out of time," the guard captain said to himself. He really didn't want to have to fight this thing, especially when it could blow away trees with contemptuous ease, but what other choice was there now? He wasn't going to cut and run with his own men's lives at stake. "It's your last chance to escape with your lives, mercenaries," he warned, "I'm not abandoning my men to this thing."

"Listen, the voice told me to tell everyone not to wor-" <"AAAAARGH!!!"> The dragon loosed yet another frustrated cry, cutting Shadrak off in the most dramatic way possible, before collapsing to the ground just past the two destroyed trees, her snout just a few meters from the unconscious bandit. She was big enough to swallow him and any of the other humans present whole, albeit with some discomfort. Her breathing was heavy, labored. Getting here by land hadn't been easy, apparently. <"... what I want,"> she began, glaring at the wyvern and its passengers, <"... is softer trees.">

Some of the patrolmen froze, glancing back and forth between the dragon and Eva. Were they conversing?

More Boarding

"Okay, grab onto Isis' head just like Nadya did and she'll bring you up and over," Haythem called down to Hoshi. If Luther was coming along, that made five, which was a good. Enough people to make a big difference, but not so many that Isis would struggle to make it over there. She wouldn't be stopping for breaks, after all.

[Nanami Touko]

S-Softer trees? What? That didn't really click with her. For a moment. "<Can't you fly?>" The next question felt obvious, after it did click. The dragon had probably walked here, which was quite a feat. Sasha kept grumbling quietly, Eva patting his neck to try and keep him calm. "<I guess I should ask, what do you want with us? We're here for the bandits, nothing else... I mean, if you even want something with us, and aren't just passing through.>" It was definitely intimidating to talk to a dragon, but they were both Neviskotian, so there was no bad blood or anything between them. Sasha was being a bit of a jerk, but he wasn't as smart as a dragon, he couldn't help himself.

[Afterglimmer]

"Yeah, I'm coming as well," Luther replied as he approached Haythem's location. As he waited for Hoshi to mount Isis, he mentally checked off his equipment. The last thing he wanted to do is forget something after they left.

[scorri]

Lumi backed up slowly. "Uhm... Are... are you talking to that thing?" It seemed like it was talking in Skotian or something, but she didn't understand it at all, so she wasn't sure what was going on at all. At least the dragon wasn't attacking right this instant.

Hoshi nodded and slowly climbed up onto Isis's head. "Al... alright, I'm ready."

[Toogee]

Jam watched in horror as Eva started talking to the dragon in her native tongue. This was supposed to be the part where they flew away, not discuss what herbs went well with their burnt flesh! Wait, they were having a discussion? The dragon was not tearing through people at first glance? The dancer looked on with cautious optimism.

"What's it saying?" Jam whispered to Eva. "Is it here to eat us?"