Setting Fire to Canvas [MAIN PLOT]

[Arizae]

The storm raged on, the wind tousled him, threatened to rip him from the mast. Human form was easier for tying the sails, but they were a loss cause at this point. Shredded and billowing the whipped whichever way the wished despite his best intentions. The small human boy wrestled with the heavy canvas, desperately tried to pull it in. Xaen barely noticed that his hands were tearing through the sails, shredding them as his pointed nails rent them with ease. He was not thinking rationally, for some reason his mind was focused on one thing. Bring in the sails and you will not sink. Bring in the sails and you will not sink. The werecat didn’t notice that Nemo had abandoned the task, she was preparing the jump. Bring in the sails and you won’t have to swim!

Lightning cracked inches from him, the volts making his hair stick on end. Instinctively, almost defensively he shifted back into his true form, and though he was soaked to the bone every hair stood on end. Faintly he smelled burnt hair and flesh, the lightning had been closer than he had expected. His claws sank deep into the mast as the wind buffeted him. Xaen hissed and spat, fear and rage lighting his wild green eyes. The ship was racing towards it’s doom. From his height he could see the damning rocks. Far below he heard the dreaded words. The devil himself could come to claim his soul to drag him to hell and he would face him with calm…but true fear, true terror made him shake as the words abandon ship rang through his head.

Xaen raced to the very top of the mast, clung to that pointed top for all he was worth. He was NOT going to swim. It wouldn’t get him wetter then he was now but…the agony. No he would cling to the mast and hopefully be smashed against the rocks. Let death be instant, whatever gods still enjoyed his antics please take his life before he hit the water. Life flashed before his eyes as the ship crashed into the rocks. Xaen smiled wildly in glee from all his pleasant memories of entrails and betrayals. Claws deep in the mast held him tight as he closed his eyes and prepared to embrace death. Only to be plunged into his personal hell.

The rocks had not taken him, he was sinking…Bloody hell he was under flaming water! He would not drown! What cruel master was forcing him to swim? The vicious currents ripped him free from his mast. Lucky for that as he had been locked in place, frozen in terror as water invaded his ears and nose. Dirty filthy invading beast. Frantically he attacked the water all limbs flailing wildly. Bubbles rose from his mouth in a soundless howl of rage. Lungs screaming for air he broke the surface, claws extended he struck at the water, fighting to keep his head out of the water. He was drowning sinking…this was hell…his mind blackened.

Xaen could feel grit beneath him, invasive dirt…sand? Why would he sleeping in sand? Dimly his clogged ears could make out the sound of crashing waves. The tip of his tail was struck by one of those calm waves. It was cooling, a breath of calm. He felt at peace. Than a roar sounded and a wave crashed on top of him. Immediately he sprang, soaring straight into the air as every hair stood on end, his tail sticking straight up and fluffy as a bush. The werecat tore through the sand running tearing through the flesh of something lying close to him. It howled in pain as his claws tore through thick expensive clothing to bite at its back, but he barely paid it a mind. Away from the waves and filthy sand he tore, and an fur flying everywhere. He was wet disgustingly filthy and WET. Finally he reached a rock, a clean bare surface and he immediately clung to it. Claws extended eyes gone wide you couldn’t even see the emerald colored iris, the black slit of his pupil making his eye go black in fear.

Breathing heavily, heart pounding he desperately tried to calm himself. It came slowly; he could see scratches in the surface of the rock from his crazed run, but finally he was feeling peace come. The rock was warm and dry, the water was far away, and those wild people were all about waking up. He paid them no mind; he was still wet and filthy. So he focused immediately on his task. They did not matter, Xaen must clean his fur, must get dry. He stayed put, sat exactly where he was, and went about the dubious task of licking his entire body clean. The thing he had trampled was yelling at him, but he paid it no mind. He would give it attention when he was clean.

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

There was sand in his mouth. His muddled thought didn’t seem to mind at the moment. For one he was incredibly tired, exhausted actually, he doubted he could lift his head from the filth if he had tried. So he rested, kept his eyes closed and breathed deeply. There was something furry at his feet, a small form, what had that been from? Dimly his sand clogged ears could hear the sound of crashing waves. Waves, so this sand was a beach, but how had he gotten here? Slowly his head put events together. Khael remembered the ship, and after the ship he recalled the storm. The rider had shouted and yelled, the dragon had bled. Vainly he had tried to tie down the cargo. Abandon ship, he remembered Jhored at his side leaping to the waves. With flash of pain he watched the memory play out as his guard’s head cracked on the side of the ship.

Jhored had disappeared beneath the waves after that, leaving only a trail of blood as Khael had swam for his life. Grief was there like a pit in his stomach, but he was too tired to do anything about it. His mind flashed through the swim…and then he heard a hiss and a yowl, an instant later deep shreds of pain lanced his back as claws tore through his thin silk shirt. If only he had kept the overcoat while he had slept. Khael shouted out in pain, all exhaustion driven out as his eyes snapped open and he grabbed for the black flash of fur racing over him. Already warm hot blood oozed from his back. Unsteadily he stood up as quickly as he could, but he mistakenly put his bad leg forward it twisted beneath him and he tumbled back into the sand. Pain wracked his leg; his face hit dirt, his mouth filled with sand. Foolishly he rolled over as pain spread through his skull. Stinging needles of grit entered the deep gouges in his back, once again he shouted in pain the sound a gurgling spit and harsh cough as he regurgitated sand. Standing up he shook his body in a wild dance to rid the wounds of the sand, a steady stream of curses being uttered as he searched for the culprit.

There, not far away on a rock was a fool cat. Memory flashed in his mind. The beast had been trying to swim, and he had made a choice. The thing would have drown without his assistance, but it had cost him his knife. Fury filled him, the knife had been his only weapon, and before jumping from the ship he had abandoned his sword. Swimming with that would’ve been the death of him. Thankfully he had saved his boots, and tried to save the knife…but holding the cat or the knife had been a choice, and he had saved the animal. This was how he was to be repaid? Anger rolled off him in waves as he stormed after the creature cleaning itself on the rock. Khael had no sword, no knife, and had lost his one trusted friend…the stream of curses at the creature were unending. All the Count had were the shoes on his feet and the clothes on him. A thin…now torn shirt…pants…and boots. All because of this filthy animal!

“At first I thought the smell of madness was this island…now I see it was emanating from you…

[/i][/color] Xaen spoke to everyone, though he was mocking Khael he did wish to bring to bear the strange feel of the place. The werecat felt at home, at peace, the island called to him, but he had never considered himself sane.

Khael however, looked at the werecat as if it were deadly toxin. Those glittering emerald eyes held sinister motives now, magic and other unexplainable things as the demon spoke to his mind. He backed away slowly, almost frozen by the fear that then wracked his body, but he did not back down. Without sword or guard he leaned over the beast, and with venom in his tone he threatened the creature. “I saved your miserable life creature, and you repay me by trying to tear me to pieces?!? It’s your bloody fault Jhored died!!”

Saying his name out loud was like a slap to the face, and the anger went away in a flash to be replaced by overwhelming grief. Jhored had been more than a guard, he had been a brother when Khael had none. He had been unable to save him, and it tore at him now. Slowly he stepped backwards, away from the werecat. Khael’s eyes became wet, but he refused to let tears fall. Instead he simply stumbled; favoring that weakened leg and turned his attention away from the foul beast that kept cleaning its coat. Things were happening around him, but the hustle was like a low thrum to his ears, the buzzing of flies while his world crumbled. It was as if he were fighting within the Blue Divide once more, surrounded by elves, flashes of magic flying. He shook and shivered remembering the bright lights of death striking down his brothers with ease. Elves dancing and flying fast as lightning, killing anything in their path. Those gleeful pointed faces laughing devils in his mind. Jhored had lived then…how had he died now? Slowly he raised his head, his face a mask of contorted pain. He was met by two glowing emerald eyes. The demon was looking at him, and strangely, all Khael felt was numb.

“Your assistance in the preservation of my life has been noted. Come along now.”[/i][/color]

Khael looked around through bleary eyes. The cat was walking slowly away into the woods, everyone else had already departed. The demonspawn paused, and looked back at him. That black tail twitched with impatience and the Count of Tears stood. Back burning, leg stiff he hobbled after the mysterious creature. The foliage was thick, his surrondings strange, but they did not register. Images of war and blood were still raging through his mind. He only followed the demon because he was lost otherwise. Khael could not have said how much time passed, but suddenly the black form leading him halted, and sat down. He almost trampled the thing, but thankfully stopped in time. Lifting his head he blinked…and found himself once more in the company of those he had started the trip with. True rage and horror filled him then. Khael had heard none of the words, but what he saw was Myaja standing near a decapitated corpse. The stench was unbearable…and even without the head he could see that was no elven body.

Without thought the grief of war and fresh loss tumbled from Khael in a furious shout. Unarmed he brandished his fists as he flew like a madman towards Myaja. How dare she! Even now she would exact vengeance on humans? How dare she! It was her fault the captain had not been paying attention, her fault they had crashed carelessly. The witch had been the source of it all! She was the cause of the dead soldiers screaming in his head, it was her fault he had seen Jhored float lifelessly away! He moved faster than even Xaen thought possible, the limp in his leg overcome with a burst of adrenaline. Khael had closed the distance, sprinted past everyone that was still inspecting the body, and his fist went flying towards Myaja’s face once again as he shouted in guttural anger.

“IT’S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!!!”
[/blockquote]

Words :: 2154
Status :: Finished
Tagged :: EVERYONE, especially Myaja ahaha
Comments :: Figured I would post Xaen for now and get to work on Khael’s part. Funny thing about cats, when they get wet they find the first spot to settle down and immediately go about cleaning every last inch of themselves. Kinda funny actually. You could say the island is kind of getting to Khael already, striking while he’s already weak or what not. Xaen is very happy with the crazy place. Yay fun times.[/size]

[Emma]

As the motley band amassed around the mutilated corpse, I took stock of how many there were. All three dragons as well as their Riders had survived, unsurprisingly, as well as the one human who seemed the only one among us capable of rivalling Ikehr’s ego. Of Yuan, the Shade, the werepanther and her slave, Doubleblade, the silver-haired human, and that insolent Count that had struck me earlier on the ship, there was no sign of them. Either dead or perhaps washed up further along the coastline, I suspected, letting out a long breath. No matter what Ramsey’s morality told her, Ikehr had done us all a favour by dealing out death to those four sailors. My gut had warned me against Saethe the moment I’d laid eyes on him. I should have acted earlier. The only good thing that had come out of all this was that we’d miraculously landed on the right island. I finished off my peach, spitting the seeds into a thick patch of weeds when I saw the only human among us, Latro, approach the body. A cowl was drawn over his head, hiding his face from view. He was almost as withdrawn and impossible to read as Yuan.

“Heh, you almost sound as though you care, lizard,” he sneered in Ikehr’s general direction. “I hope you’re not going soft on us, I’d be disappointed if you dropped your charming personality over a single dead body.”
“The mortal’s skill in repetition is truly astounding,” came the dragon’s voice, sounding remarkably odd out loud. “You know, Ramsey, I hear it is the true source of genius-”
“That’s enough now!” I barked at them. “Focus on the task at hand!”
“Regardless, the beheading wasn’t clean, quite difficult to tell the cause because of that.” Latro bent over the body, examining the limbs. “No signs of restraint, or any indication of a struggle. Either killed while he slept or caught off guard and unable to react. An amateur regardless of which answer is the correct one.” He rose to his feet, brushing himself off. “If you want me to point out the obvious now, this is intended as a warning, not as bait. What is slightly disconcerting is that there haven’t been any scavengers; normally they would have had their way with a corpse long before it got to this stage.”
I felt something niggle at my mind. It took me a moment to recognize it as the presence of a dragon, and so I reluctantly allowed it in. ‘I believe it has been tampered with in such a way as to make it seem undesirable,’ came Arashi’s voice. ‘Its stench is... different.’

Latro and the dragon were correct- this island was far from unpopulated when it came to wildlife. Birds chirped and the occasional rabbit scuttled across the path, and I had seen larger animals moving through the brush that had known to steer clear of us. They should have stripped the corpse to bone by now. I bent down, wrinkling my nose. I didn’t have Arashi’s olfactory powers, but something about the body was certainly different from any other I’d seen- looking closer, not even the plants dared touch it. The grass and weeds had either refused to grow or died in the space surrounding the corpse. It certainly wasn’t anything natural. Feeling strangely unclean, I stood up straight again, holding the sword I’d looted close to my body.

“There’s nothing to be done here. We should scout the area, find food and water, then-”
“IT’S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!!!”

I turned sharply, the sound of heavy feet crashing through foliage preceding the human as he barged his way into the clearing. Sitting before him was the black cat I’d seen earlier on the ship. Had I not been more concerned with who I now recognized as Count Khael Settic coming to kill me, I’d have raised an eyebrow- it was remarkable that it, of all creatures, had survived the shipwreck. But as the fist came flying towards me, I was determined not to let myself be struck down by that human again. Leaping out of the way of the initial attack and rolling away from a second punch, I unsheathed the blade- not as quickly as I normally could, as I was unused to the weight and feel of it- and thrust it upwards, plunging it into and through Settic’s exposed forearm. I waited for the cry of pain, then removed the blade and slammed my foot into his stomach, knocking him backwards. Then I held my ground, pointing my sword up at him.

“You idiot! This is an evil place. No matter what happens, we must survive. Everyone here needs to be strong, flexible, and collected.” I walked forward, still pointing the blade at him. “We must move as one cohesive unit. In short, Count Settic, we do not have the luxury of racial discrimination and old feuds here. You are human. You can see this situation in ways I cannot. I was born and raised in Du Weldenvarden; I need someone with your eyes. Now…” I paused for breath. “SHUT UP AND FOLLOW ME, SETTIC! Understood? If the human blood within you cannot forgive what I did to your people, by all means, bring it. On behalf of all elves, I will accept your challenge anytime! But not here. Not now.” I twisted up the blade, and pointed it at the rest of them. “That goes for all of you! I’LL FIGHT YOU ONE BY ONE if you want to, got it? Now go. Find food, find water, scout the area; and we will meet back here in an hour. Those who do not work will not eat.”

Characters Used;; Myaja Kolbjorn with Nemo Ramsey and Ikehr
Words;; 955
Muse;; Not bad!
Thoughts;; It's so NICE to not have to write a monster of a post. I'm rather pleased with the outcome of this one.

[Amur]

Solomon had to admit, he had not been expecting the Elven Warrior, what was her name? Myaja? To actually turn and snap at what had seemed to be a promising start to a harsh verbal exchange between himself and The Lizard. In fact he actually allowed himself a small chuckle at the unexpected turn that had taken, though he was unsure whether or not that was because he genuinely found the situation humorous.

He was of course able to put such petty differences to one side for the sake of survival, though; this time around Solomon highly doubted he was going to, not for any other reason than he didn’t want to. He listened, though he kept himself alert, his gaze not settling on the rest of the group for more than a second as he continued to scan the area. He was, admittedly somewhat relieved that he had not been the only one to notice that scavengers had been avoiding what was for lack of a better expression an “all you could eat buffet”.

“Tampered with or the creature responsible for this has them keeping their distance through reputation alone. I’ve seen similar behaviour back home with scavengers avoiding corpses left behind by w-“
He shook his head sharply, no, there weren’t any wyverns here. If there were Solomon would have been able to find and recognise the little signs that normally lie within their territory.

“Never mind” He finished off, waving a hand dismissively.

He had fallen deep into thought, thinking nothing of the man and the odd looking cat-like creature he had noticed on the boat here as they arrived. However, as the only other remaining human among the group launched himself for the Elf; Solomon cursed under his breath. Were all the humans in these lands as weak-willed as this one? If memory served this was the same man whom had started something on the boat here.

He lowered his hand toward his bow, but stopped himself as the tides were –very swiftly- turned on the aggressive man. Solomon chuckled again, this time finding some form of humour in the events that had just played out before him.

“Again? Tell me amateur, are all those of our species in these lands as weak-willed and undisciplined as you are? What’s next, eh? Going to try and slash my throat because you hate me for my accent? Want to gut ’the foreigner’? A word of advice, make sure you’re capable of winning your hate-fuelled brawl before you launch it.”
He sneered. Pushing himself off of the tree he was leaning against after finishing his tirade of sorts. The man had even been kind enough to announce his intention to his target before leaping into the fray to try and strike her. Though above attacking people on sight out of rage, it would have been more practical to leap in, attack and then shout at the object of his rage while beating it, Solomon shook his head; he was also above giving amateurs advice regardless of their race.

He kept quiet for the moment to follow, he had read up on some of the history related to this land since he arrived and learned their common tongue. And knew little bits and pieces related to what their history knew as “The Blue Divide”, Solomon may have understood this man’s hatred for a former enemy race had the said war been the fault of the Elves.

Solomon sniggered as the woman finished a tirade of her own.

”I’ll have to keep an eye on this one, could be a brilliant hunt.”
He noted to himself, he nodded his head lightly afterwards. Exploration and scouting, Solomon had been given his chance to at least for a while put some distance between himself and the rest of these commoners and already he had a plan in mind. Of course with such a paltry amount of time given to him he wouldn’t be walking, he was about to turn to face the tree he had been leaning against but stopped himself. He had something to deal with first.

“They say repetition is the source of true genius do they? Well that certainly explains a lot about you Lizard. Does it make the delusion of life importance easier to convince yourself of?”
He mocked in a casual tone.

He sprinted at the tree he had been leaning against, shifting his body weight as he reached it in order to literally run up the tree trunk. He grabbed a hold of the first branch he reached and then swung himself beneath it and used the momentum to swing himself onto the top of the branch where he stayed in a squatting position as he adjusted to his perch.

“Very well, I suppose I’ll see you again in an hour.” He paused “Try not to get yourselves killed in the meantime.” He sneered, and then with a soundless leap he moved to his next perch and then his next perch, keeping each movement precise and silent as he left to scout out the area.
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Things had started very poorly for Kaime since landing on this island, already the five troops that had been sent with him were killed overnight and he was only just now scattering the last of their ashes to the wind. The vessel he had arrived on now sat uselessly on the shore he had landed at with a hole in its side rendering him unable to leave this forsaken place. He had warned Lord Morona before being sent out that the plan might go badly, but he had insisted that it was necessary to send Kaime and a small detachment of troops out ahead of their arrival by several months in order to give them the opportunity to make sure that this place wasn’t inhabited by primal tribes.

And so far, his scouting mission had gone terribly, initially he and his troops had been using the broken vessel as a base-of-operations and had a pretty good parameter set up around it. But on their first night they had been attacked by feral creatures. That had lost him one of his men.

He gazed absently out at the sea, his sense of foreboding worsening.

”You mustn’t blame yourself my Prince”

”They were my men Alexia. I let them down.”
He heard her sigh in irritation at his statement but she fell silent. The truth was that the remaining four men had suddenly turned on each other, two died within seconds as they were eviscerated by their former comrades. After that Kaime had been forced to fend the remaining two off, which had resulted in him having to kill them in order to preserve his own life. And now his scythe was wrapped neatly in white rags secured in place with several belts, his clawed-gauntlet now cleaned of the blood he had soaked it with when he had killed his last former soldier.

”I can feel the presence of other people my Prince. At least I think they’re people, two are definitely human, the others feel strange.”

“... Any reason you’re just telling me this now Princess?”
Kaime asked irritably.

”The fight for your life was more important at the time.”
Kaime sighed, restraining himself before he said something he would end up regretting.

“Princess, that was some hours ago, how long ago did they arrive?”

”At some point last night”
Kaime started to speak but quickly bit his tongue, causing him to cough violently for a brief moment. He remembered the last time he had insulted Alexia with vivid clarity, and it was something he had no intention of doing again.

“You are aware Princess that I hate you sometimes, aren’t you?”
He heard her laugh softly and then.

”Awwh, I love you too my Prince.”
Kaime managed a small smile at her sarcasm and began walking away from the broken vessel, there was nothing here he could use anyway, and the sooner he found these people the higher his chances of getting out of this hellhole were. He would be able to hold off his mourning until after he had found some degree of safety, which he now figured would be as far away from this place as possible.

[[Sorry this took longer than I thought it would to write up, and those taunts had about 5 rewrites each and I'm still not entirely happy with them. Ok, hopefully this should be ok for the time being though. >.>]]

[Elloria]

Niko’s eyes are riveted on the corpse. He has only seen the brutal remains of a kill once - and that had been the rabid bear he had been forced to kill. He tended to avoid Arashi when the dragon returned with a kill, waiting until nothing remained before cleaning up afterwards. The thought of killing and violent deaths simply made him squeamish, though he never cared to admit it. He was supposed to be more dignified than that, after all. But this one...well, yes he was still a bit put off by it but at the same time he was strangely...drawn to it. Distantly, he heard Kolbjorn discussing their next course of action. However, he didn’t start paying attention until a guttural scream reached his ears.

“IT’S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!!!”

Arashi’s head whips around at the sound of the approaching human’s shout. It looks as though the human is going to cause serious harm to Myaja. He is somewhat concerned, but it is not the former general he fears for. It is the odd delight he feels from Niko - a delight that began filling his Rider’s mind completely the moment the human appeared. Niko is practically humming with it as he turns to face the scuffle, arms folding across his chest. A smirk twists his Rider’s normally pleasant features, turning them into something Arashi doesn’t quite like. As the altercation continues, Niko even begins to chuckle. Niko doesn’t chuckle. As if Arashi needs more to be concerned about with his Rider. First, their survival and now this. As Myaja begins berating them all, Arashi nudges Niko’s leg in an attempt to get the elf to look at him. It doesn’t work. Arashi huffs. He does not wish to speak more than he already has, but it appears it will be necessary. ‘Niko.’ No reaction. ‘Niko!’

‘NIKO!’ Niko jerked his head in irritation as Arashi’s voice suddenly thundered in his mind. ‘What?’ he snapped. ‘You needn’t shout to the heavens to capture my attention.’

‘Apparently I do, as you certainly did not acknowledge my presence the last three times I attempted,’ Arashi replies coldly. ‘What were you smirking about? Surely the thought of the two-legs-round-ears attacking the two-legs-with-ears-like-yours would upset you instead of amusing you?’

Niko raised an eyebrow, arms still crossed. He was a tad confused at Arashi’s statement. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was not smirking nor was I amused. I simply chose not to put in my opinion this time.’ His brow furrowed at the thought before shaking his head and shrugging it off. “They say repetition is the source of true genius do they? Well that certainly explains a lot about you Lizard. Does it make the delusion of life importance easier to convince yourself of?” Niko glanced at Solomon. The man was so damn annoying. He really just wanted to sock the arrogant little brat in the face with full strength. His left hand clenched into a fist. The crunch would be such a satisfying sound. He felt Arashi’s concern radiating towards him and shoved it away. ‘Relax, Arashi. There’s nothing wrong, aside from Solomon needing to be taught a lesson. As I recall, you were perfectly willing to do the same yesterday. It will simply be a matter for another day, all right?’ He relaxed his fist and dropped his arms to his sides. He slipped his hands into the pockets of his cloak and started walking towards the edge of the town. He raised one hand to wave farewell behind him. “One hour,” he called as he left, the hand slipping back into his pocket.

Arashi trots after Niko. He is the one irritated now. Everything is all right, is it? There is something wrong. Niko is not his usual self and that kill was simply disgusting. What is going on? He cannot fathom it. There is nothing to tell him - not in the feel of the earth or the scent of the breezes. He follows Niko into the vegetation, hoping that this will be the extent of his list-of-things-to-worry-about. It is normally such a short list.
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An hour later:

Arashi sighs as he looks around. He slips back into Niko’s mind and expresses his concerns about the time. The sun is in such a position that indicates an hour has almost passed...if it hadn’t already. They should really start heading back. He feels Niko’s resigned agreement as the elf gathers together the berries and various other edible plants they have found on their wanderings and ties them up in his cloak. Arashi will hunt later for proper food. The strange headless kill has ruined his appetite for the time being.
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Another two hours later:

‘Arashi...where the hell are we?’