Bite of the Ant [OPEN]

[Emma]

I only wished words could express my contempt of travelling.

Hunched over in my silver chair and glaring out across the plain stretching out from the southern shores of Isenstar Lake, I decided that the dilapidated landscape was not helping my vicious mood. I remembered the Silent Plains when they were bustling, full of roads and cities and people, not the decrepit wasteland of yellow shrubs and towering ruins that now dominated east Broddring. Once-rich farmland had been poisoned by the rivers of blood and mountains of corpses that the Blue Divide had bred, and now it was semi-desert, and only bracken and coarse sod would grow. No animals made their homes here, and the only sound was the wind rustling the tall grasses. The only thing alleviating this atrocity was the lake itself, which normally glimmered under starlight and reflected the moon. Tonight, however, its banks had been obscured by heavy fog that was only just starting to dissipate with the coming dawn. I could already see the distant silhouettes of Du Weldenvarden’s trees on its northern shore.

On top of that, it was hot, and humid. After sitting in a carriage specifically built for travel across the wilderness that had seats as soft as granite, it only added to my discomfort. We’d arrived at the ruins of this particular lakeshore town, Baiele, very late that night, and after nearly sweating to death inside my tent, resorting to begging to Nyx for any breeze to come cool me, I’d resigned myself to perching outside and waiting out the long hours till morning. I didn’t dare waste any magic today, not even to keep myself comfortable. Burrowing a hand into my thick black curls, I bowed my head and tried to focus on other things to ignore the regular pain throbbing in my skull. That was the good thing about pain, and something my subjects could never seem to understand- it was just pain. It was far easier to ignore than pleasure. I instead thought about how the Riders would balk when a humble, seemingly human Prophet succeeded at something they, in all their greatness, could not. And for all my pains, that brought a smile to my face.

At least until the servant currently waiting on me suddenly stopped fanning. I removed my hand and glared at her, and then across the clearing. A Paladin stood a respectable distance away from me, identity unrecognizable from the golden mask he wore. He looked expectant. Something had happened. With gnawing fury growing inside of me and with an enormous amount of effort, I rose from my chair and placed my bare feet on the prickly grasses. It stung and itched, but none of my shoes would last a minute in these hideous conditions. Shooing away my servant, I stalked over to the Paladin, whom I now recognized from the one blind eye as Nikel. He bowed graciously and motioned for me to follow him, which I did. All of my servants were well-instructed that I was not a woman to be bothered unless I was direly needed. We walked past other Paladins patrolling my campsite, and headed down a slight incline that led to the lake itself. Once we could hear the waves softly lapping at its shores, Nikel began to speak.

“About an hour ago, we detected activity a league east of here. Horses, fire. Daveth caught two suspects, a father and son who claim to be traders…”

I was only paying half a mind to what he said. I was still moody and exhausted, and in desperate need of a bath. I kept silent until we saw the two suspects in question, about ten minutes after Nikel’s silent summons. Peasants, by their cloth, not poor but certainly not well-made either. Probably middle-class merchants, just barely scraping by. One of the men was older, greying and crooked but still very strong, and the other was young, pale, and thin, so they likely weren’t lying about the father-son spiel either. On the ground, scattered around them, were bags of what had to be confiscated goods. The two Paladins guarding them stood straighter when I arrived, and the father immediately removed his hat, but the boy just gawked at me like he’d never seen a woman before. When I turned my eyes on him, however, he shrunk away, clasping his hands together, bowing his head and trying to appear as small and humble as possible.

“Your Holiness,” he stammered, “my father is an honourable man.”
“I will decide zat,” I snapped. “Remove your hat when speaking to me, boy.”
He quietly obeyed as one of the Paladins stepped forward with a large knife and a heavy bag. The knife glimmered silver and red with iron and blood.
“We were fishing-” the boy started.
“Shut up, damn it,” I hissed. I showed the knife to the older man, who’d had the decency to not speak until spoken to.
“We’re traders, Your Holiness.”
“Go on,” I said, slightly mollified by his respectful tone.
“The sales haven’t been good this year. We were hunting fish- my daughters are sick.”
“Fish, hmm?” I murmured, reaching into the bag and finding something slightly heavy and made of glass. I hefted it out of the sack. It was a half-empty bottle of red wine.
“Your Holiness,” said the boy tightly, “if my father says he was hunting fish, then he was hunting fish.”

I looked up at the boy. Shock had turned into flat-out disgust. I hadn’t gone to the trouble of changing my eyes yet. They were blacker than the sky above us, and he seemed to be unable to look into them without curling his mouth into a grimace. Firmly deciding I’d had enough of his lip, I raised the bottle, took the son’s chin in my other hand, and brought the bottom down hard on his face. I wasn’t physically strong, the bottle didn’t break, but it was enough to flatten his nose. The boy was too shocked to make any sound, but the father gave a horrified scream. I brought it down several more times, angling his head to fit more blows in, levelling bone and cartilage until my hands were flecked with gore. The father continued screaming, but he didn’t have the stomach to intervene. I continued until the son, who’d still been utterly silent, fell to his knees, his face not even recognizably human anymore. The old man became hysterical.

“No! No! You killed him! Monster! You heartless bitch-”
“Nagal, gera spjór.”

The perfectly manicured fingernails of my right hand rapidly increased length, piercing the old man’s throat and turning his ranting into incoherent burbles as he began to choke on his own blood. I looked down at the boy and saw that he was still alive. The pain had yet to hit him- he was raising a trembling hand to his mutilated face. I raised my left hand, still holding the wine bottle, and stabbed one nail into his eye. Blood seeped out of it like tears, and I retracted the nail just as he dropped dead. From my right, I heard the final gasps and death rattle of the older man. I retracted those nails too, and quietly regarded the two corpses before me, the grass already stained with shallow pools of their blood. The Paladins around me were quiet, gazing down at the bodies, their faces inscrutable from beneath their masks. I looked up at one, who was holding a bag, taking it and shoving the cracked and blood-smeared bottle into his arms. I opened the sack, already knowing its contents from the stink, and held up a fish to the dawn’s pre-glow.

“Learn to search these peasants before you come bothering me.”
“Yes, my Prophet.”

Bows from all three of them. Disgusted with their incompetence, I replaced the fish, shut the bag, turned my back and stormed off. If it took shows like that to make my point about not disturbing me, I would give those fools their shows. Paladins were not by any means easy to come by, and I wasn’t going to lose them over a small matter like proper discipline. As I made my way up the small incline leading back to my lonely little chair, I saw a familiar figure running barefoot through the grasses. Pale as the moon, tall, willowy figure, crimson hair, I recognized her as none other than one of my servants, the noblewoman Euryale Gorgophone. A Selkie who’d lived a cloistered life between her manor in Hightower and my Cathedral, she was as naïve as little girls came, and just as irritating. However, her skills in magic were impressive, raw and untrained as they were, and I’d decided to keep an eye on her for just that reason. Now dressed in a cheerful yellow frock that had thin straps and only went to her thighs- swimming gear, not an actual dress, I now realized at this distance- she skipped cheerily towards me.

“Hallo, your Holiness!” she called out in her musical Alban accent. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were up, I…” her eyes widened when she came nearer, and she stumbled to halt entirely once we were only a few yards apart. “Nyx’s Breath, what happened? Are you alright?”
“It’s not my blood, Euryale. I had troubles with some wild animals.” I shoved the bag into her freakish hands. “Prepare zese fish for our breakfast.”
Euryale opened the bag, flipping her damp hair over her shoulder. “They’re awfully small.”
“See if they’ll do for a stew,” I sighed irritably. “But now, come with me.”
“Of course, Your Holiness.”

Her tall frame easily kept pace with my stomping, but she kept clear at the same time. Oddly, however, I was in a better mood- perhaps it was Euryale. Anastasio had told me that her moods were quite infectious, and she was always cheerful or cowering in fear before me. Apparently, nothing frightened her more than my temper, Nyx bless her naïve soul. She hadn’t even seen me when I lost my temper. However, I was convinced that my lightening mood was for another, more satisfying reason. A little ways from my camp stood a massively armed carriage with four of the eight Paladins I’d brought with me stationed around it. Locked, bolted, and windowless, I hadn’t taken any chances with the prisoner inside. Technically, she was our honoured guest, but after my humiliation at the Gala, I wasn’t going to waste any expense on someone who belonged to the Riders, unwillingly or not. Beside me, Euryale slowed her skipping, hazel eyes widening with obvious fascination as we approached the carriage. The Paladins bowed and cleared the path for me. I ignored them, instead speaking aloud a spell that undid the magical and mundane bonds holding the door shut. After hearing the last click, I flung it open, beaming.

“I ‘ope you’re decent, General.”

Myaja Kolbjorn had moved as far away from the door as physically possible, and now sat with her knees drawn up to her chest, shackled arms and chin resting on them. She didn’t turn towards me, but I saw her blue gaze flicker in my direction and instinctually harden. Her mouth was drawn into a thin line, and she didn’t speak. I responded in kind with a sneer. Arrogant, cold, supposedly merciless- typical elf. I saw no reason to respect this woman, but that didn’t mean I could be careless around her. Despite wilfully coming along on this mission and swearing to the Riders that no harm would come to me, I’d had her chained to the inside of her cage and all weapons stripped. She was clad in the elven ceremonial military uniform- shiny black boots, blue high-waisted riding britches with gold braid down the outside seam, a square-shouldered, tight-waisted jacket, the same dark blue as the britches and studded with golden buttons and stripes, and a navy cape, lined with gold. No armour for her either. Uncurling her body, she slowly stood on both feet and marched solemnly towards the doorway, eyes never leaving mine.

“Ze great Ice General Myaja Kolbjorn. Now Ilirea’s pet dog. How did you sleep?” I snapped my fingers at Euryale. The girl, clearly awed by the female general, made a wide circle around her and, staring, began to unfasten her chains. “You must excuse ze shabby accommodations. I try to be a good host, but you see what I ‘ave to work with?” A final clink and a rattle, and Myaja’s chains fell to her feet. She rubbed her reddened wrists. “Tell me, General- does zis place bring back unwelcome memories? I could-”
“Shut up, whore,” the elf spat, and stormed off.

She held her head high even when I laughed at her retreating back. I turned to the Selkie, who stood there looking most unsure, and snapped my fingers at her again. She blinked and scurried after me as I followed the elven General, who was making for the centre of Baiele’s ruins. As I approached the city centre, I was hit with another headache, and I growled and held my head in my hand, trying not to let the pain show on my face. The reason for these headaches, and why we were even here on this pathetic strip of land forsaken by all gods, was the pull of black magic somewhere from deep within the soil. The Riders had undertaken a mission similar to this one months ago a little ways south of here, in the abandoned village of Rift, but had failed when the pull had suddenly disappeared. Now it had returned, and since those miserable flying reptiles hadn’t been able to sort it out, they’d asked for my help. After all, such a tempting pull could possibly be very harmful to the citizens of Broddring. In my opinion, they just wanted to get their hands on the source before it entered Du Weldenvarden and left their jurisdiction. Maybe that was why the General had insisted on coming- she didn’t seem interested in escaping. Yet.

Once the ache became unbearable, I stopped. Euryale halted beside me, obvious worry on her face. She reached a hand towards me. “Do you feel it too?”
“Yes, little one,” I muttered, rubbing my head. “Ze pull is much stronger ‘ere.” I looked up at her. Euryale had been complaining of headaches ever since our arrival, but being far less powerful than me and without access to blood magic, it wasn’t incapacitating her. And that ice queen had been born with a magical defect of some sort, so she was immune. “Follow ze General, child,” I snapped. “Tell her to scout ze area. I need to rest.”
“Of course, Your Holiness,” she said, bowing, “But couldn’t I get dressed-”
“Now.”

She bowed again, deeper this time, and bolted across the grass towards the elf. I turned away, and began the excruciating walk back to my tent. My hair was going to stink of blood for days.

Characters Used;; Malandra Ramakrishna with Euryale Gorgophone and Myaja Kolbjorn
Words;; 2505
Muse;; Great until the end. >.>
Thoughts;; Lol, in this thread I'm using a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead. XD Anywho, as always I'd like it if more than one person jumped into this thread. -nodnod-

[ryan]

The heat unbearable. The sensation one felt from being near the ruins was almost incapacitating. The air thick from the fog and humidity. All of these feats made Isenstar Lake a very welcome setting for Eris. He loved the air, the isolation, the quiet. Nothing about Isenstar Lake was appealing to the common folk, which made it ideal for the shade. He could not get enough of it, nor could he find a better place in all of Alegasia. He grinned as he continued to roam the empty plains, he had been hunting, but not for animals tonight. He had a much greater target in mind.

The matter that needed tending was the luxurious Malandra Ramakrishna. Eris had talked to her once before, but the meeting came to an abrupt end when she had some meeting that needed attention. Nevertheless, Eris was relentless, and decided to tail the woman to find out what was important. And what was locked away in a carriage, someone, or something had been put in there for good reason. Guarded by her own personal detail of men, women or whatever hid behind the golden masks.

He feared nothing. She may have had magical abilities, she may not, but Eris was a shade. And no masked guards, or paper-thin 'prophet' scared him. So he trailed them for days. Tonight seemed like the night where he would find out what was going on. He scanned the land as he crouched in the grass. Watching from afar, with a little help of magic he was able to see the scene clearly. He watched as Malandra was accompanied by a guard over to two peasants. He watched as she brutally murdered both after some sort of bout. The screaming ceased and both the bodies spat out blood as the heat lifted from their bodies into the night air.

Eris watched as the group continued to shuffle around, and he followed far behind as they moved toward the carriage that had appeared to be on lock down. Once they stopped moving he waited. As the doors opened, and out appeared a very interesting being. An elf, and judging by the armor, one of high power. He knew little of the elves, due to their sacredness, and inability to leave the forest. But he was able to spot ceremonial armor when he saw it, and the elf was definitely wearing it. The shade shuffled quickly as they began to move again as a group. Following far back, eyes scanning trying to avoid detection of the paladins. He did his best to mask his magical presence as well, but who knew how long it would work, and if it even was working.

[Tris]

Laereth crouched behind a crate watching the paladins and servants bustling about.
This was one of her least favorite jobs, watching, being as restless as she was she could never just watch, she had to be doing something, and that was why she was reaching out to the minds all around her. If she had to describe this to someone she would say it was like being in a dark place with doors all around her, some small but vivid others large but faint and vice-versa. The large doors belonging to humans and large animals, the small one belonging to insects and the like. The vivid doors where the closer minds to her and the fainter one she could feel where far off. This was not a perfect description for she felt most of it rather than see it.

Moments later noises broke her concentration, she looked around, no one was in sight but she knew that she had to get a move on, for the sun was coming up and when it did her mission would really begin. Almost a week ago Laereth had been summand by her implorers to be briefed on the mission. Awhile back the riders had felt the pull of black magic somewhere near Isenstar Lake and had sent some riders to investigate but before they found out what was causing it the pull disappeared. Now they found it again, but this time they had asked Malandra Ramakrishna the prophet from the hand of leona to find out what it was. Du Weldenvarden sent Laereth to watch exactly what they were doing to do, her orders where to observe only and report back as soon as possible. So she followed the company across the plains, until they had come to their destination.

Laereth looked around again, standing up quickly she started to make her way to the lake where the pull was the strongest and where she guessed all the activity would be. But before she got very far however, she heard footsteps and then she saw two men emerge from around the corner, thanking the gods it was fogy she dodged into a tent. She ducked into some emptily bags, Laereth took a moment to catch her breath and became aware of splashing noises in the other room, peeking over the bags she saw the shoulder of someone taking a bath. She started to go over her over her options, when someone else came in and saw her.

[Emma]

Elves were certainly shiny.

And General Myaja Kolbjorn was one of the shiniest. Not that I’d seen many elves other than fantastical drawings in texts, one very lovely ex-soldier and one Count, but the General seemed to have stepped right out of one of those paintings. Rich flowing locks, pearly porcelain skin, eyes like sapphires- very hard sapphires, actually. After making circles around her, observing her, and making comparisons to the elves I read about, she certainly did not fit in with the happy prancing Tree Folk so famous for how they spread joy. In fact, I couldn’t even picture her climbing a tree. And she was also a little bit short, a good six inches smaller than me. General Kolbjorn, Miss Malandra had told me, was a heartless, stone cold- well, I certainly wasn’t going to speak so terribly of someone I didn’t even know, but it still baffled me how very un-elf-like she was. Then again, I couldn’t picture Mr. D’artagnan or Laereth in trees either, but Laereth was always there to help, and Mr. D’artagnan always been smiling, even if there’d been something off about him. He’d had strange eyes, too- beautiful ones, but frightening if you looked into them for too long. It wasn’t quite the same type of fear for General Kolbjorn, though. It was more intimidation- I couldn’t even speak to her without feeling cowed.

But she was pretty, and I loved looking at pretty things. As she stood there, eyes darting across the rather depressing terrain, seeming to calculate everything, I stepped closer, wondering how on earth she kept her hair so perfectly shiny. And it was long and the colour of wheat, not stupid red like mine, I realized jealously. I leaned in a little bit closer. She finally seemed to notice I was there and shot me a glare that should have killed me stone dead. I almost squeaked and stepped back. I knew that kind of look- Miss Malandra had a disapproving stare that could make King Azuan wet his trousers. I cowered from the General, at which she tsked and turned away. I leaned in again, wondering if she would let me draw her portrait. She gave me another glare. I hid behind a column this time. I tried to look, she would glare, I tried to look again, and this continued until I found myself wondering what had made her so angry. Deciding to overcome my shyness, I stepped out from behind my hidey hole and approached her, hands clasped, and, hoping to impress her, addressed her as best I could in the ancient language.

“General, can I ask you something?” She didn’t answer, but I went ahead anyway. “Did you step on something sharp, General?”
She gave me a blank stare. “No.”
“Slam your fingers in a door, General?”
“No.”
“Smack your head on a low beam, General?”
“Would you like your skin to adorn my fireplace?”
I shrieked and distanced myself again. “I’m terribly sorry! I just wanted to know what’s made you so cross, ma’am.”
“Sir. And perhaps it is the inane prodding,” she hissed. “Now…” All of a sudden she swelled up in an towering pillar of furious elfishness, so that she suddenly seemed taller than me, and leaned over me with eyes blazing. “Tell that whore the area is secure.”
I didn’t do anything, I just gaped in shock. She didn’t take it well.
“MOVE IT! BEFORE I CUT SOMETHING OFF YOU’LL MISS.”

Without even needing to tell my feet what to do, they were off, flying across the grass and as far away from the General as fast as they could carry me. I didn’t even look back, only stopping once I was very certain I was far enough away to avoid her hitting me. I placed my hands on my bare knees, panting. What in Nyx’s name had I done to upset her so much? But then, simple priestess trying to talk to the General of the elven armies- I must have seemed very arrogant. I sighed and smacked my face, resolving to make it better as soon as I came back- if she even wanted to look at me by then. Casting a wary glance behind me in case she really was hulking after me with an axe, I continued racing across the plains back to the Prophet’s campsite. As I ran, however, I picked up something very odd, bothering me in the back of my skull. I skittered to a stop, placing a hand on my head. The light buzzing had reminded me of the immense power of the artefact behind me, and the headache it caused. I groaned, rubbing my head and willing it to stop. Perhaps the Prophet would have a spell to help me. However, the strange feeling of being watched hadn’t gone away. I lifted my head, looking left and then right.

It then struck me that I was half-naked. Feeling my cheeks burning with what was probably a very visible blush, I covered my legs. Around Miss Malandra and the General, it hadn’t bothered me, they were women after all, but there were male Paladins here- and who else?- who could quite clearly see me in my bathing suit. What had I been thinking? I looked around again, terrified that some peeping tom was after me, and continued towards the tent, now crouching slightly so that my legs disappeared in the long, itchy grass. The downsides to this was that I was constantly scratching, I got bugs on me, and the position was very uncomfortable to say the least, making it an absolute relief when I saw the pale blue of Miss Malandra’s tent just ahead of me. I hopped along with all the grace of a drunken bullfrog, waving hello to the Paladins guarding the flaps. Bowing my head, I entered the tent, and could immediately smell the soft lavender and feel the humidity of the bath Miss Malandra had wanted to take. I saw her lounging in her tub by the mirror, resting her hand on her chin. She saw me in the looking glass, and raised an eyebrow. I bowed in reverence, then smiled and waved as I approached.

“Did I not I order you to follow ze General, Euryale?”
“Actually, Your Holiness, she wanted me to tell you-”
“Tell me what?”

I could hear that absolutely terrifying disapproving scowl in her voice, but I was more preoccupied with something else now. As I’d stepped towards the Prophet, I’d passed by the now-empty bags of luggage strewn about near the entrance. Among them was what was most certainly not a bag of luggage, but a person. I clapped my hands over my mouth. So Father was right, there were magical leprechauns that snuck into your bags if you didn’t keep a proper eye on them! I opened my mouth, but saw that I recognized those big green eyes, now even bigger from surprise and terror. Her face was probably a mirror image of my own. It took a moment, but I undoubtedly recognized that girl- it was Laereth! I clapped my hands and jumped, positively thrilled. We’d had the most wonderful adventure together in the Spine only the past month, crawling through caves like a character in my stories. I’d hoped I’d see her again sometime soon- but wait. I frowned. Since when had Laereth been a leprechaun?

“Euryale?” said Miss Malandra, sounding very terse.
I barely muffled a gasp. Miss Malandra did not take kindly to visitors, at least without an appointment. If Laereth wasn’t a leprechaun and she was hiding in those bags, obviously she didn’t have one of those. I racked my brain, desperate to get her out of trouble. The Prophet was currently busy soaping her hair, but soon she’d turn around and see-
“Euryale, why won’t you answer me?” she demanded.
“Oh, uh-” I bit my lip. “Miss Malandra, there’s a leprechaun hiding in your things!”
“Do not be ridiculous, Euryale, leprechauns don’t exist. You came all the way back just to tell me that? Come here!”

Shooting an apologetic look at Laereth, and windmilling my arms in a crazy signal to try to tell her to stay put because there were Paladins right outside, although I didn’t think the message quite went through, I went to stand beside Miss Malandra’s tub. She was gazing intently into the mirror, and my eyes followed hers. Immediately, I felt my self-worth drop like a rock. The Prophet was considered as beautiful as Nyx herself, and rightly so. Everything about her was perfect, except maybe her eyes, but she could hide those easily. I looked like a pencil next to those curves, and it unwittingly reminded me of my freakish height. On top of which, her skin was pale, but a perfect ivory like a pearl, not the bizarre aged porcelain I had going for me. And her hair was jet-black, not my mixture of pumpkin orange and blood red. I sighed, at which she raised her head and looked at me. She smiled, taking my face in her hand and forcing me to look at myself.

“Look in zat mirror, Euryale. You know what I see? I see a strong, confident, beautiful young lady.”
I smiled, touched. Then she suddenly looked at my reflection, seeming pleasantly surprised.
“Oh look, you’re zere too!” At how my face fell, she started laughing. “I’m just teasing! You should not take everyzing so seriously, look at you, so cute!” She pinched my cheeks. “Now, what did ze General want me to know?”
“She said it’s safe, Your Holiness. How would you say it… um, ‘Nothing to report’. Also, I’d like some clothes, please. My hair isn’t quite long enough to channel Lady Godiva.”
“Understood. Your things are… over zere, somewhere. Zen, leave me in peace.”

I bowed, not sure about how I was feeling after that encounter, and tip-toed over to where my bags were. I dug through them, and then gasped with delight when I found a very pretty white dress. Then I thought about it, and decided to take two- this other one was green, and would look wonderful on Laereth. Lucky thing we were so similar in height. I dragged them out of my bag, and then looked nervously at Miss Malandra. She was still admiring herself in the mirror. I hefted everything out, grabbing two pairs of shoes on the way, and struggled back to where Laereth was still hiding. Hoping she would forgive me for this, I grabbed her hand, pulled her up, smothered her with the very large dresses, and dragged her to the other side of the tent, lifting up the pegs and crawling outside, away from the two Paladins standing guard. I looked left and right, but we’d seemed to have gone unnoticed. I breathed a sigh of relief, but couldn’t help but feel that this was horribly easy. I’d just snuck an elf out of the Prophet’s hands with nobody noticing? I shrugged, attributing it to dumb luck, and carted my strange mixture of elf and fabric away from the Paladins and their shiny weapons.

Once we were back at the ruins of Baiele, but still not near where I’d left General Kolbjorn, I pulled the dresses off Laereth. It struck me that I hadn’t really needed to cause her death by evening gown to get her out of trouble, and that she was probably very cross with me. I pulled off the dresses, but handed the green one to her, rubbing my head and laughing nervously.

“I’m sorry about that. Here, you’ll look so pretty in this! I can’t hide you from Miss Malandra forever, so we might as well think up a cunning disguise for you. Oh, Laereth, it’s wonderful to see you!” I gave her a hug. “It was just a very awkward situation, just now. Ooh, I’ll take you to the General, she’ll be so happy to see another elf! It must be so lonely, being surrounded by humans. But…” I frowned suspiciously, leaning in closely and peering up at Laereth’s face. “Are you by any chance a leprechaun?”

Characters Used;; Euryale Gorgophone with Myaja Kolbjorn and Malandra Ramakrishna
Words;; 2030
Muse;; Stuttered a little bit, but otherwise quite good!
Thoughts;; Ah, Euryale is great fun to write. XD

[Amur]

-[2 Days Ago]-
Kaime knelt by the small fire he had made for himself, just off the path behind a small veil of trees, his eye closed gently as he muttered a series almost ritualistic chants, more to himself than to Alexia. Since the men sent with him under his command he had made it his personal mission to see to it that he gave each of them some kind of eulogy, regardless of whether or not he had the bodies at hand. No matter how generic or impersonal each of them sounded he figured that at least some kind of respectful send-off was better than nothing.

“And though you died in the service of Lord Morona, your name will live on eternally and your sacrifice shall never be forgotten.”
He continued in this way for the moments to follow, Alexia remaining silent as he continued his mutterings. Kaime knew that she didn’t approve of the way he was holding himself responsible for their deaths but she knew him well enough to keep quiet. He heard a sudden sound and immediately surged to his feet, grabbed his scythe, opened his eye and wheeled on the spot and stood in tense silence.

“You feel someone there Princess?”
There was a long silence before she replied.

“No, but I can feel something. Can’t you feel that power my Prince?”
Kaime blinked and relaxed his stance, remaining silent, waiting for Alexia to say it first. She knew as well as Kaime did that he had no magical ability whatsoever.

“Oh... I’m sorry Kaime, it slipped my mind.”
He sighed heavily, gently running his gauntleted hand over the top of his head. A long silence fell between them and then Kaime slowly asked.

“Can you tell where it’s coming from?”
He almost felt her appreciation of the question.

”Are we going to go and look for it my Prince?”
Kaime allowed himself a small smile as he closed the blade of his scythe and held it so that it was partially resting on his shoulder.

“So far I have nothing to show for this disastrous mission other than five dead troops. I think I’ll need to have at least one positive development for Lord Morona.”
Alexia made a sound of disgust.

”Is there ever a time when you’re not thinking of your enslavement to Nemesis Morona!?”
Kaime would have once more remained silent to allow Alexia to draw the conclusion herself but this time he merely chuckled softly.

“What would I do with an object of magical power Princess? Better that someone get some use of it rather than hoarding it for myself.”
Alexia remained silent even after Kaime had finished speaking, making it clear to him that she had gotten the message, she would be displeased with that development, but Kaime just allowed himself another small smile.

“You’ve got me interested now Princess, so I think I’ll walk through the night.”
He said calmly, but with a slight playful tone. He began walking back onto the road-

”Other way my Prince.”
Kaime nodded and turned, heading in the right direction with Alexia’s guidance.
---

It hadn’t taken Kaime quite as long to draw near to the source of the power that Alexia was feeling, which had shocked him at first, however, most of his time had been spent walking so he forced himself to get some rest throughout the day beforehand. He woke as evening fell and continued toward the source, he had noticed somewhere in the back of his mind that the heat had been steadily increasing. But Kaime was able to ignore it, the heat had never bothered him so he had no need to complain about it, truth be told, he had no reason to even tell Alexia of the change, given that she lacked a physical form to begin with.

When he reached them he stopped and absently clenched his left hand into a fist, unaware that he was doing so until he actually looked down at his hand.

“Are you sure you want to go through with this?”
He was grateful for her concern, and it was well placed, after all, their time spent in the last set of abandoned ruins had made the both of them somewhat... Dubious when regarding other abandoned ruins. However, Kaime nodded.

“I am Princess. I need to come up with something at least, and I can’t just back away from a potential item of use for Lord Morona just because of our last experience with abandoned ruins.”
He drew in a slow, calming breath and then continued forward at a steady pace; this time he was taking no chances he was alert and ready to spring into action at so much as a moment’s notice. He heard nothing over the sound of his own breath as he cautiously advanced, despite the almost absolute silence Kaime refused to let his guard down, not after the last time.

”I feel people here my Prince.
Kaime paused, keeping his eye open for any sign of hostile movement.

“Are they friendly?”
He asked. A short pause and then

”Impossible to tell, several of them feel strange, one feels familiar and the others are human.”
Keeping his guard intact he remained silent for a moment longer, his attention more on the shadows and potential movement.

“Think they’re here for the same reason we are Princess?”
He didn’t need to ask the question to know the answer, since it was highly unlikely that anyone would come to a place like this to enjoy the sights.

”I can’t see any other reason to be here my Prince.”
It wasn’t exactly what he wanted to hear, but it was the answer he had expected. He straightened himself and looking into the distance, getting the location of the people from Alexia he assumed a more neutral stance.

“Well, this could get awkward Princess. Stay alert, but keep friendly unless they’re hostile toward us.”
He said calmly. And at that casually began walking in the direction of those whom Alexia had felt, perhaps there was still a chance he could salvage something from this mission for Lord Morona, at least this way he had tried.

[[Mind if I join you? >.>]]

[Tris]

Laereth stared at the girl, happiness and horror entered her when she recognized her- it was Euryale! The girl whom she had crawled though caves and chased by Razak with not long ago. Euryale had obviously recognized her as well for she started to jump and clap excitedly, Laereth almost jumped up to grab the girl to shut her up, but instead she gave Euryale a pleading look to be quiet.
"Euryale?" said the women from the bath, realization entered the girls face, and Laereth could practically see her thoughts run across her face. "oh,uh-miss Malanda, there’s a leprechaun hiding in you things!" Laereth almost face palmed.
"Do not be ridiculous, Euryale, leprechauns don't exist. You came all the way back just to tell me that? Come here!" Euryale did some sort of crazy signal with her arms as she turn to obey, grimacing Laereth suck lower in to the bags, She knew that Euryales signal had meant for her to stay put but this whole situation made her want to get out that instant, she hated the idea of having her well being depend on Euryales ability to lie.

Laereths eyes followed Euryale as she walked over to her bags getting cloths; she hadn’t noticed before that the girl was wearing a swim suit. When Euryale had made her selections she stumbled over to Laereths hiding place. She suppressed an oof when Euryale pulled her up and plapped two very large dresses into her arms, the startled elf didn’t have time to struggle as she was dragged across the tent and then under the side. By the time they had made it to the ruins, miraculously without being found out, Laereth was fuming, when the dresses where finally taken off her she crossed her arms, she wasn’t sure if she should be angry with the girl for taking such a risk or thank her profusely for it. But before she could say anything Euryale started to ramble. “I’m sorry about that. Here, you’ll look so pretty in this!” She said giving Laereth one of the dresses. ”I can’t hide you from Miss Malandra forever, so we might as well think up a cunning disguise for you. Oh, Laereth, it’s wonderful to see you!” She gave her a hug and a nerves smile. “It was just a very awkward situation, just now. Ooh, I’ll take you to the General, she’ll be so happy to see another elf! It must be so lonely, being surrounded by humans. But… Are you by any chance a leprechaun?”

”Leprechaun? What? Oh, never mind, it’s very good to see you to, Euryale.” She said sincerely and giving her a rather award smile. ”And thanks for what you did back there.” Deciding to be thankful rather than angry, Euryale look relieved and started to chatter about anything and everything as she began to change into her dress. Laereth was only half listening as she looked down at her own dress, it was rich green and had a very full skirt, she knew she had to disguise herself but she hated dresses, they made her feel restricted, and in her line of work restricted was never good. But the chances of her not being noticed wandering around with Euryale in her black cloths on where slim, so she dressed quickly, but she kept her tight pants on underneath even though it was hot.

”Oh, Laereth! You look wonderful!” Euryale said running over to give her anther hug, Euryale looked quite wonderful herself and Laereth would have said so but Euryale said,”Alright! Let’s go find the general.” And then jumped into more chatter about fashion and whatnot as they started to make their way though the ruins. Laereth didn’t keep up with all she was saying but nodded said her “oh really’s?” at the right times, what she was really paying attention to was the ruins and making sure no one was coming. Not long passed while Laereth was looking away from Euryale when the flow of suddenly words stopped, looking up she saw what had stop the girl. It was General Myaja Kolbjorn in the flesh, glaring at them.