Meadow

[im4given94]

Drake grinned smugly as he studied the backs of the two speakers. The one on the left was easily the bigger of the two, and from the back seemed somewhat humanoid. The one on the right wore a hooded cloak and Drake could not discern anything about him except that he was of a smaller build. The larger one seemed preoccupied with digging a hole in the ground with his toe, and the one on the right seemed to be in some sort of meditation on the forest floor. Drake watched from the tree that he was in and tried to guess the motive for the two people being here. "Well they certainly aren't expecting anything to happen soon. I wonder who they are waiting for?" Drake thought.

 

[Kookaburra]

Khedivo's sharp golden eyes picked out movement among the trees below, as three shadowed figures slowly materialised from the alternating light and dark of the forest. His eyes flickered as he made them out - the first he noticed was a male by build, broad shouldered and tall, giving away its race by its seeming oneness with the shadows - an elf. The second blended in less exactly although perfectly invisible to almost all but a fledge's eyes - slighter of figure. //Obviously a female, but what race?// she was cloaked, and he could not tell. The third figure was the closest, hidden near the base of a nearby tree - also broad of shoulder and rather tall. //Another male. What have I gotten myself in to?//

Khedivo huddled down among the upper leaves, doing his best to blend in although not with a woodsman's skill.

 

[Jenka]

Mind if I join?
My Charecter:
http://www.christianforums.com/t2615168-shiori-aperrin.html#post22082674
Also Kookaburra, is it alright if my charecter knows yours? If not I can change my bio easily.
~Jenks

 

[Kookaburra]

(( Jenka, it's fine for your character to know Khedivo ... in fact your bio was great for a newly created race! Welcome aboard. ))​

 

[Jenka]

Shiori

Shiori flapped her wings hard and long, enjoying the warm updrafts that kept her aloft.
She was still excited that her parents had agreed to allowing her "day of flight" early.
Her sharp red eyes scanned the forest far below her.

Now if I were Khedivo, where would I be?

Shiori suddenly caught a familier scent borne on the wind. Her eyes narrowed as her grin broadened.
Slowly and carefully she circled towards Khedivo's scent. She caught a glint of gold and red amoung the deep green of the forest foilage. Shiori's first impulse was to shout a greeting, but then other smells bombarded her.

Her nostril's widened trying to sort out the scents. Finally she realized what Khedivo was doing, he was watching.
She bit her lip glad she hadn't shouted.

Trying hard not be seen she landed on a tree beside where Khedivo was perched.
She waved energetically waiting for him to notice her, then turned her eyes on the assorted group below them.

 

[Kookaburra]

Khedivo sensed Shiori long before he could see her, even with his sharp golden eyes. It was something picked up from years playing the fledge kind of hide-and-seek, wherin weapons are involved and no children - a combination of her scent and her mental presence. The Fledge as a race are exceedingly sensitive to the minds around them, although not in the communicatory sense, and the closer the blood, the stronger the bond. In this case, Shiori's arrival was like the blazing of a mountaintop beacon in a midwinter nightfall.

Khedivo caught the blur of red-edged gold feathers swirling into view as his friend landed in the tree next to him, and he lifted his head to flash Shiori a somewhat confused grin before returning to his observation of the events below - he daren't return her wave for fear of attracting attention.

//I thought Shiori was still too young for free range yet?// he asked himself, before shrugging the thought off. //She was always very determined, though.// His touched his eyes now.

 

[CJF]

((Welcome aboard Jenka! ))

Ruim took another step. Now he knew Sairin was around, he just didn't know how close or where or why. Still, just knowing that she was close gave him the peace he'd been looking for for years.
He could hear the men moving around and asumed that they were packing up their camp, readying to leave. Not wanting to get too close, but needing to satisfy his curiosity, he continued to close in.

Sairin had keep herself from screaming when the men suddenly imerged from behind the bushes. She reminded herself that she was invisible and needed to stay still and focussed to stay invisible.
"What is it?" one of them asked the other.
He shook his head. "Notin'." he said, grabbing his pack. "Jus' thought I 'eard som'in."

 

[Jenka]

Shiori looked down at the people and wondered at how--naked they looked. It was probably the lack of feathers.

Oh she had seen human-like creatures, the seemed pink and soft.
Yet the male she saw now certianly did not look soft nor pink.
Shiori cocked her head to the side, confused. They didn't look dangerous--She tried to get Khedivo's attention, then mimed flying down to the ground. Shiori wanted to meet them and pouted slightly willing Khedivo's permission.

 

[Kookaburra]

if trees had eaves, they'd be earthward now ...

"What is it?" one of them asked the other.
He shook his head. "Notin'." he said, grabbing his pack. "Jus' thought I 'eard som'in."

Khedivo could sense the two figures moving below him, stepping into the clearing he had vacated earlier. They had just come very near to the one female he had made out earlier, although she had managed to turn herself invisible. That alone had been enough to startle the young fledge, who peered intently at where he knew she must be - he could still smell her, a wild, almost faerie-ish scent. //Perhaps that is it,// he thought. //Either she is a faerie, or lives among faeries, or is part faerie ... what a strange world this is that I have entered!//

"What is it?" the one asked, supposedly in response to having seen, heard or somehow sensed one of the - now five - figures spying upon them by varying methods. Khedivo's wing muscles flexed slightly as he readied himself in case it was him they had sensed. Besides, his scarlet-and-gold plumage was hardly inconspicuous if they just knew to look up through the shadowing leaves and entwining branches.

"Notin'," the second voice responded, as he hoisted his pack. "Jus' thought I 'eard som'in'." Khedivo noted the brusque accent, seemingly foreign to these forested parts. He also noticed Shiori miming meeting them, but he shook his head. Their original topic of conversation sounded suspicious, perhaps dangerous. And they could be concealing weaponry under their cloaks ...

 

[Jenka]

Shiori sighed inwardly and crossed her arms over her chest. Khedivo was always such a stick-in-the-mud.
She moved slightly and leaned against the trunk of the tree.
If she had her way she'd either a)Be meeting the strangers or B) Bored and ready to fly off.

Guess Khedivo knows what he's doing. I wonder why he's even here in the first place?

Shiori looked down on the burly men, the did talk awfully gruff, but she didn't know many of the dangers of the world yet.
In Fledge reckoning she was still very much a child. Shiori wrinkled her nose, she hated being called 'child'. Her Father used that word all the time and then would laugh at her because she would start to fluff up her feathers in annoyence.

I bet I got my attitude from him. She thought with a smirk.

 

[Kookaburra]

Khedivo felt slightly annoyed, and then overwhelmingly amused, by Shiori's reaction. //So, she thinks I'm an old codger already, and only just out of the clan? Someday she'll figure things out. I didn't fight my way out of the westlands simply to get myself or my kin involved in another crises.// He looked down at the men, his crest rising as his famous temper flared.

Shiori was not without her own fierce streak though, he knew. When she wasn't bored, she was jumping into things simply because she could, or because someone was carelesss in their wording. She was a whole different brand of creature from Khedivo, excepting only the pride and passion that all fledges share. He couldn't remember how they first came to be friends, it was too long ago ... however, he did remember several incidences where she literally challenged him to duels for simple enough reasons.

//Now she's smirking,// he thought. //That is a danger sign.// The fact that she had always beaten him at archery competitions didn't cheer the thought. She had good aim.

 

[im4given94]

The figures walked slowly towards a tree closeby, and it was then that Drake realized that he should have been more watchful in the first place. "There must be someone else here, maybe even several people. I better follow these men and make sure that they do not get hurt." he thought. He gripped his elven cloak a little more tightly around himself and followed the two men towards the tree. When they reached the tree, Drake saw for the first time a polished sword slide partially out from the tunic of the larger man. "Well at least he came prepared," he thought. Drake thought for a moment, then with a mischevious grin on his face took a large acorn in his hands and tossed it to the right of the two men. Instantly they both dropped to a crouch and whirled in the direction in which the acorn was thrown. The larger of the two had his sword drawn, and the other person's hands seemed ready as if to cast a spell of some sort. "Definately prepared."

 

[CJF]

Sairin saw the new man approach and throw the acorn. Unfortunately, the acorn was thrown hard and hit her in the arm. Sairin gripped her arm and grimaced, trying not to a make a sound. To her dismay, a soft groan escaped her lips, but it was just loud enough to attract attention.
"Now I know I 'eard som'in. Wha' shoul' we do?" one asked.
The other was looking right at Sairin. He just started right at her for a few moments.
"Get moving. I think we've got company." he said, staring in her direction all the while.
"Wha' do ya see?" the other man asked.
"Nothing, but the groan came from this direction...somewhere."
Sairin couldn't help but feel that the man looking at her knew something she didn't. She was still invisible, so what could he possibly know?

 

[Jenka]

Shiori widened her eyes. These men were dangerous! But--who had thrown the acorn? She glanced around and saw a dark material amoung the leafy green.

Ah! Yet another watcher!

Shiori could not keep the grin off her face, this was the most odd position she had been in. It felt like everyone was waiting for someone to jump out and yell: "Boo!" But nobody dared move.

She looked at the men, her lips pursed.

Two burly men, two avains, one wood-walker and one air-walker. Why, I bet the walkers are kind people and we are good avains. We could take on the burly's should they prove dangerous. Shiori's wings twitched. This being patient thing just was not her style.

Somebody do something or I may be forced too! She thought inwardly, her impatience already getting the better of her.

 

[CJF]

Sairin watched the men through the branches of the bush in front of her. The one who was, seemingly, more educated than the other threw his hands in the air.
"What is going on?"
"Not'in." he said, and disappeared behind a tree.
Sairin kept her eyes on the other man. Unbenknownst to her, she was no longer invisible. The man in front of her sighed and threw his hands in the air. He was frustrated.
Suddenly, hands grabbed her from behind. Sairin let out a surprised scream.
"Gotcha!" the man yelled. "'ey, I got 'er! She wa' spyin' on us!"
Sairin struggled to get free, but he had a tight grip. The other man turned, his eyes wide.
"You idiot! What if there are more out there?" he yelled in anger.
"We use 'dis one ta bargain wit'."

Ruim was close enough, he could see through the bushes. The first thing he saw was Sairin; they had her! Everything inside the male elf screamed to go and kill those two men, which he could do in seconds, but he decided against it. He didn't know if they were alone or not and, if they weren't, how many men they had hidden. Hold on Sairin. he thought.

 

[Kookaburra]

Khedivo shifted uncomfortably. The two men had just proved his point - they were highly dangerous, and had bad motives.

//Who grabs a female and just ... uses her ... as a bargaining chip?// His inbuilt distrust of Outsiders was growing deeper, now fueled by real proof of their untrustworthy nature. He felt sorry for the one they had taken captive, of course, and out of pure spite would do something about setting her free. Deep in his heart his motives may have been noble, but Khedivo was well versed in deceiving himself of his own integrity.

The fledge turned and waved to Shiori, and mouthed the word distraction. Their brilliant feathers would, of course, serve perfectly.

 

[CJF]

Sairin mentally kicked herself. You knew that turning invisible and STAYING invisible has always been the hardest for you, yet you use it. You could have used something else, but you didn't. Very smart. she thought.

Ruim drew his sword, not knowing exsactly what he was going to do. He needed something to distract these two men, and whoever else might be out there, so he could make his move and get away as quickly as possible, but he had nothing.

 

[Kookaburra]

With a flash of scarlet-and-gold light, Khedivo dropped from the canopy on top of the tallest of the two men, the one who was holding on to the girl. He was hoping that as the two of them struggled, the girl would break free and make a run for it, but the minds of the fledge are greatly different from those of other species, and he had long since given up on trying to predict their processes and behaviour.

It is not the easiest of struggles for a fledge to overcome two male humans (or other race, for that matter) when he (or she) ends up dancing on their shouldersr and getting his (or her) wing feathers tangled in the surrounding tree branches. It is even more difficult when the two were armed, as they now were. The lucky factor was that he was in too close of quarters for the one suspicious character to use magic on him without harming his companion -and- possibly himself.

 

[Jenka]

Shiori's eyes went wide as she saw the man grab the air-walker.
She shot a glance over to Khedivo.

Distraction. He mouthed.

She nodded and spread her wings. Khedivo dived first, the men, startled, moved back.
Shiori dived after him and moved towards the woman. She reached out a hand to help the woman escape from the fight Khedivo and the man was having, but suddenly a hand grabbed her wing and pulled hard.
Shiori let out a shriek of fury and pain as she turned towards her attacker. The other large brute was trying to pull her wing out of her back, or at least it felt that way.
Shiori turned to face the man and raked her talon-like fingernails down his face, he let go screaming, his face bloody.

She turned back towards the woman and beckoned.

"Come." She said, her voice, even though it sounded panicked, was like listening to chimes in the wind.
"Come...with me." She put a hand to her heart and pointed at the trees.

Come on, I'm trying to help.

Shiori wanted to take the woman at least out of harms way, and if she could get the women to trust her, Shiori was going to put her in the safest spot possible.
Up in the tree.

 

[CJF]

Sairin had been trying to remember a spell about escaping from ropes, when a species she'd never even seen before flew from a tree and landed on the shoulders of the man who was holding her. Sairin screamed out of shock as another of the same species flew from a tree as well.

Ruim heard Sairin scream and ran from the bushes, no longer caring about who else was in the forest. What he saw made him stop dead in his tracks. Two bird like creatures had attacked the men, and one's face was now covered in blood.

Sairin managed to wrench free from the man's grasp. She looked at the smaller bird who suddenly spoke.
"Come." she said, her voice filled with panick and pain.
Sairin's eyes widened.
"Come...with me." she said again, holding out her hand.
Sairin hadn't seen Ruim approach and, not wanting to be anywhere near the two men any longer, gladly took her hand.