Seven seals: The Reforging of the Seals

[ferment8]

Aridol knocked, and a middle aged woman admitted them.
"Ah! It's been a long time my friend. What took you so long? Missing your old friend?" Romera chuckled, and began to pour tear for all of them.

Aridol smiled, "You always forget about rank eh? It's good to see you again Romera. Well, the lands from Eyre to here are pretty unsettling. Dwarves, and even dark Elves are about now. Troubled times."

Romera took a seat and sighed, "The dark one is spreading I guess. The Lord shines on us. So who are your friends?"
Aridol quickly gave introductions and got to the point straight, "So, where has this Clise gone? I'm suppose to keep a track on her. Let me guess, it's about the seven seals?"

Romera replied, "You have a quick mind. Clise's my friend and I have given her some help on the lost seals, SINCE I know you would be coming and this way, she can somehow have your protection." She smiled amusingly.

Aridol's face darkened, "A setup eh? Someday, I will have to discover how you can still be so manipulative at your age. But since I have nothing to do, I might as well get on with this mission."

Freezia chuckled, "A Lord Commander of the armies have nothing to do? Amazing, "
Aridol said drily, "Everyone sometimes needs a rest from the army. The King has seen to that, by putting me on this mission. But maybe this will be even harder than commanding an army."

They all laughed.
After getting the directions, they resupplied, rested for a day, then set up to find Clise.
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well...... yeh.....

 

[Blessed-one]

woo, if you guys don't catch up, Clise's going away.....
----

Taking a deep breath, Clise patted Kyne once and climbed onto her back.
"Let's take off!" she said jubilantly and responding to her word, Kyne lifted herself off the ground and spread her huge leathery wings.
----

The mist thickened.
"Stay close," Cashiel said in a low voice. The group continued on guardedly. Suddenly, someone said, "Dan, where's he?"
Cashiel walked to the back of the group, "What's going on?"
Murmurs spread, "He was right behind me....." the person said, swallowing as he turned around.

From the front of the group Taren was staring through the mist. Gripping the quaterstaff, he positioned himself in a fighting stance.
"Trouble..." Zan said, it wasn't really a question, but rather a statement. Taking out a dagger, she settled beside Taren, and without aiming she threw it.

A scream pierced through the still air. Cashiel whirled around, and ran to the front of the group, abruptly a spear appeared right beside him and he dropped onto the ground in reflex. A sound of swords coming out of scabbards was heard as people drew their weapons in unison.

 

[Blessed-one]

where's everyone gone to?

 

[ferment8]

yeh, where's everybody?
------------------------------------
After Aridol has checked all the supples and had gotten fresh horses, they rode towards the direction Clise has gone to.

*Now, I wonder how far that girl has gone?* Aridol thought.

 

[Kookaburra]

I just don't know what to post.....

 

[Kookaburra]

any suggestions? ferment, why don't you join the Road to the Grail?

 

[CJF]

Hi all. I posted on Road to the Grail Kookaburra.

 

[Kookaburra]

yup, I read it, but I have to get ready for school unfortunately, so I can't post until this arvo. God bless!

 

[CJF]

Happy B-day Grimr!

 

[Blessed-one]

oh, is it his birthday? Happy Birthday!!
----
With a flip of the wings, Kyne took off into the sky. Clise hang onto her easily, and as the wind stirred her hair, she shouted, "North towards the Great Lake of Serie." The dragon turned to the north, steadily climbing higher into the sky.

As Clise looked down, the landscape spread out spectacularly before her, like a precise map, she saw every tree and rivers, except everything was getting further away as they moved higher up. In a moment, they passed Uiani, and Clise saw that a group of travellers were walking out from Uiani. A man looked up and saw the dragon, then, amazingly, he waved.

Clise waved back, it was only polite to do so, but the man kept waving and now his three companions were waving too. A small man.... a boy? was jumping up and down.
"Down a bit," Clise said to Kyne. The dragon lowered the altitude.
The group was waving for her to land! Perplexed, she made Kyne hover in the air for a moment.

 

[Grimr]

Thanks

 

[ferment8]

Aridol had to shout at the rider since she was hovering.
"You Clise? From the Dragon Host?"

The girl's eyes narrowed and replied suspiciously
"Yes, I'm Clise. How do you know about me?"
She also eyed the others with the same look.

"I'm Aridol and this is Freezia, Daniel, and Janwah. I heard of where you are going from Romera, she's my... friend. I'm from Eyre and is here under both the orders of the Host and the King to accompany you in the search of the seven seals." Aridol hoped he had make it plain. He does not like to confuse people.

 

[Blessed-one]

Clise frowned, this Aridol is Romera's friend? howcome she never mentioned him before? However, what he said didn't sound like a lie, the king and her own people had asked Aridol to accompany her? this needs a bit of investigating. Giving Kyne a word, the dragon slowed and carefully landed. Clise saw that the small man she saw from the sky was actually a small boy, and the woman next to him was probably his mother. The other girl however, has a very unique appearance. She was tall, with silver hair and light green eyes. Clise dropped down from Kyne's back.

"I'm Clise Ledren of the Dragon host."
The man nodded, "I'm Aridol Kazaka, this's Daniel, his mother Janwah and Freezia, of the Windsong clan."
Clise's eyes widened, "So you are!" she said, looking at Freezia, "We don't... see many Windsongs these days." she said carefully.
Freezia's eyes lighted and she shrugged, "I was fortunate, there may be a purpose in my survival yet."
Clise could see fire in her eyes, Freezia was not afraid to talk about the horrible past, and she was willing to face her future. Clise decided that she liked her. Turning to Aridol, she said, "Tell me one thing about Romera and i'll believe you."
Aridol nodded, as if expecting no less from her, "Romera was a secret agent of the King, but because of the King's warrant she is now in hiding becoming my agent instead. The king has pardoned her, but she feels that her obligation to the King is finished."
It was exactly what Romera had told her, no one alive knew of it except Romera herself, Clise, the King and Romera's friend, who gave her that piece of parchment.

"I'm glad to have you with me," Clise said, and she took out the parchment and handed it to Aridol, "I was on my way to the Great Lake of Serie. Kyne can only bear two to three people at a time as she isn't that big a dragon. We'll need some mode of transport."

Freezia spoke up, "That should not be a problem." She whistled. Two eagles flew in from a distance.

 

[Kookaburra]

Freezia kept her eyes on the specks that rapidly materialized into two of the more powerful eagles that had survived the massacre, but tuned her ears to the conversations occurring behind her.

"Mother, can I do a somersault?" asked Daniel.
"No!" Came Janwah's shocked reply. "You'll do nothing of the kind with me riding on this horse."

"Since we now have the transport, all we need is for you to ensure that you don't let this parchment out of your sight." Said Clise, and she looked over at Freezia, who smiled at her.

"My eagles are here." she said softly, and the brown-feathered birds lowered their heads obediently. "They are quite tame."

The others mounted their various steeds, and Aridol reluctantly climbed on the back of one of the great birds. "Are you sure?"

Freezia nodded and clucked to Zanxi softly, giving him instructions to follow or fly alongside Kyne, in case she needed rest. Zanxi clacked his beak in return and gave an experimental flap of his wings, then shot into the sky, circling on the air currents to gain height.

Kyne spread his great folds of wing and followed quickly, the other birds and Pegasus jumped straight up into the air. Kyne started away quickly with Freezia behind the rest and to the right, keeping her eyes peeled for evil creatures of any sort. She ran her fingers through her silver hair and then braided it expertly into dozens of tiny braids, then she braided them into one single braid that reached to the middle of her back.

Aridol looked at her with something that was half amazement, half disgust. "You don't guide your eagle? You let him fly by himself?" He was astonished that she dare sleep aboard him, even with her eyes half open.

She smiled in response. "A bird like this has a brain, sir. Meaning no disrespect, you can let go. If you do happen to fall off, the bird will know and catch you."

Aridol shook his head and Freezia spurred Zanxi up next to Clise. "How far until our first stop? Should I be prepared to sleep in the air?" She heard protests from the other flyers, and she smiled again.

Clise looked like a nice person, and she clearly did not lack courage or skill. "No, I've taken into account that your group will be tired, and I've taken the liberty of finding a safe stay-over place where we can rest for a while before moving on."

Freezia's green eyes were half shut. "I, personally don't mind, but I'm sure the others will thank you. They've had a long march. I let Zanxi do all the work until there's a fight. And even then, he pulls his weight...which is quite a bit." Zanxi understood her tone and looked around, making a soft sound with his beak.

Clise smiled and admired the fact that Freezia still found a little bit of humor in any circumstance. She had the feeling they'd hit it off well.

 

[Blessed-one]

great post Kookaburra!

awww, i need to log off, i'll post later.

 

[Blessed-one]

They flew on for a couple of hours and the eagles and dragon did need rest. As they neared the mountain range, Kyne angled down towards the foot of the mountain where a small river was running alongside. The three fliers landed at where the trees were sparse. It looked like a pretty isolated and secure place, and there was a cave beside the landing area.

"I use this cave once awhile, as long as we don't wonder away, we should be quite safe here." Clise explained, climbing down from the dragon's back.
----

Taran planted his feet squarely and thrusted with his staff. The scream resulting from Zan's dagger throw was still piercing the mist and shapes abruptly closed in. Taran's quaterstaff quickly found a target, and he jabbed and swung it rapidly. To his right and left, Zan and Cashiel were slashing at the enemies with their sword and knife, and the men behind were doing the same, being careful to stay together.

"The mist won't hold forever, we need to find a way out before everything goes clear!" Cashiel shouted from the left, cutting down a troll.
"I think it's this way," Zan said, pointing, "We were more of less walking towards this direction."
"You sure?" Taran said, he couldn't tell which was which in this mist, everything was obscured, let alone trying to figure out which direction they were following!

Zan did not reply but she started attacking the other way, forging a way out. The others were forced to follow, unless they wanted to lose Zan in the fight. Taran moved along easily, and his quaterstaff contacted with a skull. The troll responded by dropping onto the ground.

 

[ferment8]

Aridol dropped onto the ground, glad to feel his feet on flat mud once again. He wobbled a bit as he regained his balance, then surveyed the surroundings.
*um.. looks like a safe place to me* He thought.
"Shall we go in?" Freezia asked.

Everyone entered the cave and in no time, set up everything to prepare meals.
Aridol settled down, then frowned as a feeling of being watched pickled his skin.
"Freezia, do you feel someone is watching us?" he asked while eyeing the cave.
"No, nothing's here," She responded and said in a mutter about men and their being paranoid.
Aridol frowned again and dug into his food, which suddenly tasted bitter.
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Ar' Goshien swung his heavy axe at the seemingly leader of the intruders, aiming to behead him. Too late, an arrow pierced through Ar' Goshien's head, and the troll dropped with no time to scream.

Ar' Furroshien watched his brother fell, then with a snarl of anger, he raised his two bladed axe and fiercely split the human's head in halves.
Furroshien roared in the Troll language, "Do not let these imputent humans live!! Kill them!!"
His fellow trolls roared back, and they kept on the fight
There was a saying that no one ever makes it back alive after entering Troll territory. Ar' Furroshien will very much ensure that happen.

 

[Kookaburra]

um, that's not at the cave, right? We need some not-fighting time while I get my creative juices flowing.

 

[Blessed-one]

the last part of ferment's post is about Taran's group fighting the trolls.
We've two separate parts going on here.

 

[Kookaburra]

cool...just a little confused....