Fantasy ~ FableWood ~

[zCrookedz]

Leo chuckled a bit "I have no doubt in your abilities to protect, or your courage. To me you have proven yourself a thousand times over." He pushed off the tree and stretched his arms across his chest back and forth. His stiff muscles ached from recent activities. He placed his hands on his hips and looked up at the unusual sky. "Should you ever wish to talk about that which weighs your mind, merely ask. I will also lend an ear to you."

 

[Lioness075]

Luness finally finished her meal, satisfied with all of the meat she'd enjoyed. Watching the sunset, Luness then remembered Kallin's curse and looked back at him in time to see him doubling over at the tree.


Leaving her seat, Luness walked over to Kallin, while still giving him some space. She was about to ask if he was okay when he stood back up and removed his scarf after his hat had already fallen off. Luness felt herself blushing, again thankful that her fur hid the blush, at the sight of Kallin's human form. He was rather...Luness blinked, inwardly growling at herself for letting her thoughts wander astray in such a manner. Now was seriously not the time for such thoughts.


Hearing Kallin's question about Ward, Luness turned around to look around the table and frowned, having not really noticed his disappearance. Turning back to Kallin, Luness said with a shrug, "I'm not quite sure where he wandered off to, but I might be able to follow his scent if anything."


Walking over to the seat that Ward had been sitting in, Luness sniffed the air around it and quickly caught wind of Ward's scent. Regarding the group once more, Luness then announced, "I have Ward's scent." Assuming they'd all just follow her anyways, Luness then left the table and house before she began wandering into the forest while constantly sniffing the air to make sure she was following the right direction.


Not too long after setting out, Luness found a small, open area among a grove. Looking around, she didn't see anything at first, but then smelled the faint scent of ink nearby. Shifting her gaze to the ground, it didn't take much longer for Luness to spy the bottle of ink, parchment, and quill. Frowning at the sight, Luness then walked over and knelt down to read what the parchment said.


Blanching at what had been written and that it was incomplete, Luness stood up with her heart racing, quickly skimming the area with her eyes in hopes of finding Ward nearby.


@SilverFlight

 

[Bea Delaine]

Elena shrugged off Lunesses attempt to help, though appreciating it up until Ward healed her. She couldn't help but find his mother henning funny though. She mumbled a small thank you that only he was allowed to her and drank the rest of her tea and or tea cup in silence. She noticed something off about Ward but wasn't ready to talk about it yet. She wanted to give him time to organize his thoughts. When he stepped outside though, she followed.


It was dark, and she couldn't see Ward, but she saw some movement in the distance which she assumed to be him.


"Ward..? Are you doing okay? Just.. Tell me if you want to be alone?" She called out and approached but whatever caught her eye before was gone. She spotted Luness and followed to read the letter.


"I should have known.. But.. It seems like he was kidnapped. He would have finished or.. Or something to say he was okay, right?"


Elena panicked, then reached down to touch her necklace, wards carving.


"He said I could find him with this.."


She continued in a panicking voice. She looked at it for a moment, trying to figure out how to use it before throwing her hand at her forehead.


"I should have stayed with him.. Alice, she warned me.."

 

[DawnAntalios]

Nyr smiled at Leo. She trusted him with her life but... she did not think that it was time yet. Yet an another painful memory of the past might not come handy... especially if her friends find out WHAT the secret was... no, she did not want to share this with them just yet, not when the important task was at hand. She looked up at Leo and flew up in the air slightly, leaning closer to him, quickly giving him a kiss on his furry cheeks before she landed, now smiling.


" I know, Leo. " she said " When we will have time... But now the quest lies before us. We need to cleanse this land. "


She then turned towards the table, walking there. She then heard Ethan's question and raised her brows.


" I have no idea. What is it? "


Deep down now when she was listening to the others she had a growing sensation of dread. Something was amiss yet she could not point out what. And it was not the sight of the flying, singing fishes and the underwater birds... it was something darker, more sinister. Looking around to see all her companions she sighed at first when she saw everyone. Only a moment later did she realize what she was missing - or who she was missing.


" Out of curiosity... where is Ward? " she asked, more concerned than she thought to be. She knew that the gryphon could look after himself but something still disturbed her.

 

[SilverFlight]

Kallin followed Luness, urgency in his step. When he saw the letter he cursed loudly.


"I should have woven defense spells when I had the chance. Now our enemy has two of them. If I had enough evidence before, its doubly true now. She's taken her old apprentice."


When Elena mentioned the pedant he nodded. "So how do you get it to work?"


((Ward has indeed been taken to the red queen's castle))

 

[Sleipnir]

Ethan shrugged. "I haven't a clue," he replied, then he looked at Anya, still smiling. "Anya?" He was unsure at this point whether Anya would keep to script or not. Either way, he was enjoying his time here in Wonderland, possibly due to the fimiliarity.

 

[Lioness075]

Luness saw Elena was upset, but Luness had never been good at comforting others. She really had no idea how to help calm Elena or make her feel better in this scenario.


Shrugging, Luness decided to play it off as not a big deal and said, "Well, we'll just add him to the growing list of people that we'll find upon confronting the queen."


Looking at Kallin upon hearing his question, Luness then shifted her gaze back to Elena and cocked her head at Elena. Luness then asked a different and rather blunt question, "Do you even know how to use that?"


Luness wasn't trying to come off as rude with such a question, but was merely curious if Elena even knew what she was doing. If not, then Luness was about to try and sniff around the area to hopefully pick up another scent mixed with Ward's.


@SilverFlight @Bea Delaine

 

[Hel]

Anya grinned to herself, knowing she had both a more legitimate answer and a wonderland-y answer. She chose to say the latter, and said, "Well, there is a B in both and an N in neither." She shook her head, then, realizing that if Ward was gone, maybe they shouldn't be playing around. Looking about she stood, seeing that others had also gone off already, presumably to search for the Griffon man.


Alexander had been eavesdropping, too, and he suppressed a bit of a laugh, then wondered when the last time he laughed actually had been. He knew the answer, and chose not to think on that topic any longer. Seeing the others had left, and Anya standing he voiced his own concern. "If our leader has gone missing, it is undoubtably time to go now not at nightfall... besides, is this not the land of nonsense, as was stated previously by Ward? Waiting till night makes sense, so why would we do that?"

 

[SkywardSocks]

Achyls rushed outside with the rest of them, seeing the commotion. Her feeling of joy dropped, crashing into stoicism almost immediately. She took to the skies, searching for some kind of sign of Ward's whereabouts. There, in the distance, a structure rose from the horizon, a castle. She made no sound, instead purely trying to make out what she was seeing moving towards the building. She squinted a little, cutting out excess light. She noted a glint of gold, feather like dust rising up from the distant movement.


"Perhaps that is where he is now," she said to herself, diving up and over the trees a little just to be sure. Yes, it was Ward.


"Kallin, Alexander is correct. But we ought to head toward the castle...I believe I can see him," she called as she dropped back onto the floor as leaves flew up around her.


@SilverFlight

 

[Sleipnir]

Ethan hadn't been paying enough attention to realize what the situation was, and his mood fell a bit. He stood too, and nodded. "Then let's go ahead and leave," he replied. He wasn't one to make decisions on his own, but would certainly prefer it if the others would. He didn't want to hang around and wait if they knew something bad was happening.

 

[Bea Delaine]

Elena smiled weakly at Luness and shrugged. She tried to stay calm though guilt weighed her shoulders. Running her fingers over the smooth carved wood, she shook her head.


"I haven't used it before.. I guess I'm not use here." As she said that though, she felt the connection of her fingers on the wood lead her elsewhere as though she was using her powers. She felt her mind connect to a castle like structure, the only clue given was a heart of crimson.


"The castle of the Queen of Hearts. You're right. But we can't fly. We follow a path or we will never reach it, remember what Ward said?"

 

[Lioness075]

Luness nodded at what Elena said and then said, "Well, we should rejoin our group back at the Hatter's home before just up and leaving."


This said, Luness turned to leave, only pausing to glance back and make sure that Kallin, Elena, and Achyls were following her lead.


Once satisfied they were all headed back, Luness then dropped to all fours and sprinted back to the Hatter's home. Upon rejoining everyone at the table, Luness stood up on her hind legs and then announced loudly, "Ward has been kidnapped by the Queen of Hearts. Kallin, Elena, Achyls, and I have all decided that it'd probably be best if we head out now and stick to the roads, as advised by Ward."


After announcing this, Luness paused and looked around while she waited for everyone's responses and such. She had no doubt that a lot would be said after hearing all of this.


@SilverFlight @Bea Delaine @SkywardSocks @Everyone else back at the Hatter's home

 

[Hel]

Anya's mood immediately plummeted, too. She felt terrible, apparently while they were all enjoying wonderland, Ward was being kidnapped! Guess it really isn't the time for a party, she thought to herself, then with a sigh she nodded at Luness. "Right, well... I could always try to use my ability, if it is needed." She offered. She brushed herself off and headed over to the Luness, clearly indicating she was ready to go when the others were.


Alexander, too nodded and said nothing. He had wondered himself if it was wise to stay here just a moment ago, and now he, too stood and prepared to leave.

 

[SkywardSocks]

Achyls nodded, glad Luness was taking charge of the situation.


"We should all stay together. And close. Who knows what we will find further towards the castle. If everyone keeps their weapons and abilities at hand, we should be fine" she said, looking around to the group. She was prepared to leave, the wellbeing of Ward and Ashley were her utmost concern. To Kallin, she gave a swift smile, looking to his hands. She knew of the nature of his power. He would be a powerful asset, especially now. With such a wide range of skills at their side, there was no room for failure. Or so she hoped.


@SilverFlight @Lioness075

 

[SilverFlight]

Leia's heart froze when she saw the party come back without Ward. He'd been kidnapped?


"This is bad. You're right Luness, we need to get there fast. The longer our friends are in the hands of that psycho the more freaked out I'm getting."


The hatter, who had said nothing up until this point stood from his place at the table. His face was more serious than Leia had seen him..ever.


"Let us be off then. Its seems the camel's back has been broken." The hatter grabbed his swords and opened a small gate at the back of his garden. He removed his hat and summoned the doormouse from its teapot. Around its neck hung a tiny golden key, its handle shaped like a small heart.


"I'll get you in."


((@zCrookedz take over the hatter whenever you like))


The walk was not as long as Leia expected, maybe an hour or two? She could smell salt on the air and realized they must be near the ocean. She accidentally brushed a thick plant and released a flock of tiny, snarling tigers with stripey butterfly wings.


"Ah, tiger moths." This place was getting into her mind. Now was not the time. They climbed a small ridge and at the top the hatter paused. Leia caught a glimpse of what was over the ridge; a mountainous castle, standing square and resolute at the center of a hedge maze. The hedges at the entrance were cut into flamingo shapes. Overall the castle would have looked beautiful, if Leia hadn't sensed a rather sinister air emanating from it.

 

[Bea Delaine]

Elena followed in Lunesses lead, losing any bit of softness or lightheartedness. Her eyes were cold and calculating. If the queen was behind this, she would kill the woman herself, first for deceiving the one person or gryphon who still believed in her and for hurting him. She did not even feel the time that went by, as her focus was elsewhere. When they arrived at the gate, she looked to the others.


"Listen. I say a group of us keeps whomever captured them, most likely now the queen distracted. Another group gains entrance to rescue Ward and Ashley and whomever else is captured. I also think it would be best to reserve a couple people to hold out in case one or the other is in need of help or something goes awry. Who agrees? And if so, who goes where?"


Elena strategized with a stern voice.

 

[SkywardSocks]

Achyls chimed in, "I completely agree, though feel my skills would be best suited to the rescue mission. I neglected my duty to check on Ashley back in Branbern...I must be there to save her, and Ward,"


Her heart sank as she remembered the event. She shook it away with a somewhat angered expression, and she turned to watch the castle become closer and closer with every movement. It was a harrowing sight, but she kept her resolve with every ounce of her being, allowing anger to fill her, readying her for the onslaught.

 

[Lioness075]

Luness followed after the Hatter, silently feeling a growing anxiety at the idea of them finally finding Ashley. Where is she? Has someone hurt her?


Upon arriving at the castle, Luness felt her heart skip a beat at the sight of the hedge maze. That was going to be a very dangerous place indeed.


Listening to Elena's idea, Luness quickly walked to the front of the group and said resolutely, "I'm going to help rescue Ashley and Ward." More than anything, Luness wanted to get Ashley and her unborn child back and safe. Her mind was constantly plagued thoughts of Ashley not making it and more than anything Luness just needed to at least see that Ashley was okay, along with her unborn child as well.


While waiting for everyone else to decide their roles in this adventure, Luness stepped to the side, beginning to pace by herself again. Her hands were tightly clenched into fists at her sides, her heart racing at what all could go wrong in that hedge maze before they even got to the castle. After all, they could very well find themselves lost in it and waste time in the hedge maze, which they may not have enough time to afford such a thing.

 

[SeaTea]

Mitchell had a dark look about him as he pulled his hat low and crossed his arms; everything was going wrong at it did not seem to get any better as they had to once again think quickly or lose themselves.


"I'll be a distraction, We'll raise a loud enough ruckus that anyone in that stone prison would have to come and take care of us." His teeth started to grind at the end of his sentence. he found himself really chomping at the bit to get something done, and here was the chance. He didn't think he would be much of a help trying to bust out their two lost companions out of whatever magical what's-it that they were probably locked up in. What he did know however, was that his trail voice could carry over a good half mile when he got into it. If you can become the biggest loudest person in the area, then it's no doubt that everyone would come flocking; whether that was out of curiosity, or just to punch you themselves to shut you up. In any event, it was the sort of task that he felt he was made for, in this place and at this point.

 

[SilverFlight]

The hatter lead them on. Instead of heading into the maze he skirted around it to another side. He stopped at a wall made entirely of stone and placed a hand on it gently. He whispered a quick word and a door cracked open, leading them into a straight hedge corridor. From there they could see the castle wall.


The sound of armor alerted them to guards.


"Quickly now, decide on this once we're past the queen's defenses. there will be no getting in for anyone otherwise."


He lead them quickly into the corridor, Leia thought this was going well so far...but they had no idea what awaited them in the castle. In the distance she thought she heard the roar of an angry beast.


"Splitting up is still against my better judgement," Kallin advised, but said no more than that.


The maze was eerily silent. A soft mist gathered at their feet. The hatter stopped half way down the corridor making the others stop too.


"I have the physical key, but there is also a magical key." He pulled out the tiny gold object and muttered a few words over it. Then he held out one end for someone to hold. Leia took hold of the other end curiously and the hatter pulled. A phantom key came away in his hands and he thrust it into the air in front of him. Light traced the outline of a doorway and the hatter pulled it open, waving them through.


They continued on toward the wall. The castle loomed above them, casting the group in complete shadow.


Kallin stopped suddenly. "There's someone here. I'm picking up a magical aura...a strong one."


wasting no time the hatter took the real key from Leia and thrust it straight into a crack in the wall. Leia's heart was hammering in her chest.


The wall slid apart slowly and it was almost painful to watch. The hatter was about to go in when the faint sound of footsteps echoed on the passage.


Leia held her breath.


Suddenly a figure came around a corner, saw them and let out a tiny shriek. Cupping his hands over his mouth. His crown nearly fell to the floor but he caught it before it could make more noise.


"Hatter!" he hissed.


"Majesty." the hatter removed his hat politely. "The king of hearts." he introduced the man standing before them. He was slender and mousy, his face tired, as f he hadn't slept in days.


The king looked astonished at all the faces behind his old friend.


"Inside, all of you, and quickly! Before the guards come!"

 

[Hel]

Anya nodded, "I can stay with Mitchell and help. In case worst comes to worst, we'll just teleport away." She whispered, before they entered., watching the others. She reached over and touched the other boy's shoulder. He seemed very tense, and it worried her. Everything about the situation worried her- and she felt especially bad for Elena.


Seeing the king of hearts made Anya's stop momentarily. She wondered if he shared the abilities of his queen, but when he seemed friendly, she simply nodded and took his advice.


Alexander followed along, as well. Watching all and saying nothing. He wasn't sure how to react to any of this, so he simply chose not to react at all.

 

[Lioness075]

Luness was so caught up in her pacing and thoughts that she almost missed the Hatter walking away. Jogging back to catch up with him, Luness was silent while he led the way through various places.


Hearing Kallin's advice, Luness wasn't too sure who's side to take in the decision. Splitting up could speed everything up in finding their friends, but going together could also slow them all down. Looking at Kallin, Luness then said, "We may not have enough time to waste if we travel as one large group and get held back by something."


Luness just wanted to find Ashley safe and sound. It was slowly driving her insane to not know how she was doing, and now Ward was in danger as well. As if things weren't bad enough as it was.


Upon hearing Kallin announcing someone else's powerful presence, Luness let out a low growl and narrowed her eyes while flickering her one good ear towards the sound of the approaching person.


Yet, when she saw the King of Hearts, Luness was more surprise than anything else and dropped her tough act within an instant. Hearing the King's orders, Luness wasted no time questioning him, as she quickly entered the opening in the wall, unsure of what she would find next.


@SilverFlight

 

[andujarprime]

Malachai brought about the rear of the group, a grim look on his face. He hated sneaking about, he was prepared to burn through the maze in a straight path and light their arrival to the castle. However the hatter prevented that rather efficiently. He was torn about the idea of splitting up. He wasn't afraid of any challenge, but he didn't want to have to go looking for more people in the end. " What happened to sticking together. Splitting up just gives the queen more solitary targets to capture." He said to anyone that would listen not really caring who. As the King of hearts appeared he had to stop himself from hurling a spear through him. Hw liked at the little man quizzically then made his way into the castle with the rest of the group.

 

[SkywardSocks]

Achyls hurried inside with the rest of them, the eeriness of the maze was haunting, but the passage was worse. The sight of the King was a more pleasant sight, it was almost as if he provided some comic relief. The quiet in the castle was maddening, but she still felt mere safety around those alongside her.


"Where are the captives?" she asked the King, a stern expression painted on her face. Ashley and Ward needed to be found and they seemed to be losing time. Any moment they wasted, the two could be closer to death...or maybe they already where. No. No, she wouldn't have it. She stood, looking at the King of Hearts, almost unblinking.

 

[Bea Delaine]

Elena nodded as they fell into place. She followed into the castle led by Hatter and the King of Hearts. When a couple complained, she frowned and shook her head.


"Not solitary. Two groups allow us to work faster. I understand your concerns but arguing against the popular vote will only cause issues. I myself make a good distraction with my power. Your majesty, we need to know all you can provide about this situation."