Fantasy The Ebony Guard: Champions of Namira

[Alterius]

Seeing Abelard's worry Dravo's resolve to flip the cart became absolute never wanting to let anyone down. He whistled for his horse and ran towards the cart literally jumping unto Palewind before he passed. He circled the downed cart once assessing the damage he concluded that it wasn't anything a few planks and nails couldn't fix he hopped off of his horse drawing his sword and planting it into the ground. "Just a little bit of earth magic." He planted the tip of his sword in the ground having to concentrate. eventually the jewels in the hilt and the markings on his left arm glowed as the ground below the cart rumbled before rising up at first lifting the cart then some stone fell away creating a slant and letting the cart fall onto it's wheels. Dravo released his blade and fell onto his rear in exhaustion. "That....was pushing it."


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[Dreesirk]

"It's but a few minutes to right the cart," Norven told Abelard, "Besides, it'll be far easier to have the supplies we need, even if they're only enough to hold us over for the trip there." Norven patted Abelard on the back and smiled, "You did well, friend. Climb your horse and take a well deserved rest." Norven turned, ready to right the cart himself, when he saw Dravo perform some peculiar feat and shape the ground. Norven relaxedly sighed to himself, happy that he didn't have to get the thing himself. Turning back around to Varick, Norven spoke, "Now then, my friend," he said, bending over to help support the man, "let's see if we can't get ourselves bandaged up." Norven rose, keeping Varick supported on his non-injured side, and made his way over to the cart.


"Hopefully there's some bandages in there, eh?" He laughed

 

[Lain.Laurent]

Sarvi climbed in to the drivers seat of the wagon pulling out her map and unfolded it with a flourish, her eyebrows close together, evidently she was deep in thought. Eventually she lowered the map and cleared her throat "Well we have two options, either we turn back to Vall Hollow or the nearest village would be within the forests of Tharna, all the other possible places are off route and we need to keep pressing forward..."


She waited to hear everyone else's views on the matter.

 

[Chao5Th3ory]

Varick grunted in pain as he slowly sat up and spoke, "She's right, we need to keep moving ahead so we don't fall behind, even though we probably already are. I'll just have to grit my teeth and take this for now." He then began to slowly stand up and turned to Norven, "Save some of the bandages for now, i'll be fine for the time being, so a little blood loss never stopped me."

 

[Dreesirk]

"I agree, we should keep moving forward," Norven said as he pulled himself into the wagon. Inside, all the supplies had been tossed and turned around, scattered randomly about. Norven began digging through the mess, and eventually found a roll of cloth bandage. He hopped back out, and began to remove the top half of his armor. "Next time, remind me to put this on properly," he said to no one in particular, tossing the steel plate off to the side. The inspected his wound: it was about as long as his pinkie, half as wide, and as deep as it was wide. The blood around the wound had already begun to dry, so Norven paid little attention to cleaning it out, figuring that he could handle that when they stopped again. Norven wound that bandage around himself several times, imagining that's how a healer would do it, and tore the bandage off when he guessed that he had enough, leaving about half the roll unused. "There we go, good as new!" He smiled and patted his side. The pain has lessened greatly.


Norven put his armor back on, taking care to do so properly this time, and mounted Nobleflame, wincing slightly as his wound stretched open in the process. "My apologies for holding us up," Norven said genuinely, "Shall we continue?"

 

[Lain.Laurent]

Sarvi looked rather concerned at Varrick sitting in her drivers seat waiting for him to mount up, it seemed Norven had managed to fix himself up and hoped that Abelard, Dravo and Castien were already to leave as well. She planned to not hold back this time, no wandering, no chit chatting they were going to ride as fast as they could towards the capital of Tharna, she was sure the elves would be able to help with the groups injuries. Noticing Norven getting on Nobleflame she gave him a concerned smile "Wouldn't be best if you got in the back of the cart with Varick? Do you think riding would be a good idea?"

 

[Dreesirk]

Norven smiled at Sarvi's concern. "I'll be fine," he told her, "We have to move fast, and that'll be easier if I'm mounted ." His smile grew larger. "Besides, I don't think there'd be enough room for that many of us in the wagon. I might end up crushing Castien if we try!" Norven laughed and flicked the reigns in his hand, starting Nobleflame into a slow walk.


"Come, friends. The next beastie won't kill itself!"

 

[Alterius]

Dravo watched the others as he regained his strength gettin up and hopping onto Palewind the horse giving a soft neigh seeming to say that it was good to go. As the others spurred into motion he did so as well gently nudging his horses side with his heel and matching their pace. "Let's just hope the next one isn't a griffin, or worse." He said with a smile and a joking tone but honestly feared another encouter with a griffin seeing as so many of the huard had gotten injured, and the rezt still had yet to catch up.


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[maxacec]

Castien stirred awake at the heavy footsteps of the horses in his party. He was sure he didn't pass out for long but the wagon was back upright. His hazy vision started cleared as he sat up, rubbing his eyes. His body still felt fatigued but considerably less so than he was before he slept. 'The sun's pretty much still there.....maybe a little higher.', he thought, deducing that he didn't sleep for too long. He looked around, Sarvi was on the driver's seat of the wagon, while Norven and Darvo were on their respective horses, apparently ready to make a move. Wondering where Abelard and Varick was, he headed for the wagon, not wanting to be left behind like some of the others. He knew however that this journey was more important than any one man/woman. Those who can't keep up needs to be left behind, it wasn't personal. They all knew it since they first joined the guards.


"There you are...", Cas said as he saw Varick within the wagon. He climbed in and headed straight for the roof of the wagon without waiting for a response from Varick. It had now become rather cloudy, telltale signs of the coming rain. A good rain would be good for the team he thought as he sat right above the driver's seat. Help them cleanse up and even supply them with clean water to drink. All that's left now is Abelard.

 

[Thewarsword]

Abelard had ridden ahead. He was frustrated with macho attitudes, what good were dead allies even if they made it on time? The hawk was up above cawing, and Abelard responded with a whistle. The hawk flew down and landed on his arm. Upon it's leg was a letter rolled up, and he quickly untied it and read the letter. It was in monk script. It said that his brother was ill, and possibly going to die, the worst part was they didn't have a replacement teacher for the younger monks. That left Abelard to fill the niche. He was certain he would see his allies to medical attention if he could.


Abelard turned his horse around and went back to the group. Upon seeing them he replied " Eh! The monastery has contacted me I may be gone a few days. I will see you to capitol if I can!"


He maneuvered his horse next to Norven's. "Are you ok my friend? do you think you will make it? Perhaps we should rush the wounded to the capitol, I and Dravo can stay behind with the cart?"

 

[Dreesirk]

Abelard smiled at his friends concern. "It's but a flesh wound, don't worry." Norven laughed "It's not like I hold my weapon with my ribs anyway!" Norven clasped Abelard on the shoulder and pulled him closer, careful not to pull him off his horse, "The best of luck to you, my friend. I hope you'll return to us soon." Another slap on the back, and Norven laughed again. "You'll have to teach me those fancy kicks when you get back; they could be quite useful."

 

[Lain.Laurent]

As the cart rolled onward down the road she soon saw Abelard riding quickly back after taking such a head start which alarmed Sarvi, for all she knew he could of seen something else heading our way which we couldn't possibly defend with the people they had left. Upon him announcing that he would be leaving left a shiver running down her spine, that left only herself and Castien to protect the others. "Look we got to get to Tharna as quickly as we can ok!" she said to the others from her drivers seat. She whipped the reins against the palomino a little hard than she indeed to which the cart quickly bolted down the road and onward, she just hoped that the Dravo, Abelard and particularly Norven with his wound could keep up, she didn't plan to stop for anything...

Upon reaching the water's edge of the lake the group took a quick sharp turn to the right and continued galloping along the road desperate to reach the elven capital as soon as they could. "Is everyone ok back there?" Sarvi asked the group as the cart went forever onward it seemed down the endless road. It was mostly directed to Castien and Varick. The day around them soon left and night fell upon the group, they only made a few stops mostly for the horses sake than their own before they were quickly back on to the road. However even the road turned out to not be endless and it soon turned in to a faded out dirt track that took some time to figure out. Clearly this was a road less traveled but this just added to the sense that Tharna was close by. In the early hours of the morning Sarvi pulled the palomino to a stop looking up in to the trees and took a gulp, they were right at the very edge and it was going to be hard to go much further with the cart...

 

[Chao5Th3ory]

"Well i could be better but i'll live", he replied as the cart came to a stop, and he began to slowly get out of the cart and walked over to the front of the it "So this must be Tharna.....i don't like the way this place looks", he said as he noticed the road ahead becoming more narrow with trees and boulders making it almost impossible for the cart to continue on. "Well it seems we will be walking from here", he said as he looked down towards his wound and noticed the blood had completely dried up and it looked terrible "I really need to clean this up at some point", he said with a sigh.

 

[Thewarsword]

"I don't know, you might need to learn to wield your weapons in your ribs so that you can punch and kick, but other then that I'd be happy to teach you." Jested Abelard


"do I need to carry anyone to tharna?" Asked Abelard with a dead serious expression. It may not be much longer he thought, but he hoped they would make it before he had to leave.


He patted his horse's neck and prepared to leave. He was excited for journey ahead. Suddenly he felt very tired and weak, like he was going to fall off the horse. He held on tight until he felt better a moment later.

 

[maxacec]

"Tharna......Home of the Elves huh?", he muttered to himself as he jumped off the roof. He looked at his yet to be named horse and sighed. The horse, in turn simply huffed and looked away from him. He slowly went over to the horse, trying not to agitate the creature. "Here, girl.....um, good girl.", he said as he tried to touch the horse's muzzle. The sudden touch caused the horse to neigh and grunt before swinging its neck, sending its head towards Castien. Not expecting the reaction, he simply stared in blank amazement as the horse's head made contact with his own, sending him off his feet. He clutched his nose in pain. "What did I do wrong? I should've asked Norven to teach me horseriding when we had the chance.", he groaned to himself.

 

[Dreesirk]

Sarvi set a quick pace from the get-go, urging her horse forward. Thankfully, it could only go so fast with the wagon, and Norven was able to keep a comfortable pace behind without hurting too much. They rode hard and long, making excellent time to the lake where the road split. "Bet it'd be a great spot to fish," Norven said to himself, hoping to someday come back to the beautiful place. "No time now though," he urged Nobleflame to follow the wagon. Norven was surprised when Sarvi stopped, and was about to ask why, when he noticed the road ahead was too difficult for the wagon to travel by. Norven hopped off of Nobleflame to stretch his own legs when he saw Castien get head butt by his horse.


"Having trouble there, friend?" Norven laughed and made his way toward Castien and the horse.

 

[maxacec]

Cas blushed a little, turning his gaze downwards. "I-I've never ridden a horse before...", he said slowly, scratching his head. "And this seems to be the mother of all difficult horses.", his tone suddenly changed as he said it, looking bitterly at the horse. The horse simply neighed in response, if horses could laugh, that would probably be it. He stood up, dusting off his clothes as he did so and turned towards Norven. "How did you get so good at it? Is it the horse? Or would you trust any horse to do the job?", he asked.

 

[Lain.Laurent]

Sarvi frowned a little "I think the best thing to do is abandon the cart, tie up all sacks of supplies to the horses and ride them from now on...". She walked over to the Palomino and started to undo the harness that held her in place to pull the cart. Finally releasing it off the cart she lead the horse to the side who seemed a little jumpy and unnerved at the change of travel arrangements "Easy, easy Palo... Hmm... Palo, Palo could work for a name" she muttered to herself stroking the horses neck. Unfortunately they had never brought a saddle with them for Palo and so it was up to Sarvi to try and ride the horse bare back. She lead Palo alongside the cart in order for Sarvi to use it as a step up and with a clumsy little wiggle managed to pull herself in to place.


"Hey Varick you want a ride?" She called out knowing that Varick was the only one without a horse and he wasn't in any state to walk the rest of the way specially with this uneven ground.

 

[Dreesirk]

Norven smiled at Castien's questions. "I've been riding horses since I could walk, my friend. Raised Nobleflame here since he was a foal." Norven patted Nobleflame as an idea came to his head. He held out the reigns to Castien, "Here, try riding him. He's a bit more calm than yours. Just climb up into the saddle, grip with your legs, and tap him with your heels when your ready to go."


Before Castien could object, Norven continued, "And don't worry, I'll take care of your horse. Maybe we can calm it down some, eh?"

 

[maxacec]

Castien smiled awkwardly as he took hold of the rein. "Uh, are you sure about this?", he asked as he awkwardly climbed up onto the saddle. 'Well, the fact that I'm still up here and not sprawled on the ground is good...', he thought as he followed Norven's instructions. Gripping tightly with his legs around Nobleflame's body, he took several heavy breaths to prepare himself. Not wanting to startle the great animal, he lightly tapped the horse's body with his heels and closed his eyes as though he expecting a whack in the face. His opened one eye, surveying what had happened before opening both. He puffed his cheeks and had a small frown on his face as he said, "We're not moving..."

 

[Chao5Th3ory]

"I think i can handle this for now." He replied looking back towards Sarvi before turning to face the road ahead and began walking forward in a brisk pace. "Come on guys, the sooner we get there the better", he called back keeping his attention in front of him.

 

[Lain.Laurent]

Sarvi gave a rather amused smirk before gently nudging Palo with her heels in order to make the palomino trot after him. It wasn't much of a road, there was no dirt tracks to follow let alone an actual cobble road but you could definitely tell where you was supposed to go. Most of the trees grew rather close together surrounded in bushes, streams and long wild grass but there was a sort of clearing that showed them exactly where to go. The further they went in to the forest the more tropical it became, the trees grew with a more intricate design while flowers bloomed in a variety of colours that Sarvi had never seen before. Once or twice she bent down inspecting them and was on the verge of picking a load noticed that she was falling behind the group. More clearings were becoming visible with the rush and sounds of a waterfall nearby. Brilliant blue peacocks littered the floor while tree after tree held ever more beautiful purple blossoms. After managing to ride their horses through the last bit of exotic wilderness they emerged on a cliff side over looking the elven capital Tharna.

 

[Dreesirk]

Norven laughed when he Nobleflame just stood still despite Castien's commands. "You're too light, my friend! He can't even feel you!" Norven coughed into a fit of laughter that quickly subsided. "Try digging in harder, and don't worry about hurting him. He's raised to go into combat, a little kick won't hurt him. Worse comes to worse, just slap him on the flank and hold on for dear life." Norven laughed again and turned his attention to Castien's horse.

Spoiler

Norven slowly walked toward the willy horse, cooing and making as many tiny noises as he could to keep the horse calm. The horse's ears would pulled back, a sign Norven knew all too well to mean not to get closer. "Oh, come now," Norven said to the horse, "Don't be so frightened." With one hand outstretched, Norven reached back with the other and took a sugar cube from his belt. Normally, he'd only treat Nobleflame to these, but this was a special case. Norven removed a gauntlet and held out the sugar cube in his bare hand. He held the hand out to the horse as he continued to near the horse. It's ears perked up slightly, though it still seemed to be somewhat suspicious. Norven got within arm's reach and smiled at the horse, holding out the sugar cube as an offering. The horse's lips readily took up the sweet, and its ears perked up a little more.


"There we go," Norven said to it, walking in closer. Norven began petting the horse, trying to calm it down. It began sniffing all over Norven as if it were some hound dog. Norven laughed at the weird feeling, followed closely by nearly gagging on the bad breath. "You'd think I'd be used to this by now," Norven mumble to himself. The horse had begun sniffing Norven hair and feeling with is lips as horses are wont to do. Norven took this as a good sign, until he felt a splitting pain and tug on his ear. "Damn you!" Norven shouted as he hooked the horse in the snout. It backed away and whinnied.


"Remember, Castien, even though you have to trust the horse and the horse has to trust you, you're still the one in charge." Norven rubbed his ear in dull pain, "Have a kind but firm hand, my friend, and you'll be riding in no time." Norven walked toward the horse again, showing no fear. Speaking lowly to the horse, "Now then, shall we continue?" Norven hooked his foot into the stirrup and pulled himself into the saddle. The horse began bucking slightly and trying to throw Norven off. Norven wrapped his hands up into the reigns and gripped his legs into the saddle. "Calm down, friend," Norven tugged on the reigns, trying to calm the horse. The fight lasted a few minutes, with Norven nearly getting bucked off, before the horse settled down. Norven smiled and hopped off the horse.


"There we are," Norven said to Castien, "Just a little nervous is all. Probably not used to other people riding on (him/her)," Norven smiled up at Castien. "I'll walk (him/her) for now, you get used to riding, alright?"


Norven gasped in awe as they entered Tharna. The atmosphere - with the crashing waterfalls and the millions of brilliant, miniscule flowers - was simply beautiful; never before had he seen something so amazing and alive. "The elves certainly do have excellent taste," Norven said aloud as he looked around in wonder. Norven noticed several peacocks flaunting nearby and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Such peculiar fowl they have here!" Then mumbling, "I wonder what they taste like..."


They continued and finally glimpsed the magnificent city of Tharna. "Such a beautiful place it is," Norven said as he walked over toward Sarvi, "No time for sight seeing though. We must find the Lord and accomplish the task we were sent for.

 

[maxacec]

"Oh..., okay. I can do that.", Castien said, acknowledging Norven's instruction. As he was about to tap Nobleflame with his heels, he saw Norven moving the edgy horse. Castien simply sat there atop Nobleflame and stared in silence as Norven pulled out the sugar cubes. Things were looking good at first but when Norven got his ears nibbled, Cas couldn't help himself from laughing. He managed to control it enough however, to ensure none of the others saw him.


When Norven mentioned about him needing to be in charge, he focused himself. "I can do this.", he told himself before tapping the horse's side. To his surprise, the horse began moving forwards. He didn't expect it to work considering its just his second try. He smiled as he stared at the horse's mane. It was bouncing as the horse moved. He gently moved his fingers through the mane. Its not as soft as he had expected it to be but he continued on following Norven and the horse.


He nodded towards Norven as they rode into an opening among the trees, revealing the breath-taking scenery. He had heard of Tharna from the old man but nothing could have prepared him for what he was looking at. "Whoa..", he muttered in awe.

 

[Lain.Laurent]

Sarvi chuckled looking at Norven "This isn't our final stop you know, the Lord you are talking about is Gorthek high in the mountains, but this sure looks like one hell of a place to relax". She pulled on the reins causing Palo to walk on while she continued to sit in awe as they walked along the outskirts of Tharna in order to find a bridge that would lead them in to the city.