Travelers of Trulane

[Dragongal]

After a few hours, Emmalia listened closely to see if the other two were awake. No, their heart rates were slow enough, they couldn't be awake. Sorano seeemed to be maybe sleeping lightly, but he wasn't awake. She sighed quietly, leaning her head back against the tree. She was getting hungry, but she wasn't going to take from their food; she could just... scavenge. She stood up on her branch, using her impeccable balance to her advantage as she silently moved from tree limb to tree limb, until she was far enough away - only a short distance - that she could land on the ground silently, the loam forming around her foot, leaving recognizable tracks she could have covered, if she'd cared to. I shouldn't have waited so long to eat.... I just didn't want to in the village, not worth it....


She followed her nose to a farm, the pastures butting up against the forest. Lovely, the house is on the other side. Perfection. She could feel her mouth salivating already, she had definitely pushed it with not eating. An unlucky cow near the fence brought a smile to her face.


As Emmalia went "scavenging" Something else was scavenging too. A mountain lion, not large, but hungry. It prowled close by, attracted to their camp by the scent of their food. However, it wasn't as attracted to the food in the bags as it was the to the people asleep on the gound. Unfortunately for it, it stepped on a brittle twig.

 

[Luminescent]

Skippy awoke with a fright to find that Emmalia had left her post. If it wasn't Emmalia, then what was that sound? She crawled silently out of her bedroll and backed up to a tree. What was that sound?! Was it the bandits? Did they hear about our mission and come to kill us? She crawled on all fours over to Sorano and shook him awake.


"There's something out there..." She said gesturing beyond the trees. "It's the bandits."

 

[InsanEleven]

Sorano had immediately heard the sound, his eyes wide open and scanning the place where it came from. He hadn't even noticed Skippy waking up until she was shaking his arm. Without breaking eyecontact with the place the sound came from he put a finger to his lips and gestured her to be quiet. He didn't need other sounds distracting him from listening for a target.


Slowly he raised up, pulling the katana from his back. He moved in position between Skippy and the hungry eyes of a mountain lion. Where in the world was their guard? It didn't matter now. Without looking he motioned for Skippy to sit still, then with another gesture of his hand cast an illusion spell. To Skippy herself it would look like black mist surrounding her, to everyone else it was like camouflage. It didn't work perfectly, but all he needed was for her to be concealed so she wouldn't be the target.


He took no risks. Hiding his magic wasn't as important as her life. So as he raised his sword, he vanished and reappeared right in front of the lion, leaving nothing but a trail of black smoke. He got the first strike in, but the creature was hungry, and now in a frenzy from the hurt. Putting in his full weight the beast pounced on top of him, two claws digging deeply into his shoulders even if he could block those furious jaws from locking around his neck by putting his katana inbetween them.

 

[Dragongal]

Dammit, stop, please.... Emmalia had lost control almost immediately after cutting the cow, and she had ripped out its throat, her lion gauntlet on her right hand. She was quickly becoming exhausted. But she was still hungry.


The cougar backed off, the katanna having hurt its mouth. Perhaps this prey wasn't worth it... but it wouldn't know until it was dead. Its ribs could be seen through its fur, it hadn't eaten in so long.... The cougar paced, preparing to attack again.

 

[Luminescent]

Skippy sat astounded, yet silent. A strange black mist surrounded her. Many thoughts ran through her head, but magic wasn't one of them. "Bandits?" She thought. "What is this smoke? Is it some kind of new bandit technology?" She didn't move, she only heard strange sounds of hurt and cries from some creature.

 

[InsanEleven]

Sorano crawled up the moment the big cat fled back, the clawmarks in his shoulder hurting but he didn't even care. His objective was to protect Skippy, so he would. Interlocked in a dance of circles and back and forth threats he and the beast both took the opportunity to regain their breath and weigh their chances.


It wasn't as if the beast had any, there was no fair fighting here and when it came to killing he simply was better at it. Again he teleported, but this time it was in the middle of turning around. The lion thought to see its chance and jumped to strike, but instead the claws and teeth hit nothing but thin air. Still confused the beast got hit by a sharp blade, rending through its flesh and even its spine. And then suddenly there were two halves of a mountain lion, one of which was sadly trying to crawl away making a few desperate death cries. After about half a minute it died.


Kill or be killed, Sorano couldn't bring up the care for a predator that underestimated its prey. Though luck. Besides, he had other priorities. Quietly he rubbed the blood on his sword off with the tip of his cloak, kicking the two pieces of mountain lion into the bushes so Skippy wouldn't suddenly find herself amidst chunks of meat, intestines and gore. Though he couldn't quite get rid of all the blood sprayed around and on his clothes and face.


Once he had fixed that little problem he sheathed his Katana again and sat down against a tree. Magic wasn't his strong suit, so he decided not to waste more energy on the spell he placed on Skippy. As the mist dissipated he rummaged through his pack, trying to read the labels on some vials of potion.


"Skippy?" He snapped his fingers at her to get her attention. If she had a job to do she might not lock down from fear or panic. "Do you know anything about first aid?" If she didn't then he just hoped she was a fast learner or good in following instructions, maybe both. He'd rather have Emmalia do it as she was more seasoned, and would probably not be distracted as easily by old scars. He didn't like showing Skippy, but there was no way anyone could get to those wounds if he still had all his clothes on. So with a slight sigh he started unbuttoning his jacket and shirt. "Don't be distracted by the other scars, just focus on the wound please."

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia laid on the ground, panting quietly, barely holding on tip consciousness. She had slaughtered the cow on accident and was now covered in its blood. At least Sh e was laying in the open side of the fence. Maybe if they found her she could convince them she had followed a bear?unlikely, but worth a shot. I pushed too far with not eating. Dammit.

 

[Luminescent]

Skippy arose from the mist, confused but aware of her surroundings. She walked over and knelt beside Sorano. "First aid? Um I can try, but don't you think Emmalia would be better?"


She turned her head to find Emmalia still gone from her post. "Don't you think it's odd that she left? I mean, she's supposed to be guarding us."

 

[InsanEleven]

"I know, but I feel like it would be wiser to patch up the gaping holes in my shoulders first before I start asking questions. Something about self-preservation I suppose." Of course he was all sorts of angry, mad and pissed, but right now he didn't want to lose a ton of blood on top of that. Firstly because it would attract more predators, secondarily because he would be the one obligated to take out said predators if they so happened to pop up.


"Besides, this is the perfect opportunity for you to learn first aid. I was always more a fan of learning through practise. And it isn't like you can fuck it up worse than it is already." Forcing out a smile he let his dress shirt drop off of his shoulders, revealing most of his scars to her. "Perfect practising grounds even if I say so myself. Everything you need is in my pack, I'll hand it to you." He wasn't usually one to make jokes, probably because he wasn't good at it, but right now he needed to lighten Skippy's mind a bit and get her to take a breath and focus. It wasn't that hard, and he would tell her what to do, but it had to be done. Claws were dirty, and the longer he had to walk with open wounds the more prone they were to infection.

 

[Luminescent]

Skippy took a deep breath and followed Sorano's instructions to get the first aid out of his pack and start sanitizing his wound. "I don't want to hurt you. Tell me if I'm hurting you." She continued sanitizing and continued following his instructions word for word until his wound was all clean, sewn, and patched up. It wasn't pretty, but it would suffice.


"Does that feel any better? Will it work for now?" She looked around for something to clean her hands with, but was left empty handed. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting very anxious about Emmalia. You stay here and rest your shoulder, and I'll check the perimeter for her. What if she gets eaten by bandits, and her body is just left there to rot??"

 

[InsanEleven]

Sorano ran his fingers along the stitches, not perfect, but he'd expected worse from a first time. When Skippy was about to skip away in search for Emmalia he quickly grabbed her wrist.


"I can't just let you hop off like that Xal," He got up and draped his already ruined dress shirt around his shoulders closing only the middle two buttons real quick. It was more to keep the dirt out of his shoulders than anything else "Besides, if Emmalia got in a fight it wasn't in the perimeter, I definitely would've noticed. A few cuts to the shoulders won't make me crippled or dumb... I can track her down, and I want you to stay real close while I do so." Despite the fact that his shoulders actually did hurt like hell and he was fairly sure he'd regret getting up and searching for Emmalia in the morning, he couldn't just have Skippy run off on her own in dangerous territory.

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia shuddered as pain wracked through her body as she laid on the ground in a small pool of blood. None of it was hers, but that didn't matter. In her pained daze she couldn't even manage the thought of moving, the most movement she made was curling up on the ground to protect herself and hope the pain would ease.

 

[Luminescent]

Skippy sat back down next to Sorano. "But-" Unable to come up with an excuse, she shut her mouth. "You called me Xal." She was surprised. She hadn't ever heard him call her that.

 

[InsanEleven]

"Yes I did, because this is serious. Making rash impulsive decisions can get you killed," To illustrate his point Sorano pointed at a deep scar on his side, clearly made by a blade. "I nearly died making the stupid choice to try and prove myself by taking on one too many guards. And I don't want you to come to an early end skipping through the woods." He smiled at her, then stood up with a slight grimace as his shoulders protested. To make sure she'd stay with him he stretched out his hand for her to hold. It would be harder to track, but that was worth it if it meant less risk of her running off.


"Come on, let's find Emmalia and tell her off."

 

[Luminescent]

Skippy didn't smile. She stood motionless, realizing that what she had done could have killed her. She stared at his scar until he covered it again. What if that had been her? Was she just trying to prove herself, or was she genuinely trying to help? Either way, she couldn't worry now. It was time to find Emmalia.


"Alright, let's go." The wandered into the woods together, cautiously watching out for anything that could jump out. Skippy looked down and saw what looked like human tracks. "Could those be hers?" She asked him.

 

[InsanEleven]

Sorano looked at the tracks and nodded. "Could be, it's the only thing around that isn't deer or hungry mountain lion." The tracks were deep though, made by running, sprinting even. Somehow he felt uncomfortable knowing that meant she either ran from something or towards something.


He spotted the slaughtered cow first, before Skippy. Immediately his heart skipped a few beats thinking about what to do, or what he would find.


"Xal, stay here, on the edge of the forest. I'll put a spell on you so you'll be safe, but you'll have to sit very still." He didn't wait for an answer, immediately gesturing for her to sit and putting the spell on her. His voice sounded friendlier and a whole lot less intimidating than his face and body language. Once he was sure she would stay he moved over towards the cow, slowly and with great caution.

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia heard some noise approaching her. She raised her head almost imperceptibly, but the pain running through her veins kept her from moving any more. She was laying in the pool of blood next to the fence. She had tried to huddle near the fence post, before her body gave out on her. Oh well... if I die... oh well...It's about time....

 

[InsanEleven]

Sorano inspected the cow, and though most people would be horrified by the looks, he appeared quite indifferent to it. He knew however that he shouldn't introduce Skippy to such cruelties without actually finding out what the culprit was. Considering she apparently believed everything to be caused by bandits, he didn't want to scare her for the upcoming mission by having her believe bandits tore cows apart. After inspecting the carcass he followed the trail of blood still glistening on the grass towards the fence a bit further away, and that was where he found Emmalia covered in blood.


"Hey," Despite knowing that the biggest suspect of killing that cow was her, and that the chance that someone else had done it was slim, he still shook her shoulders trying to wake her up. She appeared to be quite far gone, especially for someone who had just ripped the throat out of a cow. Knowing she was probably too far out to realise anyway, he decided to check her over for wounds first. Taking some water from his bottle he tried to clean off most of the blood on her skin and armour, so he could see if there were any cracks or blood flowing out of her instead of blood that had been splattered over her from the cow. At the same time he ran his hands over her clothes and bodice trying to feel if there were any ripped parts he could overlook. "Well... at least you're not wounded, so I don't have to explain that to Skippy. Let's just not tell her you were the one who slaughtered a cow..." He was half talking to himself, not expecting a reaction, while he lifted her up holding one hand to support her knees and the other for her shoulders and head. Whatever she had he would be better at finding the solution back where he had his first aid kit.

 

[Dragongal]

"Don't tell her... please," Emmalia mumbled, having been barely conscious the whole time. She knew who it was and what he was saying, but just didn't have the strength to move much at all. I waited way too long.... She knew she had fucked up, and now the question was how long it would take for Sorano to realize everything, if he hadn't already. Oh well. Death probably isn't that bad....

 

[InsanEleven]

Sorano was slightly surprised to hear her talk. "Ah, so you are awake... I won't tell Xalphine, I told her to stay at the edge of the forest." The fact that she was so weak concerned him, but he didn't let it slip into his voice. There was nothing he could do anyway, he wasn't a doctor, if it was her time to go he would let her go, even if he didn't want it or if it made him feel sad. It would be futile to work himself up over something he couldn't change anything about, though that didn't mean he wasn't hurrying or motivated to help her. He'd do everything he could to prevent her from dying, but if she did, she simply did and in his line of business he couldn't much afford to get scared or afraid of death. Right now what she needed more than anything was someone who could think rational and wouldn't make mistakes out of haste or fear.

 

[Dragongal]

"Good.... I messed up.... I'll be fine... in a few hours." Emmalia mumbled. She was trying to figure out what Sorano knew. Obviously he knew abotut he cow, but... what had he figured out...?

 

[Luminescent]

Skippy waited patiently and silently by the edge of the woods. It was hard not to move, thinking of the terrible things that could have happened to Emmalia, or the sudden fright that caused Sorano to cast a spell on her. She didn't dare open her eyes, even when she heard a branch snap in front of her.

 

[InsanEleven]

Sorano lifted the spell off of Skippy, hoping she wouldn't be too distressed about Emmalia laying half conscious in his arms.


"She ehm... fell?" He wasn't exactly the best in lying, but then again Skippy wasn't the best in critical thinking either, so it would probably cancel out. "Stay close, I don't want to have to pluck you out of a ditch either." Or from the teeth of a pack of wolves, the arms of a stray bandit or whatever else lurked in these woods.

 

[Luminescent]

Skippy followed closely behind Emmalia and Sorano. She tried not to ask any questions, but after a few short minutes of walking back to camp, she couldn't keep her trap shut. "How did she fall?" What could she have fallen from? A tree?! She didn't quite understand what happened, and didn't want to make Sorano angry, but there wasn't much she could do. Curiosity killed the cat.

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia cleared her throat a bit and said, "Mountain lion. I followed it. It pushed me down and I hit my head on a rock. Luckily it aye a cow instead of me." Ever rhe on the spot actress, she actually made it sound believable.