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Post by Riemman Old Site on Mar 21, 2006 16:42:09 GMT -5
Riemman searched futilely through the treetops below him. It was too dark to see anything and the fact that he was riding a wyvern wasn't helping. The trees were a bit dense. Sighing, he gave up. It would be no use to continue the search until morning. If he was lucky, they would have stopped for the night.
Leaning forward against Kyvvas, his wyvern, he murmured a soft command to land. The harsh, almost growl-like sounds of the wyvern language rolled off his tongue with an ease that spoke of a lifetime of practice. Riemman had the nice little benefit of being able to pick up languages rather easily - although he was crap at written language - although being raised from birth to be a Dragon Ryder had probably helped.
Kyvvas rumbled back an affirmative and angled downwards to a small clearing by a river. He landed smoothly and crouched to allow Riemman to slide off. Riemman gave his wyvern a grin and rummaged through the small pack slung across his chest for a soft cloth to give Kyvvas's scales a rubdown. Kyvvas gave a pleased purrlike rumble at the attention and curled around Riemman as he settled down at the wyvern's side in order to get some sleep.
Riemman probably would have fallen asleep if he hadn't heard the soft murmur of voices above Kyvvas's breathing. Getting up and telling Kyvvas to stay put, he creeped stealthily through the underbrush in the direction of the voices. Peering through into a clearing, he felt a wide smirk cross his face slowly as he noticed the targets he was searching conveniently gathered together just mere meters from his own resting place. Now how to apprehend them? That was the question.
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Post by Shira Old Site on Mar 21, 2006 16:42:34 GMT -5
Shira leaned back, her arms keeping her weight up. She was just about to answer before the Jakkin butted in.
"Jared was an old, eccentric man who enjoyed talking in riddles and playing with fire. He also loved to read and play music that used to lull me and Elrick to sleep when we stayed with him."
There was a lie in what she said, a trap to see if "Periel" was really knew Jared or not. Jared couldn't play any instument at all, let alone carry a vocal note. She would play the flute, and Joniak the lute, just long enought for him to pass out before they would sneak out to a local pub and play for spending money.
Then her necklace starting glowing agian, under her shirt where she had tucked it, the same blue as before. Shira put her hand up, and squeezed it, turning the magic off, so to say.
She stood up, her cloak falling around her form, hiding the daggers she had already palmed.
"Come out of hiding. I know you are there."
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Post by RuThor on Mar 21, 2006 16:42:51 GMT -5
"Whozzare?"
Jakkin was suddenly very alert, his dagger flashing briefly as he stretched a hand out for it. Its weight in his hand comforted him against this unknown threat- if it was a threat at all.
Inwardly, the young thief was embarrased. How had "Killik" noticed whatever presence was here before he had? Hadn't he been relying for the past few years on his senses? It made no sense.
Queezle, however, yawned, not lifting her head from her forepaws. Her tail flicked back and forth slowly, as though she was bored by the whole thing.
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Post by Riemman Old Site on Mar 21, 2006 16:43:12 GMT -5
Riemman huffed in annoyance, a scowl marring his face. Flicking a strand of purple-tipped black hair out of his face, he paused for a moment, considering what he might do. It was obvious he couldn't stay where he was; he'd been found out some way or another. Ah well, time to improvise.
Riemman stood, quickly assessing the positions of his weapons just in case he'd need them. Turning back the way he came, he let out a short growl-shout to Kyvvas, asking him to come close enough to cover him should he need it but still be able to provide some sense of surprise. Although it might not work too well, since he didn't know what had given him away in the first place.
Turning back, he gave a somewhat feral smirk. This was about to get interesting. He walked forward silently, but confidently, striding forward into the clearing and instantly assessing his options. The girl who had called him out was facing him, probably hiding weapons under her cloak. He had seen the dagger the thief had reached for. The other man, not counting the one unconscious on the floor, he didn't really know about. The small dragon next to theif was another unknown; he knew it wasn't a real dragon but he wasn't sure if it was just a shapeshifter or something else.
He figured the best thing to do was be blunt. The girl and the unconscious man were his targets. Facing the girl he called out to her with a smirk on his face.
"Care to show me your right arm?"
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Post by Calypso on Mar 21, 2006 16:45:04 GMT -5
A frown crossed Calypso's face as Shira mentioned music. That couldn't be right! But he didn't have time to think of an appropriate response before Shira turned and called the stranger out of the trees. Surprised and suddenly wary, he stood, one hand resting on his quarterstaff in readiness.
As Riemman stepped forward, and asked to see Shira's right arm, Calypso found himself a little stuck for options. It looked like he'd been right. There were Dragon Ryders hunting these two after all. Normally, he would have happily sided with the Ryder to bring them into custody, but normally the people being pursued hadn't already mentioned him - or a friend - by name.
He couldn't side against the Ryder. That would spell the end of their tolerance of him. The amount of times he'd only escaped capture himself because he'd previously helped the Ryder who happened across him... He'd be caught within weeks if he turned traitor on them now!
But equally, he couldn't let Killik and Elrick be taken. If Jared was indeed dead, and they really did have a message for him, he couldn't afford to let the Ryders have them.
Either way he was gambling with possibilities. Reluctantly, he weighed both options, and found his eyes moving back to Shira as the world seemed to hold its breath, waiting for her response. He didn't know this Ryder. (More to the point, it was possible this Ryder didn't know him.) If he helped Killik and Elrick, then perhaps he could have the best of both worlds. Find out Jared's message then turn them in, or make himself scarce. Either way, avoid Ryders he knew catching him helping them.
He swallowed. Somehow he seemed to have just convinced himself to step out of the usual, safe routine and risk everything. But he had to find out what Jared had needed to tell him. Knowing him as he did - as he had - it would have to be something important.
So he stood ready, holding his staff beside him, and kept an eye on the Ryder as he began to reach out with his magic in case they needed a sudden fog to disappear into. He said nothing. Somehow he felt that if he tried to speak the best he would manage was a hoarse croak, and besides that... well. There was nothing for him to say.
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Post by Riemman Old Site on Mar 21, 2006 16:45:28 GMT -5
Riemman waited for an answer from Shira, trying to figure out if there was a way to capture the two without involving the others. A soft grumble came from nearby; it was Kyvvas informing him of the feel of magic building. Riemman gave a silent huff, figures one of them was a magic user.
Getting tired of waiting for a response, not that he'd actually let much time pass, he swept his eyes lazily past Shira, eyeing Joniak passed out on the floor and giving the others a cursory glance.
"Just in case you're wondering," he started, addressing Shira, "you and the fool on the floor are wanted for murder. I don't really care for much of the details, I just complete my task how I'm told. So you have two options really. You allow me to take you in, sparing all of us hassle and unwanted trouble, or you make things difficult for both of us, particularly yourselves. Oh, and by the way, before any of you get any ideas, magic doesn't particularly work. If you try any it will be seen through and you will still get pummeled."
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Post by RuThor on Mar 21, 2006 16:45:57 GMT -5
Jakkin let out a hollow laugh from where he sat. If the man wasn't interested in him or Queezle, he wasn't going to worry himself. He could even have a little fun.
"There's one of you and two of them," he pointed out, crossing his arms. "What exactly are you gonna do, duplicate yourself?" He paused, glancing over at the cougar who seemed largely undisturbed by the goings on. And we're here, too... but there's no sense in putting ourselves in danger for someone we barely know.
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Post by Mac Old Site on Mar 21, 2006 16:46:31 GMT -5
The soft murmur of voices notified the lady that she indeed was not the only traveling at this hour, or perhaps they were not traveling maybe it was ruthless brigands. She scowled under the hood of her late husbands cloak.
Suddenly her mare began to nervously stamp her feet, roll her eyes, and whinny shrilly. "Hush, Iralle," her soothing voice calmed the horse enough for them to get closer. The lady dismounted, the large cloak had hid the fact that her skirt was pushed above her knees when riding, and smoothed the creases out of her dark gray dress that was cut a bit too low for a mother's liking even, if she did have three children.
Iralle, the chesnut mare, followed her mistress without pause, she knew the hand that fed her, and unknowingly stepped upon a fallen branch that cracked loudly, echoing through out the night.
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Post by Calypso on Mar 21, 2006 16:46:52 GMT -5
"Wait," Calypso started sharply, asking, "Whose murder?"
Gods, this was getting confusing. He needed answers. But the Ryder seemed in a hurry, and he'd never get an explanation if he let Killik and Elrick be taken.
He was tense now, eyes darting from one to another of the people gathered in the small clearing. And as if that wasn't enough, there was then the sound of a snapping twig further back in the forest. Another one to join the merry band, then. Or another who survived like him, and would happily help the Ryders?
As his hand tightened around the quarterstaff, turning his knuckles white, the clouds above darkened slowly. If it came down to it, there would be lightning before the night was out. And it wouldn't strike at random. If all the magic the Ryder had previously encountered was simple illusion, then he was in for a shock.
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Post by Shira Old Site on Mar 21, 2006 16:47:19 GMT -5
"I don't know......." Shira thought about it for a second, then swore. "It must've been those two pain in the asses we came across couple of months ago on the road; they swindled us out of a lot of money saying they knew where Calypso was currently staying. They were alive and kicking when we left, however." What she didn't mention was that they were alive and kicking tied agianst a tree, the money back in the orginal owner's hands.
She knew for a fact that the twelve mages hadn't been found yet, thankfully. She had set up some magical sensors to feel if and when someone came across the site of ashes; no one had yet to even set foot on the grounds, a blessing and a curse in disguise.
Shira started to walk backwards slowly to the sleeping form of Joniak, just in case something happened so she could give him a good kick in the ribs to get him awake. "I -we- never killed anyone," she said, sending a look over to 'Periel'. "Including Jared."
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Post by Riemman Old Site on Mar 21, 2006 16:47:41 GMT -5
Riemman scowled at the girl. He didn't know if she was being truthful or not, but if she was then his job just got a lot more complicated. It wasn't his fault if the higher-ups liked to blame the Dragon Ryders for capturing innocents, despite doing so on their orders.
"You got any proof of that?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
If they didn't, he'd have to take them in anyway, or face a punishment based on failure to follow orders. If he took them in and they were innocent, then he'd face a punishment based on abuse of power in order to make the directors look good to the public. He hated being a Dragon Ryder sometimes.
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Post by Shira Old Site on Mar 21, 2006 16:48:05 GMT -5
Shira nodded, and scurried off to the saddle. She undid several latches, and took out a small bag with a round, heavy thing in the bottom of it. Reaching in, she took out what appeared to be a plain, white globe. She dropped the bag at her feet, now empty, and stared into the globe.
The globe worked by using her magic (of course). After she meet someone, mage or not, she would be able to "zoom" in on them any time she needed to. The glass globe was something that was created by the gypsies that she had traveled with for a while when Jared was still alive. Shira was able to pass the globe around, the images still in there, without having to touch it. It didn't work on people that were dead, or mages that knew about the globes and how to block them.
The bad thing was, she had no clue how to prove that the images in the globe were true or not, at least to other people.....
As she 'warmed' it up, she said, "Jared had been teaching me how to work this."
A soft glow started from it, a real light green. "I'll show you that they are alive," a flash of green from the glass ball.
Upon seeing the image that was conjured, she started to laugh. The two men were tangled up in sheets together; apparently they weren't just "friends" as they had told them.
"Take a look," Shira said, holding the globe out to Reimman.
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Post by Mac Old Site on Mar 21, 2006 16:48:22 GMT -5
She wasn't the petitely built, fragile lady that everyone catagorized as the girl who sold herself to men. The lady was a medium height and rahter able to take care of herself if she was in any danger.
She pushed back the hood of her late husband's tailored, traveling cloak revealing gray-green eyes that peered curiously at the group beyond the barrier of trees. One hand tossed an intricate braid over her shoulder as the other pulled a scroll from a worn leather bag.
"To the Widow of Sir Kadrint, may his thoughts still reside in you,” It was an odd message, and it was even odder the fact that the seal was that of a mages. Commonly used but normally shunned in that part of the country.
The mare tugged nervously in the opposite direction of the group beyond the trees. "What has you so worked up. . ." Replacing the scroll the lady stepped behind a tree and spied a similar globe she remembered from somewhere-
"Oh!" she gasped as her recollection of the globe proved to be right.
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Post by Riemman Old Site on Mar 21, 2006 16:48:47 GMT -5
Riemman eyed Shira warily as he approached, murmuring a soft, rumbly order to Kyvvas to watch his back. By nature and profession, he wasn't a particularly trusting soul.
Taking the globe out of Shira's hand, and making sure there was a good two arm-lengths between them should it be necessary, he peered inside. He raised an eyebrow at the image, but those were the two guys that had supposedly been 'murdered'.
Lifting his head to raise an eyebrow at the girl in front of him, he tossed the globe up into the air and caught it. "What kind of proof is this? How the hell do I know that this thing isn't just an illusion?"
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Post by Shira Old Site on Mar 21, 2006 16:49:04 GMT -5
"I don't."
Shira was visibly started when he tossed the ball up in the air -- one of the reasons she hated Dragon Ryders was becasue they had no respect for anything that wasn't rightfully theirs.
It didn't help that this was one of the first times she'd been able to correctly call up the right vision, and that it hadn't exploded yet, thankfully.This was the first year that she'd been able to learn how to use the glass ball correctly, as she'd been too magically unstable before then.
"The headboard has the design of the new bowery over in Rosenguard," Shira said, "Elrick and I worked there for a while, building it after the fire." That was something that everyone knew; there had been a huge fire, and the only reason why the two of them helped was because she was the one who had accidentaly set it.
What am I supposed to do? Shira thought to herself, but she wasn't the only one in her head.
What's going on out there? Joniak looked like he was still sleeping, but the constant rise and fall of voices woke him up.
There's a Ryder out here, a mage who I don't know, and two thieves that already tried to 'nick' our stuff. What do you think?
What does the Ryder want?
Proof that we didn't kill the two thiefs that tried to swindle us out of the money. I'm using the globe to try and prove it.
'Kay.
The conversation between the two lovers didn't last that long, but it was long enough to distract Shira from keeping the image in the globe up. It flickered slightly before going out. Another swear spewed out of her mouth.
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Post by RuThor on Mar 21, 2006 16:49:24 GMT -5
Queezle flicked her cat's tail as the globe went out, lifting her head and looking, for the first time, interested. "Something wrong, there?" she asked, yawning. "Or does it often fade out like that?"
Jakkin didn't seem to notice- his gaze was locked on something in the the brush beyond their little clearing. "Someone's here," he said matter-of-factly, standing up and leaning against the tree he had been sitting beside. His dagger was still in his hands, lazily being wound from finger to finger with the air of much practice.
"You're just mad because Killik over there beat you out before, Mr. Fox Ears." The djinni shifted into the form of a fox to empathize her point.
"Am not! There's someone there, really!"
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Post by Shira Old Site on Mar 21, 2006 16:49:55 GMT -5
"Nah, nothing's really wrong. I was distracted.......Also I don't have real good control over any magic, so if I was you I'd give it back to me," Shira said. She held her hand out again, hoping to get back the globe soon before the Ryder decided to mess with her.
Want me to get up? Joniak popped back in her head.
We need the best surprise tatic.....no. Go back to sleep.
'Kay.
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Post by Riemman Old Site on Mar 21, 2006 16:50:29 GMT -5
Riemman raised an eyebrow, glancing at the sphere in his hand.
"So you're trying to tell me that this thing is run by magic, and that on top of that, you don't have complete control over said magic?" his tone was only slightly on the disbelieving side.
"So how the hell can I trust that?"
A grumble from Kyvvas assured him that the globe itself had shown the image, and that it wasn't an illusion placed on it.
"Even if it's not some illusion, how can I be sure your "errant" magic gave me the right image, or if it wasn't just what you wanted me to see?" He gripped the globe tighter, choosing to not hand it over
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Post by Shira Old Site on Mar 21, 2006 16:50:55 GMT -5
"No real control at all. Things like to blow up around me." Shira looked at 'Periel.' "That's why I'm looking for Calypso; he's supposed to help train me."
She looked back at the man infront of her. "I don't have that type of control to be able to change things at my will."
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Post by Calypso on Mar 21, 2006 16:51:17 GMT -5
Calypso sighed softly. Just a little, he relaxed, and took a liesurely look around the scene. Maybe because he had the answers he wanted, suddenly things didn't seem quite so likely to explode. The djinni's casual bickering with her partner in crime was a point in favour of calm rather than fighting, though he didn't like having some unknown stranger hovering just out of sight in the woods. Gods knew he'd done it often enough, he supposed, and anyone with evil intentions had already passed up a good few opportunites to strike.
"If she really was a murderer," he spoke up at last, "she wouldn't have hung around to make her case."
He shot a look at Shira, debating whether to tell her who he was or not. It was probably safer not. If he was cheated of his original prey, this Ryder might decide to take in a lesser annoyance instead. Calypso had no intentions of letting that happen.
"Look at it this way," he said calmly. "If you try and take her in you'll have to deal with a mage who can't properly control her magic. Can you imagine what might happen? But if you leave her be, she's not your problem, and you can easily be well out of harm's way."
He hesitated for a second, then added, looking at Shira, "And if you leave her alone, I can take her to get trained."
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