Rescue Mission

Subject: Rescue Mission Wed Aug 22, 2012 2:05 pm

As if on cue, Lyra emerged like a wraith from the Shadows. She had been moving south for days, three if she counted right, and Shadow had left her behind early on. Whatever the case, she had lost him and was now moving in the general direction of Paludem, unsure if she was really going to find Erin or not and if she would find him in time. Time was of the essence and even though she was moving as quickly as she could, it was not fast enough. She had been moving through marshy country for the past day and a half and there seemed to be no end to it. She hadn't slept at all the night before and will-o'- the-whisps had come out to try to lure her away from her direction. Stubbornly, she had set her jaw and continued on. There was no longer the time for things such as sleep. The land was so flat... she was sure that she had lost Shadow since the huge dire wolf would be spotted a mile of at the least in this terrain. But he was nowhere to be seen and she was alone again.

She pushed aside a clump of tall grasses that rose up to her waist and sank to her knees in thick mud. Lyra jumped a step back onto more solid ground and her shoulders sagged. She was sick of all this water and bogginess. Wearily, she steeled herself and waded through the slowly moving current to the opposite side. Luckily for her, the mud turned to a harder material towards the middle and she was on firm footing for the rest of the crossing. Water that rose up just past her knees washed off most of the mud, but her pants clung to her skin and were still muddier than she liked. Ah well, there was no help for it. As she moved on, the grass closed behind her once again.

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Thu Aug 23, 2012 11:39 pm

OOC- I'm going to have Wesley entertain Lyra until Dante can get there. =) so your not bored.

The world was dying. Wesley could feel it all around him. The trees sagged under the weight of all the wrongs done by The Dark King... even if he was a king. The oppressor could have been a better name for him. The swampy ground made a sucking noise as he plowed through like a draft horse. His silver armor glinted in the light of the setting sun. His sword was in his sheath. Usually he wouldn't wear armor like this... but he had seen slavers near by. He didn't want to risk being caught.... again. Being a slave for a few weeks had caused enough damage. He had been scarred, permanently. He shook his head at the the thought, his golden hair swaying slightly. His eyes were fixed on the horizon, were he could see a grouping of trees. He looked around for a land mark, spotting it he grinned. He wasn't far far from the gypsy encampment. If he was lucky he would make it there before nightfall. If he was lucky again they would welcome him once more.

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Fri Aug 24, 2012 7:02 am

Lyra stopped, suddenly cold. Was that someone else moving through the marsh? She could hear the distinct sounds of someone or something plowing through the marshland not too far behind. Heart hammering, she made note of her direction and then turned to look behind her. Unfortunately, the sun was setting and it made it nearly impossible for her to see. The concentrated rays of the sun hurt her eyes. Not knowing what to do, because she was too scared to go back for fear of losing more time or getting caught up with some strange creature, she turned back to the south and kept going. This time, she was almost running, casting anxious glances behind her. Was she behind followed? What was it? Were they after the amulet or just happening along? She didn't know, and what she didn't know gave her fear.

ooc: Works for me!

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Fri Aug 24, 2012 1:37 pm

A singal emotion caused Wesley to stop. Fear. It was floating around like a tenderal in the wind. Sqwinting, he sheilded his eyes. There! A young woman ahead of him. He was a bout to wistle a tune when he felt an arrow slam into his shoulder. It had been aimed at the chink in his armor. He sppun on his heal, pulling out his sword. He deflected the next arrow with his sword. Then dashed forward slamming his fist into one of the fourslavers faces. He fell face first into the muck.
"Leave while you still have the chance," his voice clapped like thunder. He wasn't angry but sadness filled his eyes.

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Fri Aug 24, 2012 2:54 pm

Lyra heard a deep voice speaking, loud and filling her ears like thunder. She flinched at the volume of it, coming to an abrupt halt. She was afraid of thunder. But there was something else to the atmosphere as well. A metallic quality that seemed to be squeezing a tight fist around her heart. Iron. With a shudder, she slowly, so slowly, turned around. There was a disturbance behind her, she could hear that much and could see the torsos of several people. Slavers and their would-be victim. It was he who had spoken. Before any sense could enter her brain to stop her, she started walking towards them. She did not approach them directly, but from the side so that they wouldn't notice her approach. About a minute later, she stood ten feet from them. At a touch, her blue-white aura flared up, flickering around her person as the amulet stopped absorbing her energy. She stood there, looking on, brown eyes dark with despair. What was happening to the realms? Why did people try so hard to bring each other down? What was the good when all it did was bring more suffering and chaos? Standing there, she looking like a being from another world.

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Fri Aug 24, 2012 3:15 pm

"Why should we, you are an the thing we have been tracking." The massive shirtless man in the middle grinned. His confidence flickered when he saw wesleys eyes. Silver tenrells flickered and spun in them. Like paint in water.
"So be it," Wesley sheithed his sword and waited. They came at him together but they all landed on the ground. Passed out after exchanging blows with wesley. Shaking his head he continued on his way. Then he stopped turned and looked directly at lyra.
"Sorry you had to see that miss."
His eyes were back to normal.

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Fri Aug 24, 2012 5:13 pm

Lyra's aura flickered and her dark eyes flashed momentarily with sudden defiance. Then it died and her expression became carefully neutral and her aura faded a the energy was, once more, sucked back into the amulet. She had seen far worse than that in her short lifetime; had inflicted far worse on people. He didn't have to know that, though, and she preferred to remain anonymous. Or at least, no one worth remembering. However, no one ordinary would be crossing through these marshes unless they lived here or were very desperate. Lyra fell under the latter category and she realized that an attempt to remain an nonentity would be in vain.

"I've seen worse," she said coolly, taking a step forward. "You were very efficient in dealing with them... You've experience with hand-to-hand fighting and it's obvious that you've seen battle and adventure." Her voice was calculating as her eyes settled upon him; dark and piercing. "Were those men following you, or the run-in mere coincidence?" Another step. Quieter now. "Are you wanted too?"

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Fri Aug 24, 2012 5:43 pm

Wesley studied her with the same intrest . His warm blue grey eyes searched her face taking in every detail. Then he scenced her emotions. They were a chaotic clash of loss and worry. The wind at that moment desided to pick up.
"My mistake, I should have guessed you were used to such things. By the way you crept forward, like a lionness hunting her prey."

He thought about her other coments and prodding questions. "I have had many run ins with slavers. I personaly have seen their abuse first hand. They had been tracking me scince this morning. Unfortunatly for them I am not a stag to be hunted down and catured... but I am not wanted. If you are I shall not reviel your secret." He began on his path again. "If you want I can tell you of my adventures." He called over his shoulder.

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Fri Aug 24, 2012 6:31 pm

Lyra's hair whipped behind her in the wind as it suddenly picked up and she swayed slightly with the sudden change. This land was so exposed... she was used to the trees of the Forest in Lapidem, or the serenity of it's shores or the heat and darkness of Scopulous. This wet, boggy place was almost alien to her, despite the fact that she had passed through several previous times. However, she had done everything she could not to stay for any length of time. Water and fire did not mix.

Without a word, she moved after him. He was heading in a southerly direction and for the moment, their paths seemed to have crossed. Why not make the most of it? She was curious about him, but she was also wary. A man who could take down five armed slavers was a force to be reckoned with... like Erin. At the thought of Erin, her heart twisted with what felt like near physical pain and she swallowed hard. Erin... She could see his face so clearly in her mind's eye and sometimes, at night, she'd think she'd hear his voice whispering... During her waking hours, she constantly saw flashes of him, but when she got to the place he'd be nowhere to be seen and she ached from missing him.

"It's not like that," she said. "And it's not a secret either... Things happen and with one thing and another, my fate turns out just not to be a very happy one." Her voice was matter-of-fact, but her eyes betrayed her pain.

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Fri Aug 24, 2012 7:02 pm

Wesley felt her emotions, they struck him like a knife in the heart. His gift of emotion reading was like a river, it couldn't be stopped. It took extream consentration just to hold up an conversation. Going to the gypsy camp was going to be a trial for him. "I am sorry for your loss... " he paused."my life has been no easy one too... but I can't imagain being hunted like that." His eyes were saddened.
The trees were growing closer and closer. "I feel like I've become part of the stew of the marsh. Nasty place."

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Fri Aug 24, 2012 11:09 pm

"Very," Lyra said, voice cold.

Was she that transparent? How had he been able to tell so soon that she'd been hurt? But, then again, he might just be really good at guessing. Erin wasn't dead, he was alive somewhere in the realms. At least, she hoped he was. For all she knew, he had been killed by the slavers that had captured him, already arrived to Caligo and tortured to death; she just didn't know. But she got the feeling that she would know, deep down, if Erin had died. Maybe she was being sentimental, but she got the idea that if something truly horrible had happened to him, she would know. During that long month, she'd pined over him, agonized over the fact that she had just abandoned him in the town... that she had left without saying goodbye.

"I'm a child of fire, I'm not made for this kind of place..." She sounded disgusted, and she was too, but she also felt slightly nervous. So much water... she felt extremely vulnerable. What would happen to her if she stayed for too long? What would happen to her fire?

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Sat Aug 25, 2012 1:17 am

Wesley processed that information and filed it away in his brain. He slowed his steps to match Lyras pace. He slowed to a stop and became painfully aware of the arrow in his shoulder. He closed his eyes and reached behind his shoulder. He shut his eyes and started to pull it out. He yelped and stopped breathing hard. "I think the arrow head is barbed."
He fumbled with the armor straps loosening them then pulling it over his head wincing.

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Sat Aug 25, 2012 9:42 am

Lyra winced slightly when he said that, remembering Shadow's earlier wounds that she had treated for him. Most of them had been arrow wounds and a serrated arrow was nothing to take lightly. Pulling one out was extremely dangerous, because that caused even more damage than when the person was originally shot to begin with. They were designed to inflict as much damage as possible and they did their job well. Before the strange man could protest, she took the armor from him to keep it from getting wet in this marsh. The place around where the arrow had gone it was inflamed and dried blood as well as some fresh clung to the shaft and oozed down his back. The wound was deep at it was probably better, at this point, to just push it all the way through and keep the damage minimal.

"Don't try to pull it out, not now," Lyra said, biting back a sigh and keeping her voice expressionless. "Look, you'll just do more damage to yourself that way... I'm going to push it all the way through. The wound's deep enough so that there won't be much left for me to do, but it'll still hurt a hell of a lot. It'll be better for you in the end, though." She looked at him, very seriously. "Is that okay with you?"

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Sat Aug 25, 2012 12:27 pm

Wesley bit his lip. Slowly he nodded and mumbled something about his shirt getting in the way. He pulled the dagger from his boot and sliced the shirt from his back.
"It would be almost impossible to get it off other wise."
The first noticable thing on his back was a celtic cross, black, tattood between his shoulder blades. Then as your eyes traveled the length of his muscled back there were scars. Some were thin some were thick and knotted looking. By the looks of it he had been wipped within an inch of his life multiple times. He crouched down placing the dagger back in his boot. He stayed in that position so Lyra could reach.

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Sat Aug 25, 2012 12:51 pm

"Thanks," Lyra murmured. "Hold still..."

She wasn't very fazed by his scars, though there were far more than she cared to count. He'd been through a rough life and had probably been a slave at some point... which explained why he was so brutally efficient with the slavers when they had caught up to him. The tattoo was pretty neat, but she didn't have time to study him and nor did she want to. Before she could change her mind, she cut of her train of thoughts and gripped the shaft of the arrow. Her face was set. Without warning, she thrust it forward and out. There was a tiny spurt of blood, but nothing major and she took the bloodied arrow head and pulled it from his skin.

"Apply pressure to the wound to get the bleeding to slow. I don't have anything to bind it with, but I can make a poultice to keep the infection away. for you if you'd like."

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Sat Aug 25, 2012 1:24 pm

Wesley dug his fingers into the ground and suppressed a moan of agony between gritted teeth.
"Sweet nine-" he stopped the curse midway and the pain vanished. Standing, He pulled shirt back on and picked up his armor. "Thanks but I shall be fine."
He could tell the wound had stopped bleeding without glancing at it. "You were right it did hurt like the dickens." He laughed at his choice of words. "I am in need of a hot meal."
He started walking again. "How do you feel about gypsies?"

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Sat Aug 25, 2012 2:42 pm

Lyra shook her head. "I can't stop," she said briskly, pace quickening even as she spoke.

Failure was not an option; she couldn't afford to let Erin down this time. But all that the note had said was that he had overheard something about Paludem and the realm wasn't exactly small. She had probably missed him already, had come too late, or was in an entirely different part of the realm than he, or, or, or... The Elf girl's mind was anything but stable at the moment and thinking about all the possible 'what if's was not helping her in the slightest. She shivered slightly and pressed on.

"I don't have a problem with gypsies, but I can't afford to lose or waist time," she said bluntly. "One of my friends is in peril."

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Sun Aug 26, 2012 5:14 pm

Wesley kept his pace even with her. Her emotions tumbled on over each other . They colored his vision for a moment then he blinked. Clarity came with the clear vision.
"The friend, close to your heart, is the one lost... missing... in peril... you are in for a fantastic adventure ,miss." He said this in a friendly way. He let loose a crooked grin. "These particular gypsies are fun loving and extreamly talented in the ways of entertainment and music. But they are also very smart. If there is any way they could add to the knowlage of the location of your friend. All you have to do is ask." He said this with certanty.

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Mon Aug 27, 2012 6:32 am

Lyra stiffened, heart pounding, but she kept pace. How had he been able to guess that? No... that wasn't right, because it wasn't a guess. Somehow, he knew without question. How? She slid a glace over at him. Like Erin, he reminded her of a predator in human form, but was there something more to it with him? With a shiver, she shrugged the matter off. It didn't matter how he knew or what he was; what mattered was the fact that he seemed to be reading her chaotic mix of emotions with extreme accuracy.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind, then," she said warily. They were nearing the treeline now. "Do you have business with them or do you simply enjoy their company? ...Or is it not my business to ask?"

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Mon Aug 27, 2012 1:03 pm

Crap, he had done it again. He mentaly kicked himself for saying something he shouldn't have... Again. He waved a fly away that kept buzzing around his head.
He sighed,"at this point it could go eather way. Its my job to bring news to them. The elves are furiouse and there are rumors of an army massing." He shook his head and said quietly, "I hate war. It changes people and its burtality..." he trailed off looking pained.

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Mon Aug 27, 2012 3:34 pm

Lyra looked at him quickly, suddenly alarmed. An army? And what was the provocation? The Shadow... or something else? The Shadow had been a threat for centuries, maybe longer, and even though his presence was less than appreciated, it wouldn't come to ope warfare unless something drastic had happened. So what had it been? What had been the final push? It might not even have to do with The Shadow and could be some trivial matter between the Elves and some other species or even against other Clans.

"Why?" she asked, her voice sharp and suddenly alert. All traces of weariness had vanished. "What's happened?"

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Mon Aug 27, 2012 4:47 pm

Wesley looked at her. His blue grey studied her. The warmth had left them and in its place a look of a warrior who had outlived his life time. "The details are realy foggy on the matter. It has something to do with the elf kings. The slavers running rampant... I don't know the exact issue."
He shook his head again. Then looked strait ahead at the trees.

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Mon Aug 27, 2012 5:23 pm

"Erin was kidnapped by slavers," Lyra said quietly, eyes distant and more than a little sad.

She wet her lips and realized that she had come to a dead stop. With a shiver, she forced herself onward, faster than before. She had never considered herself to mean much of anything to Erin, hardly even a friend, for that matter. He'd always kept her at arm's distance... except for their last night together... after the thief had broken in. His arms felt like coming home, but to no home that she'd ever known.

"Anyway, the specifics don't matter. What does matter is that there's an army forming and that war must be prevented at all costs. If the Elves let themselves get weak by fighting with each other, they leave themselves prime targets for The Shadow."

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Mon Aug 27, 2012 5:58 pm

Wesley nodded and waited for Lyra to catch up. He rubbed the scar on his jaw absent mindedly. Then he realized his mistake.
"Woops, I never told you who was fighting who. The elves are teaming up against the shadow. He's the one causing all of the issues." He smiled sheepishly.

Ooc- sorry -.-

Subject: Re: Rescue Mission Mon Aug 27, 2012 6:16 pm

Lyra couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Smooth," she muttered under her breath. "Alright, as soon as I've managed to make sure that Erin's alive, I'm going to have to tell someone with a brain to keep this quiet. If The Shadow gets wind, they're done for. To win this thing, they're going to need not only the element of surprise, but they're also going to need to make alliances with other species to even stand a chance."

Grumbling to herself about the stupidity of the Elves, she lapsed into silence. Well, at least he had driven Erin from her mind, if only for the moment.

ooc: Lawl, no worries! xD