Bumps in the Forest(Aella)

[Jaeden Kincade]

The slaver glared evilly at Aella, his jaw clenching as he held the sword in place, the tip of the blade tickling her throat dangerously. “You’ve killed two of us, bitch.” The slaver said with a hint of a growl in his voice. “How, I imagine, are you going to repay those of us who remain I wonder. An extra turn on the bed roll, perhaps, before we sell you off?”

Before he could say another word, or even echo out some methodically evil laugh, the slaver suddenly found his face being slammed with the limp, feathery body of a duck as it flew through the air from behind Aella suddenly. “What the petch?” The slaver yelled out as he stumbled back a couple of paces out of reaction alone.

His hand raise as he began wiping his eyes and began to fall forward, strait towards Aella’s body. The slaver’s hand, however, fell short as another figure stepped up from behind Aella, their leg brushing up slightly against her body as they did so. The slaver’s hand echoed a loud smack as the flesh of his hand fell into the palm of another’s. As Aella looked up, she saw Jaeden there, standing beside her, a look of displeasure crossing his features. Jaeden’s arm tensed up as he pushed the slaver’s sword arm back upward, his other fist flying forward as it slammed into the Slaver’s throat, causing his eyes to go wide as he choked and coughed. The slaver’s free hand reached to grab his throat as if it suddenly open up his airwave. Jaeden’s own hand slide over top of the slaver’s, his finger’s bracing along the guard of the slaver’s own longsword before he began pulling back, his body turning away from Aella as the weapon was wrenched free of the slaver’s hand. The slaver continued to stumble forward, stumbling to the ground a few feet away as he busied himself with trying to remember how to breath again. “Get some cover in a tree if you have to,” Jaeden then announced to Aella before giving a quick whistle which proceeded a bark from red. “Then put an arrow into anyone not Red or myself please. I’ll keep the others occupied until then.”

Jaeden then began walking towards the tree line, his feet falling heavily along the ground. His right hand reached to the left side of his waist, pulling his own longsword free as he began lowering both of them to his side. Red came bursting through the foliage, quickly running to Jaeden’s side before turning and looking the direction she came giving a slow, low toned growl.

[Aella]

There had been times that, as one that didn’t appreciate the comfort of fatalism, she’d fallen to sleep thinking about this sort of situation. She’d told herself that put in this moment, she’d simply thrust herself onto the sword. She had, after all, been captured by slavers once in her life, and despite somehow oddly getting a husband out of the deal… Well, she didn’t really care to relive it on the one to six million chance that she’d find herself another. But before she could commit herself to falling forward, something went flying by her head and hit the man threatening to violate her in the face. When she turned to see who was next to her, she couldn’t help but get a touch of a smile on her face before snapping out of it. She kicked at the slaver for good measure before saying towards Jaeden, “If you’d been any closer to my head I would be wearing that petching sword through my neck right now.” She was already moving towards the tree line to find herself a tree, muttering under her breath, ”If I ever have to climb another tree in my life after this I am going to declare war on the forest. Get out of the tree, Aella. Get up the tree, Aella. Don’t touch the goods, Aella, because then the big muscly man’s gonna take notice to you wanting to gnaw on him like a Myrian only in a sexy way… Watch out for the petchin’ duck, Aella…” She quickly slung her bow over her shoulder. As she grabbed onto a low branch and hoisted herself up to the next, she looked towards Jaeden and said, ”I promise not to hit Red. Without a boar on her tail and owning a currently bum leg, she didn’t get very high up in the tree. It would have to do. She let out a little grunt as she shifted to straddle the branch she’d managed to get herself up into. Squinting out into the woods, her body carefully twisted until she could get her bow in the proper position to shoot it, and she pulled an arrow to place on the string. She took a moment then to look over the situation, trying to decide who was going to get shot at first.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden looked over his shoulder as Aella spoke of her possible impaling, giving a subtle roll of his eyes. “Quit whining, it’s spilled milk.” Jaeden said as the two other slavers came charging out from behind the tree line. “You’re still alive.”

Jaeden moved forward as they came charging, his hands holding the two longswords at his sides. One of the slavers carried on them a broadsword, gripping it tightly with two hands, the other a karvar. Jaeden’s feet shifted his body back and forth in almost a weaving motion as he approached the slavers. He then sudden jumped to the right as the slaver with the karvar swung the cleaver like weapon down towards Jaeden. Jaeden arched the sword in his right hand in front of him, parrying the attack to the side as the blade of the karvar cut deeply into the ground. His body spun then, the same blade raised over his head as the other slaver’s broadsword struck the flat of Jaeden’s blade, causing a high pitched tang to echo out before the sword in Jaeden’s other hand swung around, cutting the slaver’s leg slightly, displaying a lack of experience when it came to wielding two swords at once.

Red, however, came in with the further assist as her body shimmered once again, changing over to her human form. She hopped through the air, slamming the shin of her right leg into the sternum of the first slaver, forcing the air out of his lungs. Jaeden bent forward, turning his body once again as Red suddenly rolled over his back, thrusting her heal into the face of the other slaver before she fell to a crouch along the ground. The golden shimmer once again appeared and Red raced around the clearing in her animal form once again, a quick growl escaping her lips as she looked to the slavers.

Jaeden quickly continued as his foot thrust forward, kicking the slaver armed with the Krover in the shoulder, knocking him to the ground. Behind them all, the third slaver was slowly making his way to his feet. He slowly reached around behind him, grabbing the hilt of a long knife since Jaeden had relieved him of his sword. Having lost sight of Aella, he slowly began to approach Jaeden quietly, hoping to sneak in his attack.

[Aella]

”I’m not petching whining. I’m bitching. There’s a big difference,” she mumbled under her breath from the safety of her tree. ”You have no idea how long it’s been since I’ve had milk, so likely I would find myself crying if it spilt. I might even lick the ground depending on where it spilt.” After taking in the situation for a moment, she glowered at Jaeden’s inexperience with two swords. He had to fight like that, she figured, but… Well, it wasn’t her place to say he wasn’t that great at it, but… Well, she’d likely tuck that fact away to mention to him later. Probably when he was annoying her again. And there was the slaver that thought she looked like a good time. She turned her sights onto him. The sensation of anger lifted into her, tightening her jaw and chest. The current under it all was the want to protect Jaeden and Red, and if she’d had time to think on it at all that would have deeply disturbed her. Instead she locked her aim on the slaver who should have just stayed down. Or maybe Jaeden should have killed him. One or the other. She couldn’t help but feel a little smug delight in the fact she was going to be the one to take him down. And he was going to suffer for it; she was going to make sure of that. The arrow rocketing towards the man was sent with a little prayer attached to it that it would hit him. The first she sent missed, landing about a foot away from where she'd been aiming. It had swung right. She would have to work harder at making sure more arrows didn't do that in the future. He turned in circles to start looking for where it had come from. Standing still, he made himself into an easier target. By his third turn she had another arrow ready for him. Hit him it did, sinking deeply into the back of his knee. He went screaming and falling to the forest floor. Aella felt a smirk curve onto the corner of her lips as she pulled out another arrow and knocked it. She didn’t have to pray for the next hit. A prone creature, even writhing like he was, was easier to hit than even a still one standing. She pulled back her string, locked her sight on her prey, and let go. He let out another cry as the metal pierced his stomach. The slaver, stupidly, in his panic pulled the arrows out of himself as he rolled about. From what she’d heard, a puncture to the stomach was a painful and slow way to go. She, however, thought it a fitting end to him. She kept her peripheral attention on him, lest he get up and try again, but she was more than pleased to let him bleed out. Her attention turned to the last two of the slaver, gauging if she could get in a decent shot at them.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Jaeden didn’t take his eyes off of the two opponents he himself faced, trusting that both Aella and Red would guard his back from an attack from behind. Both of them now approached Jaeden, attacking with more unison in the pair as Jaeden raised and swung his own swords to parry and block. Red soon came barreling in from behind to the slaver wielding the broad sword, using her light weight and speed as a fox to carry her momentum forward through the air in a jumping leap once again. Her body shift and twisted through the air before her human form appeared, still traveling with the same speed that had been set by her previous movement only carry much more force with the added weight of being in human for now. Her feet thrust forward as both of her heels slammed into the back of the slaver’s head, causing him to barrel forward.

Another strike from the second slaver came in as Jaeden raised his sword to block, his teeth clenched as the weight of the karvar, and strength of the slaver himself, forced his block to fall as the blade of the karvar cut lightly into his already wounded shoulder. Jaeden grunted slightly, pushing the weapon back up after the momentum had been halted. He spun around, stepping forward past the slaver and, at the last moment caused an over lunge in the slaver’s attack. Jaeden gave a quick step forward, throwing his shoulder into the slaver as his off balance was increase. He landed along the ground with a heavy thud, now separated from fight.

As Jaeden turned to bring his attentions back to the Slaver wielding the broadsword, Jaeden noticed a flash of steel from the corner of his eyes, and before he knew it, the sword he had liberated from one of the others was knocked from his hand. He jumped back, shortly before the follow-up swing came, narrowly narrowly avoiding what would become a deep cut along his chest. He watched as the third slaver bend down, piccking up the other longsword now resting along the ground. He tightened his grip along the two hilts, now suddenly thinking he would try Jaeden’s use of wielding, thinking it might give him an edge. Jaeden just smirked lightly, though, as he held up his own sword in his medium gard.

[Aella]

”Jaeden,” she mumbled under her breath, ”I get the strange feeling you were a selfish lover before you got marked, because you are making me do all the petching work here.” She gave a tiny scowl as she arranged yet another arrow. She shot. When it landed dangerously close to Jaeden’s foot, she worried that maybe her luck had run out. She only felt so confident with her skills, despite the fact she’d managed to keep herself alive with them. Still the string was pulled back. The arrow sunk into the removed slaver’s hand as he let out a bellow. She repeated her motions, and this time she got the poor shyke in the groin. ”Huh.” She almost felt bad for that one, and she couldn't decide if she had the nerves to deliver a death-blow to him. She was pretty confident that he wasn't going to be a threat to Jaeden or Red at that point.

[Jaeden Kincade]

With only one left that was unharmed, Jaeden gave a nudge of his head to Red who proceeded to run to the other slave Aella had just shot. She made a quick leap, her fangs bared as a quick growl echoed from her lips before teeth suddenly sunk into the slaver’s throat. A gargled cry echoed out from the slaver as the Kelvic planted her feet, giving a couple of tugs with all the force her small frame could muster. While it wasn’t enough to tear the slaver’s throat out completely, it was enough to sever one of the slaver’s arteries and tear a hole in his windpipe. Whatever time he had left, was now cut down to moments as Red pulled away as he reached up to grasp his throat, gasping choked breaths of air.

Jaeden in the mean time began slowly circling the area with the slaver before him. His head slowly tilted as he observed how the slaver held the blades. “Do you know how to even use them both at once?” Jaeden asked as he stopped the circling motion.

The slaver didn’t respond, but instead took a couple of quick steps forward as he began his attack, bringing his broadsword over head in a downward slash. Jaeden brought his own sword overhead, blocking it with the flat of his blade before a quick push sent it flying back. Another slash came from the slaver, this time from the side. Jaeden once again blocked, pushing the blade away after halting it’s movement. Jaeden slowly shook his head before the slaver gave a grunt, thrusting his blade forward. Jaeden parried the blade before a quick thrust was given back, piercing the flesh of the slavers other arm as he gave a quick yell in pain, dropping the longsword to the ground. When the slaver looked back to Jaeden in surprise, almost growling as he gritted his teeth, Jaeden gave a shrug. “What? You weren’t using it anyhow.” Jaeden said, giving a quick swing of his sword to kick the blood from the tip of his blade.

The slaver then yelled out loudly now as he rushed forward, slashing his sword quickly and fiercely. Jaeden responded with just a quick as a defense as his own longsword blocked and parried every strike that came in. Aella could see a different side to Jaeden’s swordplay at that point as he seemed infinitely more skilled, practically to the point that he was simply toying with the slaver now. “Well, enough time has been killed, I suppose.” Jaeden said almost lazily before he parried another strike, but this time stepped forward, moving along the ground for the first time since the slaver started his flurry. Another quick swing of his blade and the slaver suddenly found his arm separated from his body.

The slaver’s gaze fell to the ground in shock as he saw his own arm laying there, twitching slightly as it still gripped the broadsword tightly. He then gasped as a pain suddenly entered his chest. Looking down, the slaver saw the tip of Jaeden’s sword sticking out from his chest. Jaeden gave a quick jerk downward of his sword, as his blade sliced further through the slaver’s heart and lung, before finally pulling it free. The slaver dropped down to the ground, motionless as Jaeden stood over him, holding his own sword lazily at his side.

[Aella]

… Imman never made killing slavers look that good… That wasn’t a good though to be having. Aella wasn’t so green that she couldn’t realize that having thoughts like that were dangerous in situations like this. So she did her best to ignore them, and when the fight was nearly done she started as carefully as she could down the tree – Hugging it tightly as she went for fear that she’d fall out or hurt herself more than she already had. A small glance was taken back over her shoulder at Jaeden standing over the slaver on the ground, but she chose to not allow herself to focus in. Instead she kept moving back to the camp sight, stepping over another body along the way.

[Jaeden Kincade]

As Aella made her way into the camp once again, her gaze turned away from Jaeden, she would find the only slaver left alive the one she had shot in the stomach, and he was not far off from the wheel of reincarnation himself as he laid motionless on the ground, gripping his stomach in labored breathing. When Aella finally turned her head back towards where she was walking once again, she would find herself bumping into Jaeden’s frame standing before her. He had covered the distance between him and her in a matter of seconds, and done so silently.

His hand raised, raising his sword slightly into the air before it was stabbed into the earth next to him. As Aella looked up into his eyes, they carried an emotion, an extreme emotion. There was a look a wanting in his eyes as his gaze moved to travel over the features of her entire being, and Aella noticed something in the end. His gaze matched that dangerous thought she had just formed not more than a full chime ago.

Jaeden’s hand slowly raised, grasping Aella’s bow lightly before gently pulling it from her grasp and laying it along the ground beside them. His other hand reached out at the same time, lightly caressing her cheek until her hair was lightly slid between his fingers. Jaeden leaned forward, his head tilting slightly as he inched in closer towards Aella. Finally, his lips parted slightly, taking her own in a full, deep kiss. Not a word had been spoken. No comments, lectures or compliments. Simply an action, an action that was empowered further as Jaeden’s other hand finally came to rest, after setting aside Aella’s bow, along the small of her back as he pulled her further into him, deepening the kiss all that much more.

[Aella]

”Necessity and survival forces us to make a choice in the way we conduct ourselves,” she mumbled under her breath as she passed the dying man. The thought quickly left her though, as she found she’d just face-planted herself into Jaeden’s chest and bounced off the slightest bit. She stood, looking up at him rather dumbfounded. She looked dumbfounded as he took her bow. She even looked dumbfounded as he touched her cheek, but then her eyes closed the world out save for the feel of his fingertips. He would feel a tremor under them, her body trembling so slightly that it wasn’t visible – The type of shake that went through a bow string when it had been pulled as far as it possibly could right before your fingers slipped from it. Her mouth opened onto his, and she kissed him like she’d been waiting her entire life for him to make his move. It was starved and wild, not a thing cold or shocked about it as she wrapped her arms about his neck. But just like that she stopped. Her hands moved over his shoulders to his chest so she could push herself back from the waist up. Her eyes were wide as she looked at him, and if he was paying attention he would have likely seen the threat of tears. ”This isn’t what you want,” she whispered, and though she desired otherwise, she moved to break away. "I'm hungry."