Spring is coming! (Closed)

[Tahl'dhon Rashaud]

Tahl smiled weakly. He only trusted Aren to a certain degree, and magic wasn't something unknown and dangerous to him so the smile and comment from Aren wasn't very comforting. Tahl's eyes narrowed when he saw Meera show affection for Tahl he wasn’t sure what to make of the two, but he could always expect the unexpected from these two. Aren seemed to like Meera and treated her nice, while Meera went off and one from being nice to cold towars the other Akalak. Now that he thought about it, Meera was the one that confused him, ahe was so strange, she couldn’t even seem to take a joke. He was still inspecting there embrace, when he saw the blast of light, from Aren lighting the fire. He was blinded for a few seconds, blinking his eyes readjusted. Rahaud had gone insane fear takeing over everything paranoia taking over, he was telling Tahl to run. Run into the plains and don’t look back. Tahl was under control though, and steeled his fear, but he was still wary. Tahl got up slowly shaking his head; he still couldn’t wrap his head around what had just happened; he wasn’t even sure if he wanted too. "Warn me next time you decide to throw fire around." He shook his head; he reached down and rummaged into his pack taking out some of his track rations to heat up. He grabbed the flat rock he had found while digging the fire pit, and placed it near the fire waiting for it to heat up. He watched the other two trying to understand them. The fire was already in full flames almost as if it had been burning for an hour or so, Tahl added lots more wood, and watched as the stone started to heat up even gaining a red hue.

[Meera]

Meera was fearless. She wouldn't flinch or shy away when Aren launched fire from his hand, because mainly she did not see it. With her arms wrapped around his waist her face was buried behind his back. The sudden brightness blinded her when she opened her eyes and released him, and the loud whoosh of flame drowned out the sound, and when it stopped it seemed for a moment that the country grew silent for several long moments.

The fire had roared to life as Aren rested his hand against hers and she eagerly clasped them tightly. Her fingers entangled themselves with his, wondering how he could create such flames. Now that their camp had a fire, Meera removed her cloak.

"Can every Akalak create fire so good? How you do it?" Meera inquired, releasing her hold on him to collect her equipment. It always took Meera forever to light a fire with her flint and steel. Her horse received a calming pat on the snout and he seemed to settle down. Meera would have liked to say he was skittish because of the fire, but it was truth that Darksand was in a bad mood since they had approached the camp. The quiver and bow was slung on her back and she held the pack in front of her, the long sword poking out as she returned to the tent.

[Aren]

"I did warn you," Aren quipped, honestly enjoying his fellow akalak's reaction to his display. The truth, however, was that it wasn't for his benefit, nor was it really necessary to use reimancy to light some kindling. This was a calculated gambit to see if he could provoke a response from the glassbeak he was almost certain was stalking them. Fire was the only natural enemy to the fierce grassland predator, and it was the only thing they could be said to fear. After a few seconds of silence, Aren thought they were in the clear, or perhaps the plot had simply failed. "No... only akalaks with insane m-" the blue skinned giant started, but was promptly cut off by the screeching calls of the Sea of Grass' apex predator. Moments later, the call received a reply. "This... is not good," Aren commented, noticing that the second call had originated from the opposite direction of the first. "Nobody panic, but... I think they may have us flanked," the blue akalak informed the rest of the party, not knowing how much experience with these beasts they might or might not have. Unstrapping his scythe from his back, Aren had it in his hands within moments, simultaneously shifting into infravision. "Backs to the fire... now," he ordered, instinctively taking charge of their defense simply because he figured he was the most experienced of the group, especially in dealing with these creatures. "And watch out, because glassbeaks are big, strong, and very, very fast," Aren informed his companions. Mostly he was speaking to Tahl, however, figuring Meera would probably already be aware of all of this, even if it wasn't from personal experience. Honestly, the akalak was completely certain of what was about to go down. His display might have frightened them enough for the creatures to reconsider their attack, and that's what all the commotion was about, but he couldn't really be certain. He supposed it depended on how hungry they were.

[Tahl'dhon Rashaud]

Tahl shook his head smiling, when Meera asked about Akalak's and fire he smirked, "Well I sure as petch can't throw fire out of my hand." Tahl had his hand in his pack and was about to take out his food when a screech split the silence of the night. Causing Tahl to jerk up, his lavnader eyes going into infravision, his hands balling into fists, as he glared into the darkness standing silent. He listened to the answering call a glimmer entering his eyes, his mouth twitching into a small smile. He had felt fear burst into his chest at the noise, but that had quickly fled in Tahl's eagerness for battle, but it was tempered with wariness. "Maybe they just want to borrow a cup of sugar?" He commented his tone sarcastic and optimistic, when Aren commented on flanking Tahl smirked, "They sure want that sugar." He nodded as Aren took charge, willing to take orders from a person he respected. Tahl grabbed his and rummaged through it grabbing the cleaned skin out of it. He used the skin to grab the heated rock, he put it in the center the rock still let heat through the skin, but if Tahl moved fast enough like he did, he could use the skin and heated rock as a makeshift flail. He jumped back to the fire his makeshift flail in hand. He shrugged at Aren, "They are like everything else. You hit it hard enough at it will die." He smirked taking a few practice swings with his makeshift flail, making sure to keep it far enough away from himself so that it didn't hit him or burn him. Rahaud had gone insane at the first noise at first fear had taken over then anger, bloodlust, and excitement took over, and he was chanting kill in there head.

[Meera]

So Akalaks couldn't all create fire so well, only those with --- something. Aren must have had lots of practice setting up camps before, she determined. If she had seen the power he possessed she would have had a different reaction than be so nonchalant about the use. But her thoughts were cut off by Aren's panic.

A Glassbeak scream resounded over their little camp. It easily explained Darksand's mood. Meera cursed herself in her native tongue under her breath and quickly withdrew her bow, immediately nocking an arrow against the string. Glassbeaks were afraid of fire and Meera had half a mind to stick an arrowhead in the fire to catch the arrow shaft on fire. She did not, it would have been a perfectly good waste of a perfectly good arrow.

There was no fear at the echoing call of the Glassbeak. It only served to pump adrenaline faster through her system. She could hear her heart beat loudly as Aren told them they were flanked and Tahl really made Meera want to fail her aim so miserably that Tahl would get shot in the knee instead of a Glassbeak.
It wasn't that Meera hated Tahl or disliked him, she just couldn't get a read on him with his sarcasm. Everything seemed like a joke, and because of that, she failed to take him seriously on many occasions.

The blonde had managed to kill a glassbeak once before with Patros. They were on a hunt and had stumbled upon a random, lone glassbeak. When they killed it, they couldn't find its nest, so they feasted on the bird itself. It had taken great effort to kill the beast with just the two of them, Meera being very young.

Now, from what Meera could see, it looked like at least two, maybe three or four birds were out there. That was at least one that Meera would have to kill for herself.

She swallowed hard and brought her arrow up so she could better aim.

"Shut up, Tahl," She said. "Cannot concentrate with you being court jester." Her mouth was set into a hard line.

She loosed her arrow into the darkness, not seeing a damn thing, but hearing the sounds of a running glassbeak pass from one ear over to the other. The bird was in front of her.

A Glassbeak made an awful racket as an arrow lodged itself in its wing, not injuring it much.

"Hit." Meera smiled. She set up another arrow. "Let us party, huh?"

[Aren]

Aren did not particularly approve of his companions' joviality at the predicament they faced, but he realized that their reactions were simply defense mechanisms. Still, the akalak had seen friends killed by these creatures before, and he knew that underestimating them in any way could very well be fatal. "Be quiet and focus... both of you!" he barked, much as a commander would straighten out his troops the moment before they engaged the enemy. This was neither the time, nor place, to be bickering. These kinds of distractions were simply not something you could afford when facing a foe like this. When Meera managed to wing one of the creatures, out of sheer random luck, Aren saw his chance. It had been moving quickly before, making it difficult to track even with infravision, but being hit had stopped it in it's tracks for a few moments. This was an opportunity they were only going to get once, and the akalak was definitively not going to let it just slip away. Suddenly darting off into the darkness, scythe tucked at his side, Aren shouted a warning to the two companions he left behind, "The other one will be on you soon, hold it off as long as you can!" He hoped that he could finish off the wounded glassbeak quickly, and come back to help Tahl and Meera deal with the other one, but it was a very risky plan. First of all, even a mortally wounded glassbeak, as he knew from experience, was incredibly fierce. The one he was about to engage, by contrast, was nowhere near that hurt. Secondly, the plan required Meera and Tahl to hold their own against one of the fiercest creatures in the grasslands, a beast which they almost certainly had little to no experience with. Thirdly, Aren was working on the assumption that there were only two glassbeaks. If there were any more than that, either group stood to get flanked and rapidly killed, after which the other group would swiftly follow. Unfortunately, Meera's lucky shot could not have been foreseen, and there had simply been no time to plan for the attack, in any case. At least this way, Aren precluded the possibility of the group being attacked from two different sides, which could be devastating. Of course, if either Tahl, or especially Meera, fell... the burden on his conscience would be great. He would have failed them, the akalak admitted to himself, as he had failed his friends so long ago. Recognizing that he had been forced to play the cards he had been dealt, and this was simply the only way to make the most use out of his hand, Aren steeled himself for battle at hand, and the possibility that he could could return to camp only to find meals made out of those he held as his responsibility. The truth was that he should have warned them the moment he suspected that there was a glassbeak stalking them, but hadn't desired to frighten then, unnecessarily. Just another mistake in a very long list, he was forced to concede. "Wysar, watch over them..." the akalak whispered as he left them behind, hoping that he had made the right decision this time.

[Meera]

Where the petch does he think he's going? Meera's concentration was distracted as Aren bolted off into the darkness. The call of another glassbeak resounded, steeling Meera's steps as she started after Aren. This was preposterous, Meera thought. She had taken a glassbeak once before with Patros when she was a kid, maybe twelve years old, so certainly now that she was about to be nineteen could she handle this foe. Tahl swung his makeshift flail above his head at an incoming bird that Meera had not seen. Tahl missed, because the bird had been swift enough to dodge and came tackling at Tahl, sending him onto his back with a hard thud, before making its way to the "easier meal to kill."

Surprising herself she did not panic. Her movement in following Aren had put the fire between Tahl and herself, and more importantly, the glassbeak making a beeline to the tasty Drykas snack. Tahl reared up and connected, losing his rock from the skin in the process like a sling. Quickly stunning the creature Meera reared up an arrow and loosed it to the side of the Glassbeak's head, missing by a mile.

She didn't have much time to think. Tahl scrambled for his large rock and Meera readied Osri in her palm. The beak of the bird opened and Meera wedged the jade dagger up into its maw, the green point shining gruesomely through the beak in the firelight. Stabbing into the Glassbeak's mouth was very dangerous. She had dimples of injury on both sides of her wrist were the beak had tried to bite down, and ... was still attempting to.

Now Meera began to panic. Her hand was stuck inside a living Glassbeak's mouth and she gave wide eyes to Tahl, begging him to kill the damn thing already. Tahl beat on the bird's flanks with the large rock he had managed to find and Meera had to reach behind her head with her good hand and retreive an arrow. She used the arrow head to slit its throat.

Meera groaned in pain as the bird slumped, her forearm bleeding considerably.

"Aren....?!" She cried out into the night, doing her best throughout her pain to wrench the strong dead jaws of the Glassbeak open to free her hand and dagger.

[Aren]

He rushed through the darkness as swiftly as he could. Time was of the essence here. As Aren neared the wounded glassbeak, still busy trying to dislodge the arrow from it's side, the bird didn't seem to notice his approach. It was much too concerned with this painful annoyance to pay too much attention to anything else. This was the perfect chance, the akalak thought. If he could kill it here and now, swiftly, quietly... he could return to the camp all that much quicker. Aren knew that glassbeaks had only three weak points: the head, the heart and the legs. The heart, unfortunately, was protected within it's impressive musculature, and thus was not a very easy target to get to. The legs were certainly more vulnerable, but just because one of these beasts couldn't move didn't mean it wasn't dangerous, as the scar on his arm could attest to. The head was the most ideal place to strike, if one could it hit, that is. The blue skinned warrior charged the distracted glassbeak with a quiet hiss, his scythe rearing up to deliver the first and last blow of this conflict. The animal, however, jumped back at the last second, with an annoyed squawk. The winged monstrosity had yet to remove the projectile at it's side, but soon returned to the task as it kept an eye on this new annoyance. Aren growled in frustration as his prey dodged his attack by the narrowest of margins, "I'm going to take your head as a trophy, and hang it from my mantle!" he threatened, as if his foe could actually understand him. Of course, Aren didn't even have a mantle, so it was more of an empty threat, anyway. The glassbeak seemed intent on avoiding the fight until it had removed the arrow Meera had lodged in it, and would back away from it's aggressor any time the akalak neared it. Aren was determined to end this fight as soon as possible, but he knew he wouldn't simply be able to spend the night chasing this thing about until it finally decided to face him. He knew he'd have to resort to what he considered his last alternative in any battle. Impaling his scythe into the ground, the weight of the blade acting as a counterweight for the snaith, the akalak extended his freed arms out in front of him. As he forced the left one back, it's open palm at around the waist, while the other remained pointed towards the glassbeak. Releasing his djed into a sort of ball of res above his palm, the mass grew bigger and bigger by the second, layers building upon layers. It was difficult to see, but when he transmuted the outer layers into the element of wind, it took on a sort of turbulent transparency. Aren concentrated, keeping it as stable as he could manage, but he knew he couldn't maintain the attack for long. He had termed this particular technique the Wind Assisted Fist... something, over a year ago, but had not really been able to test it out. Figuring this was as good a time as any, the akalak jutted his left arm forward, manipulating the partially transmuted ball of res towards the glassbeak. Thinking that the distance between them kept it safe, and unable to understand what Aren was doing, the creature did not react to his attack. Soon, the beast was down on the ground, a broken leg it's only reward for it's ignorance. It squawked madly, as pain and confusion assaulted it's senses, but those were sensations ti would not have to endure for long. Dislodging his scythe from the earth, Aren gripped it tight and charged at his downed prey. The beast attempted to erect itself, recognizing the danger posed by the akalak, but it could not sustain it's bulk on only one leg. In the end, it could only wriggle in desperation as the blade that would end it's life struck it's vulnerable neck. In an instant, all movement stopped, it's head having been separated from it's body in one swift blow. Aren sighed in relief, glad that his plan had worked, and that he could now return to aid his companions. Just then, however, he could hear a scream emanate from behind him. It was Meera! He looked back instantly, his infravision piercing the night, only to see that they had succeeded in felling their own adversary. A few minutes later, a glassbeak head flew into the camp out of the darkness of the grasslands. It was shortly followed by Aren himself, who was glad to see that his help had not been needed. Managing to free Meera from her predicament, Tahl found himself attempting to tend to her wound as best he could, which wasn't much. The blue akalak, noticing the situation, rushed to the drykas' side. Perhaps he had made a mistake, after all. "You're hurt..." Aren said, his eyes laden with concern and guilt heavy in his voice. "I'm fine, by the way," Tahl quipped, trying to lighten the mood.

[Meera]

Her wrist and blade may be free from the beak but she was bleeding quite a bit. Despite her pain, she had chided Tahl to be careful with the beak itself, fearing further injury and to protect the prized glass tips. It could be a good use to save the sharp glass if only to sell. Her eyes looked worried at Tahl as they listened to the squabble of Djed meeting beast and the frightful clucking of a dying beast, not knowing how Aren was faring. Meera was about to push Tahl off to help Aren when she found she forgot how to move her mouth to form words. Something caught the firelight by Tahl's arm, and it had distracted her thoughts and wishes and all she could do was give a quiet shriek as she held fast and tight to her busted arm.

It was a Glassbeak that she saw beside Tahl's shoulder as it was flung over to the camp. It caused a swell of panic to rise up in Meera's throat and it resulted in a brief gasp of surprise. Was there another beast? Surely, not another one -- with Aren run off and herself injured and Tahl being essentially weaponless Meera couldn't have a hope to defend herself from another attack so soon. Thankfully, she was easily made quiet as the head fell to the ground with a dead thud. She gave a very happy sigh of relief when Aren appeared moments later at her side, and she found herself smiling wide with soft brown eyes in sincere happiness that he had returned safe and unharmed.

He expressed his concern and she found herself in more pain because of his tone of voice than her actual injury. It pained her that she was too weak, struck too dumb by the sudden attack of the birds to really do anything but stick her blade into the mouth of the beast than properly defend herself.

"Is only a scratch," She comforted, and flexed her weak hand to show how little she hurt. She couldn't hide the grimace on her lips unfortunately. "Can move hand, will heal."
The arrow still remained pierced in the animal's throat and she left his side to rip the arrow from its feathered neck. Meera examined their camp, yawning rudely.

"Need to bandage arm..." She whispered. "Find my chemise. In pack, in tent." She pointed with her weak hand, but lifted up her arm with her left. Firing off an arrow will be difficult until she was sewn up.

"Good thing we're on our way to Riverfall. Probably a healer there, right? Someone that could fix her up?" Tahl asked as he collected the fur and rock, tossing both closer to the tent incase he needed them later. He watched Aren and Meera's interactions with a curious silver gaze as he returned from rifling through Meera's pack, torn chemise in hand. He folded the fabric into one long, thick strip and passed it to Meera, who stared at him incredulously. Tahl got the hint and handed the fabric to Aren, before he settled himself down to keep the fire alive. Meera could at least have said 'thank you,' but the Drykas did not. She was far too concerned with her lack of use of her primary arm, and how defenseless this now made her. It was her first major injury, or at least, an injury that would decommission her as a friend in any future fight against any nasty the Sea of Grass would hold. She could only find comfort in the knowledge that she had the sense to stab its brain from inside its mouth before it had the chance to bite off her arm. A deep gouge on both sides of her arm were little concern. The bird could have degloved her arm, snapped the bones or caused major nerve damage. Meera could still feel throbbing pain in her slick hand and arm, which comforted her. Pain simply meant she was still alive, and that included her limb. It might be slow to heal, but had hope Tahl was right - that they would find a healer in Riverfall.

[Aren]

"I shouldn't have-" The knowledge that Meera had been injured struck Aren in the chest like a great force, almost preventing him from speaking altogether. "T-this is my fault," he said, audibly distressed by the fact. Though his gamble had paid off, the akalak couldn't help but feel like he had failed, regardless. The injury wasn't grave, but seeing the drykas injured so cause Aren to blame himself for it, despite the fact that, as far as encounters with glassbeaks went, this would certainly count as a good one. "I'm sorry," Aren whispered, as he took the fabric Tahl handed him. The blue akalak cradled Meera's hand gently, slowly wrapping the cloth around her still bleeding arm as delicately as was in in his power. He could not stand the winces of pain the young drykas articulated, even though he had known that she was likely to incur a much worse injury before he ran off into the darkness. Aren's plan had succeeded, but he found himself cursing the moment he had ever thought of it. He knew, in his mind, that it had been the best course of action, yet still he could not come to grips with the decision. It had been the rational, logical choice... so why did he resent himself for it? It didn't matter, he realized, because he would never make it again. "Yes... there will be healers in Riverfall," Aren replied, silently thanking Wysar for that small mercy. As the akalak gaze at the bloody limb in his arms, he had barely the strength to bite his lip, lest his anger at himself be given voice.