Closed Insomniac (Aela)

[Aidara]

"I...I don't know what it is." There was a heavy flapping sound from out in the darkness, the scrabbling of something against the rocks of the mountain face directly below where the two girls stood. A scrape and a clatter of falling stone broke the silence further, the intensity of the sudden sound sending Addy nearly jumping out of her skin. Booted feet slipped on the loose gravel near the edge of the ledge, a shriek of horror as the little woman pictured herself tumbling over the edge. Windmilling arms saved her as she threw herself backwards and against her companion.

With heaving chest and flaming cheeks, Addy fought to right herself as she tried to slow the rapid pounding of her heart. "Well... That's embarrassing." Trying to keep her newly collected and clam exterior, Addy wiped her sweaty palms on the fabric of her Bryda. "Let's keep going. I don't think I want to find out what that was. It definitely wasn't a Wind Eagle. The beat... it was all wrong." Addy could feel the powerful strokes of Sira's wings as clearly as the beating of her own heart. Whatever had been out there in the night had been heavy, yes, but... different. Wrong.

So they kept moving, inching further off of the ledge and towards a natural curve in the mountainside that would lead them away from the darkened cliff. With her heart rate finally on a natural decline, Addy ran her fingers through her hair and looked over at Aela. "Perhaps this isn't-" but she wasn't able to finish the sentence. A small, gray blob flashed by them with a shriek. Ash didn't slow as he passed his master, instead just dropping his claws to rake along Addys shoulder.

Crying out in pain as the flesh split beneath the little owl's razor sharp talons, Addy instinctively hunched in her shoulder, hand flying to try and cover and staunch the blood that flowed down and over her shoulder, falling to the ground with a quick and sickly patter. The action caused the healer to pivot a bit, naturally turning away from the source of the pain. That was when she saw the flicker in the shadows behind them.

An unintelligible cry of warning ripped from her lips as she tried to straighten, green eyes wide as she watched the great, furred, winged creature step away from the shadows that lingered against the side of the mountain. It was huge, ugly and towered over both the women. And Addy had no idea what it was. It looked to be human... a huge, naked, human man except for those wings... They weren't wings like a bird; the joints were all wrong, the skin leathery looking and featherless when spread out behind him. And those nails...claws.

"Oh..my...goddess.." Was all Addy managed to say. A single step was taken backwards and then another, all of her training and skill abandoning her in this time of need. Her shoulder throbbed an unsteady rhythm with her heart as she stumbled to a halt after backing up into Aela. "What... is it..."

[Alori Sai]

"Let's keep moving." Aela replied quickly as they continued their escape from an invisible predator. The heavy flapping sound brought both terror and confusion into the little hunter, as the situation grew more intense and she still didn't have any ideas of what was after them. "Are those...wings?" Stone and gravel crumbled from the ledge and Aela wondered if the whole thing would come crashing down beneath their feet. Hearing Aidara shriek and struggling to keep her balance, she quickly reached out to pull her friend back. Just as she did, Aidara had pushed herself away from the ledge and stumbled back into her, sending them both crashing onto the ground. Aela sigh aloud, bringing a hand to her forehead to push back the hairs that had fell into her face. That had been a close one for them both. Darkness covered everything around them and even as she had reached to pull her friend back, she couldn't see what was in front of them. Another loud huff escaped her lips as she pulled herself back to her feet. Aela turned and looked at the healer a bit strangely as she shrugged off their near-death experience as embarrassing. " Embarrassing...right." Aela hugged her chest and rubbed at her bare arms to warm them again. The air around them had suddenly gotten cooler, possibly from their location or the huge scare they just had. "Yea, I'm missing the city already." Aela slowed down a tad, her eyes staring toward Aidara. Something about her last words sent a deadly chill up her spine and a hard thump into her heart. Aela followed along as they made their way across the ledge and hopefully to a safer place. The eerie silence had returned and she was still fixed on the healer's last words. What could possibly have the wing strength of a Wind Eagle? Whatever it was, it had disappeared and she hoped for good. Reaching toward her head, Aela pulled her hair back behind her ears and let another sigh slip from her parted lips. It seemed that they had both been shaken by the sudden, and mysteriously frightening event. Once she had calmed herself, she smiled towards Aidara as she turned to speak. Suddenly, she flinched and threw her arms up to protect herself as a small gust of wind tore pass them and sent Aidara to her knees with a scream. "Are you ok?" She asked, her tone much lighter at the new alarm. Looking up, she could see the small form of the owl just before it disappeared into the darkness. "Was that Ash?" Turning back to her fallen friend, she noticed the ink black liquid slowly forming and then trailing from her shoulder and down her arm. "What just happened?" Another loud cry from Aidara broke her attentive eyes from her wound, and sent the girl spinning around to look behind her. What she saw appearing from the darkness was unlike anything that she could explain. The dream that she had, before she decided to venture out into the night was haunting and eerie but it was nothing compared to what she was feeling now. A loud shriek slipped from her lips and she reached up to cover her mouth with both hands to hold back anymore outburst. Aela's legs began to move on their own, first slowly stepping backwards and then stopping, and repeating the pattern. She stopped again, just behind Aidara, who then back into her. Reaching up, Aela gently cupped the woman's arms and slowly pulled her back as she attempted an escape. "I-I don't know..But..We can't stay here." The mammoth moved closer, stepping out from the shadows of the cliff and moving into open view. The pale glow of the moon shined down upon him, bringing his already grotesque features into an even harder light. Aela continued holding onto her friend as she slowly pulled them both further away from the huge beast and hoping not to startle it. It was moments like this that Aela wished that she had slept with her quiver on her back and her bow in her hands. She felt completely useless without it and unless Aidara had a weapon hidden on her, they both were completely defenseless. The winged creature continued to watch them silently, slowly he moved towards them, but only after they had stepped back a few paces as if he were toying with them. "Maybe we should run?" She whispered into Aidara's ear, her voice was shaky, mimicking the trembling movements of her shoulders. "Maybe we should.." She paused as the juggernaut made a second move, reaching his clawed hands out towards them. "What is it doing?"

[Aidara]

The question had hardly left Aela's mouth when the laughter started. It was a throbbing, pulsing and wholly inhuman sound. It did, however, leave the women with no doubt that it was a male. Addy gasped and instinctively covered her ears, an ache erupting inside her head as if her very brain rejected the sound.

"We have to get..." But Addy wasn't even able to finish her sentence. It seemed as if the sound of her voice only angered the Zith further; the laughter abruptly stopped and he lunged across the cliff, rapidly closing the space between them. It wasn't even a question what she had to do, the little woman putting all her weight behind one shoulder and jamming that shoulder against Aela's side, sending her flying and crashing into the mountainside.

At the same time, the Zith collided with the healer, claws extended and raking down towards her left side. Addy instinctively curled, trying to protect herself from the vicious claws. But as scantily clad as she was, just a simple cloth vinati and bryda, there was no protection at all.

The pain took her breath away as those claws sliced open her side, leaving her nothing with which to even scream. The half hunched curl she had been in the process of doing turned into a spasm of confused muscles. Laughing again, the Zith took a handfull of the woman's dark red hair, hoisting her off her feet and negligently tossing her off the side of the mountain. There was silence and then a thud a few ticks later. Luckily for Aidara, there was a similar ledge just a dozen or so feet down.

[Alori Sai]

"I must be dreaming...." Aela thought to herself just before the hideous cackling began. It was loud and ominous, seeming to tear inside her ears and racking at her brain. A yelp escaped her lips as her knees buckled, causing her to drop to the ground and cover her ears. The horrific chuckle only lasted a few ticks as Aidara's voice seemed to anger the beastly Zith and sending him into a rage. "Aidara, We !!" Aela said panicking as she pushed herself up as fast as she could. But her words were cut off as Aidara thrust a quick and powerful shoulder into her side. The blow was hard, knocking the breath out of her as it lifted her off her feet and sent her crashing into the mountain side. Aela gasped for air, turning onto her back, wrapping her arms around her side as the pain kicked in. It took her a moment to gather herself after the shock of being shoved into the hard, rocky side of the mountain. Her vision was blurred and slowly began to clear as she pushed herself up. "A-Aidara?" Her breaths were short, leaving her words as only whispers. Her deep green eyes widened as she looked on at the tiny form of the healer curled up on the ground with the massive Zith standing over her. Aela tried to move, but her legs were still weakened, making it hard for her to stand. She could feel her heart skip a beat before going into a throbbing rhythm as the beast lifted Aidara's limp body off the ground and tossed her off the mountain side. "No!!!" Enraged, Aela jumped up and charged the Zith, adrenaline had taking over, forcing her body to move as she raced toward him. The Zith saw her coming, and as he turned towards her, he threw his arm back allowing his claws to rack across her chest. His thick claws easily tore through the thin fabric in her vinati, leaving four claw marks across her breast. The force of the blow spun her around as she cried out in pain, just as another wicked slash shredded through the back of her vinati and dug into her back as the Zith finished turning. The second sharp blow had been as deep and painful as the first but the little huntress could only gasped as she dropped to her knees again. Aela curled over and hugged her body, the four matched, trails of blood on her chest and back bleed lightly and stained what was left of her vinati. The Zith moved close, wrapping his hand into her hair and lifting her off the ground as he had done to her friend only moment's before. Another yelp escaped her lips as she was strung up, she quickly grabbed at his wrist trying to free herself. Tears poured freely from her eyes as she started directly into his. The look on his face was a mixture of violent and sadistic pleasure. With the last of her strength, Aela shifted her body and brought her foot to the side of his head. This only angered him further as he growled at her before tossing her off the side of the mountain. Silent rose again, and Aela closed her eyes as the darkness enveloped her, before she crashed with a thud on the ledge close to Aidara.

[Aidara]

Oh, the pain. It was absolutely unbearable.

Addy had landed on the rocky ledge below with a sickening thump, her head bouncing off the cliff face with a burst of stars, the inky fingers of unconsciousness grasping at the edges of her vision. The easy route would be to just lay down her head and let the emptiness take her. With the absence of Leth's light, it wasn't hard to imagine the sweet relief of that painless slumber.

But Aela screamed from above and it took almost all of Addy's remaining energy to even lift her head and look up. Of course, she couldn't see anything at all except the leathery wings of the Zith protruding over the edge every once and a while. Unbeknownst to the healer, a thick river of blood trickled down behind her ear from the gash on the crown of her head, matting in that auburn hair.

With her head feeling increasingly light, and her muscles reacting as if they were made out of lead, Addy struggled to roll over onto her stomach. She knew there was something wrong. All of her time in the Infirmary, all of her skill, yelled at her that she needed to stop moving, elevate and put pressure on... whatever was hurt. But the girl above needed her...

First one hand and then the other, shaky limbs exerting what they could as she tried to push herself upright onto her knees. Immediately upon trying to sit up, the pain rushed to her head, an unpleasant pounding nearly sending her right back over. However, the little woman choked down the cry that threatened to break loose of her throat and gritted her teeth. Inch after painful inch and she would be sitting.

It was completely dark and impossible to see anything. Once she was off her back, Addy felt around the perimiters of her landing. Not very big at all, she would have to be carful. After what seemed like a dozen or more bells, Addys shaky hand found the protrusion of stone that she had originally whacked her head on, using it to pull herself up the final distance, twisting so that she could press her back against the cliff. Panting heavily and leaning back to close her eye, it was all she could do to not lose her dinner as her stomach heaved and rejected the strain she was putting on her body.

"Up." Addy muttered to herself, gathering what remained of her will to push her feet up under her sagging frame. "Up." Standing was the next step. After she did that, she would figure out a way to get back up to the Zith and the young woman Addy now felt responsible for. "Up, Endal. UP!"

Just as she sucked in a deep breath, closing her eyes and reading herself for the dizzing wave of pain that would most assuredly wash over her, there was a sharp yell from above. The feeling of something descending quickly made Addy look up, only to cry out and let herself fall to the side out of the way. Aela hit the rocks only a few feet away with a crunch.

"No!" There was laughter above again before the beating of what Addy assumed was great, bat-like wings. It was still coming for them, like a cat not quite done playing with its food. "Aela! AELA!" Flopping forward onto her stomach, Addy was able to reach the woman without much effort, searching hands stopping as they came into contact with Aela's hair. "Can you hear me? Aela!"

A sudden gust of wind blew the healers hair about, sending a spray of loose debris that would, in any other circumstance, have been easy to ignore. But the tiny pebbles seemed to aim straight for the gash on Addy's head, and she cried out in pain as light flashed before her eyes, blinding her with the intensity of the feeling. It was after the light faded that Addy began to laugh hysterically. She had lost a lot of blood. The Zith was close.

And there was nothing she could do.

[Alori Sai]

Aela laid frozen, her small frame lumped against the rocky build of the ledge. Every inch of her body cried out in pain, and blood still seeped out of the cuts on her chest and back. There was a ringing sound echoing through her head, and as she opened her eyes, she saw only blurs of spots sprinkled against blacken nothingness that surround her. She didn't want to move, afraid that the pain would be too much to bare, or realize that her body was truly broken. A few chimes after, she heard a voice, someone calling her name, someone that was now close to her, although all she could see were blurs. "A-Aidara.." Her voice squeaked and the sound was barely even a whisper. Suddenly she felt a cool breeze blowing through her hair and sending bits of dirt into the open wounds on her back. "Ahh!" A soft cry slipped from her lips as the added pain gripped her and seemingly awoke her from her dizzied state. It was hard to see anything, but there was a small figure kneeling close to her, the frame of a woman about her size in fact. "Aidara...get away.." she thought to herself just before a gentle yet bizarre laughter caught her attention. It was Aidara, the Endal woman, she had lost it. "A-Aidara...get a hold on yourself!" She would have yelled the words, but the fall had knocked the breath out of her forcing her words to come out between panted breaths. As the windy chill grew closer, she could hear a deep rumbling sound in the dark. The Zith was speaking to them, but not in a language that she could understand. It was all too much for the little huntress, she couldn't see anything, her body was racked with pain, and the Endal had lost her mind. There was only one choice to make, one thing she could do that might save one of them. With the Zith now hovering just over her head, Aela reached up, wrapping her arms around it's thick calf and swung her body off the ledge. It wasn't a hard choice to make, Aidara was an Endal, she was important to the city and needed for it's survival. Aela was just a simple glass blower with a head full of dreams, and no one would probably even miss her if she didn't return. In truth, the girl had never been more afraid in her life, although starvation was always close at hand, she rarely thought about dieing, and not like this...being hunted by a bat-winged villain. Aela held on as tightly as she could, her sudden movement and the addition of her body weight caught the Zith by surprise as his wings fought to keep him in the air. They plummeted down a few feet before the Zith could regain his control while he angrily kicked at her arms with his other foot. She cried out as his foot jammed into her again and again, her arms feeling as if they were going to break at any moment. Finally with a wicked kick from the beast, that landed on the side of her head, Aela released her grip and her limp body tumbled down the side of the mountain and onto another ledge where she crashed with a viscous thump.

[Aidara]

The Zith laughed as the Aela bounced on the ledge below, her frail little body flopping helplessly. It amused him, these little women, who were trying to hurt him. Pathetic. Turning in the air, the Zith traded glances between Addy and Aela, as if trying to decide where to go first.

Making up its mind to finish what it started, the Zith swooped down at Aidara, thinking that she was the weakest of the two; Aela lay still, but it was quite possibly only unconsciousness. With that malicious cackle still echoing off the mountainside, the monster swooped down onto the still form of the healer.

There was a loud, shrill cry and a whistle as something pelted through the air, followed in quick succession by a roar of rage and pain from the Zith. Claws, which had been only inches from the redheads pretty face, swiped ineffectively at the air around it's face; there were deep gouges where the Zith's left eye had been, tearing the skin down his cheek.

The cries of pain and anger roused Addy, and she blinked blearily at the dark sky. Unable to focus her eyes very well, the little healer saw a handful of Zith towering over her, swinging it's clawed fists wildly around its head. What..?

And then she heard the familiar hooting-scream, just barely able to make out a mass of inky feathers as they flew down at the Zith's face once more. Another sharp cry of pain and blood splattered the stone around where Addy lay. Growling and completely rabid with fury, the monster launched itself off the ledge and into the sky, wings beating furiously as it chased Addy's little owl.

"Ash! NO!" Managing to sit up, Addy crawled to the edge of her ledge, green eyes wide as she heard, somewhere beyond her ability to see through the night, another roar and the shriek of an owl. "NO!"

[Alori Sai]

Aela whimpered as she tried to pull herself up, the fall had done nothing to help her already fragile state, and now her head was spinning. She leaned against the mountain side, allowing the cold rocky surface to guide her back to her feet. It was hard to see anything from where she was, and to squinted her eyes only made her headache that much worse. She could hear Aidara's cries, that of the Zith, and finally Ashes. Aela looked around, trying to find something, a way to climb back up the mountain side. She had seen the condition that Aidara was in and wanted to get back to her as soon as possible. "Aidara!..Hey!" Suddenly, Ashes cries became loud, and even louder until she felt a small gust of wind whips past her. The little owl dashed past her quickly with the Zith behind him. Aela gasped and stumbled back, when the beast decided to leave the owl and attack her again. Within a tick, he had already wrapped his hand around the little Avora's neck and lifted her off her feet again. Her cries were tied off and echoed a dry cough, as the Zith chocked her. Aela wiggles around, her hands grasping at his, as she kicked at him as hard as she could. There wasn't much time to act, and she could already feel herself losing consciousness. Notching the bloody ripped meat where his left eye used to be, Aela reached up and crawled at his other eye as hard as she could. The Zith howled in anger, tossing her back against the mountain side. Another flash pushed passed her, dashing and whipping across the Zith's face until he took to the air again and disappeared into the shadows. Silent arose, and Aela was unsure of what to think. "Aidara!" She called out again, looking up towards the mountain again.

[Aidara]

Hearing her cry, the little owl reversed its course and went flying back towards his master; strange action for a bird, to be sure, but there was something different about all the birds around Wind Reach. Perhaps he heard the panic in her voice, or maybe it had been the little black owls intent all along.

Swooping in overhead, it took Ash only two tries before he was able to land on a large section of rock jutting out from the edge of the cliff. Hooting softly and twisting his head to the side, those big, deep blue eyes stared at the little healer for a second before he hooted again, more earnestly this time.

Addy had managed to stay sitting upright, though she was wobbling dangerously. "I need you to go down to Aela and make sure that she is alright." Even though the young woman in question was fighting for her life only a dozen feet below, there was a strange ringing in her ears that left Addy, for all intents and purposes, deaf to the rest of the world.

Watching as the little black ball of feathers disappeared into the inky night once more, Addy took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The clanging that echoed around the inside of her head made it impossible to hear even her own thoughts, and yet she managed to find the mental link to Sira that their bonding had formed two fold. SIRA! If she had the energy to wince, she would have at the pitched sound of her voice. SIRA! Help us. HELP! Hopefully, she wasn't too far away to hear the call.

Worn by the effort that simple action took, Addy slumped to the dirty, uneven stone and closed her eyes. A cool blackness engulfed her then, soothing all her aches and pains, dulling the ringing in both of her ears. It was nice... peaceful...

There was a sharp pain in one of her fingers, half bringing the healer back into the concious world. A slurred jumble of words was accompanied by a slightly lifted head before Addy sighed slowly, her head falling to bounce off he stone. Ash, having nipped firmly at Addy's hand, cooed in earnest and tried again, breaking skin and drawing blood with the intensity of his peck.

"Petch!" Still groggy, Addy opened her eyes and attempted to focus; the best she could do was reduce the six soot owls before her down to two. "Ash! Is she okay!" The little owl hooted again, hopped from foot to foot and disappeared over the edge of the cliff once more, telling the healer absolutely nothing.

Sira...hurry...

OOCI'ma get Sira to jump in next in response to Addy's call Hang tight.

[Sira]

Sira was asleep, Natalie cuddled up next to her. The young kelvic had taken to crawling into bed with her mother often, especially on the nights when Addy was out with her owl. Sira didn't mind the company, she wasn't used to sleeping on her own, and in truth was a bit jealous of the owl since it took away from the already finite amount of time she got to spend with her lover. Sira didn't know how Addy did it, being up all day nursing people back to health then going out at night to train Ash. Sira was generally exhausted by the end of the day. Though they weren't actively communicating, Sira could still feel something was wrong across their bond. She could feel fear and pain, though since she was asleep none of those things registered as anything real. Instead they translated to troubling dreams, nightmares, causing Sira to sleep restlessly and toss and turn. Eventually it got to the point where she annoyed Natalie so much that the young kelvic got out of bed and went back to her room. Sira didn't notice that, but when finally Addy screamed out across their bond for help her she was up in an instant. Her eyes shot open and Sira jumped out of bed. She didn't bother with clothing, though she had presence of mind enough to snatch up her bag that had her bow and sword in it and toss it out of the aerie before she jumped into the air behind it. The bag fell ahead of her, but Sira disappeared in a cloud of glittering smoke and light, the naked woman being replaced with a giant golden eagle. Sira snatched the bag in one of her talons then veered in the direction of Aidara. Their bond acted as a sort of homing beacon, and Sira could find Addy anywhere as long as she was close enough. The wind eagle flew as fast as she could, though she had to be careful navigating the dark sky. It didn't take long before she reached the healer and her new friend. Sira made out two blurred forms through the darkness on different ledges, both of them barely moving. She didn't see the Zith, it was busy defending itself against an angry owl. As she got closer she was able to figure out which one was Aidara and quickly swooped in to land beside her, dropping the bag on the ground and shifting back to human form. "Oh gods, Addy, are you okay!? What happened?" Sira dropped to her knees next to the wounded healer, not aware that the danger was still present. She looked bad. There was blood everywhere, and she appeared to have some gashes from something Sira couldn't identify in the dark. The kelvic wasn't a healer, though she had picked up a few things from Aidara. She needed to stop the bleeding to the head. Addy might have been able to heal herself somewhat, but Sira knew that she was probably too weak to do it at the moment. She had to try something. Running to her bag she pulled out her sword, cutting a strip of cloth from the sack and running back to Aidara. "Be still, I'm going to try to stop the bleeding, then I'll go check on the girl." OOCSince it's dark, it shouldn't be a problem that Aela and Sira don't recognize each other in the summer thread we have going together.