Target Practice (Jaeden)

[Aella]

“No offense to you, Red, because I’m sure you’ve found yourself a great guy, but… I’m pretty confident that Jaeden’s lacking in the brains department,” she announced without sugar-coating it. “Chivalry’s only sexy on living bodies. And not always then. How far off is he?” She ducked into her tent, pulling out her backpack with a grunt. Each step was still a bit labored and carried a limp within it. She pulled out her bedroll. “If he’s not too far off we’ll go and come back for most of this later. My pot is going to be too hot to transport. Otherwise I guess help me pull down the tent.”

[Jaeden Kincade]

Red pointed towards the south, standing there patiently as she leaned forward, looking over the preparations she made in curiosity. “He was about a mile south of here, that way.” Red then explained as she reached out her hands out to hold something for Aella if she needed such. “I’m not certain if the battle he’s having is carrying him further away or closer to us though. I’m barely able to catch any scent of him from here, since there’s barely any wind.”

She slowly looked around, sniffing the air once again. “Whatever was attacking had a smell of human to it, but something else as well, animal.” Red explained as she crouched down, slipping her hands along the ground. “I couldn’t tell which was more dominant as Jaeden had made me leave before I got a real good smell.”

Red then gave a final glance around before finally asking. “Is your horse nearby, otherwise it might take a short time to reach him?” Red inquired.

[Aella]

“Well, I suppose we’ll just have to find him then. You’ll catch wind of him again.” Aella handed her bedroll over to Red. She crawled further into her tent to pull out her backpack, shoving her cloak into it roughly as she crawled back. “Smell of human and animal? Petching great. Sounds like the type of creature I woke up hoping I’d run into this morning,” she announced sarcastically. She paused for a moment, looking around the place. The decision was quick, but she decided if her tent got stolen she’d just cry and whine until Jaeden helped her locate a new one… Or if she was stuck sticking around with him for a while maybe she’d… A smirk curved up onto her lips as she thought whatever thought she was having. Likely it was dirty. Or mean. Maybe both. “The horse is over there. Here, hold this, please?” She handed over her things before starting off towards him. “I need to get him saddled and bridled.” And with that said, she moved to do just that.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Red simply nodded as Aella continued to pile things into her arms, and oddly enough, she felt as though Aella was beginning to pile everything into her arms for her to carry. “Well, I just don’t know, I didn’t even see it. It could have just been a human, who had an animal pet.” Red then explained, “I never got a look at it before being sent away, just a faint scent.”

Red stood beside Aella as she continued to prep her horse for travel, and would soon hand her things in order she asked for them. The little curling of her toes and occasional glance in the direction that Jaeden was gave small hints of her anxiousness to go. Whatever she was feeling from Jaeden through their bond seemed to put her more on edge to rush back to him, despite her accordance to his wishes. Hopefully, with Aella with her, his willingness to accept some help would increase.

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Jaeden gave a slow exhale, his eyes focused on his surroundings. With the winds blowing and the dried leaves brushing along the grounds with that wind, it made things difficult to focus on any sound of approach that his aggressor made towards him. Jaeden was saved when a shift in the wind bought a stench of a smell to his nostrils. He quickly spun around, dried leaves crunching under his boot heels as he did so. The arrow was drawn back mid spin as he raised his bow, his eyes widening slightly as he saw the figure jumping towards him, brown fur draped fluttering slightly with as a swing of the arm brought an almost clawed hand backwards. Jaeden took a quick inhale of air, releasing his finger grip along the string of his bow. The arrow was faulted forward, quickly sailing into the air before striking the jumping figure. Jaeden quickly duck, rolling his body forward along the ground as the figure’s arm swing through the air at his head, missing it narrowly.

Jaeden planted his feet along the ground, grasping one of the arrows that had managed to slip out of his quiver off the ground. His body spun again, nocking the arrow into his bow as he gazed across the forest grounds, seeing the figure standing there, motionless for a moment. It slowly turned, brown fur seeming to stretch and wrinkle with the motions as Jaeden’s arrow began to peek into view, sticking strait out from under the chest. As Jaeden drew the string of his bow and leveled the arrow towards the figure, that’s when he noticed the head, or rather a face almost hidden by the head. A frown then crossed his features as he noticed that there was a human standing in front of him. A human covered in the skin of an animal, a fresh skin by the smells of it. His hands bore a glove of sorts, patched in the fur the skin and tipped along the fingers with long, sharp metal claws. A quick exhale was released as Jaeden loosed the second arrow, sending another one strait into the human’s chest. “You aren’t a creature or monster that I didn’t recognize,” Jaeden said as he slowly stood, almost disgruntled over the fact, “just a human dressed in the skin of a recently killed animal. Oriana would want to spank you for what you took though.”

The human figured fell back along the ground, two arrows speeding his retreat from his mortal coil. Jaeden just gave another grumble as he reached down, picking up a few other scattered arrows. “They said he was better than average,” a voice then suddenly echoed out from the forest, causing Jaeden’s head to quickly turn towards the source.

A short distance away, Jaeden spotted two more figures stepping out, each one wearing a skin of their own as one wore the skin of a wolf, the other a puma. “We thought the skins would be useful in throwing off the nose of his Kelvic, but he sent her away and we thought that the challenge may be gone.” The one who wore the skin of the wolf then said, tipping back to the headdress to reveal a bloodied face and malevolent eyes.

“Looks like we can still have fun.” The one in the puma outfit then said as the head of the puma was then pushed back as well, revealing a female staring towards Jaeden with interest.

“Petch.” Jaeden simply muttered under his breath.

[Aella]

As soon as she got her nameless horse ride-worthy, she took the bedroll and stuffed it into her saddle bag. Listening to Red talk, she pursed her lips and wrinkled her nose, thinking over what was being said. Despite the fact that they’d discovered Aella up a tree, she did actually know how to survive out in the Wildlands. She had been for quite some time – By herself for some of it even. She gave a little shake of her head. “It’s likely that. I doubt the bark bears have figured out how to use human piss to mask their scent. Or, you know, sew a suit made out of human skin.” Her backpack was shoved into her saddle bags. Grabbing onto her horse’s mane, she swung herself up onto his back and looked at Red. “What are you waiting for? Come on. Lead the way,” she said with a heaving sigh, though when she bowed her head she tried to hide the big grin on her face.

[Jaeden Kincade]

Red almost frowned when Aella asked her suddenly what she was waiting for. There was a slight amount of angst over the hesitance she displayed over leaving right away, only to sarcastically show a sign of impatience when she was ready. “If you weren’t helping me and Jaeden, I’d classify you as a “bitch” right now.” Red said, almost in a frustrated tone before she turned slightly, taking a quick smell of the air. “We have to hurry a bit though, I sense he’s a little unnerved.”

She eventually lowered her head, looking strait towards the general direction she had come from. A slow lean forward and she was soon moving, her naked frame crouching closer to the ground with each step before a golden light began to shimmer across her body as the shift into her animal form was done in mid run. Only a short moment passed before she was once again a small fox, running forward at a quick pace, weaving around tress and rocks and hoping over small obstacles in her path. The fall season had thinned the foliage enough that Aella could follow the small animals movements along top of her horse, and the ride to where Jaeden was would seem like a short one.

__________________________________

Jaeden’s feet stomped the ground as he ran quickly, his gaze following the movements of the other two as the ran through the forest in a linear path with his own. He caught hints of smiles from under the animal headdresses they wore. A frown crossed his features, realizing they were fresh kills. In the end, he found it would be difficult to kill both a wolf or a puma, having known Kelvics who’s animal forms were such animals, unless he had to defend himself. These men were not animals, however, nor Kelvics.

In truth, it angered him just a bit, that they would kill the animals just for this purpose, but such was only a slight figment of though in his mind at the time. Jaeden came to a sudden, sliding halt along the ground, his feet anchoring his position for a moment as he raised his bow, drawing back the string. As he stopped, the two men began to run forward at him. Jaeden leveled his bow upon the nearest one approaching him, as his smirk threatened Jaeden under the muzzle of the wolf headdress, despite the bow being aimed. Jaeden’s finger loosed the string of the bow, sending the arrow vaulting forward towards his foe. His aim had been hurried and sloppy, however, and it took the wolf dressed human on a slight ducking motion to avoid getting struck.

A slight grumble echoed under Jaeden’s mouth as he began running backwards, quickly turning as he pulled another arrow from his quiver. These two were not your typical woodland thugs or slavers. They were fast, and had little fear in their eyes over confrontation. Further more, they seemed to recognize It made Jaeden wonder, but not enough to inquire during combat. A quick turn was taken as Jaeden began running along towards the east for now. He debated on whether or not to give a whistle, calling Fortunado to his side so he could ride away. So far his aggressors were keeping pace with his foot speed, which wasn’t normally a simple task. Not only that, but they seemed to be doing so with relative ease, hinting that they could close the gap between themselves and Jaeden if they wanted to. Jaeden frowned on this, realizing that they were trying to tire him out.

Jaeden suddenly stopped again, drawing back the string to his arrow once again as he leveled it at the foe wearing the puma skin this time. Again, his aim was hurried and sloppy as he loosed the arrow, but this time the distance was shorter. Still, as the arrow soared through the air, it had only managed to graze the man along his shoulder, slightly tearing through the animal skin and the his flesh. Barely as scratch.

Jaeden almost growled as he tossed his bow aside, readying himself for closer combat. His hand snatched down to the hilt of his sword, pulling it free from it’s sheath as the two came to a halt, raising gauntlets similar to the one the first one used. Jaeden’s elevated breathing, his heart pumping, he prepared himself, his gaze shifting between the two. “Just don’t let them touch you,” Jaeden thought to himself.

[Aella]

She let out a little snerking sound at being called a bitch. The grin slowly grew until she was practically beaming at Red, even as she clicked her tongue and gave her horse a little nudge to get going. “Red, I’m just giving you a hard time, but you’re right. I am a bitch. And proud of it.” She paid no mind to the hurrying part. She was on a horse and coming to the rescue. Hurrying was sort of implied. Plus following a sprinting fox through the woods required you to move fast. She leaned forward in her mount and flicked the bridal as an indication that she would like to go even faster. During the ride nothing was said. She knew it wouldn’t do any good to try to talk to Red, and she didn’t have anything to say. Generally she wasn’t very happy about having to help, but Jaeden had helped her out of the tree on their first meeting. She owed him one. Now she was just waiting for Red to give her the sign to stop. She assumed that they’d stay back a safe distance as to not alert whatever they were about to pick a fight with.

[Jaeden Kincade]

It would take about a quarter bell of hard riding before Red finally slowed down herself, and then about another five chimes of a hurried pace before they began hearing the signs of a battle. Red increased her speed just a little more, causing Aella a bit of a struggle when it came to the wound along her leg to keep up. She somehow managed find, however, a subtle shouts and grunts echoed through the forest. Signs of the battle could be seen as they moved through the foliage. An arrow imbedded into the ground, cut foliage, a broken tree branch, or gouges in the dirt where feet had landed hard along the ground, or a swung weapon had missed it’s mark. It wasn’t long before the pair came across the dead body, two arrows stick into the chest of the male human, the fresh skin of a bear covering his body, worn almost like a suit of some sort.

A thud had then been heard, one that resembled a body falling along the ground. Red quickly moved from the body, following the source of the sound, her ears twitching and her nose bobbing up into their air and down to the ground to follow scents she had picked up more easily now. Soon, Red stopped dead in her tracks, shifting into her human form as a look of freight crossed her features. As Aella rounded a tree, peering just around it‘s edge, there she saw Jaeden on his knees, his gaze lowered to the ground, several small cuts lining his body. His face had the expression of someone who had given up, someone who was ready to just let a death blow come. The two other men he had been fighting with, one covered with the skin of a wolf, the other the skin of a puma, stood over him. The human in the puma skin just continued to poke Jaeden lightly with the bladed gauntlet he wore, trying to elicit some sort of reaction as small, superficial wounds were being made with each poke along Jaeden‘s arm. “He isn‘t fighting back anymore Brother Wolf.” the man said, looking over to the other.

“Yes, it has become quite boring, I agree. What should we do, Brother Puma?” Brother Wolf replied, tilting his body down in front of Jaeden as he tried to gaze into his eyes. “Should we just kill him now and look for another challenge?”

“I would have thought this one would have lasted longer, especially after killing Brother Bear.” Brother Puma said, releasing a sigh. “May as well be done and over with it.”

“No!” Red uttered in a panicked whisper, her heart racing. She was suddenly off, shifting once again into fox form as she bolted towards Jaeden without a word of warning to Aella. Fortunately for both of them, both of Jaeden‘s attackers had yet to notice the presence of either of them.

[Aella]

By the time Aella got to a point where she could see what was going on, she was in enough pain that someone was going to get punched in the base of the skull and likely between the legs. The sight of the man in the bear suit had left a bad taste in her mouth, though she’d seen worse in her time. It took a moment for her to really get a good sense of what was going on. And yet she’d immediately scowled at the expression she could make out on Jaeden’s face, something about it clearly making her unhappy. An eyebrow lifted up as Red went darting off, and she rubbed at her mouth for a second trying to get her wits about her. “I’m going to have to talk to her about planning things out better,” she mumbled to herself before reaching to situate her bow on her thigh. Red needed something to distract their attention from her if she was set to do what Aella thought she was. So Aella, being the resourceful woman she was, ripped her shirt up over her head, took up her bow and nocked an arrow. The bow was quickly lifted up, and just as she practiced earlier, she pulled the string back until she was about to touch her cheek. She stood up a little in her saddle. She moved to get a good aim on the man in the wolf skin. The string was released, sending the arrow rocketing towards the little group. She then yelled, “Oi! Getta look at these!” Surely a topless bow-wielding woman would make for a good distraction, right?

[Jaeden Kincade]

Red rushed forward, her body leaping over a fallen tree branch and brushing along some of the higher growing foliage. This was what first drew the pair of combatant’s attentions as their heads turned towards the sound, spotting Red rapidly approaching. “The little forest doggy returns, Brother Wolf.” Brother Puma pointed out.

“Perhaps she can give us better sport, Brother Puma.” Brother wolf then said before Aella’s arrow zipped forward past Red, sinking deeply into Brother Wolf’s leg.

He yelled out in pain, his leg being driven back as he fell to the ground. Brother Puma immediately began dashing to the side in response as he began to circle around the area, bringing Aella into his sights more fully. He paused, coming to a stop as a surprised expression crossed his features seeing Aella topless, standing along the back of her horse. “What foolery is this?” Brother Puma then asked, confused as much by her presence as by her appearance.

“Just kill her Brother Puma!” Brother Wolf echoed out angrily, slowly raising his bladed gauntlet over Jaeden’s prone form kneeling before him. “I’ll finish the woodsman.”

Red continued forward, a low growl escaping her mouth as she leapt towards Jaeden, the golden flashes of light surrounding her animal form. Her human form then appeared after the lightshow had ended, her arms outstretched towards Jaeden as she collided with him, forcing him backward as they rolled along the ground just before Brother Wolf’s strike could find it’s mark, the blades of his gauntlet plunging into the earth. Red laid along top of Jaeden, grasping his leather armor as tears began filling her eyes. “Wake up!” Red yelled, shaking his body. “Come back to us. Come back!”

“Red?” Jaeden suddenly said, his eyes coming into focus as he looked up into Red’s eyes.

“Yes?” Red said, leaning forward as a teardrop fell on his face.

“Your wiggling around on top of me while naked is giving me an erection.” Jaeden said as his hands rested on her rear. “It’s going to make it difficult for me to fight.”

Red gave a quick laugh of relief before rearing back her hand and slapping Jaeden across the face. “Don’t do this to me again!” Red suddenly said.

Jaeden suddenly grabbed Red by her shoulders as he rolled both of them further along the ground as another strike from Brother Wolf came swinging towards them. Jaeden gave a quick glare towards the man, his brow knotting into a frown. “You can slap me further later,” Jaeden then simply said, pushing himself slowly off the ground, “for now, be a dear and go get my bow. It’s about one hundred yards east of here.”

“Right!” Red replied, quickly rolling off her back and shifting into animal form once again before running off.

Jaeden stared at Brother Wolf, a complete disdain appearing in his eyes. Brother Wolf simply smiled at him, limping towards Jaeden as he drew back his hand. “Lost your sword.” Brother Wolf said, swinging his bladed gauntlet at him.

Jaeden stepped forward, catching Brother Wolf by his wrist, much to Brother Wolf’s surprise, before Jaeden’s free hand rose up through the air, closed into a fist as it collided with Brother Wolf’s chin. The strike forced Brother Wolf slightly up into the air before he landed along his back, grunting slightly. “Lost your speed.” Jaeden simply said as he ran around Brother Wolf, going for his longsword.