|
Post by darklight on Mar 24, 2010 1:17:48 GMT -5
Dirt around the tree was tough and tightly packed, but at the rapping on the thick root the dirt around it started to shift and then began to cave in on itself until there was a small hole in the surface, the hollow space below it a dark mystery.
|
|
|
Post by The Mammoth on Mar 24, 2010 13:07:51 GMT -5
Mammoth stepped back as the part of the tree he was knocking on mysteriously collapsed under his fist and the ground itself began to cave in. The small hole that was left at the top was no larger than his head, but he move the dirt and rubble away from it to look down into the cavity that was left.
I got a bad feelin' about this...
Mammoth looked into the hole and was greeted with the sight of a young girl. He paused for a second and shook his head.
"Dead body... Still fresh... Must not have been in here for very long..." He said to himself before he actually deduced that the root had grown around this girl. Suddenly he stood up and stepped back, pulling his sword. He was prepared for the worst. Whatever this was, she wasn't human, and if she was alive, things might go badly.
Mammoth readied himself for the worst...
|
|
|
Post by darklight on Mar 25, 2010 11:30:08 GMT -5
For the first time in years sunlight reached the body of the young girl and fresh air from the outside world brushed over her. As light warmed her cheek and wind rustled her hair, she stirred slightly. Her arms squeezed in tighter to her form and her nose and eyes crinkled with the expression of someone just waking up who would rather stay sleeping.
Very slowly the girl sat up, her thin limbs stretching out as her mouth opened wide on a silent yawn. Her eyes opened and closed a few times before her vision focused and she saw a man standing there, built as sturdily as the tree she'd been sleeping under.
She looked at him, expression a mixture of mild confusion and persistent sleepiness. The red cloak that hid her figure moved as her hand came out from under it and she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
|
|
|
Post by The Mammoth on Mar 25, 2010 15:50:12 GMT -5
Mammoth stayed in the same position, his blade at the ready, waiting for her to make her move.
When she did nothing but yawn like a little child being woken up from sleeping in, Mammoth still didn't lower his guard.
"What the hell are you?" He demanded. He had the feeling she was a demon, and that feeling wasn't letting up.
|
|
|
Post by darklight on Mar 25, 2010 16:49:31 GMT -5
She looked up at him with big eyes for a minute, her head slowly tilting to the side in a curious manner. After a moment of that look she stood up and dusted off her cloak and skirt. When she spotted the bed of flowers around the tree she smiled and knelt to look at then, touching the pedals gently.
She looked back over her shoulder to see the large man again, then looked behind him to the pretty woman with the long silver hair. Her smile widened and she stood again, jogging over to her. She looked up at her then ran around her in a small circle to get a better look.
|
|
|
Post by Ze on Mar 25, 2010 18:33:09 GMT -5
Glacia looked down at the girl as she sat on Kirin's back.
"hello," she smiled at the strange girl. Kirin didn't seem worried around the young girl, so Glacia wouldn't be either. Kirin's intuition on what to do and who to trust had been pretty spot on so far, so why not trust it now?
|
|
|
Post by darklight on Mar 25, 2010 18:42:54 GMT -5
The young girl waved then ran back to the tree. She knelt by the flower bed and looked through them before picking two flowers. She ran back to the pretty woman and her creature. She put a blue flower in the creatures mane and held a white one up to the woman, smiling at her.
|
|
|
Post by Ze on Mar 25, 2010 18:50:16 GMT -5
"thanks." she smiled as she took the flower, "but why don't you say hello?" She looked at the girl confused.
She didn't understand why the girl hadn't said a word yet, even though Glacia had been talking to her. She seemed a bit strange, but mostly nice, compared to the OTHER people she'd met.
|
|
|
Post by darklight on Mar 25, 2010 18:58:56 GMT -5
The girl opened her mouth and pointed to it. She moved her lips but no sound came out. She wasn't bothered by her own silence, seeming an upbeat girl. She'd been rather unaffected by the large man pointing his weapon at her.
She looked back at him and made a pondering face then returned to the flowerbed. She found a dark red flower and presented it to him, thinking he deserved to be treated nicely as well as the pretty woman.
|
|
|
Post by The Mammoth on Mar 26, 2010 15:11:51 GMT -5
Mammoth stepped to the side as the girl ran past him to go toward Glacia. Kirin didn't budge, and Mammoth knew a protective animal such as that wouldn't let a threat near her friend. It was obvious that the girl was not human, but rather some sort of supernatural creature, he had figured that much by where she had spent her time... in the root of a tree. Mammoth nodded his head as he put his sword back in his sling. The girl ran by him to grab flowers which she brought over to Kirin and Glacia.
Mammoth took his time walking back to the group, something felt wrong, and by the time he got there, he heard Glacia asking the girl to say hello. She pointed to her mouth, and made no sound. It started to make some sense, and when she grabbed a flower and handed it to him, he understood.
"Ya can't talk." He said, his tone calm and understanding, "Thanks." He said, taking the flower and gently laying it in his pack. He didn't care about the flower, but he understood that she was trying to be warm, so he took it.
Mammoth smiled to the girl, and turned around, he hoped she wouldn't follow, the last thing he needed would be to have to take care of two women that were useless in battle...
He headed toward the campfire and kicked dirt over the smoldering embers of the fire to ensure that it went out. As he did that, he could hear hoof beats over coming hard from the west. He turned and saw 5 men on horseback, they each had a bandanna around their face, and were riding hard, their pack mules in the distance behind them.
"Bandits... d**n... Stayed in one place to long."
Mammoth pulled his sword and took off to get himself between the bandits and the woman.
"GLACIA, SWORDS UP! LIKE I TRAINED YA!" He yelled turning back toward the five men that were charging. One had a spear, the other four had swords. Mammoth backed himself closer the two he was with. If he knew bandits around this area, these girls were a greater prize for them than any goods they may have.
As the men got closer, two split off to go around back and pick up the girls, the other three came right for Mammoth. The front-most man with the spear came dead ahead, intending to use his spear like a lance. Mammoth laughed and waited until the man was nearly on top of him before slammed his sword into the dirt in front of him. The horse slammed into the sword and flipped the man with the spear over Mammoth's head. Pulling his blade out of the ground with his right hand and catching the spear the with left, Mammoth sliced the bandit in two halves right down the middle with his sword. Rolling to the side to avoid the slash by one of the charging horsemen. The second bandit, a bit behind, caught the spear in the head, his horse veering off instead of running Mammoth over.
The last left Mammoth behind and headed toward the other two horses that were nearing the girls. Mammoth pulled his knife out of his pack, flipped it by the hilt and grabbed the blade before chucking it at the fleeing man. It hit him in the back of the head and he dropped off his horse.
Mammoth broke into a sprint, tearing at a speed a man of his size shouldn't be able to make... It was apparent these bandits had no idea who they were messing with...
d**n, I gotta get there and stop those horses or the girls are gone...
The men had already reached the women and he had a good 25 yards to make up...
|
|
|
Post by Ze on Mar 26, 2010 15:44:08 GMT -5
Glacia looked up alarmed at Mammoth's outburst, then she saw why he was alarmed.
She saw the men on horseback and watched as they divided around Mammoth, several heading over to her and the new girl. Glacia didn't think, moving Kirin to stand infront of the girl and then Glacia jumping behind the girl to keep the men away.
Kirin stomped her hooves into the ground as the men got closer. Glacia watched Kirin, noticing how oddly she was acting, watching the creature panting heavily as she reared back and slammed her hooves down into the ground, though she still never made a mark in the grass.
Then Glacia noticed something weird. Kirin's breath was... becoming visible. An orange tinge was appearing around Kirin's mouth, getting brighter and turning a red tinge as the men got closer. When they were in a close enough range, Kirin did something Glacia had never seen before.
She got into an offensive stance and then there was fire everywhere. She didn't know where all the fire was coming from, but then she remembered what she saw coming from Kirin's mouth and looked closer. It was crazy to see or believe... but Kirin was breathing fire...
|
|
|
Post by darklight on Mar 26, 2010 16:03:23 GMT -5
The young girl watched as men on horseback started to approach and the new people she had just met got ready for battle. Everything was so frantic and upsetting. She didn't like atmosphere at all.
She looked at the creature the girl had been riding.
Everything seemed to be under control. She was convinced these three could handle themselves.
Somewhere in the chaos, the young girl disappeared. No one was looking directly at her, the large man fighting and the pretty woman looking at her creature companion.
|
|
|
Post by darklight on Mar 26, 2010 16:07:30 GMT -5
((OH! Mammoth, congratulations on reaching 1000 posts!))
|
|
|
Post by The Mammoth on Mar 27, 2010 12:08:42 GMT -5
((Thank ye))
Mammoth stopped running as Kirin blew fire like a crazed dragon. The flames licked out toward him, and he stood there as the smoke and the dust that was kicked up cleared. When he could finally see again, standing in front of two charred half-skeleton figures was Kirin, the beast showing off its true nature.
Mammoth chuckled as he walked up and kicked over the skeletons which erupted into dust.
"Remind me not to piss YOU off." Mammoth said, patting Kirin on the back as he walked by. He headed over to the Glacia and checked to see if she was alright, he couldn't see where the other girl went, but she obviously was not going to be taken by the now torched or dismembered bandits.
Mammoth walked over to the corpses of the three he dispatched and rummaged through their pockets and took what money they had. They had a good bit of well-made gear, which implied they had just been in town. Mammoth walked over and took the reins of the two horses that had started to wander away together. The third that Mammoth had caused to rear back had a broken back leg. It likely wouldn't make it, so Mammoth put it out of its misery with a swift stab to the back of the neck.
He walked the horses back over the the corpse with a knife in the back of its head and he pulled the knife out of the man. Wiping it down and placing it back where it belonged in his pack. These were well trained horses, they weren't even attempting to escape Mammoth's grip. It made him wonder exactly where these bandits came from to have gathered such equipment and such mounts. Mammoth cracked his neck and climbed up on one of the horses. His sword, which typically would weigh down any person who tried to use it, had no effects on animals, but the animal would struggle under Mammoth's weight. Either way, that was why he grabbed two of them, when one got tired, he could switch horses. Once he was up on the horses back he looked back to Glacia.
"Let's get movin'."
|
|
|
Post by Ze on Mar 27, 2010 12:31:54 GMT -5
Glacia had to shake herself out of her shock, glad she hadn't paid attention as Mammoth killed the horse, she didn't know if she could've handled seeing that.
But then she saw what was left of the men attacking them and it was hard to believe that Kirin had done that... she'd never seen Kirin be even remotely hostile before... and now two men had been incinerated...
Kirin moved over to Glacia and nuzzled her side, not wanting Glacia to be wary of her. Glacia looked at her before patting her neck, she didn't think she could ever be afraid of Kirin.
But then Mammoth got their attention, telling them to move out.
"wait, what about that girl? she just disappeared."
|
|