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Post by kitsune on Sept 29, 2011 17:26:56 GMT -5
Ruby rolled her eyes and didn't respond. She growled as the bullet hit him, almost falling off of the horse in surprise. She recovered and looked at his sholder, scowling. She slapped the horse to go faster, silently praying it would listen.
She felt Ambrose go slack, and cursed in french. She grabbed him and glanced behind her, breaking into a cold sweat now. Fear was rising, and soon they would be caught. She growled, holding on for her life.
Aruptubly, the horse stopped, making a sort of scream of rage and fear. Ruby sharply looked in front of her. A regular houscat sat there, with an abnormally long tail. The soliders were gaining fst, and she slapped the horse, HARD. "Get a move on you idiot! It is a cat!" she yelled in English.
The cat twitched an ear, seeming amused. Its tail suddenly grew a lot longer, and t grew... TO THE SIZE OF THE HORSE. Its mouth scretched from ear to ear, unnatural and scary. She heard on of the soliders gasp behind her. Obviously, this was no normal cat. She stared for a moment, unamused. The cat was all black with a white spot on its chest, and it seemed to posess some type of power.
Its mouth stretched wide, into a witchlike smile. Bright wings seemed to sparkle on its back, they looked lke those of a dragonfly. Wth a loud hiss, it pounced toward Ruby and the horse, making it rear up.
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Post by morrisb on Sept 30, 2011 9:14:40 GMT -5
Whatever this wonder-cat was, the psoglav did not like it. It snapped at it, trying to tear off its limbs with its fearsome fangs. Ambrose murmured silently: - "Can't I even die in peace ?!"
The soldiers behind Ruby gasped in surprise and terror, not expecting such a sudden turn of events. Their horses turned wild, frightened.
"A curse upon it all, this is too much to handle on our own !" - one grunted.
"Let's leg it ! We'll catch them later !" - the other replied, and acted accordingly. The horsemen turned tail and tried to gallop as far as possible from the new menace.
Now Ruby and Ambrose, as well as their savage mount were left alone with the strange creature...
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Post by kitsune on Sept 30, 2011 19:10:40 GMT -5
The cat like thing lunged again, making the horse rear up. Ruby cursed and leaped off of the horse, dragging AMbrose with hr. She laid him on the ground as the cat and horse got into a bloody, gory battle; the cat did not bother them, due to being busy with trying to eat the horse... yet...
Ruby leaned close to Ambrose, having a worried face. For once, she cared about someone besides herself. She tried to apply pressure to stop the bleeding in the most major wounds. "You'll be OK; don't say you'll die, let's go into the forest...[/color]" she begged, eyes wide. She grabbed his arm and tried to drag him into the forest, which was nearby. With a gasp, she tried to go into the bushes, yawning.
Ruby looked behind her, hearing the loud squealing and screetches of the horse. She felt slightly bad, but it was better it than it eating her or Ambrose. She winced, hoping once it was done it would go away and leave them alone. SHe head silence then, and weariness befell her. She fell asleep then, wiped out... Meanwhile, the giant cat loomed closer,silent and very much wanting to kill...
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Post by morrisb on Oct 1, 2011 14:48:24 GMT -5
And loomed closer... and closer...Ruby lost consciousness... ... She woke up in the middle of a small clearing, her wounds caused by shrapnels treated by medicine. "...next time I'll bring canines only. At least they are obedient." - a male voice sighted, speaking in english. - "Still I do think you overreacted when you burnt that cat to ashes." " Keep your paltry opinion to yourself, druid." That voice... a language as old as the world itself...Another dragon ?! That's odd... the voice was strict, deep, powerful, fear-inspiring - but too silent to come from a mature dragon's throat. She soon realized why. There were three other people on the clearing. First, a brown-robed man with similarly brownish beard, treating the second person, who happened to be Ambrose, still unconscious. The third... images.wikia.com/lotr/images/e/e8/1165596377sauron1.jpg... creepy.Not as if his stature was tall or anything - she was barely taller than Ruby herself, but his eyes, those sinister amber eyes would probably make even a basilisk weep in shame. His equipment did not suggest a friendly character either. His stygian dark armor, covering him from toe to neck was formed primarily by black steel scales... or were those actual dragon scales ? Who knows... the black gauntlets covering his hands resembled horrid claws, and a grim cape attached to his plates floated like a restless, leathery wing, as if missing its 'pair' from the warrior's back. The black armored man faced Ruby for a moment, before turning away in disguise, grunting, all the while black smoke exited his mouth. " Disgrace." - he said. Maybe referring to Ruby...
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Post by kitsune on Oct 2, 2011 19:46:53 GMT -5
Ruby blinked her now deep red eyes, rubbing them slightly and growling softly. The brown had faded due to her now negative mood. She sat up and glared at everyone around her, wondering what in the world they were doing here. how did she get here? She ran her hand down her deep red hair and tried to remember...
Oh yes, she had fainted... the cat must have been scared away. She looked at the people here, and at first particularly paid attention to Ambrose. She gasped, wondering if he was OK, but noticed the rise and fall of his chest and relaxed slightly. She had grown to respect him, and actually worried for him.
Glancing up, she looked at the man with those deep amber eyes. She shuddered he was obviously dragonic. She froze as he looked at her, deep red eyes flowering with worry. When he turd away, she heard what he said.
Immidiatly, she began to hate him. He was probably royalty, at least a higher rank than she. She had a mission to become the ruler of all dragons, and he was one in the way. Plus, the way he described her... a disgrace... She let out a growl, not loud enough to be heard, but turned her back to him, narrowing her eyes and wondering how she could achieve getting back to dragon form...
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Post by morrisb on Oct 3, 2011 13:15:21 GMT -5
After this scene, the so-called 'druid' turned towards Ruby, trying to lighten to mood:
"Ah, I see the sleeping beauty has awoken. Worry not of your friend, young lady. He will need continuous treatment for a couple of weeks, but I'm sure he'll recover. Maybe even regrow his lost arm if he's lucky."
Once he set Ambrose' body parts into comfortable positions, he stood up and swept the dust from his robes.
"The name's Benett, a druid of distinct Albion, or England if you prefer. I apologise on my partner's behalf-"
"I apologise if I feel like it." - the draconic warrior stated in a roaring voice. As if corresponding, the sound of thunder roared across the darkening sky. - "Not a single ounce of power in human form, is this how deep our noble bloodline has sunk !? What next, will the next generation degenerate into lizards, forgetting even how to breathe fire ?!" - he ranted.
The druid, Benett, sighted. - "Please, just... ignore him. My draconic 'friend', Zmey... has social issues."
The warrior he referred to as 'Zmey' did not found this statement worth commenting on so he began to stoll away casually. Ruby couldn't help but witness how plants withered as he walked, and the soil rotted beneah his feet. Zmey radiatied a kind of ruinous power that is best avoided.
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Post by kitsune on Oct 8, 2011 11:06:46 GMT -5
Ruby nodded, slightly glad that Ambrose would survive. He had saved her countless times, and for that, Ruby was grateful. She glanced at him and was surprised... regrow limbs? He had already shown off his cool powers before. She shrugged and looked back up at the man who had spoke.
In reply, she said, "Thank you for saving us from that cat thing, whatever it was. And as for your partner..." she had been about to go of on a rant about him needing to be more polite to dragonic people, even if the darker man was a dragon himself. IT was obvious, really. But she got interrupted, just as the druid had been.
She smirked, amused. "Puh, you think I needpower in my dragonic state?! I pack it all into my dragon form, because I do not need power if I want to be in weak human form. Why would I seek outa fight in it? You having power in your petty human form simply means you lack true power in dragonic form. I am in a dilemma now cause I am stuck in this form, but you betcha I can take you down as a true dragon!" she snapped, chuckling.
She looked at the druid, raising her eyebrows. In a sarcastic but friendly tone, she replied, "No worries. ALL dragons have social problems!" She laughed at that, the irony of it was that it was normally true.
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Post by morrisb on Oct 8, 2011 12:19:26 GMT -5
Benett looked rather frightened at Zmey, unsure what to expect.
Zmey turned towards Ruby, staring into her eyes. She could have sworn the air pressure got a lot heavier in that moment, and the sky darker and more lightning-filled, and if she glanced down, she could have seen pebbles 'dancing' on the ground, as if it slightly shook...
"The sole reason I'm not punishing you for your insolence" - Zmey stated in an emotionlessly cold tone - "Is because you are obviously a oblivious hatchling who thinks her opinion and strength is equal to that of an adult only because she is past her 200th birthday. Secondly, our kind is becoming rare as it is, so I have no intention to contribute to the work of those dirt-born human maggots. As such I'll be forgiving of your utterly ridiculous and illogical perceptions. For Now."
Again, he turned away and showed his back to Ruby.
"I will be off for now, red-scaled hatchling. Pray that I'll be in a generous mood when we meet again."
And with that said, Ruby perceived an odd transformation: the cape attached to the back of Zmey's armor became alive on its own, relocating itself to the left side of his back, slowly taking the shape of a sinister, scaled, leathery wing, as large as a man. Even more oddly, a pair of the wing sprung forth from the right side of Zmey's back armor, seemingly out of nowhere. Zmey stretched his newly acquired wings, bent his knees, then pushed himself off ground with a large sweep, causing a gale which covered Benett and Ruby in mud and pieces of shurbbery along with an ant hive.
He raced towards the sky, off to the horizon. Mysteriously enough, the stormclouds above and the shaking of the ground ceased with his departure.
Benett pushed off the dirt and ants from his robe, coughing from dust in his mouth. - "I suppose it's true... *cough*, all dragonkin share... *cough, cough* an occasionally harsh attitude..." - he muttered.
As soon as he got himself together, he tried to help up Ruby, trying to share some advice in a friendly tone:
"Young lady, your courage to stand up to anyone is admirable, but please don't temper Zmey. He is your elder by... hm, it's impolite to inquire of a lady's age, but Zmey said he gave up counting his years after 3160-something, so do presume he counts as your elder..."
A black dragon who is over 3160 years old ?!
In dragon terms, he is of the highest class of nobility ! Or maybe even of royal bloodline !
But if that is so, why is he wasting time in his human form, in the company of a human druid, in the middle of an insignificant eastern european kingdom ?
He could be bluffing of course, maybe saying a bigger number than his actual years just to make the druid fear him or something, but his very emanation and appearence, as well as the demonstrations of power (done without even raising a finger !) suggested he was of higher class than Ruby.
But in any case, she was stuck with Benett and the unconscious Ambrose for the moment. Finally there were no random idiots and accidents forcing her to do anything. That's some progress at least.
Benett sighted and checked his pouch. Luckily it stayed more or less clean.
"I suppose I'll... take some time to relax." - he said. - "Feeling hungry ?"
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Post by kitsune on Oct 22, 2011 11:21:13 GMT -5
Ruy narrowed her eyes. "He'd better be lucky we don't meet again when I am dragonic form... I will rip him to shreds!" she muttered. Anyone who knew anything about dragons would know that she was exaggerating. What Zmey had said was true; she was only a young hatchling, perhaps just before her 500th birthday. She was a bit too naive to realize her mistakes and threats. She sat down with a humph, muttering under her breath about how she wished she could shift right now. She in dragon form didn't even have wings yet! That would come at her 2000th birthday. She had a long way to go indeed.
She looked at the druid, frown deepening. "That statement is indeed true, I suppose. Anyways, I am hungry, yes... but I can deal with it." The dragon girl was being very stubborn, a bit too much so for her own good. She crossed her arms angrily and shook her head.
So, that dragon guy seemed to be royalty... if she took him down, she could take his place! Born as a peasant dragon, she wanted to make more of a place for herself in this world. Her eyes glowed red as she thought about it evilly, grin growing wider.
She stood up, turning her back to the druid. "I might be on my way soon; but do you know the solution to my problem? I am stuck in this form."[/color] Like it wasn't obvious; but she supposed he might have a suggestion nonetheless.
Her worries heightened as she thought of the pursuers. Surely they would set out to find her... But why? She figured she wasn't significant to humans. She ignored them most of the time anyway, from her belief that they were inferior. She didn't go out of her way to hurt them.
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Post by morrisb on Oct 22, 2011 13:33:46 GMT -5
Benett was munching a piece of bread when Ruby asked him, so he had to swallow that piece first. He scratched his beard, deepening into thought.
"Hm, I suspected you were cursed since you couldn't deal with that annoying cat. But in any case... if I knew what method was used, I could might attempt to remove it, but without proper knowledge I wouldn't try anything rash, because it could result in a disaster, like losing your scales, or even worse."
Just. F*ing. Great.
"Still, there's something I could do... but I will need materials. Essentially, I could craft a little amulet or talisman which lets you use a portion of your powers in human form. I know I know, being a great wyrm is much more awe-inspiring, but it's still better than nothing."
Afterwards, he took an additional bite, and readied a pear as well.
"I would gladly help, lady, but see, the options are rather limited. You should seek out acquintances of some sort to shelter you until the war raging across the lands passes, or the curse lifts from you, whichever happens faster..."
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Post by kitsune on Oct 22, 2011 18:50:22 GMT -5
Ruby snorted in displeasure. It seemed like now she would be stuck like this for quite a while. She shook her head and facepalmed, sinking to the ground and staying silent for a few minutes. Finally, she narrowed her eyes and replied with a sigh, "Alright, I can try to help you make that amulet. As for help, I have no idea where to go, considering how I am virtually defenseless at this point. I do have superb speed and strength, but that won't help me. Have any weapons?"
Maybe she would be able to win a few battles with a weapon of sort. She hoped there would be one available, considering how she was desperate right now. She glanced over to Ambrose, wondering if he would ever wake up. Turning her red eyes gaze back to the druid, she hesitated to ask a few things, but came out with it nonetheless.
"Er, Why was that royal dragon with you? And why did you help me anyways?" she questioned, eyes narrowed. She didn't have money to pay him back, not even gold. She was probably miles away from her cave, and it was most likely looted when she had been captured.
Thinking of her wealth being robbed, she growled, crossing her arms. Things were just going downhill too much lately, and it infuriated her.
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Post by morrisb on Oct 23, 2011 7:32:24 GMT -5
"Nay, a weapon I cannot grant you." - Benett said. - "A druid wields no weapon save for the powers the Earth Spirit grants. I may be able to recommend someone as a caretaker, however."
Seeing Ruby glaring towards Ambrose, he explained: - "Oh, don't count on him waking up for another half hour. I put him to sleep with my magic while I treated him. But anyway..." - he took a bite from the pear, and continued speaking while munching - "Zmey happened to be by my side as a coincidence. I was ordered to stay in this forest while my friend and superior Florian would liberate the enslaved creatures in the town. Zmey was just returning from a battle in Turk-occupied Hungarian lands, and sensed a dragonkin, you, nearby, so he wanted to inspect his finding. Suffice to say, he is hard to please."
He ate up the pear by then, leaving only a stub. To Ruby's suprise, Benett waved his hand, making the pear re-grow its lost weight. He then took a bite once more.
"What's more relevant," - he spoke - "I helped because it is my sworn duty to preserve the beings of the older times. God created many wonders, it is only fitting we humans should look after them. I serve under the warrior Florian, whose aim is to assemble the creatures of the old world so they may not be hunted by human fanatics without suffering fitting retribution. Zmey, while considers all of us inferior, agrees with our cause and lends Florian his guidance."
So this elvish fighter she encountered, this 'Florian' is some sort of revolutionary. They organized an ambush to bust enslaved demons free, possibly to recruit them for his 'crusade'. And this Benett guy symphatises with him, as well as Zmey.
Ah. It's starting to make sense.
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Post by kitsune on Oct 23, 2011 11:14:59 GMT -5
Ruby nodded, muttering something about how good causes were often stupid. Secretly, she agreed it was a good thing to do, and was surprised tht such a royal dragon would care for that. She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, with a sigh and looked down.
"Well that is a good reason I guess. Anyways.... thankyou. Why are the demon hunters capturing us anyways? Like, what is the point of it; are they planning on flaying us or killing us or something?" he apology had been sincere, and she wondered what he would think.
She was impressed on how he could regrow the pear like so, that magic was impressive. She was curioous as to how he did it, besides the magic. Did he create it, or take it from the surrounding air? She didn't ask this, just stared in wonder.
"Oh, and what about the other army, the one pursuing me? What are they planning to do, kill the freed?" she asked, no fear in her voice.
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Post by morrisb on Oct 23, 2011 11:46:23 GMT -5
"As far as I'm concerned," - Benett scratched his beard, which was an activity he seemed keen on practicing - "The local demon-enslavers primarily concern themselves with selling the captured creatures to various bidders. Now that the Turks ravaged much of the Kingdom of Hungary, the Transylvanian nobles all fear of a potential Turk invasion. A demon's fighting potential, even that of lesser ones, often exceeds average human limits in some manner, so demon slave-troops are becoming highly sought after. At least that's how I see it. Why else would they capture them alive otherwise ?"
He finished eating the pear (for a second time), but he didn't make it re-grow again, just casually threw away its remains.
"About your pursuers, however, I can't tell much, for I was not present. It was Zmey who burnt that cat to a pile of ash and delivered both you and your friend here. However, I recall Florian mentioning something about a bypassing Inquisitorial team. They may have belonged to them. And if that's the case, you were lucky to get away unscratched. Normally they don't give up that easily."
Inquisition ? Pfft. Not good.
"I could advise you to stick with Florian's warband until your curse lifts, but oh, who am I to tell a drake what to do ? In any case, I shall take my leave soon. I'm certain Florian will need his wounded comrades tended."
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