The Festival

Kitai tried to struggle out of the grasp of the shadow that had sprung up, but it did nothing. She was pulled helplessly through it along with Rabbit.

"Damn it!" Quill swore as she heard her sister call out. But she didn't want to risk venturing into the dust when there was a chance that bunny-ass was still around. Suddenly, a gust of wind whipped up and cleared the air. Quill tensed to face a new enemy, but all she saw was a massive hyena with white markings all over his body. She relaxed when she saw that somehow Empassy had found them, but then felt a twinge of panic as she saw that both Kitai and Rabbit had vanished.

((Switching Rabbit into Yggdrasil, since Akaelin is with Krigon and all the other important people have already been led away.))

((rofl, ok... what does Derak see if he just came up after Kitai got kidnapped? ))

((Wreckage....... nothing really. If you want, you can say that Derak saw Vane and Arlyn moving the group and you can have him follow them. If you try and help Akaelin, he'll just get pissed and send Derak away. :3))

((rofl, ok, thanks)) Derak came apon where he thought he saw the explosion and he saw absolutely nothing, scorched buildings but that was about it. Out of the corner of his eye, Derak saw a small group of people running away from the town, Derak took off after them as fast as he could, kind of hoping that they had found his horse...

Vane hissed and turned around, preparing himself to fight as he heard footsteps behind the group. He hadn't forgot about the sight of Yoko on that large, white horse, but right now, Akaelin had trusted him to get whomever he could away from the fight.

He relaxed as he saw that it was only a horseless Derak. Mumbling a curse under his breath, he turned back around to continue herding the group, not really in the mood for conversation. He felt lower than dirt, depressed even, and he had no idea why.

((rofl, I just realized that I missed a tuba/baritone BBQ today... and an aquatence of mine will never let me forget it... ever... but anyway... ))

Derak made his way up to the front of the herd of people to the one who appered to be leading, "Hello, my name is Derak Thunderhammer, I'm not sure if we've met... I hit my head and was knocked out for most of the battle... can you fill me in on the details? like who freaking attacked us?" Derak said, attempting to make himself as presentable as possible under the current situation.

Vane could've sworn he had met Derak, but whatever. He didn't feel like searching through his memory. "I'm not 100% sure," Vane mumbled quietly. "The big guy...I don't know who he was. ....But, the other one..... with the blonde hair," he trailed off for a moment, biting his bottom lip. "He used to be a friend of mine. Talk to Akaelin if he gets back. I'm sure he'll have figured it out."

"What do you mean if he get's back? Does he need aid? I am a very skilled fighter! The most skilled in my city in the north! If he requires assistance I will gladly help!" Derak announced, looking stright at Vane

Vane couldn't help but laugh. "While your enthusiasim is encouraging, I assure you that Akaelin can handle himself... despite his puny size."

((Back. And short post is short.))

Derak nodded to show he understood, but he still looked a little worried... "If you are confidant in his skill, I guess I will have to be as well... I am very new here, and don't know anyone very well... So, I will trust in your judgement..." Derak said simply.

"Have you met anyone so far besides myself?" Vane asked absentmindedly. He really needed a distraction at the moment, something to take his mind off of Yoko. He had never seen that kind of look on the fox's face. Sure, Vane had seen a range of emotions - happy, sad, laughing, even angry - but never that kind of twisted, manic expression. But now it was forever locked inside his mind.

"I have met a couple people... another traveler, like me, Janas I think her name was... anyway, she carried a big spear... I met two sisters... their names I cannot recall... and a surley fellow... he never introduced himself as far as I could remember... anyway, I have heard about werecreatures... but I had never met one until yesterday... when I met several... I think-" Derak cut off, then went down to a whisper, "I think I'm in a bit over my head here, but I think this is where I am supposed to be..."

"The surly fellow is probably Akaelin," Vane clarified. "I don't know about any Janas, and the only two sisters I'm familiar with are Kitai and Quill, but Quill's been dead for two years."

"Why do you think you're supposed to be here?" he asked curiously.

"Well... I don't like saying this around here... everytime I do I get into trouble... I am a norseman... from the north... now before you say anything I worship the god of thuder, Thor. Not Loki. Now comes the part that I probably shouldn't tell you but I think you might be able to help me... Thor sent me on a mission... he said it was very important and that he would make me one of his riders if I did it. He said he couldn't tell me any details but that people would be needing my aid in the south..." Derak looked back at the town, then continued, "And I think I've found the right place..."

"I don't think Thor has any riders," Vane pointed out. "From what I know, the only one with actual 'riders' is Satan, and those are the Apocolyptic riders. Perhaps you dreamt it?" he continued, adding on the last part as a question. The cheetah himself had had several times when he couldn't tell his dreams from reality. He remembered people who had seen bright vivid colors in their dreams, but Vane was color blind, so that wasn't the case for him. However, he could feel things in his dreams. The wind, the grass. It only sucked when there was pain involved.

"Well... maybe rider is not the correct term... but I am almost certain that it was not a dream... well, I mean the message came in a dream but that doesn't mean the whole thing was a... never mind, the point is that I believe that I am in the right place to do some good whether the gods sent me or no, If my services can be of use I freely offer them." Derak smiled widley at Vane.

"It's not my place to decide if you're allowed here permanently," Vane sighed. "You'll have to talk with either 'that surly fellow' Akaelin, or his mate Nathifa. You'll probably have better luck with the latter, since Akaelin isn't too fond of...well, anyone really. Nathifa's not hard to miss. She's one of the few tan people here, and her eyes are a gold color. You can almost always spot her with Akaelin."

"Ah, thank you for the advice... I get the impression that... Akaelin? yeah, that he doesn't much like men of the north... the fact he had me pinned to the inn wall by my throat kind of gave me that impression..." Derak said, grinning a little for some reason, "Well, thank you for the advice... also, have you seen a black horse anywhere around? it probably has a saddle with a bunch of fur strapped to it?" Derak inquired

((Sorry... my parents say to go to bed so... I must do as commanded...))

"Actually, I'm right here," a voice said from behind them. Nathifa had appeared with a hyena that stood at least five and a half feet at the shoulder. He had red markings around his body.

"When trouble started, she came to find us, yeah," Lorul said. "Empassy and me only ones close, he in the village right now. We going to make sure you peoples get out okay."

"Like I said, there's less than a handful of people that Akaelin actually likes," Vane replied. "At most he just tolerates."

He looked back over his shoulder in a tired manner. He didn't really care who was behind him, the movement had just been a reflex. He didn't recognize the hyena, nor did he really care. By all means, he should've freaked at the sight of a giant furry hyena, but he felt as if his entire being had just been shot through with novicane.

((yo, sorry I didn't check in yesterday, I was busy moshing at warped tour and hanging out with the bassist from Black Tide...and getting kicked in the head by freaking crowd surfers...so anyway, Akaelin, little thing about your last post with Krigon, the trick was that you were temporarily blinded and then Krigon appeared in front of you...you know, just for dramatic effect...so yeah, he did move, but it's not that important, on with the show.))

Krigon peered at the man through the shadow of his hood, deciding not to answer his statement. He raised his sword with a clink, and kept his senses peeled for both the other escapists and the mans intentions...would he wait for Krigon himself to strike first, or would he attack? Perhaps it would be fun to see how long the man would wait before he couldn't stand the tension any more...that, and there were definite advantages to allowing the opponent to strike first in this situation.

Krigon adjusted his cloak and waited, inconspicuously touching a short dagger at his side.

Faorn glared at Seff. "He 'didn't get the message yet'? I don't care if he did or not-- that's his choice. All I did was tell him the truth." Faorn was suddenly switched to her dark, moody self. "For that matter, just stop being a b****!" She snapped, "At least I have a chance of someone liking me!" Faorn crossed her arms, and rolled her eyes. "For all I know, you're just going to be a loner for the rest of your life. You're already half-way there, I mean."

Seff gave Faorn a slightly confused and yet unamused look. "Ummm....... yeah. One, you totally read too much into that. Two, I have said nothing to warrant you claiming that I'm a bitch. Three...you make absolutely no sense whatsoever. It's not a persons choice if they're oblivious to something or not, either. Four, you know absolutely nothing about me. So why don't you turn around and stalk off to your little boy toy to defend him from an insult I never even threw."

Akaelin had never once been the kind of person to make the first attack in almost any given situation. Rather, his fighting style relied on speed and stamina, since he lacked strength. He would repeatedly dodge his opponents attacks until they were worn down enough that he could move in and strike. He wasn't sure if that would work this time though. The larger man might've been a bit tired from destroying the entire town, but he still looked like he had a lot of fight left in him. However, if he was going to stand there and wait for Akaelin to make the first move, he was going to be waiting a very long time.